Chapter 36: The German Lich

"Es gibt keine Hoffnung für euch." There is no hope for you. The Lich said in German. I made him speak foreign language in order to make him sound cool. I wasn't able to turn him into a DnD Lich by creating a Phylactery for him though so he's similar to my other undead minions with the exception of a more advanced artificial intelligence and given the ability to cast spells.

"What!?" Alexia muttered while locking blades with a skeleton.

"Nur Tod!" Only Death! The Lich said as he fired a bunch of fireballs at us, which we dodged. The fireballs hit his own skeletons but it doesn't matter because these skeletons have a twist.

"Hier seid ihr! In den Tiefen der Verzweiflung! Gebt euren Seelen auf!" Here you are! In the depths of despair! Surrender your souls! The Lich said again.

"Anyone knows what he's saying!?" Alexia asked. I do but I won't tell you. It's part of the fun.

The Lich snapped his bony fingers and the skeletons he destroyed with fireballs and the ones we decapitated reassembled themselves and start attacking us again.

"What!? Is there no end to these things!?" Exclaimed the Shadow Garden member called 626.

"Verzweifelt!" Despair! The Lich shouted as he cast another round of fireballs at us. 626 tanked the blast to protect her comrades who could not dodge in time.

"626!" Her comrades shouted.

"I'm okay!" Said 626 as she healed the burns.

"Kill them faster and start attacking the robed one!" I shouted, which caused them to fight harder to get closer to the Lich.

"Es ist nutzlos!" It's useless! The Lich shouted as he cast lightning towards the one closest to him, namely me. I programmed the undead minions to attack me too if I didn't wear the Necromancer disguise after all.

"Aghhhh!" I took the lightning bolt, allowing myself to be hurt before blocking a sword strike from a skeleton with trembling hands.

"Mr. Claude!" Shouted Natsume worriedly.

"I'm okay! Just keep pushing!" I shouted while struggling against the skeletons attacking me. Well, I did actually allow myself to be hurt for real so I really did struggle. Getting a lightning strike makes my body feel slightly paralyzed it's making it quite difficult to maintain my grip on my sword. I really need more pain tolerance.

"Geht sterben!" Go die! The Lich shouted as he created several ice spears and threw them at us.

"Hyaaahhh!" I mustered my strength to destroy the spear heading for Alexia with a slash while the Shadow Garden members dodged theirs.

"Warum müsst ihr kämpfen? Es ist nutzlos! Alles ist nutzlos!" Why must you fight? It's useless! Everything is useless! The Lich shouted again as he prepared to send more ice spears at us but this time, one of the Shadow Garden members reached him and gave him a slash.

"AAARGHHH!" AAARGHHH! He screamed (I didn't really need to translate that, did I?) and blasted her away with a fireball, which at point blank range ended up hurting him too.

We all took this opportunity to approach him and start delivering a joint attack from 4 directions.

"Barriere!" Barrier! He shouted, covering himself with a barrier that blocked all our attacks.

"Weg!" Away! He shouted as he generates a shockwave that blew us all away. Then he snaps his fingers and reassembled the skeletons we defeated once again, which surrounds us again.

"Dammit! Now we're back to square one!" Shouted Alexia.

As we braced ourselves for another round, a reinforcement appeared in the form of a man clad in black, my fated enemy, who decapitated all the skeletons with a single slash.

"Abscheuliche Untote. Kehr zu deinem Grab zurück!" Vile undead. Return to your grave! Shadow said in German.

"Lord Shadow!" The three Shadow Garden members shouted in unison. And I could've sworn I saw Natsume's eyes sparkle when she saw Shadow. So she's a fan of him.

"You guys should retreat." Shadow ordered after he healed the girl who was hit by the fireball earlier.

"Yes!" Exclaimed the three Shadow Garden members before dragging me, Natsume and Alexia out of the boss room.

"Wer bist du!? Wie hast du das gemacht!?" Who are you!? How did you do that!? I heard the Lich questioning him.

"Ich bin Shadow, er, der in den Shatten lauert und die Shatten jagt." I am Shadow, he who lurks in the shadows and hunt the shadows. Shadow replied. He even spoke his catchphrase in German. Holy hell that's cool!

"Ich verstehe. Du bist der Feind meines Herrn." I see. You are my lord's enemy. The Lich said.

"Dann wirst du hier sterben!" Then you shall die here! The Lich shouted before casting his spells. And that's the last I could hear before I caught up with the others.

"What took you so long, Claude!? Let's go!" Alexia shouted before we were surrounded by more undead horde.

"Tch! More of them! I'm getting sick of this place!" Alexia shouted.

"Well, you're the one who brought us here!" I shouted back at her.

"Shut it!" She replied as we fought the horde of undead whilst being tired and injured. All seems lost until we got another unexpected help in the form of Rose Oriana, the very person we were trying to save.

"Rose!?" Exclaimed Alexia as she saw Rose decapitating a few undead with a single slash.

"What happened to you!?" Alexia asked, bewildered by how powerful Rose is despite supposedly being malnourished.

"Long story! But unfortunately we have no time for it!" Rose said.

"Of course! You owe us an explanation after this is over!" Alexia exclaimed.

"No. I cannot involve you any further! My burden is my own!" Rose replied.

Alexia turned her blade against Rose, which she blocked. "What nonsense are you saying!? We promised that we all won't be mere spectators anymore! We promised to protect and help each other! We are friends, are we not!?" Alexia shouted with anger. The Shadow Garden members looked on bewildered.

"Keep fighting!" I shouted at the Shadow Garden members and we continue fighting against the hordes while Alexia and Rose locked their blades.

"Why are you saying such things!? Am I just a spectator to you!?" Alexia shouted again.

"I'm sorry. I can't go back anymore."

"Answer me!"

"I envy you, you know. You will have a happy life with the one you loved. While I… have to keep fighting."

"Then let us help you!" Alexia shouted desperately.

"I'm sorry." Rose apologized before pushing Alexia away and starts defeating the rest of the undead with an amazing display of skill and strength which surprised us all.

Beautiful. Slash after slash, thrust after thrust, the undead kept falling down every time she moves. Her main character aura is shining. This is truly her character arc. I look forward to see how it will end. Heh heh heh.

"Why…?" Alexia said as she fell to her knees exhausted. Rose didn't reply as she left on her own.

"Let's go." I said.

"Why…?" Alexia muttered as I picked her in a princess carry and left the dungeon with Natsume and the Shadow Garden members.

"Es tut mir leid, mein Herr… Ich habe Sie enttäuscht…!" I'm sorry, my lord… I have failed/disappointed you…! We heard the Lich's voice echoing throughout the halls as he was defeated by Shadow while we are running towards the exit.

I carried Alexia all the way to my apartment discretely because we can't let ourselves be seen in our current state so I can't bring her back to the castle yet. I sat her down the sofa on my room.

"Hey. Why did she do that?" Alexia asked.

"She was determined to finish her problems on her own." I replied.

"What does that mean!?" She shouted as she tugged my shirt's collar.

"It means she's going to resort to something extreme and didn't want us to get involved in it." I relied calmly.

"Something extreme?"

"Like assassinating her fiancé, Perv Asshat."

"Then…!"

"Then she may appear in the Bushin Festival. Not to fight of course but to attack him. You know her father's condition, don't you?"

"Yes. Iris said he behaved like a hollow shell, even though his daughter is being hunted right now."

"He's likely been drugged."

"Then we should-"

"Accuse Perv Asshat publicly? They will simply deny it and use your accusations against you. Not to mention he's holding the king hostage right now. If you made a move, he may get desperate."

"Tch! I hate this…!" She stated while releasing her grip on my collar.

"Me too."

"What can we do, Claude?"

"For now, we can only wait for her to come."

"Hahhh… I don't like it but… I suppose we have no other choice."

Good. You shall be there to watch as Rose takes the stage towards her destiny.

"By the way. How's Sherry? I heard she's staying in Everick right now although I didn't see her last time I visited." Alexia asked.

"She's doing just fine." I answered.

"Take care of her. I fear that… she's going through something similar to Rose… and didn't want to involve us."

"…." I didn't reply because I am heavily involved.

After she took a bath, changed her clothes (I bought her a change of clothes at Mitsugoshi) and treat her wounds, she left my apartment to go back to the castle to rest. An hour later the pale man returns.

"Master. Gilfried received a message from Duke Perv Asshat, requesting to meet you tonight."

"I see. Must be about Rose. Very well. I'll meet him."

Time to meet with Duke P-Perv Asshat. Pfft… What a name.

"In the meantime, I want you to do something for Mundane Mann tomorrow." I ordered the pale man.

"It's good to finally meet you, Lord Necromancer." Duke Perv Asshat greets me in a luxurious room in his villa. King Raphael Oriana, his puppet, is sitting on a chair beside him with a pale face and blank expression and filled with thick smell of perfumes.

"Likewise, Perv. So tell me. Why have you invited me here?" Mustn't laugh. Mustn't laugh.

"Ahh… I see you're the straight to the point type. Very well. I wanted to request your assistance regarding Rose Oriana. My agents saw her entering the underground passageways where they found your undead servants and thus was unable to proceed with her capture. I wish for safe passage for my agents to-"

"No need. She has escaped the underground." I cut him off.

"Truly!? Then where is she?" Perv asked, almost standing up from his chair.

"No need to worry. She will come to you. You have her father hostage after all." I looked at the direction of the king.

"Speaking of which, I believe your method of brainwashing him is too sloppy. Midgar's royalty already suspects you drugging him based on how brazenly you displayed this pathetic state."

"I-I apologize. This is all we can do for now."

"Let me show you how I would do it." I stared at the king in the eyes and commanded him with hypnosis, which is easy despite him not trusting me considering his mind is currently broken by the drugs. No resistance from his mind at all.

"HYA HA HA HA HA!" The king, previously a hollow shell, now stood up and laughed like a madman.

"Wh-What!?" Perv muttered confusedly.

"My daughter…. My darling daughter! You will return to me! And you will serve the Cult as I have! Ha ha ha ha ha!" He laughed again before returning to his previous hollowed state.

"A-Amazing! As expected of you, Lord Necromancer!" Perv exclaimed.

"You still need to let him rest for a day to fix his pale complexion. We'll let him appear in public the day after tomorrow, in the day of the semifinals of the Bushin Festival." I said.

"Agreed. I thank you for your assistance, Lord Necromancer! Also…"

"What else do you want?"

"O-On behalf of Lord Mordred, I request your assistance for the plan to assassinate King Midgar."

"I understand. I shall lend you some of my agents."

Heh heh heh. The stage is set for a glorious war. Rose Oriana. I have prepared a little surprise for you. I hope you'll like my present.

Author's Note:

Hope you liked the German Lich. Yeah, I studied a bit of German and wanted to write some German lines, though I still needed the assistance of google translate. In the anime Minoru has a notebook with one of the pages written in German so I can assume he knows German too.

Guest: I like it

Answer: Thank you for liking my fic. :)

You're That Ninja: I'm kinda sad we're 40 chapters in and you still just recycle cannon

Answer: Goddess' Trial and Bushin Festival are annual events with fixed schedules so these arcs still has to happen on schedule. Blood Moon Arc too. I also tried to keep some canon relationships and character developments intact so they don't stray too much from the characters we know and love. But you're right. I have copied canon too much and I will change things up more starting from this arc.

BetweenIandGirl: 626 is... Grease daugther? well it seem there will be Shadow interference again.

Answer: She joined Shadow Garden early.

primenidus: Fuck cliffhanger

Answer: :P