Chapter 130: Chorus in the Darkness

PS: For maximum enjoyment, I suggest listening to Devil May Cry 4 OST: Chorus in the Darkness while reading this chapter.

My worst nightmare… the monster who calls himself Necromancer. I know he's powerful considering he once defeated Shadow, nearly killing him in the process… But the amount of pressure we're feeling right now… How… How did Shadow keep up with this monster!? It just reminds us all that we still have a long way to go before we could catch up with Shadow.

"Burn everything away, Agni, Sword of Flames!" Necromancer shouted and one of his swords, one with glowing red runes that even I cannot read, started casting fire spells at us. The flames are so hot that it melts the snow on the ground instantly. Deciding not to try our luck, we dodged the cone of flame. The entire area is filled with steam from the evaporated snow.

"Pierce them, Rudra, Sword of Frost!" We heard him shouting again and numerous icicles started emerging from the steam, shooting towards us like arrows. Despite the surprise attack, we managed to dodge. Some of us even destroyed the icicles with our weapons.

"Let them feel the storm, Indra, Sword of Storms!" He shouted again and lighting strikes began shooting from the steam. This time, some of us are unable to dodge. Gamma, Eta and Beta were hit by the lightning strikes.

"Beta! Gamma! Eta! Are you alright!?" I shouted towards my injured comrades.

"I-I'm fine!" Gamma replied whilst trembling. The electrocution is still affecting her.

"Swords that casts spells… Interesting… Hee hee." Eta muttered lazily. Is she really injured with how relaxed she is?

"Ugh…! This is… nothing compared to Lord Shadow's suffering!" Beta replied whilst struggling to stand up despite the electrocution.

"Make them kneel before me, Umbra, Sword of Curses!" He shouted again and suddenly we are unable to move as the gravity increases around us… on second thought, the increased gravity seems to affect only us because the trees around us didn't fall down from increased weight. Considering what he called the sword, this must be one of its curses.

"Make these puppets rise and serve me, Morteus, Sword of Death!" He shouted again and 12 figures emerges from the steam… 12 people who are supposed to be dead.

"Curse you, Necromancer!" I shouted hatefully when I saw the 12 Numbers who died at his hands earlier began attacking us with their slime swords.

"HAAAAHHHH!" I forced my body to move despite the increased gravity and managed to repel them before they reach some of our more vulnerable members like Eta and Gamma, who are still unable to move. The rest of us managed to move and fight the corpses of the poor girls, albeit with great difficulty.

"Slice through reality itself, Endar, Sword of Space!" I had a bad feeling about this… And so I created a barrier out of my draconic aura to protect us all… and yet the barrier is instantly sliced like paper. Not only that, the ground and everything else in the path of the invisible slash has been sliced open so cleanly as well. It is a miracle that no one is within the trajectory of that attack. Perhaps that monster missed intentionally. Seeing the result of that invisible attack gave me goosebumps. If one of us is hit by that attack, we would be sliced into two no matter what kind of defense we have. I wonder if the Mist Form can negate that attack.

The 12 girls who attacked us jumped back, perhaps ordered by their new master as the steam slowly disperses. The gravity curse he applied on us fades as well.

The figure of the dreaded Necromancer emerges from the steam, still sitting on that bony throne accompanied by six floating swords, each possessing runes which glows with different colors:

Red, which is engulfed in flames,

Blue, engulfed in an aura of cold,

Yellow, engulfed by sparks of lightning,

Purple, which glows ominously,

Orange, which seems to phase in and out of reality

And finally Green, the very same color as that monster's magic.

And he hasn't even showed the abilities of that staff of his, the one he used whilst fighting Shadow… or that new glove with green glowing runes… or that skeletal throne. I'm positive that throne is an Artifact as well and that it does more than just float around in the air.

"That concludes the demonstration. Any questions?" He remarked mockingly. Always so arrogant. But his arrogance is perhaps the only weakness of his that we can exploit. We must play this cautiously.

"Me…!" Eta held her hand up lazily despite the increased gravity. Her sleepy expression didn't hide her clear interest in Necromancer's Artifacts.

"Ask away." Feeling playful, the monster agreed. Perhaps this is a chance to get more information about his powers. Good one, Eta, although I know your motives are purely selfish.

"What about your staff? What is its power?" Eta asked her question.

"If you can make me use it, I shall not only answer, but also demonstrate it. Do your best to make this… interesting, won't you, Eta Lloyd Wright?" Of course the monster won't give a straight answer. We shall have to force it, and any other information out of him it seems.

"Now then. Let us continue." Necromancer declared as he sent his swords to face us one by one:

Beta faces the red sword,

Gamma faces the blue sword,

Delta faces the yellow sword,

Epsilon faces the purple sword,

Zeta faces the orange sword,

And finally Eta faces the green sword,

whereas I am face to face with Necromancer himself.

"You seem to be out of swords to spare. Will you be using that staff against me then?" I taunted. And he responded by having 2 skeletal arms from his throne move to attack me. I knew that throne is an Artifact of some kind. I dodged the skeletal arms easily enough.

"As I said. If you're able to make me, I shall use this staff. Now prove your worth, No. 001."

"If swiping me with skeletal hands is all it can do-" My taunt is interrupted by the skeletal hand casting fireballs at me. Despite my draconic aura shielding me, I opted to dodge the fireballs in order to play it safe. His skeletal hands continue shooting fireballs despite me dodging them. Does he intend to hit me or…?

By the time I realized it, it's already too late. I'm surrounded by his fireballs which remain in the air after I dodged them instead of colliding with something in their path.

"This is an old trick that your lord has figured out a long time ago. We'll see how you fare." He said before the skeletal hand snaps its fingers, causing the fireballs surrounding me to shoot towards me from all directions. To defend myself, I harden my draconic armor and brace myself for the coming impact as I jumped to the air in order to make sure not all fireballs hit me... only for the fireballs to chase after me from behind by changing their direction midair.

*BOOOM*

I hit the fireballs in front, causing me to be unable to dodge the ones coming from behind.

*BOOOM* *BOOOM* *BOOOM*

I was hit by all the fireballs. Despite the impacts, I survived thanks to my hardened draconic armor made of pure magical energy.

"That's disappointing. Your master not only dodged the entire thing but also counterattacked. And that's from the first time we fought." I know. My battle experience is still lacking compared to Shadow, especially since I haven't seen how this monster fights up close. But now I've figured out his tactic. There's no way I'll make the same mistake again.

"But despite that, you haven't harmed me." I taunted as I emerge from the smoke.

"But that doesn't mean my throne haven't chipped away at your defense. If this keeps up, you'll run out of magical energy."

"Shouldn't the same apply to you, Necromancer? Isn't controlling the swords and the throne taxing for you?"

"Heh heh heh… Mwwa ha ha ha ha ha!" He laughed as if I just told him a joke. I don't like this at all.

"What's so funny?"

"You fool. I did say that if you can make me stand up from my throne, I'll take you on more seriously, didn't I? I'm implying that if you can defeat my Artifacts, I'll actually fight you."

"What do you mean!?"

"I mean that so far you lot haven't fought me, directly or indirectly."

"What…? You mean…?"

"I'm not controlling these swords and this throne. They function independently, though I could also give some orders that they'll obey to the letter. They also didn't depend on me for magical energy. They have internal power supply, allowing me to simply watch as you fools struggle against them without lifting a finger."

"What…!?" I thought he's controlling the weapons using his magic the same way he played musical instruments under the Phantom of the Opera disguise… and thus I intended to buy time until he exhausted his magic… Or at least exhaust him enough to make it easier for Shadow to strike him down. But to think that his Artifacts can function independently without his assistance…

"Originally, they function through artificial intelligence… but now that I have imbued them with souls, they are now far more powerful and far more independent."

"Did you say… Souls?"

"Indeed. As a Master of Death, soul manipulation is my specialty after all. The swords and the throne are imbued with the souls of my victims. They are so grateful because I gave them a better existence as my weapons."

"How is that any better than the lives they had!?"

"I've made them far more powerful than they ever could be with their fragile bodies, haven't I?"

"Disgusting! Just how low are their lives' worth to you!?"

"Compared to me? They might as well be a bunch of ants compared to a dragon."

"You monster!"

"I am indeed a monster. A monster beyond you imagination. Now let us continue, shall we?" He said as his throne began casting another spell. This time, of lightning.

Even as I faced the sword of flames, that Necromancer called Agni, I still heard what that monster said about this sword with my elven ears. Someone's soul is trapped within this sword and is being manipulated to fight for him. As if controlling corpses aren't enough, he even enslaves souls of dead people!?

He is much more ruthless than the villains of those fairy tales Lord Shadow told me. I never thought a monster like him exists not in fiction but in reality.

The sword creates several magic circles in the air which shoots out cones of flames at my direction. I dodged and tried to snipe it with my bow but the steam that rises every time the flames made contact with the snow made it a little hard. Luckily I can still track it even through the mist from how glowy it is.

I shoot the sword with exploding arrows because I know normal arrows won't be able to even dent it. The sword defends itself by slicing through my arrows but everytime it does, the arrow explodes on it. After receiving explosions a few times, the sword opted to dodge. Looks like I caused a little bit of dents on it and it knows it. Perhaps the claim that they are imbued with souls is true after all.

The sword now changes tactic. It shoots itself at me at high speed. Not feeling like being barbequed, I dodged the sword immediately and didn't miss the chance to shoot it before it made impact with the ground. Even after receiving my exploding arrow, the sword didn't weaken its thrust and made a bigger explosion as it collides with the snowy ground.

The heat generated by the sword's flames easily trumps the cold of winter. In no time at all, the area around us no longer has snow and are filled with muddy water, burnt trees and steam.

I must keep this up… for Lord Shadow's sake.

"Bang bang bang!" I shouted as I shoot the blue icy sword with the new weapon that Eta developed based off of the handgun that Lord Shadow obtained from Don Jon, though mine is bigger and has more firepower. It is an amazing design which is several times better than the muskets which is common among soldiers who didn't have much aptitude as Spellswords.

I interpreted Lord Shadow sending the handgun to me as him telling me a message that I am hopeless as a swordswoman… and I'm inclined to agree. I may have acted obliviously but I'm not a fool who didn't know my own weakness. I know I am considered the weakest among the Seven Shades after all. And so, despite my shame at being considered on the same level as soldiers with low aptitude as Spellswords, I took Lord Shadow's suggestion and asked Eta to create this weapon for me, which she happily did.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM*

The shots are accurate. Even as the sword occasionally dodges my bullets or shoots icicles to intercept them, I still hit it occasionally. It seems that my natural clumsiness that usually accompanies me didn't follow me when I used a ranged weapon. This is good. I'm slowly becoming more competent in combat!

Just when I thought things are proceeding smoothly, the sword suddenly casted a spell that caused a blizzard to appear. The cold wind froze my feet and the outer layer of my slime suit. My body is unaffected however. The Ring of Warmth that Eta developed using the ring we acquired from Necromancer's tombs years ago protected my body from the cold.

Using magic, I brushed off the layer of ice covering my body immediately and dodge the icicles coming my way. Of course while dodging I didn't miss the chance to shoot the sword again and I hit the mark perfectly! Yes!

Watch me Lord, Shadow! I'm finally becoming a competent combatant!

Delta thinks it's weird to hunt a sword but the yellow sword is a powerful prey in its own right! Delta easily dodges the sparky lightning that the sword shoots at Delta. But when Delta gets close to strike it with Delta's claws, Delta felt shocks of electricity.

"Uaaarghhh….!"

It hurts but Delta is strong! Delta can handle this!

Delta used Delta's other claw to strike the sword again, knocking it away from Delta.

"Delta is good… at hunting, you know?" Delta mutters as Delta licks her lips.

The sword emerges from the ground and shoots more sparky lightning at Delta. Delta dodges but… the electrocution earlier made it a little harder for Delta to move. It's not a problem though. Delta is strong after all!

Delta move to strike the sword again but this time it tries to slash Delta. Its blade met Delta's claws, making sparks of lightning jump from our clash to the area around us. Of course the sword electrocutes Delta again. The second electrocution made Delta's body becoming number than before. Delta doesn't like this.

"Uryaaaahhh!"

Delta rushes at the sword again and strikes the sword again with Delta's claws… but this time Delta's strike is stronger that Delta manages to knock the sword away before the sword can electrocute Delta.

"Hee hee hee. Delta is a strong girl after all. Now… Delta will hunt!"

"Ughh… Out of all the swords that faces me… it had to be one that deals curses!" I muttered as I felt not only my body becoming heavier due to the purple sword's curse, but my magic control is becoming worse too, making it harder to maintain my voluptuous figure with the Shapeshifting powers I obtained from Alucard.

But don't underestimate my absolute magic control! As the sword shoots itself towards me with the intention to impale me, I dodged the attack despite my body becoming heavier.

After failing to strike me, the runes on the sword started glowing and I felt like my control over my body is… inverted. The new spell seemed to have messed my brain and nerves, making it so that when I wanted to move my right hand, my left hand moves instead, and so on and so forth. And it shoots itself once again when it thinks I cannot move due to still adjusting to the inverted controls. But...

"If you think that's enough to stop me, think again!" I shouted as I bring my scythe to strike the sword down. With my shapeshifting powers, restoring control of my body is child's play.

The sword's runes glows again and I felt like my magic is being sealed. To think the sword can replicate the effects of magic sealing cuffs as well…

"Urghhh…!" The effect of this particular curse is even worse than I anticipated because it amplifies the effects of other curses by making me more vulnerable to them all. Not only am I struggling to keep the gravity, magic control and inverted body control curses, I'm even struggling to keep my slime suit and my shapeshifting in place!

And of course the sword took this as a chance to strike me. But don't underestimate my abilities!

I managed to keep my body under control and deflected the sword with my scythe. But due to my hands being weaker, I wasn't able to push it away and it attacks again. I dodged the second attack by a hair's breath, earning me a scratch on my beautiful face.

"You… You're just a sword… How dare you…!"

With my rage, I regained focus and forced my failing magic under control, partially breaking the curse as I infused my weapon with magic, intending to repay the favour.

"Take this!" I shouted as I launched my signature long range slash, which hits the sword. I grinned when the attack hits, causing the sword to stumble midair.

Out of all the swords he brought out, the one I'm currently facing, the orange sword, seems to be the deadliest. It has a ranged slash attack similar to Epsilon and Mordred's signature move… but considering it sliced through even Lady Alpha's barrier, I believe this one is stronger. It is safe to assume that no amount of defense can block that attack. I wonder if even Lord Shadow could be sliced to pieces with this attack. The thought terrifies me.

Luckily, the danger senses I honed since before I joined Shadow Garden, which was tested against Alucard and John Smith recently, warned me whenever the sword launched that attack, which was undetectable otherwise.

"Huh?" My danger senses suddenly warned me that I would be stabbed if I don't move quickly. Trusting my instinct, I jumped back immediately before the sword could teleport to my previous position. If I had stayed there, the sword would impale me before I know it. Damn. That sword could even teleport, huh.

The sword teleports again and it appeared on my chest before I could move… but I'm prepared for it. Instead of the sword impaling me though, my body disperses into mist and gathers elsewhere reforming my body.

"Heh. Too bad. I am immune to such attacks." I taunted the sword despite not knowing if it could hear me or not.

"Huh?" Suddenly my instinct warns me of danger once again. I noticed a transparent dome forming around me and… I saw the sword right in front of me, except it's much bigger than me… I understand what it does now. It didn't grow bigger or make me become smaller. It's just that the sword manipulated the space around me to make me appear smaller before it. To support that theory, I saw a larger version of me behind me. Said version of me obviously looked behind her just like what I am doing right now.

"This is bad!" One would think that my mist form could render any attack useless but I have a bad feeling about this space manipulation thing and thus I decided to play it safe and jump out of the transparent dome before the sword could slice it into two. And sure enough… I felt some wind dispersing after the dome breaks in half and disappears.

I can only conclude that the sword cuts the space inside the dome… including the air inside it. If I stayed inside with mist form, I wonder if I could reattach my body after it is cut. While I wanted to know, I decided not to test it. I don't want to sacrifice any body part of mine after all.

Hee hee hee. The green sword I'm facing is imbued with the magic that I am most interested in, the magic to control corpses… which is the Necromancer's signature ability.

The art of necromancy is written in great detail in the Necronomicon but I never had the pleasure to practice it myself due to Lady Alpha forbidding its use. How annoying.

That's why when reports came that the Necromancer is active in Oriana, I hastily answered Lady Alpha's summons despite my body's need of sleep.

"Raaahhh…!" one of the zombie girls, who is formerly a member of Shadow Garden, attacks me with her slime sword. They seem to retain the physical capabilities they had in life judging from their movements. How interesting. The Necronomicon mentions how the undead minions have many limitations which could be improved over time. It seems that the Necromancer has improved upon his undead minions and my current knowledge is severely outdated. I must take this chance to study them… maybe capture one of them in secret in order to dissect her.

Three more rushed after me all at once but I created shields out of slime to defend against their attacks. While I am distracted, another one came from behind, ready to slash me from behind.

*CLANG*

Her sword clashes against the barrier I deployed beforehand. I'm not a good combatant and I am easily distracted, hence I deployed barrier to protect my back. The Necromancer's magical knowledge is very useful indeed.

"Take this…!" I lazily muttered as I opened the tome and cast a fireball spell against the three zombies who attacked me earlier. With their weapons gripped by my slime tightly, only one of them managed to dodge the fireball by abandoning her weapon and jumped away. Two of them are engulfed by the fireball and explodes. The two of them emerges from the smoke with severe injuries but they didn't react to any pain. It seems they indeed lack the ability to feel pain. In fact, they immediately rushed towards me again after breaking off from my slime due to the explosion.

"They say that the weakness of the zombies are their heads. Let's test that, shall we?"

Forming a blade out of slime which I control with magic, making it float in the air, I decapitate one of the injured zombies and pushed away the other with a wind spell coming out of my palm.

The decapitated head dropped close to me and I leaned closer to observe it.

"Graaah…!"Surprisingly the head is still alive and it used its jaw to jump towards me, intending to bite me.

"Uwah…!" I knocked the head away with a slime limb before it can bite me. I observed that the body still stood despite missing its head. Another weakness that the Necromancer has improved.

The other ten zombies rushed to attack me together with their blades and I deployed a full body barrier to protect myself.

"The Necronomicon mentioned that the zombies move through magic circuits connected to their brains. Let's see what happens when their magic are sealed." I muttered while retrieving a square shaped device from my pocket and pushed the button on it, making it create an invisible dome where magic (besides mine) is sealed and cannot be used. This device's effect is based off one of the Artifacts that the Cult used when they attacked Lord Shadow's school, the Eye of Avarice.

The result? The slime suits that the zombies wear are dispersed, exposing their naked bodies… But they are still alive and kicking, still attempting to attack me with claws and bites. It seems that they now function despite their magic being sealed. Did the Necromancer finally succeeded in manipulating souls? Ah, yes. I heard the Necromancer telling Lady Alpha earlier that he imbued souls into his swords, allowing them to function independently. I wonder if he did the same to these zombies?

"Graaaahh…! Please… help… me…!" Did they just… talk? I guess this confirms it that they have souls.

Hee hee hee. This is getting more and more interesting. I must capture one and dissect her soon.

I also eyed the sword that reanimated these girls… that sword with green glowing foreign runes that none of us can read. It just stayed there in the air, allowing the zombies to fight me in its stead. I must steal it as well so I can analyze its enchantments. It is far more interesting than any other Artifacts that I've seen so far.

Author's Note:

Probably the longest chapter I wrote so far, longer than the previous longest chapter which is Chapter 100: The Mafia Boss and the Agent… and this is only the beginning. The Necromancer haven't showed his full arsenal yet.

Did you listen to Chorus in the Darkness like I suggested? Think of it as the Necromancer's Boss Theme.

TheAbyssWatcher: Hehe, time for Seven Shades to get solo'ed. Can't wait for the next chapter!

Answer: The next chapter is here to make you wait for the next. :)

BetweenIandGirl: Eh... Shadow battle is easy enough to see it happening and conclude super fast... but necromancer battle vs shade is maybe they just a little getting beaten up by necromancer before shadow save them

Answer: Maybe… You shall see what I have in store.

A-Yellow-Lizard: like puppets with their strings cut

splat splat splat

The whole satan thing is very funny lol

Answer: Glad you like my satan joke.

Also, now that you mentioned the splat splat splat, I did write an Overlord x Fire Emblem crossover fanfic with the splat splat splat.

DerTrap: "Ah yes, my Anti-Seven Shades technique, haven't used this one since the Heian Era!"

- Necromancer (probably)

Am I right to assuma that this will be Shadow Garden's "Shibuya Incident"?

Answer: Not exactly what I had in mind. You will see.

Guest: "the Seven Shades have gathered to attend the emergency meeting." That's sus.

Sorry I couldn't help myself from making that meme.

Answer: There's an imposter among them. O.O

TheVirtualPug: Wait I got an idea to somewhat salvage the whole Phantom of the Opera thing as a slumbering legend. You could just make it that he existed but the Necromancer stole his identity after turning him into one of his puppets or something.

Answer: Good idea. I suppose I could use it.

Guest: Are we sure that Sherry isn't Necromancer's Alpha instead of Gilfried. She was personally taught by him, has the most screen time, and is the only one he trusts with important missions.

Answer: Think of her as reverse Alpha, on the 7th position instead of first.

borregodillon9: Shit is about to go down

Answer: It's currently going down.

Zero: Let's Necromancer remind the shades why he is HIM maybe add some mind fuckery villain type psychiatry attack against them like some Aizen,Madara and Darth Sidious types.

Answer: Are you satisfied so far? More Black Air Force Activity will come.

Guest: Eta seems like she would rather be Necromancer's apprentice than his enemy. I am wondering if after this encounter she would have a secret meeting with him and turn "traitor" (in actuality, learn everything she can from him and then use that knowledge against him like a Sith apprentice).

Answer: We shall see what I have in store for her.

Guest: When ever Necromancer uses his floating swords, I am reminded of Kreia (Darth Traya) from Knights of the Old Republic 2, who used the force to telekinetically control multiple lightsabers. And now with him fighting while sitting on a throne, it reminds me of Urizen from DMC 5. Who couldn't be bothered to stand up from his seat until Nero landed a hit on him.

Answer: Didn't know Darth Traya but I do know Urizen. The floating swords and the throne are things that I already had in mind for the Necromancer for some time now and finally I had the chance to have him use them.