Chapter 131: Apocalypse

Tetsuya…

I sat leisurely in my throne while watching the Seven Shades struggle against my Artifacts. My Throne of the Damned continued casting spells at the elf Alpha, also known as No. 001. The spells my throne throws are obviously lesser compared to spells I usually use against Shadow, both in quality and trickiness. But it is the most versatile of the Artifacts I brought today barring my staff.

No. 001 quickly adapted to the trap spells that the throne casts, a little faster than I expected. The throne casts Chain Lightning and she kept dodging it even though the lightning kept changing direction to chase her. The throne tried to cast a freezing spell to stop her from dodging but she jumped away when ice starts to form around her former position, causing the lighting to be spent destroying the ice. Good job thwarting that spell combo.

Not giving my throne a chance to cast the next spell, she lunges towards me, aiming for a thrust. The throne's bony hand intercepts her blade just before it skewers my skull, and it follows up by casting a lightning spell, causing electricity to flow from her sword to herself. But thanks to the draconic aura surrounding her, the lightning didn't affect her, though it slowly chips away at her defense.

She withdrew her sword, which was being held by the throne's bony hand, by liquefying it and forming a new sword for a follow up attack, an overhead slash. Once again, the bony hand blocks the attack with its wrist… receiving some cracks on it in the process. No. 001 continued her assault until one of the bony hand is shattered to pieces.

She then tried to thrust her sword into my skull again but the throne's other hand casts a barrier spell that not only protects me from my attack but also pushes her away with a shockwave.

As her feet touched the ground, she realized something's wrong and jumped before the ground explodes. Nice reaction towards the landmine spells that my throne had prepared beforehand.

The throne then casts a magic control curse on her, causing her magic control to run out of control. It took her a mere second to rein her magic under control, but in that second my throne had teleported itself along with me behind her, ready with a rot magic spell in hand (a spell that even Shadow has no defense against, although without Alucard's blood magic, this magic is limited to melee range).

She sensed the danger and was able to intercept the bony hand with her sword, only to be surprised when her sword rapidly melts against the corruption of my rot magic. She quickly abandoned her slime sword and jumped backwards.

"Surprised? Even your master couldn't defend against this spell."

"And yet he lives!"

"For now."

As I said that ominously, my throne's hand snaps its fingers to open a portal. It's no ordinary portal, it's an unstable portal. Why unstable? It's unstable on purpose… in order to create an everything grinder. The unstable portal sucks everything in front of it like a black hole. No. 001 was able to jump away from its range to witness the portal grinds all the trees, snow, soil and rocks it can swallow and spat out chunks of them.

Then my throne casts several homing fireballs that chase after her, trying their best to lure her closer to the still opened portal, but she knew its plan and instead of being sucked by the portal when she entered its range, she created wings out of her draconic aura and flew away, causing the fireballs chasing her to collide with the portal and explodes, dispersing the portal in the process.

The more trap spells she figured out, the more cautious she becomes, which makes her better at avoiding them. As expected of my first girl (experimental subject).

She lunges again at high speed and my throne's hand moved to intercept her again… only to have her destroy said hand with a mighty slash. Thinking she got me, she moves to thrust her sword to my skull again, only for the skull at the top of the backrest of my throne has its eye sockets glow, which forms a barrier to protect me.

"Did you think the hands are the only things this throne could cast spells with?"

"Tch!" She clicked her tongue and retreated. Then my throne, through the skull, continued casting spells as I observed the other fighters, starting from Beta, also known as Natsume Kafka the plagiarist.

Tetsuya…

With that bow of hers she opted to snipe Agni from afar whilst Agni continued casting fire spells at her. The battlefield around them is no longer a wintry snow field but an infernal wasteland instead with how much burnt trees and molten rocks around. Agni occasionally lunges towards her but when she got her slime sword melted instantly when she used it to defend herself the first time, she never tried again and opted to dodge everytime Agni gets close.

She also has to watch her footing every time she dodges because the floor is lava. Heh…

Still, her exploding arrows is doing some numbers on Agni. There are several chips on the blade already despite it being forged with Orichalcum. And I was quite proud of Orichalcum's solidness… since it could even withstand Shadow's attacks… though that was because my staff was also coated by my magic to enchance its own durability when I used it to block Shadow's strikes. Looks like I need to create Adamantite soon.

I glanced at the next one, whose name is Gamma, also known as Luna, the owner of Mitsugoshi. I was able to confirm her identity as one of the Seven Shades after I attacked her as Don Jon because only after that attack did I figured out that Mitsugoshi is actually owned by Shadow Garden all along. When she fought the Boar, she can only swing her blade wildly. All power and no skill. This time however, she wielded that handgun looking cannon thingy quite skilfully. Just like Agni, Rudra suffered quite the damage from her bullets. She's even unaffected by the cold air that Rudra created, which is colder than the current winter.

Giving some mental command to the sword, I made it create ice blocks to serve as shields against her bullets so now it can defend itself better. But I guess it is only delaying the inevitable at this point.

I turned my attention to the dog girl, Delta, who happens to be Adra's sister. Come to think of it, I ordered him to kill her, didn't I? And as I predicted, he didn't do it… Well… as I am now I couldn't kill my own sister too so I can't blame him… for now.

The battlefield is a mess with how many lightning strikes destroyed the ground and the trees around them.

Her physical prowess is perhaps the greatest among the Seven. She resisted the numbness that comes from electrocution and kept blasting Indra off with her massive claws. That sword won't last long so I turned my attention to the next one.

Epsilon, also known as Silon the plagiarist, resisted the curses brought by Umbra and was able to keep using her magic to create long range slashes, some of which landed on Umbra. The magical energy consumption should be really high when she has to maintain that slime suit along with resisting many curses whilst enhancing her physical prowess to fight but it seems that she was able to mitigate most of the upkeep with excellent magic control… almost like how Shadow was able to resist my Sanctuary's effects during our second encounter.

The next one is Zeta, formerly known as Lilim. I fought her as Alucard and I must say that she is skilled. I thought that Endar would be overkill against them but turns out she can keep up with it. She used Mist Form to occasionally escape unharmed from Endar's teleportation attack (the very attack that killed Mordred) and dodged whenever Endar slashes through space. She shouldn't know about the trajectory of the space slashes considering she shouldn't know a thing about space magic… Did she dodge it by pure instinct? Impressive.

Oh? She switched from Mist Form to solid form so quickly that she was able to slash Endar with her cakram the moment it teleports to her former location. How surprising… but she is not as surprising as the last of the Seven Shades, Eta… also known as Eta Lloyd Wright the Architect.

Tetsuya…

Her mastery of Necronomicon's spells is quite astounding. Not only did she cast the elemental spells and barrier spells against the zombies controlled by Morteus… she even summoned eldritch tentacles to aid her in combat. How fearless… Even I still have second thoughts about using those summoning spells, which are prototype Black Rose imitation, which is why I held back on using such spells until I was able to study the real Black Rose up close.

You never know what might be listening when you summon alien creatures from whichever realm they came from.

Especially for me… whose name is whispered constantly since a few days ago… calling for my soul directly…

The tentacles she summoned gripped the zombie girls… not in a lewd way but in a painful way, crushing their bones with mighty grip. The zombies felt no pain though and continued to assault her despite their broken bones… though most of what they can do at that point is send out their slimes to fight in their place.

Morteus remains undamaged though… She seemed more interested in observing it rather than defeating it. She is interested in it… Isn't she? I can certainly use her… through the Necronomicon. Heh heh heh.

Just as I was contemplating on how I would play with these girls next…

*BWOOOOSH*

A red pillar of light blasted into the night sky… forming a rose like pattern in the sky. So the Black Rose has been activated… just as I planned. I knew that Rose have no choice but to activate the Black Rose if she wants to stand a chance against Shadow. I intentionally didn't tell her about what kind of weapon the Black Rose is… and thus even if she foresaw its dangers and activated it outside the capital city, she didn't know that the creatures it summoned would ravage the entire country. And she will be the one responsible for it! Heh heh heh!

"What is that!?" No. 001 asked.

"That's… probably the Black Rose!" Beta answered while glaring at me.

"Indeed. The Black Rose has been activated. That means… playtime is over for us… for I have the next experiment to make." I said as I started floating away from them towards the direction of the Black Rose's center.

"Playtime is indeed over. Girls?" No. 001 prompts with a grin… and the rest of them started getting more serious and in no time at all, destroyed the already damaged swords…. Except for Morteus, which disappeared without me noticing. Even the zombie girls lie dead on the ground… though I noticed some of them missing. After disposing of my Artifacts, the girls stood in front of me, intending to block my path and prevent me from observing the Black Rose up close.

"Don't think you can get away!" No. 001 still intends to stall me as her lord currently faces the ruler of the 4th realm which has been summoned by the Black Rose, Ragnarok.

To think they would name such an unimpressive beast after the apocalyptic event that destroyed the Norse gods…

"Ho? Still intending to face me? This is your opportunity to escape, you know."

"Why would we run, when our greatest enemy is right in front of us?"

"Heh heh heh. You poor deluded fools. You think that just because you can destroy my swords, you stand a chance against me? Ha ha ha! But I suppose I should reward you for proving yourselves worthy of the honor. Here." I stood up and held my hand high in the air in order to charge my signature spell… only it's amplified several times compared to what I used against Shadow during our first encounter.

"What…!?" No. 001 exclaims, not expecting such high magical output.

"Wait! What about the powers of your staff!?" Shouted Eta, still curious about my statff. Unfortunately for you, your time is up. If you can survive this though, I will reward you with more knowledge than you could possibly imagine.

"Now, try to survive this! APOCALYPSE!" I shouted as multiple black orbs with swirling green energy surrounding them appeared in the sky. The magnitude of which exceeds even the Black Rose's.

I let the black orbs rain down to the ground, creating multiple nuclear level explosions as the black orbs implode.

*BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM*

The attack terraforms the surrounding area, turning it from Swiss Alps into the Grand Canyon. Pretty sure even the Oriana capital and the surrounding settlements felt the tremor of the impact.

The beast Ragnarok, who's facing Shadow at the moment, is staring this way and looks absolutely flabbergasted from afar. With my enhanced vision, I could tell that it is trembling, for I wielded destruction magic greater than its own.

Oh? I felt a space shifting. It seems that the Seven Shades managed to escape through teleportation. All of them were flabbergasted when they witnessed the destruction that my magic brought.

*Clap clap clap* I clapped my hands, turning their attention from the newly formed Grand Canyon to me.

"Congratulations for surviving my attack. I never thought the wielder of Necronomicon was even capable of teleporting. Well done."

"How are your magic powers… not diminished after that attack…!?" No. 001 mutters in utter disbelief.

"By being better than you."

The rest of the Seven Shades are speechless after being hit by the terrible truth… of the great disparity between us. Well… except one of them.

"You gonna tell us the power of your staff yet..?" Eta persistently asked again with an annoyed face as she tries to catch her breath. The teleportation must've cost her a lot of magic power.

"Still interested? Very well. I shall show you… the power of my staff… Valdamir." I said as I stood up and raised my staff.

"Made out of Orichalcum, a metal I created through Alchemy, which exceeds Mythril in both hardness and magic conductivity, this staff has the power to not only amplify my spells, shields me from both physical and magical attacks and can function independently like my throne and swords should I wish it to… it is also extremely potent against possessors of Diablos Cells."

"What do you mean?" No. 001 asked, most likely having a bad feeling about what I just said.

"Well… why don't you feel it yourself?" I tap the foot rest of my throne with my staff, which lest it emanate a wave. The wave caused the Diablos Cells inside the girls to run wild, re-igniting the condition known as Demonic Possession.

"Hyaaaghh…!" Their screams of agony are music to my ears. The curses casted by my throne and by Umbra might be resisted… but Valdamir's effect invades the very cells within their bodies. This is different from the Blood Queen's technique which uses her own invasive blood to cause the Demonic Possession. This time, I used their own cells against them. The only one who can save them now is Shadow… and he's not here! Heh heh heh.

"You're looking very familiar now, No. 001. Yes, I certainly prefer you this way." I remarked whilst gazing at the form of the Seven Shades, whose bodies are ravaged by bulging rotten flesh in several places.

"Ughh… Aggghh…! Damn you… Necromancer..!" She cursed whilst enduring the extreme pain she's currently in.

"Lord Shadow… Please help…!" Beta mutters, calling for his help whilst enduring the assault of both pain and trauma.

"Lord Shadow… Aghh…!" Gamma dropped to the ground with tears in her eyes.

"No…! Delta… doesn't want to be weak anymore…!" Adra's sister endures the pain desperately, refusing to remain weak. Such admirable courage. Admirable but useless.

"No… I can't… control my magic anymore…!" Epsilon cried painfully. Her vaunted magic control useless after her own body turned against her. Is it just me, or has she grown slimmer?

"Aghh… No…! This can't be… how it ends!" Zeta glared at me with hatred in her eyes.

"…." Eta just… sleeps through the pain. I suppose everyone has their way to cope.

The Seven Shades kneels before me in pain and despair, just the way I like them. Now they realize that all their efforts, their bravery, their determination… it's all hopeless. Before me, only despair awaits.

This power only works against those who utilizes Diablos Cells to enhance their powers… like the descendants of heroes (the Cult's guinea pigs), those who took the Red Pills, the Rounds, who took the Tears of Diablos, and finally, Diablos herself. That's why I cannot use it against Shadow, who obtained supreme power by other means.

"Now then. Since you insist on staying with me, I shall welcome you all into-"

Tetsuya…

"Argh! Will you shut the fuck up for five minutes!?" I shouted angrily at the sky. The Seven Shades are confused at my behaviour, having heard nothing that calls out to them directly to their souls. Then I sense the space around the Black Rose cracks… as if someone… something is forcing its way in.

"Wha… He's coming…!"

Author's Note:

He's coming. But who? Is it… Satan himself!?

Also, the way he shouts Apocalypse is a reference to the Lich King.

TheAbyssWatcher: Necromancer can pull a Sukuna and more! Will he use spatial manipulation to pull a Gojo next? Infinity is merely another subset of it. That, and I'd love to see more of Seven Shades getting solo'ed

Answer: I haven't watched Jujutsu Kaisen so I dunno what you're referring to, but I hope you enjoy the despair that the Necromancer gave them.

Guest: Cid wanting to punch Satan gives me a Johnny Gat "I'm gonna shoot the devil in the face" vibe.

Answer: XD

A-Yellow-Lizard: ..I. Don't know what else to comment other than this chapter was a fucking banger and I hope for more. This is wonderful.

Answer: Thank you. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

Anime0CC0Manga: devil may cry reference

Answer: Yup. At first I thought the title of the previous chapter should be Dance of Blades since it's mainly the Necromancer's swords that are fighting. But I decided Chorus in the Darkness as the Necromancer's Boss Theme and the word "Chorus" fits the theme of the current arc, so I use that as the chapter title.

borregodillon9: Great chapter

Answer: Thanks for enjoying it as always.

Cj The Depressed One: i was thinking about what if our necromancer makes some sort of plague or a virus like blacklight from prototype games to destroy kingdoms or city's in seconds that would make him so fucking OP lol

Answer: I have plans for a plague in future chapters.

Light Ygami: So, what do we have here? A villainous protagonist who lives up to his title and is actually evil? That is not something you come across every day. I discovered your story by chance and have spent the entire three days of my vacation reading it. Your story is satisfactory, just like the original.

WN and anime. That, I believe, is the highest compliment you can bestow upon a writer of TEiTS fanfiction. Thank you for writing this, Mr. Author. Are you, by any chance, a Reverend Insanity fan? Because that is the only fandom that values a truly villainous protagonist. If so, you should check out this COTE fanfiction called Classroom of the Elite: Checkmate, which is available here on ffn. You will really enjoy it.

I would post a review of all of your arcs once I have some free time from my studies.

PS: Do you have a Discord server where we can talk about this fic and your work in general?

Answer: Thanks. Glad you enjoyed the big menace that is Claude/Necromancer.

I haven't read Reverend Insanity actually. And I may read your recommendation after I'm more familiar with the COTE franchise.

I await your review with excitement.

I don't have a discord server but I am pretty active in The Eminence in Shadow unofficial server. You may find me there.

DerTrap: This chapter was absolute Cinema!

Seven Shades to Necromancer: "Nah we'd win!"

Necromancer after he completely neg diffed the Shades: "Stand proud. You're strong."

What will happen next to the Shades after they got cooked by Necromancer? Find out in the next episode of the Lobotomy in Shadows!

Answer: You stole the words right out of my keyboard. Thanks for enjoying it as always.

Guest: Isn't it ironic that despite being enemies, Necromancer is inadvertently mentoring the Seven Shades in a way. Epsilon learned shapeshifting from Alucard. Gamma learned new economic tactics to counteract against monopolization from Don Jon and invented a more advanced gun (with Eta's help) from the retrieved handgun. Eta learning forbidden knowledge from the Necronomicon. Alpha wanting to become stronger to stand against him, trained with the Mist Dragon and gained draconic power. Beta gaining new writing (plagiarism) material from the different alter egos. Now Necromancer is toying with them rather than just finishing them off, giving them time to learn how his boss fight attack pattern works. Shadow taught them in their youths, and now Necromancer teaches them as young adults. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he wants them to get stronger so that he can have more worthy opponents to fight than just Shadow.

Answer: Lol come to think of it, yeah. Heroes grows stronger in the face of adversity after all.