Chapter 137: Oriana Takeover
We have completed another one of Claude's objective, which is taking over Oriana. Even Shadow Garden were unable to stop him, as evidenced by the capture of Alpha, the one he referred to as No. 001, his very first test subject when he just started walking the path of evil for the sake of power.
He made a grand speech, taking all the blame and proclaiming himself as an evil lord and forced Rose Oriana to her knees. At times I wondered if all these evil deeds are necessary… that he went too far… But then I remembered that Shadow is still out there. Claude haven't killed him, only banished him to another realm. With how powerful Shadow is, we both know that he won't stay banished forever. He won't leave… not until we kill him. Not to mention the Cult remains as well. Claude's Rounds Civil War plan has only just begun.
One day… one day he shall die. We'll make sure of it.
But Claude… I noticed your failing magic control. The battle against Shadow and that monster took its toll on you, hasn't it? That's why you're forced to banish Shadow after you're done with that monster. Have you injured your soul again? Please… don't push yourself too far. I need you…
I need you I need you
I need you I need you
I need you I need you
I need you I need you
I need you I need you
I need you I need you
I need you I need you
I NEED YOU!
….
Claude left the throne room and I was about to follow him… but stopped when I heard Rose's cries.
"Cid…. Ohh… Cid… I miss you…. I miss those days at the school…! Please… take me back there…! To those happy days…!" She said Cid's name as she cried on the floor.
Her words… hit too close to home. I too miss the days at the school… I miss Cid too. I miss the simple days when we don't have to scheme and be evil… when we can just… relax and enjoy a carefree life… when father was there and when Claude was… kinder.
"Apprentice. Follow." Claude called out to me. Ohh… I'm getting distracted by the old memories.
"Y-Yes, master!" I said as I followed Claude, who brought Alpha with him. Adra followed us closely behind. I can feel Alpha's gaze on me even though she merely gave me a side eye. She is observing me whilst not letting me get a read on her emotions. I'm lucky that I have this mask or I may slip up and behaved unlike what I'm expected to as Claude's … as the Necromancer's apprentice. I need to watch my body language as well, just like how Claude taught me.
I observed Adra's reaction towards Claude's proclamation… but he didn't show much reaction. I expected him to be more displeased considering he's not exactly loyal to Claude and is… still too naïve to tolerate all the evil things we do. Is he hiding his true feelings?
No matter. After witnessing Claude's awesome power, he wouldn't dare scheme against us.
If he still does, I'll kill him myself.
After everything is done… I hope we can return to those happy days... where we no longer need to wear masks… where I can be together with Claude. But there is one obstacle to that…
Iris Midgar!
I know it's part of his plans but… I can't stand the fact that she actually gets to marry him. What to do? Hmm…
"A few cities and fortresses have been taken by the Thirteen Night Blades faction through simultaneous surprise attacks in such a short amount of time!"
"Where did they get so many men!?"
"Did they hire mercenaries from Lawless City!?"
"We must investigate their family's funds! Find out where the cash flows and cut them off!"
"Where is Lord Claude!?"
"Lord Claude hasn't returned!?"
"Where did he go!? At such a crucial time!"
A war meeting is commencing in Midgar's royal castle, with Iris, Alexia and several nobles (Including Duke Normann, Claude's father), officials and knights mainly loyal to Claude's faction in attendance as they discuss the civil war that has officially started in Midgar.
"Do you think the Thirteen Night Blades got him!?"
"Impossible! He was so strong!"
"Just when he's gone, the Thirteen Night Blades launched their attacks! I believe it's not a coincidence! Your Highness, Princess Iris! Please tell us! Where is Lord Claude!?"
One of the nobles addressed Iris and all eyes immediately turned to her… except Alexia's whose eyes are looking downwards.
After a brief pause, Iris decided that they cannot hide it anymore.
"Claude Normann… has been captured by the Thirteen Night Blades… after trying to rescue my sister." She replied, which caused an uproar.
"What!?"
"What a disaster! If we lose our leader now, we'll have a hard time fighting the Thirteen Night Blades' faction!"
"We must make sure his rescue is our top priority! No matter what cost we must pay!"
Iris expected such reaction… but it still hurts her that they have so little faith in her that they didn't even consider putting her on leadership position, even temporarily, to face the current civil war. To be honest even she had doubts about her own adequacy be it as a leader or as a Spellsword so she agreed with them.
As the nobles are brainstorming about how to deal with the civil war, Alexia's thoughts are occupied by only one thing… Cid Kagenou.
She invited Cid and Christina to the royal castle in order to protect them from the Thirteen Night Blades. Christina is still fine… but Cid went missing few days ago. Nobody knows where he is and nobody saw him after lunch. It's as if he vanished into thin air.
The fact that her beloved Cid vanished inside the castle walls meant to her that the castle isn't safe, that there are traitors amongst the castle staff but she didn't know who… and thus she didn't know whom to trust… but most importantly, she blamed herself for this entire mess. It was her fault that Cid was kidnapped the first time, which resulted in Claude being captured. Then once again it's her fault that he vanished again while he is within the castle.
How am I supposed to face his sister now that I've brought him to danger once more…
"Excuse me! Urgent report from the borders with Oriana!" A knight shouted as he barged into the meeting room, attracting everyone's attention.
"Proceed with the report." Iris ordered and the knight opened the parchment containing the report in order to read it.
"Our scouts at the Oriana front reported sighting of black monsters rampaging the countryside before being subdued by undead soldiers. Said undead soldiers are now stationed in the border and in every Oriana settlement. They also reported that Oriana started flying a different banner… which is similar to their original banner except… with a skull on top of the rose in Oriana Emblem." Everyone in the meeting room paled when they heard the report. They know what it implies.
"That monster… Necromancer… has taken over Oriana!?"
"And our own civil war has only just begun too!?"
"What in the world!?"
"All of you be silent!" A stern voice silenced the meeting room. Said voice came from Duke Normann.
"Whether Necromancer has taken over Oriana or not, nothing has changed. He has always been our enemy. The fact that he chose to take over Oriana and not Midgar even though he is more active in here means that he is not strong enough to take over our kingdom. Even if he has joined forces with another enemy, we should not be afraid of enemies. Do not disrespect the legacy of our ancestors and our founder, King Freya."
"That's right….! Despite everything, we are Midgar Kingdom! We are still strong!"
"Yes! We shall not falter!"
"For Midgar!"
Iris watched with envy as Duke Normann easily raised everyone's morale with a few sentences. Even before her reputation is stained by defeat after defeat, nobody has ever listened to her that easily. Despite being hailed as the hope of Midgar at the time, whenever she says something, there's always someone that interjects and disagrees with various excuses, leading to nobody obeying her words. Nobody ever had faith in her no matter how much she tried. It gnaws at her very being and further lowers her self esteem.
She envied someone as charismatic as Duke Normann, who, despite his uncharismatic appearance, which is that of a fat man, was still able to sway the opinions of his fellow nobles so easily, whereas she, a young, beautiful and powerful princess, never have that much charisma.
She also envied Claude for his own charisma, competence and strength, all of which exceed hers.
How do I become more like you… so I can better support you, Claude…?
My takeover of Oriana is done. I was so proud of that villainous monologue I did before Rose. Take that, Mordred! That's how a real villain does his monologue! Mwa ha ha ha!
I had my undead army stationed in every city and replaced every Oriana banner with the one with the skull to remind everyone who is master. Also, I heard that the civil war in Midgar has finally started just after the one in Oriana has officially ended. The Thirteen Night Blades has finally made their move.
I think I'll let my clone handle that for a while. I also want to lure Fenrir out in the open so I can obtain his part of the hand of Diablos after all.
I've also captured No. 001 but my condition is not yet at my best and so I'm not confident enough to contain her myself, and thus I brought her to one of the remote base instead of my main base so that even if she managed to escape, she won't gain much information from it.
In my current condition, I'll also refrain from experimenting on her. I don't want to display any more weakness before her. I've done so twice right after banishing Shadow, which I covered up with evil laughs, though I probably looked like a mad man that time. How embarrassing.
Of course I noticed the Reaper Squad leering at her when they saw me bringing her in chains, no doubt thinking of raping her. That might've been the evil thing to do but as a villain I have standards. I will not let myself succumb to the level of a hentai villain. She is my experimental subject, not a sex slave. And only I am allowed to experiment on her, which I will do later.
But this pain is also gain. Even though Thanatos' memories tried to overwhelm me through the portion of his soul that I absorbed, I still managed to retain my sense of self despite my damaged soul. But it seems that I need to repair the damages on my soul. And absorbing the souls of others won't be adequate anymore… because their souls are still too incompatible with mine as they are not mine no matter how much I process and purify them. It's like putting a tape over a huge leak in a water container.
What I need is to absorb Thanatos' soul. Only his soul is compatible with mine… because he is… me. He was part of me up until our reincarnation separated us. Where I reincarnated into this world, he reincarnated in the First Realm and was forced to adapt to that alien environment, losing himself in the process and became that monster.
It's still nice that despite being separated from me and mutated beyond recognition, his preferences is still the same as me, hence all the skulls, bones and scythes in his form… and even the color of his magic, green like mine. He could've went the route of Cthulhu and go all tentacles but I guess we prefer necromancy themes even in another world.
I have to make devouring him my priority. With parts of his soul that I've absorbed now properly assimilated to mine, I am now ready to hunt him down. And after losing the path to this world, I know where he will go next based on the memories I lost when he devoured parts of myself.
Yes… we are both going home. To Earth.
Now… I wonder how the legacy of the Occult Killer has grown over there?
I'm excited. Heh heh heh.
Now then… prepare yourself, Japan! The Occult Killer is coming home!
Prepare for some bloody homecoming!
Author's Note:
I know I said I'm going to finish the Jack the Ripper arc first but I end up wanting to do the Japan arc first, so here it is. And Thanatos' identity is finally confirmed. Good job Guest who guessed his identity.
Guest: "He played her like a damn fiddle!"
I feel bad for Rose. But at the same time, I can't help but get giddy over seeing Necromancer's evil plan come to fruition.
"Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design."
Answer: All according to keikaku. (Translator's Note: Keikaku means plan.)
TheVirtualPug: God that was so Chuuni... *claps hands* I love how he just kept spouting about how evil he is. I wonder what Sherry and Adra thought about his whole monologue.
Answer: Glad you loved it. I planned that monologue ever since I listened to "The King of Villains/When I Said I Was Evil" song.
Guest: Good thing that Delta didn't die, Adra would be pissed if she did.
Answer: Yeah. Requiem of Scattered Shadows showed that Delta won't stay still when Shadow's gone so it's a good thing she reminded him of Charlotte. I still want to write more content with Delta after all.
TheAbyssWatcher: Necro's losing control a couple of times is due to the piece of Thanatos' souls he absorbed I presume. However, the way he talk and mentioned "Char" hinted that this would lead to misunderstanding that Claude is Necro reincarnated, but his soul is subsumed by Necro and he is trying to break free, something you've mentioned before.
Answer: Indeed.
DerTrap: Another great chapter!
Also keep it up with the music recommendations. Fun fact I listened to "Malevolent Shrine" when I red Chapter 131: Apocalypse. (the drop at 2:00 of "Malevolent Shrine" was perfect for the moment when Necromancer shouted and casted "Apocalypse, trust me.)
Answer: Glad you liked my music recommendations. And thanks for recommending Malevolent Shrine. I put it as music recommendation in AO3.