As Adams rolled to evade the slamming hands, he calmly activated "Eye of Death."
The "Spirit Guide" immediately entered the spiritual realm, overlooking the ten-thousand-armed banshee from a higher plane.
His Guard members, seeing their Death Lord fail to suppress the enormous specter for the first time, raised their weapons.
Bolts screamed into the ten-thousand-armed banshee, exploding flesh.
Two "Gravediggers" raised their shock weapons and slammed them down.
The ground shook. The massive banshee crashed down.
Adams pushed off the ground, rising. His "Eye of Death" remained fixed on the banshee, thrown by the shockwave.
Its deep black light showed no sign of fading. No specter had been truly killed.
The "Spirit Guide" realized the banshee hadn't been truly harmed. He pointed forward, shouting in Dunnic: "Attack!"
Dull bullets from the heavy stubbers hammered into the massive body. Green powder rained down like dust.
The damage was clearly less than that of bolt guns.
But in the "Eye of Death" of the "Spirit Guide" and "Gravediggers," it was different.
Cracks appeared within the banshee's body. Though insignificant compared to its massive size, they were more effective than the bolt and shock weapons, which only affected the surface.
The banshee roared. A thousand pairs of wing-membranes sprouted from its body, beating to lift it.
Its malevolent, deep green eyes fixed coldly on the enemy before it.
The specters under the "Spirit Guide's" control immediately stopped, standing frozen like statues.
The "Spirit Guide" did not use his newly restored spiritual energy to contest control.
His "Eye of Death," through the cracks in its body, found a clump of deep black gas within the chaotic, pieced-together mass.
Faces surrounded it, like prisoners looking out from a cage.
The "Spirit Guide" raised his archaeotech pistol, aiming at the weakness.
A beam from Serpentis Alpha, collected in the Serpent's Cradle, lanced out.
Compared to other stars, the blue light was the least nauseating, at least before he encountered a green star.
The dazzling blue light made the "Gravediggers" and "Corpse Collector" feel sick. Their helmets adjusted, dimming.
The blue light reflected in the banshee's deep green eyes, awakening memories of its past.
They had once had a brilliant realm, a glorious civilization.
"No!"
"Our kind is different from yours! We come from different realms!"
Part of the forcibly merged souls roared in anger at the other part.
Their mutual hatred filled the deep green eyes with black.
The banshee, enraged by the blue light that had stirred its memories and made it suffer, grew more resentful of the light and its source.
Its body twisted bizarrely. Countless hands slammed down like centipede legs.
A thousand hands slapped at the blue beam. Another thousand slammed at the black-armored figure below.
The blue light pierced the layers of slapping hands, producing a piercing sizzle.
The light dimmed, finally becoming scattered points of starlight.
Bolts roared, tearing the massive body.
The banshee did not evade. Hating itself, and the black-armored figures more, it dove, thousands of hands slamming down.
The "Spirit Guide" did not dodge. He activated his shock weapon and leaped.
He swung the heavy hammer, slamming it into the banshee's chest.
With a crack, the shockwave spread. The banshee shrieked in terror, freezing.
Adams's arm spun. The hammer fell again and again.
The cracks in his "Eye of Death" grew larger. Then, like a mirror, it shattered.
He flipped back, landing in the ruins.
He looked ahead, thinking regretfully.
'Unfortunately, my spiritual energy was depleted controlling specters earlier. Otherwise, I could have tried to command it.'
He noted the specters under his control had not been directly controlled by the banshee. Its death power, though stronger than his, could be resisted.
Compared to the banshee, which used its power instinctively, he had the advantage of technique.
As he thought, a flash caught his eye.
He looked up. A crystal, one meter in diameter, four meters tall, with deep black threads within, fell through the green powder.
He intuitively knew the crystal and powder left by the dead banshee were not ordinary.
'My Lord would like this.'
As Adams collected his spoils, on a wide plain, moonlight fell on Mikael in his black robe.
Before him were metals and gems in various lunar phases: moon-shaped metals from the third planet of the Serpent's Cradle; crescent-shaped yellow gems from the first planet; full-moon-shaped purple gems from the sixth planet; moonstone from Vostroya's moon...
The "Potion Professor's" nose twitched. The blood in a dozen bottles made him swallow.
He could identify most: Fenrisian kraken blood, pungent; Nocturne salamander blood, searing hot... Omegon's blood, the most delicious.
Nareth, bathed in full moonlight, walked over. He raised his hand, palm open, holding the "Scarlet Scholar" potion, concocted by the space simian using green Nephilim and other materials.
"Mikael."
"Open the bottles."
"Drink the potion."
"Thank You, my Lord, for Your gift." Mikael knelt on one knee, thanking the Black Emperor, then took the nearly solid, crimson potion.
His pale hands rapidly opened the crystal vials of blood.
The blood of supernatural creatures made every cell in his body thrum.
Under the full moon, he poured the potion into his mouth.
The still, crimson liquid had no taste. It slid down his esophagus like a lump of meat.
He felt everything around him grow quiet. He seemed trapped in a stasis field, his thoughts slowing.
In the silence, the surrounding metals and gems reflected discordant, eerie light.
The mingled scents of different blood made his head spin, like a mortal taking a hallucinogen.
In this quiet, dreamlike state, his pitch-black eyes slowly turned deep red, ruby-bright.
Moonlight reflected in his eyes. His body flushed with red, rapidly fading.
As his body, like hazy moonlight, seemed about to dissipate from reality, the black-armored, golden-winged figure reflected in his eyes.
His consciousness snapped back from the silent dream.
The moonlight shattered, turning into patches of red scales, vanishing.
The "Scarlet Scholar" rapidly re-formed, his form flickering, sealing all the vials in an instant.
Recalling his new abilities, he bowed joyfully to the Black Emperor.
"My Lord, my abilities have increased. I can serve You better."
Nareth nodded, then instructed the "Scarlet Scholar's" acting direction.
"Your abilities depend on your knowledge of the lunar domain."
"Studying the moon is the key to becoming a 'Scarlet Scholar.'"
Mikael looked up at the night sky. The blue giant's light fell on the moon, casting watery moonlight.
He lowered his head, thoughtful. "As You instruct."
The next day, at the temporary command base outside Hive One on Sondheim VIII,
the Death Lord Adams, his icy voice tinged with barely concealed joy, spoke.
"My Lord, last night, the Chapter's Court Brothers achieved great gains."
"The Viscounts each gained at least ten servants. The Barons, through communication with specters, have varying degrees of improved mastery over the power You granted."
"Sondheim VIII is better than any other place for us to master the power You granted."
Nareth nodded slightly. "This world's treasure is not only specters."
"The hilly regions contain precious metals and gems. Adamantium veins stretch for hundreds of kilometers, extending towards the equator."
"Adamantium is not only hard, but also a rare natural psychic metal."
He remembered that when the Sondheim system was discovered, it was initially classified as a death world of little value.
Only when surface deposits of precious metals and gems were discovered did it attract Imperial factions.
They were ultimately forced to abandon the world due to continuous spectral attacks.
The Fourth Chapter's development would not be a problem. "Spirit Guides," as they acquired servants, would naturally weaken the specters.
With them present, the specters could not disrupt the mines.
"Control the pace of development. Every mine must have a Viscount with death power present."
"By Your will." Adams acknowledged, then continued.
"My Lord, last night I encountered a powerful banshee. Unable to command it, I exhausted my spiritual energy."
"I killed it by striking its weakness. It left behind a crystal and a large amount of powder."
"I offer them to You."
Moments later, Nareth examined the crystal and powder, immediately matching them to the main and supplementary ingredients for "Gatekeeper" on the Blasphemy Slate.
'Hmm, I now have all the ingredients for "Gatekeeper." Adams will also complete digestion in a few days.'
'To advance to "Gatekeeper," he needs an underworld. Fenris's underworld should qualify. What else?'
Fourteen solar days later, as Nareth was about to order the fleet to depart, he received a report.
A Techmarine assigned to explore the mines had gone mad.
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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