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The Necromancer in Shadow by TheOminousRain

Anime » Eminence in Shadow Rated: M, English, Horror & Humor, Cid Kagenou/Shadow, OC, Words: 548k+, Favs: 386, Follows: 387, Published: Oct 27, 2023 Updated: Aug 9

768Chapter 15: Rampage and the Aftermath

Chapter 15: The Rampage and the Aftermath

"ROOOOOAAAARRR!" Roars of rampaging beasts echo throughout the night, accompanied by screams of civilians.

"Ho hooo…. So these are the results of Zenon group's experiments. They resembled No. 002's condition, though they seem more durable. Normal knights don't stand a chance." I mutter while enjoying the show atop a tall building. This time in my Necromancer getup. And now I no longer need to use illusion to make myself look taller because I've grown tall enough. Hooray for growth!

"I wonder how Zenon's doing. If he got desperate, he would tap into Zakram's power further until it showed its side effects of enhancing his emotions. I'd like to know how far it'll push him. Will it turn him into a beast like these creatures? Heh heh heh." I remark curiously to myself.

The monsters broke out of Zenon's hideout in the Knight Order Headquarters I was detained in and rampaged around the city. The Capital is in total chaos. The knights and civilians are slaughtered en masse by the beasts. Even competent warriors like Iris are struggling. Only the group of black cloaked women wielding slime weapons are capable of fighting them.

"Hm?" I notice bluish light in a direction where one of the beasts is rampaging. I went closer to the scene and noticed the black cloaked women carrying naked girls… Could it be? They have a method to reverse the mutation of Demonic Possession? About time someone figured that out.

As I didn't bother hiding myself, a blonde haired figure approaches me with hatred in her blue eyes. She looks familiar…

"Necromancer!" Ah, I remember that voice.

"It's been a long time, No. 001." I affectionately called her by the name I gave her.

"That's not my name. It's Alpha."

"Alpha, eh? Ha ha ha! It's ironic that in the end, you're still the first."

"What do you mean?" Asks No. 001, not understanding the meaning of her new name.

"Heh heh heh. Perhaps you should ask the one who gave you that name." Someone whom I suspect is a reincarnator like me. Unless it's pure coincidence that she has that name in this world, like how the names Midgar, Durandal, Fenrir, Mordred, Jormungandr, Loki, Hel, etc are all native names of this world and have no connection to Earth.

"More importantly, why are you here? Are you the one responsible for these monsters?"

"Yes. But the sole credit is not mine."

"What are you talking about!?"

"Do you remember No. 002?" I ask. She widens her eyes at the mention of the poor girl.

"How could I forget…!" She answers with rage. The grip on her sword tightens.

"After she was slain, her remains were brought to this city. And these creatures… are the creation of this city's Cult scientist. They're not bad… for products of fools who are trying to play catch up with me."

As I was talking, one of the beasts jumps to my direction and raises its fist at me. I block its fist with one finger. And with my rot magic, vaporizes the thing in an instant.

"You…!" No. 001 shows great reaction after witnessing me killing one of her kind. That glare of hers is absolutely sweet.

"Are you saying you've made worse ones!?"

"Better ones yes."

Enraged, she jumps at high speed and thrusts her sword at me, which is blocked by one of my floating swords that I instantly summoned before her lunge can land.

"What you've done… to those girls!"

"Is making sure they have use to me. Just like you have." I was about to let my sword retaliate when I suddenly feel a spike in magic power in the direction of the Knight Order headquarters.

"Hmm?"

I look at the direction of the Knight Order's headquarters as No. 001 grins, expecting me to get scared. Then the ground starts rumbling and purple light of destruction emerges from the ground, illuminating the night sky and bringing destruction on earth.

"Heh heh heh… He he he he he he he he heh…" Instead of getting scared, I began laughing like a madman. "MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

"What are you laughing about?" Asks No. 001, losing her grin.

"My… fated enemy… I have finally found you…!" I declare while basking in the glow of destruction.

"MY FATED ENEMY! I HAVE FOUND YOU AT LONG LAST! MWA HA HA HA HA!" I laugh again while No. 001 is surprised by my declaration.

"Such beautiful destruction! Good! As I would expect from my fated enemy! This night is yours! I look forward to when we finally meet face to face!" I say before teleporting away.

"Wait!" Shouts No. 001 to empty air where I once stood.

Alpha lets go of the breath she had been holding ever since she faced her worst nightmare. She lacked information on how strong he is and she couldn't let him slaughter more Shadow Garden members and thus, the moment she saw him standing in a rooftop watching them like an eagle eyeing his prey, she decided to take a great risk by facing him head on and tried to gauge his strength by behaving angrily and rashly when facing him, though the anger she felt was entirely genuine, especially when he vaporized one of the Possession victims right in front of her eyes. But unlike that time in his Tomb, she was in full control of her emotion. And although it wasn't in the way she expected, she succeeded in her objective.

"Lady Alpha!" One of the Numbers calls out to her, expecting new orders.

"We'll continue the operation." Orders Alpha calmly.

"Yes, Lady Alpha!"

I managed to obtain some information straight from him and managed to fend him off for now. But… that reaction to Shadow's power…I must consult this with him and the Seven Shades. Thought Alpha as she went back to cure the rampaging beasts of their afflictions.

The whole town was shaken when they witnessed the light of destruction descending upon the capital. Iris, abandoning her hopeless fight with a white haired one armed beast, ran to the direction of the light. In her way stand more beasts.

"Don't get in my way!" Red magic engulfs her sword as she began slashing. Her slashes, as expected, proved futile against the beasts who regenerate the wounds almost instantly.

"Is there no limit to your regenerations!?" Iris shouts while the white haired beast she escaped from caught up with her.

As she was preparing to break through the encirclement, the beasts were immediately restrained by some sort of black substance.

"Huh!?" She looks around her and finds that she and the beasts are now surrounded by black cloaked figures. The black substances restraining the beasts came from their black cloaks.

"Who are you people!?"

A bright light engulfs the beasts and one by one until they turn into… girls…

"What is this…?" She mutters as she faces a blonde haired feminine figure who is the source of said blue light, though said figure didn't even bother facing her.

"If you want to know, investigate it yourself and find out. If you can't, then stay out of our way." Says the blond haired woman wearing black bodysuit. Her face unseen by Iris due to her not even facing her.

"Who are you!?"

"I am Alpha. And we are the Shadow Garden." Says the blonde figure, now identified as Alpha, as she faces the white haired beast Iris was fighting against moments ago, reaches out to it with her hand and allows her bluish magic to engulf the beast, which slowly reduces the monster's body size until it eventually turns into a young girl with black blemishes still covering her body. Her left hand, previously merged with her chest, is still gripping a knife tightly as if her life depended on it despite how weak she is now.

"As I thought. This one had it worse than the others. Take them back to our base. I'll need to work with Epsilon in order to properly-"

"What are you doing with those girls!?" Shouts Iris.

"Doing what you and your kingdom never considered to do. Saving them." Says Alpha with disdain towards the princess. Such answer shocks said princess so much that she is left speechless for a few seconds.

"Such insult! You think you're better than us!?" Iris retorts as she felt offended by Alpha's remarks.

"Yes." Replies Alpha with full confidence as she turns the last of the beasts back to what they once were. "Let's go." She orders her subordinates while ignoring the enraged princess and they left immediately.

"Wait!" Iris tried to call out but was left unanswered. Despite being offended by Alpha's remarks, she decided to ignore them for now and continued searching for Alexia, which is her highest priority right now. Her intuition told her than the area where the explosion occurred is where her sister is, which worried her more as she run towards the crater that the explosion created.

As she reaches the crater, she found Alexia standing there with a sword in her hand, adopting a stance.

"Alexiaaa!" Iris ran desperately towards the direction of her sister.

"Sister?" Alexia says as Iris immediately embraces her little sister.

"Thank goodness… Thank goodness you're okay!"

With that hug, the strained relationship of the sisters is fixed… for now.

The night of the rampage has passed and the capital is now dealing with the aftermath, with the Knight Order investigating the destruction left by this "Shadow Garden" group, be it the Cult bases they raided or the gigantic explosion that completely destroyed the Knight Order headquarters. Also, a useless internal investigation to sniff out traitors within the Knight Order has already started, though I know it would be futile. As if the Cult would let you find out more than what has been exposed.

Plans have also been drafted to repair the damages caused by the rampaging beasts and the "Shadow Garden" group, although I doubt they could repair the great crater left by that beautiful violet explosion. At least that place could be turned into a tourist attraction in the future. It's simply a piece of history in the making!

As for me? I've been summoned to Iris' office early in the morning. As soon as I open the door, I was immediately greeted by a scowling Alexia.

"Why is he even here, Sister? I bet he's in league with that bastard Zenon!" Shouts Alexia, still distrusting me, as I enter Iris' office. Beside Iris, who is sitting on her desk, stood Glen and Marco, two of Midgar's finest knights. Iris called for this meeting to discuss last night's incident.

"Alexia. When you were kidnapped, he actually sneaked into the Knight Order's headquarters to search for clues in order to rescue you as he already suspected Zenon from the start. But unfortunately he was caught and arrested by knights affiliated with Zenon. For his efforts, I believe he can be trusted." Iris explains her decision to include me into the discussion.

"Indeed I was, Princess. I actually went through a lot of trouble for you. It's sad to see my efforts went unappreciated." I confirm the statement cynically, which is not a lie, just not for the reasons they thought.

"Mr. Normann. Please." Iris scolds me for teasing her beloved sister.

"My apologies, Princess Iris." I apologize for my unprofessional behaviour with a smile.

"…" I was expecting her to give another venomous comeback like but she's strangely silent while still scowling. Eventually she opens her mouth.

"Why do you care enough to get yourself arrested?" Alexia asks.

"…" I pause for few seconds while I think of a proper response. I can't possibly say I'm just curious about why Zenon kidnapped her after all.

"It's Necromancer, isn't it?" Huh? What's the Necromancer have got to do with this?

"Alexia. What do you mean?" Asks Iris curiously.

"The scientist who came to harvest my blood mentioned that he wants to abandon the capital city to go to Everick in order to join Necromancer and receive his knowledge. Zenon's group must be affiliated with him." Explains Alexia. Now that's a story I could use.

"Everick… So he's indeed hiding there." Remarks Iris. I pretend to frown.

"Yes. Ever since my sister was kidnapped by him, I've tried to search for him… to no avail." I confirm Alexia's theory.

"What!? But that's dangerous! Why didn't you tell us!?" Shouts Iris.

"Because I know the Knight Order is compromised. I don't know whom to trust." I explain my reasoning for not trusting anyone.

"That makes sense…" Iris mutters with a frown, frustrated at the knowledge of traitors within the ranks of the Knight Order that she has only found out today.

"So that's what you've been busy about. So busy that you weren't able to attend Bushin Festivals. Well… I… apologize for what I said before." Alexia apologizes. Huh, I didn't expect such character development out of her. The kidnapping seems to have changed her.

"Anyway, Mr. Claude. I understand your concerns. That's why I'm forming a new investigation team which I would call the Crimson Order. I'd like to extend my invitation for you to join."

Hooh… A good opportunity to get on her good side and to gain information about their movements.

"I'm in." I reply after a few seconds pause.

"Thank you."

"Sister. I would like to join too. I refuse to be left in the dark!" Alexia says with determination in her eyes.

"But…"

"I'm already involved ever since Zenon decided to capture me. I'm already their target. It would be safer for me to stay close by your side, wouldn't it?" Alexia gave a logical reasoning, which Iris is unable to retort to.

"Haahh… You're right. Very well."

"And if you won't let me, I'll let the people know that you hug your bear plushies every night whenever you go to sleep. And that your panties have—" Holy crap, Alexia. You've already won. Why did you even have to bring out such a trump card? That's overkill!

"Alright alright, I get your point, Alexia!" Iris cuts her sister's words off while blushing madly because her secret has been exposed. Never thought that she would have such a cute and girly side to her.

"Success!" Alexia says happily as her unnecessary trump card succeeded in convincing Iris to let her join in on the fun.

"You guys will forget what you just heard. Or else…" Iris threatens the rest of us with a glare.

"Yes, ma'am." Me, Glen and Marco reply with solemn expression.

"Now then. Back to the topic of Zenon's group. From the documents we procured from the ruins, we confirmed that the organization that Zenon worked for is called the Cult of Diablos. And they've been purchasing Pseudo-Artifacts from the serial killer known as Necromancer." Iris continues the discussion by mentioning news which is old news to me.

"I can confirm. The sword that I took from one of the guards… it was regular steel but its magic conductivity was greater than steel, although not on the level of mythril. And Zenon himself seems to carry a much stronger weapon, an actual Artifact made of mythril. He broke the sword I carried effortlessly." Explains Alexia.

"This is troubling. To think they have access to such dangerous items behind our backs." Remarks Iris, once again with a frown as this new information is just another bad news for her and the kingdom.

"We need to have them analyzed, to see if we can replicate the production. Same goes for that flower shaped Artifact we found in their base." Suggests Glen, a red haired knight whose beard and hair resembles a lion's mane, earning him the name Lion Beard.

"Indeed. I'll contact an acquaintance of mine. Someone we can trust." Says Iris.

"Who is it?" I ask curiously.

"Lutheran Barnett."

Author's Note:

Character development for both Alexia and Alpha. Alpha learned from her past so she's now more cautious.

Chapter 599 - 18