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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 21: Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter 21: Zombie Apocalypse

Few hours have passed since the activation of the barrier and the Knight Order has been informed of the attack on the school. They now laid siege on the school but when they tried to enter the barrier, they found out their magic has been sealed and they can't get out of the barrier. There are arguments made between Iris and the leaders of the Knight Order on how they should proceed, arguments that got them nowhere and wasted a lot of time.

"We need to press on and rescue the students despite the barrier!" Shouts Iris in desperation.

"B-But your highness! We would lose a lot of men that way! We need to think of a better plan!"

"While you're wasting time thinking about plans, the students are dying in there!"

Alexia stands near the gate, watching Iris arguing with the Knight Order commanders while her mind filled with worry for a certain someone.

"Pooch…"

"Cough cough. Where's Rex? Why haven't he retrieved the Artifact yet?" Asks the armoured figure called Sir Gaunt towards his minions as he waits for the arrival of his partner in crime. His frustrated voice, masked by his helmet, echoes throughout the underground halls, intimidating both his minions and hostages alike.

"W-We lost contact with him, sir! And we have yet to confirm Shadow Garden's presence!" Answers one of the 3rd Children he has under his command.

"Curses!" The armoured knight stomps on the ground, creating a shockwave that makes the 3rd Child fall down. He removes his foot off the hole that his stomp had created as his minion stands back up.

"B-But we have confirmed the presence of zombies in the school!" His minion reports a good news for once, earning him a grin inside his mask.

"Heh heh heh. Good. Release the beast."

"Yes sir!"

"UAAGHH!" Screams a black cloaked man as he receives a slash from another black cloaked figure wearing skull mask.

"We are… Shadow Garden…." The wounded man still chants the same line he has been taught to constantly repeat.

"No, you're not. You're just a pathetic pawn." Replies the skull masked figure as he stabs his enemy's forehead, ending his constant chanting.

"Captain Gil!" Another skull masked figure calls out to him.

"Report. How many casualties?" Gilfried asks.

"We've suffered greater losses than usual due to our magic being disrupted by the barrier. About a dozen men, sir. But we confirmed our lord's presence in the school! And he has ordered us to continue the search and continue killing Sir Gaunt's men! He will take care of the girl!"

"So he's already here. Indeed I've confirmed the presence of his zombies. Very well. We'll continue as planned. With our lord on our side it doesn't matter how many of us falls. He will replenish our numbers with the dead! Mwa ha ha ha ha!"

"We are Shadow Garden." A group of black cloaked men who just arrived chant the same line over and over again as Gilfried merely laughs like a maniac.

"Ha ha ha ha! Kill them! Kill them all!" Gilfried commands while laughing.

"Yes sir!" And his subordinates obey.

"Kyaaahhh!"

"W-What's going on!?"

"Ghouls!? But it's still daytime! There can't be vampires around!"

"They're zombieees!"

"Prez! What should we do!? We're surrounded!"

Numerous shouts of panicked students led by Rose echoes throughout the hallways as they encounter hordes of the undead.

"We must fight! Break through the encirclement!" Rose commands in order to get them under control and the students brandishes their blades to fight the zombies to no avail, as they are unable to inflict any fatal wound to the zombies, especially without their magic powers.

"But I'm too young to die! I haven't even got laid yet!" Shouts a blonde haired lanky boy in panic.

"Me too!" Shouts a shorter boy with bald head with similar amount of panic.

"Shut up, you two! You heard Prez! If you don't want to die, fight!" Shouts a light red haired girl with blue eyes whose hair is tied into two buns above her head and letting the rest of her hair go down.

"Y-Yes, Miss Hope!" Shouts both boys in reply.

"They won't die!" Shouts another boy who stabbed the heart of a zombie, who ignored the stab wound and attempts to claw and bite him.

"Kyaaah!" Screams another girl as she was bitten by a zombie.

Ugh. How can we win against these creatures who ignores any kind of injury!? Thought Rose.

"Yoink." Exclaims Cid as he stabs a zombie's head through its mouth with his sword, which went straight to its brain. The zombie falls down and never goes back up again.

Still with the same weakness. But really. From terrorist attack to zombie apocalypse? Things sure escalated way too quickly. Thought Cid.

"Huh? How did you do that, Cid?" Rose asks as she noticed that the zombie Cid stabbed didn't rise back up.

"Umm… I-I don't know! I just sort of did it! Maybe their weakness is their heads?" Cid answers while pretending to be nervous.

"That makes sense! Everyone! Stab their heads!" Commands Rose with a confident voice.

"But without our magic-"

"Or cut their heads off! Just try your best!"

"Yes! Let's gooo!"

Seeing no other ways, the students obey and focus their attacks on the zombies' heads. Few of them succeeded in beheading or stabbing through the zombies' skulls, putting them to rest permanently.

In time they managed to defeat the hordes of the undead, suffering some casualties, both injuries and fatalities.

"Ughh… It hurts…!"

"Fighting without magic is so hard!"

"Prez! What should we do now!?" A green haired boy asks Rose.

"We need to evacuate. Go to the school gate immediately!" Rose answers.

"But there are so many of us wounded! I suggest we-" The green haired boy was about to suggest something but he was immediately cut by a light red haired girl.

"Mr. Isaac! You're not suggesting that we leave our injured classmates alone, are you!?" Exclaims Christina Hope, daughter of Duke Hope.

"Miss Christina. What I'm suggesting is the most logical course of action for us. They will slow us down and if we don't move soon, we'll die! And who knows if they won't transform into one of those monsters like ghouls do!" Isaac suggests. His logical but heartless suggestion earns him the ire of his classmates, though some agreed with him.

As Christina is arguing with Isaac, Rose contemplates what she should do when she noticed Cid lying and bleeding on the floor, wounded by zombie bites.

"Cid Kagenou!" Exclaims Rose.

"It's too late for me. I'm at my limit. Please go on without me…" Cid mutters weakly. His pained voice causes Rose to find courage and determination. She proceeds to carry him by putting his arm on her shoulder and helping him walk.

"Eh?"

"Help the ones who are wounded and let's go together!"

"Yes, Prez!" Shouts the students, even the ones who have doubt and agreed with Isaac's opinion.

What the heck!? I miscalculated her heroine—no, main character aura! Damn! How can I slip away from this? I have several things on my Shadowbroker checklist that I need to do in this situation! Thought Cid.

They didn't make it far before they encounter another horde of zombies who are currently engaged in combat with the black cloaked men who still claimed to be Shadow Garden.

"We are Shadow Garden."

"UUAAGH!"

"We are Shadow Garden."

Someone please shut them up. It's embarrassing to hear the same lines repeated over and over again! Pleads Cid inside his head.

The eerie chanting makes the students think they are the same as the zombies that they are fighting. The students try to flee but the zombies spotted them.

"Graaahh!" Roars a zombie while chasing the students, attracting the attention of its fellow zombies who follows suit to chase easier preys.

"Hiiii! They're coming!"

Rose drops Cid on the floor ("Ow!" Cid mutters weakly.) as she stands in front of them while brandishing her blade. "Run!" She shouts.

"But Prez!"

They were about to argue before the heads of the zombies were immediately cut off and a red cloaked blond haired figure stepped in.

"Mr. Claude!" Exclaims Rose, recognizing their savior.

"I'll handle them. You should go." Claude says with confidence despite the wound in his chest.

"But there are too many of them! And how did you use your magic?"

"I was lent a Pseudo-Artifact that allows some use of magic by Princess iris. I can handle them. Just go."

"Alright! Thank you very much!" Rose exclaims before sheathing her sword and picking Cid up into a princess carry. She then turns and addresses the students.

"Let's go everyone!"

"Yes, Prez!"

"Ehhh…..? But I…" Mutters Cid as he was helplessly being carried by Rose.

The students left the halls as Claude proceeds to slaughter the zombies and the black cloaked men.

"Hm. She definitely has the potential to be a main character. Though… was that Cid she's carrying?" Mutters Claude as he proceeds to continue on his way to the vice principal's office. But before he reached the vice principal's office, he feels the ground tremble followed by a huge crashing sound… and a familiar beast's roar.

"So you've finally decided to release No. 176, Sir Gaunt. Heh heh heh."

A huge beast, whose body shape resembles a lizard but with front legs that resembles human hands, lacking scales and instead possessed black long hair on its head and bony spikes on its spine, emerges from the ground, shocking the students and school staff who are still trapped inside the school. The Knight Order and the two princesses are also shocked when they heard the ominous roars. The memory of the hordes of beasts attacking the Capital still fresh on their minds.

"I'm going in!" Exclaims Iris as she brandishes the Pseudo-Artifact and fearlessly enters the barrier, whereupon she feels its effect firsthand. One thing she noticed however, is that the Pseudo-Artifact is helping her with magic control, allowing her to bypass the barrier's effect to an extent.

"Your Highness! No!"

"Arm every knight with the Pseudo-Artifacts we have in store and have them follow me!" Commands Iris as she charges into the school.

"I'm going in too!" Exclaims Alexia.

"No! You're still injured, Princess Alexia! Please don't be reckless! Just leave it all to us!"

"Tsk. Fine." Alexia agreed whilst being frustrated at her inability to help. She keeps her eyes on the direction of the school when she noticed a group of students exiting the school building. The one who leads the students out are the princess of Oriana kingdom and in her arms… is…

"Pooch?"

Author's Note:

So Cid and Rose kind of switched places here. Now it is Rose who became the hero who saved Cid from death (Not that he needed it). Isn't this what you wanted though, Cid? To be a proper mob who gets saved rather than a hero who rizzed a princess?

Soulbow109: Too bad would have been a funny pairing I feel. Maybe one day you can make an omake of the two marrying the others sister and how they start interacting lol. I can see Claire doing that since I think she mentioned that she would like Cid to marry a girl similar to her.

Although getting Alexis would be easier due to being a closer age wouldn't Iris be easier to manipulate and turn in to a puppet ruler? Though with her possibly going down a dark route like canon the people may not be too eager to have her as queen, not sure.

Didn't realize his comfy life was affecting him so much. Cool to see him getting back on track, honestly missed him like this. Loved the scene of him fighting Rex, nice terror. Interesting thing with Nu. Look forward to seeing how Claude takes advantage of that.

Answer: Yeah perhaps an AU omake chapter with that premise would've been funny indeed.

At this point Iris' incompetence isn't laid bare yet. She hasn't suffered failures after failures but she's starting to get there while Alexia hasn't had her chance to shine, hence Alexia is still considered an easier target by Claude.

Glad you liked the Rex fight and the Necromancer returning to action.

You're That Ninja: For some reason this story is impossible to download. I even checked on bluestack emulator and still same issue. Its just forever stack in download manager

Answer: Same with me on my iPad tbh. I was certain I had this story downloaded few days ago but after I updated a chapter it was immediately removed from my download list and I'm still unable to download it until now.

Chapter 605 - 24