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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 31: An Ancient Evil
Chapter 31: An Ancient Evil
"… And the second weakness of the Tears is how limited the production is. How many each year was it…?" Alpha asks the Acting Archbishop cynically.
"Only t-twelve…!" Nelson answers with a pained voice as his hands and his head are held by Delta's strong grip as the group beheld the memory of Olivier within the Sanctuary and uncovered the truth of the Three Heroes, Demonic Possession, the Cult and the Sanctuary itself.
Alexia and Rose gasped at learning the Cult's secrets while Beta, still acting as Natsume, just observed. Delta merely watched over the Archbishop as Epsilon and other members of Shadow Garden also observed the memory while occasionally taking pictures with their Rolapoid.
After Alpha accessed the Sanctuary's system, surprising even the acting Archbishop as he never expected them to have such extensive knowledge of the Sanctuary's system as if they've entered it before, the group witnessed how the three heroes was created by the Cult through horrible human experimentations involving Diablos cells upon countless orphaned children, of which only a few survived.
And the Cult used the three heroes to harvest more Diablos cells which they would then use to create their own elixir of immortality, the Tears of Diablos. They witnessed how Olivier cut one of Diablos' arms, which was the sealed at this very Sanctuary.
They now stand in a lab, beholding the sealed arm of Diablos and a fat scientist who consumed a Tear of Diablos, whose face resembles the acting Archbishop.
"By the way. The number of the Cult's top executives, the Knights of Rounds, is also twelve. Is it a coincidence?" Alpha states with a mischievous smile.
"Knights of Rounds…." Alexia mutters as she recalls that name being mentioned by Zenon.
"Until now you couldn't perfect the Tears of Diablos. The key to improving it lies in the sealed flesh of Diablos and the blood of heroes… the descendants of Olivier like me. Isn't it? Mr. 11th Seat of the Rounds." Alpha casually reveals the acting Archbishop's true identity as if discussing the weather, surprising the princesses and also causing said Archbishop to grin as he no longer need to pretend.
"… Tch. Indeed… But that won't be for long. We have a new talent. With his expertise, we shall perfect the Tears in no time!" Nelson says with a sickening grin.
"That's what I want to know as well. You will explain everything you know about that pervert Necromancer." Alpha asks with a glare at the Rounds member.
"Pervert….?" Alexia mutters confusedly as she did not know the context.
"Tch! If you want to know about him so much, why don't you ask him yourself!?" Nelson shouts angrily. As If responding to his words, the scenery immediately changed after a shattering sound.
"Wh-What is it this time!?" Exclaims Alexia as they are now in another battlefield littered with corpses. Only this is not the battlefield they saw before.
On the distance they see an army of undead led by the familiar robed figure of the Necromancer. He is unmasked but his face is nothing but a skull and he's holding an ominous green tinted metal staff. On the other side stands a black armoured man wielding a great sword, opposing the ruler of death bravely. They quickly realize that this is not the battle where the left hand of Diablos was cut by Olivier… but another battle entirely.
"This is… not Olivier's memory!" Alpha exclaims, finally losing composure as even she did not expect this to happen.
"Heh! It seems that he has answered your question! Though… This is not supposed to happen!" Exclaims Nelson as even he, with much greater knowledge of the Sanctuary due to being there when it was created, has never witnessed this happening before.
"Explain." Alpha orders while pointing her sword at him.
"This Sanctuary contains only the memory of people who are present during the battle against Diablos here a long time ago! People like Olivier. But this…"
The Necromancer orders his undead army to attack the black armoured man, who retaliates by hacking through the undead warriors to pieces with his great sword. The Necromancer summons lightning from the sky to strike the black armoured man as he keeps killing the undead horde, unfazed by the lightning whether they hit him or not.
"This is… Necromancer and… Shadow…!?" Alexia exclaims. Her opinion is shared with the rest of the group witnessing this memory
"But… how…?" Rose says in disbelief.
"Heh… He he he ha ha ha ha!" Nelson laughs as he had a revelation.
"What's so funny, baldy?" Asks Epsilon threateningly, tightening her grip on Nelson's hands.
"That explains all the ancient magic and knowledge he possessed! Don't you fools see!? Don't you see why he was summoned by Shadow in the Goddess' Trial!?" Nelson shouts excitedly like a fanatic who just saw his god appearing before him.
"You mean he's… an ancient spirit…?" Alexia says, although she herself can hardly believe what she just said.
"Indeed! There's no other explanation than that! Perhaps he was present in this land long before Diablos even came to power! That's why we, the Cult of Diablos, never learned of his existence despite our long history! That's also why his memory was mixed in the Sanctuary and was only revealed now because he has been revived!" Nelson further explains.
"An ancient evil…" Alexia mutters.
"Even older than Diablos…!?" Rose continues. The implication that the Necromancer is an ancient evil that predates even the demon Diablos is not a good sign for them.
"Heh heh heh. And you're now going against such an evil. You're doomed!"
"I wonder about that. If he's as undefeatable as you think, then why are we here having this conversation?" Alpha says as she watches the gallant figure of the black knight who finally reached the Necromancer after running through the undead horde and attacks with his black greatsword, which the Necromancer blocks with his staff, the clash generates a huge shockwave that caused pieces of the ground to fly off along with dust.
"Go, Boss man! Go!" Shouts Delta excitedly.
"The fact that we're here fully ignorant of this event instead of being extinct means that the ancient evil Necromancer has been defeated a long time ago and all records of his existence erased completely by the victor, namely our leader, Shadow, his fated enemy." Alpha explains with a triumphant smile on her face.
"Bah! Such hubris! I will put you in your place as the 11th Seat of the Knights of Rounds, descendants of Guinea Pigs! I'll show you the power of Nelson the Avaricious!" Shouts Nelson as he releases himself from Delta's grip and, with a swipe of his hand, shatters the scenery again, revealing a pure white blank space in which the magic of his enemies are drained constantly by the Sanctuary while strengthening him at the same time.
The only ones dragged into this pure white space are Alpha, Delta, Epsilon, Alexia, Rose and Beta. The rest of the Numbers that Alpha brought have been banished elsewhere, ensuring that the acting Archbishop does not need to deal with their troops and can focus his efforts on trapping their leaders.
The man floats midair as his body is engulfed by golden light, making him appear almost divine. The power he displays makes even Alpha wary.
"You will all regret baring your fangs against the Cult!" He shouts again as he summons a wand and unleashes a bolt of yellowish lightning at Alpha with it.
"What!?" Exclaims Alpha as she dodges the attack despite being shocked by the fact that the acting Archbishop was capable of such a feat.
"Heh heh heh. Lord Necromancer's teachings have been very fruitful for me."
"Really? You're calling him Lord now?" The blonde haired elf says as she frowns.
"He is the most worthy of being my lord. And yours as well, No. 001. Heh heh heh." Nelson taunts Alpha by calling her by the name she hated the most. She frowns only slightly but the aura of rage and killing intent surrounding her are so unmistakable that not just Alexia, Rose and Beta but even both Epsilon and Delta are intimidated.
"Delta. It's time to hunt." The wrathful blonde elf commands.
"Y-Yes!" Delta, even though she has been waiting for those words the entire time, can't help but be nervous when she heard Alpha's voice.
Epsilon didn't need to be commanded as she stands beside the duo, ready to face the acting Archbishop.
"Heh heh heh. Three against one? Isn't that unfair? Let's balance things out, shall we?" Nelson says as he creates and army of clones of himself who surrounds the girls.
"You call that balanced? Have you lost your ability to count or something?" Epsilon taunts, although she is a little nervous at the situation.
"Of course it is! You guinea pigs are not worthy to stand on the same level as we do!"
"Big talk for one who relies on an Artifact to cast spells! Have a taste of a real magic!" Shouts Epsilon as she coats her blade with precise magic control and unleashes a wave of magical slash at the Nelson clones, slicing through them like hot knife through butter.
"A magical slash!? That's like what Shadow did!" Alexia exclaims as she recalls how Shadow was able to perform the same feat back in the arena.
"Hya ha ha ha! Delta loves to hunt!" Delta laughs maniacally as she tears the clones of Nelson apart with her claws.
"Wh-What…?" Nelson is visibly shaken as not only is his clones dispatched of so easily by a long range magical slash from Epsilon but also by how brutal the beastkin girl is.
"It seems that this is the extent of your lord's gift." Alpha taunts him without moving from her spot, although she is already surrounded by mutilated corpses of Nelsons, the sight of which further intimidates him.
"G-Guhh! Not yet! I still have more!" Nelson shouts as he and his clones start to gather magic in order to cast his spells.
"Too slow." But the trio are faster as they cut through several of them before they could finish their spells.
"What's the matter? The burden of casting multiple spells at once too much for one brain?" Alpha taunts once more as she noticed how Nelson takes too long to cast spells together with his clones compared to casting a spell by himself.
"Heh. You're right. I suppose these clones are useless, which is why I have to make use of Lord Necromancer's other gift!" Says Nelson as he cancels his spell, dismisses the clones and replaces them with undead minions similar to the ones commanded by the Necromancer and orders them mentally to attack.
"He can also…!" Rose gasps as the sight of the undead minions surrounding them reminds her of the recent incident at school. Her hand instinctively reaches for the sword strapped on her hips.
"Hmph. These creatures won't save you. We have fought them for years and have already figured out their weakness a long time ago." Alpha says as she decapitates several undead minions before they can retaliate. The headless undead minions fell to the ground, never to rise back up again as they predicted.
"But thanks to them being independent, I can cast spells without needing to burden myself!" Exclaims Nelson as he launches more lightning bolts at the trio at high speed whilst they are preoccupied with the undead minions. Alpha and Epsilon managed to dodge but Delta took the lightning head on, enduring the electrocution with a maddened grin.
"What!?" Nelson is shocked at the sight of someone who could endure his lightning spell.
"Delta… is good at hunting!" Instead of being weakened by the injury, Delta instead becomes energized and starts fighting with greater fervor than before, slaughtering the undead minions coming her way.
But as they hack through the undead minions, eventually they notice that their control over their slime began to fail them. Even Epsilon is forced to slow down as she tries her best to maintain the slime suit covering her body whereas Delta didn't even care and continues to hack through the zombies and skeletons in her way with pure brute force, not caring whether her smile suit is melting or not.
"Curses! Summon more undead!" Shouts Nelson as he summons more undead minions, seemingly in panic but Alpha knows better, which is why she launches herself straight towards him, though her lunge is blocked by a barrier that Nelson forms around him. The lunge still managed to pierce through the barrier, although the blade didn't reach him.
"Figured it out, have you?"
"Indeed. You're merely pretending to be frightened just to waste our time so our magic would be depleted before the end."
"Ha ha ha! Clever girl! But your efforts are futi-" His words are cut when Alpha manipulates the tip of her blade to extend itself, grazing Nelson cheek and drawing some blood.
"What in blazes… Are these substance… slime!?"
"Took you long enough to realize it." Remarks Alpha as she manipulates her smile sword once again, this time curving the blade to pierce through Nelson's skull.
"Uaaaaaghhhh!" But Nelson screams unlike a man whose skull has been pierced, though his screams suggests that the pain is real.
The scenery shatters and they return to the lab they were in once before, allowing them to see Nelson who is alive and well, though he is clutching his head as if having a massive headache.
"Aghh…! To think that even as a mere conduit of my powers, that particular clone would make me share his pain…!" Nelson mutters to himself, vowing to fix his clone spells after the day is over.
"Looks like the game is over, Nelson." Alpha says as she points her blade at the cornered archbishop, who tried to step back before being stopped by an obstacle behind him, namely the statue of Olivier, making him turn back to see the statue.
"Olivier… That's right. With an army of you, I can..." Nelson mutters once again before an emergency window opens beside him, showing a warning message that someone has infiltrated the Sanctuary from another gate and is getting close to the core.
"What!? An intruder!? At a time like this!?" Exclaims Nelson. His words cause Alpha to smile.
"Looks like we're done here. Girls. Let's retreat." Alpha orders as her subordinates access the system once again to open a gate to escape the Sanctuary together with the princesses.
"They're gone? Why would… Bah! No matter! It's good that they're gone so I can deal with this rat!" Shouts Nelson as he summons a clone of Olivier and heads to confront the new intruder.
"Heeh. So this is the setting we're going with." I say as I watch the new scene unfolding before me with Violet-san beside me. The battle between the Necromancer and a black knight representing me… This setting is so cool so I should roll with it.
"You know of this event?" Violet-san asks while watching the battle beside me. She looks bewildered because of the change in scenery.
"Well… I suppose this is my… our memory. Our fated battle that spans across lifetimes." I answer her while embellishing the story for the cool factor. The surprised face she makes is priceless.
"I see… to think that you're a descendant of a great hero. No wonder why you were able to defeat both of us with ease back in the arena." She says with a glint of admiration in her violet eyes.
"Hmph. That was a mere spectre… a facsimile. The real one is still out there."
"What!? That mage… He's still alive!?"
"I fought him some time ago. He was much stronger than that phantom. We both retreated after the battle and will surely meet again."
"I see… So the world is threatened by more than just me…" Violet mutters at the knowledge of a dangerous being on loose.
The scenery soon changes into a huge circular room with a huge sealed gate at the other end of the room and a sword stuck on stone in front of the gate. I tried to pull the sword off but it didn't budge so I decided to wait for the main character to show up and pull the sword out so we can continue the plot. Eventually a baldy came out instead and he sent an army of elves, who resembled Alpha, after me.
At that moment I managed to compress my magic enough to be able to use it within the Sanctuary and I ended up blowing the whole place with I am the All Range Atomic. I later bid farewell to Violet-san who fades away after declaring that she wants to help me in my quest against the Necromancer.
"Well… I look forward to it then." I reply to nobody in particular.
The revelation at the Sanctuary shocked me. I learned a lot about the Cult's inner workings thanks to Shadow Garden… but what shocked us all the most was Necromancer's true identity. It was the shock of a lifetime to me. To think that such an ancient evil exists today… and the world's fate depends on the whims of him and his rival Shadow. He's more dangerous than the Cult and I'm gonna have a headache. I can't face this alone. Midgar can't face this alone. I need allies. Badly.
In order to keep ourselves informed on these affairs, I formed an alliance with Rose and that Natsume Kafka. I'd hate to involve that slutty writer into this but she has proven herself to be very well informed and I'd be damned if I didn't use her information network.
Speaking of another infuriating person I'd like to have as an ally… I suppose I could use Claude Normann as an ally. Despite how insufferable he is, he's at least genuine towards me, neither a liar nor a sycophant. Not to mention he's strong, brave and already has a bone to pick with Necromancer.
Pooch is out if the question, not because he's useless but because… I don't want to involve him in this entire affair. Not that he would like to. In fact, I'm certain he would avoid this entire business like the plague no matter how much I pay him. How I envy that carefree Pooch.
Anyway, I must inform my sister and father about this. I hope we can get more allies to help us weather the storm that is currently brewing.
I left for a little bit and a lot has happened. I watched the recording of the Lindwurm incident and it seems that Shadow Garden infiltrated the Sanctuary after Shadow left the scene. I hope they stumbled across the fake memories I planted in the Sanctuary years ago. I put that show just for them… well, people like them.
Now that I think of it, it was a huge coincidence that I chose an edgy black knight figure to be the hero that rivals me in that memory years ago. That black knight ended up representing Shadow as my fated enemy. Heh heh heh.
If only I was there. I could've watched their reactions towards the memory.
Eventually there was a huge explosion on the place where the subspace of the Sanctuary is located. That proves that Shadow was there. Luckily I have taken all the information I needed from the Sanctuary years ago, including how to create my own Sanctuary-like subspace, so this is not a loss for me. The left arm of Diablos that they sealed there though…
No matter. I probably can get a pure sample of Diablos flesh somewhere else. And who knows… with Nelson likely dead already, I would probably be promoted to 11th Seat of Rounds instead of 12th. Now I just need to wait for a message from my soon to be former boss. Heh heh heh.
"My lord. A message from Lord Fenrir has arrived." Gilfried says as he enters my study.
Speak of the devil.
Author's Note:
Goddess Trial arc done. It is short due to how minimal Claude's involvement in it is. Many scenes remain the same as canon so I didn't bother repeating most of them. Just the parts that are changed due to the Necromancer's influence. Now the Necromancer and Cid managed to gaslight everyone into believing in their made-up lore.
Edit: While I was fixing the grammar for this chapter, I ended up writing the fight scene against Nelson, which I skipped before, in order to extend his villainous role a bit in this fanfiction. Hope you enjoyed it.
Lifedies: So is claude planning on using that whole rot magic in the future to attempt to kill cid cause if so i think i have a pretty good idea when hes using it my guess is when shadow pretends to use i am atomic in the city
Answer: You will see.
BetweenIandGirl: Yeah, true... Cid is a prodigy if it's combat knowledge and wisdom(stat wise, he is min max on really high str, spd, mp, and lck but only have enough to spend on int for his bs to work around) but Claude I feel like is more all rounder party(stat wise, his min max on high int, mp, and spd but have some to spare for other stat)
Answer: Yeah sort of. Cid is a min max build that specializes in physical combat while Claude, while focused on magic, has to learn the sword too, which make him suffer a bit compared to Cid in terms of combat strength.
Wholesome07: So, Necromancer gonna go in to the dimension or still bussy training Sherry?
Answer: He'll be busy with Sherry.
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