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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: 388, Published: Oct 27, 2023 Updated: Aug 9

768Chapter 48: A Thesis on Souls

Chapter 48: A Thesis on Souls

"Hm?" I wake up and find myself sitting in a stone throne in a white void.

All around me are nothing but white… no, there are some things… huge floating shards of glass… each displaying a vision… no… memories. Not my own memories but the memories of an unfortunate girl.

Memories of Aurora, the Calamity Witch, or at least, a shard of her. I must've been drawn here due to my possession of one of the Fingers of Diablos. The middle finger to be precise.

Some displays the moments of her staying alone in the lab, others shows her being experimented by Cult scientists. Such a poor girl.

"Who… are you…?" Says a little black haired girl with violet eyes who's standing in front of me.

"I am the Necromancer. Ruler of Death and Master of your fates." I introduce myself as the Necromancer seeing as I'm currently wearing my Necromancer robes since I woke up in this space, though the mask is resting on my hand.

"Are you… here to experiment on me too?" She says while trembling.

"Yes."

"Why…?"

"Because… I need more power."

"Why do you… need power?"

"To avoid sharing your fate."

"But… I was strong… and yet I was still…"

"You weren't strong enough."

"I see… How do I… become stronger?"

"Do you wish to become stronger?"

"Yes… I don't want the pain and loneliness anymore…"

"Then I shall endeavour to give you power… as long as you serve my will." I say as I stand up to approach her.

"No…! Stay back! You'll hurt me like the others!" She shouts, completely in fear. I step closer despite it.

"What is it that you desire, child?" I ask as I stand in front of her.

"I want it all to end…! I want to… destroy everything!" She says ominously with her eyes flashing red before she fades away along with the white space. What a scary middle finger. But still… that's her soul, isn't it? The second confirmation I got about the existence of souls.

I'm aware of the existence of souls. How else did I reincarnate with my memories intact even though my past self and my current self didn't share the same brain? Of course my memories… my identity… were carried by my soul to this new life and new body.

I've done so much research on souls, trying to find them, interact with them and control them as part of my necromancer theme, not much success until now. This is the only time I've successfully interacted with a soul, even if it's fragmented. But even that is already a huge leap.

As I contemplate on my next move, I was sucked out by the darkness and… wake up in the real world.

"Ughh…" I wake up in my room in my Necromancer base.

"Claude! You're awake!" Sherry says with concern in her face.

"Sherry… how long…?"

"Three days…"

"I see. At least I have my clone to act as Claude out there." I stand up and take the newspaper on the table.

"N-No! You shouldn't exert yourself too much!" Sherry says with concern.

"I'm just reading the newspaper, Sherry." I reply. Seriously. When did she become such a worrywart? I continue reading the newspaper to keep up with the development of events in the aftermath of the king's assassination and my battle against Shadow.

"Heh heh heh… Ha ha ha ha… MWA HA HA HA HA!" I laugh at the good news. Things worked better than I expected it to be! Letting my sister destroy Iris' popularity while raising my own has paid off. For example, me saving lots of children of aristocrats during the school incident. That earned me lots of approval points from their parents.

Also, through my father's connections, I was able to get acquainted with the Prime Minister and other important people in the king's inner circle and get them to think highly of me with my prodigious talents and a little bit of hypnosis, which must've led to the king hastily suggesting my betrothal with Iris before his death. His fear of the kingdom being divided into two while an underground war is being waged worked in my favour.

With Iris' popularity being rock bottom, I'm now being considered for the position of king, a reigning monarch, instead of just king consort under Iris.

Despite this, a civil war is inevitable. The Thirteen Night Blades, backed by the Cult, will not give up just because my family joins the Royalist faction. It seems that I must enter the world of politics earlier than I thought… oh who am I kidding? I am already there. This will be no different from dealing with the Cult. Cutthroat politics as usual. Especially since my opponent are the Thirteen Night Blades.

"Claude?"

"I'm fine, Sherry. My plans have worked. I shall soon become king. I shall rule the light side as well as the dark side of the world." I declare.

"Indeed. What should we do now, Claude?"

"I'll be busy with a research."

"What kind of magic will you research?"

"Souls."

"Huh?"

"Every living being has a soul, that's why they're alive. The soul contains your memory and identity, just like your brain, but they survive even after death. As I slumbered, I had an epiphany."

"If that's true… then… Can I… see my father and mother again?" I knew she's gonna ask for that. Even if I managed to summon their spirits, I can't allow them to speak the truth to her. But I have an excuse prepared.

"I won't do that to them." I reply.

"Why….? Claude…?" She says weakly as she tries to hold back her tears.

"Sherry. The dead needs their rest. Disturbing their slumber is not a wise decision. It may lead to cause them more suffering." I reply, making excuses as to why I couldn't summon their spirits.

"Oh… I see…" She nods in understanding while hiding her sadness. I see she still needs some convincing.

"Come to think of it, Yukime requested the same thing to me, to the Necromancer. I shall show you what I mean when we get to that."

Some time ago Yukime approached me, the Necromancer, in some kind of scheme to pit me against Don Jon, only for me to thwart that scheme by revealing that Don Jon and the Necromancer are the same person. She stopped scheming against me since then.

As the good boss that I am, I promised to grant her wish if she served me well as long as it didn't clash with my own plans. Her revenge against Gettan is out of the question because I promised to help Gettan claim the 12th seat in the Rounds if he takes over Mitsugoshi for me, not that he could ever get that far considering how weak he is even compared to my Seven Wraiths. He is merely a pawn in my greater plans. In fact, at the rate he's going, she will claim her revenge without needing to lift a single finger.

In the end, she asked me to use my powers over death to allow her to meet her deceased mother and people. I should work to fulfil that wish while also proving my point to Sherry. Two birds with one stone. With a mastery over souls, I will be able to create ghost minions too. I can't wait.

I spent the next few days researching on magic to communicate with the spiritual realm and tried conducting spirit summoning rituals and séances using knowledge from my past life once again… and this time it worked thanks to my experience with Aurora, which let me know the correct magical wavelengths needed to perceive and contact spiritual bodies. I finally managed to communicate with the dead as a necromancer should.

"Lord Necromancer is still resting, vixen. Get lost." Says the vampire Carmilla, one of Lord Necromancer's Seven Wraiths, his most elite subordinates.

"How rude. At least let me meet with the Acolyte or Gilfried. I have an important message." I reply with a frown, but she's not having it.

"Whatever it is, it's not important! Now go back to that slum of a city you call home, vixen!" She exclaims.

"Big talk for someone who came from that very city." I taunt. Before she could retort, a door opens.

"What's with all that ruckus?" Gilfried, who emerged from the door, says.

"Greetings, Mr. Gilfried. I am here to report on the current situation of Lawless City." I say to Gilfried, ignoring the vampire bitch.

"Heh. I bet it's about that weakling Crimson." The bitch says.

"Not just that. They are talking about the Red Moon. If the Red Moon of legend-"

"Ha! Lord Necromancer has long foreseen that development and I was assigned to take care of it! So now you can go home. Now scram!" The bitch says arrogantly.

"Actually, Lord Necromancer wants to see you, Miss Yukime." Gilfried says.

"What!? What could he possibly want from this fox bitch!?" Shouts the vampire bitch.

"Heh. Then I shall answer his summons posthaste." I say while giving a slight smirk towards the vampire bitch, who can only scowl as I enter through the door.

After passing through some hallways illuminated by lights coming out of skulls which were attached to the walls and ceiling and guarded by his armoured skeleton soldiers, we enter a throne room filled with incredible architecture rivalling or surpassing ones I've seen in Oriana, though with many skulls and bones carved into the walls and pillars, which gave the room an ominous atmosphere. The many statues depicting robed skeletons wielding scythes also contributed to that.

There I witness… a disheartening sight.

"Aghh…. Arrrrghh….! I'm sorry….! Forgive me, master…!"

I see Adra, the friendliest member of the Seven Wraith, being choked by an invisible force in front of Lord Necromancer, who is making a grasping gesture, and the Acolyte, who is watching close by.

"I see… So your sister was there. That's why you stopped chasing them and let them go. You lied to me." Lord Necromancer says in his terrifying voice.

"W-Wha…. How…?" Adra exclaims in between coughs in utter disbelief.

"Your next mission is to hunt down and kill your beloved sister and bring her head to me. Is that clear?" Lord Necromancer orders. I can only watch as Adra is unable to give an answer.

"Is that clear!?" Lord Necromancer exclaims once again, putting more pressure on the wolf beastkin.

"Y-Yes! As you… command… Uaghh…!" Adra has no choice but to accept.

"Good. " Lord Necromancer says as he finally let Adra go from his grip and turns his attention to me.

"Ah. Yukime. Perfect timing." He addresses me as he sits on the throne made of bones. I steel myself as his gaze made me feel… exposed and naked… as if all my secrets are laid bare before him.

"Y-Yes, Lord Necromancer. I answer your summons." I say as I kneel in front of him while trembling.

At that moment, I feel like… a foreign magic is entering my brain… my thoughts… And I'm too scared to resist it…

"Ah. I see. Crimson has begun sending his minions to neighboring kingdoms to start creating more ghouls in preparation for the Red Moon." Did he just… read my thoughts!?

"And your Snow Fox Corporation has established itself as a rival to both the MCA and Mitsugoshi, making both parties wary of you." He continues.

"Y-Yes… It was all thanks to your wisdom that I was able to manufacture products that rivals Mitsugoshi's quality and also prevent them from stopping our business on grounds of stealing their intellectual properties by convincing several kingdoms to adopt the antitrust laws to prevent their market dominance." Truly, his wisdom and power knows no bounds.

He gave us the wisdom to manufacture products whose quality rivals that of Mitsugoshi's which made Mitsugoshi accuse us of plagiarism and intellectual property theft, which they cannot prove because all my wisdom came from Lord Necromancer. But even Mitsugoshi was forced to relent when we brought the issue of Mitsugoshi's monopoly over so many markets which destroys competition and made many merchants go bankrupt. The antitrust laws he suggested is a genius plan which prevents Mitsugoshi from dominating every market they get their hands on.

The MCA is currently in talks to invite us to join them but I doubt Lord Necromancer wants to join those losers, which gives me comfort because I don't want to work together with Gettan.

"Good. You've established an economic foothold for me. Soon we shall destroy both Mitsugoshi and the MCA and claim dominance over the economy of the world." Oh, how devious and hypocritical you are, Lord Necromancer. You created the antitrust laws just to limit your rival's options and no doubt you will not follow them when you inevitably take over the market. Truly, how terrifying you are. And how foolish I was to think about turning you against your alter ego, Don Jon.

I've always danced to your tune, had my strings pulled by your fingers…

"For your hard work, you are one step closer towards obtaining your wish. For now, you must return to the Lawless City and prepare your forces for the frenzy that is about to begin." And of course… you enticed me with an irresistible offer that I cannot refuse after crushing my schemes. I just hope… that I will not fall out your favour… or be discarded…

Author's Note:

Thanks to Necromancer's knowledge, Snow Fox Corp is bigger than it was in canon and became the main rival of Mitsugoshi, more than the MCA. He also brought the antitrust laws to TEiS world to prevent Mitsugoshi's monopoly over the market. Yukime is slowly becoming the Necromancer's Gamma. Also them force choke.

At first I wanted to start a mini arc involving Yukime using this chapter's premise but I realized Yukime needs to work more before being rewarded so I decided to go through with the Red Moon arc first.

Wholesome07: And is this ur final or gonna continue for the next arc?

Answer: I'm still gonna continue.

J-More: I love the slow pace of this chapter, also the mention of the corrupt nobles of Midgard, the 13 swords, other than that, just loving it, also wouldn't it be great that necromancer and John Smith team up vs Mitsugoshi later?

Answer: Glad you liked it. You enjoyed the Alexia x Cid moment too I assume?

Don Jon and John Smith, a ruthless strings of betrayal and manipulation. I hope I can do the John Smith part justice. In this chapter I've begun establishing the Necromancer's schemes on the economic side of the world. With that, and the upcoming war, I wonder how John Smith's plans will be affected? I need to cook up some mafia-like scenario for Don Jon.

Bolvar57: Uno de los reemplazos para el muerto zombi mundam. Que tal un guerrero enorme no-muerto de la antiguedad que el nigromante encontro llamado Krell, viste una armadura roja siempre cubierta de sangre de sus enemigos, su hacha negra y armadura de los tumulos. Su hecha tendrá una habilidad letal, el corte mas pequeño es fatal ya que las esquirlas que desprende el arma se clavaran profundamente en la carne sus enemigos buscando sus corazones.

¿Que tal el personaje? Lo muestro ypir que siento que los no-muertos ya no tienen relevancia ni importancia en la historia, solo aparecen para atacar la ciudad y cuidad artefactos, los han descuidado. Seria genial que en los espectros haya un no-muerto (además de el vampiro). Krell seria el ideal, un guerrero feroz, implacable que no conoce la duda ni el miedo.

Answer: Yeah, the Mundane Mann's position in the Seven Wraiths is reserved for an undead minion so he's gonna replace it with an undead soon. I'm thinking of undead Rex being a temporary replacement (he's not gonna last for long) before being replaced again. Your suggestion of an ancient warrior is good and I'll take that into consideration.

Also, yeah I guess the undead has less relevancy now. I even forgot to have the Necromancer use them in the last battle against Shadow. I will make them more relevant in the Necromancer's future plans.

You're That Ninja: Hey good news, finally after trying since like 15th chapter I was able to download the story on my phone. Maybe it's no longer broken

Answer: Yeah, I can download it on my ipad too. Hooray! Let's hope it didn't break again when I updated new chapters because I'm pretty sure last time it broke when I updated new chapter. Maybe because more than one chapters updated in a day.

Chapter 634 - 53