THE UNCOMPROMISING

The first thing Sage saw after being summoned was the geezer on the ground, leaning against a tree. Or at least she assumed it was the geezer, the man was barely recognisable under all that blood running down his face.

One look at him and it was enough to see just how dire his circumstances were. A missing leg, twisted arms and bruises all over his exposed skin; it was a wonder he was still conscious.

But he was, and he was giving her a look that could only be described as judgemental. It probably had to do with the state of the skeletons. The fact that they transferred here holding a boar instead of their axes was the most likely reason.

"It's not like I knew you were gonna summon us," she said to him indignantly.

This caused the geezer to release a tired sigh and close his eyes in resignation, as if he had given up hope; or maybe he just could not maintain his consciousness any longer. He was in pretty bad shape after all.

The likely culprit behind the old man's condition stood mere metres away. The man was garbed in armour that had been polished to the point where it was so bright looking at it hurt her eyes. In his hands was an overly large sword, much bigger than Marcus' broadsword, which- after recovering from seeing the boar-carrying skeletons- he now pointed at her; perhaps to guard against an attack or in preparation to launch his own.

Sage really did not care which it was. She took one look at him and walked over to the geezer, squatted down and lifted him onto her shoulder. Then she got up and gave him a side-glance.

"I'm only here to get him," she said, tapping Bori's back softly. "Now that I've got him I'll be on my way."

Race: Human (Human)

Physique: Grade 2

Mana: B (Burgundy)

Yeah, no. she was not going to fight this guy.

That was clearly the reason she had been summoned here, but after taking one look at the man she could not help but shiver, which was a weird reaction for her to have as an undead. Either way, she could not help being wary of this man.

Before this day Marcus' physique was the strongest she had ever encountered. Although his Grade 3 physique was impressive, after seeing his display against the bandits she was sure she could take him. It would be a tough fight, but she was certain she would come out on top.

The man before her though…

Not only did he possess a body stronger than the mercenary's, he was also a sorcerer of the 6th Order. That was one Order above her. In fact, taking into account the fact that his physique was two grades above hers there was no way she could match him. She was bound to lose no matter what she did.

That was why she would not even try. It would be best if the situation could be resolved in a peaceful way.

She kept watching the armour clad man, waiting for his reaction. Although she had just stated that she was going, she was not foolish enough to turn her back to him. Still, she wondered if he would agree.

He likely would not. The stern look on his face was enough to tell her that he was not the compromising type. But looks could be deceiving, she was betting on that when she proposed they part ways.

Unfortunately, this man was as unyielding as he appeared.

"Your kind are an abomination on this world," he said in a righteous tone. "That is why I will not allow any of you to leave. Necromancers and undead, all of you should must be purged from the face of Rekke!"

Then he charged her and swung his sword. He was so fast that she lost sight of him for moment. His movement was such that he appeared to have teleported from where he was to where she stood. It happened instantly.

Under normal circumstances Sage would not have been able to react. However, she had been wary of him since she arrived. The moment she saw the tiny movement from him she had already finished casting a spell. The sword bounced off an invisible wall before it could touch her, the effect of [Force Wall].

She took this time to shoot the man a look filled with incredulity.

"Are you fucking serious right now?" she roared. "You are willing to risk your life in a fight with me for that reason?"

"To an abomination like you my reasons might feel trivial but they are enough for me to place my life on the line," he raised his sword and swung down at the barrier. "Besides, I don't believe I can lose to the likes of you."

The barrier cracked, causing her to instinctively retreat. The man swung his raised sword once more, causing the barrier to completely shatter. This was when he charged her and once again brought down his greatsword on her head. It was too fast for her to cast another barrier or dodge.

Fortunately those where not her only options.

When the sword reached her she had activated her {Ghostwalk} ability, causing it to pass through her. Naturally since she was holding Bori he too had become intangible and was missed by the sword as well.

She tried to put a distance between herself and the opponent but this guy was way faster than her. Any distance she put between them was closed instantly.

The man took another swing at her again. This time she used {Blink} to get away, appearing about fifty metres away. Her reason for doing this was to give herself some space to think about what to do next. Unfortunately the man covered that distance in seconds to launch another attack.

Again she {Blink}ed away. This time she appeared next two the two skeletons, who were still holding the roasted boar.

Fucking useless skeletons, she cried internally.

This was why she did not want to learn spells to create mindless undead.

"Toss the fucking pig!" she yelled at them.

The skeletons obeyed and threw the boar at the oncoming attacker, who cut it cleanly down the middle as he rushed towards them. The pig had not slowed him down a bit. He struck again with his sword, but Sage blocked it by erecting another Wall. The barrier shook violently at the impact, but it held. From what she had seen previously he would need two more hits to shatter it.

That meant she did not have much time.

"You," she singled out one of the skeletons.

She handed Bori to it. From his dazed expression she could tell that he was totally out of it. Unable to maintain his lucidity, he had probably passed out when the armoured man began to attack.

Remembering that the man was still there, she conjured a second [Force Wall] just as the first one was shattered, hindering him once more. Then she hurriedly opened a [Dimension Door] that covered as far as could be covered by one. After that she pushed the skeletons inside.

"Get as far from here as you can," she ordered them just before the Door closed.

As soon as she did so the barrier she had set up collapsed again. This time, instead of erecting a third barrier she chose an attack spell. [Dragon Breath], it was the most power attack spell of the 4th Order. In terms of damage that can be dealt to a single enemy it was even superior to the 5th Order area of effect spell [Firestorm], making it the most damaging spell in her arsenal.

When she cast it her mouth opened and black flames spewed from it, firing in straight line covering a radius of one metre. These flames went straight to the man. Unfortunately, he dodged the spell. The man smoothly moved to the side and avoided the flames.

But she had prepared for that and quickly responded by sending a [Fireball] towards him. When the man saw it coming he quickly retreated and just in time too. He barely avoided being in the [Fireball]'s blast range.

Sage kept her eyes fixed on him, waiting for his next attack. However, he had stopped his assault and was now looking at her with a weird expression.

"What kind of undead are you supposed to be?" he asked.

"Not one you've heard of apparently," she replied, seeing no reason to tell him. "Listen, why don't we just forget this whole thing? I'll go my way, you go yours and we forget all this and never see each other again. How about that?"

She really did not want to fight this guy. However, she could not afford to let him have Bori either. The geezer was her anchor to Aran, if anything happened to him she would be kicked back to the gloomy Deadlands. She obviously was not going to allow that to happen.

"I cannot allow a one who defiles the sanctity of life to get away," the man responded in a firm voice. "If your master gets away now he will surely bring calamity to others in the future."

He is not my master, she wanted to say. But she had a feeling he would not listen. So, instead she replied with, "What if I can promise he will never harm anyone?"

The man shot her an incredulous look in the same way she had done earlier.

"You want me to trust the word of an abomination?" He sounded offended at the mere notion. "Your kind hates life itself and will do anything to ruin it. Therefore I have even less reason to let you go than the necromancer."

He charged at her and swung his sword, but she {Blinked} out of the way and appeared a couple of metres from him.

"Serious, what is with your holier-than-thou-stick-up-my-arse attitude," she scowled. "Are you some kind of holy knight?"

That would make sense considering the ridiculously shiny armour.

But the man denied it.

"I am just the Captain of the Tiih City Guard and I wish to rid the surrounding area of your kind."

After saying this she felt a shift in his mana. A light descended upon him and began to widen with him as the epicentre. The light spread until it covered a large area, Sage could not tell how large that distance was. What she could tell though was that it had reached where she was.

Suddenly, she felt weak, as if all her energy had been sapped out of her. Her body became sluggish to the point where she could not move properly. Because of this she almost failed to dodge the man's attack. She barely managed to {Ghostwalk} through his sword.

The man turned around and followed up his attack again, but she responded by {Blinking} a hundred metres away.

Fortunately, where she landed was out of the range of that weird spell that sapped her energy. She regained full control of her body shortly after.

However, the man came at her again He appeared in the corner of her right eye, running towards her with his blade poised to strike. She put up a [Force Wall] to stop him. It did not stop him from attacking. Three quick slashes and the Wall was gone. But this time she was waiting. The moment the barrier disappeared she cast [Thunderbolt].

A thick black bolt left her fingertip and struck the man square in the chest, sending him flying backwards and crashing into a tree, knocking it over. However, before she could rejoice the man jumped back to his feet almost immediately. His shiny silver armour was now fried black in the centre and his appearance was disoriented, but a light enveloped him and restored his focus.

After that he gave her a look so intense she could not help take a step back.

"You know, we can still walk away from this before it gets out of control," she suggested.

She did not hold much hope that he would accept it. He looked really pissed, probably because she had damaged his shiny armour.

Suddenly he raised his sword at her and she felt him cast a spell. However, before she could react a light came down from the sky and enshrouded her. This light was different from the one that weakened her. Instead of spreading out, it stayed on her, hurting her. She felt it slowly eat away at her skin, causing immense pain.

She could not avoid screaming.