8 Chapter 8: The Gem of Control

Carmen ran his finger through his hair, brushing off the dirt from the long golden strands to reveal a vibrant luster. He had been doing that a lot lately. It was a habit that he had picked up from…he didn't even know. Which was bad.

Something strange had been happening. While he remembered everything that he did—he remembered physically performing every movement of his own will, with his own reasons—there were some times when he felt an odd sense of detachment. Like it wasn't really him that made the movements and decisions.

Stranger still was that whenever he directed his thoughts toward those peculiarities, the feeling of detachment simply disappeared…like now…

Carmen walked up the tunnel. The bags of ore were small and filled quickly, so he made the trip several dozen times a day. By now, even though no more than a week had passed, he could make the trip with his eyes closed.

Having absorbed over a dozen zombies already—five miners, two sack zombies, eight expansion zombies since they wouldn't be missed for at least a week—in three days, he had grown so strong that the ore sack which he needed to carry on his back at first could easily be lifted with one arm.

If he pushed himself and concentrated, he could even run without tripping.

By now, if he wished, he could kill Orlog, but he held himself back. Orlog hadn't noticed the missing zombies yet, and he still had room to grow.

For now, the gem of control still held sway over him. Until he broke free from the gem, he could never truly escape.

Besides, he didn't know what that acolyte will return. It wouldn't do if she interrupted him and in inopportune time.

After he dropped off his sack of ore and returned into the depths of the tunnels, he tossed his bag to one of the labouring sack zombies and descended deeper into the mines, toward the bottom of the artificial cave system.

Carmen had begun preying on the expansion zombies after it was becoming difficult to find a mining or sack zombie that she could kill and eat without impacting ore production enough for Orlog to notice. Obviously, the sorting zombies were off limits.

That only left the expansion zombies, which he at first hesitated to near because of the black mist they constantly gave off. The feeling of his mind almost being taken over was unforgettable, and perhaps even left a mental scar of subconscious fear.

That scar disappeared, healed, when he cautiously descended down into the deepest parts of the mine and braved the needle-like attacks on his mind without even flinching.

Right before its comrades, she had selected a zombie of medium size and tore it limb from limb, sucking it dry of its black mist, taking its power for herself.

Because the expansion zombie was so large, it needed more mana just to move. The amount of power Carmen absorbed from that single expansion zombie was almost twice the amount of a sack zombie.

She might have stayed and eaten another one if the attacking mist didn't grow stronger all of a sudden.

Still, the expansion zombies were a…delicacy, with intense undead power that she found herself going back again and again, almost neglecting her sack zombie duties. Before she realized it, she had already eaten seven zombies and was starting on her eighth.

"Just a few more and I'll probably become a real zombie knight," Carmen whispered as she headed down toward the workstation that the expansion zombies had set up. "So close, yet so far."

She placed her hand on the rough cave walls, feeling the bumps and ridges beneath her finger. The air shimmered and seemed to catch on the stone, peeling away. The glamour magic that covered her drew away like a curtain.

Gone with the illusion magic was her rotten appearance, along with the dirt and grime. Her unsteady gait steadied until it became a confident stride, so carefree that it was almost as if the ground she walked on was not rough and uneven stone, but rather carpeted marble.

The rotten zombie girl was nowhere to be seen, and walking in her place was a young girl with golden hair that reached down to her upper thighs. Although she still wore the tattered rags, she didn't look at all pitiful.

Carmen ran her fingers through her hair again before she grabbed a handful, splitting it into three bundles, and began to braid her hair in order to kill time. It was a long way down.

When she finally arrived at the opening in the slanted tunnels, Carmen simply shook the braid loose and let her hair fall from her fingers.

As always, waiting for her at the entrance of the workstation, was a wall of black mist. As she approached, instead of approaching her like they used to do, the mist instead shrank back, bulging inwards away from her.

"Oh? I see you've learned that attacking me is pointless," Carmen said with a smile. To some extent, she had predicted this reaction. After the eighth expansion zombie, the attacks of the mist went from an irritation to no more than a tickle. Now that she had completely digested the power of the eighth zombie, and the mist had one less zombie body to use as a weapon, her mind should be totally impervious to being assimilated.

She hadn't stayed for longer because she needed to bring up a bag of ore on time, but it felt so pointless. Once she became a zombie knight, she no longer needed to carry these ore sacks anymore.

There was no use in keeping up the pretense if she could just evolve here and now, and leave right after.

"And so, with that said, I suppose this place has become a personal buffet," Carmen said. She looked around the cave room and began to count the zombies. "One, two, three…eight…twenty present, with some in the tunnels. That should be enough."

Closing her eyes, she pointed in a random direction. When she opened her eyes again, the direction she pointed at turned out to be free of zombies, but there was a rather large zombie nearby.

With a small sigh of disappointment, Carmen moved her finger so it pointed in the right direction. "I suppose I'll start with you. How rude, ignoring me when I don't even have a conversation partner."

She bit her lip. The zombie didn't even turn around. Instead, it was hard at work sharpening a pick that had dulled from hitting rock all day. It looked like it was concentrating so hard that Carmen hesitated to bother it, but fair was fair. It wasn't her fault it was unlucky.

She walked over to the zombie and kicked at its leg. The moment her foot came into contact with the zombie's lower leg, the zombie buckled as it lost its support. The bone in the leg broke in two, sending the zombie crashing into the ground.

"Much easier to reach now."

Like usual, she started with the head. After absorbing so many zombies, Carmen had already grown used to harvesting the energy. Without even needing to use her other hand, she simply pierced her fingers through the skull, and using the holes as a grip, twisted off the head of the zombie with a flick of her wrist.

The undead mana within the head, the unmanifested black mist, disappeared into her body without any fanfare.

While Carmen didn't need to break the body into little pieces, it was the same concept as chewing. Breaking up the zombie made absorbing each piece more manageable and it was easier to ensure she didn't miss any energy.

Arms, torso, legs. She worked her way down until finally, the zombie was merely a normal corpse. Left alone amidst all these undead, it may rise again as a new zombie, but she wasn't going to give it the chance to.

Today, before sundown, she was going to consume this entire mine.

"How strong will I be if I absorb everything? I doubt it will be enough to become a lord, but perhaps a strong knight is possible," Carmen murmured as she decapitated another zombie. She had gotten her other hand dirty already, so this time she snapped off the head with both hands. It was much easier than using one hand.

The absorbing second zombie didn't take much time either, and Carmen quickly started on the third. But as she sank her fingers into the zombie's still heart, a sudden weight pressed down upon her and every other zombie nearby.

Unlike her, the normal zombies couldn't remain standing and fell onto the ground, flattening as if crushed under some incredibly powerful force. Although Carmen didn't fall, she still sank to one knee despite her resistance.

"The gem of control?" she muttered. "Why is he using it now? What is he doing?"

As far as she knew, she hadn't been gone long enough for Orlog to miss her yet. She should've had plenty of time to grow stronger and evolve into a zombie knight, breaking free from the gem's control entirely, but out of nowhere someone used the gem! Did one of the sorting zombies break free?

Fighting the immobilizing command, Carmen managed to push herself to her feet. Her bones creaked as it protested the two conflicting orders it received—remain still, from the gem, and move, from herself.

If she had been her old self, freshly raised, Carmen would have been helpless against the gem's compulsion. But now, with the strength of over a dozen zombies, she could still move, if just barely.

Gritting her teeth, Carmen stomped toward one of the fallen zombies. Just because she was compelled by the gem to remain still didn't mean she couldn't still grow stronger.

Perhaps she could even evolve with just one more and cast off this pressure?

As she took her first bite from the collapsed zombie, too stiff to do her usual decapitation, the pressure grew stronger, giving her pause. "Is the gem coming down?"

The power of the gem varied with distance. With the amount of control the gem is exerting over her growing, she knew the person that held the gem had entered the tunnels and was heading deeper down.

Was Orlog conducting a check that she wasn't aware of? That was really bad. If the gem got much closer, even she will succumb.

"I should hurry." Her hand that had been resting on top of the zombie's neck acted as a channel that sucked the power within the collapsed zombie into her.

As the zombie became a normal corpse, the pressure on its body seemed to fade.

However, what Carmen wished for—to evolve into a zombie knight in the nick of time with her last available victim—did not happen. Unfortunately, no other zombie was within grasp, so she couldn't even challenge that final threshold once more.

She was trapped like a small animal in the gaze of a snake, unable to escape—frozen.

The gem drew nearer as it came down the sloped tunnels. Carmen fixed her gaze toward the entrance of the doorway. What was Orlog doing at the bottom of the mines?

Finally, the perpetrator revealed itself as it stepped into the large, dimly lit chamber, and Carmen's mouth would have dropped open if she could move.

"Stop there!"

It was the strangely familiar acolyte, who had been missing for three days.

While she had been gone, Carmen occasionally wondered where she was. Perhaps the surveillance was only temporary, or the acolyte had unfinished business back at her church.

But never did she even consider the possibility that her cover had been blown, and that the first thing the acolyte would do upon returning was to use the gem of control to suppress her.

Mustering all of the strength within her body, Carmen tried to stand up, but instead, the strength drained from her limbs. She could only watch with a pale face in silence as the acolyte held up the gem of control in her left hand.

In the acolyte's right hand, a ball of pure golden light gathered, growing stronger and stronger.

Chapter 9: Fleur the Hypocrite

In the dark cavern, the ball of holy magic grew until its brightness rivaled the sun. Carmen squinted against the light, the rays that struck her warm as if she truly was outside on a sunny day.

But that was that—the very same basic purification spell that had so frightened her when she first ran into the acolyte was no more than a little ball of warmth.

The acolyte frowned as she placed the gem of control into her pocket. Raising her now freed hand, she began to pour even more mana into the little ball. It continued to grow and shrink, alternating as the acolyte packed more and more magic into the spell.

Carmen couldn't help but marvel at the degree of control the acolyte had over her mana. Although Purification was a basic spell, its simplicity allowed many different expressions and variations, and advanced control over the spell was a good test on an acolyte's magic.

The acolyte was a good caster—if she had become a knight candidate in one of the orders, Carmen wouldn't have hesitated to take her under his…her own wings, if not as a knight, then as a templar mage.

It was a shame that they now stood on opposite sides. Besides, this acolyte was an actor in this perverse arrangement of undead labour. As a follower of the Gods, she should know better, so Carmen had no scruples about killing her however she could.

Finally, as sweat beaded on her brow, the acolyte reached her limits. Like a dam breaking against a flood, an intense ray of light shot out from the ball, fanning out to completely enclose Carmen within its limits.

"Purifica—tion!" A loud cry rose from the acolyte's throat as she unleashed the spell, the last syllables stretching out dramatically.

Carmen held back a smile at the acolyte's antics, even as the scorching bright light washed over her. The light felt like the rays of a noon sun on a particularly hot day, pleasant at first, but rapidly becoming uncomfortable.

For as long as the mana compressed in the ball lasted, the bright rays continued unabated, but the acolyte could only control so much mana at once.

As the well ran dry, the purification spell petered out until it was merely a weak glow, sustained only by the constant trickle of magic that the acolyte could output at once.

Finally, even that stopped as the acolyte bent over, placing her hands on her knees, panting hard.

Carmen opened her eyes. "Was that it?"

The acolyte's face reddened. "W—what do you mean?"

"If that was the best you can do, you should give up now. Your Purification wasn't even enough to scratch me," Carmen answered. Her hand seeked to drift up to her hair again, but the immobilization command stopped her. She sighed—she really needed to get rid of that habit. "You're a relatively new acolyte, aren't you?"

The acolyte didn't answer her question. Instead, she forced back her unsightly panting and stood up straight, throwing out her chest. "I ask the questions here, demon! Are you a zombie knight?"

Her gaze traveled up and down Carmen's body. Carmen tried to shift her body to bring more of it into the acolyte's sight. She knew what the acolyte was searching for—signs of rot.

Although Carmen still didn't know what she looked like exactly, she already knew that there was not a single blemish on her body. Her appearance right now should look indistinguishable from a normal human, the hallmark of a zombie knight.

She licked her lips as the acolyte's gaze flicked back to her face and swallowed. A shiver, possibly from fear, ran through the girl's body as realization dawned on her about just what she was facing.

A true higher undead.

Unfortunately, Carmen wouldn't be able to meet her expectations. Although the acolyte's fear was amusing to behold, Carmen couldn't help but be disappointed with herself—let alone the acolyte's expectations, she hadn't even met her own . She shook her head, trying to shake away the feeling.

It was much more fun playing with the acolyte. She had all the time in the world—the acolyte was bound to get tired, while Carmen had the limitless stamina of an undead.

"Answer me! Are you a zombie knight?!" the acolyte asked, her voice shaking.

"Nope! Why? Did you think I was?" Carmen asked. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not yet a zombie knight. If I was, I wouldn't be lying here in such an unsightly pose."

The acolyte stamped her feet. "I knew it! Wait, huh? You're not a zombie knight? But my Purification didn't work at all!"

"You're mistaken if you think the transition from a normal zombie to a zombie knight is a step rather than a slope. I am only a bit away from my evolution…" As she talked to keep the acolyte busy, Carmen began to investigate the strange force that restrained her.

Freezing her movements in all directions would have taken too much mana, so the immobilization command from the gem simply forced her in a single direction with tremendous force. By pressing her whole body against the ground, moving in any direction would be near impossible.

But more than what the spell did, Carmen was more interested in how it was being done. She wasn't exactly part of the collective, yet somehow the ruby was affecting her. It was strange.

She paused her thoughts long enough to think of something else to say to the acolyte.

"…mana within me renders me near immune to anything you can do. It's rather preposterous for you to even consider being able to harm an inch of my…"

Carmen toned the acolyte out again, returning to the bothersome command.

While her mind wasn't under control, the gem of control still forced her body to move directly with those commands.

Focusing on the gem, she found that there was an almost imperceptible connection tying her mana to the gem. Where the tether connected to it, it melted into her very being. There was no one point where she ended and the tether began.

Carmen frowned. The tether was probably a master-slave bond weaved into the raising spell. The gnome demons often created such bonds when they forged their golems—apparently, the Church figured out how to make these bonds as well and worked it into their undead raising spell.

Without destroying the gem, something that the gem will naturally prevent, she wouldn't be able to break free without becoming strong enough that their relation became equal, or reversed. That could only happen when she became a zombie knight.

In the end, everything hinged on her evolution. Was there no other option?

Finally, Carmen gave up on trying to break free from the gem's control of her own power.

"…and so, it would be best if you left me be," she said, finishing her speech to the fuming acolyte. She hid her irritation behind a bright smile.

Not only was the time she bought with her ramblings not enough for her to figure out a solution to the immobilization command, she even managed to make the acolyte go red in the face, somehow.

"How dare you suggest that I run away? It's either you or me. I swear that I will destroy you!" the acolyte shouted at last.

"Did you not hear me? I said it's useless. I already promised to let you go." At this point, it was fine even if she didn't kill Orlog or this acolyte. She was willing to let them slip by this time and only kill them if they opposed her in the future.

This acolyte didn't seem to care about her goodwill, though. Instead, after she caught her breath from her previous mana expenditure, she was once again gathering mana between her hands. Through the Purification spell, the gathered mana gained holy properties and began to glow brightly.

Carmen yawned. "Could it be that you are incapable of extrapolation?"

Slowly, the immobilization command was fading. Already, she could lift her hands, if only by a little. If the acolyte didn't reapply the command, she'll be able to stand in less than half an hour—not that she'll show it.

The acolyte didn't bother to hold the ball of light for as long this time. As soon as the spell completed, she fired the ray of light. Carmen squinted as the light enclosed her once more. Again and again, the acolyte casted Purification on her, each time to no avail.

Although Carmen hadn't planned on saying anything, the way the acolyte mindlessly tried the exact same thing over and over was irritating. "You might have better luck if you attacked directly with that ball," she said, as the acolyte began to cast Purification once more.

The acolyte stepped back. "You're just trying to make me come closer."

"I can't move," Carmen pointed out.

"Hmph." But despite the noise of annoyance she made, the acolyte ran in, and without warning, slammed the gathered ball of mana into Carmen's back before jumping away.

"Ah…" Carmen, who had let her guard down when the acolyte first stepped away, clenched her teeth against a yelp of pain. Despite her efforts, a gasp still slipped through.

What felt like the heat from a bonfire lit right on top of her skin flared from the spot where the ball hit.

Although the ball of mana didn't really harm her, it still hurt.

She didn't know why she suddenly decided to teach the acolyte a way to cause her pain, but now she regretted it. When she looked over at the acolyte again, the robed girl's eyes were shining, reflecting the light of another gathered ball of holy magic.

"…Why are you trying so hard to kill me anyway?" Carmen asked.

The acolyte paused at the question. The slip in concentration caused her spell to falter, though she quickly regained control again.

"Is it because I'm an undead?"

"Yes. You are an undead, an enemy of humanity. It's only natural that I eliminate you," the acolyte said.

"I see." What a naive reason. Carmen heard herself in the girl's words. When she had been a holy knight, she only needed that reason to take up her sword. But now, her list of enemies included other humans after learning about this mine.

Did this girl include humans as well?

"So I ask you, what is an enemy of humanity?" Carmen asked.

The acolyte blushed. "Y—you can't fool me with your words. You're not my teacher, so why are you asking me questions! Besides, isn't it obvious? Anything that opposes the wellbeing of humankind is an enemy. "

"Then, are you an enemy of humanity?"

"Of course not!"

"Why?"

"Why, you ask…? I'm an acolyte of the Church. It's my job to protect and bless the people…" she said.

Carmen shrugged, as if the explanation didn't really matter, causing the acolyte to blush again out of anger and embarrassment. "Y—you're just an undead!"

"That's right. I'm just an undead. But if I am an enemy of humanity by virtue of being an undead, then doesn't that make the people who created me an enemy of humanity as well?" Carmen asked.

"That's different. You're created as a workforce. It's to the benefit of the people!"

"Exactly. So why am I, a mere labourer, an enemy? Because I'm going to evolve into a zombie knight? Do you know what I'll do after I evolve?"

"Well, it's definitely not going to be staying in here and mining," the acolyte retorted. "You're probably going to kill people."

You got that right. Carmen smiled. "In any case, you are just a hypocrite. Without knowing anything about you, you labeled me an enemy. But using the same definitions, you refuse to admit that enemies lie within your Church. Don't you find that laughable?"

Her words struck like a hammer against the acolyte's faith and the girl stood there, stunned. Carmen couldn't fault her, since she felt much the same a week ago.

But as long as she faces the contradictions head on without dodging or looking for easy answers, the girl will certainly become a bright priestess, free of corruption and with a noble goal. Carmen had already decided to spare her as a gamble for the Church's future.

"Girl, what is your name?" she asked. "Your conviction and bravery is commendable. I think you have a bright future ahead of you."

Her question snapped the acolyte out of her trance. "Ah, my name is Fleur…hey, wait, I didn't ask for your praise! Don't talk to me like you're my elder. You're half my size!" she growled.

Carmen was tempted to change her mind and strangle her when she broke free. "Don't talk about my height!"

"Shut up! Die!" The holy power between Fleur's hands grew steadily.

Carmen's still heart throbbed as she realized the girl was gathering mana faster than before, and the energy contained within that ball of holy light was greater than even the first cast of Purification.