Alone

"Haaa!"

After he was done addressing all of his followers subsequent to the conference's conclusion, Lucius slid into his room and collapsed on his bed. He could feel his body slowly bounce on the mattress that now held up his weight, causing his mental fatigue to slowly melt away. It wasn't soft by any means, but compared to the hard surface of the stone chair that he sat on for what felt like hours… Lucius preferred this by far.

Of course, he wasn't feeling any pain—at least, not in the real sense of it.

However, his body still recognized comfort and discomfort, and while there were no adverse effects on his physical state, he still had preferences. 

'I don't want to be nitpicky right now, especially due to the current state of the Cult, but a lot of things will soon have to change around here…' He sighed. 'Even this bed… it's certainly not the best.'

In his previous life as Lucius, he spent most of his time in the hospital, and the beds he often used were at the pinnacle of comfort—especially designed to cater for someone with his rare illness.

'How ironic is it that I couldn't fully appreciate the comfort back then because of the state of my body, and now that I have such a good body, I can't experience that comfort again?' He asked himself with a wry smile.

 In the grand scheme of things, though, Lucius felt he had gained more than he lost.

One quick look at the dark and sparsely furnished room, and he could feel the gloom weighing heavily on him. However, all of these things could be remedied. With more members, the Cult could have more manpower to generate some sort of revenue.

'The Cult should also enjoy some of the wealth that the Cathars have if we absorb them into our ranks.' He reasoned with a smile, his arms spread wide as his dark hair spilled over the bed's surface.

He couldn't wait for such moments to arrive.

'For now, I'll have to just learn as much as possible about the situation I'm in and simulate scenarios.'

He would have loved to have Lili teach him more about things in order to fill up the gap in his knowledge, but she was busy with the fortification efforts. As for Luca, who seemed like he would be really interesting to talk with—at least, for the sake of learning about the normal life outside of the dry and dreary woods he was trapped in—he was accompanying Legion to the Cathars.

'They should already be on their way there, I think…'

As a result of all the moving parts in the Cult, Lucius felt like the odd one out, since he was the only idle person. 

The loneliness associated with leadership…he began to understand it now.

'Just so I'm productive, I should use this time to reflect on my abilities and familiarize myself with them.' He told himself. 'Since I have no System, I have to figure everything out on my own.'

A sigh nearly escaped his lips, but he suppressed his slight frustration.

'I've always loved playing games. I played quite a lot of them back then due to my sedentary lifestyle, and honestly… having a System right now would have been perfect.' 

Unfortunately, life couldn't be that easy.

He couldn't just have a framework that explained every single ability at his disposal and represented it in numerical value. He couldn't have Skills, as well as a level-up mechanism that facilitated his growth.

'Instead, I have this instinctive reaction towards my abilities… almost as if my body knows what it can do, but I haven't fully figured it out yet.' He slowly rose to his feet as these thoughts swirled in his mind.

'In that case, I need to go over everything and see if there is anything I've missed.'

At the moment, he already knew of a few abilities he had in his arsenal—even aside from his superhuman constitution and heightened physical prowess.

First on his list was the [Death Touch], which allowed him to render death upon anything he touched, essentially turning them to dust. 

'It's effects are slower on Blessed Weapons, so I can assume it isn't an absolute ability.'

Then, he had the [Death Call].

This was the ability he used to create all his Undead—essentially activating something within the Souls and returning them to their Corpses so they could become his undying followers.

Legion was an exception, since he first had to manipulate the thousand souls within him and transfer it to another body before he could then turn that into a specific—higher—kind of Undead.

'I'll call that [Death Transfiguration].' He smiled, already pleased with how good he was at naming. This had to be one of the perks of being a gamer. 'I should add [Soul Manipulation] to the mix, since it's pretty much a part of my arsenal at this point.'

Finally, Lucius recalled his ability to sense the intentions of the Undead that were under his control, and even read their minds if he wanted to. 

'Let's call that [Death Probe]... yeah, that sounds about right.'

These were all the abilities he had asides the obvious Immortality and other superhuman abilities.

'I should try to see if I can do more.' He nodded emphatically, stretching his body despite there being no need to.'

As Lord Mors, he was constantly in peak physical condition.

'... I've got nothing better to do, anyway.'

***********

The sounds of footsteps echoed in the dark, dreary woods, as two silhouettes advanced in the fog-filled darkness, traversing the arduous path laid before them.

No, it wasn't exactly a path.

The cluster of dry trees surrounded the two figures—one small, one huge—and the only space they had to walk was the dirty road that had tiny sprouts of dry trees already growing on them. In another couple of years, it was clear that there would be no 'path' anymore.

Still, thanks to their feet crushing the small seedlings, that future was further postponed—not that the duo was aware, or even cared, to begin with.

They walked in silence for a while, until someone broke the silence.

"How much longer? I.. my legs are almost about to give out." The one who spoke—albeit in a feeble whisper—was Luca, and he wasn't lying about his current physical state.

They had been walking all day, and it was now the dead of night… yet not for one moment had they stopped to rest. Even though he was previously a soldier, he had only been one for a few months.

Plus, he was still human in the end.

Walking at a consistent pace for half a day, without any chance to rest, was too much for any normal person to handle—soldier or not.

The only reason his partner—Legion—didn't feel anything like that was because they were Undead. 

Luca understood the whole thing, and he was well aware that Legion would never tire.

'Because of that, I tried holding my exhaustion in, but… I've really hit my limit at this point.' Luca collapsed on his two knees, feeling the spiky undergrowth pierce his skin. That caused him to wince a little, but since his legs were numb already and he was too tired to even scream, he just let it be. 

He was already feeling much worse for his weakness.

"I-I'm sorry, Knight Legion…" He murmured, watching the hulking Death Knight pause his march and turn to look at him. "P-please just give me ten minutes—no, five minutes—to catch my breath. I'll be up and running in no time."

The Death Knight looked at him with a calm, emotionless facade.

'Damnit! I'm holding him back, aren't I? I didn't want to be dead weight, so I offered to tag along in order to prove myself to everyone. I never thought the destination would be so far, so I ended up being a burden anyway…' Gritting his teeth, he looked away from the stationary Knight, unable to look him in the eye.

Luca had been weak his whole life, and he had been a burden for far longer. 

He hated the feeling, but that was simply how he was.

He had even grown to accept it.

But, somehow… he didn't want to be so useless and weak to the Heresy Cult. Even though there was no real expectation placed on him, he felt like he needed to do more.

'I'm surrounded by such amazing people… and I was given this second chance by a literal god.' Sniffing slightly, he clenched his fist to the point where his palm whitened as a result of how hard he pressed. 

'I can't screw this u—' 

"Luca…" Legion's deep voice echoed softly in the thick woods, forcing the frustrated former soldier to lift his gaze.

Once he did… he saw a most unexpected sight.

—Legion's buttocks.

Indeed! The Death Knight's armored butt was staring him squarely in the face.

"Hop on. I'll carry you." Legion was squatting, his bare back waiting for Luca to climb so they could continue their journey.

"A-ah!" Luca still felt bad for being a burden, but he felt inclined to take the offer.

At the very least, this wouldn't slow down the mission.

"Thank you, Knight Legion."