Nicholas, The apostle

Shortly after deceiving the dead Pope into taking Shiva to his resting place, our friendly-neighborhood necromancer arrived at the base of an old, withered tree.

[The long-dead Pope sighs while looking at his lonely grave for a moment before recollecting himself and speaking to the sinful child to be grateful, many would die to be where he is right now. He commented on how the child should thank his life's fortune that he got to see a Pope's holy burial ground, let alone a Pope as renowned as himself.]

The soul of Nicholas kept spouting such nonsense, thinking that the person 'listening' actually cared for what he had to say. As the soul hovered near the roots of the tree husk, the psycho behind him smiled innocently and spoke up with a caring smile plaster on his stupid face.

"Oh, Shinned One! How awful it is to see your grave in such disrepair, it brings a tear to my eyes. Not only that, but you must have spent decades here all by yourself with no one to talk with. How aren't you bored here after all this time, alone with nothing besides your thoughts?"

[The Soul looks upset and admits that, yes, it has indeed been quite tough being alone for so long, if he hadn't already been dead, he'd have died of pure boredom. So, it wasn't inaccurate to say that he was quite bored of his day-to-day routine.]

Shiva chuckled sinisterly and responded in a weird, mysterious voice, "That's terrible to hear, well I know exactly what to do to fix this issue of yours. How about I give you some company and spice up your daily life? No need to thank me, I'm taking a page out of your book and doing this service "free of charge". You're welcome."

[The Soul looked visibly confused and asks what he meant by…]

He was cut off by Shiva who used the same skill he used the last time he met a weird old man who was all alone.

"Soul Reap"

An invisible force shot out from Shiva and bound the soul of Nicholas. Like an electric magnet that got its switch flipped, the soul was dragged back to Shiva's body. Right before he was completely sucked into Shiva's body, he called out, not as a soul using the system to communicate, but as a ghostly wail, a voice he hadn't used till now, showing the clear shock he was going through.

{What's ha...ppening? What… what did you...do?}

The suction force redoubled its efforts to gobble up the Soul and overpower its resistances, till finally, the soul was nowhere to be seen.

-------POV: Nicholas-------

Next to what appeared to be the River Styx that flowed across the land as far as the eye could see, a body materialized. Nicholas looked around at his new surroundings in a panic, wondering what the hell that evil little rat did to his holy self, still trying to figure out what is even happening.

"You are, my dear friend, are sh*t out of luck here, bahahaha!" All of a sudden, his thoughts of where he was came to a grinding halt as that voice made itself known to him. The shocking part was that it was the voice of someone from long, long ago. From a person, he thought he'd finally never have to speak to. Sadly, as he turned his head towards the direction of the voice, all his fears came true.

"You b*stard, what did you have done to me?! ...wait! How in all things Holy are you even here, you're supposed to be locked up on the 7th floor!"

"Huh. Are you really that curious about me that that is your question, rather than a multitude of others that, in my opinion, should have precedence? Meh, anyways, don't worry I'll tell you everything you'll want to know about. After all, we have all the time in the world to catch up now, as long as this kid doesn't die on us, that is."

"What… do you mean by that?" Nicholas asked, more confused now than when he was first brought to this weird dimension.

"Oh, don't worry about the small stuff. The party is not over yet, look there," as he pointed to what was going on outside.

-----POV: Shiva----

[You have obtained the soul of Nicholas, The Apostle]

Shiva saw the message and look towards the base of the tree and spoke the magic words.

"Summon Skeleton"

A skeleton's hand shot out of the ground, slowly rising from the earth until finally, the whole body was visible. Its bones were an unnaturally vibrant white, it was borderline glowing. The bones themselves were in mint condition without a single blemish, flaw, or a single crack across the whole thing's frame.

[You have summoned the skeleton of Nicholas, The Apostle, lv.254]

[The level of the skeleton is more than 50 of the summoner]

[The level of the skeleton has been forcefully reduced to lv.100]

[An epic rank skeleton has been summoned]

[The body of the epic skeleton has offset some of the restrictions of Undead]

[As a result, the summon could use 60% of its original power]

{What are you doing to my body, you slimy rat! How dare you disrespect me like this, after I gave you the opportunity to wash yourself of sin and reach redemption, THIS is how you repay me?! NO! Do you know who I am? I'm Pope Nicholas, Nicholas the Apostle, favored child of the Light herself! Do you know what you've done? What will happen to you...}

Nicholas kept raging in the soul wallet void that was the skill "Soul Reap", spouting curses at Shiva, his parents, and the 13 generations before and after him. That said, these curses were having minimal impact on the thick-skinned necromancer as he had much more important things that were currently preoccupying his attention.

[An epic skeleton has been summoned for the first time]

[As a reward for this achievement, 10% of the body's restriction has been further offset by the Tower]

[The body's history is influencing the epic skeleton]

[The skeleton has successfully evolved into a 'Death Priest']

Right now, Shiva's mind was thinking about how he had gained another powerful summon. Currently, it would probably take two of his main summons to defeat a lv.100 Skeleton with 70% of its power of when it was alive. The next thought he had was how if only he could find a body of a powerful monster and combine it with the skeleton, its power would soar while its restriction would be offset by another 10%! He would potentially gain a summon comparable to his main summons like Kapali, that is if all went well anyway. "Crazy Combine" isn't the most reliable skill after all.

[

Name:?

Race: Undead Skeleton

Level: 100

Class: Death Priest

Title: * Former Pope:-

He was the 58th Pope for the Church of Light. Even if he is no longer the Pope anymore, the lingering aura of divine power he channeled while alive remains and is still strong enough to suppress the Demonic and Holy powers.

Effect: +20% light attack damage

+50% resistance against both Holy and Demonic attacks

* Former Apostle:-

He was once the Apostle of the Goddess of Light, but due to his death, the title is revoked from him, but the experience of being an apostle has made his body and bones much stronger.

Effect: +20% defense

Mana - 51200

Stats:

Strength - 158

Dexterity - 214

Constitution - 235

Perception - 154

Intelligence - 512

Skills:-

1. Undeath Restoration(active-lv.1):

Restores the Death energy of the being and heal the undead to a certain degree.

mana usage- 500

cast time- instant

cooldown- 1 minute

2. Summon Death(active-lv.1):

Summons a massive scythe to cut down everything in its path. It will deal 400% damage to everything in its path if the enemy's health is less than half.

mana usage- 5000

cast time- 3 seconds

cooldown- 30 minutes

3. Darkness Blast(active-lv.1):

Create a Darkness Blast at a specified place around 5 feet from the caster. It deals 150% damage to the target and blinds the enemy for 3s.

mana usage- 100

cast time- instant

cooldown- 30 seconds.

4. Unholy Blessing(active-lv.1):

Caster uses death energy the same way the body remembers how it used holy energy while it was alive. The result is an Unholy Blessing that enhances the damage and defense of the targeted undead creature, enhancing its ability to stand against the living.

mana usage- 500

cast time- instant

cooldown- 5 minutes

5. Mass Death Wave(active-lv.1):

The caster summons a wave of Death energy that surrounds him by an 8-meter radius that looks like a dark miasma. The wave heals Undead creatures in the specified area while dealing damage over time in the form of a curse to the unlucky living creatures caught in the area.

mana usage - 7000

cast time- 5 min

cooldown- 2 hours.

]

{How dare you pollute my divine body, you vile worm!?} (Old Pope)

Shiva just started listening in again and realized that the Pope was still going at it, cursing Shiva's good name.

{Don't worry, the party is still not over yet. Bahah, buckle up Nicholas. It's fixing to get that much better.} (Old Sage)

The old Sage, who was jollier than a kid on Christmas, was looking at Shiva who was now having a creepy smile that spread from ear to ear. Seeing this, the old Sage couldn't help chuckling to himself.

"Ugram, scout the surrounding area and find me a monster with at least a lv.100, the stronger the better."

"Yes, Master. I finally get to practice my life skill more," the massive bone Dragon flew into the sky as his master commanded and started searching for prey.

{What are you planning, you b*stard. Any further sins and I'll never forgive you.} (Old Pope)

"Oh! Nothing serious, just thinking of strengthening your body, is all. No need to be so worried," Shiva replied to the furious Pope with a calm assuring voice, "By the way, you are way too poor for a Pope. I was thinking that your grave would be filled with some rare artifacts, but everything is just stone and soil. What a poor beggar. I pity you, Nicholas. For all that big talk about being so important, your wallet sure doesn't show it," Shiva's tone suddenly became honest as he sneered at the old Pope.

{Like hell I'd keep my loot at my burial, grave robbers are abundant here. Are you r*traded? Not only that, as if I'd even tell u about any of my secrets.} (Old Pope)

"Tch!" Shiva is quite annoyed with this senior citizen's antics and was wondering if he should just pull the plug on him with how he's acting.

****

------POV: Unknown-----

"Are you really going to participate in the Colosseum?", a woman, with beauty so profound that it ascended the nine heavens, asked a man, who was cleaning a pitch-black broadsword soaked in blood.

"Hmm," he just nodded, not even distracted by her beauty one bit.

"Things will get troublesome after you expose yourself. Somethings can't be done with power alone," the one took on a caring tone trying to persuade the stoic man.

But the man wasn't going to hear it. Instead, he talked to her in a tone that showed his stubborn resolve. "I know, and that's why I am participating. I can't become the Sword Saint just by hiding, can I?"

"...", the woman went silent at his remark

"You said it yourself, you are not the first person to get the class. I hope 'He' is participating in the Colosseum too," she said remembering the time when the system said she was the third person to get the class.

"I hope so too, I want to know how strong he is," pure fighting intent made the air around them stifling, not that they appeared to notice.

"So, let us meet in the colosseum. I hope you won't get eliminated too early."

"That's what I wanted to say, watch yourself, you can only lose to me."

*****

(edited by JokeDagger)

A big one(about 2100 words), and sorry for the late release. On the other hand due some minor issues as well as due to the contract being verified, We will go on a week long break, I will apologies in advance and a good news would be that a mass release will be made on the exactly after a week, with extra daily chapters, The colosseum is going to start in next chapter, Are you exited? Let me know in the comments.

Thank you.