Chapter 47

"Undeads?" Merlin frowned as he stared at the frantic eagle flying around in circles. He'd summoned Eldora to watch over the two other people that Eugene had knocked unconscious. "What do you—"

Though Merlin would immediately realize what his familiar was talking about, from where Eldora had flown from, two figures swiftly made their way over towards them, their figures and appearance looked the same as the people they once knew.

Theodore narrowed his eyes at the incoming enemy, using True Dragon Eyes to look at their status.

<<Name: Lira Deans

HP: ???

Status Condition: ???

Species: ???

Age: 22

Rank: AAAAAAAAAAA

Class: Ninja

Specialty: Close-range combat. Swordsmanship.>>

<<Name: Brendon Maxwell

HP: 600,000/600,000

Status Condition: None. Healthy.

Species: ???

Age: 21

Rank: AAAAAAAAAAA

Class: Paladin

Specialty: Support. Good team coordination.>>

'Their classes had changed as well…' Theodore frowned, eyes glancing towards Derek who was staring at them warily while trying to look for any sort of opening that he could use to attack, it seemed that despite being reduced to such a state, he still retained some human intellect.

He turned towards Eugene. "Take care of Derek, kill him if you must."

Eugene was slightly hesitant at the request, though he nodded anyway before lunging towards the unsuspecting tiger which seemed to be the signal for the other two crazed people as well. The moment they were finally close enough to the group, they would begin attacking everyone wildly while screaming like they'd lost their minds.

Theodore didn't do anything for now though as he watched everyone rush into the fight, noticing that Merlin and Eugene were struggling against those people that they'd once easily defeated. The Paladin and the Ninja were an odd pair, but it was a balance between offensive speed and supportive tank, each time Merlin tried to shoot the frail ninja, the tanker would simply get in the way and block the attack.

'…They can take multiple S rank skills.' Theodore deducted, turning his attention towards Miles who'd just been sent flying into the ground by Brendon.

The two mages, Sara and Alex, were trying to keep their distance and attack them with their magics, Sara being the offensive-type caster and Alex doing his best to assist her, however, due to the woman's slow casting speed, Lira was quickly able to close in the distance between them.

Theodore extended out one hand before a green magic circle manifested in nearly an instant before a blast of energy shot directly towards the crazed ninja, hitting her directly in the side and knocking her to the ground, however, she only wobbled slightly before getting up and turning her attention towards him, her expression had no trace of sanity left.

[Venom Blast.]

[The target 'Lira Deans' has been inflicted with—]

[Error! The Status Condition 'Poison' has been dispelled!]

Theodore already had a clue that a low tier spell like Venom Blast wouldn't do too much to something that can easily take multiple highest tier magic, however he didn't expect that Lira would recover from a God's Magic that quickly despite its low level.

The ninja chose not to attack him though and instead she aimed towards the weaker prey; Sara and Alex. Lira moved at an amazing speed that only left her afterimage behind and in nearly an instant she managed to bring her dagger down onto Sara's back, cutting her with no hesitation for her old friend.

Alex screamed in horror at the sight of blood splattering out of the gaping wound and he tried to run away, however Lira was several hundred times faster than a mere support mage and soon he would be killed just like Sara, back drenched in blood as a wide, vertical wound ran down his spine.

Theodore was planning on killing them either way, so he used this as an opportunity to test out his theory. His eyes fixated on the two dead bodies while ignoring whatever was happening all around him, even Lira was ignoring his presence and headed straight towards Miles, who was now forced to fight as well.

'…So I am right.' Theodore watched as suddenly the once lifeless bodies twitched and turned in horrifying angles, as if they were all being possessed by a demon, Sara was the first to rise from the bloody floor followed by Alex who instantly began casting a weird spell, muttering the incantation to himself in a rough voice.

Theodore couldn't recognize the spell, it wasn't something he'd seen or heard of before so he began to worry about it a little, however he did feel a sense of familiarity in the aura that Alex's magic was radiating.

'Demon Arts.'

Still, he didn't know what sort of spell Alex was trying to cast so he could only watch while keeping his eyes on what Sara would do.

And unexpectedly for a mage, she charged at him while screaming like a barking rabid dog. Theodore was wondering what her or whatever had taken her body's end goal was but for now he simply edged to the side and dodged her grasp.

But when he turned around to face Sara, he was met with a blast of fire straight to the face, followed by a string of notifications that rang out inside his head.

[You've been hit with an Advance Spell '???'.]

[You've been inflicted with the Status Condition 'Burn'.]

[You've been inflicted with the Status Condition 'Corrosion'.]

[Warning! You do not have any resistance to Status Conditions!]

[The Personal Attribute 'Scales of the Serpent' is trying to dispel the debuff!]

[The Skill 'Asclepius' Secret' is working on a cure! It'll approximately take three minutes.]

Pain coursed through his entire body, the feeling of something hot tracing against his skin made the corrosion even more painful to endure. However, Theodore gritted his teeth through it and casted a spell.

Instantly, an ice spike shot forward from the ground where a magic circle had appeared and impaled Sara, she was somehow still squirming around in an attempt to break free while having her lungs pierced, though with the frostbites spreading and locking her to the spear, she would soon be left to die from hypothermia.

Theodore turned his attention towards his friends, it seemed that they were now working together to take care of each of their enemies, Eugene often following up Merlin's arrows when Brendon came to block his attack while trying his best to fulfill his role as a semi-tanker.

Lira had gone back to attacking them as well, though more specifically, she was focusing on Miles. Theodore could only assume that she wanted to convert the last person into that state as well.

'…Should I wipe them out? What if it's a trap?'

Even True Dragon Eyes couldn't see the information on what these crazy people had been inflicted with, it was practically something out of a horror movie since they'd somehow risen from the dead and were now acting like possessed maniacs.

Not to mention that they'd gotten stronger in the process too.

'If it's something that can't be revealed by True Dragon Eyes…' Theodore watched Eugene finally gaining the upper hand on the tiger and brought his axe down onto its neck, decapitating him, however even without his head, Derek was somehow still moving and continued to attack with his claws while blood gushed out of the wound. '…Does that mean that even the mysterious god doesn't even know what this is?'

The thought sent shivers down his spine.

'System, what do you think?'

[…There is no information about them on the Records.]

So he was right.

Theodore suddenly felt a burst of dark magic coming from somewhere, the intensity of the aura was so powerful that he thought a demon king had come to earth, however, when he turned his head towards the source, it turned out to be something else.

His eyes, his nose, and his ears were all dripping red from inside, Alex was standing in front of a large blood-red magic circle on the ground with his arms spread wide, a look of euphoria plastered on his twisted face.

Suddenly, everyone that's been turned into their zombie-like state turned their attention towards Alex, all ignoring the fight that they were once engaged in as they mindlessly marched towards the center of the circle, even the impaled Sara had broken off half of her body just so she could crawl towards it with the others.

"Theo, what the f*ck is happening…?" Merlin looked at Theodore with a concerned expression, he had some cuts all over his body though the wounds didn't look to be very deep.

"…I don't know." Theodore was trying to use True Dragon Eyes, however all that came up to him were question marks and error messages. "Don't get close to it, the demonic energy is strong enough to tear you apart."

He didn't know whether he should stop them or not, his feet seemed to be stuck to the ground as he could only stare at the scene in front of him, but then when he'd finally decided to act, drawing a pale yellow magic circle, the System suddenly spoke up and interrupted his concentration.

[That is not wise. You will die if you interrupt.]

Before Theodore could ask what it'd meant, all five of the rabid people had all gathered in the middle of the large circle, smiling from ear to ear as if they were happy about something.

But their terrified gaze told of another story.

"…Long live…The King…"

With a flash of blinding light accompanying the words that were spoken in unison, everyone along with the red magic circle disappeared, leaving only the traces of Demon Arts and proof of a battle behind.

Theodore felt frustrated that he didn't act earlier, but the gut feeling that'd been holding him back was too strong for him to resist. He turned around to face the rest of the people that were left, checking for their injuries and state.

['Asclepius' Secrets' had found the Cure to your abnormal status. Would you like to use the skill?]

After using 'Asclepius' Secrets' on his friend and himself, Theodore shifted his focus towards Miles, who was staring at the empty air where his old friends were with a horrified expression.

"Hey Miles," He would worry about all of the creepy stuff later since at that moment he had some unfinished business to clear up. "How much did Rhys pay all of you, exactly?"

.

.

.

Gabriel stared at the finished product in front of them, the circular frame had runic symbols embedded on them while a sinister magic circle was drawn underneath the base, expanding outwards until it was practically as large as the entire room itself.

In front of the machine was a pile of corpses, five bodies stacked on top of each other with a miniature version of the larger red circle underneath them, a trace of magical energy was radiating from the dead and was heading towards the machine's circular frame.

"…It seems like one managed to escape, will that be bad?" Gabriel spoke out loud, eyes still fixated in front of him.

[It will be tedious, but no. I can simply hunt them down along with the Apostle.]

Gabriel hummed in acknowledgement. "I understand, do you want me to activate the portal now?"

[What is there to wait for?]

The god's reply made Gabriel laugh. "You're so impatient, though I can't say I blame you, after all, you've been waiting for this for a very…very long time."

Without waiting for the other party to say anything more, Gabriel slowly made his way towards the corpse pile and began chanting something under his breath. He extended out his hand and a red magical aura began to pour through his fingers, traveling towards the bodies before the line twisted upwards and linked them to the machine.

The sounds of roaring engine soon filled up the entire garage and suddenly everything began to shake, in the middle of the portal, a spark of electricity erupted from thin air and it didn't take long until a swirling golden mist began to manifest, slowly expanding outwards while an aura of divinity grew with its size.

Just as the portal was about to touch the circular frame, the five corpses began to disintegrate into dust until eventually nothing was left.

'…Damn, the energy supply isn't enough…I need to use mine too.' Gabriel took deep breaths in an attempt to keep himself steady, the process seemed to be taking a toll on his body now that the portal was nearly opened, his entire body began to shake uncontrollably and his muscles weakened, though he pushed on with gritted teeths.

But then suddenly, a large beam of energy shot out from the portal and directly struck Gabriel, however despite the pain that he was feeling, he didn't make any move to try and escape at all. He instead looked up, as if he was letting the blast consume him.

Eventually the beam would disperse and Gabriel fell to his knees, panting heavily as his gaze averted to the charred floor beneath him. '…If I hadn't prepared for this, I would've died.'

[How naive…You'll still die anyway.]

Gabriel's eyes widened at the god's words, however it was already too late, he suddenly felt a burning pain erupting from inside his chest and the heat spread outwards all over his body. He collapsed onto the ground while crying out in agony, brows furrowing as he struggled to speak. "Why…Why…We had a…deal…"

[There is nothing that I can do, it's the only way I can descend onto the mortal world without scorching it with my mere presence. As a vessel, I must first make sure that you're strong enough.]

"You…used me…"

[You should be honored, mortal.]

Gabriel now found himself struggling to breathe, he clawed at his throat as if to forcefully open up his seemingly blocked tube, although all of his attempts weren't successful and in the end, his body fell limp.

[Your insignificant life will be of use to mine.]

After a moment of complete silence, the once dead Gabriel opened his eyes, however instead of his usual blue pupils, they'd now turned into a menacing gold, sharp and dangerous as his entire frame was also engulfed in a soft divine aura.

"Gabriel" stood up and dusted off his clothing before turning towards the portal, seeing that it was opened and ready for use. "…I should probably go break the Apostle's temples first…He has two, I believe."

With a wave of his hand, the golden portal began to pulsate, as if responding to its master's command, it shined brightly as figures began emerging through the opened portal, at first there seemed to be only a few, but soon enough the entire vast room would be filled with warriors, each wearing egyptian-style armor and holding their weapons of choice, their most distinct feature were the bandages that wrapped around certain parts of their abnormally pale bodies.

"My faithful worshippers, my warriors." The possessed Gabriel spread his arms while smiling to the thousands of his soldiers, all of which were staring at him with both veneration and anticipation. "The day has come! I will now purge the entire world of all that dares to defy me; integrity, law, justice! All that is Chaos shall now be rid of until only we, Order, remain!"

"All hail the King!" The pale soldiers replied with enthusiasm, raising their weapons while shouting at the top of their lungs, praising their leader as it was the only thing that they were born to do.

"However! There is an obstacle that stands in our way!" The room went silent. "Chaos' Apostle, the Snake had already made its move, it is trying to gain power! We must get rid of this nuisance at once!"

"Our lives lay bare before Your Majesty!"

Gabriel snapped his fingers and suddenly the portal began to change color, the gold slowly became darker and darker until it was pure black, the holiness and divinity replaced with something far more sinister; evil and eerie. He would speak to his soldiers the moment the portal's transformation was completed. "The Apostle had dared to establish its own temples! My faithful worshippers, by my order, hunt and destroy! Kill all that dared to turn their backs on their Great King!"

"Your wish is also ours! Your words we shall follow!"

"Your destination will split into two," Gabriel continued. "My strongest people shall go through the Gate, while the rest will trample over the Greek's territory, the Forest of the Oracle, I want it burned under the Sun's Wrath!"

The soldiers shouted louder and louder, their mere voices managing to shake the entire room, their dull eyes suddenly seemed to be full of life once they'd heard that they were about to head into battle.

"As Your Majesty wishes! All hail The King! All hail the Sun God Ra!"