The Necromancer

[Warning: Proximity Alert]

Artemis woke from his unexpected slumber. He had fallen asleep, with the child still snoozing on his thigh. The voice in his head was the voice of the security system he activated prior. Something or someone was lingering among the dead bushes and the dead trees, the oozing fields and the darkness of the night.

Artemis stood up and readied himself for combat. Scanning his surroundings, he found what caused the proximity alert, a humanoid, hiding behind the dead trees behind them. He stared at its position, making sure his gaze never left it. Artemis was also checking for other instances if this was a planned ambush.

He had made a lot of enemies, these enemies did not know who he was or where he came from, but they knew that he is one of them. One of the new beings, a race of metal demons that have overrun the Senadate Theocracy and are threatening the rest of the Eastern Region.

"Ah, you noticed me?" A voice rang out.

Artemis did not reply, he just stood and watched as the figure revealed herself, stepping out of the shadows of the forest. It was a feminine figure, a very pale skin was visible and her beauty was otherworldly, her short wavy black hair reflects the light of the two moons in the sky, her sinister black lips smirked at the machine, she wear a green dress and has green eyes that gave an eerie atmosphere.

The figure clasped its hands and continued its approach before stopping a few meters in front of Artemis.

Artemis' red eyes glowed in the darkness, few moments later the two moons suddenly had disappeared from sight and the sky was void of stars. He knew something was not right, but whatever it was, it involved magic, one way or another.

"Allow me to introduce myself to you, my future apprentice." Its voice sounds seductive in nature.

Artemis, although he was held aback by the unknown advantage of this woman, could not feel but be amused. That female clown was about to give him her name, regardless if it's true or not, he can use it to track it down if it ever escaped.

"I am Galianna, one of the remaining great and powerful Generals of the Dark Lord, and I am known as the Demon of Greed, and you will henceforth call me, master," She said.

Galianna laughed like a maniac, exposing her arms and summoning dark magic circles on top of her fingertips. After she chanted a few words that sounded completely gibberish to Artemis, two shadow figures appeared behind him. They manifested like a gas that came together and into its actual form, the figures wielded a long wavy sword and a huge shield, the beings are gave a terrifying aura that froze an army in fear. They look to be in black armor with unknown metal and the face of the creature are rotten corpse abominations and they have a lack of flesh on their chest and torso.

[IMAGES]

What came together was a bulky huge creature equipped with an armor made of black metal with red bloodlines engraved on it. The armor had sharp thorns everywhere and looked like an incarnation of violence. Two demonic horns emerged from the helmet, with the face being visible underneath. It had a disgusting, rotted face whose empty eye sockets were filled with hate and killing intent, glowing with a pulsing red light.

In its left hand, it held a tower shield that covered three-fourths of its body and in its right hand a serrated sword. The sword was nearly one hundred and thirty centimeters long and coated with waves of terrifying red and black fog, agitating the surrounding air like a constant heartbeat.

They are also known as Death Knights, a mid-tier summons by most necromancers and Lich Kings, Galianna was the very few last and the most powerful among the necromancers in Fordalt and Death Knights were powerful enough to kill thousands of armies without a single rest, they could slice few heavy armored knights in half like butter and have superhuman speed. Each Death Knights are <C+> rank(Lv.35). While weak, it could able to destroy a small country, because they could turn anybody into zombies whenever they killed their victims. If a Death Knight freely roams around without anybody tries to kill it immediately, it will caused a zombie outbreak if left unchecked.

Death Knights also has two very important special skills. The first is the ability to attract the attacks of an enemy. The second one can be used only once, it allows the knight to always survive one lethal attack as long as it has a certain amount of HP left.

Its durable as Earth's old Tanks and could survive 20 21st century RPG missiles if they face against modern soldiers.

Two Death knights came out behind Artemis and are ready to attack.

"Come now, my apprentice, or else, that child, will perish,"

Before the Death Knights engaged, Artemis was done. He lifted his arms sideways and out came his a bright saber on both. He clutched the foundations of the sabers tight as they glowed in the night a shining red. He was not going to tolerate Galianna any longer, seeing that he won't even gain much from keeping him prisoner, he began to plan his first attack.

"You fool, you think you have a chance? I have watched your kind from a distance, studied you all and know how you fight! Your magic is strange but my dark magic is stronger!" Gesturing to her Death Knights, she said, "Capture him!"

The Undead Knights then sprang into action and lunged towards Artemis with shockingly speed while wearing that heavily armor.

Artemis assumed a defensive pose and tracked their movements. The Undead Knights are corpses in armor harder as Titanium and had swords that could cut through hard steel, he did not understand the properties of these metals and figured that his plasma blades may do.

The two Death Knights came at him from left to right and at the same speed. They held their wavy swords high and were about to strike him down.

Artemis had no intention of prolonging the fight, if Galianna was true to her word then she'll be able to deduce the moves of his Androids if she has other higher summons besides these Death Knights, but he was not one of his Androids, he was the Queen of the hive itself.

The Death Knights were now within reach of him and so, in a flash, Artemis moved in a more greater speed and sliced through both of the Death Knights very easily. Their forms began to disintegrate as soon as Artemis had already sliced them, they wailed with the voice of a beast and then disappeared. Galianna watched with a smile on her face.

As she laughed, "You have done well, even going as far as defeating two of my deadly summons, those weapons of yours.. they glow with power! And I shall soon have them and you!"

As she finished, she summoned another magic circle, this time on the ground. It glowed blue instead of black and after a few seconds, its purpose was revealed. The girl behind Artemis was transferred to where the circle was.

Teleportation!

Artemis thought in his mind.

Two more Death Knights appeared behind the Necromancer and took the little girl by their hands. They held their dark wavy sword against her neck and forehead. One more millimeter, her skin will instantly cut. Galianna then walked forward, to see what Artemis would do and talk him into joining her and the Dark Lord's army.

This recruitment process, however, did not fancy Artemis.

He retracted his sabers and hid them away. He did this as Galianna looked delighted.

Artemis knew that she was naive, even for her power or age. Judging by how she treated Artemis, she was confident with her pawns to deal with him. The Death knights that were holding the girl hostage now were visibly different than the previous ones. They were more bulkier in appearance and their armor covers most of their body and their swords and shields glowed brighter and were wider. Symbols that were present on the iron of the swords glowed too, with his knowledge of magic, he deduced them to be magic inscriptions.

[IMAGES]

Artemis did not know the speed of which his enemies possessed, he wanted to save the girl and eliminate Galianna at the same time. But, he switched his plans a bit. He won't kill Galianna outright, no, he is going to torture her first and take pleasure from it. The naive necromancer has gotten to the nerves of Artemis and he was ready to make her pay.

A few seconds of staring ensued, with Galianna continuing his taunts. Galianna was not willing to kill the girl outright, or else she'll have no bargaining chip. When she volunteers to capture one of the metal demons to the other high-rank demon generals, she did not expect to come by an one that was all alone among the deadlands. Though she and other great demonic generals themselves did not know why the deadlands came to be a few days prior, she and they assumed that the metal demons were one of the reasons.

Ever since the metal demons came into this world, only death and destruction ensued wherever they may be and to the lands that they have plundered and conquered with relentless force. Seeing this pissed them all off of taking their roles and stealing their title being the ones who are the most destructive beings, if the previous Dark Lord still alive today, he will nearly crumble the Dark Realm in anger, unfortunately he got killed 2000 years ago in the First Great War by the summoning hero.

Being annoyed and having no choice by the Necromancer's annoying little behavior, her master, the Demkn Lord of Greed ordered Galianna ventured forth to observe and study these metal demons and report back so they could know their weaknesses, however in reality, her real intentions is to capture one Metal Demon for her own gain, but that doesn't mean she won't listen to the strongest Demon General, she knew well that he will killed her without hesitation if she didn't kept her word, so she did what she was ordered to.

What she got during observing the battles between the machines and the theocracy was that they were stronger than any race on Fordalt and looked far smarter than any being themselves.

Now, she was facing against a metal demon. But, she did not know, that the metal demon she was facing, was the most powerful of all metal demons. After this metal demon slew her Death Knights with ease, she felt fear shrivel from her feet and into her heart. For 2000 years of living, she felt fear for the first time in her entire immortal life. What has she done?

The fight was not over yet, she cried out in her mind. She had a hostage, and as long as she had a hostage, she would have a chance. She can't vanquish this metal demon, her mid tier undead summons was destroyed by him with so much little efforts! Now she has no choice but to summon her most powerful summons.

"{High Tier Summons: Wither Knights!}"

"{High Tier Summons: Corpse Guardians!}"

"{High Tier Summons: Undead Dragon Lord!}"

In reality, her words are quite gibberish for Artemis but it was a summoning spell alright. Now she has summoned her strongest undead and summons 5000 of Wither Knights, 3 Corpse Guardian, and one Undead Dragon Lord.

Wither Knights are one of Galianna's most powerful undead summons that are which are at peak of B-rank(Lv.70), twiced as stronger than the Death knights. Anybody that was below A-rank will started to decay whenever they made contact to the Wither Knights, even if its a finger.

[IMAGES]

Corpse Guardians, at mid stages of A-rank(Lv.90) are one of her most strongest summons, their despair auras could topple large weak armies and has a fighting capability equivalent to most A-rank warriors.

[IMAGES]

And finally an Undead Dragon Lord, her most powerful undead summon which is at the late-stage of A-rank(Lv.95), and they are originally considered as Ancient Dragons from the past which nearly most of them were all extinct since back in the Second Great War.

[IMAGES]

Galianna used up a huge amount of her mana. She hoped that her gamble will pay off.

Artemis already knew that there were literal corpses surrounding him, the Wither Knights that Galianna called them were equipped with glowing weapons, primitive but had power nonetheless. The moment Galianna summoned all of them, his proximity alerts skyrocketed as the Undead Summons appeared on each black magic circles.

They formed a circle around him, the Wither Knights raising their shields and their weapons. Their weapons varied and so did the glow of these weapons and Artemis assumed that the various glow represented the power of these weapons. The Corpse Guardians however equipped with a large axe, while not enchanted they have a terrifying aura around it.

The Wither Knights began to bash on their shields. The bashed as loud as they could, joining in the taunts of Galianna, the Undead Dragon Lord roars accompanied with the Wither knights bashing noises, the Corpse Guardians stay silent as their multiple skulls menacingly look at Artemis, ready for their master's orders.

"You see this power? How can you possibly go up against my finest summons? I have slain countless foolish heroes, I have slew even the dragons who were descendants of legends, I even have one with me as my own summon! I have also slew some of the summoning hero's otherworldly allies! It is not too late to back down now, my apprentice," She tried hard to put up a facade of nonchalance.

Artemis saw through her facade. He saw the fear in her once she gulped. She was not confident against Artemis and has shown all of her trump cards. He, on the other hand, was not going to use any of his trump cards. He did not need any, instead, he was going to incapacitate Galianna.

"Now? What do you say?" Gadianna extended her hand, it shivered with much violence.

Artemis stared at her and after raising his chin, he said.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"No"

A sonic boom then occurred, sending Galianna and her pawns backward against the sheer ferocity of the shock wave of red energy. Before Galianna could even realize what was going on, Artemis was already within arm's reach. She shriveled with fear at the sight of those red eyes that were focused entirely on her. The eyes of the metal demon reminded her the eyes of the Dark Lord himself. Artemis, upon reaching the Necromancer, smashed her body against the ground with monstrously strength just enough to knock her out cold.

The two enchanted Death Knights were pushed aback and dropped the little girl who was now lying on the floor. She was alive but suffered some bruises. Artemis took advantage of the confusion and took out his sabers. He dashed towards the Death Knights and sliced them in half, as he did to the previous Death Knights. The Death Knights wailed with a voice so distorted and disintegrated.

The army of Undead summons were just getting up when Artemis began his summary execution of all of them. One by one, he hacked and slashed through their shields and their swords. He crushed their bones through their strong armor, tore them and broke them. There was no escaping him.

While the Wither Knights did not have the means to scream for help or beg for mercy, they displayed those words through their actions. They raised their hands and even lowered their weapons once they saw how futile it was.

It was also futile to beg for the slightest ounce of mercy, as Artemis gave them none of it.

Three Corpse Guardians dashed at Artemis with frightening speeds, at the same time they struck their large axe down faster than the brain could understand. But Artemis was no human as he easily dodges the three axes by jumping high enough, in lightning speed, he cut the Coprse Guardians in half without them to react.

The Undead Dragon Lord flew in the sky and spit a green flame, scorching the forest down, the fire breath of the Undead Dragon Lord is extremely powerful that it could even burn Divine-class armor, the undead dragon has no choice but to also burn its allies to destroy the monster that massacring its comrades.

All of the sudden, a figure came out of the scorching flames right in the same altitude of the Dragon. Artemis, in his fleshless form by the flames that also burns all of his artificial flesh flew in the air, then suddenly Artemis' shoulders, torso, and his wrists and feet opens revealing advanced scientific barrels, before the Undead Dragon Lord could react, Artemis blasted a massive beam of death, instantly killing the Dragon into atoms.

Each of the beams he shot is equivalent to a Super tier spell in terms of damage.

The one-sided massacre was only took more than 6 minutes as Artemis killed the remnants of these so-called abominations.

The scattered remains of the Wither knights littered the dead grass around them. Their enchanted weapons lied there, oozing with power but that power was not needed by Artemis. He walked towards Galianna as his artificial flesh began to regenerate thanks to his body's naites. The Necromancer was just about to stand up, but before she could react.

He kicked her.

Galianna wailed, with just a human kick won't hurt her, not even the slightest, but as for Artemis' strength is immeasurable.

While she was the most slowest and weakest among the Demon Generals, she was the most durable among them because she has a high amount of durability even without an armor that not even an S-rank Demigod could heavily injured her.

Artemis kicked her once more, but harder.

Galianna could not breathe as Artemis hit her on the stomach.

Artemis kicked her again and again. Until finally, he drew out his saber. No, he was not going to kill her, Artemis wanted to enjoy the moment. He was being bullied, thinking that they could best him, but sad to say, that was not the case.

As he held his sabers, Galianna begged for mercy.

"No! Please! I beg yo-" Artemis cut off her right hand as it was raised towards him. The woman screamed, her voice echoing into the night. Nobody was going to save her, not her summons, not even the other Demon Generals who have no clue of her situation.

"NO!" She begged and begged but Artemis cut off her right foot anyway. She wailed again and Artemis cut off her left hand and then cut off her left leg.

The woman no longer had her arms or legs.

She gave out one final cry, one final plea for mercy.

"I'll give you anything! Everything! Please!"

Artemis raised his two sabers above her chest and stared at her.

"No" He said.

He stabbed her through the chest with his two sabers. He did not stop there, while the sabers were deep inside the chest of Galianna, he moved them and sliced her chest into a box. Galianna died in an instant, her dreams of capturing a metal demon and witness the previous Dark Lord's resurrection and slept with him, died with her.

Remembering her decision of want to capture a Metal Demon will haunt her in the afterlife.

Artemis withdrew his sabers and paid Galianna no more attention. He walked towards the little girl who was still down on the ground. Shockingly, she was unscathed, with the Undead Dragon Lord's deadly fire breathing, she looks pretty fine, but Artemis didn't think much of it as the little girl had woken up and was crying.

Artemis knelt down and looked at her, she was afraid but she did not panic. She did not move although she was struck with immense fear.

"Hm,"

And then, Artemis patted her head.

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A/n: How's the extra twist, readers? The Demons are starting to step in!

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References: Overlord & Minecraft

Overlord: -Death knights -Corpse Guardian

Minecraft: -Wither Knights