New World XIII

Thanar: "Oh, then tell me the price for the information."

He said in a mocking manner. He didn't believe Khajiit's claim to become a Night Lich directly; in his mind, Khajiit had already gone mad due to the massive influx of Negative Energy.

Khajiit: "Submit to my Master. That is the price for the information."

Thanar: "Hahahah! Is that so, so you have betrayed Zurrernorn and offered your fealty to someone else? That is treason, Khajiit. And as one of the core members of the cult, I shall punish you for your betrayal."

Khajiit just stood there, listening to Thanar's rant. Once he was finished, Khajiit spoke in a calm tone.

Khajiit: "So, what's your answer?"

Thanar: "This is my answer, you traitor!"

He pointed his palm toward Khajiit, and a magic circle manifested before it.

Thanar: "Burn to cinders, Fire Lance!"

The spell used by Thanar was a 4th-tier spell.

A lance made of fire manifested before the magic circle and surged toward Khajiit, who remained unfazed, standing his ground with unwavering courage.

The lance struck Khajiit, which resulted in a small explosion.

Thanar: "That's what you get for betraying the cult."

Thanar was brimming with confidence that he had killed him. But it proved wrong when the smoke cleared; Khajiit was standing there without any apparent damage.

Thanar: "How!?"

Khajiit: "I have no obligation to answer your questions."

Saying this, he raised his hand toward Thanar and cast a 7th-tier spell.

Thanar: "What you guys are waiting for? Have the undead attack him!"

He shouted to the other members of the cult. They wasted no time and commanded the undead to attack Khajiit.

Khajiit: "Clementine, I leave the undead to you. But try to not kill all the members."

She nodded, took an attacking stance, and activated her Martial Arts.

Clementine: "Ability Bost, Greater Ability Bost, Greater Evasion, and Flow Acceleration."

Her body shone in different colors as the various Martial Arts were activated. Once the activation was done, she jumped toward the horde of various undead and started killing them with ease.

Clementine: 'The only way I could fail is if they keep summoning new ones, but I can't afford to lose; I don't want to even imagine what that person would do to me if I failed.'

Thinking about Hannibal and his inhuman ways of torture caused her to shudder, which allowed one of the skeletons to strike her with a sword. Fortunately, she was able to avoid it by using 'Flow Acceleration.'

Clementine: 'Damn, can't afford to lose my focus here.'

Thinking this, she again lunged toward the horde.

BOOM!

She was startled by a massive explosion that occurred at the far end of the room.

Clementine: 'Guess it was Khajiit.'

She jumped to avoid the attack of a skeleton and landed near Khajiit, who was laughing maniacally.

Khajiit: "Let's see if you survive that, Hahaha!"

The undead had already stopped attacking them. And as the smoke cleared, one could see the charred corpse of Thanar. 

The cloaked men lost their will to fight because Thanar was the strongest among them, and Khajiit was able to kill him in a single blow. Hearing the maniacal laugh of Khajiit, they all took a step back; apprehension was apparent on their faces.

Seeing their apprehension and reluctance to fight, Khajiit spread out his arms and spoke in a comforting manner.

Khajiit: "Don't be scared; I won't kill you if you are willing to submit to my master. On the other hand, my master will convert you all to Elder Liches, and if you work hard, you might be converted to a Night Lich."

He stopped for a few seconds to let the information sink in.

Khajiit: "So, what is your answer. Are you willing to submit or not?"

In the end, all the remaining men decided to join him and submit to their new master.

~Scene Change~

A skeleton wearing luxurious robes was standing before a table in a dimly lit stone room. Upon the table lay the lifeless body of a young woman, unclothed and exposed.

The skeleton was the leader of Zurrernorn. His name was Xyris, and he was one of the few Night Liches in the NW. And at the moment, he was experimenting with creating another type of undead.

He was using different tools to dissect other areas of the body. He cut one of the hands attached to the body and placed it to the side.

Xyris: "Time for the final part."

He spoke in a near-emotionless tone and picked a paw from the side. The paw was from a monster who could use its claws as weapons.

Xyris wanted to create a chimeric type of undead with features and abilities from the different monsters.

Xyris: 'If I am successful in creating this, then I will become the most accomplished Necromancer the world has ever seen.'

He attacked the paw with the severed wrist of the corpse with the help of threads and a regeneration spell.

Xyris: "And now."

Saying this, he pointed his palm toward the corpse, and 3 purple magic circles manifested before it.

Xyris: "Raise Kairyō Undead."

The spell he used was his original creation, a 7th-tier spell that, in theory, would allow him to raise modified undead. 

As the spell was activated, a purple glow covered the corpse but vanished a few seconds later.

Xyris: "~Sigh~ Another failure."

He walked to a pedestal where a book and some writing instruments were placed. He picked up a pen and began writing the information regarding the experiment.

Xyris: 'If only I was able to steal that information.'

He thought while writing about his experimentation, but the mention of that information soured his mind. In the past, he was one of the members of an undead organization called the Corpus of the Abyss. 

It was a group entirely made up of undead magic casters. This group had been formed to work for their mutual benefit and avoid conflict. The reason for that was because the undead are treated as beings with unlimited lifespans, have the capacity to study magic together, and friction tended to develop.

One of the members of the group was able to create a new type of undead; after the success of his experiment, he wrote all the information inside his personal tome. 

The information got leaked, and the higher-ups wanted that information, which led to an internal conflict, which was quite ironic seeing the idea on which the group was created.

Anyhow, the conflict escalated, which resulted in the leader of the group to perish. One of the higher-ups got the information and refused to share it with the other members, but because she was a Night Lich, no one dared to go against her. 

Now, she had requested Xyris to help her acquire the information, and in return, she would share it with him. But, after she was successful, she turned a blind eye toward him. 

Xyris, seeing this, decided to leave the group and created his own cult, Zurrernorn, and he made it his life goal to kill her.

Even though he was a Night Lich, it was nigh impossible to kill her because rumor had it that she had achieved the elusive progression within the Lich lineage, making her an exceedingly formidable adversary.

According to Xyris, it had something to do with the information on creating modified undead.

Xyris: 'I can't give up now. I'm very close to my goal; I can feel it. Once I am successful in ascending past Night Lich, I will end her.'

He thought furiously while clutching his fists. At this point, there was a knock on the door.

~Knock Knock~

Xyris: "Who is it?"

It was rare for someone to come to his office; only the core members were allowed to come, and even they scarcely came.

Azrik: "It's me, Azrik. I have some important news that you might find interesting."

Xyris: "Come inside."

He spoke emotionlessly while walking toward his chair. The wooden door opened, and a human male with black hair and a charming face entered the room. After closing the door, he moved toward the table where Xyris was seated.

Xyris: "Now tell me this information."

Azrik: "Sure, but before that, do you know who Khajiit is, right?"

Even though he was the leader, he didn't participate much in the cult's work. Everything was run by the 12 core members, and when one of them died, a new one was also appointed by them. Xyris rarely intertwined; that's why Azrik was unsure whether Xyris knew about Khajiit or not.

Xyris: "Yeah, I know about him. Isn't he one of you guys?"

Azrik: "Yeah, he was one of us."

Xyris: "Was?"

Azrik: "Yeah, he betrayed the cult and swore fealty to someone else. At present, we remain in the dark about the identity of the one to whom he has sworn allegiance."

Xyris: "Is that so."

He went into deep thought after hearing this.

Xyris: 'Is this possible that he swore loyalty to that bitch? It certainly is a feasible scenario, but I find it unlikely.'

Xyris: "What's the information you wanted to tell me?"

Azrik: "He is waiting outside the ruins with a massive army of undead. And we received this letter from him."

As he stopped speaking, he took out a rolled-up paper and gave it to Xyris, who promptly opened it and began reading it.

"Greetings, Leader of Zurrernorn, Xyris. My name is Malachar, the new master of Khajiit. I send this letter in good faith. I'm not particularly eager to beat around the bush, so I'll jump straight to the point. I want you to join me for world domination.

Now, you have two paths to choose from, the first;

You join me without any resistance.

And the second;

You dare resist me, in which case I'll have no other choice but to kill you and forcefully take over the cult.

But if you join me, I'll be sure to provide every member of the cult with means to study Necromancy to its highest degree. As for the proof, you should meet with Khajiit face-to-face; as a Night Lich, there isn't much he could do to you.

Farewell, the new leader of the world, Malachar."

Xyris read the entire letter many times, but his focus was only on one sentence.

Xyris: 'Means to study Necromancy to its highest degree. If there is only a glimmer of truth in that statement, it might prove useful to me.'

Thinking this, he placed the letter on the table and looked toward Azrik.

Xyris: "Have you read the letter?"

Azrik shook his head in response.

Xyris: "Well, the crux of the matter is..."

Azrik had a contemplative expression on his face after hearing the information.

Xyris: "What do you think of this?"

Azrik: "Setting aside the claim of the world domination, him providing means to study Necromancy to its highest degree does hold some weight."

Xyris: "How so?" 

Xyris now had a curious expression.

Azrik: "Well, in the short time I talked with Khajiit, he told me how his new master converted him from a human directly to a Night Lich, and the aura he was giving off reminded me of you."

On the surface, Xyris remained calm, but his mind was in turmoil after hearing the information.

Xyris: 'Absurd, utterly absurd. How can someone do that! Even I took more than 50 years to become a Night Lich! I need to calm down and seriously think about this; if what Khajiit is saying is true, then there might be a chance that Malachar might have the information I need. But I can't make a decision this way.'

Xyris sighed and spoke in an emotionless manner.

Xyris: "Bring Khajiit to me; tell him I want to talk with him about something."

Azrik: "But, h---."

Xyris: "Bring him here!"

Xyris shouted angerliy.

Azrick: "Understood!"

Azrick bowed and left the office.

To Be Continued...