CHAPTER 1
THE UNDEAD KING AWAKENS
“—We’re currently on the seventh stratum. No Void reactions detected.”
“—ger. —up the…vestigation.”
A reply mixed with static crackled back at the girl from her earring-type device. Holy Swordsmen candidates from Excalibur Academy often delved deep into the underground ruins, where regular military communication terminals were ineffective.
“Lady Selia, isn’t it about time we withdraw?”
“Reports say they’ve built a nest deep beneath the ruins. We should search a bit farther.”
The girl strode forward gallantly. Her long, silver hair fluttered behind her. The young woman’s ice-blue eyes held an intense determination and were fixed straight ahead in a dignified expression.
The light of a rod-shaped magical device made her visible even in the darkness. She was fifteen years old, and her beautiful metallic hair reflected the rays of light. Her white skin was fair and sleek like a snow fairy’s, and her lips were a light shade of pink.
Her appearance carried such grace that if she were to walk through town, anyone would turn to get a better look at her. One could sense that noble blood ran through her veins.
Riselia Ray Crystalia.
In truth, she was a descendant of the nobles who supervised the Assault Gardens, and one normally wouldn’t find a person of her social standing striding through such a dangerous place.
“Yes, yes. You’re as diligent as ever, Lady Selia.”
The response came with a wry smile and a shrug from a petite girl with blond hair tied into pigtails. Regina Mercedes was Riselia’s personal maid. Her jasper eyes were lively and alert, and her limber, well-trained limbs granted her a certain beauty reminiscent of a wild animal.
Both of them wore the same navy-blue uniform. It was the official uniform worn by Holy Swordsmen of the Seventh Assault Garden’s own Excalibur Academy. Their task was to investigate an ancient ruin that had suddenly appeared in a wasteland.
Several days ago, a large earthquake had occurred in the area, exposing the ruin. Ancient sites where mana gathered easily often became Void hives, and so they had been dispatched to investigate.
Reconnaissance missions like these were dangerous. And while the Canary Unit often made light of them, a mere six months earlier, a team on just such a run had encountered a group of Voids and had been wiped out.
The Voids.
They were invaders from another world. They had appeared sixty years ago and begun their offensive on human civilization, eradicating three-quarters of mankind. Everything about them was a mystery. Where had they come from? What was their objective? Even their biology was unclear. Were they weapons or living beings? No one knew. The only thing that was certain was that they took on forms resembling mythological creatures.
“It’s an important duty. If we left a hive unchecked, it’d be the same as letting them invade the city…”
Riselia bit her lip and hastened her stride. She wasn’t above being apprehensive about the situation. If anything, she was more easily frightened than most. It was why she always hid behind her older sister’s back when she was younger.
The air in the underground ruin was tepid and reeked of mold. It was like a graveyard.
…It could actually be a graveyard, for all I know, Riselia thought.
This site was probably centuries old. Looking around, statues of what appeared to be fictional monsters were stationed here and there. Perhaps this was a grave for some king…
…It would probably have been a very strict king, Riselia mused.
The two walked through the silent corridor, wary of the potential presence of Voids. And then…
“…Aw, a dead end?” Regina frowned, stopping in her tracks.
“This…looks like a door…,” Riselia said, looking up at the massive wall before her.
She tried shoving it with both hands, but no luck.
“Should I bust through?” Regina offered, suggesting something unspeakably hazardous.
“Wait, there’s something written on it.” Riselia stopped her.
She held up the rod, using it to illuminate the door. Letter-like marks were etched over it. Acquainted though she was with ancient ruins, Riselia had never seen anything like this writing.
“Can you read it?”
“Hmm, I think it’s ancient Elvish…or maybe it’s spirit text…?”
Riselia took out a small analysis device and began typing quickly.
“What’s the matter?”
“—This door, it’s still alive.”
“Alive?”
“Its system is still operating. It’s like an ancient magical apparatus…”
“I’ll go keep watch, then.” Regina shrugged, sighing.
She knew Riselia’s personality well enough.
“Yeah, please.”
Regina waved and went back down the corridor. She wasn’t good with boredom. Taking independent action during a ruin investigation was reckless, but unlike Riselia, she had the power of a Void-slaying Holy Sword. She’d be fine.
Riselia worked on her analysis device and began deciphering the ancient letters. A similar text structure should exist in the database. Riselia wondered what could be beyond this barrier. She found herself surprisingly drawn to it. But the moment her fingers brushed against the inscription…
A spark of magical energy flashed.
“Huh…?”
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…
The heavy stone door sluggishly opened before her.
“…It opened?!” Riselia’s eyes widened as she illuminated the interior with her light.
What’s that…?
Embedded into the rock was a massive, eerily luminescent black crystal the likes of which Riselia had never seen before. Her device let out a high-pitched warning sound.
A mana reaction…?
The mana-detecting tool was displaying errors.
It was a counter stop—a freeze in the program because a theoretically impossible figure had been input.
“Oh, come on—don’t break on me now…,” Riselia whispered as she approached the crystal.
As she did, she noticed a human figure inside it, sealed in darkness.
“…N-no way… How?!”
She held her breath for a moment and then peered into the crystal again. There really was someone trapped in there.
I have to save them…!
Riselia drew a pistol from her holster.
Bang, bang, ba-bang!
…Why is it so loud…?
An unpleasant sound echoed outside the casket…
The Undead King—Leonis Death Magnus—stirred from sleep. He was in the Grand Mausoleum, located beneath the legendary undead capital of Necrozoa. Frozen time began to move, and the Undead King’s soul, sealed within the casket, awoke.
Has it been a thousand years already…?
Bang, bang, bang!
As he peered into the darkness, thoughts began circulating through his mind. He had been entirely unconscious while sealed inside the casket. For him, time had not advanced since that day the undead army was defeated by the heroes of mankind and his capital of Necrozoa, the last fortress of his army, fell.
Bang, bang, bang!
It seems the ritual of reincarnation was successful…
Leonis tried clenching his fingers in the darkness. He was still a bit numb, but he could definitely feel his limbs. Even the Undead King couldn’t maintain his body for a thousand years without a supply of mana. And so he had employed a secret art of undeath to suspend his soul and had used this casket to reincarnate his form—
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
…Grrrrrrrrr, I demand silence!
The Undead King Leonis practically shouted the thought, annoyed at having been consistently interrupted while he was thinking.
What is that noise anyway?
Apparently, someone was beating on his casket.
What manner of scoundrel would dare disturb the Undead King’s slumber?
The Grand Mausoleum was sealed below the earth with a powerful barrier, so it was hard to imagine it could be easily discovered. It had been one thousand years, though, and there was no saying what manner of disaster or cataclysm could have struck in that time.
But the crypt was completely shut away by an anti-magic wall…
Leonis concentrated on the noise outside the casket. Whatever dastard was trying to destroy the casket was apparently saying something.
It seems to be the human tongue. Hmm…
After one thousand years, a language’s syntax was bound to change somewhat. Extending his fingers into the darkness, he chanted a language analysis spell, and a light flashed before him. Even after reincarnation, this body of flesh was capable of using magic without any trouble.
“This can’t be normal rock if it deflects bullets this easily. Guess I’ll try an anti-material round next…”
He didn’t quite understand everything they were saying, but it seemed they were out to destroy the casket.
…Foolish grave robbers, it seems, Leonis concluded.
It went without saying that his casket was impervious to most conventional forms of magic. Regardless, he would have to punish this scoundrel.
—Behold the revived form of the Undead King. Die with the image burned into your eyes!
Leonis extended his hand, and…
Crrrrrrrrrrrrrack!
The dark-crystal casket shattered with an ear-numbing sound, loosing a powerful shock wave that knocked back the figure who had stood at Leonis’s coffin.
“………”
Having been revived after a millennium of slumber, the Undead King looked around, lording over it all. The atmosphere of the underground Grand Mausoleum hadn’t changed one bit. The air was completely still, thick with the presence of death.
“…Aah… Nnng…!”
Leonis’s gaze fell to the person before him, who was crouched down and moaning in pain. The shock wave hadn’t been his intended punishment for this insolent grave robber, of course. He would exact his vengeance starting now, and he planned to give them an ample taste of terror for the newly resurrected Undead King, and—
“…?!”
The moment he took a step forward, Leonis’s eyes widened.
There was a source of light lying on the ground, illuminating the shape of…a girl. She looked to be fourteen or fifteen years old. Her hair was a shining shade of silver, and her eyes were ice blue. Her skin was the color of virgin snow. Overall, her beauty matched that of the high elves.
No… Have even the high elves ever known a girl of such beauty? Her loveliness was like the chiseled artistry of a goddess’s statue. Watching her with a mystified look on his face, Leonis stood frozen, his breath held.
He needed to punish this brazen thief… But the thought evaporated like mist. The girl was wearing a kind of garb that Leonis had never seen before. It was like the uniform of a light cavalry soldier, except its basic tone was dark blue, and it had a skirt attached. Suffice to say, she certainly didn’t look to be any kind of robber.
“Wh-what…?” She raised her voice, looking up at Leonis.
Rather than fear, her voice was full of surprise.
…Right. I must hand down punishment…
He cleared his throat, but then…
“…What… What’s a kid doing here?” she asked.
“…Pardon?” Leonis returned with his own query despite himself.
What does she mean by “kid”…?
Furrowing his brow, the Undead King looked down at his limbs.
“…What?!” His eyes widened in shock.
I-impossible…!
Small, undependable hands. Soft, unblemished skin. The physique beneath his black robe was like that of a small child… No, it wasn’t like that of a child. The Undead King Leonis Death Magnus found himself inhabiting the form of a ten-year-old boy.
…Could the ritual of reincarnation have failed somehow?!
The spell of reincarnation was a twelfth-order spell of the highest caliber and had several variations to it.
One involved rebirth by transferring one’s soul to another vessel. Another involved creating a new vessel by way of magic and fixing one’s soul in it. Yet another was to return one’s body to a past state and restructure it. That was the method Leonis had chosen.
He had elected to restore his damaged body to its prime, using that as the vessel for his soul. Not unlike a phoenix reborn from within the flames.
But why do I look like this…?
He had prepared the spell to restructure his body into that of the Undead King. So why had it reverted to this despicable shape—the form he’d had when he was still known as the Hero Leonis? His dark robe felt loose. Compared to the body he’d had when he was the Undead King, this one felt far less reliable.
“Erm…”
Apparently relieved that the one who appeared before her was a young boy, the silver-haired girl adjusted the hem of her skirt and slowly rose to her feet. She kneeled in front of Leonis and peered intently into his face before looking again at the shattered pieces of the dark-crystal casket.
“Why were you inside that thing?”
“…W-well, that’s…”
With those ice-blue eyes gazing straight at him, his heart skipped a beat.
…Ugh, this is why I loathe the flesh of a human body…
“Did the Voids abduct you?” she asked.
“…Voids?” Leonis frowned. That was an unfamiliar word.
“…I see. Your memories must be jumbled because of the shock…”
And inspired by whatever unknown urge might’ve struck her, the young woman suddenly took Leonis’s body in a tight embrace.
“…!”
“…Everything will be all right.”
“Wh-what, what are you…?!”
“Your big sister will keep you safe.”
“S-stop it… Mmm, nnng, mmmf!”
Squish.
The Undead King’s face was being pressed against a pair of soft, supple fruits—the plump chest of a young woman. The tips of her silvery locks tickled his cheeks, and her dainty fingers gently brushed through his hair.
…!
This was quite a disrespectful manner with which to treat the Undead King who had reigned over the capital of Necrozoa. But for some reason, Leonis couldn’t (or rather wouldn’t) resist her hold on him. His heart was beating fast at these long-forgotten feelings he had once known as a human being. The sensation of her embrace was simply too pleasant.
…Huh…?
A sudden spell of dizziness came over him. Nestled in the soft, cushion-like embrace of a woman’s bosom, the Undead King Leonis’s consciousness sank into darkness…
…Hmm, I see. These have dried grapes kneaded into them.
Sitting atop the stone altar of the Grand Mausoleum, Leonis was stuffing his face with the hard biscuits the silver-haired girl handed him.
They’re reminiscent of the portable foodstuffs the elves would carry, except they were drier than these.
He’d discarded his sense of taste eons ago, but the experience of eating wasn’t all that bad.
“…Mmm, nng, aagh…”
A lump of a biscuit got stuck in his throat, and Leonis started coughing and beating his chest.
This body truly is an incorrigible thing. To think I’d lose consciousness out of hunger…, Leonis thought, bitterly.
Yes, Leonis had fainted because of mere hunger… It was actually quite dangerous. The strongest Dark Lord passing out because of an empty stomach was an unimaginable blunder.
He’d never dreamed he’d reincarnate into his human body, so he had prepared no food or water. He hated to admit it, but…
Leonis raised his head, looking at the girl sitting a short distance away from him.
…This woman may well have just saved my life.
Normally, this would be an accomplishment great enough to warrant awarding her the highest honor he could bequeath, the Bone Medal. Said girl had her hand pressed against her earring and seemed to be speaking to someone.
“I’ve discovered a child refugee in the ruin. Requesting confirmation.”
“—Roger… I’ll cross-reference the refugee lists.”
It was some sort of long-distance communication magic. Perhaps the earring served as a kind of magic catalyst? The girl seemed to have noticed Leonis staring at her and gave him a relieved smile.
“Thank goodness. Is your tummy feeling better now?”
“………”
Leonis nodded wordlessly, prompting the girl to move next to him.
“My name is Riselia Crystalia. I’m a Holy Swordswoman of the Seventh Assault Garden’s training academy, eighteenth platoon… Oh, um, I’m fifteen years old. What’s your name?”
She diligently kept her gaze at Leonis’s eye level and introduced herself. He technically understood her, but honestly, nothing she said seemed to register as meaningful to him. The only things Leonis really grasped were her name and age.
When it came to human-ruled nations in the area, the Lagard Kingdom and the Magocracy of Sheniebel came to mind, but the girl had not mentioned them insofar as he could tell. Also, this Riselia seemed to be under the impression that Leonis was a child who’d been abducted by monsters.
…I suppose I cannot fault her for that, given the way I look, Leonis thought in a self-deprecating manner.
He didn’t know what had caused his rebirth in this body… But he figured he might as well take advantage of the girl’s misunderstanding.
…For now, I need to get information about this world out of her.
Leonis raised his head.
“I am… Erm, I’m Leonis. Leonis Magnus, Miss.”
He tried to make his voice a bit more high-pitched to seem more childlike, but he still gave his name as a Dark Lord. He’d considered using a pseudonym, but going to such lengths with mere humans would wound his pride as a Dark Lord.
Besides, this was the proud name she had given him.
How will this one react to it…?
If the name of Leonis Death Magnus, the Undead King, was recorded in legend and passed down for posterity, it should elicit some kind of reaction from the girl.
“Leonis?” The girl’s light-blue eyes widened.
Ooh, so she does know of—
“What a cute name!”
“…R-really?” Leonis said with a grimace.
…What could possibly be cute about it? It was a name that struck terror into every corner of the world!
Evidently, his reputation as a Dark Lord hadn’t survived these many years.
“Leonis…Leo, how old are you?” Riselia asked.
“Ten years old…or so,” he replied, holding back the urge to snap at her for shortening the name of a Dark Lord.
“Or so?”
“Ah, I’m ten years old.”
He no longer remembered how old he’d been before becoming the Undead King. But it was probably close enough.
“You’re a refugee, right? Do you remember what the Void that took you looked like?”
“Void?” Leonis parroted the word.
“You don’t know what Voids are?”
“Erm…no.”
“Right… I suppose that does happen out in the frontier regions,” Riselia placed a hand on her chin and nodded, seemingly convinced. “Voids are enemies of mankind. They came here from another world. The Holy Swordsmen—that is to say, us—fight those Voids.”
“…Other world? Enemies?” Leonis was rather confused.
One thousand years ago, the ones called “enemies of mankind” had been the demons and the Dark Lords’ Armies. Alongside them was the Goddess of Rebellion, who’d betrayed the other deities of the Luminous Powers and declared war upon the world.
Have new forces risen in the world over the last thousand years? But…
The goddess’s prophecy had said nothing of this.
“We came to investigate a Void hive that’s formed in these ruins. They tend to show up around places like these. And…”
Riselia turned to look at the opened door of the mausoleum.
“That’s when I found this door.”
Now Leonis understood. She’d only found this place by way of coincidence. He couldn’t honestly say he much liked the idea of her unlocking the sealed door, but perhaps it had opened because one of the Undead King’s servants had rigged it to do so after one thousand years.
No, wait…
Leonis realized he’d neglected to confirm something terribly important.
“Erm…Miss Riselia?”
“You can call me Selia, Leo.”
“Then, uhhh, Miss Selia. What year of the Holy Calendar is it?”
He had asked using the calendar employed by human nations. If it’d been one thousand years since Necrozoa, the final stronghold of the Dark Lords’ Armies, had fallen, the year should have been around 1447. However…
“Holy Calendar?” Riselia gave a quizzical expression and furrowed her brow. “It’s the sixty-fourth year of the Integrated Human Calendar…”
“Integrated Human Calendar?” This time it was Leonis’s turn to parrot Riselia.
Another unfamiliar term.
…Just what in the world is going on?
It was then that Riselia’s earring lit up.
“—ady Selia…careful…engaged in battle…large Void…”
“Huh? What, Regina?!”
The voice filled with static before cutting off.
“What’s the matter?”
“…I’m not sure. But—” Riselia got to her feet with a sharp expression.
And the next moment…
Booooooooooooooooooom!
Beneath Necrozoa, the Grand Mausoleum shook violently.
“Wh-what?!”
Pebbles and fragments of stone began crumbling down on them from the ceiling. Riselia reflexively covered Leonis to shield him.
…!
A soft chest pressed against his face from beneath a uniform.
“Are you okay, Leo?”
“…Y-yes…” Leonis nodded, feeling his pulse quicken.
The scent of a young woman’s sweat lingered in his nostrils.
“It seems a Void’s shown up. My friend’s fighting it.” Riselia released him and looked around cautiously.
Bang, bang, bang!
Intermittent explosions could be heard from the distance.
…Ugh, how dare they run amok in this tomb, the resting place of my comrades…?!
As the Dark Lord of Necrozoa, he couldn’t permit such disregard. Leonis tried to rise to his feet—
“…Whoa!”
“Leo?!”
—but tripped over the cuffs of his long robe and fell forward.
C-curses…
Rubbing his aching nose, this time he got up slowly. He wasn’t used to his boyish body yet.
“Are you all right? You’re not hurt, are you?”
“I-I’m fine.”
“You’re a tough little guy, aren’t you?” Riselia smiled with relief and patted Leonis on the head.
…It tickled. But Leonis was surprised to find it wasn’t unpleasant.
Really, what in the world is going on…?
“Don’t worry. I’ll keep you safe.” Riselia stood and drew a metallic lump from a belt tied around her hip.
“Artificial Relic, Ray Hawk. Limited Initialization…Activate!” the girl whispered, holding the object in both hands.
The lump made a kind of loud clicking sound and changed its shape. What was now in the girl’s grasp was a cylindrical object that shined with a mana flare. It was probably some kind of projectile weapon, though nothing like it had existed in Leonis’s time.
“Over here…” Riselia took Leonis by the hand and broke into a run.
The next moment…
Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaang!
“…?!”
A massive fist broke through the ruin’s wall.
“An ogre-class Void?!” Riselia exclaimed, her expression tense.
Did she just say “ogre”?!
Tension rose in Leonis at the first familiar word he’d heard today. Ogres—they were a race of man-eating demons that was part of the Dark Lords’ Armies under the command of the Lord of Rage, Dizolf. Leonis soon found his expectations dashed, however.
“Leo, get back…!”
What stepped through the collapsed wall was a giant standing five meters tall. What appeared to be luminescent red minerals grew out of its gray body. Nothing on its head gave the impression of being an eye, and it only had a horizontal opening across its face to serve as an eerie sort of mouth. Its drooping arms were covered in scales, and what looked like a beastly face writhed across its chest.
How is this an ogre…?
This was as far-removed as could be from the ogres Leonis knew. If it reminded him of anything, it was the disgusting hybrid creatures that Zemein, a staff officer in the Dark Lords’ Armies, had once worked on. Leonis and Zemein had rarely seen eye to eye.
“That’s a Void?!”
At his question, Selia glared at the monster and nodded in reply. “Yes. An enemy of humanity that takes the form of the gods of old—”
Pop! A dry, bursting sound rang out. Riselia had likely fired her projectile weapon, but it didn’t seem to have any effect. The creature’s scales deflected the shot.
“…Ugh, this weapon can’t even make a dent…!”
“ !”
The Void roared from its horrific mouth, exhaling a dark smoke from the eerie oral cavity. It twisted its drooping arms like whips, sweeping Riselia back.
“Hmph. Ri Larte…!”
Leonis started chanting a spell from the Realm of Shadows to form a barrier when suddenly—
Boom! Boom! Boom!
—a series of intermittent explosions shook his eardrums. Crimson flames blew off the Void’s right arm, leaving bursts of hot air in their wake.
“Are you all right, Lady Selia?!”
“…Regina!”
The one who had fired through the wall to reach them was a petite girl carrying a giant cylindrical weapon. Her golden hair was parted into pigtails, which danced in the intense rush of air from the blasts…
As an aside, her chest was also prodigious.
Her jasper-colored eyes shone, catlike in the darkness. Her features were quite fair as well, not unlike Riselia’s.
She used the blast’s momentum to slide over the ground, halting with a screech.
“Like we thought, this ruin is a Void spawn point… Wait. Lady Selia, who’s the kid?” The girl called Regina looked at Leonis and cocked her head in surprise.
“I found him deep in the ruins. I’ll explain later…”
“Right…”
“ !”
The monster got up, shaking off pieces of rubble as it did. Its right arm, which had just been blown off, had already begun to regenerate. The creature’s vitality was truly fearsome.
“That’s a large class for you. This much firepower won’t get us anywhere…” Regina fixed her grip on the massive projectile launcher on her shoulder. “Holy Sword Drag Howl, Mode Shift—
“The Anti-Large Aerial Beast Extermination Weapon—Dragon Slayer!”
And the next moment, the bulky weapon changed. Its muzzle took the form of a dragon’s maw, gaping even wider…
…What in the world is this device…?!
Leonis’s eyes widened.
Do you mean to say…that’s a Holy Sword?
“Get smooooked!”
Boooooooooooooooooooooom!
A shell burst forward. A white flash filled Leonis’s field of vision, followed by a rumbling blast.
…M-my poor Grand Mausoleum!
Leonis had to hold back from saying the words out loud. Even so, the weapon’s power was incredible. The sheer amount of heat it produced was equivalent to that of the fourth-order explosion-type magic, Rag Illa.
But that isn’t magic.
He hadn’t seen a mana flare, which magic always produced when it was invoked.
“D-did you finish it off?”
“Erm, Lady Selia, what you just did is called jinxing it…”
They could see its colossal shadow slowly rising from beyond the cloud of dust.
Oh? So it can even take an attack with the firepower of a Rag Illa spell…
Leonis was impressed. Most demons would be reduced to dust from that much. The blond girl stepped forward, glaring at the figure beyond the dust.
“Leave the ruin, you two. I’ll take care of this…”
“Regina…” Riselia hesitated for a moment, but then nodded. “All right. Be careful.”
“I will, Lady Selia.” Regina smiled at her.
The briefness of this exchange made the trust between the two of them evident.
“Let’s go, Leo.” Riselia grabbed Leonis by the arm and took off.
It’s one unexpected thing after another…, Leonis thought as he let her pull him away.
Shouldn’t a Dark Lord’s revival be a more solemn, dignified affair?
He’d (quite obviously) failed at the reincarnation ritual, instead returning to an incarnation of the boy he had been before becoming the Undead King. His crypt was infested with these otherworldly Void creatures, and the place was being wrecked without regard for its master’s—his—will.
He wanted nothing more than to turn around and give that monster what was coming to it, but he couldn’t afford to do that. Leonis snuck a glance at Riselia’s face as she ran ahead of him. The girl was an important source of information, and so he had to keep his identity as the Undead King hidden if he was to learn anything more.
“Let’s head for the surface, okay?” Riselia asked, panting all the while.
…There’s a shortcut to the surface, though.
However, pointing that out could raise the girl’s suspicions.
“…Ah!”
Suddenly feeling a presence, Leonis reflexively tugged on Riselia’s sleeve.
Boooooooooooooooom!
The ruin’s ceiling caved in. Had the two walked any farther, they’d have surely been crushed under the rubble.
“…Leo…?”
“It looks like there was more than just one of them.”
Leonis turned his back to Riselia, who had fallen behind him, and looked ahead. A massive, winged shadow looked down on them from beyond the dust.
“…Not another one!”
“Is that a Void, too?”
“Yes, a flying variant—a wyvern-class one.”
Leonis’s eyes narrowed at the word wyvern. True, the shape of its wings was reminiscent of the winged dragonkin he knew, but it was dotted with lumps of mineral, and its ugly, inflated body was a far cry from the wyverns Leonis knew. Those were far more graceful magical beasts than this.
“…Leo, run!”
Selia fired three shots toward the Void, but they didn’t even seem to faze it.
Guess I should just destroy it… Leonis gave a small shrug.
It would mean showing the girl a glimpse of his powers, but there was no helping that. On the other hand, this Void was the perfect opponent for some post-reincarnation practice.
I will make you rue the day you dared to intrude upon the Undead King Leonis’s mausoleum.
An indomitable smile played over Leonis’s lips as he began weaving an ancient spell. He could feel the mana running throughout his body. This body wasn’t quite at its prime, of course, but…
Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
The massive Void swung its talons down.
I’ll turn you to dust.
Leonis began chanting a sixth-order attack spell, but then…
“…I won’t let you!”
Riselia jumped in front of the boy, knocking him away.
…Huh?
Riselia’s silvery hair filled Leonis’s field of vision. The Void’s talons descended, gouging into Riselia’s upper half.
Riiiiiiiiiiiiip!
The horizontal sweep knocked Riselia back. Her body bounced and rolled a few times as it crashed into the ground.
“What…?!”
Leonis got to his feet and turned to face her.
“Aaah, kh… Ugh…”
Blood quickly stained Riselia’s clothes red as she lay collapsed. Leonis’s eyes widened as he stood stock-still.
“Why…?”
“…R-run…” Riselia’s lips parted as she feebly muttered. “Regroup with…Regina…and run… You can do that, right…?”
Her voice was all too kind but desperate. With each breath, the wound on her chest widened and blood flowed freely, coloring the earth. Leonis sensed other Voids moving behind them. The one called a wyvern class wasn’t alone, it seemed. Likely two or three more of them of at least the same size appeared. Leonis, however, did not turn to face them.
“…H-h-hurry…!”
“…”
Leonis took the young woman’s hand as her consciousness faded. Her fingers rapidly grew colder. He was familiar with the sensation of death. He’d come into contact with it many times already.
Calling it a foolish act of self-sacrifice would be easy. The Undead King would’ve never been struck by an attack like that. This was just some human girl Leonis had kept alive out of a need for information and on something of a whim. She had saved his life once—but to Leonis, she was nothing more or less than that.
But seeing Riselia rise up to protect him reminded the reincarnated Dark Lord of the way she had looked back then.
—Do you see how tedious and dull being a hero really is? Become mine instead, Leonis.
Riselia reminded him of a girl who had risked life and limb to protect an injured boy. The girl who had appeared before him when he was betrayed by the ones he’d saved… Riselia reminded him of the Goddess of Rebellion. The one who raised the banner of discord, the one despised by the rest of the world.
“…It really is all too incorrigible,” Leonis whispered bitterly as he dipped his fingers into the puddle of blood.
“This body…is completely and utterly incorrigible…”
Why did a return to a human body mean the return of human emotions…?
Leonis rose to his feet and glanced back. At the moment, the three Voids seemed frozen in place, evidently taken aback by the overwhelming presence coming from the boy. He looked around, taking in the destruction spotting the walls of the ruin.
“You cretins dared disturb my resting place,” the child said coldly. “I’d thought I’d been reincarnated, only to find myself in this worthless shell. Strange monsters now run amok in my mausoleum as if they own the place. And now they’ve slain the girl who saved my life. Yes, that’s right, I admit it. This courageous girl managed to earn some of my interest…”
Leonis ignored the Voids, continuing to mutter to himself.
“And this robe is too large to move in comfortably, and honestly, my feet hurt…”
He’d had to run across the stone floor with bare feet, cutting and scraping them all the while.
That last one was mostly just his griping, but still…
“—Now, then. I suppose I should grant you fools a fitting punishment.” Leonis crossed his arms, pondering.
The Undead King was a tolerant sort and willing to take extenuating circumstances into account. What was he to do? These creatures seemingly lacked intelligence, after all. They lacked the capacity to understand what they were doing and who they were dealing with.
They never suspected that this seemingly frail boy was one they should have never, ever sought as an enemy.
“Well, I suppose that in the end…” The Undead King turned a quick glance at Riselia’s bloodied body before passing judgment.
“You fools deserve nothing but certain death.”
Leonis stomped his feet atop his shadow beneath him. The shadow writhed eerily, and from within it rose a single staff. A blue magic crystal was embedded in the tip of the rod.
“It’s been around a thousand years, my faithful companion.”
At Leonis’s slightest touch, the staff loosed a tremendously ominous aura.
The symbol of death of the Dark Lords’ Armies—the Staff of Sealed Sins. It was the demon eye staff Leonis had stolen during a battle against a divine dragon.
“Hmm. It’s a bit too long for this body, isn’t it?”
Holding the staff with one hand, Leonis examined it closely, when…
Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
The wyvern-class Void swooped down with its talons again.
“—My word. How uncouth.”
Leonis charged the staff with mana and fired off a spell.
Crack…
The Void’s massive form was assailed by a powerful pressure and crushed from above. Its four limbs bent and contorted in unnatural directions, and its head was pushed down against the ground so hard, it left an impression.
The magic was an eighth-order gravity-type spell, the Grand Pressure Wave, Vira Zuo. The Void’s appendages twitched desperately from within the increased gravity, but the creature was unable to stand.
“I will grind you into the soil, you inferior existence.”
With a tap of the tip of the staff to the ground…
The Void disintegrated, its cry of death distorted by the gravity well.
Rooooooooooaaar!
A horned, beast-like Void charged Leonis.
“So you are incapable of knowing fear. How amusing.”
Leonis stuck out his staff.
“Rua Meires.”
The staff’s eye shone, and a gleaming hexagonal barrier sprouted in front of Leonis. The beast-like Void’s charge was easily brought to a halt by the magical construct.
“What? Is this the best you can do?” Leonis gave a thin smile.
The tip of the Void’s horns made contact with the barrier, releasing powerful bolts of electricity in an attempt to break through the Undead King’s defense. The attack failed to penetrate the magical shield, though.
“Well then, allow me to take the next step.”
Leonis swung his staff downwards. The hexagonal barrier began spinning rapidly, easily shredding the animallike Void.
The remaining Void was reminiscent of a serpent and seemed to possess a bit more intelligence than the other two. It burrowed into the walls of the ruin, trying to flee to a lower level.
“Do you really think I’d let you escape?”
Leonis kicked against the ground and levitated into the air. He swung his staff toward the Void burrowing its way down.
“I will burn you to cinders!”
He cast an eighth-order fire-type spell, the Grand Annihilation Fireball, Al Gu Belzelga.
Kaboooooooooooooooooooom!
Crimson flames scorched the Void to ash in a matter of seconds.
“…Well, that was simple enough,” Leonis muttered as he landed gently on the ground. However, his expression quickly turned to shock.
“I-impossible!”
There was something there that should not have been. It seemed the charred skeletal remains of the snakelike Void remained.
“How could its bones endure after taking a hit from an Al Gu Belzelga spell?!”
Those were intense flames summoned directly from the Realm of Muspelheim, capable of melting even the scales of a red dragon.
Looking down at his hands, Leonis sighed in disappointment. Back when he was still known as a hero, magic had actually been a weakness of his. It seemed this form simply didn’t have the same magical abilities he’d had in his prime.
…A third of that, at best, from the look of things.
Leonis approached Riselia and took her hands in his. Her skin was growing colder, but she still drew faint breath. The human body is a frail thing, though. She’d surely die at this rate. Her pale face was gruesome to the point of beauty.
“I am a Dark Lord. The lives of humans mean nothing to me.” Leonis made sure to whisper the words, even though she likely couldn’t hear him.
“But I do respect your noble soul. You risked your life to protect me. Trying to defend a Dark Lord is impudent to the point of blasphemy, but I will acknowledge your spirit.” Leonis wrapped his arms around her bloodstained body.
“Kh… You’re heavy, aren’t you…?”
She was actually quite dainty for a girl her age, but for Leonis’s newly reborn ten-year-old frame, it was quite the weight.
“My apologies, but while I’ve devoted myself to sorcery, holy magic is the one thing I cannot use.”
That was the price those who dabbled in the Realm of Death’s magic had to pay. The Undead King Leonis could not use even the most basic or rudimentary healing spells, to say nothing of restoring someone who had lost so much of their life force.
As such…
Leonis elected to save her using the only other method he knew.
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