Reborn with a Necromancer System - Chapter 117

Chapter 117: Fighting for Control
Kai’s footsteps echoed in the narrow alley as he moved between high, soot-blackened walls. The night air was thick with the tang of refuse and the distant clang of the city’s nightlife. He’d been walking towards the academy to meet his friends when that familiar ringing began in his ears. A soft vibration, at first, then a sharp call.

[Warning: A Fracture Event is Occurring.]

“Fracture Event? What’s-”

Before he could finish his question, Kai froze, his heart pounding. His vision swam, the world tilting at an impossible angle as an ancient, boiling hunger stirred within him. Deep inside his soul vault, the Shadow Dragon’s spirit churned, pressing against its magical shackles.

“Oh,” Kai muttered, lips curling in a grim smile. “Time to try this, then.”

With a breath that tasted of blood from his bitten lip, Kai extended his mana into the soul vault, summoning the dragon soul. It tore free with a roar that no mortal ears could hear. Like a thunderclap from lightning that struck the ground by his feet, the sound near-deafened him.

The soul hovered before him: a living ember of feral energy, its edges writhing like living flame.

The soul screamed, a psychic howl of fury and hunger. It lashed at Kai’s mind, seeking to shatter his will, consume his essence, replace his very being with its draconic wrath.

He gritted his teeth, fingers clenched around the talisman that contained the vault’s seal. Around him, the other souls bound within.

Winfried Drummond’s steadfast strength, Angelica Trunsdale’s steady grace, even the spirits of the iron bears.

They all reached out in silent solidarity. He could almost feel their wills merging with his, lending him their strength of mind, body, and will.

Pain exploded in his chest as the dragon’s soul struck first. Kai gasped, staggering backward against the alley wall. Every nerve screamed. He fought it with everything he had: tendrils of shadow magic clawing at the intruder, threads of elemental mana matching its heat with crushing cold, waves of Kai’s necrotic mana testing its limits.

‘I will not become you,’ he vowed.

The battle of wills raged across the landscape of his mind. Memories and emotions flashed:

Orlin’s lessons, Mari’s laughter, the countless fallen souls he’d taken, consumed, and guided. Each memory a bolt of reinforcement driving the dragon back toward obedience. He wrapped his life essence around the soul like a vice, squeezing until it curdled and splintered.

A final psychic shriek rent the air. Then, silence. Kai collapsed to one knee as the fruit of his struggle, an iridescent orb of shimmering darkness, fell into his open palm.

With a single mental command, the orb sunk into Kai’s hand and his body completely absorbed the soul.

The ringing returned, triumphant:

[Shadow Dragon Soul consumed.]

Kai felt an overhwhelming surge of power flow through him.

[Pre-requisite: Consume a soul of Sovereign rank or higher – Complete]

[Sacrifice the remaining Life Essence? 32,809/27,500]

Kai closed his eyes, letting the warmth of that vast life essence pour into him. He felt his reserves swell, then diverted the overflow toward his phylactery.

[Sacrifice 100,000 Life Essence – 62,450/100,000]

He exhaled, knees trembling. He’d survived. He’d won.

‘Almost there,’ he thought, weary but defiant. ‘If I can reach the next rank, or even the one after… Maybe I can destroy the Devourer.’

—

Kai stood in the foul-smelling cellar of an abandoned building, surrounded by the shattered remains of over a dozen criminals. The floor was slick with blood and viscera. A scene of his doing.

“There’s never a short supply of this scum in the citadel. Just follow the thugs and they’ll lead you back to their nests like ants.”

Against a far wall, a young woman lay bound, her body a covered in gashes and bruises. She was still breathing, her eyes wide with terror and rage.

His lips curled in resignation. He called softly, “Ralts.”

From a tendril of shadow, the Chaos Lich materialised, her skeletal form draped in swirling arcane mist. Without a word, she extended a bony hand. A pale glow washed over the wounded girl; muscles knitted, bones reset, blood clotted. Within moments, the woman stood.

Weak, trembling, but alive.

Kai undid the restraints holding her against the wall.

She slumped down, and grabbed a silver knife from the ground before glaring at Kai.

Kai stepped forward. “Stay back,” he warned. “I saved you. Now… be grateful.”

The woman’s eyes flickered with madness. She lunged, screaming, swinging the knife at him like a cornered animal.

He sighed. “I’m sorry.”

With a single, practiced motion, Kai’s hand glowed with concentrated necrotic energy. A bolt of Wither coursed through her chest. She froze mid-shriek, then crumpled at his feet, lifeless.

Kai knelt, closing her eyes. He placed a hand over her heart and drew out the last flicker of life essence. The world spun as he absorbed it:

[You now have enough Life Essence in your reserves to rank up.]

He rose, expression hard as flint. The woman’s body lay still as stone.

‘She was the final grain of sand,’ he thought darkly.

Another group of enemies entered the room, alerted by the screaming of the girl.

He turned on the remaining living bodies around him, flexing his cold, graceful control. Ralts’s voice echoed in his mind as she used her flesh-manipulation magic: “Sharper angles… precise movements…” and suddenly Kai was a whirlwind of violence.

He snapped necks, crushed ribs, tore limbs as easily as one might peel the skins off fruit. Each crack of bone and slicing of flesh rang in his ears, brutal and intimate. He needed no magic save the demon-sharp reflexes Ralts lent him; this was pure, unadorned carnage.

Ralts’ rotten mouth showed a twisted smile. He felt her joy in having given control over his body to her, if temporarily.

When the echoing silence returned, Kai stood amid the gore, chest heaving. He kicked aside a crumpled form—one of the few who’d managed to cut him in a brief struggle.

“I’ll be stronger next time,” he whispered, voice low.

He looked down at his hands, stained with blood.

“Mass Raise Dead.”

—

Kai gathered himself and spoke softly, “Rank up.”

A soft chime answered his request.

[Rank 6 Necromancer Unlocked.]

[Rank 5 Requirements: Command an army of 10,000. Find E⸮o⸮b⸮a⸮d’s final resting place.]

“There’s that name again. Orlin said they were the first necromancer and his master? And an army of ten thousand? I’d have to raise the dead from a war for those numbers. A war-”

Before Kai could consider anything more, the system chimed in again.

[Ranking up as unlocked Veil of Midnight.]

[Veil of Midnight – The user cloaks themselves in a living veil of shadow drawn from the deepest hours of the night. While Veil of Midnight is active, the user becomes partially intangible and nearly invisible in low light or darkness.]

[Concealment and Veil of Midnight have merged to create Umbral Mantle.]

[Umbral Mantle – While Umbral Sovereignty is active, the user fuses with the deep shadows themselves, becoming an untouchable wraith. Sight, sound, and even memory struggle to hold onto their presence. Those who glimpse the sovereign find their courage falter and their senses betray them.

Effects:

True Stealth: The user becomes completely invisible to mundane sight and most magical detection. Only divine or legendary perception can track them reliably. Malicious intent will deactivate the skill.]

“Damn… If I head to the academy at night, I might even be able to find the soul forge…”

He closed his eyes, letting the power settle like a rising tide. The weight of the new rank filled him with grim purpose. In the shadows behind him, Ralts bent forward briefly, as if in approval.

Kai turned, face set. The Devourer’s reign would end. By his hand.

But not yet. He could still feel it. The gap between him and the power he felt when facing them. The sort of power that could destroy almost any mage in Imeria.

He stepped back through the cellar’s doorway into a dank alley, shoulders squared against the stench of death behind him and of what must come next.

[Name: Kai Tensen |

Age: 15 Years |

Specialisation: Necromancer |

Rank: 6 |

Advancement Requirements: Command an army of 10,000. Find E⸮o⸮b⸮a⸮d’s final resting place. |

Life Essence Stored: 13/115,000 (2,750/11,500 – Phylactery Reserves) |

Mortality Deviance: 6/10 |

Artifacts: Abyssal Band |

Soul Vault: 20/1,000 |

Souls Absorbed: Winfried Drummond (Greater), Angelica Trunsdale (Greater), Nameless Guards (2, Petty), Nameless Inquisitors (3, Lesser), Iron Bear (13, Greater) |

Souls Tethered: 1 – Kleo Carmine |

Undead Army: 519 (Joran (Brawler), Rhea (Commander), Finn (Flight Unit), Merri (Shadowsworn), Voltis, Zephyr, Kael (Splitspeed Rogue), Ralts (Sentient Chaos Lich), Joe (Death Knight), Princess Aliza of Forne, Arcane Wolf (2), Skeleton Novice Fire Mage (12), Skeleton Novice Shadow Mage (10), Skeleton Novice Elementalist (3), Skeleton Warrior (38), Skeleton (186), Zombie Warrior (41), Zombie Sprinter (9), Zombie Shambler (71), Ghast (13), Shadow Death Knight, Lesser Lich (2), Grave Maw, Grond, Undead Rat (81), Undead Pup (4), Skeleton Magister (14), Skeleton Knight (12) |

Languages Translated: Imerian, Salan, Forebearers (46%) |

Skills: Mana Manipulation, Mana Tempering, Mana Sense, Shadow Manipulation (Advanced), Strengthening Magic (Moderate), Elemental Magic (Minor), Combat Arts (Intermediate), Shadowmeld, Precision Targeting (Magic), Death Sense, Murmurs of the Departed, Shadow Decoy, Sigilcraft (Fortification, Elemental), Aura of Undead, Umbral Mantle |

Spellcasting: Intermediate |

Spells: Raise Undead (Moderate), Thrall Control, Shadow Conjuring, Bull’s Strength, Frozen Touch (Contact), Frozen Zone (Area), Icicle Javelins (Ranged), Searing Touch (Contact), Wall of Flame (Moderate), Wither, Gravebound, Wall of Ice (Moderate), Mass Raise Undead (Lesser), Tether the Fallen, Ice Prison (Minor), Shadow Weapons, Flamethrower, Tempered Shadows, Shadow Space, Speed Sigil (Lightning), Power Sigil (Fire), Aura Sigil (Ice), Undead Enslavement, Chaos Sigil, Darkness Sigil (Shadow), Chaos Shadow Barrier, Control Sigil (Anti-Chaos), Flight Sigil, Shared Senses Sigil, Bone Lance]

“Beautiful. I should consume some more life essence before I head back to Kleo’s house. Fill up my phylactery, since it can hold more now.”