At the central keep of Strauss Fortress, Emil Strauss was receiving a battle report from silver knight Kairon in the lord’s chamber.

"There are thirty-eight wounded, no fatalities."

It seemed almost impossible to believe that, with so many wounded, there hadn’t been a single death. But thanks to the unique composition of the Strauss forces, that seemingly absurd outcome was reality.

"Of course, if you count those who were already dead and simply destroyed again, the number would be much higher," Kairon added, in a flat, businesslike tone. "But there’s no need to include them in the tally, since they’ll be up and moving again by tomorrow."

His report was delivered with a clinical indifference, devoid of loyalty or emotion. No, to be precise, there was emotion, though it was thinly veiled. He was barely suppressing a smouldering fury and resentment.

Watching him, the Leven within Emil smirked inwardly. Still seething with hatred, I see. As expected.

Kairon did not serve Emil Strauss out of loyalty. In fact, most of Strauss’s vassals involved in the rebellion were in the same position. They were following orders only because Gellard, their liege, had been taken hostage.

Outwardly, they feigned obedience, but under the surface, they were clearly biding their time for betrayal. And yet, there was no need to worry about them turning on him. It was thanks to the powerful mental domination spell cast over Kairon and the rest of the vassals.

They had not been forced into loyalty by crude enchantments like "Renounce Gellard and serve Emil!" Mental domination grew exponentially more difficult based on the target’s willpower and the degree to which the command opposed their nature.

Trying to subjugate them outright would’ve led to certain failure. Even if it succeeded, it would only work on a few, never the majority. So, the Black God's Cult had taken a different approach with the Strauss vassals.

—Avoid anything that could endanger the hostage, Gellard.

Altering their very thoughts was too difficult, especially with high-level aura users like Kairon or mages. But it was possible to leave their beliefs intact and merely nudge them toward a more obsessive fixation on their existing concerns.

That was how even someone like Kairon, a silver knight, had fallen under the spell. Even without necromancy, he would have obeyed to protect Gellard. The spell merely sharpened that instinct into blind compulsion. And so, even though their loyalty was nonexistent, betrayal was utterly impossible.

Having finished his report, Kairon hesitated for a moment, then asked, "I understand what you desire, young master Emil."

He was waiting, waiting for Karnak’s party to infiltrate the fortress. "In that case, shouldn’t we press them harder? The greater their losses, the fewer options they’ll have left."

The Leven within Emil shook his head. "That won’t do."

"Pardon?"

"If we push too hard, they’ll flee." His tone was so certain that Kairon found himself puzzled for a moment.

He had heard of Baron Karnak of Harthol, hero of his people. He also knew well how deeply Karnak despised necromancy and the Cult of the Black God, and how relentlessly he sought to eradicate them.

He is a man who never retreats in the face of necromancers. So why does he expect him to flee from a mere increase in pressure?

But Kairon soon relaxed his expression. Well, there’s no need for me to point it out.

He would not betray Emil, but he had no intention of offering his loyalty either. If Emil made a fatal mistake, and Karnak ended up cutting him down and rescuing Gellard, Kairon would be nothing but glad.

With a blank expression, Kairon lowered his head. "Understood. I shall maintain the current balance."

***

There were two primary ways to capture an enemy commander with an elite strike team. The first: infiltrate the enemy camp in secret, evade the defenses, and swiftly eliminate the target in an assassination.

The second: create chaos with a large external assault, then slip a strike force through the confusion to take out the objective. In other words, a diversionary tactic.

Future Leven had long been baiting Karnak toward the first option, while Karnak himself was eyeing the second. If infiltration and assassination went according to plan, it was the surest way to minimize allied losses while achieving their objective. But if anything went wrong, they would be stranded deep in enemy lines with no way out.

Given the certainty that the enemy had layered their defenses with hidden necromantic domains, walking straight into those traps would be sheer folly. And this was not just anyone’s life at stake. It was Karnak’s own.

There was, of course, no absolute need for the supreme commander to personally lead the strike team. Some had even suggested assembling a separate detachment of the subjugation army’s elites to assassinate Emil Strauss.

However, Karnak could not agree to this suggestion. On the surface, it was because only Karnak’s party possessed the strength to contend with both Emil Strauss and silver knight Kairon.

This wasn’t untrue, but the real reason lay elsewhere. There was an exceedingly slim chance someone else could kill Emil, and even if, by sheer luck, they succeeded, it would still be a problem.

In that case, Tesranach would surely claim Leven’s soul for himself. Only by personally striking down the Leven within Emil could Karnak ensure he seized the soul first.

That was why Karnak had consistently aimed for a diversionary assault. The diversionary tactic carried far less risk. Advancing under the cover of chaos, backed by allied support, left little chance of becoming trapped deep in enemy territory.

Of course, the operation required rapid execution to avoid complications, but even in the event of failure, it allowed for a safe retreat.

Future Leven understood this well. That was why he had concentrated his defenses to prevent them from even crossing the fortress walls. This was the reason, as Serati had described, their fight resembled two leashed dogs barking furiously at each other but held back by their leashes.

"But at least now, we’ve cleared the way to deal with their traps," Karnak murmured, smiling faintly at the human-disguised governors of the Twilight Order.

The necromantic domains he could detect had already been mostly dismantled. All that remained were the subtle traps, ones that were invisible until they were triggered. The issue was that most necromantic domains, once activated, were nearly impossible to neutralize from within.

Until now, Karnak had disarmed them even after being caught thanks to the overwhelming difference in skill. But with future Leven as their opponent, even Karnak couldn’t guarantee success.

However, what if they had a reliable force outside the fortress to handle the domains once they were triggered?

"Then, an infiltration assassination becomes a viable option."

***

It was late at night, south of Strauss Fortress. Heavy clouds blanketed the sky, and the dim crescent moonlight was nowhere near enough to pierce the darkness. Shadows stretched thick across the land.

A small group moved stealthily through those shadows. They merged into the gloom and slipped along the earth like living phantoms in their pitch-black robes.

At last, they reached the base of the fortress wall. Wiping sweat from beneath his robe, Karnak whispered under his breath. "Whew. Just getting here is a job on its own."

Moving under cover of darkness was easy to say, but far harder to do. As with most fortresses, the area surrounding Strauss Fortress was wide open to maintain clear lines of sight, leaving few places to hide.

Moreover, even the lowest-ranking soldiers of the Strauss family were impeccably disciplined. There were no drowsy sentries here, nodding off in the dead of night. They had made it this far by creeping carefully while waiting for the clouds to veil the moonlight.

Alius, keeping his voice even lower than Karnak’s, quietly replied, "But we made it here undetected. That’s a good start."

For this elite strike team, Karnak had naturally chosen his usual companions. That included Varos, Serati, Leven, and Lapicel. Not only were they well-synchronized, but they also far outclassed the other aura users in the subjugation army. In addition, Karnak asked Alius. He had a specific reason for including Alius.

No one could predict how the battle against the Leven within Emil would unfold until they engaged him. But no matter the battle, having a powerful priest in the rear line greatly increased their chances of victory.

In the past, Karnak had hesitated to use necromancy in front of Alius, but that was no longer a concern. Thanks to Mediator of Necromancy, Alius would not find anything unusual about it now.

Besides, Karnak already had to worry about Lapicel. Adding Alius to the mix didn’t change much. More importantly, Alius was an exceptional combatant even among priests.

He wasn’t just great in terms of divine power. Although priests with his level of strength were uncommon, they were not unheard of. What set Alius apart was this. Unlike typical priests, he possessed outstanding physical prowess.

He handled blades with skill, had a strong foundation in martial arts, and boasted exceptional physical abilities overall. Honestly, even without divine power, he could hold his own against most regular knights.

Having spent his career as an inquisitor, hunting down necromancers and heretics, Alius had developed formidable martial skill almost by necessity.

Indeed, when it comes to combat, he’s more reliable than most priests.

Glancing briefly at Alius, Karnak then raised his eyes. Beyond the darkness, the towering walls of Strauss Fortress loomed into view.

Leven muttered under his breath. "These walls will be a problem."

The walls stood about ten meters high. For mages or aura users, this wasn’t insurmountable. They could leap or fly over them with ease. Even an aura user of the red-tier could likely scale the walls with a few powerful kicks.

The real problem lay elsewhere.

"It’ll be difficult to climb unnoticed," Leven commented.

As with most military fortresses, Strauss Fortress had detection wards installed all over the place. If they moved using aura, magic, or divine power, they would instantly trigger the wards.

Well, they might avoid detection by breaking the wards as they advanced, but that would only alert the enemy to the fact that the wards had been destroyed.

In other words, they had to scale those towering walls using nothing but their physical strength, and do so without being spotted by the sentries posted above.

Serati nodded in agreement. "It’s not that we can’t climb it, but I can’t say I’m confident we’d go unnoticed."

There was no way the guards would miss pitch-black shadows squirming up a flat wall like lizards.

"Besides," she added, "while the rest of us can probably make it up, wouldn’t it be a bit difficult for you, Lord Karnak?"

To this, Karnak simply shrugged. "No need to worry. I had no intention of climbing in the first place."

"Then... what did you plan to do?"

"This."

A faint darkness began to rise around Karnak. Lapicel and Alius stiffened, their expressions hardening in an instant.

Ah?

This is...

It was necromantic energy, the unmistakable, forbidden aura of the dark arts. But the two soon relaxed their expressions. They had been startled at first, but upon reflection, they remembered they had encountered this before.

"Is this the Mediator of Necromancy spell?"

"That’s right." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Indeed, the detection barriers here were highly sensitive to aura, magic, and divine power, just like those in the Governor’s Vault once controlled by the Black God's Cult.

"But this won’t trigger them, will it?" Spreading the shadowy energy beneath him, Karnak motioned for the group to gather close. "Alright, everyone, get in close."

The darkness rose up and swallowed them whole, and their bodies began to slowly lift off the ground into the air.