With the spear of light skewering his heart, Future Leven groaned. "Y-you... you bastard..."

His body was the corpse of Gellard. It was already dead. Even with his chest pierced, his heart no longer beat, so it wasn’t an instant kill. In fact, there was no concept of an instant death for undead.

However, his body would not move. Karnak had struck precisely at the core of the death knight spell—the necromantic heart, so to speak. It was not like a human heart that, when destroyed, meant immediate death. But once it was pierced, the undead would lose full control of their body.

But if I hesitate, he’ll recover quickly. As someone well-versed in necromancy, Karnak wasted no time. Finish it.

At his command, the angel raised its right hand, and a blade of light surged from the angel’s fingertips. With that razor-sharp edge, the Angel of Radiant Wings cleanly severed Martial King Gellard’s head.

Leven, watching from nearby, flinched in surprise.

—Lord Karnak?

He already knew Gellard was dead. But wasn’t it unnecessary to go so far as to cut off his head after impaling his heart with a spear?

—It is necessary. He’s undead.

Only then did Leven understand the situation. Decapitation was a commonly practiced method of subduing intelligent undead. For humans, such a wound meant instant death, but undead, being already dead, could not die again.

However, beheading did not mean killing them. An undead whose head had been severed could, in theory, still move both head and body separately. But because their consciousness resided in the head, the headless body, though capable of movement, lost the will to act. As for the head? It might be filled with intent, but it no longer had the means to move.

What could a disembodied head possibly do? Nothing but shout curses.

"Damn it! Why! Why would he do such a thing...!" Gellard’s head trembled with rage in the angel’s grip.

Of course, Karnak paid it no mind. Now all that’s left is to claim Leven’s soul.

But rather than do so, he had the angel throw the head far away. Gellard’s head, flung into the air, came to a halt mid-flight and suddenly flared with an intense darkness.

At the same time, a black void opened, and jet-black tendrils shot out to wrap around the severed head. Everyone watching froze, their expressions stiffening.

"What?!"

"Wh-what is that?!"

But Karnak remained unshaken. "Exactly as I expected."

He had already recognized the situation the moment he skewered the heart with the spear of light. What was now unfolding from Gellard’s body was a soul-retrieval spell. It was something Tesranach had prepared in advance from beyond the void. Tesranach was reclaiming Future Leven’s soul.

At this point, it was too late for Karnak to intervene. The opposing spell had activated first. If the caster’s skill were lacking, he might have been able to intercept it, even belatedly. But the necromantic power unfolding before his eyes was too advanced.

And he wasn’t speaking by ordinary standards. The necromancy was remarkably high-level even by the standards of the Monarch of Death.

I won’t be able to intercept this one.

Still, it wasn’t something to be too disappointed about. Because the soul-retrieval spell had activated first, Future Leven had frozen mid-attack, allowing Karnak—despite being a beat late—to drive his spear into Leven’s heart.

In simple terms, had that spell not triggered, Future Leven would have won.

What game are you playing, Tesranach?

The void greedily pulled Gellard’s head, and with it, Leven’s soul, into its depths.

Watching this unfold, Karnak frowned. So you sent Leven here planning for him to lose from the start, didn’t you?

***

The gateway to the void vanished, taking Future Leven’s soul with it. Only the corpse of the dead Gellard remained. Karnak released the Angel of Radiant Wings. As the light faded, the young man with dark hair revealed himself once more. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Karnak groaned as pain jolted through his body. He steadied himself. So the necromantic energy did put quite a strain on me.

Strictly speaking, Necromantic magic, Angel of Radiant Wings, wasn’t a spell that borrowed the power of a mighty angel. Rather, it was Incarnation of Divinity, Demon King of Chaos, disguised beneath a cloak of light.

The combat strength he had shown came entirely from the Demon King of Chaos. It was unmistakably necromancy, and the power it used was necromantic energy. There had been a time when Leven, in passing, had once asked him a question.

—You once said chaos mana is necromantic power converted into mana. Then is it possible to convert chaos mana back into necromantic power?

At the time, Karnak hadn’t seriously considered dedicating himself to necromancy again. Still, thinking it wise to prepare for contingencies, he had researched it whenever he found time.

And, true to his former title as Monarch of Death, once he set his mind to it, he managed to work out a way to convert between the two energies. The side effects of necromantic energy, however, remained.

Though... it’s not as bad as I expected.

Karnak was mildly surprised after checking the condition of his body. He was in far better shape compared to his days as the Monarch of Death. At this rate, he wouldn’t have to worry about turning undead. If he simply ate well and rested properly, he would recover just fine.

Does just a little exercise really make this much of a difference? It wasn’t as if Karnak had turned into some monstrously muscular warrior. He was merely at the level of a healthy adult man. And yet, even so...

In his previous life, he had reached the pinnacle of necromancy, with nowhere left to go. To ascend beyond that, he had discarded his useless flesh and chosen the path of transcendence, becoming Astra Shunaph.

But could it really have been solved just by working out a bit?

He couldn’t help but feel a certain unfairness creeping in. But soon, he gave a wry smile. Even if he had known the truth back then, he would have still become an Astra Shunaph.

Come on, would I really have exercised at that time?

Humans, after all, were creatures that never changed unless they were forced to truly feel it in their bones.

Luckily, it’s not too late now. I’d better keep taking care of my body.

At any rate, his necromantic magic, Angel of Radiant Wings, had delivered results beyond expectations. It was unfortunate that he hadn’t been able to secure Future Leven’s soul, but confirming that he could stand against a martial king was a tremendous gain in itself.

But still... what is Tesranach really up to?

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t fathom why Tesranach would intentionally allow Future Leven to lose in that situation. And there was something else that didn’t sit right.

According to the memories he’d recovered from Hudel, Elezar had definitely suspected Lapicel’s true identity. Yet Future Leven had not recognized her at all. Hadn’t he been openly surprised by her skills throughout the fight?

Could it be that Elezar simply forgot to tell him?

That was far too much of a stretch. No matter how poor the internal communication within the Cult of the Black God might be, they wouldn’t forget to share critical information about one of the Four Martial Kings.

Such an important detail being omitted could only mean one thing. They hid it on purpose.

But why? Why would they conceal this from their own allies? If they needed to manipulate information, they should have been altering the enemy’s knowledge. Why were they tampering with their own side?

***

The inner fortress of Strauss was, quite literally, reduced to rubble. For all its sturdy construction, built with battle in mind, it had stood no chance against the clash between Karnak and Future Leven. Leaping over heaps of scattered stone, Karnak made his way back to his companions.

"Is everyone all right..." He started to ask, then stopped himself.

There was no need to voice the question. A single glance was enough for an answer. They were all in miserable shape. Though they had managed to slow their bleeding with aura and suppress the pain, serious wounds could not be healed so easily.

Varos staggered to his feet. "Agh, damn..."

Because he had thrown himself into the fight more aggressively than anyone else, he had taken the most severe injuries.

After groaning for a moment, he shrugged. "It hurts like hell, but I’m not dead, so that’s good enough. I mean, we fought a martial king and lived to tell about it. You can’t ask for more than that."

Serati, who had borne the brunt of many attacks, wasn’t much better off. She managed a strained nod. "I can still move, at least. Though I doubt I’ll be lifting a sword for a while."

Leven, relatively speaking, was in the best shape. Relatively.

"I..." He began to answer, but his words trailed off.

His mind was in turmoil, and he couldn’t seem to form coherent speech. His father was dead. His brother, too. Both had met pitiful ends. Their corpses had. Been defiled and made a mockery of.

In an instant, his family had been completely erased from the world. He was certain he should feel grief. And yes, part of him did feel sorrow. But the emotion twisting in his chest at this moment could not be summed up so simply.

"I suppose..." Leven faltered, then forced the words out. "I’ll be busy from now on."

Karnak nodded. "That’s certain."

Both the head and the heir of the Strauss family were gone. The weight of the Strauss legacy now rested squarely on Leven’s shoulders. The heavy burden that his elder brother had carried all his life was now his.

"Wait." Leven’s expression stiffened. Because of what had happened with Gellard, he had assumed Emil was dead as well. But now that he thought about it, he had never actually confirmed Emil Strauss’s death. "What happened to Emil?"

At that, Karnak and Varos both stiffened in the same way.

"Huh?"

"You’re right."

Future Leven had abandoned Emil Strauss’s body and transferred himself into Martial King Gellard. As a result, Emil’s body had collapsed on the spot.

"So then, he should be somewhere around here..." Muttering to herself, Serati scanned the surroundings, her face growing pale.

As mentioned earlier, the area had been completely reduced to ruins. The courtyard was torn apart and overturned in places, with massive boulders strewn about like scattered toys.

"Don’t tell me... he got buried under all that?" Serati said with a frown.

Startled, everyone began frantically searching the courtyard. But no matter how hard they looked, they couldn’t find Emil Strauss anywhere.

Serati turned to Karnak with a troubled expression. "If Sir Leven from the future left Sir Emil’s body, what happens to it?"

"What do you mean, what happens?" Karnak asked back.

"I mean, does he die, or does he return to being Sir Emil?" Serati continued.

"Uh... well..." Karnak answered awkwardly, looking conflicted. "That depends on what state he was in when he collapsed."

Either way, it didn’t defy the logic of necromancy, so even he couldn’t make a guess without some kind of clue.

Karnak looked around. "Did anyone check at the time? Whether Emil was dead or just unconscious?"

Leven and Serati both shook their heads, looking blank.

"I... I don’t know."

"Me neither."

Varos let out a wry smile. "We didn’t have the chance. The moment Future Leven abandoned Sir Emil’s body, Martial King Gellard appeared, remember?"

Imagine a person collapsed right in front of you, but just a few steps away, a raging tiger was standing tall. Would you really think to check if that person was dead or alive?

"Everyone’s attention was locked on him."

"True. I was the same," Karnak admitted.

Even he had been so overwhelmed by Gellard’s presence that he’d completely erased Emil from his mind, so he couldn’t blame the others.

Stroking his chin, Karnak frowned. "Well then, where the hell did Emil go?"