Assassin's Chronicle

"This is impossible," one of the mages stammered. "People who know how to do this kind of magic are long dead."

Not everyone agreed with his comment, however. Necromancers were very hard to kill, and despite the numerous attempts to eliminate necromancers, they thrived. There were always a few necromancers that would hide away and recover in some remote corner of the world. When there were enough believers in their religion, there would be another attempt at eliminating necromancers. Every time, the Church of Light would announce that they had eliminated all evil, but it was never the truth. Everyone had forgiven this, however, because it was better to have the Church in charge than the necromancers.

Miorich walked over slowly. This time, Hui Wei did not try to stop him. Puppets were not powerful and could not harm a gold knight, unless there was a necromancer lurking nearby. Hui Wei turned and whispered something to Anfey and Suzanna. Anfey nodded, and Suzanna jumped up onto the small tower next to the transmission portal. The tower was only ten feet tall, but it was enough to give her an advantage.

Miorich looked at the man, then kicked the man’s hand away from his throat. His expression grew cold at the sight. There was a large gash on the man’s throat, but there was hardly any blood. Miorich knew very well what this indicated.

"Burn the body," Miorich ordered, taking a few steps back. He glanced at Suzanna, then walked away from the man. He was trying his hardest not to let his emotions show. The mage really had been turned into a puppet, which meant that the transmission portal was unsafe to use. What if Niya had stepped into the portal? Miorich did not want to think about it. Suzanna and Shally’s deaths would be easier to deal with, but if it was Niya, Christian, or Anfey who was harmed, the consequences would be too great. It would put his ability in question, and he would not be able to face his old friends. This could potentially have destroyed his future.

As soon as Miorich turned around, the mage’s body began to change. The man’s light green eyes turned to grey, then his eyes dissolved into puddles of water, and his body began to bloat.

Miorich swept around to face the man. There were two types of warriors, swordsmen and knights, and neither needed weapons to be powerful. Suzanna once almost kicked Anfey to death when she was weaponless and choking, and Miorich was so much more powerful than she.

Miorich stepped forward, crushing small pebbles under his feet. The mage was thrown back by some invisible force. Miorich swung at the man, and his combat power swallowed the mage’s body.

A loud crack ripped through the air, and the unstable air current caused by the combat power swept across the courtyard like a raging storm. The transmission array burst into light and was under a transparent magic dome. It was the protective dome placed onto the array. Christian released a protective spell first, and Riska and Blavi followed suit. They had already preparing themselves when they saw Suzanna drawing her sword. Mages tended to use three kinds of defensive magic. There were shielding, protective domes, and kekai. Shields were only used by one person and were the strongest. Protective domes and kekais were both used for large groups of people, but not as powerful as shields. Of course, one could not compare shields released by a junior magister to the kekais released by an archmage.

Usually, mages would use shields when they were in danger. Previously, Christian, Riska, and Blavi would not use a kekai either, but after everything they had been through together, they learned how valuable friendship was. The mages standing around the transmission array, on the other hand, choose to protect themselves first.

Miorich’s figure was obscured by the current, and the only one that was not protected by magic was Suzanna, who was standing on the tower. Unlike the people on the ground, who were stumbling, she was standing straight and unmoving, as if she was nailed to the tower. Her eyes were bright and filled with admiration for Miorich’s power.

Anfey was in the worst shape of all. He wasn’t close enough to Christian when he released the kekai, and instead had jumped into the air and was blown away by the current. He grabbed at the air and landed on a wall nearby.

After a few moments, the current died down, and Miorich turned towards his guards. He might have caused the violent currents, but he did not have any scratches on him, and his clothes were still immaculate. His eyes were cold.

Anfey stayed on the wall, staring at Miorich. He had grabbed something he imagined must have been a spirit. This was the second time he had came in contact with a spirit, but when he tried to communicate with it, it struggled against him. He could feel how terrified the spirit was. He felt a momentary warmth, then the spirit melted away.

"Close the array immediately," Miorich instructed sternly. He turned to the group that was still waiting to use the array and said, "Stay here. Don’t go anywhere."

"Don’t worry," Anfey said as he rejoined his friends.

"Niya, stay here and don’t do anything, alright?" Miorich turned to Niya and said. He was worried about her.

"I understand," Niya said, nodding.

Miorich turned to the mages standing nearby. If one of them was turned into a puppet, he had to inspect the rest of them as well.

"Go home and rest," Miorich said, "for now."

The mages glanced at each other and turned to leave. The mage who was trying to protect the puppet seemed especially defeated. Thankfully no one affiliated with the Church was present, or else he would be a suspect. The mage’s guild would not protect him if he was suspected of being a necromancer.

After the mages left, Miorich sent some of his men to escort Anfey and the group to their rooms. However, no one was in the mood to rest, and everyone gathered in Anfey’s room to talk about what had just happened.

"Anfey," Blavi asked eagerly, "what did you catch?" He was very curious, but did not want to ask when there were still strangers around.

"Nothing," Anfey said. He wasn’t exactly lying. The spirit did disappear after he caught it.

"Then what were you going to catch?" Christian ask. He worded his question much more cleverly.

"A spirit," Anfey said. He had changed his mind and decided to disclose more information to his friends. Necromancers were targeting them, and he knew very little about them. He needed to talk to his friends so he would be more prepared. Beings from the Evil Abyss were things that existed in the place between life and death. Each spirit had its own thoughts and personality. There were betrayals, hatred, and murders, but there was also cooperation, trust, and friendship. The spirits there were not unlike humans. Death magic, on the other hand, was only one branch of magic, and products of death magic did not have any emotions.

After two encounters with spirits, Anfey was nervous that someone was trying to achieve the same thing Yagor was trying to do. Someone was trying to build a tunnel between the Evil Abyss and the living world, and he could not allow that to happen. He knew very well what lives in the Abyss, and how terrible the thing was. Nothing can compare to a Spirit King when it come to murders and killing. A single Spirit King has enough power to crush every life in a thirty mile radius. Only those who had achieved sacred state could defeat a Spirit King, but those people were nothing more than legends.

"A spirit?" Hui Wei asked, shocked.

"You know about them?" Anfey asked.

"No," Hui Wei said, shaking his head. "But I’ve read about them. How did you discover them?"

"You will find out later," Anfey said, shaking his head. "Hui Wei, how much do you know about spirits? Does it have anything to do with necromancers?"

"I don’t know, but I know that puppet earlier was a failure, or else you wouldn’t have discovered it so easily. It seemed like those necromancers have not mastered the art of creating puppets yet."

"Which means they are actively practicing it," Christian said slowly. "This one may be a failure, but the next one may not be."