Bastard Homunculus: Reborn in the Corpse Pit

"Who are you? State your business."

"Hang on, just give me a second. Ah, here it is! My business card...more accurately, a card that states my business here, just as you requested," Replied Aster with a smile, as he took out and held up a Spell Card.

"What the-...drop it, now! Hands in the air and don't move, I-...!"

"Too late," Aster cut him off, as he ran his Mana through the Spell Card, before putting it back into his Storage Ring and taking a swift step back as the Knight tried to grab him, easily evading his grasp.

He and Tacitus had gone to a place called Beryl Town, Tacitus had headed for the church while Aster was at the Knight outpost. He was wearing a black wig, and he'd approached the two Knights standing guard outside the building.

While they didn't recognize him from the wanted posters thanks to the wig he was wearing, they had been ordered to not allow anyone in without first confirming that they weren't a threat, after The Irregulars' last attack.

Aster then raised his hands as the two Knights began to chase after him, firing out intense, blunt bursts of telekinesis and striking their bodies, eliciting sharp, wheezing gasps from them as they got sent flying back and crashed onto the building on either side of the entrance.

As the Knights inside got alerted to the commotion, Aster swiftly raced into the building, the Knights quickly springing into action and putting up their guards as Aster took off the wig and tossed it away.

"That's one of The Irregulars!"

"Protect El-...I-I mean, the Teleporter, don't let him near them!"

"Ah, they're avoiding naming the Teleporter to keep me from targeting them...but unfortunately for them, I already know who it is," Aster thought to himself as he looked around the space.

Several of the Knights then began to surround him, before he swiftly unleashed a telekinetic shockwave around himself, blowing them away before narrowing his gaze at the Teleporter.

"Get out of here and get backup, quick!" Yelled one of the other Knights, as Aster shot towards the Teleporter.

"What the-...!? I can't-...!" He began in alarm as his Spell failed to activate, before Aster closed in on him and slammed his palm onto the middle of the Knight's torso before unleashing an intense telekinetic burst, a sharp wheeze ringing out before the Teleporter's eyes rolled back in his head, collapsing onto his knees as he lost consciousness.

Aster then took out another Spell Card, pressing it onto the Teleporter's body and activating it, the Knight abruptly disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"What did you do!?" Exclaimed one of the other Knights, as she sprang up behind him with a large axe raised up.

Aster spun around and whipped his right arm across as she swung the axe down towards him, firing off a slashing wave of telekinesis, which struck the axe and knocked it back, sending the Knight stumbling back as she overbalanced upon impact.

"Relax, I just teleported him away, he'll be fine. Hm, looks like your squad's Vice-Captain isn't here. Which makes you the highest ranked Knight present, Aria Beryl," He greeted her.

"Wha-...you know my name? Creepy," She frowned in response.

Aria Beryl, a First-Class Knight of the First Squad, and a relative of the Viscountess in charge of Beryl Town, Ikto Beryl.

She was in her late-twenties, with medium-length red hair that was combed off to the left with the right side shaved off, light blue eyes, a brown complexion, and she was quite tall, with a muscular, busty build.

"Don't flatter yourself, we collect information on all high-ranked Knights. You barely made that cut though," Taunted Aster, as she narrowed her eyes at him.

That wasn't true, they considered her a fairly significant threat, but they'd also noticed that she was a pretty hot-headed person. She wasn't a target, so Aster figured that provoking her and making her lose her cool would make things easier for him.

"Tch, you asshole...I know what you're trying to do, but I won't fall for it so easily! All of you, get out of here! You'll only get in the way...so make yourselves useful and evacuate the civilians from this area!" She instructed the other Knights, before firing out a barrage of rock projectiles at Aster as the Knights began to make their way out of the building.

Aster formed a telekinetic wall to block the incoming projectiles, before backing away as Aria shot forward and shattered his wall with her axe, firing out a rapid rock arrow before leaping towards him with her axe raised high.

He turned his body across to evade the arrow, before reaching over his shoulders and drawing out his blades, crossing them above himself as she swung the axe down, a deafening clang ringing out as the axe slammed onto Aster's blades.

Her eyes widened in surprise as he didn't so much as budge upon impact, having braced his body with his telekinesis. He then unleashed another telekinetic shockwave, blasting her away before firing out a barrage of telekinetic blasts at her as she went flying back through the air.

She quickly raised her axe up defensively, Aster's attacks slamming onto it and pinning her against the wall by the entrance, cracks spreading out behind her as her back repeatedly thudded against the wall painfully as Aster fired his blasts at her in rapid, ceaseless succession.

Suddenly, something came shooting towards Aster with immense speed from the building's entrance, forcing him to stop firing before leaping off to his right, the attack grazing his left side before it zipped back towards the entrance, as a figure entered the building.

"You alright there, Aria?"

"Wein-...I mean, Vice-Captain," She responded with a hint of relief in her eyes.

"Well, that's too bad...I was hoping to take her down before you showed up," Aster sighed wistfully.

"Based on your appearance, you must be Aster Stark, the leader of The Irregulars, is that right?" He responded as he glanced at Aster.

Wein Beryl, the Vice-Captain of the First Squad, as well as the son of Viscountess Ikto Beryl and the older brother of Ferd Beryl, one of the Knights that Raven had encountered in Ruby Village during his first mission with The Irregulars, as well as Aria's second cousin.

He was in his mid-twenties, with longish, silky, light red hair, dark blue eyes, a light brown complexion, and he was quite tall, with a strong, sturdy build. He wielded a Relic Armament, a staff called Jingu, which had the ability to extend upto twenty meters in length.

"Indeed I am, though I hadn't realized that you guys had figured out that I'm the leader," Replied Aster with a smile.

"I have a question for you...The Irregulars seem to have access to Teleport Spells, and you only kill those Knights who are prejudiced against Commoners. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the two of us aren't among your targets, isn't that right? So why fight us instead of teleporting away?" Inquired Wein curiously.

"Because defeating you sends a stronger message," Responded Aster with a smirk.

"Huh, not gonna lie, that was pretty cool...I just got chills!" Exclaimed Wein with a grin as he swung his staff across while extending it out.

It came to an abrupt halt as Aster formed a telekinetic wall to his left, cracks spreading out across it as the staff slammed against it, before Wein fired out a blast of wind towards Aster, as Aria shot forward rapidly.

Aster blocked the wind blast with another telekinetic wall, before he swiftly stepped across as Aria swung her axe down towards him and shattered his wall of telekinesis, evading it before he quickly unleashed another telekinetic shockwave as she raised her hand and fired out a barrage of rock shards at him.

As he blew her away along with her projectiles, Wein rapidly retracted his staff before pointing it towards Aster and extending it out straight at him with immense speed.

Aster moved across to his left, the staff shooting in just below his armpit and narrowly missing his side, before Wein flicked his wrist to whip the staff in, thudding against the right side of Aster's ribcage with a jarring impact, before he fired out a rapid telekinetic blast at Wein, who quickly retracted his staff and raced away, just barely evading it as the attack slammed onto the wall, cracks spreading out.

Aster then turned his gaze across as Aria came charging in from his right and closed in on him, before swinging her axe towards his side with all her strength...

"I've got you now!"

"[Telekinetic Zone]," Aster chanted, the axe coming to an abrupt halt as he activated his most powerful Spell, at a one-meter radius range.

"D-damn it...!" Stuttered Aria through gritted teeth, unable to pull her arms back, before Aster dragged her deeper into his zone and began telekinetically strangling her.

A sharp, choked gasp rang out as her eyes rolled back slightly, a trail of saliva running down the corner of her mouth as she tried to struggle against the telekinetic hold over her body, but she couldn't so much as twitch a single finger.

The corners of her vision began to blur and darken as several blasts of wind came shooting in and collided against Aster's zone, but to no avail, as he continued to strangle Aria.

A thudding clang rang out as she lost her grasp over her axe, which hit the floor of the building, a few cracks spreading out across the tiles.

Her body then went limp as her eyelids fluttered shut, her shoulders slumping before Aster lowered her body and set her down on the floor next to her axe, right as Wein raced across and came sprinting in from behind, before he sprang up behind Aster and swung his staff down at full force with a grunt of effort, slamming it against the top of the Telekinetic Zone, before grimacing as his weapon bounced right off upon impact.

He then quickly began to began away as Aster turned his gaze around towards him, before raising his right hand in the Knight's direction and chanting...

"[Telekinetic Pull]."

Wein let out an alarmed yell as he found himself getting rapidly pulled through the air towards Aster, dragged into the range of his zone before he could react.

He gritted his teeth for a moment, before transferring his staff into his Storage Ring as he resigned himself...

"Based on the reports, any small chance I had of defeating you is gone now that I'm caught in this force field-like Spell. Just hurry up and get it over with," He sighed with a defeated grimace.

"I almost feel kinda bad about it when you give up so easily," Replied Aster with a wry smile, before he began choking out the Vice-Captain with his telekinesis...

Meanwhile, in the town's church...

Loud crashes rang out as Tacitus slammed his sword against the pillars inside the church, shattering them to pieces one by one, before glancing up as cracks began to spread out across the ceiling of the building.

"Hm, I should probably get out of here before the entire place comes crashing down," He muttered to himself, before turning his gaze to the left as he spotted some movement amidst a pile of Inquisitor corpses.

Suddenly, a figure burst sprang out from under the corpses and shot towards him with a curved dagger in hand, starting to charge up a bolt of lightning before it dissipated as Tacitus activated his Nullification Zone.

"Die, you bastard!" Snapped the Inquisitor, as he leapt forward and drove his dagger towards Tacitus's throat, a partially healed gash across the middle of his chest.

"I see, you must be a Recovery Mage," Surmised Tacitus as he grabbed the Inquisitor's wrist before the dagger could reach him.

He then swung the Inquisitor up and off his feet before rapidly swinging him back down, an agonized gasp ringing out as his back slammed onto the floor of the church, before Tacitus swiftly drove his sword down towards the Inquisitor's throat.

The end of the blade slammed onto the man's neck before a sharp crunch rang out as it crushed his throat, blood gushing out of the sides of his mask before Tacitus lifted the sword up and swung it across to get the blood off.

He then walked over towards an unconscious figure laying sprawled across the middle of the church, the Bishop in charge, before picking him up and putting him over his shoulder.

As chunks of concrete began to fall from the ceiling as the cracks deepened and spread, Tacitus jogged towards the entrance of the building, hurrying that way as the building began to collapse.

Deafening crashes rang out from inside right as he made his way out the entrance and grabbed the legs of the pair of Knights who'd been standing guard outside the church-...whom he'd knocked out earlier...-and dragged them away from the collapsing building.

Tacitus glanced back at the church as the building caved in on itself, the ceiling breaking apart and falling down, before the walls began to collapse in too.

Tacitus set the Knights and the Bishop down once he was a safe distance away, clouds of dust rising up as the church collapsed to a large pile of rubble, before he glanced to his left as several footsteps echoed out, spotting a group of five Knights approaching.

"Damn it, the church is completely destroyed!"

"Looks like he took down the guards we posted to defend the place."

"Surround him and keep your distance! We're outmatched here, so let's wear him down without getting too close!"

"Not a bad strategy...but it won't work," Sighed Tacitus, glancing around as the Knights surrounded him.

"Shit, I can't cast my Spells, he's the one who can negate Magic!"

"Nullify, actually, not Negate, if you wanna get technical," Replied Tacitus dryly, as he shot towards that Knight.

The Knight's eyes widened in alarm as Tacitus closed in on him, before drawing out a sword and raising it up defensively as Tacitus tightened his grip on his weapon and swung the flat of the blade forward with immense force.

The Knight's sword snapped in half as Tacitus's blade slammed against it, before he was launched back severely meters through the air, hitting his head as he crashed onto the ground and lost consciousness.

"So...who's next?" Inquired Tacitus, as he glanced around at the other Knights, who shrunk back warily...

Meanwhile, back by the Knight outpost...

Aster strolled out of the building with a content sigh, stretching his arms up with his fingers laced as he cracked them, before glancing across as he spotted a cloud of dust rising up in the distance, around where the church was located.

He then looked around to make sure the coast was clear, before taking a seat on the ground and leaning against the wall of the Knight outpost.

"Sounds like Tacitus will be done soon, I'll wait for him to come here once he wraps things up over there. This sure went well, huh? Didn't even break a sweat. And it kinda makes me feel a bit uneasy, like something's about to go wrong...eh, whatever, I'm sure it's just in my head. Shouldn't be much longer before Tacitus shows up. Hm, maybe I should go ahead and head towards the church to save some time instead of waiting for him to come here. Yeah, I'll do that, sitting around and waiting by myself is so bor-...oh, never mind," Aster thought to himself, as a pair of footsteps echoed out, before he spotted Tacitus walking over.

"Looks like we're all done here. Come on, let's go back," He remarked as he walked over.

"You finished up faster than I expected, nice. Alright, let's get out of here and head back to-...," Began Aster.

"And where do you think you're going?" Suddenly came a familiar voice, the pair tensing up.

Aster quickly sprang back onto his feet as Tacitus turned in the direction the voice came from, spotting a trio of Knights, one of whom the two of them were quite familiar with...

"Well, now, if it isn't the Captain of the First Squad...long time no see. Though, truth be told, I hoped it'd be longer...I definitely wasn't expecting to see you here, what a pleasant surprise," Aster greeted him with a grimace.

"So, it's you two again," Rione responded with a wary look in his eyes.

Arren and Quila were beside him, determined looks in their eyes...after their defeat to Lexia, they were keenly intent on avoiding a repeat failure in order to redeem themselves.

"They must have come here with a Teleport Spell...but how did they know we were here? We cut the phone lines, and I doubt Aster messed up with taking our the Teleporter, so how...?" Frowned Tacitus, as Rione glanced at him.

"Hm...which of them should I take on? These two don't stand a chance against the redhead since he can nullify their Magic, but they stand even less of a chance against the other one if he activates his trump card. Alright, then...," Rione thought to himself, before addressing his subordinates as he lowered his voice, "I want the two of you to hold off the one with glasses...do not try to defeat him, because to be frank, you can't. Just keep him at bay while I take down the redhead. Once I've defeated the redhead, I'll take over and fight him myself."

"Very well, Captain, you can count on us," Nodded Quila affirmatively.

"We'll do our best," Added Arren, before teleporting a few meters behind Aster as Rione swiftly shot towards Tacitus.

Aster unleashed an intense telekinetic shockwave as Arren drove his fist towards his back, blasting him away before forming a telekinetic wall as a barrage of ice arrows came shooting towards him.

A loud crash rang out as Rione slammed his hammer against Tacitus's sword, before unleashing a barrage of rapid swings and strikes with his weapon, steadily pushing Tacitus back and driving him away from Aster.

"Trying to split us up, huh? Your subordinates won't last long against him, you know," Remarked Tacitus, as he blocked a powerful swing of the hammer with his blade, his feet skidding back a few paces.

"Yes, I'm well aware. But the real question is, will you be able to last longer against me than they'll be able to last against him?"

"I wouldn't be so cocky if I were you...this won't go down like last time."

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the nation, in the church in a place called Carnelian Village...

"Come on, squeal for me, piggy...the more you entertain me, the more time you'll buy for yourself before you die," Smirked Lexia, as she sat atop a pile of Inquisitor corpses and stared down at the Priest in charge of the church, his wrists and ankles pinned to the floor with bone spikes.

"Y-you damned Commoner whore-...!" He began, before screaming in pain as she fired a bone spike into his stomach, before slowly and steadily branching it out inside him.

Blood poured out of his mouth as he writhed and spasmed in agony, before she detached the bone from her palm, leaving the branched bone spike lodged inside his stomach, smirking as she grabbed it and twisted it around, eliciting an excruciating howl of pain from him.

Priest Hamish Carnelian, he was in his late sixties with long grey hair, light purple eyes, a fair complexion, and was of about average height with an overweight build.

"You should be a lot happier about this than you appear to be, it's not everyday you get the opportunity to get boned by a beauty like me, hahahaha! Heh, that was a good one, if I do say so myself. Now, give me an 'oink' and I just might consider sparing you," She chuckled sadistically, as she then extended a narrow bone spike out of her fingertip, stopping it short a few millimeters in front of his eye.

"I-I...o-oink!" He cried in desperation, before an agonized yell of pain rang out as Lexia extended the bone spike a bit further, piercing into his right eye before she branched the spike inside his eye and pulled her arm back, yanking the eye right out of its socket.

She then flung it away with a flick of her wrist, a wet splat echoing out as it hit the floor and popped before sliding away.

"That was way too half-assed, you can do a lot better than that. Put some feeling into it, snort as you say it...come on, piggy, try again!" She sneered maliciously, as she extended another bone spike towards his left eye with a gleam in her eyes, her face flushed.

Meanwhile, a short distance away outside the church...

"That won't be enough to stop me," Declared Colt's opponent with a grimace, before a deep cut across his left shoulder healed and closed up.

"Man, Recovery Mages are so much fun to fight. Even though you're not a target, I don't have to hold back as much since you can just heal yourself," Smirked Colt with a lick of his lips.

"Y-you damned degenerate..."

Lloyd Howlite, a First-Class Knight of the First Squad, as well as the only First-Class Knight in Carnelian Village. He was in his late-twenties, with thick, curly, black hair styled in long dreadlocks, his eyes were a gradient mix of purple and blue, he had dark complexion, and was quite tall, with a slender, agile build.

As Colt then sent several blood tendrils shooting out towards him, he shot forward with a pair of twin blades in hand, whipping them across to deflect the tendrils as they zipped in towards him, grimacing as one sliced across the side of his left arm, before putting on a burst of speed as he healed the cut and closed in on Colt.

Colt sprang back as his opponent slashed at him with his blades, evading the attack before firing out a blast of blood towards Lloyd's face.

The Knight quickly got low, the blood blast brushing the top of his head and painting his hair red, before he zipped towards Colt and whipped his blades across at his knees.

As the blades closed in, they came to an abrupt halt as Colt grabbed Lloyd's wrists with a pair of blood tendrils, starting to tightly constrict then before the Knight tilted his upper body back, leapt up and drove his feet towards Colt.

Colt swiftly let go of Lloyd's wrists and sprang back, before firing out a rapid blast of blood at his opponent as his back thudded against the ground.

Lloyd quickly rolled away, narrowly evading the blast as it grazed the side of his right arm, before springing back onto his feet and crossing his blades in front of himself defensively as another blast of blood came shooting towards him.

The blast slammed onto his blades and splattered across his arms and chest, before he raced away as Colt extended out several blood tendrils towards him, ducking and weaving across to evade them as they chased after him.

"Damn it, he's just toying with me...based on his Magic, he must be the one who defeated the Captain. And even though he isn't taking me seriously, he has no openings, I haven't even come close to landing so much as a single hit!" Lloyd thought to himself in frustration, before grimacing as an excruciating scream echoed out of the church a few dozen meters away.

"Sounds like Lexia's almost done...guess I should wrap things up here too," Colt thought to himself reluctantly, before adding, "This sucks so much...my opponent's not a target, so I have to hold back, but she gets to run wild without needing to bother with restraint in the church! It's not fair, damn it..."

"You may be stronger than I am, but I won't give up...one way or another, I will stop you!" Declared Lloyd as he brandished his blades at Colt.

"Sorry, but that's not going to be possible...see, I've already won," Smirked Colt, before taking control of his blood that was splattered across the Knight's body and hair.

Lloyd's eyes widened in alarm as Colt's blood rapidly formed a tendril and wrapped around his neck before he could react, a sharp gasp ringing out as it sharply constricted.

A clatter rang out as he dropped his blades and stumbled back, clawing at the blood tendril and desperately, frantically trying to pull it off, but it was no use, he couldn't take hold of it.

Before long, he collapsed onto his knees and fell over with a thud, his writhing growing weaker as he began to lose consciousness, before going limp and slumping against the ground as he passed out.

Colt then turned around after taking a beat to make sure the Knight was unconscious, before heading towards the church. It had gone completely quiet, the screams having stopped.

As Colt approached the church, a blinding flash of light suddenly erupted from an alley to his left, before a figure came charging towards him from his right, a spear shooting towards his side as the figure closed in on him.

Colt quickly sprang back, narrowly evading the thrust of the spear before his ears perked up as a high-pitched ringing echoed out behind him, before quickly forming a curved wall of blood behind him, right as a sonic screech slammed onto it, the blood wall rippling as it deflected the attack across to the sides.

Colt then drew out his dagger and swing it across as the spear came plunging in towards his chest from in front with a dark mist flowing around the blade, a sharp clang ringing out as he deflected the thrust of the dagger, before firing out a blast of blood to his left as a swirling sphere of light came shooting towards him, the attacks canceling out upon impact.

Colt then extended out dozens of blood tendrils all around his body before rapidly whipping them around the surrounding area, forcing the assailants to back away.

"Oh, I recognize you, you're the Vice-Captain of the Second Squad, Jacks Aldi. And the Light and Dark Magic, the other two of you must be Diar Malachite and Dox Sordes," Remarked Colt with a wary, grimacing smile, as he thought to himself, "These are the guys who fought Aster and Tacitus during our last attack...they're supposed to be in Malachite Town, so why are they here? There's no way it's a coincidence, do the Knights have a new countermeasure against us that we don't know about?"

"Those blood attacks, I take it you're the one who defeated Captain Rione," Responded Jacks, eyeing him warily.

"I didn't-...never mind. Yeah, I guess you could say that," Sighed Colt in response, before grimacing as Dox shot towards him from ahead while Jacks simultaneously charged in from behind, as Diar unleashed a barrage of light projectiles from his left.

Suddenly, several bone shards came shooting out, zipping past Colt and shooting towards Jacks, who quickly halted and backed away, narrowly evading the projectiles before Colt fired off pressurized jets of blood from the soles of his feet as the light projectiles closed in on him, leaping up and above them before twisting his body across in mid-air as Dox coated his spear in dark energy and flung it towards Colt like a javelin.

The blade of the spear cut through the fabric over his stomach and grazed his skin, drawing out trickles of blood, right as Lexia sprang up behind Dox.

He quickly spun around and crossed his arms in front of himself as she swung a blunt bone club at him, which thudded against his arms painfully before he unleashed a cloud of dark mist around himself and raced away.

"Don't let them regroup!" Exclaimed Jacks as Colt rushed towards Lexia, before halting and springing back as Diar fired out a rapid slash of light towards him.

Dox sprinted towards his spear and picked it back up, before Jacks shot towards Colt rapidly, leaping forward and firing out a sonic screech at him from his mouth.

Colt quickly formed a wall of blood in front of himself to block the attack, before springing back as Jacks cut through the blood wall with his blades and chased after Colt, a high-pitched ringing surrounding his body and keeping any blood from splattering on him.

Meanwhile, Diar and Dox zipped across to either side of Lexia, as Jacks began driving Colt further away from her, splitting the pair up...