Black Magus

"HOLD!"

The command surely bellowed across the lands for leagues upon leagues, motivating more than just my legions to give pause, if just for a moment. A moment long enough to amplify my dissatisfied sigh into a billowing groan that the winds pushed across the peninsula with glee.

That little effect was beyond annoying, but it was one I could hardly ponder as the Troupe and Conditor warped, skipped, and landed around us, facing Ev's proudly amiable smile with looks of satisfaction and understanding.

"Follow me." He grunted, turning over his shoulder to step into the growing shade of a nearby outcrop.

Seeing where this was going, I felt a twinge of excitement well within me as I started after him. I'd hardly been in the Shadow Realm since my ascension, after all. The Owl notwithstanding. Regardless, there was more to the equation than just me. Iris; the lighter members of the Troupe; the Conditor; many of them had either never been or hadn't been in some time. Pre-evolution, in some cases; pre-ascension in others; but in all cases - even mine - pre-Noctis Legionaries.

That said, my absence from the realm wasn't because of negligence. The limitations imposed by the Bodhi Tree last year had kept me from going. And with my obligations on the Mortal Plane, I had no reason to spend much time there. Naturally, the same was true for my many subordinates, save a few. For what it was worth, though, the Realm of Shadows looked the same as it always had. The charred forests of Kasia were rendered as a gnarly jungle of blackened wood and burning earth, casting a dull violet underglow on the many wary faces stepping through.

While the legions' wariness was due more to the unfamiliar territory, the many beasts who called this place home seemed mostly disinterested in them, despite being equally unfamiliar with my legions. Silently snarling beasts turned their midnight eyes over them passively before turning deeper into the gnarled forest. The darkness itself, however, swarmed them. It pooled at their feet, rising into swirling clouds that dissipated into precipitous auras above their crowns that largely went unnoticed, save for the Lordlings and a few of the Troupe. The rest distracted themselves with Ev's words out of respect, electing to study the exotic environment in passing instead.

"I see you're a Rogue Devil." Ev pointed at my brands, glowing like lanterns in the eternal night. "I presume a mastermind, like your father. And I can see you're a monk of Death as well. What of your other classes?"

He was hardly surprised to hear Ed and I had become Grandmaster Artificers, due in no small part to our work across the peninsula. However, he seemed excited to learn how many artificers there were among us. "We'll be able to construct many golems for your legions, in that case."

Such words could only kick the mind into hyper drive; or a subset of my mind, due to the potent energy of ArcaTech giving me all the mental functionality I had in my past life, plus more, allowing me to brainstorm and hypothesize even while explaining my march toward Death's Door. To which he seemed unsurprised; unsurprisingly so, considering he's been here for perhaps centuries.

"My clerical class is the one I was born with. A result of my connection with the creator gave me a divine soul. But I do not pray to or worship him. On the contrary, it's a path that makes me the God of Mana. One that will end with me being the eternal god of this universe. Part of that means I can see the potential paths and perks of anyone's gaze I meet, as well as mine. Through that, I've learned that my sorcery, the Path of Zefroth, will turn me into the-"

"God of Devils," Ev concluded with grim pride. "It is only natural." He then shrugged. "Zefroth is not just the first devil. He is the source of all that is so-called evil. The origin of darkness; he who made this plane mortal, according to the Youterans. But of course, regardless of who tells you what, you shall learn the truth in the crypts."

Returning his nod, I followed his gesture through the darkness and emerged back in Vruria, standing amidst undead who looked at the legions with the same amiability as Ev. Not as much as the undying members of my Troupe, but as much as Talos showed to my father, and these undead to the Bone Boy.

"Well fought, Noctis Legions!" Ev beamed, looking over them. "You are strong! My great-grandson has trained you well! Though, whether you are strong enough is up for debate." Pausing after the grim shift in tone, Ev began pacing across the clearing, looking everyone he could in the eye like a general addressing his officers. "First, the rise in mana has encouraged the denizens of the other realms to enter Maru and compete for dominance in Ulai, which is still contained by the barrier. Additionally, the number of Youteran invaders grows by the day. Elves of every kind are spread across the Darkworld from Ulai to Odissi, staging for war. Though, when they will strike is the question."

Gesturing at me and the surrounding forest, he continued after a brief pause. "Their activity has shifted since you've imposed your will on the realm. The drow first grew erratic. They began acting, moving higher into the underground to scout the surface for raids. Or worse, to corrupt those with power into becoming despots. Soon, wood elves joined them in venturing to the surface. Albeit for different reasons. To steal or kill Marulean forests, jungles, and grasslands en masse, dragging other wild elves with them. I believe they will invade by year's end. But worry not. The empire will be safe when you return. Ours and yours." He smiled at Roheisa before returning his knowing gaze to me. "We only wish to be informed."

"Hmm." I scratched my chin, only to wind up shaking my head. "No. No, I think they'll break the barrier by year's end. As you said, the rise to arcana has already attracted the denizens of the other realms through the portals. The Guild Association reports jotun war bands, high-orc empires, and a demon horde in Ulai, among others. If it were me in their place, I'd break the barrier; let those in Ulai spread their chaos across the realm, and invade after. That's what the drow will do, at least." I sighed, shrugging. "At any rate, we've made an alliance with the Marulean Guild Association and plan on fortifying the realm using our people back home."

"Even that will not be enough." He grimly warned, shaking his head. "The elves of Youtera are unlike those here or elsewhere in Nonus- or anywhere, for that matter. Every one of them is an arcane mage, and you can expect half of them to be equally skilled in might. They can manipulate and create the same portals that appeared throughout the realms, wherever they please. Their war machines are comparable to yours in both scale and power, and they've thrived throughout a millennium of war after the portal's appearance. I'm sure they've not stagnated in the mere two centuries since."

"I see." I nodded, triggering the gears to turn. "At any rate, we need information. And aside from Corym and Indra, I know not where to get it from."

"Oh, I'm sure you'll be fine." Ev said, palming my shoulder with his usual amiable charm.

'And there it is.' I sighed, chiding myself for believing his flippant attitude had waned.

"The rest of you may enjoy the rest of your night. Our lessons resume at dawn," he said to my classmates before gesturing to the Bone Boy. "We shall follow Lady Iris and your undying members into your shadow."

"Very well." I sighed, waving to the others before I sank into darkness.

I kept an eye on Iris as she descended, but only saw her shudder before her yellow eyes went to scanning, as my great-grandfather's voice demanded more of my attention.

"Mmm." He moaned in satisfaction. "Much more spacious than before!"

I could only agree. Like the shadow realm, it had been a while since I'd been inside my Shadow Pocket. Yet, its contents had been spread across other types of dimensional storage over the past year and change. It still held my clothes, wealth, cold food, and raw resources, but hot food, drugs, MagiTech and related materials were in timeless spatial domains. The Menagerie had long-since evolved and gone their separate ways, and Pora Bora's children, Huninn and Muginn, made their umbral nests in the folds of my hair.

There were a few things that stood out to him, however.

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"I understand you cannot wear it as a monk, but I assumed you would have put more souls into it all the same." Ev huffed after staring into the dark orbits of the Abyssal Armor. "It seems you've forgotten it is piloted by a phantom until you faced me."

"Not so." I calmly shook my head. "Having faced few strong opponents, I simply had no reason to use it. And the souls I've acquired are reserved for my paths."

"Yet you made a replica." He snorted, turning to the item reserved for a future warlock. "Regardless, it is unwise to simply give it souls. The first soul imbued into the armor is its pilot; additional souls will empower it, yes. Yet, the experience of battle makes it more cunning. Besides, he would make a great rider for your unicorn, as you've shown, which would yield significant results for your Rharian problem."

"True." I tossed my head in admittance, wishing the conversation would end already. Though, with my gates to the Under looming beneath our feet, I was sure his probing words would only continue.

"Woah!" Iris gasped as the abyssal roots unraveled. "I was expecting, you know, like, actual gates."

"You've never thought of coming here, Lady Iris?"

"I was never sure I could." She causally shrugged.

"Of course you can!" he bellowed. "You have Amun's blood, do you not?"

"Just like Caia, I guess." I murmured.

"Exactly!" Ev beamed. "Although Caia's family has been with us for generations, they were brought into the family by one who possessed only shadows. Tora Cole, the grandmother of my great-grandmother. The rest of her family lives in our ancestral home."

"I see. And how is she?" I asked.

"She is well. Her son grows strong. But I'm sure I'm not needed for you to catch up with her." He harrumphed, spreading his arms wide as the gates to my Underworld unwound.

Much to my initial surprise, he seemed veritably impressed by the changes to my Underworld. Though, upon remembering that lonely throne centered in that barren plane he saw back then, I supposed his reaction was only natural. Not to mention, I imagined mine was much different from his. My throne was surrounded by a monastic temple, straddled by Lana's village and Zaraxus' castle, with Carbury's forest behind it and the Shade Palace on the far side of the lake before it, connected by a great bridge and populated by tens of thousands of shadows, skeletons, zombies, and specters.

"Now this is the horde of a true necromancer!" He beamed. Only to turn it into a condescending grin a moment later. "The start of one, at least. Powerful subjects who will take charge of those who come after. As promised." He turned to me. "I will teach you of higher necromancy; the secrets of our undying shadows and how to spread death and darkness to mortals in ways beyond suffrage. We shall start with your shadows. Summon your first."

His words hadn't even been spent by the time Carbury and Lana appeared, the latter saluting graciously at me and my great-grandfather's clone, even while the former paced around her.

"I remember you. So you're an Elite Shadow now?" Ev finally nodded in approval, turning to me. "I'm sure you've surmised their evolutionary development, similar to that of Vampyr?"

"I have." I nodded. "Though I know not the ranks or what they entail, I've been documenting Lana's progress."

"That is no longer necessary," he quickly said. "What I didn't tell you before was that our undying shadows steal vital energy to grow. Once they regain the strength they had in life, they'll develop larger mana wells, followed by umbral and necrotic spells and other abilities. Thus, they will use more mana upon reconstituting. Lana here is at the ninth rank, an Elite, possessing superpowered abilities. Upon slaying five thousand sentient creatures stronger than her, she will gain the means to cast with darkness just like we can. Shadow bullets, domains, and other things that aid her subordinates. Five steps beyond that, she will become an Abyssal Shade, capable of wielding the necrotic energies of this, your Underworld."

That elicited a sinister grin from Lana. Yet Ev pressed on. "Due to your nature as the Sovereign of Death, undying shadows are your nobles to your undead commoners. They are commanders, Amun. Generals. You would be wise to stop segregating them as you do and have them join your higher undead to command the masses. But." He pettily shrugged. "It's your army. Organize it as you wish."

"Right." I nodded, fighting the impulse to roll my eyes.

"I suspect your shadows can reach a higher level because of your void affinity. Something you and they will learn in time." He shrugged again. "In the meantime, it's time you learn higher necromancy. Otherwise known as ritual necromancy. However." He grunted, rising to return to the mortal plane. "There's something we must fix first." He spat upon gulping down his first breath of air. "Open your shadow."

Following his thick finger, I dropped my gaze to my feet and popped the proverbial bubble, resulting in a fog of wispy darkness to rise around my frame like a veil.

"Sink your focus into your shadow, but not your body," he said, "and open the gates to your Underworld."

Again, I did what was asked and watched the gnarled roots of my family tree unweave in the basin of my umbral pit. The moment those arcane roots parted, a bubbling jetstream of necrotic sea green arcana rose from my Under to swirl through my shadow pocket, where the umbral winds dispersed them into something that looked like skull-shaped berries mixed in a bowl of black yogurt, covering them in a veil of darkness that masked their presence to the mortals of this plane as they orbited my hands.

"This is the proper way to summon our sorcery." Ev harrumphed, though there was a hint of pride in his voice. "When in the face of antimagic, or when you need to hide your quite conspicuous arcana, this is the way."

"I see." I nodded, a bit chagrined I didn't realize it much sooner. It was, after all, the inverse of descending to my Underworld, as we'd just done. Moreover, it was starkly similar to what I experienced when I teetered before Death's Door, when my mind fell into the Under, opening a channel for necrotic ki to flow through my body. Not to mention, it was the most literal act of summoning I'd ever done, other than summoning Lily.

Therein marked the start of a long night filled with learning, hunting, and preying on the wilds beasts of Vruria with my forefather's clone; though, we started simply as we got underway, with what passed as lectures from the great Necro King regarding the creation of liches of various types, upgrading and enhancing undead, and how to grant mortals permission to use necromancy by receiving sacrifices rather than deals. As the hours pressed on, Ev turned his focus more toward Wilson as he began describing the wizarding school of necromancy; albeit loosely until Urda joined us. Following that, we moved onto more practical means, with Ev focusing more on the troupe than on me; though he still seemed indifferent to their unique undead.

He had us fill corpses with enough necrotic energy for them to explode, then had us pick through the bones and organs to funnel necrotic energy through them and loop it through our minds to gain temporary access to their physical abilities or permanent knowledge of their non-magical skills. We sampled their brains with necrotic mana saturating our tongues to access their scattered memories, used severed hands, lopped off ears, and plucked eyes as extensions of ourselves; simple things, for the most part, yet things I would have struggled to come up with all the same.

Some things were things I had done or considered doing, however, yet Grandpa Lich's expertise reduced the many months needed for experimentation and refinement into just a few hours. His undead had compiled a list of items, creatures, and creations that would remain stable after being imbued with different types of souls, including manufactured materials. Naturally, the same was true for necrotic potions, shared extensively with Wilson. Spells, as mentioned, developed throughout generations over our clan's history, and yet tame when compared with those hidden within the crypt, Ev ensured to tease me.

While those things were shared readily with the Troupe, there were things Ev showed me that I alone could do with my sorcery - these bubbles of death and darkness. Without the aid of any Elven prowess, Ev showed me how I could transmute the necrotic globules into facsimiles of fire, electricity, or other types of energy, similar to arcane casting. He showed me how to mold it into a mimicry of blood, bone, and flesh to augment my physicality, enhance my undead, or hinder my opponents; all relatively simple spells. When cast in other ways, however, it became much more potent.

In bathing myself in the energy, I adopted a skeletal variant of the wraith form, yet could drift inside the bodies of mortals to possess them with ease. Fortifying my mind with the bubbles allowed me to control my undead remotely, project my consciousness through them, or even usurp their undying bodies entirely, destroying them in the process while giving me a hasty escape if needed. In projecting the energy through weapons, I could easily and inconspicuously create necrotic, cursed, or even sentient items. The possibilities were nigh endless.

By dawn, we'd ventured hundreds of kilometers into the heart of Vruria and retraced our steps through a short hop through the shadows, wherein Ev concluded his lessons with an unexpected demand.

"Show me the key."

Squinting, I shook my head in a noncommittal gesture, only to catch on a moment later and reach my hand to the small of my back, where my fingers gripped around a cold handle. Haunting whispers and the distant cold of death spread from my hand as it pulled, unsheathing a seax of black metal that was held between me and my forefather's eyes.

"Have you killed anyone with it?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Good." He grunted. "Death's Key is a tool, but not a killing tool. Besides a tool used to open a lock, it is a tool used to truly resurrect someone, passed down through the ages by every necromancer of the Nox, along with the Abyssal Armor. There is a hidden task associated with the armor. Though, it comes secondary and naturally after the key."

"It's the key to the Underworld." I stated what I surmised long ago. "The key to the physical door. In the Seventeenth Layer of Hell."

"Indeed." He nodded, grinning at either my words or my classmates emerging from the structure. It was hard to tell. "The gates are guarded by Cerberus, said to be a fiendish three-headed canine, tethered to the gates by burning chains. But," he shrugged, grinning childishly. "Well… he's a good boy."

'So he's Nergal's pet?' I snickered internally before turning to Ev. "Then why couldn't you open it?"

Ev grinned wide, slowly leaning forward until our brows were nearly touching. "I couldn't scare him."