The Undead King of the Palace of Darkness (WN)

I felt like I was reborn. The pain that was eating into my soul until just a while ago had disappeared, replaced by a strong sense of omnipotence, as if all of the night itself had become my ally.

Lord Horus’ technique was perfect. Apparently, the power I had accumulated during my elopement had long since reached the threshold needed for evolution. My body, freed from the shackles by the keyword, instantly evolved and swallowed Sable’s curse that was torturing me all this time.

And as long I’m not in pain, there’s nothing inhibiting my movements.

There was the King in front of me. Jet black hair reminiscent of the darkness. His sturdy body was wrapped in metal armor and he was holding a thick metal spear in his right arm.

The Mirage King.

Perhaps because he has inherited only a portion of his powers from before his resurrection, I can hardly feel his presence of death. Even so, from his scent I can tell that he’s my brethren.

But – in terms of the rank, I’m higher.

I have a lingering attachment to the sunlight. But it’s fine. I’m already fine. There’s no need to think about the future either. The die has already been cast.

The power of the curse that I had newly acquired from evolving was eagerly waiting for the time to manifest within my soul.

The Mirage King who possesses immeasurable power and defeated Senri who I couldn’t defeat. I don’t feel even a sliver of fear in front of my greatest enemy. This is an instinct. The vampire combat instincts that were suppressed when I was the Lesser Vampire. The instincts of the dark beings that kill the living and drink their blood, which I regarded as dangerous. 

But — it’s not as big of a deal as I thought. I’m still calm. Senri, who saved me, is lying on the ground, not moving a muscle. This is the first time she, who always possessed brilliant life force, has weakened so much ever since she was heavily injured by Albertus long ago.  

A strong urge surges up inside me for a second. I hurriedly release the king’s arm and hold my forehead. The Mirage King takes a step back.

The liquid overflowing from my eyes and running down my cheeks wasn’t tears but blood.

It made me understand even if I didn’t want to.

I’m not perfect. A sudden evolution must be quite a burden.

Before, when I devoured the Lord’s soul and evolved from Ghoul to Lesser Vampire, I also writhed in pain for several hours. This time could be said to be better than that.

After all, unlike that time, right now I still have enough power to fight.

“There were multiple defects found… in the resurrection spell. That’s why it became weaker than intended”

“What did… you say?!”

The Lord’s knowledge slightly pours into me. The eyes of the Mirage King, who’s wary of me, widens. And, in that second, I swung my fist.

My palm pierces through the air, leaving the sound behind. The Mirage King shows a frightening reaction speed at the completely unexpected thrust.

He swings his spear, meeting my fist. My arm, which was supposed to have been broken, has long healed.

But there’s no way an incomplete undead can block the attack from the current me. A curse is a power. Vampires possess powerful weaknesses, but therefore, they also have abilities that separates them from the rest of the world. 

The thick spear I blocked, breaks. The sensation of crushed flesh and broken bones relays an indescribable delight to my whole body. Time has stopped. I can clearly see the armor of the Mirage King shattering, his flesh distorting and him bouncing violently against the ground. Is this the frame-by-frame playback of the film projector I’ve heard rumors about?

Ah, I hate violence but — but I have to say that this feels amazing.

My instincts are rejoicing. The curse that’s eating into me is applauding.  

The Mirage King takes a defensive posture in the middle of bouncing, instantly creates a new spear and thrusts it into the ground. 

The ground is scraped and a deep line appears on it. By the time the King finally succeeds in braking, the distance between us has become ten-odd meters. 

The Mirage King stands up. His shattered armor regenerates and his crushed limbs that were pretty much just hanging off him are restored in the blink of an eye. Lesser Vampire. There’s no doubt about it. It’s the rank I was just a while ago.

Despite being just attacked, the Mirage King’s focus wasn’t on me. He only muttered stunned. “Defects… you say?” The power of death that Avicord had gathered was enormous. Perhaps, according to his expectations, the King would be able to resurrect into a vampire at least. Lesser Vampire is an in-between form that’s riddled with weaknesses but can’t use the special abilities. 

He doesn’t know. I won’t tell him anything. There’s one of the reasons why that spell went out of date a long time ago.

You will die not even knowing the reason for your failure. 

Vampires are blood monsters.

You can’t become a true vampire without drinking even a drop of blood.

The Mirage King creates a sword from the ground. It’s earth magic. There was a time once when mages were at the core of manufacture. Apparently the users of the earth magic were unrivaled in smelting and processing metals. This is from much before I was born, but he was probably a spellcaster from that era. 

The Mirage King swung the jet-black sword, smiling fiercely. But his eyes were terribly serious. 

“Youngster, magic doesn’t work on vampires, but my spells are different!”

I haven’t seen the battle between Senri and the Mirage King. But those words made me understand why she lost.

Looks like his title of being a King is not just for the show.  But if he won’t run away, that’s convenient in a way.

My machete has disappeared somewhere. But I don’t need a weapon. I declare to the king, who still kept his arrogant attitude despite understanding the difference between our ranks. “Yeah… old man, you already lost once. You’re a sore loser, even for an undead. This time I’ll make sure to properly put you back in the grave.” My arm creaked. The bones in my right arm transformed with a loud noise and turned into a spear.

I’ll settle things by dawn. Anybody who interferes with other people’s love affairs should die.

☠

That attack was completely unknown to me.

It was a terrific power, hard to believe that it belonged to somebody who had just resurrected.

When the Mirage King thrust the spear into the ground, the earth rose and when he muttered a few words, pebbles rained down like a storm. Countless spears and swords were created from the empty rubble and fired.

This is undoubtedly the power that completely destroyed the castle.

It was almost like a natural disaster. Earth magic. According to my knowledge, it should have been a convenient supplementary magic but apparently, it can become a powerful attack in the hands of a skilled mage. 

The Mirage King’s laughter echoes amidst the roaring. 

“How about this?! And this, and this and this! Haahahaha!”

What makes the constant continuous attacks possible is a terrifyingly enormous amount of mana.

Mana is a power that differs from both the blessing and the blood power.

When I was alive and bedridden, I regularly received treatment with healing magic. During my elopement with Senri, I’ve accidentally been shot with combat magic from a mercenary. But the power used by the King in front of me is truly on another level from them. No matter how many riff-raff mercenaries there were, they wouldn’t be a match for this kind of power.

It was hard to believe that he had just been through a fierce battle with Senri, but my eyes realised the trick of his mana that seemed endless in a single glance.

He’s sucking up power, the mana, from the earth and using it. Vampire species already boast of a powerful mana, at this rate it would be hard to use the basics of anti-mage combat and aim for him to run out of mana.

――Well, I never had the intention to aim for the battle of endurance though.

I unhesitatingly run towards the enormous mass that’s attacking me.

I step on the moving ground, ignoring the cuts from the blades, only smash the huge rubble that’s hindering my path with the bone spear and just move forward. 

Dagger sticking out from the ground pierces my foot and small pebbles pierce my body. The dull pain that runs through my body is immediately swallowed by the fighting spirit.

Ah, this feels great.

Earth magic certainly seems to work on vampires too. But, not enough, not enough, not enough.

I am— a monster. I’m not a human. As if you can stop me with a half-hearted attack like this!

Any damage will instantly heal. The only thing I have to be wary about is attacks with silver and having my heart pierced. However, it looks like the Mirage King cannot create silver, which is an anti-demonic metal. Regarding my heart too, if I consciously defend it and evade, I won’t have any problems. I’m already prepared for the pain. A 10-meter gap might as well not exist for a vampire. I instantly break through his defence. Hiding is useless. Eyes of vampires can see mana. I can smell it too. There’s no way I wouldn’t be able to trace the source when he’s using such a huge amount of mana.

My perceptive ability has reached its peak now.

I block the slashing attack unleashed from my blind spot with the bone spear. Mirage King clicks his tongue.

“You bastard… are you a fallen soldier?!”

“Yeah. I’m already dead.”

Perhaps thinking that this way we wouldn’t go anywhere, the Mirage King stepped in deeper.

He can do close combat too?!

It was a bizarre gait. The movement of his centre of gravity was unnatural. Even before it not being the range in which humans can move, it’s just physically unpleasant

But I soon realised the true identity of my discomfort.

This guy is a Lesser Vampire like I was before. It’s a pupa of a vampire without any special powers. If so, his attacks should rely on the powers he had cultivated himself.

In that case, there is only one answer – his bizarre movements are due to the earth magic. He’s probably moving the ground he’s stepping on with magic.

The Mirage King’s movements weren’t something learnt overnight. He moved smoothly without moving his feet, unleashing swift slashes that surpassed even the speed of Senri’s attacks.

A newly created wall blocks the path of retreat.

I snorted and repelled his straightforward attack that had enough power put into it to kill me surely, with the bone spear. The eyes of the Mirage King widen. He changes his position and strikes again, which I block more. I block and block. As I continue to handle him more, the Mirage King’s face distorts in agitation.

Do you not understand why it doesn’t hit? It’s too pathetic. You might’ve been the strongest before, but that’s in the past.

“You’re an amateur. Your slashes are all about the force in the end.”

“Kh?!”

His combat technique mixed with magic is impressive. There wouldn’t be a problem if it was used against a human. It might even overwhelm Death Knights that are used to parrying.

But no matter how fast and unpredictable his movements are —- his swordsmanship itself isn’t anything special.

It’s foolish to challenge somebody with equal or greater physical abilities than you, especially me, who’s had countless mock battles with Senri, with a sword that can hardly be called a sword.

I was taught over and over again. Senri laughed at me, scolded and was fed up with me, as I learned the ways of how Death Knights fight with my body. In the end, my fighting style settled into something that relies on my physical abilities, but the teachings I’ve received are definitely inside me. I strongly repel his sword and go on the offensive. As I take a step forward, the wall that was surrounding us―― the battlefield shatters.

I chased after the Mirage King, who fell back perhaps after realising his disadvantage at the close combat. It’s my chance to win. Too late to realise you’ve miscalculated now.

The Mirage King whispers something quietly. I lightly jump over the countless spears that suddenly appear from the ground. 

I jump in the air. The Mirage King’s eyes open wide.

It’s a terrifying magic spell. It has almost no casting time, which was a huge weakness to mages.

But my eyes can see mana. If I know roughly what kind of attack is coming, evading any surprise attack becomes easy. 

I’ve already seen through his attacks. The experience of my death struggles until now tell me the best possible move.

“Kuh!…” 

The Mirage King falls back as if pressured. Because of that, the tip of the bone spear that I thrusted from the sky stopped at lightly cutting his cheek. The sensation of gouging something soft left a numbing pleasure in my hand.

The face of the Mirage King is distorted for the first time. The damage I did to him couldn’t be further from being lethal and the wound instantly healed but I did deliver a blow.

I know about the regenerative ability of vampires by experiencing it firsthand myself. A fight between vampires is a messy fistfight until either of them runs out of power.

— Normally, that is.

“I do not understand. Why do you, as the same dead as me, having undergone evolution to that extent, whittle down yourself to help humans?”

The Mirage King distances himself. It’s the distance for a mage.

I didn’t chase after him. It would be annoying if he ran away but the Mirage King intends to go for the kill with all his powers. My attack surely made him serious. 

And, apparently he doesn’t intend to take a hostage. If the opponent was a human, he would use as many dirty tricks as he wanted, but with another vampire, is his pride getting in the way? 

The ground has been raised with the power of magic. I put my feet on a flat rubble and narrowed my eyes.

“Whittle myself down…? I still haven’t whittled down anything.”

Whittling down — is something like this.

I grab my right arm that has hardened and transformed into a spear, with my left arm and twist it at the root in a single breath. It makes an unpleasant sound and loses sensations together with a numb pain.

The Mirage King gazes at me dumbfounded. And the right arm I am holding ―― flares up.

“?!”

I’ve become stronger. The range of powers that can be used by Lesser Vampires and Noble Vampire is different. I’m hesitant to use my new powers on this mighty King, but this is the power I’ve used until now.

Burnt by the Jet-black flames — the Cursed Flames — my right arm still maintains its shape. It hasn’t lost its power even after being cut off from the main body. It hasn’t returned to dust. Sable was still moving even after removing her heart. In that case, there’s no way the current me wouldn’t be able to do the same thing. 

Even if it’s not attached physically, the magical connection is still here. It’s already been cut off, but I can tell that the blood power is being transmitted to my right arm. It’s enough to use it as a weapon.

I widely swing the hardened spear on my right arm. The Mirage King shouts. 

“Are you serious?!” Oh, that’s right. It’s a bit late, but there was another mistake in the words of the King in front of me.

I don’t act to help humans. I do it for Senri.

I fight without asking for anything in return from her, who helped me without asking for anything in return, even though she knew of the consequences that awaited her.

I don’t expect to be understood.

I step through the rubble with vigor, and at the same time, I throw my spear.

Multiple layers of walls are instantly created between the Mirage King and me. However, the burning spear released by the vampire’s power penetrated the thick walls like a piece of paper.

The flames of the curse — coated in the power I stole from Man-Eater, burned the wall it penetrated through, and turned it into  sludge.