Doevm activated his blue life essence. Before any of the nine men could come closer, he pulled the pile of ash into his spatial ring, turned, and kicked the burned wall next to him. As the nine closed in, parts of the building fell on top of them. He dove through an open window. A stream of curses followed after him as he sprinted away from the collapsing building.

There were now eight men following from behind. The ninth was buried under the rubble, dead. Doevm pushed all his life essence into his legs, but the eight still managed to shorten the distance. 'Why am I breaking down so soon?' he thought. 'I should have at least felt bursts of tiredness before I got this bad, just like before.'

'I can hide in the craters, but they can track me. This damned ash will show my footprints. Maybe I can lose them in the mess of buildings.' He climbed to the second story of one of the ruined buildings, then lept to another building through the massive holes in the walls.

The floors creaked under his heavy steps. Bits of tile and burned carpet turned to powder. Several times he stepped somewhere, and his foot fell through the floor. 'I think they're all stronger than me in my current state, but if I surprise them like the first, I should be able to take them down.'

The room he had lept into had nothing to hide behind. The eight were just around the corner. He cursed, stuck his dagger and a throwing knife into the wall, then lifted his legs up until his entire body rested on the flimsy door frame.

The eight men ran into the room soon after. Like hounds, they followed the mess of displaced soot and broken pieces of flooring. Now that he saw them up close, he saw bits of metal under their black coats, the source of the jingling sound. The bandits back at Scrap City and the Virility household had rusty kitchen knives when compared to these men's blades. While they hadn't said anything to each other, they moved in a practiced pattern.

In every formation, however, there was a weakness. Doevm pulled his two knives from the wall and lowered himself from the top of the doorway. Of the eight men, there was one who was closest, five feet away. Normally, Doevm would creep over and kill him, but, judging by the dent in the floor, it would collapse if he stepped on it.

Doevm closed his eyes. 'I have neither much strength nor mental energy. What I do still have, however, is my soul.' He took a breath, recited Draken's teachings in his mind, and whispered, "Step back," to the closest man, who did as he was ordered. Doevm jumped onto his back and slit his throat. Their combined weight broke through the floor. Doevm pulled out the ash from his spatial ring just in time to cushion his fall.

The breaking of the floor hadn't escaped the remaining seven men's notice. Clouds of dust spread to the air, forcing them to step back and cover their mouths. After it cleared, they swarmed down the hole, their swords at the ready.

At the first floor, the only source of light was the dim ray shining through the new hole. The stone walls were the least burned than any other building in the ruins. One of the seven pulled out a light crystal and activated it. At the bottom of the hole was a dead man, wearing a skull mask and rags. His throat had been slit.

"We finally got that bastard," one of the seven said as he kicked the body.

"But where did our man go?" a different man asked as he waved the light crystal around the room. Like the second floor, there was nothing but piles of ash. "Nevermind. More pay for us." He turned back to the body. "We got our prize."

As he bent down to pick up the body, it moved. Its cold fingers wrapped around his throat and twisted. While the victim fell to the floor, the Undead turned into an inanimate corpse again.

The remaining six men slashed the body into pieces. "This," one of the six said. "This should be impossible. I heard he wanted books on advanced healing magic. He shouldn't be a necromancer, even if he calls himself a Lich."

"It's fine," one of the men said as he slashed the other body into pieces. Of all of them, he was the oldest, with just a few grey hairs mixed into his black hair. As he spoke, all the men turned to him: "This Undead was weak, only living for a few seconds. The Lich, as you called him, must be running low on mana or just a low-level mage. I don't know much about magic, but I do know that the level of spell corresponds to the strength of the Undead. If not for the surprise, that Undead couldn't have killed any of us. Spread out and find him. He's bound to be tired by now." He stood up and sighed. As the men went to check the outline of the room, his sword stabbed into the pile of ash under the corpse.

'Damn he saw me!' A numb pain shot through Doevm's side. He cursed and jumped out of the pile ash, through the hole in the ceiling. Before he disappeared, he pulled the ash back into his spatial ring.

"Nice job Frank!" one of the six congratulated the eldest.

"That's just a wound," Frank wiped the blood off his sword. "The trouble with wounded animals is that they are the most dangerous. We just have to bleed him dry. Let's go." He and the rest climbed out of the room. When they got to the top, all they had to do was follow the trail of blood.

As Doevm ducked under rotten wood and debris, a loud bang assaulted his hearing, and a puff of smoke appeared in front of one of the men. The wall next to Doevm broke inwards, as if something had struck it.

"Missed," Frank cursed as he moved something from under his armor.

Doevm lept to the roofs of the smaller buildings. Now he could see the black market again, although it was far off in the distance. The buildings were now smaller, although still broken down and covered in black soot. The distance between them kept shortening. Sword strikes and rocks flew by Doevm. Some he dodged, and others scratched at his flesh.

The six were now like wolves, chasing him until he ran out of steam. Even with Doevm's state, they were still cautious, alternating who attacked him to preserve stamina. While most the men aimed at his vitals, Frank always aimed for Doevm's Achilles heel.

Doevm kept running until there was no more buildings, just an open space filled with tiny craters the size of his fist. He tried to step around them, but his legs gave out strength. He tripped on one of them and crashed into a mess of wood. The six surrounded him.

"You're out of steam," one taunted.

The group tried to move in, but Frank held an arm out to stop them: "Let him bleed." The men nodded and stepped back into formation. Doevm swept his gaze across the six. No one appeared the weakest, and they were in perfect formation.

He held his side, which was still bleeding. He took a deep breath and held his dagger to his side. Steam and a horrid smell came from the cauterized wound. His armor darkened under the heat. 'Now, how do I get out of this?'

"What's your name?" Frank asked as if he wasn't pointing a sword at Doevm. The men glanced at him but shrugged and kept formation. "You managed to take out four men with your injured state. I think my boss might take a liking to you if you surrender now." He smiled and held his hand out. Doevm stared and held his dagger out. "Come on," Frank insisted. "What's holding back a name going to do for you? You can talk, right?" He took the silence as a no and began pacing around the formation.

"You are called Lich, so I'll keep calling you by that. Is that ok?"

"..."

"Great. Mr. Lich, you took a mission to heal a girl and asked for healing magic books, so you must be a healer. Is that correct?" He got tired of waiting for silent responses and acted as if Doevm had nodded. "But earlier, you resurrected one of my men. Granted it was weak, but that doesn't make it any less impressive. I wonder why you don't heal yourself with magic now. Why did you use your dagger?"

As he talked, he kept circling closer along with the men behind him. "That tells me that you must be either lying, or something happened to you. You were stumbling around back there. You even have blue life essence, yet you chose to run. Something must have happened to you that requires great care. We can give you that care. Our organization has a place for you if you choose to accept it."

He had closed half the distance, refusing to put down both that demon smile and the sword. "If you don't, well then you'll just die." Frank laughed. "So, what is your decision?" The men were looking at him, as if asking if he was serious or not.

Doevm, however, knew exactly what lay behind that smiling facade. "My decision?" Doevm stood up straight. "I accept."

Frank closed in, not too slow, not too fast. One hand offered a handshake. The other was preparing a sword strike. Doevm put his hand forward, the one with a spatial ring. Just before the two met, all the ash he had stored in the ring sprouted forth. Frank jumped back.

Doevm inhaled. 'If I consider life essence like mana, I can maybe pull this off without exploding. Run life essence through the lungs just like running mana in the spell variation.'

Blue life essence condensed around his chest. 'It's risky, but I don't have any other choice. Take in as much air as you can.' His chest expanded to two times its original size. His organs and ribcage creaked and moaned under the strain.

'Mana and life essence are two energies from one being. Rick used life essence to imitate a spell. Since I know the spell he imitated, all I need to do is substitute life essence in instead of mana.' He blew, blowing away the six men and the pile of ash into the air with a sound blast. While it was weaker than Rick's by far, it worked nonetheless.

Doevm closed his eyes as a massive cloud of ash blocked all vision. 'I can't do much with this, but here goes nothing.' He breathed in a lungful of ash and air, then yelled out: "Scream." His soul left his body, expanded into a wave, and swept over the six.

Six yells burst out, letting Doevm know exactly where his enemies were. He used the dwindling strength he had and dashed towards the nearest yell. His dagger flashed inside the cloud, striking one of the men's collar bone. With a quick flick of his wrist, another strike went through the man's heart.

By now, the five were trying to get back together, but they were still recovering from the sound blast. Every time they tried to talk, they ended up inhaling more ash. Doevm took down another by snapping his neck. The third fell with two holes in his chest. The fourth's eye popped and shriveled up under the heat of the dagger.

The cloud subsided a bit. Now it was just Doevm and Frank. "Not bad kid," Frank coughed into his sleeve. "But you're out of luck now. You're too tired to continue, aren't you?" Doevm fell to a knee, his rapid breaths taking in air and bits of ash. Sweat drenched him. "Normally I would finish you off with a sword, but you…"

Frank pulled out a long metal and wooden tube from his clothes. "I don't like that look in your eyes. You're just like the boss, always thinking of how you can beat people." He spat at Doevm and pointed the tube at him. "Well guess what, you're unimportant. You can be killed by anyone."

"Why are you doing this?" Doevm yelled. "You know me. Just let me go."

Frank laughed: "Good to know people like you break so easily. You're spouting a bunch of nonsense. I really meant it when I said you should join. The boss would love someone like him on board. It's just that I wouldn't." The tube clicked and a loud bang as loud as thunder shook the ruins. Smoke formed in front of the tube.

Pain exploded from Doevm's shoulder along with chunks of flesh. His corpse collapsed to the ground. Frank blew the smoke from the tube and put it back into his pocket.

"I wonder what that is." A voice called out. Frank coughed up blood. He looked down at the tip of a dagger, which poked through his chest. His pain was magnified by the dagger's heat, which closed the wound in a second. He fell to his hands and knees, his eyes wide open. Doevm's corpse changed into one of Frank's men.

"H-How did you?" Frank tried to stand but Doevm kicked him back to the ash-covered ground and threw the sword away.

"All I had to do is changed the voice and face," Doevm said as he pulled out a throwing knife and pushed it into Frank's arm. Frank flailed around. Doevm held a dagger to his throat. "Now tell me who is this boss. What is that tube?"

"It's called a gun." Frank stared down at the blade. "And as for who the boss is…you're not going to get anything out of me."

"I know," Doevm said. "The clerk told me that you're not the talking type." He slit his throat and rolled off of him. The ash stuck to his sweaty body. He slowly got to his feet and held his head. 'Looks like depending on what type of order I give, more soulmana is used. A step takes little but ordering them to see something else took up all I had left. I doubt I can order people to kill themselves yet, but simple tasks work.' He steadied his breathing. He walked towards the corpses, intending to pull them into his spatial ring.

A faint jingle met Doevm's ears. He whipped around just in time to see shattered pieces of a clear material fall around Frank's body. The wound on Frank's neck closed up. His body twitched around and grew. The armor burst off, unable to contain him anymore. His nails and hair grew and thrashed around as if they had a life of their own. Frank's teeth grew into fangs. He stood up.