Liliana woke to a feeling of lethargy and weakness. The inability to move her limbs left her panicking, the surrounding darkness adding to her fears. Feeling the ropes against her skin, she called out to her friends in subdued whispers. “Max! Amy!”

“I’m here. Amy’s right next to you, though still unconscious.” Max answered, his heightened senses unhindered. A body tempered by mana and the ability to control the air was the combination that had allowed him to find Liliana and Amy’s sleeping figures soon after he had awoken. With a rough layout of the room in mind, he could feel that they were the only ones present.

“Ugh!” Amy groaned as she came to.

“Amy!”

“Ow! What is it? Stop screaming into my ears!” Amy complained in response to Liliana’s exclamation. “Where are we?” She asked without a shred of fear or panic.

“Don’t know. I can't see a thing… I'm pretty sure my wand's missing too.”

“Understandable. That’s the first thing I would do if I kidnapped mages.”

“You’re unusually calm.” Max suddenly said, surprised. Under the circumstances, her mental fortitude was nothing to scoff at. After all, she was still just a fifteen year old.

“Well, this isn’t my first rodeo. A Duke has his share of enemies and some of them are dumb enough to pull stunts like this.” Amy replied with a sigh, “I’m sorry guys. It's my fault you were dragged into this.”

“What are you talking about?” Liliana interjected as she struggled to turn and face Amy. “This has nothing to do with fault. Besides it’s not my first time either.”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“Well -”

“Excellent! You’re awake!” A sinister voice echoed through the room accompanied by the lights which illuminated its layout.

The masked man stood before the only door in the room. Their hands tied to three tall metallic rods, the three confirmed what Max had already suspected - that they were in a small warehouse with a lower than average roof. Stacks of wooden boxes lined close to the warehouse’s walls, hiding any possible windows.

Amid the crates lay twelve coffins. Six placed on one side of the man and six more on the other.

Amy bit her lips and asked with a firm voice, “Who are you? What do you want?”

“The Phantom...” Max muttered as he involuntarily narrowed his eyes. Looking at the coffins, Max remembered the Phantom’s victim count. It was exactly the same as the number of caskets.

“Yes, I do believe I’ve been called that.” The Phantom confirmed Max’s suspicion. “As for what I want -” Pausing, he leisurely walked past Amy and stood beside Liliana. “This girl will do quite nicely.”

“What?!” Shocked, Amy couldn’t help but yell out. Since the moment she had come to, she had convinced herself that she had been the intended target. Not once had she ever consider another possibility.

“If that were true, you would have left the two of us back in that alley.” Max said, attempting to keep the conversation going in the hopes of discerning the man’s intentions. “Besides, you just kidnapped a Duke’s daughter. Do you really want a bigger target on your back?” This felt nothing like the meticulous criminal he had read about in the reports. The kidnapping felt rushed and unplanned.

“Let’s just say that I’m tired and want to go out with a bang.” The Phantom answered with a laugh. “But you’re right. You and Miss Walker are here for a very important reason. You’ll find out soon enough.”

Pulling out a dagger, he walked towards Max. The spring in his steps, the joy in his palms as he played with the knife, the man was enjoying every second.

“Stop! Don't… You said you wanted me so leave them alone!” Violently struggling against the ropes, Liliana yelled, her attempts to cast spells failing at every turn. Unable to stimulate the surrounding mana, Amy began to panic as well. Why?! Why isn’t it working?

“It’s useless. These ropes were designed to suppress the use of mana. Unless you’re at least as strong as a Master Mage, you can forget about using your spells tonight.” The Phantom laughed, tracing the knife against Max's face.

“Stop!” Amy helplessly yelled and threatened, “If you dare hurt him, I guarantee that the full force of Duke Walker’s house will hunt you down!”

“If I was scared of the Duke, you wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

While inching the knife closer to Max’s stomach, the Phantom relished at thought of watching the former writhe in pain. He truly felt alive only when he could see him victims taste despair, the ephemeral euphoria from his forbidden pastime ending as soon as their lives ebbed away.

“NO!” Liliana and Amy yelled, horrified while Max spat in disgust, “Ugh! You talk too much!”

Firmly grabbing the knife, Max stopped it inches away from his abdomen. The two girls cursed and screamed, unable to see the reversal with the Phantom blocking their sight.

“That’s impossible!” The Phantom exclaimed while making a hasty retreat.

Relieved to find Max unharmed, the girls became awkwardly silent. They watched as he clumsily punched their captor and successfully shattered a significant portion of his mask. Cold sweat seeped down the Phantom’s forehead while panic flashed across his eyes. He scowled as he attempted to hide his face. How?! How did he get out?!

Sporting a grin, Max held the dagger covered in traces of his blood, his palm stinging from the pain. With a bit of effort, he tore through his lower bindings and stood up under the Phantom’s shocked gaze. “It’s no use hiding it.” He icily said. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that the Phantom would be none other than the man who seemed so desperate to catch him.” Max threw the dagger away, bitterly laughing towards the end. “That’s quite the twist, chief!”

Aghast, Amy remembered the chief’s words and cursed her own stupidity. Aside from the Royal family, only the Dukes, Marquises and the Counts had the authority to influence the Empire’s army and the various City Police Departments. The minor nobles had no say in such matters, and yet the man had clearly said that the Earl would replace the department.

The chief knew there was no turning back. Escape wasn’t an option. Enraged, he glared at Max, blaming his current predicament entirely on the teenager. “How?! How did you break through your bindings?”

Max put his finger to his lips. “Trade secret.” He whispered and winked.

For reasons he couldn’t explain, the rope’s restricting functionality had had no effect on his strength. Breaking free soon after he was up, Max pretended to remain bound in what turned out to be a successful attempt at fooling his kidnapper.

Max asked with indifference, “Any last words?”

Considering his options, the chief grit his teeth and glanced at the coffins behind him. The cold and dark wooden boxes of death seemed like the only way he would be able to take on a Superior Knight in close combat. “You lot will be the only ones dying tonight!” He yelled and bolted for the door.

Max shot towards the man without hesitation, but realized he had been baited almost a second too late. Two figures, one holding a pair of hammers and the other a giant axe, appeared by his side, smashing their weapons at him, their movements a little too mechanical and simplistic.

Cursing, Max sped up and skid past the new assailants, narrowly avoiding the fatal blows. He suddenly remembered the multiple cloaked individuals involved in the ambush.

“Who's laughing now?” The chief snarled as he stood a few feet away. “Kill him!”

One of the caskets quickly creaked open, a lean figure shooting out and pouncing on Max. Barely managing to roll out of the way, the teenager hastily returned to the girls’ side and took this time to observe his new opponents.

“What?! They - Are they even alive?” Liliana yelped from behind. Two men and one woman stood with their grotesque figures on display. The man with the axe had bulging muscles, but was missing his eyes. His chest had been stitched shut like the subject of an autopsy. As if this sight wasn’t jarring enough, the man by his side, holding the hammers, appeared to have been brutally tortured, with scars and burns covering his body and a face mutilated beyond recognition. The woman, however, seemed to be the only one who was relatively ‘undamaged’. She sported a handful of scars and her face was sickly pale, but otherwise untouched.

“You – You – You're a Dark Necromancer!” Amy yelled with rage and disgust.

Since the inception of magic, the Necromancers were a class of mages that had attracted a lot of controversy and abhorrence simply because of their magic’s blatant violation of the dead.

One thousand years ago, a handful of Necromancers were found experimenting on the living to further their magic. Caught in the act, the Empire had immediately ordered for their execution. It was only when the instance repeated itself in the Dominion and the Alliance that the superpowers came together and collectively slaughtered a majority of the then existing necromancers.

The blood bath continued for years. Those even remotely connected to these dark arts were killed without question. But the massacres were put to a stop by Asterisk Academy’s headmaster. Rounding up the survivors, he provided them asylum within the Academy’s grounds, keeping them under strict supervision, safe from the hands of the three powers.

Now, only those authorized by the Academy were allowed to practice necromancy. The ones that did so in secret were deemed as Dark Necromancers and left to the mercy of the three superpowers.

The chief’s face warped to reveal a sinister smile as he gave Amy a slight bow. He proudly acknowledged the title. “Indeed. I am as some might say a Dark Necromancer. Unfortunately, you won’t live to tell the tale since you’ll be too busy dying at the hands of my newest creations.”

Max’s bloodlust shot through the roof. “Was that why you brought us here?” He looked and the man and coldly asked, “To add us to your ‘collection’?”

“You catch on fast. After I personally forge your corpses, you and Miss Walker will join my troupe of undead.” Gloating, the chief recited a spell. The sound of grinding bones and clattering teeth filled the room. Five rotten corpses, wearing crumbling armour and holding rusted weaponry, crawled out of a decaying spot on the ground, obediently guarding their summoner.

“Amy, Liliana… Sorry, but for the next couple of minutes… You’re on your own.” Max said with a wave of his hand, his voice eerily low. The duo anxiously gulped and shivered. They knew. Max was truly furious.