Its eyes darted at the horrified magi. It howled a begging, so its soul to be freed from the necromancer’s slavery. Red glows from its wide-open eyes intensified the mean.

“Oh, look at you fellas. Very, very, very delicious! You will all be my bondsmen!” shrieked the necromancer.

Alicia challenged him and his errand monster. “No one wants to be your slave. Off with you, necromancer!”

“Oh, is that so, pure Arcane bitch?” His mockery of Alicia made him chuckle at his own immoral affront. “Introducing, one of my artworks, Plaxenin-3499.”

Plaxenin-3499. The strange name indeed for a creature summoned by magic, gave the impression that the monster was a vicious experimental specimen of the mad necromancer, rather than a contracted magic sentient. Behind its dead gaze, Plaxenin-3499’s shrill cry clearly implied a plea for mercy. Most likely, Plaxenin-3499 was a spirit in a shroud of rotten flesh—physically dead, but still struggling to return to being dead.

“Let’s play a game! Fight Plaxenin-3499 with your divine power. If you can fend off its spit, maybe we could fight for another day. Fail? Well, Plaxenin-3499’s magic will turn you into my corpse’s slave. Then I’ll turn all the magicians in this room, too! I can’t imagine what it would be like if I held the power of Khaos and Arcane in both hands! HA HA HA HA!"

Alicia dismissed the necromancer’s statement. “Wielding Khaos and Arcane together? You sure are joking yourself!”

“Oh, you’re not a mage. You don’t know any better, do you?”

Despite being nervous, Alicia felt challenged by the necromancer and the surrounding mages. She stomped her feet towards him a little. Her stance was ready as the bright hovering Orb was emitting flickers of vivid stardust. Tense burdened the atmosphere even more.

“Alicia, leave the orb to us. Don’t even dare to fight him!” Bartholomew urged.

“You heard the Vice Grand Magus.” Kirillios agreed. “Stop whatever you’re going to do! He’s baiting on you, man. You can’t comprehend his Khaos magi—“

“No, I can do it. I’ll prove it to all of you—“

“There is nothing to prove! You can’t go deep into any mystic arts, so don’t be a fool to think of using pure Arcane against his dark spells, man!”

Kirillios was about to intercept her, except firing magic from the necromancer struck the floor before him.

“Ah, ah, ah,” the necromancer warned him. “No one is allowed to touch her, not even a strand of her mane! I can slaughter all of you, even if I’m alone. I’m serious!”

Even Bartholomew, the strongest one in the room, fathomed that this corpse conjurer was not just an ordinary mage. He was forced to tell his men to retreat.

The hall fell in total silence. Alicia and Plaxenin-3499 officially started a wild-west magic showdown.

Plaxenin-3499’s gaping mouth glowed, as if it were choking. Looking up, Plaxenin-3499 tried to expel something from its throat with the muscles in his mouth, for the absence of hands ever emerging from the pool of blood.

Without a warning, Plaxenin-3499 spit out clumps of writhing maggots resembling sparks at Alicia. The hurried Crimsonmane repelled its vomit directly with a plasma shot. The maggot vomit was slower than Alicia’s plasma, but how shaken she was after a glimpse of her magical projectile split into several pieces, each spreading in a different direction.

Maybe I just saw it wrong, and my shot missed, she thought.

She was only able to fire two more shots before the blob drew closer, forcing her to form a magical shield dome. Alicia—with all her consciousness was also hit by shock—knew her eyes did not deceive her. Those shots were not destroyed. Instead, they were cut off and kept darting away. Even though she was in full concentration, and her position was solid rock. The shots should have pierced through the lump with ease, shouldn’t they?

The glob finally approached Alicia’s force field. It seemed alive, wriggling and enveloping part of her magic shield.

The Protos essence from the clod of maggots reacted to the shield surface full of pure Arcane—as they should be. But who would have thought such a reaction would give poor Alicia such excruciating pain! She screamed. Her burden was getting heavier. No balance kept her legs from shaking. What was happening to her being?

A few magicians began to feel sympathy for the tormented girl behind the veil of blue magic, screaming blue murder. Nixas, one of the agents, looked at Kirillios and asked, “Shouldn’t we get her out of there?”

Kirillios then looked at Bartholomew. He did not seem too concerned.

“I can’t save people who don’t want to be saved,” said Bartholomew. “She chooses this. Just let her die being devoured by Khaos. Let her become the necromancer’s slave. We’ll seize the magic orb as soon as the necromancer is off guard. Get the other agents to prepare.”

“B-but, she’s just a little girl! Not to mention she’s Baron Trinketshore’s daughter.”

Bartholomew turned to Nixas with wide eyes.

“I wish... I could have cared more. One little sacrifice for the whole world of thaumaturgy. Isn’t this the way of your people, Nixas?”

“M-Master Bartholomew….”

One purely astonishing statement shook the young agent’s morality.

Alicia could not take a breath at all because of the mysterious pain from the never-ending stabbing, caused by the collision between Khaos and Arcane. A lump of lethal maggots did not even touch Alicia’s skin, but why was such agony almost dragged her soul to Hades? She had never felt this pain when purifying John Philo or Caleb Dune. But this? This was something else, something she could not think of. Her power was drained away for her magic, and too bad her brain did not get any intake of it.

Her magic shield then also behaved strangely. Perhaps being damaged by the lump, it began to dismember into tiny bubbles that floated in the air. Her shield was getting smaller and weaker.

Alicia gave up against her will. Her focus had dissipated and her shield was gone.

Here arrived the awaited moment. The agents were already preparing to snatch Orb from the girl’s hands before the necromancer controlled her and Orb in a lifeless state. Nixas, who was in a moral dilemma, stole an early turn. He suddenly pushed Alicia, causing the maggots to fall on Nixas’ left arm.

Nixas shared Alicia’s pain. His hand rotted, and the maggots multiplied in number as they decomposed his arm. Spontaneously, Nixas cast a magic circle, then used it as a giant circular blade to sever his arm before the flesh-eating mob reached his brain and turned him into an undead slave! The maggots that fell to the ground instantly died and dispersed on the spot.

“NO, YOU BASTARD!” The mischievous necromancer showed his wrathful temper. “YOU SHOULD HAVE NOT INTERFERED, YOU SHOULD HAVE NOT INTERFERED!”

He then yelled again, “Plaxenin-3499! Kill them fucking all!”

Plaxenin-3499 spewed its maggots again, this time in quick succession into every corner as swift as Thunderkeeper’s lightning. The court hall became a panic room once again with mages in disorder.

Nixas lay pale with blood pouring from the giant hole that had once been his left arm. Alicia was also lying half-conscious. She stared at the young man in shock.

“Oh, great, I have to wipe with my right hand now,” muttered Nixas, still having time to joke in the midst of the mass panic.

“Y-your arm...,” Alicia said.

“Miss.,” Nixas answered quietly. “You're better worth saving.”

Regrets veiled the glasses girl. Was it all because her selfishness emanated again? What was the point of proving something to others when those others were as good as dead? What a foolish girl.

Alicia burst into tears. She wanted to get close to Nixas, but her whole body went numb, preventing her from moving, let alone grabbing Orb that lay a bit far from her.

“I-I’m sorry,” she cried. “I’m sorry! You shouldn’t have saved me. Why would you want to save an idiot like me?”

“Miss Crimsonmane....”

“I’m a bampot! Pure, bloody bampot! You should have waited for me to die before taking the magic ball!”

“Stop it!” Nixas coughed. “You’re a moron who doesn’t know anything about magic. But that doesn’t mean you deserve to be put to death like that.”

Alicia was as angry as the necromancer. Trembling, she tried to support herself. Her hands rested on the ground, but they swayed like guitar strings. Her voice swayed as well. “B-bloody necromancer…! I h-hate black magic wielders! I won’t forgive you!”

The two tired crutches almost toppled the girl’s body. Now she instead took one hand in the air, trying to reach her friend, the magic orb.

“Forgive me, Silent Divine, but if Arcane allows me to kill you, I shall!”

Unfortunately, that one-hand support was not strong anymore. Alicia fell unconscious.

“Nixas!” Kirillios and the agents immediately rushed to get their colleague. “Damn, you lost a lot of blood, man. Vernasius! Healing magic! Caeso, man! Protect them while I reach for the magic ball!”

Vernasius froze Nixas’ veins right away to prevent more blood from escaping. Caeso, with the magic circle in his hand, formed a stone wall from the floor to fend off the maggots attack.

Kirillios saw Orb lying a few meters away. While preparing the sealing device, he ran to it. Aware of his being, the necromancer ordered Plaxenin-3499 to fire a number of maggots at him. Satisfied he was not, he also sent the souls of former victims back to their corpses to send Kirillios a barrage of mana projectiles.

Kirillios could not care less if he was drawn to the corner. He still dodged and crushed the zombies without a slight sign of surrender. He let out a stream of lightning from his ten fingers, throwing away some undead. The lightning magic still brought more of their kind, so Kirilios created a whirlpool with his mana. More and more rose, he then summoned a giant boulder, then with his might, the stone was fragmented into small pebbles. A barrage of sharp crumbs blew up every part of the corpses that still had not given up. With all those efforts, Kirillios was even more cornered.

Suddenly, a shooting star hit the hall dome, then detonated the necromancer and his pet, who were at the point of explosion. The Silent Divine might answer their prayers, sending helps from the sky! New wizards appeared, flying on magic brooms and riding griffins, firing magic at the undead and evacuating those with souls intact.

The corpse conjurer had once again survived the kiss of death. Likewise, Plaxenin-3499. Unfortunately, the disgusting creature became even more disgusting thanks to the splattered flesh of the head, and a shiny javelin—an otherworldly exceptional magic broom—stuck into the monster’s throat. So, the warhead just now was a golden broom? No joke, no ordinary magic broom, indeed! Plaxenin-3499 could no longer scream its agony, let alone spit out maggots.

A wizard dressed in a blue suit and a blue fedora with yellow bird feathers landed behind a horde of zombies who were about to throw the Kirillios feast. He nimbly helped Kirillios free the souls bound by the rancid mage back to the underworld.

Kirillios’ eyes glared at the dapper wizard. Before he could utter a word, the wizard had already cut him off.

“May I borrow it? Let me seal the magic ball,” he said.

He took the orb sealing from the sorcerer’s grip. No resistance from Kirillios.

“Thank you,” the wizard said again.

“Grand Magus Haddock, you bloody scoundrel!” shouted Bartholomew from afar, who seemed to have made two piles of the bodies he had hunted. “Damn you, where have you been?”

“Barthie, looking good right there! Looks like you managed this court situation rather well!”

“You haven’t answered my question!”

“Barthie, love, the necromancer is still before me. How about putting the question aside for now, and focusing on cleaning up the carcasses scattered around the hall?” []