Return of the Calamity-Class Death Knight

Chapter 147

Chapter 147: Master (2)

***

A giant blow fell upon the world. The immense strike obliterated Adrian without a trace. It swept away half of the ducal castle and completely erased the mountain beyond it.

In an instant, everything vanished. In its place, deep chasms remained etched into the ground like valleys, stretching out towards the horizon.

“Huff… Huff…”

Dominico gasped for breath, having exerted all his strength and dark mana to unleash the blow moments ago. Even though he has the body of a Death knight, the severe exhaustion was palpable.

“Master…”

Dominico looked around with a bewildered expression, but Adrian was nowhere to be found.

“This… can’t be happening…”

A faint voice interrupted. Gathdal gazed at Dominico with a bewildered expression.

“My… my Adrian… the Master Class I finally got my hands on… it can’t end like this…”

As Dominico looked at Gathdal, anger surged within him once more, consuming the fatigue.

“Gathdal!”

Dominico yelled, snapping Gathdal back to reality.

“Damn it…!”

Gathdal hastily tried to unleash dark magic, but Dominico lunged forward, seizing his forearm in a brutal grip. With a savage twist, Dominico tore Gathdal’s arm from its socket, sinew snapping and blood spraying in a gruesome arc. Gathdal’s screams pierced the air as he stumbled backward, clutching the ragged stump where his arm used to be. Blood gushed from the wound, painting the ground crimson.

“Ugh… Argh!”

Gathdal groaned, clutching his shoulder in pain as blood streamed through his fingers.

“It hurts… I can feel your hatred…”

Gathdal smirked lightly, looking down at Dominico.

“Do you plan to exercise the rights of the victor? Tear me apart, crush me, do as you wish.”

Gathdal’s voice, as he spoke, was inexplicably calm.

His composed demeanor fueled Dominico’s rage even further.

“…Fine, do as you please. Just let the words ‘please kill me’ come out of your mouth!”

“Oh, that sounds intriguing. Shall we make a wager? Should I say those words or not?”

Gathdal’s taunt ignited flames in Dominico’s eyes.

It was when Dominico reached out to tear Gathdal’s limbs away that a voice intervened.

“Stop.”

Damien’s voice resonated, causing Dominico to halt his outstretched hand.

Between Damien and Dominico, there existed an absolute master-servant relationship, rendering Dominico unable to defy his orders.

“Victor, please, leave me alone. This man… he killed Princess Freize! And our master… he disgraced him!”

Dominico shouted with a sentiment akin to vomiting blood. However, Damien remained indifferent.

“Don’t delude yourself. You brought this upon yourselves. Moreover, you committed the sin of abducting people and handing them over to Gathdal.”

Dominico gritted his teeth. Despite his rising anger, he couldn’t refute Damien’s words.

“But… at least… let me finish this with my own hands!”

“I cannot allow it. This is the final price you must pay.”

Damien spoke with utmost coldness.

“Above all, it’s not your place to kill him.”

“What do you mean…”

“The time is running out. Hurry and subdue him.”

Damien sent information regarding Gathdal to Dominico.

Dominico pierced Gathdal’s blood points with the knowledge of Cotton-Lined Forbidden Needle.

“Ugh, ugh…!”

Gathdal groaned every time Dominico’s fingers dug into his body.

As soon as Gathdal’s dark mana was sealed by Cotton-Lined Forbidden Needle, the altar disappeared just in time before ‘Dark Binding’ was released.

Gathdal was a Grand Dark Mage. He was a formidable enemy even without the skeletons. Therefore, it was necessary to subdue him before Dark Binding was released.

Damien, who had come down from the altar, approached Gathdal.

“Victor… What have you done to my body? I can’t move my dark mana. Have you sealed my blood points? What is the meaning behind this?”

Even though death was imminent, Gathdal was still thirsting for new knowledge.

Gathdal’s attitude was not something he put on.

Once one reached the level of Grand Dark Mage, one’s mental world was bound to be different from that of others.

Unlike others, Gathdal could not be threatened by death or pain.

That was why Damien had stopped Dominico. He knew that no matter what torture he inflicted, he would not be able to make Gathdal beg for mercy.

“If you’re thinking of killing me, you better reconsider. I belong to Pandemonium.”

When Damien didn’t say anything, Gathdal spoke with a low laugh.

Pandemonium.

The largest and most powerful dark mages force working in secret to overthrow the empire.

It was a place that boasted immense power, with most of its members being Grand Dark Mages or even Liches.

“I don’t know if you know this, but… Pandemonium is a place that thoroughly upholds its debts. If a member is killed, they will definitely get revenge.”

Damien had previously killed a dark mage who claimed to be from Pandemonium in the Apple Kingdom.

However, they were the only candidates. That was why Pandemonium had not taken any action even though Damien had killed them.

However, Gathdal was a true member of Pandemonium. If he were to be killed here, Pandemonium would definitely move.

“Victor, Pandemonium will search the entire continent for you. You can’t stop them with just a Master-class Knight Commander, can you?”

There was no exaggeration in Gathdal’s words. One Master-class was not enough to stand against Pandemonium.

“How scary.”

However, Damien only sneered at the name Pandemonium.

At Damien’s attitude, Gathdal spoke with an amused face.

“It seems the name of Pandemonium doesn’t scare you? How insolent. You’re not worth killing…”

“My name is not Victor.”

Gathdal’s eyebrows furrowed at Damien’s words. He looked as if he was asking what that was supposed to mean.

“My real name is Damien Haksen.”

“…Damien Haksen? The one who killed the Corpseplay and destroyed Yulan?”

Gathdal’s expression became momentarily dazed after hearing his real name.

“…Amazing. This is really amazing. I never thought that you, an ally of the Church, would be a Grand Dark Mage.

Damien frowned at the word ‘dark mage’.

“I only use dark magic, I’m not a dark mage. Don’t treat me the same as you filthy people.”

Gathdal looked at Damien with a dumbfounded expression.

“That’s not what I…”

“So even if Pandemonium investigates the Almond Country, they’ll have a hard time finding any clues about me.”

Damien had been using the name Victor since he came to the Almond Country.

Although he had caused some commotion, such as defeating a Middle-class with a club, it would be difficult to identify Victor as Damien based on that alone.

“You’re taking Pandemonium too lightly. There are many ways to find out about you…”

“You’re planning to leave your memories behind with dark magic, aren’t you?”

Gathdal’s face hardened at Damien’s words.

“You’re planning to spread dark mana mixed with your memories around this area. Then, when Pandemonium sends someone later, they’ll be able to identify me through those memories.”

He had seen it in his previous life. He was referring to how Gathdal would transmit information to Dorugo through the method he just mentioned.

“It’s useless. I’m going to clean up this area thoroughly after killing you. So that Pandemonium won’t be able to find me.”

“Foolish. There’s more than one way to leave information. Besides…”

“You’re thinking of leaving your memories behind? As a dark mage of your caliber, you can surely create powerful memories at the moment of death.”

Again, when Damien revealed his intentions, Gathdal’s expression hardened.

“Don’t make empty threats. From now on, all you can do is suffer.”

Damien placed his hand on Gathdal’s head. Injecting dark mana into his mind, he spoke.

“Then it’s time to pay the price.”

***

As the dark mana was infused, Gathdal’s vision turned dark.

A moment later, when the darkness lifted, Gathdal found himself in a strange space.

Everything was white and blue. Gathdal was floating in a place where all of those things were mixed together.

“So this is the spiritual space.”

Being a dark mage, Gathdal was able to quickly recognize where this place was.

“You brought me here… You really are a reckless fool.”

A cruel smile formed on Gathdal’s lips.

The spiritual space was a place where the superiority was determined by the strength of the soul.

The soul of Gathdal, a Grand Dark Mage, was not only immensely large but also possessed powerful strength.

In this place, he could destroy the soul of Victor, no, Damien. He might even be able to take over Damien’s body if he played his cards right.

“What do you mean reckless?”

A voice came from behind him. The smile on Gathdal’s lips deepened.

“If you don’t know, I’ll let you know from now on!”

Gathdal shouted and turned around. And the moment he saw Damien’s soul, his whole body froze and he realized that something was wrong.

His first thought was darkness.

Darkness was swirling around Damien. It swirled wildly, as if it was going to devour the world, like a storm.

His next thought was death.

A terrible chill, like falling into a frozen lake in winter, spread throughout his body. He felt a disgusting sensation, as if tens of thousands of insects were crawling under his skin.

Gathdal found himself kneeling down without realizing it. He pressed his forehead to the ground and shook his head.

Even though he took such a cowardly action, his fear did not disappear.

“Sir… Sir… ah, no… you are…”

Honorifics came out of his mouth without him realizing it.

Until now, Gathdal had been under a great misconception. He had thought that Damien Haksen was a Grand Dark Mage like himself.

But at this moment, he realized how wrong he had been.

Damien was not a Grand Dark Mage. He was a dark mage who had reached a realm incomparably higher than his.

“W, why on earth… with such power… did you create… skeletons…”

With Damien’s abilities, he could have killed Gathdal without even creating skeletons.

It would have been as easy as a human crushing an ant with a finger.

“Because I sympathized with you.”

It was a remark that Gathdal could not understand.

“You have no idea how frustrating it is to be unable to do anything even though you have your enemy right in front of you. How sad it is. I felt it too.”

“What… are you talking about…”

“Let’s end the conversation here… and let’s get started.”

Damien snapped his fingers. At that, something began to pour down from the sky.

Whitish wisps filled the world. They all spewed hatred and anger at Gathdal.

Souls.

The souls of tens of thousands of people that Gathdal had played with until now were staring at him.

“Wait…”

Even Gathdal, who had been indifferent in the face of death, could not help but be filled with fear now.

“No… this can’t be…”

The pain that the souls suffered was on a different level from the pain of the flesh.

No matter how great a Grand Dark Mage he was, he could not help but go crazy if he was tormented by so many souls.

“J, just kill me… kill me…!”

Gathdal cried out desperately to him. But Damien did not even pretend to hear him.

He simply turned and disappeared into the darkness.

“Please kill me!”

Tens of thousands of souls surrounded Gathdal.

Soon, a scream that was not human rang out.

***