After that cringy moment with Sixth when I formally became a Death Lord, an entire year passed.
Thanks to the innate knowledge granted by Necromancy, I was able to understand and write magic circles. Which was useful when Old Arledge finally reached the Initiate Magus level four months ago, being granted territory in our Golden State Duchy. Since it seems he was in charge of copying Magic Circles.
Usually, old Arledge should have been granted territory in the Whitewood duchy, but he was already more than sixty and had no hope of becoming stronger and advancing to the rank of Baron, having to remain a Baronet for his entire life. Sadly, he would never be able to inherit the Flower Forest County with his strength, so he accepted to stay here.
He still spent most of his time in Lord Angus' Manor though, since his territory is just a large village in the westernmost part of Red Stone Barony. He stayed on the mansion at night, sharing a room with me.
Old Arledge also did the work of a scribe as a pastime, my old work to be precise, since it's easier. We chatted as we worked, so my days weren't boring.
Old Arledge wasn't a bad person. A depraved deviant? Yes, but not a bad person. More than once he invited me to 'parties' with other men and women, but I had no interest in that. At least not like that, maybe if I find a good girl one day.
Call me a prude, but I believe in Love!
After spending much time together, we both grew used to each other. Even though I still had my usual poker face most of the time, he already got the gist of reading my emotions, something only my parents and my only friend had ever been able to do after a long time handling me.
I never used necromancy after becoming a Death Lord, nor did I imprint any necromancy spells on myself, until today.
Being only a weak Death Knight, as the initiate level of Death Lords is called, if any random Divine Servant of a Life God attacked me, I would be dead before knowing it. Life magic and spells are very effective against any Death Lord beneath the third level. As well against most undead.
Instead, I focused on gathering materials for a necromancy spell called 'Symbiotic Death Core'.
That spell connected made my Death Core parasite my Magus Soul, making it so that when I improve as a necromancer, I would also improve as a Magus. Then, my Magus Soul would become the Hot Core of my body and the Death Core my Cold Core. One harnessing mana and the other necrotic energy.
A hot core is a great advantage for a Dread Lord since with it I can turn my Necrotic Energy into mana and my mana into necrotic energy. Since they operate separately, that means I get to have the combined amount of mana of a Magus and a Necromancer. Necrotic Energy is two times as powerful as mana, so overall I have three times more mana than a normal Magus. Although I can't use mana to cast necromancy spells.
I managed to get all of the supplementary ingredients for the Magic Ritual Circle and already asked for a month-long leave from Lord Angus, which is within my rights, to go look for the core ingredient, the Crystal Fiber Flower.
This flower is generally used to repair broken Magus Cores, but it is also a supplementary ingredient in body-strengthening and regenerating ritual spells, so it is on high-demand and is also slightly expensive.
I was already packing in my room after saying goodbye to Old Arledge and Lord Angus as well as Henri and Enki that I grew closer with in my time here. Sixth was still by my side, with a phone on his hand, reading novels. He could easily summon stuff like that, which made me mad that he wouldn't let me use his phone too. He instead kept teasing me by reading novels and playing games where I can see him. Fucking asshole.
After putting the two big bags with my stuff over my shoulder, I was ready to go when a message sound came from Sixth's phone.
"Hey, Kyle…"
When I looked back at him, he had a smile that was at the same time a smile of joy and a sneer.
After a year with him, I got used to his behavior and learned to read his expressions. His current face said two things, "I'm gonna have fun." and "You are in deep shit" the latter which is the expression I feared the most.
"What is it…? Please don't tell me someone will try to kill Lord Angus again! Last time I had to hide on the hole where the servants shit!" I said, remembering a bad experience from a few months ago. That was the last time Sixth has sneered like that.
But Sixth shook his head and said.
"I have good and bad News to tell you… Which do you want to hear first?" He said with a playful expression, making me desperate is his favorite game of all.
Hearing him say that I was scared and startled.
One thing I know about sixth is that he never helps me or reveal information without something in exchange, he just stands there and sees how I react to situations, and even when Lord Angus was an assassination target, he only made his "You are in deep shit face" instead of warning me. The biggest help I ever received from him was that one time he advised me that I couldn't remain a Scribe forever.
What is it that's so important for him to directly tell me?
"Okay… The good one first." I said calmly, but inwardly scared.
"You need to accomplish a task, and if you do so, you will be granted a single wish that can be anything. From immortality to power and money and even to ascend to the same level as me and become an omnipotent God. Anything goes."
Hearing that, instead of being happy, I got even more scared. It was obvious that this task would be anything but easy.
"What about the bad one?"
"You have to kill five people that were chosen as champions by my five of my six brothers, all of them have cheat abilities as well as 'plot armor', so literally nothing below my level of existence can kill them." He said with a complicated expression as if considering many things at once.
"Six brothers?"
Sixth nodded and explained.
"You should know that there are Gods in this world, but they aren't Gods like me or my brothers who hold unrestrained omnipotence. My six brothers and I are a group of omnipotent beings, and it seems they have been interested in you since a while ago, so they chose these five champions and challenged you. Even though I say it's a challenge, you have no choice since their champions are already bound to come here." He said with his mocking smile.
When I heard that, I got shocked, but still had some hope.
"But since they were granted cheat abilities and plot armor, I can have those as well can't I?" I said looking at Sixth with pleading eyes.
"You can have a power, but no plot armor." He said with, his sneer intensifying. "You now have the power to breach their plot armor and kill them, so they have to rely on their own abilities when fighting you."
Thud
With a dull sound, I fell to my knees on the floor with a despairing expression.
What kind of bullshit cheat ability is that? How can that even help me?
Seeing my expression, Sixth sighed and shook his head with a look of contempt imprinted on his face.
"Don't underestimate that ability. Against them, who will be used to things going right all the time, that difference is enough to kill... By the way, you can also make them surrender if they accept, they have no choice but to kill you though." He said seriously. "And do you think getting that wish is easy? They have to kill only you, but their rewards' limitations are much worse than yours! You can literally become omnipotent just like me! That's not something that can be easily acquired by killing just five people!"
"Also, you already don't have a choice. It's either you or them. At least, they don't know who you are, but you will be able to identify them first easily simply by hearing about their exploits!"
"You read so many novels and watched so much anime, how can you not recognize a cheat character with plot armor? But for them? They would look at the current you and think you are one of those people that are described along with the background on a regular novel. You also have advantages!" He said, pointing out the advantages of my ability and situation.
Even after hearing him, I was still panicking and didn't get up.
I am just a normal person... I realized that when those assassins came time and time again. I can only run and hide in my current state, the mere thought of dying made me afraid, and having to face five Main characters coming straight from a novel is a death sentence to me…
...
But then I realized. Sixth was right!
Main Characters are Main Characters because of their plot armor, even though the Main Character may suffer for a while they will always come out unscathed and stronger because of their plot armor…
But that was useless against me.
I could stalk them, befriend them, wait for them to be weak or simply hide until I could face them. They would never suspect I am their target if I lay low!
Slowly I got up and straightened my back, tightening my grip on the two bags over my shoulders and walking out of my room.
If I keep lamenting myself, it would just be waiting for my death. Even though I was still afraid to the point my legs shook while walking, I had to keep going.
If I'm between a rock and a hard place, then I will slam my fists against the rock and try to break it! Even if my hands bleed, I won't let fear make me paralysed! My pride won't let me go down without a fight!
What bullshit protagonists?! I'll kill all of them, and then bed their harem!