Lydia could not resist Michael even with all of her strengths and willpowers, and she transformed into one of his newest servants yet. A powerful servant – an Elite Death Knight!
There were ranks amongst the Death Knight class just like any other classes. A standard Death Knight was quite powerful already, so an Elite version was even more powerful. Considering that Lydia could match blow for blow with Sonia, eventually beating the latter, Lydia cannot be considered as a simple Death Knight.
"How do you feel?" Michael questioned as Lydia completed her transformation.
Michael was worried that Lydia might gone rogue after the transformation due to her power level, but she was no where near Window in term of power let alone his, so his worry was quite unwarranted.
Like her sister, Sonia, her skins had turned pale white along with her long hair. Her eyes also darkened greatly while a deathly aura radiated from her form. Unlike her sister, however, her manifested armor was more revealing, showing her midsection, her shoulders and much of her legs. As for her weapon of choice, it remained to be a sword.
Death Knight did not always wield a sword. They wield whatever weapon of their preference. But since Lydia was a swordsman (or swordswoman), she lived by the way of the swords. And in death, she was bounded eternally to the path of the blade.
"I feel so complete, Master," Lydia responded and bended one knee to kneel before Michael. Her long sword embedded itself into the earth, causing the ground to rot and decay. Her deadly aura was more potent than the strongest undead at his disposal, barring from himself. "What do you require of me?"
Michael nodded in approval. She was submissive to his will, and that was enough. "As I have promised you, your family shall join you in my service now and forever. You shall persuade them for me. Your sister, Sonia will aid you in your endeavor."
"As you wish, Master," Lydia responded and pulled herself off the ground. She then walked away while Sonia followed behind rather cheerfully.
And that was strange, but Lydia might be using the walk to make up her mind about his order. Like her sister before her, she knew it was wrong to hunt down her siblings and parents in order to turn them into what she had despised her entire life. Yet, she could not disobey Michael.
Michael paid no further attention to Lydia, as she would carry out her task one way or another. If she did not, he would probably take no further actions, as she was just one of his many servants, and many of his servants heed his commands, bringing countless of people towards him for assimilation.
"M-monster! No! No! I don't want to die!"
"Just take me. Please spare my children. Please!"
"Argh. No! Argh! Oh, Great Lord! Please save me! Please save me!"
"Don't kill me. Please don't kill me. I will give you everything I have. My wife. My daughters. My sons. Take them. Take them. No! Argh! No!"
"You monster! I will kill you. I will ���
Regardless of whatever they had said or shouted or screamed, Michael killed them through his power and absorbed them into his being. Their souls, their body, their mind, and more belonged to him, and he would give them a new life within his world.
And by killing them and absorbing them into himself, Michael had also lost all of his worshippers since they needed to be alive in order for them to be counted and for him to siphon off some of their energy to fill up his mana pool.
Michael felt that he did not need to resort to the powers of his Domain, considering that he was really powerful already. Since that was the case, he would revive those he had killed and assimilated within his world later, allowing his mana pool to fill faster.
And besides, his world was severely lacking some important System such as Age Progression. Michael had planned to have those Systems built and integrated into his world before reviving everyone within that world.
Speaking of everyone, he would do the same to all of his servants once the fighting was over. He didn't collect their souls or bodies prior to turning them into Death Knights or Sages, so if they died in battle, he would lose them forever.
But to collect their souls and bodies at this time meant that they would no longer be able to help him due to his inability to spawn them into the real world at the moment. Spawning something like a Death Knight into the real world required absurd amount of mana. Even with a large number of worshippers, gather that much mana would still take a while.
And that was only one Death Knight. He currently had more than a hundred and the number kept on growing, increasing the size of his Undead Legion.
Michael paid attention to the barrier surrounded the Sage Tower. He could make one an elderly man standing on top of the tower, looking at the destructions of the once greatest city of the entire realm.
That man was Dalton, and seeing the man, Michael felt a rage that he had never felt before. His magic lashed out and crashed against the barrier, causing it to ripple violently.
He continued to attack the barrier, and in his rage, all of his servants did the same. Yet, in spite of the combined might, the barrier remained unyielding. It did, however, sapped vast amount of magic from the Sage Tower.
And if Michael and his Legion continued the assault, the barrier would bound to collapse sooner than later. The Sages at the Sage Tower knew this, and they began their countermeasure.
Countermeasure – not counterattack or retaliation, as confronting the Michael and his Undead Legion head on was suicidal for anyone, including the strongest Sage, who was currently spectating at the top of the tower.
"It seems that barrier will not hold on for as long as we required," Dalton informed the Tower Master, who was standing behind him along with some of the highest-ranking Sages of the tower.
"We need more blood sacrifices in order to gather enough power to leave for my home, Earth," Dalton informed. The ability to convert life into raw magic was extremely Dark Magic, but with the world had gone to hell, there was no one left to judge him and his fellow Sages.
The situation with the demons and their minions could no longer be salvaged with the obvious deaths of the Heroes. Furthermore, saving this world from the flames was never Dalton's intention.
No. Dalton hated this world to his core.
Dalton had seen too much atrocities from the moment he was summoned into this world and fought for its salvation. He had lost everyone he had ever cared about one way or another through his actions and inactions, and now, at the end of his life, he just wanted to go home at all cost.
"There are no more slaves left for us to extract lifeforce from," the Tower Master responded. "We did not have time to gather more before the city fell into their hands."
"There are plenty of specimens down there, old friend," Dalton pointed out darkly. "And when there are none left, start reducing the number of mages in the tower. The less of us there are, the less power we will need for the transition."
The Tower Master froze up at the suggestion. "That's –
"They have served their purpose," Dalton spoke up. "Their wealth and promises meant nothing to us and the world that we are about to enter. With magic, we could live better than them on Earth, Kings and Queens, without the fear of prosecutions. That is my promise to you, so go, and do what must be done before it is too late!"
The Tower Master and the Sages relented and accepted the necessary sacrifices. They were about to enter the world where Heroes had heralded from. A world freed from the corruption of the demons.
On Earth, they would be able to live in peace and continue to look into the Abyss of Magic.