From the necromancer's body came a burst of light, a strange golden ghost whisked away with wings of light even while dregs of darkness followed her like a swarm of humming flies.
"Good job, Kenji," the necromancer's corpse said with a web of cracks around her eyes.
"Noir, skip to the lvl up. I can't bear to see you using such a face," Kenji gripped his sword tightly, as two brilliant banners unwove in his mind. "Although it is nice to see you, can't you stay awhile? We could use your help."
The first banner would provide him with a second Forbidden slot and more space - Kenji chose it without a second thought. Copying the Necromancer's corpse, Kenji hastily pulled the undead under his control and had them destroy one another.
"You know I would if I could, Kenji. But it doesn't work that way, my brothers would never allow it. It is not our place as sisters to interact with the world."
Kenji gave her a long look, the land around them filled with the dead fighting one another to the death, "That sounds wrong. Come with me, and you won't ever have to fear him again."
The head laughed across the ground.
"Your funny Kenji. I'd love to see the world with you. These short forays into this reality...but Kenji, if you can't at least beat a god, you have no hope against defeating the council. Focus on your own battles for now...I'll...I'll be ok by myself."
Kenji picked up the shaven head and sighed, stepping aside as a brutal battle between a pack of Ghouls spilled across the land.
"Does it count that I beat the Everseeing at his own game? He thought because this body had spent decades earning his powers that we wouldn't be willing to throw it away. But I cut him off Noir, just like you can with your brother."
Troubled, Noir frowned.
"You shouldn't say that Kenji. My brothers can hear everything, and while only a few operate on this planet, antagonizing them would surely lead to your own destruction. Be careful, and enjoy the lvl up." With that, those black eyes turned back to the milky white of the necromancer.
Once the dead were done putting themselves back into the grave, Kenji reclaimed the necromancer's corpse and put it in his storage. Lastly, he replaced the necromancer's copy in his new second slot with a copy of Arthur's body. Turned into a copy of Arthur, he jettisoned the body on the ground and arose in his base form. What he was left with was Arthur's original corpse in his storage and the fake on the ground with its Forbidden slot needing a day to recharge.
Turning into Dana the Damned he hastily checked to make sure none of the dead still 'lived'. Using her sickening powers he sucked the deathly magic from the land, reducing the likelihood of the surrounding fields becoming cursed, before turning away with Arthur's corpse in her hands. He wanted to help heal the wounded, but of course, Dana had specialised utterly into her fire blessings and had neglected any kind of support blessing.
"Stop, let her go!" shouted Violet while Tenko snarled at the guild members that had been set to charge Kenji and cut him down. They looked to their Guildmaster for direction, who shook his head and continued to help bind the wounds of the wounded. And while there were many wounded, only very few were actually dead. Constantly retreating away had drawn the undead army away from the Necromancer while lessening casualties. Just as Kenji had planned, the Guild members understanding the concept of 'Kiting the enemy' quite well it seemed. If he had had the time he would have explained the concept of Tank, Damage Dealer and Spellcasters too. With his help. Kenji was certain he could get any guild to perform like the Raid guild's in his favourite game 'Planet of Fightcraft'.
So too did those screams of the dead convince Dana her plan was working - when in reality [Death Throes] was a rogueish skill a few Guild members had learned. The skill produced a convincing deathly scream, and if needed, could even make you appear truly dead on the floor. Of course in the dark, they had only needed the audible part of that ability.
Kenji was not yet done. The Headless Hunters were saved, by the Golden Goose and the captured people of Tariak were not. To convince their leader that staying here wasn't worth it, Kenji held Arthur's copied corpse in his hands, and started walking back to Tariak.
"Remember to meet me at the willow tree. If they find you there, then retreat to one of the secondary locations," Kenji called back to the girls.
"We'll bring those orphans too. The Two the Guildmaster wanted us to take away, make sure to come back and help them with us," Violet said as she watched him leave.
"Be safe Kenji! Don't accept any food from the bad man!" Tenko shouted as she hauled the wounded back to the Guildhall. There were too many of those for Kenji's taste. He had wanted to save them all, but with such short time he supposed this was the best he could do.
"Don't worry about reprisals, let the Guildmaster know that," were Kenji's parting words as he headed to Tariak for good. For in the necromancer's memories he saw him, the Lord Richmond, and his cunning words that had convinced the Necromancer that the fugitives were in the Headless Hunter hall.
He also now knew how enraged Jack would be to discover what she had done. Which begged the question, would bringing in the boy knight's corpse be enough to save Dana the Damned from execution? For while Kenji could survive death by hanging, beheading, and drowning just fine.
Death by fire...might do the trick to eradicate his true form too before it could escape.
He hoped with all his heart that this worked, and that giving them a body would put this matter to rest. If not, then Violet, Tenko and the two orphans would leave tomorrow morning for the Tenzen territory without him.
Leaving Kenji to die all alone.