Athos basked in the feeling of superiority in killing. A feeling of euphoria spread through his bones as Athos stared at the destruction around him.
"I killed them. I don't know how, but I killed them!" Athos spoke, his voice much deeper and guttural. He had no vocal cords or any organs, but he was able to speak without any problems.
Athos continued laughing for a while, before calming down. He stopped and looked down at his bony hands in confusion. He had put his own situation aside because of the urgency of the situation and the enemies that appeared one after another, but now that things had temporarily calmed down, he began to question himself.
"Have I... become an undead?" It was the only conclusion he came to. He knew the undead only by name and what Khali had taught him.
Undead. Beings created from corpses through necromancy. They were tireless and didn't need to eat, becoming immortal soldiers for the necromancers who raised them. Undead created by necromancy were lesser races that only served as mindless puppets of their masters, but there were superior species capable of thinking, such as vampires and liches. The higher species had the ability to think on the same level as a human, but they were creatures of hatred, killing every living creature they came across.
Khali didn't know all the details about the undead, but that information was enough for Athos.
"If what Khali taught me is true, then I must be some kind of superior undead. But which one? I've never heard of black skeletons. Maybe I'm some kind of mutated skeleton or a new species?" Athos wondered, his scientific curiosity piqued. Strangely, he didn't feel any fear or revulsion with his new skeletal body, on the contrary, he felt that he had freed himself from a weight that had chained him.
...He wasn't wrong, as his pure skeleton weighed less than 20 kilos.
"Well, it doesn't matter. I don't have any knowledge of the undead and my species name doesn't really matter. What matters is my fighting power." Athos thought, testing his senses and abilities.
He'd only noticed it now, but it was the middle of the night and he was seeing like it was midday. Smell and hearing were the same, while his touch was somewhat dull and his taste was non-existent.
Athos wondered how he was able to hear and speak when he was just a skeleton, but he had no way of finding out, so he just ignored the matter.
His abilities have undergone some changes. He tried to use the sensory field to sense his surroundings and the dark mana flowed to the ends of the bones and the skill worked with a slightly shorter range but that was about it.
As for magic-
"As expected, I cannot use non-elemental magic and even fire and wind magic are mixed with darkness." Athos sighed, trying and failing to use non-elemental magic. The dark mana that made up its core turned its spells into corrupted versions.
Non-elemental magic has become a strange type of dark magic. Its core contained 5 elements with the exception of light, but the effect of darkness overshadowed the other elements, making them similar to dark magic. Unlike dark magic, it was solid, not ethereal, but he would need to make more tests to notice other differences.
He had never practiced dark magic before, so he would have to learn everything from scratch, but there was a problem.
"I don't remember having an affinity for the dark. So how did this happen?" Athos wondered, remembering the moment he had awakened the darkness. He thought for a while and remembered the ring of light that Khali had forced him to wear all along. He had the mental clarity effect so Athos gladly accepted, although he found it strange that someone as petty as Khali would give a magic item for free.
"Now that I stop and look back, it's really weird. Maybe the mental clarity is just a side effect of the ring? I didn't wake up to the darkness until after Ricley took the ring from me, after all." Athos muttered, feeling his anger rise at the mere mention of Ricley's name. He also felt his left rib tighten at the memory of Khali, but he didn't stop to think about it.
"The last test is the most important: my mana body." Athos thought. His passive mana regeneration was useless now. He could absorb the energy the same way he did when he was alive, but the light in the energy world would damage his body while the darkness would heal him, making the process a waste of time.
Active mana regeneration was still useful as he could focus and exclude light before absorbing it, but it required even more concentration. The bottom line is that the only skill that remains the same is accessing world energy without needing a wand.
"Being an undead has more downsides than I expected. Now that I've tested almost everything I need to know, there's only one thing left. How do I destroy Faltra?" Athos wondered. Not for a second did he wonder what to do, or where he should go now. His desire has always been to bring death and destruction to the city of Faltra and his desire to destroy it has only increased after becoming an undead.
"Maybe I can use magic powders again? I could get hides from forest monsters to store them, but the problem is how to spread them. I don't have the Falco anymore, but maybe I can use an undead bird and -" He was planning his plan of attack, when a sudden realization hit him.
What were the greatest characteristic of the undead and the reason they were so feared? Was it their infinite stamina, which allowed them to fight almost endlessly? Was it his hatred of all living creatures that made him kill all life forms that got in his way?
Not. The greatest trait of the undead and the reason they are so feared is their ability to increase their own numbers the more they kill. The Undead had the ability to transform corpses into other undead, making them a threat wherever they went.
"I'm also an undead, so I should also be able to create undead, right? Conveniently, there are excellent materials to practice around here." If Athos still had a face, he would be grinning evilly right now, as he looked at the surrounding corpses.
He gathered all seven corpses and lined them up in front of him, after removing all of their magic items, of course. They would become useless after a single use, but they were still useful.
"Now, who do I start with?" Athos wondered, looking at the corpses. He immediately discarded the blond mage, as he was too damaged. If he failed using his corpse, he wouldn't be able to tell if he failed through his fault, or because the corpse was destroyed. Athos touched the corpse, draining its world energy until its core was full again. He stopped in front of Ricley's corpse, deciding he would be the most expendable.
"Even if you become an undead, I would still destroy you again, so it's perfect." Athos placed his hand on his chest releasing small pulses of darkness, but to no avail. The only thing the darkness did was slightly rot the skin where it touched. Then he tried to send a tendril of darkness where the core should be, but it was also useless.
"Hmm...it's harder than it looks. Why don't the skills come with instructions? I know it's necessary to recreate the core, but how do I create the life force necessary for that?" Athos complained, trying different ways but failing all of them. He got a little annoyed, until he realized something very simple.
"Zombies create zombies, vampires create vampires, black skeletons must create black skeletons too, right?" Athos spoke, placing his hand on Khali's chest again. He spread the darkness all over his body except the bones draining all his vitality. The darkness expelled the light and corrupted it, before injecting the corrupted energy back where the core should have been.
The corrupted life force drained the world's energy except for light, forming a black core. A pulse of darkness flowed from the core to the body, but the skeleton remained white even after becoming undead. The skeleton began to squirm, before scrambling to its feet.
"What...I'm not dead...I...I...." He muttered incoherently, staring off into space. He looked around hesitantly, until he caught sight of Athos.
"Yo." Athos waved his hand awkwardly, not knowing how to react to him.
"You you!!!!" The skeleton suddenly screamed, attacking Athos. He pointed his hand at Athos and when nothing happened, he tried to attack him with his fists. Athos responded by launching a simple blade of wind at his exposed neck, decapitating him.
"I'll consider that a half success. It's useful that I've learned to create undead, but if they're going to remember me killing them and want revenge it's useless. I need them to recognize me as their master or see mindless undead." Athos spoke, oblivious to how incredible it is to create an undead capable of thinking on the first try.
Athos tried the same thing with another body, but this time he tried to focus his own will on the mana while forming the core. The result was even worse. The skeleton struggled while screaming incoherently, until Athos finished him off.
"Useful bodies are running low." Athos complained looking at the four remaining corpses. He decided to try something a little more dangerous this time. He tried again on a new corpse, but unlike the other times, he mixed a spark from the death layer itself during core formation. The amount he used was negligible and even if he used large amounts, he would only need to drain a little from the surrounding corpses.
That's when he instinctively felt he'd made it. The black core formed and sent a pulse of darkness throughout his body, his bones turning black as a dark void radiated from his empty sockets. The skeleton rose without difficulty and stood, staring at Athos.
Athos felt a connection with Skeletor, similar to the connection he had with Falco. The difference was that the skeleton had its own mana core, and Athos felt a weak will in the skeleton. It didn't seem to resist it, but it still existed. Intrigued, Athos decided to test the control he had over the skeleton.
'Get down on your knees.' He mentally ordered, ready to destroy him if he disobeyed.
"That changes everything." Athos clenched his fists, watching the skeleton kneel. He looked up at the night sky, thinking of the infinite possibilities now that he was undead. At that moment, he set a goal for himself.
"I will destroy this world."
...without him realizing it, a pair of eyes, one green and the other amber, watched him.