Everyone stopped moving. It was like time had been stopped. Only the black mist moving in the air moved with calm and tranquility.
"I'm talking to you with a spell. There is no point in trying to attack the mass of darkness. You can destroy it, but you would be wasting the only chance for you to live."
"…" Gina didn't feel any magic trying to control her mind as he spoke, so she kept listening to it.
"I have an offer. It is not for the merchants hidden behind soldiers or the holy priests in their holy tower. No, I'm talking to you, the man that works all the time to feed his family and the woman who gets her face slapped by her boss. The boy who sells his body to pay a syndicate or a corrupt solider, the girl who cleans the dishes of a family that bought you after your town was raided by slavers. My offer to you is to open the gates and I will let you walk free from here. I control every single one of the skeletons and zombies outside the walls. Here is a demonstration."
Everyone inside the chamber began to hear a sound from far away. The soldiers on the walls saw thousands of undead making noise by hitting their weapons. The cacophony turned into a rhythm, and after a minute it stopped.
Not a single sound. The undead stopped moving at the exact same time.
"See. If you open a gate, I'll order my creatures to let you pass through. But this offer has a time limit. 24 hours, if you open a door in that time, I'll spare you and all of those you care about. I suggest you find others that also want to live to help you…"
The dark mist evaporated in the air just as it appeared. Panic took hold of everyone's hearts once again. Before the conversation lost direction, Gina raised her voice.
"Please clam down. He's trying to scare us into giving up. The walls can hold for days. That message was probably heard through all of the city. He wants to cause panic among the civilians. We must calm the people first. Soldiers, send word to the supreme general and to the church; have the priests and priestesses hold sermons to reassure the people!"
She acted quickly and sent word to calm the people. She knew that the biggest problem would be the people inside, slaves or poor people, along with syndicates who may try to incur in Zek's favor. Factions would form on the inside with the objective of opening a gate. If even a single gate fell, the chances of surviving would be greatly reduced.
Reassuring the people with the army and the church was going to be a crucial step to securing their safety. The other was concentrating on arresting the syndicates or offering them help or gold for their services to protect the city.
Criminals can't exist alone. They steal from the hard-working people. If the Republic falls, they fall with us.
The nobles moved in accordance with the plan and offered their private guards and services to help the people. They needed to maintain an image of strength. Before Gina left the chamber, an old noble stopped her.
"May I have a minute of you time High Priestess."
"Sure, Lord Genrard, but I must ask you to be brief. We all have work to do."
"These could be the last hours of our lives. Everyone must work together if we want to have a chance. The necromancer knows that. That's why he planted doubt and fear in our hearts. Fools will try to save themselves by selling their souls to the devil, but... What about you?"
"Excuse me, Lord Genrard, what do you mean?"
"I know. I'm the oldest council member here. I know about your past. You were an apprentice to Zek when he was a human. You visited the country of Rabase, past the great desert in the east of the continent. Can you really kill your master? Can you assure us that you won't join his side?" He didn't mean any disrespect. He was genuinely concerned with the possibility of the High Priestess changing sides.
"There is nothing to worry about. I would never side with an evil wizard. I discarded my feelings for Zek when he became undead. My master died twenty years ago. What spoke to us was a ghost born from his resentment and diabolical ambition."
She walked away without looking back. There was nothing more for her to justify her support for the Republic. Putting an end to the necromancer was the biggest motivation.
Zek's message was heard throughout the city. As Gina predicted, people fell into panic and anarchy. Civilians left refuges with their families and others to form groups and attack the gates. Syndicates formed alliances and marched to do the same thing. In the houses of the nobles, attempts to escape from slaves were happening, or in the worst-case scenario, murdering their owners and banding together to be free.
The army tried to calm all those skirmishers across the city, but they were surpassed by the number of incidents. The members of the Faith did their best to calm the people and offer healing services, but it was futile. In only twelve hours, the capital was burning from the inside.
The bodies piled up and formed a fruit ready to be reaped from the tree. Zek waited outside to take that fruit, summon more servants, and kill the only person who could harm him.
"Twenty years. Long twenty years since we saw each other. Did you hear my voice, little Gina? I have come to punish you and everyone else for what you did." The evil necromancer was biding his time, anticipating the retribution.
"Only death can cleanse your sins..."
***
In the south, a gate was being assaulted by a group of civilians. They were armed with common tools, but their numbers were too much for the soldiers to handle.
"Get back! We won't hesitate to kill you!" A sergeant yelled from the top of the wall to dissuade the civilians.
"We know, you bastards always look for the rich or the criminals. My son died and you just said it was an accident. What kind of accident caused his legs and arms to be cut with a sword!"
Angry and desperate civilians. They didn't have anything to lose. They attacked to open the gate and save themselves. The greedy nobles are hiding behind the army, and criminals are banding together to save their necks like they always do. They could only count on the people around them, on their friends and families.
The soldiers managed to hold the attack. They struck down the commoners without mercy. Their mission was to secure the gate no matter what. Suddenly, a soldier came from below, gasping for air.
"Sir, a syndicate is attacking! UGH!" The solider was stabbed in the back.
"You criminals! There is no salvation if the gate is open. You really believe in the words of an undead!"
The man cleaned the blood from his spear. "That's funny. Do you think this army will vanish if we hide with our heads buried in the ground? This country is finished. We want to live. We just need to move to another country and start from scratch. Also, we can deal with skeletons and zombies."
"What, you don't see how many are out there?"
"Yes, I know, but think about it. If we open the gate, the necromancer is going to focus on the city. We can escape if we aim straight like an arrow. My men and I can kill dozens of them without a problem. Once we break through the army, they won't gain anything from chasing us."
The syndicate leader killed the sergeant and everyone inside. They reached the mechanism controlling the gate and opened it.
The Brown Foxes were the first ones to claim the prize. But they didn't have any hope for the necromancer to uphold his word. That's why they planned to use the commoners as bait.
The giant gate opened with a tremor. It was almost like everyone in the city could hear the gears turning. The people cling to the gate, raising their hands and asking for mercy.
"I did it!"
"My family helped to open the gate. Please forgive us!"
"I'm a rich merchant. I can pay you all that you want!"
People ran toward the gate asking for salvation. They pushed and trampled over one another like rats fleeing from a sinking ship.
"Forgive me!"
"Let us go!"
"Please!"
The cries of the people were answered with one thing: Dead.
The skeletons mauled them to pieces, and the zombies bit to turn them to their side. A massacre. No one was spared. He never intended to spare anyone. The undead poured inside, filling the streets. They were like a wave spilling into every corner of the Capital.
A voice could be heard from the gate. "[Pierce]"
The leader of the brown foxes destroyed thirty skeletons and zombies with a single thrust of his spear. "Now forward!"
He led the rest of his subordinates in a spear formation. They destroy anything in their path. This was the only way to live.
Skeletons and zombies were dispatched with ease. Sometimes one of them got bitten or stabbed by a rusty sword, but no one turned back to help them. They all agreed to advance no matter who died in the way. Of course, the strongest members were in the center to increase their chances of escape, and the weaker ones on the sides to act as more bait.
"Keep running! We're getting close!" He yelled to encourage his men, but he had no idea how many more undead were in front of them.
No matter how many they killed, the army was endless. It was too late to regret their decision. They had to push forward. That hope was broken when they saw the things in front of them.
A Death Knight slashed three people with one swing. A banshee killed six people by destroying their ears with a scream. An Undead Worm swallowed ten people by appearing from the earth.
These types of undead were much stronger than the ones they knew. In only a few moments, the Brown Foxes were killed in brutal ways. Only the leader remained.
He was alone. Everyone at his side had perished. "[Pierce], [Pierce], [Pierce]!" He used his special ability to keep himself alive until a giant hand trapped him.
"AAAAGGHHHH!" he vomited out his organs as the giant hand crushed him. It was a golem made of black stone covered with spikes. Several bodies were impaled by those spikes. Colleting materials for summons and other spells was the job of a Corpse Collector.
"P-P-Please don't..." he begged, but the golem ignored his words.
He impaled the man against one of the spikes, leaving him there to die after agonizing for a couple of minutes.
***
As death and destruction made their way into the city, Zek reached the center in front of the Holy See. He was surrounded by a group of powerful undead. His concentration was focused on keeping the massive army under his control. He couldn't spare the mana to summon more servants.
He was saving his spells for the fight that was about to begin. The gate of the Holy See opened and an angel came from inside.
"Twenty long years. I promised to punish all of you, Gina. There is only one way to atone... The complete destruction of the Republic!"