"Oh my god!"
"Ahh!"
"What the fuck!"
"Why did you do that?!"
Sarah grabbed Henry's shoulder and forced him to look at her, when he did, she was taken aback by his stoic expression. Despite her shock, she still shook him, "Answer me!"
Henry frowned and shook his arm away, "He needed to die!"
"Hey!" Mary grabbed Sarah who had stumbled and glared at Henry. Henry held her gaze for a few seconds before huffing and turning away. Sarah removed herself from Mary's arms and walked in front of him.
"He was already dying!" She pointed at the bisected corpse, "You didn't have to do that! And the fact that you feel no remorse… when did killing become a nonchalant action for you?"
"And you?" Henry said back, "how many beasts did you kill in the forest to level up?"
"That's different, they were beasts!"
"And so is he!" Henry yelled. The rage in his voice was so prominent that it stumped whatever response Sarah had prepared. She wasn't stupid, she could tell that Henry and the dead man had met before, probably where he had disappeared to recently, and he had done something to hurt Henry that was so bad that he wanted him dead.
Sarah felt a pang in her chest imagining what bad thing had happened to her brother, but she didn't let it show on her face. She wouldn't let him think that killing someone was right, it couldn't be right.
"Why did he drop that bag?"
Veronica's voice and random question broke the tension in the air, everyone looked towards the bag she was pointing at. They all saw the man place it gently to the ground and were all confused as why he did so, after giving Henry a glare Sarah went to inspect it. She scooped the bag up, then paused when she felt something wriggle inside it.
Everyone saw her paused and wondered what she felt. "What?" Geroge asked her.
"There's um, something alive inside." She said. She grabbed the rope at the top of the bag and slowly loosened it, then screamed when she saw what was in it, it took all her effort and reasoning not to throw the bag away. What the bag held was revealed to be a baby, a baby with grey skin and glowing blue lines lined across his body. The baby blinked innocently at Sarah with its unnatural blue eyes, it hadn't been frightened by her scream at all.
"Is that… an undead baby?" Pascal asked as he got closer.
"I guess?" Said Sarah.
"Doesn't it seem too sane to be an undead?" Mary spoke from the side.
Right! Everyone looked at the baby closely and realized that apart from being unfazed by the strangers surrounding him and its odd looks, the baby seemed just like any other baby.
Sarah kept her hand on the baby's chest and waited a few seconds before frowning, "His heart isn't beating."
"So, its dead." Pascal said.
"In a sense. But there is a heat where his heart should be, it is possible something has been used as a substitute."
"Which is it?! Is it dead or alive?" George queried.
"It seems to be an undead that retained its intelligence." Mary surmised.
"But if it's dead, wouldn't that mean it would stay a baby forever? And if it's neither dead nor alive, would it require food?" Veronica pondered out loud.
"And what do we do with it?" asked George.
"We get rid of it." Said Henry.
Sarah whipped her head and glared at him, "No. We will keep him."
"Sarah, maybe we shouldn't…" David tried to convince Sarah otherwise. He knew that she had only impulsively decided that because of what Henry said.
Before Sarah could respond, Pascal spoke, "I will keep him. I will take him to live with me in the palace."
Since the Overlord had spoken, there was no more need for discussion. Pascal gestured to Sarah to give him the baby, she kept it back in the bag before handing it over. They all prepared themselves and returned to the city gates. The fighting ended, after the Greater Undead had been killed the rest were easily taken care of, the remaining all stopped moving and dropped when Logan died. None of the people that had fought had returned into the city, some of them were piling up bones and skeletons while the Fire Mages burned them.
When they saw Pascal and the rest they began to cheer, they all witnessed the battle with the horrendous creature that had suddenly appeared when the Skeleton Dragon had been felled. The giant monster seemed powerful and undefeatable, but even it had been destroyed.
Pascal walked forward with a wide smile, he stared at the people who were around, they noticed he wanted to say something so they waited.
Pascal looked at each and every one of their faces then smiled softly, "We did it." He said. Those three words made everyone tremble with happiness, they all had big smiles on their faces. "We survived. Our preparations weren't in vain."
Yes, they had done it. They had bravely stayed, knowing that they would be attacked, they stayed knowing that there was a chance they could die. They trusted their Overlord's judgment and pulled through splendidly. Through their battles, they were able to see just how strong they had become. It exhilarated them.
"Thank you all, for fighting to protect our home." Pascal said, "Praise be the God of Origins."
"Praise be the God of Origins!" Everyone said loudly. Of course, they couldn't forget the main reason why they were able to protect themselves was because of the God of Origin's blessing. Their gratefulness was sky-high.
Just then, three people popped out from the shadows. They were Damon, Jasmine, and Lorax. They looked around and saw the charred earth and broken bones, Jasmine sighed and stomped her feet, "Damn it, we missed the fight."
…
The Higher Spiritual Planes.
Despite the events that were happening in the Mortal Realm, Inyaki was particularly unfazed. The undead didn't get much reaction from him, after all there had been many movies about zombie-like creatures in his former world, with them being even more terrifying than the ones the necromancers made since they could infect all living beings with a scratch or a bite.
He also didn't see much threat from the necromancer called Logan, because he was doomed to fail from the beginning.
He had gotten his power and knowledge from a Being, one of the lowest supernatural lifeforms in any realm, before mortals. They were lower than a demi-god and even less powerful that a demi-god's child, they didn't have specific names so they could be called Beings. Logan had been able to tap into the power of the Being of Rot and the Being of Bones, and with the incorporation of Soul Energy was able to create the undead.
But he couldn't be called a true necromancer, after all, that name didn't just come out of nowhere. Although he was able to make what he dubbed Greater Undead his knowledge and proficiency of necromancy was rudimentary at best.
His son on the other hand, was a true necromantic creature. If he grew up and decided to worship him, Inyaki would tweak the system to make him a Spirit Mage, anything else would be inefficacious.
Inyaki felt great marvel towards the world and its realms, from the Being that was summoned to the sword of the God of War that had dropped in the place now called the Sword Land, everything marveled him. He hadn't felt like this in his former world where almost everything, whether they be fabrications or truth, could be found on the internet.
Inyaki's sense tingled as he felt a gaze lingering around his realm, he also felt a familiar intent from it. This wasn't the first time the Goddess of Mysteries had looked his way, he still remembered that they had one more fight, but this time against followers. But unlike before, the Goddess of Mysteries didn't look away, in fact he felt her getting closer.
Her presence made Inyaki feel mildly irritated, he was sure she was here to cause trouble.
"Knock, knock." A synergetic voice said.
…
After seeing that all her friends and acquaintances were alright Sarah went home, apart from George who had left to find his friend everyone else had retired to their rooms. Sarah sat in the living room with furrowed brows and stiff shoulders, because of Herny she wasn't able to enjoy the fact that the threat over their lives had vanished.
She was angry at him, but she was also worried for him. He must have witnessed something for him to be so resolute about taking someone's life, but since he wouldn't talk about it Sarah couldn't do or say anything to help. Her face scrunched up even more, she was stubborn at heart and if it wasn't because she wanted to give Henry time to process and move past whatever he was going through she would have pestered him until he talked. And it might come to that still, because she was losing patience.
"Are you still thinking about what happened?"
Sarah looked up to see Veronica standing in front of her, she had been lost in her thoughts and didn't notice her arrival.
"Of course I am," Sarah responded, "He shouldn't have killed him, it wasn't right."
Veronica sighed and sat on a chair adjacent to Sarah's, she stared into Sarah's eyes and said seriously, "Sarah, if Henry hadn't killed him, or if he wasn't already dying, then I would have killed him myself. And I'm pretty sure Pascal was ready to kill him too."
Sarah stared at her incredulously, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What are you saying? That's crazy – "
"Sarah!" Veronica grasped her arm, "What do you think I am going to do if I ever find the people who killed my parents?"
Sarah's eyes widened in revelation, she stared at Veronica's firm expression and realized the answer, but didn't want to say it out loud. Veronica sighed when she saw Sarah's dazed expression, she released her arm and stood up.
"I know it's a shock, but you have to realize that at some point in your life, you are going to meet someone who would kill to satiate their pain. It might be people you know; it might be your friends and family." Veronica sighed once more, "Killing is bad, but sometimes it is necessary."
"But you would do it for revenge."
"Yes, I would. For my parents." Veronica said. "They didn't deserve to die; all they did was love each other. But I will also kill for myself. According to the Elves, I shouldn't exist, so when they try to kill me, I will show no mercy to them."
"This doesn't make me a bad person. I would never knowingly harm someone if they hadn't done the same to me, even killing is too final of an action. But I am ready to do it, if it meant protecting my family and my life. When you saw us die in your visions, and were still searching for the person who would cause it, weren't you ready to kill them if you found them?" Veronica questioned.
Sarah looked down at her lap, "I don't know what I would have done."
Veronica stared at her for a few seconds before turning around, "Maybe you shouldn't come with me when I leave for the Elven Forest."
By the time Sarah looked up Veronica had already returned to her room, leaving Sarah alone with her thoughts and doubts.