Lucius didn't want to leave the corpses of the soldiers bare, so he used his [Death Touch]—as he called it—to turn all their bodies to ash and watched everything crumble away.
It took slightly longer than expected, since there were about fifty bodies, making him wish he had some area-of-effect attack that could do the same. He even tried conjuring something of the sort, but it didn't work.
It only made him look like an idiot, extending his hands for so long without anything happening.
'Ahh… at least now it's done.' He sighed to himself.
Turning his gaze away from the empty hill, his eyes now rested on the human who was still kneeling in his presence despite it already being a few minutes since their deal was consummated.
'At this point, I'll just go with the flow.'
"Rise." He told the young man, who did as he was told almost as soon as he heard those words.
The awkwardness he displayed was enough to make Lucius crack a small smile.
'He looks so young too… about my age before I died.'
Lucius was barely an adult when the bomb hit and his short life abruptly ended. In a sense, seeing this soldier—the closest in age to him—made him remember his previous life even more than he hoped.
'The Middle Ages had to have been a cruel time… seeing as someone this young is already a soldier.' Lucius reasoned as he looked at the scrawny boy.
Compared to his own muscular and pristine form, the lad appeared somewhat small—almost malnutritioned.
'I guess he must have been through his fair share of hardship…'
"Lord Mors!" A naked lady suddenly appeared out of nowhere, causing the awkward boy to quickly cover his eyes in a shriek while Lucius remained calm.
After all, he knew precisely who this woman was.
"Lili…" He whispered, seeing her approach him and kneel right in front of him. "... Why are you still naked?"
"A-ah! Apologies, my Lord… I-I must not have noticed!"
'How would you not have noticed that you're naked?!' Lucius screamed internally, still remembering how her bosoms jiggled when she ran towards him.
"Here… use this." He muttered, generating another cloak from the darkness—the same way he made his own.
"T-thank you, Lord Mors…" Her cheeks showed red luster as she wrapped the cloak around her while smiling softly. "You are too kind."
'No. You are too inappropriate.' He retorted back, albeit in his mind.
Now that she was fully wrapped in the black cloak, the soldier behind her slowly removed his hands from his eyes—first one finger, most likely to confirm if it was safe to look—before removing his whole hand.
'How innocent.' Lucius smiled as he noticed this. He was also not a pervert, but he didn't remember himself being so reserved about a girl's nakedness.
"I presume you've dealt with the remaining soldiers?"
"Yes, Lord Mors." Lili grinned with sweet delight, almost as if she wasn't talking about killing people. "Do you want me to eliminate that one too?"
"Eeek!"
The boy's frightened squeak was also funny to Lucius, but he remained stoic.
"No, Lili. I have decided to spare this one." He replied. "I gave him my word, and in return he has sworn his undying fealty to me."
"So… he is a believer."
Both Lili and Lucius turned to the boy, who stared blankly at them for a second before returning to his knees and repeatedly hitting his head on the hard ground.
"I am a believer! Praise be to Lord Mors! Long live the Heresy Cult!"
"Hmm… I see." Lili rubbed her chin, eyeing the boy with embers of suspicion still in her eyes. She didn't say anything more, though.
"Do you disapprove?" Lucius asked. 'If she disapproves, we might as well just kill him.'
It wasn't like he saved the boy due to any objectively pragmatic reason. He just thought the boy reminded him a little of himself in the past and decided to give him a chance to live. Plus, he did provide some valuable information.
'I could have gotten the intel from Lili anyway, so it wasn't like he did me any favor in the long run…'
Lucius was pretty surprised that he was thinking in such a way, but after considering how he was able to take lives so easily, he realized his current mental state was not only inevitable, but also necessary.
'Being desensitized to things like murder will make me survive longer in this place.' He told himself. 'Plus, even if he dies, it's not exactly my fault.'
It would be Lili's.
"Who am I to disapprove of your decision, Lord Mors?" She said, bowing her head. "Your will is perfect."
'Ahh… of course.'
Lucius made a wry smile, taking his eyes off her and the boy, now focusing his gaze on the Cult's partially destroyed headquarters that stood at the center of the creepy dry trees and damp fog.
'What a dump.' That was his initial thought. 'But… it fits the whole Lord of the Dead aesthetic.'
Whoever chose this place knew what they were doing.
"Lili… I will rebuild the Cult and make it stronger than ever." Lucius said sincerely. "It will grow to become a fortress so that such a tragedy like what happened today will not happen again."
"Lord Mors…"
As Lucius stared melancholically at the headquarters, remembering the butchered faces of all the dead members of the cult, he felt nothing.
'I don't feel any affection or sense of responsibility for any of them. I am a little grateful, though, since I wouldn't have been summoned without their help.' He smiled. 'But that doesn't mean I care about them.'
He was helping them for his sake—so he wouldn't return to the Realm of Death.
'And, by rebuilding the Cult to be much stronger than ever before, I can protect myself from whatever threats that exist in the outside world—at least, until I'm strong enough.'
The more the Cult grew, the more zealots he would have to serve as his shields in the advent of something awry occurring. These were all disgustingly selfish thoughts, but Lucius couldn't help but think this way.
He didn't want to die again.
"Let us return…" He said, almost as a whisper.
"Yes, Lord Mors!" Both Lili and the boy right behind her said with sheer enthusiasm.
~WHOOSH!~
In a blur, Luciius leaped away from the hill and sailed towards the old building that was the headquarters. It was only as soon as he did this that he remembered the two people he left behind.
'A-ahh… looks like they will have to catch up.'
Within a few seconds, he arrived at the decimated entrance of the building. He inhaled deeply, not feeling the slightest bit of disgust even he smelled the acrid smell of blood and laid eyes on the gore.
Step by step… he walked forward.
In the next few seconds, he was at the center of the room, almost crouching so he could return to the secret lair underneath the building. However, just as he was about to do that, he felt something.
… Something strange.
~Loooorrrrrd Morrrrrssss….~
~Heeeeeaaaar our caaaaaalllll…~
~Saveeeeee usssssss…~
Lucius looked around him and saw shadows—soft and nearly transparent—slowly rising from the corpses of the Cult Members in the room.
~We prayyyy… to the Lord of the Deeeaaaaaad…~
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[A/N]
Thanks for reading!
Who can feel it? You can make a guess and tell me what you think will happen in the next chapter. By the way… please gib me Power Stones.
I need all the help I can get.