A deep voice echoes back to Ember's challenge as the desert ground behind the marching Ghouls turns pitch black.

"It seems I haven't hidden myself enough to get past the eyes of a fellow Divine Beast."

An enormous black shadow has been cast across the sand, and it begins to ripple and vibrate while something emerges from within.

The top of a dark cloak becomes visible, surrounded by a dark black aura.

It comes out of the ground to reveal a massive skull beneath the cloak.

My double's inspect and appraisal skill picks up a reading that doesn't even seem real at first glance.

________

[Lv. 3642]

Active Items:

Lich King's Scythe [+519% Strength][+444% Mental Strength][Hidden Ability]

Lich King's Cloak [+604% Agility][+399% Speed][Hidden Ability][Dark Attribute]

Ring of the Divine [Hidden Ability]

Arch Demon's Core [+100% All Stats]

Arch Demon's Core [+100% All Stats]

Arch Demon's Core [+100% All Stats]

Arch Demon's Core [+100% All Stats]

Arch Demon's Core [+100% All Stats]

Active Skills:

Combat Magic [Superior Dark Summoning]

Buffs:

[Curse of The Lich King][1733/2500]

[Greater Form of The Dark God]

________

Its eyes glow dark orange, and it resembles the Wraiths that were in the arena and on the battlefield earlier.

However, comparing those weak monsters to the sheer size and power of the creature that emerges from the abyss below is nearly impossible.

The monster's head is almost 5 or 6 meters tall alone, and the Soul Energy that radiates from its eyes is the source of the power that allows every one of the thousands of moving creatures on this battlefield to continue fighting.

If all of them were put together and had their power stripped away, it wouldn't even be close to what this being contains.

As it continues to emerge from the ground, a long silver Scythe follows it upward, being held in its right bony hand.

Jet black energy surrounds its weapon just like its wavering cloak.

It towers over its troops, 20 meters high in the air, and it hasn't even managed to come out of the ground more than halfway yet.

Ember replies by letting his bright red aura cover his whole body while still in his upgraded second form and float down to talk to the being at eye level with a tone as if they're old friends.

"Looks like someone got stronger since the war..."

The Lich King's glowing orange eyes shift upward to see Ember floating down, then replies.

"A lot happened while you were asleep for 50 years. I've begun to build my army to finally take control of this world. I have become unstoppable while the strong kill each other and those that remain become weaker. Very few remember the strength of those that ruled the old world. You know that better than anyone."

Ember and the Lich King stare at each other as it continues to rise from the darkness.

"It makes sense that you were behind all of this. I must say, the appearance of so many Soul Energy users at once was surprising. Especially that flame user, where is he...?"

It scans the battlefield, but only lands its gaze on my body doubles. It doesn't even stop on either, knowing they aren't a threat.

"That one's growth was fascinating, but it seems as though my 2nd Ranked Guard took care of him as instructed. He surely would have been on the battlefield today if that wasn't the case."

Ember inwardly grins, but doesn't show any expression, listening to the Lich King continue to speak.

"I could not place my finger on how they were all advancing so fast, but seeing you in the flesh makes everything clear. Plus, to find you in such a feeble state makes my victory even more satisfying. At least you brought me an early congratulatory gift, a new line up of Dark Guards will suit me well. I'm sure you're aware, the seat for a new Demon Lord is making itself known."

The Lich fully emerges from the ground, standing over 40 meters tall, floating just over the ground with the bottomless black pit of shadows below it. It points its gaze off in the direction of Sector 2, but shifted slightly, aimed at the Abyss filled with Demonic Energy.

Ember nods and responds.

"I'm fully aware. That is one of the reasons we've come to stop you."

The Lich King pauses.

"We? Who is we? Since when do you work with humans?"

Then, it lets out a long and slow laugh.

"Anyway, your army is mine. This is the natural order of the world. The weak will die and the strong will live on forever. Come back in another 50 years and try again."

It looks down at its army, and the bright orange gaze pinpoints every human below it that hasn't been taken by its curse. It lifts its bony hand in the air out from its cloak, holding the silver curved blade that is even longer than its wielder. The dark black dreadful energy around it pulses and starts to send eerie waves out at a constant rate.

Ember responds by manifesting two long red blades in his hands and flying forward.

The enormous silver scythe comes rocketing downward as Ember swings both of his blades upward and there's a shockwave of Soul Energy that vibrates throughout the desert so far, even 20km+ away, the sand vibrates and rolling golden dunes collapse.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Hundreds of troops from the Lich King's army are blown backward by the blast, and even some of the Elite mana wielders are caught up in the blast over 2km away despite both Lydia and Fisher putting up walls of Qi and denser mana from their ranked up buffs to block the mental attacks.

Monk, Maria, Arie, and Abby all feel the vibrations of that blow ripple through their bodies as well even though they're scattered throughout the outskirts of the battlefield. They all immediately start to move from their positions and gravitate toward the epicenter of the blast to help.

Ember and the Lich King are at a standstill with energy radiating from their attack, but neither of them let up.

The black energy around the Lich grows darker and the orange in its eyes pulse. The scythe begins to move downward, pushing through the red barrier of energy that Ember's blades are making.

More and more dark red energy comes out from Ember's invisible core and his blades become stronger as well. He begins to push the enormous mountain-sized blade up again, and vibrations of energy fill the desert.

There's a reaction between the two energies and both Ember and the Black-cloaked skeleton are pushed back from the blast.

The Lich King stays floating just a few meters above the desert, and Ember is rocketed backward through the Hordes of Ghouls, killing another hundred of them just from his aura touching them as he flies backward.

Nearby, Monk, Maria, Arie, and Abby come to Ember's aid, and even my double high in the sky helps by opening a telepathy link between them all. However, the only voice heard in it is Ember's voice yelling at everyone.

"Run, now! This battle is about to get serious. You've done your duty. The Dark Guards are defeated, the Dark Army is crippled, and you have given Jay enough time to finally awaken. The Lich King is a monster far out of your league. The stakes of mortals losing to it are far too high, worse than death. I will hold it off alone!"

In a flash of bright red light Ember takes off toward the Lich King again, growing in size and releasing exponentially more Soul Energy by the second.

Black waves of energy come off of the Lich King's body as well, its aura grows in power as it raises its Scythe high above its head again, channeling darkness into its blade while placing its other bony hand on the desert floor that is covered in its shadow magic.

Then, its eyes pulse from orange to jet black for a fraction of a second, and another figure emerges from the mysterious abyss below the Lich King.

A figure that looks exactly like an oversized Dark Guard emerges.

However, it looks like it is made of the Black Energy that it was born from. There are rippling dark energy swirls all around it, and as it walks forward, it looks just like a walking shadow.

My body double catches a glimpse of the shadow soldier's status, and it reads [Lv. 3002].

An enormous glowing orange [0] is visible on its chest, and the Knight walks forward out from the shadows while holding a bright orange gem the size of its head. Then, starts to speed up its footsteps, turning its strides into a run.

It looks just like the gems that were used to turn the people in the surrounding towns into ghouls with the power of the [Curse of the Lich King].

Ember sees this, and mid-transformation, aims his next attack directly at this newly formed creature.

There's another shockwave that vibrates through the entire desert.

It isn't from Ember's collision with the shadow knight, it is his growing red blades that are stopped by the silver scythe of the Lich King right before he can stop it.

Ember's wings grow larger, and the black scale and draconic features that only covered parts of his body before begin to expand.

His red aura pulses more and more, pumping Soul Energy into his true form as he flies back around to attempt letting out a wave of red Soul Energy flames down at the shadow knight.

There's another explosion of power as a Dark Energy slash comes out from the Lich King's Scythe from a distance to cancel out Ember's flames. The shadow knight continues its increasingly fast paced march forward into the hordes of Ghouls, and in the direction of the Elites of the Flame Emperor's army that Fisher and Lydia lead away to safety.

The black energy that grows around the Lich King is expanding at the same rate as the red energy around Ember.

The dragon expands to nearly match the Lich King in size.

From nose to tail, he's over 40 meters long.

His eyes burn bright crimson in color, and flames erupt all over his body as he expands his red Soul Energy Aura outward to release his full power.

A crater of molten rock and sand is instantly formed beneath him, and in the same moment the Lich King lets its black aura clash with Ember's, raising its Scythe above its head again, and letting it pulse with dark energy.

The shadowy circle below it expands while Ember lets a tsunami of Soul Energy Flames down on the Lich King.

The entire ground that is covered in darkness erupts upward, making a cylinder of Dark Energy shoot up toward the sky to meet the violent wave of fire that rains down on it.

As these attacks clash, the Shadow Soldier that was able to escape makes it to the middle of the V-shaped battlefield and presses the orange gem into the [0] on its chest. It's black form turns into a burning orange light.

Then, a wave of orange Soul Energy ripples off of it and through the battlefield. The energy begins to flow outward in every direction and toward the remaining troops that have just begun to retreat after Ember's orders.

The orange light moves quickly, far too quickly for any of them to outrun on such short notice.

The entire battlefield of fallen Ghouls is soaked in this orange light, and the fallen Lich King's soldiers become rejuvenated by the influx of new Orange energy that creeps into their dead cores.

Every fallen Ghoul and Wraith that lies dead on the ground begins to move again, regenerate, and stand to its feet.

New roars, screeches, and movement fills the battlefield with life of the undead.

The enormous pillar of black energy collides with Ember's dense Red Flames. This wave of red fire disintegrates parts of the black veil, but the amount of energy that emerges from the shadows below feels as if it's endless. The dark energy surges up into the sky.

It expands outward, then disperses. The being beneath the darkness reaches its Final battle form; [Greater Form of The Dark God].

A 100m long Jet Black Scythe emerges from the darkness, and the white skeletal form beneath the dark cloak is now covered in swirling black energy with the faint light of orange eyes below it. The shockwave of energy from this final form's evolution process ripples over 50km deep into the desert, knocking out the Elite troops of the Flame Emperor's army over 5km away, leaving them on the desert floor foaming at the mouths.

My body double that helps the troops escape with Fisher and Lydia is hit by the blast, and barely stays on its feet after the mental pressure of that blow.

However, the body double that stayed behind in the center of the newly rejuvenated Ghouls has no Qi to protect itself from this shockwave at less than 1km away, and its killed on the spot by the overwhelming pressure sending memories back to my main body.

Monk, Maria, Arie, and Abby who are the last to remain on the battlefield after making sure the weaker troops had a way to escape are capable of putting up Qi and Soul Energy shields to protect themselves from this violent mental attack, but the energy that hits them is still baffling.

This sudden surge of energy slows their travel speed momentarily, but Abby releases pulses of restoration magic to help everyone heal and attempt run faster from the orange wave.

However, it's no use. The Curse of The Lich King stretches up high into the sky to create an orange wall of energy that seems impossible to run away from. It moves at the same pace that the shadow night approaches.

Each of them turns to the wall of light and activates their ranked-up buffs along with their Soul energy, but in the face of the overwhelming power that was just unleashed on them all out of nowhere, these fighters seem like ants in the grand scheme of this battle.

They stand in a line, using each other's Qi and Soul Energy to attempt blocking the massive orange wave, but the moment it touches their shielding, the Orange energy overpowers it entirely.

Their defenses are breached instantly.

The orange wave of death begins to fall upon them.

The Lich King raises its impossibly large Black Scythe into the sky, and prepares to bring it down on Ember.

Ember lets more red energy flood out from his core, about to forcefully release a level of power from within him that is certain to block this attack, but has a high chance of causing irreversible damage to his Soul Energy core in this life.

However, he stops once he senses something approaching at high speeds from far off in the desert.

The Lich King sees its facial expression, and yells out in a mocking tone.

"You still dare to smile in the face of certain demise? You really have changed, haven't you! I will be the first divine beast ever to defeat the Black Dragon. This is the beginning of my new legacy, I will show the world my power!"

It starts to swing the Scythe downward, and Ember erupts into flames, getting ready to block, but replies while continuing to watch the being approach in his senses.

"I believe you're right, a new Legacy will begin today."

The Scythe swings downward, and at the same moment the Orange light starts to engulf the members of the Flame Emperor's party in the desert below.

When all hope feels lost, the sky turns red.

A wave of Soul Energy approaches from Sector 2. The temperature in the desert increases by hundreds of degrees in mere fractions of a second as a figure rockets through the sky at unfathomable speeds. It is covered in a Dark Crimson Aura, holding a black sword, leaving trails of flames behind.