81 Quest for Advancemen (1/2)

While the battle unfolded beneath the hill he was standing on, on the plain field where the battle's intensity was highest. Clay stood like an overwatch. Lording over the army and the undead. Clay had made Ryan fall asleep secretly as he also planned to make his move tonight.

In the years that Clay had helped the Liberation Army in winning battles and training them, Clay's thirst for power had also brought him to the brink. Not to the brink of death but to the brink of insanity. His thirst for power, just like every goddamn power-hungry individual in history always fell to the temptation and corruption of power. It was written that, ”power corrupts, even the purest of hearts.”

And today, Clay's condition can only be described as such. He did not care about the battle unfolding below him as he immediately disappeared and let the course of the battle flow as it should be. Although the army of 800 could handle themselves expertly after countless battles and victories, they still had to rely on Clay's runes in their armor to stand back up whenever they are knocked down. With Clay's supervision, they would have been able to avoid unnecessary casualties, without him, they'd sooner die than grow.

Clay used space magic to lock onto the location of Marduke, the Grand Lich that currently occupied the tower. This tower was pivotal to the scheme of the Grand Liches to make the Sun disappear. Although, it was such a pivotal and strategically important location, the security in this place was minimal.

According to the Grand Liches, the less important the structure looked, the less it would be targeted, and the more heavily fortified the place was, it would be prone to attacks instead. It was a classic reverse psychology on a planetary scale.

However, Clay cared neither for their reverse psychology nor their goals and plans. What Clay came for was Marduke's Grimoire. The only record of his magic experiments and life-time work.

Arriving at a dark place where even the candlelight was dim, and the color of the fire was green and eerie, Clay appeared silently. In front of him was a throne occupied by a Grand Lich, a Lich that looked quite ghastly. It was Marduke.

In his surprise, Marduke jumped up closer and made his back straight as he leaned against the throne's backrest. He then immediately shot spell after spell towards this intruder. His surprise did not hinder him from executing the most lethal and most sinister magic spells he had accumulated in his lifetime.

”Dark Hex!” ”Shattered Soul!” ”Venom's Tongue!” ”Carrion Degeneration!”

Each of Marduke's spells had an effect that could kill even the sturdiest monsters and beasts, much less humans. However, as Marduke finished all the spells and hurled them towards Clay, he had an incredibly nervous feeling that even those spells were useless in the face of this intruder.

The dim candlelight grew vigorous as Marduke mouthed the spells in a language that even he did not fully understand. Different from the Abyssal language, this was more sinister in origin. Clay heard this language and immediately mastered it and UltiCo integrated it into his repertoire.

”The fetters that bind the souls of the dead, come forth and devour the feast I have set! Soul Eater!” Marduke basically chanted this cringey line and only spoke the name of the spell translated in Abyssal Language called Soul Eater. As the name implies, it summons the soul of the dead in a large area and directs them to devour the target, even to the soul-level, leaving nothing behind. Without the magic stone that Marduke used, he wouldn't have been able to invoke such a spell.

The waves of magic that erupted from the invocation of this spell had world-wide repercussions. The effect on Evernight would be evident as the soul of each person that died to the undead slowly rose from the depths. However, only those within the vicinity of the tower could be controlled by the spell. The rest of the world had souls wandering the world of the living because of this spell. And whatever living people they encounter they will devour. Even the undead. However, Clay did not notice this, as a part of his goal was right in front of him. The grimoire of Marduke. The screams of his army were more intense, and grief stricken, however he brushed this off as the intensity of battle. Even now, he was getting scratches all over his body from the Damage Transfer.

Clay watched Marduke as he was panic-spawning spells. Each spell he took was analyzed by UltiCo and became part of him and even opened different skills in him. However, skills and spells were not Clay's goal, it was different.

Finally, Clay spoke as the spell Soul Eater slowly materialized in front of him.

”Marduke. Grand Lich. You need not know my name; however, I need to look at your Grimoire.” Without further ado, Clay extended his right arm towards Marduke's direction and telekinetically grasped his Grimoire, even probing the sub-spaces connected to Marduke to see if he had an interdimensional storage like he did.

Finding nothing of the sort, he grabbed the Grimoire and shut Marduke up using telekinesis. Binding him and disabling him thoroughly.

Clay read the Grimoire thoroughly and made UltiCo memorize its contents and further analyze its content and then immediately threw the Grimoire into his Dimensional Storage. Inside, there were more than 30 Grimoires all belonging to the Liches that Clay had killed while moving forwards to this place.

Without moving from his spot, as he knew that his men could take hours and hours of battle against the undead, he did not immediately go back. He stayed and studied the Grimoire further. Just standing there and studying made Clay even more mysterious in the eyes of Marduke who could neither speak nor move.

”Your studies interest me, especially in the aspect of souls. Aside from you, and Elyenthel's Grimoires I think I should pay a visit to Elkanor as well just to be safe. Afterall, they may have delved into ”Soul Study” as well… just like you.” Clay spoke unemotionally. As if he was talking to an ant that needed no respect nor a shred of emotion. With Ryan in his left arm tucked in, Clay held the Grimoire in his right hand and flipped pages using his mind.

”It interests me that you think the soul can be used to further enhance strength. I like this idea. Would you like to work with me to further this study? Of course, you would have to serve as my experimental material. Right?” Clay proposed such, which made Marduke, a Grand Lich to feel ice cold fear and anxiousness.

”My quest for advancement is proceeding nicely thanks to you and your colleagues. I must thank you of course. However, since I grow tired of waiting for the army to finish their Liberation efforts, I'll just have to pay Elyenthel and Elkanor a visit right now. Marduke, you stay here and be a good boy, will you?” Without even a blinking, Marduke saw Clay disappear right in front of him as if nothing. He felt the fluctuation of mana, but he could not detect the initial movement within the body to perform a spell. As if this man used magic by will, even worse, if magic was under his will. No magician, undead or not can oppose him. The thought scared Marduke to the bone and this fear gripped him by the throat.

***

In another region where the specters ruled the night. Spirits and ghosts were roaming and floating around a castle-like structure in the middle of a quiet forest.

This was Elyenthel's Lair.

Just after their gathering at the Tower where Marduke protected magic array that inhibited the Sun's shine on Evernight, Elyenthel came back and continued his experiments as well, regarding spirits. He specialized in researching spirits as opposed to what Marduke did which involved souls. Spirits were ethereal beings that constitute a living being in Evernight.