Chapter 1284 - The Mark of the LiChapter (Part 2) (1/2)

”What do you need us for?” Nok trotted right behind his sister who was being dragged by her arm.

”To stop me when I beat Kalla to an inch from death! It's supposed to be a punishment, not a reward!” Scarlett snarled.

She flung the Necromancy lab's door open while projecting a wave of darkness magic to protect herself from the stench and kill the flies that she was certain that plagued the place.

Yet it didn't help her to prepare for what appeared in front of her eyes. The lab was spotless, with not a speck of dirt or blood thanks to several undead rats with a wet rug stuck between their half-open ribcage.

They used it to clean the floor and the stone slab that Kalla was using as an operating table. The moment the rag was too dirty, they would jump inside a bucket of water and squeeze the rag with their small ribs until it was clean before resuming their work.

The undead even picked up the papers that she dropped on the floor after filling them with her notes, arranging them in neat stacks according to their subject.

”Interesting. Fascinating. Wonderful.” Kalla spoke to herself as usual while cutting open the body of a still-living man with a scalpel and tearing his life force apart with her personal tier five Body Sculpting magic spell, Life Cutter.

Her victim screamed at the top of his lungs, but she didn't seem to mind. Quite the contrary, she considered it a form of feedback to her experiments as she probed his innards.

Kalla had never been fond of shapeshifting into a human since she considered two hands insufficient for her line of work. Spirit Magic required too much focus and mana, making it unsuited for her relentless research.

Even though Kalla's Wight form looked similar to an undead, she was still alive. She needed to eat from time to time and to sleep when Invigoration stopped working. Her body was half comprised of living shadows that replaced her flesh while bones made up the rest.

She had modified her own ribs as well, turning them into long tendrils that she used as limbs to wield instruments or interact with her specimens.

”Is this what happens when you destroy the life force of healthy organs? The flow of blood stops and- Who's there?” Kalla turned around abruptly to face the source of the retching sounds that disturbed her focus.

”I'm glad to see you again, too.” Scarlett's voice oozed sarcasm. ”What are you doing here and why you didn't take proper care of neither my home nor of your children?”

”Are you back already?” Kalla was flabbergasted. ”It's a bit early for dinner and I'm on the verge of a breakthrough. Please don't bother me and I'll join you in a while.”

”What do you mean, back already? It's been five years, not a few hours!”

”That long?” Kalla's astonishment grew with each revelation. ”By the way, I don't like what you did with your hair. No matter what the modern fashion sense dictates, you look ridiculous.”

”I got electrocuted, what's your excuse?” Scarlett conjured hard-light combs that returned her fur back to its original state while she pointed at Kalla's bone tendrils that still held the living organs of the wretched man.

The Wight retracted the flexible ribs into the shadows of her body just in time before Nok started to puke.

Nyka just focused on her meal, puncturing the man's jugular with her fangs and s.u.c.k.i.n.g him dry in a matter of seconds.

Kalla's experiments made the blood taste funny, but the life force of the once-powerful mage tasted like the sweetest honey to her as she added it to her Blood Core. The red nectar carried not only life, but also mana that she made her own.