BOOK 4: CHAPTER 12: RULERS

Even if the rest of their rescue mission were to fail, David would still be happy. How could he be displeased after discovering a new way to nourish his Divine Seed? A method that strengthened him tremendously.

Then again, the efficiency of his new method was already starting to diminish. At some point, he would have to devour entire continents, possibly even worlds, to keep up with the progress of the last 24 hours.

Nonetheless, looking at his status made him smile.

Name – David Stears

Rank – Ascendant

Divine Seed (10.54%)

Source – 221 Droplets

Corrupted Divine Heart – [Vitae Nihilum – 257]

While not perfect and still far from a ‘real’ Ascendant’s 1-Star prowess, the result of one day of hard work was still extraordinary—especially considering he’d been focusing on his beacons.

He relied on his intentions and understanding of both life and Vitae, augmented by the enlightenment granted through the occasional application of [Dao Comprehension], to create something new: intricate lines, some black and infused with Vitae, others glistening golden from all the life riving through them, had been engraved on his Source.

The intricate lines were serrated and broken in several spots. They were far from perfect and couldn’t even compare to the engravings that allowed him to use his weakest Intents with a mere summon of his will. Yet, while imperfect and in dire need of revision to develop proper Intents, these unique-looking lines were all he needed to re-manifest a Beacon of Life and the Domain of Vitae.

Even if he had yet to receive system notifications verifying the creation of two new Intents, David could access the intricate lines and conjure both as long as he wielded the Words of Power properly. And, of course, he needed enough Vitae and lifeforce to materialize and maintain the Intents.

As David neared Liear, he discovered the centipede Echos and Classers. They looked roughed up and exhausted, which was to be expected, though they hadn’t suffered any casualties—except for a few tamed monsters, of course.

“It looks like everyone made it.” David appeared in their camp with a cast of [Phantom Rush], responding to surprised yelps and muffled curses with a smile.

“W-What the hell is he?! Did he just phase through the Wards of Forewarning, or did he descend from the sky?” one of the Seekers acting as a watchguard mouthed to his comrade, a Scout who looked equally befuddled.

David didn’t mind their antics as he walked through the ruined streets of the small village the Classers occupied to recover. He arrived at a large tent and stepped inside the hell of pained screams, the stench of blood, and the despair of those awaiting death.

“David!” he heard someone shout and turned to Lilia. The young woman seemed to have aged by a few years in the last few hours, but he knew better than to mention that.

“You did well,” David said, praising her.

Nobody had died, and they reached their destination in time. Then again, glancing at those infested by death, it did not look like everyone would make it back to Orhain—if he didn’t intervene.

“Can you—...” Lilia didn’t even get to finish her question as David spread a network of lifelines through the ground.

[Weave of Life] worked as usual, preserving the lives of those within its network. Once the network was complete, encompassing the infirmary as a whole, David released Vitae to devour the presence of death and the chunks of rotten flesh that couldn’t be salvaged anymore. 𝔯àŊỌBΕŠ

“It is better to remove the presence of death,” he said to the Healers in the room. Maybe they weren’t listening, or maybe only a few would bother listening to his advice, but he continued nonetheless. “I understand that you only wish to heal your patients, but doctors of the past had to remove and destroy cancer cells as well. You can, and should, do the same in such situations—if you do not want your patients to suffer more.”

He let Vitae devour all that had to be consumed and cast [True Restoration]. Restoring a few chunks of flesh was hardly an ordeal for him at this point. It didn’t even require much pure Blood. Others would require much more energy and might have to spend hours helping their patients recover, but such factors didn’t play a major role. What mattered was that the Healers could help even those doomed to death.

David glanced over everyone until his attention landed back on Lilia.

“Tell me what happened.”

He didn’t really need Lilia to tell him anything. The centipede Echos and a dozen avian Echos had already informed him of the happenings. But David wanted to hear it from Lilia. Seeing her point of view was useful, sure, but he was far more interested in understanding how she thought of her actions—and how she responded to the pressure of his presence.

“I… Well…” Lilia grimaced. She looked like she was in pain, as if someone had hit her in the face, but she complied.

“The undead we encountered were troublesome. While none were too powerful for us to deal with, we—or I—failed to prepare for the inevitable release of [Lifeshroud]. Neither the Death Mage, the Life Mage, nor the others with the necessary Skills to shroud multiple targets had the reserves to maintain their abilities for extended periods. We supplied several refined Power Fragments, but they were quickly used up because I failed to anticipate the increased energy consumption while on the move.”

A heavy sigh escaped her.

“Once the reserves were used up, we could no longer hide from the undead. Worse, nearly one-tenth of our strongest Classers had drained their Mana Cores and Mana Seas to keep our presence hidden. We lost more than ten percent of our prowess even before the first undead arrived—and they didn’t take long. The first undead, Infected at the Iron and Bronze rank, appeared shortly after. There weren’t many at first, but their numbers scaled quickly.”

David nodded. At some point, merely two or three hours after the Classers’ shroud vanished, more than a thousand undead had surrounded them. The Classers were forced to keep fighting, growing exhausted, and mistakes that wouldn’t occur under normal conditions began to amass. Mistakes that would have cost lives—if not for Lilia, Frey, and several other Classers going out of their way to correct their comrades’ errors.

“The Mages ran out of mana first. They didn’t manage it well enough, nor did they meditate mid-combat like you taught them. I think they panicked once we were surrounded and overcharged their Skill Runes with more mana than necessary. But it’s not like they were the only ones who panicked. Everyone did, especially when the first Silver-ranked undead joined the battle—when most of us were already out of stamina, mana, and holy power. Some sustained injuries, and others collapsed, unable to keep going any longer.”

Lilia gritted her teeth, a defeated sigh escaping her lips.

“We coordinated better as the fight went on, but we wouldn’t have survived without the centipedes. They held the masses at bay and squashed the undead, carving paths for us to escape and retreat. They healed, kept us alive, and provided just enough energy for us to keep fighting.”

Lilia’s explanation was not as compelling as David had hoped. She didn’t even try to distort the story or sugarcoat the truth, and she even criticized her own leadership. David tuned her out when she began listing everything she could have done better, repeatedly insisting that she had been a far worse group leader than the Commander—but he considered her honesty a good thing.

First, Hans—who held the Commander Class—insisted on being addressed as “Commander,” which was irritating enough. He was a fool who thought too highly of himself after the System granted him the Rare(+) Class. Second, Commander had been given the vice-leader spot and failed to account for all the mishaps that had befallen the group.

If either Lilia or Commander had properly assessed the group’s status and equipment, they would have ordered the massive centipedes to go underground, splitting up to camouflage their life signals using nature’s resources instead of draining the Classers’ energy reserves. The monstrous energy consumption of [Lifeshroud] and the other abilities would have been considerably lower without the centipedes’ brilliant life signals to conceal.

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They could have done a lot better, and David had already compiled notes—several notebooks’ worth—to improve their teamwork, preparations, tactics, each Classer’s prowess, and much more. But that would have to wait until they returned. For now, they had to focus on the task ahead.

They had picked a hilltop village as their temporary resting spot. It wasn’t far from Liear. The village was also near the coast and offered a great view of the ocean from its elevated position. But as beautiful as the ocean was, the height was better used to keep watch over Liear.

Where are you guys? David mused, pushing Vitae and pure Blood into his eyes until they burned. Relying on Bloodthrone Dominion and [True Sight] unleashed at their fullest was more than enough to spy on Liear. He knew where the strongest undead were located from earlier intel and reaffirmed their movements before checking on the life signals.

He couldn’t detect many life signatures since he was too far from Liear to see into the underground sections, but the life signs near the surface couldn’t escape his sight—nor could those of the most powerful survivors. They were Classers who had endured the worst conditions and reaped the rewards of their suffering and hard work.

Despite the gains, which must have pushed some to Gold rank, the survivors couldn’t re-establish society on the surface. Too many undead had gathered in Liear, and more were heading toward the coastal city as the Classers rested in the village. But the undead did not only come from the surroundings. They emerged from one of the six Rifts that had permanently anchored within and around the coastal city, following one of the four ‘Rulers,’ as David liked to label them.

The Rulers were the strongest undead. They were a nuisance and truly powerful.

Hopefully strong enough to challenge me.

He had a few things to research, but instead of wasting the following hours doing the research himself, David organized a dozen avian Echos to complete the tasks. Once all tasks were given out, he turned back to Lilia. She hadn’t stopped rambling, even after he left the village to reach higher ground. It felt more like Lilia had taken his actions as an invitation to rant about the difficulty of leading a town and the constant struggle of survival—how every injury inflicted on the Classers filled her with guilt and how she would love to get a taste of true freedom.

Fortunately, her throat was dry once David finished distributing his tasks, and her lips finally sealed shut.

“That sounds rough. In that case, I won’t ask you to join the fight against the undead,” he said. “If Commander doesn’t want to join the fight either, I will have him lead the rescue mission. You will have to follow his orders, but that’s still better than leading everyone through a city infested by tens of thousands of undead, I guess.”

David shrugged, trying to hide his shit-eating grin as Lilia blanched.

“You want him to lead the rescue mission? That moron will have us fight the survivors by accident, and he will blame us for it!” she shuddered, her hair standing on end.

“In that case, you will have to lead the rescue mission.” He raised an eyebrow at her. “I will distract the undead. They will come my way, but I cannot promise that all of them will head in my direction, though I’m quite certain most will. Regardless, I will need several strong Classers to aid me and fight some severely weakened Gold-ranked undead while I fight the Rulers. As for the rest… they will be taken care of as long as they head my way.”

Lilia relented. Apparently, giving Commander full reins of the group was a greater headache than acting as the group leader.

Once the decision was made, Lilia gathered the others to discuss the plan ahead of time. Some were willing to fight—the desire to face the undead and grow stronger burning within them—whereas others were more focused on the survivors hiding underground.

One way or another, David let the Classers rest until noon and set out once the final wave of the Echos’ intelligence reached him.

***

Two dozen Classers at Silver rank followed him as the groups split up. Lilia and the majority of Classers turned east, where several hideouts of survivors were located. He saw them weave through Liear’s outskirts via one of the dozen avian Echos guiding them to the survivors, and he returned to the Silver Classers once it was clear the others could take care of themselves.

“It won’t be easy, but you will be empowered at all times, and the Gold-ranked undead will be weaker than normal. Regardless, if they overwhelm you, retreat so that the centipedes can heal you and help in combat,” David told the Classers, closing his eyes to look at Liear from a bird’s point of view through one of his Echos.

He found his current location and pinpointed the exact area where the Rulers’ territories connected. Sure, the Undead Rulers didn’t enforce supreme control over their territories, but if there was something David had learned from his Echos’ extensive studies, it was that the Rulers were sentient—and as greedy as humans. They might not notice him now that he was restraining his lifeforce, but they were bound to rush to the edge of their territory once he revealed himself.

The Silver Classers looked at David as he informed them of a few more things they’d have to pay attention to, but they didn’t say anything in return. Their hearts were racing, and their life signals were as much of a mess as the bonds. However, no matter how afraid they were, the Classers continued to follow him.

He arrived in front of the ruins of what was once a university campus. The location was better than expected, yet it wasn’t perfect. David changed that with a wave of his hand. He released a surge of Vitae that consumed all the rubble and the remains of the structures obstructing their view, transforming the campus into an empty plaza.

Even though the structures would have slowed the undead, the buildings weren’t aether-infused and couldn’t withstand the first wave of undead heading their way. Furthermore, the structures would have blocked the Classers’ view. They needed to see what was happening to understand the situation at hand.

Removing the structures revealed several undead, but the threats were quickly eliminated with a few casts of [Blood Burst] to their heads.

The Classers hurried through the campus and planted several devices. They installed traps, Wards, and lesser talismans around the perimeter and returned even faster when a brilliant light burst into the air.

Accessing the crooked letters engraved into his Source, David unleashed the Beacon of Life. Words of Power rolled from his lips as he tapped into the Weave, drawing upon his understanding of life, lifeforce, and their connection to the Essence of Vitality.

The Words of Power reverberated through the surroundings like war drums. They seemed to consume the world around him as he cast [Unyielding Vitality] and [Vital Weaving], infusing his power with the Intent of the Beacon of Life.

He was hoping to access the Law of Life—or Vitality, as Zachariah had once called it—but his understanding remained too limited. That was to be expected. He had accounted for it, and it wasn’t as if he were in a rush. All he wanted was to access the letters engraved on the Source.

The engravings related to the Beacon of Life shimmered brightly. They illuminated his mind space and flooded him with raw lifeforce as he stood in the center of the beacon. But he could not savor the sensation and focused on subtle modifications instead—adjustments that would fix the lines and transform the Beacon of Life into a proper Intent.

Unfortunately, he didn’t have the luxury of spending more than a minute modifying the letters. His eyes flicked to the first group of Classers engaged in combat, and a heavy sigh escaped his lips.

The Words of Power that had escaped his lips shifted. His heart began to race, and his voice deepened. The tone, phrasing, and even the rhythm of his Words of Power changed, and the brilliant light in his mind space dimmed.

The Beacon of Life’s lines continued to glisten. Their light never ceased, even as darker lines—interwoven with raw Vitae Nihilum—began to emit a darkness that resembled eternity.

David lowered his body and pressed his palms firmly against the ground. Cracks formed and spread outward in all directions like a spider’s mesmerizing weave, but the patterns shattered and disintegrated as David released Vitae.

He did not hold back this time. He pushed close to ninety percent of his accumulated Vitae outward. It surged through his hands and seeped into the ground as the crooked lines of the Domain of Vitae triggered. Vitae spread rapidly through the earth, expanding the domain, and it was only a matter of seconds before the first undead were swallowed alive—if one could call it that.

“Retreat to the beacon and focus on the stronger undead. The rest won’t bother you,” David ordered, failing to hide his smile as a commotion rang in his ears.

It was a loud and disturbing sound—or should have been—but not to him. David welcomed it. It was blissful. After all, it signaled the arrival of the first Ruler, accompanied by its army.

He glanced once more at the Silver Classers and applied [Herald’s Blessing], overclocked and supplied with enough pure Blood to last for an hour.

Next, he double-checked the Domain of Vitae. It was pushed to its limits and would encompass the entire campus as soon as it had consumed enough corpses and rubble.

Fortunately, the domain did not consume the Classers. It wouldn’t have affected David if it had, but things were always better when they went according to plan. Explaining how none of the Silver Classers survived—or where their corpses had gone—would have been a bother.

Let’s just hope the Gold-ranked undead will be weak enough for them to handle, he mused, checking on the Classers with [Two of a Mind].

The centipedes would check on them as well and heal them, but he could always double- or triple-check to eliminate one or three Gold-ranked undead if they threatened to overwhelm the Silver Classers.

Intelligence flooded his mind, and a moment later, more disturbances erupted from other directions. The Rulers were on the move. They were heading this way.

David cracked his knuckles, conjured Serpent Fang and Scalemore, and smiled vibrantly as firm layers of crimson coated the rest of his body.