The perverted murderer, who had just been struck by Kai Zenin's Chilling Touch, looked as though he had seen a ghost. An icy-blue bone claw had materialized out of thin air and clamped around his neck, leaving a clear mark behind.
When the bone claw seized his throat, the man felt certain he was about to die, yet he barely managed to hold on until it vanished. Just as he convinced himself he had encountered some kind of apparition, Kai appeared, clad in a black robe, accompanied by the soul-rattling sound of bells.
Chilling Touch had not killed him outright. It wasn't because the man was particularly resilient, but because Kai wanted him to die in unending terror.
A fear-inducing spell followed.
The fleeing murderer was already on the brink of collapse. After running for who knew how long, he finally crumpled to the ground and stopped breathing.
"Hello, unknown mage, sir."
Once he confirmed that the man was truly dead, Kai turned around and gave a slight bow toward the seemingly empty alley, offering a polite greeting.
The mage, who had believed himself undiscovered, felt Kai's gaze lock onto him. Realizing he had been exposed, he could only dispel his concealment spell.
"Rann, from Kamar-Taj."
"Kai Zenin, currently in Hell's Kitchen."
Being noticed by a mage from Kamar-Taj was something Kai had anticipated. As for not recognizing the man who had come, that was only natural.
Having only watched the movies, Kai's knowledge of Kamar-Taj mages was limited to those who frequently appeared on screen.
Although he had picked up more information through various analysis videos, aside from a handful of familiar figures, he genuinely didn't know the names of the lesser-known mages.
Rann explained that he had come to investigate after the New York Sanctum detected unusual magical fluctuations.
He had ended up witnessing Kai use magic to kill a man, and combined with the dense aura of death surrounding Kai, he had already been prepared to act the moment he revealed himself.
"That man was a perverted killer who targeted little girls. He had serious psychological issues, and handing him over to the police wouldn't have made him pay the price he deserved."
"So you're saying what you did was righteous?"
"No. I'm just saying that son of a bitch deserved to die. If he hadn't been such a beast, I would've killed him cleanly instead of terrifying him and letting him die from fear. He should actually be grateful. I haven't mastered soul imprisonment yet. Otherwise, death wouldn't have been the end."
Kai Zenin had no intention of defending himself. He was simply stating his position to Rann.
"Do you have any proof?"
"Yes. Any living creature generates a death aura when it dies. His body is wrapped in an unusually dense amount of it."
As he spoke, Kai raised his hand and drew wisps of death aura out of the corpse.
Within them lingered the terror of harmed children.
Through those traces, Rann seemed to glimpse the suffering those girls had endured.
"Fucking bastard!"
Rann spat at the corpse. A bastard like that deserved to die.
"Zenin, while this scum certainly had it coming, the magic you're using is extremely dangerous. If you want to learn magic properly, you can come back to Kamar-Taj with me. There's much safer White Magic there."
"Thank you for the offer, but necromancy is special to me. Death is something every living being must face, and I'm also a doctor. Helping patients temporarily escape death's call is part of my daily work."
Kai was certain he would go to Kamar-Taj one day, but not now. So he declined Rann's invitation.
Rann really couldn't associate the word doctor with Kai, yet he also felt that Kai wasn't lying. This left Rann with a rather complicated expression.
He genuinely couldn't imagine someone who looked like a god of death, calmly delivering death, also being a doctor who healed and saved lives.
Kai knew his words were difficult to believe, but when dealing with a mage, there were other ways to communicate.
This time, Kai produced death energy himself. It came from an old man in his seventies who had suffered a sudden heart attack. If not for Kai's on-the-spot rescue, the man would have died before reaching another hospital.
Unlike the previous death energy, this one carried a faint trace of life within it, allowing Rann to glimpse hope amid despair.
After handing both strands of death energy to Rann, Kai had no intention of taking them back. He had already provided proof to convince Rann, and Rann would need that proof to persuade the guardian of the New York Sanctum as well.
After collecting the two death energies, Rann gave Kai a nod and vanished from sight.
Once Rann had left, Kai didn't bother with the corpse. Although he could begin attempting to create his own contracted undead, that didn't mean just any material would do.
If he could currently raise the Celestial buried in Earth's core, Kai would be able to walk the planet without restraint. The price, however, would be inevitably drawing the attention of other Celestials across the universe, leading to a fight to the death.
...
"Rann, what's the situation over there?"
When Rann returned to the New York Sanctum, the guardian of the Sanctum questioned him about what had happened in Hell's Kitchen.
"It was a doctor who wields magic, hunting a perverted murderer. More than ten children had been killed by that man. The doctor was concerned that the murderer would escape legal punishment due to mental illness, so he punished him with magic."
Rann reported everything he had seen and everything Kai Zenin had said. He also presented the two strands of death energy that Kai had produced.
"Trash."
Upon seeing the death energy left by the perverted murderer, the guardian raised his hand and dispersed it without hesitation. Filth like that would only pollute the environment of the New York Sanctum.
That death energy also made the guardian aware of the kind of magic Kai specialized in, which caused him to worry about Kai's mental state. However, the other strand of death energy proved that, at least for now, Kai was still a good person.
Pursuing necromancy through killing, and pursuing necromancy through saving lives. This approach greatly surprised the guardian. Most people viewed life and death as absolute opposites, yet this necromancer clearly walked a different path.
Still, being unique did not mean there would be no problems in the future. Black magic was not only extremely dangerous, it also had a corrosive effect on its user.
Even if there were no immediate consequences, there was no guarantee issues wouldn't arise later.
This was not a flaw in the person, but a flaw inherent to black magic itself.
"So, will that person continue his research?"
"Yes."
"Then keep him under observation. If he shows any signs of losing control, bring him back."