Yesterday's Enemy Is Today's Friend (2)
"Y-Not yet! It's not over yet!"
The moment Raven's spirit body slowly stepped forward and fixed its gaze on Jill—
Jill hurriedly raised the ring on his right hand and unleashed demonic energy toward Raven.
"J-Just because the Death Knight is gone doesn't mean the power Lord Archimond left behind has vanished!"
Wrapped in black smoke, Raven's spirit body silently stared at him.
When Raven didn't immediately attack, Jill instantly became arrogant and burst into manic laughter.
"H-Haha! Hahahaha! That's right! If I just subjugate this bastard again with my demonic energy…!"
Just as Jill completely surrendered himself to madness and reached that point—
"You keep yapping, but what exactly are you planning to do?"
Surrounded by smoke, I asked him flatly.
And in the very next instant—
"Uh… ah…?"
Jill's right hand, the one wearing the ring, suddenly flew into the air.
A draw so fast it was impossible to even perceive.
Raven's blade had already severed the heads of every undead in the area.
Including my summoned skeletons and Hector.
'Hah… this is seriously unbelievable.'
Watching Raven inspect his own body, I muttered blankly.
'The spirit body I gave him should've had the same structure as Hector's.'
Unlike Hector's angular form, Raven's armor was smooth and refined like traditional plate armor.
And the amount of mana packed inside it…
'He surpassed ordinary knights long ago. He's almost on the level of a knight commander.'
In that brief instant while constructing his spirit body, Raven had absorbed as much mana from the Ice Castle as possible and reshaped his own form.
A Death Knight's capabilities were determined by the soul serving as its foundation.
And Raven had been a legendary knight who protected Berkel while cutting down waves of undead.
Raven had annihilated every undead in the area with a single slash.
And now he was staring at my utterly exhausted face.
'My identity's written into the contract seal, and if he wanted me dead, he would've killed me together with the undead just now…'
Trying to interpret his unreadable gaze, I considered how to respond.
"U-Uaaaaaagh?!"
Only then did Jill seem to realize what had happened to him, his screams echoing through the Ice Castle.
"M-My arm! The s-sacred power bestowed by Lord Archimond!!!"
Ignoring his completely severed right arm, he fell to the ground and frantically clawed across the floor with his left hand.
"The ring! The ring! W-Where is it?!"
"You looking for this?"
The moment I held the obsidian ring out before him, deep despair filled Jill's eyes.
"N-No…!"
Ignoring his desperate cry, I slipped the obsidian ring onto the index finger of my right hand.
Kururururu…!
Like something dissolving into water, the obsidian ring completely sank into my body.
"Guuuuh…!"
Along with the burning sensation spreading from my heart, I began storing the demonic energy suddenly flooding my body.
This was the obsidian ring's true method of use.
It wasn't a tool for drawing out demonic energy—it was a vessel meant to absorb it whole into the body.
'I can't fully absorb it yet. I'll have to increase it little by little.'
As I sensed the ring's presence settling inside me—
"How dare you absorb Lord Archimond's sacred relic—!"
Perhaps realizing what I had done, the enraged Jill charged toward me.
Or rather, he tried to.
Shhk—!
My horizontal slash sent Jill's head flying into the air.
"…!"
"Even in this state, I've still got more than enough strength to kill trash like you."
I'd merely left him alive for Raven's sake.
As that thought crossed my mind, Jill's lifeless body collapsed to the ground.
I briefly considered reviving the head to extract information, but quickly abandoned the idea.
'A soul this deranged would probably just cause trouble if I tried interrogating it.'
The Order had already moved its headquarters to Felician, and these people were ones abandoned by the cult.
There was nothing worth digging out of them.
"Well then, that takes care of all the pests infesting the Ice Castle."
Now there were only two things left to deal with.
One would be relatively simple.
The other… I wasn't so sure about.
Holding onto a faint sense of unease, I walked toward Raven, who still had his gaze fixed on me.
"You read through the contract terms, right?"
The Death Knight had been staring at me in silence this whole time.
Since he wouldn't answer no matter what I asked, I frowned and spoke again.
"There are no lies in the contract. Everything's written exactly as it is, so you can judge for yourself—"
Right at that moment—
Kaaang—!
Raven's sword strike shot toward me, and I deflected it with the exact same technique.
"I fucking knew this would happen."
The mana-filled blow had targeted my neck.
An attack carrying unmistakable killing intent.
Paat—!
Raven immediately stepped deeper into my range, raising his sword toward me once more.
But there was one thing he'd overlooked.
— Archi… monde…
'So you finally speak.'
A glorious achievement accomplished after twenty whole minutes of him being spiritified.
Feeling a small sense of triumph, I flashed him a villainous grin.
"When it comes to reviving people like you, did you really think the great Archimond wouldn't leave behind a single safety measure?"
At those words, Raven's body abruptly froze in place.
The Binding Rune I'd engraved on the back of his head.
It reacted to my hand seal and restrained his movements.
"If you've got no intention of making a contract, then quietly pass on already. Don't go screwing over innocent peopl—"
— Then… did Berkel fail?
Interrupting me, Raven's voice echoed out.
— Were our sacrifices meaningless in the end…? Did you ultimately achieve your goal?
"No. It's the opposite."
I shook my head at his question and answered.
…!
"Berkel succeeded. Archimond lost his head, and the North became land where people could live."
— Then… you…
"Why am I alive?"
The moment I cut off the question he was about to ask, Raven fell silent for a moment before nodding.
"I'm not alive. I came back to life."
As I spoke, I showed him the Leinrant crest attached to my collar.
— That emblem…?
"Klein Leinrant, second son of House Leinrant."
Though it was decorated in a dignified style befitting a ducal family, the original design itself couldn't be changed.
"That's my name now."
The emblem Berkel engraved into his heart before departing to kill me.
Only after seeing it did the killing intent surrounding Raven's blade slowly begin to fade.
"Please, let's make this easy for once. I'm already exhausted enough as it is."
Suppressing the fatigue that made me feel ready to collapse at any moment, I released the hand seal I'd been maintaining.
Though freed from the restraint, Raven no longer seemed intent on attacking me.
'No… more accurately, it feels like his thoughts have stopped entirely.'
Raven stared blankly at me before speaking again in a tone of disbelief.
— The necromancer Archimond… was reborn as Berkel's descendant?
"Yeah."
— You… the necromancer who was the enemy of the continent… are the descendant of my friend?
"That's how it turned out."
Even explaining it was enough to drive me insane.
Seriously, wasn't all of this already written in the contract seal? Why ask again?
As I reconsidered what was written there, I finally understood why.
'…Come to think of it, if I were Raven, I probably wouldn't believe it either.'
He might even think, That devil is mocking me even in death.
Ah, so that's why he tried to kill me.
— If your words are true… then the rest must also be true.
"Specifically?"
— That Berkel's family is falling into ruin.
At those words, even I couldn't say much.
'The world they protected with their lives is now trying to abandon them.'
A bitter laugh escaped me, but only briefly.
From my perspective, with mountains of things to do, I couldn't afford to stay here forever.
"So, what are you planning to do?"
— If I can help Berkel's descendants, then I will gladly do so.
Unlike before, his answer came immediately.
'Such loyalty even after death… I don't know whether to call it admirable or foolish.'
— However, there is one thing I do not understand.
Of course. No way there wouldn't be a catch.
I nodded for him to continue, and Raven fixed his gaze on me.
— You were killed by Berkel's hand. So why are you helping Berkel's descendants?
The same question Rudel had once asked me returned again.
— To you, Berkel… no, all of us… were obstacles that interfered with your plans—
"Ah, seriously, enough with the reasons and justifications already."
I was starting to get irritated, so I cut him off bluntly.
"The knight who took down the great Archimond is about to die over trash like emperors and politics?"
Pointing a finger straight at Raven's face, I kept firing words at him.
"They took the North in exchange for my life, and now it's all about to fall into the hands of idiots like the Empire?"
…!
Ah, I really shouldn't be creating this kind of hostility before signing a contract.
But once spoken, words couldn't be taken back.
"I'm going through all this bullshit because I can't stand watching that happen. Happy now?"
After I finished, Raven remained silent for a long time.
— …So in the end, Berkel was right.
Muttering something too quiet for me to hear, Raven finally stepped forward and engraved his name onto the contract seal.
— I do not trust you completely. You were once our greatest enemy.
"I know. But if we're making a contract, I'm working you until I get my money's worth."
I made sure to warn him firmly so he couldn't complain later, and Raven simply nodded before reaching toward the contract seal.
— As you wish.
The moment I received his acceptance, I inscribed my own name into the contract seal.
The demonic energy required for the mutual contract was supplied through the ring inside my body.
Unlike the contract I'd made with Rudel, this created a permanent contract seal that could be used continuously.
"Never thought I'd live to see the day I command one of Berkel's Twelve Knights."
— Likewise.
With that short exchange, the contract seal emitted light.
— I declare: Raven Foldring, one of the dead, entrusts his soul to his ancient enemy.
Along with Raven's chant, the contract seal opened, and runes began wrapping around his body.
— I declare: Archimond the Guide shall lead the soul of his enlightened enemy.
Soon, the runes enveloping his body burrowed into the back of my hand.
This wasn't a temporary contract like the one with Rudel.
This was a permanent contract.
The runes spreading from the back of my hand climbed up my arm until they reached the area near my heart, heating up intensely.
'God, this hurts like hell…!'
The pain was so overwhelming that I'd rather have taken another beating earlier.
Enduring it, I continued the chant.
— Until his purpose is fulfilled, Archimond the Guide shall illuminate his path.
— Until the day the promise is fulfilled, the dead Raven Foldring shall become his sword.
Paaaat—!
The contract seal, having reached its limit, flashed brilliantly once.
With that, the contract was complete.
Compared to my first attempt, the process had gone incomparably smoother.
"Now there's only one thing left."
After checking the rune engraved on my arm, I turned toward the Ice Castle wall and infused it with demonic energy.
Kururururu…!
The blank wall slowly descended, revealing a passage leading deep underground.
'Good. This place hasn't been discovered.'
Feeling the chilling energy rising from below, I sighed in relief.
A move prepared for the inevitable direct confrontation with the collateral branch, and for the worst-case scenario that would unfold afterward.
And the greatest reason I had come to the Ice Castle lay sleeping at the end of this passage.