Chapter 447: Abyss (4, 5)

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(Part 1)

A long time ago in a world far far away, a war broke out between two factions aiming to control that world. As the war was never going to end at the rate it followed, some scientists came up with a weapon that defied sense and logic calling it the Antimatter Bomb.

That horrific weapon was bombed right in the middle of the enemy's main city harvesting every life and casting the city itself to nothingness. Only its shadow survived the apocalyptic moment and was cast down the Abyss becoming a ghost world between worlds.

It was that case until a certain Mage discovered the existence of the lingering ghost world and turned it into a place to experiment with all manners of forbidden magic. Later, this secret realm would become his vault for the undead creatures his followers gather.

Sealed and secured behind layers of complicated seals, no one really thought that this secured place can be accessed by an unauthorized intruder. After all, this place needed the permission of the one who sealed the realm to be accessed. This permission comes in the form of a Crystal that can Teleport its holder across the Abyss and the Cult colonizing that ghost world were experts in reproducing those Crystals and cultivating them like plants using the lives of their victims.

The Order of the Black Worm, followers of the King of Worms Mannimarco, were a vicious and heartless cult that originated in Tamriel a millennia ago. Their goals might be appealing and favorable to those who don't know them such as the free use of magic and the reunion of ancestors, however, those who know them are well aware that this cult holds no sacred or holy aiming to infiltrate the places of power and hoard the honored dead for their twisted creed.

The arts of the cult were all about creating the most perfect for of Life or Undeath. Compiling the Dead was the first of their arts and as spells that construct a new undead from existing remains were extremely popular, examples for that are the Bone Colossus, the Flesh Atronach and the most basic Bone Shambles. Still, one of the trickiest spells was the Necrostruction that can freely make whatever undead the caster wants as long as the materials were available, only the best of Necromancers were able to use such a spell.

Mummification was one of the early arts in Necromancy and its goal was to create the ultimate undead that can be raised over and over again but it wasn't as promising as it sounded.

But on top of all the Arts of the Worm Cult is the Transformation by embracing the power of Lichdom, placing souls in an object called a 'Phylactery', which is usually a jar or a chest. Liches are selfish and power-hungry, destroying all in their searches for souls to repair the Phylactery. Extremely intelligent and powerful, they are always resurrecting if their Phylactery is not crushed. Most Liches are in control of at least a small undead army and a tomb and are adept spellcasters.

Nether Liches are weakened form Liches, Ancient Liches are stronger than the normal ones. Finally, the Lich King was a title only held by the first Lich, Mannimarco.

Some argue that Mannimarco was not the First Lich as he managed to become one after studying the Nordic Dragon Priests. The Dragon Priests also had a similar theory but instead of using Phylacteries, the used the prayers of their Draugr followers buried with them in their crypts.

Such a study always occupied Elder Falkyn, a very old Lich that served in the Ghost World as the Anchorite, the Leader of a Worm Cell.

Falkyn was a Nord Necromancer who served Mannimarco for ages later to be guided to Lichdom and transform into a Lich. Some may argue that a Nord is lucky to reach such a high position in Magic but those ignorants never knew that the best Necromancers in history, aside from Mannimarco, are mostly Nords.

Argument may come and go but Nords have the best aptitude to Chaos. That is why Falkyn took pride in his apprentices, who are mostly Nords, as the ones who will revive the Cult and return it back to its former glory once again.

Still, Falkyn was very occupied with managing his territory as the Locker of the Summonable Undead of the Cult. Hidden as it may be, a lot of maintenance was needed to keep the Ghost World up and running. The Cult always provided living sacrifices to the Ghost World for the sake of keeping the stored Undead functioning. This realm wasn't a Daedric Realm which means there was no higher entity to fuel it, Mannimarco had his own Realm, the Necromancer's Moon, that is busy keeping the Realm of Arkay in check and that's where the Ghost World, Falkyn and the Sacrifices come in action.

So aside from his role as the Anchorite, his studies on the Dragon Priests were the second on his list followed by training his apprentices.

The apprentices of Falkyn, being Elite Necromancers, looked after the Ghost World away from the political drama of the cult.

The places were basically an old city dragged from a different world. It had many large halls, mansions and side streets. Those places were either used as living quarters or undead storing facilities.

No one really needed to patrol or guard the place so they kept some Bone Shambles and Zombies on the lookout just in case.

For many long years, nothing disturbed the Ghost World but lately, a new prisoner was delivered personally through the Void and the Abyss to Falkyn. A prisoner to fuel the Ghost World like nothing before and to be locked in the safest innermost sanctum of Falkyn by the direct order of Mannimarco.

As far as he was concerned, it was a Fragment of a Daedric Prince.

"Nothing less can be expected from the King of Worms, to be able to bring such a rare specimen to me." Falkyn wondered.

By that Fragment of a Daedric Prince, forget about the living sacrifices. It was as if wings were added to a serpent creating the foulest of dragons.

At such occurrences, disturbing Falkyn was a taboo and as he would spend hours brooding in his research and the rarities he is in charge of.

But the most exciting gifts brought the most eminent disaster, a real Dragon Priest has invaded the Ghost World and the impossible became possible. The seals on the Ghost World were broken and the connection with the King of Worms was broken.

The sheer idea of finding the Shadow World was impossible and impassable. The realm was personally hidden by Mannimarco through an enigmatic method only an otherworldly being can crack. More to that, the stealth function of the Ghost World was simply perfect.

Who in the right mind would have guessed that the seal was broken by an Otherworldly Reincarnated Individual and the Ghost World was discovered by a Cat who happened to be a Shadow Fairy that can track the presence of a Daedric Prince or even hide from them?

It was absurd but that was not Falkyn's problem for now. Currently, he had to repel the attacker, this strange Dragon Priest.

"How can a Dragon Priest invade the Ghost World?" Falkyn couldn't understand.

The one he saw was a man in black armor, covered by a large black cloak, wearing an Ebony Dragon Priest mask. In this day and age, the Dragon Cult has long since perished, this Dragon Priest must be a very ancient being but that doesn't explain his invasion to the Ghost World.

Of course, the Dragon Priest (aka Jon Dare) was impossible to be recognized as a living human for he was covered in with [Greed] in a cloak form.

With [Pride] in hand, the [Ebony Blade] in another and [Wrath] leading a small army of undead behind him, Jon was making a grand intro.

During the past few hours, Jon was busy doing mapping around the area with the help of the System, he infiltrated the place and gathered accurate information about the locations of the major powers in this realm.

In his point of view, this realm was another twisted version of the already twisted Coldharbour. The Order of the Black Worm had connected this place to most of the other Worm Cells creating a hub for their unholy army.

At first, he thought the materials were gathered here and then manufactured into Zombies and Bone undead. The truth wasn't far from that but he misunderstood something.

If it were him, he would indeed gather the best quality of bones and create his undead with them but the Worm Cult operated by different values.

There were undead, yes, but as Jon and Jax opened a certain warehouse in this Ghost World, Jax identified some of the Undead.

"These ones were fighters from the Arena. That is Fiura the Strong, a Nord I remember very well; and that is Savius Aventus, a former Imperial soldier who was forced to fight against Darius." Jax said.

"You are saying that the Worm Cult is collecting strong heroes and fighters from the Arena to mummify and fill their Zombie Locker with? This is very concerning." Jon realized how much of a threat this is.

According to Jax, the Corpses of the dead in the Imperial Arena are handled by either the family members or some gravediggers contracted with the Arena. Apparently, those are the Worm Cult agents.

By the looks of it, the Worm Cult has many cells spread across Tamriel judging by the diversity of the bodies and they rely on more than just the Imperial Arena. Just thinking of how many bandits, criminals, assassins and unidentified corpses are handled by the nameless gravediggers, it all made Jon feel a chill in his spine.

"There is more than just that, Hooman. Other places have Big Dummies, Cow Heads and even Large Doggos."

What Nefertiti wanted to say was that there are Giants, Minotaurs and Dire Wolves as well.

"This is worse than I thought." Jon fell silent for a few seconds then spoke once again, "I have a plan but will need you guys to assist me. Nefertiti, you will take down the extra load on me, stick to the shadows and protect me stealthily."

"Too much work, Hooman."

"Jax, take this staff. Even though you are not aware we are outside Mun… ehem! Sorry. You Minotaurs have an excellent sense of directors. I will assign those scrolls to different locations and I want you to activate them with that staff I gave you. Can you do that?"

"Yes."

"Good, I'll be the distraction then. Move out!"

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(Part 2)

Back to the present, Jon and [Wrath] made an intro. Jon as a Dragon Priest in all black ebony wearing his mask and donning [Greed] as a cloak to hide his life signal while [Wrath] led all the undead Jon summoned from the Soul Cairn.

"BO TIR!" (Come out!)

Jon shouted in the Dragon Tongue to call forth the leader of this place.

The whole ruined city shock as Jon made his grand appearance. Necromancers and Undead started running from their spots to see what is going on.

Jon made sure to put on airs as a Dragon Priest and float in the air while giving off a heavy pressure to his surroundings. Just as a Necromancer tried to attack him on sight, Jon made the poor sod explode from the inside out using his imagination by [Pride].

"What is that?"

"Where did this come from?"

Some Necromancers tried to make a formation but [Wrath] arrived beside them and took them out in one slash.

*HOWL*

Jon didn't mind [Wrath] having some fun, after all, the Sin of Wrath Odokuro has arrived at a new Evolution since he received the Dead Sand Jon gave him.

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[Wrath / Bone Samurai, Odokuro] <Sin>

- Howl of Wrath

- Howl of Death (NEW)

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[Wrath] was able to manipulate undead by the normal magic Jon installed on you him but now that magic evolved into a Howl. [Wrath] can scream and raise the Undead from the ground, not just that, he can also disturb the connection between the Undead and their Master taking over those Undead.

It was, by all means, an overpowered skill. Jon watched proudly his [Wrath] take over those high-quality undead led by those Necromancers.

"Priidah hin maar." (Spread your terror.)

*HOWL*

The 'Howl of Wrath' echoed around turning everything in its wake into ruin as if a Dragon was breathing out destruction.

The Worm Cult members were indeed taken out by surprise in their safe vault but not for too long, these elites were specially trained to be the future of the Cult.

"Seal it."

"Follow my lead, start a Binding Soul Gem Array."

Jon was surrounded by the best Mages in the Worm Cult and layers upon layers of barriers were applied around him.

Suddenly, a swarm of bugs flew from the innermost building and formed a floating humanoid that kept the same altitude as Jon.

"Capture it! A Dragon Priest came to our home, I want to interrogate this specimen myself." The humanoid said in the most disturbing or voices.

That humanoid was a pale zombie-like man wearing some ornamental robes and holding a large staff. His appearance was akin to a corpse but staff and eyes carried a pale cyan soul flame exposing its identity as a Lich.

Jon felt the pressure of the binds cast on him by tens of Necromancers but that was easy to withstand for a few moments.

{Nefertiti, take action now.}

Jon sent a Telepathy signal to Nefertiti who acted in an instant. She crept out of the shadows and attacked the nearest Necromancer as if she was a bolt of shadow. Jon synced his hand movement with her acting as if he killed all those mages by some unknown method.

"Help!"

"No!"

"Stop him!"

Jon's hand movement became akin to terror. The Necromancers, who felt they were going to be killed as their comrades, dodged Jon's hand movements and escaped thus the binding array was broken.

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"Useless!" The Lich shouted as he aimed his staff at Jon casting [Necrotic Spear].

"Impudent!" Jon didn't give the Lich Falkyn a chance to attack him and retorted with [Lightning Bending], a spell only available to [Pride].

The bolt of lightning canceled the Lich's spell and twisted itself to attack from the side, the Lich cast [Soul Cage] and flying crystal came out of the ground casting and met the bolt exploding together.

Despite the effort, Jon's magic wasn't canceled and what survived of it grew in power and attacked relentlessly once again.

"What Sorcery is that? Identify yourself, bug!" Falkyn became infuriated by Jon's tenacity.

"Know your place, maggot." Jon's pride kicked in and he returned the insult and increased his power a tad more.

"Hah! Interesting specimen, I will dissect you to my heart's content… if I have one! Ahahaha!"

Falkyn didn't back down in front of Jon and started to fight seriously.

In Jon against Falkyn, Jon was overwhelmingly disadvantaged. Falkyn was way older, craftier, stronger and fighting in his den. Jon held this far and kept acting tough because of [Greed] concealing his true level and [Pride] boosting his power by over-consuming Magicka.

{Jax.}

Calling out Jax, a sudden change occurred on the battlefield.

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

Explosions sounded all across the ruined city.

"What the…" Falkyn was distracted as he noticed those explosions engulfing his apprentices and the precious specimens he was tasked to keep.

"Getting distracted? Such a fool… KUN LAAS SHUL!" (Light Life Sun)

Jon took the chance and shouted his ace in the hole, the [Sun Blast] shout.

"!!"

Falkyn was fast to notice the deadly attack coming towards him, it was as if a flash of light came hurling from Jon's direction taking down every undead in the way turning it to dust.

Such an attack is made of Light and will cause tremendous damage to even a Lich of his level.

The only option Falkyn hand was to use the Baleful Undead Flame and set himself ablaze. The Baleful Flame can cause damage but it is designed to hurt the living more than the dead, unlike the Sun damage.

In a second, Falkyn performed his outstanding defense trick but his left side was late to be overtaken by the flame and got some Sun damage.

"CURSES! YOU BUG DARE TO HURT ME…"

"Excusez Moi!"

[A/n: kids in Egypt would use the French "excuse me" to express extreme shock.]

As Falkyn turned to face Jon, the latter was just a millimeter away from him.

"Wha…"

"Have a cookie!"

And without further ado, Jon blasted the Lich Falkyn away with a [Thunder Cookie].

Falkyn flew backward and crashed into a ruined building.

"What the fuck do you mean by 'Dare', you son of a bitch? We're having a till death do us part fight, you dimwitted fool. I Dare you Dare me again! No, I Double Dare you Dare me… that's an ability only I can use, [Double Dare]."

Being aggroed by the forbidden word, Jon was foaming from anger over the ruined building Falkyn fell in. To vent that anger off, Jon waved [Pride] in a half-circle killing all the Necromancers near him with a Cold Flame.

As Jon was doing so, Falkyn returned in the foulest of moods.

"Bug! I'll teach you your place."

The land rumbled as Falkyn flew out with a viciously twisted frown on his Lich face. He cast a spell that took over the ground in a second.

[Defiled Ground], a rune spell that does a lot of harm to anyone who steps on the area of the mage.

[Wrath] jumped away and stood on a huge pillar away from harm. All the undead that he controlled started being broken by the effect of the Defiled Ground.

It was then when Falkyn took note of [Wrath], at first, he thought that this large Bone Samurai was simply a Bone Colossus that has overgrown and got enhanced a bit but it was clear now that this is a very unique undead. Something new and unknown.

A long-living Lich may have a vicious personality but long life gives curiosity and he knew exactly how to harm the Dragon Priest.

[Undead Claim], a spell that drives away the mental control on a certain undead and gives it to the caster. In other words, Falkyn was hijacking [Wrath].

Jon felt the underhanded strike as it landed on [Wrath] and attacked Jon's consciousness right away. He completely understands the effect of the spell and was amazed that the ability that [Wrath] developed also came in a spell form.

Sadly, it was an Undead exclusive spell.

But now Jon had to deal with that mental attack. Trying to hijack [Wrath] is wishful thinking, [Wrath] is just an extension of Jon's Soul and Will. The spell Falkyn used was only causing some headache… but Falkyn doesn't know that.

"AAARGH!"

*GROAN*

Jon and [Wrath] both feigned mental damage and staggered in their places. Jon, who was floating, descended down a few meters.

"Hahahaha! Interesting specimen, you truly caused me great trouble. The Lord won't be pleased by that but offering this exceptional Undead as a new model will surely make things easier. Now, who sent you?" Falkyn said as he approached the suffering Jon.

"AAAARGH!" Jon exaggerated more as he acted to be in agony.

Falkyn stopped in front of Jon and looked down on him.

"Does it really hurt that much? How can a Dragon Priest such as yourself suffer greatly from a mental attack like…"

"Shouldn't it hurt?"

As Falkyn spoke, Jon stopped acting and looked at Falkyn.

"Huh?"

"My bad."

Before Falkyn realized what went down, Jon waved the [Ebony Blade] from point-blank.

"!!"

Teleporting away as fast as he could, Falkyn appeared far from Jon with an amazed look.

Looking at Jon, he was holding a dead arm and waving it at Falkyn. That was certainly Falkyn's left arm… it was cleaning chopped.

Not just a Mage but an incredible Warrior and a crafty Trickster with no honor or respect.

"You rogue!"

"This is the material world, baby." Jon cast the Ashen Flame on the Lich arm he got turning it to a fine cinder.

Falkyn was overwhelmed by pain but could endure losing an arm for now. This Dragon Priest is by no means someone simple.

He needed to be crushed by all the force he can muster up.

"Come to me! Back me up!" Falkyn howled to the sky calling for someone.

"Shut up! VEN GAAR NOS!" (Wind Unleash Strike)

Jon shouted a [Cyclone] to obliterate Falkyn once and for all but a string magic barrier protected the Lich.

"Who is it?" Jon became annoyed by the interference.

"Support Falkyn!"

"Haha! Falkyn, you arrogant bastard. You can't take care of one ant."

"Staying in the Ghost World all the time, huh? You clearly turned senile."

A strong wave of power came forth as three figures appeared. They were ghost-like incorporeal beings that looked exactly like a Lich.

Those were Nether Liches, weakened Liches because they faced destruction and still in a recovering state.

From what it seemed, when Liches from the Worm Cult get destroyed, they are sent to the Ghost World to recover. Still, Nether Liches are as much of a pain in the ass as regular Liches.

Jon, however, has a second say.

[Pride] and the [Ebony Blade] were returned in the Cube and the chains of  [Ahzidal's Evil Fists] were loosened while the Ashen Flames engulfed then in a second.

Incorporeal beings are weak to energy attacks and the Ashen Flames were the best type of energy Jon can muster. It is an incineration flame that can burn whatever Jon wanted and spare whatever Jon wished to spare.

Right now, Jon had two long chains with the ability to Seal Magicka, fixed on a gauntlet that can Negate Magicka and engulfed with a flame that can burn Magicka.

"Aaaand Music!"

♪ Highway to Hell ♪

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