Chapter 13: CH 13: Skull Throne

Wind whistled past his ears as he pushed his body faster through the air. City lights past below him in a blur as he made his way to the largest collection of death qi in the area. The closer he came to the location, the better he felt. The death qi in his body bolstered the quickly dying cells giving them a measure of undeath. It wasn’t anything more than a bandage over a slashed throat, but it helped.

 

An instinctive telekinetic barrier protected his body even as the very power that rocketed him forward killed his cells.

 

Though that wasn’t his main concern. Death was imminent, but Harry wasn’t scared to die; sometimes, when he went to sleep, he believed the existing ego had died. Instead, a new iteration was born every time he woke up, or that’s what he believed. Believing he died when he went to sleep and was reborn when he woke up felt strangely comforting.

 

He landed in the tunnels of the 24^th, where he heard singing. After stepping through the tunnels, he saw skeletons of various states of decay singing while they worked. Several skeletons looked over the picture he sent them without eyes. Yet, somehow, they seemed to know what their eyeless sockets were looking at. Dozens of skeletons were working on digging the tunnel deeper in preparation to pour the foundation.

 

One of the skeletons saluted him. “Hey, boss, do you want to see the foreman?” Harry nodded slowly before the skeleton led him towards Nemean.

 

He found his lion lounging next to a throne made of bones. Two skulls stared out on the armrest while one hung mounted on the backrest. A large double-edged sword hung from a thin string of piano wire, slowly rotating like a pendulum. The skull throne was the coolest thing he had ever seen for an eleven-year-old who had just started dipping into pop culture and fantasy.

 

The seat was surprisingly comfortable, even with the slow swinging blade above him. Harry opened his system menu and found several messages sent to him by the skeletons. Plans upon plans for the foundation waited for him to make his decisions.

 

Harry moved through a few designs based on Dracula’s castle from the Castlevania games. The skeletons had access to some functions of the system as his minions, including the ability to contact him and 3d model castle designs. Even sitting on a throne in a tunnel beneath the 24^th ward, Harry didn’t feel out of his depth.

 

After checking a few forums, he found the designs he wanted for the foundation of his castle. The teleporting effect of Dracula’s castle had been figured out with runic enchantments. It was made public domain a long time ago. He wasn’t limited to those, thanks to his current skill set.

 

He made some adjustments to the latest foundation plan and posted the order. “Looks like we have fresh meat, boys.” A skeleton yelled, and Harry looked through its eye to see they had captured two giant pandas. Harry thought about it for a moment and decided he didn’t care if pandas became extinct.

 

The skeletons dog-piled on the struggling pandas ripping them apart and bathing in the poor creatures’ blood. Harry felt a slight increase in his necromantic power before more zoo animals were brought in. So Harry took a nap on his throne while his skeletons feasted on zoo animals and poured the foundation of his home.

 

…

 

Professor Kanou didn’t like his change in fortune one bit. He had already applied the RC suppressants to Rize, the ghoul that came in with the unique individual. After seeing an evolved human that even ghouls didn’t dare to prey on, his belief in evolution was shaken. Perhaps humanity didn’t need his involvement to evolve if nature saw fit to grant humans the gift of psionics. Or maybe the world was more like war hammer 40k than he would like if humanity was evolving into a psychic race. Even as spells on his body forced him to comply with his master’s wishes, he felt vindicated.

 

He cut open Rize, the notorious binge eater, and pulled out her kakuhou. Kanou felt it would be better placed in the young man who came in with her. The organ began regenerating as a solution of human flesh flowed into her. Really even for a ghoul, Rize’s healing abilities were extraordinary.

 

The professor moved to the boy who controlled him and began the operation to transplant the Kakuhou. When he opened up, the boy larvae poured out and tried to knit the wound back together like a biological thread. Instead, the boy grabbed his own incision and pulled it apart.

 

“Get on with it, doctor, do as you’re told. Complete me so that I can evolve beyond my human limits.” His master said before cackling. “I’ve destroyed canon and denied Zoran’s apprentice the prize.” The boy said. “Can you see me, Jester, am I not worthier than any face or, better yet, an ace?”

 

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Professor Kanou considered that the boy wasn’t on any anesthetics, but the boy was insane. Without the boy's control over him, he would have died rather than committed to this operation. The poor boy hurt in the capture of Rize would have been a better choice. He wanted to see what an untainted human could do with a ghoul’s powers. Or better yet, he wanted to see what a child between that psychic and Rize would look like. The new man with the powers of a ghoul would have been formidable.

 

“Harry will come for me,” Rize whispered, still under the effects of the anesthetic.

 

“I’m sorry, but he isn’t. My magic confused you, and Harry is like a friend of mine. He wanted to be a hero but wasn’t cut out for it. After seeing what you did, he didn’t condemn you for it, not because he understood but because he was empty. His moral compass was erased, and all that’s left is a collection of comic book ideals, but he doesn’t feel them.”

 

Professor Kanou attached Rize’s Kakuhou and watched the boy’s flesh knit back into place. Then, a strange power lit up across Shinji’s body, forming 27 circuit-like patterns. A red glow shrouded the area where the new Kakuhou was transplanted. Shinji rose like a zombie as the worms within the boy’s body glowed, showing Professor Kanou Shinji’s true nature.

 

Worms of all kinds glowed in Shinji’s body as the boy stood up from the operation table. “He saw you had a strong personality and wanted to latch onto you like a leech. But, through you, he believes he can learn to be strong. I won’t lose to someone like that who doesn’t know the game.”

 

…

 

Skeleton 21 moved through CCG headquarters, stealthily searching for something his master would like. He heard that investigators had suitcases with anti-ghoul weapons inside of them. 21 slid down from a ventilation shaft and stole a lab coat before sneaking through some RC scanners. They failed; he didn’t have any living cells to speak of.

 

He turned to see a white-haired man with a bug eye staring at him. 21 bowed 15 degrees to the man and felt his lab coat dangle off his skeletal body. “As you were investigator.” 21 said and tried to move around the man.

 

“Is this a prank? Did Junji Ito from accounting put you up to this?” The man asked.

 

“I don’t know anyone of that name. I’m a rather old skeleton and didn’t get many memories back upon my resurrection. When a master goes up a rank, there is some hope some might come back. Oh, look at the time. I must be going at sunrise. I’ll be dead on my feet.” 21 said.

 

“So, there are more undead.”

 

“Tons of us, our lord is having us build him a castle in the 24^th ward, but I’m not much of a builder, so I’m making a supply run. By the way, those zombies I saw on the way haven’t reported for orders. Can you tell those dead beats to go before the master for instruction? Resurrections aren’t free, and they got to keep most of their dangly bits too. It's so unfair.” 21 said.

 

“You’re robbing us.” The man said.

 

“Not yet. First, I must case the joint and see what’s worth stealing. Then I’ll make the team a skeleton to be a distraction, one to jump over lasers, another to open the vault, and a smooth operator to drive the getaway car. I would be the face, but I don’t have one.” 21 said.

 

“I have a better idea; how about I pay you a salary, and you work for me in the 20^th ward as an investigative assistant. I’ll even give you a salary to help pay back your master for your resurrection. Also, is it possible I can meet him?” The man smiled and held out his hand. “First class investigator Kureo Mado at your service.”

 

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