The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 143 (Patreon)

Chapter 143 – Newborns

My strikes were deep, and well-practiced. I’d had more than enough time to work on the technique, after all. A full puncture of the heart in both cases, opening up multiple chambers as the spear exited the other side of their body. The result was a wound that was not survivable, unless someone was already at a hospital and had an operating room prepped and ready for them. Both volunteers dropped to the ground like puppets with their strings cut, and I could tell that it would not be much longer before they passed.

“Oh, my,” Koyama gasped. The mortals were clearly a bit in shock at what just happened, though his eyes were less on the bodies, and more on the blood that was now liberally sprayed around the room.

“Don’t worry, Koyama-kun. I’ll clean up after I’m done. Don’t want to make trouble for the people who work here, after all.”

“Ah, my apologies, your Majesty. It is just that I hadn’t thought things would be so graphic. Your other kills that we have on record weren’t like this.”

“That is because my preferred way of killing is to simply rip a being’s soul out of their body, and then deal with the soul directly. That is something only possible because I have the power and magics that I do, and I’m usually going up against those far weaker than myself. However, doing that tends to cause undue damage to the body and soul, which can lead to lingering conditions if the soul is put back into the body carelessly. Of course, since the people I kill like that have usually upset me in some way, I tend not to care about such things, but, as I said, our volunteers had done no wrong to me and mine, so they deserved a lighter touch with their souls, to give them the minimum amount of distress.”

“I see,” he said, getting control of himself. “What now, your Majesty?”

“Now, Ya will put a barrier ward up around this room, so that people don’t worry about me releasing my full power, and won’t hear or otherwise sense what is happening here. Naya, on the other hand, will arrange the bodies side by side about a meter between them, so that we can prepare for reanimating them.” The two apprentices blinked at me, and I sighed, “Now, girls.”

As they hopped to work, I cast a quick spell to clean my spear of the blood on it, and then reached into my storage dimension to store it away. When my hand emerged, though, it was holding the nude corpse of an elven man. His body had been weak, by elven standards, but his soul had been strong, which was why he was one of the leaders of my wraith commandos. His flesh would now go on to serve as the first meal for these two new ghouls to be.

The corpse had been drained of blood and other such fluids, but was otherwise perfectly fresh, despite it having been stuck in my storage for so long. That was one of the useful things about having your own pocket dimension. You could cause things in it to essentially be in stasis, unchanging until they were brought back out.

Regardless, the elven corpse was set by the wall, and I pulled out a magic tool. It looked like a conductor’s baton, but its function was to create temporary markings for ritual magics or spell forms where the terrain would not support the more traditional means of marking. Trying to paint or chalk the lines of the circle needed on carpet was an exercise in frustration, after all, unless you wanted to introduce instabilities that may cause the ritual to fail, or worse.

This tool was made from magically reshaped bones, so it could perfectly channel Death mana. This made it ideal for creating circles for Death magic rituals. I had similar tools for the other elements, as well, each of a suitable material. While a generic wand could be used, having a specialized tool helped with efficiency, allowing more of one’s power to go to the spell itself, rather than being used to compensate for what was missing. I could do this without it, but I had apprentices with me, so it was good to teach them the proper ways.

“Done, Mistress,” Naya said, her voice a bit shaky.

I smiled gently at her. “First time you’ve handled corpses directly, Naya?” She nodded, and I chuckled. “Don’t worry. I was the same, the first time I had to handle the freshly dead. But you are a Death mage, as you said, so you will need to get used to the sight, smell, and feel of dead flesh. Even if you never raise an undead yourself, and even in the other world there were many Death mages that did not, you’re going to see corpses in the future.”

I felt Ya’s barrier go up, and slipped off my ring, releasing my true power. A brush of my ankh, and the mortalform glamour burned away, revealing my true self, in full Lich Queen regalia. “Now, we are ready. I will begin by drawing the circles needed to create undead. Strictly speaking, these circles are not needed, if you know what you are doing, but practicing the fundamentals never hurts.”

“What do you mean, Mistress?” Naya asked, as she moved to watch.

I chuckled as I began drawing the circles, with the spellwork runes around them. “Simple, Naya. Once you’ve done something enough, you no longer need to concentrate on the step-by-step instructions. Think of it like math. After a certain point, you reach a level of proficiency where you can skip or combine steps, or do some problems in your head, rather than writing out every step to show your work. However, that doesn’t mean showing your work is wrong. In fact, it can be very useful with complex problems, or when teaching others, as I am doing now.”

Ya nodded. “So, the ritual circles are basically writing out instructions for the magic, like a computer program. If you know the ‘program’ well enough, you can skip the circle and do it yourself, but having the program there helps ensure that things go the way you want them to?”

“Correct,” I said, even as I finished the circle around Watanabe. “I have taught you how to read magic in the High Athelian tongue. It is always a good idea to write out magic circles in a language that is not commonly spoken, at least in the area you are in. Do you know why?”

Naya nodded. “Because the circle is like a loaded gun. It doesn’t care whose hand is on the trigger, just that the trigger is pulled. In this case, anyone who speaks the words would activate the circle, and it would draw power from them until either the spell was complete, or the unwitting caster died.”

“Exactly. Which is why permanent magic circles for powerful magics are rare. Too many things can go wrong if you do not know what you are doing. Part of being a proper mage is cleaning up after yourself. However, you will see mages set up permanent circles to do simple tasks repeatedly, where any commoner could power it easily. Many buildings in the other world would have a circle near the entrance allowing passengers to say a word, and clean themselves and their clothes from the dirt and grime of the road, or a long day’s work.”

“So, you wouldn’t find circles to create undead lying about?” Ya asked.

“Only when incompetent or lazy mages were involved,” I said as I finished the second circle. “Unless you were dealing with a magic school, where an instructor set up a permanent circle so that novice and apprentice mages could learn the structure, and understand how to make their own circles.”

I took a breath, and said, “All right, we are ready to begin. Naya, Ya, you are to remain behind me with Koyama. Just like the Troll Patriarch, these two are likely to be hungry when they first awaken. Their first instinct will be to feed. However, they will recognize me as both their creator, and as a supreme power that they cannot overcome. But until they have had their first meal, they cannot be counted on to be reasonable. You three may leave the room, if you do not wish to see this.”

Naya shook her head. “As I said earlier, I am a Death mage. Undead are a part of my magic. I have to see this. To own the knowledge, if I’m ever going to use it.”

“Likewise,” Ya said, “I have an obligation to witness the full extent of what I report on to my country, so that there are no gaps in my people’s knowledge. Even if it is something I do not wish to see.”

Koyama chuckled ruefully. “And I would be a poor excuse of a man if I fled when these ladies stayed to watch. Plus, it is partly my intervention that brought them here, so I should stay and see it through.”

“Commendable attitudes, all three of you,” I nodded. “If there were more people like you in the other world, perhaps they wouldn’t have gotten so fond of summoning heroes from other worlds to solve their problems.”

Turning back to the two circles, and the corpses laying within, I began the casting. Typically, a mage would only do one circle at a time. However, the typical mage was not a Master of one discipline, and certainly no Archmage, as I was. Activating both circles simultaneously was simplicity itself for me.

Death Mana swirled through the circles, drawing the souls of the two recently departed warriors back to their fallen shells. Binding them within the flesh and bone, and forcing them to everlasting unlife. Any Death Mage could do such, but a skilled one, like I was, made the binding of soul to flesh as seamless as possible, to ease away the shock of the transition and reduce the risk of damage to their souls.

The first thing that happened was that all traces of life was purged from their bodies. They may have died, but that did not mean everything about them was dead. Bacteria and such continued to live past the body’s death, which is why decomposition happened. Their bodies were now infused with Death mana, and so they would not need to worry about things like decomposition.

The wounds in their chests were next. Though the heart was not necessary for their new unlife, that did not mean they’d be left with gaping wounds. Flesh reknit itself, sealing the wounds, making for what looked like a perfect corpse.

Now whole once more, the flesh and bone grew tougher, stronger, better. Since their bodies were only barely past the beginning stages of cultivation, there was only so much the transformation could do, but they would, at least, be stronger, faster, and more agile than normal humans, as well as having the unending physical stamina of the dead. Of course, they would still need rest, because even the undead were susceptible to mental fatigue, but it was an improvement over their previous mortal limitations.

The skin drew back along their hands, and their nails grew a bit longer, and definitely stronger, to the point where they could be used as claws. Their faces grew gaunt, their lips pulling back in a macabre smile, showing off how their teeth had begun to sharpen themselves, becoming better suited to ripping and tearing at flesh. Appropriate, since their jaws were stronger, too.

The Death mana infused every part of them, and colored their very souls, before the magic was finally complete. The temporary circles burned away into nothingness, and silence fell as the magic faded. For a moment, nothing happened. And then, both newborn undead gasped, for that is what their souls thought they needed to do, even though the only reason they needed to breath as ghouls was to speak as mortals, or to sniff out their prey.

Their eyes opened, and they both sat up, moving with an unnatural quickness. I could see in their eyes as their vision suddenly came into focus, and I heard their noses sniff. They smelled meat. Their eyes locked on the largest concentration of fresh meat, the three mortals standing behind me.

“Stop.” They had only barely begun to move when I uttered my command, but the two ghouls had no choice but to listen to me. They did not have the power to resist an Archlich Archmage of the three circles of Death magic, and their very souls knew it. I pointed to the side, where the elven corpse lay. “There is your meal. Eat your fill, and then we will begin your training.”

To their credit, the mortals did not look away as the dead began to feast, even if they did look like they were going to pick vegetarian options for their next few meals.