I had not yet reached the field when Dareth and the female mage blocked my path.

They stood in the middle of the road connecting the healers’ quarters to the inner wall. Workers and soldiers moved around them, lifting debris, carrying victims, or dragging beams toward the gate that had not yet been fully repaired.

Dareth saw me first.

His gaze lowered toward the dull golden bracelet on my left wrist, then returned to my face.

“I need to know something.”

I did not stop until only a few steps remained between us.

Alden followed behind me. He still looked exhausted after the journey from Barrowford, but his steps were steady enough to keep him at my side.

“What?” he asked on my behalf.

Dareth looked toward the training field.

The Vassals and Skeletons were still standing there. Territorial soldiers guarded the edges of the field, keeping their distance from the Matriarch Skeleton towering above the other units.

“Those bone soldiers,” Dareth said. “Can they act without direct orders?”

‘Yes.’

Alden relayed it.

“Yes.”

Several soldiers around us tensed.

Dareth did not look away from me.

“Can they rebel?”

‘No.’

“No,” Alden repeated.

“What if you lose consciousness?”

I stared at Dareth.

That question was more useful than the previous two. He did not merely want to know whether my army was dangerous. He was searching for a condition in which my control could be severed.

There was no reason to give him an answer.

Alden waited for pressure through the relay, but I sent nothing.

The silence lasted long enough for Dareth to understand that he would receive no further information.

The female mage studied the bracelet on my left wrist.

Her gaze followed the woven metal pressed between my fur, then shifted toward the Skeletons waiting in the field.

“Its Mana pattern has fused with you,” she said. “More deeply than an ordinary artifact.”

I did not answer.

Dareth exhaled through his nose.

“While you remain in Stonewatch, all your forces will stay in the field.”

‘I will leave after sunrise.’

Alden repeated my answer.

Dareth frowned slightly. “For Barrowford?”

‘None of your concern.’

Alden swallowed before translating.

“He says his destination is none of your concern.”

Several territorial soldiers standing close enough to hear turned toward us. One placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

Dareth did not react.

He merely stared at me for a little longer.

“I am responsible for the safety of this territory.”

‘And I am not under your command.’

Alden relayed my answer again, this time without hesitation.

Dareth’s jaw tightened.

He could try to stop me. He had soldiers, mages, and archers upon the walls.

But Stonewatch was still wounded. Its gate had not recovered, its guards were exhausted, and most of my army stood not far from where we were speaking.

If he started a battle, neither side would emerge without losing many lives.

Dareth knew it.

“I have no intention of stopping you,” he finally said. “But while you remain within these walls, your forces will follow the limits I have established.”

Reasonable.

He was not trying to touch my bracelet, lay claim to my army, or force me to reveal every ability I possessed.

As long as he only regulated what happened within his city, I had no reason to destroy a relationship that might still prove useful.

I nodded once.

Dareth moved out of my path.

The female mage did not immediately follow him. Her gaze remained fixed on my bracelet, as though its shape could answer the questions I refused to answer.

I walked past her.

The less they knew, the less they could prepare against me.

Alden quickened his steps to follow.

We had only just reached the edge of the field when we saw Neira standing beside a small cart.

Two bags had been placed inside it alongside several rolls of cloth, pouches of dried food, rope, wound medicine, and two water containers. She had changed her clothes, but bloodstains were still visible along the lower part of her sleeves.

“I’ve prepared food for the journey and some basic supplies,” she said while tightening the bindings around one of the bags.

“Rusk said the southern road is still safe, although several small monsters have been seen near the western forest.”

Neira paused.

“There is one more thing.”

I looked at her.

“The territorial authorities moved the Warlord’s corpse to a stone quarantine warehouse outside the northern gate. The mage who arrived with Dareth has been examining it since noon. Mirae also went inside briefly to inspect the place where the core formed.”

My hand stopped in the middle of a step.

“They took several samples of blood, bone, and tissue,” Neira continued. “The examination was stopped for the night and will resume at dawn. Two territorial soldiers are guarding the warehouse door.”

She did not ask why that information mattered to me.

“Is there anything else I need to prepare?” she asked.

I looked toward the northern wall.

The Warlord’s corpse.

The Abyssal Parasite had once rejected it. The System had also rejected the absorption of its essence. At the time, I had been unable to use the body.

Now I possessed Necromancy.

I could ask Rusk to hand it over as the spoils of my battle. I could even use the single request he still owed me.

But asking for the Warlord’s corpse after returning with an army of Skeletons would be the same as telling them what I intended to do.

They would observe the process.

Measure its strength.

Search for its weaknesses.

Unnecessary.

‘No. Rest. We leave after sunrise.’

Alden relayed my answer.

Neira nodded.

“All right.”

She lifted one of the bags, then walked toward the place where they would rest.

I left Alden and walked toward my army.

The sun had descended behind the walls. Orange light stretched across the streets of Stonewatch, touching the repair beams, the ruins of houses, and the bloodstains that had not yet been cleaned.

My army remained where it had been ordered to wait.

The Matriarch Skeleton stood at the rear. Its purple heart pulsed behind a weave of white fibers protected by massive ribs. The Hobgoblin Skeleton gripped its hammer near Bloodhorn, while the Grave Gnawer and Heart Skinner Skeletons stood in separate groups.

Several of them moved their heads when I approached.

No command had forced them to do so.

They were aware of my presence.

[Vassal Slots: 13/20 - 5 Locked]
[Skeleton Slots: 13/20]

There was still room.

More than enough for one Warlord.

But finding the corpse alone would not be enough.

Necromancy did not merely arrange bones and force them to move. A new will formed through the vessel’s heart and skeleton, carrying the instincts, habits, and traits once embedded within that body.

Ordinary Skeletons were easy to subjugate from the first moment their consciousness formed.

The Warlord might be different.

Even while alive, its strength and will had far surpassed those of most monsters I had encountered.

I waited until night covered Stonewatch.

The territorial soldiers changed shifts twice. The workers stopped repairing the gate, while the victims who were still conscious were moved away from the road. Campfires were lit near the walls and the field.

I remained among my forces until the humans’ attention began to fade.

Afterward, I sent a command through the connection.

‘Assassin. Ratkin. Follow.’

Both Vassals moved without sound.

Deadeye was still outside the city with the two Orcs and the cart carrying the Ossuary Metal. Two Grave Gnawer Skeletons continued guarding the cargo among the trees.

I activated Parasitic Synapse.

My vision shifted to Deadeye.

The northern gate was visible through the gaps between the tree trunks. Two guards stood in front of it, while three territorial soldiers patrolled along the outer side of the wall.

Farther north, the quarantine warehouse stood in the middle of a yard enclosed by a low fence. Its stone walls were thick, and it had no large windows. Two oil lamps burned above the front door, while pale blue light shone through the ventilation gaps near the roof.

Cooling runes.

They were keeping the Warlord’s corpse from decaying too quickly.

Two territorial soldiers stood in front of the door. A Stonewatch guard followed the patrol route circling the warehouse with a spear resting on his shoulder.

I severed the connection.

Leaving through the gate would allow too many people to see me.

Ratkin found another route.

It led us toward a damaged section of the wall near an old drainage channel. The surrounding stones had shifted during the Warlord’s attack, leaving a narrow gap beneath the foundation.

Ratkin entered first.

The Assassin followed.

My body was still small enough to crawl through the gap, although my shoulders scraped against stone and earth several times.

We emerged behind low shrubs outside the wall.

The Assassin moved ahead toward the warehouse, while Ratkin followed the edge of the ground with its nose close to the surface.

I followed through the shadows beneath the trees.

The Stonewatch guard had just reached the rear yard when the Assassin threw a stone toward the eastern fence.

The stone struck a plank.

TAK!

The guard stopped.

“Who’s there?”

A second stone landed farther away, near the bushes facing the forest road.

The man raised his spear and moved away from the yard.

The two territorial soldiers at the front door turned toward the sound.

One of them called out, “What is it?”

“Probably an animal.”

“Check it. We’ll stay here.”

They did not leave the door.

I gave another command.

‘Ratkin. Roof.’

Ratkin climbed the rear wall using the gaps between the stones. Its claws gripped the edge of the roof, then its semi-humanoid body disappeared over the side of the building.

A moment later, the connection between us gave a brief pull.

A route had been found.

A narrow ventilation opening ran along the top of the rear wall to circulate the cold air. It was too small for an adult human, but large enough for my body once the metal grate was removed.

The Assassin returned and climbed after Ratkin.

A faint scraping sound came from above.

One bolt fell to the ground.

Then the second.

The metal grate lifted.

Ratkin entered first. I climbed the wall using protruding stones, then crawled through the opening. The Assassin entered last and pulled the grate back into place without securing the bolts.

Cold air and the smells of blood and preservatives filled the warehouse. 

Blue light from the runes on four pillars illuminated the interior.

The Warlord’s corpse lay upon a low stone platform reinforced with wooden beams. Its body was too large for an ordinary examination table.

Several pieces of armor had been removed and placed along the walls. Old wounds covered its chest, while a fresh examination incision extended from beneath its throat to its abdomen. Metal hooks held the skin open so the tissue beneath could be examined more easily.

Some of the flesh on one side of its chest had been removed for samples. Thin sections had been chiseled from several ribs, but the main skeleton remained intact.

Its heart was still inside the chest cavity.

Beneath the organ was the empty depression where the Evolution Core had once formed.

I approached.

The Warlord had once nearly destroyed Stonewatch. It had led waves of Orcs, torn through the gate, and forced everyone within the city to fight merely to remain alive until morning.

Now its body lay open upon stone, dissected piece by piece by humans who wanted to understand how such a monster had been created.