The battlefield lay silent—so silent it was as though even nature feared what had just occurred.

  Monsters of every type—C-rank beasts, B-rank savages, even elite A-rank horrors—now lay lifeless in grotesque stillness. Their corpses were torn, scorched, frozen, and shattered… signs of every kind of elemental magic.

  Kazuki stood among them, his figure bathed in dim sunlight. His aura, darker than ever, oozed power.

  The others hesitated even to move. Their gazes flicked between each other, all thinking the same thing: How far has he gone?

  Kazuki extended his hand forward and chanted in a whisper only the wind could carry.

  “Dead who once walked… obey the call of the abyss. Come forth.”

  A spiral of shadow burst out from the ground—an eruption of pure, ancient darkness. The battlefield was consumed by an eerie black wind. Dozens of dark forms slowly rose—twisted souls of the monsters they had just slain.

  The corrupted spirits, now in humanoid forms shrouded in smoke and bone, floated before Kazuki.

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  Then—they knelt.

  > [Skill Acquired: Necromancy – You may summon and command the souls of the defeated. Dark soldiers will remain loyal to the summoner.]

  Kazuki’s eyes remained blank. He raised a finger and the soldiers vanished into a vortex, sealed into a pocket dimension under his control.

  The darkness faded… yet the silence remained.

  Rinara’s face was pale. “That’s… forbidden magic,” she murmured under her breath.

  Garron finally broke the silence, though his voice trembled. “W-we’ll take the bodies to the guild. They’ll confirm the onslaught… and… you can remain here… to protect the Duke’s land.”

  Kazuki gave a small nod. No words. No emotions.

  The rest of the group slowly departed, dragging monster remains, still reeling from what they’d just seen.

  Kazuki stood alone.

  He looked to the horizon.

  “Analysis.”

  A wide blue circle formed around his eye, data filling his vision.

  > [Alert: Unknown Entities Detected – Estimated Rank: Unmeasured]

  [Quantity: 126]

  [Type: Abyss-born]

  [Status: Advancing – Estimated arrival: 10 minutes]

  Kazuki’s brows twitched slightly. So they’re here already…

  He turned to the wind.

  “Come to me,” he said softly.

  Dark portals opened around him. One by one, his summoned soldiers stepped out—silent, obedient, unblinking.

  Kazuki’s aura began to rise again—his cloak flaring as mana poured from his body like pressure in a storm. The once emotionless boy now resembled a living myth, a walking calamity.

  “I’ll greet them here.”

  Scene Shift – The Marching Darkness

  Far in the distance, through a misty pass, dozens of strange creatures crawled, slithered, marched, and hovered toward the Duke’s land. At their front, a tall being with glowing crimson eyes, wearing a torn royal robe, licked his lips with a black tongue.

  “The child of prophecy… he commands death now,” the creature growled.

  “But death belongs to us.”

  It raised its hand.

  “Begin.”