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The Necron throne room in Andrew’s white stone palace was packed with a mixture of undead and people. A heavy silence suffocated the room as everyone gazed upon the empty throne usually occupied by Andrew. Almost all of the three hundred surviving residents of Necron that lived here full time cast nervous glances between Andrew and Toby, who took up most of the space.

Everyone present believed the town was owned by either Andrew or Toby, but to think they had a superior sent shivers down their spines. But alongside their fear was anger. Where had this superior been when the town was under attack? Why hadn’t they planned countermeasures? Wasn’t it the duty of the local lord to protect their people?

Andrew looked around the room as he stroked his goatee. Everyone present had haunted or distraught expressions. Among the people, he spotted a man who was missing an eye; blood was still dripping down his face as he clutched a piece of towel to the wound. Next to him was a woman holding what looked to be a baby, but it wasn’t breathing. Ash was smeared on its small cheeks along with blood, likely from the mother’s fingers, which were shaking as she pushed a strand of hair out of the dead child’s face.

Andrew was surprised he could look at this scene and only feel anger due to his incompetence rather than outright despair. Since becoming undead, had he turned selfish? No, his emotions had likely been altered since becoming an undead. Which was a terrifying thought since he hadn’t noticed it earlier. He clenched his stubby hands as he looked at the misery on the faces of his citizens that had relied on him for care.

The worst part about all of this? They knew this was coming. It was a planned attack. This shouldn’t have been a surprise, but it had… This showed how incompetent they had been.

All that accompanied the deafening silence suffocating the room was the occasional sobs of the humans. Some had lost husbands, friends, family, siblings, and even their homes or jobs. Necron had been reduced to a smoldering pile of wood and a town of broken, angry people.

***

Victor watched the gathering of the citizens of his town through Andrew’s eyes. Anger boiled inside him. He had seen Necron as a side project, something he did for a bit of fun and perhaps to expand his influence on the world stage. If someone asked him why he made Necron, he would simply answer: why not?

It was within his power and was easy to do. It was entertaining and a place to express his creative freedom while he mindlessly searched for a cure for his decaying stats. It…was…fun.

What wasn’t fun was looking at the suffering his little project had caused so many people. But not just the suffering of others…but also his hurt pride. This had been a planned attack, one he had full knowledge was coming. But, in his naive mind, he had worried about his own assets, his strongest warriors. So he had planned everything around Toby and his undead.

But what about the weak wooden buildings that could be razed to the ground with fire? Or the ordinary people that had begun to call Necron home and relied on the local lord for protection? What about the merchants that frequented Necron for business or were simply on their way home to see their families and had their supplies burned or stolen?

He hadn’t thought of them. This wasn’t a video game where his boss, Toby, could draw the aggro of all the knights and slaughter them. The knights of the Empire weren’t stupid. Necron was open to all, so they had ample time to gather intel. All they had to do was find Necron’s Achilles’ heel, its weakness, and take advantage of it.

I need to make some changes to Necron and my mindset. So Victor thought as he prepared to summon his avatar and speak to his people. Now that I am strong enough, it’s time to show the world I am here.

***

As everyone grew restless, a sudden daunting feeling overcame them, causing them to freeze. Everyone’s eyes slowly turned to the source, the area above Andrew’s throne.

A sudden vertical black line formed. Andrew and Toby remained motionless as they knew what was coming, but the humans were different. Some more religious ones suddenly took a knee and lowered their heads. Others gazed at the line and blinked in confusion; perhaps the long day of witnessing their loved ones murdered before them had finally driven them crazy.

The black line seemed impossible as it had no depth or shadow and appeared the same from every angle…and then it opened. Like a mouth to the abyss, only starlight and darkness backlit a human. Well, it was human-shaped, except its face was a blank slate, as if it was wearing a mask except for two glowing blue eyes. It wore clothes, or at least the outline of clothes often worn by nobilities. A suit, cane, and top hat.

Everyone held their breath as the portal abruptly closed behind the shadow man. His blue eyes scanned the room, lingering for a brief moment on each and every person present.

“Greetings, my citizens.” His voice seemed to echo from every direction like a chorus. “My name is Vox, and I am the overlord of Necron, the land where you currently reside.” He then took a step forward, and to everyone’s shock, he bowed. “…I have failed you all.”

There was a moment of silence where everyone was stunned. Then suddenly, Toby slammed his head into the ground, cracking the floor and making the entire building shake. “MY LORD, YOU HAVE NO NEED TO APOLOGISE.” His voice thundered through the tiny room, causing everyone to cover their ears.

“Silence.” The shadow man named Vox glared at the Demon Lord, and his glowing eyes flared up. “I have failed you all, even you, Toby. All of this was my mistake, and I plan to fix it.”

Vox used shadow magic to create a throne of darkness and perched himself on it. But due to the low lighting in the room, combined with the man and throne being made of shadows—anyone without night vision could only see the two tear-drop glowing blue eyes looking at them.

“I am the lord of this land, and like all lords, keeping control of a place requires resources. For the nobles of this continent, it may be money, food, or labor. Yet my servants do not receive pay, nor do they eat.” Vox gestured to the few undead soldiers silently lining the walls. “So what do they take from me? Like all mages, it’s a resource deep inside me. One that I can replenish slowly over time but is not infinite. I currently reside in a place requiring much concentration and powers, so I neglected Necron.”

Vox raised a hand. “I am not making excuses here. Far from it. I could have done better.” He then gestured to Toby, who was still prostrated on the ground. “And so could have my subordinates. But as their master, their failures are on my shoulders.”

“But Master…” Toby winced back when Vox turned to glare at him. “I should have foreseen that the Empire would attack us so despicably! Necron’s destruction lies on my shoulders! You entrusted this land to me, and I let it be destroyed by the dogs of the Empire!”

Vox shook his featureless face. “They were not despicable. On the contrary, they were diligent and could identify a significant flaw in our defenses. Not only did they identify that we relied too heavily on Toby for our military, but we also had no way to put out the fires reliably.” He looked over the crowd of citizens huddled together in the middle of the room between Toby and Andrew.

“Citizens of Necron, today marks the true beginning. We will rise from the ashes and be reborn like a phoenix. Henceforth, I will invest my full attention and power into making this the world’s greatest capital city.” Vox watched everyone’s reactions as he made his speech. “Those who wish to join me on this journey should remain. Whereas those who do not should leave now.”

Two goblin servants went to open the doors. Everyone turned to look at the open doors, and a few humans discussed between themselves in hushed voices. Eventually, the man with the missing eye barged through some people and stepped forward. He slowly trudged toward the door and glared at the two goblins with his remaining eye. To his surprise, nobody stopped him, and he was allowed to freely leave.

After that, many others stood to leave. Whether their reasons be doubt or fear of being ruled by a creature that wasn’t even material, they went and never looked back. After a few minutes, only around half the people remained.

The murmurs of discussion died down, and everyone turned back to Vox, who was patiently sitting on his throne. A woman then stepped forward. Andrew’s brow raised as he recognized her. It was the same woman cradling a dead baby he had spotted earlier. Her legs shook as she walked forward, and her breathing was haggard. Tears, mixed with ashes and blood, streamed down her cheeks as she collapsed below Vox’s throne on her knees and held up her baby’s corpse with her two shaking hands. “L-lord Vox…this is my child.” The woman struggled to speak through her sobs. “If you could bring her back…even for a second so I could say goodbye, you can have my soul. My heart. My body. Anything you want!”

Vox saw that nobody else had decided to leave, so he signaled the goblins to close the doors. As the slam of the doors echoed through the room, he turned to the woman. “Brave resident of Necron, I do not desire your soul, heart, or body. All I ask for is undying loyalty. Can you provide that for me?”

“Y-yes…I can provide anything, my lord.”

“Very well. What was the child’s name?” Vox asked as he stood from his throne.

“Elisha…” The woman started crying again and tried to rub her face on her tattered sleeve. “Her name is Elisha, my lord.”

“Elisha! What a beautiful name. It would be a tragedy for her life to end so soon.” Vox placed his shadowy hand on the child’s forehead and muttered, “Elisha, being a citizen of Necron is an eternal right. Therefore, I bring you back from that cursed realm as a lord over death.”

Death attribute mana surged out of Vox’s hand, making all remaining humans step back in fear. But all their eyes went wide when they heard a child’s cry.

The mother brought the wiggling bundle back down, and as she looked inside, a small hand reached up and stroked her cheek. “Elisha?” The mother could hardly comprehend what was happening. “You’re alive?”