A Bored Lich

Thomas's chuckle broke the silence. As heads turned his way, he asked with a nervous smile, "Is this not a bad joke?"

"Unfortunately not," Doevm said. He spent the next few minutes explaining the legacy's opening, Kilot's sealing himself within his forge, Maker's sudden appearance, and that their time in the Polyglint Mines wasn't just to train and acquire weaponry. They needed strength to survive. Their close call in the Bloodwood had shown them that, without Doevm's magic, they wouldn't stand a chance. However, their training would be useless without soulmagic and information about their enemies so as to put their preparation into action. What did it cost? Revealing their location to the gods. Although Doevm couldn't prove that the assassination attempt was just the beginning of their problems, no one doubted his experience and wisdom.

"I don't think their army will be that bad," Olpi said.

Elero scowled: "Didn't Owen nearly kill three of us, by himself no less?"

Olpi's optimism bordered on naivety: "That was different. He had the jump on us. We just fought off a demon army a few weeks ago, and we're stronger now. We have time to prepare. We will have Kilot's weapons too. Wasn't that why we came here in the first place?"

Thomas's fat trembled as he seemed to recall the battle. Although he was trained to fight, the collective trauma from both his death and near-death experiences weighed heavily on his mind. In the Acrin Magic Academy, he was forced to fight the demon king head to head, and was subsequently annihilated - Elero had later explained to Doevm.

Thomas's pudgy hands curled into fists and opened as he asked, "Will the hero be there?"

"I can deal with Wilhelm," Doevm assured him.

"It's ok, really," Thomas's voice steadied. Contrary to Doevm's expectations, there was a flicker of excitement in his eyes.

'I want to fight him again,' Thomas spoke directly to Doevm's mind through their connection. Thomas's beady eyes wandered away from the conversation as he seemed to fall deep into his thoughts.

The others, however, weren't privy to their thoughts. The mere mention of the hero worsened the mood. Doevm, who was used to secretly bearing his burdens alone, watched his friends' expressions drop. He almost missed the days where he openly kept them in the dark. At least then they could content themselves by being angry at him.

"The hero?" Elero repeated. "I'm more worried about the Cardinals than anything."

Olpi gasped. "The hero weaponizes birds?"

Elero snorted, then winced and clutched at her side.

Olpi innocently cocked her head to the side. "Are we not stronger than birds?"

Doevm took a deep breath and explained: "The Cardinals are the strongest among the War Monks. Each one is equivalent to General Alexander."

Elero, Frey, and Thomas all shivered, but Olpi furrowed her brows. "I still don't get it. Does that mean they are strong?"

"One can wipe out this entire city," Doevm said. "They are at the peak of human strength, and when they use their magic on top of that, they are near indestructi-"

"She gets it," Elero snapped. "S-sorry, I'm just really tired."

Doevm hesitated. He wanted them to be aware of the situation, but the oppressive mood was starting to get to him. "Does anyone have any more questions?" he asked.

"What did you get out of the legacy?" Elero asked. "If even the gods are afraid of it, then it's got to be some kind of soul weapon, right?"

Doevm let out a hollow laugh: "I can separate my soul from my body and observe souls directly."

Elero began to perk up, but then she followed with another question: "They can't see you, but you can see them. Will they even know what's killing them?"

"I can only observe in soul form," Doevm said.

Everyone slumped back down. Olpi visibly deflated.

"Any more questions?" Doevm asked. "Please, don't hesitate."

"...Can you just magic them away or something?" Thomas asked. "You did it when the demon king attacked. Can't you just do it again?"

"Any other questions?" Doevm said through gritted teeth. He felt Maker's pretentious eyes jeering at him. He couldn't even be angry at Thomas, the walking talking corpse of Doevm's vow against relying on magic.

The moral withered with each passing second.

Doevm rubbed his temples. He wanted to sleep and think about it another day. Could they fight an army? No. In the first place, the demon king's army didn't have a general-level threat while the War Monks could have one or several. Even if there wasn't a Cardinal within the army, and even if Doevm raised an Undead force to oppose them, War Monks directly countered the Undead. Doevm's head would hit the floor before he knew what had hit him.

Even so he held out hope for a slim chance of survival, because he had never intended to fight an army in the first place. He waited for someone to ask about his plan, but they seemed incapable of thinking. He didn't blame them. After a week of sheer training, they were all beyond their mental and physical limits, including Doevm.

'We can't afford to rest, but if I try to push them I might break their spirits,' Doevm thought. 'Have I overestimated them?'

The sound of closed, dry lips peeling apart drew everyone's attention to the source of the noise, Frey. His pale form hunched in the far corner like a mummy, just as ragged and bloody as the next person. Several, small bruises dotted his forearm. It was a habit whenever he trained to the point of exhaustion. The pain kept him from passing out due to exhaustion, but there was this light in his eyes that wouldn't quit. Even though Frey hadn't inherited Arthur's golden eyes, Doevm recognized that look.

That look, that light, born of trials and tribulations, was tired of losing. A century ago, that same light in Arthur's eyes had always looked down at Doevm's Lich form, who had been knocked to the ground again and again, beaten. Now that same light was in Frey's eyes as he, struggling to stay conscious, looked up at Doevm as if waiting for his decision.

Was Doevm to defeat an army with or without magic? No. Was he to defeat the gods? No. He was born to challenge that light within the eyes of Arthur's reincarnation, Wilhelm, and beat him.

Doevm always felt awkward smiling if he wasn't in a fight, but that moment he smiled broadly at his friend Frey. "You have a week to get familiar with the city and get stronger," he said.

Frey nodded, took a deep breath, and slowly raised to his feet. There was a creaking sound that, upon first hearing it, Doevm assumed to be the wooden floorboards. A moment later, however, Frey extended his arm for the door and another creaking sound grated against his ears. The wood wasn't creaking. It was Frey.

Everyone exchanged looks of concern. "Frey, what happened to you? Are you feeling ok?" Olpi asked.

"Yeah, why?" Frey asked.

"You're creaking!" Olpi said. "You're going to go back out there? What if the goddess's people attack again? We should rest and recover."

"Oh right, the creaking started a few days ago. It happens every now and again," Frey explained as if he had legitimately forgotten that a human body wasn't supposed to creak. "Didn't you hear Doevm? Let's go."