The Black Necromancer

When clarity returned to Leon, he immediately felt powerful energies swimming through his body. It was so much of a shock that he was unable to contain the burst of power from within his body. All around him, similar bursts of power surged, shaking the walls all around them.

Whoosh!

A flash of silver light burst in front of Leon and Michael appeared with an unamused expression. The man held out his hand and a silver barrier formed around Leon and his summons.

"Regain control of yourself quickly." He told Leon. Already, Leon was beginning to grasp control of his newfound power, but it was not as easy as it was in the past as there was a new mix of energies in his body. No longer was it simply mana that was contained in his bones and core.

Before Leon's race advancement, he had already grasped a tiny bit of the power of Divinity, but he had yet to truly merge with it. Now, after his race advancement, this power had finally turned into his own. The remnants of Michael's Divinity that had lingered within his body to allow him manipulate the higher energy had been cleansed and transformed into a new form of Divinity that was unique to Leon!

This presented him with a unique situation where he was not entirely sure how to contain his own power. His earlier interaction with Divinity had given him some hints and pointers, but he was working with an entirely different beast now.

Beside Leon, Nedra also went through a similar transformation. As the one being that was so closely connected to Leon that they shared a spiritual bond, she had always been quite close to him in strength, although their different paths and powers were expressed differently.

Thanks to their connection, Nedra also received a baptism from Leon that bled over into her and raised her power and life level, allowing her to also be able to grasp the concept of Divinity, if only slightly. However, just the tiniest bit was enough to work wonders already.

Just before Leon was able to grasp control over his aura, he suddenly felt the world shift around him and he slipped into a dark space.

"What?!" He was stunned and immediately let go of his attempts to grasp his aura. He did not feel safe in this space right now. He could tell that Michael was not behind his sudden teleportation.

[Do not fear, little mouse.] A deep voice boomed through the darkness, causing the space around Leon to ripple.

"Who are you?!" Leon spun around, trying to locate the source of the voice.

[Hmm, who am I? It has been a long time since I referred to myself in such a way. I can not remember the name I went by before I ascended, but you may know me as the Paragon of Undeath.] The voice had a slightly amused tone to it, which was even more pronounced when it uttered the last words.

"!!" Leon was so stunned that he was unable to speak, but his haywire aura conveyed his shock well enough.

[Ah, you do know of me. Haha!] The voice laughed out loud and the space around rippled. The darkness began to coalesce into a single point in front of Leon, revealing a humanoid form that stood at roughly four meters in height. The being was incredibly tall, and the aura that rolled off its shoulders was pressuring.

The darkness formed a resplendent armor set that covered the being, but there was no visible face. Instead, an open visor let Leon see two golden orbs in the middle of the dark helmet.

[I have been watching you for some time now. Ever since you absorbed a fragment of my old self.] The Paragon of Undeath said. He walked around Leon slowly, as if examining him. Leon could feel the powerful True God peer into his soul and examine it like a chef examining a piece of meat.

"What do you want?" Leon finally managed to compose himself a bit. He turned to face the powerful being in front of him.

[What I want? It's quite simple. I want to make you a part of myself. But it won't be possible. Your path does not align with my own, and you will only contaminate me. As such, I will simply guide your path to True God from the shadows. I will wait for you to rise to my level, and then we shall meet again.]

After those words were spoken, a powerful surge of energy burst from the Paragon of Undeath and swarmed Leon. Leon raised up his hands to defend, but his shields were like a breeze before the power that came rushing to him.

However, before the wave of power could touch Leon, a bright red light blazed in the darkness, forming a shield around Leon.

[LEAVE HIM TO HIS PATH!!!]

A powerful voice boomed, shocking even the Paragon of Undeath. He hurriedly turned to the source of the light and looked. A bright red star pierced through the darkness. Leon also turned to it and was pleasantly surprised to find that the light was the brightest star within the Void - the Nexus Being.

[...] The Paragon of Undeath did not speak, but his actions spoke louder than words. He vanished in a swirl of dark power, and instantly, his overbearing pressure vanished, leaving Leon there, floating in the middle of the voice.

[Little Necromancer, you have attracted the attention of a devious being. Be careful.] Leon heard the voice of the Nexus Being and in the next moment, he found himself standing in the underground space that held the mana crystal formation.

Looking around, Leon realized that there was no one there anymore, but before he could wonder where they went, he felt Nedra's presence. The Companion Spirit appeared in front of Leon and immediately jumped on him.

"You had me worried, you fool!" Nedra was like a mother as she hugged Leon. However, Leon could not stop staring in shock at her. She no longer resembled her short statured self, but looked like a mature young lady. She was also not in her 'other' mature form, but had the look of a dignified noble.

"Is... that you, Nedra?" Leon asked as his Companion Spirit finally stepped back. He took a good look at her from top to bottom.

"Heh, of course, it is me." Nedra scoffed and flicked her curly white waist-length hair that was splayed behind her. She was wearing high quality resplendent white robes that had purple flourishes and accentuations. Her eyes glowed with purple light and her smile was alluring.

"What happened to you?" Leon asked.

"My race advancement happened. I have reached a higher state than I could have ever imagined. And it's all thanks to you, Leon. I'm glad I made that decision when we first met." Nedra explained with a bright smile.

"Now, come. Michael is waiting." Nedra said and turned around to leave. Leon followed behind her, a bit dazed, but feeling happy nonetheless.

"Hold on." Leon placed a hand on her shoulder, and in the next moment, the both of them appeared in front of Michael's temple. "I can teleport around without problem now." Leon grinned at Nedra's shocked expression. He walked ahead and the large doors leading into the temple opened on their own. The trip to the throne room was also quite short. The guardian golems dutifully held open the doors and closed them behind the duo.

When Leon stepped into the throne room, he was pleasantly surprised to find that his other elite summons were also present.

"Master!"

As soon as they laid eyes on Leon, all of them immediately went down on their knees. Leon looked amongst them and was surprised to find out that Nedra was not the only one who had undergone a massive transformation in this race advancement.

Kaladin looked like an emperor as he was covered in luscious robes that glowed with might and power. A large and illustrious headwear was on his head. It reminded Leon of something that a sultan would wear, but it was vertically longer and more domineering. An open-mouthed skull was engraved onto the front of the headwear. A bone staff with a skull on its top floated beside him, oozing waves of power and magical might.

As for Nero, the Berserker Knight was... much more different. A dangerous calmness oozed from Nero's body as he knelt before Leon. He was a towering knight that radiated a sort of dangerous calm - one that was not to be underestimated. His armor had also morphed, and was now covered with red skulls all over. His shoulder paddings were large red skulls with their mouths open, and red fire blazed through them. His helmet was not on his head, revealing a black crystal skull that had streaks of red energy dancing through it.

Grokus, which had always been larger than Leon's two Obsidian Skeleton summons had grown even larger, standing at almost four meters in height. He wore dark green robes that covered his extremely muscular build, and his face was one of impassiveness, like a monk. However, he still radiated an extremely dangerous feeling. Several skull totems hung from his waist, their sockets ablaze with green fire.

Behind the three of them, Leon's other summons had undergone very drastic changes that were just as exaggerated as that of the earlier mentioned.

Fenrir, Ignis, Oris, Seth, and Tyrant, had all gained human forms! Although they were not exactly humans, but humanoids. Fenrir resembled a four meter tall Werewolf with black fur that stood on ends, almost like ice spikes.

Ignis was a floating two meter tall humanoid with no nose, and a head crowned by flames that ran down his backside. His feet constantly gave off scalding flames that kept him afloat.

Oris was a birdman, of all things. Two wings spread behind his back as he kept his head bowed. The wings were pitch black and resembled obsidian, just like the bones of Leon and his two Obsidian Skeleton summons.

As for Seth, he was a humanoid snake-man with black scales and circular patterns all over his body. He was the least dramatic looking out of the elite summons, but his changes were still drastic.

Last but not least was Tyrant. His size was as domineering as ever, still towering over Leon's other summons, including Grokus, at just over five meters. He was now closer to a massive Lizardman, than a dinosaur, but a bloodthirsty aura that burned the air hung around him.

The flames burning within Leon's skull surged with excitement as he laid eyes on his reborn elite summons. Indeed, his overall strength had undergone a drastic surge!