The Black Necromancer



Leon's mind moved quickly as he fought against Umbra. He could never let his guard down because of the constant teleportation, but the pressure on him was not overwhelming. He was able to respond to every attack with some more room to spare, but not too much.

As the fight progressed, Leon focused mostly on defending and reacting to attacks that were thrown at him while trying to come up with a good way to deal with Umbra as quickly as possible.

'My Domain should be able to limit his teleportation. It might even be enough to capture him if I'm lucky.' Leon thought to himself. The reason why he thought like this was simple. Umbra could teleport by relying on the shadows that were beneath his feet. It was not like normal teleportation, and was basically like traveling through his shadows. It was good in a close quarters fight, but the limitation was that he could only teleport wantonly within the confines of his Domain and not anywhere else.

Leon did not waste any more time. The longer the fight drew on, the greater the chances that things would go wrong. He had not killed all the Black Shadow Panthers in the clan, just the ones that were in the immediate vicinity.

His Domain spread out from underneath his feet, overlapping with Umbra's. When Umbra saw this, he wanted to laugh, as there was no way for the Domain of a weaker Shadow Panther to overpower his, but in the next moment, he found himself at a loss.

"What? How is this possible?!"

Arms rose up from the ground and began to wrap around Umbra's legs. He tried to teleport, but he felt as if teleporting would only lead to sudden death.

"Did you really think that you could beat me?" Leon asked and Umbra's eyes darted back up to him.

"...What are you?" It was only then that Umbra realized that the opponent he was fighting was no Black Shadow Panther at all.

"You will be dead soon enough, so that is not important." Leon waved his hand as the hands continued to climb up Umbra's body. They bound his arms and legs while digging into his skin and drawing blood.

"W-wait! Don't kill me!" Umbra's eyes were wild and manic. He had lived a very long time and had not been this close to death in centuries. This emotion, this fear, was very foreign to him. He saw his life flash before him. He recalled his cruelty, his ruthlessness. All of what he had done to be able to rise up to his position.

"I see now... All my deeds have come back to haunt me. Is this... Karma...?" With those last words, Umbra's Divine Fragment was ripped out of his chest and the light in his eyes faded out, leaving his body lifeless.

"Rise up, Umbra." Leon said and his Divine Power rolled out of his core, diving into Umbra's body and taking hold of his fleeting soul. Without giving Umbra time to rest, the Black Shadow Panther was revived, but this time, as Leon's servant.

"I... am alive?" When Umbra returned to his senses, he was shocked to see himself standing in front of Leon. But instead of a burning desire to kill Leon, he felt nothing but utmost loyalty and the desire to serve Leon to the best of his abilities and beyond.

"Welcome back, Umbra." Leon smirked when he saw how easily that had worked. He had thought that it would be much more stressful to transform Umbra into a loyal summon.

'With this, I can continue to build an undead army here before Nedra and the others ascend.' He thought to himself.

Leon ditched the Black Shadow Panther disguise and returned to his skeleton form, allowing Umbra to gaze upon the real looks of his master.

"Of course, you are a God. It is no surprise I lost." Umbra said upon realizing Leon's true identity. He then went down on one knee and bowed his head. "It is an honor to serve under you." Umbra felt no resentment in his heart and saw it as only the natural order for him to lose to Leon and become his servant.

Leon only nodded his head, pleased at Umbra's words. He had thought that his new bond with Umbra would serve to suppress any lingering resentment that the former would have over his death, but Umbra's heart was surprisingly clear of hate and resentment, only resolution. His resolve to serve Leon was burning!

Seeing that all was well here, Leon turned to look at the fawn that was staring down at him with its mouth agape.

"Are you ready to come with me?" He asked, his tone amused.

"I did not think it would be so easy for you to defeat him." The fawn managed to say after a few seconds. Seeing Leon's power, it knew that it was no match, especially since it could not escape from the special cage that Umbra had used to trap it. The cage sealed off all its spatial and time powers, preventing it from teleporting away.

"Umbra, get that cage down." Leon ordered his new summon and Umbra did as he was told. With a masterful manipulation of shadows, the cage was soon dropped in front of Leon.

"Alright, get me out of here." The fawn said in a squeaky tone, quite obviously intimidated by Leon.

"I don't think so. You will probably try to run away the moment I let you out. I think I'll keep you in there for now." Leon shook his head with a laugh. He then ordered Umbra to pick up the cage amidst the protests of the fawn.

"I promise to serve you for ten years! No, five decades! A century?" The fawn tried to persuade Leon to no avail. Leon had already made up his mind and was not going to change it any time soon. The fawn was a tricky creature and he knew not to trust it. For now, he was going to keep the cage in his God Kingdom, and after completing it, he would see what he could do to tame the fawn. For some reason, his intuition told him that it would be much more useful alive than dead and turned into his summon.

Leon walked out of Umbra's quarters with Umbra carrying the cage with the fawn in it. He went ahead to turn all the Black Shadow Panthers he had killed into summons before walking away. Any Black Shadow Panther they subsequently came across was killed and turned into a summon. The commotion drew even more Black Shadow Panthers to them, and the cycle repeated itself.

By the time they left the Black Shadow Panther Clan's territory, Leon had over fifty new summons. Together, their strength was something to be feared on this island!

Leon had refrained from killing all the Black Shadow Panthers. When some of the smarter ones saw their kind being killed so easily, they had fled for fear of their lives.

"Alright, let's head back." Leon told Umbra. He absorbed the other Black Shadow Panthers into his Abyss of the Undead and took off from the island's edge with Umbra and the fawn, turning into a stream of light that flew away in the blink of an eye.

When Leon arrived at his God Kingdom with Umbra and the fawn in tow, he was surprised to see Michael and Fazir waiting a short distance away from it.

"Michael, Fazir. How can I be of help to you?" Leon asked with a smile. Of course, he would not be rude to the two most powerful backers that had ensured a smooth rise for him.

Before responding, the two Gods looked at Umbra and the fawn that Leon had brought with him. At a glance, they could tell that Umbra was a summon. But their attention was more fixed on the fawn.

"What a rare find." Fazir said while rubbing his chin and Michael nodded.

"You mean this?" Leon asked, turning to the fawn that was at alert now. "It was a troublesome fella that gave me a bit of a headache." Leon explained with a laugh.

"That is a Ripple Deer. It is an extremely precious creature and is much more valuable than you think. To come across one is a sign of extreme fortune, Leon." Fazir said with a knowledgeable tone. He stroked his chin as he gazed upon the creature that stared back at him from the cage. "Very few Ripple Deer have been able to ascend to Godhood, and each one has gone on to become a powerhouse wherever they stay. They generally do not like to meddle in mundane matters, though." He explained.