Supreme Monarch

Tyler stared blankly at the handsome scout that was now kneeling before him. He was a bit rattled by the sudden change of events. Frankly speaking, he hadn't saved this guy because of his offer, to begin with. He would've saved them simply because he wanted any information out of them and it didn't matter if he was willing or not.

The deal he had made with this guy made things a lot easier so he was willing to let him go as long as he entered a demon's pact alongside his companion about keeping everything that happened here a secret. A demon's pact was a very reliable method of sealing the risk that came with letting this guy leave so Tyler hadn't been worried about that, to begin with.

However, the situation had taken another turn and perhaps at this point, he should've expected this from everyone that finds themselves in any kind of predicament. Their situations may be different but at its core, this was fundamentally the same situation as it had been with both the settlement and the girls.

Still, he could no longer afford to be as lax with these things as he had been in the case of the settlement. At that time he was still dealing with a lot of troublesome issues after only just awakening from what was essentially a thousand-year coma and even with his newfound strength and resistance, that long of a lapse in time was surely going to affect his mind.

He was lucky he hadn't made too many bad decisions due to the stress and frustration that had slowly built up over time. It was a good thing he was now strong enough to handle the repercussions from those impulsive decisions he had made. His new physiology and the influence of the demon king may have had a role in that as well but he still didn't have the time or method to confirm all that.

Using the silent spell, placate, he returned his mind to its previous state of calm and analyzed the current situation while weighing the pros and cons of accepting this young man's request. However, he still wasn't too sure of what this young man was capable of so there wasn't enough information for him to make a decision right away.

While he still needed manpower, he couldn't accept a potential risk for just that.

"Say, you seem like quite an informed and intelligent fellow. So why would the Zorak family brand you a traitor?"

Zomatsu's face twisted for a brief moment before it returned to normal. He had already expected this line of questioning as it was only natural but still, thinking about the reason made him sick.

His hesitation only lasted a second as he soon spoke with his previous conviction.

"My father was once one of the Elders in the Zorak family but I was only a product of one of his mistresses. She was a lesser demon so I was never meant to be part of the family, to begin with even though I was born a demon Noble. My father never had a son with his numerous wives so before he passed away he brought me and my mother into one of the branch families."

"I had a very useful innate ability to the family so I only spent a few years as part of the branch family and was quickly brought in as an outer member of the main family, although my mother was not allowed in as the main family discriminated against lesser demons. Of course, the branch family was not any better, but I had no choice but to leave her there when the family had promised to protect her."

"I guess I was a bit too naive, why would they care about a single lesser demon. The mother of a foolish boy they could easily manipulate to do their bidding."

Tyler sensed the intense emotions swirling within this young man as he continued with a determined expression. 

"I later found out that there were two reasons why the family felt it was worth it to allow a lesser demon into a noble household even before my father had made his decision. The first was the usefulness of my ability to the family and the second was my mother's family's Xerox Gauntlet."

"Xerox Gauntlet?"

Zomatsu hesitated for a bit when Tyler had asked that question. It was true that he was desperate and needed help but that did not make this any easier. This was his mother's heritage he was talking about here, what's more to a stranger he had never met before.

"Yes, the Xerox Gauntlet is a Special Grade Magic artifact that had been passed down in my mother's family for a long time. It can copy and store five skills, spells as well an innate abilities, making it quite a problem for the Great Five who considered their innate abilities as a purebloods heritage."

Is that why they are after you?

Yes, the Gauntlet currently has the innate ability of the Zorak family stored within it and up until recently, they had been made to believe that the weapon had gone missing when my mother passed away due to their negligence."

"I take it you're the one that made them believe that."

"Yes, Sire."

Tyler chuckled and spoke, "Alright I'll consider this, however, I don't do charity, if you want to come under my protection, you'll have to prove to me how useful you can be, otherwise, I might as well kill you right now."

A cold wind swept through his soul from those lost words but Zomatsu still persevered on. "That will not be a problem."

"Excellent." 

••••••••••

••••••••••

After setting a series of tasks for the one know as Zomatsu to impress him. Tyler left the room with Albert in tow and they soon arrived at the front of his 'Lab room' on the first floor of the north wing.

As they entered the room, all Tyler saw was a small box on one of the long metal tables and unlike last time, there were no bodies here already waiting for him. Of course, Albert had already inspected all the bodies but there were a lot of them and not a lot of room on the long table for that many bodies.

Walking towards the spatial storage box, Tyler picked it up and observe the space within to confirm its content. Any spatial storage was usually a bound item that could only be accessed by the user but they could also be set so everyone could use it without having to break or bypass any magic encryption.

He chose two of the bodies and they appeared on the metal long table before him. Turned out he didn't need to make any reaching motions to pull something out of storage space. Hopefully, he hadn't looked weird doing that.

There were a few things he needed to do here other than creating some undead. He didn't have the proper Create Undead spell neither did he have any special necromancy skills so he had to feel his way through this by trying his best to regulate the strength of his spell.

Thanks to the expansion he made to his Mana body, he had gotten a semblance of control over his Mana but it was far from perfect. He could generally just restrict the flow of his mana or let it run wild which tends to increase the potency of a normally weak spell by several folds for some reason. 

He still wasn't sure why that was and didn't have the luxury of researching it yet. Letting his Mana run wild also wasn't good for his mana body so he had been trying his best not to go too far. At least not enough that he causes more damage to his already fragile Mana body.

The two bodies on the table were of beastmen both of which had characteristics of predatory animals from earth. He couldn't tell what specific animal it was though as their bodies were completely charred black by lightning. It was a miracle their bodies were even still intact after receiving Liz's Attack.

Tyler took a deep breath and tried to regulate his Mana flow. He moved his Mana around his body as a test of control and did this for a while before he finally felt a bit more confident. Raising his arm above one of the charred bodies he cast his spell by completely restricting his Mana flow so the Tier 2 spell would produce Tier 2 results.

"Create Undead."

A Black smoke-like aura suddenly encased one of the bodies on the table and the metal long table vibrated as the body slowly morphed into a familiar figure. The vibration suddenly stopped as the dark smoke-like aura visibly diminished and the body moved.

The undead got off the table and took a knee in front of Tyler. Just like the last one, it was a massive creature that stood almost 8ft tall with grey shriveled up skin that stuck to its bones making it look like a skeleton. Its face was also more dried up and revealed the bones of its teeth from its exposed jaws that gave off a terrifying and menacing look.

A black helmet that wasn't there before was now covering half its face. It was clad in raven black demonic-looking armor and wielded a shield that held the souls of its victims trapped on the surface accompanied by a black long sword.

This was a Tier 2 Black Knight and just like last time, all of its skills flooded into Tyler's head. Tyler sighed and commanded the black knight to stand in the corner. He had expected this result as the last one he had created was at the same time he created the spell so the strength of the spell remained the same.

The second corpse was the same class as the first so it was now time to see what happens when he increased the potency of the spell a little. Raising his arm over the second one, he cast his spell again.

"Create Undead."

Mana stirred within him and Tyler tried his best to gain control on how much was used but still couldn't completely maintain the absurd amount of mana that went into the magic circle. He quickly cut off the flow before things went out of hand and as luck would have it, the spell had achieved his goal and overtired.

A denser amount of black smoke-like aura encased the body and it instantly began convulsing vigorously as the metal long table rapidly vibrated. The phenomenon ended soon after and the body slowly morphed into a similar figure as the first. However, the aura that was emanating from this undead was way stronger than the first.

This one was a Tier 3 Black knight and Tyler was happy to see the change. Still, this was not what he was after. He had confirmed that increasing the potency of the spell through his uniqueness would create stronger undead do now he would move on to a different class of undead. 

He ordered the second undead to the corner as well, then he took a short break as a way not to put any strain on his mana body as Albert just stood by the entrance quietly. After a while, he brought out another set of bodies as they appeared on the long metal table.

Since he wanted a different class from warriors, these two were as far as he could get. Two female figures lay on the long metal table, their heads separated from their bodies but still arranged atop their shoulders just a few inches away from their necks.

One of them was a lesser demon with curved goat-like horns protruding from the side of her head and a long thin green tail from her lower back. Her skin was now deathly pale which gave off a strange variation to her beauty. She had slightly greenish-black, hair that had been tied in a bun and also green eyes. 

Tyler approached this one and without much reserve, he cast his spell again.

"Create Undead."

An absurd amount of mana surged within him but Tyler did little to stop it as he only made sure he had enough Mana left to stay conscious and not end up in a sorry state as he had been in the Forest.

A dark smoke-like aura surged out of the female corpse and encased it in a thick cocoon of negative energy and Tyler immediately felt a certain level of corruption assault his mind. The spell seemed to have broken way past its limit but unlike all the previous times, he felt a massive backlash from the aura which made the crack in his left palm grow even larger, threatening to turn him into the undead.

Tyler quickly took several steps back in a fluster which startled Albert a bit but he could not approach the massive cacoon of negative energy before him so he had no choice but to watch.

Tyler didn't panic, he had always known that dabbling in necromancy would have consequences so he was a little prepared. Reaching into space he pulled out several scrolls and activated them instantly.

Protection Against Negative Energy;

Negative Shield;

Light Blessings;

Remove Curse.

Of course, non of these were strong enough to completely heal him, but at the very least, when the glow from the spells had faded, his body returned to his previous state with barely any negative Corruption.

The thick cacoon of negative energy slowly started to disperse and a slender female figure squirmed around and stood up. Tyler's eyes widened when he saw the figure move, she didn't look like any undead he had expected to see as her skin was still intact only gaining a greyish-white hue and retaining her previous appearance although one could say she now had a deathly beauty.

The creature stood up with the grace of a living being, clad in a somewhat seductive, black rogues robe that was accompanied by a hood. She had two curved short swords strapped to her slender waist as she walked over to Tyler and took a knee.

"I await your orders, master."