Karnak, Monarch of Death-Chapter 111: The House of Flesh (5)

The hall was a cacophony of destruction. A cookie golem grabbed a chocolate dragon by its neck and slammed it into the ground. Sugar soldiers were crushed underfoot, and cake monsters were pulverized into crumbs. The deafening roars and shattering sounds reverberated throughout the space.

At the center of this chaotic dessert battlefield were the witch and Karnak. The witch summoned her minions ceaselessly, pulling forth an army of monstrous confections with her vast necromantic powers. Karnak, meanwhile, pushed deeper into the boundaries of chaos magic, disrupting the witch’s domain and twisting it to his will.

Dark currents of necromantic energy clashed violently with the flow of mana, creating a maelstrom of power. Karnak observed the unfolding chaos with satisfaction and grinned.

"They’re fighting well."

Serati, still engaged in the fight, sent him a covert message.

—Are you sure this is okay? 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Even now, the people in the cages were watching the battle unfold. Her concern was whether it was wise to disregard their presence.

Karnak replied confidently.

—It’s fine. This is real magic, not necromancy.

The method was practically identical to how he normally utilized necromancy: layering his influence over the existing domain, analyzing its flow, and overturning its control.

The only difference was the source of power. Instead of necromantic energy, he was using chaos magic to achieve the same effect.

—In other words, it’s fine for me to make use of it in front of others.

He could even teach this method to other mages if they asked. After all, this was a groundbreaking new branch of magic. Of course, its foundations were borrowed from the dark arts of the Black God’s cult.

—With this method, other mages could interfere with necromantic domains too. They wouldn’t handle it as effortlessly as I do, of course, but still.

Somehow, this truly became a magic worthy of the term chaos.

Karnak puffed up with pride and smugly declared,

—Don’t you think I did a great job naming it?

Varos, to his credit, offered genuine praise.

—Wow, this really is amazing.

Then, with sudden curiosity, he asked,

—How exactly are you planning to explain how you came up with this magic? This isn’t the kind of spell a twenty-something rookie could create.

Developing a new branch of magic was an accomplishment usually reserved for those at the ninth circle or higher, typically the realm of Archmages. A mere sixth circle mage shouldn’t have been capable of such a feat. Of course, Karnak had already anticipated this question.

—Simple. I mastered it through the spellbook left behind by my great teacher!

—Huh? What teacher? Since when do you have a teacher?

—Why wouldn’t I have a teacher?

The sinister Monarch of Death Karnak had no teacher, but the righteous Baron Karnak of King’s Order? He had one—Dallas, a court mage from 150 years ago. At least, that’s how it was according to the official backstory.

—Are you milking that poor guy’s name again?

—Can you think of a better excuse?

According to the lore, the final magical teachings of Court Mage Dallas had transcended 150 years to reach Karnak. With divine talent and unparalleled effort, he had supposedly mastered a unique spell designed specifically to counter necromancers.

—At least, that’s the story.

—Well, it does sound convincing.

Satisfied, Varos glanced up at the hall’s ceiling.

—And as planned, no one seems to have caught on yet.

The cages suspended above were filled with all sorts of individuals: aura users, mages, priests, and ordinary soldiers. If they could all be deceived, it would be proof of how seamless and safe this chaos magic was.

Serati, curious, asked a question.

—What if someone in the cages had noticed? What would you do then?

—Then I’d just alter their memory.

—But what if they told someone else?

—How? They can’t even make a sound.

—Oh...

—See? I’m trying to resolve this without killing anyone and in a way that benefits everyone. I’m practically living like a decent human being, don’t you think?

—Well... that’s true, but...

While his logic was sound, Serati found herself reluctant to admit it. She pouted slightly and glanced at one of the cages.

I hope Alius is okay. Surely he hasn’t figured it out, right?

***

Alius trembled.

So that’s it...

His fingers quivered as he watched the spectacle before him.

That’s what it is...

This wasn’t magic to control darkness. It was magic that dominated necromancy. It followed the righteous laws of the goddesses while correcting the perverse workings of falsehoods.

That’s how they were able to find us so quickly.

No matter how adept a priest might be at detecting traces of darkness, they could never surpass a necromancer in their own field. With magic like this, it made sense that Karnak could outmatch even priests in detection.

No wonder he’s so effective against necromancers...

That magic was, without a doubt, the ultimate bane of necromancy. And for such a spell to emerge during this era when the apocalypse of darkness loomed over the world?

"Truly, this must be the guidance of the goddess."

Moved, Alius made the sign of the cross. Once he placed his trust in someone, he believed in them to the end. That was both his greatest strength and his most glaring weakness.

***

Serati carefully observed Alius inside the cage and felt relieved.

No problem here.

Having traveled together for some time, she could roughly read his expressions. A blatant look of trust gleamed brightly in his eyes.

Alius is a good person, but he’s just too naive.

Still, it was a relief. They were going to travel across the empire together for a while, and she had no desire to witness him writhing in torment every night with needles sticking out of his head.

She shifted her gaze back to the hall.

Now we just need to deal with that, and this will all be over.

The witch was rampaging against the advancing cookie golems.

"Groooar!"

She unleashed inorganic, jarring noises as her limbs flailed wildly. Each blow shattered the golems, scattering cookie crumbs everywhere. But the witch wasn’t unscathed. Her body cracked and spilled darkness like blood. Her arms broke and regenerated. Her legs were destroyed and then reappeared. It was an endless cycle of destruction and regeneration.

Varos remarked while tightening his grip on this sword.

—This is her last desperate stand. Should we finish her?

Karnak replied.

—No, I’ll handle it. This is a good chance to experiment with a few things.

—What are you planning?

Instead of answering, Karnak posed a question.

—Why do you think the witch has been able to hold out for so long?

The two swordsmen exchanged blank looks as if to say, How should we know?

Smirking, Karnak elaborated.

—It’s because this place is a twisted hell.

This space had been warped by the witch’s intense imagery. It was drawn from a subconscious well of universal yet distorted and chaotic fairy tale imagery. The stronger this imagery, the weaker reality became in comparison. That was why the swords and magic from reality had reduced effectiveness against the witch, yet cookie golems crafted from the same fairy tale image could easily destroy her monsters.

—In this warped fairy tale, her reality is the dominant one. So, weapons from within the fairy tale could strike a fatal blow without interference.

And with that, he began to summon something. He intended to extract a powerful weapon hidden within the witch’s fairy tale. Karnak gripped his staff tightly, channeling his chaos magic.

"Come forth, a fragment of the deepest abyss."

Summoning circles appeared all around the hall, and round, wheel-like objects emerged. Varos and Serati’s expressions turned peculiar at the sight.

Huh?

Is that...?

Everyone recognized the object.

—Spinning wheels?

Scattered across the hall were dozens of spinning wheels—the kind found in any rural household, used for spinning thread.

Unable to comprehend, Serati asked,

—Why is a spinning wheel a weapon?

Even Karnak looked a bit flustered.

—Well, uh... good question?

He hadn’t specifically chosen the type of weapon. He had merely pulled something from the depths of the fairy tale’s imagery. But since it had been summoned, it was undoubtedly one of the fairy tale’s weapons. The problem was figuring out how exactly it could be used as one. After a moment’s thought, Karnak swung his staff with determination.

—Oh, whatever. Let’s handle this like every boy’s dream.

In uncertain times, the best approach was to rely on what one was most familiar with. Karnak had learned this through experience. After all, fairy tale imagery wasn’t something exclusive to the witch.

"Rise, spirit of the abyss!"

Dozens of spinning wheels transformed into peculiar shapes. They morphed into massive arms, legs, torsos, and heads, then assembled midair into one colossal entity.

"Grrrrrrroooaaar!"

The giant spinning wheel golem raised its enormous arms and let out an earth-shaking roar. Without hesitation, it delivered a powerful blow to the witch.

Booom!

The witch was sent flying over ten meters from the impact. Varos widened his eyes in shock.

—It-It’s strong!

—Of course.

Karnak smirked, puffing out his chest with pride.

—What boy doesn’t love a transforming, combining giant?

***

The enormous spinning wheel golem relentlessly pummeled the tiny witch.

"Grrrrrrroooaaar!"

Punches, kicks, and even headbutts flew in rapid succession. The witch fought back desperately, slashing at the wheel with her claws, kicking with both feet, and flailing her arms wildly.

Crash! Smash! Boom!

They pounded on each other in a primal, no-holds-barred brawl. Brute force against brute force, the bigger tended to hold the advantage. Bit by bit, the witch began to falter. The entire hall started to tremble.

Thud! Thud! Crack!

Each time the witch was struck, parts of the candy-coated hall crumbled away, revealing grotesque walls of flesh beneath. The facade of the sweet fairy tale shattered like a peeling illusion, exposing the grotesque truth beneath. The hall was now covered in horrific tendrils and pulsating flesh. From inside their cages, the humans recoiled in horror.

"Wh-what is this?!"

"Dear gods, no!"

The most nauseating sight was the transformation of what had once been colorful candy into grotesque chunks of flesh and the sweet juice into putrid blood.

"Ugh!"

"Oh, no—blegh!"

Realizing they might have eaten some of that earlier, many began to gag and dry heave. Meanwhile, the first witch-hunting party, who had already consumed plenty of the cursed food, remained seated in their cages with vacant stares.

The spinning wheel golem continued to batter the witch mercilessly.

"Grrrrrrroooaaar!"

It crushed her arms, shattered her legs, and obliterated her head repeatedly. The witch’s regeneration slowed visibly. Now, she floated like a shadowy spirit, weakly exuding darkness from her frail form.

"All right, time to finish this," Karnak declared, snapping his fingers.

Suddenly, flames erupted across the spinning wheel golem’s entire body.

Whoooosh!

Serati looked puzzled.

Huh? Why is he burning the golem now?

Before she could voice her question, Karnak’s voice rang in her mind.

—Serati, remember what you said earlier?

—About what?

—How the witch dies in the fairy tale.

—What?

She blinked in confusion and turned to glance at Karnak. He smiled knowingly and gestured toward the burning golem and the witch. The witch stood before the blazing spinning wheel giant, her shadowy form flickering in its light.

—Oh!

Realization dawned on Serati’s face. She immediately sprang into action, understanding exactly what Karnak intended. The witch kept retreating from the flaming golem, trying desperately to avoid its onslaught. Serati quietly maneuvered behind her.

"Take this!”

She slammed her foot into the witch’s back.

Thud!

The witch had easily shrugged off countless strikes infused with aura. According to reason, a mere kick would have done nothing. However, the witch toppled over shockingly easily.

"Kehek!"

The witch fell directly into the embrace of the blazing golem. As the flames intensified, her entire form began to disintegrate into ash, accompanied by a piercing scream.

"Gyaaaahhhh!"

Watching the witch's agonizing end, both Varos and Karnak grimaced.

—Wow, that’s pretty gruesome in person.

—Yeah. Are we sure this is a fairy tale fit for children?

The screams gradually died down, along with the witch’s flickering form. Eventually, both the golem and the witch were reduced to nothing but ashes. As the remnants of the witch scattered into the air, Karnak smirked.

—Exactly as I planned.

Strictly speaking, Serati hadn’t been the one to finish the witch off. The true executioner had been the warped fairy tale’s concluding scene.

—If you can’t mess with others, you get messed with. That’s the nature of necromancy.

With the witch eradicated, their final task was to free the people still trapped in the cages. Their silent pleas for help were visible through panicked mouthing movements.

"Varos, Serati," Karnak commanded, gesturing toward the hanging cages. "Free the captives."