The Zombie King's Crown
"Hah! Hah! Whew!"
With the dark city looming behind them, Simon's group tore down the street in a panicked sprint.
"Hang in there, Cami!"
"You too, Simon!"
Barely a few minutes ago the streets had been empty — but as if the zombies had sprung up out of nowhere, their numbers had swollen in an instant.
Their routes of entry were as varied as could be. Zombies poured out of every alley in swarming packs, and some even came bursting right out of the houses themselves.
"What on earth is going on?" Meilin shouted. "They're coming out of places we already cleared!"
"Then we must have missed some! Just keep running!"
Zombies were closing the encirclement around the four sprinting students from every direction at once. Seeing the numbers writhing in the darkness made Simon's head swim before the fight had even begun.
"There are more up ahead!"
Camibarez cried out. Simon and Rick exchanged a glance and nodded. The two of them drew swords from their subspace and surged ahead of the girls.
Shring!
Sliice!
The bodies of the two boys and the zombies crossed paths in a blur. A zombie's head went sailing off into the air.
Rick's cut had been a little shallow — he spun around and drove his blade back into the zombie's spine.
"Ugh!"
When he pulled the sword free, black flecks of blood spattered across his face, and Rick shuddered with his shoulders hunched in disgust.
"Meilin!"
"I know!"
FWOOSH!
Black flames kindled in both her hands. She dropped fire into the gap between two houses, setting the alley alight.
The zombies charging through the alley faltered. Some recklessly threw themselves into the fire and burned to death; others turned back — and a few even leapt clean over the flames.
"Now!"
The four of them pushed their speed to the limit in that opening.
Somewhere along the way, their roles in the escape had settled naturally into place. Simon and Rick cut down the zombies rushing them head-on with sword in hand, Meilin raised walls of fire at intervals to block the flanks, and Camibarez kept their rear covered with Blood Bullets.
"Dear god!"
Rick's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull as he looked back.
The zombie horde chasing them had already well surpassed a hundred.
Every time one of Camibarez's Blood Bullets landed, dozens were swept off their feet — and the sight of fresh zombies clambering over the fallen like a raging wave sent a chill down his spine.
-Uuuuaaaaaagh!
-Kiiiiiieee!
Sweat dripped from Simon's face, drop by drop. At this rate, his stamina would give out and they'd be caught. He needed somewhere — anywhere — to catch his breath.
Simon's eyes gleamed with focus. His gaze, which had been sweeping frantically around them, locked onto the rooftop of a nearby mansion.
He deliberated briefly and acted fast.
'Come out.'
Simon opened his subspace and summoned four skeletons — then immediately activated Bone Armour.
Chak-chak!
Chak!
The skeletons' bodies broke apart and began snapping snugly into place over Simon and his teammates.
"KYAAAAH! What is this?!"
Meilin shrieked and pulled her legs up in alarm.
"It's a dark spell I cast. Just bear with it for a second!"
"Ah, you scared me half to death! Warn a girl before you do that!"
Winded as he was, Simon fitted Bone Armour onto all four of them.
Full-body armor would have required two skeletons per person, but commanding eight skeletons at once was beyond him. So Simon settled for arming only their lower bodies.
"Everyone, line up in a row beside me! Legs straight, right up against mine!"
The four of them clustered awkwardly around Simon. Rick glanced back at the horde and let out a hollow laugh, the way a man does when he's seen something he'd rather not have.
"Oooh boy. No clue what you're planning, but whatever it is, I'd do it fast!"
"They're still coming from the front too! At this rate we'll be surrounded!"
Failure would not be forgiven.
Simon raised his concentration and activated the subspace in his left ring.
'Open Gate!'
SHWOOSH!
Overlord's tentacles erupted from the subspace on the ground and shot skyward like catapults, flinging the four of them upward.
"KYAAAAH!"
"WOOOOW!"
They flew.
The four of them soared into the air — and the zombies swarmed over the spot they'd just occupied.
A 'hill' of bodies had formed in a matter of seconds. A few seconds later and they would have been buried underneath it. The thought alone made his blood run cold.
'Straight up to the roof!'
The Bone Armour pulled the four of them together. The skeletons' pull alone couldn't produce any dramatic flying effect, but it did keep Overlord-launched bodies airborne just a little longer.
The mansion was right in front of them now.
"Grab on!"
Thwack.
Thump!
Three of them seized the edge of the mansion's roof. But petite Camibarez's arms swung through empty air — she couldn't reach the edge, and she fell.
"Cami!!"
"I've got her."
Simon released his grip on the roof without a moment's hesitation. Kicking off the mansion's wall, he blasted Jet-Black from his feet like a booster.
BOOM!
As he descended along the wall, Simon's body shot downward — and he caught the crouching, eyes-squeezed-shut Camibarez in his arms, both legs angled toward the wall.
'Open Gate!'
Vmmm.
A subspace opened in the building's wall, and Overlord's blades thrust out in a straight line.
Simon planted both feet on the blade, bent his knees to absorb the impact, and mimed settling onto an invisible chair.
"Hoo!"
Droplets of sweat flying, he craned his head upward. Like a staircase, Overlord's blades jutted out of the wall at even intervals.
Simon launched himself without hesitation, planting his right foot on the second step. Then he immediately stretched out his left and stepped onto the third.
Tat!
Ta!
Tat!
His movements were those of a wild animal, and Rick and Meilin let out gasps of admiration. Climbing Overlord's staircase, Simon made it safely onto the roof.
Only then did he heave a long, shuddering sigh of relief — and then he looked down at Camibarez in his arms and smiled warmly at her.
"Sorry. That must have scared you."
Camibarez was trembling, her face bright red, both hands clasped tightly together.
"I-I'm sorry."
"This wasn't your fault. It was a miscalculation on my part... ugh!"
His legs finally gave out, and Simon crumpled to one knee.
"Simon! Simon! Are you okay?"
"Ah — my legs just gave out for a second."
"Is everyone hurt?!"
Rick and Meilin scrambled over to them.
[Ho ho, not bad at all.]
Tap.
Tap.
Atop a ruined building, a boy with pale grey skin idly tossed a pebble from palm to palm, playing with it.
His eyes were fixed on Simon and his teammates, catching their breath on the mansion's rooftop.
[I can't exactly let them slip away that easily.]
He slid his palm slowly through the air — and the zombies that had stood bewildered, having lost their prey, began marching in long strides toward the mansion once more.
Watching Simon's group scramble in confusion, the boy snickered to himself, savoring the entertainment.
-Grrrrrhh.
Just then, a zombie crawled up behind him. The boy scowled like a child whose game had been interrupted.
[What is it? I'm busy.]
-Grrrrrrrhh.
[Skeletons? How many times has that happened by now?]
-Grrrrrhh.
[This time is different, you say?]
The boy turned around and listened closely to the zombie's report.
[Hmmm. If Manus is involved, that IS a nuisance.]
Deathland was currently split by the sharp hostility of two undead factions.
The dominant power: the boy, and the zombies who followed him.
And rising fast as Deathland's new force: 'Manus,' and the skeletons who followed him.
[Eh, let them do as they please. I've got a more pressing problem right now.]
The boy turned his gaze back to the Kizen students.
[A Legion Commander appears in Deathland. And Pier. Whatever they're scheming, it's obvious.]
The boy spread both arms wide. From the darkness, a swarm of ants-like zombies began to advance.
[I will destroy that Legion with my own two hands. Without fail.]
An underground cemetery in Deathland.
Swik.
Swik.
A man held his sword aloft, diligently wiping the blade with a cloth.
Cloth patterned with red flower motifs was draped around his body — though there was one strange thing about him: his frame was a skeleton, bare white bone without a scrap of flesh on it.
"Do you know the legend of the Zombie Prince, Manus?"
The skeleton polishing his sword turned his head.
There stood an old man with two cigars clamped in his mouth at once, leaning against the wall.
"They say the core body of the zombie throne sleeps somewhere in Deathland. Get your hands on the crown it wears, and you can command every zombie in Deathland. More than that — you'd gain ownership of Deathland itself."
The skeleton lowered his head again and returned his attention to the blade.
[I have no interest.]
"Oh, but I know you very well indeed."
The man folded his arms down and slowly walked toward Manus.
"You want to bring Kizen down — and this entire Dark Alliance with it. Don't you want your revenge?"
[...]
Manus did not answer. The old man's tongue flickered like a serpent's.
"Then first you must take this Deathland for yourself. Was it not once your own domain to rule?"
The man's lips curled upward as he added:
"Swordmaster of the old empire."
Shring.
Manus's sword leveled at the man's throat. The man's body went rigid — but his mouth never stopped.
"Your decisive battle with Prince can never be avoided. And you possess overwhelming power — enough to turn the tide of a war single-handedly. What is there to hesitate over?"
Just as the man said, Manus had now risen to the realm of the Ancient Undead.
Manus spoke.
[The location of the crown?]
"Found it."
The man smiled, rubbing his palms together.
"And as it happens, the Zombie Prince has left his post. No one knows why. It's the first time in nearly ten years. A chance that will never come again."
Manus slowly lowered the sword pointed at the man's throat — but his characteristically sharp gaze did not soften.
Kizen.
The axis of evil that had toppled his beloved homeland, Thalhern, with its long and proud history — its culture, its glory.
He had fallen victim to their schemes, reduced to a gaunt skeleton of an undead — and yet the sole thing that kept his will burning in this cursed existence was vengeance.
"The Rose Retreat turned the empire's fifty thousand elite soldiers into undead in one stroke and flooded the continent with terror. But now imagine this."
The man said with a smile:
"You, an undead now — and your old people, undead as well — completing your revenge upon Kizen together."
[...]
"Magnificent, isn't it?"
Manus turned his head to look at the man once more.
[Why do you aid me?]
"As I keep saying — I hold a grudge against Kizen myself. A common enemy! Simple logic, no?"
The man wore a chilling smile.
"That is all."