Convincing the Zombie King
"What do you think would happen if we blew this fellow up with Corpse Explosion?"
Prince shot straight up into the air.
[What?! You're not seriously thinking of using Corpse Explosion on ME? Are you out of your mind?]
Simon floundered as well. "E-even I think that's going a bit far."
"And what, pray tell, is the problem?" the Grand Duke asked, arms crossed, utterly unbothered. "You wouldn't be sacrificing his true body, he has nine lives to come back from, and any life he loses regenerates given time. Above all, there's that enormous mass of jet-black condensed within the zombie's body. No matter how I look at it, he's perfect material for Corpse Explosion."
"......"
Come to think of it... he wasn't exactly wrong?
The moment Simon glanced over with an uncertain expression, Prince jumped again.
[Hey! Simon! Don't YOU start too!]
Prince grabbed Simon by the collar and shook him up and down. The shard of Pier attached to Simon's clothes gave a low kekeke of laughter.
[Pier, you don't get to say ANYTHING!]
Prince moved first to cut him off, then fixed Simon with a glare, eyes blazing.
[No! No! NO! And let me make myself crystal clear — I am NEVER, EVER doing Corpse Explosion!]
He's digging in his heels.
Simon stole a sideways glance at the Grand Duke, who responded with a curt jerk of the chin that clearly meant: He's your Ancient Undead. Talk him into it yourself.
Ah, this is the kind of thing Serne would be great at.
After a moment's thought, Simon cleared his throat with an exaggerated ahem.
The key here was childlike innocence. And coolness.
This fellow's mental age was stuck at that of a seven-year-old child. He had lived untold years with a child's mind, and somewhere along the way he had warped into the strange shape that was the current Prince. To have any conversation with him, Simon would have to meet him all the way down at eye level.
Simon flailed his arms in wildly theatrical gestures.
"Hey, Prince. Picture a big fluffy cloud in your head."
[What? Where's this coming from all of a sudden?!]
Prince didn't let his guard down, but his eyes rolled upward anyway.
He was thinking about it.
"Not a cloud in the sky — what if there were a cloud on the ground?"
[Clouds on the ground?]
"Of course! It surges up all at once and sweeps away everything around it."
[Ooh! That sounds pretty cool!]
"That's exactly what an explosion is. Honestly, don't you think explosions are the ultimate dream of every real man?"
[NO!]
Prince caught on instantly and shrieked. [It's not cool at ALL!]
......Why is he only this sharp when it's inconvenient for me.
Simon kept at it, holding Prince hostage through round after round of persuasion.
— Can't you try it just once? Just one cast, and if you still hate it, I'll never ask again.
— When we get back, I'll take you to a toy shop in Langoustine! How about it?
— A true hero appears like the wind... and vanishes like the wind...
Simon had no idea what kind of "coolness" Prince was actually drawn to, so he went for volume over quality. But no matter what kind of carrot he dangled, Prince shook his head with iron resolve.
[Not doing it!]
Of course, there was a way to force Corpse Explosion on him with an Absolute Order, Prince's will be damned. But that was strictly the last resort. A heart-wounded Prince might well refuse Simon's summons ever again.
Winning Prince's consent had to come first. Non-negotiable.
"Prince."
Simon sighed inwardly and tried a gentler approach. "You can come back from death as many times as you like. You're not even afraid of dying in the first place — so why do you hate Corpse Explosion so much?"
[Dying in a fight because you can't help it, and being forced to go BOOM from the very start — how are those the same thing?!]
Prince shrieked. [And dying HURTS! And above all, it's not cool AT ALL!]
"Hm?"
[Heroes are supposed to survive to the very end and save the day! Just blowing up first and disappearing isn't cool — not even a little!]
Ah. Now he was getting somewhere. Simon crouched down in front of Prince and began pouring out his story like water from a broken dam.
"A REAL hero sacrifices himself for his comrades."
[Not cool! I'm telling you it's not cool!]
"And then, just as the comrades whose lives he saved are sinking into despair — POOF! He comes back to life! Isn't that what a true hero looks like to you?"
Simon, thoroughly hooked on the idea of "Prince's Corpse Explosion" himself, was every bit as relentless. He did not know the meaning of surrender.
As the persuasion dragged on, the Grand Duke waited nearby, going through her personal training.
And so, after several hours of wheeling and dealing—
[......Just once. ONE time.]
Between an unlimited season pass to the toy shop, toy delivery straight to Deathland, playtime on demand, and a mountain of other concessions, Simon finally extracted Prince's permission.
"Grand Duke! Then let's—"
Simon turned with a bright smile, only to find that the Grand Duke doing push-ups beside him had vanished. He looked back to see her standing at a distance.
Do it.
She mouthed the words. Simon smiled wryly and turned back to Prince.
"Here we go!"
Simon raised his hand. Prince clenched both fists tight, his face taut with tension.
"......"
[......]
After standing there blankly for a moment, Simon quietly lowered his raised hand.
"Wait — how do I actually do this?"
[You IDIOT!]
Prince screamed in disbelief. [Just cast Corpse Explosion on the zombie I'm inhabiting! That's all you have to do!]
"I just tried that. It doesn't work."
Simon could detonate zombies regardless of whether they were summoned-type or legion-type. The problem was that once Prince possessed a zombie, Simon lost both ownership and control of that zombie entirely. It felt as if the zombie itself had simply ceased to exist — the only thing left for Simon to sense was Prince's lingering will.
"Foolish thing. Your bad-head sickness has flared up again, I see."
The Grand Duke, who had been standing far off, shot over in a blink.
"Of course the standard Corpse Explosion formula won't work. You'll need to rework it specifically for legion use — think of it as layering the spell directly overtop of Prince's body."
"......Layering it overtop?"
"Naturally, you can't whip up an equation like that on the spot. For today, be satisfied with having a new assignment. And next—"
Vwoooom!
A blue-black circle bloomed in front of Simon's palm. Countless equations etched themselves into it, unfolding into three dimensions.
"Something like this, if we're layering it?"
Watching Simon grasp the core concept at a glance and rapidly draft a magic circle Prince could actually use, the Grand Duke's eyes went wide.
Her expression said, Now what on earth is THIS...
"Is something the matter?"
"No. Nothing at all."
Prince stomped on the ground, throwing a tantrum.
[Seriously, why are you working THIS hard?! Do you want to blow me up that badly?!]
He sounded genuinely sulky about it.
Be that as it may, Simon succeeded in creating a magic circle dedicated to Prince's Corpse Explosion — a temporary one, but a working one. He attached the circle to Prince's body and readied the activation.
"Going for it!"
Simon, having retreated as far back as he could, spread his palm.
SHWAAAAAAM!
The finished magic circle had already outgrown the name — its scale and sheer information density were on another level entirely. Nine magic circles in total interlocked tightly with one another, spinning in concert. The Grand Duke watched from a much greater distance than before.
Corpse...!
Simon slowly began to close his fist.
VeeeEEEN!
Light erupted from Prince's body. Each time Simon's fist tightened, the light swelled larger.
A bead of sweat rolled down Simon's forehead, and his raised arm began to tremble.
Corpse...!!
Prince squeezed his eyes shut too. The light rising from his body grew greater and greater.
Explo...!
[It's scary after all! No! No! NO!]
Suddenly, Prince threw a fit.
The swelling light began to gutter and die. Simon's fist, halfway closed, was pried back open almost against his will.
"Prince!"
[It's SCARY!]
Simon tried to force the magic circle's activation by clenching his fist, but Prince's will refused the explosion.
Ggh—!
The two wills collided head-on. But the dark magic was already cast, and if this standoff continued, Simon — the caster — would be endangered by the jet-black backlash.
"Just once, I'm begging you!"
With that cry, Simon forced his fist shut.
"EXPLODE!"
Light flashed brilliantly across Prince's body. Prince screwed his eyes shut.
[......]
And a moment later—
He opened his eyes.
[Huh? What was that?]
Prince looked down at his own body. [I'm perfectly fine?]
Fsss—
The instant the words left him, Prince's body scattered and dissolved like black smoke. All that remained where he had stood was a pile of debris, crumbled like charcoal, lying on the ground.
"......A failure."
Simon lowered his hand in disappointment. The Grand Duke zipped back to his side.
Still, that's impressive. To get this far on his first attempt.
Simon fished out a fresh zombie and summoned Prince back.
Black lightning cracked down once more, and the zombie transformed into Prince.
[Ugh, what WAS that? Something felt awful about it!]
Prince started complaining the moment he arrived.
"So what went wrong?" Simon asked. The Grand Duke rested her chin on her hand, pondering.
"It seems not all the conditions were met, I would say."
"What do you mean?"
"The equations need refining, but the true problem lies in the fact that your will and Prince's are at odds with one another."
She turned her head toward Simon.
"When the will of the Legion Commander and that of an Ancient Undead are in conflict, no dark magic — none — will produce a good result."
In the end, there was just one great obstacle left.
Prince himself had to come to accept the Corpse Explosion of his own will.
Still, I've got a feel for it now.
Simon clenched his fist with determination. Just as Prince, wary that he might be ordered to explode again, began inching away to make his escape—
"Wanna have a snowball fight with me tonight?"
[Wha — really? YES!]
Thank goodness for simple minds.
The field training in the North continued.
This time, Simon learned to split his forces and fight two battles simultaneously. After wrapping his troops around the enemy undead to lock their encirclement tight, Simon's eyes flashed.
"Gourmet! Now!"
The Gourmet, the Named Undead newly acquired in the North, charged in ferociously and swept through the clumped enemy formation with its single massive forepaw.
"Surround them!"
Shwack! Shrrrrrk!
Herseba's mummies wound their bandages around the arm of yet another Named monster. This one was a rampaging mid-to-large-sized yeti — One-Eyed.
"Prince!"
[Going in!]
Prince kicked off the ground and leapt, smashing his fist square into the Named monster's face. With a single thunderous blow — WHAM! — the Named went down.
Dispatching the survivors was simple work.
[Hahahaha! You see that? You saw it, right? I'm strong even WITHOUT Corpse Explosion!]
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
Simon smiled and gave Pier the nod. Pier placed his hand on One-Eyed's core.
Before long, the Legionification of the undead was complete, and the enormous hulk rose to its feet. Simon held out his palm.
Snnnfff—
One-Eyed leaned in and pressed its forehead against Simon's palm.
"Good boy."
Simon smiled as he stroked the shaggy fur.
Grwrrr!
Not to be outdone, the Gourmet — a Named Undead and a veteran of the legion — shoved its face in as well. Simon stroked the Gourmet's head too.
Two Named Undead already.
Our fighting strength is getting a nice boost. At this rate, I might be able to build an entire unit of Named Undead up here in the North.
"Grand Duke!"
Just then, a northern messenger was approaching. Since Simon had to play the part of the Grand Duke, he quickly pulled his helm down over his head and turned around.
He activated the distortion magic she had personally woven into the helm, then spoke.
[What is it?]
"There is a council, Your Grace. You must return to Bilkenos at once!"
[Understood. What is the council about?]
The messenger answered without a moment's hesitation.
"Our spies have located the Three Brothers."
Finally!
Sooner than expected, but the moment of the decisive battle was drawing near.
And at the same time—
The moment to use Prince's Corpse Explosion in actual combat!
Prince caught on like a ghost and shot up into the air.
[HEY! Stop looking at me like THAT!]