Chapter 2: The Immortal Horror
The air, already thin with the chill of winter and the low-level mana leak from the sealed Gate, seemed to solidify around the two grotesque figures.
The Rusted Bone Skeletons were an insult to Necromancy. They weren't elegant warriors or towering monstrosities. They were cobbled-together refuse: fragments of small mammal bones, earth, and ancient rust, their joints held together by sheer, terrifying force of will. Yet, the energy they radiated was potent, dark, and utterly wrong.
Minho Park, the C-Rank Brawler, was paralyzed for a single beat. He wasn't used to this. His bullies usually folded, cried, or offered up their money. They didn't summon Black Magic in a condemned alleyway.
"That's illegal!" Minho finally stammered, his voice cracking with fear and fury. "Necromancy is restricted! I'll report this to the Stellar Halo!"
Rudraunsh Kurozan merely tilted his head. The faint, blue mana tracing lines under his skin pulsed—the first visible manifestation of the power he had inherited.
"Report what?" Rudraunsh's voice was detached, almost clinical. "A few bone fragments from the dirt? Look closer, Minho. They're E-Rank at best."
Jisoo Lee, the E-Rank schemer, was the first to regain his footing, his fear twisting into hysterical rage. "Don't listen to him! It's weak! It's just a dirty trick to scare us! Minho, smash them!"
Driven by the need to preserve his reputation and fueled by a genuine belief in the superiority of his Awakened class, Minho roared, channeling a burst of golden-tinged mana into his right fist. He was a Brawler, and his ability was simple: Iron Hammer Punch.
He didn't bother dodging. He charged the nearest Rusted Bone Skeleton, aiming for the core of its ribcage.
[The Test of Authority]
The impact was loud, sharp, and satisfying.
CRACK!
The crude bone-figure offered zero resistance. Minho's Iron Hammer Punch tore through the brittle ribs, shattered the shoulder socket, and sent the skeleton's entire left arm flying toward the alley wall, where it disintegrated into a puff of dark ash upon collision.
Minho planted his feet and grinned, adrenaline briefly overriding his fear. "See? Weak! You—"
His triumph died in his throat. His eyes, and the wide, terrified eyes of Jisoo, were fixed not on the shattered remains, but on what was happening to the skeleton's torso.
The wound, a clean, jagged tear where the arm had been, began to move. Not with a sluggish magical repair, but with a sickening, biological necessity. The bone fragments still embedded in the ground around the skeleton's feet began to vibrate. Dark, viscous energy—the Undying Authority—leaked from the Necromancer and flowed into the wound.
The shattered socket instantly snapped back together. New, pale-gray bone extruded rapidly, forcing its way out of the residual darkness. Within three seconds, the skeleton was whole again. It didn't pause, didn't flinch. It merely turned its head—a hollowed-out skull with two cold, blue pinpricks of light for eyes—and shambled toward Minho.
Minho stumbled back, his breath ragged. This wasn't a summoned creature; this was a mockery of life and death.
"It... it fixed itself," Jisoo whispered, sounding faint. "It shouldn't be able to do that! Not that fast! Not from that!"
Rudraunsh felt a strange, chilling sense of pride. This was the essence of the Immortal Dao, the core power of the Catastrophe. His summons were not just reanimated; they were functionally immortal below a certain power threshold. As long as his mana flowed, they would not break.
He hadn't even given a complex command. The action had been purely defensive, an instinct driven by the Undying Authority itself.
[The Necromancer's First Command]
"Strike the legs," Rudraunsh commanded, his tone calm, utterly lacking the fear and hesitation of the E-Rank student he had been minutes before.
The second Rusted Bone Skeleton, which had been circling Jisoo, lunged. It didn't aim for a killing blow. It grabbed Minho's ankle, and its partner, the recently reformed one, swung its remaining fist low.
CRUNCH!
Minho, caught off guard by the relentless, non-stop assault, lost his balance. He hit the ground hard, the wind knocked from his lungs, his aura flickering. He had focused too much on the shattered arm, forgetting the fundamental rule of necromancy: you can't defeat the summoner by attacking the puppet.
The sight of the powerful C-Rank Brawler lying helpless while two feet of reassembled bone stood guard was too much for Jisoo.
"Minho! Get up!" Jisoo scrambled backward, frantically reaching for his E-Rank mana-restraining ropes—his utility schemer specialty.
But Jisoo was too late. Rudraunsh didn't care about the ropes. He only cared about establishing one truth: he was no longer a victim.
"You like to see people crawl?" Rudraunsh took one step forward, directly into the faintly glowing mana field of the sealed Gate. The Rusted Skeletons moved with him, perfectly synchronized. "Then crawl out of this alley."
He didn't raise his voice. He didn't have to. The terrifying finality of his power had already broken them. They were not defeated by overwhelming force, but by the psychological horror of a threat that could not be stopped.
Minho's aura vanished completely. He scrambled backward on the pavement, ignoring his bruised ankle, dragging himself away from the endless, cold light in the skeletons' eyes. Jisoo followed suit, discarding his useless ropes, fear rendering him mute.
Within seconds, the alley was empty, save for Rudraunsh and his two crude, yet perfect, immortal guardians.
[The First Glimmer of Self]
Rudraunsh exhaled slowly, the mana-light under his skin receding. He felt an intense, burning fatigue—the price for using a power far beyond his E-Rank classification. But beneath the fatigue was a core of absolute, cold strength.
He looked at the Rusted Bone Skeletons. They stood perfectly still, waiting. They had no free will, no minds. They were pure instruments of his Undying Authority.
They were exactly what he needed.
He knew, with a certainty that settled deep in his soul, that this act—this terrifying display—would not make his life easier. Minho and Jisoo would talk. The Guilds would hear rumors of Black Magic and illegal summoning. He had bought minutes of safety at the cost of his future anonymity.
But as he looked down at the hand that had summoned the undead, he didn't regret it. The pathetic boy who had died a meaningless death in a nameless war, and the pathetic boy who had been bullied daily in Seoul, were both gone.
There was only Rudraunsh Kurozan, the Necromancer with the Catastrophic power.
Who are you serving? a faint, moral voice whispered in his mind. The power will be your master.
No, Rudraunsh thought, flexing his fingers and feeling the dormant mana of the Dao within. The power is merely a tool. I will use it to survive. I will use it to ascend.
He gave a final, silent command, and the two Rusted Bone Skeletons instantly collapsed back into the earth, leaving behind only two, small patches of dark, faintly glowing dust.
He turned to leave the alley, but paused. From the street, a feminine voice, clear and sharp with alarm, called out.
"Hey! What happened here? Minho, why are you running? Wait—is that blood?"
Rudraunsh turned to face the street. Standing there, her eyes wide as she took in the disturbed ground and the retreating figures of the bullies, was a girl from Yeonhwa Academy.
Sera Song. The one student who was rumored to possess an S-Rank Potential for Light and Healing magic.