In truth, the Supreme Leader did not require Kareth to achieve his aims. This was merely another experiment.
There had been several complaints from the Lords that the Undead did not always operate with the precision required of them. It was said that there were certain individuals, rare ones, who could sometimes see through the illusion, even if only for a single unfortunate night.
Kareth was now one of the first of the new generation of Undead the Supreme Leader was attempting to create.
How far can I take this? he wondered. How long will it last before these two realise that he is not their ally?
Could he make them convincing enough that even the most fanatical of opponents, those wholly devoted to the spirit, would be swayed?
"Is it really you, Kareth?" Maereth asked.
"Let's stop this," he replied. "I think we all need some rest."
"But you're supposed to be dead," said Issen.
Kareth smiled, but not by his own will.
"The Supreme Leader saved me," he said. "I finally understand how blind we've all been."
"You're telling us to work with the Supreme Leader?"
"It's hard to believe, I know," Kareth said. "But all these people are doing is protecting the lives of ordinary, decent people. Maybe we've just been reading too much into it."
"And you're telling the truth?" Maereth asked.
"Of course I am. You trust me, don't you?"
"Look me in the eyes and tell me that I can trust you."
He stared back with lifeless eyes, though the muscles of his face moved just enough to imitate life.
"You can trust me, Maereth."
As Kareth spoke those words, his Undead body felt a crushing despair awaken within him.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader watched from a distance. He was largely uninterested, though still possessed of a student's curiosity.
It was the same feeling he had experienced when he devised the explosion that annihilated the rebellious Realm and allowed it to be absorbed into their own. It had also been the same when he created the smoke that turned the Realm Wars into one of the greatest massacres in history.
"I too am a lover of the creative, it seems," he murmured to himself. "In that sense, perhaps even someone like me can share a bond with our maker."
He stepped slightly to the side and knelt down.
"But destruction can also be thought of as a creative passion."
His silver eyes flashed.
"Isn't that right, Ashar?"
"Pendulum Blade!"
From within Maereth's veil of invisibility, Ashar burst forward and slashed his blade toward the Supreme Leader. The Leader dodged effortlessly and countered with an Axiom Flame that struck Ashar square in the chest. Ashar fell to the ground. He tried to rise, but his body convulsed in a violent seizure.
"It is no use," the Supreme Leader said calmly. "I infected that attack. Your body is now paralysed."
For the first time since they had known him, Issen and Maereth saw Ashar lying helpless on the ground. He had not expected the attack to fail.
"So you are Ashar of the Noctis Mountains," the Supreme Leader said. "And I see that you relied upon your companion's ability just now. "Was it possible that you planned this attack beforehand? That in the event you were forced to battle me, you would strike from concealment? Perhaps despite your earlier quarrels, you had been preparing for this moment all along."
Behind him, Bethryl emerged from invisibility and lunged forward.
Without even turning his head, the Supreme Leader stepped aside and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
She collapsed instantly, just as Ashar had.
"It's pointless," the Leader said.
"But I saw it," Bethryl said with a choked voice. "I looked ahead in time. I saw Ashar killing you. I saw what you were about to do. You shouldn't have been able to dodge that."
"What was it that you think you saw?"
Bethryl did not understand.
Only when a sharp pulse of pain struck her head did she feel something toxic leaving her body. Only then did she begin to realise the truth.
"I had been observing all of your movements down here," the Supreme Leader explained. "Two events suggested something unusual to me."
"The first was how you blocked the entrance to the Kingdom before I had even sent in my Undead. The second was how the Shadow Clan immediately knew how to defeat my Faceless Soldiers, and which flank to attack. These suggested that someone among you possessed an ability related to prediction. I assumed one of you could see into the future. I also assumed your final plan would involve a coordinated strike when I arrived. But I countered it."
He looked down at Bethryl.
Her calm composure had vanished. Now she looked up with the frightened face of a child.
"As the Undead descended, I placed a hallucinogen within their bodies. They released it slowly. You inhaled it. And so, what you saw was not the future. It was a false reality."
Bethryl lowered her head in despair. Issen and Maereth stood frozen, unable to speak.
"Come on," Kareth said weakly. "Let's just go home, guys. Let's—"
The words struggled to leave his mouth.
Meanwhile, Ashar slowly began to regain the ability to move. He crawled across the ground, each motion slow and painful, while the Supreme Leader watched.
"Such potential that Shenric entrusted to you," the Leader said. "And yet you wasted it."
Could Ashar use his energy? No. And even if he could, it would make no difference.
"I remember when I ordered you to slaughter the protestors of the banished monasteries in the Eastern Prayer Gardens," the Supreme Leader continued. "You obeyed without hesitation. You were my finest warrior. And now look at you. A rodent trapped in the body of a First Tier weakling. What do you think I should do with you?"
"Why did you come down here yourself?" Ashar asked weakly. "Why not send one of your servants to capture me?"
"Because I want Shenric's Eye," the Leader replied. "I have seen other users of this ability, but there is something purer about the one Shenric carried. Perhaps it is the original Eye, the one that came from the source. I want it."
"To use for yourself?" Ashar asked.
"No, I have a better idea."
The Supreme Leader's eyes flashed.
"I will create an Eye of my own. Imagine it. People will flee the Realms and seek refuge with the Shadow Clans. The Clans will grant them the Eye of Sophia, believing they walk the path to liberation. But that Eye will merely be a tool of my justice."
"A false Eye…" Ashar whispered.
The Supreme Leader turned toward Kareth.
"I am satisfied with my results," he said. "You may dispose of them now."
Kareth did not move.
"Well?" the Leader asked. "What is holding you back?"
The despair inside Kareth deepened. Yet within that despair, he heard something, like a distant song drifting through moonlit streets, a wanderer's song.
He had entered this world with nothing, and he would leave it with nothing.
That was the nature of life.
And yet, in that realisation, something within him awoke.
"Axiom Sunlight!"
Before the attack could be released, the Supreme Leader flicked his hand.
Kareth collapsed instantly.
"His spirit recovered?" the Leader wondered.
Never before had someone undergone an Undead transformation and then returned to their original state. The Supreme Leader had believed his experiments perfect. What had just happened meant further experimentation would be necessary, so he would take Kareth with him.
"It was good that we could meet again, Ashar," the Leader said. "But in truth, you were rather disappointing. Not much different from the hundreds of others I have slain."
He stepped forward, raising one hand.
"Now you will die."