Nothing has changed.
Clang—!
What awaited me after stepping down from the carriage was inspection, inspection, and yet another inspection.
Checking whether I had hidden something. Whether they had missed something.
'Go ahead and search dozens of times. See if you can find even a speck of dust.'
The inspection was thorough, but I remained calm.
Why?
Because I truly hadn't brought anything.
No weapons, no tools for using necromancy.
Everything had been left behind at the main house.
"Be grateful to Cardinal Palliman, Young Master Klein."
Ben's bloodshot eyes appeared through the small opening in the iron gate.
"The only reason you're still alive and unharmed is thanks to him—"
"I told you to add 'sir,' you brain-dead bastard."
I twisted my lips as I stared directly into his eyes.
"…!"
"What? You gonna kill me?"
The moment people think they have the upper hand, they let their guard down and get dragged along by my words.
What kind of idiot exposes the mastermind behind them right in front of an enemy?
"If you want to kill me, then come do it yourself."
I raised the arms bound in restraints and pointed at myself.
"What, will your new master beat you again if you act on your own?"
"…!"
'Talk to him for five minutes. His composure'll flip inside out in five seconds.'
Remembering what an old comrade once said, I continued scraping at his nerves.
So he'd grow even more emotional.
So he'd spill even more information.
Bang—!
But Ben merely slammed the iron gate shut, cutting me off instead of continuing the conversation.
"Tch, not easy to bait after all."
He used to be easier.
As I thought that, Ben's growling voice echoed out.
"We'll see how long you can keep flapping that arrogant mouth, Young Master Klein."
With those words, the eyes visible through the bars disappeared.
"Keep a proper watch on him. Don't let him so much as move a finger."
"Yes, sir."
After warning the two inquisitors guarding the solitary cell, his footsteps gradually faded away.
"Yeah… let's see about that."
When the footsteps could no longer be heard,
my gaze, which had been fixed on empty air, shifted toward the prison door.
Sssssss…!
No, it wasn't the door my eyes landed on.
It was the black, murky souls leaking out through the cracks.
Crystallized resentment worn dull by countless years, stripped even of fragments of will.
"What happens when you place a necromancer inside a space overflowing with the grudges of the dead?"
The biggest reason I had been able to enter the reformatory without any preparations
was because this place possessed the perfect environment.
"This place is a factory that creates holy blood using people. It's no different from a human slaughterhouse."
A place that turned living people into holy blood just as livestock were turned into meat.
That was why this place held more souls than any other.
A pit of vengeful spirits so densely condensed that even ordinary humans incapable of sensing souls could feel it.
For a necromancer like me, there could be no better environment to grow stronger.
Kuuuuuu…
As I released demonic energy, the spirits reacted and gathered around me.
Not the light emitted by ordinary souls, but black and murky spirits.
Wooooooo—!
Voices echoed from every direction.
A low, gloomy haunting.
The dying cries of souls stripped of will, personality, and understanding, leaving only resentment behind.
—Do not grieve.
As I released the voice of the dead, I moved my demonic energy.
Crackle—!
Responding to my will, two summoning gates formed.
Slowly revealing themselves were human-shaped figures made of black smoke.
—They will soon pay the price.
With those words, the two spiritual entities transformed into smoke and passed through the crack in the door.
And shortly afterward—
The two inquisitors simultaneously lowered their heads with groans.
"What the hell, did something get in my ear?"
"I don't know. What is this all of a sudden—!"
The inquisitors shook their heads at the strange sensation crawling through their minds.
But before long, that strange sensation began turning into pain.
A horrifying sense of loss, as though their very will and souls were being erased.
"A-ah…!"
They tried to scream, unable to overcome the fear flooding them, but it was useless.
—Shut your mouths.
At my single command, they froze in place, unable to utter a sound.
"When watching a necromancer, you should keep your guard up. That was common sense in our time."
At the sound of my voice coming from behind the prison door, their eyes darted frantically.
"Kla…in?"
A voice filled with shock.
A soundless scream too faint to even be heard.
"We put restraints on you… how are you using necromancy…!"
"Restraints?"
I snorted at that and clenched my bound hands.
Crack—!
With a harsh metallic noise, the restraints binding my arms shattered and fell away.
The moment I pulled my arms free from the heavy chunks of metal, my body felt noticeably lighter.
"You call these toys custom-made restraints? Thorough preparation?"
The inquisitors' faces stiffened, clearly unable to imagine I would break free this easily.
"Don't talk bullshit unless you can back it up."
To think they believed such shallow tricks could imprison me.
To think they were planning to keep me alive and extract my knowledge.
It was utterly laughable.
"You people really are exactly the same as back then. No progress whatsoever. Just arrogance and self-righteousness."
"W-what… did you say…?"
They questioned my words, but I had no intention of answering further.
"You lunatic cult bastards who called yourselves the one true faith and the hands of god."
The deep-rooted hatred I felt toward the Order—
it wasn't simply because I was a necromancer.
Nor because I was an ancient priest persecuted for centuries, whose very existence had been erased by them.
"That's why you can't beat me. Not 200 years ago, and not now."
At the truth I offered as a final gift, the inquisitors' eyes trembled violently.
"Two hundred years ago? Then you really are…!"
"Archimond. That's right."
I mocked them as I openly revealed the truth.
"Now then, why do you think I told you who I really am?"
At my next words, the inquisitors' faces turned deathly pale.
"K-kill us if you want! But this place has thousands of brothers—!"
"Hehehehe…"
Pathetic fools trembling in fear while still flapping their gums.
I laughed at them from beyond the prison door and continued.
"What, brothers? That ragtag bunch that doesn't even number ten thousand?"
The two inquisitors flinched at my amused remark.
"Ragtag? Stop bluffing. There's no way one man can defeat all of us—!"
"I already told you. I'm Archimond."
After saying that, I didn't wait for a response and whispered into their ears.
"Then why do you think Archimond once covered the Wolro Continent?"
"…!"
At those words, the will of the two men, who had desperately resisted until now, vanished.
The moment they fully realized that Klein—the man who had broken free of his shackles—was truly Archimond,
their reason collapsed under terror.
"Well then, goodbye."
With those final words, I completely erased their consciousness.
Cleanly, without leaving behind even a fragment.
"No, wai—!"
The moment they tried to say something, everything ended.
Their eyes filled with tears as they silently begged for mercy.
Not enough to fully vent my anger, but good enough for now.
"So, do you like your new bodies?"
Having settled on that compromise, I spoke playfully to the inquisitors guarding the prison door.
And the instant my words ended—
"Nothing is wrong."
"There are no issues."
The same guards' voices they had used moments ago when speaking to Ben rang out.
Voices as though addressing a superior.
The men guarding my prison had become puppets that moved according to my will.
"They probably thought everything was going according to plan."
Ben's face laughing at me flashed through my mind.
Palliman accepting my proposal with a smile.
Remembering their arrogant faces, I let out a scoff.
"The ones who monitored me during the fight with Helian, and the ones who brought me here."
If it weren't for Berkel, they'd have long since been crushed beneath my feet and buried in the glacier.
And yet they dared try to toy with me, Archimond.
"It's the opposite, actually."
Ever since I walked out of this place, there had never been a single moment I stopped thinking about it.
The structure of the reformatory.
The methods to conquer it.
Even the movements of the inquisitors.
"The moment they happily dragged me in here and locked me up… they were already dancing in the palm of my hand."
The restraints had lost their power.
Even the guards had fallen under my control.
Everything had gone according to the plans I made before entering this place.
"A necromancer who infiltrates from the inside possesses greater destructive potential than any assassin."
Soon enough, they would pay dearly for bringing me here.
"But…"
The plan had progressed as smoothly as flowing water.
And yet, the expression on my face as I surveyed the reformatory remained uneasy.
"There's still the biggest problem left."
Everything I had done so far was merely personal revenge.
Nothing more than retaliation for the years gone by.
The greatest reason I had returned here was the holy blood.
A crystallization of power created from human beings.
'The being that creates the holy blood. If my guess is correct, it should be in the deepest level.'
As I flexed the fist freed from its restraints, I organized my thoughts.
'To avoid being discovered by the outside, I first need to seize control of the fortress. Ben and the inquisitors come first.'
As I continued thinking, I turned around.
"And after that…"
Kyaaaaaaaa—!
A horrifying scream rose from beneath the prison district.
Hearing a shriek that could hardly be considered human, I couldn't help but frown.
If I closed my eyes, I could still see it vividly.
"Save us from sin, save us from ignorance…"
"We offer ourselves as your flock, so please descend upon this place…"
Fanatics filling the cave.
And among them, the people calling themselves my parents, staring at me with fervent eyes.
"Huff…! Huff…!"
And there I was too—
young, powerless, lying atop the altar under all their gazes.
"Ahh, Archimond! Hear our cries—!"
A man in robes raised his voice while holding a sword decorated with golden threads.
A black book held high toward the cave ceiling.
A grimoire filled with bizarre characters I had never seen before.
"For your sake, we offer yet another sacrifice today!"
In the hand opposite the book was a dagger with a pitch-black blade.
Its tip aimed for the sacrifice's heart.
My heart.
The heart of the child lying upon the altar.
"Please descend upon us! Bless us—!"
At the man's cry, the gathered believers all began chanting incomprehensible words in unison.
"Our god!"
"Look upon us once more! Judge this world—!"
"Lord Archimond—!"
"Lord Archimond—!"
The chaotic mixture of voices assaulted my ears.
"Ahhh—! Archimond—!"
The man standing atop the altar trembled violently, as though driven insane by the fanatics' frenzy.
With his grandiose cries, the grotesque gathering only grew hotter and more frenzied.
"With this child's life…!"
And at the exact moment his dagger came slashing down—
'Now—!'
Smash—!
I kicked upward with my foot, striking his wrist.
"W-what?!"
I swung my fist at the man as his eyes widened in shock.
Clang—!
Watching the dagger fall from his hand, I shouted with all my strength.
"Palliman! Now!"
I had already confirmed the exit beforehand.
The moment I called out to the friend waiting in advance, he nodded and ran ahead.
"The sacrifice is escaping!"
"Stop him!"
In the midst of total chaos, the cultists rushed onto the altar to chase me.
"Get out of my way—!"
I charged toward those blocking my path with their arms crossed.
Boom—!
"Aaaagh?!"
"What the hell?! How does he have this kind of strength…?!"
I could see people flying into the air, but there was no time to stop.
"You're incredible after all?!"
"If you've got time to say that, then run!"
Urging on the friend who had planned this escape with me, I sprinted forward without looking back.
But at that moment—
"Come back here—! Get on the altar and become the sacrifice already—!"
From among the collapsed cultists came a familiar voice that struck my ears.
When I turned around, there was a middle-aged man screaming at me.
My father.
"You were born for this! You were born for Lord Archimond's resurrection—!"
And then my mother's voice followed after his.
Suppressing the murky emotions rising up to my throat, I kept running and running.
"Please come back and become the sacrifice—!"
As I fled, the two of them desperately shouted my name behind me.
"Garrison!"