“Hihihihi, Thy name is Regulus. Thee name is Homi. Thy Thee Thy Thee.” Homi watched as Regulus amused himself by saying Thy Thee over and over again. It seemed unlike herself, Regulus’ small size indicated his actual age. He really was a small kid who found the most random thing hilarious.

  In a way, she preferred this. Regulus' initial hostility had gone, and while Homi still found him threatening, at the very least that Iron hand of his would not hurt her anytime soon…

  … until Regulus’ expression changed.

  His smile and giggles were gone, replaced by a serious face. He turned his face sideways, he sensed something in the distance. It took a while for Homi to figure out what Regulus sensed, her sense was not as good as his — but even without good sense, she had knowledge of the location. This was the ruin of the old Hazen kingdom, where an ancient undead king of Hazen rested — a king that was conquered by Azalia — and a spirit that had the authority over all of Azalia was currently residing over Regulus.

  A fight was imminent.

  “Do thee have anything to do with that?” Regulus asked Homi, while pointing towards the direction of a ruined castle. Even though he was blind, Regulus’ eyes showed a lot of emotion — and the one Homi was seeing right now was quite threatening, even though she had no sweat glands, her body wanted to pour out cold sweat right now.

  “Nay, thy hath nothing with that.That an old soul, older than thy. Thy had naught the strength to control that thing.” Homi hoped that this explanation was enough to convince Regulus. If it wasn’t, she was screwed. She already canceled the casting of her [Firelance of Azhal]. If Regulus decided to attack her, she would not be able to cast it in time.

  “Got it. Thee wouldn’t mind if thy eat it right?” Luckily Regulus accepted her explanation. It was just… What did he mean by eat? All Homi could do was nod and say, “Thy hath naught issue with it.”

  “Good,” Regulus leapt from the top of the ruined building into the ground. Surprised, Homi reflexively went to the edge of the ruin to see where Regulus had landed. But she could not find him. All she could see was a hole where Regulus was supposed to land. She had no time to find him though, for her attention was taken by something else — the approaching Ancient King.

  The king was a gaunt undead, with a tattered royal robe barely covering his torso. Even though he was an undead, he still had his skin on his body, but it was so skinny she could see his ribs. He had long white hair with a rusty crown decorated the top of his head. His face was hollow, with empty eye sockets and mouth with no teeth left. On his right hand, he carried a longsword. A mighty magical weapon made from Zavala steel — a rare yet durable material, highly conducive to mana. Perfect material for a magical weapon. The sword was older than Homi and probably the ancient king himself, but it was as beautiful as the day it was forged.

  Behind the king, were his loyal undead retainers. Following their liege even in death. Unlike the king though, their weapons and armories had shown signs of degradation, but they were still menacing even with rusted armaments. Added by the fact that they were all high-level undead, it was quite an imposing sight. If she was not an artificial human created by necromancers, those undead would have attacked her, but as she was an artificial human, more akin to an undead than a living organism, they ignored her. Instead, they had only one focus…

  “AZAAAALIIIII,” The ancient king roared. He sensed the spirit of Azalia. He sensed the one who hosted the spirit. He wanted Regulus dead, or his grudges would not be satisfied.

  Brrrt Brrrt

  The ground near the king shook. Homi did not realize it for she was too far away, but the king did. Even though he had no shred of his old intelligence anymore, his instinct as a warrior was still preserved. The king preemptively jumped back…

  BLAAAM

  … As Regulus leapt out from underneath the ground, his hand almost grabbed the king.

  “What in tarnation?” Homi, who watched from up above, finally understood why Regulus had such a strong [Iron Body].

  “AZAAAAALIIII,” the king roared, and his knights surrounded Regulus. In an instant, they thrusted their swords. And in an instant, their rusted swords broke on contact with Regulus’ skin.

  As soon as he felt their pathetic attempt to skewer him, Regulus realized the only threat in this place was the undead that would not stop screaming Azali’s name. So he decided to ignore the other undead and put all his focus on it instead. Regulus used on of the undead knight as a footpad and launched himself towards the king.

  The king who had regained his footing after dodging Regulus’ initial attack prepared his sword, covering it with [Aura] while chanting some ancient language, turning his [Aura] into a green flame, similar to the color of [Firelance of Azhal], but different in properties. Homi could not tell what the property of the flame was, but she could tell, it would kill her if it hit her… but would it kill Regulus?

  The king swung his sword horizontally, Regulus who was still in mid-air had no way to dodge. Normally, he would just ignore anything coming his way, but his instinct knew even he would not escape unscathed if he took this one head on. So he tried to block the sword path with his left hand, but he was slower.

  KLANG

  The sword hit him and a loud noise rang out. Regulus flew, ragdolling his way and destroying couples of buildings in his path. Homi was surprised, and so did the king. The attack should have cleaved Regulus in two. Instead, it sent him flying while also chipping the Zavala steel sword. A sword that was never damaged until today.

  The king realized the same thing Homi already found out, Regulus' toughness was nothing to scoff off. Enough to dampen the ancient king’s grudge and revive his warrior’s spirit. The king carefully walked through the rubble the ragdolling Regulus left behind. He wanted to know, if his [Aura] or spell had any effect on the boy.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  BOOOM

  A supersonic sound rang. A boy of Iron with a bloodied forehead lunged at the king at high speed. Two of the undead knights immediately jumped in front of the king, offering their bodies as meat shields, slowing down the approaching Regulus while giving the king time and space to dodge him.

  BlAAAM

  Regulus landed explosively behind the king, turning the two undead knights into mush. The king turned around and locked his empty eyesocket with Regulus blind eyes. Both of them had no vision, but one could see the hostility they emit to each other.

  Homi must have imagined it, but she swore she could see the ancient king smiling. The king charged his sword with more [Aura] and layered it with ancient spells. From behind him, hundreds of ghastly hands appeared, all heading towards Regulus.

  Regulus meanwhile pierced his hand towards the ground, leaving a small hole which he stood on top of. As the king prepared his sword with [Aura] and spells, Regulus only stood there, peeing directly on the hole. The hundred ghastly hands approached Regulus, trying to pin him down to allow the king free reign to do whatever he wanted towards Regulus. Regulus however was unbothered, peeing like nothing in the world matter.

  Homi wondered, could it be because Regulus could not sense the hands? They were spiritual hands afterall, with no physical form. Of course they could affect the material plane, but maybe Regulus could not sense it… but Homi dismissed that thought. She did not know how exactly Regulus’ sense worked, but she had the feeling Regulus could sense the hands approaching him — he just did not care. The hands grabbed Regulus, engulfing him, pinning him in place. The king, with all his preparation ready, charged at Regulus.

  Homi had three options right now. Helped Regulus and earned his favor. Attack Regulus while the undead got the upper hand. Or do nothing.

  If she helped Regulus, the ancient king’s undead aggression will be headed towards her. They’ve been ignoring her for now, but it did not mean they could not be hostile towards her. She was also only a fourth-circle necromancer. She had no chance against an Ancient King who was capable of fourth-level spells and a warrior to boot. Not to mention his undead retinue.

  Attacking Regulus was also an option… albeit it seemed like a horrible option. She had no logical explanation on why it would be bad… she just felt like it was. Somehow, even though the sight in front of her showed her that Regulus was the one being cornered… it did not feel like that at all.

  In the end, she did nothing. She spent too much time thinking about her options, she ended up being an observer instead. And she found out soon enough, that might be the best course of action in the end.

  RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE

  The earth trembles. Giant rubbles falling from the cave ceiling. Destroying the ruins underneath it, crushing some of the undead, and even blocking the ancient king’s charge towards Regulus, forcing his blade on some boulder instead. Destroying it, but the blade ended up nowhere near Regulus.

  BLAM BLAM BLAM

  Claws. Black Claws popped out of the ground. Everyone, everything, the entire underground knew whose claws were those — Molrrets.

  The claws pierced the earth. Some pierced the undead knights legs, dropping them to the ground. The ancient king looked around, preparing himself if one of the claws appeared underneath him. But they never did. For Regulus did not summon them for a simple ambush.

  Nay, he was aiming for something else. Not the ancient king’s feet — but his footing.

  CRUMBLE.

  The earth crumbled, a giant sinkhole appeared underneath the ancient king and Regulus, swallowing them and part of the ruins. The hands that were surrounding Regulus scattered, swatted away by gravity as Regulus fell down into the sinkhole with the king.

  Homi was holding on with her dear life. Worried the sinkhole would swallow the ruin she was on too. But it did not. As seemed that the sinkhole was intentionally engineered to only swallow Regulus and the Ancient King.

  Then she saw it, with her [Soul Vision]. The grudges that were following Regulus’ soul, trying to crawl out of the sink hole. Fearing the one underneath it. And she saw a familiar looking soul among the grudges — the soul of the ancient king of Hazen, being assimilated into the trail of grudges.

  **********

  Kisara was pacing around the urchins’ cave hideout. Looking nervous, anxious, and every other synonym that could describe her impatience. In front of her was Bern, looking skittish as ever, Thomas, who looked a bit annoyed at the girl’s impatience, and Uri and D’aka.

  “You sure you don’t know where Regulus went?” Kisara asked Thomas and Bern. Bern just shook his head while Thomas snapped back. “As we said before. God just told us that he is going to look for food. And look at our storage, the divine servants are filling our storage with mushrooms and vegetables. God is out there taking care of us.”

  “Yezus. Tera and the prisoners are a bunch of nutjobs. Don’t worry, you’re not one of them, Bern.” Uri joked around, he seemed unbothered by the situation. Kisara meanwhile just looked more stressed than before. Seeing her like that, D’aka stepped up. “Kisara, calm down. Regulus is out there somewhere. We just need to be patient.”

  “Patient!? How could we be patient D’aka? They got some of us! What if something happened to them? What if- Ooof”

  Before Kisara could crash out even further, Uri threw an apple at her head. “Calm down Kisara. It’s not like they’re being captured by a necromancer like Carven. It’s just the city guards, arresting the idiot Brett and a couple of our new brats. They’re not gonna get killed in custody.”

  Kisara wanted to snap back, but Uri was right. The city guards would just throw them into a cell, and maybe cut their hands later for pickpocketing. But they got time, and none of the captured kids were in any mortal danger… she just could not help herself.

  “Alright. Kisara, just calm down. We got this, even without Regulus. Cooper and his group are finding out which prison they are in right now. Once he figures it out, we can plan a jail break. We might not have Regulus with us right now. But we still have a bunch of Molrrets around. I’m sure we can ask their help in digging an escape tunnel.

  D’aka’s rough rescue plan finally calmed her down. She was still a bit impatient, but at least they had a semblance of a plan right now. And then, she felt that familiar feeling.

  Brrrrt Brrrrt Brrrrt

  The rumbling of the ground. The urchins had felt them for so much they grew familiar to it and could tell the difference between the one done by a Molrret…

  Plop

  … And the one done by Regulus.

  Kisara’s face brightened as she saw Regulus’ head popped out of the ground. “Thee called?” asked Regulus.

  “Regulus! Bad news Regulus. Brett and some of the new kids got captured by the city guards. We need to rescue them, NOW!” Kisara wasted no time getting Regulus up to date. Regulus casually pulled himself out of the ground and faced D’aka. “Thy heard some of it. So Cooper is looking where they are. Thee know how long he’ll take?”

  D’aka looked at Regulus a bit weirdly. He had not seen Regulus in a while, and suddenly, his way of speaking became a bit… weird. “I’m not sure… but he should find him by today or tomorrow. There’s only so many prisons to check in this city.”

  “Thy understand. Kisara, we wait till Cooper finds out where Brett is. Thy also get some of the Molrrets to help Cooper.” Kisara looked overjoyed now that Regulus was on the case. Uri on the other hand, was annoyed with Regulus' new speech pattern. “Yezus, Regulus. Is it not enough that your cult speaks weirdly? Do you have to speak weirdly too? What’s with the thy and thee? What the hell are those?”

  “Ah, sorry Uri. I was just copying her.” The group was confused on who the ‘her’ Regulus mentioned. And then, an undead appeared out of the hole. As soon as they saw the undead, they immediately pulled out their weapons. Thomas was a bit slow and Bern just panicked, but Uri, Kisara, and D’aka immediately fired their flintlock at the undead.

  But Regulus blocked the bullet, protecting the undead. “What’s the meaning of this Regulus?” D’aka asked him, confused, and a bit angry. Uri and Kisara were also tense. They could not make heads or tails on the current situation.

  “Don’t worry you all, she’s friendly. She’s also agreed to join our herd too.” Regulus informed them with a huge smile on his face. “She?” the group was confused on who he meant, but then they saw a small hooded figure that was carried by the undead.

  The undead gently put the hooded figure down. The figure took off her hood, revealing a small girl, with a lot of suture on her face. She looked human, but she smelled like the undead. If it were not for Regulus, the kids would have puked due to the smell. But Regulus smelled worse than her, so their nose had been quite desensitized to bad smell.

  The girl raised her hand, making the kids jump back a little. But then they realized, the girl was giving a hello hand gesture. “Thy name Homi. Thy a follower of the path of death, defier of natural life. And thy meant thee no harm.”

  The girl introduced herself, but the gang just looked more confused on what she just said.

  “Fucking great. We got another nutjob.” Uri commented.