"I staged that show during the funeral, mocking you to make your blood boil and even letting that dumb beast beat me around to give you a false sense of security!" Deirus ripped Jirni's hood and was disappointed discovering that she had no hair to pull.

"Pity. I always loved your hair and I would have loved even more ripping it off your scalp." He sighed. "As for your other question, Zavra wasn't the only one who can strike a deal with a Horseman!"

A black prism appeared from Deirus's chest, its perfection framed like a work of art amid the blue of his robe.

"I'm alive because I'm not human anymore. At least not completely. I'm what the undead call a thrall I believe." Velan punched Jirni hard in the face, breaking her nose and veiling her eyes with involuntary tears.

"After losing her dumb siblings, that dumb broad of Night is desperate for resources and allies. I've got nothing left in this fucking Kingdom so I'm going to join her immortal army. Worst case scenario, I'll die bringing a lot of people with me.

"Best case scenario, we win and I'll piss on your grave every day from now until the sun stops rising." Archmage Deirus proceeded to break her fingers one by one, yet Jirni didn't beg nor did she shed a single tear.

"Do you know what's the best part of all of this? After killing you, your corpse and your precious killing instruments are the proof I need to report the Ernas household for attempted murder on an Archmage of the Kingdom.

"After hearing my testimony, the Royals will be forced to make an example out of the Ernas, stripping them of most their riches. Losing you so soon after his precious daughter, will drove that oaf of Orion insane and I'm sure that he'll do something stupid that will be the last straw that will break your household's back.

"You thought that by coming here you would take me by surprise, but this was my plan all along. I'm not content with Quylla's death, she was just the appetizer. My real goal was to lure you here and make sure that the entire Ernas household disappears along with mine!"

Deirus never stopped beating Jirni during his speech, yet aside from a few involuntary yelps, she neither lost her defiant attitude nor beg for mercy.

"You're taking the fun out of this. Scream for me or I'll kill you." He said.

"Then kill me, you loser." Jirni spat a lump of blood and saliva in his face. "I can't believe you stooped so low as to become a slave for a mad artifact. Giving up on your life and on your Duchy I can get, but on your humanity?

"Don't you have any shame?"

"Said the woman who snuck into my home like a thief and tried to kill me in my bed." Velan stomped her chest, making Jirni gurgle blood.

"Was is it you?" She half-gasped and half-said. "Lark and Mirim, was it you?"

"No, I just helped. I gave that nutjob everything I had on them and even delivered his warnings to Lark. Working both sides of the fence was hard, but it was worth it.

"The only problem I have left is that killing your daughter, recruiting a Magus, and getting this thing in my chest cost me everything I had. Night took even the most insignificant things from me and the only way I have to get them back is by helping her win the war."

"Nutjob? Who are you t-" Another kick in the chest crushed what was left of her bones, along with her heart and lungs.

"I'm done talking." Deirus looked at her body, pitying that in his fury he had forgotten to have his fun with her.

He had dreamed about seeing her naked for decades and now not even undeath could bring her back.

"Well, I'm not." Jirni said, making Velan flinch in horror.

He quickly destroyed her brain as well, to make sure that she couldn't survive even in the case she had turned herself in an undead as well for the sake of revenge.

"Who is this guy you mentioned earlier? If you didn't kill Mirim and Lark, then Night was supposed to be my prime suspect." The corpse kept talking despite not having a brain, a heart, nor showing any sign of regeneration.

"What the fuck is going on?" Velan called upon the arrays of his house to sound the alarm, summon the guards, and vaporize that monstrosity.

Yet this time they refused his call.

"It should be pretty clear at this point. This has never been your trap, but mine." This time, Jirni's voice came from behind Deirus.

The huge shadow that the curtains projected in the corner of the room lifted, revealing the Archon in her high uniform. She was wearing a crystal visor and holding a recording device usually used to collect the confessions of criminals.

"You're alive? What is this thing then?" Deirus just smiled seeing Jirni's body intact and her luscious golden hair as beautiful as he remembered it. "It doesn't matter. I just have to start over, but this time I'll be careful while playing with you."

Her curves stretching her uniform in the right places, making his blood rush and his pants bulge.

"What part of trap you don't understand? The t- or the -rap?" Jirni said while a sudden hail of heat rays forced Velan to retreat.

"Judging from the recovery speed, the nimble movements, and the not dying from being stabbed, I'd say you're about to turn into a Ghoul." Manohar, the god of healing, stepped out of the shadows as well, keeping himself right behind Jirni.

He wasn't afraid of his fellow Archmage, only of the petite woman in front of him.

"Manohar! That's how you tricked me and what makes you so confident about your odds of coming out of here alive. That thing was one of his constructs!" Velan was glad to waste time speaking since he could use it to cast true magic.

"No. A construct would have had the wrong warmth, softness, and more importantly, I would have never let Manohar study my body close enough to make a perfect replica. I'm a married lady, after all." Jirni shook her head while blushing like a shy maiden in an act that no one bought.

Archmage Deirus unleashed one of Night's personal spells and a part of their bargain, Slithering Thorn.

The tier five Battle Mage spell exploited the surrounding darkness to generate countless razor-sharp spikes from the very shadows of its marks, hitting them at point-blank range and leaving them no way to dodge.

Much to Velan's surprise, the spikes barely poked at the Archon and the Mad Professor before fading away.

"What in the Great-" Slithering Thorn struck at Deirus from every side, nailing him to the wall and cutting him short.

"Using darkness magic against me is unwise, Deirus." The shadows burst open, revealing the rest of the group that had been waiting the entire time.

Ilyum Balkor, the Blood Magus of the Desert had used Dominance to turn Deirus's spell against its own master. Jirni had brought him because darkness was both the bane of the undead and their strongest weapon.

Yet as long as Balkor was there, darkness magic would belong only to him, turning any number of powerful undead into lambs to the slaughter.