On the dawn of the second day, while the team was sleeping and unaware of their surroundings, footsteps sounds could be heard from far away, there was even a huge dust cloud that was forming behind the army of the Undead which was heading their way.

The only person who noticed them since the moment they stepped on this town is Lucy. It wasn't difficult to locate the army using her sense, however, she didn't alert the others and maintained her silence.

Once the sound of the army became clearer, what was left of the survivors started panicking, screaming, and running toward the opposite direction

The disturbance woke up all three members, Rebecca and Usui immediately readied themselves for battle and only Claudia took her time to slowly wake up.

"I have an idea."

Arthur muttered inside Lucy's ears, as he sensed the approaching army, he was struck with a brilliant idea that would cause Claudia to feel a bit of fear for the first time in a long time.

He explained to Lucy how things will go down and after confirming their next actions, she turned to Claudia and indifferently said

"I'm going."

Claudia acted as if she heard the wrong words, she snapped and walked up to Lucy, wanting to grab her shoulder but only managed to grab air.

She angrily to stopped the ground and shouted for Lucy to come back but was only met with silence, which further irritated her. Usui followed right after, leaving only the short Rebecca to protect Claudia inside this run-down building.

The army of Undead truly had a mind-numbing number. The one attacking this village is merely a small portion of the main force, however, neither Lucy nor Arthur was worried about this matter.

Arthur was a fully-fledged Necromancer, with a flick of his finger, he can annihilate this army or even make it his if he were to summon a higher Undead entity to act as a temporary leader.

His goal right now wasn't to resist this army or destroy it, in fact, he was going to join it for a short while and act like one of them. Lucy hid in a small spatial dimension created by Arthur and watched as her husband left her body and possessed a tall Death Knight.

The Death Knight wore a full set of jet black armor and had a two-handed axe, that was even bigger than its body, hanging on its back.

"Should I get rid of the undead?"

Lucy asked Arthur, who was grinning evilly as he was thinking about what's going to happen to Claudia.

"No, that isn't our concern. Come with me and watch from the sidelines, it's going to be fun."

The silver-haired woman nodded her head and followed after Arthur while still hidden inside his Spatial Dimension. As she silently followed the Death Knight, which was making its way to where Claudia and co were, Lucy felt a strange sensation as if something was tightening around her whole consciousness.

She closed her eyes and entered her consciousness only to see her God Spirit, which was a breathtaking sky-blue Lotus, was acting in a strange way. It was emitting an intense white light that covered her whole consciousness and seemed to be protecting it from something.

A fourth of the Lotus was already dyed with a strange jet black color that was emitting a dark fog and making her feel uncomfortable, fortunately, the white light emanating from the God Spirit was slowly but surely getting rid of the fog and the ominous color.

'This feeling... it's Arthur's Dark Magic.'

Lucy spent a few more seconds as she thoroughly watched this process but still wasn't able to fully understand the situation. Upon a closer look to her soul, which was shining brightly with a light full of vigor and energy, she saw a thin, almost unnoticeable, dark thread that was stretching from its center.

The thin thread was extremely long as it stretched to the boundary of her consciousness and even went outside. This was the first time Lucy saw it but she speculated that it must be due to the Soul Bind effect between her and Arthur.

Normally, Dark Magic doesn't damage her or affect her thanks to the Soul Bind, however, this time's case was different. The Dark Magic present in the thin thread and the dark fog was malicious, to say the least, and if not for her strong cultivation and special physique, she would have been harmed.

'I must talk with him once this matter is done.'

Honestly, Lucy wanted to tell him right now, however, she knew that he was in a hurry to carry out his revenge and it's really important for him so she restrained herself and decided to schedule it for later.

...........

"Kakakakaka, this is the Lost Palace."

The floating Jack O Lantern guide finally lead the Water Empress to her destination.

"Kakakakak, the rest is up to you..... kakakaka remember, stare at the dark too long and you will eventually see what isn't there."

With those last words, the guide swiftly left the place, leaving only the tall woman alone in front of a gigantic ghostly palace. It was built using grey stones and the gates were jet black, giving the whole palace a rather creepy impression, suitable for a palace inside the Death Region.

After collecting her thoughts for some time, the Empress finally entered the Lost Palace with a wary expression and a cautious attitude. The guide didn't specify whether it's a dangerous place to trod into or not, however, it's safe to assume it's a dangerous place.

Once she passed the main gates, which opened themselves to her as if welcoming her visit. The Empress found herself in the main garden, which was devoid of any plant or life. The only kind of plant that could be seen were black roses that were hidden in shadowy corners.

The woman inspected the garden and once she ascertained that no one was there, she headed for the entrance of the main building. Unlike the first gates, these tall and black doors didn't open when she stepped before them. She even tried showing the special pass or forcefully breaking in, nothing worked.

She remembered the guide's last words and guessed that this some kind of a riddle or a puzzle.

'stare at the dark too long and you will eventually see what isn't there..... what did it me-ah!'

As if she realized something, the Water Empress turned her head to the jet black doors and stared at them. She kept staring for a long time until a pleasant result occurred. The doors blocking her entrance finally opened and showed her the interior of the palace, which was drastically different from the exterior.

A red and clean carpet could be seen covering the whole floor, even the wide stairs leading upwards. Dark Gold statues hanging on walls or in noticeable corners and even ancient paintings that would make anyone stare at them for a few seconds due to the high-level of art they have and the image inside of them, which were extremely realistic.

As she cautiously entered the Lost Palace, the woman inspected each statue but wasn't able to recognize their meaning or the identity of the sculpted individual.

However, it was a bit different with the paintings as they seemed to depict matters of the past, unfortunately, most of them were new to the Empress, who was only able to recognize two of the thirteen paintings.

'These all happened before the Hour of Creation and the Great War....'

With an expression of disbelief, the Empress did her best to imprint the paintings in her mind but wasn't able to. Whenever she takes her eyes off a painting, she would forget about it.

The first painting she recognized was of a man flying in the sky, his lone figure faced four huge Divine Beasts. The Sun was rising behind them and despite it this sight only coming from a painting, the woman felt as if she was experiencing the pressure of the Divine Beasts herself.

The second painting had the same man as the first one but the aura around it was totally different. It had a very deadly and malicious aura. With the man at the front, there was a whole legion of undead marching behind him. Their eye sockets flashed with green flames as they marched in an organized manner.

Three great Lich Kings, Greater Wraiths and Ghost Specters ruled the sky while Death Knights, Skeleton Kings, and Zombie Lords dominated the corrupted land.

Against this unstoppable force, no one had the power nor the courage to face them, so, with heavy-sounding footsteps and loud ghostly cries, the biggest legion of Undead ever recorded in history, headed to war.

Even someone as powerful as this woman wasn't able to stare at this army for too long as she got the creeps and cold chills ran down her spines.

She remembered reading about this huge event that occurred before the Hour of Creation. It even broke the balance between the powers...