The first and second rows of undead merged into one unit as Alexis took over the commanding spot. Zombies with shields moved first, protecting archers right behind their back. Six rows in total separated in the middle where the she-lich walked. Few would consider it as a strategic weakness - the place you should attack. Woeful fools who target her first.

And then, they moved out in a calm and steady pace. Once they moved around fifty or so meters, the first volley of arrows rained down on their heads. Alexis let out a quick, sharp, shriek. It was a command. Without messing their footing, the first row raised their shields far above their heads. Even though they were deprived of vision, they didn’t slow down and continued their march on.

They moved with little to no losses for some more time, when I noticed a single flame on the walls of the fortification. An archer’s arrows was ignited, it flew across the air targeting the center of the formation. Alexis also noticed it flying, and with a quick gesture of her hand, she sent a gust of wind which threw the projectile off its direction. Seeing their first attack failing, dozens of lights appeared. She couldn’t stop them all. Two or three arrows landed between the lines of undeads. After a split second, a raging inferno exploded, covering the first lines in fire, yet it didn’t blaze for long.

Alexis threw her arms to the side, creating a powerful dome of wind, she walked like in the eye of a storm, completely ceasing the fire and nullifying all other projectiles that were yet to come, but gradually burning her magical powers while doing so.

She was ready for it. She knew that her squad was supposed to be sacrificed. She was there to buy time and… set up a smokescreen to cover my squads.

With a quick cry I ordered Reversed to move out. They moved in perfect unison, lifting their tower shields off the ground and pushing their spears through narrow gaps between them. Such splendid soldiers, they needed almost no orders, it was enough to just set them into the desired location…

… And I knew that they were given to me because The Great one didn’t trust my abilities. They needed more magical powers to maintain a connection with Him. Unlike the masses of random corpses that Alexis led, and she led them perfectly, they needed no corrections, no additional guidance.

I was envying her powers and the General’s trust that she had.

For now, I decided to only do my part, perfectly execute this easy task I was given. I would humbly accept everything that He would bestow upon me, trying to see through his intentions and learn as much as possible. With time, I would grow stronger and wiser, and when the time would come, more noble tasks would be bestowed upon me. For the greater plan. For HIS resurrection!

The wind storm that lich raised was perfectly hiding eighty undead veterans that almost reached the same position as Alexis' group, which already engaged with the enemy. By now, they were standing under fortifications, with zombies holding their shields up in the air, occasionally lowering them down letting archers answer the defender with arrows.

The adventures started coming out through the gates, forming a thin line in front of the camp, equipped mostly with spears and long, two-handed hammers, they were standing in a wide, lousy formation, they didn’t intend to attack, nor even fight, but only to keep us away, at a distance, using the advantage of archers on the walls to their maximum potential.

Wise.

Still, futile.

Why are they even opposing? Right they fight in the name of nothing. Empty promises, shallow and dull values and once they would join us, they would become a part of something greater than they are now… Well, they will realize it very soon, and then, they would be ashamed of their own short-sighted selfs, embracing our Lord as a savior that he is.

The first row crashed against the defenders. Humans were quickly giving up their land, delivering a blow or two, moving back, another blow, another step back. At the same time, the unprotected row of archers kept on firing at the defenders on the wall. Normally, skeletons would be nearly immune toward the arrows, as most of them would simply fly past their open rib cages…

… yet, the adventures were ready for that. They put their bows aside and picked large slings. Soon, instead of thin arrows wide stones were sent flying, cracking the bones and skulls open.

The sounds of existences of my brothers and sisters back in the mist broke my heart, I tried to convince myself that once the battle was over the great one would re-summon them back… but the pain remained.

“Reversed!...” I yelled as we were approaching the cover of wind made by the she-lich “... AID OUR BROTHERS AND SISTER! CHAAARGE!”

The lines of undeads in front of us shifted to the sides, making an opening for us to pass.

The defenders were not ready for that. The first row of Reversed, which I led, jumped in the air using the momentum of the charge to deliver a shattering blow. Spears of my soldier were painted red… mine included.

“Sleep now…” I said watching the light of life perishing from the eyes of my opponent “... soon you will join me as my brother.” “Reversed on the front line!...” the man on the walls yelled while reloading his crossbow ‘... the enemy has…”

His words were silenced with an arrow of one of our archers.

Their commander, who also climbed the walls, was about to deliver another command, yet his words were silenced. From the side of his camp a mass of bones took the shape of a gigantic wheel and rolled toward the walls, breaking through and jumping into the middle of the camp. A giant bone assassin appeared on the battlefield. Monstrous, twisted body made of corrupted, bent bones. His many limbs were long, yet instead of legs or hands, it was ended with sharp razors. Like a gigantic unholy hybrid of spider and man it towered over the mortals.

Yet, there was no end to the battle’s pace. The ground ruptured as something approached from the back digging out from the dirty, dead soil. The first one which came from the mist summoned by an unholy spell, the Elder Horror managed to grab two adventurers and pull them toward its main body. Few additional mouths appeared and swallowed them whole, later, the sound of bodies being chewed and bones snapping resonated across the battlefield, slightly dulled by the mass of the flesh.

And at the very end, from behind our ranks a sound of earth trembling as something colossal, yet slow was approaching could be heard. It was our Master approaching on the shoulder of the undead giant.

With the power of three greater ones and fortifications being broken in just as many places, the Master’s plan was close to being finished. He had absolute control over the battlefield.

“Do not resist, children of the Sun. Soon, you will join our noble cause and great crusade. Surrender your lives, and your transformation shall be painless. Resist… and nothing would change. You would only add to your own agony…”

Master didn’t tell the entire truth. He couldn’t care less about mortals' comfort. Simply, if they were to die, most of them would arise as either lesser or medium rank undeads, while performing the rites of turning on still-living flesh could mean low chances of a few of them ascending into Greater Ones, or even Descended, such as General himself.

“Retreat! Form the ranks! Priests! Cast the shields!”

As if not hearing the Enlightened, the commander of the enemy kept on yelling his commands.

It was as futile as offensive! You dog! When a greater than yourself speaks to you, you bow your head while listening! He made an effort to include you into His plan! And yet, you cast away your chance just to prolong your miserable existence for a few more minutes?!

Adventurers, around fifty, maybe sixty of them, formed a tight, square formation in the center of the camp. Their mages kneeled behind the second rows of heavily armored knights while chanting a spell which erected a magical barrier around them. In the meantime, regular mages were working on a different spell. I was no mage, thus I couldn’t tell what was the nature of their sorcery, only that they tried to gain as much time as needed for it.

But why? The chance that they were waiting for reinforcements were close to nil! Their magic is purely defensive… then…

[Defensive Roll] against [Call of the Grave] - failed “Aster, what are you doing? Proceed with the attack!”

Alexis scolded me.

It wasn’t like that! I wasn’t supposed to think, unless asked! I wasn’t supposed to think through enemy tactics! That was all Master’s domain! That was so very unlikely of me… of… what was it like to be *me*?

Obey!

I shook my head getting rid of annoying thoughts.

I took a step onward, all Reversed followed.

The magic was howling over my head, defenders were sending arrows and stones toward me and my soldiers, most of them were stopped by tall shields, yet even when some of the projectiles found their way through the narrow gaps they couldn’t do enough damage to even slow down our march. I could see as one of the soldiers to my right had his head pierced with an arrow, yet not deep enough. Damaged Reversed didn’t even mess his footing.

Accelerating, our march turned into charge till we were finally about to crush into a line of defenders, just to be pushed away by a wall of light which the priests had summoned. It burned us slightly and forced us to take a few steps back.

The front line of defenders, seeing our formation shattered, jumped onward engaging us in battle. It was chaotic, brutish. Messy.

One of my soldier's heads was smashed with a heavy warhammer. Another one, who merely stumbled, was hit with a heavy shield and thus falling on the ground. His head was crushed under a reinforced iron boot. But, we weren’t the only one who suffered damage. Some adventurers weren’t fast enough. One of the Reversed who suffered only a small wound managed to cover himself with a shield before his attacker’s strike managed to land, the resonation between the attack and the shield caused the human’s balanced to shatter, later, his torso was stabbed with a spear in a quick, vicious, counterattack.

A similar thing happened to me. As soon as I was sent flying back, a man pounced at me to deliver a quick strike, I let him come slightly closer, pretending I didn’t correct my footing just yet. His mace flew inches away from my head, as I performed a full twist with my body, dropping the spear, I picked the sword from behind my belt, I smashed his weapon-wielding still stretched hand with a shield while slashing with my sword shortly after, targeting his throat.

But, he was quick. He managed to jump back behind the wall of light at the very last moment.

In this attack, I lost around eight Reversed, while killing three mortals and wounding a few more.

It was still good. We had a crushing advantage of numbers.

During this whole brawl, the three Greater ones attacked the very barrier, pushing their limbs against it, slashing, crushing, or even vomiting acid on it. The barrier resonated, dulled, and cracked before fixing itself.

The priests continued to maintain it. And they did manage to do it, for now. I knew that with each damage that the barriers suffered, their powers grew weaker.

It was only a matter of time till…

A headache nearly ripped my skull open. What was that?! Something was wrong, I could tell… But what?

[Defensive Roll] against [Call of the Grave] - failed “Hold the line, brave people! We are almost there!”

Their commander yelled.

Almost… where? Grave? The afterlife? What does he want to achieve? Why does my skull hurt so much!?

[Defensive Roll] against [Call of the Grave] - failed

Don’t think! Aster! Obey! Fight! You will have plenty of time to think once this battle would be over, for now, fight, so you can keep your existence in place!

The human which I wounded earlier moved back, being unable to keep on fighting he switched with another warrior. A woman. Her glaive was a poor weapon for this battle. What did she hoped to achieve with mostly slashing attacks? She will pay for her stupidity, dearly…

We moved in to clash against the barrier one more time, trying to aid the Greater Ones and lure more humans from behind the barrier.

Once again we were pushed back, and once again humans jumped in trying to reduce our numbers. The glaive user moved swiftly, much faster than I could react to. I sidestepped, avoiding the thrust of her weapon, just to be forced further back as she changed the grip and slashed horizontally. I blocked that attack with my shield, yet as a result, I covered my vision as well. My was slightly slower than regular vision, and so I didn’t notice her moving in the blind spot created by my defense. She kicked aiming low, my leg gave up making me stumble. I wasn’t afraid of death nor permanently damaging my body, so using the momentum of my falling body I attacked from above. Dying one for one was completely fair from my point of view.

She had to give up her battle plan, withdrawing her glaive and rising it above her head she blocked my strike. I moved quickly, kicking her in the guts, making her fall to the ground. I quickly pounded atop of her trying to pierce her with my sword.

She raised her hands, catching my sword, stopping me from stabbing her as the tip of my blade hovered just an inch or two over her heart.

“A-Aster?” She gasped, still fighting for air and grappling with my sword for her life. “How do you know my name?”... I hissed “... I am sure that we never meet… No, this is unimportant, irrelevant. You will tell me once you join us, my soon-to-be-sister.” [Defensive Roll] against [Call of the Grave] - failed

I had no lungs, so talking didn’t deprive me of my strength nor air which normally would fuel the muscles.

Somehow, she managed to free her leg and she pushed me off herself. Still, right now, I was standing with a sword in my hand, and she was just getting up. My blade already traveled toward her neck to cut it down as she was in a semi-kneeling position. She had nowhere else to move and no time to react. She also knew it, as I could see her pupil widening as if accepting her end.

“Mages! Now! Release it!”

Their commander yelled.

And mages cast their spell. It wasn't a damaging spell, it wasn't a defensive spell either.

It was a power-boosting spell. Mages poured their entire power multiplied by long incantation into the priest's barrier, empowering it, increasing its range, and changing the spell's effect. The spell which just a moment ago was working on the area of just a few dozen square meters took over the entire battlefield, trapping the entire attacking army within.

Ghosts and souls lured in by the smell of battle, pain and death were banished back into the no-world of the Mist with agonizing howl.

Some of the undeads which were already damaged or weak before the battle ever started caught blue fire of purification which kept on burning their existence.

I felt the light burning me, just like daylight. It was a terrible, unpleasant feeling. I knew that if I would stay in here, I also would perish with time… Still, that time could be easily counted in hours, if not days.

But, what truly confused me, is that I felt the power of General weakening, our link suffered as well… only then, something cracked within my head. It was like a wall that shrouded a colossal part on my existence in shadows. My very own personality.

You have been caught in the radius of effect of [The Divine Barrier of Thirteen Wings] - Every [Dark] or [Evil] based kind of skill's effect is being reduced by [75%]

- You will suffer [10] [Holy Flame] Damage every hour

- Bonuses gained from [Terrytory] are being temporarily stopped [Defensive Roll - Succeed]

You are no longer under effect of [Call of the Grave]

I was… controlled. I “blinked” few times with my non-existing eyelids, as if trying to once again focus on the reality around me. And then, after those few seconds, I noticed this girl that I already met before kneeling under me, and my sword pressed tightly against her neck, almost cutting it.

“M-miss Agnes? What are you.. What am I… Where are…” I was dizzy, lost, almost panicking. “Aster? Are you back to your senses?” She smiled with relief.

And then, an explosion scattered the battlefield, an explosion, which sent dozens of skeletons in the air.

“You dared to enslave ME!?...”a she-lich also regained control over her body and mind, and speaking frankly, she wasn’t pleased once she woke up “... I don’t care if you are a Dead General, Prince of Nosferatu, or the Emperor himself! I! Will! Not! Forgive You!”

She turned her backs to mortals and carved her path through masses of walking bones she charged at the General.

Two Greater Ones, which moments ago were occupied with assaulting the barrier right now withdrawn and ran toward their master, trying to protect him from sudden betrayal within their ranks.

Alexis was truly powerful, I could actually risk a statement that once controlled her powers were weakened, suppressed - to allow the barely resurrected General to control her. The firestorm which she unleashed just now, let her to not only hold her ground versus two powerful monstrosities, but even kept on pushing them back.

Snapping out from my shock, I offered Agnes my hand to help her get up on her feet, which she quickly accepted. With the power of the General weakened with holy aura, the undeads lost their unity. Without the direct contact with their commanders, they started fighting chaotically, fighting as individuals rather than one unit. Adventurers left their defensive formation and charged on, decimating the numbers of skeletons, zombies, and Reversed alike. Many of them ran past me, butchering creatures which not so long ago I considered my family.

A man clad in silver armor ran toward me with his weapon raised, enlightened with blue flame, yet was stopped by the woman whose hand I was still holding.

“Capitan! Doooon’t!...” She yelled waving her hand “... that’s Aster! The man I told you about!” “Didn’t he… lead the enemy forces, just a few minutes ago?” The man asked with a weapon still in the air, pointed in my direction. “I… back then… I don’t…” It was still so very confusing to me, it was as if I had just awoken from some deep slumber, not knowing where I was and what was happening around me. “He wasn’t himself!” Agnes tried defending me “... he must have been controlled!” “Is that true?” The man kept on asking, without losing focus. “I… don’t know. I was marching north… and then… I heard something… and woke up here…” I answered honestly. “He was about to cut me down, but stopped! He could kill me many times, but…” Agnes tried to over-talk someone that appeared to be her commander. “Tell me, undead… Are you willing to join us and purge remaining of your kinsmen?”

I once again looked over the chaos all around me. On undeads being cut down with every passing moment. With a lich brawling against two colossuses, and on the dark figure standing atop of the shoulder of yet another beast, at the edge of the battlefield.

That creature had the same smell that Mortis did - the smell of death. The smell of the end, but, The Mistwalker carried on the hope, while he was corrupted with the stench of rotten flesh and festering wounds.

This creature was purely evil. I still could sense a link between us, which now was severed. If he was to leave this battlefield, he would easily dominate me again. And that was not something I could allow to happen.

“I will…”

Before I even managed to finish my sentence, the man forced his helmet over my head and closed the visor.

“Keep it on, and maybe my people won’t purge you right away. We will talk later… and better don’t think of anything stupid…” “Y-Yes, thank you for understanding and…” “Hm? Oh, the last sentence I said to Agnes. I trust that you would act logical, Aster, unfortunately, I don’t have such faith toward her.”

He patted my shoulder while walking past me and cutting down a few Reversed that were standing closest to him.

His moves were so minimalistic and perfect that I only shivered. He was a man that was born holding a blade and only polished his skills through his entire life.

Actually, if they were fighting head-on from the start we could still lose this battle - the only reason he waited this long was to minimize casualties on their side.

“Mister Aster, come on! You need to show yourself off! You have to cut as many down as possible so they wouldn’t consider you an enemy later! Don’t be fooled by Capitan’s hospitality just now! He still doesn’t trust you!”

Agnes smiled while running past me, joining her commander.

“And… you do?” I asked not understanding this woman’s motives. Just a few moments ago I was about to cut her head down. “Of course! You already saved me once, and just now you chose not to kill me, even though you could! Also, I still owe you that bear!’

She yelled over her shoulder as she joined the battle.

It was all so crazy! So confusing! So unnatural!

… But, I had to adapt. It was just as this crazy woman has said. I had to show off, otherwise, my safety after the battle still wasn’t guaranteed, in the end, to them I was yet another undead. Yet another body which could they just add to the pyre and burn.

They didn’t need help with butchering lower tier undead, I would only slow them down… If I wanted to make myself a good name, there was only one thing I could do. I started walking towards the gigantic beasts.

Alexis was doing better than just well and the General decided to join the battle against the rebelled mage.

Three monstrosities were too much, even for her. She was defending against one, attacking the second, yet the third one would slash, pierce, or attack with acid. Slowly, she was losing her ground.

The Undead Giant stretched its hand to grab and crushed the lich - I had no time to waste. Without her help, this battle could still turn into a bloodbath. I picked the spear which was lost by someone on the battlefield, took my aim, and threw it across the air. I had no experience with throwing such weapons. Because of that, I knew that what happened was purely due to luck.

The spear dug itself in the one place which undead couldn’t ignore - its eye. That bought me a few additional seconds, during which I managed to reduce the difference in distance. I picked a huge two-handed sword, and slashed the back of the Giant’s leg, making it stumble. At first confused, Alexis started turning the chaos I caused to her advantage.

“Foolish puppets!” The voice of the General echoed across the battlefield, resonating in our heads “... I gave you a reason! A cause that gave meaning to your insignificant existence! Yet, you decided to continue your unholy being with no value! You shall never be remembered! You will cease your existence with as much meaning as dust!” “My life is only for me to decide!...” The lich yelled, finishing her spell, and caused the Bone Assassins to explode into thousands of pieces which scattered across the battlefield. The Elder Horror was completely enveloped in flames. In one very last attempt to protect its master, it spat acid all over the lich. She didn’t manage to protect herself and part of her body started dissolving.

I attacked one more time, piercing the Giant’s spine, it fell further down on all four limbs, throwing the Commander off his shoulder. Still considering the lich as a greater threat, it once again raised its fist trying to pulverize her into the ground.

She raised her hand, raising a wall of pure magical power that stopped the blow, yet her powers were gradually fading. The General didn’t wait, and raising his blade he tried slashing her from the side.

She stopped that too, raising her other, now dissolving arm and recast the same spell. Using this opportunity, I tried to attack the Black Skeleton from behind.

“You!” He yelled while turning with his side to me, raising his hand in a commanding gesture “... I can understand how an elder lich could throw me a challenge, but you? Nearly an empty husk? There is nothing special in you! Your self-awareness amused me! I wanted to keep you around as a pet! As a jester to amuse me! And now you think you could stand on equal ground with me!? That’s beyond offensive! Look, even with this silly spell of those priests in the air, I can still make you obey me!”

His words forced me down on one knee. My head was bowing close and closer toward the dirt. My whole body was having as if gravity became tenfold stronger.

Despite that, my arm holding a sword was still raised above my head, slowly getting closer toward General’s chest, and the mass of green light which was still sparkling inside.

Just then, I heard her voice in my head.

“Aster, kid…” It was Alexis “... I thought I would manage to win this battle alone. How foolish I was. Even though I was doing fine I lowered my guard. Look at me now, I used to continue my existence for nearly a century after my body’s death… just to be defeated by a puking corpse… Keep on pushing, kid, soon I will lower his dominance against you, I can give you only this one chance, so don’t you dare miss… Also, if you would ever happen to stumble over the black tower in the middle of a swamp, and the guardian would ask you a question… answer with…”

Something was carved at the back of my mind. Words and symbols, which I couldn’t decipher just now.

And then, Alexis lowered the power of one of her shields. The General’s blade cut through her rib cage, at the very same time I felt a power surging through my body. Almost bolting from my kneeling stance I jumped onward digging my blade in the essence of the Undead General.

It was as if my blade got stuck in deep, dense, cold mud. The Undead let out a high, piercing shriek that caused every mortal in the area to cover their ears in pain.

Undead started collapsing, as tormented spirits were forcibly banished from their vessels. The General died, again. And at the very last moment, I could swear that I saw lich smiling as her mouthless jaw formed into a silent “Thank you”.

Mortals rejoiced, as the Undead Giant was the last one to fall lifeless to the dirt.

Freed from the dark embrace I once again fell on my knees, mentally exhausted. I tried to rise helping myself with my sword as a support. At that moment, a crowd of humans surrounded me from all sides, patting my back and yelling some words full of ecstasy.

Apparently none of them knew that I also was an undead, in the end, almost my entire body was covered in clothes as armor, only my hands remained on the side, yet due to the huge crowd tightly around me, none could see them. Everyone was congratulating me, some were jokingly speaking something about promotion.

Much, much, later the Captain came and yelled something about treating the wounded and fixing the gap, even then, the adventures didn’t leave me right away. With a nasty smirk, the Captain pointed towards a tent which was raised a few moments ago, in front of which a few people gathered and, guessing by their armor, they were no regular soldiers.

So, the battle dust settled and they had all the time they wanted to decide my fate.