AN: Pretty sure someone got mad at me~. Well, no matter. We've come to the end of the first arc!!! Hope y'all enjoyed the ride thus far, and thank you for getting it to #75 under the "Popular This Week" tab. The Q&A/AMA post will be up as soon as I've typed out a few thoughts on it. So if you have any questions comments, or concerns, either let me know down below, or on the next post.

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Seven red, hooded robed individuals slowly faded into view before the pair of us. Brutus had already summoned up a small host of ghostly undead, and was readying himself with a variety of spells. I, on the other hand, was simply angered by what I had to endure, and these seven were going to be my newest targets.

"Let's see, now," muttered one, as it leafed through a stack of papers that had materialised into its gloved hands. "Ah yes, here it is." The hood of the robe stopped upon Brutus with his small army, and sighed. With a wave of its hand, the army vanished into mist, but not the Lich, nor myself.

"Odd," muttered a feminine voice, as another hooded head turned towards the pair of us with curiosity.

"Indeed," a deep voice rumbled softly nearest the feminine, "It is not a hero, and yet it still remains. Why?"

"Which one is Karastak?" Whispered another, to which the first pointed a gloved forefinger towards my person, "Then who is the other? From what I've read, all other heroes are dead."

"It'll be taken care of soon enough," the first one waved its gloved hands dismissively, "For now, Undead Karastak," the pinpoints of my eyes glared upon the whole of the tribunal, not caring for the lot of them, as it continued, "You have killed off the human royalty, as well as caused one queen to become a minion of some sort."

"I believe he called it a 'thrall'," hissed the fourth.

"Yes, yes. A 'thrall'. Regardless, you're the first to have achieved such a feat, as well as being the first to take so long within that world. Quite an amazing achievement, I might add. Well, anyways," the papers vanished, and the creature leaned forwards towards our position, "You've earned yourself a wish. So, whatever you desire will be granted, within reason."

"Whatever I desire, yes?" A few of the hooded individuals nodded slowly as I raised a clawed forefinger towards them all, "I desire your heads for stealing what was mine. >." A crimson and violet streak of lightning shot out of my digit, and struck an invisible wall in front of their personages. However, much to their amazement, a hairline crack had formed from the force of my spell.

"Ah. Another one, huh? Suun, if you would, please?"

"With pleasure," rumbled a deep voice, as its holder tore off its robe, revealing itself to all. The creature itself was nothing more than a standard Minotaur, but with black fur instead of brown. Above its head were a pair of curved metallic horns, while below it were a pair of beady, red eyes. Smoke trailed itself out of the nostrils of the beast, and a gout of flame erupted from its maw in a huff. The weapon it held was a large, flame coated battle axe with a strange vine-like design upon the face of each side.

"Brutus," the Lich turned towards my person slowly, and I could see a glint of expectation within his emerald eyes, "bring me the creatures head."

"Yes, My Lord God," his body bowed low for a moment, the straightened it, and began to summon a great host around us.

I, on the other hand, simply raised my primary clawed hands high above us, gathering my great energies for a spell I had recently acquired from the torture of Nox and his people.

*****

"Ugh," groaned the first robed individual to speak out for the Tribunal, as it watched Suun running away from a great host of undead, ghostly skeletons. "Suun, what are you doing? They're UNDEAD. Use your fire breath, if you have to."

"I've been doing that since the beginning, Roj," called out the minotaur, whose breath of orange flames bathed the creatures before it, but to no avail. "See?"

The former sighed heavily, and began to stand, when a small, robed creature gripped its sleeve, and pointed a forefinger upon the giant skeleton before them. "We need to leave," it whispered softly, but with great urgency in its hushed voice.

"Why? It's not like Karastak over there is able to penetrate the barrier in place." However, the creature still would not remove its grip, which caused the former to actually stare at the undead giant more closely.

"What is that thing behind him?" Shouted a frantic, feminine voice, whose own digit was pointing to something behind the giant's body.

Something, composed of crimson, emerald, and violet lightnings slowly formed itself behind him, and spanned well over eighteen metres in height. What is more, the thing made up of lightnings stood in the exact same pose as himself, but was gathering far more energy than the one before it. "We need to leave! NOW," but it was too late.

For the creature of lightning, and that which was called Karastak, both intoned the spell whilst pointing their smaller clawed hands towards those within the Tribunal, ">."

*****

The spell I used, called "Rage Over The Chaotic Storm of Mana", is another of my forbidden spells, and was only accessible whenever the madness within me broke free of that which kept it at bay for so long. In other words, it is one that is seldom used, for its demands of energy is greater than what I could bear, and always caused my body to crash to the ground after each and every cast.

"What does it do?" Some may ask, and the answer is not as simple as I would like it. For you see, the spell itself takes over my own body, causing my energies to become wild and more chaotic than normal. Indeed, and it even goes so far as to create a mirror image of myself with said energies. Once the spell is intoned, and a target is found, the amount of force it releases is so great, it has the power to break a small moon, or planet, in half. Which is why it is seldom used.

However, despite my weakened state, I was still able to stand, albeit shakily. Once I steadied myself, and felt my energy slowly trickle into my body, my eyes turned to gaze upon that which called itself a "Tribunal". Of the seven, three had perished, but one of those three had been slain due to the mass amount of undead, whereas the other two were vapourised due to the onslaught of my spell.

"A pity you all did not die," my voice rumbled with great anger, as my body slowly stalked forward until I stood near a small, furred creature in a scorched, red robe. Its small body was hyperventilating when it noticed my person standing before it, but was ignored as my eyes searched for another.

"My Lord God," Brutus called out, waving the severed head of Suun the Minotaur for my eyes to see, "I have completed my task, but what of them?" A metallic, clawed finger pointed towards a small group of hooded individuals who had huddled together a fair distance away.

"Bring them to me, Brutus, for I desire answers."

"Yes, My Lord God," one of his clawed hands balled into a fist, and slammed itself upon his solar plexus, before rushing off to bring what remained of the "Tribunal" to my person.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you," my voice rumbled dangerously low, as one of my lesser clawed hands brought up the small, furred creature I had previously ignored. The forefinger of said clawed hand was poised ready to pierce the flesh of the creature, and inject my acidic poison within it.

"Please," it whispered, as tears flowed greatly down its small cheeks, but the madness still had its hold over my mind, and did not allow me to see this. Instead, I simply listened to its screams and wails, as my acidic poison was injected into its small body, which slowly melted into a puddle upon the darkened ground below.

"Shauna," cried out a male's voice, who was currently being pushed towards my being. Without thinking, the male's body was lifted into the air by way of my right primary clawed hand, to which it struggled greatly in my grasp as another finger was poised to strike at its flesh.

"Give me one reason why I should not kill you," my voice repeated, whilst my captive simply shot out a large fireball towards my skull. However, it was simply absorbed by a golden, shimmering shield about my person. Instead of injecting the struggling body with my poison, I simply intone the spell, ">," and listened to its screams of pain and anguish. "Give me your spells and abilities, thing, for I desire them greatly."

However, the creature's head exploded into a shower of bone, blood, and brain matter from another in their group. This one was a female, and its facial features were smug, until my gaze turned upon it. Of whom became frightened, whilst destroying the heads of the remaining Tribunal members before turning on herself. ">," I intoned, causing her body to stiffen, her eyes wide as she witnessed something only she was privy to.

Slowly, gingerly, both of my lesser clawed hands gripped her body, then shook her awake. "Wha-?" She began, then screamed as my spell began to infest her mind, pulling out all of her spells and abilities for my own personal use. Once finished, and the silvered orb entered my mind, both I and the Lich turned towards a sound of feet slapping upon marbled flooring. Of which was becoming closer, and before it arrived, the last of the Tribunal was naught, but a puddle of flesh upon the ground.

"Hello once more, Undead Karastak," spoke a voice that was familiar to my person, but one I had not heard of for a long time. The owner of the voice soon appeared before us, of which caused Brutus to stand between the both of us, blocking its advance with a great host of ghostly undead surrounding us all.

"I know you," my voice was barely a whisper, as my eyes slowly focused on the small figure before us. It was a small girl-child, with a floral patterned dress, silvered hair, and eyes as darkest night.

"You have been busy, Undead Karastak," her voice was soothing, and began to slowly push the madness that gripped me back into its place beyond my mind. "Why is the Tribunal dead?"

"They've stolen everything from me."

"And this warranted their deaths?"

"They deserved more than just death, but I am not capable of doing something as great as that. Yet."

Her head simply nodded, seemingly accepting my answer, and stared upon my form before asking, "What is your wish, Undead Karastak?"

"My wish?" A chuckle full of sorrow escaped my maw, as I shook my skull slowly, "I desire the world called Terra to be returned to my person."

"Ah," the girl-who-is-not-a-girl shook her head quickly, causing her hair to fluff up a small bit, "I cannot do this, as that world will simply restart itself once you leave this place."

The pinpoints that were my eyes shrank slowly, as I glared down upon her, "What do you mean?"

"The world called Terra was one of the Tutorial worlds governed by a lesser god, or group of gods. They simply tend to it, and once the hero, or group of heroes have either died or completed it, and left this space, it is reverted back to before you appeared. This causes everyone, and everything, to repeat forevermore."

"That is torture," whispered Brutus, whose entire host had readied themselves to strike down the being in front of them.

"Yes, but come, this one will give you a choice to pick. You, Undead Karastak, will be granted the ability to create a host of undead far greater than Brutus the Lich, or one where you may summon up to twenty of your Undying."

"Will the Undying be of the world called Terra?" My voice was soft, as I simply stared at the girl-child.

"This one will make sure of it, yes."

"Then I choose my Undying."

"Excellent," she clapped her hands with excitement, "Come, we must leave now, as there are many worlds for you to discover."

*****

"That's it?" Asked the bright elf dejectedly, once the Ageless finished his tale.

"Did you expect more, young one?" At the nod of the elf, the kitsune sighed and rubbed his temples slowly. "There is more to the story, yes, but you will have to wait for another day to hear it." Many groaned at his words, to which he smirked at the group. "I do have other tales I may part with."

"We'd rather hear more of your origin, Ageless," came the small voice of the Nekotar, which was followed up by many others who desired to hear more, too.

"Ah, but I had promised the children I would spend more time with them, my dear audience. Would you prefer I break their little hearts by telling you more of my past, or will you allow my person to join them in play? If it is the former, then you are heartless and greedy, but if it is the latter, then I shall strive to tell you all more of my origins.

"When next we meet."