Dyne observed the ritual and watched as the sorcerer made his chants. The death energy from the dead bodies was being drawn out.

Dyne observed it and wondered and couldn’t help but turn to Jedo.

“What is that?” Dyne asked.

“Oh? Is the almighty Dyne unable to discern the darkness?”

“Of course not. I’m Brimstone. Being able to wield the darkness is my limit. Can you wield Brimstone?” Dyne sneered.

Jedo was physically shaking.

“It’s our power. Negative emotions fuel the darkness. That is the resentment, fear, anger, and terror that all the slain humans and monsters experienced right before their death.” Jedo answered.

“That’s it?”

“What’s it?”

“Can’t you give me a detailed scientific explanation of why this happens? Because it sounds to me that light is joy, bravery, adoration, and peace. And I’ve been wielding light, but I haven’t been able to draw out that energy.”

“… I don’t know how to answer your question.” Jedo frowned.

“Meh. Let me ask Tieg.”

“Tieg?!”

“Hey, Strafe! You heard my question, right? And now that Jedo is here, can’t you talk to him as well?”

“It’s not that I didn’t want to, but it expends energy. So if you want, you have to somehow connect me to him.” Strafe explained.

“Alright. Let me try something.” Dyne began to concentrate.

“Alright. Give it a go.”

“He-Hello? Can you hear me?” Strafe asked with uncertainty.

“Who’s there?”

“It’s me. Tieg. Hello, Jedo.”

“Lord Tieg!” Jedo exclaimed.

“I’ll leave you two to make the needed introductions while I concentrate on what’s going on in front of me.”

Jedo and Strafe began to talk. But mainly, Strafe was merely confirming what Dyne told him.

On the other hand, Dyne was concentrating on the chants and the energy that was circulating, which was now coating the place pitch black. Even the torches of the nearby soldiers could not be seen.

“What exactly is that? Strafe?” Dyne interrupted.

“We’ll talk later, Jedo. Dyne… Let me explain it to you this way. In Legaia, you know that the soul of the slain travels back to the Noaru Valley. But for a few days, the soul remains in the place it was. That is because the Soul separated from Mind and Body is a very unstable entity. Unless someone cultivates in Soul cultivation, what happens is that all souls are driven by instinct to move towards the place where they will journey into the afterlife.

“In Legaia, it's Noaru Valley, but what about here?”

“The place where Light and Darkness meets. I am referring to the core of a planet. I shaped the world of Legaia to be without a core. You will learn why when you become stronger. But here, the portal to the afterlife is at the core of this Planet. But we can talk about the afterlife and its laws when you become a Saint or complete at least one severing.”

“Alright. So going back to the darkness.”

“Put it simply, what Jedo said is the easiest way to explain it. Both extremes of emotions, joy and resentment, fear and bravery, and the rest can become Soul energy. If the Mist causes these emotions when exposed to people, then the same thing happens when a person harbors great emotions. This is basically how ghosts, zombies, and their ilk are created. Remember the ghost and skeletons in Legaia? It's like that.”

“I see. But is Jedo affected by it?” Dyne finally asked the question that he wanted to really know.

Jedo was insulted and was about to answer, but Strafe responded first.

“Yes and No. Right now, he is strong enough to contain it. The worrying part is because you both intend to keep a portion of its soul in you. If it was just Jedo, Jedo would be corrupted like the same Jedo in the game which the Mist empowered. But since there's you, a Brimstone and Light cultivator, it's possible to minimize the effects on Jedo.”

“Alright. As long as it’s safe! I was worried that Jedo would get all corrupted and lose all sense of thought like the one in the game.”

“What? Wasn’t I dead in the game? That Jedo couldn’t even talk with the other Ra-Seru! That was a clear indication that he was dead!” Jedo argued.

“Yeah. But in Strafe’s or Tieg’s Legaia. It ought to be different. You become a Ra-Seru and a Sim-Seru, but you were alive. You probably would have tempted Songi to absorb the energy in the Mother Genesis Tree to revive Yami.”

“Yep. That was his fate…” Strafe confirmed.

Jedo trembled.

“Relax, Jedo. I’m here now. This means that you won’t live by that fate. In fact, if you stick with me, you could become as strong as Strafe.” Dyne patted Jedo.

“Looks like the ritual is about to be complete!” Dyne glanced at the ritual.

The sorcerer stood as the darkness began to fade slowly.

“Let us make haste. The Archbishop is impatient now.” The sorcerer spoke.

“As you Command, Warlock Char!” The Butcher nodded and grunted, to which the various soldiers began to move.

“So that’s Char…” Dyne glanced at the sorcerer.

As the group was leaving, a strange tremor occurred all over the cave.

“What was that?” One of the soldiers near the Butcher asked.

“We are about to complete the Dark Circle. The channel is being made.” Char laughed with an almost insane tone.

One of the fallen corpses began to rise.

“A zombie!” The soldier exclaimed.

“Relax. As long as you’re near me, they won’t attack. Unfortunately, this place will soon be crawling with a lot of monsters. So make sure to stick by.” Char gave another evil laugh.

A few minutes later, Dyne was sure that the group had left.

“Welp. It looks like this is how I get to play Diablo. I’m not sure if I did the right thing in making Jedo absorb all those energies…” Dyne sighed.

“You’re priority is getting back to Legaia, right?” Jedo cursed.

“I know… it’s just. With the way things are, it's going to be easy.”

“Easy? How?” Strafe mused.

“Even if that’s half a demon's soul, they could send more people here and kill them. So it will increase the death energy of this place, and the ritual can be performed again.”

“How? I would have already killed and halved the soul. Won’t that make the ritual useless?”

“When you begin to reduce the death energy in those areas, the amount of soul that the main demon can send will dwindle. So he can only transfer a small portion of his soul through this demonic art. Don’t underestimate the soul of a demon, Dyne. It is strong. Jedo is wise to fear it.”

“Alright. I guess I’m being a bit greedy here.” Dyne sighed.

“But still… If this is the level of undead, then it can’t stop me.”

“What?”

“Observe.” Dyne shook his head and moved towards the spot with several zombies groaning.

The zombies saw Dyne and their eyes grew red, and they pounced at him with incredible speed.

But just before the zombies could reach Dyne, they fell into a strange trance. While these zombies were already dead, the visions they saw affected their lingering souls. The power of the Imaginarium Bond affected the area and made these zombies see visions of Elpida.

“See? With the Eye of Destiny, I can sense their despair. I just have to imagine the exact opposite of what they are seeing. Jedo, try to see if you can channel the dark energy in their bodies.” Dyne ordered.

“What? That’s impossible! I can’t control the dark energy that is not my own! It’s- what?! I can do it!” Jedo was able to sense the powers of this dark energy.

“That’s because of the Slime God’s darkness. He gave you this pure darkness! Dark energy without any malice of any sort. With the Imaginarium Bond, I managed to calm down their Souls. All’s that’s left is to link them to my own Soul using your dark powers. Oddly, it doesn’t feel heavy at all.”

“What do you mean link them to your soul?!” Jedo and Strafe asked together.

“It’s similar to what Grim did to me. I just have to make a half link. See? I can control them.” Dyne explained and motioned. The zombies moved at Dyne's command.

"Too bad I can only do it in places with thick dark energy. or if Jedo gets stronger. Maybe level 2? level 3?" Dyne guessed.

“What?!” Strafe was amazed.

“… You too, huh? And I thought only I was shocked by this monster's talents.”

“Brat, you don’t even know the half of it!” Strafe felt his heart bleeding. The poison spirit convulsed and felt such great pain in his sheer disappointment and jealousy at what Dyne could do that Strafe’s lifespan actually increased by three days.

“See? Cool right? Without the Imaginarium Bond, I should be able to do it. I just need have to purge their bitterness with my light. But that is costly, and it would attract attention. At least the Imaginarium Bond is able to escape the detection in this place.” Dyne smiled. He knew a god-tiered artifact would have such capabilities.

“Dyne, do you know how amazing this is? No cultivator can do this! Perhaps you’re the only one! To do what you did, a person has to be Brimstone and a terrifying Soul Cultivator at that! Ever since Cultivators challenged the heavens, no one, and I mean no one, has found a way to raise zombies and the undead like you do! You are the first Necromancer of the Light!”

“Really?” Dyne was stunned.

“Yes!”

“How… ironic. I just did this so I can do that.” Dyne scratched his head.

“Do what?”

“Alright. Look at my memories. I can control zombies. What will be the first thing that I would do?” Dyne asked.

Strafe pondered and then realized it…

“You can’t mean…! You controlled zombies because of that?!” Strafe wanted to curse.

“What are you talking about, Lord Tieg?” Jedo asked, but his question was immediately answered.

The four zombies stood in line with Dyne at the center. Then, suddenly, the zombies moved in sync with Dyne as it raised its two hands to the right and zombiely swayed itself to the left.

The movements were fluid and well-coordinated, and the troupe immediately moved to the next dance step. The zombies kept moving while Dyne created heat on the dance floor with superb, speedy, and eloquent dance moves.

“Cause this is Thriller! Thriller night!”