Raderius

It had been to easy, everything going as planned. The undead militia wont keep the enemy mages and magic knights occupied for to long, but in the enemies exhausted state it'll be long enough to win my battle.

My enemy is swift, Leopold, is his name from what I was told by the taxman. Each spear thrust I make he avoids or deflects, I've so far been keeping him back, but I know that if given the opportunity he'll close the gap.

I have 40 undead militia remaining, when they're all gone I'll be surrounded and my situation will be much more precarious.

Thrust. Thrust. A dodge, a twirl. The man is to physically fast for me even if I use my rert.

30 undead militia remain. Interestingly enough, they have managed to slay two of the mage knights and a mage. The enemy must be low on mana from all the fighting in the woods.

I use a slip seconds focus to raise them.

I let Leopold close the gap. Intentionally feinting and implying that I made a poor strike. He takes the bait, closes the gap and aims for my heart as I shift to the side.

The sickening sound of flesh being skewered and the pain that accompanies it. I grit my teeth as I work my spell.

Leopold soon finds his blade to have rusted beyond its years and become useless. Perfect. However, the ever vigilant warrior even such a event as being disarmed fails to shock him long enough for my thrust to strike true. He runs back and fires a non stop volley of lightning at me.

Fool. I disperse most of his magic as it approaches me and allow my Rert to absorb the impact of his spells.

15 militia remain. A few more of the mages and magic knights are slain. I think about how low their mana is and now that Leopold is sending a barrage of magic at me I have time to contemplate the situation.

I can overpower the Rert defences of the remaining mages and magic knights.

I dash towards the mages and magic knights, Leopold is swift to react and is soon following me, but its to late.

'Curse of Years' I use the exclamation as foci to enhance the power of my spell as I spread my murderous aura outwards and surround the enemy before me. Much more efficient than firing the spell like a projectile I swiftly mentally celebrate my personal evolution that has come to fruition, even in a combat situation.

The effects were slower than usual. They had time to scream as their flesh molted off their body and hair turned grey.

"No!" Leopold cried out.

I turned to him and smiled as I raised the mages and magic knights.

"Their sentence has been carried out. Any last words before yours is?" I taunt him.

"Foul necromancer, even should you overwhelm me by using my comrades as your puppets you will never win against Count Silos. I've seen for myself your combat ability. Take away your undead and you're not that much stronger than me. Lavislava will find you and slay you. That is, if I don't do it first!" Leopold rushes me lightning crackling off his fists.

"Pathetic." I look down on him as his former comrades cut him off, surround him and take him down. His speed means nothing in such an environment.

I look at my undead forces. Thirteen militia survived. I now possess 23 magic knights and 12 mages. I wonder if their effectiveness has been diminished? I command the mages to fire off their most powerful elemental spells and am surprised to see that the destruction they cause is massive. These spells were much stronger than the ones used during our battle.

Did I enhance their strength when I raised them? Or was their mana to low to fire such impressive spells? I suppose i'll have to confirm with Leopolds corpse.

Serve your new master faithfully. I carefully animate Leopold hoping to not damage any of his capabilities and hopefully to see him in a enhanced state and prove the latter theory rather than the former.

Leopold rises up, looking no different than he did in life. "Attack me." I command him. As I deflect his fists with the wood part of my spear I admire the speed and power of his blows. Still, they're about the same in power as when he was alive. The situation is most peculiar. I think back to the undead I created from the forest, most were anywhere from 10% to as much as 50% weaker than their living forms. Why are humans different in this regard? Perhaps their souls have a stronger ego when brought back then the animals do?

Oh well. I ponder Leopolds parting words. That my personal combat ability is nothing much to speak of. I suppose in one way its true, I won with my undead. Without them I would've won due to simply disarming my opponent and his fists having no hope of striking true against me. Practical combat against another magic user was the one thing my training lacked. However, I've always been a quick learner.

Two spells. I just need to develop two spells and then I'll be a threat to any magic knight, even without my undead. At least, thats what I want to focus on, but something is amiss.

A magic knight is missing. Did they possess an ability that allowed them to leave the forest without me noticing? It seemed Leopold anticipated the possibility of failure and made them use it before they arrived.

They will likely alert the Count and then a extermination force will be made. I don't wish to be on the defense or overwhelmed, so I can't just sit here and work on my magic.

I need to raise a army. I'll visit every village and summon what undead I can. I'm better off focusing on refining my animate dead spell and playing to my strengths. Its fine if I can't always fight my own battles. "Teamwork makes the dream work" is what my sweet sister would use to say.

Still, the undead behind me are proof of my first victory, I smile and begin to dream of the victories to come.