(Author: Hello. Been busy with college stuff like registration and paying for it and helping my aunt move. Why not move during winter....Anyway, I released five chapters of my side project as it was way too late and I'm now scot free from obligations except tomorrow and Tuesday for some last obligation. Then, I am free. Sorry for the wait but not a lot of writers commit to stories as it is hard to write. Just saying. Elgar is unsatisfied and decides that it is time to summon a new type of minion. Hope you enjoy.)

---------Chapter 27: New Minions-----------

Elgar sat down as he began looking through his necromancy books he got from Tristan during his training. It was time he expanded and summoned a more sentient summon. Lich were great, but he needed a more melee oriented minion to lead some of his weaker minions.

His minions were twisted forms of spirit energy forcefully manipulating it into a tangible form. The bones were not from the dead but made out of mana and spirit energy. The ghost fire minions were not made of real fire but looked and burned like one save for a difference in color.

He stared at a more intelligent minion known as an imp. Imps were the opposite of fairies and abominations as they were the product of a rape of a fairy by a demon. Imps were clever and evil. All they desired was destruction and death. Curious, Elgar summoned one imp to test it. A small, crimson circle of runes appeared on the ground and fire erupted. The ground burned as a small figure about nine inches in length appeared. It was entirely black with small bat wings, a pointed tail, empty white eyes, and only spike-shaped teeth were in its mouth.

"Puny human! How dare you summon me! I am an imp, not some stupid bone minion. You should bow before me and--" the imp began before Elgar grabbed it in his fist and crushed it to a pulp. He ate the soul energy from the body and shook his hand several times to remove the blood.

"That was pathetic. That race is useless," Elgar muttered as he continued reading. "Ah, a zombie. Zombies are animated bodies from another world brought into the world of the summoner huh? Let's check it out."

Elgar muttered a small chant and a black circle of runes appeared on the ground. An aura of blood emanated and splashed from the circle as a dead, decaying corpse pulled its way up from the circle. Its eyes and teeth were rotten and yellow with its skin all wrinkly and hanging to one side. Its legs were crooked and the zombie constantly gaped as though it were born stupid.

"Are you f*cking kidding me? Another useless summon. Zombies..." Elgar spat and incinerated it to ashes with a wave of his hand, lightning crackling as it reduced the zombie to ash. "From useless to stupid. I should try summoning a demon. Heh. Considering that I am descended from one, I wonder how it works. Could I be summoned as well? Hmmm. Interesting. I never thought about it. Well, let's see...how about this one? It should be useful."

Elgar began muttering an ancient chant. The ground shook as a circle of dark purple runes began shining on the ground. Argolin, who was resting, could not help but shudder as he felt rips in the area as all the spirit energy seemed to converge onto the circle. He could not see mana, qi, soul, or spirit energy. However, his race was extremely sensitive to it and some could see specks of it. Elgar was summoning something ancient.

"HAHAHA! Rise! Rise and become my destroyer! HAHAHA!" Elgar laughed maniacally "Rise blade demon. Rise!"

As if hearing him, a horde of twenty blade demons sprung out of the rune circle. Each of them emitted a baleful aura and were an existence that should not be in this plane. Each of the blade demons were pure black and had three blade-like claws on their feet. They had four arms and two legs with, but Argolin could not differentiate them by gender or any characteristic save for that one was pure white.

Each of them had eyes without an iris. Each eye glowed iridescent red and numbered four in total with one over the other like a humans but at an angular position. They had no nose, no ears, and no hair whatsoever. Their only other feature were horrible shining teeth the color of steel with each one pointed like spikes. Instead of hands, half of their forearm down were blades shaped like a scythe.

Were they a summoning a necromancer normally used? No because they were demons. Most necromancers never summoned demons as the only ones who were tolerated were those who were part demon like Elgar. Elgar laughed at the sight before him. These were intelligent minions with a hive like mentality that obeyed the orders of the white blade demon. Each of the black demons were six feet tall while the white demon was eight feet tall and had dark purple eyes instead of red eyes. Each of them were rank 5 demons with the leader being a rank 6 demon. The best part was that if he gained a rank, they did too! He didn't even use one tenth of his mana supply to summon them.

"HAHAHA! Demon summoning! Amazing. Oh, why didn't I summon you guys before," Elgar laughed as they bowed before him.

"Tell me, where are you all from?" Elgar asked.

"We come from the Death Plane of the Immortal Realm master," the white one said. "Not all life in the Immortal Plane are at the levels of an immortal. We are but ants among them as we spawn at a frightening pace. I have the ability to summon more blade demons. Each day I can summon five more to add to master's forces. Although, the concept of time is irrelevant in the Immortal Plane as the most powerful beings are immune to the death over time as their lifespans are unlimited. We do not eat. We do not sleep. We only multiply and execute the orders of the strong. Sometimes, one of the blade demons I summon is also a hive leader like me. Only your orders, we obey. There is no mercy without your command."

"Is it wise to allow them here?" Argolin asked as he walked up to Elgar. "A hero would not use such forces under his command."

"Hey elf! These are awesome killing machines," Ulgor laughed. "Besides, it's not like demons are the forces of evil like in the stories. We're fighting the Goddess of the End! We're fighting a f*cking god! How awesome is that. Besides, Elgar's part demon so technically, it's okay for him to use demons. So what will you summon next? It's got to be something big. Like REALLY big! Something that screams: I'm gonna kick your a*s."

"I have just the thing. It'll cost a lot of mana to summon three of them though. We might have to beat them into submission as I want rank 7 minions," Elgar replied.

"I get to pummel it first? Awesome! Do it! Do it!" Ulgor laughed as he gripped his staff.

"I need to test my new magical beast's prowess anyway. Just summon it by the water," Argolin sighed as Elgar began chanting and saw three huge rune circles of fire. "What are you summoning anyway?"

"Three Ifrits," Elgar grinned. "Horned giants with extreme strength and power over fire."

"Are you mad! Those are demi-gods for f*ck's sake!" Argolin cursed.

"HAHAHA! The elf can curse after all," Ulgor laughed while holding his stomach. "I can't handle it. It's just too beautiful. A regiment soon-to-be army of blade demons, three Ifrits, and a cursing elf. Oh this is just too awesome. I think I'm gonna cry."

"I know you need minions, but some things should never be summoned and you're summoning three of them! Even the demon royalties only dared to summon one giant of darkness in all of known history," Argolin cried.

"Relax. They're only rank 7 fire giants. Not rank 9 or immortal rank fire giants. Besides, most of their powers are restricted and can only be used with my permission," Elgar shrugged. "They will submit. They have no choice. Why? Because I can destroy their bodies and devour their souls as is my right as their master. Necromancy sure is sweet. Once I reach the sixth rank, I can augment my summons with the vengeful souls of the dead. Until then, their current forms will have to do."

"Here it comes," Ulgor said excitedly. "Whoa! What's happening?"

The sky turned red and the ground began shaking even more. Finally, three giant men emerged from the flames as the rune circles exploded. Before them were three fire giants. They looked the same as humans save that they were beyond muscular and stood twenty feet tall. Their fists, alone, were larger than a foot in length. Their skin was red but not crimson. Their lower canine teeth stuck out of their mouths and the whites of their eyes were black while their irises were golden. They had two, spiked horns purely black protruding above their ears towards the back angled upwards. Their hair constantly changed color like a flame and reached to the center of their back.

They had no clothes save for metal leg guards of an unknown material. Only one of them carried a war hammer as big as he was tall. One wore gauntlets while the other one just radiated fire around his fists. There was no question of how powerful they were. Elgar held his hand out to them and black energy crackled around his hand. Two of the Ifrits were forced to kneel as the black energy crackled around them, glaring at him in the eye. The one without gauntlets or the war hammer was the only one that resisted.

"Hmph. We got a live one. Blade demons, pummel his a*s," Elgar said as he snapped his free left hand.

"Don't hog all the fun," Ulgor laughed as he and Argolin's new magical beast charged at the fire giant.

The fire giant tried using its flames, but was stunned as only embers were shot towards the blade demons. It looked at Elgar in shock and saw a sinister smile on his face as he tilted his head to Void. Void nodded and breathed a small stream of poisonous fire at the Ifrit while the blade demons attacked the back of the Ifrit's knees. The Ifrit was forced to block the poisonous fire as it was immune to fire, but was not immune to its added poisonous effect. Ulgor laughed as he repeatedly smashed the Ifrit's head while the tentacle magical beast dragged the Ifrit into the lake.

Each swing of its arms and legs sent a gust of wind, knocking back its assailants as it crashed into the lake. While the others were fighting. Elgar looked at the kneeling Ifrit and began to chant. The black energy from his hand connected to the black energy harming the Ifrit, causing the two to scream. Their screams subsided when the image of a black skull was branded on their right shoulders. Their will was now his.

"We greet thee as our master," the two Ifrit bowed as the black energy subsided. "Thou art worthy of the pact. What is thy will, my lord?"

"Bring the rebellious one to me so that, he too, becomes my minion," Elgar said coldy.

"We hear and obey," the Ifrit shouted and ran toward the struggling Ifrit in the lake. Ulgor vented his anger by stomping on the head of the Ifrit before it was dragged out of the lake and pushed on the ground before Elgar.

"I will not submit. Thou is not worthy to be my master!" the Ifrit screamed.

"Stomp at him five times," Elgar said.

"I won't submit!" the Ifrit screamed after enduring five stomps each.

"Stomp at him ten times," Elgar said and watched the Ifrit grunt as it withstood it and saw the glint in its eyes. "Stomp it fifty times."

"AUGH!" the Ifrit cried as it could not withstand the cruel punishment while simultaneously enduring the black energy.

"You're strong. I give you that much, but you're foolish if you think you can deny me," Elgar said. "I am no hero, but I require your power to do what must be done. People wish to free Qingyu. They are all fools. The people in power are doing nothing and are just waiting for the prophecy. I am not like them. I am gathering an army to crush whoever is trying to free Her. The Goddess cannot be freed. I have changed as I seem to care about some people in this world, but the rest of the world can burn for all I care. I only want to protect what is mine and destroy who wishes to keep what I want or try to take what I have. I am a necromancer. I don't have to kill you to wrench out your soul. In fact, it would be much better as soul energy is but a fragment of a soul anyway. So choose: death or life?"

"The soul? Who would do such a thing? I thought humans only messed with the body," the Ifrit paled.

"Those are just blood mages with a corpse fetish," Elgar scoffed. "True power always lies in the soul. How else can it be that all life fear soul magic and soul techniques more than material ones? It is because there is next to nothing that can stop it. Only few items can increase the defenses of one's soul besides the true power of the soul itself. I have the soul of a Dragon King. My soul is the greatest in the Mortal Realm. I only fear the material. Souls? Heh. They're just tools to increase my power. This forest has many rank 6 magical beasts. They're in the way. Gather the strays on my path to the temple and bring them to me alive so that I may extract their souls. Something in that temple is calling to me. I want its power, need its power, to break through to the sixth rank and become a true necromancer. I cannot let them free Qingyu. No one but I know her true power. I alone, also know how to kill her."

"Thou can kill Her?" the Ifrit gasped. "I...submit. I cannot take the pain any longer. Complete the pact and my will belongs to thee."

"Good," Elgar said and the same soul brand of a black skull appeared on the Ifrit's shoulders. "I know have a sufficient force. Only an existence of the ninth rank can stop me now. Ulgor and Argolin, we're done here. Time to head into the temple and slaughter our way in."

"I might take a few detours if I see an interesting magical beast," Argolin said as he shrunk his new pet and sat atop one of his bears.

"The fun just never ends," Ulgor smiled as he followed them. "What fun roommates and brothers I have. Eldest brother wants to kill a goddess and third brother wants to enslave magical beasts. Such brothers are worthy of Ulgor. HAHAHAHA!"