Holy Necromancer: Rebirth of the Strongest Mage

"That's right. An army of Undead, filled with powerful Undead beings. I'm sure it's hard to believe some of this, and you're not wrong. Maybe there is a certain exaggeration, but it's also possible that it's entirely true. The Era of Gods was a crazy time after all."

Yuan could see that Gabriel was taken aback to hear of the Undead. He wondered if Gabriel was finally scared.

"It was said that each of the Undead was as powerful as the Demigods." Yuan smiled. "Can you imagine strength like that? The Demigod stopped fighting and retreated. He didn't forget to attack one last time, giving a mortal wound to the Saint King before leaving."

"According to the myth, even though the Demigod ran, the Saint King was so hurt that he couldn't even stand. He dropped to the ground, and his body bled."

"He couldn't even hope to fight the Undead. He had already accepted his fate as he lost consciousness," Yuan spoke as he imagined himself in the place of the Saint King.

'An army of Undead, powerful enough to scare even Demigods? This doesn't sound like the power of a Demigod. The Power to control the dead? Undead strong enough to fight a Demigod? So an Undead like Raphael? This army... If I'm not wrong, it should've belonged to Karyk...'

' But what was he trying to do? Why would he send his army to a random city? Unless... He was looking for something and thought this could make the search easier?'

For a moment, there was only silence as Gabriel also lost himself in deep thought. He couldn't help but link this entire event to Karyk. There was no other person according to him, who could control the Undead that had this much strength!

After some time, he finally broke his silence. "What happened next?"

He wanted to know everything about Karyk if possible, and he believed that this story was as much a story of Karyk as it was the story of the Saint King, which could give him more clues about Karyk!

"What do you think happened? The Saint King was killed," Yuan sighed.

"Huh?" Gabriel was even more taken aback. Karyk killed the Saint King, who was unconscious? Why would he? There was no threat? This didn't make sense.

Yuan looked at Gabriel's grim expression, trying to control his laughter.

Eventually, he couldn't control it anymore and started laughing. "Alright, I was kidding. He wasn't killed, even though according to common sense, it should've happened."

"When the Saint King woke up, he found out that he was still in the same city. However, there was no Undead there. There was only one other person there, a young man, who was sitting in the distance, eating some fruit."

"Who was that person?" Gabriel asked, even though he already had some idea. It couldn't be anyone other than Karyk.

"The Devil," Yuan answered. "According to the Legends, the man was the Devil himself. He offered the Saint King his help in making him stronger, but in exchange, he asked for the Saint King's soul."

'That sounds like a certain exaggeration. I can believe the help part, but asking for the soul in return? I'm sure someone added that part in the story just for the fun of it,' Gabriel found it hard to believe the last part of the story.

He could believe that Karyk needed something from the Saint King, and that's why he decided to help him but to ask for his soul? That sounded quite unlikely. Karyk was already so strong. There was no way he needed the Saint King's soul. He really wasn't a devil after all.

"The Saint King agreed to the offer. He sold his soul to the devil in exchange for strength to be able to protect the woman he loved. He didn't want to be killed by the Demigods or lose the woman. That was the Saint King! A person who was willing to even lose his soul to protect the woman he loved," Yuan further explained. "That's exactly why everyone respects him so much."

"So did Ka... I mean did the Devil help?"

"He did. After the trade succeeded, the Devil gave the Saint King something. It was a blood-red sword that was said to be able to cut the soul of a person itself. Even the hardest metal in this world couldn't remain unharmed in front of that sword."

'That sword.' Even though Gabriel had a calm exterior, on the inside, he was quite turbulent. It didn't take him long to recognize that sword! 'Isn't that the Sword of Ulien?'

He already had the Sword of Ulien. He was quite surprised that this was the sword of the legends. The Sword that was carried by a Demigod before he was killed and later carried by the Saint King?

"We all call that Sword the Saint's Sword. With the help of that sword, the Saint King really became more powerful. For some reason, the Demigods didn't attack him again after that point. He managed to protect the woman he loved and eventually married her."

"After that, he also established a Kingdom of his own, along with the Academy of Knights. That Kingdom was known as the Arecia Empire since the Saint King's full name was Avalon Arecia," Yuan finished his explanation. "That's why we all idolize the Saint King so much."

'Avalon Arecia? So the Saint King was the Ancestor of Novius? No wonder his family was against him leaving home to become a Mage. They probably wanted him to become a Knight since he had such talent. They wanted him to walk the path of his Ancestor, but he chose otherwise.'

Finally, everything made sense to Gabriel. The only question still left was about Karyk. Just what did he trade the Sword of Avalon for? Why would he need the help of the Saint King that he could kill easily? For some reason, the more he got to know about Karyk's past, the more mysterious it became.

Gabriel could only shake his head. No matter how much he thought about it, the answers weren't going to fall from the sky. For now, he needed to focus on things before him.

"What does this have to do with the Knight's Tournament?" he asked the young man before him.

"Of course it does. The Saint King was known as the first Knight, so this tournament was named after him. But it's also a part of our culture. In the Arecia Empire's culture, a man is supposed to be strong enough to protect their woman, just like the Saint King protected his."

"That's why this Knight Tournament is held... It isn't a simple battle tournament, young man. It's something where the next Prince Consort, future husband of our Eldest Princess, will be chosen!"