Master Of None

The unsettling rant did not seem to end. It wasn't just the fact that the immortal king was ranting due to his anger. He clearly was using the mana all around him in ways that didn't make sense. Like a child trying to break out of a closed room from a time out. He was pushing against the trap that kept him here. 

Every step that the party took brought it upwards. Toward the ranting. Towards the manas that were being pulled in and used to push against the tower itself. From what Walker could tell, the immortal king had changed something. Had become too angry just to sit and hope for an experiment to free him. 

"Rotten winged rats! I will come and take you down for attempting to destroy our kingdom! Our precious true path to real immortality!" The roar caused the tower to shake again. However, the party had just reached the top of the tower. 

The large top floor was full of space compared to what they could remember from the lower area full of experiments and rare items. All the things that the immortal king had gathered within his undead ruins. Had saved through the years. Taken from those who perished due to his entertainment. 

"Siding with the worthless brat that contested the flow of the world! You rats with wings will end yourself if you are smart. I will torture you until that fake immortality is washed away!" The final roar came with even more mana being thrown around. However, it reminded Walker of the unique feelings he had while trying to grasp more understandings about manas. 

Specifically, he sensed the odd way that death mana interacted with the world. 

Both part of the flow and also an end of the flow before it would restart. A mana mysterious and ominous. Death spirits were far and few, Walker had only seen a few since the spirit race had become a proper race and been freed from their bond with the world to uphold the flow of mana. 

He also recalled the nightmare that Midnight Had been trapped in. the feeling of death mana that had ebbed in to their minds. How he and she had gained some form of understanding of it without truly understanding what it was or that it was even a thing in the first place. 

All of this seemed to be revolving around the immortal king. But that was not all that Walker and the party could sense. They saw a different being before them. A different monster. 

More bones were a part of the immortal king. The form he showed them of a simple black skeleton sitting on a throne of other bones was not his real form. It was just the face he put on. 

now that they could see the hundreds of bones that came together to form the elder lich's body, they realized that he had not just experimented in attempts to leave this place on monsters and other undead. He had done so to his own body. 

The multiple arm bones reinforced each other making the skeletal arms larger and thicker. This was the same for his entire body, multiple bones reinforcing one another. As if multiple skeletons had been overlapped with that intention. 

The height that he stood at was more than any normal human would stand. The skull was the worst part though. Instead of normal teeth, bestial sharpened teeth were there. Glowing black flames also revolved around his skull to make it appear that these ghastly and deathly flames were his eyes. 

Flowing darkness mana came off of his skeleton showing that he had both the affinity and the control of darkness to act as a barrier and protection for his body and bones. But what stood out more, was the small marble within the center of his body. 

This was the elder lich core that held the soul. Bound to the tower through unknown means, this was what kept the immortal king in existence and not moving on. The anchor so to speak that allowed him to remain immortal. Therefore, this was the true body of the elder lich. 

"You so called heroes. You have grown a bit. Not enough, but maybe enough to get my revenge." The growling voice of the immortal king made the entire party feel that they should attack while they could. However, their instincts warned them that they would fail. No matter what they tried. 

"That pathetic corrupted aman from in between the elemental planes was foolish. It is destroying the flow that the world has. It is forcing unstable mana bridges to the elemental planes where he can not travel. Where he can not use his power to destroy this world and live free in the power of endless mana." 

"That's what you think is outside the world and the elemental planes? Eternal power?" Walker did not argue, but countered with a question. It was enough to trip up the enraged rant that surely was not happening just because the party was here. 

"Ohhh? Confidence now? You aren't trembling as you have before. A short time passed you by and you think you have power? Is that what natural mana has for you? Or light mana? But you can not affect me with that. I have enough mana to stop anything you believe from harming me." 

As if to mock them, skeletal hands reached from the shadows all around. It showed the true hiding dangers that the immortal king had as an elder lich. He always had undead controlled and with him. They just were kept within the shadows. 

"You came here for a reason. When those rats with wings arose and began to call their kin, they caused more of that corrupted mana to break away my connections to the undead I sent out in to the world to enjoy you dance as my entertainment. Years passed and I finally had something to make new theories with." 

The immortal king rose up even taller to show off more strength. The manas around him causing pressure to suffocate the entire party. Yet, they still stood strong. 

"You wish to enter that ruinous castle and defeat the vampire scourge that will attempt to reclaim the world and rebuild their monstrous armies. Whether that brat wants them for their power or just as pawns does not matter." the immortal king ground his teeth together making a horrendous bone screeching sounds. 

"If you free me from this place, I will end them. If you can not, you will still help me with what I desire since you will want the information about how to crush them. Make a choice. Free me, and I will destroy them. Or give me something that I can use as research materials for my own desires." 

It was very clear that the immortal king wished to use this as a chance to escape this tower. But Walker was already solid on the fact that he would not knowingly help free him. He was an evil that would ruin the world. 

"You still believe in the flow of mana even though you tried to break it by becoming immortal?" Walker had not considered the differences between the immortal king, vampires, and the demon king. He expected the immortal king to be against the flow of mana. 

"Do you not understand? Are you so foolish that you believe death and the manas that assist it are not a part of the natural flow of the world? Beyond that the manas would be chaotic. No being would survive that chaos of colliding manas without reason or explanation." 

"The world did not trap me here. I am undead and wield manas more unique and powerful than you currently comprehend. I am still part of the world. Even going against life, I am part of it." the immortal king made every word shake the tower more. It was very clear that he was looking down on the party as a whole. 

"Then what could you want? You could just tell us and watch us beat your enemies." Gil spoke up letting the venom in to his voice. He didn't want the immortal king to see him fear anything ever again. 

"Little elf wannabe. Ha! Something like you shows confidence in front of me? But you are on the right track. I let you here without opposition because I want something. You have it. The manas and the connection to spirits. That new spirit race. I want access to them. Their knowledge of manas. I want to leave this world entirely and give up this prison." 

While not impossible, Walker was unsure if he was thinking correctly about what the immortal king wanted to try. "You want to escape here by leaving the world entirely for the death mana plane that might not even exist?" the words fell like a hammer. 

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