Chapter 31: Night Lord

"Howard, where are you going?" Barabin placed a sword against the back of Howard's head, causing his body to freeze. The feeling of Ki Suppression surged through him, sending his body buckling into the ground below.

Bang!

Howard felt his entire body start to crack before the earth seemed to open up. A coffin of stone appeared out of the dirt before the lid slowly closed over Howard's body. Touching his hand against the lid, the coffin soon closed, masking the screams coming out of Howard's mouth.

"He's coming! Barabin! Let me out!" Howard felt the fear in his heart growing more and more, like a gigantic bursting force about to explode. "If-if anything happens to Monica, or the West Branch! I'll-I'll tear this world to shreds!"

"Howard, what do you sense?" Barabin laughed, patting the coffin and gently tapping the floor. Watching the coffin slowly go under the earth, Barabin crossed his arms, projecting his voice through vibrations in the ground. "Listen, your training is a long ways from finished. Stay here while I take care of something."

"No! Please no!" Howard's body cracked in multiple places before a surge of force started to burn out of his body. A white light emitted from his horns, causing the coffin around him to bend outwards. Feeling the power coming from Howard, Barabin touched the ground, sending Howard deeper and deeper into the mountain, making it nearly impossible for him to escape the darkness.

'Well, I see why he was worried," Barabin looked up at a sandstorm brewing to the east, blocking out the sun as a line of darkness shot in his direction.

At the West Branch, Reece and her patrol noticed a large wave growing in the distant expanse. Holding up her binoculars, Reece dropped the smile on her face, turning to Harley with trembling lips.

"What-what the hell happened?" Reece slammed the binoculars into Harley's chest, and pointed at the West Branch. Her eyes carried endless trepidation and fear at the surging storm of monster that had appeared.

Looking into the binoculars, Harley saw millions of zombies falling over each other in as they rushed forward. For miles in every direction, they seemed united like a wall of death, engendering fear and a tale of destruction.

Harley sighed and turned around, looking at Reece with a grim expression. "I-I knew we shouldn't have let Kellen sing." Harley said seriously. "Anyways, why are you worried. They are just zombies?"

"It-it's worse than you can imagine!" Reece pushed Harley in the chest, a fiery expression appearing on her countenance. "Damn it! Didn't you listen to Teacher Annibell! Only a Night Lord could attract so many zombies!"

"I got here later then you. I never got that lesson!" Harley pushed her back in the chest. "What the hell is a night lord!"

The Night Lords had been some of the first zombies that formed in the Furnace. Because of the undisturbed Ki at the origins of the Furnace, the night lords had an endless supply of power nourishing their bones. Over time, the mindless creatures gained awareness, sprouting new ligaments and wills that affected even the furthest plains of the Furnace.

The strongest Night Lord, Harnimortus, was said to create the waves of zombies that sweeped through the Furnace everyday by the stirring of his dreams. However, the real problem with Night Lords was their endless strength and ability to control the shadows.

Considered existences closest to the S rank, a single movement of their fist could sent a mountain floating into the air and bursting into pieces of dust. Feeling her heart beating faster and faster, Reece rushed as quick as she could back to the West Branch, wiping the sweat off her head as she dashed forward.

'Not this time! I will be a good leader this time!" Reece pulled Harley along with her. "Harley, where is Howard! Without him, we're dead!"

"I don't know. He was training with Barabin.��� Harley looked back at the waves of zombies and scoffed. "They really are just zombies. Stop being os afraid!"

"No, you're the one that needs to learn to be afraid, Harley! You-you keep trying to get Howard to go out with you in front of Monica! Don't you realize how messed up that is! Where it he fear?" Reece shook her head and tried to hold back her feelings that lurked in her inner shadows. "Damn it! I'm sorry. I-I'm not trying to hurt you."

"I've heard worse," Harley scoffed and ran into the gate of the West Branch, finding Monica dancing with Una in the front yard. "Girls, we have a problem. Where's Howard?"

"I-I don't know," Una laughed, spinning Monica around as they hummed one of their favorite songs by the Night Shades. "Do you girls want to dance?"

"Wait, what the hell is that?" Harley pointed at a large blakc line of light that seemed to sweep past the horizon, turning slightly at an angle from the West Branch. "Is-is that the Varlan?"

"Girls, get inside, now!" Reece said, raising her voice. "Everyone, to their stations!"

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Barabin's hands moved in a strange pattern as three swords of sand started to form.

Stepping back, Barabin hoisted one sword up in the air, leaning forward and causing it to disappear into the sky!

Swoosh!

Two more swords flew off in two different directions, seeming to breach the speed of sound in an instant. Looking at the black line of light getting closer, Barabin crossed his arms, tapping impatiently against the ground as a gentle breeze touched against his legs.

"How many should I make?" Barabin scratched his head and gently placed his hand against the floor. "Maybe 10000?"

"No, that would be too much. 8,000," Barabin slammed his hand into the ground, suddenly causing 8000 pillars to shoot into the air. Spinning up into the air, the 8000 pillars weaved together, creating a stone forest that shrouded him in darkness. Pressing down once more, hundreds of swords began to form from the sand, floating up into existence before spinning rapidly in the air.

Hundreds of tornadoes with strange intent spread out in all directions, heading towards the hundreds of thousands of zombies screeching in his direction.

"Well, that will take care of the zombies," Barabin yawned, "However, I really hope those three haven't died,"

Barabin sighed, watching the black line of light crash into the ground in front of him, sending thousands of pieces of rubble bursting into the air.

Dozens of pillars immediately collapsed, hitting into a shield Barabin erected as a strange figure ambled forward. Necrolith smiled, looking at Barabin with six glowing eyes, as he divided the gap between them.

"Hoh, if it isn't the teacher of the year. What a pleasant surprise," Necrolith clapped his hands eagerly. "Where is he? Where's the demon king?"

"Dead. Thousands of feet beneath the surface," Barabin wiped off a speck of dust from his shirt. "Why? You want to join him?"

"Don't play with me Barabin! You may be able to stall me, but if we fight for twenty minutes, you'll die!" Necrolith's two skulls on his left and right side began to shatter. "Heh, by yourself, you're nothing more than an appetizer before I feast on the main course."

"I-I think… I think I'm stronger than last time," Barabin swung out his left hand, causing it to blur, before a sword almost 100 meters long appeared, arcing into the distance. "Shall we?"