Chapter 373: The City of Darkness

[AN: Bonus chapter 5/5]

"Mm... I know I am using part of my new divine power to guard it." Kana whispered back.

Keniil brought them to what looked to be some kind of old portal. "This here is a transport gate that only those who are either dead already or attuned to the death element can use." Keniil's eyes fell on Aoi, who was standing there looking around. "I am afraid your little friend will not be able to use this. We can fly if you want, but it will be a four month journey. "

"No, it's fine. We can use this. Aoi." Kana did not want to waste that much time. It was just easier to de-summon Aoi and use the portal. 

Aoi nodded and walked over to Naru and whispered: "Protect Kana no matter what."

"You can count on me." Naru whispered back. 

Aoi then disappeared and entered her summon space. This caused Keniil to look on in amazement. But he quickly composed himself. "Then we will use the portal." 

Keniil placed his hand on a spot on the portal, and a wave of death element flowed into the portal, creating a blueish black portal that swirled around like a thick liquid.  "After you." Keniil gave a slight bow allowing Kana to go first. 

Kana nodded to say thanks and held Naru's hand as she stepped into the portal. She was not afraid of where this would send her since she could always use her time and space ability to leave any place she was stuck in. But as Keniil said, the portal led right to the village or more like a city that was much bigger and grander than that of the city of the dead. 

A tall majestic mountain is where this city lay. It was carved right out of the mountain itself.  The tall rocky peaks of the castle's towers stood high up into the darky gloomy clouds over head. Streaks of lightning flashed and crackled through the clouds, but none seemed to fall towards the ground. The whole area was put into an eternal darkness. The whole area was just like she had seen when she first arrived. It was completely dead. But despite all that, from the town below the castle to the high bridges carved out of the mountain side there were thousands of undead roaming about doing their daily tasks. 

"Welcome to the City of Darkness. A place I built many thousands of years ago. You will find undead of all varieties here. And each and every one of them, including myself, are at your beck and call. You see, I, Keniil, was one of the previous gods of death's generals. During the time when war broke out in the world, he had me come here and build a new place for the undead that were to be born into this world due to the war, a place where they could call home.

"You may not trust me, but I really have no ill intentions towards you or your elementals. Everyone here will see you as the one and only ruler." Keniil wanted to try to assure Kana that, here, was a place where she could relax and not have to feel like she was being targeted. He was someone who could see a person's soul with a single glance and even knew that Kana had guarded her soul with her divinity. But one thing she did not know was that no matter how strong he was, if he tried to do anything to her soul, he himself would end up becoming food for her soul. 

As a god or goddess of death, there is no one who is able to touch their soul. A goddess or god of death's souls was different from a normal god's. Their souls had a way to consume the souls of others and use those souls to build their own strength. But Keniil refrained from explaining this for one reason. The god or goddess of death does not need to be evil. They could be good and still be very strong. The withering alone, which was a natural or should be said a built in ability for the god and goddess of death that was imprinted into their very souls, was one of such strengthening abilities. It would consume the vitality of their target and steal their life force until there was nothing but a husk of that person left. If used properly they could even suck the soul of the person out and use the energy from the soul to strengthen themselves even more.

"I have no choice but to trust you for the sake of helping someone dear to me." Kana waved her hand, re-summoning Aoi. She appeared next to Kana, her golden eyes landing on the lich king in front of her. Her gaze made Keniil wish he had lips so they would twitch. He could tell this elemental was not one that should be messed with.

"Yes, do not worry. Like I said before, I can not give the soul a real body, but I can at least return its strength to it. If you are in a hurry, we can head to the castle now if you like. Or I can also give you a tour of the city." Keniil suggested. He was doing his best to make sure Kana was not unhappy. 

"Let's take a tour. I would like to see what the lives of the lich race are truly like." Kana was very interested in what intelligent undead do in their daily lives. 

"Yes, that is no problem. I will show you some of our more interesting areas. And if there is anything that you would like to see, let me know." Keniil felt very happy that Kana wanted to look at the city he had built up. He had used many years to make such a grand city. He hoped it would be to Kana's liking.

Kana thought for a moment before something did come to mind. "Do you have any forges around here? I would like to see how you make your weapons. I happen to like to forge weapons, and seeing new techniques is always good."