Kael POV
The wind in the Otherworld did not blow like the wind of Eldrathin.
It shrieked.
A sound like steel being dragged across crystal echoed through the empty sky as Brown and I stepped through the rift. The System window flickered faintly in my vision:
[NOR GODS' APPROVED MISSION: CLEANSING OF WORLD 7R-B]
Threat Level: Catastrophic
Objective: Destroy all Aberrant Seeds.
Reward: ??? (Divine Tier)
I exhaled slowly. "Another world… and another reminder that the Celestial War is getting closer."
Brown, floating beside me with his usual smug grin—unnaturally handsome for a lich—clicked his tongue.
"Master, don't sigh like that. It makes you look older."
"You're two thousand years old."
"I am handsome. Not old."
His undead laugh echoed behind him, and somewhere in the distance, the earth itself groaned in response. The corrupted land reacted to life—any life—and even Brown's mana core counted as one.
I stepped forward, boots crushing blackened soil that pulsed like a dying heart.
The sky was red here.
Not sunset red… rotten red.
Like blood that had been left in the sun too long.
"Status," I murmured.
My system unfolded in front of me like a book of light.
Names of my skills flickered across the menus:
Copy Skill
Domain Domination (Advanced)
Reflection → Displacement (Evolved)
Mana Construct (Core Expansion)
I needed all of them.
Because as soon as Brown raised his hand, the ground cracked open, and 2.6 million undead crawled upward like a tidal wave of bones and armor.
The first wave formed behind him—the Shadow Legion, wreathed in ghostfire and living darkness.
The second wave—towering skeletal juggernauts—assembled into the Undead Legion.
Brown spread his arms. "Master! Let's cleanse this miserable world!"
A spike of Aberrant energy burst out of the cracked horizon.
Then another.
Then ten more.
The Aberrant Seeds were awakening.
"Brown," I said, sliding into stance, "we move."
He smiled. "As you command."
We charged.
---
The first Seed appeared like a giant fleshy tree trunk, erupting from the ground with a wet, tearing roar. Its body pulsed with sickly purple veins. A thousand black tentacles lashed at us.
The air tasted like poison.
I leapt into the air—Mana Construct bursting beneath my boots like an invisible platform—and swung my blade.
"Domain Domination."
My aura exploded outward.
The atmosphere bent.
Gravity screamed.
Even Brown shivered whenever I activated it—but he never complained, because he fed on my mana core like a spoiled housecat on cream.
The Aberrant Seed tried to resist the crushing force of my Domain, but its body split open instead. Brown's undead surged in, tearing it apart in seconds.
A shower of corrupted ichor rained down.
My boots hit the ground.
"One down."
Brown floated behind me with an excited smirk. "Only ninety-nine left."
I didn't sigh. Not because I wasn't tired—but because deep down, the more we fought… the more I realized I liked the fighting.
I wasn't sure if that made me strong or cursed.
Before I could consider it further, Brown tilted his head.
"Master… the next Seed is coming."
The ground shook.
We didn't get time to prepare.
---
The second Seed burst out of the ground like a mountain of flesh, teeth, and writhing arms. Energy rippled around it—a corrupt version of domain pressure attempting to overwhelm us.
I responded instantly.
"Displacement."
A shard of space slid open around my body. The Seed's massive tendril struck me—
—and passed straight through.
Space bent.
Its own blow displaced and snapped back into its body, crushing a dozen of its limbs.
Brown whistled. "Master, your skill evolution is deliciously broken."
"It keeps us alive," I shot back.
"Same thing."
His undead surged again, led by fifteen of his elite Death Knights—towering warriors in cursed armor whose swords dripped spectral blue flame.
The battle lasted five minutes.
The screams of the Seed were the kind that would break a normal man's mind.
I was not normal anymore.
---
We continued across the landscape—Seed after Seed, monster after monster, every battle expanding Brown's undead army.
The entire world felt like a dying organism. There were no birds, no rivers, no cities—only cracked land and intense suffering.
I hated this world.
I hated all the worlds we had been called to cleanse.
But I also knew:
If Brown and I didn't do this, these corrupted planets would eventually fall into the Celestial plane.
And then they would come for our world.
For my family.
For Lyra.
For Amara.
For everyone I cared about.
So I kept killing.
And Brown stayed at my side—cheerful, sarcastic, powerful.
As we approached the ninth and largest Seed, Brown floated closer.
"Master…" he said quietly. "Your expression changed."
"It's nothing."
"You're thinking of your people."
"Always."
Brown stared at me for a long moment. "Then let's hurry. The longer we take, the more danger grows for them."
I nodded.
We moved.
---
The ninth Seed was a monstrosity that covered a valley, pulsing like an exposed heart. Hundreds of Aberrant creatures crawled around it like maggots.
Brown crossed his arms.
"Hm. Ugly."
I smirked. "Brown."
"Yes?"
"Do it."
His grin sharpened.
"Shadow Legion! Advance!"
Like a black wave, the shadows surged forward—millions of undead screaming in voiceless unity.
I leapt into the fray, blade blazing with aura.
"Domain Domination."
The world bent under my power.
The enemies' bodies twisted inwards like crushed paper.
Brown floated behind me, feeding from my mana core as he unleashed necrotic storms.
Together, we burned the valley clean.
When the Seed fell, the ground stopped shaking.
Only silence remained.
The System chimed:
[ALL ABERRANT SEEDS DESTROYED]
[WORLD CLEANSING COMPLETE]
[REWARD: DIVINE SKILL FRAGMENT ×1]
I sheathed my blade, exhausted but not broken.
Brown floated beside me, grinning. "Master… we did it."
I exhaled slowly.
"One world down."
"And thousands more to save."
I looked at him.
"We'll save them all."
Brown smiled—an expression that looked strangely sincere on a lich.
"Yes, Master.
For your people… and for the coming Celestial War."
A new rift opened.
Our next mission awaited.
And we stepped forward.