After settling down for a week, Sin decided that he needed to learn more about phylacteries.

The situation in Elvenstar was the first time since he became an immortal lich that he felt vulnerable, having his phylactery taken by an enemy.

He didn't feel this even when fighting combatants with God weapons.  

He was undecided whether to keep it as is within his body cavity, perhaps let one of his pets keep it in her body, or even hide it in a big mass of dildos.

As such, he raided all the sex shops again, and kept around 200 dildos of similar size, color and length, giving one each to himself, Adora and Esmeralda while keeping the rest in one of his rings together.

His real one which was his phylactery was kept in the dimension ring together with the pile of dildos. 

Only he could sense which one was the phylactery, or at least, some powerful wizards like the elf Marculus with his orb. 

There was only one place he could go. Besides going to look for a tomb that had a relic of a necromancer, he decided to go to the city of Vandelieu, the city of mages. 

With both his pets dressed in leather bondage gear, they jumped onto Thunderbird and took off. 

As they departed from Vegas a large joint army approached from a distance. 

"Another invasion?" Sin thought as he activated the Eye of Odin

With his eye, he identified the armies both of Rainford and Caulfield. There were a few A class fighters among them, but nobody he knew personally. The Ironhearts didn't come this time. 

Since he was leaving for Vandelieu, and he didn't feel like cleaning up Vegas again, he decided to fuck them from afar. 

His clitoris piercing Gungnir glowed as hurricane winds suddenly blew up and smashed into the approaching army. 

Both his nipple piercings started sparkling with lightning as both Zeus and Indra competed to show the best results as storm clouds formed and the most savage of lightning storms hit them together with the hurricane winds. 

The army hunkered down in the desert, barely able to survive the storm as a deadly fire suddenly caught within the army. People literally were bursting into flames. 

That wasn't the worst of it. Those that survived, who were still taking cover from the mad storm suddenly saw their bodies rot away and boils and sores appeared even on their eyeballs as they vomited blood. 

Then, when most of the army was dead or mortally sick and wounded, their dead became zombies and started attacking them!

"That will show them. Whoever survives that deserves to live I think. If they still want to attack our base, let them fight Rockcrusher and the other forces" Sin said as the giant bone bird disappeared in the distance. 

--

The city of Vandelieu was a city in the sky on a floating mountain. 

However, they didn't look like a typical city of Arcadia, rather had modern skyscrapers like on Earth but run by magic instead of electricity. 

The city was gleaming in the sun, full of metal skyscrapers and flying animals, a weird mix. 

Thunderbird landed on a platform and Sin kept it in his death dimension. 

"Please state your name and purpose" a mage in charge of the area asked. 

"My name is Sin, and I am here to do some research and learn new things" Sin replied

"Oh? A necromancer with an elf and a... a vampire? How strange" the mage said

"I heard that the city of Vandelieu does not hold prejudices, even against mages who practice dark magics" Sin said

"Ahem... you are right. Officially we don't hold being a dark mage against you. But we still know what sacrifices are required for dark magic. That we frown upon" the mage said

"Well... are we done?" Sin asked

"Yes.. we're done. You may enter... Sin" the mage said glaring at them as they entered

"How can a beautiful creature of light like that elf, mix with such a evil mage necromancer and demon vampire?" the mage muttered to himself. 

They wandered through the city as Sin entered one bookshop after the other, and ventured into all the public libraries. 

But books on necromancy are rare and because they are frowned upon, they are kept hidden by powerful mages. 

After a while of searching, more and more people seem to be tailing him.

Initially, the people following them kept in the shadows, but Sin's Eye of Odin easily detected them. 

But after a while, more and more people openly followed them. Some were mages, others were magical knights and warriors.

Finally, stopped and turned around

"Can I help you?" he asked the crowd who had all unsheathed their weapons

"Your kind is not welcome here" a mage yelled

"I thought the reputation of Vandelieu is that all are welcome, even those of the dark arts?" Sin replied

"That's just an image. This is reality" a magical knight brandished his sword at him

Suddenly, a globe of darkness was cast on the whole area, rendering everyone practically blind.

"Over here!" someone called at Sin

Even without the Eye of Odin, Sin could see everything as he used his spiritual sense to see

He looked at the person that called him and grabbed Adora and Esmeralda's hand and followed the caller

She was a dark elf with yellow irises and white hair

"Are drows accepted here but dark mages not?" Sin asked as he approached her

"Quickly, follow me" she said without answering

She led them through a labyrinth of modern buildings through the back corridors and the interjoining bridges between buildings

"You are looking for books about necromancy right?" she asked

"Yes, how do you know? Who are you?" Sin asked

"My name is Maya. I work for the Shadows" she answered

The Shadows. This was a secret organization that traded in information, but were also involved in black market trading of stolen goods, spying and assassination. 

They were a highly respected organization but expensive. They were top class.

Sin as Alison never dealt with them when he was with the Ironhearts as they were too expensive, and the Ironhearts never needed their services anyway.

"How much to get information on Necromancy knowledge then?" Sin asked

"5000 gold coins" she said

Sin passed her the coins and she nodded

"There is a wizard in Vandelieu called Normoth who has some necromancy books and is willing to exchange it for reviving a woman." she said

"I can't resurrect the dead you know. I am a necromancer. He should have gotten a priest" Sin said

"Well, the person he wants to resurrect is his teenage sweetheart. You must know that he is 400 years old. She died centuries ago. But he has used his knowledge to reform her body from the remains in her grave. He just wants a zombie or golem. Something that moves" she said

"I guess I am willing to try" Sin said as she led him to Normoth's tower.