Hearth twirls her magic staff, the locked chains release the captive women including Emilia. She maintains her usual demeanor amidst all the chaos, she looks around and finds us, her little brothers, on the ground.

“Lord Ansel,” Hearth’s face shifted, “Whatever you plan to do to my brothers, I do not approve of it!” she said as if she were an angry mother scolding a child.

Ansel’s brows twitched, “And who are you to order me around you whore?!”

“I do not approve of your language!” Hearth continues to scold as she spins her staff, collecting energy.

“Enough!” Ansel turns to the disfigured man, “Do something about her!”

The disfigured man shakes his head and points at the squirming apparition. Apparently, it had been building up flesh the moment it ceased levitating, “Look.”

The apparition screeched as it knelt on its position, terrifyingly, its jaw detached from the skull wriggled with its every movement. Hearth turns to see the monstrosity behind her.

Then a strong sudden pulse emanated from the apparition-turned-skinless humanoid creature. It isn’t as strong as Hearth’s burstful entrance. However, it is enough for everyone to step back and be wary of this wicked summon.

 But there I was, still on the ground, shaken and probably traumatized. For one, I haven’t been on such an experience before even in the old life and two, I haven’t seen a skinless zombie thing either. 

Its legs wiggled as it tried to stand. Its posture and body features resemble a man, it has the same facial structure as Ansel.

The young Daggerhand lord smiles, “F-Father, is that you?” his eyes widened, “Father, it is me, Anselmo, your firstborn!”

“Anselmo…” the abomination said, “Anselmo…?”

“Yes! It’s me, your son!” 

Its ghoulish voice grew louder, “Who the fuck are you…?”

“Huh?” Ansel turned confused as he approached. The thing he is talking to raises its arms, palms wide open for him to see.

Swiftly, Hearth lunges toward Ansel before the attack can reach him. They both fell to the ground.

“You fool.” the disfigured man slowly paces, passing by Ansel.

“W-What,’ Ansel’s voice shakes, “I don’t understand?”

“That is not your father,’ said one of the robed men. They all approached and faced the mysterious figure as they bowed low on the ground, their forehead touching the ground.

The intense raspy breathing of the figure calms down, and its whole stance becomes poised. It understood the gesture, it raised its arms in acknowledgment.

“Lord Titus Daggerhand…” The disfigured man slowly positions himself to kneel, his head still low, “As promised and planned, we have resurrected you.”

Titus stretched his terrible body, putting his arms upward, and groaned, “Took you long enough.”

The disfigured man sounded scared, “W-we apologize, my Lord.” his voice muffled, “It took us some time to find candidates for your life force… not the mention your descendants had been uncooperative…”

“Do you have any idea how hard life was on the other side, it is full of weakness, disgusting weakness!” Titus clears his throat, and finally, his throat has formed, “Did nobody read my journals? I wrote clear, concise instructions before my passing. Did nobody care enough to resurrect their poor old Titus?”

Silence. The robed men didn’t say anything, they didn’t know what to say. They were shaking at the monstrosity in front of them.

Flamboyantly, Titus rolled his eyes and rested his left arm on his waist. “Pathetic.” he turns to Ansel, still on the ground.

The disfigured man glances, “One of your descendants, my lord. A son from your thirdborn’s line.” he takes a moment as Titus limps towards Ansel, “He has cooperated after hearing about your resurrection spell… though, we did promise to resurrect his parents. We omitted the part of who will be resurrecting.”

“So you deceived my great-great-great grandson?” Titus smirks.

The disfigured man gulps, “Indeed… W-we were desperate to proceed with the plans… We were afraid that our time might not be long… else it would be too late. Please forgive us.”

“And how many had been resurrected?”

The robed men looked at each other, the disfigured man shook his head, “From our knowledge, there are two other Princes that was-”

Titus sucked the life force from the disfigured man, he didn’t even have the time to react or scream. The man’s body became a lifeless pulp similar to a juiceless fruit. Saved only by its skeletal remains with the deflated saggy skin.

“Let this be a lesson for all those who know the siphon spell,” Titus said, raising a finger, “Those who delay the plans of the great Emperor in favor of their longevity will meet the same fate of that sorry excuse of a man. How dare he to hide the fact that he used siphon magic for himself!”

The robed men quickly nod in agreement, shocked at what happened to their superior. This power of the siphon spell, when used properly by a master magic user, is a terrifying sight to witness.

“Now, who’s next in line in your pathetic hierarchy?” Titus asked. Nobody responded.

“I am asking, who is usually the second-in-command?” Titus repeats but he is met with silence by the cowardly group.

“Come on! Anyone?! I am giving you an opportunity for a promotion!” Titus sighs in disappointment, “I died and wasted years for this? I could’ve stayed on the other side if I knew the future would turn out like this!”

There it is again. Why does he refer to the afterlife as the other side? I slowly crawled to get near Hearth who was still on the ground, motionless. But I could sense some life from her.

Titus shakes his head, “Pathetic!” he says while pointing at the robed men, “All of you, you’re all sorry excuse for the Order, why are you still even here?”

Finally, someone spoke, “But my lord, we–” Then his body turned the same as the disfigured man. Lifeless, pulpless.

“Do not speak to me without raising your hand first. Gods, where are your manners.” Titus frustratingly ran his hand on his face. He sniffed a horrible smell, he turned to Ansel.

Ansel has peed himself, visibly shaking. 

Titus shakes his head once more, it seems like his disappointment is immeasurable, “This. This is the legacy that I have cultivated?” Titus clicks his tongue, “After all these years, my family has degraded into the same greedy, fat, and ugly highborn that we once sought to eradicate. Shame!”

“I-I am of average build!” Ansel, ever so stubborn, raised his voice, “And I-I am more refined than any other highborn out there!”

Titus’ brow curiously lifted, “Oh? So, tell me, average boy. Did you know about the great Resurrection Plan of the great Emperor of the greatest Empire?” 

Ansel shakes his head, “N-no.”

Titus grabbed Ansel by his hair and leveled him up, his scalp audibly tearing but Ansel’s screams overlapped.

“The great Resurrection Plan was the greatest plan of all! It was meant to resurrect the Emperor after the Tenth Ressurection War!” Titus slaps Ansel on the face repeatedly while giving him a history lesson, “But in order for that to proceed, a sacrifice quota must be met, a sacrifice of ten thousand souls!” Titus laughs at Ansel’s rapidly soring face, Titus turns to the robed men, “Look at this, look, look at his funny face!”

The robed men didn’t know how to respond so they let out an awkward chuckle. I used this opportunity to check on Hearth, I could see she had a wound and she was bleeding, she must’ve protected Ansel from the attack earlier.

“And when the ten thousand souls have been met, you must then resurrect twenty-five Princes appointed by the Emperor! I was one of them, I still am, didn’t you read my journals?! Did any of my filthy children even read it?!” Titus throws Ansel on the ground.

The robed men watched. As they were all distracted, I started dragging Hearth away from the scene.

“My instructions were clear and simple, let the Order resurrect me once they came knocking on our doorstep! But why didn’t you!? Why did no one resurrect me… It is my fault to send myself to the other side, I shouldn’t have done that. Damn the theatrics, my attempt at making people think I died was ridiculous… I knew none of my children wouldn’t resurrect me. Damn it!” Titus continues his rant while stomping at Ansel’s body. One of the robed men raised their hand.

“What is it?” Titus scornfully turns to the robed man.

“For what it’s worth, my lord… The two other Princes had already assembled and I believe they are waiting for you.”

I slowly drag Hearth, my adrenaline is through the roof. 

“Fine. No point in crying over spilled milk. I’m here now, anyway.” Titus shrugs, “But don’t you dare think I didn’t sense you there, boy.” He looks at my direction.

Stunned, I paused from dragging. Cold sweat drops and I tremble in fear.