I became a legion lich

229 Death news

Despite the important information Thersec was sharing with him, Lukas’s mind was unable to register anything. All that was going through his head were thoughts of regret for not having stopped her when she decided to run away, or at least tried to bring her back to the family later.

Guilt, remorse, and regret clouded his mind as he clenched his fists so hard his hands bled. Then he remembered that his daughter didn’t die, but was murdered by an undead and was most likely a slave in agony.

Guilt gave way to anger, which quickly turned to burning hatred. Lukas leapt to his feet in a rage, thinking of a thousand ways to bring an undead an agonizing death, but Thersec’s voice stopped him.

“Sit down, child. There’s nothing you can do and even if there was, there’s no reason for you to get involved.” Thersec commanded in an authoritative tone, his voice carrying a fraction of his aura and forcing Lukas to sit down again, even if against his will.

It was only then that Lukas understood why his father had come to inform him personally, instead of speaking through the communication cube or sending a messenger to bring the news. Thersec came personally to stop him from trying to get revenge.

“Why are you going to stop me?” Lukas felt betrayed by Thersec’s attitude and tried to resist her authoritarian aura as much as possible, but to no avail. Lukas tried activating the mansion’s large-scale enchantments to gain the upper hand, but it didn’t work.

The manor glowed with mana as it answered his call, but Thersec was unaffected. The mansion’s enchantments were created in such a way that they could not affect a Ripha, therefore both Thersec and Lukas were immune to their effects.

“Why won’t I let you make a reckless decision because of the pain. I know that although you maintain a strong appearance to others, you are weak inside and soft on your family, even a bastard daughter who has turned her back on family.” Thersec’s lips curled in disgust at the mention of Emilia.

“She’s my daughter and your granddaughter! How can you act so nonchalant when talking about her death, as if you were talking about a stranger?” Lukas snapped, but Thersec only scoffed at what he considered sentimental stupidity.

.....

“Emilia is not my granddaughter. She ceased to be the day she turned her back on her family and left this house to join our enemy. She was just a stranger who happened to carry my blood, a bastard—” Thersec he started to curse at Emília as if she were a traitor, but Lukas stopped him.

He broke free of the residual effects of the aura restraining him and shot out of his chair like a bullet, punching Thersec in the face. His movement was swift and precise, his fist reaching the elder’s face in an instant, timed perfectly in the moment when Thersec blinked so that he was unable to react.

“I’ll let that slide, considering you’re mourning the loss of the child, even after she turned her back on us. But I won’t tolerate another affront like that, so think carefully about your next actions.” Thersec didn’t bother opening his eyes, ignoring his son’s affront.

Lukas gritted his teeth, feeling like he’d punched an adamant wall. He noticed a thin layer of blue light blocking his fist millimeters from his father’s face and no matter how much force he put into the fist, it was unable to advance even a millimeter.

“Tch.” Lukas clicked his tongue in annoyance and walked away, tired of the futile effort. He had avoided activating any skills and punched using only his physical strength, wanting only to vent his anger and stop the water elder from slandering Emilia again.

He wasn’t yet strong enough to stand up to his father in a fight, so this was about as much defiance as he could do.

“As I was saying, this child was not a member of the RIpha family, so you are prohibited from doing anything to try to avenge him.” Thersec continued talking as if nothing had happened as Lukas sat back in his chair.

“Even if you don’t want revenge, killing the undead is still a necessity. We can’t let creatures that thrive on death escape with their lives.” As it was pointless to appeal to the feelings of someone who had none, Lukas tried to reason using the danger the undead posed, but Thersec didn’t care.

“I didn’t come here to ask your opinion, but to order you to do nothing. There’s a lot at stake right now, your personal vendetta and the undead are insignificant compared to everything that’s going on. The political war within the order and the impending invasion of Doravon are far more important than a few tens of thousands of puny undead.” Thersec warned him once more not to do anything, but from Lukas’s furious expression, he didn’t look like he would comply.

“Your answer?” He questioned him just to be sure, but Lukas remained silent.

“Your answer, now.” This time her tone wasn’t a question but an order, forcing Lukas to give an answer even if his heart refused.

“I understand, Dad. I won’t do anything.” Lukas growled every word, but Thersec just nodded in understanding, not the least bit convinced by his words.

“You are a smart man, son, but your kind heart is a weakness you must kill. I’ll leave some of my personal apprentices here to make sure you don’t take any rash action.” Thersec got up and left, ignoring Lukas’s complaints.

“One last thing, son.” Thersec stopped in front of the door and spoke without turning around. “Don’t try to do something funny after I’m gone. The apprentices I’ll leave behind may not be very famous, but they’re powerful enough to stand up to you and I’ll give them orders to beat you to an inch to death if you try something.”

“How confident, Elder.” Lukas responded sarcastically, refusing to call him father. Their relationship has always been bad because of their opposing personalities, but Lukas still hated him for treating Emilia in such a way.

“It’s natural. Unlike you, who spent most of your career in a laboratory, they have over a century of experience in bloody battles, so don’t even dream of being able to defeat them and run away for some idiotic revenge.” Thersec turned and faced him once more.

“Even if you want revenge, which I really don’t understand, there’s no way to find the undead once they’ve left for the demi-human empire, so just give it up and focus your rage on the evolved demi-humans that will arrive in brief.”

“Our family’s territory isn’t exactly on the demi-humans’ invasion line, but the battle could still come to us if the islands west of us fall.” Thersec finished speaking and left, this time without looking back.

Left alone, Lukas collapsed into the chair, feeling all his strength leaving him. Memories of Emilia’s childhood flashed through his mind and Lukas felt endless remorse wash over him.

He clenched his teeth in rage, feeling helpless. Lukas had thought that with all the support from the shadows he gave Emília, in addition to Caio’s presence to protect her in an emergency, she would be safe, but it was in vain.

He had even given her a teleportation crystal with the family crest so that she could save herself in an emergency, but it was in vain. Lukas knew it was pointless to blame himself for what happened and even the human gods couldn’t have foreseen the emergence of a new species of undead, but he still blamed himself for not trying to bring her back to the family.

‘...no. hang on. Emília had a teleportation crystal and probably died with it. If the undead who murdered her weren’t completely stupid, they would have taken the crystal for themselves as loot.’ Lukas thought suddenly, the gears in his mind turning rapidly as he thought of a way to get revenge.

‘If I can track down the teleportation crystal, maybe I can find the location of the undead and avenge my daughter. According to the information, the undead have a few tens of thousands, hundreds of mages, a corrupted spirit and somehow managed to transform the dark elder’s zombie dragon into a shadow dragon.’

‘I’ll need to prepare myself if I want to take revenge on them, but first I need to get rid of the two nuisances that will come.’ With perfect timing, the door to the room opened again and two wizards dressed in blue robes entered.

The blue cloak covered them from head to toe and the only thing that was visible was their exactly alike faces, revealing to Lukas that they were identical twins.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, master of magic Lukas Ripha. We’ve come here under orders from the Water Elder to be your bodyguards and watchmen for the time being, so we’ll be in your care for the next few weeks.” The twins spoke in unison and bowed, but Lukas only narrowed his eyes at the clearly practiced introduction.