The Black Necromancer

Dion grunted with annoyance when he saw Ursula emerge from her mobile castle. "You could have pitched in." He said under his breath. He quickly turned around and departed from the group after that, though.

"Hmm." Ursula did not reply and simply floated up to examine Leon. In her senses, he still burned brightly with energy and mana. She instantly deduced that it had cost Leon little to nothing for his summons to unleash such devastating power at once.

"You are really strong." Once again, Ursula repeated that statement. She however did not try to invite him to join her people, as it would be seen as an insult to Leon.

"Thank you. I must prepare for the upcoming battle." Leon nodded his head and turned around. Oris had reached the site of the explosion and was circling in the air, waiting for the effects of the explosion to settle. He could not sense anything through mana as the mana in the air was still charged with energy.

Caw!

Oris flapped his wings and a powerful wave of wind rushed out, followed by a ripple in space that dispersed all the clouds that obscured view of the site of explosion. In a moment, he was able to see that the fleet which once consisted of a thousand ships had now been reduced to just about four hundred ships!

He could see that a strange, magical barrier that looked like a prism glimmered around the remaining ships. Numerous cracks ran along the barrier, showing that it had been greatly damaged during the barrage.

Oris turned around, and with a screech, he sped off, while also relaying the information to Leon. Leon had already seen it, though. He was surprised that the Demons had survived, but considering the barrier he had seen through Oris' eyes, he guessed that they indeed possessed a very powerful defensive treasure.

Before long, Leon found himself within a training room within Michael's temple. He sat cross legged, and a glimmering gem floated in front of him. This gem was the same shard of the Paragon of Undeath that Michael had given to him. His speed of absorbing it was many times faster than before, as his strength was also much higher than it was back then.

[You have absorbed <Shard of the Paragon of Undeath>!]

Leon let out a breath that was infused with mana, and the air in front of him became hazy. His eye sockets blazed with fiery light as he clenched his fist in front of his face, feeling the strange power coursing through him.

"Let's try raising that Londo again." Leon hummed and closed his eyes. A black soul flame emerged from his core and settled a foot in front of him. The black soul flame was the remnant of Londo's soul. Leon wanted to try raising it again now that he had absorbed another fragment of the Paragon of Undeath.

There was a lull in the moment before a great amount of mana surged out of Leon's core and rushed into the soul fragment of the Demon Necromancer. A great quantity of Unholy energy which resided within Leon's core fused with Londo's soul fragment, making it undergo certain changes.

'It's working!' Leon grinned and focused more on what he was doing.

The increasing build up of mana began to shake the walls of the room as Leon put his focus into turning Londo into his summon.

Boom!

A dull explosion shook the walls of the room as a heavy pressure descended into the room for a moment. Leon was shocked, but before he could react, that pressure was gone. He snapped back to his senses and was surprised to see the familiar form of the Demon Necromancer kneeling before him.

Even with the success of his summoning process, Leon did not celebrate. Instead, he was too occupied trying to find out what that pressure was. Its appearance and subsequent disappearance had been rather sudden and unexpected. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before.

"...For some reason, it felt even stronger than Michael did..." Leon murmured.

Whoosh!

Behind Leon, the man in question appeared with a frown on his face. He looked around, and his senses spread out. His frown deepened even more.

"What happened here?" He immediately turned to Leon and the summon at his feet.

"I was raising him as my summon, and I suddenly felt a strong pressure appear here. I thought it was you for a moment, but it was different." Leon immediately said. He could tell that Michael was being very serious about this matter.

"This is bad." Michael said, holding his chin.

Just then, the space behind Michael bent and several figures appeared out of thin air. Asteria was at the head of the group, followed closely by a man that possessed the same red hair as hers, but bright golden eyes.

Behind the red haired man, a giant figure that resembled a lizardman, but mixed with various other features from different beasts stood. His body was covered in light green scales, and his face was drawn out like that of a lizardman.

The last figure was something that Leon was not expecting to see. His mind went back to the memories that Dibella had shared with him, and a small explosion rang out in his mind. Tiphone, the all seeing God!

"Michael, what was that?" The red haired man with golden eyes stepped forward with a serious expression on his face.

"It is what you think it is." Michael replied grimly.

Tiphone's single, large eye turned to Leon at that moment and Leon felt a mighty pressure slam against him, forcing him to the ground in an unsightly, position where he was forced to lay flat on the ground with his arms and legs spread wide open.

"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Tiphone's voice boomed all through Michael's temple. The Fate God with gunmetal hair spun around and glared at Tiphone, his hair waving through the air as his power rose within his body.

"Let him be, Tiphone." Michael hissed with a low tone.

"You are taking his side?! DO YOU KNOW WHAT COULD BEFALL US?!!!" Tiphone boomed again, the fleshy tentacle-like masses extending from his body waving through the air and causing the space to tremble by sheer force of presence.

"I do know! But that is no reason to disrespect me!" Michael growled and took a step forward.

"Disrespect?! DISRESPECT?!!! I WILL SMITE YOU AND YOUR PETTY CANDIDATE TO NOTHING!!!" Tiphone's body seemed to break through space and time as he grew in size to intimidate Michael.

"You could not do that a thousand years ago, and you stand even less of a chance now!" Michael chuckled mockingly. He raised his arm and his silvery power snapped through the pressure forcing Leon to the ground. He positioned himself between Leon and Tiphone while glaring at the one eyed God.

"YOU-" Tiphone was about to continue speaking when Dardan and Fazir both stepped up between the two. Two powerful presences that were equal to Tiphone's burst out of their bodies as they turned to look at him.

"Enough of this. We have more important matters to settle." Fazir calmly said and turned to look at Michael before shaking his head. As one of his most loyal and trusted subordinates, he held Michael in high regard, but to day Michael had shocked him. Not once did he suspect that Michael possessed so much power. Enough to easily stand against Tiphone!

If there was anything that he could tell from that short expo of Michael's power, then that was the fact that Michael was just half a step from reaching the level of a Major God! The only God present who was not surprised was Asteria. In fact, she had a small smirk on her face and she had moved over to Leon's side, showing that she was on Michael's side.

"Fine, side with him! What disaster comes knocking, then you can handle it yourself." Tiphone said and turned around, breaking through space and vanishing from the training room.

Michael let out a sigh and turned around to meet Fazir's eyes. He had not wanted this to happen so soon. He wanted to reach that level before anyone could even know. The only person who had known about his progress was Asteria.

"Well done, Michael. We will speak later." Fazir said and turned to Dardan, gesturing with his head for them to leave.