"Hey Thalion, you know what?" Kaldrek said, laughing as the group reunited in the undead base. "Before I ran over here, I actually sent a full skyship loaded with elite warriors to check out Kael's base and offer the people there a chance to join us. Guess what? His entire base joined us!"

Thalion grinned. "Wait, how did you even find the location of his base? I didn't even know he still had one, besides that camp over there."

"One of the folks who defected from Kael's camp told us," Kaldrek explained. "We figured it could be a good fallback spot if the undead overwhelmed us. We didn't plan to deploy that many troops for the mission, but once the war kicked off, I didn't see a problem with sending a thousand warriors."

"Great initiative! That's why I put you and Maike in charge." Thalion gave him a smile, then added with a more serious tone, "Still, we can't get complacent. We need to use the time we have left to power up as much as possible. New Earth is going to be a bloodbath. Do we know the location of the palace yet, or what the elves are up to?"

"The elves have returned to their base. As for the palace, we don't know the exact location yet, but we've already sent out scouts. It has to be big and somewhere between the catacombs. Nothing else would make sense," Maike said, clearly in a good mood.

"Perfect. I'd love to sit around and chat, but I've got way too much to do. With the undead generals gone, the elves are probably the only major threat left. Call me if you need help with the palace. I'll be in the tower until then," Thalion said. He would've loved to crack open a few beers, but there was too much on his plate and not enough time.

"Not all the generals are dead," Kaldrek added seriously. "There's still that vampire in black armor. He was spotted escaping from the base right before we arrived. But I doubt he'll cause much trouble."

"Cathrin is also still alive," Evelyn said, her voice sharp with fury. "And I want to end her. How long do you need her alive?"

Thalion glanced at her. The woman who had murdered Evelyn's entire family was still breathing. Since he was about to charge the pillar anyway, why not let Evelyn handle the torture? He needed answers about some of Cathrin's abilities, and Evelyn clearly wanted to inflict some serious pain.

Revealing the existence of his secret basement and the black fear pillar probably wasn't a big deal anymore, right? He wouldn't let her see how he was planning to absorb the lich's bloodline, of course, but torturing the witch? Totally fine.

He also planned to shrink the pillar and fuse it with the elemental in his body. At least Lucan would get a look before then. He wanted to talk to the smith anyway. Especially about the exploding blood arrows from his bow. Explosions seemed to be Lucan's new hobby, after all.

"Oh right, Cathrin. Almost forgot," Thalion said. "Come on, Evelyn. We've got a witch to entertain. Anyone else need something before I go?"

Everyone looked a bit baffled at how quickly he was moving on, but since no one raised a hand, he took off toward the skyship with the portal. Evelyn following closely behind.

Since his fight with Ankhet, Thalion had been driven like never before. They grabbed Cathrin from the prison where she was being held and made their way to the tower. The streets were still full of people hurrying in all directions, panic still visible on many of the survivors' faces. Not everyone had realized they'd won. But that would change soon enough.

Evelyn's eyes widened as Thalion led her down the hidden staircase and even more when she saw the massive black pillar, glowing ominously, with vampires and a single elf trapped inside.

Luckily, they didn't need too much food or water. Otherwise, they would've starved long ago. Judging by the way the vampires were trembling, they probably wouldn't last much longer.

Good. Thalion was planning to clear the pillar soon anyway. His goal was to shrink it down and fuse it with the crippled eclipsari elemental inside him. The fear effect would be much more powerful that way. He also planned to add the fear crystals currently embedded in his armor.

Compared to the vampires, the one elf didn't look great either.

"Wow… this is the black pillar Kaldrek and Maike mentioned," Evelyn said, the realization hitting her.

Thalion casually walked over and fed the elf a healing potion, just enough to keep him alive. He might need the guy later to bait the female elf.

Thalion wanted her bloodline after all.

And there was nothing he wouldn't do to get it.

The vampires would die in the pillar when he started the next session. Thalion briefly considered feeding them blood, but that might restore more than just their vitality. Healing potions didn't seem to work well either, not that he cared whether the vampires lived. Letting them die one by one would only increase the terror of the survivors, further nurturing the pillar's power.

He parked Elias and the witch in an empty spot within the black pillar and turned to Evelyn.

"All right, now that everything is in place, I have a few questions for the blood witch. You can handle the torturing, if that's something you want to do. If not, I'll bring her upstairs once I'm done here. Getting this information could save me days, maybe even weeks, of training," Thalion said, watching Evelyn carefully. He wasn't sure if she could go through with it.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll make sure you get your answers," Evelyn replied, flashing a wicked grin as she stepped closer to the pale, sweating witch.

"Ask your first question," Evelyn said, her voice thick with hatred as her fingers turned black and stretched into slim claws. "I'd like to begin."

Well, this was moving faster than expected and cheaper too. No need to waste any more healing potions. Evelyn was one of the most powerful healers in the base anyway.

Moments later, the chamber echoed with strained gasps and screams of pure agony. Thalion had to admit it, Evelyn was almost too good at torturing people. He'd definitely ask her later to work over the vampires a bit to help charge the pillar properly.

The start was predictable: Thalion asked a question, the target refused with a line like, "I'll never tell you what you want to know." Then Evelyn lightly scratched the witch's face, her claws dripping green liquid. That alone made Cathrin spasm violently in the pillar, unable even to scream at first. Only after Evelyn backed off did she manage to let out a sound.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. When she could finally speak, it was the classic line: "I'll tell you everything you want, just keep that monster away from me!"

Okay not word by word but it came close.

As the witch began spilling her secrets, Thalion had to admit, it was going far better than expected. The pillar amplified the suffering of those trapped within and broadcasted it to all the others, which meant Cathrin's pain was shared throughout. It charged the structure rapidly. Thalion could already feel the aura solidifying, growing heavier.

The effect was so strong that he paused the torture briefly to remove the fear crystals from his armor and embed them into the pillar. He hoped the interaction between the pillar and the crystals would amplify the charge even further.

Evelyn made Cathrin sing like a canary. She revealed everything she knew about rituals, blood magic, and the Crimson Eidolon. Her skill went by a different name and was lower in quality, but the insight was still extremely useful.

What fascinated Thalion most was the blood curse running through her veins, the power to turn beasts into undead blood beasts. At first, he hadn't been very interested in creating his own pack of bloody monsters. But when Cathrin mentioned he could control them like units in a strategy game and gain a small portion of the experience they earned, she had his full attention.

He wasn't planning to micromanage a monster horde, but in the new world, he'd definitely be hunting the strongest beasts. Turning them into blood beasts afterward meant a passive influx of experience, without lifting a finger.

Even better, Cathrin explained that blood beasts could become significantly more powerful after their transformation. Their strength scaled with the potency of the blood curse. And by investing time and effort, it was possible to upgrade them further, leading to massive leaps in power within the same tier. That's how she had created the undead wyvern.

Thalion could absolutely see himself doing the same. Boosting the power of such a beast would be a huge advantage.

But there was one major drawback.

Cathrin had received her version of the blood curse from her patron—Morgana, apparently some kind of blood witch goddess. That lined up with what Evelyn's patron had suspected from the beginning.

Worse, the blood curse couldn't simply be stolen. Thalion would need to create his own. Cathrin had no real idea how to do that either, which was a real buzzkill.

Still, Thalion now knew exactly what he'd be bringing up during his next conversation with the voice of the system. Creating a custom blood curse with the Sanguis Impera was definitely a massive milestone.

Cathrin's version could only turn beasts, but maybe Thalion could go further, perhaps even curse plants. Now that would be amazing.

But that was a problem for another time. His to-do list was already long, and the blood curse would take time to develop. Besides, he wasn't limited by the tutorial. That made it a lower priority, despite how cool it was.

For now, he had a bloodline to steal and after that, some serious work to do on his armor. The fear crystals would need replacing and he wanted to put new runes in place to strengthen both his blood magic and the Sanguis Impera.

So many plans. But first he would carve a bloodline out of an undead prince.

He left Evelyn with the fear pillar. Cathrin had told him everything she knew, and Evelyn deserved her revenge. Thalion had no doubt she'd take her time.

He headed for the chamber with the aquarium, the undead prince dangling from a vine a few meters behind him. First, he'd have to set up a barrier. Not because he didn't trust Evelyn. He'd told her not to disturb him no matter what, and she'd definitely take that seriously.

No, the barrier was mostly to muffle the high-pitched screams of the witch and the others in the fear pillar.

Evelyn was doing an outstanding job of charging it.

<--

Cathrin was not the only witch facing life-threatening problems.

Deep within integrated space, an impossibly massive planet stood motionless in the void of black space. There was no sun, no neighboring planets, nothing even remotely close. The only source of light came from three blood-red moons casting their wicked glow across the surface below. No land was visible. The entire planet was one vast ocean. Not of water, but of blood. Dark, crimson blood that hungrily swallowed the moonlight.

Something about the planet and its moons felt profoundly wrong. Power pulsed in the space around it, a dense pressure blanketing the planet and its moons. This was the effect of four immensely powerful natural treasures, ranked high on the divine scale. Every trace of starlight entering this space was turned dark red, corrupted by the aura. This was no ordinary place.

This was divine territory, and no god would even dare to approach. Not only because of the sheer pressure suffusing the area, but because of a single being who sat perfectly still atop the unmoving surface of the blood ocean, cross-legged in deep meditation.

That being was Morgana, perhaps the most powerful blood witch in existence.

Morgana was a breathtakingly beautiful woman, with long, dark red hair and skin as pale as snow. She wore a deep crimson robe engraved with countless runes. Even without actively channeling them, the raw power of the symbols caused the already dense air around her to flicker and distort.

Something disturbed her meditation. Her eyes opened slowly, revealing pitch-black pupils. Simply looking into those eyes would be enough to drive newly ascended gods mad, or kill them outright. And that was not due to a spell or an ability. It was a passive effect of her divine nature.

Morgana was over ninety eras old and unquestionably one of the stronger gods. That was assuming she left her crafted domain. Within it, she was far more dangerous, and gods only ever considered attacking her after immense preparation, if at all.

But the being approaching her now didn't seem to care about any of that.

If someone unaffected by Morgana's passive aura had been watching, they might have seen, for just a fleeting moment as a flicker of doubt and concern cross her otherwise unreadable face.

Had that observer survived her overwhelming presence, they would have been even more shaken by the change that happed all around her domain, because the being approaching was not a weak god.

She was a goddess in the shape of a sleek, pitch-black spider.

And she was one of the most terrifying entities in the entire multiverse.

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