The City of Sin, Trist
"Hah… hah… hahhh…"
Luke panted heavily, running as fast as he could.
"Ugh… why is this happening…?"
He couldn't stop. If he hesitated even for a moment, that horrifying monster would pounce on him immediately.
This can't be real. This has to be a dream… something like this can't happen…
No matter how much he tried to deny reality, the darkness chasing him from behind wouldn't disappear.
"Ugh… ughhh…"
Before long, the alley was engulfed in a shadowy darkness.
There was nowhere left to run. Luke's knees gave out.
"Ah… Goddess…"
Collapsing to the ground, he prayed. He called upon the goddess who protects the world, facing the terror before his eyes.
Through the swirling darkness, a young man with black hair appeared, wearing a look of disbelief.
"Hey, do you even have the right to call for a goddess right now?"
Luke stretched out both hands, desperately casting a spell.
"Begone, you horrible demon!"
From both sides of Luke, pitch-black phantoms rose.
Seeing the spirits fly, the young man—Karnak—snorted.
"Who's calling who horrible right now?"
This was the man who had killed over thirty humans, violated twice as many women, and even offered children as sacrifices, spreading terror across the Delad region.
Yet now, when cornered, he acted like an innocent ordinary person.
"So this is what people mean when they say it depends on where you stand? Or… is this a different story? Anyway, human emotions are hard to understand."
Karnak tilted his head and raised a finger.
With a simple flick, the phantoms vanished. Luke's face turned pale with despair.
"My… my spirits…"
Another shadow appeared on the opposite side of the alley.
"Well, he's fast. Since when can a necromancer run like this?"
"He used to be a petty thief. Guess he learned to run pretty well."
Surrounding Luke from both sides, Karnak motioned with his hand.
"Go ahead and catch him."
"Yes, sir!"
Baros launched himself forward.
Luke tried to resist, pulling at the spirits, but it was useless. Karnak's necromancy had already tightly bound his darkness.
Now, Luke was nothing more than an ordinary petty thief. He couldn't hope to block the fists of a trained knight.
Thunk!
With the heavy impact, Luke collapsed immediately.
Baros, having knocked him out with a body blow, grabbed him by the back of the neck and asked,
"Should we take him somewhere?"
Karnak replied nonchalantly.
"Yes. We need to extract the Darkness of the End."
In the past, Karnak would capture a necromancer and extract the Darkness of the End on the spot, then slowly refine it into chaotic mana.
But now, having found a more efficient method, he used a different approach.
In a rundown warehouse on the outskirts of Derat City, Luke dangled in the air, shirtless.
"Ugh… ughhh…"
Below him was a large water barrel, the rope he hung from firmly held by Baros.
Karnak's voice echoed.
"Dip him."
The rope unrolled, and Luke splashed headfirst into the barrel.
"Ugh! Uuugh!"
He thrashed, but he was tied up tight, so it was useless.
Only when he felt like he might drown did Karnak speak again.
"Pull him out."
Luke gasped for air as he was lifted.
"Dip him."
Splash!
"Pull him out."
"Cough… cough!"
He coughed violently, struggling for breath.
"…Wh-what the hell is this for?"
They had suddenly captured him and locked him in this warehouse, repeatedly dunking him in water like this.
He had been ready for interrogation—prepared to confess any secret without hesitation.
But there were no questions. They just continued the relentless torture.
"What do you… want, huh?"
Why weren't they asking anything? He'd answer whatever they asked!
Karnak's reply was cruelly simple.
"Dip him."
"Ugh! Uuuugh!"
No matter what Luke said, they didn't care. They only continued the process.
And they spoke in ways he couldn't understand.
"This method is way more efficient."
What… efficient? What's efficient about this?
Luke was dunked into the barrel again, utterly bewildered.
But in reality, Karnak wasn't torturing him at all.
"The corruption is coming right out."
He was just… doing laundry.
Thanks to Alius, he had learned the method to purify the corruption using holy power. He had also developed a way to use holy relics instead of a cleric, and had plenty of holy water prepared.
So far, so good—but when he tried it in practice, there was a problem.
The amount was too small. Even pouring ten bottles of holy water at once wouldn't purify a necromancer's entire soul.
So he chose this method instead.
When doing laundry, you don't just use soap—you rinse with water to remove dirt evenly.
Similarly, he diluted the holy water in water and washed Luke's entire body repeatedly, slowly drawing out the corruption.
In essence, it really was just "laundry." The only difference was that the fabric was a soul.
"Pull him out."
"Splish… splash!"
Luke suffered immensely, but Karnak couldn't care less.
Only Baros felt uneasy.
"Is this really okay? We said we wouldn't live like before."
In the past, Karnak had captured and tortured innocent people, extracting necromantic energy from them.
Now, they were taking power from a bad guy, so it wasn't the same, he insisted.
"Back then, we tortured innocents. This guy is a bad person, isn't he?"
After all, Luke had killed so many people he even earned a title for it.
"…But what was his title again?"
"He was another Lord of Darkness."
The prefix "another" had its reason.
This was the third Lord of Darkness that Karnak and his companions had captured.
"Anyway, necromancers all have titles that are basically the same."
"Though, sir, you yourself have called someone a Lord of Darkness before…"
"Th-That was because I was young back then!"
"And later, the Plague Overlord…"
"I was young then too!"
"And I think even after turning thirty, you called someone the Death Sovereign…"
"…Shut up."
"Yes, sir."
Regardless, it was an undeniable fact that this man, dunked repeatedly in a barrel, was called a Lord of Darkness and had committed countless atrocities.
That was why Karnak could be so confident.
"Capturing a bad man and making him pay for his sins is unquestionably a righteous act!"
"…Is it really?"
Baros had a strange expression. Logically, it made sense—but seeing the man flailing upside down in pain, something felt off…
"Upside down looks painful. Should we hang him the other way?"
"Baros, you're really a bad one, huh? Hanging him by the neck would suffocate him! Hang him by the ankles."
"Oh, right."
Baros's face brightened as he reached a realization.
"Even worrying about the opponent's life… I see, sir, you are truly doing a virtuous deed!"
"Exactly!"
Apparently, neither of them had thought about just tying his wrists or waist instead.
As a result, the only one suffering was Luke.
"Ugh! Cough! Huuuhhh! You crazy—keeek!"
Amid his pitiful screams, Karnak's calm voice echoed again.
"Dip him."
In the end, all of Luke's corruption was purged. The Darkness of the End that he carried was cleanly absorbed by Karnak.
At the same time, Luke, now completely drained of power, died.
Despite all the talk of worrying about his life, when it came to the end, he was killed without mercy.
Yet Karnak and Baros didn't care about that at all.
They had never intended to show mercy—the only reason he was left alive initially was to make the purification of darkness easier.
Thus, Luke slowly died amid all his agony and despair—a form of offering, in a sense, for those who had fallen victim to him.
Looking at Luke's corpse, Baros muttered,
"If we report this to the Hatoba Church, they'll handle it like usual, right?"
"Yeah. Let's head back as well."
Leaving the warehouse, the two made their way to their lodgings.
As they walked, Baros asked suddenly,
"Did you gather a lot of Darkness?"
It had already been over three months since they had arrived in Derat City. The number of necromancers they had hunted in that time was considerable.
"The ones we've captured so far…"
Baros counted briefly on his fingers.
"Three Lords of Darkness, two Plague Overlords, and one Death Companion… really, all the titles are basically the same."
"He seemed a bit unique as a Death Companion."
"Summarized like that, it sounds kind of weird."
Anyway, they had hunted quite a few necromancers by now, and as a result, had gathered a fair amount of the Darkness of the End.
At this point, wasn't it about time to return home?
"Is there any change?"
"Not yet."
"How much more do we need to collect? Surely we don't have to gather all the Darkness of the End scattered across the world, right?"
"Are you crazy? It would take a lifetime and still not be enough."
After a moment of thought, Karnak spoke.
"Right now, there are three ways I can deal with the end of the world."
"Dealing with the end of the world? Saying it like that makes it sound like you're some kind of world savior, sir. But in reality, you're just cleaning up the mess you caused yourself…"
"Shut up for a bit. Why do you always have to talk back?"
"Yes, yes."
After shooting a glance at his ever-consistent attendant, Karnak continued.
"The first way is to just ignore the world's end and live my life as if it doesn't matter."
This was impossible. The mess they had caused was too great to simply ignore. That's why they were running around in the first place.
"The second way, as you said, Baros, is to collect all the Darkness of the End that has been scattered."
This, too, was unrealistic.
Collect all that massive Darkness scattered across the world? It was a task that would take a lifetime and still fall short.
"I came back hoping to live like a normal person, not to wander forever struggling."
So the only viable option was the third plan.
"Block the fundamental channels through which the Darkness is spread."
Based on the Darkness they had gathered so far, Karnak had gotten a sense of the situation.
The Darkness being scattered now was not random, nor was it spreading haphazardly everywhere.
"People say the Darkness of the End falls like rain, but rain still needs clouds. If we think of the channels through which Darkness spreads as clouds, the concept is roughly similar."
Even Karnak couldn't block all the falling Darkness.
But he could prevent the formation of these "clouds" in advance.
"With the information we've gathered, I can identify the existence of these clouds. If we gather more info and figure out how they form and under what conditions they appear, we should be able to stop the Darkness from falling altogether."
Of course, this method couldn't do anything about the Darkness that had already been scattered—but that part was intentionally ignored.
"For now, it's still manageable for the Seven-Goddess Church, so it should be fine."
Baros looked dazed.
"Ah… yes…"
For a swordsman like him, it was a concept difficult to grasp. Frankly, he didn't even want to understand it.
What he really wanted to know was this: when would they go home?
"How many more do we have to hunt?"
Karnak estimated and shrugged.
"About twenty more Lords of Darkness?"
In other words, they just needed to catch about twenty more people like Luke.
Somehow, the grandiose title "Lord of Darkness" had come to signify third-rate necromancers—but that seemed to be the way of the world these days.
Baros sighed.
"So we'll have to stay in Derat City for at least three more months. I wonder if the steward will throw a fit."
Originally, Karnak had planned to go to the capital, leaving his territory for about a hundred days.
But that period had already passed. He hadn't even gone near the capital.
Realizing this, Karnak's expression stiffened.
"I should contact the territory soon and let them know I'll be a little late."
"You mean… lie and say you're staying in the capital?"
"Is that necessary? I can tell the truth if I want."
On the way to the capital, they had found necromancers troubling people.
As nobles of the Zestrad Barony, they could not simply ignore such behavior. It was their duty to punish the culprits.
That was why, with the support of the Hatoba Church, they had been hunting down the necromancers. Hence, they hadn't gone to the capital yet. They would continue like this for another three months—so just wait.
"That should do it."
"Is that the truth, then?"
"Not a lie, right?"
"Guess so."
It was a bit ambiguous, but difficult to argue against.
Baros, having followed Karnak his entire life, had a perception of the world that often clashed with ordinary people.
"So, it won't take that long, right?"
Hearing the answer he wanted, Baros's expression brightened again.
"Three more months of work isn't bad, then. And I get to check out all the local restaurants too!"
Back in foodie mode, Baros's eyes sparkled.
"Shall we have dinner at Stal Street tonight? I heard there's a place with killer noodles."
They were already getting hungry, and Karnak smiled.
"Let's go, let's go."
After a fulfilling day, stepping out to find a good meal felt surprisingly light and joyful.
Just as they returned to their lodging to change and head out, a seemingly ordinary boy approached.
"You must be Baron Karnak?"
"The Hatoba Church's messenger," the boy said, handing over a letter.
Karnak, used to exchanging information with Alius in this way, naturally opened the letter.
Baros peeked curiously from the side.
"What is it? Has the fourth Lord of Darkness appeared?"
Karnak looked at the letter with a puzzled expression.
"Alius wants to see us in person. He says he'll explain the details when we meet."