The Sovereign Necromancer: System of the Dead

Blood and Plywood

The three Vanguard guards did not lower their rifles. The blue barrels of their weapons glowed brightly, lighting up the tiny, dark hospital room. I stood right in front of Amarachi’s bed, hiding her body behind my back. The black fluid on the floor tiles was still spreading, rising up around the iron legs of her bed.

"I said, step away from the asset," the lead guard spoke again. His voice came through his heavy metal helmet, sounding flat and cold. "Chief Segun wants her alive. You, we can kill right here."

My chest throbbed where the sand lizard had kicked me. My mana counter floated in the corner of my eyes: 12/100. It was not enough to call the shadow gorilla up from the yard.

[Tobe,] Grim’s voice barked in my mind. [You do not need to call the big guy up the stairs. The ceiling in this hospital is cheap concrete. Tell him to jump.]

I did not hesitate. I closed my eyes for a fraction of a second and sent a direct mental command down to the yard. Smash upward. Now.

"Three," the guard started counting, lifting his rifle toward my forehead. "Two—"

The floor beneath the guards erupted.

A massive black fist broke through the gray concrete tiles from the room below. The shadow gorilla did not climb the stairs; it drove its body straight up through the building. The lead guard fell backward into the hole, his gun firing a wild blue beam into the plaster roof.

The other two guards turned around, their boots slipping on the broken stone. They raised their rifles to shoot the giant beast, but the gorilla was faster. It grabbed one guard by his golden chest plate and slammed him hard into the plywood door frame. The wood split completely, and the man went limp, dropping his weapon.

The last guard scrambled away, backing into the corner near Amarachi's bed. He aimed his glowing barrel right at my sister's face. "Call it off! Call the beast off or I will blow her head into pieces!"

My blood turned to ice. "Do not touch her."

"Call it off!" he shouted, his finger tightening on the metal trigger.

I did not look at the gorilla. I looked at the dead sand lizard lying in the hallway just behind the broken door. I pointed my hand at the creature’s carcass.

"Arise," I said.

The last twelve points of my mana pool drained instantly to zero.

A dark smoke rolled over the dead lizard. Its single good eye snapped open, burning with that cold, gray fire. It did not stand up fully; it simply launched its heavy, scaly tail through the broken doorway, hitting the guard’s legs like a swinging log.

The guard lost his balance, his rifle firing wide. The blue energy beam hit the wall an inch above Amarachi’s hair, melting the green paint into black crust. Before he could recover, the shadow gorilla’s giant fist came down on his helmet, knocking him flat onto the floor tiles.

The room went quiet again. The only sound left was the rapid, shallow breathing coming from my own mouth.

[Current Mana: 0/100]

[Warning: Underworld Sovereignty requires soul fuel to maintain current summons.]

The shadow gorilla and the gray-eyed lizard started to flicker, their dark shapes turning into loose smoke. They vanished back into my feet, leaving me entirely alone in the ruined room.

I dropped to my knees beside Amarachi. The oily fluid on the floor had touched her fingers now. The moment it made contact with her skin, her chest gave a sudden, heavy rise. She gasped, her eyes flying open.

But they were not her normal brown eyes. They were glowing with a bright, terrifying purple light that did not look human at all.

"Tobe?" she said. Her voice sounded like two people speaking at the exact same time, her own young voice, and a heavy, deep echo that came from deep inside her chest. "Tobe, it hurts. The dark is pulling me."

"I am here, Amara," I said, grabbing her hands. Her skin felt freezing cold, like ice left out in the rain. "I will get you out of here."

A sharp electronic beep came from the belt of the unconscious lead guard on the floor. A small radio device was flashing with a bright green light.

A voice came through the speaker. It was a voice I knew better than my own. It was Chiamaka.

"Team Alpha, report," Chiamaka said through the radio. Her voice was sharp, professional, and completely empty of any guilt. "Chief Segun just ordered the deployment of the Island’s main perimeter grid. They are locking down the Mainland transit lines. If the asset is secured, bring her to the helipad on the roof now. The Top 5 Hunters are already moving."

I stared at the radio on the floor. The entire city was turning into a trap. Chief Segun was not just sending regular guards anymore; he was lifting the shields and sending the strongest killers in Nigeria to take a fourteen-year-old girl.

I picked up the small plastic radio, pressed the side button, and held it to my mouth.

"She is not your asset, Chiamaka," I said into the microphone.

The radio went completely silent for three seconds. I could hear Chiamaka’s breath catch on the other end of the line.

"Tobe?" she said, her voice finally losing its calm tone. "You are still alive? Listen to me, you need to leave her and run. You do not know what she is. If you stay there, the God-Rank Hunters will tear you into pieces. They are already outside the building."

A massive boom shook the entire hospital foundation, and the walls began to tilt sideways.