The Sovereign Necromancer: System of the Dead

The Mainland Barrier

Chief Segun stood by the melted doorway, his dragon-scale suit glowing dark red against the gray morning sky. The heavy blade in his right hand dropped fat sparks of black fire onto the concrete roof. Every time a spark hit the floor, the stone turned into black liquid.

"Chiamaka, get your brother," Chief Segun said. He did not look at her. His eyes remained locked entirely on Amarachi, who stood near the edge of the roof with the golden rifle.

Chiamaka did not wait. She scrambled across the concrete on her hands and knees, her fancy dress completely torn and covered in soot. She reached the metal stairs of the radio tower and pulled Samuel into her arms. She checked his neck where Fanny’s knife had left a small red cut, sobbing heavily.

"Samuel, I am sorry," Chiamaka said, her voice cracking with pure grief. "I did it for your operation. They told me they would fix your eyes if I helped them secure the Lekki gate."

"They lied to you, sister," Samuel said, his small hands holding her wet face. "They kept me in a dark room down there. They are bad people."

I stepped down from the metal ladder, keeping my body between Chiamaka’s family and Chief Segun. My mana counter showed 307/100. It was a good amount of energy, but the black fire on Segun’s sword looked different from any hunter magic I had seen before. It looked older, heavier.

"You are a fool, Chiamaka," Amarachi said from the other side of the helipad. Her voice was totally dry, lacking any sisterly warmth. The deep echo underneath her words made the large white helicopter tilt slightly on its landing pads. "You sold Tobe’s life to buy your brother’s sight, and now you have nothing. Your boss is going to kill all of us anyway."

"Amara, stop it," I warned, looking back at her. Her purple eyes were wide now, the light pulsing in sync with the red emergency box that floated in my field of view.

[Warning: Calamity Core Progress: 9.8 Percent.]

[System Status: Core energy leaking into target's brain.]

"She is right, young man," Chief Segun said, taking a slow step forward. His heavy iron boots made the concrete crack with every stride. "The girl understands how this world operates. The poor must feed the rich so the city can survive. That is how the system works."

He raised his left hand, which wore a heavy gold ring set with a massive purple crystal. He did not point it at me. He pointed it directly toward the Lagos lagoon, toward the high concrete wall that separated the Island from the Mainland slums.

"Activate the perimeter," Chief Segun commanded into his collar microphone.

A mile away, a massive beam of orange light shot out from the Top 5 Guild headquarters on Victoria Island. The beam hit the sky and spread out like a huge glass dome, dropping downward until it hit the border wall.

BOOM!

A loud, deep vibration traveled through the earth, shaking the hospital roof so hard that Chiamaka fell to her knees again, holding Samuel tightly. Beyond the wall, inside the Mainland slums, three massive black rifts tore open right in the middle of the crowded market square. I could hear the distant sounds of car horns and people running in total confusion as sand lizards began crawling out of the earth.

"The barrier is locked," Chief Segun said, a cruel grin expanding on his face. "No Mainland resident can cross into the Island now. The monsters will clear the slums, and their souls will flow directly into your sister’s core. When she hits one hundred percent, I will take the core and become the first S-Rank Hunter in West Africa."

"You are going to kill millions of people just for a promotion?" My fists clenched, my fingernails drawing blood from my palms again.

"They are not people, Tobe," Chief Segun said, his voice dropping into a cold snear. "They are just numbers on a spreadsheet. They do not generate money for the guild. Their only value is their souls."

Beside the helicopter, the two black-suited guards finally recovered their senses. They drew their high-grade pistols, aiming them straight at my head. "Drop the core boy! Now!"

"Gorilla, crush them," I muttered.

The shadow gorilla surged out from my boots, its massive arms sweeping across the concrete pad. It caught both guards before they could pull their triggers, throwing them completely off the side of the four-story building. Their guns fell onto the concrete with a loud metallic clank.

"You think that beast can touch me?" Chief Segun chuckled.

He swung his flaming sword in a wide circle. A giant wave of black fire shot across the roof, hitting my shadow gorilla squarely in the chest. The beast did not even have time to strike. The black flames ate through its dark mist in a fraction of a second, dissolving the giant body into thin gray smoke that drifted away in the wind.

[Warning: Shadow Gorilla completely destroyed.]

[Sovereign Feedback: You have suffered 40 points of mental damage.]

[Current Mana: 307/100]

A sharp pain exploded behind my eyes, making me drop to one knee. I coughed, a small stream of dark blood leaking from my lip onto the concrete.

"Tobe!" Chiamaka called out. She looked at me, then at her brother, then at the golden rifle lying near Amarachi's feet. Her eyes went sharp with a desperate, crazy resolution. "I will fix this."

Before anyone could move, Chiamaka lunged forward across the roof. She did not run away from Chief Segun. She ran straight toward Amarachi, grabbing the extra box of blue mana cartridges from the floor. She did not load them into the gun. She grabbed a small metal pen from her dress pocket, a high-voltage guild tracker tool, and shoved the sharp point directly into the center of the explosive ammunition box.

"Amara, jump!" Chiamaka shouted.

"Chiamaka, no!" I yelled, reaching out my hand.

The ammunition box erupted into a massive ball of blue lightning right in front of Chief Segun’s chest. The force of the magic explosion shattered every single remaining tile on the hospital roof, throwing all of us backward into the smoke.