Reborn with a Necromancer System - Chapter 211

Chapter 211: Ebonbrand’s Crown

Kai gritted his teeth as he lowered the crown onto his head. The black metal felt impossibly cold at first, like a brand of ice pressing into his skull. Then, almost instantly, the chill ignited into an agonizing burn.

The sensation wasn’t just on his skin. It was inside his skull, lancing into his mind as though molten spikes were forcing themselves into the very folds of his brain. His first instinct was to rip the thing off, to hurl it as far as he could.

But when his hands shot up to the crown, they met only resistance. The band would not budge. His fingers slid along its slick, jagged surface as if the crown had fused to him.

“Ah,” Andorath said, his skeletal voice echoing like the scrape of stone on stone. “So, you are good enough to be chosen.”

That was the last thing Kai heard before the world fractured.

—

At first, there was only darkness. Not the suffocating void of death, but a strange warmth, the comfort of being buried deep underground.

Then there were flashes.

A boy, not Kai, smiling in a dimly lit cavern, the glow of faint green crystals illuminating his features. He had pale eyes and dark hair, and around him moved the dead, not as slaves, but as companions, their skeletal forms carrying baskets, tilling soil, building. Undead and living, working together in harmony.

The image shifted.

The boy older now, his family beside him, faces blurred by time. They stood at the edge of a great stone stairwell, sunlight bleeding down from far above. Hesitant, they climbed toward the surface, toward a world of humans who looked like them but spoke different tongues, wielded strange magics, and prayed to gods Ebonbrand had never heard of.

Another flash.

This time red, violent. Steel clashing. Fields of burning villages. Ebonbrand watching from a hill, his eyes cold as he commanded an army of skeletal warriors. Then fire, screaming, betrayal. A thousand images compressed into seconds: friends hanging from trees, sanctuaries desecrated, his creations torn apart by divine magic. The weight of persecution crushing everything he had built.

The final image lingered longer than the others. Ebonbrand kneeling in a circle of blood and bones, hands shaking as he placed the same black crown upon his head. Around him, the world burned. Above him, the sky cracked open, spilling divine fire. And yet, his eyes held a strange calm, as though he welcomed what came next.

—

Kai gasped as the vision snapped away, his knees buckling. He caught himself with one hand, the cold stone biting into his palm. His head pounded, a deep ache behind his eyes that made the world blur.

The boy’s visage reminded him of someone, but the moment the images faded, so did any recognition of the memories.

A single word slipped from his lips, unbidden.

“Esmerelda…”

Vepice crouched beside him, confusion and concern etched on her face.

“Who’s Esmerelda?”

Kai blinked at her, realizing what he’d said.

“I… don’t know. I don’t remember.”

Before he could piece together the fragments, Andorath’s voice reverberated softly behind them, distant, as though fading from the world entirely.

“The crown chooses… but it will consume. Overcome it, boy, or you will become it. And when that happens, Kai Tensen will cease to exist, and only Ebonbrand will remain.”

Kai turned, but Andorath was already dissolving. Not vanishing into shadow, not stepping through a rift, simply ceasing to be. As though his task, the final tether binding him, had been cut.

And with his departure, Kai felt it…

The tenuous hold someone had over the remnants of the dungeon’s undead snapped like brittle glass. The faint thrums of loyalty, the skeletal echoes in the corners of his mind, all winked out one by one. Silence.

And so did Kai’s loose connection to the lich.

Then, the system’s text crawled into his vision:

[New Artifact Acquired: Cursed Crown of Ebonbrand – The First Necromancer. Lord of the Dead.]

[Note: This artifact is cursed. Effects unknown. Interference detected. Information inaccessible.]

Kai wiped blood from his lip where his teeth had cut into it during the visions. His voice was a low growl.

“Cursed, huh?”

The system didn’t respond. It never did when he needed it to.

“Fine. You never tell me anything anyway. What’s the point of you? Just sitting there, dangling scraps of information like I’m supposed to thank you for it. Useless.”

The faint hum of the crown pulsed once, almost in agreement, or mockery.

Vepice helped him to his feet, her gaze lingering on the crown. “Kai… maybe we should take it off. It’s not worth-”

“It won’t come off,” Kai said, cutting her off. His eyes still glowed faintly blue, though the color was beginning to dim. “And whether it’s cursed or not, we need what’s inside it. Ebonbrand’s power. His knowledge. Otherwise, none of this was worth it.”

Vepice frowned, glancing at the faintly pulsing crown. “And if it takes you instead?”

Kai’s hand rose to touch the jagged band, his fingertips brushing its icy surface. His lips curled into something between a smirk and a grimace.

“Then I guess we’ll see how long I can fight before Ebonbrand wears me like a suit.”

“Very funny. Seriously, Kai. What are you going to do?”

“Orlin may know what to do. I should have enough power to-”

Kai’s voice cut off with a strangled scream as a surge of energy tore through his body. His knees buckled, his vision drowned in a swirl of black and violet light. The crown burned like molten iron, its jagged edges searing into his scalp as shadowed glyphs crawled across his skin and flared to life before fading.

System prompts erupted in his mind, rapid and sharp:

[Necromancy is increasing in rank.]

[Necromancy Rank ]

[Necromancer Rank – 5]

[Life Essence Pool expanding.]

[Phylactery Capacity increasing.]

[Soul Vault has grown.]

[You have learned Ebonbrand’s Covenant.]

[Ebonbrand’s Covenant – You may forge a Covenant Wraith by shaping the souls in your Soul Vault into a single, temporary entity. Its strength scales with the rank and number of souls used. While active, the souls remain bound to the Wraith and cannot return to the Vault.]

[Cost: A portion of your Phylactery’s stored Life Essence is locked until the Wraith is dispersed. This essence cannot be replenished during its existence.]

[Warning: Overuse will leave you vulnerable. The greater the Wraith, the more Life Essence you forfeit.]

Kai’s screams ebbed into ragged, shuddering breaths as the glow around him dimmed. He lifted his head, silver-flecked eyes still smoldering faintly.

“Kai?” Vepice knelt beside him, gripping his arm. “What was that? You’re pale… even for you.”

Kai exhaled slowly. “A new trick. The crown… it lets me turn the souls in my vault into something more. A Covenant Wraith. Not a fusion, not a puppet. Something alive, in a way. A weapon.” His hand trembled faintly, curling into a fist. “But it eats into my essence. While it’s out, part of me is gone. Untouchable. If I push it too far, I’ll be too weak to even defend myself, let alone you.”

Vepice’s brow furrowed. “So you’re trading strength for vulnerability. What happens if the Wraith is destroyed?”

“It seems the souls return, but my essence doesn’t. It’ll be lost forever. If I call forth something too strong and it dies before the fight’s over…” He let out a bitter laugh. “Then I’ll be a glorified corpse waiting for someone else to put me down.”

The crown pulsed again, a faint whisper brushing against his mind like a cold draft: Forge it. Shape the dead. Show them what it means to wield the Covenant.

Kai shook his head, muttering, “Not now. Not until we need it.”

The crown disappeared, and when Kai felt for it physically, it was gone. But he could still feel the oppression in his mind. The crown was still there, but hidden from view. Hidden from touch.

He rose to his feet and motioned for Vepice to follow. “Let’s find Orlin. Because if this crown is tied to Ebonbrand the way I think it is… this ‘gift’ is going to get us both killed if we don’t understand it first. And he might have answers.”

“But isn’t he?”

“Dead? Yeah. But I should be able to keep his mind intact.”

“Okay…”

Kai reflected on the events of the dungeon as they retraced their steps.

They found that the doors had unsealed themselves and all of the undead, including the dragon, were nowhere to be seen.

[Name: Kai Tensen |

Age: 15 Years |

Specialisation: Necromancer |

Rank: 5 |

Advancement Requirements:

Survive the wrath of a divine avatar, lasting at least one hour against a divine bein (complete),

Devour an Abyssal Soul,

Survive the Rite of Hollowing |

Life Essence Stored: 250,000/250,000 (25,000/25,000 – Phylactery Reserves) |

Mortality Deviance: 6/10 |

Artifacts: Abyssal Band, Dampening Gloves, Mirage’s Veil, Ebonbrand’s Crown |

Soul Vault: 1,000/1,500 |

Souls Absorbed: Winfried Drummond (Greater), Angelica Trunsdale (Greater), Grand Beast Soul, Grand Wyvern Soul, Sovereign Thieves Guildmaster Soul, Mari Tensen (Grand), Lady Elerin (Primordial), Forged Primordial Soul (993) |

Souls Tethered: 1 – Carter |

Undead Army: 20,309 {Mari Tensen (Divine Lich), Joran (Brawler), Rhea (Commander), Finn (Flight Unit), Merri (Shadowsworn), Berrus (Elemental Cerberus), Ralts (Sentient Chaos Lich), Joe (Death Knight), Princess Aliza of Forne, Arcane Wolf, Skeleton Novice Fire Mage (12), Skeleton Novice Shadow Mage (10), Skeleton Novice Elementalist (3), Skeleton Warrior (38), Skeleton (13,857), Zombie (12), Zombie Warrior (21), Zombie Sprinter (59), Zombie Shambler (70), Shadow Death Knight, Greater Lich, Grave Maw, Grond (Undead Ogre), Undead Rat, Undead Pup (4), Skeleton Magister (14), Skeleton Knight (7), Undead Wyvern (12), Undead Rat (6,243), Undead Rat Alpha (40), Undead Rat Broodmother} |

Languages Translated: Imerian, Salan, Forebearers (64%) |

Skills: Mana Manipulation, Mana Tempering, Mana Sense, Elemental Magic (Minor), Thrall Control, Combat Arts (Intermediate), Shadowmeld, Precision Targeting (Magic), Shadow Space, Death Sense, Murmurs of the Departed, Shadow Decoy, Sigilcraft (Fortification, Elemental), Aura of Undead, Undead Fusion, Umbral Mantle, Overchannelling |

Spellcasting Ranks: Mage (Greater), Necromancy (Greater), Shadow Magic (Greater), Strengthening Magic (Greater), Ice Magic (Greater), Fire Magic (Greater), Sigilcraft (Greater: Speed, Fire, Strength, Ice, Chaos, Anti-Chaos, Shadow, Flight, Shared Senses), Barrier Magic (Greater) |

Necromancy Spells: Raise Undead, Wither, Gravebound, Mass Raise Undead, Tether the Fallen, Undead Enslavement, Bone Lance, Soul Manipulation, Ebonbrand’s Covenant]

“An Abyssal Soul? Rite of the Hollowing? I don’t even know where to start with these. But I’m definitely strong enough to free Orlin now.”

Kai said as they ascended the steps and greeted the outside world.

Then the growls and snarls came.

‘Right. The mutated beasts.’

Kai’s mana sense returned now that he was out of the dungeon, and the enemies were numerous.