Flora felt completely lost after being resurrected by Abis. Necromancy was one of the "Black Magic" practices regulated by the Church. Any mage using such a spell would be immediately executed by the holy knights upon being reported or discovered. Necromancers and the Church were like water and fire. Having received education from the Church since the age of two, formally becoming a saint at twelve, and working until her death at seventeen, Flora never could have imagined that she would become a Necromancer's servant after death.
Moreover, what Flora found even more incomprehensible was that she was not resurrected as an ordinary undead without free will. The boy with the emerald-green eyes in front of her seemed to have used the highest-level necromancy spell to resurrect her - although this allowed her to retain her memory and thinking abilities, it came at a great cost to the caster, and there was no guarantee of loyalty.
She placed her hand on her chest and indeed couldn't feel her heartbeat anymore. Squeezing her wrist, she couldn't feel her pulse either. She had indeed become an undead who was still lingering in the human world even after death.
"Why did you use such an advanced spell to resurrect me? Haven't you lost a lot of vitality?" Flora remained silent for a while before asking Abis, "I've heard in class that to resurrect the deceased as a high-level undead, a necromancer must pay a considerable price - one-third of their life, half of their magical power. The high-level undead servant also continuously absorbs the caster's vitality, making them weak and diseased."
Abis was sitting in front of the fire, leisurely roasting a carrot on a twig. He smiled and glanced at Flora, then suddenly realized that she was speaking to him, looking somewhat surprised. "Hmm? Is that so? It's such a high price, but I haven't felt it at all."
"Why did you bring me out of the grave?" Flora asked anxiously, "Although I am a Spirits user, the undead cannot use Spirits."
"The fact that the undead cannot use Spirits... I already mentioned it. I want you to be mine, body and soul, one hundred percent," Abis pointed at Flora with a finger, smiling. "That's my purpose, I didn't lie."
"What... what are you saying!" Flora even felt her face heating up... Can the undead blush?
Flora stole a glance at Abis. He was looking at her with his blue-green eyes, clear and sincere, as if two clear springs.
"I'm very powerful. Just tell me your wishes," Abis sat cross-legged on the ground, eating the deliciously soft roasted carrot, and said to Flora, "I'll help you make them come true."
"..." Reluctantly, Flora lowered her head. As someone who had received education from the Church since childhood, she couldn't bring herself to surrender to a necromancer who used evil magic, even if he was her master now.
Abis shrugged, seemingly unconcerned.
Flora reached out her hands, watching her gradually restoring soft and tender fingers. Her vision was no longer blurry, and her five senses were returning under the influence of high-level necromancy spells, even becoming more sensitive than when she was alive.
Suddenly, Flora heard faint but distinct sounds of armor collision and dense footsteps from outside in the distance. She immediately raised her head, looking at Abis, who had just finished eating the carrot, with some confusion.
"Flora, let me ask you, how do you view the holy knights of the Church?" Abis suddenly threw this inexplicable question at her.
Flora was stunned for a moment, then answered, "There are good and bad people among the holy knights. Most of them are devout followers who merely follow orders from their superiors. Only a few holy knights are not loyal to God and do not treat other innocent people fairly. I don't like this part of the holy knights. As a saint, I have only the status but no power. I can't change anything, I just hope that the holy knights can become purer."
Abis raised an eyebrow, seeming somewhat surprised. "I thought you... would be more naive."
"Devotion to God requires purity, not naivety," Flora earnestly placed her right hand on her chest. "That's what His Holiness, the Pope, taught me when I was a child."
The footsteps outside were getting closer, and the sounds of armor and swords colliding became more distinct. Flora, with her heightened sense of hearing, started to feel nervous. She wanted to stand up from the chair, but her knees were still a bit stiff, and for a moment, she couldn't exert any force."Outside..."
"Bang!"
The wooden door of the cabin was kicked in by a foot wearing steel boots. A fully-armored knight stormed into the room with a chilling gust of wind, causing the flames in the furnace to flicker and the room to be filled with chaotic light.
"Ah!" Flora was startled. The intruder was a holy knight from the Vatican, and he was a judgment knight specialized in execution tasks. Although she grew up in the Vatican, she always avoided these cold-blooded and brutal warriors.
"The necromancer who stole the body of the saint may be here. Turn this place upside down! Leave no stone unturned!" The knight who entered the room gave the order, and more knights entered behind him. Everyone drew their swords at the same time, and a sense of bloodshed filled Flora's chest.
The knights immediately started overturning every piece of furniture in the room. Flora instinctively thought about finding a place to hide, but she soon realized that these knights didn't even notice them. Even though she and Abis were sitting there in plain sight.
Abis gave Flora a mysterious smile and said, "Don't worry, I won't let the holy knights drag you back to the grave."
Flora timidly asked, "Did you use an illusion?"
"In a way." Abis nodded, stood up from the ground, walked in front of Flora, wrapped an arm around her body, and helped her stand up. "But this house is no longer habitable. These holy knights are as barbaric as ghouls."
Flora looked at the imposing holy knights passing by them in the room, knocking over furniture and even trying to smash the floor, with a puzzled and uncertain look.
"My lord, there is no one in the room, and there are no secret passages!" A holy knight suddenly reported loudly at the door.
At the same time, an old man wearing a fur cloak and a magnificent feathered helmet walked in slowly.
"The necromancer may have used an illusion to block off this house. I will search the house with the Eye of Truth!" The priest commanded calmly.
"Understood!" The well-trained knights immediately guarded all possible exits of the cabin.
"It's a high-ranking Judging Archpriest!" Flora couldn't care less about Abis still holding her back. She hurriedly pulled on Abis' clothes and said, "We can't hide from high-ranking Spirits!"
After praying for a few moments, the priest's eyes emitted two golden lights. Flora immediately felt an extremely powerful force sweeping through everything nearby. The Eye of Truth was a high-ranking Spirit, capable of directly scanning any "existing" objects from the source of the world and completely ignoring any illusions. Even a high-ranking priest would have to pay the price of a week of blindness to use it once.
"What do we do!" Although Flora was once a saint, she knew that after becoming undead, she would become an enemy of the Vatican. Once discovered, she would definitely be "purified" and burned to ashes before being put back into the tomb. This seemingly harmless Abis beside her would also be cruelly burned alive in public.
The search with the Eye of Truth was completed, and the priest's eyes stopped glowing. With a slightly pained expression, he closed his eyes and remained silent for a while, then turned his head towards Flora and Abis.
If Flora could still sweat, she would have been drenched with sweat by now. A great fear surged in her heart. She didn't want to die again, she didn't want to experience that sense of emptiness and the pain of being unable to change reality!
"They have indeed stayed here, but they must have used Magic to teleport away." At this moment, the priest spoke, "Immediately investigate any traces of teleportation gates nearby. Retrieve and purify the body of the saint as soon as possible to end the indignity after her death. I need to rest for a while."
"Check for traces of any teleportation gates nearby!" The leading holy knight immediately repeated the priest's command, "Drag all the villagers from the nearby villages out of their beds and use truth-telling magic to question them!"
"Yes!" The disciplined holy knights didn't say anything unnecessary and quickly left the room.
It took Flora a long time to react, "The power of the gods couldn't see you either?"
"We aren't even in the same world as them, of course, they can't see us." Abis let go of his embrace on Flora, "Watch closely."He lightly snapped his fingers, and everything around him changed. The fire in the stove disappeared, and the room plunged into darkness. In Flora's undead vision, she could see that the room was filled with dust and cobwebs. She could hear the sound of the paladins' footsteps as they walked away in the snow. The footprints of the paladins who had just entered were still visible - they had simply ransacked an abandoned house.
With another snap of his fingers, the fire in the stove reignited, and the room returned to its warmth. The dust and cobwebs disappeared.
"This is something I discovered during my experiments last year, a parallel space that overlaps with our world. I call it the Darkness. Whatever happens here doesn't affect the real world and can be restored quickly even if it's damaged. Many of my experiments are completed here," Abis said proudly. "I believe those two fools who entered the highest level of the Temple to save the princess have already escaped safely. Let's proceed. There is still work to be done. By the way, whenever you're ready, just let me know your wish."
"What do you plan to do?" Flora asked hesitantly.
"After offending the Temple, I plan to offend the royal family of the strongest empire in the land as well," Abis extended his hand to Flora, smiling to reveal his snow-white teeth. "It's quite amusing. Together, let's dig up the grave of the Princess of the Western Empire."
"Dig... dig up a grave!?" Flora looked at Abis with a complex expression.
