[Charge.]
Using the power of the crown, Simon issued an Absolute Command. The horde of zombies rose like a colossal wave and surged toward Manus as one.
'For the Empire,' Manus thought, pointing the tip of his sword to the sky. There was only a dark sky and red clouds, but it was his ritual. 'May there be glory.'
He tightened his grip on the hilt. The steel descended in a graceful arc.
'Screeech!'
The approaching wave was split vertically, and with a deafening sound, zombies were sent flying in all directions.
The zombie wave formed a second and third strike, relentlessly crashing forward. Each time, Manus swung his sword and cleaved the wave apart. The power to quell the tide with each strike proved that his title of Sword Master was no lie.
Just as he cut down the fourth wave, it split in two, parting left and right. From directly behind it, the fifth wave, carrying Simon, rushed in.
Manus swiftly bisected the fifth wave, but Simon, riding at its peak, launched himself forward like a comet. Manus quickly raised his sword above his head.
The two swords clashed head-on. The ground shattered, and the wind screamed. The zombie horde behind Simon and the skeleton troops behind Manus were sent flying by the sheer force of the impact.
As they locked blades, a dry laugh escaped Simon's lips. This man was ridiculously strong.
[Impressive!] Manus seemed to think the same, the corners of his mouth lifting. As their strength remained deadlocked, Manus's sword twisted at an exquisite angle, causing Simon's greatsword to slide harmlessly upward.
His force was dispersed. Before Manus could press his advantage, Simon detonated Jet-Black in his legs and launched himself into a backward somersault. Manus spun and swung his sword as Simon fired a slash of his own.
'Clang!'
The collision of the two immense forces seemed to warp space itself. No sooner had Simon landed than Manus was on him again, his sword a blur of motion.
The two powerhouses exchanged a furious volley of blows. White and black lines of energy chased each other's tails, weaving a dense, chaotic tapestry in the air. Lost in a trance of battle, they traded sparks, clashed weapons, and repeated the cycle of attack and retreat.
"Agh!"
It was overwhelming. Even while wearing Pier, he was being pushed back in swordsmanship.
[A necromancer has no weaknesses. They are excellent in all aspects,] Manus said, his voice steady. [But that also becomes their disadvantage.]
Simon's eyes shot downward in alarm. Without him even realizing it, his left shoulder had been sliced open, and a fountain of blood erupted. It was a precise strike that had targeted the gap in Pier's Bone Armor.
'It even pierced the Kizen uniform!' Simon thought, quickly retreating.
[But I have dedicated my soul to the sword and have spent my entire life honing only this one craft,] Manus continued. [To be good at everything is also to be a master of nothing.]
Simon's expression grew serious. He could ignore the taunt, but it was painfully clear that Pier's power alone was not enough. This man was truly a Sword Master.
And yet.
"Alright, then a question for you." Simon's voice held a defiant confidence. "Why were you all destroyed?"
Manus gripped the hilt of his sword, his face a mask of frustration. Simon grinned, then leaped back to land on the zombie wave once more. This wasn't some cliché about necromancers being modern and knights being obsolete.
Simon's golden eyes flashed.
"You're wrong. Being good at everything..." Simon raised his arm. "It's called being powerful."
Tens of thousands of zombies roared in unison. By now, zombies from outside the estate had joined the fray, their numbers swelling even further.
[Wait, boy! Taking on any more consciousness is reckless! You're already at your limit!]
"Then I'll gladly surpass it."
No one could stop him now. Gripped by a sense of elation and ascension, Simon clenched his fist. The golden light of the crown exploded outward, enveloping his body. His eyes glistened with a thrilling, razor-sharp focus.
Once more.
[Follow me.]
Simon's dark blue Jet-Black swirled around the zombies' bodies not like smoke, but like living flames. The dead roared endlessly, praising and worshiping their new king. Once again, an Absolute Command was issued to every zombie here. The command of an irresistible being was singular.
[Bring me his head.]
At that one command, the zombies moved in perfect, terrifying unison. They climbed on top of one another, and then more climbed on top of them, rising higher and higher. It was no longer a wave, but a towering tsunami.
Manus looked around in alarm. In an instant, he was surrounded on all sides by a tsunami of zombies. His own skeleton subordinates were nowhere to be seen, having been silently dealt with at some point.
[Ugh!]
The tsunamis, studded with thousands of eyes, advanced, shaking the very earth. Manus swung his sword in a panic. He swung, and swung again, countless times. But every time his blade broke the tsunami, the zombies from behind filled the gaps, restoring its momentum. No matter how many times he struck, its ferocious charge never faltered.
[Graaaaaaaaaah!]
Finally, the body of the tsunami descended upon him. Manus leaped as if flying, dodging again and again, but in the end, he was swept away by the current of bodies.
In an instant, his torso and head were buried, and only his arm could be seen flailing in the gruesome crevice of flesh before even that disappeared from view.
A moment later, a mountain of zombies had formed over the spot where Manus was pinned. Watching this from the front with dazed eyes was Prince.
'...How can this be?'
He could only stare in horror at the sight before him. This was the true way to use the crown. The moment Simon put it on, the zombies became an extension of his Legion, their physical abilities dramatically enhanced—an effect even he had never witnessed before.
'Is that boy even human?'
Pier was just as impressed.
[Heheheh! Neutralizing him is one thing, boy,] he said, his gaze shifting. [But you can't kill him like this. What are you going to do now...?]
Pier stopped mid-sentence. Something was wrong with Simon. While wearing the crown, he had seemed to be in perfect control, but now, his eyes were on the verge of losing focus.
[Hey, boy!]
He was drunk on power. The sheer volume of consciousnesses he was processing had created a delay, and his reason was beginning to evaporate. Pier quickly disconnected from Simon, his form detaching from the Bone Armor. He tried to remove the crown, but it wouldn't budge. The crown—and Simon—were resisting.
But even in this state, Simon was moving with purpose. He was using his will to make the zombies back away. The great mountain of bodies shrank into a hill. And in that state, Simon was creating a magic circle.
'This kid...!'
Simon hadn't lost his reason. At this very moment, he was exhibiting the greatest concentration of his life. Time had slowed to a crawl as he processed the formula, and his body was simply unable to keep up.
What kind of magic circle was he creating?
Pier's jaw fell open. He had been watching Simon's school life closely, but he was certain Simon had never learned this magic. He couldn't have encountered it anywhere.
'...No, he didn't learn it.'
He hadn't acquired it through study.
He was comprehending it through pure, natural insight. After crushing Manus with zombies, he needed a way to eliminate him. The result of that single-minded thought was manifesting in the magic circle forming on Simon's right arm. It may have been an existing form of black magic, but at this moment, Simon was undoubtedly 'creating' it.
"Whew"
Simon extended his right arm toward the very spot where hundreds of zombies were concentrated. Manus was struggling on the ground, desperately trying to escape. The mass of bodies stirred.
Pier's eyes shone with a deadly light.
'There's no doubt.'
That black magic was a technique that had been the symbol of necromancers during the 100-Year War. The most terrible of fears. The crème de la crème of zombie sorcery.
Simon slowly turned his right hand.
[...Corpse—]
Then he clenched his fist.
[—Explosion.]
The world turned pure white. The last thing Pier saw was the cores of the hundreds of zombies covering Manus going berserk, spewing out a torrent of dark blue Jet-Black.
And then.
'BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!'
It was an indescribably massive explosion. The cataclysm, created by the zombies detonating their own cores and incinerating their bodies, swept away everything in the vicinity. The unrestrained force shot upward, forming a giant mushroom cloud.
Nearby trees were uprooted as zombies were sent flying through the air. All the mansion's windows shattered, its walls collapsing into rubble.
'Whoa.' Prince could only stand with his mouth agape. 'There's no other way to describe it except to call it insane.'
As the smoke cleared, Manus's torso had vanished without a trace, leaving only his skull behind. It seemed that, befitting a Sword Master, he had tried to defend himself by concentrating Jet-Black on his skull until the very end, but had ultimately failed. When Simon approached to confirm, Manus's consciousness had already evaporated.
"Rest in peace, Sword Master."
With those words, Simon placed the skull into his Subspace.
[Hey! Boy!] Pier hurried after him. [Are you really okay?! How in the world did you use Corpse Explosion...?!]
Simon couldn't answer. He swayed, his body slumping toward Pier.
The crown fell to the ground with a clang. As it did, the dark blue Jet-Black overflowing from the zombies' bodies began to fade.
"Hehe! Pier, did I do well?"
[...You reckless fool.]
Just then, Prince approached, his expression dazed.
"I told you, didn't I?" Simon grinned at him. "I told you I'd show you how I win."
[What in the world are you...?]
But Prince's next words were cut off. Simon's consciousness faded, and he went limp.
[You're one high-maintenance Legion Commander!] Pier grumbled, but as he hoisted Simon onto his shoulder, his face was filled with a pride deeper than any he had ever known.

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