The John

"Quit that!" Bardeelus yelled out, about ten seconds after he woke up.

He didn't know why he had fainted, but once he woke up, his soul was set ablaze. Metaphorically, that is ~ A shadow was attacking Audera, and this scared him beyond measure, because her heart was barely beating!

Bardeelus tried to stand up and help, but his body felt all wobbly. He did not end up disabled in any way, but felt extremely tired instead, his eyes barely stayed open!

He only had enough strength to yell, once more. "Stop it! You're killing her!"

The shadowy figure wasn't responsive towards his plea, and just continued attacking Audera instead. The battle was really one-sided too, as the shadow had pinned the lady down already, and was just punching or scratching her without remorse, regardless of how unconscious she was!

This was a great reminder of how evil the world could be. The line between good and evil didn't seem blurry at all here, and the shadow's vicious attacks made an example of it ~ These ruins had long reached the epitome of darkness!

Anyway, in the meantime, Bardeelus realized that Erdeta was unconscious as well, although she was being guarded by her shadow figure, rather than getting attacked. This made the situation confusing, but one thing was for sure, he couldn't do anything to change the course of this situation!

Furthermore, the burden of breathing alone overwhelmed him. It took little time for him to faint again, and worse yet, he couldn't escape this situation through a simple death.

It was the weirdest thing. Bardeelus' body felt like it was going to give out, but at the same time, he could feel the presence of his soul which for some reason was as strong and as fiery as ever! It did not want to give up.

He fainted nonetheless, but before that happened, the conscious fractions of his brain acknowledged something interesting. Red flashes of light shone through his eyelids, and although he could not figure out what it was about, these lights were not random!

…

Bardeelus woke up, again. There were so many souls which roamed through his body, which didn't let him die out. He still didn't have much strength, though, but was conscious enough to observe the surroundings and understood what was going on!

He, and the couple of lady friends laid in the middle of a pentagram, some huge star. This star was made out of rock, as in, it was carved on the ground. 

It was scary, but also very interesting. It took little thought to figure out that it was used for demonic practices, but this pentagram had a feature which most ones didn't; The 'head' was separated from the rest of the star.

Bardeelus could tell that feature apart, even while he felt doozy. The head of this big star had more blood on it for some reason, and this blood shone as much as the red-dotted spells which that necromancer casted. Considering the recent circumstances, he thought that this was a glow that only necromancers could see. 

The blood, in a way, seemed organized even. This pentagram showed fine craftsmanship overall, as if someone had strained a corpse dry, put its blood in a bucket, and painted every edge of the rocky pentagram, with this insane accuracy. Not even an ounce of blood was out of line, as if the world itself depended on this accuracy!

Anyway, within a couple of minutes, Bardeelus realized that this blood truly radiated light, and perhaps not magically either! It wasn't a thing which only the necromancers could see, the blood was actually glowing instead, and the people here used it as a light source. 

Through this source, he discovered that there were other people here. He looked at the blood which was also painted on the walls, along with the ceiling! As a result, he counted fifteen or so people who had the pentagram surrounded!

This room was snug too, and could only fit that amount of people. There were more of them in the area, he could hear their heartbeat thoroughly. 

Anyway, he got beyond scared at this point, and thought. "Should've never come down here… what the hell was I thinking?! We're in the middle of a bloody pentagram, and these fuckers gonna gut us for the fun of it, if not for some demonic ass figure!" 

He was right to be mad, and when he focused on a couple of people that were close by, the conversation they had, scared him even further. It sounded especially bad how they were arguing, which in a sense, could brutalize his death even further now!

An old man's tired tone pierced the air, as he scolded. "So he took thirteen souls from you, Driola, and you dare come back here with your head up? Banishment is but a reward, you should be dissected!"

"Have mercy, father! I brought these three bodies for us to sacrifice. You know our cult needs it, there is no other way." This was a plea, and it came from a little lady, a young necromancer.

She was the same one who knocked Audera out, and in a sense, managed to capture the whole team too. Driola was twenty three years old, and was barely skilled herself, yet she reluctantly won thanks to her surprise attack!

It was a good move, but it was barely recognized in this room. Her father was almost four times her age, as lineages worked differently for necromancers, so he had seen far more glorious successes through his days.

There is a saying about people like this, too; Necromancers bargain with plenty of souls, so human mortality doesn't taint their will. Likewise, they can reproduce even at an old age, and experience life more thoroughly!

It was bizarre, but in this case, it explained that favoritism wasn't getting Driola anywhere. She had fifteen siblings, for example, and they had done far worse things to redeem their own known failures! 

She was at a greater risk now, and could get slaughtered off. The ongoing silence here hinted so, for that matter she had to beg once more.

"Father, I can bring more corpses, just give me some time." She said.

"I can't put your life in front of my own. He, the great, will know of this embarrassment. No amount of corpses would be enough, he'll refuse them all!" The old man argued.

Afterwards, he taunted. "Besides, these aren't corpses… You didn't have the guts to kill them, even after they were knocked out. You're a disgrace!"

"What? I killed that one, just check!" Driola argued. 

She pointed at Audera, and insisted. "I used a fancy knight's soul to kill her. There's no way she could've survived all those kicks!"

"But she did," The old man countered, and said. "You just stole her powers. Or, the knight's soul did. You're still a disgraceful necromancer, and punishment is due!"

"They stole her powers?" Bardeelus thought to himself.

The grief he felt was traumatizing, and at this point, it wouldn't matter how many risks he took. Death seemed certain, but he didn't want to go down without teaching these necromancers a deadly lesson!

He got an idea, even, and thought. "So that's how souls work, huh? I hereby summon John, and whatever stupid powers John has!"