22 Chapter 22: The War Against Being X Part 3. Prelude of the Finale.

In November of 1924, the Winter was drawing closer by day. Not a preferred season to conduct war especially for invasion. Yet by defying all odds, the major superpowers waged the war regardless and are sending their troops en masse without regard to logistics as if it isn't even an issue for them.

Ray was currently carrying out the order from the higher ups.

"Good job. As promised, you shall retain your office. I hope this will be a great example for everyone. Serve the Empire and be rewarded or disobey and I'll promise to make you beg for a merciful death." Ray said while eyeing the Francois Republic parliament members and the president.

As for the event that led to this. It all happened when he came into realization. Since even seasoned veteran Mage was hardly able to resist his mind abilities, couldn't Ray just manipulate the leaders of the François Republic instead of battling and turn the former enemy into Empire's vassal state by puppeting its leadership.

A more peaceful and beneficial way than having both sides fight and be weakened. The Empire now has access to the Francois Republic resources. The economy of the Empire took a hit due to the extended war and this new war on the horizon. They simply have to squeeze the reserve dry and quite literally adopt to produce stuff out of thin air with Gradation Air that Ray teached few of Zettour's men and spread within the trusted group in the military's logistics division. Mostly consumable items like ammunition for soldiers, tanks, planes, warships etc and weapons for soldiers.

Besides that, the Francois Republic also acts as a buffer against the incoming enemies. Forced by their puppet leaders to fight and die for the Empire. Those that disobey will be executed by commissary the Empire put into each unit from the top to bottom of the François Republic military, suggested by Ray to Zettour. If that isn't enough of a threat from disobedience, their entire family will also be either imprisoned or of too much of a bother, will be sent to labor camp or executed. Plain and simple. Also suggested by Ray despite Tanya's insistence that slaving away the people is inefficient until Ray said those people aren't exactly willing to work for the Empire unless forced to.

As for Ray's cut of the deal is a lot of living experiment subjects. He promised Zettour if he is given some time to further his craft in his recently obtained field of soul-mancy or Animancy, he will produce undying soldiers for the Empire to overcome the issue of lacking personnel within the Empire's military.

The Ghost King Blade is what shed light for Ray into this field of Animancy and what inspires him to create something similar to Nazgul and the Witch King belonging to Sauron. Though he doubts he can create Wraith of such caliber due to the lack of qualified souls. The weaker ones are still good enough for him since what he aims for is number instead of quality for now, to be used to fight against the incoming enemy soldiers.

The Ghost King Blade was once used by the Ghost King itself and contains the lingering soul of the said Ghost King.

Once studied closer, Ray can differentiate between them. Ghost, Wraith and Soul of Dead are three different things that are different from each other. Soul of dead living is the most basic and bottom of the evolution tree. The Ghost is a powerful soul that has gained or possesses enough will to be sufficiently sentient to move independently. Meanwhile Wraith is a Ghost that is evil or vengeful or tainted by negative energy. Spirits are the opposite of Wraith while Phantom is the neutral version of Wraith and Spirit.

To create Wraith is quite simple actually, for Ray at least. All he did is force a strong soul to devour weaker soul until it's strong enough to gain sentience then taint it with negative energy ifnit didn't already have. Then use Spiritual Subjugation to turn them into his loyal servant.

Their inherent evil attribute makes them better for combat use and possess a skill set for offensive uses. While Spirit and Phantom are more peaceful ones, the former is suitable for enhancement to create artifacts or Mystic Code in magus term and the latter one can be turned into Wraith or Spirit when needs arise or devoured to strengthen Ray's own soul due to their inherent neutral attribute and alignment.

Ray can now proudly declare himself an Animancer with substantial progress and achievements under his belt. Though he is still careful not to be overly prideful of his achievements because when compared to real powerhouses like achieved magus, he is still not quite there yet.

After dealing with the menial task. He returned to his temporary workshop and continued to create more of his spectral servants. Within his workshop is only Charlotte because Tanya is also busy being delegated a task by Ray to manage the troops garrison in the capital Paris and control it on behalf of the Empire.

The High Sea Fleet is currently holding back the enemies from reaching the shore of this world's European Continent. Ray must create enough Wraith to fight those enemies when they do reach shore because the High Sea Fleet alone isn't enough to stop them and it's inevitable for the enemies to soon reach the shore of the Empire and Francois Republic that are now under the Empire's dominion.

The Sea Fleet had suffered more than 40% damage by now due to overwhelming numbers in the enemy fleets and Albion Kingdom that were renowned for their might in naval offense while the United States had superior numbers due to their manufacturing power. The Empire's advantage in technology simply isn't enough to compete.

"Welcome back, Master." Charlotte greeted Ray when he entered the workshop. Ray only gives her a nod of acknowledgement to her presence which is enough to make her happy that she is acknowledged and Ray immediately returns to work.

He uses his manipulation of souls to use a low grade soul to devour even lesser grade souls, that is the soul from the recent battle that is no longer intact because Ray shreds them in order to quickly wipe out the enemies.

The apparition reminiscent of the Albion Kingdom Mage appeared and floated around devouring the pieces of his comrades souls until it's body turned from fading presence into a more corporeal and tangible body. This soul becomes a Phantom because it isn't inherently evil enough to evolve into Wraith or heroic enough to become Spirit.

Looking at the Phantom that is listless floating in front of him, he wonders if soul is technically a lesser of Phantom. What would happen if he tried to create a soul stone using Phantom? In his Ghost King Blade there are still half a hundred thousand souls although almost 90% of them are low grade and pieces. The number of Wraiths he has right now is just a little over a thousand with most of them sent to help in the major battlefield in bodies of other soldiers.

"Hm… screw it." Ray decided to test out his curiosity even if he only a tenth complete to fill his target amount of Wraith.

Ten minutes later, Ray created 100 Phantoms with multitasking. Although lesser in numbers than when he first created a Piece, Phantom is much more tangible and has more mass because they devoured a lot of soul pieces.

Using his Mana Manipulation and control over spiritual entities, Ray compresses the Phantoms into a spherical shape and refined them with his mana to replace the need for alchemical equipment. This shows the degree of control and achievement he possessed in the field of Alchemy, specifically in the refining process.

Sweat starts oozing out of his facial pores because the Phantoms are fighting back with their lingering instincts to survive unlike the usually unresponsive souls. Trickles of sweat soon turned to beads that soaked his clothes as he entered absolute focus to suppress those Phantoms using his own willpower that had been growing. After all, even if he had subjugated the Wraiths, he still needed strong willpower to control them.

After nearly half an hour, the Phantoms were suppressed and condensed into physical material. A fist sized pearl more specifically. Milky white in color but the core looks transparent with the face of a human etched in it.

"Hmn…" Ray picked the orb and analyzed the newly created material. "Around 30% increase compared to previous soul stones. But they cost more than ten times each."

"Sigh… this is inefficient for mass production." Ray couldn't help but voice his dissatisfaction but it's an increase regardless.

This material that he named Phantom Pearl. Yes, an unoriginal name but his naming sense isn't the best in the first place and he prefers straightforward names. This material should be barely passable to create a new Piece that he had in mind.

Using Alteration, Ray flare his mana and continue to carve and imbue effects on the material while simultaneously forming a Rook shaped chess piece.

"Let's see, Physical Defence, Magic Defence, the Resistance too… Ugh, three more slots. Hmn… Why not regeneration?" He mumbles as he thinks of buffs appropriate for a Tank type combatant. "Yeah, regeneration is a must. Then general buff for physical stats and… Oh, I almost forgot. A Dexterous and agile Tank doesn't sound bad at all."

After deciding the buffs he should add. The Alteration ability quickly guides the mana to add the said effects on the Rook Piece that Ray just formed before sealing the enhancements to complete it. Though, the most difficult part was actually sealing the effects rather than adding them.

When the Piece was completed, a notification appeared along with a screen that displayed the same Piece Ray just made with glowing golden letters stating its rating which is 'Epic' or Epic grade item.

[Rook Piece]

-A marvelous artifact created by mortal's hands through wicked atrocities by defiling and desecrating countless souls of honorable soldiers. An artifact created to enslave yet also bless any being it binded to with enhancement it holds.

Enhancements;

+Enhanced Physical Defense

+Enhanced Magic Defence

+Minor Physical Resistance

+Minor Magical Resistance

+Enhanced Regeneration

+Enhanced Physique

+Haste

"Two extra buffs than the previous Piece. No, it's not good to be greedy, Ray." He reminded himself to suppress the greed which he noticed had been affecting him of late since obtaining the new ability related to sins.

Then he plays the Piece around on his fingers while pondering about something before looking at Charlotte at the corner of the workshop.

A small bed, water bowl and food bowl that Tanya added when he asked her to help provide a corner for Charlotte. Befitting a pet indeed. As for his reason for doing so, he is rather fond of her despite what she committed before. He still sees her as part of his group. Something like a pet? Or familiar perhaps since she is useful in battle although never did yet. Definitely below Tanya who he considered as not dispensable kind of companion.

Feeling his gaze lingering on her, she perks her head up from whatever she was doing and looks at Ray who is in deep thoughts.

"Come." Ray ordered.

Charlotte quickly moved towards her master with enthusiasm to serve him. The moment she moved, the collar previously went unnoticed and suddenly announced its existence by the sound of clink from the small bells on the collar.

As soon as she arrived near Ray's feet, she lowered herself and sat on her knees and nudged her head closer. A small smile appeared on Ray's face as he gently lifted his hand and pet her as if she was a pet.

"Good, you have been behaving well lately." Ray praised before looking at the Piece in his hand. "A good pet deserves a reward."

Ray then put the Piece directly above her heart with expectant look. He didn't know how to replace the existing Piece and replace it with a new one he created but he vaguely feel he should put it on Charlotte's chest.

Just as he expected, the Rook Piece glowed before being absorbed into her body. Rather than replace, he felt like the Rook Piece absorbed the Pawn Piece before replacing it.

"Go stand over there." Ray pointed at the spot three meters away from him before Tracing a pistol, Mauser C96.

Although seeing the weapon in Ray's hand and guessing what he was going to do next, Charlotte didn't hesitate and hopped to the spot Ray pointed at and eagerly waited for what he was going to do next.

As she had expected, Ray aimed down at her and pulled the trigger without any hesitation or warning. A small explosion followed with a tear of the sound barrier that ripped through the air and hit Charlotte's left shoulder. However, there are no wounds or blood on her shoulder. Only a small red bruise on the place where the bullet hit and the flattened bullet that immediately peels off before falling to the ground.

Charlotte who instinctively closed her eyes shut, opened her eyes after a while had passed. She sort of expected another painful experience being her master's experimental subject considering the last time he cut her open and surgically grafted something into her body saying it will make her more powerful when using magic without anesthetic or falling unconscious. Compared to that, simply being shot is nothing much in comparison.

Seeing that all the bullet did to her was only a light bruise, she couldn't help but look at it with astonishment and stare at Ray for achieving a feat not even god could. Her flesh is now practically bulletproof up to rifle bullet, normal assault rifles but still amazing regardless.

"Quite weak, barely passable." Charlotte hears her master comment in mumbles before sighing.

What Ray was complaining about was Charlotte's strength are barely passable when compared to potential enemies he could encounter in another world. She has the loyalty in her but not the strength required to fill the role of his blade and shield.

The preparation had been going smooth as butter with the Dimension Tear and spell to create a stable path through the path to exit this universe.. Ray only lacks mana to initiate the travel and has been condensing a lot of his mana in preparation. Roughly around 10 million points of mana is needed to open a stable tear in space and time to exit this world and ascend out of this universe and around double the initial amount of mana to open another tear to enter the other universe. He also prepares around a few millions as insurance just in case the need arises. Although he cannot directly use his condensed mana, he can use them in crafting. Mainly Arcane Bomb which is nothing more than a large clump of mana strapped to a spell that when used will convert the mana into violent energy that will explode. Very similar in theory to plastic explosives.

Unsure what he should do next, Ray stares at the wall absentmindedly while calling Charlotte back to him and pet her as he would a pet dog or cat.

His participation and Tanya herself in the overall war was unnecessary because he is the focal point that allows the Empire to smoothly puppet the Francois Republic. So, until the Empire consolidate their grip on the Francois Republic parliaments and other government bodies, it is unlikely for him and Tanya to be deployed to another region like at Norden that is currently being attacked by Albion Kingdom detached Naval Fleet numbered from thirty to forty warships. Also, although not being in the battlefield, Ray's Wraith that possessed the Empire's soldiers is battling in his stead and an absolute nightmare for enemies.

Wraith is a spiritual creature that can possess living beings. The not only able to push the limit of the body they possessed to beyond 100%, they also able to use their special ability such as Aura that suck away vitality of those without resistance just by being nearby and sap away willpower, Soul Devour which allow the Wraith to eat soul through physical contact or soul that already left the body and most important of all is they can create lesser Wraith by killing their enemies although the chance for this to happen is not known yet. Just a dozen of them can destroy the enemies if given enough time as they silently devour souls to grow stronger and occasionally spawn lesser Wraith to join their rank. Ray can just stay in his workshop minding his business while the Wraith he sent away grows stronger and in number and also harvests more souls for him.

"Wait, that's it. I have a lot of wraith but they are just common wraiths. I can try to rank them up and create even stronger Wraith!" Ray suddenly jolted from his thoughts and returned instantly because just allowing Wraith devour each other doesn't upgrade the Wraith qualitatively or just raise their levels instead of increasing their rank as Ray wanted.

In his musing, his eyes fell on the Ghost King Blade and decided to look at the trace of the Ghost King in the blade. This Ghost King is what inspires his Wraith. After a few hours of analyzing and understanding the trace of the Ghost King to formulate a way to rank up his Wraith, he reached an understanding after attempting to read the history of the trace of the Ghost King in the blade. The Ghost King was actually not a ghost. It was previously a human that merges souls of the dead into its flesh to attain spiritual yet also a physical body. A body made of soul so dense that it becomes physical matter. Very likely the Ghost King is an Animancer just like him or something similar.

That begs the question, is there a specific method to allow the body to absorb the soul and replace flesh with soul. Or perhaps, will this method work if he uses humans from this world or anyone else. Knowing the blade could come from some cultivation world or world with specific rules and laws.

To verify his hypothesis, he used Future Calculation to confirm each answer he came up with. The result was it can be used on anyone. Meanwhile the method he could narrow down with his limited attempts of Future Calculation is only needed to allow a Wraith to possess a living being and seize control of the victim soul to assume control of the body.

If successful, depending on the quality of the soul seized and the Wraith, a stronger Wraith should be able to be produced. This also means, if he wanted the possessed person to remain, the Wraith should be suppressed and allow the human to take over instead. Changes in process don't affect the end result thankfully.

"Go fetch me another rat and prepare that room." Ray gave Charlotte another order before she nodded with a shiver when the room was mentioned. The very same room she was cut open by Ray since he didn't want his current workshop slash office to get stained with gore and blood.

———

"LET GO OF ME! NO! HELP! HELP!" The former defender of Paris now prisoner of war captured during the siege on the Francois Republic capital.

"AHHHH! NO! DON'T TAKE ME TO THE DEVIL! PLEASE!" The prisoners shouted hysterically and helplessly as Charlotte dragged those partially paralyzed lab rats from the cells to the room Ray called lab.

Contrary to the age and technological level of this world, the Lab is equipped with modern equipment that he manages to create. The Operation room looks similar to those in hospital albeit without the cutting edge equipment like scanners etc. Only rows of tool cabinets filled with different scalpels, knives, saws etc. Tools to cut open and stitch back the dissected wound.

"Shut up and be grateful that you have a chance to be granted mercy faster, worms." Charlotte kneed the test subject in the stomach before strapping them on the surgery table and removing the paralysis.

She almost forgot and pull out a mouth gag to use on the test subject after an Incident last time someone tried to suicide

"MMH! MMH!" They start resisting and trashing on the restrain trying to break free but to their avail, the restrain is very tough and near unbreakable to non magic users.

"Great job, Charlotte." Ray, still in his usual uniform, entered and fondled Charlotte's breast around his eyes level. He then slowly pulled the collar on her neck to lower her head and gave a hungry lustful kiss as a reward. He kept the rest for the night as his

"Everything is ready. So, let's start." Ray shifted his persona and commanded a Wraith to exit his shadow and possess one of the terrified captured soldiers.

"Mmm… MMN! MM!" The prisoner shouted while gagged as best as he could but the horrifying creature kept getting closer until it was close enough to touch and sink into his body.

Meanwhile, Ray is observing the process with curiosity along with Charlotte and one horrified test subject strapped to a surgery table.

From what he could observe, the process followed the Wraith first possessing the body of the test subject before wrestling control over the body owner. When the Wraith wins, it takes over the soul and devours everything including memories and knowledge of the victim. There are basically no changes on the physical body since everything takes place in the soul.

"Try to use this." Ray Traced a rifle and shooting target before throwing the rifle to the new type of Wraith.

Common Wraith can't even swing a sword and prefers to fight in an animalistic way with their claws. If this new Wraith knows how to use weapons or other tools, then their usefulness will increase a lot.

The Wraith looked at the rifle for a few moments as if trying to remember something before it suddenly and very fluidly checked the rifle then aimed it at the target and shot it perfectly from a distance of 10 meters. From the look of it, it can indeed use tools and is probably even capable of learning.

"Char, go and take all of them here." Ray excitedly gave his order that he didn't notice he accidentally used her nickname.

"Yes!" She rushed into the cell with heart bubbling in happiness that he used the familiar nickname of her's. She didn't bother to paralyze the test subjects and dragged ten of them in one go with the newly upgraded strength.

Ray then used all 170 prisoners he had and let the Wraith possess them to create a more upgraded Wraith that he named Soldier Wraith because their physical appearance is that of François Republic soldiers that he used as material.

"Now I feel curious, what would the result be if the humans took control of the Wraith instead?" Ray asked while his eyes slowly moved toward Charlotte, who was unaware of his growing obsession to obtain his answer.

[??? Greed +1]

—————

Status

[Name: Rayark

Age: 10

Alignment: Neutral Evil (44.44%)

Level: 111 (12,732 / 72,000) [+7]

Main Class: Animancer (New)

Support Class: Commander

Title: Expert Magus, Knight of the Realm, Devil Incarnate, The Blazing Destroyer

HP: 4570 / 4570

HP Regen: 208 HP/Min

MP: 25,445 / 25,445

MP Regen: 1202 MP/Min

———

STR: 34.7

VIT: 104

AGI: 57.8

DEX: 69.3

INT: 319

WIS: 259

LUK: 31

Stat Point: 0

———

Abilities:

Fiction Adaptation LV -

Mana Manipulation LV 55/- (Supreme)

Pseudo Reactor Core LV 50/60 (Legendary) [+4]

Alteration LV 30/50 (GrandMaster)

Tracing LV 50/50 (Legendary)

Supernatural Physique LV 31/50 (GrandMaster)

Pickpocket LV 25/30 (Master)

Enhanced Mind LV 41/50 (Legendary)

Time Alter LV 21/50 (Master) [+5]

Tri Formation Array LV 34/50 (GrandMaster) [+7]

Dimension Tear LV 20/20 (Adept)

Dimension Shift LV 23/50 (Master)

Future Calculation LV 27/50 (Master) [+3]

Soul Butcher LV 73/- [+64]

Mass Murderer LV 21/- [+5]

Sadist LV 7/30 (Novice) [+1]

Spiritual Subjugation LV 11/80 (Adept) [+7]

Omni Arms Mastery 8/90 (Novice) [+5]

Precognition 4/70 (Novice) [+3]

Magic Resistance 5/80 (Novice) [+2]

Psychokinesis LV 2/50 (Novice) [+1]

——

??? Series

??? Lust LV ?/? ?

??? Greed LV ??/??

-Devil's Contract

-Aura of Greed

??? Pride LV ?/??

??? Wrath LV ??/??