Growled Prince, lowering his stance. Simon calmly looked around and found Prince.
A corpse was sitting on a throne, a crown atop his head. Prince read Simon's gaze and reacted extremely sensitively.
[So you want to get the crown!]
"Nah."
Simon shook his head and added,
"I want to get you."
[…What?]
Prince's mind went blank.
"I told you. Join my Legion."
[Get lost! I'll never make a contract with a necromancer again.]
"Mm."
Simon pointed out the window.
"Then how are you going to stop that?"
A one-sided battle was still raging outside.
Prince had only destroyed one meat golem, so the situation hadn’t changed.
"I can lend you my strength. Of course, on the condition that you'll join the Legion and obey me no matter what."
[Stop with the bullshiiiiiiiiiiit!]
Enraged, Prince dashed in and punched. Simon took the attack with his blade, disappating the force by jumping to the side.
'I can see his movements better than when I first fought him.'
Of course, he was using the power of Pier and the Legion, but it felt like he was on the verge of an epiphany.
Prince burst into shouts and lashed out without hesitation.
'He's agitated. He's on edge, and he's driven to the corner. He just can't afford it.'
He was like a completely different person from who Simon fought in the sewers.
Perhaps his mentality matched his youthful appearance? He was getting swayed by his emotions too much.
'I might get an easy win if he's in this state.'
Simon, going to parry Prince's attack with his greatsword again, shifted the angle to slice into Prince's arm, not his fist.
Clang!
Even Pier's greatsword couldn't cut Prince in one go. The greatsword left a wound on his arm and ricocheted off as if it had struck metal.
Prince jumped in to where Simon had been knocked off balance from the impact.
He fell for it completely.
'Open!'
Fwwwiiiiip!
A subspace opened behind Simon. As Prince jumped, the Overlord’s tentacles shot out and pinned Prince's airborn body against the far wall.
Thud!!!
The strong shock wiped all emotion from Prince’s face. Simon dashed in with Jet-Black Stepping and thrust the greatsword into Prince's stomach.
Accompanied by the sound of tearing flesh, Prince screamed in pain.
'Woah, he’s damn tough.'
Not even a quarter of the blade managed to bury itself inside. Simon let go of the greatsword and backed off.
[Kughhh! What are you planning to do?!]
"Something like this."
Simon flickered with jet-black and flew in, kicking the handle of the greatsword.
Crrrrrrrrunch!
Finally, almost half of the greatsword pierced Prince's abdomen.
[K-Kuaaaaaaaaaghhh!]
His body may’ve been tough, but he seemed to still feel pain.
A faint croak escape Prince’s lips as he coughed up saliva and blood alike. He trembled, tears forming in the corners of his eyes.
"I guess this is me repaying you for laying your hands on my friend."
Simon turned his back and approached Prince's main body.
[Don't touch my body!]
Shouted Prince, struggling to move under the blades pinning him to the wall. But Simon ignored him.
After taking off the luxurious clothes that Prince's main body wore, he found a crack running through Prince’s chest and he broke it open.
Ba-thump. Ba-thump.
Beneath it, Prince's core could be seen beating like a heart.
[D-D-D-Don't tell me you…!!]
Simon responded with a smile. Hearing the commotion, the surrounding zombies rushed in.
"I'm counting on you, Pier."
[Got it!]
Slide!
The bone armor covering Simon came off like a living garment and returned to the form of a large skeleton.
[Kuhaha! Back off!]
Shouted Pier, pointing at Prince's main body.
[Do you want to see your master die?!]
At those words, the zombies hesitated and Prince gnashed his teeth.
[You fucking bandits! Get out of my mansion! Noooow!]
Ignoring whether Prince went wild, Simon focused on the core in front of him.
Since they were old comrades of his father, Simon was planning to take the courtesy to slowly persuade them. But the situation was urgent.
'I'll obtain him first and see.'
If Simon didn’t like it, he could just end it then. For now, it was necessary to put the shackles on Prince.
Simon boldly put his hand on his core.
Whaaaaaaaaaaap!
Simon and Prince's jet-black exploded and began to run wild.
"Kugh!"
[Dammiiiiiiiiiit!]
It was painful, but it passed quickly.
After a while, the jet-black stabilized, and one could see Simon's unique dark-blue jet-black emanating from Prince's main body.
"Phew."
He succeeded.
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator - Ramen
Proofreader - Artethrax
Join our discord for updates on releases!
https://dsc.gg/reapercomics
* * *
Prince wore a resigned expression on his face after becoming the third Ancient Undead of the new Legion. Simon figured he might not have strength left to even scream.
"I'll get you out."
Simon approached Prince, pulled out the greatsword impaled in his stomach, and relinquished the Overlord's blades. Prince fell to the floor and black smoke enveloped him.
When it faded, only the corpse of a normal zombie remained.
Craaaaaackle!
A black bolt of lightning fell on a nearby zombie. The zombie's body turned black and changed to match Prince's appearance.
Now he had five lives left.
[Huff! Huff!]
Prince kept gasping for breath.
Seemindly due to Simon's influence, his appearance had changed. His eyes were now dark blue, and the robe he wore had also changed to navy-ish hue.
Prince glared at him with teary eyes, but Simon didn't even blink. Instead, he smiled.
"Welcome to the Legion."
Pier also laughed and threw in a helping word.
[Kuhahahaha! Right! Once a Legion, always a Legion!]
[You bandit bastards…]
Prince stood up from his seat, shivering with rage. You could see him clenching his fists until the knuckles went white.
"You wanna fight?"
Simon blinked.
"Unless I disarm the Legion, you'll die if the Commander dies, y'know?"
[Shut uuuuuuuup!]
Prince rushed in. Simon made no effort to dodge, and Pier kept on giggling with his arms folded and didn't even try to stop Prince.
"Kneel."
Thud!!
His knees felt as heavy as iron, and Prince collapsed to the ground into a kneeling position. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get up.
Whimpering in a cold sweat, he stared at Simon like he were looking at a monster.
'Crazy! An absolute order?'
There was no way he could resist such power. Prince felt his fighting spirit break.
Simon let out a small sigh and said,
"Whether you like it or not, we're on the same side now. I think we should cooperate if you don't want your crown to be taken."
[…]
"Explain the situation, please. If there's anything I can help—"
[Help?]
Prince sneered.
[Don't make me laugh! Help, my ass! Because you forcibly conscripted me, the situation has worsened many times over!]
Simon raised an eyebrow.
[If you have working eyes, go take a look outside!]
Simon did as he was told and looked out the window.
'The zombies are…!'
The zombies fighting in the front behaved strangely. It looked like there was a sudden confusion in the command system.
Even though the enemy was right in front of them, instead of attacking, they stood blankly in place, dug at the ground mindlessly, or bit other zombies and fought them.
[Because you forcibly put me in the Legion, the connection between the crown and the zombies has been severed! What are you going to do now?]
Prince continued while trembling,
[Now that we're behind in numbers, it's all over! Before I can even regain control of the zombies, Manus and Javier will rush in and— Hey! What are you doing?!]
Before he had realized it, Simon had lifted the crown of Prince's main body’s head.
"So you can control zombies with this, huh?"
[You fucking crazy bastard! Stop that! That's not something humans can endure!]
"It's not like there's any other way than getting this crown working again."
Said Simon as he carefully placed the crown on his head.