<h4>Chapter 1284 - The Mark of the Lich (Part 2)</h4>


    "What do you need us for?" Nok trotted right behind his sister who was being dragged by her arm.


    "To stop me when I beat Ka to an inch from death! It''s supposed to be a punishment, not a reward!" Scarlett snarled.


    She flung the Necromancyb''s door open while projecting a wave of darkness magic to protect herself from the stench and kill the flies that she was certain that gued the ce.


    Yet it didn''t help her to prepare for what appeared in front of her eyes. Theb was spotless, with not a speck of dirt or blood thanks to several undead rats with a wet rug stuck between their half-open ribcage.


    They used it to clean the floor and the stone b that Ka was using as an operating table. The moment the rag was too dirty, they would jump inside a bucket of water and squeeze the rag with their small ribs until it was clean before resuming their work.


    The undead even picked up the papers that she dropped on the floor after filling them with her notes, arranging them in neat stacks ording to their subject.


    "Interesting. Fascinating. Wonderful." Ka spoke to herself as usual while cutting open the body of a still-living man with a scalpel and tearing his life force apart with her personal tier five Body Sculpting magic spell, Life Cutter.


    Her victim screamed at the top of his lungs, but she didn''t seem to mind. Quite the contrary, she considered it a form of feedback to her experiments as she probed his innards.


    Ka had never been fond of shapeshifting into a human since she considered two hands insufficient for her line of work. Spirit Magic required too much focus and mana, making it unsuited for her relentless research.


    Even though Ka''s Wight form looked simr to an undead, she was still alive. She needed to eat from time to time and to sleep when Invigoration stopped working. Her body was halfprised of living shadows that reced her flesh while bones made up the rest.


    She had modified her own ribs as well, turning them into long tendrils that she used as limbs to wield instruments or interact with her specimens.


    "Is this what happens when you destroy the life force of healthy organs? The flow of blood stops and- Who''s there?" Ka turned around abruptly to face the source of the retching sounds that disturbed her focus.


    "I''m d to see you again, too." Scarlett''s voice oozed sarcasm. "What are you doing here and why you didn''t take proper care of neither my home nor of your children?"


    "Are you back already?" Ka was bbergasted. "It''s a bit early for dinner and I''m on the verge of a breakthrough. Please don''t bother me and I''ll join you in a while."


    "What do you mean, back already? It''s been five years, not a few hours!"


    "That long?" Ka''s astonishment grew with each revtion. "By the way, I don''t like what you did with your hair. No matter what the modern fashion sense dictates, you look ridiculous."


    "I got electrocuted, what''s your excuse?" Scarlett conjured hard-lightbs that returned her fur back to its original state while she pointed at Ka''s bone tendrils that still held the living organs of the wretched man.


    The Wight retracted the flexible ribs into the shadows of her body just in time before Nok started to puke.


    Nyka just focused on her meal, puncturing the man''s jugr with her fangs and s.u.c.k.i.n.g him dry in a matter of seconds.


    Ka''s experiments made the blood taste funny, but the life force of the once-powerful mage tasted like the sweetest honey to her as she added it to her Blood Core. The red nectar carried not only life, but also mana that she made her own.


    "Where that guyes from? I hope you didn''t kidnap one of the runts from the White Griffon." Scarlett asked.


    "I don''t have time to wastemitting crimes." Ka replied. "After losing Phird, Headmaster Linjos needed a scavenger for the castle dungeon. Humans like some ir for their executions, I need specimens, and Nyka needs food.


    "I simply found one solution that fixed all of our problems at the same time."


    "The Headmaster now is Marth, Mom. Linjos is dead." Nok said.


    What seemed like just a slip of the mind worried Scarlet to no end. Theck of care for her environment but theb, the loss of track of time, and most of all, the indifference towards her offspring were all typical signs of the Lich race.


    Body modification was creepy but not unusual for mages who didn''t trust anyone to be their assistant, just like theck ofpassion for all those who messed with their research.


    "That''s it. Give me back the ownership of my house." Scarlett extended her right paw, hoping there was enough of her friend left in that skeletal husk to honor the pact they made before her departure.


    No mage could walk away from theirb for too long because all the spells and even the arrays they were imbued with needed a sliver of mana and maintenance from their owner to keep working properly.


    Also, without someone operating the defensive system, anyonepetent enough could disable them oneyer at a time and pige the abandonedb. Scarlett needed someone to take care of her home and Ka a safe ce to stay, so she had reced her own imprint with the Wight''s.


    Now, however, the Scorpicore wasn''t so sure that Ka would renounce such power without a fight. Especially since as long as the arrays obeyed the Wight, she would have the upper hand despite the gap in both mana core and battle experience.


    The red light of undeath in Ka''s eyes flickered for a moment as an awkward silence descended between them. Her gaze remained steady as she pondered her next words.


    "Nyka, where did you get those clothes?" Ka said while putting her paw above Scarlett''s and returning the house to its rightful owner. "It puzzled me for a while, just like Nok''s astonishing growth rate."


    "My growth is normal, it''s you who didn''t give me a proper look during thest three years." Nok said.


    "And I showed you these clothes dozens of times." Nyka furiously tapped her foot on the ground, pouting.


    "How long since shest got out of theb?" Scarlett asked.


    "I''m not asking you, but them." Scarlett cut Ka short. "You''d just answer some nonsense like, yesterday."


    Hearing the Scorpicore taking the words out of her mind made the Wight wonder if maybe her old friend had a good reason for being so angry with her.


    "A couple of years ago, during the crisis in Laruel." Nyka said. "Marth needed her help against some undead nts and Mom rushed at the opportunity to collect more samples."


    "It was a great learning experience that showed me the importance of light magic to craft powerful undead. Between that and my own experiments, I only need a white mana crystal to start the transformation into a Lich."