The Nekomanse

ALERT

NEW SKILLS UNLOCKED:

[YOZORA MAGIC (NOVICE)] [SKILL SHARE]

ALERT

CLEANSED BY DIVINE POWER

ALL STATUS AILMENTS HAVE BEEN CURED

ALERT

[VIDE'S GRACE] HAS EVOLVED INTO [VIDE'S EDICT]

I get it, I get it! These alerts are worse than microtransaction popups! At least consolidate them into one message!

ALERT

ALL FUTURE NOTIFICATION WILL BE CONSOLIDATED

Wait, what? Did the notification system gain sentience or something? That's the last thing I need. Yahime's enough to deal with, I don't need another half-baked intelligence.

ALERT

"LISTEN UP YOU UNGRATEFUL MORTAL! I UPGRADED YOUR WEIRD BOOK SYSTEM TO HELP YOU OUT! SHOW SOME DAMN APPRECIATION!"

"Or was it because you were bored and wanted someone to talk to?"

Vide, or who I assumed was her, didn't answer, but that was the least of my concerns. I was completely blind. Without Yahime's flame it was impossible to see. My breath raced. Was my fear coming true? Was I going to be trapped in a sea of darkness until I starved to death?

I swiped my status menu open. Though it glowed for me, it didn't produce actual light, but that wasn't what I was looking for.

[SKILL SHARE]

ALLOWS THE USER TO USE A FAMILIAR'S SKILLS. ONLY APPLICABLE TO SKILLS THE USER IS CAPABLE OF USING.

"So much for an upgrade. She couldn't have made the tooltips more specific?"

Using [SKILL SHARE] I used Yahime's [VIDE'S FLAME].

I regretted it. The instant the area around me lit up I saw them; piles of bones and leathered humanoid skin with rust colored writing scrawled on them. Skulls of different species decorated the wall and I couldn't even move without crushing a brittle femur or humerus under my foot.

"Who disturbs my sanctuary?"

A ghastly hiss slithered around the room, hiding in the shadows just beyond the light of my fire. Only the sound of bones shifting told me where it was coming from.

"Who's there?! What did you do with Yahime and Hanabi?"

"Worry not. Your compatriots will join you on my altar soon enough, human."

"What do you want? Just show me the way out and we can peacefully go our separate ways."

"The scent of that whore on you is upon you. There will be no escape. You are far too valuable."

CLEANSE MY TEMPLE OF THE BLASPHEMER

"Well I think I found them," I said under my breath. "You've helped me out, so I'm only returning the favor, got that Vide? Next time deal with it yourself."

With negotiations crumbling, I didn't wait for who or whatever was lurking in the darkness to strike first. Flame after flame flew across the room as I hurled them as quickly as I could. I wasn't trying to hit anything. I just needed some light. It was just an added bonus when pained hisses and burning fabric reached me.

"You dare attack Morte the Undying?! I'll flay you alive and—"

"You're not the creative type, are you, Morte?" I stalked towards the pillar of skeletons the voice was hiding behind. "Or are you afraid of the human that 'whore' sent to deal with you?"

A stream of black flames bursting through the pillar answered. The tips of my hair melted despite rolling out of the way and I started to wonder if I'd gotten too full of myself. My naginata was inside of Yahime and I'd yet to try and use any of Hanabi's training in an actual fight. To that end, I'd never even won a fight on my own!

But was I okay with that?

ALERT

[YOZORA MAGIC (NOVICE)] ACTIVATED

A text cursor flashed in front of me. There was no keyboard or any instructions on what I was supposed to write. I decided to just make something up in my head.

I summon a giant cat!

I imagined a giant lucky cat statue waving its paw crashing down on the source of the black flames.

INVALID INPUT

"Then what the hell do you want from me?!"

I ran around the pill and threw my back against it. Between the flames devouring the bones on the other side and my push, it teetered before crashing down on Morte.

"You ingrate! How dare you…"

I ignored Morte's protests and focused on the input line again. What would be considered valid? It was Yozora magic, so something to do with the night sky? I tried to imagine a cloud of stars raining down.

INVALID INPUT

I tried several other ideas: a globe of darkness, a burning sun, hell, I even tried to imagine summoning a glowing tiara to throw at him. All were met with the same error.

This magic is as useless as my manager! Asking me to do something with no explanation and then yelling at me when I make a mistake! If you're going to be so picky, do it your damn self!

INPUT ACCEPTED

NEW SPELL [SOUL CRUSHER] CREATED

Stone and dust fell from the ceiling as the room shook. Bones clattered across the floor and I could hear Morte screaming shrilly. Peeking around, I finally got a good look at him: ragged, dusty robes, a half-skeleton half-beastfolk face, and glowing red eyes.

"He's one of those mages that controls the undead… What are they called again? Nekomanse?" It was some English word, but I was more interested in the figure towering in front of him.

A gaseous purple and blue golem stood above Morte with its arms raised. A constellation of stars formed its skeleton and when I squinted, I swore I recognized its face.

"Vide…"

Shouldn't the Goddess of Souls take things more seriously? I'd just seen the golems face a few minutes ago and I'd hated it then, too. Of all the visages… I was too embarrassed to watch as the golem's fists smashed Morte into the ground.

I quit. I'm sorry, Bixey. I'm sorry, Aurelie. If this is what it takes to avenge you, I refuse. I'm not going to become some joke for Vide's entertainment. I'm never letting Yahime go back to her, either.

"Enough of the games, Vide!" I yelled into the air hoping she could hear me. "I'm grateful for the help, but you're taking it too far!"

The room shook again as the gaseous golem pounded the ground more. Morte's bones were cracking with each blow and it irritated me how powerful the spell was. Still, I was safe and, for the first time, winning a fight on my own.

"It's draining my mana fast, though."

The initial summoning had consumed a quarter of my mana and with each passing second it drained more. My maximum MP was back to full with [MORTAL WOUND] cured, but compared to earth magic, the golem was an energy sink.

"kyomi?"

I jumped at Yahime's sudden appearance beside me, and again when she wrapped her lithe arms around me and squeezed.

"Yahime?! How did you get here?"

"voice guided…"

"I'm here, too, if you care."

Hanabi stepped through the building cloud of dust filling the room and stood with her hand resting on her hip. "It wasn't easy finding you."

"Sorry. I didn't mean to disappear on you."

"I know. And I'm sorry it took us so long to find you. After you vanished, the ruins sprung to life! There were undead, traps, and all the things I'd expected to find when we first entered."

"voice fault..."

"I'm sure." I hugged Yahime back, patting her back softly. "Your mother sure is something."

"Her… You met Vide?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now." There'd be plenty of time to discuss the exhausting goddess. "For now we need to kill him."

I pointed at Morte. He was still laying in a crumbled heap on the ground despite my golem fading into smoke. I wasn't sure how he was still alive.

"So that's where those undead came from. Another Blessed who thinks he can use his magic however he wants."

Blessed. I vaguely remembered Bixey talking about them. It was the collective name of all sentient undead, encompassing everything from shambling zombies to vampires. I'd been excited at the thought of meeting supernatural creatures like vampires back then, but the appeal had faded over the course of my journey. Morte had been the nail that closed my interest in the coffin.

"Can we kill him? Vide was pretty explicit about wanting him dead."

"It's not easy," Hanabi sighed. She walked over to the groaning skeleton man and poked him with the broken bone she'd picked up. "Wait, I recognize you! Morte?"

"Hanabi?"

The two stared at one another before blue flames engulfed the undead.

"Wait! Stop!"

"Stop?! You get me pregnant and disappear, and now I find you defiling corpses in a temple of Vide?!"

She stomped her foot on the burning skeleton, cursing him as she did. She only stopped when his screams had fallen silent and the flames flickered out.

And so the temple was cleansed and the first edict was completed.