The Black Necromancer

"You all... are much stronger than before! Well done!" Leon couldn't help but praise his elite summons when he saw how much power they had gained after this race advancement. What made him even happier was that he could feel a trace of Divinity sitting within each of their cores.

"Thank you, Master!" Kaladin bellowed, his voice causing the air around to tremble and buzz with charged lightning. He had still yet to gain a complete handle over his newfound powers.

Whoosh!

The space around he throne shifted and Michael appeared with Asteria at his side.

"Leon. What happened back there?" The Fate God immediately demanded.

Seeing his expression, Leon sighed and narrated what had happened, starting from the words of the Paragon of Undeath, down to the intervention of the Nexus Being. Michael held his chin in thought with a deep frown etched onto his face.

"If what you say is true, then you have a big red target painted on your back. Other True Gods must have noticed the movements of the Paragon of Undeath. While he must have taken measures to hide his actions, they will surely know something is up and pay more attention to him. He probably won't make another move soon." He elaborated.

"But for the Nexus Being to personally interfere. It seems you have some cover for now. However, if too many True Gods focus their attention on you, then the Nexus Being won't step in. It would leave you to fight your battles yourself." Michael sighed tiredly. "In the many years that I have lived, I have never been this stressed. Things are coming to a head."

"..." Leon remained silent after Michael finished speaking. The gunmetal haired God turned to look at Asteria and nodded. She nodded back and turned around. Her hand drew a vertical line in the air, tearing open a portal to an unknown location.

"That aside, I have to congratulate you on your advancement." Michael said with a smirk. "I thought I would need to get involved personally to break off the shackles of the System around you, but I guess I was wrong. You did it on your own."

"I... did?" Leon looked at his armor clad hands with surprise.

"Yes. Even I am surprised. I knew I was right to pick you of all the others back then." Michael had a smug smile on his face. He completely disregarded the fact that he had killed Leon and made it look as if he had simply picked him up.

"Ahem. I have some other matters to attend to, so I will leave now that I can see you are fine. I also brought a few things over." Michael waved his hand and a small mountain of equipment and gold appeared. "I took the liberty of our stay on Earth to bring back a few talented individuals. I have put them through a quick walkthrough of this world, and I am now handing them over to you. Put them to work." Michael nodded and in the next moment, he vanished with Asteria. In the last moment, Leon locked eyes with the red haired Goddess and he could have sworn he saw a trace of respect flash through her eyes.

'Must be my imagination.' He shrugged before turning his attention to the pile of equipment and gold coins.

"This lazy ass God. Always handing over the work to me." Leon sighed and shook his head. He did not even care if Michael heard him. He help up his hand and the pile of valuable materials began to float. A small ring was seated on top of the pile, a spatial ring. Quickly, he put everything into the spatial ring and turned to leave the temple. He had his own matters to attend to urgently, but he wanted to see the people that Michael said he had brought back from Earth with him.

Thud!

The large doors that led out of the temple closed up behind Leon and he stepped out onto the courtyard that surrounded it. The courtyard was large and looked to have expanded through some means that Leon did not understand before. However, now that his mind had grown much stronger and knowledgeable than before, he could see the small workings of the Divinity that was infused into the very essence of the stone that made up everything of Fort White, and more specifically, the temple.

"There is a growth... or expansion effect. It's subtle, but its there." Leon noted to himself before turning his attention to the many people that were standing on the courtyard and beyond it. There was roughly a thousand people standing before Leon, both male and female, leaving Leon flabbergasted.

"Did he go people shopping back there?!" Leon sighed and rubbed his forehead. It was quite a comical sight for the humans before him. He regained his composure and turned to address them. A natural air of authority spread out from his body unconsciously, making all the people focus their utmost attention to him. No one spoke amongst themselves and they almost viewed it as a crime to speak while Leon was speaking.

This subtle mind play was something that came naturally after his race advancements. There were many new tricks he could do, but he had not gotten the time to check them yet. He would do so as soon as he was done with this.

"..." Leon opened his mouth to speak, but didn't know how to start. After a minute, he figured out that he did not need to do an introduction speech, as they had already been with Michael for some time. He only needed to introduce himself and establish himself as the top dog, then he would hand them over to someone else to assign them proper roles.

"Welcome to Fort White, former people of Earth. I am Leon Cromwell, and you shall know me as your Lord and superior from now on. Michael has handed you all over to me to put you to work, and that is what will happen. For the avoidance of doubt, anyone who tries anything funny by disrespecting me or my orders will die."