He must be guiding and powering this damn thing. I speculated about that, which seemed to hit right on the money given the fact he was just chilling. If he were a living, breathing person with a face and bodily functions, he would probably show intense concentration.

  Right now he was, no way just sitting back down on his throne. Staff in hand, fiery eyes tracking the lightning bolt, he looked like he was top shit. Despite the crappy situation, he looked freaking cool. Not Lord Ainz worthy, but pretty decent. Give him some sick pauldrons, a way better robe and a cooler staff. We could make him a mid-tier Necromancer King.

  But none of that mattered because I was being chased by a lightning bolt. Ducking and weaving between undead corpses, I kept ahead. I couldn't keep it up forever; my stamina bar was draining every second I exerted myself. Then a brilliant idea came to me, like a god's divine proclamation upon this mortal.

  Shifting course, I ran straight at the Lich. He raised his staff, and two ghouls blocked my path. I dispatched them easily, a slice here, a slice there, and they went back to their graves. With my obstacles disposed of, I continued my mad dash. The wannabe Lich King seemed unbothered, probably confident in my death.

  Just as I was about to crash into the guy, he prepared a spell, probably another lightning bolt. His hands crackled with energy, but he didn't release it. That was a mistake as the moment I reached him I leapt over the throne just in time before my tag-along struck him centre mass.

  Not wasting any time, I backtracked around the throne and found him slumped on his chair. The impact had stunned him, but his barrier was still active and flickering out of phase. My chance had made itself known, and I took full advantage.

  Using Eyes of the System, I analysed his pendant in depth and found it manageable. It would require a lot of energy, but it was worth the cost. Quickly, I tethered my system to the device and activated the skill, Unravel the System. The sight of my energy leaping forth and latching on to his item was a sight to behold.

  Tendrils of pure system energy emerged from my body and lashed the base foundations of his pendant. Being a purely system-constructed item, it required a stable construct to function. Once I started bombarding it with millions of defunct commands, let's just say it stopped working.

  The pendant's builders crafted it well; The Lich got back up, unbeknownst to him was the ticking time bomb at his neck. Well, not exactly a bomb, I was pretty sure it wouldn't explode. But if it did, that would be super cool.

  "I will not raise you as my servant. But do not fret, for I will keep your soul as my plaything!" The Lich threatened, and I believed he would try.

  "As if you can do that." I refuted.

  "Oh, I can, mortal!"

  Maybe he could; that just meant I needed to kill him soon, or that horrible fate would befall me. I dodged his next few strikes; he resorted to flinging acid at me. I mean, who creates a spell to make acid? Sadists that's who.

  As the timer clicked down, I was dodging this madman and his acid-throwing skills. Eventually his barrier flickered again, and a stray spectral arrow made its way through and lodged in his chest. He fell back on his throne, grunting in pain as he pulled out the arrow and crushed it into motes of green light.

  He was too late as my skill had done its job, and his pendant grew dark. All traces of the system were gone, and it was now ornamental. I jumped back before sending a message to rain arrows like it was a siege. Marius responded with his ghost sending one after the other.

  Every single green translucent arrow struck him without mercy. Without his barrier, he became a glowing pincushion. Looking around the battlefield, I saw it was silent. Ghoul corpses lay strewn across the ground, and the mad ghost still haunted the place. Desperately clawing at a dead ghoul.

  Whistling to get the crazy phantom's attention, she turned to me with a wild look. Turns out it was she or just a dude with really long hair. The ghost snarled at me, but I just pointed at the Lich. It followed my finger and wailed in pure hatred. Going full ghost and flying across the room, it ignored the spectral arrows raining down and went to town on the Lich.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  I stood back and sent a few blinding prompts when I had the free points to use. While Marius threw everything he had at the Lich. The fight boiled down to a very unfair group of pissed-off ghosts going to town on him.

  The Lich, desperate and mangled by the unending barrage of attacks, raised his staff to perform a spell. Not wanting to give him an inch, sprinted around, ducking a few arrows before slicing his arm off. His staff, gripped by skeletal hands, clattered to the floor.

  But despite all this, the Lich still had enough juice to blast his attacker away with a green wave of energy. Still, that took a lot of power and left him weakened. I seized the opportunity and dropped my blade into his skull. Shattering it into pieces before blasting the rest of his body with a series of kinetic strikes.

  The prompt told me the lich was dead and the boss of this throne room was gone. Sighing in relief, I wanted to slump back down, but a wail from the side told me a crazy ghost was still here. Exhausted, spent and downright half awake, I reluctantly raised my sword to fight.

  A spirit was before me, its vengeance still blazing behind its glowing eyes. Ready to strike and claw me apart like it did with its former master. It rose in the air, its dress billowing out as if a strong wind appeared out of nowhere.

  Before it could exact its vengeance, the melodious sound of a familiar singer stopped it in its tracks. Marius was singing a familiar tune that seemed to placate the ghost. And kept it from ripping me apart.

  The ghost looked really calm, content perhaps? She was smiling and not eating my liver. I turned to Marius and gave him the side-eye.

  "She is experiencing a pleasant memory from her life. I determined that the tone of my spell song could slightly adjust the effects." Marius explained.

  Mulling that over, it made sense, but also made esoteric magic even weirder. The Grimgard experiment was an odd choice by the gods, but it probably gave them unique playthroughs. Since this entire universe was a sandbox for them.

  "Cool, so how long will she stay like that?"

  "Until she is at peace, the Lich is dead, so that shouldn't be too long." And just as Marius explained, the ghost faded away, smile still on her face.

  "I hope Hades is nice to her." I hoped aloud, since she helped us out.

  "Hades?" Marius questioned as he approached the throne.

  "God of the underworld, last I recall he was managing all the dead people of this world." I explained the broad strokes.

  In truth, I knew little about the former Greek god. Just that he managed a multiverse-spanning afterlife and people once knew him on almost every variant of Earth.

  "A lord of the underworld, you say? Can you imagine the dinner parties held between the many deceased personages?" Marius looked giddy at the notion.

  "Yeah, I suppose." I shrugged, trying to ignore his infectious theatricality.

  I swear it's some skill he is using. Infecting the world with his musical powers. Soon, the entire world will kneel and submit to its fate to become a permanent musical. I see it now, kings and vagabonds running around exposing their feelings through song.

  Sounded fun, but the logistics would be a nightmare. Imagine trying to get anything done in the kingdom. Especially if your workers or army gets a sudden bout of emotions and has to stop and sing it out. Thinking about it again, that kind of world sounds horrible. I would have to watch Marius carefully, just in case he had such vile plans.

  Jenny chimed in with a song about stalkers and watchers. The creepy tune made you feel you yourself were a creep or were being watched, perhaps a little of both. Alas, that wasn't a priority, and I sent a mental thanking for the reminder not to get caught up in my own fantasies.

  It was time to loot corpses and level up. I said so much to my companion, and he agreed with hand over his heart and a bow to the fallen around us. Despite his theatrical nature and odd behaviour, he seemed quite respectful of the dead. Hopefully, looting them wasn't some cultural issue for him. Assuming he got back his memories.

  rating or review to strengthen my story with motivation!

  early access and support the author at .

  Discord — we’ve got snacks and chaos.