Chapter 1025: Gauntlet of Darkness

Strax had been sitting atop one of the hills north of Asgard long enough for Lithara to start losing her patience. Ever since they arrived, he had barely moved from the spot. He remained with one leg bent, his right arm resting on his knee, and his eyes focused on the Gauntlet of Darkness, observing every subtle movement of the black chains wrapped around his forearm. Every now and then, he would close his hand, release a small amount of energy, and then cut off the flow without explaining what he was looking for.

Lithara was lying on the grass a few meters behind him, her head resting on her arms. At first, she had tried to remain quiet and simply watch what Strax was doing. Then she started watching the clouds. After that, she counted how many birds flew overhead. Finally, after realizing that Strax was still sitting in exactly the same position, she raised her upper body and asked:

"How long do you plan on staring at that gauntlet?"

Strax did not take his eyes off the weapon.

"Until I understand what’s inside it."

"You’ve been doing that for almost an hour."

"I know."

"And have you discovered anything?"

"Several things."

That made Lithara get up. She walked over to Strax and sat beside him, bringing her face closer to the gauntlet as though she might be able to see something different. To her, the weapon looked practically the same as it had ever since Strax created it using the Helm of Darkness. It was a heavy black gauntlet, covered in details resembling overlapping plates, while equally dark chains wrapped around his arm to just below the elbow. The energy emanating from it, however, really had changed.

Lithara narrowed her eyes.

"There’s something different."

"That’s exactly what I noticed."

Strax slowly opened his hand. A small amount of black energy escaped between his fingers, but instead of simply disappearing, it remained floating a few centimeters above his palm.

"The moment I fully connected to this thing, I started sensing an extremely malevolent energy inside it. It isn’t just demonic energy. And it doesn’t seem to be simply Hades’s authority either."

Lithara observed the small dark concentration.

"A soul?"

"Maybe. But it’s different."

Strax closed his hand, and the energy disappeared.

Ever since he had devoured Hades’s heart, he had noticed small changes in his own existence. The amount of demonic energy within him had increased considerably, but that was expected. What caught his attention were certain sensations that had no direct relation to strength. Whenever someone died relatively close to him, for example, the Gauntlet of Darkness reacted. It did not automatically pull anything toward itself, but something inside it recognized death.

It was as though it were waiting.

Strax remained thoughtful for several seconds before finally raising his head. A few birds were crossing the sky above the hill.

He pointed at them.

"Lithara."

"Hm?"

"Kill those birds."

She looked up.

Then she looked at Strax.

"You spent an hour thinking just to reach the conclusion that you want to kill some birds?"

"It’s a test."

Lithara shrugged.

"Fine."

She did not even stand up. She merely raised one hand and moved two fingers. Several extremely thin lines of demonic energy appeared in the air and passed through the birds before they could react. The animals died instantly and began falling, hitting the grass around the hill with small thuds.

Strax immediately became attentive.

The gauntlet reacted.

This time, he felt it clearly.

"So that’s it."

Lithara looked at him.

"What?"

Strax did not answer. He simply raised his right hand and pointed the Gauntlet of Darkness toward the bodies.

The surrounding shadows began to move.

Lithara’s smile vanished.

The shadow cast by the first bird’s body stretched across the grass, then completely separated from it. The same happened with the others. The small black masses began to grow until they took on three-dimensional forms, and only a few seconds later, five completely black birds stood on the ground.

They were not exactly the animals that had died.

The bodies were still there.

This was something else.

The creatures possessed bodies made entirely of compacted shadows, and the only points of color were their eyes, which glowed with an intense violet hue. Dark smoke occasionally escaped from their feathers before being drawn back into their bodies.

Lithara moved closer.

"Interesting."

One of the birds turned its head toward her.

Lithara mimicked the movement.

"It’s looking at me."

"It is."

"Is it conscious?"

"I don’t know."

Strax thought of a command.

The five birds immediately took flight.

Lithara followed them with her eyes as they circled Strax in perfect formation. There had been no verbal command, no gesture, and no perceptible release of energy. Strax had simply decided what he wanted them to do.

After three circles, he closed his hand.

The birds dove toward the Gauntlet of Darkness and disappeared inside it, transforming into small streams of black smoke.

Lithara fell silent.

So did Strax.

He could feel them.

Not physically. There was a kind of space inside the gauntlet, although "space" probably was not the correct word. The five birds were stored somewhere connected to the weapon, each represented by an extremely small presence.

Lithara finally asked:

"Did you absorb their souls?"

"More or less."

"More or less?"

Strax closed his eyes for a few seconds.

"The gauntlet’s power increased."

"By how much?"

"Almost nothing. They’re birds."

"Makes sense."

"But there’s something else."

He raised his hand again.

The energy inside the gauntlet responded immediately. Strax pulled on those five presences, and the shadows around him began to distort once again.

The birds returned.

This time, they did not need the corpses.

They simply emerged from Strax’s shadow, beat their wings, and hovered in front of him.

"This looks like..." Strax began.

"Necromancy?" Lithara finished.

Strax looked at her.

"That’s exactly what I was thinking."

He pointed toward a rock.

One bird landed on it.

Strax pointed toward a tree.

Another landed on a branch.

Then he mentally ordered the remaining three to fly in different directions, return, and land in front of him. All of them followed the instructions immediately, without hesitation or interpretation.

Lithara watched carefully.

"It’s very mechanical."

"I noticed that too."

"I don’t think they’re actually the souls."

Strax looked at her.

Lithara approached one of the birds and held her hand in front of it. The creature did not react until Strax allowed it to interact with her. Only then did it turn its head and observe the succubus’s fingers.

"I think the gauntlet absorbs something from the soul when the target dies. Maybe spiritual memory, power, essence—I don’t know. Then it takes that information and places it over a shadow."

Strax studied the bird.

"So this would be a copy."

"Probably."

"An obedient copy."

"Completely."

Strax liked that possibility more and more.

There was still one problem.

Birds were not exactly good test subjects.

"I need to find out whether they retain racial abilities."

Lithara looked at him.

Strax continued:

"If I kill something capable of using a specific ability and the shadow retains that ability, then this stops being simple necromancy. I could build an army with different capabilities."

Lithara remained thoughtful for several seconds.

Then she spread her wings.

"I’ll be right back."

Strax turned his head.

"Lithara?"

She had already shot into the air.

The movement sent a gust of wind across the hill, and only a few seconds later, the succubus had completely disappeared beyond the horizon.

Strax stared at the point where she had vanished.

"That woman..."

He returned to his experiments.

Over the next several minutes, he tested the maximum distance he could maintain from the birds without losing contact. He sent two flying far away while the others remained nearby. The connection did not weaken. He also tried destroying one of them with a small blade of energy. The creature dispersed, but its presence immediately returned to the gauntlet.

Strax managed to summon it again.

"So you can come back."

That was even better.

He was beginning to test whether there was any significant cost when he sensed a presence rapidly approaching.

Lithara appeared in the sky.

She was carrying something enormous.

Strax stood up.

"No."

Lithara began descending.

"You didn’t."

She dropped what she was carrying.

A Wyvern crashed onto the hill with enough force to create a small depression in the ground. The creature was several meters long, with enormous wings and grayish scales. It was alive, but clearly badly wounded. Deep cuts covered its body, and one of its wings appeared to be broken.

Strax looked at the Wyvern.

Then at Lithara.

"Why do you have to be like this? Killing an innoc—"

"This one’s a troublemaker."

Strax stopped.

Lithara pointed at the Wyvern.

"He keeps killing the other Wyverns on the mountain. He was already injured, actually. I didn’t even touch him."

Strax looked at the creature again.

The Wyvern growled.

Lithara crossed her arms.

"See? Rude."

"That proves absolutely nothing."

"Trust me."

Strax shrugged.

"Fine."

He waved his hand.

Black energy passed through the Wyvern’s neck instantly. Its body relaxed and collapsed completely against the ground.

The Gauntlet of Darkness reacted with far greater intensity.

Strax felt it immediately.

"Now this is getting interesting."

He pointed his hand toward the corpse.

The shadows across the entire hill moved.

This time, a much greater amount was required. The Wyvern’s own shadow began separating from its body as black energy poured from the gauntlet and connected to it. Little by little, an enormous creature began to rise.

First the legs.

Then the body.

The wings spread open.

Finally, the head lifted.

A completely black Wyvern stood before them.

Its violet eyes glowed.

Lithara whistled.

"That one looks good."

Strax carefully observed the creature.

It was practically identical to the original in size and proportions, although its entire structure was made from dense shadows. Its wings produced faint trails of smoke whenever they moved, and no breath escaped from its nostrils.

Strax raised his hand.

The Wyvern immediately lowered its head.

"Up."

It raised its head.

"Spread your wings."

The wings opened.

"Fly."

The Wyvern leaped.

A single beat of its wings was enough to launch it dozens of meters above the hill.

Lithara followed the creature with her eyes.

"At least it knows how to fly."

"That doesn’t prove much."

Strax closed his eyes for a moment and tried to access the connection.

This time, there was far more information.

He could feel instincts.

Movements.

And something different concentrated in the creature’s throat.

Strax opened his eyes.

"There’s something."

Lithara became attentive.

"What?"

"Let’s find out."

Strax pointed toward a distant section of the forest.

"Use your attack."

The Wyvern opened its mouth.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Then the air around its throat began to swirl.

Lithara’s eyes widened slightly.

A mass of compressed wind formed in front of the Wyvern’s mouth and was fired.

The attack tore through the forest.

Dozens of trees were instantly cut apart. Some were split in half, while others completely lost their crowns. The blast continued for hundreds of meters before finally disappearing.

Strax stared at the path it had carved.

Lithara did the same.

He slowly lowered his hand.

"Okay."

Lithara smiled.

"It worked."

"We can use the abilities of the dead."

The Wyvern returned and landed behind Strax.

He looked at the creature for several seconds before ordering it to disappear. The enormous black body transformed into shadow and was pulled back into the gauntlet.

Strax closed his hand.

Now he could feel six presences.

Five small ones.

One considerably larger.

Lithara noticed that he was thinking.

"You’re imagining an army."

"I’m imagining several things."

"Monsters?"

"Monsters. Demons. Magical beasts."

Lithara’s smile faded slightly.

"People?"

Strax fell silent.

The question was inevitable.

If the Gauntlet of Darkness could reproduce the racial abilities of a dead creature, what would happen if the target possessed techniques of their own? Magic? Authority? A special bloodline?

Or something even greater?

Strax opened his hand and studied the black surface.

"I need to know what the limits are."

Lithara nodded.

"Quantity?"

"That too. I want to know how many shadows I can store, how much of their power they preserve, whether they can grow stronger, whether they can learn anything after being created, and what happens when I try to absorb something close to my own level."

"And if you absorb someone stronger?"

Strax smiled.

"That’s a very good question."

Lithara immediately pointed at him.

"Don’t look at me."

"I didn’t say anything."

"Your face did."

Strax started laughing.

Lithara shook her head and sat back down on the grass.

"You got a divine weapon by accident, melted it down, turned it into a gauntlet, and now you’ve discovered that you can create an army of shadows with the abilities of the dead."

"To summarize it heavily, yes."

"And you’re still not satisfied."

"I’m not dissatisfied."

Strax sat down beside her again.

"I’m curious."

Lithara looked at the gauntlet.

"That’s worse."

Strax did not disagree.

He simply continued observing the weapon while thinking about all the possibilities the discovery had opened. He still needed to determine the cost, the limits, and, most importantly, how much of a creature’s essence truly remained after the conversion.

But one thing was clear.

The Gauntlet of Darkness was not merely a weapon.

It was an army waiting for corpses.