Holy Necromancer: Rebirth of the Strongest Mage

887 Chapter 887: Trap

....

The continent of Elzeira buzzed with activity of Royal Guards as complete lockdowns were enforced in every city. However, the movement extended beyond just the Royal Guards.

In the past few days, City Lords from various cities had left their posts and flocked to the Royal City in response to mysterious invitations. It seemed that almost every influential person in Elzeira had received an invitation.

The invitations provided no explanation as to why they were summoned. However, since they all carried the Royal Seals, none could refuse the invitation unless they wanted to offend the Royal Family.

They had already seen what happened in the city of Ember. All three major families in Ember had suffered a lot. The power structure of the city was completely changed overnight once the Royal Army marched in.

No other city lord wanted to be subjected to the same sharp response. They rushed to the Royal City as fast as they could.

Speculations ran rampant among the ones who were invited. Some believed the invitations had something to do with the recent turmoil in the Royal Capital, while others suspected it was connected to the city of Ember.

A Royal Knight also went to the Celestial City, which shared a border with the Land of Chaos. Unfortunately, the man was never to return after giving the invitation.

The Royal Knights stopped before the Celestial Empress, his eyes lifeless as multiple invisible threads remained connected to his body. Behind the man, the Puppet Master stood.

"Hmm? The Royal Family is inviting everyone to the Royal Capital?" The Celestial Empress said in surprise as she went through the invitation.

"Could it be that they had caught Karyk and wanted to execute him before all the city lords to show their might?" she wondered.

She had really thought that Karyk was going to plead with her for help. Unfortunately,b even after so much time had passed, he didn't contact her. It made her believe that he was caught by the Royal Family.

"That stubborn fool. Was his freedom really more important to him than the safety of his world?" She folded the invitation back, putting it aside.

The Puppet Master frowned, deep in thought.

"Won't this affect our plans? If he is caught and killed, we might never know the secrets he holds. If we don't know how he was able to kill the Elzeirans, it would be quite a loss."

"That is true. It would be a great loss if I can't find out his secrets. I wonder if I over played my hand... I was too hasty." The Celestial Empress felt a headache as she thought about Karyk.

In her mind, he was caught. However, she was certain that he was still alive. She could still feel that thread. The only difference was that she wasn't able to contact him, as if the connection was cut.

She believed only the Elzeiran Emperor with the support of Archangels was capable of blocking the connection of this thread.

The thread had become useless. She couldn't contact Karyk, nor could she find his whereabouts. The only thing she could know was that the other person was still alive.

"Tell me... Did the Emperor catch the person who caused a commotion in the Royal Capital this time?" she asked the Royal Knight who was now under the control of the puppet master.

"I am not certain." The Royal Knight answered in a lifeless voice. "However I did hear that he managed to escape. All the lockdowns are in place to capture him."

"Did you see him escape personally? Or you just heard about it?" The Celestial Empress further asked. Even after hearing it, she didn't believe that Karyk could actually escape after being trapped in the tomb.

She even thought that the Royal Family had intentionally spread the fake news that Karyk had escaped.

It was a trap that the Royal Family placed to lower the guards of Karyk's supporters if he had any. As for the Lockdowns, it was to find Karyk's supporters and nothing more.

This excuse allowed the Royal Family to spread their army in every city without alerting the local powers there.

"I wasn't there," the Royal Knight answered. "I only came to know about it through the instructions I was given."

"What do you think? Could he truly have escaped?" The woman asked the Puppet Master.

"It should've been impossible, even for someone like him. And if he had truly escaped, he would've been back at the Border City as he still doesn't know what happened to his people." The Puppet Master put forth his thoughts.

He had already spread out a large scale formation around the city. If Karyk had even approached this place, he would've known. But even as almost a week had passed to the supposed escape, he wasn't here.

The Empress nodded. "I also believe that he shouldn't have been able to escape. If he was capable of that, why would he ask for my help? He couldn't block the thread's connection either."

"I suppose we can only find the truth ourselves," she added, picking up the invitation again.

"Are you planning to attend?" the Puppet Master asked.

The woman nodded slightly. "I believe this is necessary."

"It is dangerous. Allow me to go in your stead!" The Puppet Master insisted.

"I know. I'm not going to wage a war... yet. As long as I want to escape, even 'he' won't be able to stop me. I'll just go there to confirm if he's actually there or not."

The woman kept the invitation in her storage ring. "This is final. You will stay behind and finish the preparation."

Although the Puppet Master didn't believe that it was a good idea, but he couldn't reject the Empress just like the Shadow Guards couldn't refuse the Emperor even as they knew he was going to die in the Temple.

In the end, he could only nod. "I'll prepare everything by the time you return."

....

Karyk pushed open the door of the Grand Mansion in the center.

As he took his first step inside, he was surprised to find multiple shackles coming out of the through, wrapping themselves around his body like a poisonous snake.