I became a legion lich

The Holy empire of Caria occupied all of the north of the continent and was exclusively human, every other race had been hunted to extinction. Even enslaving other races like the Makima empire was unacceptable to them.

Caria was the birthplace of the Eishin religion and had it as its official religion. They followed religion fanatically and believed in Eishin’s teachings. Like the church, its view of magic was warped, placing the element of light above all other elements.

They had developed the light element to its limits, even the order of magic and the Makima empire couldn’t match them when it came to researching the limits of the light element.

The Caria empire had implemented the element of light in all its national projects, from agriculture, civil construction, national defense, runesmithing research and obviously public health.

Despite the cold climate that surrounded its entire territory, the Makima empire had the most fertile land in the world, its agriculture so developed that its farms produced crops every month, ensuring an abundance of food for all the empire’s citizens and the citizens of the empire and exporting food to the neighboring empire.

The empire also excelled in the treatment of disease, with most diseases currently known to be cured or treatments being developed.

Its capital was called El Dorado and had almost a million inhabitants, being one of the most populous cities in the world. The city got its name thanks to the walls that surrounded the entire city.

They were walls of more than 50 meters built with white stones infused with light elements, which glowed golden in the sunlight.

.....

The citizens of the Caria empire had a characteristic that differentiated them from any other people. The territory of the Caria empire received Eishin’s blessing, allowing all children born within the territory to have an affinity for light.

Not everyone would be able to use mana, and even fewer could use magic, but everyone who took the affinity roll would discover an affinity for light, however slight.

The citizens of the empire were fanatical about Eishin and were incredibly grateful for all the blessings they received. No citizen dared to disobey the teachings and the few who did were killed by the people themselves for heresy.

There was a reason the people were so fanatical. They didn’t believe in a conceptual God or something distant that they were unable to understand. All they would need to do to confirm the existence of God was look up.

A few kilometers in the sky above the capital El Dorado, the divine palace where the God Eishin lived floated on top of a cloud, giving all the proof the citizens needed of the existence of their God.

The palace glowed with the same golden glow as the walls, but it wasn’t dependent on sunlight, Eishin’s light was more than enough to illuminate the entire palace.

Eishin himself showed his divine presence to the population whenever something threatened the empire, ensuring that no threat reached them.

Despite calling themselves an empire, there were no emperors or royal families, just a pope chosen directly by Eishin who relayed God’s words to the population.

The pope had no real power, he only acted as a mouthpiece for God. Eishin was the true ruler of the entire empire, as well as its greatest guardian.

*************

In Eishin’s Divine Palace, at the same time that Athos left for the Demihuman Empire.

An emergency meeting was underway to discuss the damage that the loss of the portal network would cause. Just like the Makima empire and the Caprio continent kingdoms, the Caria empire had quickly become dependent on them.

The throne room was 40 meters high and made of the same white stone as the entire palace, but of a much higher quality than everything else.

There were massive pillars on either side of the throne room, with a red carpet embroidered in gold, guiding guests from the throne room doors to the divine throne, where the few guests who had been honored to be in the presence of God would prostrate themselves in respect.

A staircase made of pure gold separated the guests from the throne, ensuring that Eishin would always be above them all.

The pope prostrate in front of the staircase, touching his forehead to the ground as he tried and failed to keep his voice calm. Despite his position, he knew he meant nothing to the being in front of him.

A man was sitting on the throne, looking at him with a bored look. He was approximately 1.86 meters tall and appeared to be in his early 30s. He had blond hair and sky blue eyes, with a full, perfectly trimmed beard.

His icy gaze fixed on the pope for a few seconds, before losing interest and looking away. This was the Eishin God, the being at the top of all mankind. The pope was shaking with fear just being here, but his fear was not directed at Eishin.

Guards stood in front of the pillars and closely watched the guest’s every move, further increasing their tension. What scared him wasn’t the equipment made of divine adamant on the same level as a national treasure or the murderous gazes that stabbed his back, as if they considered him an inferior being who didn’t deserve to be here.

What scared him to death was the nature of the guards. The guards had two pairs of white wings, folded behind their backs like a white cloak. They wore no helmets, just a golden hood, but the pope only shivered when he tried to peer inside their hoods.

They had no face, their face was a mass of pure light that made the pope shiver. They were angels, soldiers of God.

“I understand.” Eishin spoke as soon as the pope finished reporting. “It’s a temporary loss for humanity. It may take a few months for the portals to become active again and some projects have been temporarily stalled, but the human losses will be minimal. I’m more interested in the new species of undead that has emerged on Caprio.”

A hologram appeared in the air above their heads and displayed the battle of the undead invading the fortress. He restarted the hologram as soon as he was done, stopping at a specific scene that interested him.

“Look.” He spoke to his guards, the only ones who had any value in his vision and stopped the hologram at the scene where Treevor teleported to the fortress.

“That undead spirit is the supposed leader of the undead army, but I have my doubts. Corrupted spirits shouldn’t be able to create undead that easily. I’m pretty sure this is the true leader of the dead- alive.” He shifted focus from Treevor to Athos.

He ruled out Emilia and Caio as possible leaders, as they did nothing useful in the battle.

The pope didn’t understand his words and looked at the confused hologram, but didn’t dare to ask more.

“He’s probably some kind of lich, though I’ve never seen one with black bones in all my millennia.” Eishin was mildly interested in this new species, wondering whether he should make a quick visit to another continent just to exterminate it.

There was no hatred in his eyes as he looked at the image of Athos, he considered Athos too small for that. Eishin possessed more power in his little fingernail than all the black skeletons put together.

“Hum...” He started thinking seriously about going to the Caprio continent, but an emergency alarm started ringing around the palace, catching his attention and narrowly saving Athos’ life.

The hologram showing the battle disappeared and in its place appeared a second hologram, showing scenes of a port city. A fleet of ships was appearing on the horizon.

There were hundreds of ships in the fleet, but it wasn’t their numbers that scared the city lord into calling for emergency reinforcements. It was the ship’s crew that did it.

All the sailors were undead, which means it was an attack from the Nytrer continent. Ships weren’t the only enemies. In the midst of the fleet, thousands of undead sea beasts swam alongside the ships.

“Is it that time of year already?” Eishin didn’t seem the least bit surprised by the undead fleet, leisurely asking one of the guards.

“I believe so, my lord. These plagues attack us regularly every year.” The nearest angel answered him.

“Should we immediately send reinforcements, or let the city fight alone? It would be problematic if the port cities became too dependent on us.” A second angel spoke, but Eishin’s response was different from what they expected.

“You can all relax. I’ll handle this myself. If I just keep sitting here and doing nothing I’ll end up getting rusty.” God Eishin got up from his throne and began to stretch, causing all the surrounding angels to panic.

“M-my lord, please don’t be reckless! We cannot allow you to be in any danger!” The nearest angel screamed in panic, but Eishin was no longer listening.

With a wave of his hand, the walls of the throne room and several other rooms opened, making a corridor straight outside. A second wave of his hand and a teleportation crystal floated into his hand.

Eishin fed the crystal with his holy mana, making the crystal emit an ever-increasing white glow. Its white core was filled with so much mana that with just a few fractions of its energy, the crystal was already filled.