Edward sat in his office in the palace with a projection screen in front of him. Opposite him was an old man with a very well-kept beard. Wisdom, sadness, and tiredness could be seen on his face.
"What's wrong with you?" asked Edward. The eyes are the window to the soul, and this saying is even more prevalent to powerful magic users.
"Nothing serious," replied Dumbledore. "It's just that in the past few years, I have seen too much and I am a little tired."
Edward understood his meaning. The universe is a dark and scary place, full of horrible things. Dumbledore is responsible for both the Empire's foreign business and intelligence gathering.
As such, he has to come in direct contact with the dark side of the world, which seems to be weighing on his mind.
"After this is done, you need a vacation. Come back home and see your old friend. After refreshing your mind and reaching Tier 6, you can resume your position."
Dumbledore wanted to refuse but after thinking that he has been drifting in space for decades, he nodded his head: "Thank you."
"So, what exactly happened?"
"A couple of dozens of Star Systems in our galaxy full of living creatures were wiped out. No, it should be said that they disappeared as not a single body was discovered.
"What's more, with each passing day, more news of Star Systems disappearing keeps circulating."
"Any information on the reason why?"
"Not yet, but we have a highly probable theory. This disappearance is most likely related to a powerful Undead."
'Coincidence?' thought Edward. Undead become a problem in his universe right after traveling to a world where there was plenty of knowledge regarding them.
'No, this should be Luck Potion in effect.'
"What makes you say that?"
"We have detected that the Intergalactic Federation, the Eldamar Kingdom, and the Nightskins have been secretly buying magic materials and resources that have an effect on the dead and the souls at an alarming rate.
"Plus, the disappearance of the bodies could be explained if they were turned into undead."
Edward pondered for a while. The Eldamar Kingdom is a Tier 8 Civilization of the elves, while the Nightskins are a Tier 8 race with beautiful dark skin and stars for eyes. Even their magic system is related to stars, and they have a reputation for being excellent with divination.
"What about the Intellemens?"
Besides the Intergalactic Empire, there were only three Tier 8 Civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy. Two magical ones and one technological one: the Intellemens.
Based on information gathered on them, they have a deep hatred and aversion to magic and focus purely on technology. As such, they have developed a Tier 8 Antimatter Weapon.
"There has been no news from them so far."
"What about the Metamorphmagus spies we sent into these factions?"
"The time that they infiltrated is too short, so far, the best of them only have low status and have access to little to no information.
After pondering for a moment, he said:
"I'll come to see you in an hour, then we can further discuss the situation."
Then, he went to pick up Olivier, hopped in a spaceship, and went to see Dumbledore.
"Your majesty, the Queen," said Dumbledore.
"There is no need for formality," said Olivier. She knew that this old man was once Edward's teacher, along with many other people in the royal family.
"Let's go," said Edward after the three had a brief chat. They entered the shop once again before heading to one of the star systems that was destroyed.
After arriving at their destination, the group saw many ships flying in that star system. Many people seemed to have the same idea as Edward. While on the ship, he took out a map of this star system and pendulum.
He cast a spell on the pendulum before saying out loud: "Which planet where this catastrophe originated from?"
The pendulum moved to one of the planets and stayed motionless on it. Without wasting time, the ship flew to that designated planet.
After landing, Edward frowned as there were too many people on this planet. So, he used a spell to send his voice inside the mind of all the scavengers on this planet.
"This planet will be occupied for the next 2 hours. Please leave to avoid unnecessary trouble."
One thought immediately appeared in the minds of these people: 'A Tier 6 Spiritual Caster.'
So, without hesitation, all of them rushed to their spaceships to leave. Many of these people understood that the universe was a cruel place, and such a powerful caster could take away their lives for no reason whatsoever.
Amongst these people, there were two other Tier 6 individuals. However, after feeling Edward's threatening gaze, they hopped on their ship and left as well.
Then, Edward waved his hand and a shield appeared to surround this planet making it impossible for people to see what was happening. A gray staff appeared on his hand as he cast another spell:
Time Record.
"Time magic, how beautiful," muttered Dumbledore.
"Am I detecting jealousy, professor?" said Edward with a smile.
"Maybe a little."
"The last time we had a discussion, you could stop time on small objects like apples. I'm sure you have made progress since then."
"Unfortunately, I have been a little busy and have somewhat neglected my magic studies. Plus, even if I improved, it would never be on this scope."
Time magic is a very rare thing, and the number of people with both the talent and capability of using it in the Empire does not exceed two hands. And even in the royal family, only Rowena has mastered basic time spells, while the others are still struggling or have given up.
So, the fact that Dumbledore can stop time on small objects shows that he can be considered a "master" on the subject when compared to others.
"You have overestimated my abilities. Without the Time Staff, I'm also helpless when it comes to chronomancy."
Dumbledore did not say anything despite disagreeing. Even if he had that staff, he did not think he could wield it to such an extent. Giving a powerful weapon to someone did not mean that they could wield it, let alone do it with such mastery.
After the little banter, the group then began to review what happened to this planet. This was a planet inhabited by a humanoid race with insect features.
Some only had wings of different insects, some had other insect parts like claws, teeth, and even some magical abilities based on the insects. After a basic observation, the group quickly learned some information about this species' society and culture.
They were a very segregated group. The ones with mostly humanoid features and only wings despise the others with insect parts and live in these very tall trees, while the others lived on the ground.
They had access to the best resources while leaving crumbs for the others. They were considered the nobility in this insect hierarchy. Their lives were normal and peaceful until one day, a meteor descended from the sky not far from one of their cities.
A group was called to check out the landing spot but what they found was only terror.
Edward paused the record as he watched the thing that descended. It was a man or woman wearing full-body black armor that covered everything from head to toe, making it impossible to determine the gender, race, or identity of this creature.
However, in his eyes' sockets were two blue flames that moved along with every action.
"Undead Knight?" That was the best way he could describe this situation. He then unpaused the record to see what occurred next.
A strange and eerie voice came from the knight's body as he said: "@$^E%^R%346^%R#@@#%$%*^&^*%"
Edward enter his mind palace to find the language and instantly translated it:
"You pitiful creatures, it is your glory to serve Lord Guzznad."
"Guzznad? Do we have any information on such a person?" asked Oliver who also instantly translated the knight's words.
"No," replied Edward, and Dumbledore also shook his head.
"It could be a powerful Lich or a Death God. We'll check later."
At this point, the group could already guess what will happen. And as expected, the Tier 5 Death Knight easily slaughtered these people. Then, he used a spell to turn all of them into undead.
After that, he repeated that process until every living being on that planet was turned into skeletons, zombies, or mummies. Even the former graves of the people of this planet were plundered by him and turned into undead.
What caught the group's attention is the fact that after killing living beings, these undeads have the ability to evolve.
"If all the star systems previously destroyed have turned into this, this is a bigger issue than we have anticipated," said Dumbledore.
With a pondering look on his face, Edward said: "I can probably guess what is happening here."
"Did you find something?" asked Oliver
"This is probably the precursor to an Undead Catastrophe."
"More detail, please."
"It is considered a taboo method, and one of the reasons that Death Gods are hated and feared in the universe. To ascend to higher Tiers at a rapid pace, they will kill all lives that they come into contact with and turn them into undeads, thus making it easier to gather faith."
"I thought the power of faith came from belief, how is it easier to gather from undeads?"
"I do not know exactly, but my theory is that because low-level undead has the level of intelligence of a child, it is easier to brainwash them into believing in a God.
"And as they evolve, the idea that their power is granted to them by their Gods can be deeply ingrained into their soul, thus creating fanatic believers."
"This is indeed possible, but we have not determined whether this is the work of a God yet."
"That's easy." He then proceeded to cast a spell to detect energy, and as expected, he found small traces of divine energy in the place where the Death Knight appeared.
"Things have become a little complicated," said Dumbledore.
"On the contrary," replied Oliver. "Since we know that this is the work of a Death God trying to reach higher tiers, we can make many conjectures. For example, the Death God has not reached Tier 10 yet, otherwise, there would be no point in doing this.
"And as long as he has not reached Tier 10, the Empire can still manage the overall situation."
"You're right, but we should be more careful," added Edward. Then, the group continued watching the record. After conquering this planet, they witness a terrifying scene.
It swallowed more than 90% of the undeads that he created to reach Tier 6, then, the remaining 10% built an enormous ship made of bones, they hopped inside and flew out the planet, heading to the next one.
The group followed these undead to other planets, however, the Death Knight did not consume other lower-rank undead anymore. He focused on gathering numbers.
Once everything finished, Edward asked Olivier: "What do you think?"
I have taken into account your suggestions and will use some of them to restrict the Akashic Record.
