The Reborn Young Master's Guide to Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse BL-Chapter 17: Step Seventeen: A Weapon Without a Bond Is Just Dead Weight

Chapter 17: Step Seventeen: A Weapon Without a Bond Is Just Dead Weight

Because even a soul-forged weapon won’t save you if it hasn’t tasted your will.

As the hours dragged on, Asher’s once boundless stamina began to falter, each breath becoming more labored than the last.

The energy that had fueled his movements was slowly being sapped away, leaving him feeling heavy and fatigued.

Over and over, as he swung with all his might using his sword, Aether Fang, it was met with relentless counter attacks, the force of retaliation coming at him like a tidal wave.

He could feel the sting of each impact as well as the sheer intensity of the opposition pushing him closer to his limits as he fought to maintain his ground.

With a fierce battle cry, Asher charged, swinging the Aether Fang in a wide arc.

The blade sang through the air, weaving lightning and darkness in a lethal dance meant to sever the General’s head.

Yet, despite the massive body of the General, the General was nimble, dodging every attack.

A crackling slash tore through the General’s side, but to Asher’s alarm, the wound began to close almost instantly, the flesh knitting over bone like cursed magic.

The General snarled, staggering forward with unnatural speed, countering with a massive claw swipe.

Asher barely raised the sword in time, the impact jarring his arms and forcing him back.

The blade’s glow dimmed momentarily as he faltered.

Frustration flared in his chest.

Why won’t it work?!

The Aether Fang wasn’t just a weapon.

It was supposed to multiply his power.

But now, facing the relentless regeneration and brutal strength of the General, Asher realized he hadn’t yet learned to truly wield it.

Then the worst happened.

The creature lunged forward, impaling him through the side with a spike that twisted cruelly inside.

Pain exploded on Asher’s stomach.

Blood started to blossom on his shirt.

He staggered back, breath ragged.

Darkness flared wildly, and uncontrollable.

Nearby survivors ducked away, terrified.

He collapsed, pain blinding, muttering, "This fucking decayed piece of shit..."

Struggling, he got up as quickly as possible, dodging the blow from the Zombie General.

There was no time to waste.

His mind screamed as he activated his spatial "pause" button, snapping the air around the general into frozen silence.

The massive creature froze mid-swing, limbs locked in suspended animation.

But the strain hit Asher like a thunderclap.

A searing pain exploded deep inside his chest and spine.

His vision blurred, his legs weakened.

He staggered, clutching his side where internal damage was already setting in.

The world tilted dangerously.

Using every last ounce of strength, Asher summoned the razor-thin spatial edge, invisible and deadly, and slashed through the paused General’s throat.

The creature’s body convulsed helplessly before collapsing into a lifeless ruin.

Breathing ragged, Asher sank to one knee, blood trickling from his mouth.

The internal toll was undeniable.

His organs screamed with every heart beat.

Then, a chilling silence suddenly fell.

From the shadows emerged the true nightmare: Necrorex, the Sovereign King of the Hollow Realms.

Towering at 8 feet tall, bone-laced flesh twisted with armor of voidsteel, and golden eyes burning with a sick, ancient intelligence, Necrorex exuded a silence more deafening than any war cry.

His arrival warped the air, and seemingly bent space around him.

The purple moon light seems to dim in his presence.

The nearby survivors’ hope curled up and died as they suddenly started to scream and run away from the fight, causing the perimeter to break, letting numerous zombies charge at the others.

Asher’s heartbeat thundered in his skull.

He recognized him by the dark rune etched into the center of his forehead: a twisted crown forged from cracked obsidian, its jagged points entwined with broken, crossed bones forming an ominous X.

Necrorex belonged to the Silent Crown fraction, ruled by the 2nd Zombie Emperor, Vorago, known as the Hollow Star.

Unlike the savage Crimson Blight fraction ruled by the first Zombie Emperor Nihil, the Dread Crown, Vorago’s army was chillingly precise.

Vorago’s Generals and Kings moved with cruel intelligence, wielding the power of regeneration and gravity.

Opposing the Silent Crown Fraction, was the Crimson Blight fraction, a plague-born legion led by Emperor Nihil, the Dread Crown.

The very air near them seemed to rot and curl, as if decay itself was a living thing.

His followers were monstrous, plague-ridden abominations, skin blistered and bones jagged, their moans like the death throes of the earth.

Their emblem was a thorned crown, cracked and bleeding, etched into the rusted armor of their warlords.

Nihil’s power was raw and terrible, an unending decay that ate through flesh and steel alike, a swarm that adapted with every kill, growing more vicious and unstoppable.

To face them was to stare into the abyss of entropy itself, where life was nothing but a brief spark snuffed out by rot.

Where Nihil’s horde was chaos incarnate, Vorago’s forces were an unyielding machine, soldiers enslaved to psychic will, emotionless and perfect.

His powers twisted reality, folding time and silence into weapons as deadly as any blade.

The Silent Crown Fraction armor bore a stark sigil: a black star fractured by a sword, a symbol of control and order imposed through domination.

The symbol pulsed faintly with an eerie, cold light, a mark of ancient authority that branded Necrorex as the undead King.

Necrorex stood taller than most Kings, his gaunt frame wrapped in tattered royal robes that fluttered like shadows in the wind.

His armor sat on top of his robes, highlighting his pale, almost translucent skin.

His long black hair was pulled back into a high pony tail as side bangs shaped his face, revealing sharp cheekbones and a gaunt jaw.

His eyes burned like molten gold with hints of red, smoldering like dying embers.

On top of his head was a jagged crown of blackened bone and twisted metal which crookedly yet it did not dimmish his aura, but rather, it amplified it.

The crown was half-melted, corroded by time and dark magic, but still commanding fear and respect.

Every step Necrorex took echoed with the weight of forgotten kingdoms and brutal dominion.

Necrorex was the Sovereign King of the Hollow Realms, his name was feared in the apocalypse as his dark rune on his brow glowed black like a warning none could ignore.

Necrorex was not supposed to awaken until the second year of the apocalypse.

Necrorex was currently a level 3 red stage wielder of Dark Gravity and the very first of 5 Zombie Kings of the Silent Crown Fraction set to awaken in the second year under the command of the 2nd Zombie Emperor Vorago.

This was far too soon for the Generals and Kings to appear.

Asher’s heart thundered in his chest.

He had faced horrors before, but this was different.

This King in particular was a predator unlike any other: calculated, merciless, a being that commanded death itself.

He’d known this monster ruled from the darkness, but to see him so close was to stare into the abyss.

The battle with the General had drained him.

Three days without rest, wounds raw, and to top it all off, the spike was still lodged in his shoulder.

Every breath was agony, every movement a torment.

Yet, Asher got up and, with blood smeared across his face, lifted his chin and let a broken, bloody smirk curl on his lips.

He let out a surge of a lightning energy sphere in one of his hands, the lightning crackling.

Confidence poured from his battered exterior like poison, but inside, terror squeezed his lungs tight, and sweat slicked his skin beneath the grime.

He had to fight.

Cas awoke with a jolt, just in time to catch a glimpse of Asher’s smirk and the emperor’s steely gaze fixated on Asher.

His heart raced.

Caspian quickly pushed himself off the twisted remnants of the overturned car, its metallic surface cold and rough against his palms.

He launched himself into the fray, but the path ahead was fraught with peril.

Zombies staggered toward him, their rotting forms a grotesque sight under the dim light.

With every step, he had to dodge their grasping hands while simultaneously conjuring sharp shards of ice that sliced through the air, sending a chilling tingle down his spine.

The chaos around him was both daunting and adrenaline-pumping as he navigated through the frenzied attacks, intent on reaching Asher before it was too late.

Asher spared a single quick glance in Caspian’s direction.

Asher smirked through bloodied teeth, standing tall despite the pain screaming through every fiber of his body.

"Took you long enough," he said, cocky on the outside—but inside, he was terrified.

He didn’t know where the King had been, only that the General had been a piece on the board, and now the King had moved.

The King’s voice rolled over the battlefield like thunder, dark and mocking, his golden eyes flashing with cruel amusement.

"So, the pawn dares to challenge me," he sneered, voice dripping with disdain.

"You stand no chance. Your strength is but a flicker before my wrath," the Zombie King sneered, his voice echoing across the battlefield like a warped, bone-deep vibration.

It was unnatural and amplified, as if the very air carried his words.

Every fighter froze for a heartbeat.

Faces turned pale.

A zombie...speaking?!

But there was no time to question it.

Rank 0 and Rank 1 undead continued to swarm, claws slashing, jaws snapping, drowning out the horror of the moment with blood and chaos.

James and Kieran caught sight of their younger brother: bloodied, staggering, and face twisted in pain, standing directly in front of the abnormal zombie.

Their instincts kicked in.

"Asher!!!" They shouted together as they surged forward without hesitation.

But two Rank 1 zombies intercepted them, crashing into their path with brutal force.

Steel clashed with rotting flesh as the brothers were forced into battle, separated from Asher by the undead wall between them.