Unfortunately, buying Beginning a little more time and restoring some of his lost essence did not change the reality of the situation.

Beginning was still losing.

The giant had recovered enough strength to prevent the Emperor from overwhelming him immediately, but that was all. The Emperor remained the superior fighter.

Inside the Sea of Darkness, the battle continued. The darkness trembled continuously. Neither side could gain a decisive advantage anymore, but Michael could tell through his connection what was truly happening. The giant was still being pushed back, little by little.

Michael slowly exhaled. "This still isn't enough."

He had expected this, so he was not surprised. His gaze shifted away from the Sea of Darkness as he summoned the Damaged Coffin of the Forgotten. The lid opened, and within moments, a hundred corpses floated around him.

Michael's eyes swept across the floating bodies. Reviving undead was as easy as breathing for him now. Unfortunately, properly reviving one hundred Rank 3 existences simultaneously in a short amount of time was not currently possible.

However, this was only the case if he wanted to revive them properly.

Fortunately, he had his class.

Many of the class's greatest strengths were not reflected on his status panel. Thanks to the authority over death his class granted him, all he needed was a thought and mana.

Michael extended his hand. His mana spread outward. Immediately, the lingering spirits sleeping inside the hundred corpses began to stir, and soon they all awakened.

The process looked almost effortless. Yet Michael knew the truth. This was not proper revival. At most, it was closer to a temporary awakening. A crude use of his authority. The lingering spirit would serve as an anchor while his mana served as fuel. The corpse could move and fight and perform many other functions like any other undead, but only temporarily.

Once the spirit was exhausted, it would disappear completely. At that point, even properly converting the corpse into an undead later would become difficult, as it would be little more than an empty shell.

The process was inherently wasteful.

This was not because of the Death's Heir class itself, but because of Michael. If a true master of death stood in his place, they could likely achieve the same result without such drawbacks. Unfortunately, Michael was not yet that person. His understanding was insufficient and his mastery over the class was incomplete. He had never even fully mastered his previous class, so expecting him to have already mastered this newer and obviously more uniquely powerful one was asking too much.

Michael did not hesitate. The moment the hundred temporary undead stabilized, he sent the command.

"Go."

The newly awakened undead immediately shot toward the Sea of Darkness.

Unlike the previous hundred, these undead were inferior in several respects. Their essence was weaker and their spirits were unstable.

If one of the previous undead had been worth a full unit of essence, then one of these improvised creations was perhaps worth half that amount. Maybe less. Two of them together might barely equal one of the original sacrifices.

Still, quantity had a quality of its own. One hundred remained one hundred.

Above the capital, the Trial Domain reacted once more. The moment the undead touched the edge of the Sea of Darkness, their essence forms were dragged inside.

The Emperor's face immediately darkened. Again.

Inside the domain, Beginning received Michael's intention. The giant launched himself forward. A devastating exchange forced the Emperor backward.

"No!"

The draconic serpent had already realized what was happening, but was ultimately helpless to stop it. The newly arrived undead rushed toward Beginning.

Just like before, they offered no resistance. The giant opened his mouth. Streams of essence poured into him. The process completed almost instantly.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Beginning's body erupted with power. His aura surged upward once more. Though the increase was smaller than before due to the lower quality of the sacrifices, the effect was still obvious. This time, Beginning stood on equal footing with the Emperor once again.

Outside the domain, Michael released a long breath.

The price he had paid just to prolong the fight had been two hundred undead. If Beginning had entered the Trial Domain with this much additional essence from the start, he might have won already. Unfortunately, the giant had been greedy and challenged an opponent he should not have challenged.

Fortunately, the situation had finally stabilized.

Inside the Sea of Darkness, the Emperor's expression became increasingly ugly. The easy victory he had envisioned no longer existed.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The two colossal figures collided again. The battle became increasingly violent. Minutes passed.

Michael continued observing from below. Part of him was already wondering whether he should prepare another hundred corpses when a sudden change occurred.

"Hm?"

Michael's eyes narrowed.

Inside the Sea of Darkness, the Emperor's aura fluctuated. The bloody energy flowing beneath his scales suddenly became chaotic. Countless distorted faces appeared briefly across his body. The same faces Michael had seen earlier, the remnants of the Emperor's sacrificed descendants and kin.

Realization struck Michael. "Oh."

A strange expression appeared on his face.

The power the Emperor had gained through sacrifice had come back to haunt him. Perhaps it was not that the sacrifice itself was inherently flawed, but that it had been performed too hastily.

When it came to the fusion of supernatural materials to increase one's foundation, Michael could be considered a minor expert. For the power the Emperor had gained, the time taken had been far too short. It was not surprising that problems would surface later.

Seeing the faces appearing across the Emperor's essence, Michael could make a reasonable guess. When the Emperor had devoured his kin, it had most likely been done without properly separating their bloodlines, simply consuming everything whole. That was obviously going to become a problem eventually.

At first, the enormous increase in strength had hidden the flaws. But now that the battle had dragged on within the Trial Domain, the instability was beginning to surface. The Emperor felt it as well. His movements became less fluid.

Beginning immediately seized every opening.

Below, Michael slowly lowered the hand he had been raising toward the coffin. Perhaps he would not need another hundred after all. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

In the end, Michael never needed to sacrifice another hundred. The battle continued for another two hours. At some point, many of the capital's residents had emerged from their hiding places to watch the battle that would decide their fate.

The clash had long surpassed their level of understanding. All they could see were two colossal figures repeatedly colliding inside the darkness above.

Inside the domain, the Emperor's situation grew increasingly worse. His original advantage had vanished the moment Michael restored the giant's strength, and the instability within his essence continued growing.

There was also the matter of Beginning himself.

The giant was a terrifyingly quick learner. He lacked experience, but he possessed something equally frightening. Adaptation. The Emperor gradually discovered that tricks which worked once no longer worked twice. Methods that had succeeded ten minutes ago suddenly failed. Openings that had previously existed disappeared. Mistakes were never repeated.

Beginning was learning throughout the entire battle. Learning. Adapting. Improving. Again and again with every exchange.

At first the Emperor could still rely on superior technique and experience, but the gap slowly closed due to his deteriorating condition until it finally disappeared entirely.

"Damn monster…"

The Emperor cursed with undisguised hatred. His essence remained unstable and the screaming faces beneath his scales appeared more and more frequently, steadily weakening him even without Beginning actively devouring portions of his strength.

Meanwhile, Beginning only grew stronger. The more they fought, the more the Emperor also understood this creature had been born for battle.

The battle became one-sided. The Emperor's confidence, greed, and ambition all vanished one after another. Now only survival remained. The emperor no longer thought about surpassing his ancestors. He no longer thought about conquering neighboring empires. He no longer thought about ruling the region.

He only wanted to leave.

Unfortunately, the Trial Domain possessed no exit.

Time passed, and the end finally arrived.

The Emperor's draconic body was barely holding together. Large sections of his essence had already been devoured. His aura had fallen dramatically. Meanwhile, Beginning stood before him like an unmovable mountain.

The Emperor let out a bitter laugh. "Heh…"

"What a terrifying monster…"

Beginning moved. The giant's hand closed around the Emperor's enormous neck. The draconic serpent struggled weakly.

"No…"

His resistance amounted to nothing. The giant opened his mouth and devoured him completely. The Emperor's screams echoed throughout the Sea of Darkness, then disappeared entirely.

The ruler of the Black Serpent Empire was gone.

Outside the domain, his body turned to ash alongside two hundred others. At the same time, a panel appeared before Michael.

[Your Undead 'Beginning' has levelled up to Level 96!]

A seven-level increase.

At the same time, under the shocked eyes of everyone present, a roar sounded and shook the entire imperial capital. Michael's undead High Drake emerged from the void. It too had already finished its battle.

With this, Michael had finally defeated the most powerful enemy he had faced until now.

It was finally time to deal with the aftermath.