The Shadow Sam possessed didn't stop at destroying one soul. The movement speed increased and now it fought like a conscious opponent and lunged towards the next soul.
Before long, Sam destroyed three souls with just pure ravaging energy bursts and soon there are only five souls left on the other side.
As the shadow ran after them, they retreated towards Tamas who is making handsigns and within in a few seconds the five souls moved toward each other in a rapid speed and collided with a bright light.
When the bright light was gone and the vision returned, they saw only one soul in the air hovering around. But it has five heads distributed all over the body of the soul and the energy it contained is immense.
Sam and his team didn't even know how to react. At least Sam knew what happened, the team were completely oblivious to what is happening and they don't even know what to make of the situation.
The technique Tamas used is actually called Soul Merge. Even though Tamas is known for all kinds of necromancy and he did have a well rounded expertise, it still seems like Soul necromancy is his cup of tea.
The two advanced techniques he used are related to souls. One in which souls merged with normal undead and the second one in which the souls merged together.
In both cases, the results of merging are formidable. Even though, Sam couldn't show any expression on his face and on the face of the shadow he possessed, he is anxious inside.
Shadow undead are already disadvantageous towards the soul undead. But now the other party has an advanced soul undead that has a power of five combined in one.
He could grit his teeth and fight and wish that his technique is enough to deal with the soul and thus the battle began.
Sam began using all his physical fighting technique with the shadow undead with only exception being channeling the death energy in every punch and kick he threw.
As for the soul, it is not budging. The movement speed of the soul increased three fold and the endurance seemed to have increased by five fold.
The strength increase cannot even be questioned.
If not for the fact that Sam possessed the shadow which resulted in a lot stronger connection, it would have already been severed.
After a few exchanges, the soul halted in its tracks and its body started glowing brightly and soon all the glow was channeled to one arm of the soul which then turned into a glowing blade.
Sam had a trepidition in his heart and his instincts are screaming to return to his own body and thus he did. He instantly abandoned the shadow and his consciousness returned to his own body. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw that glowing blade strking the shadow which sliced the shadow and the connection between Sam and the shadow away.
Sam knew that he already lost. Even the two shadows he has in his hands wouldn't be able to do anything if Tamas has tricks like that under his sleeve. If only he could use other elements that would have been great.
While Sam is thinking like that, he suddenly thought of something and decided put a last ditch effort. He might lose, but he could at least lose while fighting.His two remaining shadows moved towards the charging soul that was coming towards them.
Sam quickly possessed one shadow and used the void style with death energy in it. But the void style is not for a punch or a kick or even a movement technique, instead it was for the whole body crash and as soon as he finished the energy circulation and the jump, he let go of the possession and let the shadow do the rest.
The shadow clashed with the soul and exploded as it couldn't control the after effects of the void style.
The five faces of the soul showed intense expressions of pain and two of them died.
Sam lost one shadow and when he was about to possess the second one land the final blow, he saw the glowing blade and immediately made the shadow dodge.
The blade didn't slice the connection away and instead it only managed to take a hand away and no matter how much Sam tried to recover it by pouring the energy, it was not possible.
The hand was gone forever.
The next moment another slice came and Sam couldn't think before the connection between him and the shadow was severed.
The soul then charged towards Sam directly after finishing all his undead. Sam was pretty disappointed. It is his second loss in the row and he became a bit frustrated with himself. As the soul charged towards him directly, he couldn't control himself and threw a kick with void style with death energy.
The kick landed squarely on the soul and the energy explosion happened which threw the soul to dissipate on the spot.
Only after it was over did Sam realize what he did and immediately apologized with a sigh.
"I am really sorry. I was just a bit out of control."
But Tamas didn't speak, he looked at the dissipating soul and showed the surprised expression.
"Tamas?"
Sam called him once again and Tamas recovered this time.
"Don't worry. The match was over anyway. I just wanted to mess with you a bit."
"Okay then, we will get going. Thank you for your time. If by any chance you want to talk to me, come to crimson reed realm and go for the dusk organization and ask for me.
They have ways to contact me. Even if I was out of reach, I would get the message and meet you as fast as I can."
"That is useful, but are you not here to recruit me?"
"Of course, but I didn't meet your conditions."
"Well, they are my conditions, so I can change them as much as I want."
Sam was surprised and asked.
"So, are you saying you want to join my team?"
"Yes. But there is a new condition."
"Do tell."
"I want both of us to sign a contract. There is a reason why I was working alone for quite sometime and I don't want to repeat same mistake."
Sam just smiled and said.
"Not a problem. I don't have any objections for that."
With that both of them signed a soul contract which prohibits them from betraying each other and Tamas, a skillful necromancer became a part of the team.
They returned to the inn where Tamas insisted on celebrating and that night Sam started focusing on the next target.
He doesn't know which one to choose as both of them are equally difficult.
But after some thought, he decided on trying with the woman inside the sect.
The whereabouts of the challenger are still unknown and even though they are sure where he would come, there is still a lot of time for his arrival.
So, the only choice left is the obvious choice.
They can only go after the woman from the sect.
So, Sam and decided on the journey.
Tamas asked for a few days to settle things here while Sam tried to get any possible information on the realm they are going as it is not too far away.
Even though Saber Monarch got the information, it didn't have much on power structure.
While Sam is focusing on that, Sia was interested in talking with Tamas.
"Why did you accept his offer even when you lost?"
Tamas smiled and asked.
"Why are you interested in this?"
"I am just looking out for him. If you are so set on your own rules for this long, I don't see a reason for you to change them now all of a sudden. You want something else."
"There is something else I want, but you don't have to worry about that. As you know, I cannot betray him."
"Even though you cannot betray him doesn't mean that you are not using him."
"Well, that is the deal wasn't it? He is using me as well. So I don't see a problem here."
"You have to tell me what you want now."
"I already told you not to worry too much. It was just for improving my necromancy skill. Sam is one of the best necromancers I fought and he came this close to beating me. There are some people who managed to do more than that and there are a few victories I only got with hair's breadth difference. But none of them managed to do that with pure basics.
Sam didn't have any advanced techniques in necromancy in terms of battle. His skill set is completely basic and shadow possession can only be considered above average at best.
No person with that skill set should be able to force me to use the soul merge technique, but he did. I want someone like that. Someone who cares and nails the basics down. Only a person like that can beat me and Sam is not even a necromancer by trade. It is more of a hobby for him.
I just want to practice with him which would help me tune my basics and also open new possibilities for me.
Are you satisfied now?"
