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Chapter 20 - The Necromancer

Nyxara, a demonic witch born in the abysses of a forgotten realm, was an enigma carved by pain and power. Her ebony skin gleamed like polished obsidian, her violet hair, cut in an asymmetrical bob, framed a face of sharp features—high cheekbones, thin lips, and silver eyes shimmering with cold intelligence. Her body, lithe yet muscular, bore pulsating rune tattoos, remnants of forbidden rituals.

Master of forbidden magic—necromancy, temporal manipulation, shards of annihilation—Nyxara lived to defy the laws of the underworld, her ambition forged in a past of betrayals and battles.

...

She was born in the crypts of Vyrn, an underground kingdom where demons worshipped dead gods. As a child, she grew up among necromantic priests, fanatics who sacrificed souls to summon specters. Her mother, a priestess named Sylvara, trained her from the age of five, teaching her to channel the energy of captive souls.

"Focus, Nyxara!" Sylvara shouted, her yellow eyes piercing, as the trembling girl levitated a shattered skull. "If you fail, the gods will devour you." Nyxara, her tiny claws clutching a grimoire, learned quickly, her silver eyes capturing every rune, her mind absorbing pain as fuel.

By twelve, she surpassed her mentors, summoning a warrior specter that slaughtered a rival priest. "You're too powerful," Sylvara whispered, a mix of pride and fear in her voice, during a ritual beneath a vault of skulls. "Hide your strength, or they'll break you." Nyxara, already rebellious, ignored the warning. During a ceremony, she challenged the high priest, Zarneth.

"Your god is a lie!" she declared, her sharp voice echoing. She summoned a storm of wailing souls, shredding Zarneth, his bones pulverized, his blood splattering the altars. The priests, terrified, banished her, chasing her into Vyrn's tunnels.

Alone, Nyxara survived by looting tombs, stealing artifacts, her spells repelling spectral beasts. In a forgotten crypt, she discovered a cursed grimoire, the Codex Nihil. "Read me," a voice whispered in her mind as she caressed its human-leather pages. The codex taught her forbidden magic—spells that bent time, disintegrated flesh, chained souls. Each ritual cost dearly: her blood, her memories, her health.

By sixteen, her rune tattoos appeared, etched by magic, each line pulsing with pain. "Want power?" the codex hissed. "Then pay." Nyxara, her silver eyes burning, sliced her palm, her blood feeding the runes, her body trembling as she slowed time, freezing a predator demon before gutting it, its entrails smoking.

At eighteen, Nyxara left Vyrn, emerging into the Sablemorne Plains, a desert of black dunes where demonic clans clashed. She sold her skills as a witch, massacring enemies for greedy lords. During a battle against the Agares clan, she faced a demoness named Kryss.

"You're just a kid!" Kryss taunted, wielding a rune-etched axe. Nyxara, a cold smile on her lips, summoned a shard of annihilation, a black energy sphere that disintegrated the axe, then Kryss's arm, blood spraying. "A kid who kills you," she replied, her claws slicing Kryss's throat, the body collapsing. The Agares, impressed, hired her, but Nyxara, wary, left after stealing their magical gems, her boots trampling blood-stained sand.

In the following years, Nyxara became a wandering legend, hunted by bounty hunters and vengeful priests from Vyrn. In the Kurogane Marshes, she faced an angelic assassin.

"Your spells defile creation!" he shouted, his white wings shimmering, his lance aimed at her heart. Nyxara, dodging, manipulated time, slowing Lirion, his movements becoming blurred shadows. "Your creation bores me," she growled, her claws summoning a specter that shredded Lirion's wings, golden blood spilling. She finished him with a shard of annihilation, his chest exploding, the marshes echoing his final scream. She took his lance as a trophy, her silver eyes gleaming with triumph.

At twenty-three, Nyxara temporarily settled in the ruins of a yokai citadel, seeking to master a Codex Nihil spell: chaining multiple souls. During a ritual, she summoned ten specters, their wails tearing the air, but the spell slipped her control.

Her reputation drew the attention of a demonic lord, Valthor, who tried to enslave her. At a banquet in his basalt palace, he invited her, his red eyes appraising her. "Join me, witch," he commanded, his voice rumbling, a rune-collar in hand, meant to bind her. Nyxara, in a black dress revealing her tattoos, chuckled. "You think you can own me?" she replied, her silver eyes glinting. She summoned a necromantic storm, tearing out Valthor's soul.

At thirty, Nyxara reached the pinnacle of her power, but the Codex Nihil demanded more. In a volcanic cave, she attempted to bend a temporal rift, a spell capable of rewriting the past. "Give me your soul," the codex whispered, her tattoos burning, her skin blistering. "Never," she growled, her claws slicing her own flesh, her blood fueling the spell. The rift opened, visions of Vyrn—her mother, the priests—swirling, but she closed it, refusing to yield. "I forge my own future," she declared, her silver eyes blazing, her body trembling but intact.

Nyxara, now a feared pariah, wandered without ties, her exploits etched into her tattoos, each rune telling a story of victory, loss, and sacrifice. In a tavern in the Shadowveil Plains, she faced a demonic mercenary, Drakar, who challenged her for her bounty.

His rune-hammer struck. Nyxara, dodging, summoned a specter, the hammer crushing the shadow. "Done?" she replied, a shard of annihilation pulverizing his chest, bones flying. She drank her beer, her claws tapping the counter, terrified patrons falling silent.

Her life was a cycle of battles, discoveries, and challenges against herself. "Power has no master," she murmured, alone under a starry sky, the Codex Nihil beside her, her silver eyes fixed on the horizon. Nyxara, demonic witch, lived to defy the impossible—until she met him.

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