Shortly afterwards, Dalton awoke in a pitch-black place, unable to make sense of his bearings or to see anything at all. He tried to move, and realized that he had been strapped tightly to a chair, unable to shift no matter how hard he struggled.
Seconds later Klein appeared, looking exactly like the man from his past life, and told Dalton that this was the place where souls arrived beyond the world of the living. He introduced himself as Archmond, and explained that he had created this afterlife.
While Dalton tried to make sense of the gibberish, Klein read out his charges like a devil sitting in judgment. He revealed that while Dalton was alive he had starved and tortured dogs. Dalton had also habitually committed abuse, all in the name of hunting, and Klein remembered the joy on his face when he committed those atrocities.
Dalton was still confused about his situation, and he barked at Klein to explain instead of talking nonsense. He was about to threaten him when he stopped mid-sentence, recalling that he had been cut down only a few minutes ago, and yet here he was, perfectly fine.
Seeing the confusion on his face, Klein let him know that he was already dead. He explained that the purpose of this afterlife was to return one's karma, and that Dalton was here only to receive the karma of his life. Dalton protested, refusing to accept that he was dead, and told Klein to quit the jokes and simply let him go. Klein did not care whether Dalton believed him or not, so long as he paid for his sins.
With demonic energy, Klein summoned the souls of the dead dogs, which growled angrily at Dalton while he trembled. As they continued to growl, viciously and ever louder, Klein told him to listen to the screams of the lives he had killed. Then the dogs were unleashed, and Klein reminded Dalton that this was the hell he had built for himself.
The dogs pounced on him while he screamed helplessly, begging and crying. Back in the real world, tears streamed down Dalton's dead eyes, even though he was nothing but a corpse now.
Klein watched him quietly for a while before turning his attention to the undead army that had helped him achieve this victory. Since they had answered his call, he decided to return the favour. Klein swiped his hand through the air to release them, and as a reward for their help he broke the curse that had bound them and granted them their freedom. Once released, the skeletons began to dissipate until they had vanished completely, without a trace.
Watching the dust disappear, Klein felt oddly at a loss, because he could not understand why he was alive. Death was when bones crumbled and scattered on the wind. He could not work out the purpose of his own reincarnation.
He was still turning that over when a cloaked figure suddenly appeared, calling Klein a necromancer and addressing him by his actual title, the second son of Rheinland. Klein figured that the uninvited guest must have been watching everything from the shadows, so he calmly asked the cloaked man to reveal his identity.
The stranger refused. Instead he began pouring demonic energy into the corpses scattered across the ground. With a smug grin, he declared that Klein would never live long enough to learn who he was. As Klein watched, the demonic energy seeped into the bodies, and one by one the corpses reanimated and rose as undead. Klein quickly recognized that the man was using soul return magic to control the dead, which meant that he was a necromancer.
The cloaked man remarked that although Dalton had failed, the corpses should still prove useful. After saying that, he let out the usual kind of laugh that every weak, disposable villain lets out.
Back at the Conwell estate, Dunkel was worrying about Klein when Aren approached to tell him all the stories she had heard from Garrison. But Dunkel was not in the mood for small talk, and he kept thinking about Klein while staring at the magic scroll.
He wondered why Klein had taken an emergency magic scroll at all, and what worried him more was that three hours had already passed since Klein entered the forest, with still no news of him. Dunkel found the whole thing suspicious, and it had been giving him a bad feeling for a while.
Unable to stay still any longer, Dunkel prepared to head out and search for Klein, but a couple of grunts tried to stop him. They reminded him that leaving his post might cause problems, and that the hunting contest was still in progress, so he should hold on a little longer.
As Dunkel quietly studied the grunts, he noticed that they wore the Conwell family crest on their uniforms, which meant they were Dalton's lackeys. That set off every alarm in his head, so he decided to intimidate them, reminding them of his position as knight commander of the main line. He also threatened to teach them a lesson if they kept blocking his path, and with one terrifying glare the grunts froze on the spot, scared out of their minds.
A few minutes later Aren called out to Dunkel, asking if something was wrong, and Dunkel simply told her that he was going out to find Klein. He told her to head back to the family estate with Garrison, but Aren revealed that Garrison had already left.
Dunkel was surprised, and wondered when the priest had slipped away. Aren then told him that Garrison had worn a very serious expression before he left.
Dunkel immediately recalled that Klein had told him to tear the magic scroll if the priest suddenly vanished. He hurriedly mounted his horse, noting that Klein's disappearance was no coincidence. Then he ripped the magic scroll apart with his teeth and, fearing that something was definitely happening to Klein, rode off at speed.