On the outskirts of a village, Itsuki stood. The gold pendant he held pulsated violently as if it was about to reunite with its long lost lover. Hanging in the air was the scent of potent kegare and an eerie silence.Night had set upon the world once again. Bringing with it the swarms of demons and another temporary era of hibernation. As usual, another group of people were caught off guard and lured in by the village.
Donning the Concealment Mask, Itsuki subtly joined the batch of sacrifices.
The village consisted of 2 dozen buildings. Most of those were locked warehouses and a few were houses. The biggest house was village elder"s and somehow seemed the only one which was hospitable and offered hospitality.
The person at the forefront knocked on the door gently. After a few minutes, a middle-aged man with gray hair and wearing white robes responded.
"Have you seen a woman wearing a kimono with the dianthus flower on it?", one of the group asked.
The middle-aged man calmly shook his head. He then invited the group in as it was night time and he indicated that the forest would be filled with demons soon.
"Doesn"t that mean Ayumi-sama is dead then?"
"What do we do? If we can"t find Ayumi-sama then we might as well die"
"Why not take this chance to escape?"
"You idiot. The rest of us have family still there. If we ran then we would suffer the consequences"
Part of the group began silently bickering amongst themselves as they began to fear for their future. If they left the forest before finding the lady then they would be executed for failing to properly guard her. If they stayed in the forest then they would inevitably have to deal with demons and still die. This village was their last hope and if they couldn"t find her, then they should at least find the philanderer which lured her away and accuse him of murder.
Meanwhile, Itsuki silently watched with an amused expression behind his Mask. n.o.body had noticed him yet. He didn"t even need to activate Stealth as somehow he was invisible to the group. He was being treated in a similar manner as something taken for granted would be which gave him zero presence.
Is this how the ghost haunting people in horror movies feel?, Atlas thought. Anyways, he decided to explore the rest of the house if the man wearing white robes couldn"t notice him.
The villager with white robes promptly escorted each member of the group to a separate room. He then amiably stated that they could stay the night and dinner would be prepared for them soon.
The villager then finally a.s.signed the last member of the group to a room before leaving Itsuki standing there by himself.
Surprisingly presence is more effective than Stealth, Atlas thought.
"System, are there any abilities regarding presence?"
"Affirmative. Currently host has Intimidation and Phoenix Aura. Intimidation has an upgrade available"
[Intimidation Upgraded: Domination(-1000)]
I wonder how contradictory effects will affect each other, Atlas thought. The Concealment Mask basically made others perceive one as the background while Domination would force others to notice what seemed like an overlord.
Itsuki was about to try out his new ability but the gold pendant began to pulsate once again. Understanding that the Holy Supremacy"s granddaughter was nearby, he held out the pendant and slowly rotated until the pendant indicated the direction to go towards.
[Rank Quest Path Completed:
50000 Points Added]
In the room where the village elder stood, the floor was covered in runes written by blood. At the center lay a pile of corpses. In a corner, a man hid trembling with trepidation.
That"s Ayumi-sama"s kimono in the pile!, the man thought.
Intending to sneak back to warn his comrades, he began to furtively leave.
"Don"t bother. They"re all dead", the village elder suddenly sounded. Without turning his head, he threw a dagger which immediately incapacitated the man.
"Same with the rest of you", the village elder continued but this time, referring to the other villagers. Their faces portrayed confusion which later turned into one of shock. As they began to run from the sacrificial room, the village elder activated the blood array.
Immediately the pile of corpses turned into ash. The villagers felt their blood being swiftly drained and collapsed soon after.
Out of the ashes rose a demon of high ranking. It had the appearance of a pale-faced youth, his features could cause most females to salivate l.u.s.tfully, but a slight decay could be seen throughout the other parts of his body.
"Lord, I have succeeded", the village elder said before kneeling and awaited for further instructions.
"Servant, why has the Oni not come to congratulate me?", the demon spoke with a hint of irritation. A mere demon general of the human realm dare not greet him? He was above them and could easily remove them from their positions. To be this insolent would suggest that they forgot that they were not true Demon Generals.
The village elder hesitated. The death of a demon general could easily hinder a realm"s invasion and indicated a troubled future. In the grand scheme, demon generals were actually quite feeble especially when compared to the demon generals of h.e.l.l. If the demon had a status of general in h.e.l.l then it could level entire cities overnight.
The only reason such a valuable human realm was void of superior demons and arch demons was due to the pact which they all agreed to. None of them properly reported which allowed this realm to safely bypa.s.s the greedy hands of the superior demons.
It allowed them to exploit the human realm"s power while allowing the humans to exist. Superior demons would relentlessly ravage the realm similar to rapid deforestation.
"He has died", the village elder responded after a long pause.
The statement sent the demon into a state of shock and panic. Even if demon generals were weak, they weren"t likely to be overwhelmed and could still contact those supporting them.
After calming down, he asked, "Has a superior demon noticed?"
"No, one nearly did though."
"Then how is Oni dead?"
"A human has surpa.s.sed him and learned how to use soul energy"
"Soul energy?!"
To utilize soul energy is a great feat regardless of the realm. The demon G.o.d created h.e.l.l through his mastery of soul energy and it had boundless potential. For a human to learn it would immensely increase the value of the realm which the human resides in and cause it to become more dangerous than valuable.
"You demons conduct very interesting conversations", someone suddenly said.
Both the demon and the village elder turned towards the voice to find a masked individual.
"Lord Darkblood? What are you doing here?", the village elder asked bewildered but prepared to kill the human.
"It"s a different Darkblood. Is this the one who killed Oni with soul energy?", the great demon asked.
Another human who was capable of utilizing soul energy?, the village elder was thoroughly bewildered. This human realm produced more than one individual capable of wielding soul energy. To find a soul user would require the invasion of at least 20 different realms. This realm was clearly beyond their capabilities.
"No. The human who killed Oni was old and feeble"
To think a random village in the middle of nowhere would a hide a secret this significant, Atlas thought. That old monk really taught me something special. Ever since I received the system, tempting fate has become completely serendipitous.
"Are you going to eliminate all humans who can use soul energy?", Itsuki asked in a monotone voice which brought a chill up their spines.
"No. We"ll leave immediately. However, before we can close the world breach, a few curious superior demons might ravage this realm for some time"
The village elder and the great demon then left but as appeas.e.m.e.nt, gave him a mysterious vial.
[Minor Realm of Purgatory]
(A container of a purgatory shard. Contains an entire realm to torture one"s enemies. Stores blood and souls)
Interesting, Atlas thought. An item as small as a vial could contain an entire realm. Were all worlds just shards stored in a small container? Was his original world just a shard as well? Since they were shards, what would happen if you remade them into a whole?
"System, are all worlds just shards which can be exploited by higher beings?"
"Negative. Worlds are a special existence of their own and this is just one type out of many"
"SYSTEM! Does that mean Worlds can be manifestations of games or stories?!"
"Affirmative..."
Sadly this isn"t a fanfic, Atlas thought.