A New Mission
I gazed coldly down at the horrific lump of flesh writhing and begging for pleasure at my feet, my entire body cloaked in my pitch-black demonic aura. Since my flesh was an abyss that rejected mana outright, even the waves of extreme shame, guilt, and bestial lust pouring from him were forcibly converted into savage demonic power the moment they touched me, dyeing my body an even deeper crimson-black. With this, my revenge was perfectly complete.
Splat, crunch! Dull friction sounds mingled with the ceaseless echoes of mangled flesh and shattering bone from behind me.
"Aaaagh! M-Master! Please, just once... just once, have mercy... ugh!"
Even as his body was pulverized by the rusty pickaxes and clubs of the commoners he'd treated like insects, Ignis howled like a beast, begging only for pleasure at my toes. Whether that blood-and-filth-smeared lump of meat died right here under their blows or suffered in heat like a bitch in perpetual estrus for the rest of his life—it meant nothing to me. The moment my savage demonic authority tore his soul and pride to shreds, corrupting him utterly, my revenge had already reached its flawless end.
I indifferently brushed the splattered crimson-black blood from my hands and jaw, turning my back coldly. I was just about to take heavy steps toward the exit of the collapsed mine.
From the darkness filled with thick smoke and swirling ash, a shadow approached silently, blocking my path.
"......Elise."
It was her. The covert guard who had watched my revenge drama and Ignis's pathetic downfall from the shadows with a meaningful gaze. My eyes naturally drifted to her right shoulder. The arm that had been mercilessly severed by Ignis's rampaging 6th Circle flame spear and left rolling on the ground had already been reattached flawlessly, without a scar or wound in sight.
It wasn't her own magic or some artifact. It was the result of the sticky, savage lustful demonic authority I'd explosively unleashed while ravaging Ignis flowing back through the mark engraved on her body—just like with Rubia and Seria—stitching her severed bones and flesh back together at a grotesque speed and regenerating them perfectly. My abyssal power had forcibly redeemed even her flesh.
Elise clasped her now-perfect hands together, knelt on the blood-soaked floor, and bowed her head politely before me.
"This country... no, the entire kingdom is already rotten to the core from the top down. The arrogant wielders of power merely squeeze the blood and flesh from the people to sate their own vile desires."
Her cool voice carried deep contempt for Ignis and profound awe toward the overwhelming abyssal power that had even restored her severed arm.
"With the savage and absolute power you've shown, you could overturn this rotten world from the very bottom. Please... let me follow you. I will serve as your shadow on that path."
Elise's unwavering eyes turned to me. Though it was a vow from the one who had once monitored me, I looked down at her with cold eyes, devoid of hesitation or emotional fluctuation, and rejected her outright.
"Step aside."
At my dry command, Elise's shoulders tensed slightly. With my chin, I pointed to Ignis behind me, his limbs being torn apart by the commoners as he spewed pathetic wails.
"My side isn't some shallow stage for the salvation or grand causes you imagine. The moment you follow me, a far more horrific and cruel abyss than the ravaging hell you just witnessed in this mine awaits you. If you value your life, abandon your vain dreams and find your own way out here."
It was right then, as Elise bit her lip with a hardened expression at my firm, cold refusal.
"M-Master! Take us too... please take us with you!"
Urgent footsteps echoed from the darkness, and Rubia and Seria rushed up behind me, clinging desperately. Their bodies, melted by Ignis's flames, had been perfectly regenerated into flawlessly smooth skin without a single scar, thanks to my demonic lust authority flowing through their marks.
The moment she saw the sisters clutching my clothes with trembling hands and pleading, contempt and disgust flashed in Elise's eyes as she blocked my path.
"Hah, what a joke."
Elise sneered from atop the ash heap of the ruined mine, snapping coldly at Rubia.
"Weren't you the one wagging your tail most faithfully at that arrogant Ignis's feet just moments ago? Where'd you sell that pathetic summoner pride of yours? Now you're shamelessly slobbering over a new master. It's so revolting I could puke."
Elise's icy barbs struck Rubia's sore spot dead-on. But while Rubia was a pitiful bitch before me, she wasn't one to back down easily from Elise.
Rubia bit her pale lips and fired back sharply.
"Shut your mouth. Why doesn't the old hag who hid like a rat in the lord's chamber corner finally piss off? We received Master's authority and bear these marks. There's no room for a bitch like you."
"What did you say? Old hag...? You filthy slut dare—!"
The air turned vicious in an instant, a murderous tension swirling over the ash. As a bloodthirsty aura rose, thick enough to spark a magical clash any second, Seria hurriedly stepped in front of Rubia, who was watching warily from behind.
"Stop it, Rubia! Elise, calm down too! This isn't the time for us to—"
It was the moment Seria's urgent mediation echoed through the mine.
Elise, unable to contain her rage and radiating killing intent, locked eyes on Seria's face—and her pupils dilated massively, her entire body freezing stiff.
"S-Seria...?"
Elise's voice trembled pathetically. She staggered back as if she'd seen a ghost, disbelief etched on her face.
"My god... Seria, how are you alive? You definitely... breathed your last in that hellish experiment and punishment..."
Elise had believed Seria was dead. She knew of the horrific catastrophe the sisters had endured under Ignis's brutal rule. The shock of seeing someone she'd thought dead standing before her—whole and unscathed—was too much to bear.
At Elise's stunned question, Rubia's shoulders jerked. Memories of the hellish times her sister had suffered due to her own past arrogance and mistakes flooded back, filling her with bone-deep guilt; her lips quivered as she hung her head.
Seria gently clasped her crumbling sister's hand and gave Elise a bitter, pitiable smile.
"A lot has happened since then, Elise. Until we met Master, we were no different from the walking dead."
The three women's noisy quarrel and tearful reunion filled the ash heap with chaos. Their tales of past grudges and miraculous survival stirred no emotion in me. I turned my back on the meaningless pandemonium, quietly stepping toward the mine's entrance.
Swish.
But before my toes could even kick through the ash, my view was simultaneously blocked by three shadows. Elise, who had been radiating murderous intent; Rubia, head bowed in guilt; and Seria, who had mediated between them. As if on cue, they moved in perfect unison, sealing my path airtight.
"Master, where do you think you're going! You can't leave us behind."
Rubia spoke first, her voice thick with extreme anxiety and obsession at the thought of losing me.
Elise blocked my front with her restored arms, staring up stubbornly, refusing to yield an inch. Seria silently gripped my clothes, sending me a pitiable gaze.
Before the three women's blind determination to follow me from this hellish mine, I let out a short, heavy sigh.
"Step aside. There's nothing you can do by chasing after me."
Even at my cold dismissal, they didn't budge. With a nod of my chin, I pointed to the mine's survivors huddled far off, holding their breath as they watched Ignis's crushed remains in the blood and filth—their faces a mix of fear, rage, and relief at their miraculous survival, flickering precariously in the dark.
"You have far more important and weighty tasks than trailing me."
At my grave declaration, the three women's gazes turned simultaneously to the commoners. People they'd devoted their lives to serving, and trampled like insects while reveling in that power.
"Bear the horrific sins of your silence, complicity, or indifference to Ignis's tyranny in your flesh and soul for the rest of your lives. And from this ash heap, rebuild a new domain where even those pitiful mana-less commoners can live like humans, no longer trampled like beasts."
I slowly pried Seria's hand from my clothes, adding icily like a wedge driven into their abyss.
"That is the price of your survival in this hell—and the atonement you must pay with blood and vomit for eternity."
My absolute command sliced through the mine's murky air. Rebuilding the domain wasn't just an order; it was the most savage and sacred punishment, shattering their mana-supremacist arrogance root and stem, forcing my providence upon them.
Even at my unyielding wedge, Elise on her knees didn't retreat an inch. Head bowed amid the ash, she pleaded again in an unwavering voice.
"We will carry out the heavy atonement and domain reconstruction you've commanded, even if it consumes our remaining lives. But..."
Clenching her perfectly regenerated hands, Elise continued desperately.
"Please let us repay the overwhelming grace that saved us from that arrogant Ignis's tyranny and this hellish pit. Don't abandon us—allow us to offer even the smallest devotion at your side."
At Elise's desperate stubbornness, Rubia and Seria behind her nodded silently, sending me pitiable gazes. To these women who'd lived their lives under the rotten power of mana supremacy, my existence—rejecting mana utterly and crushing their lord with pure savage abyss—was already an absolute faith.
I looked down indifferently at the crowns of the three women resolutely blocking my path. The crimson-black demonic aura swirling around me weighed heavily on the mine's stale air. A suffocating silence hung over the ash for a moment.
No longer interested in breaking their blind, tenacious stubbornness, I slowly opened my mouth.
"Then."
At my low, heavy voice, the three women's shoulders twitched in unison. I uttered that forbidden name slowly and chillingly, as if burrowing into their ears.
"Izakar... Do you know that name?"
It was an instant. The three women, who moments ago had steeled themselves for domain reconstruction and vowed fervent devotion, froze as if trapped in a massive glacier. The air in the mine iced over in a flash.
I saw it clearly. The blood drained from Elise's face, turning it ghostly white. Rubia's jaw clenched with a terrified clack, and Seria's large eyes lost focus, shaking wildly in extreme shock.
It was the expression of those who'd glimpsed the absolute bottom of hell, something they should never have seen. The silence was so eerie that even the sound of swallowing felt like thunder.
Only after a long while did Elise, prostrated on the floor, manage to move her pale, trembling lips and rasp a hoarse question.
"Th-that... h-his name... why in the world... are you asking...?"
It wasn't mere curiosity. It was the desperate, quivering echo of despair from those confronting an unimaginable terror.