Darius Supreme

Darius rubbed his chin and decided on something. "The two of you, use my brain as the main processor for the de-encryption. I have an idea."

Solena seemed hesitant to do so, but eventually caved in. Darius closed his eyes as he felt a weight fall on his brain, his mental activity spiking until it reached the maximum.

It felt like hundreds of ants were running up and down his scalp, but instead of ants, it was just information running up and down too fast that it could actually be felt.

Darius focused on his titles, especially the Desert King one. He bypasses the aspect that allowed him to control the sands as it was useless here on Pokterr, rather focusing on the aspect that made him a Pseudo-True Lord.

After all, he had imbibed the Origin Essence for them, only that it was concentrated into his title. Now that he was trying to focus on it, he gained the characteristics of a True Lord, only within his mind though.

But this was enough, as Miranda and Solena reported with shock that the encryption was going much faster, almost at a blazing speed. The usual roadblocks they would have to bypass and carefully avoid were being smashed through like the Juggernaut was running through walls.

Darius felt a remnant presence in the mind of Medea as he neared 100% completion, and that remnant presence lashed out at him, but was not nearly powerful enough to do anything.

Rather it spoke coldly. "I sense Origin Essence? Another True Lord? No, a fledging who only just got their power."

"Take my advice. Stop your nonsense and return my vessel to me, or you will suffer my wrath. You may think yourself invincible, but True Lords have died before and can die. Do not give yourself a reason to be added to that list." The voice stated with killing intent.

Darius was amused by this. "Goddess Hecate? Hiding among the God of Faust as an undercover agent much like God Krona. You are right in the den of the enemy, of the most vicious and cruel ones. If they were alerted to your true nature, I wonder how many you can kill before they tear you apart?"

Hecate was silent for a long while before speaking again, this time in an irritated tone. "Who are you? And what do you want?"

Darius smiled beautifully, having forced the Goddess to take a step back for now. "Me? I'd rather not say. The power of witchcraft is all-encompassing and insidious. Why I bet right now you are even planning to stall order to cast a powerful spell to either scry me or track me."

"So I'll keep it short. I will extract all the information about you, your operations, and your power from Medea, then destroy her soul. As for her body, I have many uses for it." Darius finished with a smile.

"You'd dare to-" Hecate began angrily.

"Yes, yes, I was just letting you know. I don't have time to let you stall for anymore, so goodbye." Darius interrupted as he resolutely destroyed the mental remnant Hecate left in Medea's mind and scattered it into nothingness in case there was a trap hidden inside.

Before he did anything, he opened the system shop and scrolled through casually. He then found what he was looking for, which was quite steep.

[Anti-Witchcraft Arts - Manual

Durability: 200/200

Grade: Advanced

Description: Contained within is the required knowledge to obtain the powerful Anti-Witchcraft Arts skill. Due to the high quality of the material and the penmanship, the success chance of learning the skill is increased by 100% while its effectiveness is increased by 500%.

Price: 2,500 True Coins.]

Darius had 15k True Coins, so he bought it and learned it immediately. Feeling the knowledge entering his mind, he was shocked by the depth of Witchcraft, and the things it could do.

Darius realized that Vena was right, even with millions of stat points, there were things that could make such benefit useless. If he didn't buy this, he wouldn't have suffered much under his Dragon Ancestor bloodline and his Desert King title, but those close to him would have paid a steep price.

Witchcraft was insidious. If a person was more powerful than you, so what? By all means, they had family, friends, or someone they loved. If they didn't, then you could pay a price to twist reality to introduce people into their lives that would become loved ones and Then hurt them through such connections.

That was why Witches themselves never associated with anyone closely. Even their Apprentices could be turned into tools to help them achieve their goals at any time.

Medea like this was probably a vessel Hecate was preparing to possess later on to extend her life, not caring about the current inhabitants' thoughts at all. After all, she was not a Goddess, but a True Lord.

She did not have eternal life, like other True Lords or the Gods, especially because as stated earlier, Witchcraft demanded a price, which came in the form of stats, providence, life force, and more.

That was why stereotypical witches looked like old hags with warts and boils. Did you think they wanted to look like that? They just didn't have a choice in the matter.

Hence, Darius taking away Medea was severely harming the interests of Hecate. She would likely stop at nothing to dig his identity out and show him the true meaning of despair.

[Anti-Witchcraft Arts - Level 1 Skill

Cost: None

Description: This is a long-lost skill belonging to a unique faction of witches who despised their craft and sight to create ways to protect others from it. With their intimate knowledge of the field, it was child's play to develop a system of spells and incantations that would protect anyone with enough intellect without needing to learn the details of wizardry, witchcraft, and warlockcraft. Currently, this skill negates 1% of any magical effects from witchcraft specifically.]