The Conquerors Path

Shira's mind seemingly lost all sense of reason as she attacked me, the rapier I gifted in her hand as she drove it towards my chest. The boost in power gave her a raise in speed, but this, in turn, would ruin her foundation. A plate made so quickly within anger will definitely crumble once all the anger within you fades away. The prospect of leveling up during a fight is just stupid and one that easily takes your talent away.

"Not good enough..."

I responded as I punched her in the face, her jaw cracking as she flew away from me and hit the wall on the other side. This was followed up by a call of rage and killing within the mansion. My people and my family were at play as they began their hunt, everyone involved in this situation either being killed or maimed.

"You played us...."

Trigon muttered as he fixed himself in his place, all the powerful ones completely locked in their positions, unable to move. Probably the courtesy of Mira, keeping these people in their positions. I'm sure that her eyes are on the room and everywhere else at the same time.

"Mira Lionheart..."

One of the ten men muttered, to which I smiled.

"Bingo! She is here...."

My reply only brought more despair to the people all around. The horrors in this place were enough to get rid of their life and their family's reputation forever disgraced in the minds of the present and future. Right now, I can see their minds swirling desperately, trying to find a way out.

The odd one out was Shira, who lay there on the ground, her eyes a bit vacant as she stared at the ceiling. The first part of my revelation brought her pain, and my punch now gave her clarity. The reality of the situation quickly settled in as she leaned against the wall, choking as her tears kept running down her cheeks.

The shock of the man she came to love with everything betraying her slowly chipping away at her sanity. The aura around her getting dark and wearing. Certain red-like inscriptions appeared around her, while her body kept twitching on the ground.

'Good thing I already broke her jaw.'

It would have been more disastrous for me if Shira started to scream in a more disastrous voice that I used her body and let her be. This going into my aunt's ear will not bring me the positive effect that I am aiming for. The cover of just being Shira's good friend would have then been blown completely.

"This is the end. There is nothing you all can do now..."

I spoke. Killing them might be good, but then I would be depriving the world of the information they need, especially from Trigon. He is more useful alive than dead to the world.

"This is not over....."

Trigon suddenly muttered.

'And then there it is, the twist...'

And just as I thought this, Trigon's body suddenly burst forth with power. Thousands, if not millions, of red disgusting inscriptions-like lines, wriggled in his skin like worms. The same thing happened to the rest of the people in the room, the nine others' forms turning and twisting disgustingly as their form began to twist.

An aura that I am very familiar with started to rise from them.

"Corruption energy!"

Mira shouted out in my ears, and the thing is I am not feeling this just from here but from the entire manor. My senses linked with Farah's as I started to feel the chimeras in the underground awakening. They too released a potent level of never-before-seen corruption energy. The 'babies' in the underground popped like bubbles, becoming red mists, causing several spikes in power all around the manor.

'Power batteries.....huh.'

In front of me, all of them became something different. The men gained an extra height, their limbs elongating, while the red inscriptions fit perfectly on their darkened skins. The form of the nine men was disgusting to look at, but for Trigon and Shira, the transformation was more perfect...

Both of their forms didn't change, but their skin became darker, forming the color of dusk. Small crack marks formed around their skin, while a single huge inscription took the form of 'ō' on their forehead, the aura within them heightened to a never-before-seen power level, an intense suffocation filling the hall as Shira and Trigon broke into a never-before-seen increase in level of power.

[

Name: Trigon Hillclowd

Power: Imperial Realm 1

]

[

Name: Shira Hillclowd

Power: Origin Level 10

]

'Yeah, that is bullshit if there is any.....'

Such a rise in power is unheard of, even if corruption energy takes over a person. Moreover, what the fuck law did Trigon get to just burst through to the Imperial realm in just a single go in a single second without even giving Mira a chance to retaliate?

'No wonder they are all being smitten into this path.....'

With the promise of such power, through such easy steps will tempt anyone. Even more, I can see that the transformation for none of them has taken away their sanity or state of mind. Shira, when her eyes opened, filled with complete black with the same hate, anger, and pain as she did before she transformed, and even her lost sanity was still at play.

[

Name: Shira Hillcloud

Love: -200%

]

'Guess that's a new benchmark?'

[That's for sure.]

"Austin, stay behind."

Mira spoke in a heavy voice, the mana around her getting heavier as she said so. Trigon too opened his completely black eyes, a dangerous smile filling his face as he started to clench and unclench his hand.

"So this is true power..."

He murmured, while the other twisted people kept chuckling, their eyes focused on the two of us, to which I just smiled. My emotions easily flowed towards Mira, who turned to look at me with a confused look.

"I didn't come alone, aunt..."

I muttered. And as soon as I spoke beside me, Aira appeared, and just as she did, the atmosphere froze. All the enemies in the manor froze, my allies froze, and even Mira stiffened in her place as Aira, the little cutie in her child form, looked at me with feigned anger.

"Daddy you broke your promise..."

She muttered while biting her lips. To this, I feigned a sad look as I walked towards her. I am sure that in this atmosphere, it is only me, and Grace capable of moving. Aria's command over Mana subconsciously never even thought of hurting the two of us.

"I'm sorry, little princess. You see, these people pulled your daddy here, and I was unable to get to you. These bad people are the ones keeping Daddy here..."

I spoke as I lightly patted her head, her anger smoothly melting away as her face scrunched up, disgust and hate filling her eyes for a moment as she muttered.

"I hate this smell...."

'Looks like her subconscious hate towards corrupted energy still lives within her mind.'

Aria was my backup plan, just an insurance in case things went south like this. Even I thought this was too much due to the fact that with Mira, things would be more than set. In fact, it already is. Even if Trigon is at this level, in a real one-on-one battle, Mira will be able to beat the crap out of him. But that will take some time, in which Mira's control over the mansion will be cut off.

Using her great range, she had complete marks on the mansion as the sole ruler over this area. But the moment Trigon reached that level, the control was cut off, as his domain reached great heights. Hence, while those two fight, the rest of us would have been left to the work of the 'monsters' on the ground.

'Guess it's never too bad to be too cautious....'

Well, not like we would have been in any pitch with my skills, but that would have required me to reveal some of my cards this early into the game, and I didn't want that.

"Huh.....guess you prepared for everything."

Mira spoke with an impressed tone, to which I just smiled back at her, the feeling of having overpowered skills just making me smile. Of course, it wasn't for this. Then some high-level life-risking fights would have taken place.

'Perhaps being the giggle of the Gods isn't such a bad thing....'

As I mused at that thought, I still didn't forget to try and seduce Mira. My feelings of 'pride,' 'happiness,' and 'love' still went toward Mira, making me earn a small blush on her cheeks. Having had some fun, I turned my attention back to the hate-filled Aria as I spoke in a calm childlike voice.

"My darling, do you hate this feeling?"

"Yes."

She replied with her innocent eyes, to which I continued.

"Then why don't you make all these guys except for just one among the many go puff!"

At my words, Aria just tilted her head, seeing so I took some more time to drill the idea of what I meant, while all this time the ones in the room who were smiling with happiness now just felt pure dread on them.