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A bloody secret
🕑 Added 2022-09-29 11:00:05 +0000 UTCAfter breaking through into the third shell of his perception source, the system informed Seth he might have gained a brainwashing ability, but he never tried it until today and didn’t know how effective it was.
The sudden text in his vision made Seth heave a sigh of relief and release Necros from his grasp, but he remained unmoving, a dull look in his eyes.
‘System, what happened to him?’
<The experiment appears to be a success.>
‘What success? I turned him into a vegetable. I still need him able to function properly.’
<Check his aura and perception towards host.>
Seth did as the system told him and noticed that Necros’ body was shining with a golden aura, not giving out any perception energy at all. Every living being was supposed to release perception energy, either good or bad, but none came from Necros, who had every reason to hate Seth.
‘Can you explain? I still don’t get it. You said that my perception source in the third shell should be able to influence people, but I still don’t understand what this aura color and perception inactivity mean.’
<The golden aura symbolizes complete reverence, but since a forced change in perception induced it, you cannot gather any more perception energy from him.>
‘Alright, but what about the dull look? He looks completely brain-dead. I have no use for a braindead idiot.’
<I don’t have enough data to confirm a definitive answer. The highest probability is that his soul is adapting to the forced change. It will take a while for him to recover his consciousness.>
‘What about the consequences of this ability? Also, what else have you learned about it? It feels a bit too strong for a third shell ability, so I’m expecting some strong drawbacks.’
<You must suppress the target and break its mind before using the ability, or the success chance will be low.>
<Other than that, there is a need to recover the spent perception energy the same way host is cultivating. The shell capacity remains, but the energy won’t recover naturally.>
<Perception energy appears connected to a being’s soul, so I’ll need more data to understand why that happens.>
Seth frowned and sat down to recover his destruction, time, and space energies. It took over half an hour until Necros’ body shook, and he fell on all fours, throwing up on the ground continuously.
Ignoring the repulsive display, Seth continued watching Necros with interest. He was curious about how his new ability would manifest.
After emptying his stomach, Necros looked up, only for his eyes to shake when they landed on Seth. His hands trembling slightly, he fell to his knees and hit his head on the contents of his stomach that were littering the ground.
“This slave of yours awaits your command, oh Mighty One.”
“Hmm, interesting...” muttered Seth before asking: “Who are you?”
“Your humble slave, Necros, oh Mighty One.”
“What position do you have in the city?”
“I’m the leader of the city underworld, oh Mighty One.”
“Just call me Seth. Since you are my slave, that means that you’ll do everything I tell you to?” asked Seth, finding the way Necros addressed him quite annoying. He also didn’t like the idea of having a complete slave.
“Understood. Yes, this slave will listen to any command my master has for me.”
Seth checked his aura and perception, but it had no change again.
‘What is wrong with these irregular energies? They are so much more terrifying than regular ones. How is he?’
<He still has his memories but would only act according to host’s wishes. His will might have also been voided, and he might need constant guidance.>
‘So, he’s just a puppet?’ asked Seth with a frown. ‘This is not good. I still needed him.’
<Affirmative. Host’s plans will have to change. I suggest using Elise and Xander.>
Seth sighed and quickly cleaned Necros from his filth with a wave of destruction energy before creating a portal and dragging him through it. Once they walked out of the portal, they were inside a small house at the edge of the outer ring.
A tall but slim girl was sitting on the windowsill, playing a small flute while watching the full moon outside. Her ashen hair drifted with the wind, and her mind appeared to be far away from there.
She finished her song and placed the flute down on the windowsill but didn’t turn to look inside the room. Her soft and calm voice drifted into Seth’s ears with the wind.
“You must be Seth.”
Seth smiled and said: “I hope Miss Elise would excuse the sudden night visit. I hope I’m not disturbing you.”
The girl smiled as well and turned to look at him. There was a trace of intrigue in her crimson eyes as she fixed them on Necros, who was kneeling next to Seth.
“You caught quite the rat tonight. I heard Necros was looking for us earlier.”, said Elise as she stepped down from the windowsill and headed towards Seth.
Her bare feet made no sound as they came in contact with the ground, and even her entire presence seemed somehow ethereal, like she was nothing but a ghost wandering under the moonlight.
“It was a frustrating night, yes.”, replied Seth with a sigh, watching as Elise crouched down in front of Necros.
She waved her petite hand in front of his eyes before bringing her face closer to his. Her lips were only an inch away from Necros as she stared directly into his eyes, but Necros did not react at all to her actions.
The more she stared into Necros’ eyes, the more serious Elise looked, the smile from earlier leaving her lips altogether.
“What did you do to him? His will is completely dead, his soul trapped, his mind in shambles. Terrifying.”
“A small experiment.”, said Seth as he turned to look at Necros and ordered: “Lick her feet.”
Necros immediately lowered his head and brought his tongue to Elise’s feet. Elise swiftly moved back, dodging his attempt at licking her feet, but Necros seemed unrelenting as he chased after her on all fours, trying to complete the order he had just received.
Elise was frowning as she kept moving backward to escape the crazed Necros, but it all stopped with another order from Seth. “Necros. Stop and sit.”
Necros stopped his chase and sat down on his behind, following Seth’s order.
Elise also stopped moving back and looked at Seth. “Quite an intriguing character you turned out to be. Why did you come to see me now? You never did before.”
“Because I never had a suitable gift, and now I need a favor from you. What do you think?”
Elise giggled while covering her teeth with her hand and came closer to Seth. Bringing her face closer, she fixed her eyes on his, just as she did with Necros.
“I have no interest in this dog, but if you come with other offers, I might agree. I heard word that you are quite the - catch - when it comes to nightly activities.”
Seth didn’t back away, his eyes fixed on hers with no ripple passing, disturbing their calmness. “I would have to decline since I’m already fully booked, but I didn’t think someone like you would be interested in what people do in bed.”
Elise sighed as her eyelashes fluttered gently, and she pulled her head back. There seemed to be a trace of resignation in her voice as she asked: “Is there anything you don’t know in this world?”
“I don’t think so, no. So, are you interested in making a deal? I know you could make use of someone like him.”
Elise looked at Necros again before shaking her head and walking to the small, two-person bed. Sitting down, she fixed her eyes on Seth but didn’t answer his question immediately.
“I heard you’re heading for Blood soon, intending to take it over, I suppose. You ascended are strong, but with all that knowledge of yours, you should know there are beings more terrifying than you can imagine in that kingdom.”
“You mean your people? Not to sound too rude, but your power is nothing compared to what it used to be. Ascension is the future; you should have already figured it out by now.”
Elise sighed again and stared into Seth’s eyes for a long time before letting her body fall on its back. “So you do indeed know about us as well. Then, I guess there’s nothing else I must warn you about. What do you want from me?”
“I will instruct Necros to follow your every order. I want you to take over the underground network he has established and ensure the kingdom doesn’t crumble while I’m away. You are the only person able to pull this off.”
“I won’t be able to help since my time is quite short, but the kid can take care of it. What do we get if we help you?” asked Elise, her eyes fixed on the wooden ceiling above her bed.
“What do you want?” asked Seth, already knowing what she would ask.
“I want you to help me clean them all. My people, that is. As long as you can help me achieve that, I wouldn’t mind helping you with whatever else you want.”, replied Elise, a trace of hatred in her soft voice.
“You still haven’t given up on that broken path? How many times do you have to fall to understand that it leads nowhere?” asked Seth with a sigh.
“Wherever it leads to, I want to see it. You ascended have your path, while I have mine... So, will you agree to my request?”
“It’s a deal, but I might need to keep them alive for a while. After they have outlived their usefulness, I’ll help you wipe them out.”
Elise smiled sweetly as she nodded, and her entire body exploded into a bloody fog. A young man with short, ashen hair, a pale complexion, and pure crimson eyes appeared out of that fog. Sitting up from the bed, he nodded towards Seth and said: “Your deal, we agree.”
Seth chuckled and turned towards Necros. “Necros, from now on, you must listen to every order Xendar or Elise give you as if those orders came directly from me. Understood?”
“Yes.”, responded Necros with the same fanatical look in his eyes, and Seth turned back towards Xander: “I’ll leave this place in your care. Be careful, as there will be a lot of spies coming from the nearby kingdoms in the future. Use the underground network to kill as many as you can. All I need from you two is to stall for as much time as possible.”
“No problem. We’ll take care of it.”, replied Xander, his face bearing no emotion.
With a nod, Seth teleported again, leaving the tiny house and appearing next to the entrance to the tunnel where he fought Necros. He observed the situation below with his body covered in an aura of time energy.
Iris was there, accompanied by a few royal guards and teachers from the academy, all of them moving around with frowns on their faces.
<They are working to fix the large holes that have appeared in the capital’s underground while also searching for Necros.>
‘This will make some trouble for Elise and Xander, but they should be able to deal with it.’
<You left plenty of traces of destruction energy during the fight. Iris will be able to find proof of your involvement here.>
‘Before she can move, I will be long gone.’
Having checked out the situation, he quickly teleported towards the place Necros stored his vials. He filled his storage space to the brim before creating a portal to his storage space in his classroom and filling that as well.
Looking at the few remaining vials, Seth chuckled and teleported away.
<Robbing Necros for energy vials. - complete.>
