Chapter 471 - 469:'Look into my eyes.'

Chapter 471: Chapter 469:“Look into my eyes.”

Amusement thrummed through my being as I watched the group of people that were supposed to be ambushing me try to regain some form of decorum.

"Cute..." That’s all it was.

"How are you here?" The crimson-robed man among them, presumably the leader, asked in a grim voice.

"You have a lot bigger problems than worrying about how I got here, so hold your horses for a bit." Done with the man, I turned to my true target.

"You..." I focused my attention on the minion that had just finished narrating what was quite the fascinating story. "Was all that you said true? Did all that really happen?"

"Boy... what are you—" The crimson-robed man tried to interject himself, but,

"Don’t interrupt me when I’m speaking." I swiftly took his mouth, turning him into a mouthless freak.

"Hummm... hmmmm... HMMMMM!!!!"

"Now, answer my question while I’m still asking nicely."

"Ye... yes... yes... it’s all true." The minion folded like wet paper. So much for cultivators not bending before heaven or earth.

"And how do I believe you? Believe that you’re not fabricating things to sound cool?"

"I’m not!! I swear I’m not!!" The fright pouring out of the minion suggested that he was indeed telling the truth, but,

"Sana?"

"Humph! I already helped you check. He’s right, something like that did happen."

"Thank you, my love."

"Who’s your love!!? You bastard!!! That’s the last time I do anything nice for you, humph!" Ignoring the tsundere spirit, I shifted my attention towards Leo.

"Thoughts?"

"About what?"

"Well, what we just learned."

"You can’t possibly be thinking I’m related to some Empyrean gryphon nonsense, right?" The chicken-cat seemed offended that I was even bringing up the topic, but,

"You’re a griffon."

"And? Does that mean I have to be from some pathetic Empyrean gryphon clan? Don’t insult me like that, Dante; that’s low."

"Pathetic? Insult? How?" Now I was genuinely confused.

What was pathetic about a clan of beasts that had put an entire galaxy cluster on notice? Their threat was so great that the galaxy cluster needed help from their "sugar daddies" before they could force them to retreat.

The Empyrean gryphon clan sounded quite impressive more than anything.

"You don’t understand, do you?" he asked, his voice still in that lazy tone, but now, there was something else. Disappointment?

I shook my head as my confusion deepened, brows creasing.

The group of ambushers had been put aside as I needed to understand what my chicken-cat was talking about.

"Haa... to think you would think so little of me. I’m hurt, Dante."

"Bitch! What the fuck are you talking about?" Now he was just pissing me off. What did he mean by—

"Tell me, Dante, what would you do if someone killed your precious little brother, Lucien?"

The entire world froze on its axis. Not just the world—the entire galactic cluster was forced to a screeching halt as I turned the motion of reality OFF.

"Leo...." My voice was low. Raw. Threatening...

"What would you do if someone decided the little man was worth nothing more than a resource to be exploited?"

BOOOM!!! BOOOM!!! BOOOMMM!!! The skies lit up in fireworks as multiple worlds began imploding one after the other, but I paid them no heed. I needed something to keep me from ripping my friend’s head off his shoulders, as he seemed to be walking a very tightrope tonight...

"Leo..." That was the second time I was calling out to him. "There will not be a third."

The world fell silent as the golden griffon looked me in the eye. Not a word was spoken between us for what felt like an eternity before—

"There... right there... is what I’m talking about." The chicken-cat smiled. "I am sorry for my words, but they needed to be said. I understand that with the shadows you have placed with the boy, danger is an impossibility, but just the mere mention of such a thing has already sent you into a spiral. Now imagine actually seeing it."

CRAAAAACKKKKK!!!!!!!!

The skies split apart in a thunderous roar as multiple meteorites fell onto Canglan—meteorites that were parts of planets that had imploded. Yet still I paid them no heed.

"The reality that birthed such an audacious individual has yet to be born. And so long as I exist, it shall never come to be. So... stop." I would allow no more talk of harm to my little man. Not even from my friend.

"Haa... I’m sorry." Luckily, the chicken-cat seemed to have taken the cue as he backed down. "I meant nothing with my words." He shook his head, eyes locking into mine once more. "I just needed you to understand."

"Understand what?"

"How disappointed I am that you would assume that I, Leo Wildeheart, could possibly come from a pathetic and cowardly clan like those Empyrean gryphons." There he goes again. Calling them cowards, but—

"They gave up, Dante."

"What?"

"They gave up their vengeance after the battle became balanced on both sides."

I went silent. The dots finally clicking in my head.

"His son was murdered. Turned into a martial spirit by infidels, and yet, when the going got tough, when the battle was no longer overwhelmingly in his favor, he took compensation and left. Aurelion Dareith, or whatever he is called, could’ve never led a clan that birthed me."

His words rang out loud and true as I finally understood his disappointment in me.

"What do you think I would do if I ever saw someone hurt a cub under my protection, much less my own blood and flesh? Tell me, Dante, what do you think I would do?"

"You would plunge all of creation into a world of inescapable despair. One where they shall plead. They shall beg. They shall hope for death, yet even then, you shall take that hope from them until they become nothing but hollow shells of themselves. And then, you shall restore them, only to begin the process all over again, until the very end of time." My answer was instantaneous. I knew my Apostle of Despair well enough to know where his head was at, and it seemed I was right, as his dead eyes brightened, a small smile curving the edges of his beak.

"It seems you do know me after all." The chicken-cat nodded, satisfied.

"Haa... I’m sorry, Leo."

"It’s fine. I can understand why you’d try to lump me in with those bastards, but don’t do it next time. I’m the only one of me."

"As you wish." I could only agree.

"Awww... so cute. What a nice little romantic moment," Malachi’s teasing voice shattered the atmosphere as the monkey yawned, picking at his ear. "Oh, if you don’t hurry, you’ll destroy this galaxy you’re trying to explore so much." The fucker had the guts to point his waxy finger towards the collapsing skyline.

My eyes looked up, finally registering the destruction my outburst had caused.

"Haa... I really need better anger management." I shook my head in exasperation.

"Yeah, good luck with that."

I ignored the monkey as I raised an arm up, and then—

SNAP!

Reality froze, glitched, then returned back to what it was as a thought passed through my head.

"Phoenix-Dragoverse, huh?" I guess that’s another place worth checking out, but first, I should get my engagements settled within this universe first.

Calderans. Abyss. And the most important of all, bringing my parents back.

I shook the thoughts away as I turned my attention back to the frozen group of ambushers. "Now, what do I do with you?"

I had already lost all interest in making a bloody spectacle, so now, I just wanted to devour them and be done with it, but,

"How about turning them into martial spirits?" The chicken-cat had other, more interesting ideas.

"Hmm? Turn them into martial spirits?"

"Of course. Let them get a taste of their own medicine."

It wasn’t a bad idea, and one I definitely expected from Leo. His sadistic mind seemed to have been stoked.

As for whether or not I could do it, well, that would be a dumb thing to ask.

The <Abyssal Sovereign Light Of Primality> bloodline that I had acquired through Touch Of The ABSOLUTE—the same bloodline I’d given to Aunt V, Melissa, and soon to give to my blue-skinned princess—didn’t just suppress and subdue a myriad number of beasts. No, it suppressed and subdued all forms of primordial life forms, and that included humans.

What did that mean? It meant I could do what the Calderans were doing, a form of bloodline manipulation that forced the dormant assimilative properties of the Lin family’s martial spirit bloodlines to awaken, and then manually assimilate the souls of the beasts they killed into them, thus birthing new martial spirits for them, but on a wider, grander scale.

A simple thing, but to these Lin bastards, it might as well have been a divine technique.

"Heh! Fools."

I got ready to begin, but,

"Hold up, Dante. Before you begin, I have another suggestion."

"What is it?"

"Don’t erase their consciousness." I could see the wicked light of sadistic pleasure flashing through the chicken-cat’s eyes, and I was now intrigued.

"Why shouldn’t I?"

"Because it will be more fun if they were actively aware of their states, don’t you think? Imagine being aware that you’re nothing but a martial spirit, a mere tool meant to assist others in achieving greatness, a greatness you yourself will never be able to achieve, yet being utterly incapable of doing anything but go along, because at the end of the day, you’re just a tool."

"That’s sick, Leo... I love it." My grin matched the bastard’s sadistic one as ideas churned through my head. "I’ll also make them fully remember who they were, their true identities. Everything about them remains them, but they shall become nothing more than automated spirits without wills. I love it."

"AHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! I knew you could understand me perfectly, you sick bastard."

"I can say the same for you, you crazy chicken-cat."

We laughed like a pair of mad scientists about to begin their evil work.

"Hey... should we be worried?" Nyssara asked as she looked at the two crazy men.

"Hmm? Oh, them? Don’t worry, they should calm down after a while," Malachi replied. "You should get used to this pretty soon if you plan on spreading your legs for that bastard anytime soon."

"Wha... what... what are you talking about!???" Her face reddened at once.

"Ohh... nothing. Don’t mind me." But the monkey just laughed and shrugged her off.

....

"Ahh... alright, I guess it’s time to get to work." Done having a proper laugh with the chicken-cat, I finally got down to business, about to turn a bunch of humans into martial spirits.

As for who was getting these spirits, I had no idea. I might just pass them out randomly, but before any of that,

My left eye, the cosmic one, began heating up as I decided to give them the fear special.

"Look into my eyes..." My voice echoed like a decree as every last one of them locked their eyes onto mine, and then—

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Horrifying shrieks of terror cradled the night into rest.

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A/N: Dante and Leo are sick bastards, aren’t they? Damn... anyway,

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