Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

Chapter 732

[Level Up] x5016

[Use Absorption]

Skill: Dark Mist

Upgrade: Divine Grade

[YES][NO]

[Congratulations! Rising Emperor's Domain Milestone Reached!]

[80,792/50,000 Worlds Claimed]

[New Perk Unlocked: Path to Domination]

Info:

[Fast Travel][i] is Now Available for all Generals.

The Rising Emperor may now borrow an additional 5% of all Base Stat Points and Mana Control efficiency from all subordinates under the allegiance of the Rising Emperor.

The caster may only borrow or share exclusively; both actions cannot be performed simultaneously.

Members affected by this perk are not required to be within range of the Rising Emperor's Domain.

This buff stacks with the [Authority among Worlds] perk, [Ruler of Worlds] perk, [World Collector] perk, [World Domination] perk, [Imperial Reach] perk, [Expansion] perk, [Dominance] perk, [Authority] perk, [Power Holder] perk, and [Ruler's Gaze] perk if used simultaneously.

_____________

The moment I kill Andras Vermillion, a burst of notifications rushes into my mind. Over 1 million additional Low Quality ether flows into my stores, a large amount of levels bring me to [Lv. 38,205], and dense divine and demonic energy enters my body.

One strong Noble Grade World now floats beside the Exile Guardians world. Behind it, 999 new 1st Class Worlds float as well. There are 2,841 2nd Class worlds, and 75,709 3rd Class Worlds that enter the dark void within my mind too. Half of all these worlds are drained completely of their mana and life, and were just being used for stats bonuses.

However, many worlds still house hundreds of millions of awakened, and this rise in links makes the amount of borrowed stats available to me skyrocket by over ten times in an instant.

This was expected... My main focus is now the [Dark Mist] skill upgrade I receive and the new True Core attribute that comes with it.

From below, I can read this Demon's status and see it using this Divine Grade skill, but the domain of darkness that fills the room has a far different aura rippling through it. It feels like a unique True Core attribute, but the vibrations of a Noble being make it distinct and far more powerful...

This ability flows into me along with all the demon's energy, and activating the domain in an identical fashion becomes second nature.

I see as though it is as bright as day in perfect clarity as the darkness shrouds the room again, and I send waves of telepathy into everyone within the room as the Wyvern and I fully burst through the floor.

The instant the darkness hits, Ava leaps into action, using a shared image of the room through my eyes via the [Spectate] perk in my Rising Emperor's domain to navigate even while she is blind.

I jump off the Wyvern's back, and it dives down while I soar upward. Ember steps through the air closer to me, activating his hybrid dragon form, then fully transforming into his full black and red dragon appearance.

As the Wyvern and True Dragon pass each other in the darkness, they recognize one another by their energy signatures.

"You've returned..." the wyvern whispers in the darkness.

"Follow the others and trust in my plan. The Grand Citadel will be reclaimed, but we must be patient," Ember replies, sending a strong wave of telepathy piercing through the darkness.

Demonic Energy envelops his being, and I share my concealment skill with Ember to let him alter his appearance to match the Demonic Dragon disguise I flew in with.

Ava's speed increases even more as she's granted an additional 1% of borrowed stats, and she darts around the room in darkness, setting the stage.

The many corpses of Demonic orcs and cyclops guardians in her system storage are perfect for the deception. The Goblin Queen takes out Soul Weapons nearly identical to the Warlords' and places fallen beasts in their positions.

Two large guards are used for Zashen, and the massive longswords of spear-wielding guards are crossed to replicate his image. Leftover avatar flesh still dissolving from many of Ava's kills is placed beneath where Ember once stood.

I send waves of Demonic Energy from my palms down at the displays, and Ember adds to the effect, casting a small amount of white fire down where his corpse should be.

The Warlords watch as the Demonic Dragon they witnessed crash their duel transforms into the dense ether signatures of an old forgotten friend. Without hesitation, they all climb onto the Wyvern's back, including Ava, and dive into the hole created in the center of the room.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

–

The moment they disappear out of sight, the dark mist covering the room lifts.

I follow through with my plan to simultaneously get away with killing a demon publicly while bolstering the Vermillion Family's prestige.

The entire Citadel watches as I release an overwhelming aura of intimidation while acclimating to this immense rise in power and yell my declaration.

"I, Drako Vermillion, declare myself the new Lord of the Ellipsia Citadel."

In the same instance, the memories of this Noble Demon I just killed flood into my mind.

–

Just like the other two Noble beings I've killed in the past, the memories of this demon start off in a monster-infested world of darkness.

It began as a fledgling demon, just like Drako Vermillion. However, I watch it fend for itself for far longer than expected.

Over a full century of mindless violence passes, and the similarities between this Noble Demon and my past memories of one are striking. Its raw strength and power overwhelm all other beasts on this world, like it is born to be a king.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

It grows in stature with every kill, draining demonic energy from its enemies and the atmosphere itself.

I watch the demon rank up, growing into a greater demon, then an archdemon, dominating this world and slaying triple-ranked-up demonic beasts that would normally be far beyond its limits.

While these memories flash by, a phrase the Wyvern spoke to me before we entered the Citadel comes to mind. He asked if it was truly possible to awaken nobility if not born into it.

This thought resurfaces when I feel the first unsealing of a Noble Bloodline within this demon's memories, and the total authority and domination it wields over its homeworld once it does so.

It makes me question why other beings on that world hadn't awakened their Noble Bloodlines too, as they were all born onto a Noble Grade world with enough energy to do so...

As more time passes on this dark planet, the demon begins cultivating red divine threads, as the sector of the galaxy this planet resides in is dense with natural divine energy, much closer to the source than most worlds I've seen in other memories.

In just a few years, it forms its own red core; and a decade later, manages to awaken its orange.

Other beings on this planet achieved similar feats, taking longer. But even when this demon had no divine energy to pull from, it could kill its stronger divine-cored adversaries easily with its Noble Bloodline Transformation and natural strength.

It takes this demon another half-century to move through the sector of space and absorb more of the ambient divine energy its planet flies through before awakening its yellow core.

Another full century passes, but not much changes in that time.

There is enough Demonic Energy for the demon to continue strengthening its dark core, but at the rate the divine clouds in space drop threads into this world, the demon knows it will surely die of natural causes thousands of years in the future before reaching the next stage.

It is merely an unlucky draw.

This demon has conquered its world but gazes up into the star-filled sky through the thick clouds of darkness shrouding its world, lonely, wishing for more...

It has never faced an opponent that truly gave it trouble. This demon was naturally gifted and found its limits far too young, never able to push its true potential.

That is, until one fateful day, as it stares up into the endless starry sky, a shadowy horned figure descends to its world.

A bright green core burns fiercely in its chest, and a cloud of divine energy so strong that even this Noble Demon struggles to breathe and remain conscious under its pressure.

The entire world feels as though it's shaking as a being, simply too powerful for this realm, visits and makes this lonely Demon an offer it cannot refuse.

"We who have been born into the path of Nobility look down on worlds, not up at the stars. I will show you true power and give you a reason to become stronger. I shall form the 5th Great Family, and you shall serve as a Noble Demon of the Vermillion Bloodline in a Kingdom called the Upper Realm."

These are the only words I recall from this shadowy figure, as a block of memory is carved out from that demon's consciousness, just the same as the Exile Guardian who faced this same strange demon.

The fact that a green core showed up in physical form in the Lower Realm is confusing enough, but the overwhelming horror, fear, and submission rippling through my mind once this Demon regains consciousness are even more intriguing.

The same total loyalty to the Family Head is wired into this Demon as I relive its time training within the Fortress Citadel, battling countless Demonic beasts and sparring with another Noble Demon, handpicked from the Lower Realm at a similar time, named Sisco.

The two of them train together for over 5,000 years. In the meantime, every few centuries, a new 2nd or 1st Class demon is brought into their ranks.

Many of these Demons remain within the Fortress Citadel to continue their training and education. Eventually, after a large disturbance throughout the entire Green Zone of the Upper Realm, the Family Head grants the two Noble Demons ownership of their own smaller Citadels to manage and strengthen the family's influence. During this grand event, another lapse in this demon's memories is shrouded by the Family Heads dominance.

It is impossible to get a good look at this figure, or know his true plans. The memories left in this Noble Demons mind are hardly a step above the Exile Guardian's, at least regarding the information I'm looking for.

Another 12,000 years pass, and every few hundred years, another strange disturbance appears in the Demon's memories, obscured by the shadowy figure of a large horned demon I've grown to accept as the Family Head's appearance. Each time, a stronger sense of fear and loss of hope, disintegrating individuality, and unquestioning loyalty is left behind.

However, some interesting knowledge is sprinkled within, it is not all useless.

Hundreds of business meetings flash before my eyes—a growing panel of Vermillion Family Demons strategizing to acquire planets from stronger races and legacy businesses that surpass them in wealth across various citadels.

These long, meticulous plans unfold over millennia. Tens of thousands of duels and sparring sessions against 1st Class Lords who dare to challenge the Demons, as well as the overseeing of the Exile Guardian under the citadel, play out in vivid detail.

The memories of this Noble Demon looking out from the top floor of the central tower, gazing down at the city, are interspersed with its memories from its home world—gazing up at the sky.

It is torn between the knowledge that it is no longer the strongest, though it holds power over millions, and the simplicity of its past life—believing itself the strongest but confined to a small world.

This very thought races through its mind during its final duel. Saddened by the fact that it was defeated by 1st Class Lords, it remembers a time when its natural greed for power was not suppressed by the Family Head. Maybe if it trained on its own, and grew according to its own rules, it could have beat these lower lifeforms. The Demon reflects on how it became dull and submissive—a pawn in someone else's game.

A strange, blissful release echoes in my mind. Even as it curses those who opposed it, Andras Vermillion is strangely content in his final moments as I crush its core—knowing that whoever killed him is following a path he never could.

–

Many more intricacies of long-term plans and numerous commands for avatars to trigger certain actions within this citadel rush into my mind as I circle the empty room on Ember's back, filled with the fake corpses of Warlords below me. The central tower continues to tremble.

The walls of the dueling room I stand in crack more and more as my aura spreads, and the servants on the lower floors of the tower forcefully shut down the Citadel-wide broadcast once they realize their ruler has been killed in such a manner.

–

Instead of the holograms across the city going dark as before, they all completely shut off, signaling the duel's end and confirming the chaotic display is truly over.

The crowds throughout the citadel erupt with mixed reactions.

"What... just happened...?"

"One of the earlier broadcasts in the Volterra District announced another Noble Demon was going to arrive here. Was this planned?"

"No... how could they plan such a thing? Maybe he was just watching and decided to kill a demon that betrayed their values. This Drako Vermillion looks much stronger than the last Citadel Lord..."

"You're right. He only had a single world on his palm, and he killed all those fighters and the Citadel Lord with raw strength alone..."

"He seems even more ruthless than Andras."

"Now all the powerful organization leaders who protected us from the Demons taking over have been killed... Is it really over?"

"I don't know. W-What's going on?"

"Yeah, this is all too weird..."

"Are the humans, Ogres, Orcs, and Berserkers being exterminated or not?"

"I-I don't know, but the Citadel is still completely locked down. We can't leave or send any messages for help, so we're at the whims of this Demon."

"He can kill us all in a heartbeat if he wishes. Maybe he's a rank above a Noble Demon? How else could he achieve such a domineering victory?"

"No way... What if he set all of this up... and he'll turn us into servants, not just the races that offended the Demons?"

"We'll just have to wait for an announcement. There's nothing else to do... We're truly powerless. The Citadel is his now..."

The awe and tension from this duel between the lower races and the Demons ends in a manner no one could have anticipated.

The Vermillion Family has demonstrated its dominance by killing all who opposed them, along with the Noble Demon that failed to uphold its family's honor.

The new ruler's intimidating presence ripples through the minds of every Lord for tens of thousands of kilometers to the edges of the citadel, even after the broadcast cuts off.

–

Not a single soul outside this isolated Citadel knows what has transpired.

Monthly surveillance transfers are sent to the Grand Citadel every 30 days, so it is not unusual for there to be no news for long periods; the Grand Citadel is millions of kilometers away.

What is unusual, however, is receiving an emergency system message signifying a Demon from one of the 5 Great Families has died.

This is what rings in the Vermillion Family Head's system interface as an automated series of notifications are sent out the instant Andras is killed.

Simultaneously, four more automated notifications ping in the systems of other Family Heads, lighting up system messages across all of the higher Colored Zones of the Upper Realm.