"Ugh… never mind," I muttered, the woman helping me stand back up. And suddenly, as I sat back down in my chair, ready to start eating again, she clapped twice. The duchess immediately came to her service, appearing from a cloud of bats that dispersed as fast as she arrived.
"You called, Your Highness," the vampire bowed deeply, her eyes fully dug into the ground, unmoving from their positions.
"I want you to spar with the kid. If you lose, he'll take your spot as my assistant. If you win, I'll make sure to reward you greatly and even gift you one of your evolutionary requirements once I return to my empire."
"Your Highness, you seriously believe this boy will have a chance against me? He may have evolved, but he's still just a kid."
"Okay? And? Then you shouldn't be afraid to spar him," The demon god responded, causing the woman to gulp down a large drop of saliva. There was no loss for me, but there was a chance for a massive loss for her. It was a hard deal, but as her beloved empress was the one who sent out this order, she couldn't help but accept.
We soon walked to the training area overlooking the recovering city. Still, the demon lord had yet to step in, but from the looks of it, he wasn't necessarily needed. Most of the nobles were able to manage and take care of their citizens despite how much they looked down on them.
"Hey, are you sure you want to spar me?" The vampire asked as she grabbed a long sword from a rack surrounding the arena. I as well grabbed my own weapon of choice, a metal spear which I spun around to make sure the weight was distributed just how I liked.
It was decent. Not the best, but it was decent. It should be enough to take down this vampire, especially with my new stats and skills. If I utilize everything correctly and make sure to adjust to this IP stat that I have, then maybe I can break past into a new height for me… of course, the vampire, though, didn't seem like she wanted to let me do that.
The amount of hate radiating from this monster was enough to pierce a hole through my chest. She was horribly jealous of the attention the demon god was giving me whilst also feeling a bit overlooked due to my new power. She was probably developing some kind of inferiority complex and wanted to prove it to not only the demon god, but to herself that she was stronger than me.
[Thought Manipulator] [Soothing Words] [Sleep Inducer]
Utilizing all of my new prince of manipulation skills, I was able to speak a few words, which allowed me to use that developing inferiority complex to my fullest advantage. And damn, were these skills overpowered, as I practically had her under my thumb already. If I wasn't planning on using the fight to adjust to my new status, then she would have practically killed herself already.
"I pity a thing like you," I gently smiled at the woman who took a fighting stance across from me. She was deep, as if trying to draw me in, but still looked as if she was light on her feet. Clearly, she was anticipating a large attack right off the bat.
"And why do you say that?" The vampire asked, her eyes twitching, [Sleep Inducer] immediately working its magic. With the fog that would now spread through her mind, threatening to put her to sleep, [Soothing Words] and [Thought Manipulator] were easily able to slip in.
"Your master has already given up on you. I'm sure you can feel it… how strong I am now. She's practically sending you to your death." My words were articulated to try and make her more rash and agitated as I stroked my own ego. "But it's okay… I'll end this quick."
"Shut up, you fucking brat. I'll destroy you with one move," The vampire spat back, only to stumble as she gripped her longsword even tighter even though she was so strong, a skill like [Sleep Inducer], which seemed so harmless, worked perfectly.
"Just stand there and don't move… I'll make sure to end this quickly and painlessly," I continued to smile, her hand reaching up to grab her face. And as she tried to understand what was happening, her body relaxed, and the hate she targeted towards me instantly soothed.
I could hear her inner thoughts, and with [Thought Manipulator], I was able to insert a new thought into her mind as it weakened even further. It was like cutting out a chunk from a DNA strand and replacing it with a new chunk… just like a virus.
'Dammit… I'm so… tired… I can't resist… I have to win- I have to lose… I'm going to lose against him anyway, so I might as well just- no, I can't- I might as well just surrender.' Her thoughts were in dismay as each time she tried to resist, I just overpowered it with a new thought that sent her mind spiraling downwards.
[HP: 500/500 | IP: 4690] - Non Human
As I took a look at my status, I noticed just how little Ichor power this took. Even with three skills activated and me completely overpowering my opponent with moving, I had barely cracked the 4000 section. If I wanted to, I could have just dealt with her here, but to be honest… toying with her mind was so fucking exhilarating.
The demon god looked at me with a hint of anxiety as she saw me smile sadistically while the vampire before me stumbled to the ground. Slowly, I walked forward, standing above the woman who was about to faint. I used my foot to lift her chin up so she could see me, and as any hints of an arrogant expression faded from her very being, my smile only widened.
"That's right… you're nothing compared to me. You are nothing. Everything in your life has to come to this, and in the end… you're nothing, right?" My smile couldn't grow any wider, but my small whimpering laughs proceeded to slip out.
As I took my foot out from underneath her chin, her head dropped down. Her expression of defeat was just so fucking satisfying that I couldn't stop snickering at myself. And as soon as she dropped to the ground, her face smooshed against the dirt arena below; right before she fainted, she muttered a few words.
"I'm nothing…."
And just like that, I had won the fight with ease. The demon god nodded with approval before lifting up the long baggy sleeves from her robe and revealing a massive rune resembling two large fangs. Instantly, she grabbed her shoulder where the rune was branded into, and all of a sudden, a large quantity of miasma gathered at her palm.
"What the…"
A chill shot down my spine as the miasma gathered into a massive mouth lined with hundreds of teeth. And before I knew it, the jaw devoured that chunk of her shoulder, the woman not even flinching at her now completely limp arm.
"Hey, give me a hand with this, and I'll give you my blessing," The demon god gestured for me to come forward. And even if she didn't ask, I probably would have walked towards her as I'm sure she could instantly kill me if I disobeyed an order from her… although her temper was much easier than any demon lord I've ever met.
"I don't have any healing skills, though," I swiftly replied while dashing over the medical kit lying against the wall of the balcony and grabbing some medicine and bandages.
"No, you don't need those useless things. Use your new skill: [Life Donation]... that should work, right?"
Clearly, she just wanted to see my skill. I'm sure she could have regenerated that chunk of flesh with ease but instead wanted me to use a god-slaying skill… even though there wasn't much slaying to this one.
"I'm just gonna say this now, it probably doesn't work the way you think, but I guess I'll give it a try," I shrugged, walking over and activating [Life Donation].
A very unimpressive golden glow enveloped my hand before two long strings wormed their way out. Since I didn't want to use myself as a test, I controlled the first string with my mind, digging it into the vampire and then digging the other one into the demon god. They both inserted with ease while my golden glow began to pulsate.
"Huh? What? What the hell is this?" The woman's eyes widened as she stared in front of her. The massive wound on her shoulder was healing rapidly, the golden ichor disappearing back into her flesh, yet she was more concentrated on some invisible thing floating in front of her.
"Wait, what? Aren't gods supposed to be outside the bounds of the system?"
"Yeah… that's what I thought as well…"
