Support me and be 30 chapters ahead of webnovel:
patreon.com/Draco_
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
*****
To put it simply, the Abyss pathway was a process of remodeling a human into a demon; once a Beyonder reached Sequence 0, they became a true Dark Monarch. A representative figure of this path was one of the ancient gods, the Abyss Monarch, Farbauti.
Naturally, George had done his own share of research regarding demons. In the world of Fairy Tail, many demons were the creations of Zeref, with the strongest among them being E.N.D., who was actually Natsu. Thus, George was no stranger to the art of creating and modifying demonic entities.
In terms of raw power, George was several tiers above Zeref. If he truly dedicated his time to the meticulous modification and creation of a demon, while it might not rival the true deities of this world, reaching the strength of a Sequence 2 was well within the realm of possibility. Even a cursory enhancement of Jason was more than enough to handle a Sequence 4.
His goal wasn't necessarily to kill a Sequence 4 powerhouse, but merely to ensure that after assassinating Duke Negan, Jason would have the durability and speed to escape the clutches of a "Spellsinger."
Half an hour later, George pulled Jason out from his private world. On the surface, Jason's appearance hadn't changed much, but his internal structure and power reserves had been fundamentally overhauled.
"Go on then, little Jason," George whispered.
Manipulating the marionette's Spirit Body Threads, George triggered Jason's demonization. The creature let out a silent snarl and leaped into the air, soaring over the high walls of the ducal manor and hurtling toward Duke Negan's quarters.
Thanks to George's reinforcements, the physical strength of Jason's demonized form had increased more than a hundredfold. A single, effortless leap allowed him to traverse over a thousand meters in an instant.
The violent sound of air being torn apart immediately alerted the sentries. The Mandated Punishers took to the sky using their respective abilities, unleashing bolts of silver lightning that converged on Jason like a predatory storm.
George, controlling Jason's every move, caused a colossal greatsword—forged from crimson magma and flickering pale-blue flames—to manifest in the marionette's hands. With a casual, sweeping arc in mid-air, Jason cleaved through the air, completely neutralizing the incoming lightning.
A member of the Abyss pathway typically gained the ability to manifest a magma sword at Sequence 6. However, if the original Sequence 5 Jason had attempted this, he would never have been able to dissipate the combined lightning strikes of several Sequence 5 and Sequence 6 Mandated Punishers so easily. Normally, the flaming sword would have been extinguished, and Jason would have been sent crashing to the ground, charred by electricity.
But now, George had amplified the marionette's elemental affinity. The wave of attacks was brushed aside as easily as dust. Because Jason's leaping speed was so immense, the Mandated Punishers couldn't adjust their interception in time. He landed with pinpoint accuracy, crashing through the roof of the room where Duke Negan was currently staying.
In truth, ever since the last assassination attempt, Duke Negan rarely slept in his official master bedroom. He would pick a random guest room each night to confound potential killers. If Jason had targeted the Duke's nominal room, he would have found nothing but an empty bed.
Unfortunately for the Duke, George's Eye of Insight had long since mapped out every inch of the manor. He knew exactly which room held his target.
At that moment, Duke Negan was sitting on the edge of the bed, forcing a beautiful young maid to tend to his needs. The sudden intrusion from above nearly gave him a heart attack. However, being a Beyonder himself, his instincts took over; he immediately grabbed the conch hanging around his neck and blew into it.
This was the conch that summoned the Spellsinger. Simultaneously, he unleashed his own power upon the intruder.
"Imprisonment!" he bellowed.
A thick, viscous, transparent liquid suddenly manifested, enveloping Jason in an attempt to freeze him in place. George merely willed Jason's body to erupt in demonic hellfire. The transparent liquid was instantly vaporized into steam, failing to hinder the marionette for even a fraction of a second.
Duke Negan's face went pale. He realized instantly that the assassin's strength far exceeded his own. He abandoned all thoughts of counter-attacking and instead grabbed the terrified maid, hurling her toward Jason as a meat shield. Without even pausing to pull up his trousers, the Duke scrambled toward the window.
As long as he could make it out of the room and regroup with his guards, he would be safe. Once the Spellsinger arrived, they could capture this assassin alive and torture him to find out who had ordered the hit. He vowed inwardly that once he survived this, he would spare no expense to ruin the mastermind behind these two attempts on his life.
However, the moment he turned his back, his world tilted. His body was sliced cleanly in two.
George had controlled Jason to sidestep the flying maid with supernatural grace, delivering a single, decisive stroke with the flaming greatsword. The sheer disparity in speed made the Duke's plan to escape an exercise in futility.
Even if Duke Negan hadn't tried to run—even if he had stood his ground and fought bravely—the outcome would have been identical. The abilities of a Sequence 6 "Judge" simply couldn't bypass the reinforced defenses of George's modified demon.
"How dare you!"
By the time George had Jason collect Duke Negan's Beyonder characteristic, the guards finally burst into the room. Seeing the Duke split in two, their eyes turned bloodshot with rage. Ignoring the fact that a common maid was still trembling in the corner, they immediately unleashed their most devastating abilities.
Wind blades, lightning bolts, and massive whips of energy filled the room. To the Mandated Punishers and the manor guards alike, the life of a mere servant was negligible. Capturing or killing the assassin who had just murdered Duke Negan was the only thing that mattered.
"And this is why I prefer the Church of the Evernight Goddess," George mused, shaking his head.
He controlled Jason to slam the flaming greatsword into the floor. A massive wall of fire erupted, forming a barrier that intercepted every incoming attack. In the same motion, he snatched up the maid, who was paralyzed by fear, and moved her out of harm's way.
"Sleep for a while."
From the two curved demonic horns atop Jason's head, a powerful mental shockwave rippled outward. The guards' eyes rolled back into their heads as they collapsed to the floor, unconscious. This was one of the core abilities of a Sequence 5 Desire Apostle—Mental Shock—but under George's refinement, its potency had doubled.
"That was fast."
Just as George was about to have Jason leap away, he felt a violent gale descending upon the manor from above. It was the Archbishop of the Church of Storms, the Sequence 4 Spellsinger, Ace Snake. The man wore a black soft cap and possessed piercing silver eyes. Dressed in a black robe embroidered with storm symbols, he looked every bit the stern, formidable elder.
"You seek death!"
Seeing the lifeless remains of Duke Negan and the murderer attempting to flee, Ace Snake's face contorted with fury. Countless bolts of lightning began to rain down like a localized hurricane, targeting the demonized Jason.
The objective was complete, and George had no intention of killing a Church Archbishop. Thus, he didn't have Jason strike back. Instead, he forced the marionette to tank the brunt of the lightning, using several massive leaps to vanish into the densely populated residential districts of the city.
Before Ace Snake could close the distance and re-establish a lock on him, George withdrew Jason into his private world. The demon vanished into a plume of flame, leaving no trace behind.
A moment later, Jason reappeared inside his own villa. George healed the marionette's charred skin, restoring him to his human disguise, and then vanished himself. Moving forward, George would remotely manipulate Jason to continue his life as a wealthy bank shareholder until the mysterious client came to fulfill the contract.
He wasn't worried about the client backing out. Both the mysterious figure and Jason had signed a contract in the Spirit World. To break such an agreement would result in a backlash that even a Sequence 1 would find difficult to endure. It was highly unlikely the employer was a Sequence 0; a true deity personally hiring a hitman to kill a Duke would be far beneath their dignity.
"What a formidable demon!"
Back at the manor, the Spellsinger stood in the middle of the slums where the trail had gone cold. His expression was incredibly grim as he looked toward the spot where the demon, who had withstood his full-power assault without slowing down, had simply blinked out of existence.
(End of Chapter)