Chapter 5: Worshipper
The chamber transformed into a realm of carnage and despair.
Simon's body, now a mere vessel for Damon's merciless will, brought the sword down in a cataclysmic arc.
The air itself screamed as the blade descended.
Lia, the second maid, fell heavily to one knee. Her arms shook violently as she barely parried the strike.
Sparks exploded like dying stars across the blood-slick stone floor.
"What on earth is wrong with his strength?" she gasped.
Cold sweat poured down her face, her voice trembling with disbelief.
Before she could rise or catch her breath, the sword lifted once more, faster and heavier than before.
Damon forced Simon's lips to curl into a cruel smile.
"Of all the souls in this forsaken Void… why her?" he taunted aloud, voice dripping with mocking grief as he glanced toward the terrified Helen.
"Today, you will all pay with your lives!" Damon continued through the butler's mouth, twisting the words into a snarl of sadistic rage.
The blade shattered Lia's defenses in a single overwhelming strike.
A thunderous kick followed, driving deep into her abdomen.
Lia flew across the room. She struck the far wall with a sickening crunch. Blood erupted from her mouth as she slid to the floor.
Helen, face drained of all color, scrambled toward the door in blind panic.
"Boar Step!"
Her movement technique flared. Her body blurred into a charging shadow.
But Damon's control was absolute. His reactions were inhuman.
The sword flashed horizontally.
A clean, wet severing sound echoed through the chamber.
Helen's legs parted from her body just below the knees.
She collapsed in a fountain of crimson. Screams tore from her throat like the wail of a tormented spirit.
Blood pooled rapidly beneath her, staining the ancient stone.
"You… you are a devil!" she sobbed.
Tears cascaded down her cheeks as she stared into her husband's empty, possessed eyes.
Lia dragged herself upright. Her eyes blazed with desperate, all-consuming fury.
"Wandering Devil Fang!"
Peak Yomi Realm cultivation erupted in a storm of dark claws and shadow. The air tore apart as she charged with everything she had.
"Crazed bastard! I must kill you today!" she screamed, voice raw with hatred.
Simon's body pivoted with unnatural, manic swiftness.
"Yes! Come at me with all you've got!" Damon laughed through the stolen mouth. The sound was chilling and triumphant. "You have one chance, and then I shall consume your soul!"
Far away in his temple chamber, Damon's true form savored every sensation flooding through the link.
"This body is incredible," he thought. Exhilaration coursed through him like divine wine. "The pulse of blood, the tremor of muscle… the pulse of life itself. It's addictive."
"Piercing Mist!"
The sword ignited. It became engulfed in a torrent of violent void energy that twisted the surrounding air into screaming spirals.
Lia countered instantly. She unleashed a barrage of blade intent that stretched thirty meters, razor-sharp waves lancing forward.
"Yes! That's it!" Damon's excitement surged. His eyes sparkled through Simon's face.
The two forces collided in a cataclysmic explosion of light and shadow.
The chamber walls groaned under the pressure. Furniture shattered into splinters. Dust and debris filled the air like a choking storm.
When the haze cleared, Simon's body stood completely unharmed amid the destruction.
Lia vanished from sight.
Then she reappeared behind him in a blur. Twin daggers slashed in a lethal cross toward his neck from both sides.
"You devil! Die for me!"
Simon's cold gaze turned to meet hers.
A chilling, unnatural grin spread across the borrowed face.
A sickening, intimate squelch.
His hand had pierced straight through her chest. Fingers closed around her still-beating heart.
Silence descended like a heavy shroud.
Their eyes locked, hers wide with shock and fading life, his empty yet burning with foreign madness.
"Lia…" Simon's true voice broke through for one heartbreaking instant from within his prison. Raw horror flooded it as he witnessed the act.
Then the butler collapsed to his knees. A guttural scream of anguish tore from his throat as Damon clamped down on control once more.
"Honey…" Helen whispered faintly from her widening pool of blood. Her voice was barely audible. Life slipped away.
Simon's body crawled desperately to her side. Hands pressed frantically against her wounds in a futile attempt to stem the crimson tide.
"Helen, please hold on," Simon's own words finally surfaced through the parasite's fragile link. His voice cracked with helpless grief as his consciousness briefly fought through.
But Damon seized the reins again without mercy.
With a swift, casual twist of the neck, Helen's life ended in an instant.
A soft, final crack echoed in the stillness.
"Foolish rats," Damon sneered through Simon's mouth. He spat contemptuously upon her lifeless form.
He strode indifferently to Lia's fallen body. He used the sword to carve open her chest. He plunged his hand deep to extract the warm, pulsing core.
Back in the sanctuary of his temple chamber, Damon's true body opened its crimson eyes and smiled coldly.
"In less than an hour, the other pseudo-souls have subdued their targets," he murmured. Deep satisfaction laced his voice. "And it seems the guards are coming."
Through Simon's clenched fist, he crushed Lia's core without hesitation.
Pure soul energy surged into him. Her final chance at reincarnation was obliterated forever.
Most of the pseudo-souls returned then. They flowed back and merged seamlessly into his spirit.
Only the one embedded within Simon's parasite remained behind.
"If it weren't for the parasite, dominating this Yomi vessel would have been far harder," Damon mused. A faint smirk played on his lips. "But releasing him now would only cause problems."
In his mind's eye, he guided Lia's broken soul toward the twin towering pillars.
"To maintain divinity, one must gather fate points from worshippers or thralls," he reflected calmly. Ambition burned quietly within.
He placed the soul gently upon the cold stone floor.
Slowly, agonizingly, her translucent spiritual form began to reform. Her eyes were vacant. Her will was completely shattered.
"Excellent. Her soul is ready for worship."
Damon's right hand shifted and darkened. It elongated into a black demonic claw that perfectly mirrored the ancient devil carved upon the Pillar of Control.
"Soul Corruption."
He pressed the claw to her forehead.
Dark runes spread like living shadow across her essence. They branded her irrevocably with his divine mark.
Without resistance or sound, she drifted between the towering pillars and vanished, claimed for eternity.
"Everything is proceeding as planned," Damon said serenely. "Six rats ensnared. Two eliminated."
For a brief moment, his thoughts turned to his mother. A rare flicker of something softer touched the madness.
"I wonder how she is faring…"
Meanwhile, guards burst into the blood-soaked chamber. Weapons drawn, faces pale with shock.
"How could this have happened?" one demanded in disbelief. "We have three arcanists stationed for defense and soul search."
Another replied grimly, voice low. "I've heard they were sent by Red Moon, each infested with blood centipedes."
The name struck like a death knell.
"You can't mean the Red Moon under the Endo family's command!"
They turned their horrified gazes upon Simon. His eyes were wild with lingering madness. His body trembled.
"What could drive a Yomi realm expert to such slaughter?"
Bound in heavy void-iron chains, Simon and the six surviving infiltrators were marched through the shadowed corridors to a massive iron door.
It swung open with a deep groan.
Old Man Thomas awaited within. He sat upon his throne of black jade. Peak Hindu Realm power radiated from him like a barely contained storm. His ancient sword rested across his lap, humming softly with restrained killing intent.
"Bring them in," he commanded, voice deep and unyielding.
Simon struggled futilely against his bonds.
"Arghhh! Let me go! I must kill him, he took my beloved Helen!"
His desperate cries echoed unanswered down the halls.
The six infiltrators left alive were forced to their knees before the throne.
In a single blur of motion, three heads rolled across the stone. They were severed cleanly by Thomas's will alone. Wounds were instantly cauterized by pure Void Energy.
The three survivors trembled violently.
Old Man Thomas rose slowly. His presence expanded until the very air bowed before him.
"Now, tell me, rebels of the Void," he thundered. His voice shook the chamber like heavenly tribulation. "Do you truly believe we are mere pushovers?"
His sword lifted, pointing at the survivors. Aura pressed down with the weight of mountains and abyssal depths.
Far away, in the heart of his newborn temple, Damon watched through distant perception.
His smile widened. Crimson eyes gleamed with dark promise.
The first true worshipper had been secured.
The altar's hunger grew.
And the flow of madness continuesto rise.