Mind Demon's Path of Domination

Two weeks after Mark’s Puppet transformed into a Golden Savage.

"Another team?" A blonde-haired man growled, sinking his hands into his hair. "How many Silver Savages more are we going to lose?"

The forest around him was silent and the Silvers surrounding him didn’t dare break it. They were in a bloody scene—savage corpses were strewn around them, each in horrible straits.

One corpse, especially, was a sight that could evoke disgust in even the most rock-hearted. A thick tree branch pierced into its eyes and came out of its back, the dripping blood already dry on its neck.

"Do we still have no information of where this demon is?" a woman asked, frowning. She was another person with sunlight-kissed blonde hair and a slit on her forehead.

A Gold Lord.

The Silvers around all bowed their heads. "Sorry Gold Lords, but this demon is too cunning, unlike any other demon we have seen. All other demons are foolish, but this one is as smart as a strategist and he seems to have some methods to hide from us. We can’t find him no matter where we looked..."

"Argh," the first Gold Lord growled again. "We have to do something!"

The woman bit her thumb. "Calm down, Malga. You are too emotional."

"Malu, are you kidding me?!" he roared. "That demon is going around and has already killed more than 5 squads of Silver Savages. That’s nearly thirty savages, and we are not even sure if this is all he killed yet. Hell, people are even calling him the Bane of the Savage! Are you telling me to ignore that?"

"What are we going to do then, anyways?"

"We need to find him, kill him, and—"

"How?" The woman growled. "Can’t you see, he is good at hiding."

Another Gold Lord walked up to the surrounding corpses and sighed. "Malu, Malga. I can understand both of your concerns, so just shut up for now and don’t make this worse. Let me think."

Malu grew silent but Malga spoke, "Simba, you don’t have to think. You are not the smartest thinker among our Gold gang, Malu, think and guide us. I was just blowing off some steam."

Simba, a feminine man, clicked his tongue and looked at Malu. "You think then, and tell me, what should we do?"

Malu looked at the corpses and closed her eyes in pain. "For one, we need to kill him but for that, we need to find him. And as we saw from our previous battle with him, he is not weak. Considering that he also killed P’oof, we can also predict that he has ways to end us, too."

Malu sighed, her face growing gloomy. "What do we know about this thing anyway?"

Simba said coldly, "Another party of Golds did come across him the last few weeks, but he flew away before they could get him. It’s hard to get him on cloudy days, clouds are just too much of an advantage for him to escape."

"Yeah." Malga gritted his teeth. "but there is also another fact. Junjun said that he saw the demon transform a silver savage into a bulging mess with just a touch, so we know that his touch could be harmful to us."

They walked out of the sight of silver savages.

"This is heading nowhere, maybe, we should inform this to... our Lord..." Malu hesitated and she could see the other two Gold Lords cringing at her words.

"Should we disturb our Lord for this..." The reckless Simba became but a meek man. "Maybe we could handle this ourselves."

Malu said with a quiver, "Or more Golds might die and he would be displeased when he comes out..."

They became silent.

"Who is going to inform him?" she asked.

Both of them looked away and she knew she was going to be the one to do it.

***

Meanwhile, in another part of the same forest, a neck suddenly snapped and a mask cracked. Mark breathed out a bloody breath and looked around, his masked, savage face looking expressionless.

Around him, more silver savages had turned to corpses.

One of the savages, who was still alive even though his mask was cracking, coughed. Mark moved towards him, and the man leveled a hateful gaze at him.

"Demon," he said.

"..."

"I can understand other demons being so ruthless and cruel," he said. "They are mindless. But you? Aren’t you sane? Sentient? Why, then, are you so demonic?"

Mark sighed and raised his fist.

"Demon, does your heart not contain any justice?" he asked. "Don’t you feel any pity, any emotions?"

The head was smashed to pieces. A boulder was stained red. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

====

[Mission 1: Kill 100 Silver Savages.]

[Killed: 66/100]

[Rewards:

Entry back into the Demon World.]

[Mission 2: Kill 10 Golden Savages.]

[Killed: 1/10]

[Rewards:

Portal Key.]

[Mission 3: Kill 100 Golden Savages.]

[Killed: 1/100]

[Rewards:

Seal of Destiny.]

====

I am getting closer, are the Golds behind me still following me?

For the past two weeks, he had gone around hunting silver savages while hiding from the Golds by taking another silver savage as a Host. They had discovered his ability to use Alchemic Shapeshifting but they knew next to nothing about Parasite.

As I expected, they’re coming here.

It was an instinctual feeling but they were coming, so he jumped up and flew away. He’d wait for a chance when he could get as many Golds as possible around him, and then, he would use Clown’s Circus to end them all at once.

Numbers didn’t matter against Clown’s Circus as long as they were in the area of effect.

Come, every one of you should come. More the merrier.

2

***

While Mark was slowly bringing all the Golden Savages in the area towards him with a big trap in mind, a man walked out of a dark cave. His whole body was awash in blood, while his being radiated a sense of pure savagery.

"My lord, you have conquered another Demon Cave."

Five Golds bowed before him but he didn’t seem to mind and instead, chuckled.

"Why are you all so stiff?" He asked. "How many times do I tell you that as long as you are a good man, I won’t hurt you?"

He sighed and took a bucket of water from one of them, then dropped the liquid onto himself, washing away the demonic blood. He dried himself with a towel and wore a fresh set of robes.

Finally, he stretched, feeling fresh.

"There is nothing better than taking a fresh bath after killing evil demons," he said with a smile. "Of course, if I had a bottle of heavy liquor, my mood would only rise."

A woman walked forward and bowed, offering him a flagon of alcohol.

"Hahaha, you guys know me!"

The man took his flagon, sat down on a boulder, and began drowning it.

"My lord, how was the battle?"

"Ah, it was just a Pinnacle Middle Demon after all, not too hard. It had some Ultimate Demonic Arts that delayed the victory though, nothing more."

They looked at each other and nodded.

After drinking and dozing off on the boulder for a while, he opened his eyes. He had yellow eyes, blonde hair, and a slit on his forehead like all the other savages, but there was some kind of weirdness to him. A sensation that made him different from all other savages.

He was their Lord.

"So, why are you all so gloomy?"

Malu came forward, bowing. "My lord, while you were busy fighting demons inside the Caves, a demon started wreaking havoc in the outside world. The World Will doesn’t seem to affect him whatsoever..."

"Oh?" He rubbed his chin and looked at them with a frown.

They all bowed their heads, ashamed. Afraid. Their Lord was a man whom not many savages knew of, he was a silent, hidden figure. He handled most of the dangerous Demon Caves and avoided the situation of a mega demon cave happening by himself.

Can’t they even handle a single demon who walked outside while he was struggling so much?

He raised his hand and Malu flinched, but the Lord just patted her head. "You are too afraid of the strong, girl. Have I ever hit you? Why are you so afraid?"

"I am..."

"Don’t bother. If you ask me whether I am disappointed, yes, I am disappointed. But that’s okay. What parent doesn’t feel disappointment in their kids once in a while?" He smiled. "But tell me about this demon, where is it now?"

"We do not know, my lord. He has a knack for hiding."

"Hm, that makes sense. He could even hide from the Will of the World, otherwise he’d have been killed when he stepped out of his hiding cave. Naturally, you guys couldn’t sense him." He mused. "So what had he done so far?"

They all froze, incapable of answering.

"Tell me, Malu."

"He..." she hesitated.

"Don’t make me speak twice."

"He killed silver savages en mass, and he also... killed P’oof."

Silently, their lord blinked. Then, a murderous aura made them all pale, sweat dripping down their cold spines.

"How many silvers have died?"

"According to a rough estimate, thirty of them."

He stood up and threw the flagon aside. "Is this demon intelligent?"

"Very intelligent."

"All sentient beings must be righteous." His face grew somber. "If he had come spoke to me, we could have been friends. I’ve always thought demons, humans, and savages could all enjoy life if we just spoke soul to soul. Yet, this creature has no justice in his heart and murdered my kin without a word, I shall go put an end to him."

Before they knew it, their Lord had moved.