Mind Demon's Path of Domination

"Then Mark," Dona said with a genuine smile, sitting on Mark’s lap and swinging her legs back and forth. "This guy tried to ambush me, he had two of those powerful guns, but when the bullet hit me, I didn’t feel a thing like you said. He was startled and then it was an easy kill."

Mark kissed the top of her head. "Of course, Dona is invincible."

The Demoness laughed like clinging bells.

They were now sitting in the open doorway of the futuristic ship, their legs dangling out into the sky. The ship was on the move, and it was moving away from the city in the distance.

Meanwhile, all sorts of Star Monkey corpses laid strewn across inside the ship, and many incapacitated creatures groaned in pain.

Yuri kicked the Cyborg captain towards Mark and Dona and the creature twitched as it landed with a metallic thud. Electricity pulsed around it.

"The Federation will not let you go, you low-life scums," the captain said, robotic and glitching. "I am the captain of a Star Monkey fleet and my life is worth a thousand men—you are dead. All of you. The footage of your rampage inside the ship has already been sent to the higher-ups."

Mark looked at him. He was not particularly in a really good mood. Being stuck here till his mission ended didn’t seem like good news, and if he could use this fleet as an example, this World’s inhabitants didn’t at all seem weak.

This cyborg’s words, actions, and personality all screamed a weak fry, so the truly strong people of this World concerned Mark a bit. What were these ’higher-ups’?

After entering the ship, he had just used melee attacks and completely decapacitated hundreds of the Star Monkeys. Exactly due to the slight feeling of being spied upon, he hadn’t used any abilities that would be too revealing—Yuri and her abilities had been enough for the win.

She entered the ship after throwing a coin into it with Aura Teleportation, and as all the guns turned to her, she activated her Glass Dome.

Before the Cyborg captain and the bunch could use their ability and whatnot, Yuri’s shadow moved through the Glass Dome and bit into each of their shadows one by one, poisoning them all in Shadow Curse.

Dona helped on the side, but due to her fire being too destructive for ’their’ new ship, she was gentle. And now, this fleet was almost completely annihilated and the ones alive were dying due to Yuri’s shadow curse, too.

"You are also too strong," Dona grumbled, staring at Yuri’s third eye. "Only you two get to have Mask of the Savage. Freaks. Just wait and see, I will surpass you."

Mark smiled. Indeed, Yuri’s Mask of the Savage made her a Maverick—even though quite weaker than himself in direct combat, she was also a force to be reckoned with.

Using his Soul Sense, Mark also noticed that the Will of the Savage World inside her third eye had also disintegrated. She was now a free woman—she had gained the powers of the Savage Race without any loose ends to find trouble with her.

"Dona," Yuri smirked. "Being strong is an art and not everyone is an artist. Some things are not meant for everyone."

Dona’s eyes widened. "You!"

Mark once again focused on the dying, poisoned Cyborg captain. Ignoring him, he focused on a normal Star Monkey. With a few Dream Inputs on himself, he learned the molecular structure of the creature and then touched his own face.

Alchemic Shapeshifting!

"I will—" The cyborg tried to speak but Dona flicked her fingers, burning his tongue. "Argh!"

"You are annoying," she said. "When you are trapped, at least show the decency of being silent and less irritating."

Yuri chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, release your frustrations on others."

Dona just looked away sulkily, hugging Mark’s neck.

Mark’s golden gaze focused on the man once more. Now that his molecular structure matched a Star Monkey at its core, he was not much different from a native of this World. Thus, he shouldn’t have to be worried about the World Will anymore.

That needed to be confirmed, of course, but not now when he was being spied upon.

"You burned his tongue," Mark admonished, genuinely troubled. "I wanted to interrogate him."

"Uh, but you can give him the—" Mark put a finger on the Demoness’ lips.

Now, if he wanted to give the man his tongue back using Alchemic Shapeshifting, it was indeed possible. But that would mean revealing one of his abilities to whoever was spying.

"How am I being spied upon right now?" Mark questioned calmly, but his terrifying eyes grew bigger and bigger in the cowering Cyborg’s eyes.

Heart Input!

Mark whispered into the man’s chaotic mind: "Tell the demon before me the truth."

That thought became an action for the man before he could react. He blinked unnaturally and within his eyes, something clicked imperceptibly. Others might have missed it but after fighting the War Slayer, Mark was incredibly in tune with sudden changes.

"Oh, your eyes," he said.

His claws moved into the man’s eyes and gouged them out without a shred of mercy. Dona and Yuri cringed as a wiry mess was pulled out along with mechanical eyeballs. This was a camera attached to the very eye itself, and anything it saw must be getting broadcast to other people in authority.

Cutting the obvious nerves linking the eyeballs and covering it with a heavy set of black clothes, Mark absorbed it into his World Space. The man screamed in pain and writhed on the floor.

Mark grinned. "I feel so much pity for you, I could cry. How can I watch even an enemy in such misery?" He shook his head. "I can’t do that—so I will use my healing ability on you now."

Before Mark did that, Yuri signalled it and Dona acted immediately. She clapped her hands together in concentration.

Demonic Trick—Fireball.

Suddenly, many wicks of flame popped up near the incapacitated or dead Star Monkeys in the entire ship, and all of their eyeballs were burned to a crisp without mercy.

"I didn’t know his tongue was important," Dona said, stifling her frustrations.

Mark comforted her with a head pat, but his eyes were still on the cyborg. There might be more cameras in the ship or more methods of spying, but as long as he didn’t reveal the true depths of Alchemic Shapeshifting, he could use it.

He grabbed the man by the hair and pulled him up, the eyeless hollow reminded him of himself.

Alchemic Shapeshifting!

"Healing touch," Mark said calmly and Yuri stifled a laugh.

The man’s whole body seemingly got put back together and even a set of eyes grew back over his face. But he no longer looked like a human cyborg, but more like a Star Monkey. Mark had used the molecular structure of the Star Monkeys to rewire the man.

"Eh?" Mark exclaimed in fake surprise. "Why did healing you turn you into a Star Monkey? Inconceivable!"

Yuri couldn’t stop a small chuckle.

Confused, Dona asked, "Why are you laughing?"

Yuri shook her head. Mark had a weird sense of humor that not everyone would understand every time. This once, it was fine—Dona didn’t have to understand.

The cyborg man looked at himself with surprise and horror. He had become a normal Star Monkey, and he had been healed only enough to be capable of communication. The cursed woman’s poison was still running rampant within him.

"My—My BioMech gears!" he exclaimed.

His cyborg arm and such had all become completely in disarray with his inner systems. It was delicately attached to him, but when his inner body changed, all the gears—which Mark didn’t know the use of—became useless.

"Dumbfuck," Yuri said with a shrug. "Be happy that you are alive and answer what my babe asks, if you please him, you live and if not—you die." She clicked her tongue. "You are so weak, yet man, your arrogance is big."

She was talking in the Hunter World language, so the man didn’t understand shit. She didn’t understand what the man said either—but she could read arrogance when she saw it.

The man said with gritted teeth. "If-if I had the chance to use my Esp on you, I’d have won."

Slap!

"Look dipshit," Mark said. "Tell me, are more fleets really headed towards us?"

Heart Input!

Heart Input!

Heart Input!

Heart Input!

...

"Answer all questions you are asked."

...

When even Mark lost count of how many Heart Inputs he used, the man stopped all arrogance and became a complete yes man. An emotionless creature who had lost its mind. Something that Mark had broken from the inside out.

The man drolled. "Are more fleets really headed towards us? Of course, there are hundreds of fleets headed towards us. My ship sent an emergency alert and multiple ships are going to converge on it anytime now."

"Do they know where I am?"

"Of course, you have been marked the moment you entered this World. You cannot escape their senses and they are not going to stop before you are killed."

"Are you strong in this world?"

The Cyborg was, in the end, a pinnacle Tier 2 creature, and the World had just gone through the evolution to become Tier 3. Was it a strong creature in this world?

The man answered: "I am just one of the millions of fleet captains, I am nothing compared to the higher-ups. My BioMech is so weak, it’s uninitiated. My Esper powers are also just Low level. I am weak."

Mark clicked his tongue, suddenly way more serious. "How can I escape their senses?" he asked.

"Haha... ha..." The man’s head tilted. "I told you—there is no escape."

Mark could smell trouble.