Chapter 53 - Conflict Among The Retainers
Ralph, Noah, and Sargan were in their common room. They had finished eating their food and were going back to sleep.
Ralph asked Noah, "So, what do you two think about this master of ours?"
Sargan looked at Noah who seemed to be thinking something.
"Master? I think he is really good. He gave us a place to stay and even so much food. I have never seen so much food in my life." Noah spoke with his eyes glittering with excitement.
Seeing that innocent twinkle in those eyes, Sargan and Ralph didn't even doubt his words.
Sargan rolled his eyes and spoke, "Hmph. This is nothing. He is merely an heir of a Noble Family in this kingdom. I had ten times more property than this."
Ralph shrugged his shoulders, "Yet you are just a servant here. What a pity."
Sargan hatefully glared at him and spoke, "Keep your mouth shut, feline. You know nothing."
"Stop it. Don't fight!" Noah suddenly spoke out with a fierce expression.
At those words, Sargan and Ralph both turned towards Noah.
Sargan spoke with a disdainful look in his eyes, "Just because that guy favors you doesn't mean you are our boss. If not for those seals, I would have killed you as well as him."
At that moment, a cold voice spoke out from the entrance of the room, "…Hoh. Is that so? You would have killed me if I remove your seals?"
That cold voice made Sargan and Ralph shiver in fear. They didn't even sense him entering the room.
"Come then. It appears that I haven't disciplined you enough." Azaroth spoke while stepping forwards.
Sargan was utterly scared as he saw Azaroth come closer to himself.
He backed away unconsciously but how could he get away from Azaroth? Azaroth immediately grabbed his arm and dragged him out of his room.
Ralph was scared as well while Noah clenched his fists while glaring at Sargan. He didn't seem to like what Sargan had spoken.
Soon, the three were in the courtyard. Sargan didn't have fond memories of this area.
He remembered how he was tortured here and no matter how loudly he screamed, nobody came to save him.
Suddenly, he felt Azaroth press his fingers on his forehead and the seals in his body breaking apart.
He was utterly shocked as he then saw Azaroth speak with a look of contempt, "Go on. You can resist with your full power. Let me see if it's of any use."
For some moments, Sargan was surprised but after that, he slowly regained his arrogant look.
"Yes. I can feel it. The seals are really gone…" There was a look of pure pleasure on Sargan's face.
His Ardor had been sealed to the bare minimum. The only thing he could with it was to heal his injuries.
But now… His power had returned. He was now at the level of a Middle-Class Demon.
His faint red eyes flashed as they glowed mysteriously, "You are going to regret removing my seals because of your arrogance. Even though you possess the Mystic Eyes of Demon God, you are still not at the level of a Demon Lord. I doubt you can even use them to their full potential. At this stage, my Evil Eyes hold a much greater advantage."
Meanwhile, Azaroth just yawned in return, "Can we just fight. I am getting sick of your monologue now."
"Hmph. If you are in such a hurry to die then sure. I will go along." Sargan spoke as he used more of his Ardor in his Evil Eyes and used its long-range techniques.
"Petrifying Gaze!"
As soon as he spoke those words, Azaroth noted white-colored demonic energy appearing on his body, spreading on his skin and turning it into stone.
But he wasn't flustered by this technique.
"An interesting technique but unfortunately, it won't affect me that much," Azaroth spoke as he used the Holy Ardor to effortlessly purify that bit of demonic energy.
"You are a Celestial?!" Both Sargan and Ralph shouted in shock.
Actually, Sargan experienced a much greater shock because he had seen Azaroth's mystic eyes. Those mystic eyes were definitely from a demonic god. So, he failed to understand just how Azaroth's body could possess Holy Ardor!
But still, Sargan didn't have the luxury to remain shocked as he saw Azaroth slowly stepping towards him.
Sargan then suddenly regained his calmness as he spoke, "The fact that you can use Holy Ardor was unexpected. But my next move is going to finish this."
Sargan closed his eyes for a few seconds. And when Azaroth saw him do that, he stopped moving.
He was curious what sort of ability he was going to use as he sensed a strong build-up of Spiritual Energy in Sargan's eyes.
As Sargan opened his eyes, he whispered, "Hypnotic Vision."
"From now on, I am your master." Sargan looked straight into Azaroth's eyes as he sent that instruction to Azaroth's spirit.
For a few seconds, Azaroth remained stationary.
As he saw that Azaroth had completely stopped moving, Sargan showed a victorious smile. He was quite relaxed now as he looked towards Ralph and Noah with a smug expression on his face.
'Looks like it's finally over. Even though he was a 4 Star Warrior, his spirit isn't strong enough to guard against the hypnosis from my Evil Eyes. Even amongst the inheritors of the Evil Eyes, the power of my hypnosis is the best. If not for awakening this rare and useful ability, I wouldn't have been thrown out of the family by that husky bitch!'
Then he glanced at Azaroth and continued thinking 'Having him as a slave will be useful. Atleast in this place, he seems to possess some status that can prevent my identity from being discovered. Also, it seems that he possesses some great secrets regarding the Celestials and a Demon God. I can use him to take my revenge on the Bach Clan.'
Then, Sargan looked at Ralph and Noah before speaking up, "So, what are you going to do from now? Are you going to obey me or not? If not, I can easily ask my new slave to throw you out."
Sargan spoke with a confident and arrogant tone. He had complete trust in his hypnosis technique.
'If only the time limit for using this technique wasn't a month, I would have used it against these two and turn them into my slaves as well. That would have made my life easier. Atleast this demi-beast would have been capable enough to carry my things around for me.'
Ralph was on guard against Sargan while Noah looked furious.
Noah stepped forward with his small feet and shouted at Sargan, "Return him back to normal!"
"Shut up, useless runt." Sargan coldly replied to Noah, "It seems I need to throw you out first. You are annoying me."
Before Noah could speak any further, another voice resounded in the area.
"The ability is good but what a pity. The user is too conceited." Those words gathered Noah's attention and let him sigh out in relief.
"What the?! How are you still okay?!" Sargan asked with an utterly flabbergasted expression.
He felt as if his reality was shattering as he saw that Azaroth had a clear look in his eyes. It meant that his hypnosis had failed!
But the surprising thing was that he didn't feel at all when it failed.
"You used both of the best techniques from your famed clan. Now let me show you one of mine." Azaroth spoke with his eyes turning purple.
It was as if Azaroth wanted to show off the difference between the two of them.
"Kneel!"
Azaroth ordered with an imposing tone.
Sargan immediately felt the strength in his legs vanish as he got on his knees. He raised his head to look at Azaroth but failed to find him.
Suddenly, he felt someone grabbing his hair strongly from the right and then a kick straight on his face.
Sargan's teeth broke but it didn't seem as if Azaroth had any intention of going easy on him. He kicked him again and forced Sargan to eat his own teeth.
Blood was dripping from his mouth but before Sargan could even scream out, Azaroth continued to kill him relentlessly.
"Hmm. Where did all that imposing manner go now?!" Azaroth asked in what seemed to be an angry yet excited tone.
He loved torturing. Especially the brats of those from the Noble Clans. It was just too satisfying as he was literally crushing him underneath his feet.
"Woah. Master is strong." Noah commented as he stared at this scene.
He didn't feel even a bit of pity for Sargan. That guy wanted to make Azaroth his slave, he was on Noah's hit list.
Meanwhile, Ralph's legs were trembling as well. It was because the command that Azaroth had used on Sargan was also used on him.
He understood that this was a warning to him from Azaroth.
Azaroth continued to kick Sargan until the guy genuinely surrendered under his might.
Using the Mystic Eyes of Perception, Azaroth was sure that he was genuine while surrendering. But still, he kicked him a couple more times just to be sure.
"Now then, I am sure that this has made it clear about who is the boss here. Isn't that right?" Azaroth's voice was calm as he asked this question.
His question was naturally directed at Sargan, the one who had been on the receiving end to his kicks.
"Aye, sir. I sincerely beg you to forgive me. I shall never even think of going against you, my lord." Those were the words spoken by Sargan. To Azaroth's mystic eyes, it appeared that this guy was quite genuine right now.
However, he didn't know whether he appeared genuine because of the pain or he truly had a change of heart.
But at this moment, Azaroth didn't care.
"Good. You don't double-cross me and I will treat you as a living being. The next time you think of going against me, your state will be just slightly worse than a handicapped beggar on the streets. And believe me when I say that if I want, I can effortlessly take away that healing granted by your bloodline." Azaroth gave one last threat.
This threat scared Sargan and he immediately lowered his head, "I do believe you, my lord."
"Good." Azaroth then turned towards Ralph.
"Come over here!"
"Yes, my lord." Ralph immediately arrived, speaking with a humble tone.
"Take him away. Use the healing kit provided in your room." Azaroth touched Ralph's head and unsealed him as well.
"Huh? I… I don't intend to fight you, my lord. Please seal my abilities." What Ralph had witnessed had turned out to be a thorough thrashing.
He wasn't stupid like Sargan to even think of fighting against Azaroth.
Azaroth smiled slightly and replied, "You misunderstand me. I never planned to keep your abilities sealed. What would have been the point of me buying you then?"
"But you shouldn't think of running away though. I have planted my own spiritual seeds in your soul. As long as I wish to, I can blow apart your soul at any moment." Azaroth casually told Ralph, Sargan, and Noah.
At this point, Sargan wasn't even surprised that this man knew such a technique. The fact that he could break those pesky seals and even ignore his hypnosis technique so effortlessly, it proved that his spirit was sufficiently strong to use such a technique.
Ralph was hearing about this technique for the first time and showed a surprised expression. He never knew that there was even such an annoying technique.
The first thought he had after recovering his Ardor was to run away as soon as an opportunity presented itself.
Meanwhile, Noah just innocently blinked. He thought that there was no way Azaroth would want to kill him so it was okay.
After all, even though Sargan had wanted to kill and even make Azaroth into a slave yet he was still alive so he didn't think of this threat as a big deal.
Soon, Ralph and Sargan left the courtyard and returned to the room. Ralph began to apply the medicinal potion on Sargan's face.
Meanwhile, Sargan continued to think of what happened earlier.
Azaroth and Noah were standing next to each other. Azaroth noted that Noah had a strange expression and asked him, "What is it?"
Noah hesitated a little before asking Azaroth, "Please make me strong, master." He knelt down in front of Azaroth.
"Why do you want to be strong?" Azaroth asked Noah with a straight face.
"I want to be of help to you master. I don't want anyone to ever threaten you." Noah sincerely spoke.
Azaroth began to chuckle, "What a weak resolve and reason." Those words somewhat disappointed Noah but before he could even lower his head, Azaroth added, "But it will do for now."
Soon, Azaroth pulled out a short sword that appeared to be a perfect fit for Noah's height.
Azaroth had naturally prepared a sword for Noah after buying him from the Silent Death Organization.
"Let's start with the basics.. Come, attack me."