CHAPTER 104: FIRST PHASE PART FINAL

I look at the crystal for a while as Kaori groans in pain on the floor.

"Hey Kaori, what kind of trap is in this crystal?" There’s no way for me to know what the trap is, it just seems dangerous.

"Hick, it’s a p-prison trap...hick...and it’ll l-lock the t-target and i-inside it’ll b-become a g-grinder." Soon Kaori disappears, it seems the bleeding was severe and she had to be taken to the Infirmary.

’Knowing the type of trap didn’t help much...I think maybe using dematerialization, I can get out.’

I quickly draw several magic circles to attack the crystal, I spend some time drawing them on the floor so I can ensure it will be broken if I get trapped and can’t break it.

I finish quickly and prepare to break it, as soon as I use magic on the crystal, I’m locked in a large sphere, I quickly grow wings to fly.

The sphere is the size of a room inside, soon blades appear on all sides and start spinning as the prison begins to shrink, I activate the magic of the magic circles ensuring the end of the crystal.

Soon I try to break the sphere with magic but it didn’t have enough strength to overcome the great resistance of the silver-colored walls of this death sphere.

’Common magic won’t do...’

I soon use dematerialization to try to pass through the wall but I can’t, of course that was a possibility in my mind, after all dematerialization and the ability to dissolve into particles.

So I can’t pass through everything, this death sphere was made with great power, so its walls don’t allow the passage of the particles of my body, I go back to move away from the walls.

I feel my passive 4 activate Survival Instinct - The user gains enhanced abilities in dangerous situations, improving their agility and resilience.

This increased my brain processing capability, I think this passive always activates too much, maybe I should stop getting into dangerous situations for a while.

’Maybe I can break it in another way’ I use my mana to see the entire area, then I start using the shadows on the outside of the sphere.

Soon I start expanding the shadows in here as much as possible, I’ll break this death sphere by increasing the pressure in here through the expansion effect of the material.

It would be the equivalent of inflating a balloon more and it bursting because it reached the material’s rupture point.

I keep making the shadows occupy more and more space, leaving only the area where I’m flying intact.

I start to hear a loud creaking sound as the shadows keep flooding the place, every second that passes the sound increases as the shadows in here increase.

To help, I raise the mana concentration of the environment to increase the internal pressure of the sphere to the maximum.

Soon I hear several snaps, and in an instant the entire sphere explodes, hurling metal plates in all directions while I’m completely protected from any consequences in here inside the sphere.

I remove the shadows and see the damage in the room, the castle has several holes where sunlight now enters, the enemy’s crystal is gone so in a few minutes we’ll be teleported back to rest.

After all, there’s the second phase of the tournament, which will be the duels with special conditions, and that’s where I need to be extra careful, besides, fortunately this academy competition is a great opportunity to discover unique abilities.

’I’m a little tired, I think eating something would be good, in an emergency I can just eat a piece of Liona and then heal her.’

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BOOOOM

"AAAHHH" I hear the cries of pain and suffering of my enemies as I invade this property.

"Kill that bitch" I hear the leader command some guards but nothing special.

"Morvath, kill them all" I order my dragon to kill all these weak guards, I’m glad to finally have the power to defend myself.

All this thanks to my goddess, the one who saved me from a miserable life and gave purpose to my empty and worthless life.

Soon everyone is killed by the dragon, he is something incredible that my goddess gave me, besides being strong, fast and easy to take with me, he is also difficult to kill, and even if he has taken damage, as long as I leave him inside my shadow, he will recover very quickly.

I enter the mansion I’m invading, Morvath got a bit smaller to fit through the hallways, but in compensation he’s also faster because of the smaller size.

Unfortunately, I didn’t find out what this dragon has hidden, but I know that someday I’ll discover the ability he has, I need to make my goddess proud.

"H-Hey, who are you? I’ll call the guards right away, you’ll spend the rest of your life in the dungeon, you filthy commoner," the noble of the house says disdainfully while looking at me with disgust.

I don’t have the best of appearances since I’m wearing a considerably simple and quite bloody and dusty outfit, but that’s just a detail, after all, when you steal the clothes of a dead person, you won’t care about the blood stains at the moment.

"Morvath, kill him." My dragon quickly obeys my orders, advancing against the noble who screams in despair, quickly ending the miserable life of this arrogant pig.

I let my dragon eat the bodies while I wait a bit, soon we follow the path killing anyone we encounter, quickly reaching the basement.

I see many people imprisoned, some are slaves, others are kidnapped people, there are mainly young people and children.

I see many children of the beastfolk race, this is considerably common for some, they usually kidnap beastfolk children to train them to be sex slaves or fighters.

I see that the concentration here is more of girls, after all, the noble of this house is a seller of sex slaves, which is good for me because it earned me a good amount of money after I robbed him and put everything in Morvath’s stomach.

Morvath serves as a great backpack, he can store things in his stomach and hide in my shadow even while carrying things inside his body, which helps me a lot in these robberies I’m doing.

I soon approach the various cages.

"M-Miss, did you come to save us?" A little cat-girl asks, seeming mildly hopeful.

’Time to start my inspiring speech.’

"Listen well, everyone, I came here to save you in the name of my goddess, my name is Isabel." Everyone seems excited as they listen to this.

"Oh, what a blessing, and who is your goddess, my dear?" A guy who looks to be around 34 asks excitedly.

"The Demon King." Unfortunately, I don’t know the name of my goddess, I only know that she is the current Demon King, responsible for the many rumors and reports of stronger monsters.

Everyone seems shocked and some frightened by what I say, a reaction I’ve seen many times in the last few days.

"Pay attention, I’m going to free you and you’ll be free, but you’ll have two choices, the first is to run on your own to a miserable life on the street where you don’t even know if you’ll have what to eat and you still risk being kidnapped again."

"And the other is to accompany me to my cult, we have strict rules but I can guarantee a place to stay and abundant food as long as you worship my goddess as your goddess and abandon any other divinity that receives your worship."

Many seem fearful of hearing my words.

"The Demon King? Why should we worship an aberration like the Demon King?" I make a hand signal and soon the man’s head explodes when my dragon hits him through the bars.

"Listen well, I won’t force you to come with me, but don’t even think of insulting my goddess." Faith is something I can’t force on others, they need to come of their own accord to have true faith.

"The path I will follow will be covered in blood, death and destruction, all in the name of my goddess." I have no reason to lie, just as my goddess did not lie to me about the path I will follow.

"It will be a long and arduous path where you may die," death is common, so this result is also common.

"And faith in my goddess is a mandatory requirement, but for those who accompany me on this path, I can guarantee the basic conditions to live, and this will improve even more over time."

"My goddess said she is not benevolent, but she also said she always takes care of what is hers, I have adopted this as an important motto for my life, so I can guarantee I will care for and cherish the lives of my companions."

"I have no reason to care for strangers, as soon as I open this cage, you will choose the path you will follow, but be warned, one day the religion of my goddess will overshadow all other religions and will be at the top."

"I will do everything to make this happen, even if I have to exterminate millions of lives, if it’s for my goddess and savior, I’ll do anything."

"So for those of you who have a miserable life like I did and want a chance to change, I ask that you come to my side."

Some seem frightened by the death I caused, while I see the determined gaze of some.

Of course, many want the chance to change their lives, and the path I offer is an opportunity, especially to be above those who despised them.

My goddess has not shown limitations in relation to race, which means that the religion of my goddess will be composed of all the races of the world who can choose to stay with her.

’I’ll kill those who don’t have true faith.’ I don’t need followers who don’t truly worship my goddess.

"Morvath, break the cages." Soon my dragon obeys, freeing everyone. In total, there are 87 people here, mostly beastfolk and some humans.

"Now come, those who will follow this path of destruction with me, come closer." Many hesitate, but the most determined approach.

’Many children...I’ll have to make a place to take care of them.’ Most of those who came are children between 9 and 15 years old, most have a determined or hate-filled look at what was done to them.

I bet many here had their families wiped out just so they could be kidnapped and turned into slaves to satisfy the lust of some shitty old men.

That little cat-girl who asked the first question has a very empty look, but she accepted to come with me, now that she’s on my side, I notice she has several wounds and clear signs of sexual abuse.

’A pity.’ Before I didn’t feel anything seeing her, but now that she’s on my side, sharing my faith, I feel sorry for this little girl who had to suffer at the hands of these disgusting people.

But I know my goddess is not benevolent and this religion is not nice, so I have to take good care of these children and guide them on this destructive path.