Extra's Path To Demon King-Chapter 415: A Price for Everything
The authoritative Count, respected by countless noblemen, who was also secretly one of the most deadly killers within Suncrest, now lay bloodied, groveling at the feet of the young man, whom he had been belittling and trying to kill just moments ago. But how could this mighty assassin ever predict that it was a demon wearing the guise of a human?
"Arghhhh.....GAhhhh, Cough, Ikhh, cough..."
"PLEASEEEE... KILLLLL....meeeee..." begged the count vehemently.
"That’ss.... all I know...." pleaded the man like a dog, not asking to be spared but to die.
Axel asked apathetically, still in his demonic state, "Is that it???"
The bloodied count gripped Axel’s legs tightly and cried, "YES, YES, YES, please release me from this torment. Pleaseee endd.... me..."
A powerful assassin was not someone who merely held the assassin aspect by mere luck; they had to be someone who had been through countless brushes with life and death, used to pain more than anyone. Yet one could only imagine what horror this man experienced in these few short minutes.
To see death as the sweetest escape.
Axel, seeing the bastard had no other use, ended his life swiftly with a slash of his claws and collected the count’s blood in a vial for later use. With a snap of his fingers, his demonic energy decomposed the Count’s lifeless body. Leaving no evidence behind. Thankfully, the forest was isolated via artifacts, not by other mages.
If there were more seekers on the outer parameters of the forest, things would have become much, much more troublesome.
The carriage was turned over, and the beast driving it was dead. Fortunately, Neil was still alive, as the carriage had powerful defensive runes etched on it to protect its passengers, although he was somewhat injured.
As for the two siblings, they were alive as well, but they were much more badly injured, almost close to death. But that was fine as well. After absorbing all the negative emotions of the killed assassins, he could somewhat wield the power of despair.
Axel also felt the bottleneck of his chaosblood aspect slightly loosen, just from this. It seems this was indeed a correct method to cultivate his new sin of despair.
He went closer to the wild-looking women, grabbing their foreheads. Axel poured a part of the despair onto her soul through the injection of his demonic energy.
Just as it had with Ken Dusker, she began to struggle madly. Dark black veins grew on her face, then spread all over her body, like wriggling worms. And her unconscious struggle only became more frantic.
Finally, a small black crystal formed on her forehead, accompanied by an emotionless voice that whispered in his ears.
[Seed of despair has been planted on Seeker ’Zena’]
Then he moved on to her brother.
[Seed of despair has been planted on Seeker ’Zen’]
And last but not least, he planted the Seed of Despair on Neil Croft as well. Nullifying the original contract he had with the servant. With his demonic crystal seed planted on these individuals, they were now practically his slaves, demonized by him.
No matter the method Arclight used on Neil now, it would all be useless.
***
After a few hours, deep inside the forest.
Zena woke up abruptly, gasping for breath. She felt like she just awoke from a deep nightmare. She remembered one moment, just a short few seconds.
A pair of inhumane eyes locked onto her, a hand of monstrous claws grabbed her face, injecting evil power inside of her. The thing, whatever it was, looked like A DEMON, with two red horns—wearing a frightening smile that chilled her blood just at the thought of it.
And the sheer agony of it made her want to die. A pain that came from the soul, as it changed her fundamental nature into something wrong, something... that should not happen.
Her internal fears suddenly came to a halt, and she was about to look for her brother before anything else. Right then, her eyes caught sight of the massive heat radiating ahead, a malevolent dark red fire.
Standing by that fire was the back of a figure... the very Demon she saw the vision of.
The voice of the demon echoed throughout the silent, deep forest, making her shudder, "Come Closer."
To her shock, she found herself walking closer to the demon, her own body out of control. Her struggles were meaningless, as she was bound to obey the commands of the demon who converted her into a demonkin.
But as she approached, what she saw inside the fire made her blood run cold. Hundreds upon hundreds of corpses of six-armed apekins burning, the pack of mighty physical creatures that ruled over this forest, all dead.
And most of them were missing their heads, which only unnerved her even more. On top of the fact that there was an actual demon standing right in front, it was like death itself was inching closer and closer.
The demon finally turned around, those pair of demonic eyes made her feel so small... so insignificant. His voice resounded again, shaking her soul, "Oh, no need to be so scared...."
Then Axel undid the demon transformation, returning to human. The woman was too scared by his demon state, and he did not want her to be too frightened. Disregarding the women’s flabbergasted expressions, he said with an amiable smile, "Don’t worry, your brother is fine."
Axel pointed to the side where her brother and Neil lay unconscious. The wounds they suffered were also healed, as they went through the demonification process. There was an important reason Axel had saved these two siblings.
Because he needed a native who was from the minor kingdoms, a representative of his, who would work within that territory, he asked, "Now why don’t you tell me about yourself?"
The women looked at the young man with wide eyes; the one they ambushed was actually a demon disguised as a human. He killed all those beasts of the forest, as well as that powerful assassin they had initially met; the count was naturally dead.
And only if she knew what torture the unflinching assassin went through in his last moments. To break him so greatly. She would go mad.
She tried to resist, yet she could not, and was compelled to speak of her origins, for she could not go against any orders from this young man, no matter what.
Zena and Zen were actually the bastard children of a noble house within the kingdom of Ravenspire. Yet, because of the plot from their father’s official wife, they were exiled from the house, forced to survive on the streets, and even then, there were multiple attempts to kill them off.
But they survived. Zena was a fierce girl from a young age; she found herself to be quite adept at killing and looting. So, from a very young age, she was deeply involved with the underground society. She fought against other men, women, and even children of her age in ring fights for money.
It was only when she showed her immense potential that she got a chance at becoming a Seeker. Eventually, she grew into a strong, wonderful woman. The boss of the underground city lusted after her when she grew up and attempted to rape her.
She feigned submission, eventually using deceit to kill the influential boss. Her brother was not as talented as she was, but he was also a good fighter in his own right. After that incident, they had to flee. Zena thought a day would come when she would be powerful enough to exact revenge on her family, who abandoned her.
But her family was powerful, especially her father. Because her family was the most influential noble household apart from the royal family of Ravenspire, she needed to be at least in the 4th phase even to have a chance at killing her father.
Hearing all of that, Axel’s expression did not change, but internally, he was beyond delighted; this was good. This was very good. To think he had caught such a big fish. If he used this opportunity well, so many things would become easier in the future. Lady Luck was finally smiling on him, it seems.
Axel stated, looking her in the eye, "The question is not what you want, but how much you are willing to sacrifice for the thing you want?"
He added after a moment of pause, "Can you sell your soul to the devil, if it means tasting the sweetness of revenge. To have the complete power to slaughter your entire family that forsake you?"
But Zena only laughed bitterly. She was a sharp woman; no matter where she went, one misfortune after another fell on her, and she could never remain in that position for long. With how her own body obeyed every command of this demon. How could she not come to terms with it?
"Haven’t I already sold my soul. If not for that, how can you control me? And I don’t care if you are a demon. But I will never live as a slave, I would rather die," she stated in anguish, but a deep-rooted fear was also in her eyes.
Axel affirmed truthfully, "There are always two sides to the same coin. Something must be given to get something else. You should be dead by now, yet I saved your life, even if I forgive you for trying to kill me. But I did not merely save you. I gave you a fragment of my demonic power."
"Look into yourself, and you shall see that you can break through to the third phase; the wall blocking you should have vanished," he dropped the first bombshell to the unwilling women.
***
{Author - Happy New Year, dear readers. I wish you all a blissful 2026...}
