Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord

Chapter 353: Demonlord’s Command

How indeed. How was he going to free himself?

Previously, when Kaelvaris told him how the blood magic works, his brain had furiously begun to find a solution, and most of the reason she continued the conversation was to stall for time.

So when Kaelvaris mocked him and asked how he was going to reverse-dominant his blood, Vale merely shook his head and then said, in a voice that rolled with power and carried aura pressure, "Demonlord’s Command!"

The air stilled, and a rolling pressure spread, suffocating and imposing—a domination of his will.

Demonlord’s Command is one of his Infernal Dominion powers. And truthfully, it’s the least powerful of his powers. Basically, it gives Vale majesty and power to dominate demons. Of course, it might be more useful when he’s in the demon realm, but not in the human one.

But Vale found himself in a unique position because technically, as Lord of the Eternal Pyre, he’s a demon as well.

So he used Demonlord’s Command on himself!

An invasive power, chaotic and powerful, slammed into Vale. Domination fell on him and stimulated his blood, a mental howl that filled his mind with a roar.

Kaelvaris’s hold was broken in one go, and the man reeled back, clutching his head in pain and horror. Blood dripped from his nose and ears, his eyes blank as if they had been shattered by something.

Vale took a mighty breath. His blood was stimulated, his aura swelling, casting pressure around him and imposing his will on the surroundings. His eyes glinted, and without another word, he stepped forward.

It was a single step, but his feet, powered by essence, propelled him forward, and he crossed the distance in what appeared to be a blink.

He appeared before Kaelvaris, and his hand snapped forward in an open slap that caught the vampire solidly on the forehead. But Vale didn’t just slap him and let him go. With his hand covering most of his head, he activated his power and blasted Hellfire.

Kaelvaris could not resist, his mind still reeling. The fire came out in a roar of angry red and blood, swallowing the head and the scream, and quickly reducing both to ashes.

Vale cut off his power.

The headless body fell to the ground with a dull thud.

Silence returned to the hallway.

Vale looked down at the remaining Master Knight, staring at him. Their eyes met, and he saw the decision form on the man’s face.

He would run.

Dravenyx devolved into a mass of darkness. But the darkness wasn’t overpowering or whole like earlier; this time, there were chunks missing, and it looked like dark, dirt-filled smoke. Either way, it began to run.

Vale ran after it as it sped down the hallway. He empowered himself with essence, so each step he took left depressions in the ground.

It didn’t take long to catch him.

The darkness form was weak and couldn’t run for long. Vale mixed his soul manipulation with his Hellfire, and then he unleashed it on the darkness. Screaming filled the air as the darkness was consumed. Then it hastily turned back to Dravenyx, who couldn’t even fight back as he was consumed as well, turning into ashes.

Vale stood there, naked, sweating, and breathing hard. Without hesitation, he cut power off from his core, and then he collapsed with a long gasp, his face drained of color.

’.....that wasn’t good...’

His body was sensitive and painful, his muscles spasming, and his head felt as if something was constantly collapsing within. Everything hurt, and even Vale, who was relatively used to pain, couldn’t bear it fully. And that was because his soul hurt as well.

His new power put a great strain on his body. And his soul.

Also, using Demonlord’s Command on himself had taxed him as well. ’...I don’t even have time to get used to my powers, and yet I’m already like this. If this is going to be an issue each time I use my powers....then I better be careful not to overuse it. I don’t really want to find out what happens when....’

He lay there for a while, letting his essence slowly heal what it could, but nothing could fully wash away the weariness. He didn’t know how long he was lying there, but eventually, he stood up with a groan.

"First thing first, I need to eat!"

Vale was hungry—impossibly so. His eyes roamed the ground until he found what he was looking for: a ring, dark and gold, glittering on the ground. He picked it up and studied the enchantments on it, his brows frowning.

"I don’t know anything about enchantments...or artifacts. How am I to access this?"

Vale sighed as he realized that he hadn’t taken his study in other ’stuff’ seriously. Of course, it wasn’t really his job, but shouldn’t he know a little about enchantments?

’....I’m a little literate, right? All my studies are more focused on offense and fighting....’ He internally criticized himself. Then he groaned again as he realized something.

’....wait. if my clan grows bigger, then I’m going to need to know more about economics and finance, policy, infrastructure....!!’

Vale suddenly felt an impending headache of a different sort. ’...of course, as part of the Athrimir Clan, I was taught all of this, and some of it did stick...but I’m a young boy! All I know is fighting and wanting to create glory...’

Vale suddenly chuckled at his own internal thought, his face becoming lighter and less tense. "Ah, I guess I’ll just employ those who are good at such, and I’ll use my majesty to conquer!"

A faint smile covered his face. "I still need a lot to learn, didn’t I?"

But as suddenly as the smile came, it was also gone. His clan was probably under another’s control. His face darkened as his attempt to distract himself collapsed.

"Right. Food first. Then other things."

Vale didn’t really succeed in reading the enchantments, but since the owners of enchanted tools lose their ownership once they die, he bound the spatial ring and got access to it.

And he was disappointed.

It appeared that Kaelvaris and Dravenyx were strictly professionals when going on jobs—or missions. Between the two of them, they only carried a single ring, and it was only filled with the necessities.

Food, water-making enchanted tools, clothes, some weapons, and random, useless things. But there were lots and lots of blood of different types and colors.

Vale was annoyed. "Two Master Knights, and this is all you can bring? Nothing special? Are you really that poor?"

But Vale didn’t think they were poor. They only treated the mission as such.

"Anyway, I’ll still use this well."

Vale changed, then sat down and began to eat, reflecting on the new changes in him. The biggest of all was his core. It was now bigger, and within it was the Crimson Lantern.

Vale could not fully refine it; thus, the rest of it was still there, fused with his core. Only when he reached higher ranks would he have the chance to refine more.

But even then, the little he did had pushed his magic power to the level of two Master Knights combined. He also now had access to the techniques of the Infernal Dominion power—all the fragments of the Shard.

He shook his head, his mouth filled with meat jerky and bread. ’...but to form techniques in each fragment, to explore everything....that’s going to take a lot of time...’

Vale sighed again. "We’ll see."

Although he had been impatient to be on the move since he woke up, he knew he would only do himself a disservice should he do anything unprepared.

Only when he finished, and saw that his core was relatively full, did he begin to move—this time in the direction that Dravenyx had been running before he met his doom.

The Old Man said that Vale was carried to the strange place with teleportation, and while that might be right, the two Dark Order Master Knights must have gotten there somehow. So he chose the way the man was trying to escape to.

With his body covered in essence that resembled his Hellfire, he shot forward like a tornado, a small sonic boom created in his passing.

And surprisingly, it didn’t take him long to reach the end—an entrance that spilled golden light. Vale had never been so happy to see sunlight.

He slowed down and walked to the edge of the entrance to look outside. Vale blinked. "I am inside a mountain?"

He looked down. The mountains spread below him in rough, gigantic sprawls. He must have been at the very top. Snow blanketed his immediate surroundings, and the air was cold and sharp, although it did nothing to him.

He shrugged, turned back to the cave. "So this is one of the ways to the Old Man’s prison?"

When he devoured the Crimson Lantern.