The leader of the base stared at William with alarm etched deeply across his features.
His instincts screamed at him to raise his hands, to attack, to retaliate in any way possible, but his body refused to obey.
Every command his mind issued died before reaching his limbs.
The invisible pressure of space itself crushed down on him, locking him in place so completely that even the twitch of a finger felt impossible.
[ Host, do it soon. To restrain an SSS entity, the Void Sovereignty Spell is consuming a lot of mana.]
The system’s warning echoed sharply in William’s mind, but he did not rush.
Instead, he began walking forward at an unhurried pace, each step deliberate and controlled.
His boots struck the stone floor with soft but clear echoes that spread through the hall, the sound amplified by the unnatural silence created by the space lock.
With every step, the frozen vampire’s expression twisted further, fear mixed with rage and humiliation as he failed to move in the presence of a lower-ranked human.
William stopped directly in front of him and reached up with one hand.
With an effortless motion, he removed the strange anteater-shaped mask from the man’s face and tossed it aside.
What was revealed underneath made William pause for just a moment. The face staring back at him was grotesque and asymmetrical. One half appeared heavily burned and deformed, as though it had once been exposed to extreme heat.
The flesh there looked twisted and unnatural, healed incorrectly over time.
William’s lips curled into a cold, mocking smile.
"No wonder you have acted like a bastard with weird tastes with all the victims here," he said calmly. "Your mother must have been fucked by a lava hound."
The insult earned him a glare filled with pure hatred, but the man could not move, could not speak, could not even snarl properly under the weight of space pressing down on him.
"Let me complete this painting for you," William added, his voice carrying an unsettling casualness.
Fire ignited in his palm, but it was not the stellar fire he often wielded.
William raised his burning hand and pressed it firmly against the unburned side of the vampire’s face.
Muffled squeals of agony erupted from Grimlock’s throat.
His body tried to jerk away, every nerve screamed for escape, but the space lock held him mercilessly in place.
The smell of burning flesh filled the air as skin blistered, blackened, and began to melt.
Just as the damage reached a critical point, before the supernatural regeneration could begin repairing it, William conjured ice with his other hand and slammed it against the burn.
The sudden shift from extreme heat to cold caused the flesh to crack and stiffen unnaturally.
William did not stop there. He applied fire again, burning over the damaged area once more, and then sealed it again with ice. He repeated the process carefully, methodically, tempering the injury so that it would remain etched permanently into Grimlock’s face.
Only when he was satisfied did William step back slightly.
William now expected that the vampire’s mentality should have broken till now.
"Become my slave," he said flatly.
[ Ding! Placing a slave mark on an individual named Grimlock. ]
[ Ding! Slave mark has been resisted. ]
"Ooh, you shitty bastard!" William muttered, facepalming in irritation. "Trust me, it never ends well when you do it this way."
His jaw tightened as he placed his hand on Grimlock’s shoulder. Sovereign sword intent surged forth, sharp and absolute, entering the vampire’s body.
William directed it precisely, and Grimlock’s muscles spasmed violently as nerves snapped under the pressure. The pain was horrible, and the expression on the vampire’s face said it all.
William released the Void Sovereignty Spell, and the space lock vanished.
In the same instant, he clenched Grimlock’s neck tightly, lifting him off the ground.
Grimlock was in such agony that even after being freed, he could not form a spell.
Seizures wracked his body while his limbs jerked uncontrollably.
"Don’t fuck with me!!" William growled, his frustration spilling out.
"The destined death of your demon Lord is due by my hands. You are just his dog. How dare you resist?"
He slammed Grimlock against the wall with brutal force, pinning him there by the throat. William’s patience was wearing thin.
Why did they always resist? Why did they insist on wasting his time when a simpler path existed? He thought as his mind spiralled with a strange emotion.
[ Ding! Slave mark has been resisted.]
Another failed notification sounded in William’s mind.
"Again?" William shouted as fury erupted. "You did it again!"
He hurled Grimlock down the corridor, and the vampire’s body crashed into the stone floor with a sickening sound.
The impact echoed loudly, and within seconds, hurried footsteps answered it.
William turned his head as dozens of cultists poured into the corridor, roughly fifty in number, each of them at A-rank or above.
Weapons were drawn, spells half-formed, and their faces tense with alarm. But they did not move yet, the sight in front of them was horrific.
If the man was toying with their boss, that meant that he was clearly above their league.
William grabbed Grimlock by the neck again, his anger spiraling out of control.
He slammed him into the wall repeatedly, each impact cracking stones and sending vibrations through the structure.
[ Ding! Slave mark has been resisted. ]
This was the third time that a failure notification sounded in William’s mind.
"Fucking break!" William screamed, his voice echoed madly through the corridor.
Something stirred violently in his chest, an irritation unlike anything he had felt before. It was as though a pressure was building inside his chest and was demanding immediate release.
[ Calm down, host!! ]
The Armament Nexus burst out of William’s inventory and floated beside him, reshaping instantly into a pair of Red Oath Daggers.
The blades shot forward like rays of sunlight, propelled by William’s spiritual energy. They tore through the corridor, slaughtering cultists without pause or mercy.
William employed the True Armament Subjugation Art , though not in any form of its own. Only two daggers moved, guided purely by spiritual energy and the basics of this technique.
But his real focus never left Grimlock.
"Break, dammit," William snarled. "Fucking break!"
He continued slamming Grimlock’s body against walls and floor alike, the corridor filling with blood.
[ Ding! Slave mark has been resisted. ]
William grabbed Grimlock by the leg and lifted him into the air. He tried, distantly, to avoid killing him outright, but his rational thoughts were slipping away too quickly.
[ Ding! Slave mark has been resisted. ] faliure notifications rang in a stream, snapping William’s control over his anger by every second.
Red draconic claws replaced his fingers as he partially activated his true dragon transformation, which was an ability granted by his physique.
Scales emerged along his temples, down the nape of his neck, and across portions of his upper torso.
With those claws, William began skinning Grimlock alive.
The vampire screamed as layers of flesh peeled away, pain reaching depths he had never imagined.
Around them, the daggers continued their relentless slaughter, cutting down cultists without pause.
[ Host, stop. Get a hold of yourself. ]
William did not listen. Rage drowned everything else. He did not question why he felt this way.
He only knew the hunger to destroy, to tear apart anything that resisted his will.
Grimlock finally gave up.
[ Ding! Congratulations. The slave mark has been placed. ]
[ Stop, host! The mark has been placed. ]
[ Host? ]
William froze.
He looked down at the broken, bloodied Grimlock beneath him, who was now breathing heavy and uneven.
Slowly, the draconic claws receded, his hands returning to normal. He staggered back a step, then another, creating distance between himself and the carnage while taking deep breaths.
His gaze dropped to the glossy pool of blood on the floor, where his reflection stared back at him.
For a moment, William did not recognize himself.
His vision blurred slightly as light rippled within his eyes, and a chilling realization settled into his mind.
Something about him had changed.
-----------------
[Author note: to clear some things
1. Mc is not getting nerfed in future.
2. He’s losing control, there is reason for that]