The moment the drop was absorbed, visible changes began to spread across his body.
The deep lines on his face slowly faded, his sagging features tightening until he looked like a man in his prime once more. His skin lost its dry, worn look, turning firm and healthy. Muscles that had long since weakened began to swell and harden, pushing back against his robes. His hunched posture straightened, his spine aligning as if an unseen weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
But before the transformation could fully settle, I acted.
I activated Essence Infusion and directed 100 units of Constitution into him.
Violet Essence surged out from within me, dense and controlled. I raised my hand and pointed at Orobas, releasing a focused beam of Essence that struck him squarely in the chest.
The effect was immediate.
His body shuddered as power rushed through every vein and bone. This time, it wasn’t just his flesh that changed. His blood itself thickened and strengthened, carrying vitality and resilience that he had carried in his prime. His heartbeat grew steady and powerful.
Orobas let out a sharp breath, his eyes wide as he looked down at his own hands. They were steady. Strong. Alive in a way he hadn’t felt in decades.
The old man was gone.
What stood before us now was a demon restored and strengthened, ready to stand at the center of Armus once more.
Orobas stood there in silence, staring at his own hands. His fingers slowly curled and uncurled, as if he were testing whether this new strength was real. His breathing was steady now, deep and full, no longer the shallow, strained rhythm of someone barely holding on.
I could feel it clearly, his life force was no longer leaking away. The ritual that had once kept him alive was no longer a chain around his neck.
Excitement burned in his eyes. He was a ruler, after all. From a man counting days and borrowing time, he now had decades ahead of him. Real time. Time to act, to build, to matter.
He straightened his shoulders and looked at me properly this time, not as a desperate old demon, but as a leader restored.
I nodded once and spoke again, my voice calm.
"The deal still stands. Armus grows stronger in our absence. You prepare this world to endure what is coming. In return, I protect it, strengthen it, and give it a future that does not depend on blood rituals and slow decay."
Orobas didn’t hesitate this time. He lowered his head slightly, a gesture of respect I assumed.
"I agree," he said firmly.
Dorian stepped forward and followed suit. His earlier doubts were gone, replaced by resolve.
"I agree as well," he said. "This time, without hesitation."
That was enough for me.
Lyrate, who had remained quiet the entire time, took a single step forward.
"Just to remind you," she said softly, "if I can give you this vitality, I can just as easily take it back and more."
Her words lingered in the air. Then her body broke apart into a swirl of crimson mist, dispersing completely as she vanished from the hall. Orobas and Dorian looked at each other than back at me, their expression truly serious since they understood the threat.
Smiling, I stood up from the chair.
"I’ll begin my work," I said.
Neither of them tried to stop me. They both knew this was beyond them now.
I vanished.
The next moment, I was standing high above the city, suspended in the open sky. I closed my eyes and reached inward. I connected to the black hidden island resting at the center of my Dawn Core.
I summoned the chain.
This time, there was no violent pull, no tearing force. A ripple spread outward from my chest, subtle and smooth, like a stone dropped into still water. I followed that ripple with my perception, tracing it as it moved through layers of space.
The ripple led me to it.
The world core of Armus.
I raised my hand and waved it through the air. Space split apart cleanly, opening a portal without resistance. I stepped through.
The world shifted. I arrived inside a hidden pocket space. At its center floated the world core itself.
It was unlike any I had seen before.
The core was shaped like a cube, its edges sharp and perfect. Inside it churned dense blue particles. But at the very center of the cube hovered a single drop of blood, suspended in place. It pulsed slowly, each beat sending faint waves through the surrounding Essence.
I focused on that drop and extended my senses toward it.
The moment I touched it, a crushing presence slammed into me.
Ancient. Violent. Proud.
Fire laws burned within it. Blood laws churned endlessly. And beneath it all was raw strength, brutal, overwhelming, and refined through countless ages. This wasn’t a simple remnant or offering.
This was the mark of a truly ancient demon.
I exhaled slowly.
"So that’s it," I murmured realising the source of the blood and fire ritual that Primus had talked about.
Without hesitation, I placed my palm against the surface of the cube.
I began the takeover.
The blue particles resisted at first, but only briefly. I devoured it steadily, drawing it into myself, stripping the world core of its original flow. At the same time, I released my own power. Violet Essence poured out from me, flooding into the cube, replacing what had been taken.
The color shifted. Blue faded. Violet took its place.
Then I reached for the black energy hidden deeper within the core. The moment I touched it, it was dragged away violently, pulled straight into the black hidden island within my Dawn Core. Whatever secrets it carried vanished with it, sealed away where even I could not yet fully see.
As the blue particles sank into the Dawn Core, it began to change, just as it had every other time I took control of a world core.
The cube trembled.
And then it stilled. I did not touch or interfere with the blood drop in any way. I let it remain exactly where it was, suspended at the center of the cube, now fully surrounded by my Essence.
The fire and blood ritual was already planned. That would be the moment when I would take advantage of my control over the blood core.