Devilblood Dagger
“Of course, according to this world, my main body deprived Beelzebub of most of his divinity and divine force. This greatly damaged his divine soul and he hence fell into a deep sleep, now he can’t even answer the prayers of his worshippers...”
Devils were always extremely sensitive towards sacrifices and prayers from the prime material plane. Through his many probes, Leylin was absolutely sure that this great master devil had already fallen deep asleep, completely unresponsive to the outside world’s stimulation.
This sent Beelzebub’s followers in the prime material plane into chaos. Had Beelzebub not hidden his main body well, Leylin might even have received news of his death.
“Regardless of whether one is a god or a devil, once you lose the ability to respond to prayers and the power to grant wishes, you will not be far from death...” Leylin sighed. There were cases where gods had died not to external factors, but to decreasing power of worship. This was truly pathetic.
‘Gods rely on believers for their existence. Despite having great powers and abilities, they are restrained by the very same power of faith. Except for someone who’s merged with the world origin force and become an existence that has comprehended an extraordinary divine force...’ He let out a deep breath, ‘Such an existence would be equal to a rank 8 Magus who’s found their own path. There are few such beings even in the World of Gods.’
He gathered his thoughts and turned his attention back to the statue, “Since Beelzebub is in a deep sleep, then I don’t have to be so cautious of using his name anymore...”
Truth be told, with his possession of a majority of Beelzebub’s memories, Leylin was like a real devil king. He could even steal Beelzebub’s believers and usurp his position. However, doing so required great power, and Leylin was only a rank 6 Magus.
Needless to say, he also had to acquire the power to grant his believers’ wishes. To usurp a god’s position he first had to acquire divinity.
“The laws of gluttony and devouring are great, but they’re already considered fiendish in the World of Gods. If I use such power here...” Leylin shook his head regretfully. If he wished to survive in the prime material plane, he could not rely entirely on divinity as his foundation. He hadn’t carried these abilities over his reincarnation, but even if he had they would’ve been useless, wiped out by the world origin.
“It’s best to take it step by step. Thankfully it takes a while for faith to erode. The worshipers of the Sovereign King of Gluttony will not vanish so quickly...
“Moreover, even if they do disappear, it’s just one less convenient path and reduced income for me. It’s not really not worth the risk, so it’s better for me to stick to the original plan and be steady...” Leylin’s eyes brightened, and he suddenly tightened his grip.
*Crack! Crack!* Turing the statue of the Sovereign King of Gluttony into ashes, dropping it to the floor bit by bit.
“I must admit though, the devil got many useful things.” Leylin stuck his hand into the petri dish, and soon fished out a knife covered in blood. The pocket-sized knife had a beautiful curve to it, and it looked like a very fine work of art.
A fierce demon skull tipped its handle, numerous eyes on it giving off a savage glare. Two devilish wings made up the hand guard, and complicated patterns that looked like veins covered the entire handle. Its demonic looks were only enhanced by the faint crimson glow and the blood dripping from its tip.
“So the Devilblood Dagger’s done!” Leylin’s eyes flashed with joy, and the A.I. Chip followed up with data on the Devilblood Dagger.
[Devilblood Dagger. Weight: 9182g, Length: 9in, Ingredients: Cockatrice bones, fresh blood, weeping spirits. Effects: Possesses the power of a devil, able to absorb a target’s flesh and blood to increase one’s own power. Description: An extremely vicious weapon that even gods fear, the Devilblood Dagger represents ominous death. Creator: Leylin Faulen.]
“It’s rather good!” Leylin fiddled with the dagger, causing it to glow with a dark light. There were many, many items like this in Beelzebub’s memory; he’d used their easy power to lure people from the prime material plane to his side.
This Devilblood Dagger was a very good weapon from Beelzebub’s memories. If a believer wanted to be bestowed this dagger, they would have to sacrifice a rank 15 or greater priest from a hostile god, or even slaughter a small city to even think of getting it.
‘The devils are the best way to increase my power in a short amount of time currently. They treat both the young and the old honestly, but the price one has to pay in the end is usually even more frightening...’ Leylin heaved a sigh.
His cousin Isabel had clearly been seduced by a demon after giving into despair. She had succumbed to it in the end, and had now gotten herself in tons of trouble.
Unlike her, Leylin didn’t become a collector for demonic sacrifices. He’d done something much more vicious, nearing becoming a devil king. All the flesh and blood devoured by the Devilblood Dagger would go to feeding his own power!
‘Even if I’ve crafted it, I still need to perform some experiments on this dagger, especially the problem with contamination.’ Leyin furrowed his brows, the main reason why he had taken so long to make the dagger was because he was working on changing its properties. He wanted to avoid some of the side effects of its use.
After all, Beelzebub was no kind soul. His treasures were used to lure followers into depravity, and the Devilblood Dagger was no exception. It slowly corrupted one’s mind and soul with use, turning them into a devil.
Being one himself, Beelzebub had no problems with using the dagger, but Leylin was different. He needed to remain human, as he would come into contact with churches and high-ranked priests in the future; turning half-devil would impose great restrictions on what he could do.
‘Although The A.I. Chip already solved the corruption problem, there’s still the issue of its radiance. It screams depravity and evil, I’m not sure I could get away with it...’ Leylin walked straight into the manor while he was still thinking.
“Young master!” A trained guard saluted. The man wore leather armour, and the longsword in his hand sparkled— Obviously the manor’s security system had greatly been upgraded after the attack on Leylin.
It was obvious at a glance that this fellow was merely a trained farmer, just a little stronger than a regular human. “Howard, right? Follow me!” Leylin said.
“Roger that!” Howard could not disobey the young master. He followed right after Leylin to the dungeon. Once the rest were cleared out, only Leylin and Howard were left there. Of course, there were also the two unfortunate assassins who were lying on the ground.
“Can I trust you, Howard?” Leylin’s voice was soft, but it had a special tone in it.
Such a special tone gave Howard an ominous premonition, but loyalty occupied his mind and soon he replied with a straight back, “I would risk my life for you, young master!”
“Great! Now, look into my eyes!” Leylin ordered Howard to raise his head, it felt as if there was a mysterious spiral in those pupils of his.
“Rank 1 spell— Charm Person!” Under Leylin’s spell, Howard’s pupils soon lost their focus, turning him into a zombie.
“This rank 1 spell...” Leylin mumbled, “It can only charm the mind... It’ll work perfectly on regular people, but it’ll be weak against professionals. It would probably on render Jacob a little dizzy for a few seconds...”
“Take this, chop off one of his fingers!” Leylin ordered, passing the dagger to Howard.
“Ugh.... Ughh!” The strange situation gave Mahnke the feeling that something catastrophic was about to happen. However, his limbs had all been broken earlier, and his body was thoroughly tied up. He could only struggle in vain and had no other method to resist.
Howard carried out Leylin’s order with the Devilblood Dagger in hand, a soulless expression on his face. His other hand pinned Mahnke’s down to the floor, and he chopped off a finger without hesitation.
*Schlick!* The dull sound of blade slamming against flesh could be heard, together with Mahnke’s sorrowful sounds. A bloody pinky was chopped off, and it twitched on the floor like a worm.
*Keke...Ughhhh...* At the same time, the dagger emitted a radiant light, and the demonic skull at the hilt let out a sinister laugh. The numerous eyes shot out a demonic lustre.
Layer upon layer of veins began to squirm on the handle, swallowing the blood on its surface. Many tiny blood-coloured strings penetrated into Howard’s body, and the pinky on the floor gradually shrunk before their eyes. It soon turned into a dried out piece of charcoal. Looking like firewood.
“How do you feel now?” Leylin asked.
“The dagger is very hot, and the heat is spreading to me!”
“A. I. Chip, examine his stats!” Leylin’s eyes began to glow.