Mutagen

Day ▋▋▋ - ▋▋:11 AM - Spire Tree Castle, Kingdom of Black Duendes, Spirit Dimension

Everyone's attention now focused on Lumeria. She did not notice it, though, as her attention was entirely on Mark.

Lumeria was hesitating whether she should continue or forget what she wanted to say. In the start, although she was amazed that Mark managed to bring Teremillio and find her in the castle, she was skeptical whether they would be able to escape at all. However, she was wrong.

Alone, Mark defeated both the army of Demons and Black Duendes, and now, Luserio's life was literally in his hand.

It was unbelievable.

Because of these thoughts, she wondered if she deserved to ask him a request at all.

However, by Mark's actions and words, it was clear that he wanted to eradicate every living being in this castle, and probably, the whole Kingdom.

And a kind-hearted White Duende like her would not want such a thing to happen.

Without a doubt, this Kingdom was inhabited by corrupt, evil, and malicious beings. In fact, the majority of the people in this Kingdom was raised and living that way. Proud and arrogant, while looking down on other races and enslaving them. However, not everyone was like that. Some were victims too.

And in this circumstance...

"Can you please spare the other Queens?"

Everyone was not surprised. Mark and the others already expected that she would ask of this. What was surprising was that she specifically asked for the Queens only. It meant that the Princes and Princesses were actually not included in her plea.

Of course, Luserio glared at Lumeria with eyes filled with hate. He was already done for. Even if he wanted to deny it, there was no hope for him. And Lumeria's request was basically cutting off Luserio's lineage, only leaving Teremillio, who he had the least influence with.

Luserio wanted to curse Lumeria. It was just he was not able to as Mark tightened his grip on the King's neck before he could let out a single letter.

"Just the Queens? What about Teremillio's half-siblings?"

Mark asked for confirmation.

"Yes," Lumeria replied. "Among us, only two are willing to be with His Ma- Ahem...Luserio. The others were only forced by the circumstances. About the Princes and Princesses... I don't know."

Lumeria sighed as she glanced at Luserio.

"I want to save them too, but his influence on them is too deep. I'm afraid that its too late for them to change. Leaving them alone might create another Tyrant in the future."

That was Lumeria's fear. The birth of another tyrant that would oppress other races. After all, they were Luserio's children. They inherited his abilities that could possibly grow stronger in the future.

And unfortunately, unlike her, the other Queens did not care for their children, making them hate their mothers. It was not a surprising situation considering that they were children of an unwanted relationship. Not to mention that compared to humans, relationships between Spirit Races were far feebler. That situation, however, made the influence of Luserio towards his children far greater.

On the other hand, Teremillio, who had a kind mother, was both fortunate and unfortunate. He did not become like his siblings. Thi situation, however, gained the ire of his siblings due to both Luserio's influence and their jealousy.

The only exceptions were the First and Third Princes that were born under the same mother and the Fourth Princess. These three were children of the two Queens that followed Luserio wholeheartedly. Thus, they were not jealous of Teremillio but only loved to make fun of and bully their siblings. Not only Teremillio but also others.

And to Lumeria's request...

"Well then..."

Mark smiled. His smile, however, made the others uneasy.

"What can you give me in exchange for their lives?"

"HEY!"

Of course, it was Teremillio who was the first to react. Pefile on the side shrugged with a sigh while the others shook their head slightly. 

Mark was Mark, especially in these kinds of situations.

Lumeria could only look at Mark incredulously. She was speechless and did not know what response she should give.

There was one thing that she was sure of, however. It was that Mark's glowing eyes were not joking.

In the first place, it was easier to kill everyone in the castle in one sweep by how Mark handled the Black Duendes. And to fulfill her request, it would take more effort, especially now that the members of the Royal Family of Black Duendes and the other officials might already be hiding in their secret passages.

Unfortunately, Lumeria had nothing to give at this moment. Well, aside from one thing...

"Then... I..."

Lumeria replied. However...

"No, Mother. You don't have to say anything."

Teremillio cut her off and turned to Mark.

"Boss, don't be like this."

To Teremilio's gestures, Mark rolled his eyes.

"Just what are you getting riled up about? I just want your mother to work under me, pretty much like you. It's not anything bad, right?"

"Haahhh..."

Teremillio could not help but feel helpless. There was no way he could refute that. It was not bad. In fact, it was too good. Every time that they were with Mark, he was more or less babysitting them. Of course, when it came to working, they could not slack.

Still, Teremillio wanted to complain about how Mark would always do this kind of thing during times when the other party had no way to refuse. He had already done this several times in the Stone Fortress, after all.

Hearing the conversation between her son and his Boss, Lumeria could not help but smile.

"Millio, don't worry. If it's just working, I don't mind." Lumerai grabbed her son's arm and pulled him to her side. "This is much better as a change. Try comparing it to how I had been imprisoned in this castle for more several decades."

Lumeria said all that, looking at the accursed castle in front of her.

"Mother..." Teremillio sighed with a smile. "Alright."

Finally, Lumeria agreed to Mark's conditions. As long as he spared the other Queens. She would be working under him together with her son.

"Well, then." Mark looked at Luserio. "Since I don't have to kill the remaining Queens anymore, I have no need for this guy."

And these words were the Playful Tyrant's death sentence.

"AAAARRRHHH!!!!!"

Luserio's eyes widened as he screamed out loud. Fear, indignance, pain, his face twisted with different expressions as Mark started to erase his existence.

The King still tried to resist as he tried to create illusions. However, his last-ditch effort amounted to nothing as Mark riled up his subconscious.

Amidst his roars, Luserio turned to dust in Mark's hands.

At the same time, Mark smiled as the [Psycrystal] on his arm glowed brightly.

And there, a crystal appeared on Mark's hand.

"What a pity. It's just a attributed crystal."

Mark examined the large marble-sized crystal between his fingers. It was a crystal with a foggy gray color. There was no glowing orb inside, which meant that it was a crystal similar to those that Mark gathered before from the infected Spirit Races.

Still, this crystal was larger in size and had higher potency than the others.

"Here."

Mark said as he carelessly threw the crystal towards Teremillio. Caught by surprise, Teremillio almost dropped it.

"This... Boss?"

Teremillio was confused as to why Mark gave it to him.

"Don't tell me that you forgot what that is?"

"No, I definitely remember. But... are you really giving this to me?"

Teremillio could not believe it. It was the first time that he received one from Mark, after all. He had seen Amihan, Aephelia, and Spera absorb a crystal before and strengthening their powers. However, they were Mark's direct subordinates. The people that were devoted to serving him.

"Stop asking questions if you don't want me to take that back."

Mark said as he turned around to enter the castle.

And to say, Teremillio was happy. Not only he reunited with his mother, and the threat of the Black Duendes was almost over, he even received a crystal from Mark.

As he looked at the crystal, Teremillio wholeheartedly pledged to meet Mark's expectations.

Mark did not know this but to everyone in the base, receiving a crystal from Mark was a sign of recognition. And here, Teremillio's wives swarmed towards him, happy at his current achievement.

Though, it seemed like Lumeria was quite troubled by this. Not by the crystal, of course, as she did not know about it. 

What troubled her was the totally unexpected number of wives that her son had. Furthermore, all of them came from different races. However, she understood that it was different from Luserio and the Queens he gathered by force.

All of her son's wives looked happy and free.

***

Mark's group entering the castle started the final phase of the purge. At this time, Mark let Mei and the girls participate in killing the remaining unnecessary people inside.

In truth, Mark wanted to do this on his own. However, Amihan complained as Mark totally finished the battle with Luserio too fast. They barely had to do anything at all.

However, it was not like Mark wanted to end it fast in the first place. He was even training to get used to his current speed. It was just Luserio showed something dangerous and had to end it as fast as possible.

What Mark mentioned was that last attack of Luserio before he was forced to use his Empath Abilities to kill and disable every enemy. He was quite sure that it was not just some illusion magic but actually using an illusion to copy a currently existing object. In that case with Mark, Luserio used the incoming attack and replicated it all to surround him.

Mark could not confirm it for sure, but it felt dangerous.

Although he might be able to deal with it to some extent, Mei and the others would surely fall victim to that attack. It was better to end it and not gamble.

Now that Luserio was gone, Mark could let the others play.

And to say, it was a massacre.

The Black Duendes never stood a chance after their magic and illusions had been rendered useless.

Like as they thought, they found the Queens and other important people hiding in a secret room below the castle.

And as Lumeria requested, the Queens were spared. Well, just five of them. Aside from the Queen that Mark killed outside, the Third Queen was also killed. The moment that Mark's group entered the secret room by force, the Third Queen attacked together with the remaining Princes and Princesses.

Mark actually wanted to keep a few of them if they showed promise. But the way they behaved in front of Mark's group, he decided to spare none.

The important people of the castle, like the other General, Ellio, and the one that maintained the barrier, Ol'fir, were also there. And, of course, Mark ended their lives.

Unexpectedly, that Demon, Ol'fir, also gave Mark a unique attributed crystal after his death.

Lastly, the Succubus, Il'vella. Mark kept her alive. According to Lumeria, she was more or less the bridge of the alliance between the Black Duendes and the Demons. If Mark wanted information about what the Demon's plans were, Il'vella was the best person to investigate.

And there, the end of the Kingdom of Black Duendes was secured.

Outside, the battle was still raging as the remaining slaves fought for revenge. Chaflar, who was left outside the castle, also joined the fray, killing every enemy it saw with a breath of its flames.

Mark's group also joined in, laying the whole Kingdom to a huge pile of rubble.

It was far better to kill as many Demons here as possible. Not only the army of Demons would weaken, but the lack of soldiers would delay their plans further.

After another two hours of battle, only a handful of humans were left in the Kingdom. All life had been extinguished, and the Kingdom of Black Duendes was no more.

All that was left was to plunder the treasures of the Kingdom. And then meet with the slaves that did not give up despite the circumstances.