The Demon Monarch System

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Inside the illusion still currently trapping Apollo, he looked around. Immediately, he took notice of the shaky environment. After the three before him eye's turned lifeless, the environment's stability seemed to grow faulty.

"As I thought, when someone breaks free from the illusion, the one who conjured this illusion must use the mental energy initially meant to maintain it, to draw the others back in. But, doing so weakens the illusion as a whole. Thus, allow me to break it!"

Now that he understood the basis of the illusion, Apollo clapped his hand together. Not only did his aura flare, but the look in his eyes changed. He now gazed upon the environment with apparent disgust.

Due to his actions, it continued to tremble. The violent murderous aura leaking from him hastened the demolition. In the beginning, the destruction of the mindscape first started with the colossal walls. From there, piece by piece, they crumbled. The fragments that fell soon dissipated into motes of fleeting light.

'Krrk!' 'Krrrrrrrrrkkk!' 

A sound reminiscent of shattering glass sounded as what seemed to be a screen cracked. The growing fractures soon connected causing large clumps of the illusion to go missing. Naturally, this gave Apollo the ability to peer outside and inspect the situation going on.

'Is that a Dark Beast? It seems my assumptions were off. I thought someone targeted us, but that doesn't appear to be the case,' Apollo internalized whilst raising his hands. With a grasping motion, he broke the rest of the illusion—in the process, freeing his mind.

As a result, his murderous aura returned to his body. While it did, he opened his eyes to gaze at the fox before him. 

However, in response to his reappearance, the Illusion Wraith Fox trembled. In its eyes, his aura was something only the Terrors should possess. For a human to emanate this feeling, something wasn't right!

"Y-you're not a human!" the fox screeched, taking an apprehensive step back.

Apollo's eyebrows rose with interest when he saw this. 'A speaking beast? According to Azridan, a situation like this only appears after a beast reaches a certain cultivation or possesses high innate abilities. From this fox's aura, it can't have reached Rank 6. So, the latter should be the reason behind its sentience.'

"Oh? Why do you say I'm not human?" Apollo questioned, taking calm steps forward. As he did so, not only did he not brandish a weapon, he retracted his aura. He was intrigued by this situation. Why was a beast like this located here? 

"Do you really need to ask me that question? Take a look at your aura, it's too dark! That's not something a human possesses. What are you? A Terror? But they don't look like you," the fox replied with an almost human-like sneer.

"Nope," Apollo shook his head, standing face to face with the beast. Surprisingly, neither of them made a move. Just staring into its eyes, Apollo found himself becoming more curious.

"You must have a name, what is it?" Apollo asked.

"Tch, why should I tell y-.."

Before the fox could continue, Apollo grabbed its jaw with cold eyes. His frigid gaze looked to be unusually aggravated, "You have already caused me to idle here long enough. It is because of your actions that our ranking has fallen, now answer my question. Furthermore, consider yourself lucky that you are a special case; if not, I would kill you. "

The look in Apollo's eyes struck something deep inside the fox. This special species didn't possess high physical prowess. Hence, why Apollo was able to subdue it with his current strength. Its strength lay in its mind. But, now that Apollo had broken free from its clutches, what else could it do?

"E...Elaia," the fox replied. Shockingly, with its defeated expression, the fox began reverting to a humanoid form. Before Apollo's eyes, she shrunk to a height similar to Nadida.

"I have a question, how do you have sentience and why are you here?" 

"Y-you! You never answered my question either!" Elaia scowled. Due to her actions, her hood fell revealing her features.

Even in her human form, she still gave off a foxy appeal. Her slender face and sharp gray eyes, as well as her frilly teal hair; it all looked similar to her odd blend of colors in her beast form.

"I'm a human," Apollo shrugged.

"No, you're not! You don't smell the same-

"I'm...a...human!" Apollo asserted, his eyes shining with a dangerous light. Hidden within there was a message along the lines of, 'If you can't take a hint, I will kill you.'

"O-oh...I see. You must just be a special human then," Elaia conceded, nodding in understanding, before she continued, "All of my species usually achieves sentience after Rank 4. I have a Royal Bloodline so I did so after achieving Rank 3. Unfortunately… you humans...you!"

While speaking, Elaia began trembling. Not only this, but frustrated tears appeared in her eyes as well, "You all murdered my family and commandeered our realm!" 

'Oh? So she hates the human race? Interesting,' Apollo smiled before tapping Elaia's shoulder, "How much do you hate them?"

"I hate them all. All of you revolting humans," Elaia snarled. Her eyes glowed with emotion. However, from Apollo's view, he saw a stream of Sin. Furthermore, it was one his body found to be a delicacy.

"Very well," Apollo nodded. 

For several moments, there was silence. As their gaze locked, Apollo lifted his hand and placed it on Elaia's forehead. In a continuous stream, the wrath she contained flowed into Apollo. While any other sin was impossible, because of Sapphyr's predicament, he came to understand he could absorb people's wrath.

However, he would have to do so carefully. The only reason he was doing so now was due to his repeated usage of those earlier Demonic Massacre Waves. Unbeknownst to him, while using them, he had almost immediately burned through Ouroboros' reserves.

Albeit being a Sin vessel, it appeared the amount Ouroboros could contain at the moment was minuscule at best. Fortunately, while he lacked the ability to contain Sin in large volumes, he could still absorb Sin at seemingly any level of purity. This more than made up for his shortcomings.

Loud gasps could be heard coming from Elaia as she looked at Apollo. The fact all her rage was leaving her body stupefied her, "W-what are you doing? What type of ability is this to absorb my emotions?"

Before answering, Apollo withdrew his hand and closed his eyes. As her rage coursed through him, Apollo tried to calm down and settle the seething emotion that came along as an attachment to absorbing Sin. Only after some time did Apollo open his eyes.

"Follow me," Apollo said. Not only did he ignore her, but he also wanted to claim her as his contracted beast! Although her physical prowess was extremely lacking, he saw her as an impeccable source of Wrath. If she were always in the presence of humans, then her rage would always be present.

"Follow you? What makes you think I would do that? I detest all you humans," Elaia scoffed, showing a disgusted sneer. Moreover, a proud expression stemming from her bloodline appeared on her face. Needless to say, her disgust towards the human race deep. 

Meanwhile, Apollo's eyes shined with a menacing light, "You're not the only one who holds detest towards them. Follow me and I will make it so you come to realize your revenge. Also, you mentioned you're of a royal bloodline?"

"Yes! Don't you know about bloodlines? There are levels to them! My species carrying a royal bloodline is incomparable to the likes of those beasts carrying meager ordinary bloodlines! Hmph!" Elaia scoffed. Apollo's lack of information surrounding this matter seemed to annoy. 

Nevertheless, it was understandable. Once one's bloodline reached a certain height, one possessed a certain level of pride. It was similar to how a cultivator's pride swelled when they advanced to a new realm.

"Hoh? Tell me about them then and give me your answer. I don't have the luxury of idling here for much longer. If you decline, then I'll simply treat you how I deem the other beasts—like points," Apollo threatened, keeping a nonchalant tone as if this matter wasn't something important to him in the slightest.

"I don't know too much about it but what I do know is I'm known as a King Beast! It means I am one of a Royal Bloodline. Beyond that would be an Emperor Beast; they possess what is known as an Imperial Bloodline. Sadly, I'm unlearned in anything beyond this. You sickening humans killed my parents before I could!" Elaia spat.

"That's outside of my concern. Now tell, what is your decision?" Apollo asked but unlike before, his tone was severe as if it was his last time asking this question.