Mind Demon's Path of Domination

"Where is she?!"

"That direction…"

The forest blurred in Yanchan's sight as he blitzed through, throwing rock after rock to accelerate his speed while cutting through mist. Soon, another battle area came to his sight and he stared, wide-eyed, at a woman with hair as red as blood.

A spear danced in her hand, taking multiple Lower Demons into their grave. Meanwhile, some Middle Demons surrounded her, each having their own assortment of unique abilities and Ultimate Demonic Arts.

Yuuna, my sister.

She was on the side, not in any immediate danger as she fought valiantly. A Silver Savage with the ability to create spears, that was who she was now.

"YUUNA!" he shouted.

A pair of red eyes turned to stare at him for a second before her whole body grew rigid. Her focus broken, one of the many Lower Demons surrounding her jumped at her, and even though she blocked at the last time, a powerful attack sent her crashing onto the trees, bleeding.

Frightened, Yanchan threw a rock and teleported beside her, immediately using the Glass Dome to defend themselves from all incoming attacks. All the colorful attacks could do was dissolve in the face of this absolute defense.

Yuuna rubbed her mask and stared up at Yanchen with an open mouth.

Oh what, so I was just paranoid indeed. Sometimes, dreams can come true.

Suddenly, a contract appeared in front of him, burning slightly with a heat-less fire.

====

[The Dream Gamble—Mark/Yanchan]

[Dream: Find and meet with your sister Yuuna.]

[Conditions]

Successfully fail the Dream. (Unsuccessful—Failed.)

[Success Reward: You can take any one thing from the demon, Marcus, as your own]

[Failure Price: The demon, Marcus, can take any one thing from you of his choice as his own.]

====

Yuuna stood up and stared at the Glass Dome surrounding them, her mask smudged with dirt and blood. "Little Yan, we will talk about everything later. I don't know how you have these powers, but the Mist Demon is coming—it's incredibly strong. We have to run! Escape!"

Yanchen felt fear thrum through his heart. No, I am so stupid. Now that I've met my sister, the Dream Gamble is complete and the demon inside me can take away all my powers. If he took them all, we will die. And due to interrupting her mid-battle, I even hurt her.

Continuous assaults slammed into his Glass Dome but they were all Tier 2 attacks and his Glass Dome was a Tier 3 Low-level ability due to him being a Savage.

Yanchan looked down at the ground, face as pale as snow.

the-place-NovelFire

Far away from them, Mark looked at a similar contract depicted on his violet screen.

====

[The Dream Gamble—Yanchan/Mark (Completed)]

[Yanchan's Dream: Find and meet his sister Yuuna.]

[Conditions]

1. Successfully accomplish the Dream. (Succesful)

2. Do not let the Puppet die while the Dream Gamble is active. (Succesful)

[Success Reward: You can take any one thing from Yanchan as your own]

[Failure Price: Yanchan can take any one thing from you of his choice as his own.]

====

I can take any one power from the kid, but hmm…

"Demon, please don't take away my powers now!" shouted the boy. His sister looked at him with wide eyes but focused on the world outside the Glass Dome in an instant.

Inside his third eye, the powerful binding over Mark's split consciousness, cast by the small piece of the World Will within him, began to loosen. Mark felt new sensations again, sensations from Yanchen's physical body as if he were taking over the puppet all over again.

The third eye of the boy snapped open, but strangely, Yanchen couldn't see anything through it. Instead, it was as if a different person controlled the third eye alone. Seemingly calm, the gaze of the third eye turned left and right and in mere seconds, gauged the situation for what it was.

After a second, Mark's deep voice echoed into Yanchan's mind.

"I am willing to not take any of your powers for the time being, but only if you can do something else for me in return. There is no free lunch here, what can you do for me that makes helping you worth it for me?"

The boy was stunned. Then, he realized—The demon owes me nothing.

"If you don't take away my abilities now, I will owe you one! Please!"

Mark, who was seated on a tree branch in a different forest, felt Yuri's lips against his lips. He wondered for a second and then reciprocated the kiss.

"Sure, you owe me one, Yanchan. And believe me, demons take their debts seriously."

Of course, that was just bullshit.

Yanchan nodded with a relieved expression and looked up at his sister. "We have to leave quickly before he changes his mind. I have never tried teleporting others with me, but I am best at escaping rather than fighting."

With Glass Dome's incredible defense and the ability to teleport from one side to the other, he could escape virtually any number of enemies. Teleport somewhere without any enemies, use Glass Dome, and repeat it until he escapes.

Yuuna gritted her teeth. "What about the other Silvers? They are my comrades!"

Yanchan looked around, finding another issue all of a sudden.

"Even if I don't take your abilities, you can't leave that place with everyone alive. You are already surrounded by at least ten Pinnacle Middle Demons—hm, how strange, they are working together, huh?" Mark sighed. "Even with your ability, I'd say, if you try to save one too many, they might find a chance to kill you. If I were you, I'd just take her and run away without caring for the rest."

"I am not you, demon!"

"Well, if you are near death, I will be taking my promised abilities. I don't want to complicate that, you see."

Yanchan's nervousness mounted.

"Well kid, does it matter though? I don't think you care about these people, so why are you pretending to care? Because your sister cares about them?" Mark chuckled. "True, if you didn't care about them, your sister might hate you, so you have to care about them. Or at least act like you do."

"Will you just shut up?"

"Rude," Mark snapped, then chuckled again. "What a miserable life you have up ahead, always having to wear one mask or the other to please everyone. Oh no, if I don't do this, she will hate me, if I do that, she will hate me."

Yanchan gritted his teeth at Mark's grating voice and looked around, then, he suddenly thought of something. Where is that other Gold Lord?

He probably escaped.

Through the mists, the boy could see more and more giant shadows surrounding him. Not all demons were as compact or human-sized as Mark, most were gigantic. And he was being surrounded by them.

When I have to throw rocks to teleport, I will have to deactivate Glass Dome. The demons could attack me at exactly that moment using weird abilities and I am over. Ah… no, I have my sister right here with me, all I've wanted, everything.

Why? Why can't you just let me live, world?!

"Demon, if it's you, you can leave here safe and sound while saving everyone, can't you?" He screamed. "Take control of my body one last time, help me!"

Mark chuckled, far away from trouble and kissing Yuri, gently looking into her seductive eyes.

"Why should I?" he asked into Yanchan's mind. "Tell me what you can do in return, or I just don't have the motivation."

"Why… should you?" Yanchan looked down, feeling anger, resentment, and all sorts of emotions. Just then, his sister looked at him with an expression of determination.

"Little Yan, I don't know what is going on. And my comrades are dying around us as we speak—their battle formations won't last long. I am also feeling a lot of emotions, but suppress them for now. I also want to cry holding your hands, so suppress them for now. Just, supress random thoughts. For now.

"Some demon can help us through this, if I am understanding, right?"

Yanchan nodded. "But he doesn't move if it doesn't benefit him."

"Tell him I will reveal the greatest secrets of the Savage Race to him as long as he helps."

"You heard her!" Yanchan shouted.

Mark smiled and kissed the side of Yuri's lips, then gently caressed her small nose with his own. "Can I do it, Yuri?"

"What?"

"Whatever."

"If my babe wants to," she said in an intentionally sultry tone, "sure, I guess."

Yanchan's mind echoed with Mark's chuckle.

"The secret better be worth it," the demon said.

And Yanchan's face suddenly changed, turning calm, scheming, and devious in expression. He grinned, his gaze widening as all three eyes stared around curiously. Demons, demons, savages, and more demons.

He cracked his knuckles and squatted down, then, he breathed out the heavy mist.

"So, I have to save the ten of them and drop them outside the mists, while fighting against the Pinnacle Demons."

Fine, I'll do it. It's also a good test run for the power I will have.