Chapter 308 - Blood Enslavement
When Albion saw Empress Una leaving the palace alone, he found it strange that she did not have anyone else with her.
In that split second, he decided to tail her quietly to see if it would lead him to unexpected surprises.
And voila, she did not disappoint him.
"Your Majesty, who is this elf? Is he an enemy?" the high-ranking subordinate inquired as he subconsciously took a defensive stance like the empress.
Several dozens of men more gathered with vigilant looks.
"Yes, and a powerful one at that—Too powerful, in fact. Stand down, all of you. None of you are his opponent, and neither am I," Empress Una stated before asking Albion, "Is there no chance for us to reconcile?"
"You should have prepared for a day like this when you turned away from my side that day like the other generals," Albion calmly said.
"I had no choice. Of the four generals, I had authority over the core of the Ashura Group at HQ, but our combat power was also the weakest among the four. Something wrong obviously happened to Boss that day. Otherwise, Boss wouldn't have disappeared for two years."
"If I hadn't left early that day to secure the core of Ashura Group for myself, I wouldn't have survived until today. The other ambitious generals would have wrestled away the core power and killed me. Even Polemos, who is currently serving you, is not as loyal as you think, Boss."
Empress Una appeared pitiful as she explained her difficulty.
"Kek, no need to try and earn my sympathy," Albion snickered amusedly and said indifferently, "In the end, you were only looking out for yourself. If you had a shred of loyalty, you would have looked for me."
He naturally understood the truth behind Polemos.
However, the importance was never whether he was truly loyal, but whether he could be used—which was different for the other three generals who did not even try to contact him.
Suddenly, Albion's gaze sharpened as he gave Empress Una a hard look.
"After learning of my return, you did not come to greet me but ran into hiding, looking for ways to grow stronger and confront me instead. Even now, you tried to run away and have not paid your respects to the one who raised you."
It was clear that Empress Una did not feel indebted with gratitude to the Dark Emperor, but Albion did not feel surprised at this.
The Dark Emperor only viewed the four generals as tools for his goal and raised them in order to achieve it.
Since no feelings went into them, it would be strange for them to return any feelings back.
"I…"
Empress Una was unable to refute.
"Your Majesty, this person is… the big boss, Boss Asura?" asked the high-ranking subordinate beside Empress Una.
Although it was plainly obvious from the words exchanged between the two people, the high-ranking subordinate still sought Empress Una's confirmation.
At the same time, all the members of the Asura Group became nervous at the realization of Albion's identity.
"Let me ask all of you this! Where does your loyalty lie?!" asked Albion after sweeping everyone a sharp look.
However, everyone hesitated to respond, which also didn't surprise him.
"And there you have it. Even my men have completely become your people," Albion stated before asking indifferently, "What other excuses do you have?"
None.
Empress Una had nothing else to say.
The only reason none of them attacked was that they understood the absolute difference in their strengths.
Fighting the Dark Lord was a fruitless endeavor.
Even so, they could not just do nothing and accept their deaths. There had to be something that they could do to get out of the current situation!
Think, think!
Empress Una gritted her teeth and roared, "If you're already determined to kill us, then just do it! Why waste so much time on nonsense?!"
"Kill you? Ha!" Albion chuckled coldly before he said, "I didn't raise you just so that I could kill you. That would be too easy on you! No, I have better plans for you!"
Ding!
<You acquired Intermediate-level Blood Enslavement>
<10 units of divine energy has been exchanged>
Shortly after exchanging divine energy to learn the Blood Enslavement Technique to the Intermediate-level instantly, Albion unsealed his cultivation and pointed his finger and Empress Una.
A thin line made of divine energy immediately slit the tip of his finger before a drop of blood carrying his will shot into Empress Una's head and mixed with her soul.
Like an illusion, it appeared and vanished instantly.
Empress Una could not evade Albion's drop of blood at all, and only felt something entering her mind.
"What did you do to me?"
"Something that the Dark Emperor should have done long ago."
Everyone was puzzled by Albion's choice of words, but they didn't have time to ponder as Albion proceeded to explain.
"What I used on was called the Blood Enslavement. Since you had no means of defending against it, you are a slave to my blood. Therefore, if I wish for it, I can easily erase your soul with but a snap of my fingers."
But obviously, he was not going to do that.
The Blood Enslavement Technique allowed him to create blood slaves out of other beings by binding his blood to their souls.
This allows him to monitor all their thoughts and actions, but ultimately control their life and death.
With a single thought, he could detonate the blood and destroy their souls forever without a chance to reincarnate.
"Blood Enslavement Technique? Why would you use something like this on me?" Empress Una frowned with clenched fists.
She had never heard of such a technique before, but it doesn't seem like a good situation for her to be in.
"I need whetstones to sharpen my subordinates with the hopes that one of them will eventually grow strong enough to slay you with their own capability and become one of my new generals," Albion stated calmly.
There were many considerations before he made this choice.
The Four Emperors were ultimately world leaders in the present age, each with vast support, resources, and responsibilities.
He could kill them all, but it would plunge the world into chaos, leaving Earth with little means to resist the apocalypse.
Thus, he will raise his own people to take their places.
However, he also understood that whetstones could easily ruin the blades if left unchecked, so they needed to be controlled.
"Isn't this great? You don't have to die yet," Albion smiled and said, "Continue to struggle for my amusement. I'll be watching your every move."
Alas, his smile was no different from a devil's smile, making Empress Una's heart turn cold and her skin crawling with chills.
She could not feel any joy in being spared temporarily.