Chapter 483: Path Of A Tyrant

Lin Qui let out a long sigh as he stared at the man standing before him. He could not entirely blame Damain for reaching this point. In truth, perhaps he had been expecting it for some time.

Damain had endured too much on Earth, spending a year fighting enemies who appeared one after another while constantly wondering when the next threat would emerge from the shadows. He had survived angels and demons, all while carrying responsibilities that continued to grow heavier with every victory.

Then, after finally arriving in the underworld, the place where he was supposed to inherit a throne and find stability, he discovered that he was even more vulnerable than before. The enemies were no longer hidden in distant realms. They were his brothers, the council, and powerful clans that had been waiting for the opportunity to devour a weak prince.

Even now, on the eve of his coronation, another prince was plotting to murder him and replace him with a puppet. It was difficult to expect a man to endure that forever without something inside him eventually changing.

"This is a path of no return..." Lin Qui finally said, his voice carrying more sadness than warning as he looked at Damain.

"This is the only path I see," Damain cut him off immediately while looking down at Lin Qui’s seated figure. There was no hesitation in his voice and no uncertainty in his eyes. "I will not be just another number."

Lin Qui’s expression tightened. He understood exactly what Damain meant.

Swoosh!

With those words, Damain swung his arm through the air. His fingers tore through the world before him as though reality itself were nothing more than a thin sheet of fabric, and the peaceful garden immediately split apart. The blood red moon, the withered flowers and the distant darkness were swallowed by the expanding tear. However, the moment Damain stepped through what should have been the path back to reality, his expression changed.

There was nothing on the other side.

Darkness stretched endlessly before him, deeper and more oppressive than anything Lin Qui’s mental realm had ever possessed. Thick black clouds rolled through the void while distant flashes of crimson lightning illuminated the darkness for brief moments before everything was swallowed again. Damain immediately understood where he was. He had not returned to his room.

Instinctively, his gaze lowered.

A familiar crimson eye stared at him from within the black storm.

"I knew the day where you will solely depend on my power will come," the Abyss said, its voice spreading across the darkness until the very world around Damain seemed to vibrate.

"You mean my power!" Damain hissed immediately, cutting it off.

His eyes narrowed as he stared directly at the massive crimson gaze. "Or haven’t you forgotten I paid for all of it with my soul?"

The Abyss did not seem offended by his words. If anything, the darkness around them seemed to grow more amused. A low chuckle echoed through the void before the creature answered.

"Sure... As long as you have come to terms with the realities of this world, I’m satisfied..." The Abyss laughed menacingly, and crimson lightning flashed through the clouds. "Only absolute power can control this world. Everything else is irrelevant. The only strength you need to depend on is mine."

Damain remained silent for several seconds. His fists slowly clenched at his sides while his gaze remained fixed on the creature before him. He hated how much sense those words made. That was the part that irritated him the most.

He had spent so long trying to maintain a balance between his own humanity and the terrifying inheritance inside him because he feared what would happen if he surrendered completely to the Abyss. Yet every time he tried to play by the rules, someone found another way to threaten him. He was truly tired of being threatened by enemies. It’s time for them to feel fear too.

Damain slowly raised his head.

"I’ll be upgrading my abyssal talent tree from henceforth..." he said.

A thunderous laugh erupted from the Abyss, booming through the endless void with such force that the storm itself seemed to react. Crimson lightning tore across the darkness repeatedly while the massive eye remained fixed on Damain.

"Good... Good..." the Abyss chuckled sinisterly. "Now we are partners. There is no need to torment you. I look forward to working with you."

Damain’s expression remained cold. He did not smile and he did not acknowledge the satisfaction in the creature’s voice. This was not a surrender of his will. He was simply done pretending that he could afford to reject power while his enemies continued sharpening their knives.

Swoosh!

A powerful gust of wind swept through Damain’s bedroom as his eyes snapped open. The darkness vanished immediately and he found himself back in the Violet Palace, sitting on the edge of his bed with his breathing calm and controlled. His eyes, however, were colder than before.

Kneeling beside the bed was William, his body trembling slightly despite his efforts to remain composed. In his hands were several fragments of what appeared to be an ancient pendant, each piece glowing faintly with a violet light.

Without Damain moving a single muscle, the fragments rose into the air.

The pieces began rotating around one another before slowly joining together. Ancient runes flashed across their surface as the cracks disappeared one after another until the fragments finally became whole. A complete fox pendant formed before Damain’s eyes and dropped gently into his waiting palm.

Across the room, Rin sat on a couch with a small frown on his face. Even he understood that something had changed tonight. The moment Damain agreed to rely more heavily on the Abyss, the future they had been moving toward shifted in a direction neither of them could completely predict.

"Lead the way," Damain hissed.

William quickly rose to his feet, though he kept his face lowered. "Sire... With that pendant, you can access all the chambers of secrets from anywhere within Velmora. The key connects you directly to the ancient pathways beneath the royal palace."

Damain gave him a brief nod before closing his fingers around the pendant.

"Make it clear to all the noble houses of Velmora and my girls that if the news of this key reaching my hands makes it to the public’s ears, they will be the first to die."

William’s body stiffened. He immediately cupped his fists and bowed so deeply that his head nearly touched the ground.

"Rest assured, sire. I made it clear that you are not in the mood for negotiations and that the tragedy of Aurelios may repeat itself if they do not cooperate."

Damain’s gaze remained cold. "You can leave."

William bowed once again before backing away. He did not waste time asking questions or attempting to change Damain’s mind. The prince had reached a point where even William could no longer predict what he might do if challenged, and after seeing the killing intent in his eyes earlier that night, the Grand Chamberlain had no desire to test the limits of his patience.

The door closed behind him.

Slowly, Damain shifted his attention toward Rin and let out a heavy sigh. For the first time since waking up, some of the tension in his shoulders seemed to ease. Before he could speak, Rin beat him to it.

"In the history of the princes, none has been harassed as much as you," Rin said quietly. The fox’s voice lacked its usual mischief as he stared at Damain. "Even Lin Qui only faced the threat of death after he became a demigod and returned to this realm, and the reason for that was simply because he took women that belonged to Greed."

Damain listened without interrupting.

"Even if everyone else thinks otherwise," Rin continued, "I believe you have the right to think of yourself first before anyone else. You deserve to live."

The words struck Damain harder than Rin probably realized. His frown slowly relaxed.

"Thank you," he muttered.

Puff!

Rin vanished from the couch and appeared on Damain’s lap. He looked up at him with a faint grin before speaking.

"Now let’s go take back what’s ours."

Damain nodded and rose to his feet while carrying Rin in one hand. However, just as he prepared to activate the pendant, a small puff of black smoke appeared over his shoulder.

Damain froze.

A pitch black baby Chinese dragon slowly emerged from the smoke and stretched its unnaturally long, snake like body across Damain’s shoulders. Despite appearing small enough to be mistaken for a hatchling, there was something profoundly unnatural about the creature. Its body seemed too long for its size, stretching from one shoulder to the other like a living scarf, while its burning crimson eyes carried an intelligence far older than its appearance suggested.

"Sire... Call me Abel," the creature whispered. Its voice was low and uncomfortable, completely different from Rin’s playful tone. "I am your spirit beast as the wielder of the Abyss inheritance."

Rin immediately frowned.

His ears flattened as he stared at the black dragon sitting on Damain’s shoulders, but Abel did not even bother acknowledging his existence. The creature simply stared ahead as though Rin was nothing more than empty air.

Damain tilted his head slightly, trying to get a better look at Abel’s face. After several seconds, he simply sighed and turned his attention back toward the empty space before him.

If the Sin of Lust inheritance came with a spirit beast, then it made sense that the Abyss inheritance possessed one as well. Abel had probably remained hidden because Damain had spent most of his time rejecting the inheritance and avoiding any unnecessary reliance on its power. Now that his attitude had changed, the creature had finally revealed itself.

"The more the merrier," Damain shrugged indifferently.

Rin’s expression darkened further while Abel remained completely unmoved. Damain raised the fox pendant in his hand and poured his demonic force into it.

Buzz!

A brilliant purple light exploded from the pendant, illuminating the entire room. The energy stretched outward and slowly began taking shape until the outline of a massive ancient double door formed in front of him. Fox motifs covered the surface from top to bottom, their ancient faces carved into the doors. Even the handles were shaped like the heads of foxes, their eyes glowing faintly as the structure became completely solid.

The moment the door finished forming, both sides slowly creaked open. There was nothing beyond them but darkness.

Without hesitation, he stepped forward and the doors swallowed him whole as he walked into the darkness with Rin in his hand and Abel around his neck.

It was finally time for him to claim Velmora for himself.