Mind Demon's Path of Domination

The ground below was red, the sky greyish, and volcanic ash fell from the sky like rain—eggs like the one he had climbed out of filled the sandy ground. His skin had also turned red, horns had grown above his head.

In short—

He had become a Demon.

Due to having just been born, though, he was incredibly exhausted and had to eat his own eggshells and egg juice to gain some life. After he ate it, a violet screen shimmered in his mind. And he looked into it for the first time.

[The language of the Demons has been inherited from the Demon Egg!]

[You can now understand the language of Demons.]

[True Name has been inherited from the Demon Egg!]

[True Name: Marcus Haeligarth Arman Véxilliarius Nócturnâ Aërglothora.]

[If someone learns your true name, they can enslave you using it. Keep it secret. Keep it safe.]

Not knowing what the violet screen was and confused like a cat thrown into hot water, he panicked slightly, and just then, he noticed other demons crawling out of the egg and fighting for other eggs. In the skirmish that followed, he had to fight the demons and kill them to survive the day.

He killed them. Gained Soul Sphere in return.

[Killed a Demon Child—Soul Sphere has been automatically absorbed into the host\'s Soul Space.]

[+0.1]

[Total Number of Soul Spheres: 0.1]

In the process, he also learned of his Stats.

[Mark]

[Tier 0—Demonling]

[Physique: 0.1]

[Mind: 0.1]

[Resistances: None.]

[Bloodline: Impure Bloodline (more than ten kinds)]

[Demonic Tricks: Soul Devouring.]

[Soul Spheres: 0.1]

Just as he survived and got a bit greedy to gain more Soul Spheres, he noticed that all the demons had already crawled out of their eggs and were looking up. He also looked up to see the figure of an incredibly beautiful woman with wings of humongous size.

She said calmly with her sonorous voice, "Little ones, show me who is worthy enough to return to your Mother first. I will be waiting for the one worthy."

A dark hole opened up below Mark\'s feet and devoured him.

The last thing Mark saw as he fell was a dark feather. It floated down amidst the red light of the sun and vanished… as if it never existed in the first place. The next thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a forest. A forest writhing with demons.

There, he came across another system prompt.

[Bloodline: Impure Bloodline (more than ten kinds)]

[All Demons have a Bloodline ancestry, and from these Ancestries, they can gain their own Demonic Tricks. You are a demon born out of the mix of multiple demonic ancestries—the most common kind. Thus, you don\'t have any complete demonic bloodline. Each of your bloodlines works to negate each other, as one body could only house one bloodline.]

[You can use (0.1) Soul Sphere to cleanse all the unwanted Bloodlines from your body and keep only one to earn a functioning Bloodline—Do you wish to go through with the process?]

He was allowed to choose one bloodline from the more than ten of them mixed into his Chaotic Bloodline but he was satisfied with none that he already had and chose to fuse three similar bloodlines into one instead.

[Found Bloodlines of similar origin inside you. You can try to mutate them to create a unique Bloodline.]

[Dream Demon Bloodline, Dungeon Demon Bloodline, and Heart Demon Bloodline can be mutated into another Bloodline—it could end up being a worse bloodline with many limitations or a way better bloodline.]

[Flame Demon, Ice Demon, Shadow Demon, Mist Demon, Illusion Demon, and String Demon Bloodline can be mutated into another Bloodline—it could end up being a worse bloodline with many limitations or a better bloodline.]

[Do you wish to mutate one of these choices or keep one Bloodline that you already have?]

He chose to mutate the Dream, Dungeon, and Heart Demon Bloodlines into another new one and in the end, a new Bloodline was created: Ephemeral Dungeon Heart Demonic Bloodline. A Bloodline that had a chance of awakening the powers of all three—Dream, Heart, and Dungeon—pathways.

And in the process, he became a demon with a pure bloodline instead of an impure demon. And as a pure demon, he also gained his own Demonic Tricks.

Heart Input, Dream Shock, and Dungeon Heart Seed.

_

[Heart Input (Low): enter the subconscious mind of your targets and whisper unsolicited thoughts into their mind. Using it repeatedly on one target, you can dominate their mind and gain complete control over their thoughts]

[The cost to successfully cast the Trick is Mindpower equal to the total amount of Mindpower that the Target of the Trick has at a given time.]

[Cost of failed casting: 0.1 Mind power]

_

[Dungeon Heart Seed: Plant a Seed in creatures who are loyal to you. Anywhere 5 meters around the Seeded will become your Dungeon, while your own fleshly heart will be your Dungeon Core.

[Only works on creatures who are submissive to you in heart.]

[While inside your Dungeon, you will be hidden from the World Wills of the Other Worlds.]

_

[Dream Shock (Low): Send an invisible shockwave through your eyes that can stun the person who looks at you and make them fall into their dreams.]

[The cost to successfully cast the Trick is Mindpower equal to the total amount of Mindpower that the Target of the Trick has at a given time.]

[Cost of failed casting: 0.1 Mind power]

_

After scuttling around here and there among the woods with his newly gained abilities, he found himself near a Black River and stopped to stare at an especially interesting sight. A Flame Demoness. Pretty of state and stronger than him.

He followed her and watched her battles and when she was exhausted, moved forward and interacted with her. Using the Heart Input to tip the scales in his favour, he got her—who was of a similar breed to him as a demon—to consider him as her mate.

Together, he and she hunted different demons and began to grow stronger. But for some reason, Dona was too afraid of the night and didn\'t allow him to fight after the sun dipped under the horizon.

Not knowing why, he and Dona went back and rested atop a tree. But when night arrived, Mark truly understood why Dona feared the night so much. Apparently, there was a shimmering blue portal there and all the demons in the periphery headed into it at night and the ground below was deadly for someone so weak as him.

Demons writhed there in thousands. Intimidated, they spend the night and just like that, new morning arrived. The gate had vanished and the forest grew back to normal. Once again, they went for a Hunt.

In between the Hunt, Mark came to understand his own ambition in this second life of his.

NOT AGAIN!

HE WILL NOT DIE WITH REGRETS!

NOT AGAIN!

In this life, I am still very insignificant. Just a minor character, a small demon.

But this time, I hope to rise above the masses and see the grandest views that no one but the best can see!!

I want to experience the high society. The peak of life. The true epitome of what it had to offer!

In this life, He wanted to travel through all corners of the world, across the entire universe.

He swore he would chart the stars!

I want to taste all the delicacies and drink all of the finest alcohol the world has to offer!

I want to practice the fiercest abilities, fight the strongest foes, and sleep with the most beautiful women!

"Only then will this second life not be a waste!"

And for all of that, he needed to be the undisputed best.

"I\'ll fucking conquer the world for the sake of it."

He growled out those words.

He meant it. Each syllable.

Then what?!

What else did I want to do with this life of mine?

Hmm...

"I also want to understand why I was reincarnated and what the violet screen in my mind is..."

After a while, Mark chuckled.

All of his ambitions seemed beyond him. Too grand. But he was ready to chase dreams now. For he believed his meaninglessness the last rodeo was because he was a dreamless man.

"For my dream, if I had to embody my demonism and kill everyone in my path, I would kill everyone. I want to see the top of the world—the maximum of life, and I am doing that no matter what."

He will live for himself. For his own dreams.

And that understanding made something magical happen.

[Will of the Demon World detected a pure, \'Demonic Heart that doesn\'t conform to anyone else other than one\'s own self\' within you. It is blessing you with good fortune!]

[The Will of the Demon World gifts you a unique Treasure, the "Seal of Destiny."]

[The Will of the Demon World gifts you a "Portal Key" to an unconquered World.]

[The Will of the Demon World blesses you with the ability to understand all languages of the Other Worlds!]

—

[Demonic Heart]

[Demons, too, are Mortal creatures and they cannot live forever. Their average longevity is around 30 years, and their longevity doesn\'t increase with increased evolution through Life Tiers or by eating souls. But if they attain a Demonic Heart within them, they can increase their longevity by following their desires.]

—

[Portal Key to the World of Supers]

[A Key that can open a teleportation portal to another world—World of Supers. This is gifted to the Demon, Marcus, by the Will of the Demon World itself. If he completes the mission assigned by the Will upon opening the portal, he will gain another key to another World and more rewards based on his work inside the World he is sent to.]

[Highest Powers in the World of Supers: Tier 3]

—

[Seal of Destiny]

[A soul-bond Unique Treasure created by the Will of the Demon World. It can help a Demon steal one Demonic Trick of their choice from other Demons or other creatures in general by storing their Soul within you. The stolen Trick would grow stronger with the Demon.]

[Limitation:

1. Can only be used once.

2. It doesn\'t work on Angelic Blessings (innate powers of Angels)

3. It only works on creatures that had been killed by Marcus.]

—

Next day, he once again went for a Hunt. Every demon they hunted gave him a bit more power. Once night arrived, he decided to hunt more demons tomorrow and went back to sleep atop a tree.

But this night was different from the nights before.

Late at night, Mark started awake.

Giants. Colossal giants were fighting in the sky, blood and pressure shaking the atmosphere itself. As he and Dona reeled in fear, one of the giants moved, their colossal leg stomping towards Mark\'s area, and just as he was about to be squashed to death, he barely escaped into the nearby Portal with Dona in his embrace.

A Portal leading to another world.

…

Mark opened his eyes in a new environment. Unlike normal Demons that can only move into a Dungeon, he was partly a Dungeon demon and could resist the burning of the Will of the Worlds because Dona—a person who had a Dungeon Heart Seed planted in her—was with him. Thus, he wasn\'t teleported into a Dungeon.

He appeared on the roof of a school, frowning as news reporters pointed their cameras at him. Apparently, a suicide incident had happened in the school and there itself, he had appeared. He noticed three students crying in one corridor.

Fulan. Maki. Shiden.

Those three people had unique abilities that he didn\'t know the source of. Unlike his demonic tricks that he got from his demon bloodline, these obviously had a different source.

He didn\'t want to mess with people he didn\'t know the limits of, so he escaped from the area.

There, he gained the nickname—Red School Demon.

Soon, Mark got his hands on a random person\'s mobile phone and began to learn about the World. World of Hunters. The Mega Dungeon and many more things. Understanding that he was just a weak Tier 0 Demonling while there were A-rank Hunters around here, who were equal to Tier 2 creatures, he didn\'t linger and escaped before the Hunters got his tail.

While escaping, he thought back to the ability that Shiden had and began to covet it. It was indeed not an impossible fight to win against Shiden and he had a way to steal the ability. The Seal of Destiny.

He stole a truck and pulled up to the school that had went through the suicide incident. Entering it, he reached the three people—Fulan, Maki, and Shiden—once again.

Immediately, he used his Heart Input on Shiden to make him move into a different area but for some reason, it didn\'t work at all and just as he started frowning, he saw something writhing within the shadow of Maki and two pupils came out to stare around.

Mysterious things were going on with the trio and he didn\'t want to mess with things far beyond his station for no reason. Even if he didn\'t get this one particular ability—Alchemic Shapeshifting—it was alright. He still had a huge path ahead of him due to the Violet Screen and his own demon body alone. One ability lost was nothing.

Being cautious was the most important.

When he becomes invincible, he could afford to run amok.

Thus, he went back into the truck with exhausted Mindpower and began driving towards the mega-dungeon. The biggest dungeon in the Hunter World. There, he could hunt, there, he could find a place to hide from A-rankers who had taken notice of him.

On the way to his escape, a Hunter intercepted him.

A Hunter with broken glasses.

Choi Sung.

The man had the ability to generate cold and hot flames. Mark briefly fought him and when he got the chance, escaped with Dona who was unconscious. Choi Sung was injured and didn\'t dare to chase.

Just a meter away from the entrance to the mega-dungeon, another person intercepted him. This time, it was a Scientist. Weak and fragile but bold.

"My nam.. My name is Hakase Yuri, and I am an aspiring scientist," she said, stuttering. "I am also the one who sent that C-rank Hunter on you."

"So, tell me a reason not to kill you, Hakase Yuri; you sent Hunters on my back and are interrupting my escape. Why shouldn\'t I kill you?" he asked.

"Don\'t go to the Dungeon," Yuri said, struggling to try and move outside of his grip for a second before she stopped trying. He was too strong. Only logic could work. "I watched your battle with Choi Sung, and you easily destroyed him using your wits and strength. I\'ll be straightforward. You are not a mindless demon—and if you don\'t kill me, we can be partners."

"Partners?" he sneered. "What can you offer me?"

"As long as you let me do research on you—or get some other demons for me to research on—I will help you do whatever you want."

"I can offer you many things, Demon. A place where you can stay out of sight of any danger—Hunters and Demons both. An incredibly good information network and also an incredibly smart partner—Me. And all for your cooperation, and nothing dangerous."

"Woman, tell me," he asked in a calm tone, "Do you know how a Demon can become a Tier 1 from Tier 0? How they can evolve?"

He had reached the Pinnacle as a Demonling and needed to find a way forward.

"I know! In fact, I have done extensive research on the matter. Nobody, even the demons that are in this world, should know more than me."

Due to circumstance and interest, they joined hands.

A mad scientist and an ambitious demon. They settled in a lab hidden under a sewage manhole and Mark noticed that Yuri was working on a… mecha. She took his bodily fluids for research and the days began to become mundane.

He waited for her to find a way to evollve. Meanwhile, the three students he had failed to kill began to grow stronger and stronger as Hunters. The A-ranker who was on Mark\'s back at the start chose the three as his disciples and left the school with them. C-rank, B-rank, they began to grow stronger and stronger.

Meanwhile, Mark began trying to plant Dungeon Heart Seeds on more animals by making them loyal to him. Choi Sung, Yuri\'s previous work partner and a C-rank Hunter, also learned about Mark and chose to support him, too. He helped bring the animals for Mark and did similar chores.

Soon, Yuri completed one of her many researches.

She understood how a Hunter was born. How Hunters were just the after effect of a demon\'s death. She also created a method to artificially create Hunters.

Mark was excited but he asked her to focus on her research into how he could evolve.

She researched into how to evolve and become a Tier 1 demon using scant informations and soon enough, gave it to Mark in completed form.

He had to sense something to evolve. What he had to sense, she wasn\'t sure but all Demonlings that evolved and became Lower Demons had sensed something. And when they sensed it, they had been in a tense situation.

To sense that, Mark deliberately went to a Dungeon and fought a Dungeon Demon. He put himself in a tense situation but even after the battle ended, he didn\'t evolve. But later that day, he figured out what he was missing.

He had to sense the Soul Space where his system automatically absorbed the Souls into.

How?

Why did it only happen in tense situations?

That was because, to sense the Soul Space, one needed to have an intense wish to grow stronger. Only that feeling could resonate with the innate nature of Soul Spaces. And thus, Mark evolved and became a Lower Demon.

His body morphed and changed. He gained wings.

And he also gained Soul Sense and Defensive Magic Skin.

[Soul Sense] (11 Meters)

[A sensation of one\'s surrounding through the senses of the soul.]

[Defensive Magic Skin] (Tier 1)

[No matter what kind of ability attacks the Magic Skin, it won\'t break unless the Ability was of Tier 1 or higher levels. Once an ability of Tier 1 or higher levels attacks you, the Magic Skin will break and lower tier abilities can then hurt you.]

He also entered his own Soul Space for the first time.

It was a dark world. Deep inside it, he saw what the Violet Screen truly was. It was a big mirror buried in his soul. What was this mirror? Was it the reason for his reincarnation? What is it?

He wondered.

Not only the mirror, but more things were there in his Soul Space, too. Like little gems that represented the demonic tricks that he had, and contracts.

He also got a new demonic trick as part of evolving to biome a Lower Demon.

[Dream Gambler\'s Mortal Puppet:

You can manipulate the World Wills of any World and make it link your Destiny to that of the Destiny of a Mortal (a person without any supernatural powers), and then challenge the Mortal into a Dream Gamble—a gamble with a dreamer regarding whether you can achieve their dreams if you were in their shoes.]

[As long as you win the Gamble, you can ask for one thing that they have (except for their life and non-material things like feelings), and you will get it as your own. If you fail, they can ask for one thing that you have (except for your life and non-material things like feelings), and you can\'t deny them whatever they ask of you.]

[Doesn\'t work on the same World Will twice.]

[Only works on Mortals.]

[If the Puppet dies while the Dream Gamble is on, the Puppet Master will also die.]

[You can win either by successfully accomplishing the Dream of the Puppet or by destroying the wish to achieve that Dream entirely.]

[Cannot use any demonic trick of the main body using the puppet.]

The ability sounded weak at first but soon, Mark came to love it. Indeed, he could use the ability to Gamble with a Mortal, then turn the mortal into a Hunter while the Gamble was going on. When the Gamble finished, he could ask for the Hunter Ability as the one thing he could ask of them.

Immediately, he went to the school where the suicide incident happened. The Trio Hunters who were becoming a small sensation was the one\'s who were the cause of the suicide in the first place, and there were many people with some hate towards them at least.

Mark chose one such person to initiate the Dream Gamble against.

Seo Ran Hun. The cousin of the dead student, Seo Jin Hu.

Seo Ran Hun became Mark\'s puppet.

The kid\'s dream was to ruin the reputation of the Trio Hunters and it was easy for Mark. He needed the body of a demon to turn Seo Ran Hun into a Hunter, so he went into the mega-dungeon for a Hunt and after some gruelling battle, came home with a demon.

He planned to turn its ability into his own by making Seo Ran Hun a Hunter using it. But then, Choi Sung called to him and Yuri talking about an unusual Dungeon inside a laboratory dome in a near-abandoned city.

He went there to hunt. And hunt he did, but fail he also did. He couldn\'t win against the demon inside who could release vines that could suck out his Mindpower.

There, he helped Dona evolve using Heart Input.

Whispering into her mind: "I want to grow stronger." Again and again.

Choi Sung was injured in the battle and had to retreat.

The enemy was a parasitic creature who had been living inside the Vine Demon.

Then, he and Dona fought the Vine Demon and defeated it using Dona\'s new ability.

Fire Seal.

When the battle was over, Mark noticed the existence of a woman buried deep inside an ice wall. He didn\'t know what she was. This unusual laboratory dungeon had no Dungeon Demon manning it, so how did it work?

Apparently, the source of its existence was the woman trapped inside the ice wall. Like the Dungeon Heart Seed made a dungeon appear surrounding Dona, something made a similar thing happen with the woman inside.

Mark tried to destroy the ice wall but even after he tried hard, it didn\'t work.

Then, he once again went for a hunt to improve his stats as a Lower Demon. It was hard battles after hard battles for a while, but he focused his attacks on B-rank Hunters, so he slowly grew stronger. Meanwhile, Yuri turned Seo Ran Hun into a Hunter.

He gained the Parasite Hunter Ability and became a C-ranker.

[Parasite]

[The ability to absorb other people\'s Mindpower by touching them.]

[The user of this ability can also enter the bodies of people with \'0\' Mindpower and use them as a \'second life.\' If the parasite\'s host dies, the parasite does not die alongside.]

[When inside a Native as a Parasite, the World Wills will not notice the user.]

[The ability to absorb other people\'s Mindpower doesn\'t work if the Parasite has attached itself to a Host]

Mark now had to complete his dream so that he could win the Dream Gamble.

Ruin the reputation of the Trio Hunters.

A little bit of manipulation of the masses using Heart Input and some monetary promotions, Mark released a video and through that video, ruined the reputation of the Trio easily. He called out their hypocrisy of acting like heroes after murdering someone—making someone suicide. And the masses began to see the truth.

Slowly, the Trio was losing their reputation.

Finally feeling ready to fight Shiden, Mark also headed towards where the Trio Hunters and Hanmo, the A-rank teacher of the Trio was currently living. He went using the body of Seo Ran Hun who had become his puppet for the time that the Dream Gamble lasted.

He planned to slowly infiltrate and separate Shiden from Hanmo and then kill him—and steal Shiden\'s Alchemic Shapeshifting Ability. But when he reached near the Trio, something unexpected happened. Shiden killed Hanmo. From Maki\'s shadow, another person walked out, too.

Seo Jin Hu, the supposedly dead young man who killed himself.

He had never died but had hidden inside the shadow of Maki instead. As for Shiden, Maki, and Fulan? They were not even alive!

No wonder Mark\'s Heart Input didn\'t work on them!

They were Kill Slaves!

Lifeless puppets!

Knowing that remaining there was dangerous, he began running away but Hanmo and the Trio began chasing him instead. Filled with frustration, he ran towards the mega-dungeon but with the pace he could run, he would get caught before he reached there.

While running, he explained to Seo Ran Hun the Puppet.

"Seo Jin Hu never died, so your dream of ruining the Trio\'s reputation to bring Seo Jin Hu justice is meaningless. They never did anything wrong!"

Thus, Mark won the Dream Gamble as the Dream broke down from its foundation. Mark asked for the Parasite Hunter Ability and that became his own. He left Seo Ran Hun\'s body on top of a building to make the Trio lose some time checking it out.

Then, he called Yuri for support and on the way, her mecha—unfinished and weak—came to back him up and made enough time for him to escape. Using that time, he escaped into the mega-dungeon and used Parasite on a random demon to posses it, using its body as a cover, he hid from Hanmo and the Trio.

When a good chance to ambush arrived, he ambushed them and even though his Parasite Vessel died, he survived and escaped after stealing Shiden from them. With the chance, he even stole Maki, in whom\'s shadow resided Seo Jin Hu.

In the distance, safe from Hanmo, he killed Shiden and stole the ability, Alchemic Shapeshifting and turned it into his own demonic trick using Seal of Destiny. He also wanted to steal the ability to turn anyone he killed into a slave from Seo Jin Hu but the kid remained hidden inside the shadow.

While he was worrying how to get the kid to come out, Seo Jin Hu came out by himself and began chatting with Mark. Mark didn\'t kill him immediately—he didn\'t have extra Seal of Destinies to steal the ability at the moment.

But when the conversation was dragging, a calm voice warned him.

"Hanmo is killing demons to summon angels here. If he succeeds, you will die. Kill Shiden now and Hanmo will die, too."

Already having some knowledge regarding Angels, Mark knew they were danger, without hesitation, he killed Seo Jin Hu and also saved his own life due to that. To convince him to do that, the voice even gave him a Seal of Destiny as reward.

Then, he turned his attention inwards, who did the voice belong to?

It was the woman from the Ice Wall!

Who was she?

He went back into the lab and met her face to face. She looked like a corpse sealed in ice.

She brought him into the River of Destiny and showed him her true origin. She showcased her own grievances against him and her own connection with him—as a fated Soul Mate—and then calmly explained what that entailed.

She saw him as her husband, and even asked him to use the Seal of Destiny in his hand on her!

After she forced him to use it, he got a new demonic trick!

A demonic trick that could only be used once a day but could stop the time itself a 100 meters around him for 30 seconds. Clown\'s Circus.

She also explained to him about a disaster he was destined to face.

[Sufferings of Misfortune]

[1st Suffering—Suffering of Man]

[Remaining Time: 1Y/3M/9D/12H/25M/11S]

From then on, the last saga in the Hunter World began for Mark. He used the Parasite demonic trick on the brother of an A-rank Hunter called Bale and began to manipulate the scene from the back. Slowly, the day for the mega-dunt against the Boss of the mega Dungeon began and Mark joined them in the fight.

Using Bale\'s help, he turned Yuri into an A-rank Hunter.

After a lot of ups and downs, the day of the Boss Hunt arrived and in the process, using Clown\'s Circus, Mark won the Core of the Dungeon for himself. He enslaved the Boss Demon and a Tier 2 Minotaur, and also cowed all the A-rankers with his gang\'s full strength.

After they calmed down, he gave them a proposition and with their help, the mega-dungeon expanded to cover the entire World. The Demon World asked him to hand over the authority but he never did. And instead, he absorbed the core of the World for himself and evolved his Soul Space.

Yuri–who\'s relationship with him had went from one based on interest to actual love. And Dona, who had become an intelligent demon herself, were thrown into his Soul Space so that they could accompany him.

The Boss and the Minotaur were also thrown into his Soul Space—so that they could be his servants forever. He then planted a Heart Seed on Choi Sung, and then finally, he moved back towards the Demon World Portal. Ready to leave.

Right before he left, he was also enlightened about how a Tier 1 creature could evolve and become Tier 2, and began his own evolution.

While the other humans still living in the world were ejected into other worlds, he left—

Smiling.

—having conquered a World.

While they followed their own journeys, he followed his own.