Mind Demon's Path of Domination

"Did you sense it?" Reol'ran asked, excited.

Mark held his hand towards the thin air in front of him and his hand sank into the air as if he had just clutched a pillow. The whole world shuddered and Mark felt a cold sensation of fear run down his spine—he had touched something he shouldn't have dared to.

"It's just a feeling!" Reol'ran laughed. "The stronger you are, the harder it will be for you to conquer a World. The Demons that have conquered a World are few and far in between, but those who did conquer one, they can gain an incredibly special benefit."

Mark tore off a layer of air from the skies and a beating, crystalline, and pure water drop appeared before him. It was no water drop. It was the Core of the World. Mark felt pure terror simmer his brain into mush.

He wasn't supposed to steal it. Run. Run. Arghhh.

Mark laughed, sweat trickling down his jaws. Then, he clenched his hand around the thing.

"Summon it into your Soul Space!"

He willed it and the Core vanished into his Soul Space. Immediately, a serene feeling began to wash him in a bout of calmness. Sweat dripped down from every part of his body and he felt his heart scream.

His senses went deep into his Soul Space and he noticed the liquid-like substance floating in the middle of it. Then, it fell into the empty vastness and his Soul Space began to change. The emptiness began gaining light, sky, lands, seas, and many more things.

Mark came out of his daze, exchanged a laughing glance with Reol'ran, and then left his Soul Space. His consciousness reached back to the real world. Golden eyes shimmered as they stared into the distance.

The Hunter World had begun crumbling.

Mark could see space itself start to have thin lines of tears in it. At the same time, Mark could also feel the Mega-Dungeon crumbling along with the World!

It would get destroyed and the Demons here would all be killed when the Hunter World's Will finds a way in after the Dungeon gets destroyed. The last remaining natives would be ejected into other worlds as refugees.

Fwoop.

Mark landed beside Yuri and Dona, the hamster making noises above his head.

THe gloomy skies rang with thunder and ominous storm.

"The whole world is a ruin, Mark!" Yuri shouted, face warped in terror. "I checked around. All cities, everywhere. Everything is burning and many, many humans have died. World is ending!"

Dona looked up cluelessly.

"No time to check everything," he said calmly and gently caressed Yuri's face. She looked up in confusion. "Wait for me inside, I have some things to do."

Suddenly, in her confusion, Yuri vanished. Mark then gently touched Dona.

After a while, the confused Demoness vanished, too.

They had both been moved into his Soul Space. The ability to store objects and living things in it was just one of the many things his newly advanced Soul Space could do. It was a vast pocket space, but not only that.

He had the intense urge to check what it could do, try out his new powers, but first, he moved towards the groaning Boss Demon and the Minotaur, then pushed both of them into his Soul Space, too. Then, he flew into the air with the hamster lying above his head.

Sitting atop an elevated tower with his wings spread wide, he watched the destruction of the World. Choi Sung was already smoking a cigar while sitting at the top of it, his eyes shedding calm tears.

Mark smiled. In the distance, an earthquake had begun.

"Do you hate me, Choi Sung?"

Choi Sung sighed, breathing out smoke. "Why should I? You were a good employer."

"Do you know what will happen to you now?"

"Won't I be ejected to some other world?" Choi Sung cracked his knuckles. "I wonder if I'll find a way to revive my sister there."

"If she ever is revived. She is mine to marry, don't forget."

"Sure, sure." The Hunter laughed.

Mark looked at him. "You have been useful to me. This might help you down the line, so keep it for yourselves." He touched the Hunter and used one of his demonic tricks.

Dungeon Heart Seed!

The ability to plant a Dungeon in anyone loyal to Mark. It was useful for them, too. Dona could walk around even outside Dungeons because she had it. Once Choi Sung gets ejected, he will be an outsider in whatever World he finds himself in, too. It might be useful to him.

The Seed was planted successfully. Choi Sung had indeed become loyal through the passage of time.

Just as Mark was about to jump and leave through the Gate into the Demon World, suddenly, a man looked at him from below, calling out to him with a cold face. Mark frowned. Who was this man, no, a boy?

He was just a weak boy.

Mark jumped down from the tower and landed in front of the boy, he asked calmly.

"What, boy?"

"You! Demon I know you!" The boy screamed, bloody tears in his eyes. "Everything began to become a hell when your video came out. You are the first demon that could speak, you are the reason this world ended!"

Mark raised his eyebrows.

"You are evil!" The boy squeaked out. "It's all your fault that my family died, leaving me behind."

Mark looked down coldly, then closed his eyes.

He had been thinking for a while. What were the Ultimate Demonic Arts?

Just what could they be?

Then, he had thought about his interactions with Reol'ran. She had once brought him into his Soul Space to show him his demonic tricks. They looked like small gems. And one thing had always been true for all of them—one demonic trick always repelled another demonic trick. Two demonic tricks didn't work well together.

When Fire Ball and Storm Ball's demonic trick was cast at the same time, it didn't become a Fire Storm Ball. It just became two separate abilities that were cast at the same time, but didn't fuse into one ability.

For a while, he had been at the cusp of understanding it but now, it finally clicked for him.

It was simple, if he could mix two demonic tricks into one and create a new effect, that was the Ultimate Demonic Art. And understanding that, he began to gain further enlightenment immediately after.

"Creating one's own first Ultimate Demonic Art is the requirement to breakthrough and become a Middle Demon. Your usage of Alchemic Shapeshifting had improved by leaps and bounds in the last month and now, you have finally had your enlightenment. Don't lose it and use this chance when you are enlightened to create your first, very own, Ultimate Demonic Art."

The boy ran up to Mark and punched his leg repeatedly with viscous hatred on his face. After about ten minutes, Mark opened his golden eyes, face completely serene.

His heartbeat had also calmed down.

He squatted down and ruffled the crying kid's head. "Seeing your situation had enlightened me just now. You know, it kinda made something click in me. So, enjoy a very warm, happy dream. You deserve it."

He activated two of his demonic tricks at the same time.

Parasite and Dream Shock.

Usually, they would have repelled each other but within his Soul Space, the two gems representing the two demonic tricks temporarily fused into a new power. An Ultimate Demonic Art!

Ultimate Demonic Art—Parasitic Dream Shock!

Looking into Mark's eyes, the boy went into a shock and then fell into a dream. That dream, like a parasite, knew the boy's greatest dreams. All of that was accomplished. In the dream, he lived a happy life with his family, grew old, got a job, and lived happily ever after. Then, he died happily, too.

Mark stood up and straightened his wings, then, he flew.

He remembered a fear that he used to have when he had just become a demon; when he first started dreaming big dreams.

"What if I fail?"

Now, he wondered.

"What if I fly?"

Now that the mission to conquer the World had ended, all demons could once again access the Gate to the Demon World.

Mark felt the power of evolution course through him as he flew—his bones started to shift, his wings began to grow firmer, his eyesight sharper. Little pains that he didn't even notice vanished from him and when he landed, his evolution was complete.

He was becoming a Middle Demon.

He had also gained a new demonic trick as part of the Evolution.

Smiling, he absorbed the hamster into his Soul Space and walked into the Gate, then vanished from the crumbling Demon World.

…

About half an hour after Mark left, the Will of the Hunter World washed through the entire World. Hunters of all ranks, humans, animals that survived the hell, and even demons looked up. A sense of fear gripped their hearts.

All demons burned into a crisp before they could even blink.

Then, as the world's crumbling continued, the natives began to vanish one by one. Little small, blue, Gates appeared and devoured them, throwing them into other Worlds. Choi Sung breathed out a puff of smoke into the world that had begun raining.

"Sis…" He sighed. "It's over."

A blue gate appeared beside him and it pulled him into it. He couldn't even resist.

Hanmo, Bale, and everyone else still alive flinched as the same thing happened to them. A blue Gate appeared, slammed into them, then pulled them in. Their worlds spun into darkness and they watched in horror as the world shifted around them.

***

Days, years, months? How many of them had passed?

So… weird.

Choi Sung opened his eyes and immediately vomited all over the ground. He felt his heart tighten as the crisp air entered his lungs. Breathing heavily, he looked around with moist eyes. The sky was strikingly blue, clouds fluffy white.

The ground felt fertile.

The sun bathed his face hotly and he flinched slightly.

An old man in Daoist robes appeared before him and looked at him with a frown. Choi Sung scrambled up but he couldn't move much. He slid to the side and slumped against a tree.

The Old Daoist frowned deeper.

"Who are you, old man?" Choi Sung asked.

The old man frowned even more deeply. Then, cupped his fists and bowed.

"Fellow Daoist, what language are you speaking?"

Coughing blood, Choi Sung fainted. What world had he appeared in?

***

Bale snapped his eyes open and stood up with a trembling heart. It was night and he was deep in some sort of gorge. Bright flowers floated in the air while three moons loomed in the skies.

He cringed and took a deep breath.

"I have an injury," he muttered.

His stomach had been bruised somehow. It was not a big injury but it was something he would have to cope with. Bale touched the soil below him and clenched his fist.

So this is a new world.

Standing up, he limped through the gorge and climbed it to find himself near a hamlet. He ran there and reaching nearby, frowned. Many people were there, but they were not humans. They had hairy bodies and short builds. Like monkeys, somewhat.

One of them looked at him, then laughed.

"A new human appeared, bradars!" It laughed. "We can refine him into another Gu!"

***

Hanmo opened his eyes but immediately, someone slapped him. His eyes cleared and he looked around with a bit of fear before he calmed down. People with white hair and eyes were staring at him, all similar to him except for his blue eyes.

"How dare you open your eyes in the room of prayer?" The man who slapped him asked. "How dare you barge into the temple of angels?"

***

In the infinite expanse of the Other World, a world named the Hunter World had been destroyed, but in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter much. As Mark felt his body swim through the void, he felt calm and collected. His Soul Sense was changing, his body was changing, and he was changing.

"The Hunter World, I think I would never forget it," he said, smiling. "I wonder what kind of Worlds they ended up in. Do you think I will meet them again, Reol'ran?"

"The Other World is incomparably vast. There are as many worlds there as there are dust in an ocean bed. The chance of you meeting any of them again is too low."

Mark laughed. "Who knows!"

[Volume 1: Epic of The Invader (Completed)].