Mind Demon's Path of Domination

"Don't let Alchemic Shapeshifting go to waste, Mark. You couldn't perfect your existing skills in the Hunter World in between all that turmoil, but here, you can become a sharp blade by training yourself to be ready for all sorts of situations. And for you, the blade, I will be the blacksmith."

Mark nodded happily. "So is perfecting my usage of Alchemic Shapeshifting the only way to grow stronger without Evolving?"

Wasn't there no other way? Something special like… gaining new abilities?

Cough.

Reol'ran stared at him.

Mark said, "I mean, if I go into another World, I can use Dream Gambler's Mortal Puppet again, you know?"

Then, using that, he could turn a Mortal into a Puppet, and use that Puppet to train in a totally different pathway to strength—he can practice the pathway unique to the said world; like he made Sun Ran Hun a Hunter in the Hunter World.

When the Dream Gamble ends, the Winner can ask for any one thing from the Loser, and he will just ask for the training result and gain new powers. Wasn't that perfect? Training in Alchemic Shapeshifting and sharpening his edges sounded a bit slow.

After a while, Reol'ran stopped glaring at him. "Well, it is good that you are using your own head and not listening to everything I say just because I am teaching you. That is in fact, not a bad idea. Dream Gambler's Mortal Puppet only works once in any World, so you can only get one ability per world.

But if you keep hopping through multiple worlds, at some point, you will gain all kinds of amazing powers, which will make you strong indeed."

"Right?" Mark licked his lips.

Reol'ran touched her nose. "Middle Demons can perform Ultimate Demonic Arts. So, you can create more Ultimate Demonic Arts with your already existing abilities. Do you realize that?"

"Oh, I was also thinking about that..."

With a snap of his fingers, the gems that represented his demonic tricks floated down from the skies towards them. From the side, Dona stared in awe at his eight demonic Tricks. She herself only had four demonic tricks in her Soul Space.

Mark smiled."Dona, close your eyes and ears. You shouldn't hear what we say next or you will lose an opportunity."

To evolve from a Lower Demon and become a Middle Demon, a Lower Demon has to create his own Ultimate Demonic Art. If Dona could figure out how Ultimate Demonic Arts worked on her own, she would go through enlightenment and create the Art right away.

He didn't want to ruin Dona's one and only chance by telling her how it worked. And he was going to have an intense conversation about Ultimate Demonic Arts with Reol'ran now.

Dona purred. "Mark, why?"

"You trust your Mark, right? Do what he says."

Dona growled. Then, without any word, she ran away to sleep on the side without involving herself with them. She seemed… sad.

Mark felt a twinge in his heart. She thinks I am avoiding her for no reason. Because she is not… worthy?

Damn. Mark hated misunderstandings, he would have to clear it later after he ended this conversation with Reol'ran, and also help Dona evolve into a Middle Demon.

He turned to Reol'ran. Now, thinking about Ultimate Demonic Arts.

"If I use my one and only Ultimate Demonic Art—Parasitic Dream Shock. Two of my demonic tricks, Parasite and Dream Shock, combine to form a new Art. In fact, those two combining into one is what creates my Art right?"

"You are correct," Reaol'ran said.

"So, why can't I combine my other demonic tricks and get another effect? Like combining Heart Input and Dream Shock into one new Trick, for example."

Dream Shock demonic trick simply shocked the target who looked into Mark's eyes into watching a short dream. His Ultimate Demonic Art 'Parasitic Dream Shock' didn't do just that, it shocked the target into a blissful dream from which they wouldn't want to wake up.

A happy, blissful existence. Once you fall into Parasitic Dream Shock, you won't want it to end.

So, can't he create other such effects by combining different Demonic Tricks?

"Mark, do you remember how you created Parasitic Dream Shock?"

Mark mused. "When I was in the Hunter World, I suddenly realized what Demonic Arts are. That caused me to have enlightenment, and I suddenly could combine Parasite and Dream Shock to perform Parasitic Dream Shock. So, yeah, I became capable of doing it after being enlightened."

"Yes, indeed. Now, your question. Why can't you combine other demonic tricks like you combine Dream Shock and Parasite? Think."

Mark looked at the gems that represented his Tricks. He tried making Heart Input and Dream Shock move towards each other, but instead of temporarily fusing with each other, they actively repelled each other.

One demonic trick always repelled another demonic trick.

Next, he tried fusing Dream Shock and Parasite manually and was surprised at how easily they fused and became a totally different power—Parasitic Dream Shock. There was no sense of repulsion between them.

"Why are they different?"

Reol'ran smiled. "If you can understand why they are different, you can create more Ultimate Demonic Arts. And of course, as you might have noticed, Ultimate Demonic Arts are stronger than normal demonic tricks. In fact, most Ultimate Demonic Art attacks can only be defended by Ultimate Demonic Art defenses."

Mark burned that into his mind. If his enemies ever attacked him with an Ultimate Demonic Art, he wouldn't try to use defensive Tricks against it.

Of course, Clown's Circus was different. It was a Trick he could use against Arts.

His focus once again moved to creating more Ultimate Demonic Arts. Indeed, if he could get more Ultimate Demonic Arts, it would be better than getting more demonic tricks.

Nodding at his expression, Reol'ran added, "If you want to gain more demonic tricks, you can go to other worlds and use your Dream Gambles, but if you want more Ultimate Demonic Arts, you need to train yourself and get better at using what you already have.

"There are subtle connections between two demonic tricks even if they repel each other, the only way to fuse two Tricks into an Art is to understand those connections and have a sudden inspiration."

"Sounds complex and time-consuming…"

Reol'ran glared at him again. "Your greed for power is good but rushing is not the way. The higher the Tier of evolution you reach, the harder it will be to evolve again. In my opinion, creating Ultimate Demonic Arts will not be hard for you, you are quite crafty in that sort of stuff as far as I can see.

"In fact, I think fighting in this Battle Royale will certainly make you gain some more of the Arts."

"You think so?" Mark rubbed his nose.

"I don't say what I don't think."

They exchanged a glance. Reol'ran grew serious. "Mark, now that we are on the topic of Demonic Arts and Tricks, do you want to know how a Middle Demon can evolve and become an Upper Demon?"

He nodded, curiosity burning.

"When the demons create a lot of Ultimate Demonic Arts—about five of them?—and combine the Ultimate Demonic Arts like they combine the Tricks to form Arts, what do you think will happen?"

"Damn, Upper Demons can do that?" He felt a chill go down his spine.

What kind of monstrous attack would be generated if you combined two Ultimate Demonic Arts?

A Middle Demon doesn't stand a chance against an Upper Demon!

"Yep, they can do that. I am not certain about what they call it but that is what they use against each other in battle. Very powerful, weird, and creepy abilities. I think they call that Domain."

"..."

"So, you would have to create a Domain of your own to evolve and become a Tier 3. Well, don't focus on that now. Since we can analyze other demons now, we need to have a better picture of them by looking at better real-life examples."

Mark absolutely failed to avert his focus from that.

He had to create more Ultimate Demonic Arts. Then fuse them to create this Domain.

How can he create Demonic Arts?

Can he combine his already existing abilities?

How did this combination thing work?

What if Clown's Circus combined with Alchemic Shapeshifting? Was that even possible? Were they incompatible?

Can he combine Heart Input with Clown's Circus? What would that do? Was that possible?

He tried to force the gems that represented his Tricks to fuse. He pushed them towards each other with his mind, using sheer force to try and make them combine. They reached towards each other, nearing each other.

Closer.

Closer!

Chop.

Reol'ran was beside him before he knew it, sighing. "Don't do that. If you do that, there is a chance your demonic tricks will become unreliable. As in, sometimes it might work, sometimes it will not. It will become dysfunctional, basically."

"You mean it will break if I try to force it?"

"Basically. Treat it gently, use your mind, not your brawn. Even I can't help you beyond this—the best way to do it would be to stimulate your mind with adrenaline-filled fights."

He nodded. "Well, so my next route is determined. I will go fight in this Battle Royale, learn more Ultimate Demonic Arts in the process, and try to learn any new information about the Sufferings while I am at it."

But before that.

Mark's gaze moved to Dona. She was looking curiously towards them from a distance, lying on the floor. He ambled towards her and crouched down.

"What do you want? Go speak with her instead," she said, pouting.

"Don't be sultry on me," he said, sitting down and gently slapping her buttox. Sadly, his hand passed through her body—he was a soul. She giggled at his vain attempt.

"Do you want to grow stronger?" he asked.

She blinked. "Does Dona have to be strong, Mark?"

Mark smiled and 'caressed' her face.

"Hm, think of it this way. If someone is trying to kill you, and you don't have enough strength to fend him off, what would you think?"

"I… don't know."

"You do know. You will wish you were stronger." He smiled at her. "It is better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in war, my beauty."

She looked away from him. "I just want to be with you. But you are… selfish. I hate Mark being selfish, and not coming. Even now, with this soul thingy. I can't even touch you—you don't even have any smell."

"Well, aren't you a damned woman I can't ignore now?"

He sighed.

She blinked.

"What do you mean? I am your woman, not some damned woman."

He blinked. Smiled. "Fuck it. There is a special shop that I plan to go to tomorrow; the demons say that you won't have to meet any other demons when you are inside that place. Apparently, it is a very private and safe spot. Do you want to come with me?"

She looked away. "I don't want. But if you want, I will come."

Mark sighed in exasperation. "This is all that damned Yuri's fault. All because she showed you all those drama romance bullshit when I was gone."

Yuri had made Dona watch a lot of such dramatic crap to make the demoness better at communication and language in general, but now, she had become a little dramatic demoness due to that.

Of course, it was cute and she seemed to want to learn more things about everything.

He asked, squinting, "You are trying to act like the heroines in those, right?"

Dona looked away, whistling as if she wasn't involved in this at all.