Soul Venerable (Re-written)

“Hmmm?” Mordred erased the grin on his face rather quickly, as he felt his body being tightly bound by chains, leather straps, and other bindings reinforced with magical rune formations. The contingencies and redundancies used to lock him up were obscene, but Mordred wasn’t worried at all.

“So Erebus’ surviving subordinates captured my mortal shell and bound me in one of their underground prisons… I can’t even detach my soul to leave…” He muttered to himself. “Ymir, release me from this crap.”

The cold, underground prison’s stone floor suddenly gathered into a lump, creating a small humanoid figure. The man was obviously Ymir, Mordred’s Ekatroncheiron split soul. He immediately interacted with the magical runes on the chains and bindings that stopped Mordred from moving. After dismantling the magical runes, it was easy for him to release the physical bindings.

The ease was due to Ymir having Mordred’s memory and experience. The frankly excessive bindings were heavily reinforced, especially since Erebus’ subordinates categorized Mordred as someone on their master’s level.

“The alarms weren’t triggered. The vampires have yet to realize the collapse of Erebus’ sea of consciousness, or did something happen to their monitoring methods?” Mordred asked Ymir.

“They’re on loop. They’ll see nothing wrong with the prison cell.”

“I see. Give me a status report.” Mordred asked.

“It’s been almost a day since you’ve fallen asleep in that dream. We’ve proceeded with the backup plan that you devised back then. The enemy wanted to dismantle you, but your mortal shell is too complicated for them, and there’s also your passive AT-Field. Unless they want to destroy your Mortal Shell, they are unable to dismantle your defenses. Here’s the map of the Gorod Krovi, I’ve explored them by myself. Your Lightning Elemental should be sleeping soundly as well.” Ymir transmitted the information telepathically.

“Hmm…” Mordred instantly understood the situation as he rummaged through the mental map that Ymir transmitted to him. “There’s no rush since 99% of lifeforms in this world are dead. Let’s plunder the treasury, but first…”

Ymir understood that glance. “Leave it to me…” He created a body double of Mordred from the material of the stone wall and reset the scene, the only sign of anything awry being a slightly greyer Mordred. Although the magical runes in the bindings have lost its actual magic, at the very least it looks the same from a glance.

After that, the two traversed the underground prison without being noticed. The air was unbelievably cold, perhaps negative fifty degrees celsius, but it didn't bother the inorganic duo. However, frozen corpses of other prisoners or prison guards littered the area, most set in piles. 

When he reached the ground floor, the castle’s interior was still colder than the underground prison, and there were far more vampire corpses frozen in their tracks. Some were maids, working to clean or serve the castle’s inhabitants, whereas others were vampire soldiers equipped with armor and weapons, and others still wore the dignified clothing that denoted a higher echelon.

Along the way, there were still many remnant souls who have yet to completely dissipate, so Mordred simply scooped them into his soul phylactery. 

Fifteen minutes later, they reached the castle’s treasury. The metallic door was heavy, and laced with various magic formations embedded in it. 

“These defenses are hardly comparable to the Elven Treasury Vaults up north.” Mordred muttered happily as he began dismantling the defense layer by later with all the stress and concentration of a grandma knitting a scarf. Even so, it took him almost an hour to clean all 540 layers of traps, authentications and alarms.

With a gentle push, the heavy door opened up, revealing the entire wealth of a rank 2 enslavement-path grandmaster.

“It’s too bad most of them are blood-path resources…” Mordred shook his head in disappointment as he and Ymir rummaged through the treasure room. 

The most numerous material in this treasury was blood crystal, with a mix of mana crystal coins lying around. It was understandable as those two are the primary hard currency that was circulated in the market. At a glance, Mordred calculated there should be around 100k worth of mana crystal coins alone, enough for him to purchase a property in Hartina Kingdom, but he isn’t too interested in the money.

Since this is a treasury, there are all sorts of treasures stored within. Starting from various unique weapons, technological tools or genetic injections bought from Kaiserreich, precious beast body parts or minerals whose functions are unknown, and many others.

“What do you have in mind, Main Soul?” Ymir asked as Mordred concentrated. Neither needed to even look at the treasures one by one because Mordred’s hearing was able to inspect them rapidly while Ymir is literally an information-path lifeform whose senses are not too different in terms of sensitivity to his main soul.

“Erebus is very poor, for a rank 2 enslavement-path expert who had his own micro-plane. I can’t use this wealth to refine a rank 2 mortal shell.” Mordred shook his head. “It looks like I need to use his treasures as an investment to repair this broken world first. Let’s usurp Lord Erebus’ identity now.”  

Ymir wordlessly followed his main soul as both left after taking a few precious materials while leaving the majority of them. The two quickly navigated through the cold castle interior without much problem as it was empty of life. Even if there are guards, they have become frozen statues.

Just as they were about to reach Erebus’ room, Mordred stopped his steps. 

“What’s wrong, main soul?” Ymir asked from his shadow.

“Bloodline Resonance.” Mordred wore a frowning expression. “I set up special reactions towards certain frequencies of bloodline and soul resonance so I wouldn’t kill random people related to people or groups I can’t afford to offend, but this bloodline shouldn’t exist in the Hartina Kingdom, is it a replicant?”

“Lord Erebus’ room is not this one, but the next one… The decision is up to you.”

“Hmm, Lord Erebus is finished anyway, there’s no rush. I shall take a look whether they are a clone or a real descendant of that bloodline…” Mordred touched the door, shrugging aside the magnetic lock as the entire door was instantly transmuted by a minor refinement-path method.

The room is dark and cold, but Mordred could sense the bloodline resonance coming from the bed. He approached the source of the resonance only to see a small, petite girl with long silver hair being bound into the bed. Chains and leather straps engraved in innumerable magical runes, completely binding the poor lass in an even more extreme fashion than the one used to bind Mordred. 

The only movement she could do was blinking her crimson red eyes. Fortunately, the bindings also protected her from the biting cold of the environment, therefore she didn’t perish under Mordred’s terraforming-class killer move.

“Rank 1 information-path killer move, [Bloodline Inspection]!” Mordred blinked his eyes, they were shining in red glint. Information-path methods excel in gathering, well, information. This killer move achieves the same thing compared to a blood-path investigative method of a similar name, but the principle is information, not blood.

“Huh… She’s not a replicant.” Mordred touched his chin. “Ymir.” He nudged at the girl.

Ymir instantly understood. The Ekatroncheiron materialized from Mordred’s shadow by using the air as his physical body. He broke some layers of bindings, but not enough for the girl to break free. It simply allowed her to speak.

“What’s a Jaeger of Kaiserreich doing here?” Mordred inquired, but the girl was still surprised at the existence of Ymir who had returned back to Mordred’s shadow, becoming undetectable.

Mordred snapped his fingers, bringing back the girl’s attention towards him. “I won’t ask twice. I’ll just kill you and plunder your memories…” Mordred bluffed by extending his hand towards her face, his palm imbued with a soul-path killer move that allowed him to simply kill her by separating her soul from her body. Although she has an early-stage rank 2 spiritual foundation, Mordred’s method could bypass most defenses, and she wasn’t given any chances to set up defenses in the first place.

“W- wait, I’ll talk!” The girl suddenly spoke, her tone containing fear as she instantly understood the man wasn’t Erebus’ ally. “I was captured by the Requiscat In Pace branch in the Land of Sand and Fire and sold to that pervert! Please don’t kill me!”

“Sell yourself.” Mordred spoke. “Prove to me you are better alive than dead in my hands.”

The girl felt pressured by Mordred’s nonchalant and indifferent attitude. The Jaegers are the Kaiserreich’s royal family. She had people threaten, coerce, force, or offered her to work for their factions as the Kaiserreich’s antimage techniques and refinement-path inheritances are extremely deep. However, Mordred simply ‘wanted’ to kill her without considering her capabilities.

In Mordred’s perspective, a Jaeger clansmen is more of a problem than benefit. 

The Jaegers of Kaiserreich are well-known for their refinement-path inheritances. The antimage culture of the Land of Sand and Fire is extremely thick in Kaiserreich. In terms of arcane research, the Land of Sand and Fire can be considered as backward, primitive even, but martial arts, bloodline abilities and technological tools are extremely advanced. 

Furthermore, the Patron Deity of Kaiserreich is the Machine God, Oppenheimer! His church has the best refinement-path inheritances across Morgen World… with the exception of Galatreon, of course. 

It was obvious what a Jaeger is worth.

Yet, that meant nothing to Mordred as he was literally the Great Archmage known to elevate the refinement-path of the Morgen World into a brand new height. Because her skill set overlaps with Mordred’s, she is truly worth less than what she should. 

“I… I can help you alter biochemical suits!” The girl pleaded. “I’ve helped Lord Erebus modify a strength-path biochemical suit into a blood-path one, and I am also a Biologist Explorator specialized in breeding investigative and stealth lifeforms…”

The girl listed all of her capabilities, skills, knowledge and experience within a mouthful of breath. She was met with an unflinching, scrutitive gaze, which worsened her desperation.

“...I am also quite knowledgeable about one of the seven true inheritances that the Great Archmage have bestowed upon my vatterland: the Human Refinement True Inheritance…” It was the piece of knowledge that in her perspective, is worth more than all of her experience and skills combined. “My clan possessed contingencies against memory-plundering methods, I am worth more alive than dead!”

Unlike that pervert Erebus who loved to dominate, rape women and turned them into his Vampire Brides, this infiltrator was not only a ruthless killer, but likely had a very high refinement-path attainment already, thus she bid everything on the True Inheritance. Although the girl wasn’t a combatant, she was still a royal and thus, able to discern the truth of Mordred’s personality from this brief interaction.

As she had expected, Mordred curbed his killing intent and seriously pondered about the girl’s situation. Perhaps, having a living servant is better than a dead one. If she’s trained and converted well into his loyal chess piece, she might be a better asset than her undead form. “So you’re the reason why Lord Erebus has a biochemical suit in the first place… and why his treasury is empty. He must’ve spent quite a fortune to purchase you and a biochemical suit from Requiecat in Pace.”

With a nudge from Mordred, Ymir rematerialized with a body of air like a wind elemental. He quickly dismantled every single piece of the bindings, allowing the girl to break free. 

She had a petite visage of 140 centimeter tall, having a relatively flat chest, but that’s probably because she suffered from vampirism at a young age which halted her physical growth at some point in time. Since she had some knowledge on Human Refinement True Inheritance, she must possess a way to artificially alter her body, but the fact that she did not means there’s either a deeper reason for it, or she never got the chance.

“Your name.” Mordred asked, but more like an order. Unlike Erebus, Mordred felt nothing in the presence of her naked, immature body. Although Mordred himself would admit to being a hardcore sadist, he definitely isn’t a lolicon who gets excited by immature girls like a certain Seigneur. 

The girl had a shred of a thought to lie, but she doubted the potential consequences of such a lie would be worth it. “Annalise Jaeger, the 74th descendant of the Kaiser…”

Mordred frowned, ‘Reinhardt that horny Kaiser is still making children since the last time I saw him…  Sovereigns have difficulties in having descendants because of their genetic complexity, it must’ve been my Human Refinement True Inheritance that let him go wild… In any case, I’ve got my hands on Reinhardt's direct descendant…’

“What faction are you?” Mordred asked.

The Jaegers of Kaiserreich are being split into two factions, a cold civil war so to speak, but that level of information wasn’t spread into the lower populace. Only those with higher cultivation such as Legends or even Paragons who have the foundation to travel the world would care about the conflict in distant lands. Other than them, the only people who can get even a whiff of said information are the ones who manage the information networks. Most rank 2 Lords are not even qualified to travel on their own because Morgen World’s inhabitants are hostile. 

“It should be obvious, but I am with the Bio-faction.”

“Nothing’s obvious anymore, ever since the Great Archmage constructed Galatreon.” Mordred denies. “A Biologist can be in the Mecha faction and a Magos can be in the Bio faction as they are interconnected in one way or another. The civil war between the two Jaeger factions is pointless as both are still refinement-path in essence. I’m just surprised the Machine God still allowed this farce to continue.”

“Ah- Y- you’re right.” Annalise agreed in stuttering, but could not offer a meaningful comeback. She wasn’t actually aware of the situation back in her vatterland as she had departed for quite a while, probably a few decades in the Main World’s time.  

“!!!” She took a step back when Mordred suddenly got face-to-face and stared into her eyes. “Sit still for a moment.” He grumbled. At this moment, one of his eyes immediately began to glow in golden light.

Psychometry, but Mordred is using it to peer into her past- specifically her soul. This would limit the psychometry’s ability to peer into her past, but Mordred would rather play it safe. She is the daughter of a Sovereign, she must be laced with layers upon layers of contingencies against various situations. It wouldn’t be strange if her body is lethally protected against psychometry. However, the Grimsong Specter was willing to bank his knowledge of the soul against the Kaiser’s. Thus, he has no worries using it on her soul.

“I see, you’ve been away from your home for quite some time. Hmm, what’s this, a protection against Clairvoyance and Psychometry…” Mordred muttered under his breath, but he was close enough for Annalise to hear him, not daring to budge an inch.

Such statements put fear towards the girl as protection against time-path meant that she had something to hide. To this heartless killer who might murder for the slightest inconvenience, it was the slight inconvenience that would push him over the edge and simply kill her. 

To her surprise, he simply scoffed. “Forget it, the karmic retaliation from killing you would be too much for me to bear, my negative karmic luck would plummet further. There’s too high a probability of you being one of the Kaiser’s chess pieces.” Mordred shook his head in disappointment. A Sovereign’s playground is the whole world, their key players sometimes hidden deeply in each corner of the world. “You must be an important character in the future.” 

His hand then conjured an extremely dense lump of vengeful souls of dead vampires which was taken from his Soul Phylactery. The souls cursed Mordred, but they were reduced to a lump of ectoplasmic beings; it cannot do anything more than a rock might to the person throwing it. He crushed the souls, which should be worth around 3000-man souls and started to use his soul-path refinement methods. He whispered in various tongues that the girl could not recognize, but she was shocked because Mordred eventually whispered in a language that she knew.

Devil tongue.

Annalise’ self-preservation instinct flared up as she scrambled away from him, her hairs standing on end as absolute dread filled her heart. Just the appearance of vengeful souls is enough to put most people to despair, and him speaking in devil tongue was the straw that broke the camel’s back. 

Swoosh The lump of broken souls suddenly ignited in dark purple flame for a brief second before melding and solidifying into a piece of white parchment. Mordred’s finger quickly danced around the soul paper as he was writing the content. When he was done, he pushed it to Annalise.

“Read it.” A simple command, but Annalise didn’t even have to look at it to know what this paper entails.

‘Devil’s Contract… a Soul Contract so powerful and convoluted that it’ll be impossible for me to escape its binding even if I die…’ She felt like being rescued by Mordred wasn’t a blessing but a curse. It was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. 

She wanted to retaliate, but how can she resist Mordred when he is practically nonexistent in her senses besides direct sight? This simple clue is sufficient to tell that Mordred has a significantly deeper cultivation base than herself. It was no different that suicide, but perhaps, being killed right now is better than being permanently enslaved, even in death.

Just as she was about to use her self-mutilating method for an explosive retaliation, Mordred flicked the girl’s forehead, permanently dispersing the method. “Don’t think too much, just read the contract first, you’re not worth it for me to use the tricks of the devil.”

The flick wasn’t hard, but it contained sound-path and wisdom-path profundity to stop her telepathic thoughts from colliding in her sea of consciousness. Her deep spiritual foundation grants her high resistance to most wisdom-path methods, so it only affected her for a fraction of a second, but it derailed the train of thoughts that would’ve led to her committing suicide. She could think and ponder about what he had said. 

“O- okay…” She willingly took the contract and read it. Even so, she tried to scrutinize the paper in which the soul contract is written on.

‘I heard the Devil’s Contract used convoluted jargon, words that seemed to be slight mistranslations but actually another language, hypnotic runic words, and invisible inks… But isn't this just a normal enslavement contract with slightly longer duration? Of course, I can’t go against his will, but I can actually be released after serving him for a period of time and fulfilling some conditions…’ Annalise raised her eyebrows in wonder as she used her keen eyes and experience to scrutinize.

Only when she glanced at Mordred does he explain, “You’re a hassle. I can’t bear the burden of karmic retaliation from obstructing Kaiser’s scheme.” The existence of a Sovereign is typically supported by an extremely high positive karmic luck, enough to affect the country they originated from. If Mordred kills Reinhardt’s daughter, it wasn’t her karmic luck that would retaliate, but Reinhardt’s, even if he’s in another dimension. Considering Mordred has yet to regain his indestructible soul, it would be best if he isn’t obstructed by the karmic retaliation of a Sovereign in distant lands.

“Your identity is sensitive, but I can’t just kill you and be done with it. Therefore, this employment contract which was an over-glorified NDA and Command Seals will be the chains that binds you. Of course, since this is an employment contract, our relationship is based on transaction. I’ll pay you with whatever… But if you betray me…” Mordred laughed.

“My soul will be taken and tortured for your enjoyment… Okay, understood, even though this is… an enslavement contract.” Annalise sighed, but it was actually better than being enslaved and turned into Lord Erebus’ vampire bride.

“Employment Contract.” Mordred corrected her, feeling like he can’t stress this enough. “Professionals have standards.” He added, as if he disdained using an enslavement contract. In reality, he just doesn’t want to get tangled too deeply with Annalise’ karma unless he was sure about her position in the upcoming future. However, that’ll mean he has to keep her on a tight leash until he can construct a divination facility. Until then, this employment contract will be a temporary measure.

‘From her background alone, Kaiser Reinhardt’s bloodline has the potential to reach rank 4 Paragon even if they don’t cultivate in earnest. With her current condition, she might not be able to reach rank 5 with talent alone, but if I develop her correctly, being a Brave shouldn’t be a pipe dream… I just need to observe her development until I can refine the [Heaven Prying Eyes]. It seems like Project: Wild Hunt has started before I even usurp Lord Erebus.’

“F- fine! I agree with all the conditions.”

“Good, smear your blood here, here and here, I’ll engrave the contract on your soul, so you should feel excruciating pain, but I’ll heal them afterwards.” Mordred nodded as he had expected. Otherwise, the only solution to her unwanted existence would be to kill or lock her somewhere far away, preferably in another dimension so that her karma wouldn’t be able to infect Mordred. 

After Annalise did what was commanded, Mordred activated his method. “Rank 2 command-path killer move, [Command Seal Bestowal]!”

The paper instantly burns in a ghastly purple conflagration, and Annalise screamed at the top of her lungs. She kneeled to the ground as the pain of the Soul Contract being engraved on her soul is excruciatingly painful that any other people would faint. In fact, her mouth has been frothing due to the pain. 

“Tsk, what a hassle!” Mordred clicked his tongue as he realized her identity must be far more important than he had expected. He activated one soul-path method after another as his frown became deeper and deeper. Mordred’s hand danced around as he expended souls to refine spectral artifacts to assist him. 

At this point, it’s no longer a simple Command Crest branding, but a soul-path life alteration surgery.

It was only a few minutes later that the pain subsided and she was able to stand up.

“Was the pain really necessary?” She asked as Mordred’s soul-path healing methods have taken an effect. The process of engraving the soul contract was done, but she could feel a lingering searing heat beneath her left clavicle just above her flat breast. When she took a look, there was a deep purple crest of a butterfly engraved on it. Each passing seconds, the crest becomes more and more translucent as the pain slowly dissipates. However, it never truly went invisible as a vague image of the purple butterfly crest stayed there permanently. 

“Do you even realize that your soul is protected against Clairvoyance, Psychometry, Hypnotism, Soul Contracts, Memory Plundering techniques and myriad other non-lethal methods?” Mordred felt like scolding her, almost regretting not killing her and being done with it. “How can you, a Jaeger, be allowed to be kidnapped by Requiscat in Pace so easily? It baffles me that you think you are still in control of your own fate. You’ve never actually severed your connection with the Jaegers, I just helped you with that…”

Annalise’s eyes went wide. “Then-”

“Yes, I just selectively dismantled your defense against Soul Contracts, leaving the rest intact. However, all across the Jaeger clan’s life-monitoring centers, you are now considered as dead. I don’t care about your ambition since you’ve endured humiliation without making much of a sound, as most experts from the Land of Sand and Fire are hardy, but as long as you’re working for me, you should be obedient.” Mordred words implied that he knows about her faking the condition of being almost subjugated by Erebus. 

This girl must be planning to take on Erebus’ identity in the future, just like himself. 

“Don’t force me to use the Absolute Command Crest, they contain sufficient power to defy dimensional laws of the main world to a certain degree, much less your will. It is better to use them as a live-saving measure.”

Annalise rubbed the Command Seal on her left chest, she could vaguely sense it was made out of three Absolute Command Crests stacked on top of each other. She had read reports on the existence of command-path methods originated from the Holy Land of refinement-path, but it was the first time she saw command seals in action. ‘Command Seals! A contract so potent that they can bend the world to its will!’. Though, it would be best if it wasn’t engraved on her body and soul. She simply sighed inwardly, however, not daring to voice her complaints. “I understand.”

Mordred took out a towel from his dimensional storage rings and tossed them to Annalise. A classic. “Cover yourself up. You look like a damn exibitionist.”

Annalise blushed as she had only just registered the fact that Mordred is a male. She wanted to argue it was Erebus’ perverted arrangement that she wasn’t given any clothes, only to see that Mordred had already reached for the door. “Follow me.” He commanded. She quickly wrapped herself in the towel and left the cold room with him.

The two then moved to the next room where Lord Erebus should be ‘resting’. Annalise was curious about the identity of Mordred, but he moved as if he didn't even care about her impression on him. 

“It’s locked with one of the most sophisticated defe-” Annalise was about to explain, but she was turned silent by the door opening with a loud shock. Mordred’s lightning encased palm used a minor refinement-path method known as transmutation. As a refinement-path cultivator, she is fully aware of what transmutation can do, but what gave her cause for pause was how casually he used it, without any preparations whatsoever. Although it was not unprecedented, it clearly defined his depth.

Guards protected Lord Erebus from hostile forces even in his own bedroom, but Mordred simply waved his arm, unleashing a method through a delayed activation sequence. “Rank 2 necro-path killer move, [Death by Capital Punishment: Gallows]!”

The eight Blood Assassins hidden in the dark corners of Lord Erebus’ room were instantly subdued by spectral chains, wrapping around their necks and squeezing. The Blood Assassins attempted to pry them off, but even after biting onto their own neck with their sharp nails, the spectral chains got tighter and tighter, until their soul was separated from their bodies.

Thud! Eight invisible Blood Assassin corpses expose themselves to the world, not having dropped their invisibility even as they were strangled. Witnessing the scene, Mordred shook his head. ‘I really need to quickly reach rank 2 as soon as possible.’  He thought as he collected their almost-broken souls. The delayed killer move put a heavy burden on his soul resources. Just that killer move alone consumes around a few thousand-man worth of souls in his Soul Phylactery as he needs to boost his performance, otherwise his rank 1 cultivation wouldn’t be enough. 

Annalise immediately realized that all eight were rank 2, and yet they were completely helpless in front of Mordred. She made a mental note not to do something stupid against Mordred, contracts be damned.. 

In reality, the rank 2 Blood Assassins were already extremely weakened. Lord Erebus’ personal guards mitigated certain death after being hit by Ice Aeon using special methods. Mordred’s terraforming-class killer move already dealt a significant amount of soul damage towards them, and their time-rate is probably less than 0.4 compared to Mordred due to the secondary effect of the Chronophagous Hoarfrost. Thus, one soul art secretly amplified with various methods was able to kill them all.  

“What are you planning to do?” Annalise asked a question when he saw Mordred take a deep look at Erebus.

Mordred ignored her as his physical body slowly altered to match Lord Erebus. Starting from Erebus' pale skin tone, red eyes, and body frame, he soon became Lord Erebus’ carbon copy that couldn’t be distinguished if one only saw his physical body. 

‘After big brother completely destroyed Erebus’ Country of Delusions, his sea of consciousness collapsed. There’s only his passive defenses left…’ Mordred’s finger danced around his body, as thin lines of soul matter like spectral wires move according to the tune of his fingers. They were Mordred’s scalpels, and Mordred never took the hippocratic oath. 

The spectral wires slowly dismantle Erebus passive defenses, such as the defensive force field that any mages would have after reaching rank 1. Since Lord Erebus is an enslavement-path cultivator and a Lord Inquisitor of Hartina Kingdom, there were naturally contingencies atop contingencies against assassinations, therefore it took Mordred quite a while before they were completely dismantled.

After having no more passive defenses, things became extremely simple. 

Mordred used a soul-path method to kill Erebus by separating the soul and the body. “Rank 2 soul-path killer move, [Soul Devouring]!”

Mordred’s secret to having extreme defense against personality corruption from devouring souls is because he possessed Crimspur’s food-path true inheritance. Combine them with his own soul-path, it’s natural for him to consume souls to grow his own foundation. Plundering memories and accumulating soul foundation become easy as he doesn’t need to worry too much about personality corruption. 

Seeing Erebus literally eating the soul of Erebus with his mouth, Annalise was lost at words. 

Mordred spit out his dimensional storage ring from his stomach, then froze Erebus corpse with some liquid nitrogen that he took from a cryo missile before keeping it away. From the perspective of a refinement-path quasi-transcendent, Erebus’ corpse is a great material for refining a new mortal shell. His two brains can be refined into a type of biocrystal processor, there’s also his enslavement-path Mana Pool, et cetera.

“Repeat after me.” Mordred faced Annalise. “I will devote my life for you, Lord Erebus.”

Annalise quickly understood that all of this farce was so that whatever this being was to usurp Lord Erebus’ identity. Her meeting with him was just a coincidence. “I will devote my life and death for you, my Lord Erebus.” She used a cheeky tone, part hoping and part knowing that the new Erebus was not interested in enslaving her like the dead Erebus. 

Just as he expected, the new Erebus smiled instead of angry. This absolute confidence was radiating from the depth of his bones. “I like smart girls.” Erebus then nudged at her to follow him. “I’m going to subjugate the remaining vampires. You can follow me if you want.”

Seeing the person who she had been tortured and humiliated by for the past four years so utterly subsumed, Annalise felt a growing good will for this new Erebus. “With pleasure!”