Divine Emperor of DeathDivine Emperor of Death
"Yeah… I'm alright…"
Davis's frown left before he nodded, "These are yours. Go ahead and devour them."
"…"
Vereina cast a doubtful glance at the dark smoke before returning her gaze, "You certainly encountered something. If it affected you, how can I be unharmed?"
"It's a matter of compatibility." Davis shook his head, "Clearly, your physique needs it, while my physique doesn't even react. However, be careful not to devour too much. I sensed another aura within. It was extremely vague and tried to pose as me as it uttered maddening ravings, but since I only absorbed a bit, I wasn't affected."
"Oh? What did you hear?" Vereina's lips parted, her eyes wide as saucers, "I heard from Hailac and Tia that the maddening ravings increase your intrusive thoughts into one of evil and self-harm. However, I personally didn't experience anything. I thought you were going to laugh at me for failing to refine the dark smoke, but it turned out that my soul physique is practically immune, allowing me to refine it without a problem…"
"…"
Davis blinked.
He admitted that he had intrusive thoughts to kill but to violate women? That was pretty hard to believe, considering how sacred he considered his body to be, belonging only to the woman he was in love with.
Even if he hated a woman to death enough to do unspeakable things to her, why must he reward her with his yang?
He felt such an action was only detrimental to him, even if he derived pleasure from it.
'At least, I haven't fallen to such a low yet…' Davis mused.
He believed that these thoughts weren't something that stemmed from him but came from that strange, inexplicable aura. After all, instead of hearing maddening ravings from the darkness, he directly refined the dark smoke, a manifestation of that said darkness.
Furthermore— kill, sacrifice, and offer…?
That certainly was not how he rolled. He wasn't about to give some tribute to some evil deity of some dimension.
Therefore, he believed these thoughts were entirely someone else's.
However, his lips curled. He leaned towards Vereina.
"It said to violate you and make you cry."
"…!"
Vereina flinched and turned to look away, "Forget I asked."
Her heart skipped a beat, her cheeks turning red at the same time as her legs went limp, causing her to crouch down.
She knew not to provoke him too much as the memory of her being cornered, his face so close enough to kiss, was still fresh in her mind. And the horrible thing was she didn't dislike it.
"I was just kidding…"
Davis saw her go into a protective pose and thought he had gone too far. Since she was taking his jokes fine, he felt this would be okay too, but it seemed like it wasn't.
"Stand up, Vereina." He patted her shoulder and opened his mouth.
"Refine the other two. I'd like to be on our way to find a suitable spot."
Vereina turned to look back at him, her face devoid of expression, "Spot for what?"
"You don't need to know."
Davis teasingly said. He smiled lightly and walked to the other two remnant dark smoke.
Vereina recollected herself and followed suit.
She was still covered by his light energy, which allowed her to not be crushed by the pure density of the darkness energy here. Her eyes possessed undisguised adoration for him. She respected his strength and even looked up to him as he was an Anarchic Divergent who was still surviving against all odds.
Despite all the empty threats, he also didn't harm a strand of her hair. It made her feel secure.
However-
'I wish… he was only more good to me…'
She pouted secretly before she arrived and activated the soul-devouring technique again.
Davis watched her absorb, but internally, he wondered if the fifth level would already be fine for setting up the mini-realm. After all, he intended to head to the sixth level. The seventh level was where the Whispering Rift existed, so he could make it to the sixth level. The chances that people would step foot there were less, and the darkness was also greater, concealing things and suppressing soul sense.
However, this strange aura all changed that for him.
It became dangerous to step into the sixth level as this aura could have more power there.
Right now, the darkness energy's ravings ordinarily didn't affect him, but if he refined it, it became clear that this aura had some kind of authority over here. This authority grew more as the level rose.
'It also explains why people go missing… some people are being sacrificed…'
Davis guessed. He was also interested in checking out what kind of menace lay in the seventh level, but he guessed the fifth level would do for now.
Ten whole minutes later, Vereina stood up.
"I'm done, let's go~"
She pointed towards the depths, looking excited when a hand fell on her head, causing her to smile to freeze.
"You think you're powerful enough to endure the darkness? Go inside."
*Whoosh!~*
She entered his life ring, causing her to fume.
"Damn you!" She screamed into the skies, fuming endlessly as dark smoke came out of her head.
The darkness energy she released was pretty comical, making Davis speechless before he chuckled heartily.
"I'll first kill all the dark shadow wraiths and call you. Until then, stay put."
His voice echoed within the life ring before he continued to traverse the fifth level, intending to explore it until he found a dangerous yet suitable spot for building the mini-realm.
"What's going on?"
Lea and the others surrounded Vereina, and she had to explain what had happened above.
They were astonished to hear that Davis was also minutely affected by the ravings after he decided to refine them like Vereina did.
"These dark smoke remnants are good for me, but they don't seem suitable for him. Because of that, I was able to improve my soul physique to Peak-Level Immortal Emperor Grade. I could feel it. After absorbing two more of these, I can feel that I just need a few more, perhaps four or five, for my physique to reach the Empyrean Grade. After that, I will try to gain a cultivation manual from the sect I'm in and try to become an Empyrean!~"
Vereina clenched her fists and hopped, looking full of joy.
"That's great~" Tia giggled, "I hope you become stronger and become another cornerstone for us."
"…?" Vereina blinked before she smirked, "Sure. As long as you welcome me, I'll also do my best to protect you guys."
"Vereina." Lea suddenly called out in a melodious yet stern voice, causing Vereina to become silent a bit.
"Yes?"
Vereina answered lightly.
Lea stared at her for a few seconds, making Vereina feel like she was in a burning cage. The latter lowered her head.
"I won't allow bad bugs to come near him and take advantage of his kindness. He is easygoing with practically everything, but he tends to become intrigued by the presence of beauty and even gentler if he knows the beauty adequately, so if you break his heart, I won't forgive you. I say this as one of his wives, not a fellow human or woman. I won't hesitate to do what needs to be done."
"…"
Vereina wanted to complain that she was the one getting bullied, but remembering all the benefits she got from him, she nodded her head.
"I understand. I'll be careful." She understood the wives were getting troubled by her overly friendly attitude.
She didn't blame Lea and could even relate. If she had a man like that, she also wouldn't let any women looking to take advantage near him. On that note, Lea saw right through her. She wasn't putting in the effort, but she also couldn't find any place to put effort either since he was too strong and did almost everything by himself.
What could she do to be of use?
She had no idea.
"If you understand, that's good," Lea uttered before she turned around and left.
She looked at the clear skies, hoping he was safe after the maddening ravings incident.
Meanwhile, Illumina simply crouched on the fields and kept plucking the petals of the flowers in the flower field with a strange look on her face, feeling an emotion that she had once forgotten: peace.