Chapter 552 Challenges Daphne’s version (part 3)
Listening to Daimon's words and more importantly seeing that smirk on the lower part of his face, which wasn't covered by the mask of the Hollow Suit, made Ryan have a bad premonition.
"Let go of me you, crazy bastard!", Ryan squirmed trying to free himself from Daimon's grip, just for Daimon to smack him against the ground a couple of times until his fighting lessened as they reached the area where the golems were starting to move again.
"Now, you are going to tell me everything you know and have seen since you joined Arlion's side, especially what's the deal with this hand bell", coldly said Daimon as he showed the hand bell to Ryan.
"Screw you, you are going to kill me the moment I let my tongue loose, however if I don't tell you anything, he is going to come for Daphne and then I'll be saved when he kills you!", said Ryan with a defiant look on his pummeled face.
'Daimon, leave me…', as Rita was about to volunteer herself to deal with the lowly scum that was daring to give trouble to her young master, Daimon's shadow extended without the need of her mana and then the air trembled.
"Arggh", Ryan tried to scream but his voice couldn't leave his throat, he felt as if he was suffocating, despite no physical pressure being applied on his neck, no, the suppression he was feeling came from a much deeper level.
'What the hell, isn't this…', Ryan's train of thought was interrupted by Daimon who ruthlessly moved his arm to place him facing the golems.
"Y-You, don't tell me… aghhh!", Ryan got an idea of what was about to happen and he tried to hurry to negotiate, but then an arrow pierced his left thigh, forcing a scream out of him.
"No, wait, I will talk…aghhh!", Ryan tried to speak, but what welcomed him was another arrow, this time it landed on his right shoulder, that's right Daimon was casually strolling through the battlefield using Ryan as a meat shield for the few golems that changed their attention from destroying the barrier of his fortress, to them.
"I'm sure you will, however we have some free time to kill, while Daphne wins this challenge", after saying that, Daimon no longer spoke any other word, despite Ryan crying, screaming and begging every time an arrow or bolt landed on him.
Instead of that, Daimon was more interested in the fact that unlike the golems on the other three participant's areas, Ryan's golems did add up to Daphne's count.
'Oh, well, I guess the one who set this challenge isn't happy that the rules were breached by a participant, but then why am I not being considered an intruder?', wondered Daimon, he wasn't given an area for the challenge, but he wasn't limited by the rules either, it was as if he was allowed to come in and see or assist Daphne with her challenge.
Then again, the participants this time were for sure not going to play nice, so it could be just an error caused by whatever means, Arlion, Marcus, Ereth or the Nethereals were using to mess with the challenges, the other option was that his system was interfering but the problem is that he hadn't received a notification or a mission being triggered.
'Well, there is still a much wilder option, being that the challenge of my emblem is not a "trial", like others but me having to go through the challenges of my teammates, I guess I'll know it once we leave finish one', thought Daimon as he used his hand to destroy the head of a golem.
…
By the time Ryan's fortress's barrier had less than a third part of its energy left, Daimon retreated inside of the barrier, he never lost sight of Daphne and the whole battlefield in general and as he expected even if the golems he destroyed from Ryan's area, weren't counted, she was still quite ahead of the other two idiots.
'Rita if you would, please', inwardly said Daimon.
'Mm, it's done', answered Rita as she put an invisible barrier around Daimon and Ryan with her mana, Daimon nodded and then turned to see Ryan whose eyes were bloodshot to then remove the battle aura he used to seal his mouth to stop listening to his unending threats, wails, begs and the like.
"So, do you have something to say now?", he asked.
Ryan gritted his teeth but feeling the dangerous gaze behind that mask, he didn't dare to remain in silence for too long, who knows what the psycho in front of him would do to him, if he didn't speak, besides he could always lie and use the situation for his advantage or that's what he thought until he opened his mouth, just to scream when Daimon twisted his left arm in a weird direction.
"Ahhhh why!!!".
"I wonder if Arlion is also your father, for you to think it's better to try and lie in front of me than betray him", casually said Daimon, which made Ryan's back explode in cold sweat, the monster in front of him could tell he was going to lie even before he did so.
"I-I won't lie, but I don't know much, the moment those tubes of light came down from the sky, Arlion sent everyone of us a message and some things, namely a coin, a compass and that hand bell".
"I don't know about others, but my message instructed me to use the compass to find a specific challenge, the coin was supposed to give me a chance to modify the rules of the challenge for a certain period of time and the hand bell, the message only told me to use it if I were to find Daphne in the challenge, and to kill her if I had the chance or better… if I captured her, I would be given the second part of my reward".
Daimon remained calm on the outside, but Rita and the girls from the Black Night clan who were staying in his shadow, could feel it... how angry he was, and that is a lot to say, considering Daimon is not someone to waste emotions on enemies.
'Daimon, it could be overthinking, but isn't that bell giving a similar feeling to…', Narasha who had returned to the inventory couldn't help but ask, Disaster is especially sharp when it comes to energy firms, that's why the capricious sword can be used as a rare metal/
mineral detector, just like how it led Daimon and Aura to some hidden deposits of mithril and even orichalcum back when they were training at some random planets a long time ago.
And while Disaster normally only reacts to the "snacks" it likes, Narasha can to a certain extent use the abilities of Disaster to help Daimon, it's way easier for her, now that the glutton sword is sleeping to digest all the nether it stole from Karla.
'Yes, the energy firm coming from that hand bell is exactly the same as Daphne's', but not all of her, but a specific part of her', said Daimon.
Now, it's not like Daimon has purposedly scanned the girls, however, after spending so much time near them, it's impossible for him to not remember their overall energy firms, scents and the like, heck at this point he can know when their heartbeat is different than usual.
His sixth sense along with his sharp senses, compile that kind of information for him whether he wants it or not, not to mention his instincts as an apex predator make him be quite "aware" of them in many aspects.
That being said, the energy firm and aura on the hand bell, was something he willingly learned because it's the same as what he felt when he inspected Daphne's scar, the scar on her neck which is supposedly what took away her voice.
And that's not all, he also felt somewhat familiar with the red mist that was released when Ryan crushed that red coin earlier, how could he not when he scanned till the last corner of the one from whom the material used to create it, came.
But this time, he instead confirmed it with Rita, as she was the one that helped him with that, back then.
'Rita, those red runes, did they not feel similar to the traces you found back then?', he asked.
'Yes… it's much more refined to the point that one might not recognize it, meaning the one who did it became more skilled with it overtime, but that red mist had a similar sensation to the traces of the curse that was used on that blue haired woman', said Rita, referring to Grace, in other words, Daphne's mother.
Daimon remained silent for a moment, it would be a lie to say that he didn't suspect there was someone involved in what happened to the pair of Valas mother and daughter, since maybe not all, but him meeting Mellie and the others was related to the opportunities he stole from Adam and Marcus, meaning they were involved in the missions prepared for those two originally.
But thanks to him interfering, their fates changed, at least they didn't become trophies for the light idiot or stepping stones for Marcus.
Ryan could tell that things were getting more dangerous for him, so he immediately tried to speak his way out of this.
"I told you everything I know, you have to let me live, I can be your spy in Arlion's team, b-besides I'm Daphne's relative, do you think she'll be happy if you killed her brother, despite what happened here, I never had any conflict with her previously!".
Daimon limited to snort at the pathetic sight of Ryan begging to be spared, to then say.
"Do you know why both you and Terry didn't attain the strength you expected, no matter how much external help you got?", he said.
Ryan's body trembled, he felt humiliated to beg for his life, to have been defeated and to be forced to offer himself to serve his enemy, but he still didn't give up.
'At the end of the day, aren't you arrogant yourself, I'll listen to your monologue, a hundred years isn't late for one's revenge after all', he thought as he put on a flattering expression to then say.
"Please illuminate me young master".
Daimon tossed Ryan like a piece of garbage and then sat down cross legged on the ground, Ryan couldn't move because he had arrows piercing his joints and practically every non-vital spot on his arms, legs and back, that's how much Daimon made him suffer earlier, the only reason as to why he hadn't bled to death is because Rita injected him a potion by Daimon's order, without Ryan noticing it.
"As you already know, given the new "strength" you were granted by Arlion, his empowering is related to lineages, he helped Terry's lineage concentration to increase way more than what it should have at his age if he just developed normally, that and the fact that he was procreated by Arlion himself, meaning the source of his White Royal Shark lineage was less diluted than what Triten's".
"However, Arlion of course didn't want Terry to be able to stand up to him, since he was cultivating a replacement for his decaying self instead of a talented successor, so he only gave Terry one of the aspects that conform what a strong lineage owner need".
"The result as you can imagine, is an incomplete lineage owner that though can use some of the prowess of its bloodline, it is still way behind what a real lineage owner can do, which is why both you and Terry were so easily defeated by me, in other words you and Terry were disposable pawns from the very beginning".
Ryan's expression twisted as he shouted.
"Don't lie to me, of course I know that I wasn't given everything in a single go, he explained that to me, and that's why I was going to capture Daphne instead of killing her!".
Daimon mockingly gazed at Ryan in response.
"He couldn't do that for himself and you think he was going to do it for you, for someone that boasts about being smart and thinks that I'm not going to kill you because that would make someone unhappy, you are way more stupid than what I thought", he said.
Daimon doesn't know how the hell Arlion knows about it, but he learned the two aspects needed for a lineage's potential to be fully exploited back when he obtained the Lineage Temple function.
One not only needs to integrate the bloodline to obtain a lineage, but also you have to unlock the information codified in it, a sample of the blood gave Daimon the chance to obtain the first, through his Apex Predator physique, but he needed to pass the trial of the Lineage Temple to obtain the second.
For what he knows, the magic beast from which Terry's lineage originated should be on par with the Black Armored Shark's lineage, not only that but he obtained a concentration on par with Daimon's, but he still wasn't a worthy enemy for him.
Lineage owners, usually posses one of the two aspects and have to develop it to obtain the second one, how proficient they are with what they have is what separates the truly talented from fakers.
And in case you are wondering, not even Daimon has the two aspects for all his lineages, as he has only gotten the trial for the Black Armored Shark's lineage so far, but Ryan had no need to know that much.
"You only need to know that Arlion lessened/ruined the aspects that Daphne and Grace had, and that is the origin of the coin and hand bell you were given, I don't need to think too much to know why he wanted you to capture her, he wanted what was left".
"So, what do you think is going to happen to you, after you reach a concentration high enough for "harvest", genius".
Ryan froze on the spot, Daimon's words repeated in his mind over and over again, if he was telling the truth, he couldn't find a flaw in his explanation, in other words, he was sent to do something and his reward was being killed after fulfilling his task.
"Why the hell are you telling me this!", he shouted, just to see Daimon smirking.
"Because as much of a coward as you are, physical pain is not what hurts you the most, but knowing that you are below others".
Ryan gritted his teeth so hard that he actually started bleeding from his mouth once again.
"Crazy bastard…", limited to say Ryan, his anger was gone instead of that, his eyes were in shock, as an expression of disbelief appeared on his face, he gasped for air but couldn't breathe properly, his face paled as he tried to cough, he even used his hands to rip the flesh of his neck, but it didn't work.
"That's what having the mana circuits of your throat messed with, feels like, I have damaged a few of mine some time ago due to training and while they recovered, I can vouch that it felt like hell, and here you were ringing that disgusting bell in front of Daphne", he casually said.
Ryan's eyes which were filled with despair, begged Daimon to kill him, but he instead added.
"Now, with this field test, I'll be able to prepare a much worse thing for Arlion, so you can go ahead and wait for me to send him with you".
Daimon then stood up and simply waited until Ryan stopped breathing, he silently witnessed his end, only then he shot a light beam from his left index finger piercing the middle of his forehead and his heart as well, better be safe than sorry.
With a snap of his fingers the corpse was sent to the inventory, and Daimon then dusted off his shirt, as to why he wasn't worried about killing Ryan and the pirate guy from earlier, they themselves said they were going to kill the other two referring to the skelefiend and the guy from the Purple Haze sect, and since they wanted to capture Daphne and not kill her, it meant that three surviving participants were enough for the challenge to advance to the next stage.
Of course, he took a peek at the runes that covered this area as well, just to make sure, that is also why he didn't go to kill the other two participants, this place was Daphne's fortune, well, it was now, since Daimon interfered in Neptune's scheme.
'You can dispel the protection, Rita, the challenge is about to end so we are heading back', said Daimon.
'Mm', with a low sound, Rita dispelled her mana and then Daimon jumped out of the fortress, just in time for the golems to take down the barrier, the other participants were about to be surpassed by the golems as well, so they had no leisure to pay attention to Daimon.
And he was able to return to Daphne's side easily, the Valas princess who was completely focused on the challenge till a second ago, saw Daimon returning completely unscathed and an expression of relief appeared on her pretty face, before she smiled at him.
"Welcome back", it's what her eyes were telling Daimon, who after a second of hesitation, decided to tell her what he discovered, since the challenge was ending in a minute or two and there was no way for the other two to catch up to her.
As one would expect, Daphne was in shock at what Daimon told her, she continued launching spells automatically, but her gaze changed from those expression filled pretty eyes that Daimon is used to see on her, to be in blank as if she was empty-minded.
In fact, she continued doing so even now that the challenge ended and her spells were just being cancelled by the barrier of the fortress, and the golems had disappeared from the battlefield while the results were being calculated.
Daimon who had kept her distance before, inwardly sighed, he approached her and then gently placed his hand on her head, despite the difference in age, Daphne wasn't that much taller than him anyway.
Little diamond-like tears appeared on the corners of Daphne's eyes, her body trembled and she stopped what she was doing to hug Daimon as tight as she could.
Daimon couldn't help but sigh, in part because of herself, someone one day casually decided to deprive her of her voice for selfish reasons, when she wasn't even conscious of herself, there is also the suffering her mother went through all these years, blaming herself for what happened to her, when it was done on purpose by someone else.
Daimon gently caressed her head, while the Valas princess cried in his chest, as if the challenge was aware of the situation, the process took quite some time, at least as much as what it took Daphne to calm down.
Seeing her pretty eyes, still being teary, Daimon helped her wipe them with his handkerchief, as much as he doesn't like vampire nobles and their etiquette, he still has a handkerchief in his pocket at all times, a result of Aisha's etiquette lessons.
"You can't change what happened in the past, but we can do something about it now, he did it, we just have to beat him up until he begs to correct it, right?", said Daimon.
"Mm~", Daphne softly giggled in response, finding Daimon's words to comfort her, amusing, she then realized she was still holding onto Daimon, not to mention she cried all over his shirt, and her face blushed on the spot, which made Evangeline laugh in Daimon's mind.
'That's a weird conquering line, but I guess it's threatening other people's lives is part of your charm, anyway if it isn't broken don't fix it~'.
'I'm fine with it, Daimon will do the same for any of us after all', added Narasha.
Daimon chuckled, he let go of Daphne who was much better now, to then observe their surroundings changing, from the open large area with the fortresses to something that resembled a testing area for those that wish to join an academy or other force, in Daimon's experience.
He thought so, because there were mana crystals of different elements placed in a single line next to each other, similar to what would be done to test one's affinity, but the difference is that unlike the sealed and immaculate atmosphere needed for that kind of test, this place had a chaotic mix of different types of mana lingering on the air.
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