The Demon Monarch System

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Eventually, after watching the others destroy Ifrits, Apollo grew bored and found himself wanting to join in on the combat. After all, what fun was it for him to just watch from the sidelines? He needed to enjoy some of the thrill firsthand as well.

Gradually, Apollo dropped down into the heart of the battle, which remained untouched from the sheer numbers of Ifrits in the air. Once he touched down, the gauntlets around his hands materialized with their ominously sharp edges. 

Apollo clenched his fist before dashing forward. The full entirety of his frightening speed was put on display as the shadowy embers of his Umbra Phantom Mantle appeared without much invocation. At this point, the second step was becoming second nature for Apollo.

Just a thought and it would wreathe his body, boosting his speed to shocking heights. 

Whoosh!

Apollo dashed past an Ifrit and despite its strong physique as a Greater Demon, Apollo's claws shred its torso until its internals were present without any protection. A small chuckle left Apollo's lips as he saw this, "Like paper. If that's the case, soon enough only Greater Demons will reward any experience for me."

Afterward, Apollo merely snapped his fingers, incinerating the Ifrit with his dense Hellfire. Even though it was a demon, this Hellfire burnt its physique all the same. Unlike the other demons, Apollo's flame already possessed a shred of Purgatory's Blood.

If even Noblesse's feared that ghastly flame, what chances did a mere Ifrit who had yet to evolve into a Greater Demon have at surviving?

〈System: You have killed Peak Lesser Demon (Scorching Ifrit).〉

〈System: Experience meter increased by 0.24%〉

Although the experience granted by the system for the kill wasn't exactly pleasing it wasn't off-putting. Realistically speaking, the battle lasted no longer than 3 seconds, yet Apollo managed to acquire a quarter of a percent. Even if a small position of his follower's kills went to them, at the very least, Apollo required a fifth of a percent from each of their kills.

In other words, it would only take 450 or so kills until he reached the next level. And, due to the system change, each level resulted in a substantial increase towards not just his attributes but his evolution progress as well.

After all, his experience could in a sense be explained as converting into the foundation for his Demonic Anima and Sin Energy. Although it didn't directly fill his reserves, the level was the action that granted a deeper reservoir for Apollo.

As such, more than ever, Apollo sought to level up. It was amongst the most important matters for him. Because, while the system revealed that only his Sin Purity mattered, in simpler terms, his levels were linked to that Sin Purity.

It was both directly and indirectly linked. The direct link referred to the fact that a certain expression threshold would significantly decrease the difficulty of increasing his purity, whereas the indirect link mostly covered the fact that his level would eventually fulfill sub-existing qualities.

Such as, precipitating the transformation into an Archdemon. Granted, compared to what was needed for the Greater Demon state, the Archdemon eclipsed it ruthlessly.

Although he never revealed it, after transforming, Apollo possessed a general idea of just what level he needed to achieve to not just evolve once again, but tap into some of the sealed abilities of the system.

On the other hand, a technique embedded in this core of his Hellfire intrigued Apollo. It was an odd technique, that in which could be catastrophic to his followers if he wasn't careful. Still, Apollo was curious as to whether his control of Ira was strong enough to unleash this technique.

Finally, his curiosity overwhelmed his sound mind. "Everyone, fall back, I would like to test something," Apollo revealed while started to steadily levitate until his body was almost 50 meters off the ground.

After achieving this height, he positioned himself over the mass of raging Ifrit before looking down on them. At the same time, Fuhrer and the other gave him the space needed to act upon his skepticism.

Apollo raised his hands before his body the instant they created space. A flicker of sparks took place between his palms before igniting into roaring flames. The beauty of the flames danced in Apollo's eyes as he looked at it with delight.

'Now show me that you're strong enough to enact my desires,' Apollo thought before causing a sudden phenomenon on a grand scale. The Ira within a 100-meter radius reacted to the appearance of his flame and emitted wailing cries.

However, those cries soon turned into the desire to merge with Apollo, but that wasn't what he intended to use the Ira for. As a result, the Hellfire in his palms emitted a quelling ripple, wiping away the Ira's fervent behavior.

In its place, obedience towards the fire in his hand occurred. Once this was attained, Apollo revealed yet another smile, "Then you are ready," Apollo admitted before slamming his palms together abruptly.

A surge of fragmented Hellfire scattered in every direction before forming tiny explosions, which almost simultaneously. Instantly, every one of the Ifrits were incinerated by these small-scale explosions.

Apollo watched the spectacle as his experience bare skyrocketed at an obscene rate. From a single kill, the numbers grew exponentially until the Ira within the 100-meter radius was exhausted. In a single move, Apollo had killed many.

〈System: Congratulations, you have reached Level 156.〉

〈System: +1% to All Attributes and Demonic Reserves.〉

Furthermore, his own reserves were even used! Instead, he manipulated the external world to do its bidding. Unbeknownst to Apollo, he had just revealed an ability he possessed but had no information on.

Meanwhile, Fuhrer revealed a delighted expression while he watched this scene, "Rudimentary, but truly the ability of the Old Monarch. Inciting Ira to do his bidding all by lifting a finger. Exactly why he was dreadful in large-scale wars. The power at his disposal was built for conquering!"

Steadily, Apollo drifted towards the ground as he looked towards his followers, "Members of the Dominus Household, as my followers, this power will inevitably be at your disposal, we just need to move forward with our plans."

Everyone in the household reacted to  Apollo's words, standing with a firm posture, ready for more battle. But, unfortunately for them, Apollo's actions had demolished an entire zone, leaving nothing else for them. The remaining path to Fuhrer's body was void of enemies.

Therefore, Apollo and the rest uneventfully came across the cave housing Fuhrer's body. Immediately, Typhir was enthralled by the black sword embedded in the ground before Fuhrer's body. As the true body of Brynhildr, a legendary demonic sword, its beauty was surpassed only by weapons wielded by the First Monarch himself.

The slender, razor-sharp edges of the sword, the ability to change its form at will, and lastly, the deeply embedded dark, suppressive energy of the sword all compelled Typhir to touch. But, he knew that he was far from doing so.

Because, Brynhildr was by no means a tame sword. It possessed a soul of its own, one that was strengthened after feeding on Fuhrer's Daemos Soul. Nevertheless, Apollo came here for a reason.

"What did you need to give me, Fuhrer?" Apollo questioned. Apollo only returned here because remembered a certain conversation they had in the past. It was told that once he became a Greater Demon, he should return to this body. And so, he did.

"That ring around my left finger. Take it because it is yours. There should be ample materials in there that you need. Especially if we are going to conquer something temporarily until we can get locate the Lost Ring guarding our home."

Immediately, Apollo grabbed the ring. However, instead of inspecting the contents, a prompt appeared before his eyes.

〈System: A dark singularity fragment found. It's capable of merging with your Interdimensional Inventory.〉

〈System: Do you wish to merge the two spaces? [Y/N]〉

Since Apollo said this ring was his, he agreed to merge them together without a second thought. In the next second, the ring disappeared from his palm reappeared in a slot of the system inventory, but not for long.

It soon vanished again before being replaced by 3 additional rows of space in his inventory. Furthermore, at least 4 of the rows become filled with materials. Each of them seemed ancient and almost lurid. Every one of them produced a pungent sense of death.

"Dark Mythril, Macabre Stone, Purgatory Ore," Apollo named some of the items in his possession, and looked at Fuhrer with raised eyebrows, "Are these materials from the original times of darkness?"

"Precisely. And you should never reveal that they are in your possession. Especially to the Royal Faction or Lords that I've been made privy about, thanks to your friend. Most of these items can potentially release the limiters of a Noblesse. Creating more Daemos. But, why would you do so if you can't control them yet?" Fuhrer answered truthfully.

In addition to the materials, there were also consumable resources, but they were many times purer than the fragments Apollo was used to.

"That goes without saying. I might be ignorant, but I'll never needlessly endanger myself. Well, without reward. If it's worth it, then who knows," Apollo shrugged after giving the matter some thought.

"Oh Lord," Fuhrer grumbled while understanding that Apollo was being brutally honest. If the situation was truly worth it, then he was the type to endanger himself to see it happen. And, if he failed, then he inevitably fell into a fit of rage.

Now that they claimed the item, Apollo looked towards the tower in the distance. 'Should we operate closer to there? Perhaps there's something similar to where we found Valac.'