Chapter 1548: Duke Horacio [6]

Damien took hold of Duke Horacio's existence and maintained it.

He healed the man's body, reconnected his soul, and with those memories he gained, reconstructed his spiritual world.

However, he made changes as he saw fit.

He altered Duke Horacio's confused soul and made it believe it was loyal to Void Palace.

Duke Horacio's new memories now included a scene where he defected from the Foreign Races and Damien took away the Dark God's control over him.

That was partially correct, since the latter half did happen, but obviously, Duke Horacio never surrendered on his own.

Damien wanted to see how much control over Existence he truly had.

It was an incredibly broad concept, so there was no real way for Damien to understand his limits. If he was able to imagine it, he could likely do it with Existence, but he'd never know for certain unless he actually tried.

Battle was the perfect testing ground for Damien, and enemies were the perfect test subjects.

The question he wanted answered today was simple.

Could he alter another living being's existence?

Could he manipulate their soul, their mind, their Legend, and even the very root of their existence to turn them into someone completely different?

As he continued to work on Horacio, he made sure that he didn't make any mistakes. This was his first try, but he wanted to see a success.

It was hard to fool existence. The very core of one's being, a concept a level deeper than the soul, was not something that could be interfered with easily.

Often, even if people had their memory erased or their souls wiped, they'd instinctually react to stimuli that reminded their existence of its past experience.

This could sometimes even lead to miraculous situations where individuals suddenly regain memories they had lost, or where certain lucky souls with powerful "existences" remember the events of their past lives.

Existence was a powerful thing that could withstand any kind of torment or chaos. But Damien was currently interfering with its natural processes.

He was able to "touch" the intangible force since he himself was creating "Existence." As such, he could subtly change the base structure to prevent those "miracles" from ever happening.

Saying it wasn't that hard, but actually doing it was different.

Damien kept making mistakes in the beginning. He altered things that couldn't be altered, and with those alterations, Horacio's soul would morph.

Those subtle changes in the soul alerted Damien, and allowed him to correct his mistakes and continue moving in the right direction.

He didn't have that many tries, but eventually, he was able to do the best that he believed he could.

And when he stepped away, Duke Horacio's body continued to hover on its own, emitting a soft halo as it retained the changes that had been made to it.

Damien watched with anticipation.

VOOOOOOM!

Malakh raged into the surroundings.

Damien stepped back and prepared himself to attack, but...

As the Duke opened his eyes, something changed.

The hostile nature of the malakh disappeared, and within a few seconds, it retreated back into his body.

He looked around in confusion, taking in his surroundings.

It made sense for him to do so. After all, this was quite the strange location.

The ground below was filled with random patches of differently-grown flora. There were swatches of dense jungle that were only ten meters wide, surrounded by deserts that turned into fields of green.

There was a...mountain? ...but it was more of a stump in the ground, surrounded by massive rock formations created by the debris of its now destroyed peak.

As for the fauna that once called this location home...

There really wasn't much left of them.

Most were dead, some had escaped, while others suffered the cruel fate of being fused with other animals due to the massive fluctuations in space.

Duke Horacio was more than just confused about why he was here. Nothing in his memories could explain his current position.

But when he looked at the person in front of him, it all came rushing back.

'If it's him...'

Duke Horacio's eyes sharpened.

Damien kept his poise as the Young Lord of Void Palace just in case, but he already had an attack prepared for safety's sake.

'Though it seems...that won't be necessary.'

The look in Duke Horacio's eyes changed.

In a single fluid motion, he knelt in the air and bowed his head.

"Young Lord."

If it was the Young Lord's doing, then it made sense that he'd arrived here magically.

The Young Lord's power couldn't be comprehended by an ordinary God.

"Hmm..."

Damien nodded his head.

'It worked...I think.'

"Go back to the palace and tell them I sent you. They'll understand"

They wouldn't, but Damien already sent back a message to make sure they wouldn't make a fuss.

According to Duke Horacio's memories, this was already months after he'd sworn allegiance to Damien. However, as Damien didn't trust him, he didn't allow him into the palace.

This was his first time being allowed there, and naturally, he was ecstatic about it.

"I will obey your command, Young Lord."

He spoke stoically to hide it, but he truly was thankful.

The Young Lord treated him far better than the Dark God ever did.

Duke Horacio stood up, and after bowing to Damien once again, he started making his exit.

But...

Wasn't something about this...wrong?

Duke Horacio's brows furrowed. He felt a strange aching in his head, as if something about his current actions was very, very wrong.

He tried to think about it, but the more he thought about it, the more his head hurt.

'What...is it?'

He tried to pry deeper, to find the source of that gnawing feeling that ate away at his soul.

Something wanted to come out.

Something wanted to change.

And if it didn't change now...

"Oh, Horacio," Damien suddenly said.

Damien's call broke the Duke's sudden stray thought.

He turned around curiously.

"Is there anything else?"

Damien smiled.

"No, it's nothing. Congratulations on your promotion."

Click!

One could almost hear the sound of everything clicking into place.

A rush of emotion filled Horacio's mind.

Joy, fulfillment, validation...

They were bright emotions, emotions that burned away the shadows of doubt that began to cloud the Duke's mind.

And as those shadows burned away, the space they once filled was completely occupied.

The opportunity for Horacio to break free of Damien's spell...

That opportunity was already gone.

A bright smile lit up the Duke's face, something that had never been seen on his visage before.

"Thank you, Young Lord!"

They were words of happiness that he spoke before departing for the palace.

But to Damien, they were anything but.

Those words, that expression, they didn't belong to a person who was free.

They belonged to a puppet, the objects of his machinations.

The real-world consequences of such a power were immense.

Anyone and everyone, as long as they were weaker than Damien, could be forced to turn into anyone he wanted them to be.

Anything and everything...

It was gradually coming under his control.

Before long, people would have no choice but to see Damien as a higher being, a God above all Gods.

And that...

That was a terrifying prospect.