Chapter 9: Crystal of Corruption
Without wasting any more time, Mariam quickly carried Lily in her arms and as she stared at the corpse of the boy who was by her side, she had an apologetic look.
"I'm sorry I couldn't save you sooner"
Before any more monsters could come, she quickly disappeared with Lily.
But minutes later, Minerva emerged from a portal.
She was panting and her appearance was dishevelled and battered.
She was clinging to her life as if it had barely survived a tempest.
It was raining, and the droplets were dripping from her matted hair, leaving dark streaks on her ashen face.
Her powers had been depleted, and her body was on the brink of collapse.
Minerva's frustration boiled over as she stood in the rain-soaked aftermath of her encounter with Holy Maiden Mariam.
"That bitch! I almost had her!"
She complained, her voice dripping with irritation, as she clenched her fists in anger.
She cast a resentful glance at the lifeless bodies of the monsters she had brought with her, casualties of a battle that had spiralled out of control.
"What a waste," she muttered, her tone laced with regret and vexation.
"I guess our mission here fails,"
Minerva grumbled, shaking her head in frustration.
"How do I explain this to the Empress?"
She continued to voice her concerns aloud, her mind racing for an answer to the impending dilemma.
As raindrops pelted her and soaked her tattered attire, her annoyance grew.
However, as she walked in circles around the corpses of both monsters and the youths, she discovered something unusual.
"This...what is this?"
As Minerva approached the gruesome scene, her eyes locked onto the battered figure of Daniel.
"How can a human still breathe in that condition?"
Her eyes widened in surprise yet amazed by one of the corpses, no, it can't be defined as a corpse, since it was still breathing.
His body was a grotesque tableau of pain and suffering, his skin charred and torn, and his limbs twisted at unnatural angles.
Blood had pooled around him, mixing with the rain to create a chilling image that contrasted with the warmth of his breath.
Minerva's insect-like antennae quivered with curiosity as she leaned closer.
Her sharp senses picked up on a faint, almost imperceptible sound emanating from him—a sound that no human should have been capable of making in such a state.
"Interesting,"
Minerva said with a wicked grin, her insect-like eyes focused intently on the battered figure before her.
She had witnessed countless battles and seen the aftermath of many skirmishes, but this was a rare sight even for her.
As the rain continued to pour down, Minerva stood over Daniel, her eyes gleaming with a mixture of fascination and sadistic delight.
With a wicked smile that sent shivers down the spine, Minerva squatted down and touched Daniel's chest.
Her words oozed with malevolence and a twisted sense of amusement.
"It's been a long time since I found an interesting human,"
She mused, her eyes gleaming with a cruel light.
"And come to think of it, my daughter, Lily, needs a slave right now."
Her eerie grin widened as she leaned closer to Daniel, her intentions becoming clearer by the moment.
"And I think you'll be the perfect choice for it,"
She whispered with a tone that sent a chill through the air.
But Minerva wasn't finished yet.
With a flourish, she produced a black crystal from her pocket, its ominous aura sending ripples of darkness into the surroundings.
"In such a condition, it'll be impossible for you to recover,"
She taunted.
"But with this corrupted crystal, it'll be no problem!"
With a sudden, merciless thrust, she pierced the crystal into Daniel's chest, causing a sharp, agonizing pain to radiate through his battered body.
"This is a crystal that corrupts the heart and mind of any being"
"And since you're a human, it'll be much easier to corrupt."
Minerva revelled in her sadistic glee as she continued to explain the malevolent effects of the black crystal.
As the murky black substance from the crystal spread through Daniel's battered body, she watched with a twisted fascination.
"It removes all of your memory and everything that you hold dear"
She continued, her words laced with cruelty.
"And it'll be replaced by a strong devotion and loyalty to my daughter and me... well, maybe, to the rest of the family members."
She found amusement in his suffering, describing his agony as adorable.
To Minerva, it was adorable.
Minerva had created this crystal out of a depraved desire to turn humans into her loyal servants.
Countless failed experiments had led her to believe that their consciousness and humanity were barriers to corruption.
Now, with a dying boy of the same age as her daughter, she saw an opportunity to test her wicked creation once more.
As the black substance coursed through Daniel's veins, she eagerly awaited the results, eager to see if he would succumb to the darkness or put up a futile resistance.
After what seemed like an eternity, Daniel's body had fully absorbed the black substance from the crystal.
It was a strange and eerie transformation, like a sinister miracle, and Minerva couldn't help but exclaim in delight.
"It worked!"
She practically cackled with a wide, unsettling smile.
The Black Crystal works similarly to a Slave Device that forces the slaves to obey what their owners want them to do.
But instead, the Black Crystal manipulated and removed the memories of the slave, and it'll be replaced by a strong devotion and loyalty.
Moreover, on his chest, there was a mark of her family crescent.
The most disturbing aspect of this process was that Daniel would remain seemingly sane, his values intact, but he would unknowingly serve his new master.
"I can't believe it succeeded!"
Minerva repeated, her eerie enthusiasm trembling through her body.
With her experiment deemed successful, Minerva decided to bring the human back to the Demon Realm, her smile remaining as unsettling as ever.
"Come on, human," she cooed, her voice dripping with twisted affection, "you're my little cute servant from now on."
She grinned widely, ready to bring her newfound "servant" back to her daughter, Lily.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone