Becoming the Dark Lord

Luke stood atop a building, watching Charlie surrounded by five knights clad in purple armor. Farther back, near where they had come from, he spotted Layla in the forest, loosing arrows at the soldiers outside the base. She and Franky were moving closer by climbing, the young wyvern fluttering up to Luke’s side.

His attention snapped back to Charlie and Angie. The five soldiers were speaking to them. Angie beat her wings and took to the air. One of the soldiers raised a staff and unleashed a torrent of earth. Charlie leapt, raising her spectral barrier just in time to shield Angie.

“Leave these to me, Angie. Go after the others,” Luke heard Charlie say.

Angie beat her wings again and flew off.

“When we found this place attacked a few days ago, we thought it was an attack from Lagras,” the leader said, casually swinging his sword, its blade wrapped in a yellow haze. “But they would have left a banner, a warning, or occupied the site. Maybe it was you instead?”

He advanced toward Charlie. Shield and sword raised, while the other soldiers hurled magic at her. The ground beneath Charlie turned white as frost spread rapidly, crawling up toward her legs.

Layla raised her bow, but Luke lifted a hand.

“No.”

He sat down.

“Why aren’t we helping?” Layla asked, tense.

“Because,” he replied calmly. “If I want to bring down stronger enemies, the two of them need to keep up with me.”

Layla kept her bow ready. “Your familiar can fly…” she murmured, watching Angie dive toward the archers and remaining soldiers scattered through the village.

Meanwhile, Charlie was fully engaged with the leader who called himself the Fourth Red Finger. One of the eight elites of the Red Baron. Steel clashed as their swords collided. The yellow haze around the man’s blade seemed to rot everything it touched, a kind of necrotic corrosion.

Luke saw notifications bloom across Charlie’s interface.

[Blood Orb activated]

[-10 Blood Energy]

[Blood Core: 72/100]

The corpses around Charlie began to wither as their blood was drained, flowing into the crimson sphere.

[Blood Orb: 50/50]

Fireballs slammed into her, launched by one of the soldiers, scorching everything around her position. Charlie stood her ground, armor glowing as it endured the heat and flame.

She surged toward a mage, but the leader stepped in front of him, shield raised. Charlie’s sword struck, and for a brief instant her body locked up. The knight followed with a brutal shield bash, sending her flying.

“I told you,” the knight said, laughing as he struck his shield with his sword, “if you were Rank D, I might have been afraid.”

A defensive skill?

Charlie had frozen the moment her blade hit the shield, even if only for an instant. She charged again, and the knight met her head-on. Their swords collided once more.

[Vampiric Strength I activated]

[-10 Blood Energy]

[Blood Core: 72/100]

[Blood Orb: 40/50]

Charlie threw a heavy punch, but the knight blocked it with his shield, pivoted, and drove his sword forward. The blade pierced her armor and struck deep. The attendants unleashed their spells at once. Magic detonated around her, pressure and explosions crashing in as she was surrounded. Charlie couldn’t take a single step without another impact slamming into her, blasts erupting on all sides.

The leader hurled his shield like a boomerang. It smashed into Charlie and sent her flying into a wall. He sprinted after her, sword leveled, ready to impale. The little bat, Lulie, watched in alarm. The knight closed in for the killing blow.

[Blood Teleport activated]

Charlie vanished at the last instant, reappearing high above beside Lulie. She dropped in a spinning descent and severed a soldier’s head in one clean motion.

[Charlotte Vespertilio has slain...]

She roared.

[Battle Roar activated]

[Berserker Ashen Flames I activated]

Charlie charged the remaining knights, her strikes relentless, each blow landing with brutal precision.

“How did she disappear?” the leader shouted as he rushed after her.

He met her blade head-on, trading sword strikes, but Charlie was faster now, merciless in her advance.

[Blood Teleport activated]

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She appeared behind him and drove her sword into his back. The knight screamed and twisted, slamming his shield into her as he turned. Lulie darted away again.

[Blood Teleport activated]

Charlie reappeared mid-motion, smashing the man into the wall with a punch before charging straight through with her sword.

[Charlotte Vespertilio has slain...]

**The [Blood Death Knight] class of Charlotte Vespertilio has reached Level 72!**

The leader fell. Charlie turned toward the others. They raised their weapons in panic. She ran. Some tried to switch from staves to wands, but she was already there. One punch sent a man flying.

[Blood Teleport activated]

She dropped from above, sword-first, cutting down another, then another, until the resistance collapsed. When it was over, Charlie vanished into the alleys of the base, already hunting for anyone left alive.

[Vampiric Regeneration I activated]

[-50 Blood Energy]

[Blood Core: 72/100]

[Blood Orb: 0/50]

“See, Layla? I trust my team,” Luke said, standing up.

***

“When an unexpected enemy appears, Ardan teaches us it’s just like our experiments. We simply increase the dose of poison,” said a man in a robe.

Angie was surrounded by them.

“Yes, brother. Nothing a good poison can’t solve!” another replied.

They hurled glass vials at her. The bottles shattered, releasing a liquid that instantly turned into a thick green cloud. Angie stood at the center of the poison.

They backed away. Some pulled masks over their faces, shaped like crow beaks.

“Oh yes, start coughing. Start dying. Accept your place in the process. Become one of our beautiful living experiments,” their voices echoed.

Angie felt nothing. She was stone, after all. She tightened her grip on the spear as more bottles were thrown, releasing heavier, denser poison.

[Lightning Spear activated]

The spear crackled with electricity, and the current coursed harmlessly through her body. Investing in Lightning Resistance had been the right choice. She felt a quiet pride at having unlocked a new branch of power.

Angie burst forward with the force of [Valkyrie Charge] and impaled an alchemist clean through.

“H-h-how?” he asked.

With her free hand, Angie punched his face until it collapsed into pulp. She turned to the others.

“Change the experiment, brothers! This enemy has surpassed it!” they shouted, retreating.

Some drew crossbows and began firing bolts. Angie ran straight at them, spear crackling, striking them down one by one.

“Ardan, may you bless—” one began.

A spear pierced his chest before he could finish. Angie called the weapon back with [Spear Return].

“If poison fails, fire will bring light to the darkness,” another said, snapping his fingers as flames ignited. “Our poison is flammable too.”

An explosion erupted. Angie crossed her wings and activated [Winged Defense].

Hm. Similar to cooking gas ignition.

She combined Angelica’s knowledge with instinct. Angie took to the air, slicing through the flames. Part of her armor had been completely destroyed.

Stone is different from human flesh. I’m more resistant to fire. Still, parts of me were damaged, she assessed, glancing at the shards torn from her body.

Midair, a rope weapon struck her, weighted with metal balls on both ends. Angie crashed onto a rooftop. She spread her wings wide, then activated [Conceal Wings], making them vanish, and slid free from the entangling rope. As she rose, something leapt in front of her. Angie swung her spear to block, but it was knocked from her grasp and she was thrown backward.

“What is this?” the man said. He wore an alchemist’s robe and carried an axe. “A stone being?”

Angie removed what was left of her shattered helm.

“How beautiful,” the man murmured. “A humanoid creature of stone. You even have wings.”

She summoned her spear, which flew back into her hand.

“And you speak. At least, I heard your voice,” he continued. “Fascinating. Beautiful. I wonder if… reproduction is possible? Imagine how Ardan would bless me if I could offer him many winged tools.”

The man tightened his grip on the axe handle, knuckles white.

“Alchemy isn’t just cauldrons and flasks. Creating life is alchemy too. I tried to find a female oni, but… unfortunately, they had no gender. You, though…” His eyes crawled over her. “I can see your breast through the torn armor. Your curves give you away as a woman, and that face does too.”

He stepped closer. “Do you have a womb inside you? You must. I need to know. I need an experiment. I need to ascend in alchemy.”

He lunged.

The axe came fast and heavy. Angie focused, [Battle Instinct] flaring to life. She dodged, wings snapping open to deflect and redirect the blows.

“No, stop. I can’t hurt you. I need you whole. I need to take care of you,” the man babbled.

He leapt at her. Angie’s spear was knocked from her grasp, skidding across the ground. She tried to pull it back, but he drew a wand and blasted a gust of wind that sent her flying. He pressed the attack, axe swinging relentlessly.

“Stay still. I need to prove myself to the Order,” he shouted, striking again. Angie crashed onto her back.

“If I abandon the others, Ardan will forgive me. Once he understands what I’ll create for him. Yes, he will,” the man muttered, almost praying. “My god will recognize me.”

[Valkyrie Charge activated]

Angie surged forward and grabbed him by the throat.

“Let’s talk for a moment,” she said, launching skyward.

She climbed higher and higher, wings beating hard, stamina draining as she carried him toward the clouds.

The man laughed, trying to raise his wand. Angie tore it from his hand.

“I serve a god,” he spat.

“I don’t care about your gods,” Angie replied calmly. “I come from a place that existed before all of them.”

She hovered in the air, wings spread wide, her grip tightening around his neck.

“I serve only one. Only he has my admiration. I feel nothing for anyone else. If he orders me to kill a human, I will. If he orders me to kill all of them, I will. If he orders me to kill a god, I’ll find a way and do that too. Do you understand?”

She loosened her grip slightly.

“I serve my sovereign. And one day…” Her voice dropped, distant, eyes unfocused. “I will make everyone serve him as well.”

Then she let go.

The man screamed as he fell, shrinking rapidly as the ground rushed up to meet him. A moment later, he struck with brutal finality, reduced to a shattered pulp of blood and bone.

[You have slain a…]

Angie began her descent.

[Talent Awakened…]

[Your Second Class is being awakened…]