[Level Up! (Lvl 26)]

[Overlord of Exploitation has already received title, and limits have already reached maximum theoretical values.]

[Archduchess of Calamity has already received title, and limits have already reached maximum theoretical values.]

[Player Garett: Dexterity -30, Perception -42, Charisma -25]

[Strength: MAX]

[Dexterity: -65]

[Perception: -40]

[Charisma: -65]

[Intelligence: MAX]

[Crafting skills are maximized]

[HP: 700,000/700,000, MP: 300,000/300,000]

[Player Samantha: Strength -50, Dexterity -60]

[Strength: NEGATIVE MAX]

[Dexterity: NEGATIVE MAX]

[Perception: MAX]

[Charisma: MAX]

[Intelligence: MAX]

[Current Status: HP 5,000.000/5,000,000 MP  400,000/400,000]

[Special Skill Unlocked: (Negative Maximization of Strength): Leech of power. Your physical strength is so low that the gradient between your strength and those around you is incomprehensibly high. Due to this, you absorb the strength of those around you.]

[Special Skill Unlocked: (Negative Maximization of Dexterity): Illusion of Grace. Regardless of how klutzy and unrefined you are, others will see you as graceful in everything you do.]

[Player Samantha has reached theoretical absolute value maximums for all skills.]

[Player Samantha has obtained the title: Empress of Captivation]

----

"Empress of Captivation, eh?"

Samantha tapped the screen with her demonic finger, swiping back and forth between her statistics.

"What do you think, Theo? Is this a fitting title for myself?"

"I personally find you quite captivating, however the same could not be said for when we first met. At that point, I considered you to be nothing more than an annoying woman who was leeching off our successes with little to offer to our party aside from your healing skills. Of course.... it seems that you remain to be a leech until the very last moment, no?"

"But I have already done so much for the party, so it does not matter. Am I wrong?"

"I cannot deny that your contribution is significant."

The two laughed in rich manner as they spoke, clearly not irritated with one another in the least despite the clear ill will within their speech.

"I suppose this is what it is like to get used to being with someone....", Samantha said with a sigh, placing her hand on her cheek.

Lustia merely watched as the two bantered about something beyond her comprehension.

However, she had a hint of what it was.

"The.... the data.... the artificial intelligence which holds personality.... has it spoken to you as well?"

The bright white spiritual figure looked up at the two as she questioned them.

"That's right.", Garett said. "The only reason we have these abilities is because of this system.... whatever it is..... heh heh..... it's truly strange, isn't it? We came into this world with nothing. We were weaklings.... on the verge of death. Yet for some reason or another, we've been gifted with these abilities for no reason. I wonder why? The same goes for you, doesn't it? You were granted your own ability from the system."

Lustia nodded.

"That is right.... I do not know why or how, but it was the data within that crystal which gave me my ability."

"Why do you think the system gives us these abilities? Does it have a goal? Does it have a purpose? I'll tell you what I think. There's no goal here. There's no person sitting behind the system, watching things as they play out. I think that the actions of the system..... are performed randomly."

"Randomly?"

Lustia looked to Garett, whose eyes were looking upwards with a gleam.

"Why would you think that? Shouldn't it have some sort of purpose?"

"I think.... he's right.", Ashley said in agreement. "I don't know why, but I feel that there's no greater goal here. It's like when you generate a new world in a game.... take dwarf fortress for example. A whole bunch of shit happens in the world when you generate it. Countries rise and fall, villains and heroes appear and fight one another.... but unlike in a story, where the hero always happens to win.... the outcome isn't based on something as simple as that."

The pale spirit's dead eyes went wide with life as she looked out the window.

"Events happen.... but they aren't good or bad. They're good for this person over here, bad for that one over there..... but isn't that how life is?"

The spirit began to crackle with wicked laughter, her drooping eyes filled with a mad sadism.

"There are patterns.... there are certain things that usually happen.... but there is nothing that is set perfectly in stone. Almost everything happens for a reason. Wars occur because of conflicts between two sides. Nations are built because it will allow them to gain power. Each and every individual plays their part in this game, slowly but surely changing the big picture. But there's something else..... there are certain individuals who are born with talent that is greater than others."

The eyes of the girl drooped as her mouth fell to form a frown.

"These individuals go around doing what they want, changing the world and claiming that they did it under their own power. They claim that it was through their own efforts that they saved others, or that they helped someone. Heh.... keh heh..... what a lie."

The girl rolled her dead eyes, speaking in a voice that screeched within the ears of the men around her.

"You didn't do shit. All you did was press a button. All you did was pull the lever. You weren't the one who made the system. You weren't the one who designed the game. You just used the abilities given to you, that's all. And that's exactly what we're doing. Heh heh..... we're just making use of these abilities which we've been given."

The girl closed her eyes peacefully, a crooked smile on her face.

"But hey, if that's how it works.... then there's no point in not using our abilities to the fullest. Ah... I think it's about time we leave this place. Right?"

Turning to Trevor, Ashley looked over at him with a dull glare, to which he checked his watch with a nod.

"That is correct."

The elven figure replied promptly, standing up.

"Lustia, our newly acquired slave. You have submitted yourself, your people, and your realm to our nation. We will now be stealing any and all information from you, and we will be on our way."

Lustia had been watching patiently as the spiritual girl had monologued, but now she looked to Trevor who held his hand out as if demanding something.

"Stealing.... information? Ah, you mean that you wish for me to tell you everything I know?"

"Tell us? We won't need to waste our time with such things. Just sit there quietly."

Ashley stood up with a grin, slithering over to the former queen and sticking her pale hand into the head of the woman.

"Uwah.... this is weird. I can manipulate your soul easily..... but I guess it's weird to do that when you're a spirit..... I guess your body and your soul are the same thing? Take a look at this."

Lustia's body began to distort and swirl around in a strange manner. The woman didn't appear to be in any pain, however her features became completely unrecognizable- similar to a piece of modern artwork as her body squirmed about in a liquified form.

"What are you.... doing?"

Lustia asked this question and her distorted mouth which was now upside down and on her forehead asked this.

"Just reading your memories. Shhh. I need to take a look at this."

Ashley's green eyes closed for just a moment before something happened.

The spiritual figure's lips slightly opened, and she begun to shiver.

Her eyes went wide, and she stepped back, taking her hand out of the woman.

Holding her spiritual hands to her head, she had a look of terror as if she had seen something horrid.

"You..... how... how do you have..... all those memories?"

"Oi.... what's wrong? What happened?"

Ashley was breathing roughly, panting as if she had seen something truly terrifying.

Lustia at this point had returned to her normal state, however she looked over to Ashley with pained expression as she looked down.

"You saw everything within my memories, right? Including..... those ones?", Lustia asked quietly.

Holding her hand to her forehead, a horrid smile crept across the face of the girl.

"I saw..... everything. Is that..... are those....."

"Yes. They are."

"I see..... that..... makes things interesting."

Standing up, the girl was still trembling.

"I see. Theo. I now understand a whole lot more about what it means to be a host of sin."

With a smirk, Ashley walked forward, eyeballing Lustia.

"Nobody's ever given a shit about you. Everyone around you just cares about themselves. They've beat you, torn at you, ripped your mind apart.... but then you obtained power. Isn't that right? Hahaha..... and that was when everything changed..... but there is one difference between us and you."

Ashley looked upon the woman with a slight bit of sadness, remembering her own lonely past.

"Even after obtaining this power..... even after falling deep into the madness of your desires.... even after taking over the minds of these people, surrounding yourself with those who praised you.... there was nobody who could stand by your side and support your madness. You hosts.... you're supposed to be connected to one another..... and yet.... perhaps because of your pride, or perhaps because of your duties, you stay apart from one another."

The girl began to chuckle horribly, her laughs piercing the ears of all those around her.

"I was lucky.... because I found three others who were just as insane as me.... and we were forced to stay together. That's the only reason why I still live in this world today..... so I'll tell you here and now. Don't worry anymore."

Looking up with flames in her eyes, Ashley envisioned the world on fire.

"We're not here to help people who have everything. We're here to gather the mad.... the insane.... the sinful.... the lunatics.... hahaha...."

Ashley brought her face closer to Lustia, staring at her with madness.

"We're here to gather the ones who have never received love in their lives..... to show the rest of the world how wrong they were to throw us aside. You pissed me off, whore. But I don't hate the person you are. So I'll let you join us."

Lustia's heart was filled with a terror beyond imagination as she witnessed the crazed eyes of the spirit before her.

'I.....'

Too scared to even think, she realized all over again just who she was dealing with.

A calamity.

Drawing her face away from the woman, Ashley ran her hand through her messy hair.

"Because I'm sure you want to see it too. The destruction of those who have something to lose."

"Why must you torment each and every one of our slaves?", Trevor asked in lighthearted manner.

"Eh? Was I tormenting her?"

"You don't even realize it..... sigh...."

"I was just welcoming her. Was it really that bad?"

Too terrified to speak, a thought came into the mind of Lustia.

'Ah.... are they leaving now? Is.... is there anything else I need to do for them before they leave?'

"Don't worry about that. We already got everything we need.", Samantha stated with a smile as the four walked off. "For now..... just take care of your people. If anything happens make sure to call us. Oh, and one more thing.... you are to refer to us from this point on as 'your excellencies.'"

Lustia nodded quickly, still too scared to move.

"Y-yes.... your excellencies...."

"Hahaha.... that's more like it. It looks like we finally broke her. I look forward to your molding into a fine slave. If you see them anytime soon, go ahead and tell those other hosts."

Samantha stopped walking, turning around as she fiddled with the fingers around her neck.

"They're next."

----

"Are you.... really alright? You've been a bit strange ever since you read her memories."

Garett turned towards Ashley as they left the haunted tower, who looked to him with a surprised expression.

"Huh? A... ah..... y-yeah.... I'm..... fine.....hehe...."

Garett scrunched his eyes in suspicion, keeping an eye on the girl he loved.

"You seem in pain. Do you wanna talk about it?"

Stopping in her tracks, Garett watched as a single tear went down the green eye of the demented girl.

"I saw..... memories. But not just of Lustia....."

Quivering, Ashley looked up to Garett with a terrified expression.

"I saw.... and felt....."

The words which exited the girls mouth caused the other three to widen their eyes in shock.

"Wha-"

"That...."

"Are.... you serious?"

With a light nod, the spiritual girl grabbed her own forehead in anguish.

"Ngh....."

"This.... changes everything.", Trevor stated as he put his hand to his chin in thought. "When you have recovered from this emotional state, I am going to need you to tell me everything. This information should be more than enough for me to simulate our movements from here."

----

Outside the eye covered walls of the Capital, a fleshy carriage appeared out of midair.

Pulled by dark steeds, this carriage approached the grand entrance to the horrendous city.

An elven figure wearing glasses along with a suit and tie waved to the lizardmen who were standing atop the demented walls, and these lizardmen rushed to pull the lever, opening the iron gate for the carriage.

"Their excellencies have returned!!!", one shouted for all to hear.

The drawbridge was lowered over the poisonous moat, which fumes rose out of, and the carriage crossed into the city.

It was sunset at this point.

"It seems that another day has passed. I presume the Determined is quite busy right now with the other one as well.... the head of wrath I believe? Ah, and I suppose quite the battle happened just outside our own borders earlier today. My my.... just look at the bloodied fields in the distance."

Looking out the window, the words Trevor spoke were the truth. While the area had been cleaned, without a doubt a battle had occurred.

"How foolish. To think that there were some dumb enough to make an attack on our Capital. I suppose the idiocy of certain people knows no bounds.", Samantha commented.

"Exactly so.", Trevor agreed with a nod while pushing up his glasses.

"I have to ask, Ally. Are you really ok with accepting that former Queen of Lust into our fold? She overtook Gary.... and you seemed quite distressed at the time."

As Samantha asked this question, Ashley hugged the crimson demon from behind with blank eyes.

"He's mine. Nobody else can touch him. You neither."

Over the course of the journey back, she had clearly recovered from her shaken mental state.

"Treating me a bit like a thing, aren't you?", Garett chuckled. "But I love that part about you as well...", he said while sliding his finger across the chin of the girl who rested her head on his shoulder.

"Isn't everyone just a thing? I'm a thing, you're a thing.... the only difference is who's thing we are. Our own, or someone else's."

"I guess so.... heh heh.... then are you mine as well?"

"Yes."

The girl replied without the slightest bit of hesitation, her hair dripping all over the demon.

"Fair enough."

As the carriage entered the city, the spiritual girl rushed over to the window, looking out it like a child at a candy store.

"Hehehe.... finally home!!! Gary, we're back in the Capital!! See all the buildings? Look!"

"Yep."

Garett thinned his eyes and smiled as he watched the happy girl.

Not a single bit of the sadness she showed earlier remained.

'I'm glad she's ok.... insanity sure helps the mind when someone gets hurt, doesn't it?'

"So Theo, what's next?", Garett asked.

"What is next indeed.... well, I've taken the information which was obtained from the Queen of Lust and applied it to the current predictions.... and here is what I've come up with."

A map appeared in front of Garett, this one showing the current borders of the Dictatorship along with the other regions of the monster realm and their affiliations.

"The information we've obtained here is crucial regarding the remaining inhabitants of the monster realm. The Determined is currently facing off against one of the 7 house leaders, and that leaves 5. According to my simulations.... 3 of these 5 are making moves as we speak. 2 of them should be keeping their heads out of things for now, so we will deal with them last."

Pointing to the map, Trevor began going over each location.

"First, there are three demonic cities. If the haunted tower is not counted, then these cities are where each of our enemies are located. We have a city of Dragonic Demons- Merphol, a city of Devils- Regalis, and two cities of Elemental Demons- Iciclaris and Volaciophus. Though Iciclaris doesn't lie within the realm of darkness, and as such no hosts are present in this place. Each of the cities in the realm of darkness should have 2 hosts, however one of these devils has already headed off to attack the city of ratmen, which the Determined will take care of on her own."

Samantha gazed at the map as well, smiling as she looked upon it.

"So we aim for the city with the two hosts who are making moves?"

"Not quite. As you can see, there are two towns outside the realm of darkness which we have not yet come into contact with- Iciclaris and Iris. It is almost certain that these are critical points in this upcoming war. To put things simply, if these house leaders are truly going to unite against us, they will want to obtain as many forces as they can before waging total war."

"Hmm? I see..... so we focus on them next?"

"We will focus on this one right here. Iciclaris- the village of frost elementals. As for Iris, the village of plantmen, we will allow them to be overtaken by their attackers."

"Is that so? Are they worthless?", Samantha asked.

"Not quite, however there is a reason for not interfering with them as of right now. Based on the information which I have obtained, combined with Ally's intuition, I have determined it will actually benefit our side to allow the plantmen to be overtaken- despite how counterintuitive it may sound. For now, our efforts tomorrow will be focused on the elementals."

"Alright."

As Trevor explained the other three nodded in agreement.

"We've received no word yet from Oraguth regarding the actions of the Indeterminant, though I expect to hear his report by tonight. Within 2 days I expect to have taken over the rest of the monster realm."

Fixing his tie, Trevor smiled.

"Who ever thought that world domination could be so entertaining? No... I shouldn't be getting ahead of myself here. Let's head back to the palace. After all, there is work to do."

"Ugh..... more paperwork and city management?"

"Of course. We just obtained a new citadel, after all. We must incorporate it into our nation."

"Fiiiiine.", Ashley grumbled.

The four laughed together at this interaction, as the carriage came to a stop.

"But once we're done let's have something to eat."

"Very well."

----

That night, in a land where the light of the sun never reached, a figure sat within his room at a desk, making preparations to himself.

This figure, an indigo demon wearing a white suit that had light blotches of purple blood here and there, was staring at a piece of paperwork intensely.

Pushing up his glasses, he looked around the quiet dark room with suspicion.

He was alone.

His hair, styled in a way that could be described as both chaotic and orderly, looked like a hurricane with perfectly controlled swirls as it made a vector field about his head.

The fangs of this man, just a bit too long for his own liking, dug into the flesh above his chin, causing drops of blood to form from them.

"It seems that the preparations are occurring without error.... my servants have been notified of tomorrow's movements, and the plan will proceed without a hitch."

Straightening himself, the man gave a nod as he rolled his eyes over the document once more.

This man was Huberos, one of the three monster kings and one of the 7 house leaders.

He was the Host of Pride.

Smiling to himself, the demon stood up, preparing to sleep for the night.

However, as he stood up a knock was heard from his door.

"I give you permission to enter."

"I will do so, my lord."

Another demonic figure- this one a well dressed butler with a mustache- entered the room before bowing his head.

"What is it?", Huberos asked.

"Lord Huberos, I understand that you are very busy preparing for tomorrow so that you may prove to Envidia that you hold greater ability than her, however something has happened in the district of nobles."

"Hm? Something has happened? I don't have all day. Spit it out, will you?"

As the demon said this, his fangs dug further into his own chin, causing more blood to flow.

"Curses..... should I file them? They are too long for comfort. They continuously grow on me, forcing me to shorten them. How annoying..... ah, go on."

"My lord.... an explosion has occurred, taking three mansions with it and all their inhabitants. Master Vex is nowhere to be found, and we believe he was caught up in the explosion."

"An explosion? Isn't that.... a part of his own ability? Don't the people he infuriates explode with wrath given enough time?"

"That is the case."

"The annoying fool.... he's gone and caused damage within our city..... first my own home, and now this? There's no possibility that he was caught in the explosion. He is likely hiding himself away, feigning ignorance of the event. And at a critical time like this..... tch..... As far as those who died are concerned.... perform an investigation. Find out what you can and do your best to compensate their families, if any remain. If not, then there is nothing more we can do aside from repair the damage."

"Yes, my lord."

The man left with reverence, shutting the door and leaving the demon alone in his chamber.

"Vex... why must you stir things up when I am in the middle of an important campaign? I must dominate those who have not yet come under the influence of the antiheroes in order to prove to Envidia that she holds no spot above me. However, it seems that she has been focusing her efforts on the frost elementals.... she has already taken the high ground by attacking the stronger race, but that is of no matter. Either way, if we each take a single village for our troops we will stand on even ground... for the weaker they are, the more useful they are to me. From there I can show her on the battlefield that my skills exceed hers."

Huberos nodded, walking out of the room with his hands folded behind his back.

"Just wait, antiheroes. You were arrogant to believe you could face even myself, however now that each host has gathered to stop you, you hold no chance of victory. And it is that pride which you hold..... which will allow me to defeat you with ease."