When I woke up, a distinctive lack of my liege's presence meant I monopolized Irisa’s warm embrace. I blinked twice, then patted the woman I hugged to ensure I wasn’t in a dream. After looking around, I realized the AI had a message waiting for me. 

Do not worry. Our lord is safe. She did not expressly order this message to be sent, but there’s no need for your heart to ache with worry. 

Oh? That was the first time the AI had done something that, while not against our liege’s wishes, almost hinted at its personal growth. I’d never encountered a skill or ability that seemed like it had its own consciousness while capable of self-growth. It was amazing, to be sure, and I almost wanted the AI’s evolution to come sooner than later.   

Instead of getting dressed, I chose to snuggle more with Irisa. In her sleep, she lifted the covers and beckoned me to come close. That sleepy smile on her pretty face— 

Pretty face? Yes, it’s adorable... 

I moved closer and hugged her, her chin resting on my head as she kissed me. Our nipples brushed together, her legs moving to cross over mine. Those adventurous hands trailed around my backside and gripped my ass before fluffing the base of my tail.   

“Huh? Sekh?” Irisa whispered when her eyes fluttered open. We shared a small kiss, which woke her more, then I answered her question about where our liege was. “Ohhh... I wonder where she’s at?”   

We chatted a bit more, then rolled out of bed and put on our clothes. Niva and Primrose weren’t in bed, and Tilde wasn’t on her dresser. We went to the kitchen and found everyone but our liege sitting at the table. It was nice to sit down and casually jump into the conversation about where our liege had gone.  

“Soooo... Is there anything you’d like to share, Irisa?” Ichiha grinned like a cat and teased her daughter, who nervously chuckled and giggled. “Hehe! I talked with Mila this morning before she left, and she spilled aaaaalllll the details.”   

“Is this something her father should be hearing?” Kokan joked. Really, it was all fun and games, a table full of love and care. Even Erin, who sat near Kokan, gathered the courage to call him dad. Just that one word meant the world to him and Ichiha, and I was glad to see this resolved with a happy ending.   

But would the world allow that?    

No, it wouldn’t. Fate always had an extra hand to play. It all started when Tilde touched her cheek and wondered why it was wet.   

“Tilde... Your...face is melting?” After Primrose spoke, Tilde’s expression changed to something awful. Her nose scrunched in pain, an unsettling grunt forcing its way out her mouth. She tried to stand up, but her eyes deliquesced like butter in a hot pan. The next instant, the draining ocular organs caught fire, melting a pair of holes in the sides of her nose, which was the next to separate.  

“IT FUCKING HURRRRTTTSSSS!!!!” Tilde screeched. Her skin literally melted off her bones, which followed. It all happened so fast.   

I was the first to react, standing up so fast my chair knocked over after seeing my liege’s HP, MP, and biomass drain exceptionally quick. If this was happening to Tilde, then my liege was in trouble. In that short time, the fairy became nothing but a puddle with a head— part of her brain that hadn’t melted looked like glossy, pink oil. Not even a second later, Tilde was just a mouth lying in that goop of flesh, trying to hang on for dear life.   

I rushed to my room and hastily equipped my gear. Emerging with mace and shield in hand, I made my way for the stairs while ignoring a series of cries and panicked murmurs, but I froze solid when a voice stopped me in my tracks. It was Tilde, and she subsequently flew right in front of me to prevent me from descending to the ground floor. 

Only she wasn’t a pile of melted flesh ... The dress she wore was destroyed, but she wore a spare.  

“Umm... The situation has changed a lot,” she said, biting her lip and showing an ounce of hesitation. None of her usual lewd bravado was contained in her voice.  

“Then let me go get her! Get out of my way.”   

“It isn’t that simple!!! AI, display Master’s current location in satellite mode.”  

A second later, what looked like a portal to another place spawned, showing someone that wasn’t my liege. This woman had glowing red horns sprouting off her forehead, beautiful crimson wings, and a ruby red tail—all properties of a Dragonfolk, but they weren’t physically there. They were transparent, acting more like accessories or something. Her arms and legs had flaming scales etched into the skin's surface, which traveled up to her neck. Her clothes? She had none, but she wasn’t naked. If the skill name was true to its word, my liege was wearing divine flames. But within those flames sat actual ‘armor’ of black obsidian that formed tightly to her upper body. A moment later, that same flame spread to her legs until it looked like she was wearing leggings and heels.  Her hair was the same length, but it resembled flowing molten lava.   

She carried a grin like no other. But there was that orangish haze around her. Tilde said it was the bane of a chimera—a poison specifically designed to erase biomass at a molecular level. The only way to endure was to surround yourself with a barrier of air. A strong one, at that, which required a substantial amount of mana to protect against the corrosive poison. The other option, while ‘easier,’ necessitated the slaughter of a Wind Spirit Lord or Wind Demon Lord, the spiritual and demonic wind elemental version of a Holy or Dark Lord, to acquire their powerful cores. 

The deadly mist was fatal—even for me—but it did not exist during my reign of tyranny.   And Tilde said there was no cure or antidote once it affected you. 

When my liege opened those eyes to reveal a set of flaming irises, her wings lightly fluttered. Raising a hand, she collected a massive amount of mana as if it was nothing, then squeezed shut a fist, causing it to turn into red vapor. Whatever spell or skill she used caused the orange poison surrounding her to spontaneously combust.    

“What?! Impossible!” shouted a white-bearded man. He and the other Bellerophon soldiers were starting to panic—bordering close on the edge of madness of seeing something that survived their weapon. When she took one step forward, they all took five backwards. My liege had this twisted grin. She motioned for them to attack her. “Kill the monster! We have the upper hand!!! We cannot let that thing survive!”   

Arrows and magic came by the dozen, filling the sky with shadows. Spells smacked into her with explosive intent. Lightning? Water? Ice? Fire? Bellerophon had powerful mages—their skill did not need to be questioned. Even if the smoke from their feeble assault covered her, the soldiers never let up their barrage.    

“Mila!!!” Irisa slammed both hands on the table and shouted my liege’s name.  

When the smoke faded, however, the woman that looked like my liege had wrapped herself in a barrier of thick fire wider than the street they were on. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it barreling towards the warriors. Ninety percent of them instantly turned into ash, leaving very few survivors that managed to avoid it in time. The flaming destruction rampaged until it slammed into the barrier, devouring all it touched.   

All that was left in its path was a long streak of death from where everything had literally melted. Amongst five others, a white-bearded man and a warrior with a metal casting staff were the only survivors. The one with the stave raised it up high, causing the waves of gravity to crash down. All around that woman with the draconic properties, the ground near her started to sink even further. Proof that the mage was capable and skilled, but whatever he threw at her couldn’t harm her. 

“You’ll die here!” shouted the bearded man. He took a pristine azure orb from a pouch and threw it towards that woman with my liege’s face. It cracked, letting loose a spell called [Thunderous Waterfall]. Above, a hole in time and space was formed, causing a hurricane’s worth of lightning and water to fall upon her head. With it enhanced by the gravity spell, the falling water sounded like two battleships ramming each other. Holding up a finger, a steady stream of fire shot up, creating yet another barrier that roared alive, preventing even a single drop of water or lightning from touching her. An explosion of steam filled the area, and once it cleared out, that woman was still there. She faced down that aged wizard. In his hands was an orb. With a snap of her finger, he was engulfed with divine flames and burned alive. The magic item he held was destroyed.   

She quickly did the same to the other survivors, killing them with the greatest ease.    

“Oh? I sense someone watching…” said the woman, her voice bordering between tones. There was a special scratchiness in how she inflated each syllable. Almost like it was on purpose. She cocked her neck back and smiled.    

Whoever it was in there wasn’t my liege.    

“She knows… we’re here?” asked Niva. Primrose had been explaining things to her, but they both were scared.    

“That’s right,” Tilde answered. We all watched that woman with the wings fly up. Each time she flapped them, another wave of fire burned whatever was below her. She flew up to the barrier, touched it, then frowned. She descended about 300 feet, then leaned back to face her wings upward to stabilize herself. Suddenly, her wings grew even more impressive, the horns longer, and the flames covering her body flashed brighter. Magic circles started to appear within her wings. “You’re looking at The Primeval Spirit of Wrath. Or you could call it The Essence of Wrath, The Ancient Spirit of Wrath, or [Wrath, Divine Flames of Inexhaustible Indignation]. It doesn’t matter. It all means the same shit. It’s a Divine Armament that embodies pure, unadulterated Wrath. The kind of Wrath that anger and fury are based on.”  

“Mila said she had a Divine Skill,” Ichiha whispered. Erin lightly whimpered out of fear, and the yellow slime did what it could to reassure her. “If you knew she had thing inside her, why didn’t you tell her? Or us? Or why didn’t she say anything—”  

“Because it wasn’t supposed to materialize this fast! A Divine Skill needs dozens of years to nurture a form suitable to communicate with its host! Master has only been Mila for a few months, so I wanted to wait until she became strong enough to not need its power to reveal the truth. But her time in the… Shit, that must be it! Master was given this skill while in the void, but time flows differently there. In terms of our world’s timeline, she spent two months, but the time disparity made it feel more like a million years! The Essence of Wrath used that displacement to nurture itself, then remained hidden until it was time to make a move…? How the fuck did I miss that?!?!?!”  

Tilde threw her hands up and paced back and forth. “That damn thing has been taunting her since the beginning. The voice Master heard when she tried it out for the first time? I thought it was her repressed desire for violence, but it was that damn thing all along. Then it played fucking hard to get and refused to help Master during the monster train incident. It’s a slimy bastard…and it just HAD to be in the form of a dragon!” She stopped long enough to say there was no limit to the tricks the Essence of Wrath would stoop to.    

It took the form of a dragon—the most dangerous one with the most destructive potential—because of the idea Tilde and I had put into our liege’s head. The fairy told her of Dragonfolk and spirit dragons, and I explained to her the Ancient Elder Dragons I enslaved. And Aetos didn’t help either by forcing us to witness the past, where my liege saw the full power of an Ancient Elder Dragon in action.    

“Out of every Divine Skill, only the Seven Deadly Sins and the Seven Heavenly Virtues are like this. Maybe—"   

When we heard a noise, we looked to the floating window as Tilde clamped her mouth. The magic circles around that woman with the horns numbered in the hundreds. The centers started to glow, sending a beam of flame to the largest circle, which materialized in front. The wrathful spirit reached inside the magic circle, and she retrieved...   

“Holy shit... That’s a Soul Weapon! That’s a Springfield 1903!” Tilde exclaimed. “But how? Master isn’t strong enough... Unless the Primeval Spirit of Wrath’s authority circumvented the system... Would that fulfill the requirements? Shit!! Shit shit!!!!” Becoming quiet, Tilde folded her hands together and entered a state of deep thought, and I was surprised. My liege’s description of the weapon did not match what we saw. The body was burnt wood with plumes of fire erupting from the fiery bayonet.   

It was an abomination that should not have existed.   

She held it out with one hand, pointed towards the dome above us, and held the trigger. Like my liege’s [Chimeric Armatization] of [Fireball], a red orb appeared just in front of the barrel. The magic circle it came from vanished, and the other hundreds directed mana towards the flaming sphere.   

Releasing the trigger, one gigantic stream of divine flames rocketed off towards the barrier, easily shattering it. The blazing beam of mana was so hot the clouds caught fire, and the inferno spread until it looked like the heavens were on fire.     

“Hahaha!!! Weak!!! Everything is so weak!!!! But don’t think this is over!!! I know you’re watching me, you damn disgrace! You’re staring at me right now! Well, I know where you are. Face me, Dark Lord! I guarantee this death match won’t end like the last time!!!”    

“Last...time? Sekh, did you...”  

I shook my head and replied to Irisa. “I have no recollection of ever encountering something like that. Everyone I knew 1,000 years ago has died.”  

“THAT DOESN’T MATTER! WE HAVE TO LEAVE!!!!” Tilde flew into a frizzy. We all rushed downstairs. According to the fairy, after I became the Dark Lord of Tyranny, the previous wielder of the skill died after they challenged me. People tried to kill me by the hour, so I never paid attention to those I slaughtered. But when I fought the previous wielder, Tilde said my purgatorial flames put it to shame.    

There was no greater mockery for the Essence of Wrath. Perhaps it was more embarrassing because I couldn’t remember it at all. To me, it was just another day. But to it, it was probably the greatest disgrace of its life to die to me.   

Was the skill drawn to my liege’s anger because it kept her anchored while in the void? That’s why I was able to detect her as if she was a bright light surrounded by shadow. If I could do it, the Essence of Wrath could do it… Don’t Tell me it…wanted this to happen? No, my liege said she was given the skill by that voice she heard. A skill can’t give itself away, even if it’s a Divine Skill.  Could it be that the voice or entity intended for this to happen? If so, why? For what reason… Did that voice know of the connection between me and the Essence of Wrath? Shit, I have a bad feeling about this... 

We raced out the front door, but she was already there. I stared at her, and she stared at me, us sharing a tense moment of silence until she crossed her arms and let loose a hearty chuckle. Focusing securely on her eyes, she winked. I jumped back, narrowly avoiding the flaming trident that burst from the ground. It flew high, eventually returning and impaling the Essence of Wrath in her heart. Since the flame was born from her, it returned to her.    

“Tsk... Tsk... That was my slowest attack, you know? I can’t believe you almost perished to that, but it has been a long time, Dark Lord,” said the woman in her distorted voice.    

“Irisa, you take the others and run,” I demanded, my voice changing tone to suit the one I was most familiar with. Grabbing my mace and shield, I slowly took a stance.    

“No! We won’t leave you here. I love Mila, and I won’t let that thing take control of her!”   

“She’s my daughter! What kind of father would I be if I abandoned her?!” Kokan declared.    

“Mistress was there when no one else cared about me! It’s my turn to save her!” Niva bared her teeth and stood her ground, but I heard the chattering of her ivory dentures.   

“Save her? Do you fools not realize she willingly opened the gate for me? What can you do against me? You know what I see? I see three fucking corpses that haven’t died yet. And you... The half-breed... You almost sicken me even more than the Dark Lord. What can a dirty whore who can’t even walk by herself hope to do? You’re better off being useful on your back with your legs spread open. You’ve been fucked from the day you were born, so continue with it, you goddamn weakling! Go waddle in your false confidence and return to misery since you’ll forever remain but a speck of dust that can’t hope to compare to an ant, let alone me. But you...” The woman stared at me, gritting her teeth as flames shot out from her horns. She held an arm out and recalled her rifle.    

‘You’re the one I hate most of all. I’ve waited, and I waited, and I waited… I waited so fucking patiently for this moment. I’ll laugh over your broken fucking corpse as it burns until the END OF TIME!!!!!!! AND THEN I’LL WAIT UNTIL YOU’RE REBORN, AND I’LL SLAUGHTER YOU AGAIN!!! YOU WON’T KNOW A MOMENT’S WORTH OF PEACE!”  

The Essence of Wrath used [Gunblade] to alter her firearm into a sword of divine flames, then leapt towards me with it raised high up. Her wings increased her speed, and I barely put my shield up in time. It was reinforced in [Black Fire], and our fight began. My opponent flew up with her wings and pointed her sword at me, letting loose projectile attacks that I deftly dodged. Running towards her, I jumped, channeling all my shadowy flames into my mace to form a chain hook at the end. I latched it around her neck, then pulled myself to her with my shield raised to punch her.  

“Oh, these flames are cold as ice. I can’t even feel them.” My foe taunted me. Proving her point, she laughed through my attacks, even using her own flames to restrain my shield to her face. “Burn it hotter! Burn until your very skin is melting from the flames! It still can’t compare to this unyielding rage! I won’t settle for anything less than your fucking best, AND I’M GOING TO CRUSH IT!!!” 

“RRAAAAHHHHHHHH!” My opponent started to chuckle when I used [Black Fire: Body Armor], yet she just grabbed my head and tossed me upward to the sky, where I looked like a reversed falling meteor. She quickly flew to me with her sword at her side. She sliced me up, each swipe sending me further and further into the air until we had ascended past the clouds. Each attack hurt more than the last—each cutting deeper and deeper until it pierced through my flames, cut my armor, and tasted flesh. In no time, my flames had vanished, forcibly replaced by those of divine origins.   

"Is this all you have?” My opponent’s weapon switched to gun form, and she ran me through the stomach with the flaming bayonet.    

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! 

She let loose five flaming rounds, pulling back the bolt as hard as she could each time, then grinning when loading the next round.   

We remained high in the air, but I wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of a defeated look. I lifted my head and stared into her eyes with the same look I gave the other pathetic fools who thought they could kill me. Blood stained my beastly smile as crimson poured from a large hole in my stomach. The growing tyranny in my soul burned brighter than ever before.   

“You won’t ever hope to kill me if this is the best you can do,” I spat. “[SHIELD PRISON]!”   

“Oh?” A simple inquisitive expression was all my foe had to offer when we were cut from the world. Astral projections of the shield I held covered us from all sides, locking us in total darkness that burned with my nocturnal flames. They grew in intensity and fierceness, drowning out the divine fire that knew the flavor of my blood. “We’re going to crash into the ground, you know. Does that not worry you? Suppose not, you foolish woman. It doesn’t matter if I kill you here or out there. I’ll still parade your corpse around like a fucking trophy.”   

“I’ve killed so many that it became a blur. You must’ve been especially pathetic. You were weak then, and you’re weak now. I had more power than a god, and you will feel the extent of my tyranny.”   

I could feel it rampaging on the tip of my skin... I just needed to push a little more and burn a little hotter.   

“Why should I be afraid of nothing, you pissant?!”  

Using [Gunblade] again, my opponent cut the air in half, filling the empty void with flames that shot out towards me. I held up my shield and swatted them out of the way with [Shield Elemental Deflection]. They slammed into the shields keeping us locked in this prison of fire, but they continued to deflect. In fact, they wouldn’t ever stop bouncing around this place. When I closed the distance, it turned into a brutal melee that forced us to dodge the flying flames since they were both divine and covered in my [Black Fire].   

When we clashed weapons, our respective flames roared, each trying to become the dominant element. It was a contest of not only strength but determination and ideals. My opponent stared into my eyes, but I gathered the blood in my mouth and spat it on her face. She was stunned long enough to get off a [Power Strike] to her head, which broke off one of those spectral horns that grew back a second later. She was thrown against the prison’s flaming walls, yet I never heard the terrified screaming I expected.    

With a tyrannical smile that equaled mine, she tried to stand, but I wouldn’t let her have the chance. I jumped over to her, continuing a ferocious assault with my mace and shield. A barrier of flames pushed me off her, pressing me into the prison’s walls.    

It hurt...    

It hurt...   

“AAAARRRAAAAGGHHHHHH!!!!” The flames surrounding the prison’s walls gathered around me, which meant nothing prevented [Shield Prison] from melting. The shields keeping us trapped within vanished with the barrier, and we fell with more than 2,000 feet to go. The Essence of Wrath spread her wings, flew to me, and grabbed my neck. Then she set a course straight for the ground below, slamming my head straight through Ichiha’s shop. The flames from her body spread, incinerating the entire place in seconds, yet she still lifted my body and slammed me back into the ground.   

In a swift motion, she transformed her weapon into my liege’s favorite gun, pierced the bayonet through my heart, breaking through the weakened black fire like nothing, and fired two dozen rounds straight through me.    

I was broken and battered, the last vestiges of my flames dying like a whimper. Surrounded by fire that should have had no equal, the Essence of Wrath stared down at me, the horns on her head growing more defined. Disapprovingly, she shook her head and turned her to my mace and shield. Lifting them up, she melted them.    

Those wings... They spread wide, the beginnings of a dozen magic circles being one of the last things I saw before it was agonizingly excruciating to open my eyes. 

The last noise I heard was of her taking flight...   

I couldn’t die here!   

I just couldn’t! 

I need the powers deserving of the Dark Lord of Tyranny... 

But I am the Dark Lord of Tyranny! 

Or was I? 

She had the curse. 

I didn’t. 

Did the curse make her the Dark Lord of Tyranny? Was her former power connected to it? 

The power I needed was dwelling inside me, yearning to come out and spread tyranny. It was on the cusp of my very tongue, yet it refused... 

That... That was it... 

“I... I must give myself back to the old me... To become that tyrant once more. If you want me to destroy the world, then grant me the power to slaughter my foes.” 

Why was I afraid of it? It was me, right? It was all for my liege... She was the wielder, and I was the weapon. 

Like it or not, the curse…granted me power… 

Power that I needed…to fulfill my liege’s wishes… 

Give me…the strength I need…to save her life…  I can’t have her die…before me… She must survive!!!  

New Skill: [Tyrannical Renewal] 

That was but just one of the many skills returning to their rightful owner—to the Dark Lord of Tyranny.