“Interesting,” Drishti’s eyes gazed at the young man who had already crossed a limit once by doing something which could have been impossible to undo once it occurred.
Instead of anger, which should have been the most normal reaction in this moment, her mind wanted to know about the limits of his ability.
She also felt a desire to kill him, but the weight of losing someone this intriguing weighed heavily on her.
Initially, she took his ability to be similar to that of the Oblivionists whom she had once encountered in her very long journey.
They had the ability to nullify mana on touch, making her soon lose interest in him.
However, even those people’s last remaining ancestor finally died at her hand, ending the entire bloodline of that race along with the bloodline known for carrying Anti-mana.
Now, seeing this young man, her doubts turned to his father belonging to that race or something similar, but everything seemed wrong now.
He was able to challenge her AUTHORITY.
Known only to her, her commands acted irrespective of the strength one possessed.
This meant that if she commanded Die, then instant death would follow, ignoring any defenses.
However, two conditions must be fulfilled: first, her commands needed to be filled with intent, and second, her physical body would be eradicated upon killing someone with her command.
This was the reason for her to have reincarnated 117 times because she had killed this number of people far stronger than her, among whom was a Demi-God, indirectly getting her one title being a Demi-God.
SWISH SWISH SWISH
thud thud thud
“Lady Drishti, Please command!”
Several voices pulled the woman from her thoughts, causing her to narrow her gaze as she looked around to observe hundreds of powerhouses kneeling surrounding them, filling the whole place for miles, wearing obsidian clothes covering everything.
‘System, how many of them are at the perfect Legendary level?’ Ryuk had guessed that many individuals had left Ardoros, but the immense pressure from the mere presence of these people was causing him to re-evaluate his conclusion.
[All of them, Host.]
Ryuk’s narrowed gaze reflected a crowd of people, intense aura leaking out of their bodies.
Each of their eyes had an orange fold, long ends fluttering in the air while their whole bodies were covered in black Assasin like clothes, with the mana density much higher.
‘System, what are they?’ Even with his Soul gaze, he couldn’t see any of them having any souls.
They didn’t appear like puppets; even Mayas had a soul fragments within them, but these things.
Yes, Ryuk knew they were not humans but something with their own consciousness.
Alert!
[Host, their information is inaccessible]
‘Huh?’
‘What does it mean?’ Ryuk couldn’t understand why someone as strong as Drishti’s information was accessible but not the cloaked figures, numbering more than hundreds, like a small army.
[Host, they can detect if their information is accessed. It is suggested to not look into it until you reach the Head Seat.]
“Access it but make it look like I accessed it instead of you.” There was no need to wait for that long; they were all just on Legendary ranks.
Maybe he was exhausted, but somehow, these individuals didn’t feel right, and he had already arranged precautions if he got detected.
SWISH
CLANK
‘?!’
A sharp sword was sliced directly at Ryuk’s neck even before he could look at it, the sword already stopped by two delicate fingers, the grip causing the metal sound to resonate in the surrounding.
Ryuk’s eyes reflected a sword glimmering in the moonlight, held by one of those black-cloaked figures while stopped by a woman whose eyes were cold enough to send chills around the whole place. Firm words left her parted lips, “What is the meaning of this, Guardian?”
SWISH
Thud
“Forgive me, Lady Drishti. It was reflex for Clause third.” Holding the blade, whose hilt was left by the cloaked figure kneeling down, Drishti’s hand loosened while her eyes widened, turning towards Ryuk in astonishment.
It felt as if she had found someone after a very long wait due to surprises, she was getting, and increasing interest in him.
“You really are interesting, Ryuk.” The woman’s eyes relaxed with a soft smile, already seeing an amethyst aura covering Ryuk’s neck, which seemed to have formed in reflex to protect him from the sword, but her amusement was on other things.
‘What is happening here?’ It was the first time since their meeting that Drishti had called out his name instead of Young man or Kid.
Slowly subsiding his amethyst aura, which he formed before the sword could slice him, he was not able to understand what was happening here, making him inquire, “I don’t understand, Lady Drishti?”
“….Never try to look about them again.” Drishti’s face turned cold, firmly stating.
‘!?’
‘So, they are bound by contract with the Devereaux Bloodline.’ By combining the words of these people known as Guardians, seeing their sharp senses and even how submissive they were towards Drishti, Ryuk concluded this fact.
Someone who had the power to even detect being looked at by an unknown force like the System, even though it accessed it through the world’s will, proved the hidden power of these people, yet they were following Drishti.
She called one of them Guardian, not Subject, and mixed with the System’s earlier suggestion, everything was clear—they were bound to the Head Seat of the Devereaux Family by some pact.
Eventually, one day, he would know everything about them, so he decided to postpone this, understanding that he couldn’t do much regarding this.
“I understand.” Ryuk nodded, turning towards the cloaked figure whose gaze was fixed downward, before looking towards the unending mass of those same individuals, filling the miles with just their presence.
“Good.” Drishti nodded before turning towards the Guardians, further commanding them, “I have officially decided to support Ryuk Devereaux for this Heir Battle, and henceforth, I withdraw from my Proxy Responsibilities.”
‘Huh?’
‘What does it mean?’ Ryuk couldn’t understand the reason for her to withdraw from the Proxy seat if she was supporting him.
She could just hand over her supportive branch families to him, easy.
“We understand.” An unison voice resonated in that place.
SWISH SWISH SWISH
Within a moment, once again, the whole place was empty as it was before, each of those figures vanished into thin air, leaving behind nothing.
“Don’t tell me.” Ryuk’s eyes widened, realizing something.
Swiftly turning back from the vanished figures to the woman, whose gaze was fixed on him for a long time, he added, “Did you tell them in advance to come here?”
“Yes,” Drishti calmly stated.
“How did you know that this would end like this?” Ryuk could understand that the arrival of those people was definitely not backup for someone of this woman’s caliber, but they were already told a fixed time to arrive here.
“It was one of the possibilities indeed.” Folding her hands with a composed expression, Drishti looked at the young man, observing him to know more about the secrets within him which would be revealed soon enough.
‘….’ Once again, Ryuk reminded himself what sort of monster this woman was to even have already anticipated one of the possibilities being her defeat when it was clear that everything was in her favor.
“By the way, why withdraw from being Proxy?” Ryuk felt confused about her earlier statement, causing him to inquire.
Drishti tilted her head, looking at the confused young man before clearly stating what she wanted.
“Huh, isn’t that obvious? Add me to your Harem.”
