Master Of Myths

Back once more on the rocky nameless desert YuJu felt the place was much more desolate than before

"It's been half an hour into our ride and no sign of life has been spotted yet"

"Is it the work of Abaddon, Father?"

"Must be"

If not eaten the creatures could have also migrated to escape the natural disaster that his follower had become

"We are getting closer, prepare for a possible fight"

"Yes"

Zero called out a few more evil spirits to fly along the one they were riding

'Hopefully it isn't another one with crazy defense'

His bet was on it being one however, else Abaddon would have come to him rather than staying in the same place for a long time

Soon they were within view of the place where their connection told him the newly evolved parasite was

"? Is it hiding?"

Asked Zero promoting a frown from YuJu, all they could see was a lonesome Gardelos coiled up and breathing raggedly

'Something is wrong, could it be under it?'

He tried the connection once more but the result came back the same

"It's not hiding it's inside.."

"Inside? What.....the Gardelos?"

Turning to look at the sleeping menace Zero thought the creature might as well be dead by now

"Should I rip it apart and extract Abaddon before the poison inside gets to him"

"No, let me check the surrounding area first"

To try and understand the layout if the situation he surveyed this land, looking for clues as to what happened

'A trace of aura, a very destructive one'

With his extra sensitivity to aura after their last trip he caught on quickly

'Only that thing comes up when I think of destruction, it must have roamed this land'

That was bad, he should make sure to keep tabs on it lest it wanders into humans lands, the current them could not handle that monstrosity

'It seems Abaddon lost to it as well'

Which means the parasite was probably using its DeadLeach to inhibit the injured Gardelos and survive

'Why did it not send me distress calls, or did the battle take place when I was asleep?'

What bad timing, now he had to keep this lizard alive or else his parasite would die with it...or did he?

Taking the crystal bottle out he entered stealth and jumped down close to the sleeping lizard after informing Zero to keep her distance but be prepared to interfere

'Hmmm, here? No, maybe here? Can't stab through in one go'

Searching for a weakest that he could use to quickly touch upon his sleeping parasite YuJu finally settled on the under tail of the beast

'I guess we're doing everything at one go'

Rather than wasting effort and time on reviving it then synthesizing into it he thought it would be easier to use the latter in order to accomplish the former, leading him to open the crystal container and drop the red pearl inside it into his bony hand

While clutching the pearl tightly he stabbed his other hand into the Gardelos, alarming the creature into issuing a wrathful roar

"Zero"

At his beckoning the white haired woman jumped down with a slam, sinking the Gardelos into the hardened sand and keeping it in place

Meanwhile, YuJu already started synthesizing the pearl into the dormant Abaddon, not without some sort of retaliation however

'This thing is relentless'

Even with no power to leverage the pearl started beating with a suppressive rhythm, its power affected Jim and Zero ever so slightly, but the Gardelos, the thrashing menace was still and quiet, unable to let out a whimper

Sensing its effort making no difference the pearl resorted to extending hair thin tendrils from its self toward his fleshly arm in an attempt to seize his body, or at least stop it from destroying it

"That won't work"

He mocked, focusing on these tendrils to absorb them first before continuing his efforts of turning the pearl's power into Abaddon's

'I'm getting the hang of this, it feels like my servants are flying off the power scale with just synthesis alone, not to mention the ability to purify and evolve their blood'

All was going well, too well, so much so that he expected another diaster to befall him anytime soon

'I always believed our exclusive class was the best choice, only I never thought it would be this effective'

If things continued on like this then there would be no need for schemes and plans in the future, once they reached the apex everything could be achieved with brute force alone

Despite that YuJu kept a calm mind, knowing that one small mistake could make end their ascent, bringing them back down to the hell of suffering he barely escaped from

His alert mind watched over the pearl all the time, denying it any attempt at escape, so focused that an entire day and night passed and he'd yet to take his eyes off his tightly clutched bones

"Haa…"

Finally, after much time, the pearl was fully absorbed, not a spec of energy left behind to cause trouble, all into his still dormant parasite

'Does it need more food? Perhaps the pearl had strong effects but not too much vitali-' Crack!

The entire body of the Gardelos cracked open in a split second, extending toward Zero as well who cut her own feet off to escape the corrupted blood, flying away once she made sure YuJu wasn't affected even as his hand stuck inside the beast

"Huh, I guess you're really hungry"

Retrieving his hand he looked on as the big lizard's body turned into a ball of meat, wiggling and grinding unpleasantly

"Foood!"

A small voice squeezed out of this mess

"Master! FOOOD!"

"I hear you the first time, stop screaming"

"FOOOOOOOOD!"

This time a loud voice bellowed, full of power and vigour, so much of it that he felt his own power rise in defiance

'Wait, no this….'

Soon his body started to exude dark mist, an obsession of superiority taking over him

"Gluttony, be quiet or I'll deny you anything to eat but the endless sand of the desert"

"I! WANT! FOO-PU!"

YuJu, now clad in a robe of black mist with eyes dyed in black, stabbed into the meatball taking out a small squirming insect

"I shan't repeat myself Gluttony"

"Pride…..Master, please…."

Hearing the small thing pitifully address him correctly he smashed it back into the meatball

"Zero"

He called ad the white haired vampire instantly came down kneeling

"Fetch this fool all the food you could get your hands on, leave nothing in the entire desert, if it is not enough then drag those beyond the sand, but beware the waterfalls, the dangers there you cannot escape"

"Yes Father"

Though she did not understand what happened with him, or if something had actually taken over him, she could not refute her father's command

Summoning her spirits and taking off as well Zero went to procure a huge feast of blood and flesh, leaving YuJu to gaze back into human lands with those black, scary eyes

"Greed is there too….that makes three of us"

He seemed to know the location of another sin as well but couldn't quite point it out

"How terrifying of a mind this person has, all this time and I have yet to reap his memories, how he knows so many things I am still in the dark"

It bothered him so, Pride who ruled all sins, actually could not enter a human's memories

"Humans…what a magnificent race"

Speaking of the sinful yet self righteous bunch he couldn't help but smile delightfully, how many millenniums has it been since he actually found such a seed to grow

"With this race I shall finally achieve total control, nothing will bar our chances, certainly not some human who can only hide and bide his time in the shadows"

Already anticipating the future he gave Gluttony another look before staring at his own reflection in a pool of poisonous blood

"It's time for you to take over, coward"

And so his eyes morphed back into that of jade green, the mist billowing away with the wind

"...."

Staring at his own reflection YuJu stood there in silence, his thoughts a chaotic mess for quite some time

'Coward huh….what a fitting description'

Somehow it felt right, at least if one looked at it from an outsiders view

'I certainly seem like one, choosing to live so I could bear the burden of others, but it's not due to fear'

Fear, when was the last time he felt a strand of that emotion?

'But maybe I am a coward, too afraid to accept the world's judgement upon me and my kin….too afraid to move'

What was out there? Beyond death that is? To the victims he reaped before coming back he knew it was nothing, their soul would be extinguished by his blades with no afterlife to indulge in, no suffering, nothing

But him? What awaited that who reaped the souls of others? Also nothing? Then what did he work so hard his entire life for, what did his comrades, his kin, his family sacrifice themselves for?

'I can't accept it, perhaps in that sense I am a coward'

It really depended on one's point of view

'But I'd rather be a living coward, with all my living cowardly kin, then be a dead forgotten corpse decaying on this merciless earth'

And his point of view wouldn't change