"He...he's... moving" Jonah's face turned pale. He stuttered pointing at Michael's body. Everyone including Johnny and Maria turned back to see Michael's charred body slowly starting to float from the ground. They couldnt believe their own eyes.
"What in the hell?" Maria took a step back due to the subconscious fear in her mind. Visible to the naked eye, his burnt skin on the arm, neck, and face healed. His body slowly rose up in the air.
The black eyes soon transformed into crimson red eyes. They were staring at him in utter shock. Jonah's body shivered like he was standing outside naked in the wintertime.
His transformation did not stop with crimson red eyes but the burnt clothes were slowly vanishing into thin air while pieces of black armor started to cover his body from toe to neck. The armor looked like a breed between leather and metal. Up to his neck, no place on his body was left alone, the armor covered every inch of it.
This was the first time Michael wore Lucifer armor without the cloak and mask. Logan was the tallest one in the group who stood at 6feet 7inch yet the transformation made Michael an inch taller than Logan himself. After the armor was completely set on his body, they saw dark smoke being radiated from his body. Soon afterward, his eyes ignited with dark red fire.
These people were somewhat lucky to witness the Dark Lord's first evolution.
"It...it can't be...you were dead" Maria stuttered in fear. Not only her but everyone began to fear him because of the fear toxin in the air. Even if there wasn't any fear toxin in the air, they would have reacted the same way.
They had never seen someone fly or heal this fast in the Southern continent. It was clear as a day that he's using magic except they had no idea how.
"Don't!" when Maria saw him moves forward towards her in the air, she shouted, taking out the orb from her satchel. She applied pressure to the orb as it began to produce creaking sounds.
"I'll destroy it" she threatened Michael with the artifact.
"What makes you think I care?"
He just raised his finger. The next moment, a bolt of a golden lightning bolt shot towards the orb from his fingertip. The orb shattered by the lightning bolt into countless pieces.
"How...how...are you doing this?" Jonah stuttered while the others began to question their sanity.
"Magic"
"Impossible"
Michael stopped releasing the fear toxin into the air. He knew the display of spell casting would keep them afraid. Even he himself didnt know the complete extent of his new powers. He was now at the Core Formation level 8. The system put his body into hibernation so he could absorb most of the first energy radiated by the artifact. Although his body was put into hibernation, he heard everything Maria said.
"You...you're good" He spoke while still floating in the air. It wasn't just mere words, she really did surprise Michael. Even he was unable to see through her scheme.
[The artifact will be awakened in ten minutes]
The system reminded Michael. Before the blast, he switched the orb with the system's help. If he had avoided the blast, Maria or Johnny wouldn't have thought he was dead. Then they might have killed him for real as he was unable to move a muscle during the hibernation process.
Getting blasted by the explosive hurt him like hell yet his hunger for power gave him the strength to endure the pain. Because he endured the pain, she left him alone without interrupting his absorption process as well as the process of opening the artifact. Meanwhile, the system was opening the artifact, he decided to test his newfound powers on the people before him.
He was currently using one of his powers, the dark smoke. Since the system was busy with opening the artifact, it never actually explained the new powers in detail to him. He was extremely curious about what the system meant by awakening his Dark Lord powers.
"Although your plan wasn't perfect, it got the job done. If I'm right, you already have a way to escape this pyramid" Maria or no one in the hall opened their mouths. They were either too scared or shocked to speak.
"I'll let you live if you kneel down and swear your loyalty to me" He almost felt bad for killing them so he decided to offer them a choice to save themselves. Not that he expected any of them to kneel down, still he gave them a choice.
"Since even daughters want you dead, I'll give you three seconds to make a choice"
Whoosh!
Suddenly an arrow shot towards Michael from Marcella's crossbow.
"Rude" He caught the crossbow bolt easily before it could reach him.
"Wind blast" A gust of wind shot from Michael's hand blasted away the entire group into the wall behind them. They all collided with the wall before dropping to the ground.
Jonah completely lost his consciousness after the collision, he remained on the ground without moving a muscle.
"You're time's up to Ross"
Maria saw the same golden lightning bolt that destroyed the artifact being fired at her father. The lightning bolt went straight through straight between Ross's eyes, creating almost an inch wide radius holt in his forehead.
"Noooooooooooooooo!" Marcella screamed looking at the blood gushing out of Ross's head. His eyes remained open, staring at Michael with utter shock.
"Murderer, I'll kill you!" Marcella tried to pick her crossbow frantically. Because he stopped emitting fear toxin into the air, they somewhat gained the courage to fight back partially due to the adrenalin.
Seeing her father's corpse lying beside kindled the feelings she never wanted to feel again. Initially, she thought she was ruthless enough to kill her father except when Ross was killed by the monster in front of her, tears gushed out of her eyes.
"Ignitia" He raised his finger again as another lightning bolt shot towards Marcella. Marcella was quick but she was not quick enough to evade the lightning bolt.
She could not even knock one bolt in her crossbow before the lightning bolt ended her life. Michael felt pity when she saw her dead body hit the ground. If she was willing, he could have used her as a subordinate.
If it was before he saw the future, he would have let them go or tried to pursue them to be his subordinates. Except now he couldn't afford to make a mistake like keeping an unwilling subordinate even if the system could ensure they can't do any harm to him. Besides, he knew Marcella or Ross would rather die than bend their knees before him.
"You...you killed them...you...killed...my...FATHER!" Following Marcella's death, Maria's anger erupted in her heart like a volcano. The veins in her eyes popped, turning her eyes blood red.
"Isn't that what you wanted? Don't tell me you've gone soft"
"I'll kill you!"
"Master!"
Johnny tried to stop Marcella but she had already taken her spear to kill Michael. Logan on the other side was staring at everything in complete shock. He never imagined a guy who protected them along the way would kill them. Even though he knew David for a short amount of time, he considered him as a friend and it kept him from lifting his sledgehammer against David.
"Go in peace Maria"
He wasn't mad at Maria for what she has done until now. If he had to blame someone, it would be Ross who made all the mistakes that turned Maria into this.
"Ignitia" Feeling pity for her, he fired the lightning bolt from the tip of his finger. Like before, the lightning bolt went straight through her forehead. Because Johnny stood behind her, the lightning bolt pierced his throat. In one lightning bolt, Michael took two lives.
The deaths of MAria and Johnny finally brought Logan back to reality. He mustered his courage to raise his sledgehammer against Michael though he knew he had no chance of winning against a magic caster.
Logan never really believed in gods but looking at David, he wondered if he's a god himself came to the world to punish them.
"Stand down, Logan" Michael waved his hand as the sledgehammer in Logan's hand flew away from the big guy's hands.
"Back at the ship, you said you're going to retire after this mission and live the rest of your life as a wealthy person. Swear your loyalty Logan and you'll be richer than you've never even imagined"
Unlike Marcella or Ross, he liked Logan. Logan was a simple-minded good guy who would never scheme against him. Because of that, he tried to convince Logan to be his subordinate.
"Who are you, David? Is David even your real name?"
Despite Logan's look, the big guys had a soft heart. That was why Michael could see the sadness of losing Ross and Marcella in his eyes.
"This world will soon turn into a living nightmare, Logan. I'm here to stop it"
"By slaughtering people in cold blood? After seeing you use magic inside the void line, I dont know what to believe anymore but one thing I'm sure David, this isn't how you save the world,"
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Note: Don't think mc will become a self-righteous goody two shoes in world-saving drug. He's going to change the world to his liking...