In the world of Origin, the act of submission is absolute. To kneel before another Lord is to forfeit one's status, binding one's soul to a new master. It is a path of no return where betrayal becomes a physical impossibility, and the protection of one's own Guardian is extinguished forever. Luna understood the weight of this sacrifice, but at the end of her strength, she traded her freedom for the slim hope of survival.
Luna had been a fashion model before this nightmare began. She had survived through sharp wits and a stroke of incredible luck, using her SS-rank talent to upgrade a common summon scroll into a Rare-grade fox assassin.
[System Message: You have forfeited your status as a Lord. You are now a subordinate of the Crimson Lord.] [Notification: All subordinates and assets are being transferred to the Crimson Lord.]
"You... you are the Crimson Lord?" Luna shrieked, her eyes wide with shock.
"Does the name surprise you?" Leo asked, casually swiping through his updated interface.
"Everyone knows that name. You are the only human who earned a regional announcement," Luna whispered, her voice trembling as the reality of her new master set in.
"Let us leave the past behind. Now, tell me where your territory is," Leo commanded.
Under Luna's guidance, Leo systematically stripped her base of its resources. He also claimed the spoils from the Spirit Lord that Malphas had executed. With the Spirit Lord dead, the territory shield had flickered out of existence, leaving the subjects to scatter in terror. Luna's ten human workers were rounded up, and Leo tasked the Captain with their transport.
"Why didn't you recruit more soldiers?" Leo asked, glancing at the small group of human workers.
''It's not that I didn't recruit them. That Spirit lord killed everyone. That leech set a trap, and I walked my soldiers to their death,'' Luna said, her jaw clenching with anger.
" A common story. Forget it. We move.''
As they began the way back to the forest, Leo stayed at the rear with Luna. He had discovered that her talent, Twin-Star Fortune, was an astounding SS-grade.
In Origin, such a talent was a death sentence if discovered by the wrong people; high-grade awakeners were often hunted like prize animals by other races.
"So, the result is a gamble, and the cooldown is twenty-four hours?" Leo questioned, analyzing the mechanics.
"Yes. Depending on the item's rarity, there is a chance to multiply the quantity or even trigger an evolution to a higher grade," Luna explained, though her attention was focused on the wake of desolation Malphas left behind them.
Ren, the fox-kin assassin, watched Leo's shadow with narrowing eyes. 'A Shadow-kin... how rare for a human to command such a thing,' she mused.
"My lord, I found the dungeon," Vespar whispered, emerging from a nearby shadow.
"Excellent. Lets go there," Leo said, initiating a summon. A piercing, hellish neigh split the air as the Hell Warhorse stepped out of a ring of fire.
"Oh my god," Luna muttered, her legs feeling weak. 'I thought my talent made me a cheat, but this man is on a different level entirely.'
"Relax. He only bites those I tell him to," Leo chuckled, mounting the beast. "Let's go."
"Wait! Wait!" Luna cried as the horse prepared to gallop.
Leo paused, looking back at the stranded girl. "Right. I forgot about you. Come, we can't waste time." He reached down, offering a hand.
"Won't my butt hurt?" Luna asked, eyeing the lava flowing through the horse's veins.
"Only if I want you to be. Now, get up here," Leo said. Luna climbed up, shivering as the horse snorted in irritation, but it remained still under Leo's command.
They reached a small cave, where a green dungeon portal swirled like a toxic cloud. Ren stood protectively by Luna, her voice heavy with guilt. "Forgive me, Lady Luna. I failed to keep you free."
Luna offered a small, tired smile. "Do not blame yourself, Ren. We did what we could. Now we just have to hope this bully keeps his word."
"The portal has a two-person limit and a rank restriction," Leo announced. Luna tried to hide behind Ren, hoping to stay out of the danger, but Leo's gaze was already fixed on the fox-kin. "I am taking the assassin with me."
"What! You can't!" Luna protested.
"I need to test the capabilities of my new assets personally," Leo replied with a sharp grin. "Malphas, hunt the surrounding area with Vespar. Luna, you are the porter today. Stay close to the Knight."
Ren didn't argue. "Stay safe, my lady. I shall return shortly."
Leo and Ren stepped through the shimmering veil. They emerged into a wide hall, fifty meters across, where the walls wept with moisture and green moss. Industrial cables snaked along the ceiling, and flickering, artificial lights gave the area a haunted, mechanical atmosphere.
'This is not a natural cave,' Leo thought. He drew his dagger and tried to call his mount, but the mental link was blocked. 'So, the dungeon restricts external summons. Annoying.'
Ren was a silent specter at his side, her eyes darting between the shadows and Leo. She was clearly wary of her new master.
"Let's go," Leo ordered. He pushed his senses to the limit, but the silence was absolute. There were no heartbeats, no blood, and no breath. It was an eerie void that put him on edge.
High above, clusters of green optic sensors tracked their every step, moving with a mechanical silence that defied Leo's heightened hearing.
"Can you sense anything?" Leo asked, stopping in the center of the hall.
"Nothing. The silence is unnatural," Ren replied, her daggers drawn.
Suddenly, Leo's survival instinct screamed. He used Blink, reappearing five meters away just as a streak of silver slashed through the space he had occupied. A spray of blood hit the floor - his blood.
"Hiss." Leo looked at his shoulder, where a shallow cut was already beginning to knit shut. Above them, a mechanical spider dangled from a high-tensile silver wire. 'Constructs. That is why I couldn't sense their blood.'
Ren didn't hesitate. She leapt into the air, her blade a silver arc that sheared the machine in two. Within seconds, dozens more spiders began descending from the darkness. Leo willed his spilled blood to crystallize, launching three crimson spears that pinned three constructs to the walls.
For thirty minutes, the hall was filled with the sound of clashing metal and shattering glass. When the dust settled, the floor was a graveyard of gears and scrap metal.
"Good work. My apologies for the lapse in caution," Leo said, cleaning his blade. Ren looked at him, startled; she had expected a lecture on her failure to protect him, not an admission of his own mistake.
"Dismantle," Leo commanded, activating his harvest skill.
[Double harvest: Iron Ore x30, Scrap Metal x44, Damaged Logic Core x4]
'Dungeons are the ultimate resource, provided one survives the harvest,' Leo reflected. He observed Ren. Her posture was coiled like a spring, though her twin tails flicked with a little excitement she could not suppress. "Forward," he said, the word followed by a faint, knowing smile.
The machinery's thrum deepened into a low-frequency growl as they moved deeper into the hall. They reached a vast, circular chamber dominated by a glass cylinder filled with swirling, toxic emerald fluid. Four Ironbound Sentinels guarded the perimeter, their halberds rusted but lethal.
As they crossed the threshold, the sentinels' eye-slits flared with a malevolent green light. The ambient lighting shifted to a warning crimson, and four suits of armor jerked to life, their metal joints grinding with a screeching sound.
"Ren, the left flank is yours. The others are mine," Leo commanded.
Ren was a streak of moonlight in the darkness. She utilized her pure speed, her daggers clashing rhythmically against the heavy iron plates. Leo remained stationary, drawing the refined blood from his mythical artifact.
Tendrils of crystalline blood lashed out, winding through the joints of his targets. He did not just bind them; he willed the blood to become acidic, liquefying the metal until the sentinels thrashed in mechanical agony. Leo blinked, manifesting in front of the primary unit. He drove his dagger deep into its optic sensor.
An explosion of electrical discharge forced him to squint, but he used the momentum to vault toward the second sentinel. By the time the scrap hit the floor, Ren was standing amidst her own pile of wreckage. But the danger was not over. A high-pressure beam of acid erupted from the top of the green pillar toward Ren".
''Watch out!'' Leo blinked instinctively, shielding Ren with his own body as he pulled her to safety. The liquid sizzled against his back and splashed onto Ren's attire.
"Lord!" Ren gasped, her voice thick with surprise that he had placed himself in harm's way for her.
The pain was a white-hot iron against his spine. 'This is worse than I expected,' he thought, his jaw tight. He forced a reassuring smile. "It is a scratch. Do not worry."
Then he noticed her. His face flushed a deep red, and he jerked his gaze away.
"Lord, you are bleeding... are you truly unharmed?" Ren asked, stepping closer.
Leo kept his back turned, pointing stiffly toward her torso. "Your... your clothing. Fix it. I will handle that bastard."
Ren glanced down. The acid had eaten through the center of her tunic, leaving her chest partially exposed. She saw the tips of Leo's ears burning red. A quiet, amused chuckle escaped her. 'He didn't blink to kill us, yet he cannot look at a naked woman?' she mused.
Leo flinched as he heard her giggle. He had spent his previous life buried in books and isolation, a social ghost who had never known intimacy. He marched toward the massive, ten-meter spider boss emerging from the shadows, his embarrassment transforming into a desperate, violent rage.
''You... you piece of scrap metal! Die!'' Leo roared, his blood-whip igniting with a savage, crimson light.