Humans summoned to another world inevitably possess souls brimming with potent energy.
It's not that arriving on the Central World makes humans stronger.
On the contrary, it's precisely because their souls are powerful that they can traverse the endless void to reach the Central World.
Moreover, the soul energy of otherworlders is typically stored within them in the form of Unique Skills.
By killing or devouring an otherworlder, there's a chance to acquire their abilities.
However, Kyoya didn't choose Kirara's Bewilder skill.
A mental manipulation Unique Skill like Bewilder was utterly useless against opponents with mental resistance, practically garbage.
Even if Kyoya had obtained Bewilder, he still wouldn't have been able to defeat Rimuru.
So, he took a gamble.
Using Bewilder and Kirara's soul as a sacrifice, he traded them for a second Unique Skill!
And he succeeded!
Deathstrike Blade, combined with his Slasher that could cut through anything.
Kyoya refused to believe Rimuru could remain so composed!
"No matter how strong your flames are, they can't change the fact that you're a fragile mage!"
Kyoya could already envision piercing Rimuru's throat, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Boom!!!
But the scene he imagined didn't come to pass.
Instead, blazing flames roared as if from the depths of hell.
What Deathstrike Blade? What Slasher?
In the face of the Starflame that could reduce all to nothingness, they were mere illusions!
Without an Ultimate Skill for protection, facing Rimuru, who wielded the star flames, was nothing short of a pipe dream.
"Why?"
Kirara's corpse was incinerated to ashes, and the blade in Kyoya's hand turned to dust once more.
Half his body was now tainted by these inextinguishable flames.
"Argh!!"
Kyoya, engulfed in flames, rolled frantically on the ground.
"Why, why, why?!"
"That useless bitch, that trash!!"
Even as the flames drove him to the brink of insanity, Kyoya's thoughts turned to how worthless Kirara's soul was, unable to grant him a stronger Unique Skill.
In his mind, he wasn't wrong... it was Kirara and Rimuru who were at fault!
"What a piece of scum…"
Rimuru couldn't fathom Kyoya's twisted logic.
Killing a teammate, using their soul as a sacrifice for power, and then blaming her for being too weak to grant a better Unique Skill.
"For someone like you, burning you to death directly is too kind."
Rimuru was an incredibly gentle person.
Before her reincarnation, Rimuru was the kind of mentor who would die protecting a junior from a thug on the street.
Thus, the act of harming a comrade was something she absolutely couldn't tolerate!
"Argh!!!"
Kyoya let out even more agonized screams. "Spare me, I beg you, please let me go…"
But this wasn't because Rimuru intensified the Starflame's incineration.
On the contrary, she weakened the flames, allowing them to burn Kyoya's body and soul for longer.
Even more interesting, due to his All-Seeing Eye accelerating his thought processes, Kyoya would experience this hellish torment with excruciating clarity and duration.
In just half a minute, Kyoya had been tortured to the point of losing his sanity, his consciousness beginning to collapse.
"Enough."
Rimuru walked up to Razen and demanded, "You're the mastermind behind all this, aren't you? Anything else to say?"
Gulp!
Witnessing Rimuru torment Kyoya with the star flames, Razen trembled, his back drenched in cold sweat.
"No!"
"It's not true!"
"I'm just a mage serving the Falmuth royal family."
"Our relationship is more like a partnership than lord and familiar!"
Razen's excuses sounded pathetically weak.
But he had no choice.
To avoid the fate of the others, Razen had to save himself!
"What kind of nonsense logic is that?"
"You're a mercenary, so your killings are justified?"
"And why do you think emphasizing your identity as a mage will save your life?"
Let's be clear... Rimuru wasn't the original Rimuru from the novel.
She wasn't the leader of the Monster Kingdom and didn't need to care about diplomatic relations with Falmuth.
"Go atone for your sins in hell, you disgusting creature!"
Rimuru showed Razen no mercy. Ignoring all his contingencies and counterattacks, she stripped his soul from his body.
Without a soul, Razen's body died instantly.
But given the chance, Razen could still revive as an undead through his soul.
Unfortunately, Rimuru wouldn't give him that chance.
The reason she preserved Razen's soul was to hand it over to Diablo.
This Primordial Black would extract enough information from Razen's soul and process it further to harvest more resources.
After all, he was a Demon Lord Seed with 400,000 magicules.
Not making full use of him would be a waste.
"The souls of humans in this world are indeed of high quality."
Damien reviewed the data compiled by Violet.
The soul energy extracted from the 500 noble knights, Razen, and the three otherworlders.
Just the latter four were nearly enough to allow one of Damien's near-Demon-Lord subordinates to awaken.
Of course, this was unique to Damien's side.
Other Demon Lords didn't have the means to facilitate awakenings.
Nor could they, like Justeaze, possess the power to refine and purify souls.
Even the original Rimuru could only help subordinates awaken by amassing vast quantities of souls.
Otherwise, by constantly summoning otherworlders and using their souls as fuel, wouldn't it be possible to turn every qualified monster into a True Demon Lord?
Such a thing was obviously impossible.
"But who should awaken?"
Among Damien's monster subordinates, many had the potential to awaken.
However, some lacked the capacity to acquire an Ultimate Skill.
For example, Hakurou and Kaede.
They were too old, making it difficult to gain the favor of the Voice of the World.
Among the rest, Benimaru, Souei, Shuna, and Shion... his earliest followers... were naturally the top choices.
Souka came too late, making her unsuitable for such a boon.
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Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know that the rewrite for the Supreme Overlord project is officially ongoing now. If you want to read it, feel free to check out my second account.
Since this account got shadowbanned and I can't really interact with anything anymore, I decided to upload it on my second account instead: Elenea. (I'll leave a comment under this post so it's easier for you guys to find my second account.)
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[Father of the Evil Gods]
Synopsis:
In Zoroastrianism, the Mother of the Evil Gods is the source of all sin and darkness!
It is said that she created the Six Archdemons: Malice, Chaos, Aging, Betrayal, Weakness, and Destruction!
After obtaining the Authority of the Mother of the Evil Gods in the Little Garden, Saigou became the Supreme Being in the world of Overlord;
Surrounded by the Overlord, the Witch of the Void, the Archon of Teyvat, the Sage of Gensokyo, the Satan of DxD, and the Creator of the Demon Pillars;
Saigou was certain that he had firmly established his name as the Evil God;
And so, he must shout at the top of his lungs - God is dead!
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If you're curious and want to read it, feel free to check out my second account.