Mind Demon's Path of Domination

The Armor clicked at its bald head with its fingers, making clinging noises. It said with an odd, pondering tone: "The first of the Six Sufferings, as far as I know, is the Suffering of Man. And it is the Suffering that ends up killing the most Tier 5 creatures."

Mark groaned inwardly at the latter part of the Armor's words, the former part it said was true. His stats confirmed it. So the latter part must also be true.

His stats blinked in his mind.

[Sufferings of Misfortune]

[1st Suffering—Suffering of Man]

[Remaining Time: 0Y/10M/30D/7H/5M/32S]

Only a lot of time remaining now, he thought. Not long. Not long indeed.

He had a lot to do. Prepare for a chance of victory, and also prepare for a probability of failure. He had to leave behind some inheritances in the world so that someone else would be able to follow his path if he failed.

Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

"What is the Suffering of Man?" Mark asked.

The Armor raised its one healthy arm. "In a man's life, they meet a lot of people. They make friends with one lot and make enemies with another. Those meetings are like touches of karma, threads that bind them all in a sense."

Mark listened intently.

"When the time comes, the Suffering of Man will ensue. Of all the people that the Sufferer had met in their lives, one person would come out—a living being. And that person will come to kill them."

"What?" Mark didn't make complete sense of the words.

The Armor waved its hand. "For example, if you were the one going to face the Suffering of Man, you will have to face against someone you have met in your life because they are coming to kill you. The universe itself will help them in killing you—why?—because the River of Destiny hates you."

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Mark's frown grew much more severe. "A person I met in my life? Any person? Someone whom I just passed by?"

"Hm, no. Usually, they have a great reason to kill you and wouldn't mind going to any length to achieve that. And they will arrive right on time when the clock runs out and the Suffering of Man begins."

Mark couldn't help but grow confused. So there was someone out there who was planning his murder even as he spoke? Someone who was scheming against him? Someone who had a good reason to kill him?

Who had he met who was such a person?

Who was coming to kill him?

After Mark was reborn as a demon, he had met a lot of people and fought a lot of battles. Who among the myriad faces in his mind was the one who would come—as the Suffering of Man—for him?

Who was it?

Was that someone in the Savage World? Earth? The Hunter World? The Demon World? Or maybe in another World entirely?

How would they find him in the multiverse? Wasn't it too vast to find and kill one man?

Who knew what world anyone might be in?

Reol'ran, who was inside his mind, also had a hard time thinking out the culprit. Who would it be?

She was not Mark, she didn't have too many qualms against thinking of her own team members as the black sheep. She didn't think of the people outside at first—she doubted Dona and Yuri first. Those were the closest people to Mark, they wouldn't have to find him in a different world, they were in his home.

Mark saw her expression with his Soul Sense and his heart skipped a beat. What a vicious, cold expression. She was probably ready to kill—might have even done that if she could.

"Oi, Oi, Reol'ran—don't be idiotic," he said, wry. "Don't stare at Dona and Yuri like that, you fool. I know you hate them but they would never want to harm me, you know that, too."

Reol'ran hissed, then calmed down. She gracefully rubbed her nose, as if she hadn't been wearing a vicious expression just a second ago.

"Indeed, I let my emotions get the better of me. They have your Dungeon Heart Seeds in them, which means they truly adore you. In fact, we should be doubting whether I am the culprit—I am the only one without that thing, after all."

Mark's eyeless holes twitched. "Our souls are literally one. I trust you, Ran. Now calm down, it is someone else entirely—but your thought that the enemy might be in our own home is worth thinking about."

Sometimes, Mark even had a feeling that he knew Reol'ran's thoughts. She had the same feeling about him. Maybe that was part of sharing one soul. How can he ever distrust her, of all people?

He trusted her more than he trusted himself in most matters. That went similarly for Yuri and Dona, too—they had shared thick and thin together. If they wanted to harm him, they had long since had better chances.

And he wasn't too dense not to see how much they loved him.

If he started seeing everyone as enemies, wouldn't he just become insane?

Especially when it came to his kin that he had chosen from all the people in the world.

They were his lovers. Reol'ran hated them—but it was too unfair to judge them like that. If Yuri or Dona knew that Reol'ran had tried to plant seeds of doubt in his heart, they'd blow their top.

Mark especially had a feeling that Yuri would absolutely abhor Reol'ran from then on.

Mark continued: "No one in my World Space has enough power to threaten me other than my loved ones and I have full trust in them, otherwise, I wouldn't see them how I do. You should calm down, you are not helping now."

Reol'ran nodded.

"Armor, do you know any way to know who the person is?"

The Armor shook its head. "I do not. But there is a general consensus—when the Man appears to kill you, you will be perfectly aware of his reason. You will know why he wants to kill you, even before he says anything. That means it is someone who would want to kill you, and someone who you already know quite a bit about at first glance."

Mark frowned. Just who was such a person?

Many. Too many people out there who might want to kill me.

The Hunters who entered different worlds might want to kill him, the Savages might want to kill him, and some Demons might also want to kill him. In both the cases of Hunters and Savages, Mark would know why they wanted to kill him at a glance.

Even without them explaining why they wanted to kill him.

In the Hunter World, Mark's existence alone had caused a lot of deaths. In the Savage World, it was the same. Many would want revenge.

"Do you have any more information about the subject?" Mark said.

The Armor nodded. "When the enemy comes, he will be a person made to kill you in particular. As in, if I am the one who is going through the Suffering of Man, the enemy will have the perfect abilities meant to kill me."

"...Any more?"

The Armor nodded again. "If you—for example—die, the 'enemy' will be able to absorb all your powers and grow stronger. Everything you have will become theirs. If you win, you could do that to them and absorb everything from them in return.

"It is a chance to grow explosively stronger, but if you die, you will be replaced by another person."

Indeed, Mark felt a weight press down on him. Someone was coming, someone strong, and they wanted to kill him—the universe was on their side to boot.

Mark chuckled. Then the question becomes who, when, where, and why.

He didn't know who or why, but he knew when it would happen. So, he could also decide where it happens. There were places in this world that would be advantageous to him.

"If I go and enter the Exchange in the Demon World, or a Demon City where no conflict is allowed when the Suffering happens, isn't it fine? Then wouldn't the Demon World Will protect me?"

The Armor shook its head. "First of all, you can't predict when the Suffering happens. It happens out of nowhere. Second of all, the Demon World Will would just not care. It isn't going to fight the grand River of Destiny for a mere demon.

"In fact, all strong creatures know not to interfere with the Suffering of Misfortunes that the Tier 5 creatures suffer from. Even if they try to interfere, they would just become incredibly unlucky for years and wouldn't accomplish anything due to the interference of the River."

Mark clicked his tongue.

So he wouldn't be able to hoodwink others into his fight.

"What is the best option?" he asked.

"Well, if you ask me. I'd say, go to a world with Tier 5 as the limit and wait there for your enemy to come. At worst, all your enemies would be exactly your Tier, so you stand some chance."

Mark nodded while correcting inwardly. The Armor was thinking that a Tier 4—Reol'ran—was going to have Suffering of Misfortune once she became Tier 5. So, the Tier 5 limit made sense for her, but Mark was just Tier 2.

So he should stay in a Tier 2 World and bring the enemy to him, then the enemy would also be limited to his level. The Armor was the worst thing that could be at this level, right? So whatever that comes, it wouldn't be a worse monster than the Armor, right?

It seemed not so hopeless, at least the first Suffering.

Mark's mind began spinning with thoughts, but for now, he needed to heal because pain started assaulting his senses again.