Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 148: Messed up?

He was returned to the throne room, but Sevrix wasn’t there. Frexon went back to his place and straightened.

Vale thought about it carefully, his eyes slightly dilated. He had just witnessed the true nature of the Borderland. This wasn’t something the second layer had shown him, and that was because the people here were keeping the monsters contained.

The second and first layers were basically where the Knights were given a chance to grow and farm resources. Suddenly, Vale wasn’t so sure about his actions from before.

’Have I really messed things up?’ But then his eyes flashed with anger as he recalled what the Scuffed did again. ’They killed Xan and traded slaves... aren’t they harming the people they were supposed to protect?’

He came to another realization then. ’Almost nobody in this Borderland is here because they have some noble idea of protecting the innocent or regular people... everyone here is in the Borderland because what they want might be found here...’

’Come to think of it... even the Flagbearers must be here because they had no choice...’

Vale straightened, and he smiled slightly. ’Will I really waver because of something like this? I’ve not even sacrificed anything for my ambitions...’

He felt it when Sevrix returned to his throne. The darkness in the room thickened, and a gloom seemed to descend as well.

"Have you seen it? Knights are dying every day here, and you also add more death to Knights that might have grown to join me here," Sevrix said.

Vale calmed himself and thought about how to reply. ’What’s his reason for making me see the fight with the monster? What’s he after...’

He took a breath and replied carefully. "But you don’t care."

"What?" Sevrix asked. He blinked, surprised. This wasn’t what he expected.

"The deaths. You don’t care. You might care that you lose human meat to throw at the monsters, but you don’t care that they are human and died," Vale said.

He might have been naive all through his years in the Clan, but that was years ago. Ages ago. He had learned a lot since then.

’Emotion is also a tool. It can be used to control and even overpower your enemies... even I am not out of its control... just think of my subordinate... ah... really...’

Vale matched Sevrix’s stare with his own for a few seconds before looking away. ’Sevrix wants to use some particular emotions to get something from me...’

Just as he predicted, Sevrix said casually, "Don’t you have people back from wherever you come from?"

Vale froze, and the cold smile on Sevrix widened. "I can find them faster than you can blink."

’That’s it? You showed me your might just because you want to threaten my people back home...’

Sevrix continued, "You can protect them. Don’t you want to stop the monsters from reaching them? Join me. Tell me who’s backing you."

Vale smiled then. It was as if a wolf monster was suddenly smiling. "If you really managed to touch the remaining family I had left, then everything had truly fallen apart."

"What are you talking about?"

"Just the truth. If you can really touch them, then everything had fallen apart," Vale replied. How could anyone want to touch his near mother and Nadia, right in the heart of the Athrimir Clan?

Sevrix didn’t understand him, and Vale didn’t bother to explain.

Vale bowed. "I will think about it."

This time, not only Sevrix was stunned, even Frexon looked toward him as if Vale had finally run mad. A Flagbearer himself invited you, and you want to think about it? Isn’t that insanity?

Sevrix didn’t take it well. His eyes immediately darkened, the room responded, and the darkness turned to layers as if cobwebs made of shadow were everywhere.

Vale froze. He felt as if a blade was at his throat, and a single step might cut it. ’Ah... maybe I should have accepted, but I will never work for someone who killed my man...’

"You will think about it," Sevrix said in a perfectly calm voice, but the tension coiled like a serpent in the room said otherwise.

Vale swallowed, but his eyes were firm and bright like a freshly lit torch. "Yes. I will think about it."

Sevrix’s expression immediately turned gloomy, and he sneered. "I originally didn’t want to go through the trouble of channeling your spirit later after your death. Memories fade fast, after all."

He stood, and his shadow suddenly lengthened, filling the room. "Do you know I had my eyes on Fell? He would have become my apprentice once he advanced to the Errant Rank. We have the same sub-essence, after all."

’Ah... shit... he has the same power as Fell but at the Master’s rank. I had difficulty killing Fell because he could seal my thoughts and put new ones... but at the Master’s rank...’

"I wanted to tear you limb from limb, but that seems like too simple a death for an arrogant bastard like you!" His hand raised, and suddenly the darkness in the room gained weight.

His essence pressure slammed into Vale, and he grunted as he fell to his knees. This was different from the monster’s own essence pressure earlier, because that wasn’t focused. This essence pressure was directed at Vale alone, and he was finding it difficult to breathe.

Without wasting time, his mind went to his Mark Order at once, and he drew strength from it. Immediately, the pressure lessened, and he took in ragged breaths.

Sevrix narrowed his eyes, and the pressure mounted. Vale, who had been rising to his feet, trembled again, but this time he gritted his teeth and threw his shoulders back as he withstood the essence pressure.

The ground under him cracked as his feet were driven into the stone floor.

Frexon, who was standing beside the wall, shivered at the sight in front of him. He couldn’t believe that Vale was fighting back, and he didn’t seem to be losing.

Just then, Vale released his essence pressure as well. Combined with the strange powers from his Mark Order, he shrugged off the suppression on him. The space around him shimmered with a taint of red as his aura surrounded him.

And for the first time since Vale met him, he saw shock on Sevrix’s face, unfiltered shock that made him pause and stare at Vale. Since he became a Master Knight, no one except those at the same rank as him could withstand his essence pressure. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

His shock was replaced by a faint fear that didn’t appear on his face. And he said, as if he’d finally come to a realization, "I will kill you."

As he said it, something answered him outside. It was a thunderstrike.