Reborn as a Leader: King's Debauchery, SSS-Yandere Harem and Evolution-Chapter 30 - The Consciousness of Artifacts (1)

[ Cooldown 30 Minutes ]

Soon enough, the glimmer in his eyes vanished, with the golden hint suppressed, clearly making Akhil realize that 10 seconds had passed since he had used his eye effect on Lilith. ’Why such a reaction?’

Naturally, according to the description provided about the Eye of Charm, it suppresses a person’s will, numbing their mind for a moment and blurring their judgment.

However, he had anticipated seeing tears streaming down Lilith’s face as her head lowered, as if she were in agony.

He found that there was a possibility he could misinterpret the ability of the artifact.

[ Host, the artifact indeed suppressed her will, but it appears that her will or resolve was the only thing suppressing some deep memories of hers. ]

’It was unexpected,’ Akhil thought, knowing well how difficult it would have been for Lilith to manipulate Cardinal Vandriot into staging a coup against the kingdom to establish his theocracy.

He had anticipated that Lilith’s mental power would likely be far stronger than his own, but it appeared he had underestimated his mental strength, considering it was not just his own but also the regressed Lysandric mind.

And now that he thought about it, considering his undead life—where his mind was in constant restraint, struggling to maintain its own existence amidst the darkness—his mental strength alone was strong enough to provide him with significant mental resistance and capabilities to use the Eye of Charm.

Looking at Lilith’s state, which seemed to have brought forth some deep memories that he had not expected, he recognized an opportunity.

This prompted him to turn towards Grace as he added, "Lady Grace, I apologize, but can you leave the cell for a moment?"

He had originally brought Grace inside, hoping that after suppressing Lilith’s will, he would ultimately torture her by cutting her veins, hands, and limbs, healing her again and again.

This would create a cycle of torment where her body would be cut into pieces, then healed repeatedly until her mind became numb and she would obey him.

Indeed, he appreciated her intelligence, which clearly proved to be of far greater use to him, leading him to this decision.

So to suppress her forcefully, he had thought of using torture, but it appeared there was no need for it. He instructed Grace to leave.

"....I will, but it appears Sir Lysander has too many secrets," Grace remarked, glancing between the young man and Lysander as her mind replayed the moment when she had orchestrated that scene to deal with the high priest.

She noticed how Lysander was able to use the artifact of that maid, considering she thought it would become useless once that maid died, yet somehow he had been able to store that videography artifact in his dominion.

It was already a surprise to her to see that the king not only possessed two artifacts, evident from his battle boasting a shield and sword, but he also had the ability to store other artifacts in his dominion.

Now she had just witnessed him using another artifact on this young man, making her feel even more surprised.

If they were to count, he presently possessed four artifacts in total, which in itself made him unique.

But making him even more unique was the fact that he was using other people’s artifacts.

Normally, an artifact without its host soon loses its integrity, but he somehow managed to use those artifacts.

"Indeed, I will meet you in a moment," Akhil, on the other hand, was already aware of the thoughts running through Grace’s mind, but not yet.

He had intentionally made her see what exactly he possessed, given the doubt he had about her. He did not fear that she would reveal his possession of such artifacts.

He stood there, looking towards her disappearing back as she left the cell, leaving only him and Lilith inside.

He remained standing, looking in that direction for a fleeting moment, lost in thought before turning toward Lilith.

Using the toe of his shoe, he lifted her chin enough to make her tear-streaked eyes, which now seemed hollow, meet his, both of his hands resting in his pockets.

"Demon Queen Morana would be disappointed in you, wouldn’t she?" Akhil spoke out, and as he did, it was as if a trigger had been pulled, causing Lilith’s body to hurl forward like a bullet—much faster than he could react.

The chains shattered in one hand and her other hand flew directly towards his face.

’!?’

Bam!

Or would have, if it wasn’t for his sealed artifact arriving in front.

Fzz

Given his artifact was weaker in comparison to the one possessed by Lilith, it soon vanished. But its arrival and rapid disappearance gave enough time for Akhil to react, swiftly delivering a punch to her gut.

"Khwack!?" Lilith’s eyes, filled with anger, suddenly widened as saliva gushed out. She felt the punch land directly on her solar plexus, clenching her jaws as she growled at the man, clearly enraged and shocked that her secrets were now revealed to him.

At that moment, she regretted one thing: why his response was so fast and how the shield had arrived much quicker than her dagger could make contact.

’I should have expected this...’, Akhil glanced at the chain that had been tied to Lilith’s hand a moment ago, clearly seeing the blood marks flushed near it, as it had been bent with force and broken. He had anticipated it would at least withstand her body, which was under the effect of his artifact, clearly underestimating the physical strength she possessed.

But even more, he was surprised by the fact that his artifact shield had arrived even before he could activate it, as if it had its own mind or something.

’Were you the one to activate the Artifact, system?’ Akhil asked the system, guessing that maybe it was the one that had activated the artifact at the right time, which definitely saved him from injuries considering he had let his guard down due to the availability of sentries there to heal him.

But still, if it was indeed true, then using several artifacts at the same time through the system was itself an advantage.

[ No, Miss Laila did it herself ]

’Huh?’