Davey felt a deep sense of betrayal toward Hercules.
Bang!!
After returning from Iro’s hideout, he quietly picked up a bottle of wine to chug. He was about to open it, but then roughly put it back down. The thought of breaking his promise to quit drinking gnawed at his conscience, but the urge to escape reality was strong nonetheless. He knew he had to keep his promise, no matter how rough it was for him at the moment.
Just as he was about to store the bottle away, he paused.
‘What's the point of keeping promises if everything seems doomed anyway? Should I drink or not?’
As he contemplated, a voice interrupted him.
“I heard you quit drinking. You still couldn’t keep yourself from drinking and breaking your sobriety? We call people like you alcoholics.”
Davey turned to see Kathryn sitting with her legs crossed, twirling a wine glass with a smile on her face.
“Grand Duchess Kathryn. If you haven’t noticed, we are in the middle of a trilateral meeting.”
"Ah, my apologies. Sorry. Ahahaha,” she said, smiling brightly as she put down her glass.
Despite her playful tone, Davey knew it was her unique way of negotiating.
"Alright. Then let’s discuss what we’re going to do with that damned bastard.”
The Kingdom of Rowane and the Lyndis Empire were the ones who could claim full authority over him. At least, that would normally be the case. Unfortunately, according to the Duke’s journal, there were instances of him kidnapping all classes of people across many locations, regardless of whether they were commoners, slaves, or nobles. As such, the Pallan Empire had some stake as well.
“First of all, the highest priorities go to the Kingdom of Rowane and us, the Lyndis Empire. Pallan Empire, please let us handle the situation this time.”
“We will not back down easily. He was the man preparing for a royal wedding with Illyna. Even though the engagement is broken now, we can’t just back out.”
“Are you saying you want the Lyndis Empire to compensate you in some way?”
"If need be."
Davey could tell that he was clearly angry simply due to the fact that the Duke had tried to do something to Illyna. He could tell he was pulling out all the stops to try and get his revenge.
The issue wasn’t just about the Duke himself. Although human experiments were inhumane, they contained absolute data that could never be obtained ordinarily. And so, the empires couldn’t sleep on the experimental results he left behind. It was only reasonable, really.
“I don’t think our anger will be alleviated until we do a posthumous execution and hang his body to show to the public.”
“My thoughts as well. Not only did he try to target the princess, but he had tarnished His Majesty’s reputation by doing such actions despite being born with royal blood.”
Davey watched Grand Duchess Kathryn and Sullivan argue.
“If I may ask you two.”
"Yes?" they both replied.
After calmly getting the two’s attention, he lowered his gaze and slowly rested his chin on his thumbs. He then asked, “This is just a ‘what-if,’ but how would you feel if I told you that this world is going to disappear within three years?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Like getting hit by a meteorite?”
Davey couldn’t help but laugh at the question.
‘A meteorite... It won’t be a meteorite—the god of disaster will open their eyes.’
To be precise, it would mean resetting the world, but he wondered if all intelligent life—including humans—would really regard it as balance when a god wiped all of them out.
“Please, just forget what I said.”
Sullivan frowned at his words. He had a strange feeling about Davey’s question.
“Crown Prince.”
"Yes."
“This incident. I ask the Pallan Empire to keep their hands out of it.”
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sullivan frowned in response.
“I meant it literally.”
“Are you requesting that as a personal favor?”
“It’s a part of it, but it’s not something I would recommend.”
“It’s difficult to understand what you mean,” Sullivan said, struggling to grasp what Davey meant.
“The Empire will already be in trouble because of Illyna’s broken engagement, so it wouldn’t be a good idea for him to become even more entangled with the Pallan Empire,” Davey explained.
Sullivan chuckled. “Then let’s do it this way.”
“Please,” Davey replied.
“This event ruined the marriage talks with Illyna. Please conduct a national wedding ceremony with her becoming your wife.”
It seemed he was determined to obtain the results of the duke's experiment for the sake of the empire. Why else would he bring up the matter Davey hadn’t complied with instead of any other matter?
Even so...
“Let’s do that. Then we’ll deal with the issue of national marriage with the Pallan Empire later. Has the Lyndis Empire changed any of their opinions in the meantime?”
“Pardon?”
The two looked at Davey with surprised faces.
“Prince... Prince Davey? What did you just...?” Prince Sullivan looked at him with a rare expression of surprise.
“Let’s do it—national marriage. I was going to bring it up anyway.”
“Prince Davey...?” Grand Duchess Kathryn said quietly.
“Grand Duchess, I’m sorry, but the research results he created were based not on biological experiments but on his special powers. It would be a good idea to consider what problems retaining that information might cause in the future before asking for them.”
At Davey's call, Gnoass’s huge body broke apart and seeped into him.
In an instant, his Predatory Assimilation consumed the spirit mana. It dismantled and analyzed its structure. It then swirled quickly and mixed with elemental mana, soon causing a vast amount of natural energy to seep into his body as well.
Davey could feel the tremendous power coursing through him. The feeling of his power being amplified tremendously every time he consumed power was surprisingly addictive.
“A meal... Hmm. Meals are good. Alright. Let’s take this opportunity to really have a meal.”
Shandra Minea let out battle energy.
[You arrogant human bastard!]
Soon, lavalike red power began to gather in his mouth. Davey fixed his gaze on him and took steps forward as he completely incorporated Gnoass into his body.
[I’ll chew your limbs as my meal...]
"Alright. Order’s up.”
‘I’m going to make you choke, you bastard.’
[Spirit Synchronization]
[Spirit King Fusion]
[Gigantism]
Rumble, rumble!
The earth trembled as a massive force erupted. The synchronization between the spirit and contractor's powers was underway. In Davey's case, where he could synchronize with other powers then use them, it wasn’t just spirit mana and spirit power that he could wield—it was something more.
[Graviton]
[Combination Magic]
[Reinforce Spirit Road]
His magic’s usable range also increased significantly.
[What?!]
As soon as Shandra Minea widened his eyes in shock, Davey took on a massive human form and stretched out his hands. Shandra Minea unleashed an intense, scorching breath to counterattack, but the transparent barrier that instantly appeared in front of Davey completely absorbed the fiery blast.
The reason Davey had limited himself in using barrier magic was because of his Predatory Assimilation characteristic. If he consumed powers and kept them within, they would spread into madness in an empty stomach without modification, but throwing them away was a different story.
Crack!!
Davey wrapped his arms around Shandra Minea’s neck. His thin, transparent, and incredibly sturdy energy shield resisted his attacks, but...
“Don’t resist, bitch.”
[W-Wait a minute?!]
Shandra Minea was taken aback, struggling with all his might to get away. However, Davey being a giant human that was hundreds of meters tall, he pressed down on Shandra Minea’s back with his knee and strangled his neck with both hands.
Shandra Minea struggled, not knowing how to react to Davey’s grim gaze, but that only lasted for a moment.
[Mega... Megalodria! Help me!]
Shandra Minea asked for help, but the response was different from what he expected.
[You sure know how to dig yourself a grave. Now you need to know how to bury yourself.]
Grrk!!
[Gaaa!!]
Davey couldn’t help but eerily laugh as he watched Shandra Minea scream in surprise at the unimaginable power gap.
[You... You crazy bastard!! Stop! The scales on my neck are getting twisted!]
“I don’t follow orders from those weaker than me!”
As Davey responded back in a solemn tone, Shandra Minea made an astonished face.
[Stop...!! Let’s negotiate! I demand a negotiation!]
“No negotiating!”
Near instantly, Davey twisted his body and wrapped his arms and legs around him. He had performed an armbar on him. Shandra Minea’s body was huge, but Davey’s massive form was bigger after synchronizing with the Spirit King.
“This is called an armbar, you bastard!”
[GAAA!!!]
Shandra Minea screamed desperately.
Davey felt sorry for him, but he really needed the dragon’s power in order to deal with Thanatos. Regardless of whether it was through the Absolute Gem or his awakening into a god beforehand, he needed the power of Red Ribbon, Blue Ribbon, and Super Ribbon to fight Thanatos.
The dwarf’s furnace that had a natural flame that reached three thousand degrees was not enough. The two completed children couldn’t even be crafted at normal temperatures.
Davey knew there was no way that weapons which could easily withstand the White Nova—which burned at tens of thousands of degrees—would react and begin melting at just three thousand degrees of heat.
Shandra Minea, who wielded pure, natural flames, could harness the power of the Spirit King Ifrit and all of his Lavatein to further strengthen Red Ribbon and Blue Ribbon.
"Hey. This flame is still lukewarm. Warm it up a little more. That way you’ll actually be of some use.”
[This... This crazy guy!]
ChubbyCheeks & FriedNook's Thoughts
Editorb’s Thought:
Earth Spirit King Gnoass when he meets Dirt Spirit Queen Gyesboobs: