The towering jet-black waterfalls kept flinging droplets down from the sky, gradually dyeing the entire land black.
The surging black liquid flowed along the lines of the magic array, slowly spreading outward in all directions from the formation.
The demi-humans sensed the sky growing dim and couldn't help but raise their heads to look up.
That enormous eye seemed capable of seeing through everything.
Void-like star points revolved, drifting toward endless pitch-black darkness.
A long, heavy voice drifted down slowly from deep within the darkness of the pupil, as if mixed with faint, rough breathing.
That mysterious voice was like a carving knife, constantly influencing their minds.
"Ha... bi... ka..."
Jet-black tentacles whipped wildly through the sky, following the reverse-flowing waterfalls as they began to approach the ground.
Because they were the same color, they could only be identified by their vague outlines.
The mysterious black tentacles climbed onto the demi-humans' bodies, wrapping them completely from hands to feet.
No one was able to resist those strange creations.
They were swallowed entirely by darkness, unable to see each other clearly.
They could only let the tentacles begin to erode their bodies.
Wrapped in darkness, they felt as if their bodies were being peeled apart layer by layer, their souls left with nowhere to hide beneath that gaze.
Their limbs grew weak, increasingly limp.
It felt as though some kind of mysterious brand had been stamped onto their bodies, a scorching sensation spreading out from their hearts.
The tentacles gradually withdrew from their bodies, and uncontrollably, their bodies fell flat against the ground.
That posture looked as if they were worshipping something in the sky.
The extremely dark, gigantic vertical eye slowly scanned its surroundings, then tightly contracted its pupil.
No one knew how much time passed before that power surged like a tide from the blackness beneath their feet, drilling in through their soles and palms, gradually feeding back into their limbs.
They felt control return to their bodies and slowly raised their heads.
The huge, mysterious eye in the sky had vanished at some point.
In its place hung a bright full moon, high above.
Pure moonlight pierced through the dark clouds, spilling onto the gloomy ground and illuminating their blank faces.
They finally snapped back to their senses, their awareness returning to reality.
They raised their heads and slowly looked forward.
Viktor stood before them.
That terrifying, twisted crow was still perched on his shoulder.
As if nothing at all had happened.
Yet the scenes they had experienced earlier were deeply engraved in their minds.
Just recalling them was enough to make their bodies shudder with cold.
As if those black tentacles were once again stroking their bodies all over.
"Now, respond to me."
The cold, detached voice belonging to the man before them rang in every demi-human's ears.
Looking at the indifferent Viktor, they couldn't help but tremble.
Awe surged up from deep within their hearts and spread through their entire bodies.
Several catgirls shifted their bodies slightly.
Clack!
The sound of armor rubbing echoed from their bodies.
Instinctively raising their arms, the red sword blades, seemingly still warm, were already in their hands without them realizing when.
A startling strength slowly flowed from their forearms, supporting them.
The demi-humans fell silent.
They looked at their companions around them, almost all wearing the same armor and holding the same weapons.
Finally, they looked toward Viktor and made their response.
One catgirl knelt on one knee before Viktor.
Immediately after, the remaining shadow guards followed her, bowing their bodies in unison.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The demi-humans uniformly knelt on one knee before Viktor, one hand placed on their chest, the other held behind their bodies.
This was a vow of loyalty belonging solely to them.
Viktor smiled in satisfaction.
Under the moonlight, his shadow stretched long, very long.
That jet-black, mysterious shadow seemed to curl the corners of its mouth, appearing incredibly eerie and enigmatic.
———
"How did you actually do it?"
After the conversion ritual ended, Liya sought out Viktor, full of confusion, and asked the question in her heart.
Liya hadn't been among the targets of the ritual, so she didn't know what the demi-humans had gone through.
At this moment, Viktor stood at the center of the training ground.
No one else was around him.
The estate couldn't temporarily accommodate so many demi-humans, so Leon had led those who had submitted to other residences for the time being.
Once the new courtyard was completed, a place capable of housing many demi-humans would be built.
When she learned that Viktor wanted her to summon a group of demi-humans, even Liya herself hadn't believed it.
Viktor actually intended to form his own private guard using demi-humans.
Counts were allowed to recruit private soldiers to reasonably protect their territories. For most counts, this meant cultivating some knights.
That was the origin of family knights.
Mage corps like Duke Levi's were relatively rare, since they required a large number of mages to form.
At first, Liya had thought Viktor would recruit some mages and form his own mage corps.
But Viktor hadn't done that.
Instead, he chose a group of demi-humans that were difficult to discipline.
Although demi-humans resembled humans, they were full of wildness.
This was also one of the main reasons humans couldn't treat them as normal people.
Even after training, most of that wildness wouldn't be suppressed.
Keeping that wildness actually made group actions easier for social demi-humans.
As a result, demi-humans lacked discipline and were hard to manage.
Basically, they only listened to Liya's commands.
After all, demi-humans understood gratitude better than humans.
Liya had thought Viktor would need to spend a long time to fully tame these demi-humans.
But unexpectedly…
In just one night, they had all sworn loyalty to Viktor.
Liya was extremely curious about what Viktor had done.
Viktor merely explained calmly, "Charisma."
"???"
Liya glanced at Viktor with disdain and snapped sarcastically, "You're qualified to use that word?"
In Liya's eyes, Viktor's labels were at most, handsome, knows magic, and very strong, those were the only points he scored.
As for her later change in attitude toward him, that was because Viktor had gradually started to seem like an actual person.
Though he did look quite outstanding now.
Fine, she had to admit it, Viktor was pretty good now.
At least she didn't dislike him.
But demi-humans weren't creatures that would submit just because of things like that.
Viktor glanced at her and continued, "Beasts have a sense of competition among themselves."
"If their strength is equal, or the gap is small, they'll fight each other."
"But if there's an obvious and overwhelming gap in strength…"
"Like this."
As his words fell, Viktor raised one hand.
Around his wrist, a red glow slowly began to emerge from his palm.
Two flames burst forth instantly.
Crimson flames danced continuously in the air.
One clump flickered for a moment, transforming into a vicious dog, its entire body blazing with orange-yellow flames.
The vicious dog fiercely barked at the other flame.
But then, the other, more primitive flame spread outward like veins branching through a body.
Crimson patterns gradually formed an extremely robust tiger.
That terrifying tiger simply stood there, head held high, arrogantly looking at the vicious dog before it, without even letting out a breath.
The flame-wreathed dog tucked its tail, lowered its head, and lay flat on the ground, not daring to move at all.
Watching the tiger and the dog, Liya immediately understood a bit and said, "So you're comparing yourself to the tiger."
"No."
Viktor said calmly.
"Not just that."
Suddenly, the vicious dog was infused with magic power, and its flames burned even more fiercely.
Its body gradually grew larger, until even stacking two tigers together couldn't reach its height.
The flames burned with rage.
Everything around seemed to be completely illuminated, and the temperature began to rise sharply.
Liya felt the intense heat around her, even finding it difficult to breathe.
Squinting her eyes, she saw two vicious heads grow from the shoulders of the flame hound.
Flaming light dripped from the abyssal maws, scorching the ground beneath until it cracked.
Flames surged upward from within, as if expressing boundless fury.
The soaring firelight lit up the night, even making the moon dim and pale.
Seeing the hound transform into this form, the tiger lowered its head in fear, its tail no longer moving.
Yet perhaps out of the dignity of the king of the forest, it still let out a couple of low growls toward the three-headed dog.
The flame-covered three-headed hound merely glanced at it.
In an instant, it turned into endless, raging flames, completely swallowing the tiger.
And in doing so, it grew even stronger.
The flames flourished, burning violently.
The three-headed hound opened its three massive jaws and let out a furious howl toward the sky.
"Awooo!!!"
The piercing roar, accompanied by searing heat, echoed throughout the entire estate.
Liya stared blankly at the flaming three-headed hound.
"Th-this… what kind of creature is that?"
"The hound of hell, Cerberus."
With a casual wave of his hand, Viktor let the flames gradually dissipate.
Only red-black sparks remained, slowly fading away in the air.
He turned around and lightly patted Liya on the shoulder.
"If there's a chance, I'll get you a real one."
"?"
Liya stood there in a daze, completely confused, staring at Viktor's retreating back as he slowly walked toward the residence.
———
Just as dawn was breaking, the Delin estate began operating like a machine.
Gwen stood in the training ground, holding a longsword and preparing to train.
But she felt unable to muster any energy.
As if her mind wasn't in it.
Ever since returning from the northern lands and being summoned by Emperor Aubrey, she had been stuck in this inexplicable state of restlessness.
Even gripping the longsword in her hand felt unsteady.
Perhaps it was because lately she felt her strength had reached a bottleneck.
Movements she had practiced countless times now showed many mistakes.
"…Viktor."
She tightened her grip on the sword and looked at the open ground ahead.
This morning, Viktor still hadn't come.
It had been a long time since Viktor last came to spar with her.
She could understand, after all, the Clavenna household hadn't been very peaceful recently.
She closed her eyes, trying hard to recall the feeling of sparring with Viktor.
Only at those times did she feel that every muscle in her body was being fully mobilized.
As Gwen continued her sword training, a maid hurried over to her.
Lowering her head, she spoke with extreme respect, "Head of the house."
Ever since Gwen inherited her father's title, the servants around her had changed how they addressed her.
Although she had emphasized that they could just address her as before, the servants felt that only the title "Head of the House" could emphasize her status.
Could make her remember at all times, she was no longer an ordinary knight.
Now, she was Gwen Delin, Countess.
A knight-countess who controlled vast northern territories.
She stopped swinging her sword, wiped the sweat from her brow, and turned to look at the maid.
The maid kept her head lowered and respectfully presented a letter with both hands.
Gwen looked puzzled, but the maid explained, "This is an invitation from the Clavenna family."
"Count Viktor hopes to dine with you this evening."