"Lyra, in the shadow of victim, I command you. Kill yourself."
The red glow etched itself across Kai's eyes, and fear crept across Lyra's face like frost spreading over glass.
She stood frozen, her mind scrambling to make sense of what she'd just heard.
Why would her lord suddenly issue such an order? The confusion deepened when she realized her body was no longer hers to control—it moved with a will that wasn't her own, jerking forward in mechanical obedience.
Her hand rose slowly, lifting toward the side of her head. A single concentrated burst of mana would be enough to kill her instantly. The knowledge sat heavy in her chest, suffocating.
"My lord?" she called out, her voice cracking with desperation.
The confusion twisted tighter with every passing second. She could feel it building—if this continued, she really would die. Her body continued its slow, inexorable movement, and panic clawed at the edges of her control.
"P-please forgive me. I should have never harbored any doubts about you," Lyra forced out, her jaw clenched so hard it ached. Her eyes burned with the strain of resisting, though her body refused to obey her will.
She understood now—Kai must have known about those fleeting moments when she'd questioned him. The times she'd wondered if he was truly strong enough to lead, if he needed her power more than she needed his authority.
"I considered you weak, and thought you needed my strength to thrive. Please forgive my arrogance. It will never happen again."
Kai kept his face perfectly straight, not uttering a single word in response to her desperate confession. Inside, though, relief washed through him like a warm tide.
'So I was right. Damn, that kind of hurts.'
He'd known this would come eventually if he just sat on his throne without asserting dominance, but he hadn't expected it to happen this soon. The realization stung more than he wanted to admit.
'Having someone as strong as her think like that could come back to bite me later,' he thought, watching her struggle. 'But this works even better. Because she's so strong, and because she's aware of that fact, this action will cut deeper than any punishment I could inflict.'
"My lord!!!"
Lyra suddenly screamed, the fear on her face now raw and unmistakable. She could feel the mana coalescing, building up in concentrated streams that flowed down her arm toward her wrist. The energy hummed beneath her skin, ready to detonate.
Throughout the entire ordeal, she kept her eyes locked on Kai.
He simply sat there on his throne, silent and unmoving, his expression betraying nothing. The first thought that struck her was how quickly she would die if the mana fired—how easily Kai could make that happen with just a few words.
The second thought, sharper and more painful, was that he was probably disappointed in her for having such treacherous thoughts in the first place. And that alone, she decided, was reason enough to justify her death.
Lyra, what a terrible summon you are.
Though the fear still twisted her features, she stopped fighting against the command. She let her resistance crumble, accepting what was about to happen with a strange, hollow calm.
Boom!
It happened in the blink of an eye.
A massive surge of mana erupted from Lyra's fingertip and made direct contact with the side of her head. The blast was devastating. Her entire upper body exploded in a shower of blood, bone, and viscera that sprayed across the chamber floor.
All that remained were her legs, still kneeling in the rapidly spreading pool of crimson, steam rising from the scorched flesh.
[Notice: Your summon Lyra is dead.]
"Hmm…"
Kai shifted his seating position, leaning back slightly in his throne. His eyes remained fixed on the gruesome scene before him—the scattered remains, the pool of blood slowly creeping across the stone floor.
'That's crazy,' he thought, a detached fascination settling over him. The game's commitment to graphic realism was honestly impressive.
They hadn't held back on anything when it came to depicting violence.
Then the other thoughts filtered in, more analytical and calculating.
'I'm genuinely shocked she wasn't able to resist my orders.'
From what he remembered about the system, Blessing-ranked skills were considered higher tier than Enhanced skills, second only to Authority-ranked abilities. Basically, it made sense that his command would function as a meta skill, one that bypassed normal resistance entirely.
A smug smile crept across Kai's face.
'This is good. I have nothing to worry about now.'
With the same breath, he rose to his feet.
"Now then, let's get this over with. It's getting sickening staring at someone's body parts."
He took several measured steps forward, stopping just short of the gore. The metallic scent of blood hung thick in the air, clinging to everything.
[Notice: You have activated the option to bring your summons back to life.]
[Please note that the price for bringing your summon back to life is the same as the number of epitaphs used to pull for said summon. Also, only summons who died in service to you can be brought back to the living.]
Kai seemed pleased with what he was reading. As a matter of fact, he'd already discovered this option a while back, which was the only reason he'd carried out this plan without batting an eye.
He'd known from the start that death wouldn't be permanent—not for summons, at least.
All he'd needed from Lyra was for her to understand her place in his dungeon.
For her to feel true, bone-deep fear of him, mixed with the respect she'd already possessed upon being summoned. Fear and respect together would forge unbreakable loyalty.
He stretched his hand forward, fingers splayed over the carnage.
[Total EXP: 27,000]
[10,000 EXP has been deducted.]
[Congratulations, the summon Lyra, the Abyssal Empress, has been brought back to the living.]
Before his very eyes, Kai watched as Lyra's scattered body parts began to reassemble themselves. Fragments of bone, flesh, and sinew lifted from the floor, drawn together by invisible threads of magic.
A brilliant golden light suffused the scene, bathing everything in its otherworldly glow. The blood reversed its flow, streaming back into reforming veins, while her skull reconstructed itself piece by piece.
If he didn't know better, Kai would have sworn he was watching some high-budget fantasy film. The spectacle was mesmerizing in its grotesque beauty.
Moments later, Lyra knelt before him fully restored. Every injury, every scar she should have carried—none of it remained. Her body was perfect, unmarred, as if the explosion had never happened.
But she carried something else now.
The memory of Kai ordering her to kill herself burned in her mind like a brand.
She remembered how obediently her body had followed his command, how utterly powerless she'd been to refuse him. That memory would never fade.
The fear was still there, carved deep into her psyche like words etched in stone. But it was tempered now by a profound, agonizing realization that settled over her like a shroud. She wasn't just a summon—she was his property. Her will, her strength, her pride—all of it was an illusion when placed against his absolute authority.
"M-my lord," she managed, her voice barely more than a fragile whisper.
Her head was bowed so low that her long, silver hair fell forward, obscuring her face completely. The memory of that red glow in his eyes—the manifestation of Shadow of Victim's command—was still vivid and sharp, a cold spike driven straight through her heart.
She had been proud once. Arrogant, even, in her strength. As the Abyssal Empress, she'd commanded vast reservoirs of power, toppled kingdoms, and bent reality to her will. She'd considered herself an ally, a powerful subordinate—perhaps even indispensable. But in the span of a single heartbeat, Kai had demonstrated that her entire existence was conditional on his whims. That her power meant absolutely nothing if it ever opposed him.
Kai watched her kneel there, his expression unreadable. He'd spent 10,000 experience points—a significant cost by any measure—but he considered it an investment. An investment in absolute, unshakeable loyalty.
"Do you understand now, Lyra?" Kai asked, his voice calm and almost detached.
The calmness was somehow more terrifying than any screaming or rage could have been. It implied a casual, effortless dominance—the kind that didn't need anger to assert itself.
"Yes, my lord," she replied instantly, the words catching in her throat like broken glass.
She swallowed hard, forcing herself to continue. "My arrogance... it got the better of me. It won't happen again."
She lifted her head slightly, just enough for him to see her eyes. Genuine anguish and raw terror stared back at him, unfiltered and vulnerable.
"My life, my existence—it's yours to command. I will never question you again. I swear it on everything I am."
Kai smirked, satisfaction warming his chest.