"Nuclear Cannon!" The old man shouted, releasing the magic that he'd had packed in his gut at me. It was impressively strong, and fast, too. I barely managed to move my body out of the way before it got to where I'd been. For my curiosity's sake, I let it hit my arm, hoping that I could break it down, but my arm exploded upon contact, though it reformed instantly.
As it did, I saw the hope on the old man's face disappear.
"No! Fire-"
"Prison." I used an Art that instantly surrounded the old man in a tornado of white flame, trapping him inside. It'd kill an ordinary person within moments, but I figured that he'd be fine inside there, so long as he didn't actually touch the fire.
"You wanted power and death, huh? Here you go." Suddenly, Folgen was trapped within a barrier, and the temperature of the air around us shot up. Everyone in the entire camp was charbroiled, save for Folgen and the old man. Only once they were all dead did the temperature return to normal, the barrier around Folgen dropping, as the fire tornado faltered, leaving us alone, just the three of us.
"Now, I would like to know the factors involved in skill awakening. You will help me with that, as you die." I said, raising my hand.
…
I scowled. No matter how much I'd tortured Folgen and Razen, neither had been able to gain a single new skill from simple stress, unlike Kyoya. I'd been able to absorb Folgen's Spearhead into Champion's Dominion, increasing my control over the souls of those who subordinate themselves to me, but that was it.
At least they weren't going to hurt anyone else, though. Big Bro could take the rest of the Farmus army by himself, if he felt like it. That meant that I only had one last thing to do.
Check on Izzy and Sol at the Initiative.
…
(Shuna POV)
"My god. Did the barrier around the city just…?"
"It definitely shuddered." Benimaru agreed, "I hope Lord Rimuru and Lady Risa are safe."
"I have a feeling that they are." I replied.
…
"What happened to Izzy?"
"I-" A choking noise stopped the woman from answering.
"How could someone manage to defeat him and Sol together?"
"I swear my loyalty to you… Riisaa… for the rest of my daays…" Immediately, I had complete access to Althea's soul, courtesy of the Pact that she'd just put into place resonating with my Champion's Dominion.
Letting go of the dragon lord's neck, I poured over her soul, the information of what'd happened over the last few hours flowing into my brain as if it'd always been there. "I'm sorry. Thank you for protecting the Initiative, Althea."
Althea dropped to a knee as I lost my ability to hold my human form. I could vaguely sense her using her own aura to contain mine as it raged, since any charm I made based on Big Bro's mask would've been useless with my strength. "No apology necessary, my lady. This tragedy…" She trailed off. Words couldn't describe my feelings here. Izzy and Sol were part of me, and now they were…
They were part of me.
As I poured through Althea's soul top to bottom for the fifth time, I finally found it. It was hidden in the deepest recesses of her Unique Skill, Honor.
Before becoming named, Althea's Honor was the lower-tiered Pact skill. Now, Pact was a sub-skill inside the greater skill, which was multiple times more powerful.
But all of the Pacts that Althea had placed into effect before the skill evolved were still in effect.
The one that she'd just renewed, the pact to serve me for the rest of her days, was one of them. The other pacts were to follow the orders of her father, the Dragon Lord (who had ordered her to follow me, after her loss), to protect her home, wherever it may be, and to defend her allies to the best of her ability.
As I looked over her soul, I noticed a few things.
First thing, my Demon Lord seed was 80% fed somehow. Apparently, upon her subordinating herself to me in her entirety, I'd gained all of the energy contained in every soul that she'd gathered by killing, since her naming.
That was only one person, but apparently he had more energy than anyone I'd ever encountered before. It didn't matter to me, though.
At first.
Then, I saw it. For some reason, something inside of one of Althea's pacts was resonating in the same way as my own soul. In other words, my soul was somehow part of Althea. It felt like the two had given their souls to Althea for her naming, but as they were beginning to graft themselves, Althea's open Pact interrupted it, trying to preserve them somehow, but partially failing.
Some parts of Izzy and Sol were still alive inside Althea, preserved by her Pact. I could use Champion's Dominion to pull them out and put them back where they belong. I could put Izzy back into my head, and Sol back into the Solslicer.
But I paused.
I could pull every little bit of Izzy and Sol that I could find right out of Althea… but a large portion of each of their souls had combined almost seamlessly with Althea. If I pulled it all out right now, I'd have about 75% of a Sol, and 60% of an Izzy. I'd be forced to recreate most of Sol's astral body from scratch, and Izzy would lose a good portion of his memories and personality, if he even survived it at all, because he didn't have an astral body to protect the core of his soul.
It could even lose stability and instantly vanish.
'Big Bro… what do I do?' I didn't know… I didn't know… I just… wanted my friends back.
But just as I began succumbing to despair, Big Bro's skill, Wise One, replied to me. 'Report. If you fully awaken your Demon Lord Seed, gifts will be given to all who share your bloodline. Their skills will evolve, according to their abilities and your will.'
"How do I do that?!" I shouted at the sky, "I need two thousand more deaths, maybe more, and if I take out even a portion of that army coming our way, then Rimuru's chance of awakening…"
'Drops by 85%. Ninety or more, depending on the number and quality of the souls you take.' Big Bro's skill finished for me, in my mind. The Farmus army was large. Composed of more than 20,000 men, twice what was technically necessary to awaken a True Demon Lord, according to Big Bro's calculations.
But unfortunately, if the Farmus soldiers that I'd killed were a baseline, then they were weak as dirt. 20,000 souls with that average would only barely awaken a True Demon Lord.
"So, what do I do?"
'Risa.' This time, it wasn't Big Bro's skill replying to me. It was Big Bro himself, 'I believe in you.'
"...Okay, Big Bro. Then… what if I do this?"
'Notice. Cannot calculate or comprehend. It is believed that chances are low, but not all variables can be accounted for.' Thank you, Wise One. You used the word 'chances.'
So there's a chance.