BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 104 - 103 – the fool

"Finally…"

My feet had barely touched the ground when Monali rushed toward me…

She hugged me tightly.

"My lord…" she whispered.

Her head rested on my shoulder. I couldn't see her face…

But her voice was hoarse.

"Are you crying?" I asked calmly.

"And why wouldn't I cry…? My lord has triumphed over the great invasion… of course I would cry for your safety."

"What a beautiful feeling…"

I whispered, placing my hand over her head, gently patting it.

Unconsciously…

A memory slipped into my mind—the first time we met.

She had been firm… strikingly harsh.

But now…

To me—she was far stronger than that.

Everyone began approaching, one after another.

Joy… filled their eyes.

Even now…

I couldn't comprehend what had happened.

How… did we manage to defeat that number of Lords?

"Incredible… truly incredible," I murmured.

"What?" Monali whispered.

"Nothing." I smiled. "People might start thinking you love me."

She laughed.

She was still clinging to me… almost as if she were collapsed into my arms.

"And what if they think that? Those idiots don't matter," she said with a shy sarcasm, then turned aside.

"Who are the idiots?"

Louis stepped in, cutting the conversation, being the first to arrive… the others followed.

"My lord… are you alright?" Joe asked.

"I'm fine. Your fight was amazing… my body trembled watching you fight. Well done."

Joe smiled.

"Thank you, my lord… but your battle was fiercer. Your power has become terrifying."

"Didn't you see my fight? Or were you watching someone else from afar?" Louis turned toward Monali—as if she meant her.

"Is she… jealous?" I whispered inwardly, smiling without realizing.

"Of course I saw your fight. It was wonderful. How did you analyze your opponent like that? Truly impressive."

I extended my hand toward her.

"Do you want me to pat your head?"

"No."

Everyone burst into laughter.

It was a quiet moment… warm…

Rare.

I lifted my gaze toward the net.

"The time… was it about to end?" I whispered.

What would happen after?

I didn't know…

But with the Lord's death… perhaps everything had ended.

"Can you hear me?" I whispered inwardly.

No one knew more than… the Deception Beast.

I waited.

No response.

"Where did it disappear to…? Is it resting?"

Suddenly—

A cold shiver struck my back.

The air… changed.

The spring that filled the place… began to fade.

"Strange…"

Perhaps those gates altered the nature here… well, a little coldness is fine—

"My lord!!"

Monali suddenly pulled away from me—

And fell.

"Monali?!"

I shouted.

"Ah…!"

"Ahhh—" another scream… her mouth wasn't moving.

"Ahhh!"

I turned— it wasn't Monali.

It was Louis.

Then… Joe.

"Ahhh!"

The screams increased…

Everyone… fell suddenly…

I turned right… left…

The cold… struck my back again…

"What is happening?"

Everyone lay on the ground screaming…

None of them moved… only screams… dark ones…

All my senses… were on high alert.

There was nothing.

No enemy…

No energy…

No trace…

Only—

Screams… and cold.

Then—

Darkness.

Everything vanished.

I could no longer see.

Only… hear.

I activated Flame Art—

Useless.

Then suddenly—

Light returned.

But—

The cold… doubled.

Spring was gone…

Suddenly, without warning.

"My body?!"

I shouted.

It wouldn't respond.

Something… was approaching.

I couldn't see it.

But—

Every cell inside me… was screaming.

"It… it… it…"

A barking sound.

I turned.

"What is that…?"

"Am I imagining this? From where—"

I raised my gaze to the sky.

And froze.

"…!"

My breath stopped.

"What the hell is that…"

Tears streamed uncontrollably.

Even mucus followed down my chin.

"What am I seeing?!" my mind screamed uselessly.

It wasn't a gate… no black thread emerging…

Five…

Five claws… black as night… massive as mountains…

They grabbed the sky…

Then… squeezed it…

Like a cover…

They tore it apart violently… like a blanket…

"What is this madness?!"

"AAAAH!"

My mind lost control…

My body… trembled…

It was as if the South Pole had attacked me in a frozen night…

The claws moved…

They tore the sky…

Then…

They vanished…

Leaving the sky ripped apart…

Then—

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

The barking returned.

"Ja'mous?" I whispered.

"Ja'mous?"

"Where were you?"

"Why… why do I only remember you now?"

I couldn't understand anything…

How many months had passed without seeing Ja'mous?

I had forgotten him… completely?

How did that happen?

Ja'mous leapt from the torn sky… ran toward me.

He was running in the sky…

Barking loudly…

Then… he threw himself at my feet, rubbing against them.

{Ding… Ding… Ding}

{Temporary Ultra-Secret Mission Activated}

{Sacrifice ranks to break control}

{You have five days}

{Ding… Ding… Ding}

{Mission time ended}

"What??"

"What is happening? What is this?"

"Did the excavation mission repeat? But…"

In the sky—

A wave of cold rushed in…

From the torn cracks…

A shadow appeared… distant like eternity…

Then it drew closer…

Closer…

The wind carried the shadowy body…

Until it arrived.

A right foot stepped through the torn void into the space.

A violent sound exploded…

Tens of thousands of creatures I didn't even know existed…

Screamed violently…

The space fell into chaotic noise.

The entity crossed through…

It wasn't a beast…

It wasn't human…

It wasn't anything I knew… or could imagine…

I couldn't define it.

The black aura around it…

Like eternal smoke…

Like the burning fumes from oil wells…

It concealed it completely.

The entity moved forward…

Slow and fast…

Silent and loud…

I don't know.

My mind fell into hell.

It stopped calculating…

Stopped understanding…

My mouth hung open…

Even knowing that—

I couldn't close it.

"Don't…" my mind said.

"You might offend it."

Every particle of my being screamed… begging forgiveness.

For what sin?

Not one…

But for existing in the presence of this being.

It fully entered.

The noise intensified…

It raised its right side…

The black smoke rose…

Then—

In less than a whisper of time—

Darkness consumed the entire right side.

Sound…

Stopped.

It erased it.

Wiped it out.

"Can something like this even exist?!" I screamed inwardly.

It raised its left side…

Darkness fell… silence followed.

I turned back…

Its eyes searched for sound…

The noise…

Was behind me.

"Be quiet!" I screamed painfully.

The entity approached.

I turned again—

Its eyes…

Met mine.

It had no eyes.

It had… a desert.

Was the desert its eyes… or were its eyes the desert?

"Woof! Woof! Woof!"

"Ja'mous?" I turned—

He stood in front of me, barking at the entity.

"Sto—"

"WOOF!"

"AAAAAH!"

"JA'MOOUS!"

Its foot struck him.

The rest…

Disappeared.

It crushed him.

"Ah!" screams erupted nearby…

I turned—

The ten fighters… with thirty stone soldiers…

Lay on the ground screaming…

Blood and tears flowed endlessly.

"Be quiet…" I whispered… barely audible.

The black smoke rose—

"No—"

Silence fell upon them.

"AAAAAH!"

I screamed.

This is a dream… yes, a dream…

Their bodies were torn apart… scattered.

I turned—tears, mucus, blood covered me.

The stone leader screamed loudly… barely looking at his followers' torn bodies.

"No… don't scream…"

The smoke rose again…

It moved slowly… toward the leader.

It surrounded him.

"Noooo!" I barely raised my hand.

Swoosh—

It crushed him.

Tore him into a thousand pieces.

"Why did you do that? Stop… please…"

I screamed—"Please stop!"

The smoke moved toward Suman.

"My lord!" Suman screamed… clutching his head… his eyes filled with blood.

"My lo—"

"Noooo!"

"Please… stop… I'll give you everything!"

My eyes followed the smoke… begging hopelessly.

It kept moving.

"Run, my lord!" Joe shouted—he resisted the pain and stood.

He moved… toward me…

Until the smoke caught him.

"No… Jooo!"

Swoooosh—

"Noooo… what do you want… I'm sorry… please… leave them…"

"My lord…" Louis smiled… barely standing… with everything she had… she smiled… "Damn you—"

"Pleeeease…"

"No… no…"

Ah…

I struggled violently… stood up…

Step… step…

Monali…

Two or three steps away.

Damn it, move… move…

I reached my hand…

She reached hers…

Her eyes were fixed on me…

One tear fell…

Just one.

The smoke surrounded her.

"No… please take me instead… I beg—"

She fell.

In my hand…

Only her hand remained.

"What is this hell…"

"Come on, kill me… kill me, you bastard!"

The smoke stopped… returned to the entity.

It rose again…

Toward the net… surrounded it.

Suddenly—

A timer appeared…

Hours ticking down rapidly…

10 hours…

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

30 minutes…

10 minutes…

1 minute…

It stopped. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Seconds resumed normally.

The smoke left the net…

It accelerated the theft effect…

Then moved toward me again.

"Was this your goal… to steal everything… you bastard… I begged you… I would've given you everything… you killed my people…"

"You bastard…"

I gathered my strength… drew my sword…

I moved.

The smoke moved toward me.

One step from me…

One step from it…

"You bastard… come."

The smoke surrounded me.

My sword vanished.

Aaaah…

A cutting sensation…

Crawling slowly…

Aaaah…

It was cutting me apart…

A dark, horrific pain struck me.

But…

For the first time…

I didn't care.

I won't let it…

I won't let it see my fear.

I opened my eyes.

"Cut me, you piece of trash."

"Ah…"

Don't scream… you pathetic body…

This is death… accept it like a man.

"Hahahaha… come kill—"

.