Building My SSS-Rank Universal Empire: From Trash to Cosmic Overlord-Chapter 96: Black like midnight

She opened her mouth to speak, but a tentacle covered her mouth tightly around her head like a band. Her hands were already bound together with Tiber’s body.

She struggled, but it was futile. Tiber chuckled. "Be careful. I don’t want you to get hurt, you know, you still have to pass my message. I must say, this current nightmare form of mine is very useful."

"Easy to shrug off attacks, but I did not expect your follow-up attacks at all. I lost two of my tentacles in that!" Tiber said.

With that said, Tiber fell silent and got to work. Since her mind was already weakened, it wasn’t too difficult to force her to sleep and enter her mind. He worked quickly before the others came, then released her and slipped into the forest.

Lysa shuddered and opened her eyes. They were black like midnight, but soon they cleared. She frowned and looked around. "I finally killed him in that attack, but I destroyed this place a bit."

Soon, others ran into the newly created clearing and asked her what happened. She lifted her chin and told them just how she stopped an assassin from getting inside, but too bad her power was too great and destroyed their body.

Still, she ordered heightened security before turning toward their hideout. Her eyes lit up. "That’s right, I have something important to discuss with him. He’s going to be glad for this knowledge!"

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It took time, but Tiber finally made his way to another hideout. It was far smaller than the Blackened Blade’s, more like a cave set into a mountain, a small outlaw group gathered almost too close to the Blackened Blade’s hideout, likely because they were trying to join them. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

A lone guard stood in front of the entrance, leaning against the wall.

"So, they don’t really think anyone could attack them." Tiber seemed to crawl on the ground as he flew very low, like a carpet of dark flesh.

He got close to the guard without him noticing, and one of his tentacles shot forward, wrapping around the man’s throat. One of his mouths opened, expanded, and tore through the man’s neck.

Warm blood splattered down as the man’s head fell with a thud, the body following.

Tiber sighed, the bloody teeth grinning. "Time to take care of the rest, then."

He slithered under the door and into the building. Then he rose up, holding his form steady in his mind as he looked around. It was a shabby room, stuffy with the smell of unwashed bodies. The sound of snoring came from the figures draped in various positions around the room.

Tiber wavered in his own version of shaking his head and thought, ’What a sorry lot of outlaws. No wonder they want to join the Blackened Blade, but they are the perfect scapegoat to use as a message. The Blackened Blade must take us seriously’

Since they were already asleep, and he couldn’t pull that number of people into sleep with his current power, he just made them sleep a little better, more deeply.

A pulse of shadowy light rippled out from him, moving with serenity and affecting all the outlaws. First, he pulled them into a collective dream and then began twisting it into the story he wanted.

All this was made possible because they were already asleep, their minds unguarded. Otherwise, there was no way he could manipulate up to forty dreams like this. Also, they weren’t remarkable Knights.

He waited in silence, his form like a hanging cloth floating in the dark. He wove stories into their dreams, which went like this: ’The Blackened Blade has accepted your invitation to join, but first, you must test your fighting strength. No magic allowed, you can only fight with wooden weapons. Now go!’

As if pulled by invisible strings, the outlaws began to stand up one by one, muttering and murmuring in their sleep, making small excited noises.

Tiber began to add emotions into their collective dream. Although they were outlaws, they still cared for each other in some ways.

He added more urgency to the story: ’This is your chance to join the bigger outlaw group. If you don’t, you’ll either be killed by the teams or other outlaws. Prove yourselves!’

And they did. Hands reached for weapons as they turned on one another. Their leader, a man twice the size of an average person, raised his battle axe with a yell that Tiber thought might actually wake them. He cut two outlaws down with a single blow.

Bones crunched, blood splattered, and bodies hit the floor with sickening thuds. The other outlaws smiled and turned to their leader, dreaming of ganging up on him together.

Tiber stood there, his numerous eyes dark as he watched the team slaughter each other. They killed and reveled in the violence, eager to display their strength.

The room soon filled with the metallic scent of blood and too many spilled guts.

Silently, Tiber returned to his human shape and stood in the pool of blood, his face dark and heavy, his head bowed. He felt both disgust and a sense of pride.

’I did this without even involving myself. When I became a Knight, I didn’t know I had the power to make these kinds of decisions. They died happy—at least that counts for something, right?’

Still, his heart felt heavy. He hardened his expression and steeled his resolve. ’I knew this would happen from the day I pledged myself to the man who swore to be Emperor. And this is only the beginning’

In the end, only the leader remained standing, blood covering him. His right arm had been ripped open from the elbow down to his fingers.

Tiber forced himself to remain cold and sharp. He spoke softly, "If I let him regain his sanity, I wonder what kind of nightmare I might be able to harvest later."

He took a step forward, his foot slick with blood, then stopped. "No, that’s not right. I’ll just kill him."

He picked up a blade from the ground and walked toward the man.