----


    "If I ept...can you guarantee you''ll be able to give me the chance to avenge my family? If you can...then—I won''t hesitate to fulfill whatever it is you need me to do," ia stated, her resolute gaze looking into Apollo''s eyes.??


    "No," Apollo replied in a straightforward manner. While confident in himself, he didn''t have a clear grasp of the highest powers of this world. Thus, making an assumption at this point would be baseless. It was much better to leave a matter such as this for the future.


    "H-huh? Then why would I form a contract with you?" ia''s face contorted in rage. She was unable to find the meaning behind their conversation. In her eyes, it was much better if Apollo had just left her be. However, if so, how would Apollo be able to take advantage of her ardent hatred?


    "I am not finished," Apollo spoke unhurriedly. With a short pause, he continued, "I can''t guarantee that at this moment in time, but the future is an untold thing. Not only will the opportunity have a chance at presenting itself, but I should be able to give you the power needed to enact revenge on your own. Granted, for that to happen, you must take my deal."


    After hearing Apollo''s words, her protests died down, "In the future, you say. How far into the future will this be?"


    "Undetermined, but I can promise that this chance will present itself. So tell me, do you ept or not?"


    Before answering, ia looked past Apollo and gazed upon the rest of his party in the background. Compared to Apollo, she didn''t sense the feeling nor the smell he emanated. Because of this, she came to the conclusion this youth before her eyes weren''t like the rest.


    "I''ll ept but how will we form a contract? I was never taught the way nor do I understand how to go about performing the ritual," ia muttered, slowly rising to her feet.


    "I''ll handle that part," Apollo stated before forming a small Hellfire knife on his left index finger. With a focused expression, he recalled the shape of therge circle used to form a contract with Ouroboros and replicated something simr on his palm.


    After it was done, he raised his palm, cing it before ia''s forehead. Surprisingly, his arbitrary actions worked, except, an anguish-filled expression crept upon ia''s countenance.


    "W....w-what''s wrong? What is this? It hurts so bad!" ia shrieked. On top of the pain triggering her pupils to constrict, her body trembled uncontrobly. Unlike before, he was using a Demonic Method on a being that wasn''t ssified as a Demon.


    Hence, the process proceeded forth on a tangent. Two things that didn''t happen with Ouroboros took ce. On one hand, Apollo and ia forcefully interchanged a piece of their souls unknowingly. As a result, the system alerted Apollo of a change in his ability.


    ?System Alert! Due to the absorption of a foreign soul fragment, you have awakened the traits ?Mental Resistance? and ?Tainted Temple: Dark Mind??


    ''Hoh? Mental Resistance and it seems an ability of the Tainted Temple has awakened. I wasn''t expecting something like this to happen. Does this mean I can use the souls of non-Demonic beings to fuel my growth? If so, then why don''t I capitalize on this matter.''


    Now that he came to this assumption, he wanted to test if this was true. If it was, he would have found a way to elerate the growth of his Tainted Temple. After all, as he was now, his growth had decelerated. Without the sustenance of pure Demonic Anima, he was unable to break past the threshold of Lv.100.


    Not to mention, the more he thought about it, the more he felt his spection could be correct.Just like the Spirits, there seemed to be some sort of restraint ced on him. As far as this matter went, he was unsure if it was him or the system being restrained. Nevertheless, this was an answer he wouldn''te across for a long while.


    On the other hand, Apollo witnessed a brand only visible to him appear on ia''s forehead. It was simr to a ck diamond outline filled with a reversed crimson question mark symbol inside. Only once the symbol settled did the pain ia experienced settle down.


    However, within her eyes was a foreign shade of loyalty.


    ?System Alert! Your new Soul Servant ia''s contract has been sealed. She can now take ce inside your Tainted Temple. Furthermore, a mental channel unique to this type of follower has been established.?


    Upon reading the message before his eyes, Apollo nced at ia and spoke using his mind, ''Can you hear me?''


    ''Ahh! Too loud, turn it down!'' ia''s eyes showed immense amounts of pain as she clutched her head. Apparently, it would take a while for her to limate to whatever change she just experienced. But, one thing remained clear, by no means was this new master a human.


    Now that she was in a sense connected to his Tainted Temple, the aura she felting from it disturbed her. In fact, just focusing on it seemed to fill her with unbridled rage. Obviously, this was due to the traces of Ira Apollo tried to engrave on his temple.


    Despite it not beingplete, it was still more potent than the average Soul Temple.


    Although it was a foreign feeling, because Apollo created his first Soul Servant, he was guided by the system. In addition to detailing how to absorb her into his Tainted Temple, it also alerted him of another ability.


    As he turned around, his eyes shimmered with a murky light. When his party looked at his eyes, they once again felt the sensation of falling into an illusion. Except, in this case, the environment they were pulled into was influenced by the state of Apollo''s being.


    In other words, it was dreadful. Nheless, he soon canceled this illusion with a pleased expression, ''What a neat ability. It''s a shame the capacity of my Tainted Temple has already been reached with the appearance of ia. However, something tells me I can still summon one more thing.''


    "Ahem, we need to move now! Our points have taken a nosedive and I''m not just talking about our team points. It seems we were stuck in that beast''s illusion longer than I presumed," Apollo frowned, once again disconcerted with the actions of ia. Then again, if he was in her shoes, he understood where she wasing from.


    But, just because he understood this matter, didn''t mean he found it to be eptable. When the chance presented itself, he would undoubtedly make her face the consequences.


    "Wait...where did that beast go? Did you just form a contract with it? Does that mean you''re a Spirit Cultivator?" Nadida gawked. What''s more, the others carried the same expression. Even though he didn''t voice it, the actions he performed verified this im.


    In response, Apollo shrugged. Due to them falling so far behind, he didn''t spare them the chance to pry deeper into this matter, "Either keep up or I will leave you," Apollo uttered before storming off into the distance.


    Unlike before, he was now utilizing the Partial Shade Silhouette to elerate. As such, before they could protest, he had already appeared nearly 25 meters away from their initial position. With that kind of speed, it wouldn''t take long for them to lose sight of his silhouette.


    Therefore, left with no other choice, the rest of the part bit their tongue and dashed into the distance. Appallingly, as they advanced, fresh bodies littered their path. At first, with the speed Apollo was traveling, they believed he would bypass any enemies that presented themselves.


    Naturally, this turned out to be a false assumption. On top of killing them, he did it so fast the beasts'' expressions were filled with shock upon death. Unbeknownst to them, while moving forward, he was also familiarizing himself with the new Dark Mind ability.


    In his case, he didn''t possess the weakness ia did. He wasn''t limited by a frail body. All he needed was for the illusion to immobilize his opponent for a moment. In that small time frame, he delivered vicious strikes aimed solely at their most crucial vital areas.


    Obviously, the ensuing scene was the frozen Dark Beast falling in one swift manner. Equally important, due to him having absorbed ia''s wrath, he was overflowing with power that needed to be dispelled.


    ''It seems the stigmata is finally calming down. That abrupt source of energy nearly pushed it to the limit. I''ll have to be careful and monitor how much Wrath I absorb. I should only do so when it''s bottoming out,'' Apollo thought, retracting his arms from the chest cavity of another Frenzied Twilight Wolf.


    Amid his actions, something attracted his gaze. ''I sense people.''