《Greed》 Chapter 1: Execution I¡¯ve learned a few lessons over the course of my life. The first is that love doesn¡¯t exist. The second is that there is only one true emotion in the human repertoire: Greed. People always told me that there were things money couldn¡¯t buy; those people were wrong. I¡¯ve been told that you can¡¯t put a price on a human life, but, as my parents proved long ago, you can. The only thing that matters in life is power. It doesn¡¯t matter if that power is from monetary assets, connections, or political weight. In the poorer areas of the world sometimes power is as simple as a having a gun in your hands. I¡¯ve spent my entire life clawing for more power, and I guess that¡¯s how I ended up here. ¡®Where is here?¡¯ You may ask¡­ Death Row. I¡¯m slated to be executed by lethal injection today. My name is Aria Smith, and I¡¯m the founder and CEO of Full Neural Connection Incorporated. That¡¯s right. I own the company that developed the world¡¯s first fully immersive 100% sensory connected Virtual Reality Console¡­ And I¡¯m also responsible for the 300,000 deaths caused by it. I full well knew the risk of addiction to virtual worlds when I pushed the product past testing phase. I simply underestimated how powerful the stimulation would be. When I first heard that over 100,000 people had died after merely two weeks on the open market, my first thoughts were over how much profit we¡¯d lose from their subscriptions terminating. Then I worried about what potential lawsuits would be coming our way. I never once bothered thinking they¡¯d go so far as to prosecute me criminally. Of course I realized, after it was too late, that the criminal prosecution and all the fault being laid on my shoulders was due to a plot from the second largest shareholder Justin Whynequest. I always took him for a cuckolded bastard, but even he had ambition in the end. I could only admit my defeat. In the end, those deaths were my fault. I don¡¯t see why I couldn¡¯t just pay reparations, though. The whole concept behind trying me for genocide felt a bit absurd. Apparently I¡¯m one of the most hated people in the world now. I couldn¡¯t even be placed in a regular prison section because I¡¯d be murdered in seconds. The women were drawing lots to see who got to shiv me first, it seems. My execution was going to be the first public showing of capital punishment in the last 200 years. It was going to be televised. I suppose the entire world wanted to watch me break down and cry. It¡¯s a shame, but I won''t give them anything of that sort. Right now, the only power I have is over my own actions. To grovel, cry, or to beg would tarnish my reputation. In my last moments, I will give the world a laugh befitting the Auger of Souls. I want the name Aria to become more tainted than Hitler. This will be the last power I can ever hold. The power to damn this world that spawned me. The power to revel in the sin of man. The guard, fully armed, approached my door. The look in his eyes was incredible. He was smiling. If I wasn¡¯t fully restrained, I¡¯d have tried to gouge his eyes out with my fingernails. I was walked through the prison. I heard the other inmates screaming profanities at me as I passed. I didn¡¯t flinch, even as they flung bodily fluids through the bars of their cells. I stood firm, ignoring it. It didn¡¯t matter how barbaric those bitches acted, I wasn¡¯t going to give them what they wanted. ¡°I¡¯ve heard they¡¯re using a slow poison for you, Aria,¡± said the guard with a bit of a smile. He didn¡¯t seem to mind that unmentionables aimed at me were landing on him as well. Though, to be fair, he was wearing a full on modern hazmat suit. ¡°They want you to suffer as much as possible in your last moments, to show the world that even demons like you feel pain.¡± Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Good,¡± I replied without any intonation, ¡°I look forward to giving a show.¡± I was escorted into a small room where a camera crew was set up. In the center of the room was a chair with several leather belt-straps and a tray with needles lined up alongside it. A priest and a man wearing doctor robes were standing beside it. The guard walked me to the chair and I sat down of my own accord. He quickly strapped my arms, legs, and head down tightly. ¡°Could you loosen the legs a bit, Paul,¡± I asked. In reply he pulled the strap tighter. I couldn¡¯t hold back my smirk before replying, ¡°Thank you.¡± The priest came over and began reading my last rites or some shit. I hadn¡¯t believed in God since my third birthday, so I simply drowned his words out. Instead I was focused on the camera and the uptight woman talking into a microphone in front of it. Once the priest finished the doctor began preparing the needles and some sanitary pads. The reporter walked to the chair and held the microphone next to my face. ¡°Aria Smith, do you regret your actions? Have you come to terms with your death?¡± Asked the woman in a clear voice. I looked right into the camera and gave it a shit-eating grin. ¡°Heh, regret? I have no such thing,¡± I said as my smile grew wider, ¡°why did so many people give in to the Virtual World I created? Why did they choose to die in its embrace rather than return to this reality?! It¡¯s because I gave them something they could not get here. I gave them purpose. I gave them life. I sated their wanderlust. If I had to come up with a regret, it¡¯s that I didn¡¯t develop the SVR fast enough! I invented something that could satiate the greed of mankind to the point that they no longer desired to even live. I am proud of my own value, and that I lived.¡± The reporter seemed a bit stunned. She asked no more questions as she backed away from me. The doctor, it seems, had finished his preparations. He flicked the needle in his hand, and a yellow liquid dripped from the end. Then, very carefully, he injected me with the toxin. It felt like my entire bloodstream was lit on fire. The pain was immense, but I did not cry out. I did not flinch. ¡°With this, the world¡¯s most hated woman dies,¡± said the reporter in quiet words to the camera. I looked directly into the lens and forced my smile even broader than before. I started to snicker. It was hard to hold it in. It was so terribly hard. Eventually I gave in and began bellowing in laughter. The pain slowly began to fade, and my vision started to blur. I kept laughing. I forced myself to keep laughing. The power I held, with every human being with access to a television watching me, was too immense for words. They were all watching me! I had felt strong in the past, but at that moment I was powerful beyond measure. Imagine if I told people to drink a particular Soda, or eat a particular brand of food! Just imagine how incredible it would be. The feeling began to fade from my limbs. Then my face. My eyes closed. With all the force I could muster, I let loose one final laugh before succumbing to the sweet embrace of the reaper. Chapter 2: Discussion I found myself floating in darkness. Minutes passed. Then hours. Then days. I lost track of time as I floated in that pitch black abyss. ¡®Is this death?¡¯ I wondered. Simply existing in eternal darkness seemed quite grandiose as a punishment. Was this Hell or did everyone experience this when they died? [The answer, my child, is that most people are simply stripped of memories and then reincarnated. You are being forced to wait in the ether as punishment.] A mysterious voice boomed all around me, as if from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was probably the voice of God. It seems I really was being punished for my life. How adorable~ [Why do you not repent for your actions?] Why should I? [You killed thousands.] I killed no one. I simply enabled those thousands to kill themselves. [That is, in my eyes, the same thing.] I mean, if you really are God, I understand why you¡¯re upset. [... Interesting. Go on.] I mean, I created a better world than you. [Ho! What is this arrogance?] Arrogance? No. This is simple fact. You created a world where a daughter could be sold as a sex slave at three years old. You created a world where suffering knows no end, food runs short, and greed reigns supreme over everything. You created a world where the strong thrive and the weak suffer and there is almost no way to become the former if you were born as the latter. Me, though. I created a world where everyone was equal. Everyone could benefit. No one was physically disabled. No one was weaker at the start than anyone else. In my world people could chase their dreams without care! The world you created was flawed beyond reason. I might have created a simple fantasy themed VRMMO, but it encapsulated everything from your world and simply made it balanced. Players weren¡¯t handed a lot in life and sent off. They were given the option to craft themselves. They were allowed to pick their destiny with their own hands. I didn¡¯t kill a single soul. I simply presented them a better world and they chose to live in it. [You really think this world you created is better than the one I did?] Yes. Both worlds suffer from the greed of man and the pursuit of power, but my world doesn¡¯t start anyone off with unnatural advantages. Everything that happens to a person there is due to their own efforts. Humans are flawed naturally, of course, so any world with them in it will never truly be perfect¡­ But my world was far closer to that ideal than yours will ever be. [You are quite the savage one, child. I had been planning on reincarnating you into an easier life this time, but after talking with you I can see how deformed your soul truly is.] I¡¯ll take that as a compliment. [I won¡¯t kill your soul simply because these deformations weren¡¯t your own fault. You were mistreated at every turn. You were failed by those who were supposed to protect you. Oh fragile child, I cannot return you to the main world, but I can send you to one of the many outer realms governed by lesser Gods. Your penance for your crimes will be to save a new world.] This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. I immediately understood that I was being reincarnated. I don¡¯t know what these main world and outer realms are, but I¡¯d rather avoid being reborn and growing up from a baby again, if possible. I¡¯ve already had one childhood destroyed, I don¡¯t feel like experiencing deja vu. [This request can be granted. I will gift you a new body, one accustomed to this world. I have listened to your passion and I agree that being unable to change the circumstance of one¡¯s birth is a rather terrible method for raising souls. Unfortunately, I cannot change the systems in place for they were set by the Elder Ones. I can, however, use my power to change the destiny of a single soul¡­ My friend, the Goddess Albyrra, is the ruler of the world I¡¯m sending you to. She asked me to send her a powerful soul to be her champion and kill the infection plaguing her lands, known as Demons.] You want me to become some hero and kill the demon king, like some kind of protagonist from a story? [Yes. I will present you with your ¡®character creation screen¡¯ now. Pick your skills wisely. You may have three days to adjust the parameters to your liking.] Oh, well this is interesting. Can you perhaps give me some baseline knowledge of this world so I can adjust myself appropriately? I mean, even in my game world there were guides for people to read while creating their characters. [This much is fine, but it will cost you some of the points I wished to distribute.] Heh, you¡¯re like a game admin. Sure. Charge me those points. Going in blind would be far worse than losing a little bit of my gain. [Very well then. Then with this I bid you farewell, my child. Oh, by the way, I know you¡¯re thinking you can just shirk this whole ¡®demon king¡¯ responsibility¡­ But you can¡¯t. You are being grafted as Albyrra¡¯s slave. Meaning you can never disobey a direct command from her.] Ah seriously? Sending me off to a fantasy world and I can¡¯t even fucking enjoy myself? [You can enjoy yourself, but you must also work towards cleansing the vile miasma that has given rise to the demonic beings. This can only be done by slaying the Demon King and destroying the crystal in his chest.] Why can¡¯t your God friend just kill him on her own? [We are not allowed to interfere directly with our worlds. This is a decree set by the Elder Ones. We can only interact with the souls as they pass in and out. Therefore we are making you our champion. Now silence. I am sending you to the ¡®character creation¡¯ screen.] This is really like a game¡­ Then the darkness around me began to spin like a vortex. Stars appeared and vanished like miniature suns rising and setting over countless days. Chapter 3: Character Creation Information about the world I was heading into filled my head. It was nothing too specific, though. Mostly broad information such as general locations, continents, languages, and details about the races and magic. It really was just like a game. The whirling darkness vanished and my entire vision was clouded with a gaudy blue-green menu. It was like something from an RPG of old. The first three options were obvious. Race, Name, Gender. There were no other options after that. For name I simply filled in Aria. Even in my old world Smith wasn¡¯t my real last name. I couldn¡¯t remember my true last name¡­ I never did find out who my parents were. I¡¯d have killed them personally if I did, of course. Name: Aria Next, for Gender, I obviously filled in ¡®Female¡¯. As interesting as it would be to become a man, I¡¯ve already lived for thirty years as a woman. There was no reason to change now. From the information I was given, gender has no effect on actual statistics other than ¡®Charm¡¯ anyways. Name: Aria Gender: Female For race, though, I was slightly more interested in my choices. There were many options. I could be a human, a dwarf, an elf, a hybrid, a beastman (varying types), or even a Dragonkin. Of course I wouldn¡¯t pick Dragonkin or Dwarf, because their aesthetics were a bit off putting. There were a variety of subspecies too under each main race. Elf had Wood Elf, Arcane Ancient, Scryyag, Dark Elf, and much much more. Humans had Savage, Centralist, Northman, Arcane Ancient, Dark Human, and much much more as well. Each and every subspecies had specific status bonuses and detriments. There were even options to be a vampire or other undead species. It seems they are natural races influenced slightly by the Demonic Miasma. Considering 80% of this world¡¯s population was human, I decided to go with that as my baseline. Humans were, after all, capable of both physical might and magical might in this world. Thus they were the best for efficient magic warrior builds. After debating it for a while, I decided to settle on the ¡®Savage¡¯ subspecies for human. Name: Aria Gender: Female Race: Human (Savage) Age: 20 (Unchangeable) The menu in front of me changed and a model of my body appeared. It looked like my old body except a bit younger. It seems my age was going to be regressed to twenty years old. My hair had also changed to a dark red color from its old black. This was a major characteristic of the Savage subspecies. Due to their high magical potential, often their hair turns scarlet in color and their eyes a thick gray. No other race has this strange trait, for some reason¡­ But it is true that the Savage subspecies is the most efficient for becoming a magic swordsman. I wasn¡¯t allowed to change too many things about my body. For one, my general physique was set and I couldn¡¯t adjust it much. My slightly smaller than average bust would stay that way in this new world, which was unfortunate. Considering fantasy and all I had hoped I could give myself some ¡®upgraded¡¯ features. I was allowed to reconfigure my face slightly. This was a godsend enough for me, because it let me fix the damn crook in my nose I¡¯d had since an unfortunate incident when I was seven years old. It was the main reason few people ever considered me ¡®pretty¡¯ in my last world. Beauty was just another form of power, of course, and I regretted not being able to hold onto it back then. I wouldn¡¯t make the same mistake this time. If I was going to be forced to fight this ¡®Demon King¡¯, then I intended to use my wiles to make as many men become fodder for me as possible. My own survival came before all else. I decided to leave my height alone. It would be unfortunate if I had to adjust to living in a taller or shorter body. Though I did increase my muscle mass a slight bit. Not enough to look gross, mind you, but so I appeared athletic like a swimmer. Finally, after about an hour of tinkering and seeing what I was allowed to change, I finally finished messing with my appearance and clicked the ¡®OK¡¯ button at the bottom of the screen. All at once a light filled my vision and then finally I felt my body take form. I hadn¡¯t even realized it, until this point, but I hadn¡¯t even been in a body. I had just been a soul floating in nothingness. I moved my arms, legs, and neck around to get a feel for them. To my surprise, it felt completely natural. I was overjoyed that there would be no awkward period of getting used to things. A new screen popped in front of my eyes. This one was labeled ¡®Traits, Abilities, and Statistics¡¯. It seemed rather ominous. In the corner of the screen a small counter appeared displaying 995 SP. Under the ¡®Abilities¡¯ section was a skill called ¡®Otherworld Knowledge (5 SP)¡¯. It was rather intuitive from the get go. I was given a currency, SP, to spend on stats and skills. It seems it was limited to a certain amount. I honestly wondered why the Gods couldn''t just give me infinite power to do their bidding. Well, they probably had their shitty reasons. I immediately began playing with the skills and stats. The statistics section listed 5 main stats: Power: Speed: Endurance: Spirit: Sensory: One SP increased each stat by one point. I started by pouring SP into strength just to see if there was an upper limit. It looked like the ¡®Counter Stop¡¯, as they called it in Japanese games, was at 100 points for each stat. I searched the knowledge I had been provided and found that an average Human adult male value for each stat was 5. From there the scale was simple. A 10 implied you were twice as strong as a normal man. A 50 implied you were 10 times as strong as a normal man. A 100 implied you were 20 times stronger than a normal man. It seems Humans can only achieve up to 50 normally, but I could go up to 100. Since I wanted to be a magic swordsman, someone able to defeat enemies immune to physical or magical damage, high base stats would be a must. I started by putting 50 into each column. Power: 50 Speed: 50 Endurance: 50 Spirit: 50 Sensory: 50 SP (745) I decided if I had SP left over after taking the skills and Abilities I wanted, I¡¯d put whatever was left into my stats. I checked out the ¡®Traits¡¯ tab and was presented with 4 empty columns. It seems I could pick up to 4 total traits and no more. Intrigued, I selected a blank slot and a massive list of all the available traits popped up in front of me. I was immediately flabbergasted by the options. Traits were different from ¡®Abilities¡¯ in that they were innate. They were things you couldn¡¯t get through regular training in this world. Things like ¡®Extreme Luck¡¯, ¡®Double Stats¡¯, ¡®Extra Profession¡¯, and ¡®Double Exp¡¯ were listed. They all also costed a monstrous amount of SP. The Average cost, it looked like, was about 300 SP¡­ But the benefits they supplied were insane. The most unfortunate thing, though, was that there were no explanations to them. Most the names alone were enough to understand, but there were a few that left me scratching my head. Ones like ¡®Malice¡¯, ¡®Blessing¡¯, and ¡®Serial¡¯ I could only guess at their effects. I started scrolling through the list when one particular Trait caught my eye: ¡®Greed (700 SP)¡¯. I didn¡¯t hesitate. I didn¡¯t know its effects or what it did, but I selected it without a care. There are times when one must go on their own intuition. I mean, in the end, I¡¯ve kind of proven that reincarnation is real anyways. So even if I end up dying due to a wrong decision this time around it doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll just be reborn again. It seems even life had a ¡®Restart¡¯ button now. It also meant that those people I inadvertantly killed didn¡¯t matter either. They were all reborn. I didn¡¯t kill anyone. Death doesn¡¯t matter! This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. My body began to glow, and then one of the trait slots underneath Greed changed by itself into ¡®Psychopath (0 SP)¡¯. It seems if you meet the conditions you can garner Traits for free¡­ But they aren¡¯t things you can train for. I could only smile at this development. Still, I was a bit pissed off that a random trait I didn¡¯t choose just popped up in one of my four precious slots. Even if it was free of charge. Finally, with only 45 SP left to me, I switched to the Abilities Tab. It was basically a skill list. I clicked an empty slot, of which there seemed to be no limit, and a new list popped up. -Swordsmanship Skill (5 SP) -Marksmanship Skill (5 SP) -Mana Manipulation (5 SP) -Qi manipulation (5 SP) -Mana - Qi Conversion (5 SP) -... The list seemed nearly endless. That didn¡¯t matter much to me, though. I knew exactly what skills I wanted. It sucked that I could only pick up to 9 of them, though. Thankfully in my given knowledge information on many skills was presented. This made it easy to cycle through what I wanted. -Swordsmanship Skill -Qi Manipulation -Acrobatics -Manaless Body -Elemental Qi Projection -Qi Empower -Advanced Life Sense I picked those seven abilities. In this world there are two types of magic power: Mana and Qi. Mana is much more classic in the sense that it is magic power derived from the user¡¯s spirit and knowledge. Qi, however, is derived from the user¡¯s spirit and will. Basically it was the difference between Eastern and Western magic. Rather than shoot a fireball like a magician, a Qi user could ignite their willpower and create fire on their sword. In essence, for someone like me who wanted to possess both physical and magical attack it was the best option. The ¡®Manaless Body¡¯ skill was rather simple. It formatted the user¡¯s body so that any mana they would posses would naturally be converted to Qi. There were skills for active conversion, but this was the only passive one I could find. After all, mana was going to be useless to me on this path. I had 10 SP left. For some reason, I didn¡¯t want to invest it in stats though. I had considered the possibility, but what if there were ways to spend SP after this page? I had used most of it, and the 10 SP in my stats wouldn¡¯t make a huge splash in the end. On a whim, I decided to hit the big ¡®CONTINUE¡¯ button at the bottom of the screen. I was immediately glad I did. The next screen that popped up was ¡®Equipment¡¯ with tabs for different body parts. I selected some basic chainmail and plate armor from the list, some boots, and a full encapsulated helmet. Altogether the armor only cost 1 SP. It was just ordinary iron and leather, after all. I also selected a ¡®Magic Bag¡¯, which looked like a marble bag but had the storage space of a 20x20x10 meter room. It cost me 2 SP and was one of the nicer ones. I could even call out items or store them just by thinking about it. It was incredibly handy. Next came the weapons. The list of possible weapons was massive, but I quickly advanced through it and opened the ¡®Swords¡¯ tab. If I was going to be living in a fantasy world, then weapon had to be a katana of course. After surfing for a while I found what I was looking for. The best katana on the list, Albyrra¡¯s Bane. It cost 3 SP by itself. It was crafted from mythril alloys and could channel Qi or Mana. It was also nigh unbreakable and blessed by some God whose name I couldn¡¯t pronounce or even read. It was totally a cheat level item. The sheath and belt came with the item, too, which was awesome. I had 4 SP left, but I assumed there would probably be some kind of use for it so I simply selected the ¡®CONTINUE¡¯ button yet again. This time a strange screen popped up in front of me. [Remaining SP will be converted into equal levels of currency and provided to your magic bag. This feature will charge 1 SP as compensation. Do you agree, YES? NO?] I selected the Yes without hesitating. 3 SP worth bought me an insane cheat level katana. Its value in gold was probably insane as well. I hadn¡¯t even considered money. Of course I couldn¡¯t live in a new world without money. Suddenly my armor and katana equipped themselves to me, and my magic bag appeared on my hip. Then a voice rang out, much like the one from before, but this time in a distinctly kinder tone. [You have been given to me, child. I am the god Albyrra. Your previous God has gifted you with power himself, so I do not need to¡­ But I will give you a small gift anyways. You will be doing my bidding, after all. It would be unfortunate if you die. I will enchant your armor, since it seems to be the only place you slacked in the ¡®creation¡¯ of your avatar.] Thank you. So you¡¯re Albyrra, huh? [That is correct.] So I¡¯m your slave now, huh? [That is correct. Your soul is now bound to my world. You have 10 years to slay the Demon King before the Miasma poison spreads too far to reverse. If that happens, your soul will become corrupted and die out into nothingness with the rest of my world. Try not to let that happen.] Wait wait, you mean if I don¡¯t kill the Demon King I can never be reincarnated again? [That is correct. The Demon Miasma is a creation of a rogue Elder One who infected numerous outer worlds like mine. If my world dies, then I lose my power in the Pantheon as well. We will die together, child, if that happens.] It makes sense now! [Pardon?] You desire to keep living! You feel Greed just as humans do. Human beings weren¡¯t the flawed ones, the Gods were! [Child, I tire of your strange convictions. You are being summoned now. I¡¯ll leave you to your own methods. You have one simple job, kill the Demon King and crush the crystal in his chest. How you go about it does not matter to me, so long as you achieve results. I cannot assist you any further from now, but my command as your master stands. If you try to disobey it you will suffer tremendous pain and die. Then I will simply borrow another soul to be my champion and I will willingly throw your soul into the Miasma.] Ha! I get it, I get it. Kill the demon king. I also have 10 years to do it. What happens when I succeed, though? What do I get from all this? [Other than the ability to keep on existing?] Yes. [Do not anger me, child. I will gift you the freedom to roam my world as you please, and that is it.] I want to become immortal, too. [No.] Please? [No.] Come on, you got to give me something! [Goodbye, child. Serve me well. I¡¯ll be watching your journey. Oh, and by the way, your summoner holds my blessing, meaning their commands are as absolute for you as mine are. You can¡¯t disobey them.] A bright pentagram shaped light appeared beneath me and it felt like I was being dragged through a tiny hole in the ground. Pain wracked my form and my breath escaped me. -Complete Character Information- Name: Aria Gender: Female Race: Human (Savage) Age: 20 (Unchangeable) Job: -BLANK- -Statistics- Power: 50 Speed: 50 Endurance: 50 Spirit: 50 Sensory: 50 -Traits- Greed Psychopath -Abilities- Otherworld Knowledge Swordsmanship Skill Qi Manipulation Acrobatics Manaless Body Elemental Qi Projection Qi Empower Advanced Life Sense -Equipment and Possessions- Armor of Albyrra¡¯s Blessing Boots of Albyrra¡¯s Blessing Helmet of Albyrra¡¯s Blessing Elite Magic Bag of Holding Katana of Albyrra¡¯s Bane 3000 Gold -Blessings- Slave of Albyrra Demon¡¯s Bane Chapter 4: Answering the Summons A terrible dizzy sensation overtook me and then my ears popped. At the same time, my surroundings changed from that sea of blackness into that of a dark room with a wooden floor. A pentagram seal was drawn on the floor and several people were standing around me. It took a moment for my senses to fully adjust. When they did I realized exactly where I was: on a stage. In front of me, in that sea of darkness, were hundreds of teenaged children wearing a blue military-style robe uniform. A thunderous applause sounded. ¡°Congratulations, Miller, you¡¯ve successfully completed your first summon,¡± said an elderly man standing on the stage near me. ¡°It looks to be a holy knight, a spirit type monster that possesses a blessed suit of armor.¡± There was a young man standing about a foot behind the pentagram seals on the ground. I could feel his magical power pouring into my body, fueling a strange formation. He was my summoner. I drew my katana as fast as I could. The blade flashed through the air towards the boy¡¯s neck. I would not be controlled. If I couldn¡¯t disobey his command due to Albyrra¡¯s blessing, then I simply needed to kill him before he uttered a command! However, instead of cutting flesh, my blade was stopped against the boy¡¯s neck like it had struck steel. I could hear loud cries from the audience as the elderly man near me began casting restraining spells on me. ¡°Quick, boy, cancel the summon! Something¡¯s gone wrong. The spirit is wild!¡± Cried the old mage. ¡°I¡¯m trying, Professor,¡± replied the boy. ¡°It¡¯s not working. I can¡¯t cancel it. It¡¯s a permanent summon!¡± Rage was surging through me. I wasn¡¯t about to be controlled by some goddamn greenhorn student! I had a Demon King to slay, and I wasn¡¯t about to waste time being a prepubescent teen¡¯s pet! ¡°Quick, boy, while the summon binds still hold, command it to stop!¡± ¡°Summon, I command you to yield!¡± A terrible surge of power flushed over me, and my body froze in place. No more pressure was being exerted on my katana. I couldn¡¯t even blink. ¡°Gene, start casting a slave collar spell. We need to corral this monster now,¡± cried the old man as he slowly walked around me, casting several magics I couldn¡¯t identify, no doubt binding me further. A black-skinned man in his forties walked onto the stage and wrang his hands around the neck of my armor. A red color surged out and into me, but it wasn¡¯t taking hold. ¡°The slavery collar spell isn¡¯t working, Rak,¡± said Gene with a strange look on his face. ¡°That¡¯s impossible,¡± replied the old man, ¡°... Unless....¡± The old man walked in front of my face and peered into the slits in my helmet. ¡°It can¡¯t be... Boy, command it to speak its name.¡± ¡°Professor? It¡¯s a spirit¡­¡± ¡°Did I stutter, Miller!¡± The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°No sir! Summon, I command you to speak your name.¡± That wash of power flooded over me again. My muscles began to involuntarily spasm and a terrible compulsion opened my mouth. ¡°Aria.¡± A sudden silence filled the room. A terribly long hush converged that could be felt down in my bones. ¡°It¡¯s not a monster at all,¡± mused the old professor with a laugh under his voice, ¡°It¡¯s a human. No wonder the summoning can¡¯t be cancelled. You can¡¯t exactly dispel a consciousness, after all.¡± ¡°Professor, what does this mean?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, boy. Why don¡¯t you try asking the summon itself.¡± There was a long pause. I could hear murmurs from the crowd a short distance away. I couldn¡¯t contain my raw hatred for the Gods that put me in this situation. I wanted my freedom. I wanted to murder everyone here. I thirsted to sink my sword into their necks. A green glow began to form on my sword. The more I wanted to be free, the brighter the glow became. I could feel the old mage¡¯s spells shattering like glass hitting concrete¡­ But one spell didn¡¯t bulge. The Yield command, whatever magic it was filled with, didn¡¯t even bend under my ungodly will. ¡°Summon, what are you? How did you come to be here?¡± Asked the boy. Once more I felt a terrible compulsion surging through me. ¡°I am a human, and I have been sent to this world by the Goddess Albyrra to slay the Demon King.¡± The murmuring grew into quiet discussion in the background. ¡°Silence!¡± Commanded the old man, cutting the noise off entirely. ¡°There is an ancient magic at work here, forcing this summon to obey your command Wilson. She shattered the summoning bonds and every bind I¡¯ve put on her like they were bread¡­ But this ancient magic is holding her fast. Ask her about it.¡± ¡°Summon¡­ What is your name, and what is this magic binding you to my commands.¡± ¡°My name is Aria, and the magic is a slavery magic placed on me by Albyrra herself, forcing me to obey the commands of any with her blessing.¡± ¡°... Aria, then¡­ Why did you attack me?¡± ¡°I desired my freedom,¡± I replied, ¡°I need only obey your commands. If I could kill you before you issued a command then I¡¯d have been free from this ridiculous binding. I don¡¯t have time to play around with you, child, I need to set about raising an army to battle the Demon Horde.¡± ¡°Interesting,¡± replied the old man as he started tapping my armor and inspecting it. ¡°Have her remove the helmet so we can get a good look at her, boy.¡± ¡°Aria, please remove your helmet.¡± I reached my hands up and snapped the helmet to the side, loosening the clamps holding it down. Then I pulled it up and shook the back of my head, letting my hair unmat. I immediately heard whispers of the word ¡®savage¡¯ surge through the room.