The Dark Demon Lord - Chapter 68

As Arnin began to draw the two marks, he used the same method as mark making, however he was using his own unorthodox style. It was the best, as it utilized the life and death components completely, which would allow him to better understand the new marks.

Hours passed, and Arnin was finally able to create marks that used the life and death components completely, however, there was a problem. Instead of him having only one option like he did when he combined light and darkness, Arnin found that he had three different options. This was unexpected, and he took it very seriously.

His goal was to combine life and death in order to create the seed of reincarnation. He didn’t want any other powers, but now he had to choose.

This would have been fine if he could just find the one that gave off the aura of reincarnation since he knew exactly how it felt, however that wasn’t the case. All three of them were emitting an aura of reincarnation, and not only that, but they all emitted the exact same amount.

‘What the hell is this? All three of them have the aura of reincarnation, but what are those other powers I am sensing?’ Arnin closed his eyes as he tried to figure out what the other unknown powers were.

Another few minutes passed and Arnin was unable to tell what the three different powers were. He felt that they had some similarities, however he was just unable to decode what each one was.

‘If I don’t even know what the three powers are, then how am I going to decide which combination of marks to use?’ This thought struck Arnin, causing him to get a small headache. He just didn’t know which to go with.

‘If I were to choose the weaker one of the three, wouldn’t that mean that I have basically just wasted my time?’ Although Arnin knew that the unknown powers were just bonuses, that didn’t mean that he would try and select the weakest one. If he could get the strongest one, why wouldn’t he?

Arnin sat in contemplation as he began to think about the three options in front of him. Right now, he had to make a gamble that affected his future cultivation with life and death. Although the effect would not be anything bad, he wanted the best outcome rather than the worst.

Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. ‘What would happen if I made them all? I have enough life and death essence to accomplish such an act.’ Arnin was smiling when he thought of this, however he stopped before going through with the procedure. ‘No, that would just waste essence, and force me to nurture three different seeds. This isn’t a good idea in the long term.’ Arnin sighed when thought of this.

He felt as though each of the three had their own specialties, however if he were to create seeds for all of them, then he would need to nurture all three of them evenly. Not only would this waste time and essence, but the three different powers might not be entirely compatible. They could be conflicting powers that would try to devour the others, which would ultimately harm his body.

‘Maybe I can redraw the mark, but with all three of these designs in mind.’ Arnin nodded his head and tried it. If he could successfully combine the three marks, then there was a chance of creating an equilibrium between the three unknown powers, and the reincarnation aspect of the mark might be boosted in strength.

Arnin took out a large page, and began to draw. Although these pages were normal, they were able to hold mark designs, however there was one problem. These papers were very weak when compared to the marks, which would force one to decrease the amount of components put onto the page to prevent it from being completely destroyed. This was also one of the factors that did not allow for Arnin to detect the unknown powers.

Slowly, he began to draw a new mark. Of course, he was unable to do it on his first try, but after using nearly a dozen pages, he was finally able to create one. This mark, however, only had two of the unknown powers inside.

Even though this was the case, Arnin couldn’t help but smile. At first, he was worrying whether these marks could even combine, however seeing it now, he knew that it was possible.

He redrew them a dozen more times, destroying many of the pages in the process. Finally, he was able to combine two powers together again, but this time, one of the powers were different.

This continued until Arnin was able to combine all three powers together with one another. However, this final step was the most difficult, as he needed to combine all three of the marks onto one page. He knew that the three powers were only able to interact with one another if there were a total of the two marks on a page, however he was unsure as to what would happen if he placed all three powers into one mark together.

Arnin took a deep breath, and went back to drawing.

“Haha! This power! Haha!” Laughter resounded inside the room that had less grass than before. There were craters, and even flames in the corner. It was obvious that the room was in an unstable position. However, all of this was not the weirdest part. If one looked at the piece of paper, they would notice a weird mark on it that was half black and half white. Not only that, but around the paper in a five feet radius, the grass was dying and regrowing simultaneously.

Sometimes, the grass would become dry and dead, soon to disappear, however, it would then grow back and look completely revitalized. It was extremely weird, yet also fascinating.

‘This is it! This is the mark.’ Arnin looked at the mark on the paper with his smile reaching his ears.

After finding the mark that he needed, and seeing the power it released by just being on the page, he felt extremely excited. Arnin calmed himself down, and observerved his orb. Creating the mark inside his body would make things extremely difficult since he could see that the power level was extremely high. It was just as strong as the Flames of Neutrality that Arnin created, however unlike the Flames of Neutrality, which were peaceful inside his body, this new power was extremely aggressive and tyrannical.

‘This may cause problems, but I need to control it.’ Arnin gritted his teeth, and began to draw the new mark onto his orb.

A couple of hours passed, and the sun was already peeking out from the horizon. Arnin was just about to complete the mark, and only needed to draw a few more lines and symbols.

Soon, the mark was complete, however

*SIIIIIZZZZZLLLLLEEEEE*

A sound that was similar to that of a frying egg exploded throughout the room. It became louder and louder, and noise of bombs exploding also began to sound.

The whole room was rumbling as if there was an earthquake happening right under it.

Arnin, who was the center of the sounds and rumbling, was not in a good position. His previously childlike skin would sometimes dry up and he would be near death, however the very next moment, he would look as if he was filled with lifeforce.

His young body would wrinkle, and then become a new. His face was a ghastly pale, and his whole body was trembling greatly. Blood also slowly fell from his seven facial orifices, and his clothes were now completely gone. His body seemed to have bruises everywhere, and small bits of ghastly power even seeped out of his fingernails.

Arnin scratched his body with his nails, as if trying to rip open his own skin. Clawlike cuts began to appear all over him. He was bleeding profusely, and looked like he was in extreme pain.

‘This damned power, it is so painful! They won’t stay still, they won’t!’ Arnin screamed internally as he slowly opened his eyes. Blood continued to seep out, making everything red and blurry, however from the corner of his eyes, he saw something horrifying. The page that had the mark was wrinkling and disappearing.

Arnin knew from the scene in front of him that this would be him sooner or later. ‘No! I won’t let that happen, I am the Demon Lord for a reason!’

Arnin gritted his teeth as he tried to use the Flames of Neutrality to fight against the new mark he had created.

Both of them had about the same strength, so the flames were able to counter them relatively well, however the damage caused by the fighting was even more devastating.

‘This is not working! I need to find a different solution!’ Arnin could now only think, as speaking had become too difficult.

Arnin’s options were limited. The Flames of Neutrality helped suppress the new mark, however there was still a lot of damage being done. ‘What should I do?!’

He kept thinking about all the possible ways he could deal with the situation. His saber was extremely powerful, however he needed to manually control it in order to do anything, so this would not be a good decision. His tattoos did have abilities that could help, however he didn’t have complete control over them either. Plus, he didn’t exactly know how to activate them.

‘Seems like there is only one thing that I can do.’ Arnin resolved himself, and resorted to the only solution he could use at the moment.

Arnin’s mind slowly appeared in front of a large cube that was floating in front of the white saber. Although it felt extremely dangerous, Arnin felt something familiar from the powers.

‘My powers, I shall use you to help me seal this mark and complete the seed creation.’ Arnin’s control over his powers was at perfection, however just a tiny bit of strength would absorb essence completely, and it might even destroy his orb.

Although this was true, and the risk was high, Arnin knew that there was a way to pull out a small amount of power from the cube, and make sure nothing was absorbed. Although the amount would be very insignificant, almost like a small hair from amidst a million bulls, Arnin felt that even that much would be very helpful.

The saber. This was something that had the abilities of both the tattoos and the orb. With the saber, Arnin could control some of his original powers without allowing them to do major damage, however the whole procedure was extremely risky.

‘Let’s just take the risk!’ Arnin calmed his breathing, and began to use the saber to pull out some of his Demon Lord power. (Authors note: Let us call his original powers, Demon Lord power from now on. The rest of the powers will be the same.)

The previously white blade was now completely black, however because the saber did have some of Arnin’s Demon Lord power during its creation, the saber’s ability to control the Demon Lord power was very high.

Arnin led the Demon Lord power infused saber towards the tyrannical new mark. He then began to attack the mark ruthlessly, however he made sure not to cause it any damage. He wanted the mark to quickly transform into a seed like the Flames of Neutrality.

Another hour passed, and the new mark was completely subdued. There was no more violent or tyrannical aura being released, rather the mark seemed extremely submissive. Arnin couldn’t help but sigh in relief, until another problem occurred. His moment of distraction led to the Demon Lord power becoming somewhat out of control.

It began to travel throughout his body, aiming for the orb. He went extremely pale. ‘Sh*t! It’s trying to absorb the orb!’ Arnin’s face became extremely ruthless.

‘Don’t act so arrogant in here, I am your owner! Stay still!” Arnin yelled towards the power, and unexpectedly, the Demon Lord power halted. ‘Go back into the seal!’ Arnin said in a serious tone.

The Demon Lord power acted as if obeying a god, and went back towards the cube, and sealed itself. Arnin sighed in relief when he saw this. He knew that this only worked out because of the power being extremely insignificant when compared to all of his Demon Lord power. If there was any more, Arnin knew that his orb would have been devoured and he would have lost his chance to cultivate in Afloria.

‘That was way too close. I need to make sure I find a way to control future problems like this without using my Demon Lord power.’ Arnin sighed, but shook his head, and continued to observe the mark slowly transform into a seed.

He saw all the damage that happened to his body due to the Demon Lord power. Many of his threads were gone, and even his internal organs were extremely damaged. Arnin felt his body weakening, and knew that if he didn’t do anything soon, he would die.

————————————————

Kosok, who Arnin previously faced off against, did not actually leave the tenth floor. Rather, he was waiting outside Arnin’s door. He wanted to speak with Arnin, and had some questions.

He had been out there for many hours and couldn’t help but begin to feel a little impatient. ‘What is that kid doing in there? It has been so long already!’ He felt a little frustrated, but was also very curious. Although he would sometimes stay inside a cultivation room for a couple of days, he was only able to do so because of his patience increasing with age.

Arnin was only five, and he couldn’t fathom such a child having such diligence in cultivation. ‘Maybe this is why that kid is so strong.’ He shook his head and smiled bitterly. ‘Seems like I am still incomparable to that kid.’

Kosok continued to wait as people who came out of their cultivation rooms looked at him curiously.

—————————————–

The seed was finally complete. Arnin stared at the seed that looked completely different from the flame like seed of Neutrality. This new seed, although shaped like a seed, looked nothing like his first one.

The tip had two extremely tiny black and white seeds revolving around it. The main seed was three different colors, purple, green, yellow. Arnin looked at the three, and could finally feel what the three unknown powers were. When he understood, he felt extreme shock.

The purple was Samsara, the green Nirvana, while the yellow was also another form of Nirvana. Arnin was dumbfounded. He knew that Nirvana had two stages, however it was considered impossible to achieve, or have control over both. For the first time, Arnin possessed both of the Nirvana’s powers. Previously, he was able to touch upon one of the powers of Nirvana, emptiness, however he was unable to master it.

Now, he was able to obtain both of the Nirvana’s powers. Arnin was happy, also felt extremely worried. His internal organs were in an extremely bad state. He would die if he didn’t get any treatment. Plus, many of his orb threads were absorbed by the Demon Lord power, which weakened him greatly. He felt that his realm was sitting around Orb Birth – Earth at the moment. If he didn’t treat his condition right away, he would probably not be able to move further up in his cultivation, plus he might even die because of his injuries.

‘That power of mine is truly not something I should unseal. Just that tiny amount, even smaller than a grain of sand, was able to put me in such a condition. I have been lowered in cultivation realm, and even my injuries are life threatening. What should I do?’ Although Arnin had was highly skilled in medicine, he just couldn’t do anything in his current state. He was barely able to move, for if he made any sudden or drastic movements, he would die on spot. Things were looking extremely bleak for Arnin.

Suddenly, his eyes began to close. He tried to keep them open by gritting his teeth, but he couldn’t with his current state. His essence was slowly leaving his body, and blood also escaped from all over his body. Arnin could feel his organs not being in their proper spots.

‘Am I going to die? Do I need to unseal my power in order to stay alive?’ Things slowly went black.

Title: {New Elemental Seed and Life or Death Condition}