Cheat Awakening

Buzzzz...

A menacing buzz emanated from the black hexagram sigil, its sound akin to a tormented electrical current. Everyone, except Alban, bore a deep frown - the oppressive aura radiating from it sent shivers down everyone's spines, except for Alban, who wore a smug grin. After all, he knew who was coming to help him.

With a burst of dizzying rotation, the sigil unleashed a swirling green vortex. From its depths emerged a wizened figure - a two-meter-tall man, gaunt and aged, with long black hair and a chest-length beard framing his ghostly pale face.

His pitch-black eyes, devoid of pupils or iris, resembled bottomless pits, capable of striking fear into the hearts of even the bravest child and making him wet his pants if he appeared in front of him in the middle of the night.

Clad in a simple, plain black robe, he clutched a weathered wooden staff, his very presence exuding an air of malevolent energy, anyone who is not blind can see that he is not a good person.

A voice, harsh and jarring like nails on a chalkboard, barely contained fury simmering beneath, crackled as the teleportation vortex closed. "Lowly demon, I trust you have a compelling reason for this untimely summons.

Otherwise, you might not be able to save that precious bone of the cosmic titan this time." Clearly, he had been summoned at the wrong time, as there were still traces of an explosion on his robe.

"Mr. Stygian, I promise to sell that ancient titan bone to you, but now please help me deal with those intruders. Those bastards not only forcibly entered my dimension but literally destroyed it completely. Now it's on the verge of collapsing," Alban, like a child who found his backbone (mother) after getting bullied, started complaining with a pitiful expression.

"Huh?" Stygian, who was clearly confused because of the sudden change in the event, surveyed the scene with his unnerving black eyes. Witnessing the devastation wrought upon Alban's tower, a flicker of disappointment and sadness crossed his skeletal face, after all, this tower was created by himself after who knows how many sleepless nights of effort.

But his expression was swiftly replaced by a predatory glint as his gaze landed on Jormungandr, Fenrir, and Ymir. Ymir, in particular, drew his greedy eyes like a moth to a flame. Naturally, the most beautiful member of the team, Maya, was completely ignored by him.

In the eyes of an old pervert like Stygian, external beauty is no different than dust on the ground, totally useless, the only thing matters is strength.

"What a wonderful collection! A dragon, a Titan, and an unknown wolf-like species, and all four of their strengths are higher than Tier-4. What a delightful surprise! After turning all of you into my servants, ascension to the Darkthorn Hexmancer Association is within my grasp. None of those f*cker will dare to look down on me after that! Hahaha!"

Stygian, the old guy who looked like he had lost a screw in his head, his hysterical laughter sent shivers down everyone's spines and his gaze lingering hungrily on Jormungandr, and others before him. Even Alban, initially pleased by the turn of events, felt a chilling unease creep into his bones.

Though he anticipated controlling the situation, a gnawing doubt began to worm its way into his confidence.

"Oh, Albangarous, my dear old friend," Chuckled Stygian, his amusement bordering on unsettling. "Are you trying to summon someone else with that sacrificial ritual of yours? Don't you have confidence in my power?" His eyes, devoid of pupils, glittered with a predator's cunning.

Despite his psychopathic behaviour, he held back from immediate action, circling Alban as the demon chanted the incomprehensible words of the ritual.

"Of course not, I have full confidence in you, Mr. Stygian. It's just that, because of the previous battle, I lost too much strength. So, I am trying to recover my power with this ritual. It has nothing to do with summoning, I assure you," Even under immense pressure, Alban maintained a façade of confidence and lied without batting his eyes.

His expression was so normal, as if it were someone else in place of a scoundrel like Stygian, who himself was a big liar and could smell lies from miles away, he might have really been fooled by the Oscar-winning acting of Alban.

"That's great," For a moment, the old mage seemed convinced by Alban's honest words, an ugly force smile flitting across his pale face as he nodded his head with satisfaction.

Suddenly, a tremor of alarm passed through Stygian. "F*ck! Be careful! Watch your back!" he shrieked, his eyes widening in genuine fear as he pointed frantically behind Alban.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Caught off guard, Alban who was under deep pressure from all sides, heard Stygian's sudden yell, adrenaline pumping through his veins and he subconsciously looked back in a hurry. But there was nothing, only the empty air mocking his paranoia. In that split second of distraction, a cold realization dawned on him – he'd been tricked.

However before he could react, a searing pain erupted from his chest.

He looked down in disbelief as a gnarled wooden staff, now pulsating with malevolent energy, had pierced through him, the touch corrupting his life force with chilling efficiency.

Coughing blood, Alban stared in disbelief at the ebony staff protruding from his body, which now turned pitch black with small worm-like runes crawling all over it. He hurriedly wanted to get away from the traitor Stygian who had just backstabbed him, but another blow struck.

A skeletal hand, long nails sharp as razors, ripped through his right chest where his second heart was located, silencing his scream even before it could form.

Stygian, his face an emotionless mask, while his runic staff immobilized Alban temporarily, he continued his gruesome work, each strike another chilling testament to his cruelty. One by one, he destroyed Alban's five hearts, leaving the demon a lifeless husk.

As darkness crept into Alban's vision, he managed to croak a single, broken word before taking a final breath: "Why?"

Stygian gazed at his handiwork, his black eyes devoid of remorse. "Of course, to add a powerful demon like you to my collection." He murmured, his voice laced with a grim satisfaction. "I coveted your body since our first meeting, but before today, I've never had such a wonderful opportunity. Thanks for your gift by the way.

If you hadn't summoned me, I might never have been able to collect such a bountiful harvest—an entire pocket dimension, five Tier-4 beings of different species, coordinates of an unknown world. So many surprises at once, all thanks to you, my dear old friend. You deserve an eternity at my side, as a loyal servant, hehehe."

Having finished speaking nonsense with a chilling chuckle, Stygian took out a crystal ball from his robe pocket and began to chant. Soon, with a horrific scream, a spectral essence writhed and wailed, ripped from Alban's lifeless body and trapped within the shimmering sphere.

"Such a powerful soul," Stygian rasped a hint of pleasure in his voice. "A worthy addition to my power." He nodded his head with satisfaction and tucked the orb and Alban's corpse into his storage ring.

"As for you guys, although you are not of any use to me in battle, mosquito meat is still meat," Stygian addressed the remaining demons with a hint of condescension while stroking his beard thoughtfully, "Your essence isn't without value. You'll serve well in the construction of my eternal kingdom, once I bestow upon you immortality and tireless strength."

Saying such Stygian took out a small, cheap-looking, dirty worn leather pouch that appeared as though it hadn't been washed for centuries.

Stygian opened the dirty leather pouch, and a powerful gust of wind spread across the few hundred meters around him, floating all the poor demons who had just gotten rid of Alban's control and were free-falling toward the ground in Stygian's direction. With unnatural speed, each demon was sucked into the pouch, their forms shrinking and distorting before vanishing entirely.

"Minor trouble is settled," Stygian declared, with a gentle smile, which made his ghostly face even uglier than it already was. "Apologies for the delay, friends. I didn't want any kind of disturbance during our battle, so I dealt with those bugs first.

I hope you can understand...?" However, when he turned around and found that there was no one else as far as his eyes could see, his expression froze.

Stygian quickly flew higher and looked left and right while using various spells to locate Fenrir and others, but no matter what he did, he couldn't find any trace of them on the entire island.

"Damn! Those ungrateful bastards. While I was trying to create the perfect arena, those cowards dared to run away? What did they take me for, a pushover?" Stygian spoke through gritted teeth, a cross-shaped vein appearing on his forehead. He angrily swung his wooden stick in the air, and a colossal hexagram sigil appeared beneath his feet.

A blinding purple outburst erupted from the heart of the sigil and a bone dragon, a monstrous skeletal behemoth towering over 150 meters appeared under Stygian's feet. Its tattered wings hummed with purple energy, its bony frame pulsating with raw power.

Stygian landed on the skull of the bone dragon, which was trying to establish itself in the air and flapping its unreliable wings madly. Although his wings appeared incapable of lifting such a giant bone structure logically, but in front of magic, it was a simple thing, and it soon started flying smoothly.

Stygian lightly tapped his staff on the bone dragon's skull, sending it a signal to fly toward the hole in the sky from which Fenrir and the others entered Alban's dimension.

"Let's see how long you can run" Stygian hissed, his voice a bone-chilling whisper. "I will hunt you down, one by one. And when I capture you, you'll serve me…eternally." Your journey continues with empire