Raion was speechless. These subordinates of him had too unique skills that should not be let go of so easily, Raion really wanted to cry when he saw Lim's transformation.
*Neigh!*
The neighing of a steed rang out, its voice seemed to carry along the cold winter with it. The rider of it, Lim Hyun-woo also wore a crown of black ice and was fitted with a quiver full of black arrows.
"So it is then, you shall be the Cold Horse General!"
"Yes, my Lord."
'Sigh, why do I have to be so cool, even a random guy I gave a bit of power to turn out like this, what would that Yamabushi be like then, will he become immortal? Kek, this subordinate thing really is too stressful, how good was it those aeons ago when I rolled solo..."
"Kek, who's next?"
This was a rhetorical question, but as if answering this question, Brahma yelled out loud for a long, long long time...
"Sigh, not elegant at all. Why are all my soldiers freaking brutes? Even the most elegant one is still a brute."
Brahma's eyes turned golden, and he grew out six arms and raised his hand in what seemed to be a Buddhist prayer stance. The stance was not very uncommon. The brute's black hair became longer and streaked through it was a divine gold colour.
"Heh, you all are wasting time, stop with the theatrics, I still very much have a universe to put into turmoil!"
"Yes, my Lord!"
Surprise, eh? It turned out the flashy transformations were all intentionally part of the power bestowment process. That was the only weakness of the Deadman Cells, it gave one an odd urge to show off.
Brahma hastened the transformation two-fold and finally ended up as thus; four faces and four arms, three of the arm held something. The first held a paper slip, the second a lotus flower, and the third was a ladle of some kind. And on the biceps of each arm were golden bands that gave off a holy divine light.
"Anastasia, you're up!"
The Russian woman called Anastasia stood up from her original kneeling position and bowed to Raion.
Her long black hair grew longer and thinner, like a needle whip, and flew up into the air, she looked like a malevolent spider empress right at the moment.
...
In only a matter of time, the transformations were complete. "Sigh sigh, it's a pity, I will have to leave earth so soon, and I only just got here!"
Raion clutched his face and talked as though he was actually sad, but the only thing Chris and the first few generals could think about was his sense of time. They had heard him say something about twenty years on earth already, so how would it be possible that twenty years was little time?
"Now, my generals, here is what you must do..."
"What!"
"My Lord, are you really going to destroy this universe?"
"Oh, not really, I'm just gonna make sure it regains most of its essence before eating it, and to do that I have to make sure the beings in the universe are able to be strong enough to enhance the core of the universe when that happens I will feast on this little meal happily. After all, before one can enjoy a good meal, you have to spice and tender!"
They were speechless, after hearing his statement and the instructions he had given to them. A super-being like him would only want to revitalize the universe just to eat it up? Ancient Ones are too extravagant.
...
"Hello Myriad Fantasy Universe, I will be your new ruler and creator. You may refer to me as the Dark Aristocrat. You all are probably wondering, how in the world is this possible? What the fuck is this? Is this a plan of world domination created by the government? Is he God?"
Raion paused for a while. Right now, he broadcasted his figure to the entire universe, and not just earth, several other planets too. Martians on Mars, Terrans on Terra, Neptunians on Neptune, Dwarves on Pluto, Titans on Uranus, Wingmen on Saturn, Flowing Ore race on Mercury, Harpies on Jupiter, Diaven race on Venus and Earthlings on Earth. Every single one of them received this full figure broadcast.
"Your answer is wrong. I am not God, nor some super-soldier created by the government. I will be your ruler and your destruction. My Generals have been gathered from different parts of the world, and are to oversee the growth of this universe, they are only submissive to me, why? You don't need to know,"
As he said this, the holographic images of the ten generals appeared by his side, they looked majestic. But of course, Raion knew what he was doing, it was them when they were at the peak of their transformations, to make the scene look imposing...
Banzan with his gold and diamond body, Shi Juexin with the fire and water levitation trick, Lim Hyun-woo with his deadly horse, Brahma with the gold bands and four arms that were pressed against each other, Anastasia with her spider-limb like legs. They all stood imposingly and even exerted some sort of pressure on the beings of the universe.
"They are my Ten Generals, challenge them if you can die if you will, I have no sort of business with their actions. If you think you're really amazing at courting death, come meet them!"
If anyone was best at courting death, it was Raion, but no one dared to disobey this projection.
"If you think that this is a rip-off and that you gain nothing from this, you can go meet my lawyer. Hehe, just kidding, I will leave you all with little toys to play with, try to enjoy it if you feel you can... oops, my time is run out, those damned government bastards are trying to wipe out my projections on all sides!"
As Raion said that, in every corner of the universe, nukes were being sent to his projections at an alarming rate.
'Hmph, courting death!'
With the wave of a hand and a snort, the projections turned it into clones and the 'Raions' waved their hands as if swatting off dumb flies.
"Boom!"
The planets surface cracked in the blink of an eye and any single hope of destroying Raion was gone like that, only with the swat of a hand!
. . .
"Breaking news: A man who calls himself the Dark Aristocrat appeared everywhere on the earth and seems to want to destroy us, is this the end of humanity as we know it? Wait a minute, I've received news that the governments around the world have put in their efforts into sending out all nukes that they can, we're saved..."
"H-H-He, no, t-that monster, one swat of a hand, only one swat of a hand and all the nukes were destroyed, we're doomed, it's the end of the world!"
...
"He repelled them, that person repelled them!"
...
"Can this be the end of our beloved planet Mars?"
...
"There lies a green planet big and wide!"
"It bears the greatest beings in the world!"
"Oh Terra, Oh Terra!"
"Patriotic, Selfless, Honest and Bold!"
"We will never surrender to this sort of person!"
...
Planets cried out for help, their soil bled in pain and the inhabitants sang songs of sorrow, but Raion... he just... laughed! He laughed as though the cries he heard were the funniest things in the whole wide world.
"Haha, time to send out the red envelopes!"
...
And in the direst time of their lives, an entirely new sensation enveloped the inhabitants of the Myriad Fantasy Universe. The so-called "Red Packet" was energy particles, energy particles of all kinds. Not only that, some people received superpowers, others were bestowed Systems, but all was the same.
A new age had come, was this the so-called parting gift that Dark Aristocrat had mentioned?