I tried opening the door of the mansion, but it was sealed shut. I guess I had to put a bit more effort. I pushed a little harder and the door budged, flying across the room.
The manor's interior was even more lovely compared to the exterior. The designs on the walls, the paintings that hung on it and the entire structure of the house were all exquisite.
"Compare this to that lousy inn" I said to myself, a bit jealous.
Everywhere seemed quiet, as though it had been abandoned.
Well, since it was late night I expected as much, but the commotion should have alerted everyone in the house, so they had to be hiding somewhere.
I walked down the hallway and got to the main room, the parlor. A very huge painting was affixed on the wall. It was that of a man, most likely in his late fifties and he had a burly look, a fat stature and a well-trimmed beard. He wore fancy clothes and looked regal.
"Most likely the owner of this house" I muttered.
This was a good opportunity for me to obtain memories of a high-ranking member of society. A good opportunity indeed.
Suddenly I sensed something nearing me.
Boom!
A projectile hit me, or rather, was supposed to. I had instinctively generated a shield using a Hex when I sensed the incoming projectile and as such I was protected.
"Keep firing!!!" I heard someone shout.
More projectiles were fired, and though they did me no harm the mere sound generated by the impact was annoying. Not only that, the dust and smoke that filled the air obstructed my vision and was also unpleasant to my nose.
"I'll have to enhance my sight. How tedious." I stated.
By enhancing my sight, I was able to see where the projectiles were being launched from.
"Above me uhn" I said, looking up.
About 30 men were holding strange weapons aimed at me. They concentrated on my location and fired once more.
Bang! Boom!
The sound was truly unpleasant, especially since I wasn't the one making it.
What was that though? The weapon. The most advanced long ranged weapon humans had in my time was the bow. The weapon before me was far more destructive and also faster than those. The memories of the soldier also had no trace of this weapon.
"Tch. Useless" I muttered.
"Hex #90" I said.
Purple smoke filled the entire area, and also went up to where my attackers stayed.
"W-What is that?" One of them said.
"Don't lose eyes on the target!" Their leader reminded them.
However, it was too late. The Haze of hallucinations and madness was in effect.
I heard screams and screeches from them. They began to shoot at each other.
"M-Monster!" One soldier said, shooting his comrade beside him.
"S-Stay away from me! Stay away!!!" Another said, killing his partner.
They killed themselves in terror, fright, and utter confusion.
"I wonder what they saw." I said, still looking up as they died.
Before long, they were all on the floor, dead.
"Oh shit, I wanted to know more about the weapons" I quickly realized.
I leaped and launched myself to the floor they were on. I saw most of them were already dead, some breathing their last. From the looks of things there was no hope for any of them, they had lost too much blood.
"Hex #61" I said, facing one of the soon-to-die guards. "Blessing of Life"
The soldier, whose intestines were already out and was trying so hard to put them back in despite its fruitlessness, began to glow. His entire wounds disappeared and he looked good as new.
He was surprised at what just happened, but I didn't even give him a chance to react or think any thoughts.
I grabbed his head and used my 'Memory Drain' on him. His eyes rolled and his face grew pale as I extracted his life's information from him. After the transfer was complete I dropped him on the floor, with his drool on his face and his body twitching from the aftereffects.
"He's as good as a vegetable now" I said, turning away from him and leaving the scene.
Memory drain transfered information from a target to myself at hyper speed. In merely a few seconds, all the individual's life would be shown to me and stored within myself. It was merely a copy though, the original memories were still with their owner. However, due to the speed of the transfer, humans were unable to cope with it. Their minds melted from the drain and it left them permanently scarred, turning them into vegetables incapable of thought or movement.
I learned quite a bit from the shooter I'd just drained. The weapons the soldiers were using to fire at me were known as 'Guns'. It had an intriguing mechanism and to be honest I was impressed by the fact that the humans had come that far in the aspect of technology. There was just one surprise after another.
I also learnt about the owner of the house and other valuable things. The house belonged to a hotshot noble, with ties to the royal family, the details were unimportant. I also got the detailed outline of his house system and the rooms, including the owner's chamber of residence. I began to head there.
"This should be fun" I said.
On the way to the master's chambers I met more meaningless resistance, however none was worthwhile. The barrier from the start was the only impressive defense so far, and even that had been disappointing.
"Let's just hope there's a more impressive struggle up ahead."
There wasn't.
After a disappointing march in the mansion, I finally arrived at the master's bed chamber. I initially thought he would have escaped to a secret tunnel or a hidden room or something, but that didn't seem to be the case. I sensed multiple presences behind the door I stood in front of.
"Looks like he has a bit more backbone than I thought" I smiled, readying myself for more action.
He must have prepared his guards for a final struggle against me, with him leading the charge. A foolish decision, but I had to admit he had guts, contrary to my impression of royals and nobles.
I opened the door, readying myself for what awaited me.
"Hehehehe. Why don't you do it right, do it better!" The Lord of the house said.
I was dumbfounded by what I saw in front of me.
In his bedchamber, I found no army or defenders or even a struggle. It was... an orgy.
The lord of the house was on his bed with several ladies wrapped around him and caressing him. Other ladies were dancing around the room, entertaining him. They all seemed to be in a merry mood. Food, sex, partying. Not what I expected.
"What the...?" I found myself blurting out.
Suddenly all eyes turned to me. Oops.
"W-Who are you? How dare you?!" The Lord of the house shouted in anger.
The ladies, most of whom were naked or half naked hid themselves and covered themselves in whatever they could find. They looked ashamed of themselves, well they ought to be. This wasn't the first time my eyes had seen a naked woman. Afterall Talia was one and I had personally seen to it that she bathed well.
However, for some reason this was different. For one, this was the first time I would be seeing so many at once, especially in a room connoting a sensual setting.
"Answer me! How dare you interrupt your Lord's night! You will suffer severely for your disturbance! Guards! Guards! Seize this man at once!" The fat man yelled.
No one answered.
I felt bad for him, he was flustered, but so was I. What kind of scenario would allow a person walk into a room full of naked people having carnal affairs? The very thought sickened me. Besides, didn't this fat ass realize what was happening? Since I couldn't take it anymore, I finally decided to speak up.
"They won't answer you" I said.
"Wha.?!" He responded in shock, clearly this had never happened to him before.
"Didn't you have any idea what was going on outside? Didn't your guards come to warn you? Couldn't you even hear the noise and commotion?" I said, getting irritated by the man before me.
"Hey! Watch your tone young man!" The idiot responded to me.
This guy. He had no regard for me neither could he read the situation at all. Even the whores in his bedchamber were smarter than him since they were already exhibiting signs of nervousness and fear. But this man. There were two things that could make a person react that way in the face of danger.
One was that the person was crazily strong and utterly confident in their abilities.
The second, they had no idea what was happening and were oblivious to the danger.
However, there was also a third reason. Or rather, the reason behind the second one. That is, such a person had never experienced a taste of said danger before, and in this case, it was danger in its purest.
"You! What is the meaning of this? What did you do?" The potbellied idiot jumped from his bed and yelled at me, coming closer to me with only his towel covering his nakedness.
I glared at him as he approached me.
"Don't take a step closer" I said in a commanding tone, emitting some pressure.
The room vibrated and the women in the room shuddered in fear. The cold chill filled everywhere and anyone who had sense could tell that I was not to be trifled with
"Hey you! Are you dumb? Answer me before I change my mind and have you executed!" He yelled at me and continued to approach.
I was right, this person had never experienced any form of danger or malice in his life. I had to teach him what it meant. To ignore my warnings.
I snapped my fingers, and immediately all the women in the room began to swell up and in a split second they exploded. Their blood and flesh splattered everywhere in the room. The walls, the ceiling, the floor, the man.
"W-W-What?!" The man's eyes widened at the sight of gore before him.
"Urghhhhh, Arghhhhh, Eeeek!!!!" He screamed at the top of his lungs.
"You're too loud!" I said to him.
I raised my hands to indicate I could snap and he would share the same fate as the women.
For the first time, pure fear filled the man's eyes. He fell on his knees in a helpless fashion. His body trembled with worry and chills. His instincts were screaming at him. Sweat poured all over his naked body and as he raised up his head and looked at me, he knew now. The true meaning of Malevolence!