After following the yetis, Sebastian discovered their main base. As surprising as it was, he didn't think it was much of a problem, but that was until he noticed a presence that was comparable to an A-Rank.
Normally, one would've thought it through and picked the obvious choice of leaving but he thought otherwise. He chose to go straight into combat because he was blinded by his greed for strength.
Slash!
"I'm thankful, I truly am so allow me to repay you by giving you a painless death." Sebastian said with four crystals in his left hand and four heads in his other hand.
Throwing both the crystals and the heads into the air, he opened his mouth wide open and swallowed all of them in one gulp. He then pressed his hands against the special gate and pushed it open.
"Sheesh." He wiped his head. "This gate didn't look that damn heavy. Anyways, let's explore shall we? Ha! I'm going insane." He said, realizing he was talking to himself.
Upon entering inside, he noticed the yetis were doing some kind of sacrifice as they were chanting and bowing toward a beast. He then hid from the sight of yetis and watched as they sacrificed an elderly yeti.
After the yeti was sacrificed, the beast then picked up the dead yeti and walked deeper into the cave until its presence could no longer be felt. Noticing the beast was gone, he equipped his Umbral Blade and infused his energy.
Soon, he quickly unsheathed his blade and released a black slash through the air, alerting the yetis of his presence. Twenty or so heads dropped to the ground.
"RAHHH!" The yetis shouted in unison while pointing at Sebastian.
In sync, they all rushed toward him and pulled out their clubs made of ice. Sebastian didn't sit idle watching this as he formed small blades made of his golden aura in the sky.
"Storming Blades!" Sebastian spoke.
Slamming his fist into the ground, all of the golden blades slammed down into the ground, killing a quarter of the yetis. He then surrounded both of his arms with his black aura, creating arm blades.
Lunging forward, he appeared in the horde of yetis and swung like a madman. The yetis, in response, tried to pile onto him to prevent his movement but failed.
"Haha!" Sebastian laughed.
Unbeknownst to Sebastian, he didn't realize his mind was becoming filled with the thoughts of slaughtering them all. This was one of the effects of becoming the Apostle of Slaughter. The longer he was in combat, the more bloodier the battle would be.
His regeneration capabilities were augmented to triple his usual regeneration speed. This was another effect of becoming the Apostle of Slaughter and the Apostle of War.
"HAHA! Kill! Die! Die! Die!"
With one simple swing, his arm blades extended out and bisected multiple yetis in half. He then infused it with his white aura and enlarged the blades.
"Red Whips!"
From behind, five red whips formed and lashed out wildly, either bisecting them or creating large gashes over their bodies.
Slash!
After thirty minutes had passed, Sebastian finally regained his thoughts and looked around him. It was then that he realized that he was on the ground instead of standing.
"What the hell happened? I was killing them all and suddenly my vision turned red? Did I lose control?" Sebastian questioned, looking at his bloodied body and scars on his body.
As he stood up, he walked over to each yeti and inspected their bodies before ripping out the crystals within their bodies. As much as he wanted to eat their bodies, he couldn't do it with the beast still in the cave.
"I'll return back for your bodies so wait here." Sebastian said to the dead bodies. "Who am I kidding? It's not like they'll be resurrected when I return."
Walking deeper in the cave, he followed the tracks along the ground and expanded his energy as he went deeper. He then walked directly into a cave wall and noticed he didn't find the beast at all.
"Where the hell did it go?"
As he was inspecting his surroundings, he noticed he was cut off from the outside world. Dread entered his heart as he knew what kind of situation he was in and knew why he was stuck… He was in a Domain.
Without much choice, especially in an unknown domain, he walked around and tried to find the beast responsible for the domain. As he was walking, he saw a throne in the distance and a figure sitting on it.
"You're me?" Sebastian questioned as he saw the face of the figure.
"Correct. I am you as you are me." The figure said.
Noticing the features of him, he could tell that he was at least two years younger than him. But his strength far surpassed his.
"Do you feel my power? You could have had this. But you decided to reunite with your friends and befriend those seven demons. Without them, you could've achieved greatness.
You could've embraced the dark side. Become one with the demon! Become one with the Slaughter power! Become one with the War God power!"
Each sentence let out a strong overwhelming presence, which forced Sebastian to kneel. Soon the scene in front of him was replaced with a bloodied battlefield.
Thousands of bodies were laid all over the battlefield, including his friends and Jack. By his side, Ragnar and a hundred other strong individuals were around him.
"This is what you call power! The power to dominate over others! The power to rule the world! Haha! And all you have to do is embrace the power within." The figure pointed at his abdomen.
Soon, four different types of energy started to seep out of his abdomen until their colors shined brightly. One of the energies was purple, another deep crimson, another deep purple and the last was a reddish black.
"Wait a minute… Why do you possess those two energies?" The figure questioned, bewildered.
As the figure was approaching him, Sebastian quickly pulled out his Umbral Blade before flash-stepping in front of the figure and plunging the blade into its chest.
The figure then tried to retaliate but soon saw a Sinister Black Energy leave Sebastian's abdomen and spread to itself. As if it started to age rapidly, the figure started to become older before turning into dust.
The domain around Sebastian then shattered into thousands of pieces. Becoming defensive, he looked around at his surroundings and noticed the A-Rank presence had disappeared.
"What the hell was that about?" He asked but obviously wasn't met with a reply.
Walking out of the deeper end of the cave, he noticed the corpses were gone and a blood trail seemed to be leading outside the cave. Following the blood trail outside, he saw a few hundred low-ranking beasts feasting on the corpses.
A vein suddenly appeared on his forehead as his anger had got the best of him. Soon, a reddish black wave of energy expanded outwards and enveloped the weak beasts.
"You shall pay for that!" Sebastian shouted before lunging forward.
—
Three Hours Later…
"Woo! That's what I call a feast!" Sebastian said out loud. "Now where were we?"
Remembering the task at hand, he entered his mind space and started to gauge his strength. It was then that he realized he didn't go up in strength by much.
"Low D-Rank!? Are you joking?! All of those yetis? All of those beasts? And I only managed to achieve Low D-Rank? You've got to be kidding me! If ranking up is gonna be this slow, then I might as well find a higher ranking beast." He complained.
"Roar!"
Jumping out from the forest, an Abyssal Leopard tried to sneak up on him but instead felt a hand grip its throat. In a poor attempt to retaliate, it tried to claw at his body but it's futile attempt didn't even make him bleed.
Splat!
"The only area that I think will provide me with great strength is the Northern Mountaintops. Problem is the king hates my guts."
'Oi, brat.' A voice spoke in his head.
'Bellerion? What do you need?' Sebastian asked.
'What exactly are you? Back there at the domain, that black energy you used was an energy I was only able to use.'
'Black energy? You mean that energy that infected whatever put me in the domain? If that's it, then I don't know. Do you know what energy it is?'
'Yes. That energy is called Death Energy. An extremely volatile and unstable energy that is difficult to control. Normally one wouldn't be able to control the energy unless certain conditions are met but you somehow met them.'
'What's that supposed to mean? Hey! Come back!'
Sebastian then called out to him several more times but received no reply. Sighing, he entered his mind space to find the so-called Death Energy but couldn't find any of it.
'Perhaps I'm looking at it wrong.' Sebastian thought.
Changing the way he sensed energy, the nine energy within his mind space disappeared and soon was replaced with a sinister black energy that froze him in place. As if death loomed over him, he saw a hallucination of the Grim Reaper hovering in front of him.
Thump!
Coming out from the Sinister Black Energy, a colossal dragon appeared as its majestic and fearsome presence sent shivers down Sebastian's spine. The dragon's scales were dark as the midnight sky, gleaming with an otherworldly luster. Towering over mountains and casting an ominous shadow that stretched far and wide.
His four wings, expansive and membrane-thin, span like a looming storm cloud, crackling with the so-called Death Energy. His eyes, burning with an ethereal, piercing glow, which reflect his ancient intelligence that surpasses mortal comprehension.
His ancient dragon horns curled majestically, spiraling upwards like ominous spires that punctuate the silhouette of a living nightmare.
"What the hell are you?!" Sebastian shouted at the dragon.
Staring at the dragon, he watched as it lowered its head to his level before trying to bite/swallow him in one go. Luckily, he was fast enough to dodge out of the way and noticed the dragon kept trying to bite.
Changing his perception of energy again, the dragon disappeared from his sight. He then slumped over and started to breath heavily. If he had to guess, it was probably Bellerion but he could only assume.
After exiting his mind space, he was surprised to see his surroundings had changed. From a once bloodied battlefield, it was replaced by beautiful scenery.
As much as he wanted to admire the scenery, he snapped his fingers and the once scenery turned into smoke before disappearing altogether.
"What are you doing, Jane?" Sebastian asked.
"Is that how you treat everyone or just me?" A woman said, appearing out of thin air with a smoke pipe in hand.
"Did you find the information I needed?"
"Unfortunately, I haven't found anything relating to the exit portal." She revealed.
"Of course it wouldn't be easy." He sighed while walking toward a rock and sitting on it.
"Thank you for the beast crystals. I finally was able to break through to the next rank."
Remembering what he could do with his auras, he formed a table with two seats on each side of it. Both of them then took a seat while the woman placed a paper on the table.
"Onto the next piece of information, the ants seem to be preparing for war against you and your friends again. Your display of power made them rethink their choices."
Looking at the papers, he was slightly surprised to say the least. The chimera ants were featuring different types of beasts he never heard of. He also focused on the details explaining their boost in power.
"Looks like I'm gonna have to pay them a visit sometime in the future." He grinned.
Having ranked up, he was confident in facing them but wasn't sure about the newer generations. He experienced a battle against the third generation and was confident he would kill them ten times over.