A Story of Evil

"You got what I needed?!?"

"Why do you not sound happy?"

"Oh I am. It's just that I didn't expect it to be delivered this early."

After three days, Damian was finally able to come back to Vex's lab. It was a bit harder to do so as he needed to transfer all of the crystals owned by Elise which, even though was trimmed down by quite a bit, was still a lot. Enough to fill the entirety Vex's lab.

Of course this same empress was caught by the jaw-dropping surprise that came to her front door. But as soon as she saw Damian, this surprise faded away. She was used to him doing almost impossible feats, with his own return to being a human marked by the killing of a dragon.

"I believe this is enough crystals for your task?"

"Oh it is. That's more than enough thank you very much." Vex said, drooling and shivering from the thought of having to use the crystals. It wasn't just small shards. There were large chunks of every element and, there were even pure ones. All collectively piled right before her very eyes. That's why her excitement quickly drained with Damian's next words.

"Good because you're not allowed to touch most of that." The emperor said, with Vex giving her a questioning look as she spoke the same type of words.

"W-What? Why?"

"Because she owns it." Damian pointed to the top of the pile where Elise came out. Showing her six green wings which she used to descend upon them.

Normally Vex could feel when a strong presence was nearby. But because of the abundance of mana crystals, her senses were disrupted as her detection relied on the mana emitted by the surroundings. That's why her shock was doubled by the six winged human who caught her by surprise.

"Vex, I'd like you to meet the newest member of the emperors – Elise."

"You've gotta be kidding me. You found another one of us out there?"

"In the flesh."

"Okay time out." Vex said – her head already in a daze from all the surprises that were coming.

Having Damian deliver all the crystals was already a big shock for her and, having this same person deliver a new empress nonetheless made it difficult for her to remain composed.

"Honestly though this is such an emotional surprise. Wait should I call everyone else and tell them about this?" Vex commented.

"Don't blow this out of proportion."

"I'm not though. You're the only one who's making it look like it's not a big deal."

"Because it isn't."

"God I hate that attitude of yours." Vex said, looking at the little girl who remained silent up to that point.

"So what's her rank?" She asked.

"You'd be surprised, she's higher than you."

It was the third surprise that day. If Vex's machine was a system, it would've overloaded with all the terabyte worth updates already. Thankfully it wasn't like that. And she just remained silent for a few more seconds. Focusing on nothing but her own breathing as Damian's words echoed in her head.

"Okay back it up here. You're saying this little girl is the second strongest? And how can you claim that so easily."

"Well you can summon a divine snake right?"

"Yeah. Orochi. Why?"

This divine snake is Vex's trump card. Her ultimate skill, A snake the same size as a dragon, with scales that could rival that of the aforementioned creature. But it's main strength doesn't come from its sturdiness but from its venom which could melt trough almost anything. This allows the same creature to continue consuming prey if needed as they would instantly dissolve once inside the monster's stomach.

This same creature could fuse with Vex. Turning her into a creature who could fight toe to toe with Damian to a certain degree.

Without this monster, Vex would be ranked lower. But it wasn't like she cared about rankings that much. What she was interested in was, how such a small girl could outrank her Orochi. That's why she waited for Damian's response which didn't even need much explanation as the emperor said:

"This girl can turn into a dragon."

It was over. Vex's brain committed mental suicide at that point. Refusing to function properly. She was silent for a whole minute which got Elise kind of nervous. Thinking that the lady would be angry since she was outranked. Instead she held Damian's shoulder and with all the mental fortitude she had left, she said:

"Damian I think I've had enough surprises today. My mind can only take so much in a day."

"Sure thing. By the way, we'll need a bunch of chaos seeds."

"Just get them in the lab." Was her response. Already at her wits end and simply being a "yes" person at that point.

"Good. If you'll excuse us then." Damian said as he flew away from the lab. With Elise trailing behind him.

"That Vex person seems like a nice lady."

"She is. In fact, she's even too kind for her own good. To the point that she is even oblivious when her own monsters and followers plot against her. Her head is too buried in her research that there's frankly not much room for anything else on that head of hers."

"Then how come she's still alive?"

"Because that's how strong she is."

Vex's glare was enough to petrify anybody in place. Adding to this is her natural [Shedding] ability which she got from her previous snake monsterification. Allowing her to continually regenerate and even restore lost body parts so long as she has enough mana to do so. These defensive abilities have saved her time and time again, to the point that the ones trying to kill her gave up on it.

Meanwhile, the other emperors respected everything about her. Because aside from her outstanding offensive and, defensive abilities, she has also contributed much in terms of discoveries. Allowing them to advance further despite starting from virtually rubble.

"But are you sure it's okay for me to take her place?"

"Of course. She's not the type to care about rankings. She hasn't even seriously placed any effort ion developing any of her skills."

"You're telling me she stayed on second place despite all that?"

"Yeah. In fact, I think if she harnessed her abilities properly, she would've beaten even me. But that would only be after a hundred more years." Damian commented, thinking that Vex's capabilities as a fighter were being put to waste. But it wasn't his business after all and so, he simply focused on things that were.

"Anyway, do you want those seeds or not?" He asked Elise.

"You sure those can restore the whole forest?"

"Definitely. Although the monsters still need to find that place on their own."

"It's fine. I think the forest would call monsters on its own. I don't need to do anything about it. I just want to bring it back to life before leaving it."

"For a kid, you sure know how to speak like an adult."

"Of course I can. We don't age during monsterization so I'm at least a thousand and thirteen years old right now."

"You're an old hag."

"Hey! That's not a nice thing to say to a lady."

"Well you are,"

The flight of the two didn't take that long. They were able to reach the next facility which was part of their agenda. One which is still located inside Vex's territory.

Unlike the main research laboratory, the second one looked nothing like the sort. It was under a giant tree. One which was larger than any building within Vex's territory. On its branches were flying type monsters, which scouted and guarded the skies. Making sure that there were no hostile creatures nor projectiles nearby.

Elise also felt that the tree was somewhat alive. An intuition which she has never been wrong in as, she has already come across and tamed various types of lifeform. There was also a lake sitting below the spot. A clear one with pure transparent water, reflecting the violent clouds in the chaos tainted skies. On it were more monsters which guarded the territory.

"This place sure is heavily secured." Elise said, walking on the bridge that lead to the facility.

"Well that's because all of Vex's successful experiments are placed here. You'd find no other place such as this on the other territories owned by the other emperors. Vex has devoted her life in her research and would protect it even if it costed her life."

"And the seeds are part of those?"

"Of course. Those are important in order to form the terrain within our respective territories. Although I do like the messiness of all the ruins left by the original humans, the monsters require specific habitats in order to survive."

"You sure do know a lot about monsters."

"Not as much as you I presume."

"Of course. Taming and breeding monsters is part of my specialty after all."

"Well you can continue bragging about that latter." Damian said as they finally reached the door of the facility. Opening it as he said:

"We've still got work to do."