Tch, the one with the Demonic features, she got away, huh? In hindsight, maybe I should have sent an Archwarrior to deal with her, her speed was impressive but she wouldn't have been able to outrun one of our Archwarriors as easily as she did with Zero.

  From the look of it, she still wasn't used to her new power level……what a waste, this was probably our best chance to get rid of her. There was no mistaking it, she'd been prepared and resolved to die at the end there, but then, a conflicted look appeared on her face, before shifting into one of reluctant determination.

  If I had to guess, Sant must have contacted her. With her Demonic powers, she's probably second only to the Elemental Sages, so she's a valuable asset to the Laus Domain……I imagine that, from here on out, they'll be using her a lot more cautiously.

  Now, then, I guess I should bring back Zero and Cleon. Looks like they've wrapped things up and are waiting for me to recall them. Alright, here goes, reverse summon.

  "Nice work, Cleon, you toyed with your opponent a bit much, but you got the job done, so I won't complain. Well done. On the other hand……that was awfully careless of you, Zero, wouldn't you say?" I greeted them.

  "I am humbled by your praise, my lord," Responded Cleon, with a slight bow.

  "I apologize, my lord, I should not have allowed her to get away. I did not expect her to possess such speed, it was my mistake," Spoke up Zero, looking frustrated.

  "Well, I'll let it slide this time, it seemed like that Elf herself didn't know how fast she was either. Just be sure not to make the same mistake again, understood?" I instructed firmly.

  "Yes, my lord, I understand."

  "Alright, then, take the Halfling to Nezera, have her interrogate him. And once she's done, all of them that don't give up any information, bring them to me. As for the ones that do give up information, don't kill them. We'll instead use them as the first victims of Jhin's suggestion; those that defeated each of the enemies will gain their life forces. However, in your cases, Vampires don't get stronger when consuming life force, so I'd prefer to compensate you in some other way. If you really insist on wanting the life forces of the enemies you defeat, then so be it. What do you say?" I asked Cleon.

  "Hm……I am fine either way, my lord, I certainly would not refuse their life force, but I will not insist on it either," He responded, after mulling it over.

  "In that case……how about this? Vampires will be given the option to choose; they can either consume the life forces of the enemies they capture, or they can give them to someone else, and in return, for every ten enemies they capture and give to someone else, they can make a request of me, anything that's within my power. Does that sound reasonable to you?" I suggested after a brief pause.

  "Are……are you certain, my lord? That may result in a lot of requests," He pointed out.

  "Well, yes, but so long as the requests are reasonable, I don't mind. Well, what do you say?" I inquired.

  "Hm……I think I ought to discuss it with the other Vampires before coming to a decision, my lord, since it will affect all of us. But I doubt that anyone will voice any opposition to this, so on that assumption, I am willing to donate the life force of this Halfling to someone else," He responded, after mulling it over.

  "Alright, great. Do you have any specific requests on who you'd like to give it to?"

  "No, my lord, anyone is fine."

  "Okay, then……you're dismissed, feel free to take the rest of the day off, Cleon."

  "I thank you, my lord."

  "Hold on, Zero, that doesn't apply to you," I remarked, as I noticed him starting to try and sneak away, "After all, forgiving a failure and rewarding a failure are two very different things, and I won't be doing the latter."

  "……understood, my lord."……

  "It was no use, my lord, no matter what I did, they refused to answer even a single question," Sighed Nezera with a look of disappointment, before adding, "And of course, as you commanded, all of them are still alive."

  "Alright, in about an hour, excluding the three Vampires, summon the others that I tasked with intercepting the intruders and take them down to where the ones we captured are being held. Contact me when they arrive, and keep all the captives unconscious……they can communicate with Sant if they're still conscious, so let's not allow them to connect to him," I responded.

  "Yes, I understand. Should I go and tranquilize them right away? They are all currently conscious," She informed me.

  "No, not yet……before we make use of their life forces, I'm going to see if I can get any information out of them. Their desire to stay loyal to Sant will probably enable them to break free of normal Chaos Magic spells, but mine are far more complex and pretty much unbreakable……let's go try it out, see how effective it is," I remarked with a smirk……

  Wow, that was disappointingly easy. Literally, the hardest part was making them look into my third eye so that I could activate the spells to brainwash them into spilling everything they know about the Laus Domain.

  For the most part, there was nothing new, since I'd learnt a lot through spying on them with my invisible monsters, but there was one thing that caught my attention……

  The fact that many members of the other races were starting to get concerned over Sant's recent commands and decisions, that was pretty interesting. Even if all it does is cause a neglible amount of discord in the Laus Domain, the fact that they're questioning Sant at all is huge.

  After all, all this time I'd just assumed that they all blindly idolized him and would probably jump off a cliff if he commanded it. But what if the only reason they've idolized him is because he's never given them a reason to doubt him before?

  And with his recent, drastic change, that's no longer the case. Because of him, many of them have died unnecessarily, and these scouts that he sent here, this was basically a suicide mission for them, that even one of them managed to escape was a miracle.

  Who knows, maybe no matter what he does, the other races may never actually betray him……or rather, acknowledge that he's betrayed them……but I bet there's at least one of them who would definitely be thinking along those lines……Sylvar, the Wind Sage.

  After all, he used to be human, so he's likely capable of thinking a lot more broadly than the rest. And if he starts sharing his thoughts and influencing others……nah, I'm getting too ahead of myself, the more I try to predict, the less accurate I'm going to be. I'm better off simply sitting back and watching how it all plays out.

  Anyway, after I extracted the information from the captives, I released them from the illusion spells, making it so that they remembered everything they said while under my spells. Have to say, seeing their faces contort with horrified guilt was pretty hilarious, and shortly after that, Nezera promptly tranquilized them. Now, then, I guess I'll wait till the others get here, the captives get to live till then……

  "Okay, so we managed to capture five of the eight intruders, one Elf and four Halflings. Of the rest, two died and one escaped. Setting that aside, you all did really well, and now, some of you will be gaining minor power boosts; I'll be transferring the life forces of these five into those that defeated them. Ragiu and Selesa, you weren't able to defeat your opponent, Prato and Lusk, you guys ended up killing your opponent, and Siert, you killed your opponent too. However, since Tearstrom and Cleon also managed to bring back a captive each, I'll randomly pick two of you to-," I began to suggest.

  "Actually, my lord, I do not mind if one of those that I defeated was divided between Misen and Selesa, they may have failed, but that's all the more reason why, they require increases in power more than the rest of us do," Pointed out Jhin.

  "Hey!" Protested Selesa indignantly.

  "Tch, what's most frustrating about your comments is that you aren't wrong," Frowned Misen grudgingly.

  "You know, I almost don't want a power up……my current power level is at around 6,900, I don't want to lose that," Sighed Selesa wistfully……

  idiot.

  "Are you stupid or something? Just aim for 69,000," I pointed out with a shake of my head.

  "Ooh, I didn't think of that!" She exclaimed, her eyes lighting up.

  "Ahem, anyway……let's, uh, get back on topic, shall we?" I sighed, before continuing, "Okay, then, let's see here, in the way we've divided the captives so far……that's one for Jhin, one for Ekai, and one divided between Selesa and Ragiu……that leaves two more of them for three more of us; Lusk, Prato and Siert. Alright, of the remaining three of you, I'll split one between two of you, and the remaining one goes to whichever of the three of you impressed me the most……any objections?"

  "No, that sounds fair," Replied Prato with a nod.

  "Agreed, fine by me," Spoke up Siert, as Lusk nodded as well.

  "In that case……the one who impressed me most, was Prato," I remarked, as I turned to him, "However, I do have a condition……that technique you used, the immense, trance-like focus and super narrow heat beams, I want you to master it, with skills like that, it'd be a shame if you didn't polish them."

  A slight smile spread across his face, as he met my gaze and replied……

  "I agree wholeheartedly……and you didn't have to tell me, I was already planning on it……"

  _____________________________________________

  Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

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