The Dark Extra: Awakening of SSS-Skill Demon Emperor Legacy

"Yes. I talked to him about the dungeon ruler. He explained it simply."

"What is it?"

"Someone can become a dungeon ruler if they manage to seize the Dungeon Ruler's Medal on the 100th floor."

"But isn't that the same place as where the Lumen Astra sword is located?" asked Milenia.

Agares cleared his throat. The 100th floor was the highest point of all the floors in this S-level dungeon, filled with many mysteries unknown to Agares, as well as dangers.

Even so, that floor was the only solution for Agares to secure the city from future destruction.

If he became the dungeon ruler, it would be easy for him to ban the use of teleportation tokens by outside adventurers.

That way, no outside adventurer could enter the city and cause chaos like yesterday. Milenia smiled, slowly beginning to understand what Agares was saying.

"If that's the case, then you're the only one who has the potential to get that medal."

"Yes, and that responsibility makes it impossible for me to ignore this place," said Agares.

He turned and smiled, his hand lifting to brush aside Milenia's hair that had briefly fallen over her face. A beautiful, radiant smile appeared on Milenia's face, beaming proudly at Agares.

"Not just for the city, but I'm doing all of this for you and Aizen."

"I know. I'm proud of you, Agares," said Milenia, moving her face forward and gently kissing her husband's lips.

The two of them hadn't officially married yet, either by government law or religious belief. But the affection and love between them led them to decide to build a family together.

Milenia didn't mind, but she would be much happier if the wedding was held in the city, inviting all the townspeople.

Agares had heard Milenia's wish. He promised her that they would marry in front of many witnesses after he conquered the 100th floor and returned as the dungeon ruler. Milenia would wait for that to happen.

They continued talking about many things and eventually fell asleep for a while. Agares woke up when a bright light appeared in front of his face—the system panel showed that Aoi's evolution duration was about to end.

[Pet Evolve Duration:]

[00:00:00:37]

Milenia was still sound asleep, lying beside Aizen. Not wanting to wake them, Agares slowly got out of bed and walked out of the room.

It didn't take long for him to reach the backyard of Milenia's residence. There, his eyes focused on a swirl of white energy slowly being absorbed into the golden egg that enveloped Aoi.

[Pet Evolve Duration:]

[00:00:00:00]

The pet's evolution duration had ended. It was time for Aoi to come out of the golden egg that had encased her for five hours.

Cracks in the egg shell were clearly visible, accompanied by golden light bursting out. Agares stood still.

He could feel Aoi's magical energy fluctuations growing stronger—far more powerful than before.

The eggshell fell from the sky and faded away naturally. A white fox with blue patterns on her body emerged perfectly, no longer wrapped in any eggshell.

'She has evolved,' thought Agares.

He saw that Aoi had grown a third tail, a sign of her third evolution. Even so, there was no significant change in her body size. Aoi was still the same size as she had been after her second evolution.

Still, Agares was confident Aoi had become stronger. Her magic attacks could surely defeat level 4 or 5 monsters now.

Slowly, Aoi descended from the sky and sat on the grass. Her eyes opened, and the first thing she saw was Agares, standing at the edge of the backyard, his attention fully on her.

She instinctively turned around and saw her third tail had appeared, with beautiful fur just like before. She was happy her evolution was complete.

"How are you feeling?" asked Agares.

"Much better."

Agares smiled. One thing they had to do now that Aoi had reached her third evolution was sparring. Agares needed to measure how much stronger Aoi had become so she could assist him in future battles.

"If I remember correctly, the third evolution grants moderate illusion and charm magic abilities. Am I right?" asked Agares.

"I don't know. I haven't checked yet."

Aoi closed her eyes, trying to read her powers from within her mind. She nodded in response. What Agares said was true.

"Yes, I have that ability."

Agares walked from the edge of the yard and stood in front of Aoi. He needed to test how strong her illusions and charm spells were.

It was for battle analysis later.

"Alright. Show me that ability," said Agares.

Aoi nodded. The blue patterns on her white fur lit up brightly, a sign that Aoi's power was being used.

In an instant, white mist appeared in the backyard of Milenia's home, and Aoi's figure disappeared into the fog.

"With my power, I can manipulate your mind and induce fear in you," Aoi explained.

"You can peek into my mind? That's rude."

"Haha! Sorry, I was just pretending to be strong."

In a flash, the scenery within the white fog transformed into the village of Faircallen. That's right! Agares wasn't mistaken—he was seeing an illusion of Faircallen village.

"It seems this village means a lot to you," said Aoi.

Agares fell silent in shock, his hands and legs trembling violently. What he saw before him were moments of joy and peace in Faircallen Village.

He saw Nadia's family chatting warmly, laughing and working in the fields. Anna was focused on healing villagers with her priest powers—there were so many happy faces there.

"F-Faircallen?" muttered Agares.

Aoi changed the illusion from Faircallen's peace to its destruction. Houses burned, corpses were everywhere, and the ground was muddy with rainwater. Agares's heart couldn't take this illusion.

The scene changed again to a place with four crosses and one gallows, where Anna and Nadia's family had died in disgrace.

"Anna?"

"Nadia?"

"Stop this…." Agares whispered.

Aoi didn't hear him because she was focused on her power. She dared to take a bolder step—she manifested Anna's injured figure behind Agares's back.

"Agares," Anna called.

Agares slowly turned around, his face pale and his eyes wide. Anna, naked and bloody, stood before him with a sharp gaze full of regret.

"Why did you have to come to this village?!"

"If you hadn't come, this destruction would never have happened!"

"STOP!" shouted Agares.

He drew his sword and slashed vertically and horizontally in front of him—directly at Anna's body.

BLAST!

An explosion erupted from the strike hitting the backyard fence, creating a loud noise. Aoi was nearly hit but managed to dodge just in time.

"W-What—"

"Stop all of this!" Agares shouted again, attacking blindly in another direction.

Milenia woke up from the explosion and the shouting. She hurried out of her room and arrived in the backyard. She saw the white mist filling the area.

"Aoi?!" yelled Milenia.

Aoi turned in fear, flying toward Milenia while begging her for help. She had gone overboard with her power and dragged Agares into the abyss of his guilt.

With her power, Milenia restrained the area and neutralized Aoi's mid-level illusion. Agares looked furious, his dark energy aura radiating strongly from his body.

The illusion ended. The vision of Faircallen Village was gone. All Agares saw before him now were Milenia and Aoi.

Aoi looked panicked, anxious, and terrified, while Milenia tried hard to calm Agares down.

"W-What—"

"Calm down, Agares. It was just an illusion."

Agares stood silent, eyes wide in shock. He didn't know what had just happened. There was rage and hatred in his heart that had taken over his body.

He couldn't control it.

Aoi flew forward to apologize for her overreaction. But Agares remained silent. He walked away from Milenia's residence to calm himself down at Goro's tavern.

The white fox cried, tears falling from her eyes as she realized her mistake had deeply hurt Agares. She hugged Milenia out of fear that Agares would abandon her.

"Calm down. He won't do that."

"Maybe he just needs some time alone right now. We shouldn't bother him."