Becoming the Dark Lord [LitRPG]

Luke used the monkey to reach the treetops and search for the towers. From up there, he could see clearings carved into parts of the city the forest had swallowed. He adjusted his vision, zooming in on the distance, and watched several fights breaking out at once. People sprinted across rooftops, spells went off in the streets, bodies fell from buildings, and entire groups tore into each other over scraps of space.

“Some towers have already been claimed,” he muttered. “But there are still three blue towers and two purple ones.”

He focused on [Soul Infectation], and Angie’s sight opened to him. He had chosen to leave his soul fragment with her because Charlie had better senses and would handle herself better in the forest. Perfect hearing and smell, night vision, mobility through the fog.

By now, I hope Anne has found Charlie.

Luke’s job was to find Angie. Charlie had the power of [Predator’s Mark] on her, so in theory, tracking her later would be easier. After a few minutes scouting the area, Luke and his monkey started moving through the city. He stayed on the creature’s shoulders as it swung, scaled walls, and leapt between buildings like the ruined place had been made for it. In a narrow, steep street, the monkey tore between structures, using balconies, broken windows, and ledges as footholds.

A mage tried to hit them with a wave of water. The monkey ripped loose a chunk of stone, hurled it at him, and kept running. The mage answered with a spell that shot him upward like a rocket.

Terrible idea.

Using its legs like springs, the monkey jumped and struck the man midair with both hands, like swatting a fly between its palms. The impact should’ve killed him. Somehow, the mage still hit the ground alive. Rank D, after all. He probably had some healing skill or defensive item. Luke finished him before it mattered.

At an already claimed tower, the monkey climbed to the top and let Luke get a better look at the area.

“That purple tower over there,” Luke said, narrowing his eyes, “is crawling with ninjas. No clue why they haven’t claimed it yet. Think they’re waiting for idiots to wander in?”

The monkey shrugged.

“If that were it, they wouldn’t be standing around in plain sight. They’d be hidden, waiting to ambush people.”

Luke decided starting a fight with the ninjas right now wasn’t worth it. Not because he didn’t want to. He absolutely did. But his priority was claiming a tower and reuniting with the group.

That one’s open. Nobody’s on it.

But there was movement below. A man crossed the street through the chaos, jumping between buildings while people killed each other all around him. Even so, he stood out. Too much confidence in his stride. Too much violence in the calm way he cut through everything.

Luke recognized him. You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s that guy. Red Death.

A gunslinger. Luke had learned he was an Executioner in the Gunslingers’ Order. In this part of the Sunken Realms, there were only two Executioners: Casper, whom Luke had already killed, and Red Death.

Luke dismissed the monkey.

“You draw too much attention. Sorry,” he told the Spectral Beast before heading toward the purple tower alone.

When he got close, groups were killing each other at the base and in the nearby streets. Luke activated the horn. What mattered was the invisible mana armor around his body. As he walked, an assassin threw a knife at him. Luke dodged without even turning. The assassin tried again.

Luke sighed, pulled one of his own knives, and threw it back. The blade struck the man in the face, and he fell from a building ahead, rolling across the ground, screaming.

“Get the fuck out of my way.”

Luke stepped over him and drove his foot down on the knife.

[You have slain a Human...] *23,848,441,035 earned (+10% Area Points Bonus)*

Near the base, explosions shook the street beside him. Luke activated his cloak and jumped, rising to the top of the tower in a single burst. At the same time, a hook latched onto the structure. Someone was being pulled up.

Two red revolvers aimed at Luke.

“This tower’s mine,” Red Death said. “You just walked into my hunting ground.”

“Don’t care.”

“You don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

The revolvers fired. Luke moved fast, deflecting and dodging as he advanced like a black blur. His strike came so quickly that Red Death barely had time to react. The gunslinger was launched downward and crashed onto the roof of a nearby building.

“You’ve got it backward,” Luke said, turning toward the tower crystal. “You’re the one who doesn’t understand who I am.”

Before he could touch the crystal, a bomb dropped. Luke leapt out of the tower the instant the top exploded. He landed on a rooftop, his gaze snapping back to the smoke.

“You still sure about that?”

Red Death appeared, hanging from a grappling line attached to one of his revolvers. He swung through the air, aimed the other weapon, and fired.

Luke slipped between the bullets. The gunslinger landed, released the line, and opened fire with both guns. Luke advanced in short, sharp movements. When Luke came in with the kukri, Red Death raised his forearms and formed a shield. Luke kicked him. The man skidded backward, lost his balance, and in the next second, a black knife passed close to his body and exploded.

Red Death jumped aside at the last instant, rolled across the roof, and came up with both revolvers aimed.

“You’re a dangerous guy,” he said, staring at Luke.

“I told you. The tower is mine.”

Luke turned his back. The gunslinger fired. Even with his back turned, Luke dodged every bullet, flickering like a black blur between shots.

“What the fuck, man? You’re not like the others.”

Luke stopped. “Now I’m interested.”

He rushed forward. The cloak propelled him like a rocket, and the roof cracked beneath his feet with every step. Red Death kept firing, spinning the cylinders and reloading midair with absurd speed. Luke stomped, breaking part of the roof, and Red Death jumped to another building.

Luke was already after him. They met in close combat over rooftops soaked by rain. Red Death’s guns slammed against Luke’s kukris, reinforced by some kind of magic that let them endure the impact. Metal against metal. Gunshots against blades. Speed against speed.

Laughing, Red Death retreated and aimed both revolvers. This time, the bullets came purple and fast, leaving glowing trails in the air. Buildings behind Luke collapsed under the impacts, but he kept advancing, dodging by inches.

“Those horns make you look scary as hell, man. Do you have some kind of fear magic or something?”

Luke didn’t answer. He raised one hand. The building behind Red Death groaned, then collapsed under the force of his telekinesis. The gunslinger stepped back, but the support vanished beneath him. He fell. Luke appeared in the air and drove a clean hit into his stomach, breaking his guard and throwing him back.

Red Death rolled across the roof and sprang away, clutching the wound.

“Fuck!”

“That was supposed to be your head.”

“Don’t think I’m fighting seriously,” Red Death said, breathing hard, still smiling. “I just wanted to see your skills. Next time, I kill you. That’s how assassins play.”

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Luke pointed the kukri at him. “There won’t be a next time. You die here.”

“Someone’s about to claim the tower.”

The gunslinger suddenly aimed both revolvers downward and fired. First came an explosion that hurled debris in every direction, forcing Luke back before he could be caught off guard. Then smoke. Luke stopped chasing him and launched himself back toward the tower. He hated letting Red Death go. But losing the tower would be worse.

He probably already claimed both towers. He was just killing for fun.

As he crossed the air, he briefly touched his own horns. I need to keep this thing’s arrogance under control.

A ninja was about to finish climbing the tower when one of Luke’s kukris struck the ground near him. Luke arrived right after it.

“Pretty sure this isn’t the tower your group was guarding.”

More ninjas finished climbing.

“That tower was reserved for our daimyo,” one of them said.

“He claimed it. It’s gray.”

“But now one of ours has to claim this one, so he can follow him into the next area.”

“Got it.”

Luke looked at the crystal, then at the armed ninjas. In a burst of speed, he reached one of them. The ninjas were fast too and threw shuriken almost at the same time, but not fast enough. Luke grabbed one by the throat and slammed his head forward. His horns punched through the defense, and the ninja’s body went limp.

Turning, Luke used the corpse as a shield while shuriken flew toward him.

“Ninpo!”

One of the ninjas spat fire, but Luke had already thrown the dead body into him. With his other hand, he drove the kukri under the caster’s throat. Another ninja came from the side. Luke only turned his head, and the horn fired a shadow ball that blasted him off the tower.

One to go.

The kukri stuck in the ground returned to Luke’s hand as he advanced. He blocked the ninja’s sword and punched him in the throat. A second later, the fight was over.

“Maybe giving in to the horn’s arrogance isn’t so bad.”

Conjuring a black knife, Luke gathered mana and watched a few ninjas at the base of the other tower. He threw the blade.

[Telekinetic Impulse Activated]

[Shadow Mana Explosion Activated]

Several death notifications appeared.

Luke turned and touched the crystal.

[Tower Claimed: 4/6]

He focused his mind and went back to seeing through Angie’s eyes. She was staring at a blue-glowing tower in the distance. She had already claimed the purple one.

Good.

“Now I can look for you.”

Luke jumped from the tower. Below, a ninja still stood, half-burned from the shadow ball. But he wasn’t alone. A man in a kimono stood beside him, accompanied by five others wearing samurai armor.

“Let me guess,” Luke said. “You’re here to stop me from leaving.”

The man in the kimono looked at a corpse that dropped from the tower after getting caught on the edge.

“You know…” he began, maddeningly calm. “It took a considerable investment to bring this many shinobi to Stage 3. The last beacon was… troublesome. Men sent across ports, ships arranged, favors spent.”

“Really?” Luke said. “I don’t give a fuck.”

The man smiled and closed his eyes for a moment. “Crude words for a gravestone. I assume your people bury their dead rather than burn them. So yes, gravestone should be the proper word.”

“And you’re the daimyo, I’m guessing. One of the Twelve of New Japan.”

The man’s smile thinned. “You know of us? Curious. We do not allow gaijin into our country. So how do you know so much?”

“I ran into one of you once. A guy named Grass.”

“Grass? Ah... that Grass.” The daimyo tilted his head, thoughtful, as if Luke were only a minor distraction. “That sly snake, slithering through our nation. The same one who managed to obtain a Spirit Tool for the heir’s birthday. Yes. It must be him.”

As he spoke, the samurai spread out, positioning themselves along Luke’s possible escape routes.

“Sounds like Grass,” Luke said.

“It must,” the daimyo replied, opening his eyes. “Keep him here. And you, burned shinobi, go help.”

One samurai advanced first, propelled by a trail of water. His sword came in a fast vertical arc, followed by a horizontal spin. Luke dodged. Then another samurai entered. When he blocked one strike, the third came in with a precise feint.

Luke began trading blows with three at once. There was no hesitation in them. No wasted force. No flashy movements. Every movement carried the exact effort, the right angle, the necessary weight.

When the fourth samurai joined, Luke ducked. All four blades cut through the empty space where he had been. Luke rolled beneath them and jumped. In the air, the fifth samurai pursued him.

The burned ninja threw a shuriken. Luke only glanced aside, dodged, and made the building behind the shinobi collapse with telekinesis. When the ninja looked back, Luke had already moved in. The samurai came running right after him.

I can’t summon the Spectral Beast. These guys would kill it in seconds, and then I’d have to wait twenty-four hours to summon it again.

When one of them attacked, Luke turned into a blur and kicked him upward, concentrating force into his leg. The samurai rose too high. Luke jumped to reach him, but another samurai came through the air, spinning with his katana like a tornado. Luke had to return to the ground. Another samurai swung his blade, making it vibrate. A shrill, piercing sound built in the air, and with each movement of the katana, that sonic pressure launched toward Luke.

In the middle of the fight, a blade slipped past his guard and struck him in the stomach. Luke smiled anyway, pushing forward and letting the sword sink deep enough to close the distance. With one kukri, he struck the man’s ear. With the other, he opened his throat. He kicked the wounded samurai away and kept fighting.

Still surrounded, Luke noticed something that pissed him off: no death notification came. When he glanced to the side, he saw the man retreating and drinking a healing potion.

Bastard.

In one motion, Luke kept trading blows with the four samurai while switching positions with the dancing mimic. He pulled back, conjured a black knife, and threw it. The blade exploded. One of the samurai stepped in front of it, and a dome appeared around him.

A magic barrier.

Right after that, the same samurai advanced, his body covered in electricity. Luke defended, but the shock passed through his guard and hurled him into the roof of a house. He rolled with the impact and rose in the same movement.

“What are you guys, Demon Slayers?”

The samurai stayed silent. Methodical, they ran across the rooftops toward him. Luke took a deep breath and used a quick burst of speed. The cloak carried him away. When the sound samurai came to attack, Luke parried his strikes in sequence and suddenly switched places with the mimic. First, he hit the ear. Then the arm. Finally, the neck.

The samurai stumbled back, choking on his own blood, and tried to draw a healing potion.

“Not on my fucking watch!”

Luke propelled himself forward before the other four could defend him and threw the kukri.

[Telekinetic Impulse Activated]

The vial shattered. The samurai was launched into a house, crashing through part of the wall. He still tried to rise, pulling another potion from his storage item, but Luke appeared behind him and ended the attempt with the kukri. Conjuring another black knife, Luke saw the four remaining samurai advancing.

“You guys are coordinated. I’ll give you that.”

He threw it.

[Burst Throw Activated]

The barrier samurai stepped in front and opened a dome. The knife struck the protection and cracked it. By the time the other three arrived, Luke was already holding another knife.

“But I’m worse.”

[Shadow Mana Explosion Activated]

The blade exploded. Luke had already rolled back. In the next instant, he launched himself against the wall and came back like a bullet. He struck one samurai in the stomach, and when the man slammed into the house, Luke was already on him, ready to finish the job.

“Back off!” another samurai shouted.

He moved his katana, and a tear appeared in the ground, running straight toward Luke. A blast of wind pressure followed. Luke crossed his kukris and held the impact as he was dragged backward. The force tore the weapons from his hands and hurled him into the wall of a house. A samurai rushed forward, his body driven by lightning.

Luke smiled.

[Magnetic Return Activated]

At the last second, the kukris returned to his hands. Luke struck the samurai before he could stop: one blade in the stomach, the other in the face.

“You know,” Luke said as the man dropped to his knees, bleeding, “everyone falls for it. They see that perfect opening, and they just can’t pass it up.” He tilted his head. “If you hadn’t chased that little rush in your brain, maybe things would’ve gone differently.”

The samurai fell dead. Luke rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.

“That’s three down. Just you two and the boss left.”

That was when the daimyo moved. Fast. Silent. He simply appeared, as if he’d cut through reality itself, katana held in a clean slash. Luke defended on instinct. The two exchanged blows in a short, violent sequence until the daimyo’s sword shone white.

Luke crouched and rolled aside. The building behind him was cut in half. He jumped back, studying the man.

That was close.

Luke adjusted his grip on the kukris. Then he felt the power vanish from his body. The cloak came undone first. Right after, the horns disappeared. His mana was gone. The daimyo walked toward him.

“You killed three of my apprentices. I am genuinely impressed. Dirty tricks or not.”

“It’s not like this was fair from the start. It was five guys against me.”

“Your mana is gone. So is that invisible protection around your body.”

The two remaining samurai approached as well. With a burst of speed, all three charged Luke.

“The finishing blow is mine,” the daimyo said. “I want the points he took from my apprentices.”

As the three closed in, Luke finished the activation.

[Spectral Fusion I Activated]