Lord of Death

Several Hours after we began, the view of a city with size around 2 to 3 times that of Night Garden came into our vision.

As my father told me, this was the capital city of the Nasca Kingdom, known as the Rudra city.

It should have taken us 2 days, but because I accelerated ourselves by the Dao of Time, we reached there quite early, though it's a shame that Dad didn't let me use the Dao of Space since it was the first time we were travelling together.

Also, apparently the name 'Tsugikuni' was familiar to him but he couldn't place where he knew it from, but he confirmed that he heard it from his elders in the family, which only boosted my eagerness the meet them.

We reached the gate of the city, which seemed to be guarded by quite a few soldiers, though it made sense, bearing in mind that there was only one gate to enter and leave capital according to my father.

"Michikatsu, Don't summon those Ants Alright?!" 

I nodded at my Dad's request.

While on our way here, we encountered 2 ant monsters. I easily killed them by using 『Moon Breathing: 8th Form; Moon Dragon Ringtail』 in a single slice. 

Dad suggested we leave them and resume out journey, but I suddenly had an Idea then.

><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< (If you didn't remember, this line break can also mean 'Flashback' along with Timeskip, meanwhile and Switch POV)

"Let's get going, Mike"

Dad called me out, using that silly nickname he always used for me.

"Alright"

 I stood up, ready to run again. After all, these bodies will disappear overnight in the darkness.

.

..

…

Wait. Darkness, Darkness, Shadow, SHADOW…

"DAD"

"Huh?"

"Please wait, I have to try something"

Dad raised an eyebrow, but stopped regardless.

In one of my past lives, when I went by the name 'Ashborn', I was a ruler who fell from grace to become a Monarch. The main ability I had from that time was to resurrect the dead and add them to my Legion, the Army of Shadows I commanded.

As the Shadow Monarch, I resurrected the souls of the beasts that I had slain to raise an Immortal Army. 

However, I do not have that ability now.

When I thought of Shadow, a thought, or rather an idea came to mind.

I went near the two fallen beasts, stopping right before them. Using the Dao of Darkness, I consumed their spiritual Essence, and discovered that their soul had yet not passed on.

Trying to infuse some of my Yi into them, I used the Dao of Reincarnation, to take control of their souls. 

It was a gamble, any cultivator below the Immortal Province would leave their own soul vulnerable when trying to interact with another's soul. The only reason I tried it was because this risk was negligible considering that the ants lacked higher intelligence. 

By the Dao of Reincarnation, manipulating souls would then only be a matter of power and proficiency. The ants were far weaker than me and I had literally created cultivation, so it was a piece of cake for me.

Using that Dao, it reconstructed their souls with Yi, and forced onto them a contract of submission, which went without a hitch.

[Ding…

 2 Souls have been contracted. Would you like to add them as Familiars?]

{No}

If I add them as familiars, I would still have a beast that would fight for me, but could die. Not to mention, I cannot just go around with an army of beasts. 

I wanted something better, like I had as Ashborn.

As the souls were now constituted of Yi, they could be treated as Soul Items. As soul Items, they could be stored within my soul and fed on my own Yi, which they could use to regenerate if harmed.

As my reached the final stages of my Idea, I let the souls inside my soul and gave them Yi infused with the Dao of Darkness for them to create a material body for themselves. 

As I summoned their avatars, 2 ants the same size as the ones I had slain before manifested right before me. However, these two looked like ethereal beings formed of darkness and a glimmer of purple. They turned towards me and bowed. (Image here) 

These beasts formed of faint Yi were merely avatars of the souls that rested within me, so even if destroyed, they would regenerate indefinitely as long as I have a supply of Yi.

And since they were just puppet like avatars, soul based attacks were ineffective since those avatars themselves did not possess a soul. This also made them immortal to almost anything as long as I am unharmed. 

A smile crept up my face, I had managed to recreate the Shadow Monarch's principal ability. 

Suddenly a robotic voice ringed in my mind.

«Title 'Lord of Death', 'Conqueror of the Dead' and 'Lord of Shadows' acquired»

I sighed as a worry washed itself away. I was apprehensive whether or not the 'Words of the World' would allow the Daos to manipulate the souls but it seems that it was okay.

It likely saw Yi as an inferior version of my Origin Essence which it probably detected in Veldanava. 

Speaking of that, I should go visit him and Athena sometime.

I turned to Dad, though his mouth was open as he continued staring at the spot where the ants lied.

He stood still for a bit before abruptly jumping on me and began shaking my shoulders back and forth. (Don't get any weird ideas, they are father and child)

"What the hell Michi? What are those things? Didn't you kill them? Why are they like that? Is this some kind of prank?" 

Yep, same old Dad… Wait, when did he start calling me Michi?

"Wait.. a.. second… Dad"

I stuttered out with difficulty. He stopped shaking me, as I sighed before answering him.

"These are Shadows", I pointed to the shadow beasts, "They are like my contracted beast familiars now."

He stared at me.

"How did you do that? You didn't have that ability before"

"I formulated it just now"

His gaze didn't leave me, as he kept staring at me to affirm whether I was voicing the truth.

His grasp on my shoulders slowly loosened, as a sigh escaped his lips with shut eyes.

I guess I will tell him on the way, but before that…

"Hey dad"

"What?"

"Can you stand guard for a minute?"

"What for?"

"I have to break through"

"ALREADY?"

He nearly screamed. Maybe it's because he thinks that cultivation would take far longer than it does for me, which is normal, considering that I can only cultivate this fast since Yi is the diluted version of my own essence which makes it unnaturally easy for me to bend it to my will.

"Alright, just do it"

I cancelled the shadow summons and went a bit further away from Dad before sitting down with my legs crossed, not before creating a barrier around me with the Dao of Space and speeding time up for me by the Dao of Time.

The 4th Realm, 'Dao Manifestation', was all about acquiring and comprehending the Dao they had.

I had already acquired the Daos and since I created all this, I was already more than proficient in it since I was used to controlling Origin Essence itself.

Without a hitch, I quickly felt my control over the Dao increase significantly along with my Yi reserves as I reached the 10th stage of 'Dao Manifestation' within a minute. There was no tribulation which breaking through stages but I had kept my distance since I wanted to break through the 5th Realm if I could.

To reach the 5th Realm, also known as 'Core Formation', I had to combine my soul with Yi to form a Core, which was the source of a Cultivators identity along with the fact that it could generate Yi indefinitely.

This was quite a risky process, but with the Daos and tools I had coupled with my affinity with Yi, it was fairly safer though it was still going to be extremely painful.

I took in Yi from my body and covered my soul with it before taking some more and creating a layer on it, adding layer by layer, I formed 11 layers of condensed Yi around my soul.

Keeping the outermost, which was the densest and firmest of the layers intact, I let the other 10 out of my control.

Arghh…

I winced thanks to the pain as I felt the unrestrained Yi blast through into and out of my soul, slowly merging or rather reconstructing it with Yi.

I silently bore the pain as I slowly felt the pain petering out. I utilized my senses to glance inside me, only to discover a shining 2 layered rainbow colored sphere where my soul once resided, generating significant pockets of Yi for myself to use. (Image here)

The 11th layer of Yi had now become the second layer for the core as the rest of the 10 layers combined with my soul to become the central core. With this development, I also felt my shadow beasts grow considerably more powerful.

The ecstasy in my heart grew even further as I reminisced about myself jumping all the way from the 1st stage of 'Dao Manifestation' to the 2nd stage of 'Core Formation'. 

Not only that, but since my core is made of Yi, my soul is invulnerable to almost everyone of this World with the exceptions of Cultivators in a higher realm if there are any in the first place or those who can use Origin Essence, who are likely only Athena, Vel and Inarius.

I opened my eyes, finding myself in a small crater, likely small because I put up a barrier. I could see my father looking at me with a blank look.

"Umm…"

"There's no need to tell me, Let's just go on ahead"

"I… Alright"

I leaped behind my father, who jumped onto a tree and rushed ahead.

{Status}

[Status: -

 Name: Michikatsu Archos

 Age: 14

 Race: Human (Mortal)

 Title: Sword God, Conqueror of the Dead, Lord of Death… 

 Dao: Space, Time, Reincarnation, Void, Darkness 

 Cultivation: Mortal Province: 5th Realm (Core Formation); 2nd stage

 Battle Strength: Mortal Province: 6th Realm (Nascent Soul); 7th stage

 Abilities: Dead Raising, Yi Armor 

 Technique: Moon Breathing, Renewal Taekwondo, Moon Light Sword Style…

 Soul-Bound Items: 'Tsukuyomi', 'Azura', 'Tawus'

 Legion: Unnamed Shadow Ant Beasts (2)]

Hmm…

The system added an abilities section. From the description, I think it has the abilities that can't be classified into techniques or Daos. I will need to name that ability instead of calling it Yi armor later.

The Legion section shows the number of Shadow beasts I have, that's good.

I decided to let it aside for now and explaining what had happened to Dad.

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Entering the gates of the Rudra city, which was like a white city of marble that had a bridge leading straight to the center. (Image here)

It had been 5 years since Dad had last gone to visit my grandparents, though he usually went every 2 years before, so I hope we find them quickly.

As soon as we reached the gate, the guard there looked at my father and his face contorted for a bit.

Huh? What that about? Did he fight with Dad and get his ass kicked last time he was here?

This was not a far stretch if we look at the fact that my father never rejected any blatant provocation. 

However, when I looked about, many of the guards and some of the civilians seemed to share the same emotion. 

I hurriedly looked at Dad face, since he was a sensitive man, but he just continued talking with a guard for the entry permission as if he didn't see anything, which I knew was false because of his immensely sharpened senses.

Some even seemed to gossip, but quickly stopped as they saw my eyes land on them.

I spent the next few minutes glaring at the ones who gossiped about Dad, shutting them up. However, I also picked up some things they were saying about him, which included 'Banished', 'fallen', 'disgrace' and many more. 

I knew I couldn't start a fight since I had to enter the city but I quietly scanned the faces of the people who spoke ill of my father, vowing to myself that I would make them suffer for this.

I would have let it slide if not for that one comment I heard at the end, it was burning into my memory along with the face of the man who said it.

'Is that the boy the trash made with the slut', Oh how cruel is his death going to be. I imagined him burning by the flames of hell for eternity, screaming in pain as he sees his dear ones being tortured right in front of him. (Image here)

After the guard let us in, even though reluctantly as I could see that from their face and especially their eyes twitching.

As I entered with him, I felt a hand on my head. I turned to see Dad giving me one of his usual smiles, which only made my frown worsen.

Is he going to just ignore all that? Are they now from his own hometown, or city?

"Haha", He laughed, "Don't make that serious expression, just be cute like you always do"

I forced myself to smile, not wanting to sadden my father, as my rage only built up further inside me.

"Yo, Ray. I haven't seen you in a while"

We both turn to the side, to see a man whose appearance made my eyes widen.

It was a man with long black hair, with a red mark on his left forehead, wearing a black kimono with a green and black checkered pattern Haori. But what really made me surprised was his ears which sported 2 Hanafuda earrings. (Image here)

"Yeah. It's been a while," Dad replied, "Brother"