I expected to feel something more when the Lesser Demon was forced into submission, but there was only a nebulous connection. It was nowhere near as strong as the bond with the Trickster Demon, but it was there—and it had an effect.

"Attack," I growled and shot past the subdued demon to behead another.

Burst helped me evade the worst injuries, but I was cut twice. As for those daring enough to strike me—they were dead.

By the time the third Lesser Demon died, the subdued Tera Demon rushed past me and crashed into a Toxica Demon.

Arriving beside them, I pushed the Toxica Demon to the ground, my palm pressed firmly against its head. The Insignia of Dominance activated effortlessly, forcing yet another demon into submission.

Next up was the stronger one. It eyed me with intelligence unlike the other Lesser Demons, but it did not focus on me. Its gaze lingered on my hand—on the Insignia of Dominance.

The corner of its lips curled upward, and greed flickered in its eyes as it charged.

The first thing I did was use Burst and push Essence into the pathways, empowering my body as much as possible. I was faster than ever and stronger than my main form ought to be, yet the moment I attacked, the demon twisted its upper body and pushed me aside. A flash of darkness whipped past my head, barely missing. A moment later, a tail I hadn’t noticed before slithered across the ground and curled around my ankle.

Before I knew it, the world turned upside down. I was thrown around, unable to do anything, and crashed into another demon. The demon—yet another Toxica—spun around and clawed at me, but the Trickster Demon and my two subdued demons were already there, shoving it to the ground.

The Tera Demon was about to bash in my foe’s head when I stopped it with a mental command. I didn’t even know that was possible, but it was good to know.

A second later, the Insignia activated, and the second Toxica Demon was suppressed.

"Subdue more demons," I called out to my four subordinates. Eying the Trickster Demon, I added, "Work together. Make sure they don’t die."

I was pretty sure I was going to need their power... not that I had any idea how exactly the Insignia of Dominance worked. The only thing I could be relatively certain about was the hierarchy of demons. Once forced into submission by an Insignia, they could no longer hurt me. Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t. They would die or sustain severe injuries. For all I could tell, the subdued demons couldn’t even resist my commands.

And that might be the most important part—my Core was growing. The System confirmed this when I inspected the Insignia.

Insignia of Dominance.

Subdued Demons – 4

1st Tier effect (unlocked) – Demonic Core

What exactly "Demonic Core" meant, I couldn’t quite tell. My Core’s saturation was still at 93%, closing in on 94%, but it was growing—almost as if every additional subdued demon expanded it ever so slightly. But it wasn’t permanent. It was a static effect that empowered my physical body and provided more energy—demonic energy rather than Essence.

Others could probably do a lot with that additional demonic energy, but I had no idea how to use it. So I didn’t, relying instead on the physical empowerment.

That, and I transformed into a Gale Wolf to conjure an emerald-colored wind blade. The crescent-shaped blade whipped effortlessly through the air, twisting and turning exactly as I willed. As draining as it was, using Galea with the Gale Wolf yielded great results. Several Essence-pumped Rotheart Vampires lost their heads to a single blade. The next moment, I appeared before their writhing bodies and ripped their hearts out.

It was brutal, but the Essence flooding my Core was exactly what I needed. As for the stronger demon, I was fairly sure it was at the 2nd Tier. It attacked me several times, but using Galea to gather air around me—pushing myself forward and forcing the 2nd Tier demon back—was enough to keep it at bay.

Beams of demonic energy whipped through the air, but they failed to find purchase—until they didn’t. I was still digesting the energy of half a dozen Rotheart Vampires pumped full of raw Essence when a beam punctured my side. Maintaining the Gale Wolf form became difficult in an instant, forcing me to make a decision.

I transformed into a Rotheart Vampire—the strongest one I’d slain, to be precise.

My vision turned red, and immense hunger overwhelmed me. The System popped up, informing me of something, but I couldn’t be bothered to read the message. The 2nd Tier Demon stared at me in confusion. It was about to attack, only to slow and study me more closely. That gave me the opportunity to seek my next target—humans and demihumans.

I couldn’t even face the demons and other vampires while Shift maintained the Rotheart Vampire form. It was permanent, if I wanted it to be, but the hunger I felt was immense. It was terrifying, but... manageable. To an extent.

I didn’t want it to be permanent in the first place. All I needed was a form that would heal my punctured side swiftly.

But before that could happen, the 2nd Tier Demon made a decision as well. Even though I looked and smelled like a Rotheart Vampire, it was certain I was not one of them. So it attacked, its claw sweeping through the air too fast for me to catch or dodge.

Demonic energy erupted from the 2nd Tier Demon as it attacked, roaring aloud while the finishing blow inched closer. I considered transforming—hoping to turn into a Blue Slime or some other small Accessible Shift—but the more I thought about it, the less time remained. And by the time I made a decision, it was already too late.

The claws were upon me, the pungent smell of death and rot hitting my nose.

I was dead. There was no escaping it—if I hadn’t been a Rotheart Vampire.

But I was. For the time being, I smelled, looked, and felt like one, and that seemed to be all the older Vampires cared about.