Tony Clark stood over the bed, his dark eyes narrowed in a cold, calculating gaze as he watched Elsa.
The absolute authority of the Heavenly Imperial Soul Subduing Art had completely re-engineered the neural and spiritual pathways of her loyalty, turning a lethal, venomous enemy into an entirely pliable, devout instrument of his will.
Yet, Tony did not allow the intoxicating rush of total dominance to cloud his strategic faculties; his pool of Fate Points had been critically depleted to a mere two hundred and forty, and he needed an immediate, high-value return on his massive thirteen-hundred-point investment.
"Get up, Elsa, and sit properly," Tony commanded, his voice dropping into a low, detached baritone that carried the absolute, unyielding weight of their new spiritual contract.
The Demonic Sea Princess blinked, her violet eyes swirling with an intense, childlike reverence as she instantly complied with his words, shifting her bound legs and sitting upright on the edge of the mattress with an eager, serene smile that looked utterly alien on her historically malicious face. "
Of course, big brother Tony," she whispered softly, her silky voice entirely stripped of its former royal arrogance as she looked up at him, her chest heaving slightly against the tight constraints of the spirit-suppressing ropes.
"Whatever big brother commands, your little sister will perform without a single moment of hesitation. My soul belongs entirely to you now, so please, do not look at me with such cold eyes."
Tony ignored the emotional appeal entirely, stepping back and folding his arms over his chest as he activated his Truth Eye, his vision instantly shifting to perceive the hidden pathways of energy, bloodline traces, and lingering mental blocks within her physical form.
"The cheap psychological games are over, Elsa," Tony stated coldly, his eyes gleaming with an eerie, analytical light. "You chose to endure the Pleasure Doctor techniques because your core consciousness was guarding something far greater than Ancestor Luka’s standard territorial ambitions or a simple tactical alliance with Academy Master Da Vinci. Tell me the absolute truth behind your infiltration. Why is the Demonic Sea Tribe so desperately, fanatically obsessed with procuring the World Tree seeds at all costs, when your people have survived in the deep trenches for millennia without them?"
Elsa’s serene smile faltered for a fraction of a second, not out of a desire to resist his interrogation, but because the sheer magnitude of the secret she held caused her reconditioned mind to tremble under the weight of the revelation. She leaned forward, her silver hair cascading over her shoulders as she lowered her voice to a conspiratorial, terrified whisper that echoed hauntingly off the stone walls of the chamber.
"It... it is because of an entity that does not belong to this realm, big brother," she confessed, her violet eyes widening with a mixture of awe and residual terror. "Ancestor Luka did not conceive this plan on her own. Several months ago, a magnificent, terrifying otherworldly being bypassed the protective wards of our deepest oceanic trench and manifested directly within our royal ancestral hall. This being possesses an aura so profound that even our supreme ancestors were forced to kneel in its presence, radiating a type of energy that completely surpasses the laws of our current world."
Tony’s eyebrows twitched slightly, his lazy demeanor completely evaporating as his brilliant strategic mind instantly categorized this new, highly dangerous variable on the grand chessboard. "An otherworldly being?" Tony questioned, his voice remaining flat but his internal thoughts racing through the historical data of the Imperial Edicts he had memorized. "Go on. What exactly does an entity of that caliber want with a localized realm anomaly like the World Tree, and what did it offer your tribe in exchange for the seeds?"
"The being requires the World Tree seeds to fuel a cosmic array capable of piercing the dimensional barrier permanently," Elsa explained rapidly, the words spilling from her lips with absolute, unforced honesty as the soul binding compelled her to lay bare her deepest tribal secrets. "In exchange for delivering the seeds, this entity promised Ancestor Luka things that our world has not seen since the primordial era. It offered true divine ascension scriptures, medicinal pills that can instantly force a breakthrough into the Eternal Sun Realm without any heavenly tribulation, and structural blueprints to build a cross-world transportation gate. The entity explicitly stated that our current world is merely a stagnant, dying cage, and that if we provided the catalysts, it would lift the entire Demonic Sea Tribe into the supreme upper realms as chosen rulers."
A cold, ruthless smile slowly spread across Tony’s face as he listened to the narrative, his mind instantly deducing the raw, unadulterated greed that had driven Ancestor Luka to align with both Da Vinci and the Imperial Family to trap the Clark family. He secretly possessed three World Tree seeds—a absolute secret known only to himself and the isolated World Tree Spirit—making him the wealthiest, most volatile target in the entire geography.
"An exceptionally enticing bargain for a desperate tribe of beasts," Tony sneered softly, his eyes locking onto hers with a sharp, predatory intensity. "Where is this otherworldly being hiding right now? Give me the exact coordinate or the method your tribe uses to establish contact with this cosmic merchant."
"The being does not reside within our spatial coordinates permanently, big brother," Elsa revealed, shaking her head lightly as she leaned closer to him, her breath warm against the chilly air of the room. "Before vanishing back into the void, the entity left behind a specialized spiritual frequency and a specific set of instructions. It commanded our tribe that once the World Tree seeds were successfully secured, we were to travel immediately to the absolute summit of Mount Meru. Once there, at the highest point where the worldly laws are thinnest, we must sound the ancestral Sea Conch of the Demonic Sea Tribe as a distinct signal. The frequency of the conch will pierce the spatial thinness, and the otherworldly being will immediately descend to perform the exchange of treasures."
"Mount Meru..." Tony muttered, his mind mapping out the volatile, jagged terrain of the ancient mountain that sat directly on the neutral border between the human empires and the wild beast domains. It was a lawless, chaotic zone where the territorial jurisdiction of the Clark family was severely diminished, making it the perfect location for a catastrophic ambush or a world-changing transaction.
Without wasting a single second to analyze the potential risks, Tony’s lazy exterior vanished entirely, replaced by the decisive, tyrannical aura of a true Overlord Warrior. He had no intention of letting Ancestor Luka or Da Vinci ever lay their hands on those divine ascension materials; if there was an otherworldly entity offering pills that could force a breakthrough into the Eternal Sun Realm, those treasures belonged exclusively to Tony Clark.
Tony snapped his fingers, and the specialized spirit-suppressing ropes binding Elsa instantly dissolved into fragments of residual spiritual light, freeing her limbs completely. "Stand up, dress yourself in standard tactical attire, and prepare to move," Tony commanded sharply, his eyes flashing with an unyielding authority. "You are coming with me as my primary guide and live bait. If you play your role perfectly, I will ensure your master receives a portion of the higher-realm resources. If you fail me, I will erase your lineage from the face of this continent."
"I will never fail you, big brother Tony," Elsa proclaimed with a flushed, ecstatic expression, dropping to her knees to perform a formal kowtow before him, her silver hair sweeping the floor in absolute submission. "My life, my bloodline, and my tribe’s secrets are merely tools for your ascension."
Tony turned on his heel and strode out of the private chamber, his heavy leather boots echoing down the grand, echoing corridors of the Clark family inner sanctuary. The estate was dead silent under the midnight sky, yet the moment Tony’s oppressive spiritual aura flared, several powerful, hidden consciousnesses within the courtyard instantly awakened, sensing the sudden, violent shift in the young master’s intent. Within three minutes of his departure from the room, the grand courtyard was flooded with the elite martial experts of the Clark family, their dark armor gleaming under the moonlight as Patriarch Ryon Clark and Ancestor Kent Clark silently materialized from the shadows, their eyes locked onto Tony and the submissive Demonic Sea Princess following closely behind him.
"Tony," Patriarch Ryon Clark called out, his deep, authoritative voice vibrating through the courtyard as he took in the sight of his eldest son dressed in full combat gear. "What is the meaning of this sudden mobilization in the middle of the night?
And when did you captured Princess of the Demonic Sea Tribe and why the hell she is walking freely behind you like a trained servant?"
Before Tony could even formulate a basic reply, the space beside Ryon rippled, and Ancestor Kent Clark stepped forward, his ancient, wise eyes scanning Tony’s physical form with a profound, terrifying intensity