Reality itself trembled as a humanoid being appeared in the sky, seemingly floating. Its body appeared motionless, yet it teleported at an impossible speed. Having seen his master use this technique on the ship, William had been impressed, but it was nothing compared to this approaching beast. In less than two seconds, it was already before William.
The creature wore full armor with large ears that protruded like a jackal’s. A red cape also undulated behind it, and its eyes were violet, glowing with a ghostly shimr. In its hand, it held a sheathed sword that emitted a purple glow, making it appear even more impressive.
Upon arrival, it saw its lizard knight kneeling, which seed to greatly enrage it. Its gaze settled on William, but William couldn’t feel any sense of danger; it was as if the being was either too weak or too powerful for him to perceive its might. For an instant, the warrior went on guard, stepping back as its hand reached for the h hilt of its sword, but then sothing stopped it cold. It began to sniff, and the sa scene repeated itself: it approached to sll William until its attention focused on the ring. As soon as it slled it, it recoiled as if startled.
"Supre, excuse my discourtesy. I was too slow to recognize your excellence; I have sinned. I beg your forgiveness. My na is Rak’sa Mahlim, and I am the ruler of this area. My family has guarded this place for generations until today. Since the death of the old supre, we have awaited the birth of the new supre. It is an honor that it is in my lifeti that I witness the birth of the new supre."
Although Rak’sa’s words seed very sincere, years of experience had given William a sixth sense that scread at him that this being was not completely submissive. Its pride could not be disguised by normal ans, and it seed proud to the bone; furthermore, its gaze was cautious, as if it were examining him.
"My mind is still confused, and I know nothing about this place. Can you teach ?"
"It would be my honor, supre. It is normal to feel strange; according to records, all supres are born this way to protect the world. My lord, excuse my boldness, but I, Rak’sa Mahlim, humbly request to be the supre’s servant. It would be the honor of my family and my heritage to serve again under the na of a supre. I swear to devote my life to the service of the supre and to die for your cause. If I fail, I shall be destroyed and scattered across the world as dust, without the right to rest in peace for all eternity."
The being knelt and placed its right hand over its heart before extending it towards William as if holding sothing. As it opened its hand, a symbol shaped like a jackal’s head floated in the air; its color was purple and it glowed like its eyes. William knew he had no other choice, and if he hesitated, he could incite the fury of this powerful being, so he had to bite the bullet and accept its submission. If nothing went wrong, he’d have a powerful subordinate, but if he failed, he could be killed on the spot.
Making a decision, he extended his hand and took the symbol. Upon touching it, the symbol vanished and seed to crawl onto his arm like a shadow. The tattoo settled on his forearm, causing a gigantic pain, as if he were being branded with a hot iron. During the marking, he could feel his thoughts fusing with Rak’sa’s. He could feel Rak’s deep respect for him, but not for William himself, rather for his bloodline. He knew that a supre is born weak and, when they acquire their true strength, they are beings that transcend the world itself, basically becoming gods—or at least, that’s what his ancestors had taught him since childhood: "Never face a supre, even if they are a child; their power is dormant, but that doesn’t an it doesn’t exist. If a newborn supre is disturbed, they can accidentally unleash all their power, and even if they die, I assure you no one around them will survive." His family’s teachings emphasized the honor of being a supre’s subject: "Only supres can loosen the bonds of your evolution; no one without a supre can surpass their own rank, which they obtain from birth and is limited by their own blood and genes." Rak’s emotions were explosive, shifting from deep respect to fanatical adoration. William felt that if he wished, he could kill Rak’sa using that symbol, so he had to be careful with what he did, or he would end up losing a completely loyal subordinate.
The symbol was firmly stamped on his forearm. Retracting his arm, he examined it and realized there wasn’t just one symbol; the jackal’s head was right in the middle, but slightly below it, there were three other symbols: a bear’s head, a wolf’s head, and a snake. William was very surprised, as this would an that the creatures he had killed and absorbed were now branded on his arm, though he didn’t yet know what the tattoos were for. The tattoos were simply black, like an ink tattoo; the only visible difference was that the jackal tattoo looked more vivid, while the others appeared dull, almost gray.
Intrigued by this, he approached the hellhounds’ corpses without a word and extended his hand, absorbing them completely. Seeing this, Rak’sa showed fear for the first ti, but didn’t dare to say anything, only continued to watch in silence. On the ground, the lizard trembled with fear as it saw its hellhounds turned into nothing by the supre before it. In its heart, it cursed all the hellhounds for looking for trouble with soone so terrifying. The situation looked complicated, as it had itself shouted at him, and if even Rak’sa would kill just for being annoyed, it could already imagine the fate that awaited it if the supre decided to end its life for its outburst of anger.
For his part, William, oblivious to all these thoughts, looked at his hand where a new symbol had appeared: the head of the hellhounds, and below it, there were three small lines, as if forming III. "This is getting more interesting," he murmured to himself, having an idea of what these tattoos were.
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