Nobilis of War

"I surrender! Please don't torture me!"

Jefferson was terrified of undergoing the horror of the Soul Assimilating Bug. The agony from it was beyond anyone's imagination.

"Very good. Now, kneel down and swear an oath to our Conflicting Chief God." Wilson looked at Jefferson, haughtily. Excitement was still coursing through his veins. He had never felt this way in years.

"Yes."

With that, Jefferson straightened up and activated a little bit of his spiritual power.

However, his eyes flashed with ferocity as soon as he lowered his head.

"Go to hell!"

Without warning, he lashed out an attack at Wilson. His palm collided with the other man's body, and then he dashed straight towards Darren.

"It seems like you don't want to live after all."

Fortunately, Darren had already prepared himself for Jefferson's retaliation. He had been observing the other man's movements since the beginning. So, as Jefferson rushed towards him, he instantly had his blade and sword intents turned into a pair of dark red blade and sword. With them, he stabbed Jefferson.

The air whistled as he swung his mighty weapons.

And in the next moment, the blade had cut cleanly through Jefferson's arm.

Since Jefferson's strength had been suppressed by Saxon, his strength had dropped down to the top level of the Domain God Realm. This meant his attacks wouldn't be strong enough to kill Darren anymore. But at this point, he doubted he could even get one hit at Darren.

He crashed to the ground with great force.

"Sir, I surrender for real this time. Please believe me." Jefferson's plan to sneak in an attack was a failure. He had no choice now but to kneel down and beg Darren for mercy.

Wilson stood up slowly. His face was drawn and pale after getting hit in the stomach.

"Wilson, use your Soul Assimilating Bug now," Darren commanded, coldly.

"Yes, sir." Wilson went over to Jefferson. He then took out a purple box that contained a few bugs inside and let the small insects fall unto Jefferson's head. "Ahhh!"

Jefferson began to scream in pain and agony. His body contorted and rolled on the ground uncontrollably.

Darren decided to let Jefferson suffer for a while, and so he left the space with Wilson. Upon arriving at the stone chamber, Lindsay said, "Darren, let's use this same method when dealing with the remaining three leaders of the four major forces."

Before they could continue with their discussion, they first sat down and drank their tea in leisure.

"We don't have to. We can just kill them on the spot," Darren replied. In truth, he was uncomfortable with using this kind of method in dealing with people like Jefferson.

"But how can we kill them? We're not strong enough to do that." She rolled her eyes at Darren.

"Why do you never believe what I say, Lindsay? You scoffed at me when I said I could deal with Jefferson, but look at me now. I have dealt with him successfully." Darren gave a small smile at that. "Well, it's all thanks to me, right? You're only successful because of my help." Lindsay crossed her arms over her chest. She then looked away.

"Indeed, that's true. You've contributed greatly to my success." Darren nodded his head.

"That's more like it." Lindsay smiled and said, "I demand a reward then. Tell me that I'm a beautiful princess."

Darren was struck speechless by Lindsay's demand.

Nonetheless, he wanted to make her happy. So, he kept telling her that she was beautiful. This amused her greatly.

"I'm right about you. You are a great man."

"Oh, shut up," Darren said. "I'll just go back and check on Jefferson. I'm sure he'll be willing to help us now. Then, we just have to take care of the other leaders." Inside his head, he was already formulating another plan.

It wouldn't be long before he could take control of all the bandits in the forest. By then, his Power of Believe would improve greatly.

"Alright. If Jefferson surrenders, we can give him a high grade divine weapon and ask him to deal with the other leaders. With the high grade divine weapon, he can defeat them." Lindsay agreed. With that, Darren and his companions went back to check on Jefferson.

Several hours had already passed. Jefferson was still rolling and screaming on the ground. His body twitched and shuddered as the blood vessels in his meridians swelled painfully. They now showed in sharp contrast on his pale skin.

"My lord, please...I beg you... Let me be your believer..." Jefferson pleaded, desperately.

"Very well then. Take the Soul Assimilating Bugs away from him," Darren ordered Wilson.

"Yes." With a few murmured words from Wilson, the bugs flew back into the purple box in his hands.

With them gone, Jefferson's body sagged with relief. He felt refreshed and renewed as if this was the best moment of his life.

"Now, for your oath," Darren said, coldly.

"I swear by my soul..." Without further ado, Jefferson made the oath. He didn't dare hesitate in becoming Darren's believer.

"That's right. You and I are now Darren's loyal believers. And since I was first, you shall be under me. From now on, you must address me respectfully. Got it?" Wilson said, standing up prouder and straighter. "Yes, sir." Jefferson meekly lowered his head.

Wilson then laughed out loud. "This feels great!"

However, Darren unexpectedly hit him on the head.

"Who gave you the impression that you're in charge of ranking my believers?" Darren glared at Wilson. The other man simply shrugged his shoulders without saying a word.

"All my believers are equal. No one is superior than the other. Do you understand?" Darren said.

"Yes, sir. You're absolutely right." Wilson bowed his head in respect.

"Understood," Jefferson murmured.

Darren then waved his hand. A battle axe suddenly appeared in Jefferson's hand.

"Take this, Jefferson. This is a level-eight divine weapon that Saxon has forged." Darren had also collected some fragments that could create level-eight divine weapons before. However, the fragments were only enough to make a few of them.

"This... I do not dare accept it." Since Jefferson had willingly surrendered his soul to Darren, he already viewed him as his boss.

"Just take it. I need you to do something for me later," Darren ordered.

"Yes, sir." With that, Jefferson took back the divine weapon. "Sir, do you want me to kill the other three leaders in this forest?" "Exactly." Darren nodded his head.

"With this divine weapon, I won't have trouble killing them. However, we still can't kill Burke Xiling," Jefferson said.

"Really? Why do you say that?" Darren asked.

"You must know, sir. Burke Xiling is a man from a very powerful clan. But he ran away and established his own force. Up until now, he holds a grudge against his family," Jefferson explained. Lindsay took this as an opportunity to speak up. "So what if he has broken it off with his family? What are you afraid of?"

"He didn't completely break it off with his family. He only had a fight with his brother because he wanted to make a name for himself. They haven't abandoned him. So, if we hurt him, we will make an enemy ou of his family as well."

"And how powerful could they be?" Darren asked.

"They are one of the ancient families in the Tussle Region. Their family had stood for millions of years. In fact, the head of their family is now a warrior at the top level of the Celestial God Realm. Nobody in the Tussle Region would dare offend them," Jefferson warned.

Darren looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Then I'll kill the other two main leaders first. We'll worry about Burke Xiling later."

Of course, Darren was not a fool. He wouldn't dare provoke people whom he couldn't defeat. After all, Tussle Region was renowned for its strength.

"Yes."

With that, Darren and the others walked out of the space together.

Immediately, Jefferson set out to do Darren's bidding. He arrested all the leaders of the remaining ordinary forces and forced them to surrender.

Out of the twelve ordinary leaders, ten surrendered. The other two committed suicide.

This left Darren with two strong leaders to deal with.

At the center of the forest was Burke Xiling's territory.

"Sir! Jefferson has arrested everyone and made them surrender to the Defiant Master." The one who came to report to Burke Xiling was a talking crow.