After contemplating his life choices, Ryan realized he had to take a gamble.

His life wasn't as easy as it previously had been, and his cultivation wasn't progressing at the speed it needed to. He could only place his hope in his bloodline.

"Okay fine, I'll do it," Ryan said, turning towards the egg. "But you're going to need to say a heavenly oath that forbids you from betrayal."

"That would be redundant," Yoko said. "You'll realize once you start to form the pact that it is unbreakable, and as the lesser in the contract, I would die if something happened to you."

Ryan's jaw dropped. "Then why would you agree to such a thing?"

"You don't exactly strike me as the trusting type," Ryan said, furrowing his brow.

"I was born with a curse that makes it impossible to hatch unless I get a vessel or a master. A master is preferable since I could inhabit my intended body and dominate the Multiverse as my species has done for millennia," Yoko said, theatrically waving her unborn hand inside the shell.

"I'll still have you sign the oath," Ryan said, not believing a word from Yoko until he had it in writing.

"Fine, I swear by the heavens that I will not harm the man standing before me unless betrayal befalls me first."

[You have received an oath of loyalty from Yoko Draco]

[Accept / Decline]

Although it wasn't foolproof, Ryan now knew that nothing was unless you paid for it. 'Stupid capitalistic heavens,' Ryan thought, shaking his head.

After accepting, Ryan started to release the thoughts he had suppressed since starting this journey on Ravier more than a month ago.

He thought about Aliza and her death. He thought about the rage he felt towards the human empire and what they had done to him.

[Percentage of soul corroded: 2.67%]

[Percentage of soul corroded: 4.56%]

[Percentage of soul corroded: 7.9%]

His eyes started to grow hot with hate as he felt his helplessness against the human empire.

[Percentage of soul corroded: 10.42%]

[Percentage of soul corroded: 12.67%]

The fires of hell stoked the hate in his heart as he recalled the torture he had endured at the sadistic doctor.

[Percentage of soul corroded: 18.9%]

[Percentage of soul corroded: 24.8%]

The hatred festered in his thoughts as he released his hatred in a torrent of death.

[Percentage of soul corroded: 37.5%]

[Percentage of soul corroded: 42.9%]

"Easy tiger, you don't want to overdo it," Yoko said, starting to become a little wary at the hate radiating off Ryan.

Ryan turned his hostile glare that was as hard as daggers on the egg as he roared, "Nothing can bind me. No one can hold me. I will have my revenge on those who betrayed me and those who wronged me. For I am Ryan Emerald, and I am the Harem Overlord."

[Percentage of soul corroded: 50.1%]

Like a valve, Ryan shut off the red energy coursing through his mind and turned to Yoko.

He could feel an ethereal connection to the egg as if his blood was calling for him to step toward the beast and claim it.

He placed his hand upon the egg and said, "Give me your blood. Give me your soul. Give me your power so I can give you life."

An earth-changing vortex started to rotate around Ryan as energy gathered from all over the portal realm.

Beasts and humanoids felt the energy in the air become thinner and thinner as the vortex around Ryan grew.

Plants and trees began to die, and animals too weak to resist started to have their energy sucked away.

Some of the cultivators from the academy felt their pitiful amounts of energy stripped away as it flew toward Ryan.

"Together we shall rule, together we shall rise. In evil, there is light. In evil, I place my life. Against the heavens we shall rise, for the true evil we shall claim, death is but a spell that only changes our name."

With the final words and an unpleased clap of thunder, everything stilled as Ryan fell to the ground. Unconscious.

"Give me two months, master, and I'll be out of my shell. Then, together we shall rise, first one."

===

Brooke meandered through overgrown brush as she stalked her prey. Standing as tall as a tree and with a hulking physique, Brooke wasn't proportioned for stalking but surprisingly, she was relatively nimble.

Pouncing like a cheetah, Brooke tackled the mooselike beast to the ground and started to punch its side with a ferocious set of blows.

As the thickest part of its body, the moose beast thought it could withstand the human's punches, but after getting the wind blown out of its body on the first punch, it realized its mistake.

In the shutters of death, the only thought the beast had was how unfair this fight had been.

After collecting her 22nd F-Grade beast core, Brooke checked the time on her school bracelet and sat to wait for the time to expire.

It was only five minutes before the return spell would bring her back, and she was exhausted.

She had only slept two nights out of the five but knew it would be worth seeing the stupid boy's face when she produced more beast cores than him and could officially enslave the man.

Thinking back, she shuttered at what would have happened if she had lost to the man after Ryan put forth the final term for the bet.

'Wearing a maid costume all day.. impossible,' she thought.

As she felt the return spell pour over her body and attempt to have her 'return' she didn't resist and allowed the spell to activate.

After retching, Brooke opened her eyes to find herself in the same courtyard they had entered the portal in, except..

"What happened?" Brooke thought out loud.

She saw almost no males, and all female cultivators had cuts and bruises all over their bodies.

historical

It looked like they hadn't gone to a foreign realm but a warzone where they had been fighting for years and had just gotten back home. But their looks told Brooke that might not be far from the truth.

The thin instructor who had first sent them into the realm looked at the significantly diminished group in horror as she muttered, "What did the Duchess do this time?"

Seemingly the only one to notice, Brooke frowned and suddenly had a sinking feeling in her chest.

She was strong and happy that the beasts were surprisingly challenging to defeat. But she never stopped to consider how others would be handling it.

'Stupid nobles are playing their stupid games,' Brooke thought as she replayed the instructor's words.

Regaining her former calm, the instructor carried on as if nothing had happened. "Welcome back, students. It seems we have a few more casualties than in previous years, but that's to be expected."

"Now to tally up your rankings!" Hurriedly getting on with the scheduled show, the instructor carried her huge tits over to a hologram and tapped a few buttons.

Row upon row of information was displayed, and the instructor started to explain. "Your wristbands calculated how much each item you obtained is worth and have put one campus credit to equal 1 point of score.

A beast core of a G-Grade monster is calculated at a hundred campus points, and if any of you teamed up to conquer an F-Grade beast, it is worth one thousand campus points.

As the instructor started to rattle on and on, Brooke suddenly thought that her partner might be dead.

Dread crept up on her, but she didn't know why. 'I just met the man. Why do I care if a weak boy is injured?'

Looking around, she gasped, which drew a crowd. Seeing her looking at something, the spectators turned their gaze and raised their eyebrows, seeing Ryan lying face up, unconscious, with an egg sitting in the middle of his chest.