(MC POV)

I teleported outside of the palace just as the ceiling started coming down on top of me, appearing in the air above the palace grounds.

I felt the telltale connection of Manami trying to call me through her Telepathy.

"Master! Are you alright?! What is going on?!"

"Some retard is trying to do something remarkably stupid," I explained quickly. "Get everyone out of here, including the other soldiers."

"What about you, Master?!"

"I'll contain it."

"We will be there to help!"

"No, stay away from here!"

She growled, like actually growled at me.

"With the utmost respect Master, we will not let you face something alone again!"

She cut the call before I could say another word.

Perfect…

I was expecting a vacation arc, not some eldritch being burrowing its way out from underneath the earth to wreck the entire place arc.

The prince thinks that just by tracing some runes and drawing some circles will allow him to control an Abyssal being? He must be bloody delusional.

If that was the case, anyone would have done it, not just him.

I mentally kicked myself for not noticing this sooner and preventing it.

The tentacled thing that I banished back then probably found a way to influence the second prince somehow, capitalizing on his want for ascending to another Plane to do this stupid ritual.

This was exactly what happened to me back when I was crippled.

In my time of weakness, one of those stupid things approached me with an offer I couldn't refuse and tricked me into becoming their play thing. It was fortunate I managed to find a loophole to escape them but the dark Quarks I had infused myself with had already done the damage.

At least I'm not as dumb as this prince to allow those tentacled things to merge with me.

There is absolutely no way that they would actually grant their power to anyone without a price, much less let themselves be controlled.

As if to prove my point, an inhuman scream echoed from the ruins of the palace, undoubtedly belonging to Bei Li Yong.

Yeah… Can't even feel pity for him, really. I had been in his position once, amassing all the knowledge I could from the Spiritual Family's archives and yet still falling prey to those things' tricks.

Acquiring a vessel here means one of those tentacled things can permanently reside on this Plane, whereas a summon would only be temporary.

"Master!"

Several voices shouted from below.

I looked down to see all of my disciples with the exception of Cai Hong there, looking at me with worried expressions.

I floated down towards them, shaking my head at them.

"I told you to run."

"We will fight by Master's side, no matter what!" Lian Li cried, determination clear in her eyes.

I sighed, "Each of you will get a spanking later for disobeying me."

Cue the five groans and one excited squeal.

Ignoring their groans, I continued, "But I am still proud of you all for standing by my side."

Right at that moment, the ground beneath the palance sunk before exploding upwards, revealing a giant, black, oozing, slimy, multi-legged, hundred-eyed tentacle monster.

The only difference from its former appearance was the little humanoid corpse stuck to the side of its head, the corpse's face frozen in one of pure terror.

All of my disciples gasped at the sight of it except for one.

"Oh… It's that thing," Kiyomi muttered.

"That thing?" Her sister repeated, narrowing her eyes at her.

"Master fought this thing once before. It was quite horrible."

Before the others could question her further, the monstrosity turned all of its hundred eyes and tentacles up towards the sky and bellowed in an earth shaking voice.

"!EERF MA I"

A shockwave blasted out from the monster, crashing against the entire city and rocking the earth beneath our feet while shattering all the windows.

My disciples covered their ears and winced while I stood my ground, shielding them from the worst of the blast.

"What the hell was that?!" Brendan groaned, shaking his head in an attempt to rid himself of the aftershock.

I chuckled, "Just him screaming out in joy."

"And it caused that to happen?!" my male disciple gasped.

"Yep, still think you guys are up for it?"

"Why does it seem… So much more... Stronger?" Kiyomi asked.

"Back then it was summoned through an artifact and it could only bring a fraction of its power. But now with a vessel, it's here at a hundred percent power."

"Master… You were planning to fight this thing alone?" Eris questioned.

Well not really, I was thinking of summoning the monsters too but I can't really do that now with you guys here… No way am I letting them know there's a group of monsters out there calling me 'Divine One'.

My disciples are very impressionable ok? What if they thought the monsters had great naming sense and adopted the name for me too? No way I'm letting that happen if I can help it.

"I can manage somewhat," I stated. "Destroy the vessel that is stuck to its head and he would be banishable back to the abyss."

Yep, that's the drawback of it using a vessel as its anchor to be here. Get rid of the vessel and they'll be open to being kicked back to where they came from. Only problem is that this might be more difficult to do on this tentacled piece of crap.

As though hearing my words, the monster's hundred eyes slid down to glare at me.

".uoy yortsed ot hguone ma I ,kaew llits era uoY .uoy gnillik fo taerht ym llifluf lliw I ...uoY"

My disciples turned to me.

"It's calling me weak and saying that it will kill me," I answered their silent question jokingly.

If I was expecting a reaction out of my disciples, pure unfiltered rage was not one of them.

They turned towards the monster as one and I swear I could see fear flash across its eyes for a split second there.

"The audacity of such a thing…" Lian Li muttered, a voice barely a whisper.

"Ufu… Ufufu… Ufufufu! So many eyes and yet it's so blind… Maybe I should just burn off a few of them if it's not using them," Manami laughed without a hint of mirth.

Eris drew her blade, not even caring that it might as well be a toothpick to the monster in front of her, "CUT IT… YeS… rIP IT aPART… CAsTRATe iT… tEAR IT…"

"Kukuku...The eyes first? Maybe the legs? Mmm… Yes, one by one…" Diao Chan giggled into the back of her hand.

Kiyomi was looking up at the monster with pure disdain, "Weak? This thing dares to call Master weak? Kukuku… It knows nothing of power…"

"Poison? Too mainstream… I'll cut off bits of it… Make a solution and test the acidity… Let it drink it…" Brendan murmured to himself.

Huh… Seems like they're using this to calm their nerves on facing that giant monster. Well, I don't blame them.

I cracked my knuckles, "Alright, no reason to hold back. Destroy the corpse at the side of its head and I'll do the rest. None of you are allowed to die."

"Yes, Master!"

I immediately called upon my Star Power, making my body glow again and feeling the power rushing into me.

I heard my disciples gasping but that is to be expected, only Kiyomi has seen me in this form before after all.

I expect them to have questions later but we have other priorities right now.

"Let's go beat the shit out of it."

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