Liquidation: From Big Boss to Bloody Demon Sauce Chapter 11: Chapter 11: Taking Stock of The Current Market

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The world directly outside the high walls of Luriel's castle was vastly, terribly different from what I had anticipated. It bore absolutely no resemblance to the predictable Earth I once comfortably ruled. The dark, heavily corrupted, and barren landscape of the Glade stretched out endlessly before us. The entire horizon was heavily blanketed by a suffocating, blood-red sky that cast an incredibly eerie, violent glow on absolutely everything below. The oppressive silence of the alien forest was interrupted intermittently by distant predatory growls or sudden, violent shrieks of agony, serving as a constant, stark reminder of this new world's incredibly harsh reality. It was a perpetual bear market of violence. Looking around, it felt exactly as if I was teetering dangerously at the absolute edge of a dreadful, never-ending nightmare. But it was a dreadful nightmare that currently held my absolute only chance at physical growth, long-term survival, and eventual total dominion. It was deeply frightening, yes, but also strangely, fundamentally fortifying. I was currently the 'stain of existence', the absolute lowest tier of life, but I was about to violently engrave my unyielding imprint on this chaotic demon realm. As my mount and I moved further and deeper into the twisted abyss of the trees, I allowed myself a moment to properly acclimate to the massive Bihound's heavy, shifting movements beneath my liquid form. There was a highly unusual, loping rhythm to its heavy gait, a strange, biological harmonious sync between the two massive heads checking our flanks. While initially, their synchronized, double-layered voices constantly echoing inside my consciousness had been highly distracting, I had quickly grown entirely accustomed to it over the short ride. It was still a highly complex, biological puzzle as to how exactly I had forcefully taken total control of this powerful beast and made it so completely submissive to my will. My best working speculation led me to believe that when I'd aggressively drained its Ether entirely, bringing it to the absolute brink of systemic death, the sudden, highly concentrated injection of my own processed Ether energy might have forcefully overwritten its base neural pathways, forming a permanent, symbiotic bond between our life forces. Interesting as the theory was from a biological standpoint, there was absolutely no way to clinically confirm this hypothesis until I successfully tried the exact same hostile takeover on another living creature. That, however, would strictly require surviving another such life-threatening battle. For now, it was vastly smarter business to focus entirely on basic survival and asset preservation. Growing increasingly aware of the intricate dangers of the demon realm, and the massive, undeniable progress I'd actively made from the entirely meaningless existence of a puddle on a floor, I couldn't help but deeply draw structural parallels to my once-human life. Despite having been violently stripped of absolutely everything—my wealth, my empire, and every single biological trace of human remnant—the cold, calculating core essence of exactly who I once was seemed to violently resurface time and time again. Sitting securely atop the heavily muscled Bihound, silently surveying my vast, terrifying new kingdom, I found highly familiar echoes from my past corporate conquests whispering to me. Those times on Earth may have been vastly different, the specific challenges a stark, civilized contrast to the present biological horror, but the underlying spirit, the ruthless aspiration of total victory, and the incredibly stubborn, ego-driven refusal to ever bow down to a competitor, were the exact very same. Even as these complex, highly analytical thoughts whirled in the background of my mind, the twisted landscape around us continued to actively change and devolve in highly subtle, dangerous ways. The glowing flora grew noticeably darker and vastly more menacing with each pas