Rudy stood in front of the mirror and stared at his reflection. Then, he opened his fist that he had closed before leaving for the washroom.
The blackness that was only on his fingertips had now spread and covered his finger with it. He could no longer hide it and thus, as soon as he noticed it had spread, he closed his fist to avoid getting it seen by the girls.
"Now I know how and why it spreads. But is my theory right?" he wondered.
'I know the exact moment it spread. It was when I was dead serious about killing the non-humans staying in this world.'
Rudy once again looked at his black fingers and mumbled, "It responds to my negative emotions and thoughts. In short, any negative feelings I experience… results in this… increasing.
However, if that's true, should it not decrease when I feel positive emotions?" He asked himself.
'It could be that this process is not reversible, which makes sense. But the other theory I have is… it does respond to my negative feelings, but it increases because I keep embracing the Lordship.
I accepted the fact that I am the Lord a long time ago. But I haven't been taking the Lord's job seriously. The closer I get to announce my Lordship, the more Lordly I become.
99% of the beings in all of the worlds still think that the Lord is yet to return, while most of them have begun to see the Lord as a mythical being that doesn't exist.
I don't blame them for thinking that. The last Lord before me was Nyxia, and it has been so long that she killed the Lord inside her.'
Rudy pondered for a few seconds and muttered, "I could announce my Lordship even now… but I first want to settle everything in the human world before moving to the other worlds.
Come to think of it… I am different from the other Lord's incarnation. They weren't aware that they were the Lord, nor were they conscious or could use the power of the Lord.
No one knows why that hasn't happened to me yet. But… I think I am slowly becoming that version of the Lord. Why did I want to kill the non-humans?
Sure, they broke the rule, but should I be concerned about that? It has probably been over hundreds, if not a thousand years since they came into this world. Until now, they have done nothing wrong that could harm humanity in any way, so shouldn't it be fine to let them stay here?"
Rudy once again stared at his reflection in the mirror as he asked himself.
"No, I can't let them stay here. Once I announce my Lordship, they would surely come to me and beg for forgiveness. They would plead to me to let them stay in the human world.
If I let them do whatever they want, the other races that are still living in their own world would also come to me and ask for the same. And as a Lord, I can't be unjust to them."
Rudy shook his head and let out a weary sigh.
'Tonight was supposed to be a nice date…'
"Anyway, I need to find a way to hide my fingers. I can temper my body to my will, so I just need to do something that could cover up my finger with my skin."
Rudy raised his middle finger and manifested a layer of skin on it. Once he made sure that the trick worked, he did the same with other fingers. And just to be safe, he creased one more layer of skin.
However, he noticed that the proportion of his fingers looked bizarre, and they seemed thick. So he decreased the thickness of his fingers by removing the mass inside.
While doing that, a thought crossed his mind.
'For now, it's just fingers. Once it spreads even more, I can't use the skin cover trick on my body. Man, this is going to be a pain in the ass.'
Rudy returned to the girls with a calm expression on his face.
"Took you long enough."
"Yeah."
"..."
"..."
The girls didn't know how to start a conversation after they had left it on an awkward note. Sure, they could resume what they were discussing, but that would lead to an argument.
"I am sorry for my behaviour earlier," Rudy calmly apologised. "I was holding my shit and was frustrated. Now I am good."
"..."
"What did you want to talk about, Elena? And I assume introducing and bringing your sister was necessary to talk about something important. So what is it?" he asked in a low voice.
"Yes. As you know, there have already been many attacks on the human world by otherworldly beings. But just like our human world has good and evil people, the other worlds and races, too.
I don't think the entire race should be considered responsible for one's actions. While there are also secret organisations that are plotting to take over the human world with the help of superpowers and magic.
If that happens, we humans would be completely vulnerable to their attacks and they would wipe us out. That was a common concern between the non-humans living in this world.
After countless meetings with them and their leaders present in the human world, they promised that they would provide their aid in case such an apocalypse hits us."
"Are you sure they just happen to agree on that?" Rudy leaned on the table and smiled at Elena. "Or is it that you threatened them to make that promise?"
"Well…" Elena chuckled nervously and stated, "There were some who didn't agree and were arrogant, asserting their dominance and superiority over the humans, but I reminded them that they were illegal immigrants living in the human world by going against the Lord's words."
"Heh! No wonder you are a successful business tycoon. Your ability to talk and convince, manipulate, threaten, and blackmail people sure comes in handy."
"Now, now, you are making me sound like a tyrant."
Elena pointed her hand at Yelena and said, "That's where Yelena comes in. In your absence, I appointed her as the ambassador of the human world."
