Chapter 972 The Devil Awakens

"The legend passed down in the village was wrong?" The Village Head asked in shock, "But how?"

"Well, it was natural, I guess." The man tilted his head casually, "Since they all lost favour from me."

"L-Lost favour?" The girl seated next to him trembled in fear, feeling disbelief at the statement, "But Your Lordship, how is that possible?"

"What Deity do you think I am?" The man smiled gently, but for some reason, everyone felt chills upon hearing it.

"It's presumptuous of us to guess Your Lordship's identity." The Village Head trembled in nervousness as he requested with a bow, "Please enlighten us."

"Well, I'm not a Deity." The man said, hearing a shout of shock collectively from the crowd that was flabbergasted at the reveal.

"A-Are you perhaps a Saint of another Deity?" The girl asked in fear, for that was the only other option considering his head was full of coloured hair.

"Nope, I'm not related to any Deity. Or rather." The man still wore a calm smile as he continued, "I'm something even the Deities fear."

"I'm the Devil!"

"T-The Devil?" The Village Head didn't know what the word meant, but just the sound of it caused fear to surge in him.

"If a Deity symbolises your wishes with a blessing, a Devil grants your desire through a curse." The man said, "That's the fundamental difference."

"And you all are descendants of those that served the Devil and wreaked havoc throughout the world." He continued, seeing their terrified disbelief, "In the ancient war of the past, the lot of you didn't flee war but had actually fled in pity after damaging the opponents to crippling levels."

"But despite their thoughts, in the end, they fled their duties, and hence, your ancestors lost their favour with me." The man said and got up, beginning to take his leave, "Since I've woken up, I'll become active in this world once again. And the Deities fearing me are too cowardly to act upon me. Instead, they would target my followers…"

He pointed at them, causing them to shudder, "And that's you."

"The only way to survive is to take up torture and suffering as your ally and inflict it on others." He then raised his hand into the sky, "As the sole Devil feared by all Deities in this world, my followers too are shunned, an outcast rejected everywhere. But have their lives been pitiful? No!"

"On the contrary," He let out a devilish grin, "Everyone of them had insanely exciting lives."

He slowly began to walk towards the mountain while his voice resounded in their midst, "The choice is yours. Whether you wish to be a victim in the upcoming war and live pitiful lives or serve the Devil once again and fear none, including those cowardly Deities."

"If anyone wishes to gain my blessing, then you know what to do." He turned around to face everyone before vanishing from view, "Inflict horrors and convince others to do the same. That's the essence of being involved with the Devil. Do that, and you'll automatically gain my favour."

"It's limited though, and hence, the early birds get a larger share."

The village was silent after that as the mood of everyone turned sullen. Soon, the Village Head cursed in response, "To think our ancestors hid something this important from us."

"What do we do now, Village Head?" One of the villagers asked in worry, "We've lived all our lives in peace. I can't imagine us harming others for some twisted pleasure as the Dei…Devil asked."

"If we…go against the Devil…" One of them asked in hesitation, "Would we suffer his wrath?"

"Shit! This is all your fault!" One of the rash villagers glared at the girl that had brought the man to the village, "If it wasn't for you, the Devil wouldn't have woken up."

Immediately, the villagers that wished to vent their fears and frustrations found an outlet, "It's all her fault. She awakened the Devil!"

"She awakened the Devil!"

"N-No, I…I didn't think he was…I thought…I believed our legend!" The girl said in fear, trembling as she observed the faces of the villagers twist in rage.

The man had expressed such gore through his statement that before they realised it, everyone was trembling from fear and despair, including the wise Village Head. And to cope with that, they found the girl to be their outlet, pouring all their hatred onto her.

Even the Village Head couldn't react on time, similarly affected. And hence, he was late to calm down the raging mob; someone threw a rock at her, causing her to bleed from the head.

It was unknown as to who did that but that served as the trigger as all the villagers ganged upon her, beating her to a pulp. If her parents hadn't arrived on time, she would have been killed. But despite that, the damage was done.

Her limbs were broken and she was in a horrible state, one worse than death, having fainted in from the sheer torture. Unfortunately for her parents, the anger of the villagers had yet to quell, and hence, they took it on the girl's parents.

This time, there was none to stop them, resulting in the parents' death. Instantly, the crippled girl lost her family.

Staring at the scene from afar was the man that had instigated fear in them. Moreover, he was the one that threw the rock and triggered such a vicious outburst.

The fear from the villagers condensed into his body, allowing him to grin, "It worked. There's truly a second path, the opposite of faith."

"Fear!"

He was born as the Devil!

"W…wa…wah…ter…plea…se…" The girl wheezed out weakly. She had been thrown out of the village for the dogs to feed on. It had become nighttime by now as a couple of dogs were munching upon her legs.

"Do you wish to live?" At this moment, her despair-induced eyes stared at a nightmarish figure arrive at a halt before her, his grating voice pain-inducing to hear. But now, the voice seemed heavenly to her as it uttered, "Your desires…"

"I'll help you fulfil them."

"So, what do you say?" The man stared at the intense bloodlust oozing out of the girl's eyes as he grinned in contentment, gently touching her forehead to mutter, "I feel your resolve."

"I, the Devil, Invaderon, now appoint you as my Apostle." He could feel strength surge in him as he gained a devotee, observing the girl's legs rapidly regenerate as they became as tough as steel. A pair of jet-black wings formed on her back as she took off to the sky before gently lowering herself before him.

Grinning in contentment upon sensing the power she had inherited from him, the Devil proclaimed, "I hereby grant you the name Nefear. Go wild!"

"To your eternal glory!" The girl, now named Nefear bowed without a hint of emotion as she flapped her wings and flew to the village she had grown up at. In a few seconds, the once peaceful village became a picturesque representation of hell.