Chapter 178: 31: Plundering Souls

Chapter 178: Chapter 31: Plundering Souls

Unlike the present world, where Chaos reigns supreme in the realms beyond, time is always blurred.

Perhaps it flows quickly, perhaps slowly, with no certainty. Even with the birth of ‘order within Chaos,’ it could only slow this fluctuation and ‘anchor’ it, rather than completely erase it.

Thus, thousands of years have passed since the great serpent that encircled the courtyard began its slumber, and its ‘spirit’ walked the world in human form.

There are no living creatures in the courtyard because its master forbids it; no being worthy of entry exists here, making this the only realm within the Nine Hells devoid of demons.

In the sky of this realm, islands float above. Most are vacant, preserved in their primordial state. Only the one in the center has a modestly styled cottage that seems out of place with a title as grand as ‘the center of a realm.’

Here, Laine’s avatar leans back in his chair, his eyes piercing through the veil of the realm, observing the ever more vibrant Demon Gods in the outer world.

The Mother of Demons has yet to emerge because the existence of the Nine Hells has diverted some of the nourishment meant for her. But the Chaos of the Abyss paid no mind to this, having already set Its creations on their destined paths.

Therefore, what could be guessed as the ‘belly’ began to swell, with a portion of power flowing into it. Of course, Laine really couldn’t recognize Moya’s bodily structure; he only speculated that it was the Mother of Demons’ belly based on the bulge.

That is, if Moya indeed used her belly to gestate her offspring.

“When the time comes, I will honor our agreement and grant him the first layer of Hell. With the advantage of terrain, facing six Demon Gods restrained by the realm’s power, he should be able to do it—”

As he spoke, even Asmodeus sounded dubious.

After all, the transformed Titan deities are no longer what they once were; Crius’s godhood of ‘Meteorology’ bestowed by the present world is nearly useless here and even hampers his transformation into a demon. Thus, after some negotiation, the God of Meteorology, with no other recourse in the Abyss, renounced his divine status.

Indeed, given a choice, Crius would prefer an unfeeling will of the present world to a thinking Lord of the Nine Hells. So even with nowhere to turn, he made Asmodeus promise enough to reassure him.

Thereafter, a consensus was reached between the three. Using the Well of Reincarnation, Laine washed away Crius’s worldly aspects, allowing him to shed his godhood and, like Mnemosyne, Moya’s previous incarnation, use millions of years in distorted time to complete his transformation.

The Lord of the Nine Hells, in turn, granted him rebirth and, in the name of master of the realm, swore an oath to the Styx River. Provided Crius swore eternal allegiance to him, Asmodeus would never disregard his interests and would grant him dominion over the first layer of Hell.

As for the stripped godhood of ‘Meteorology,’ seventy percent of the Source Power, once transformed, was infused into the first layer of Hell, elevating this realm to a status second only to the ninth layer.

The remaining thirty percent was taken as a transaction fee, which was the cause of the Lord of the Nine Hells’ suspicion.

In such a case, the reborn Crius would only have the strength of a level 15 deity. Even if bolstered by the power of the hellish realm, whether he could withstand six alone remained to be seen.”

“There won’t be any problems. It won’t be long before my third layer of Hell also welcomes a lord.”

“Together, the two of them are enough to withstand the opposing side. Besides, those gods born of Tartarus... I can hardly imagine they would always remain united.”