Chapter 614: 92. Dedication
“What on earth is going on?!”
When Eil returned from defeating Barbatos at a distance, the first thing he saw was the Soul Fire burning fiercely in the sky. It was as if it wanted to burn through a portion of the sky, and soon, where it spread, the Vast Universe became visible, along with the surging, starry Crimson Mist.
Through the already precarious crevice, the terrifying power of the Crimson Mist caused Eil to feel an extremely serious sense of oppression. However, because the crevice had not yet been completely burned away, a barrier remained between the Crimson Mist and reality, preventing it from completely eroding this realm.
So, what on earth is happening within the Dynasty?
Eil had no interest in the weak beings around who had already been thoroughly intimidated by this mythical scene. At this moment, they were either crazily hiding or trying to escape, which saved Eil the trouble. The portal of Barbatos on the ground had been destroyed. Eil could only scratch his head and raise his weapon to use his portal, preparing to return to his castle located in the Competitive Gate.
“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”
As the scorching flames enveloped her figure, the scene before her suddenly changed, returning to the demon dynasty filled with the heat of chaos.
She gritted her teeth, sensing the suffocating atmosphere of death surrounding her, and quickly realized that one of the ten doors sealed within the dynasty had been opened. She turned her head to look beside her bed and indeed found her pillow, which was used to store the seals of the Competitive Gate, torn to shreds, with top-quality velvet scattered all around.
Her castle had protective restrictions, and because she had given the mark of the beneficiary to Fisher, even though the original mark was covered by Baemon’s, Eil’s aura still remained. That was why he could enter. However, she had not expected someone to sneak in while he was entering and steal the mark.
Over the years, the other demon gods had all been asleep, and they did not have protective barriers like hers. It was reasonable to assume their marks had also been stolen.
She felt increasingly displeased and had just thought about getting up to the location of the ten opened doors to try to close them before death completely awakened when suddenly, the illusory doors in the sky closed with a response. It was unclear who had done it, but it had indeed worked to prevent the situation from continuing to deteriorate.
At least, the death goddess Heya would not fully awaken.
But the aura of death had already burst forth, and her authority was still restless; the removal of the seal was still devastating to the dynasty.
At this moment, the demon dynasty continued to tremble uncontrollably, and the power of death’s authority continued to corrode and spread upwards. As a pillar of the gate, Eil certainly recognized the seriousness of the situation but could not help but want to confirm Fisher’s current state and what had just happened here.
She no longer hesitated and quickly activated all her powers to head towards the area where the incident had occurred at the Performance Gate. However, before she reached the location of the Performance Gate, she suddenly sensed a familiar aura on the pink wilderness of the Lust Gate.
“Baemon?!”
Eil’s foot abruptly halted in mid-air, her red hair flowing in the wind like crimson flames, as she watched Baemon using her power to resist the death’s authority.
Beside her, Raphael’s body was transforming into a mythical rank, while Fisher lay unconscious in her arms.
Baemon had her eyes closed, surrounded by illusory morning light, the power spreading deeper into the dynasty, guiding the out-of-control death’s authority, but it was all to no avail.
Eil was provoked and raised her weapon to move forward, but at that moment, Baemon suddenly opened her somewhat tired eyes and looked at Eil before her with a complex expression.
“Let him go!!”
Eil had never seen such fatigue in Baemon’s eyes, causing her action to momentarily pause, but she still fiercely struck down on Baemon’s protective morning light. The immense force turned Baemon’s face pale; golden blood oozed from the corner of her mouth. She still wanted to hold onto Fisher but could not help but loosen her grip, letting him fall to the ground.
“Cough, cough.”
“You bastard, after being free for so many years, wasn’t it enough? You still want to use Barbatos and Ag to serve you. Now, what’s going on with those ten doors? What was that crevice in the sky?! Was this also a part of your plan, Baemon? What exactly do you want?!”
Baemon reached out to grab the unconscious Fisher on the ground, but Eil had already raised her blade and struck down on Baemon’s wrist. As golden blood splattered, Baemon suffered another wound and instinctively withdrew her hand in pain.
Yet she still lifted the corners of her mouth, though the smile was somewhat heavy, saying, “Are you going to continue attacking, or will you lend a hand to seal back the death’s authority?”
“I’ll seal your head!”
Eil grabbed Baemon’s white robe and lifted her up, the huge hammer raised above her head swinging menacingly. The anger in Eil’s eyes was increasingly hard to contain as she gritted her teeth, saying, “Explain to me, what on earth is going on? Otherwise, I’m going to smash your head in. After all, you’re not a demon; even if you die, it wouldn’t matter to the seal of death’s authority. This will also prevent you from causing chaos outside for others!”
Baemon looked at Eil with a smiling gaze, but remained silent, which only fueled Eil’s fury, wanting nothing more than to smash this bastard’s head right now.
If Fisher hadn’t returned to normal from that terrifying state, Eil might have indeed lost control.
But the atmosphere of death’s authority around them grew stronger. Even if the ten doors were closed, it would not decrease at all. Seeing the dynasty shaking more violently under the influence, Eil had no choice but to let Baemon go and angrily said, “So what do you plan to do now? The authority of death was originally unstable. Now that you’ve released it, do you suppose our strength is enough to completely seal it again? Do you want us to just watch it explode?!”
“It’s Solomon. I’ve been so focused on my plan that I neglected the fact that that human, who has wanted to die for thousands of years, has been doing right under our noses in the dynasty. He infiltrated the palaces of every door’s pillar to steal the marks they guarded, intending to awaken the authority of death and then die. Of course, for someone like him, the lives of others don’t matter to him any longer.”
“Are you a mythical being free to roam outside yet just stand by as he steals your marks?”
Faced with Eil’s suspicion, Baemon shrugged and said, “That base, even if sealed, has a great impact on me. Have you forgotten how my angelic kin were annihilated by Him in the Spirit Realm? So, to ensure my plan succeeded, after storing it in my palace, I didn’t return; otherwise, I wouldn’t have let him succeed.”
“…”
This explanation was indeed reasonable. The polluted power of the Spirit Realm posed extra danger to angels. Although unsure of the reason, Eil had long been aware of this, and Baemon glanced at the trembling dynasty around them, continuing, “And right now, even if the power of death’s authority has intensified again, it is not entirely without a way out. For example, if I transform into the true seventy-second pillar of the dynasty, allowing my power to become an integral part of the dynasty, then perhaps I could seal it again.”
Eil slightly froze, furrowing her brow, and coldly smiled, “I didn’t expect you to have such determination. You’re willing to completely sacrifice your freedom?”
Baemon looked at Fisher lying on the ground and smiled, saying, “My plan has failed.”
“What? Did Ag discover your flaw?”
Baemon shook her head, regretfully saying, “They can’t. You can’t either. I have been waiting and planning since thousands of years ago; if I could easily be stopped, I wouldn’t have made so many of you hate me.”
“Hehe.”
In response to Baemon’s sarcastic remark about her lack of intelligence, veins bulged on Eil’s forehead, and her smile became increasingly stiff.
“Unfortunately, I calculated everything, but what I didn’t anticipate was that the person I had waited for so long would refuse to leave with me.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Upon hearing this, Eil’s previously dark face lightened as she swayed her long tail behind her, even her crimson “cat ears” shaking rapidly, seemingly delighted and gloating.
Yet Baemon looked down upon Raphael, who was advancing not far away, and added one last sentence, “. all for a dragon race that brought suffering upon him.”
“…”
Eil’s tail and ears stopped moving, and she softly clicked her tongue, looking at the rising magma around and saying to Baemon, “Hurry up, what do we need to do?”
“First, all of you need to return to the dynasty. Ag has already returned, and you are here, along with Barbatos and Cidi.”
“We are here!”
As Baemon finished speaking, a gentle breeze passed, and Cidi, supporting the heavily injured Barbatos, appeared before the palace of the Lust Gate, greeting them from a distance.
Barbatos shot a cold glance at Baemon, and Eil sighed in relief, just wanting to explain the current situation to the two, when Cidi scratched his chin and said, “I’m unclear about the situation of the crevice above, but the aura of death’s authority here is so dense that I can guess you need us to return to control the authority?”
“That’s right. From now on, I will also become a part of the dynasty.”
Cidi nodded and smiled, “Alright, no problem. But there’s one condition: from now on, my true self and Barbatos must stay together. Perfect timing to move our true forms a bit; with your current strength, you should be able to do it, right?”
Baemon nodded, then looked at the silent Barbatos beside her, smiling, “It’s a deal.”
“Hehe, Baemon’s deal is less trustworthy than a human’s promise.”
Eil scoffed, but still threw her weapon to the ground, took a deep breath, and the flames on her body became even more intense. At the same time, the pink glow from Cidi and Barbatos erupted and spread across the ground, heading straight for the authority of death.
Baemon remained noncommittal to this, simply casting a meaningful glance at Fisher on the ground, before wrapping herself completely in the purest morning light, her figure growing brighter, just like the morning sun at eight or nine o’clock, whose radiance quickly covered the land of the Lust Gate, enveloping the remaining demon gods.
Barbatos’s figure gradually vanished from the spot, transforming into a soaring pillar of fire and reappearing in Cidi’s palace, gently intertwining with Cidi’s soul-escaping fiery form.
Eil’s true form also disappeared in an instant, retransforming into her lazy guise. The fearsome six arms returned to two, and she adjusted her shoulders, feeling somewhat unaccustomed.
Meanwhile, in Baemon’s palace, Jasmine, who had been enduring the base’s burden, suddenly went pale, collapsing onto the ground.
The base in her hand slowly dissipated, yet after Jasmine disconnected from it, a hint of Crimson Mist bizarrely reached out, trying to approach her.
“Ouch! You bastard!! The great Sir Book has arrived!!”
Fortunately, Emhart was quick, soaring over and wrapping a golden light around the base, pushing it far away, allowing the red mist to recede from Jasmine and slowly dissipate in mid-air.
Finally, the morning light enveloping Baemon burst forth in tremendous brilliance. However, instead of transforming into a pillar of fire, she revealed her angelic true form, which, compared to ten thousand years ago, only had a touch of chaotic filth on her wings.
“Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!”
At this moment, the demon god Baemon, who had remained detached from the dynasty, finally returned to her position, choosing to dedicate herself, becoming part of the suppression of death’s authority.
The surrounding boiling magma gradually calmed down under the embrace of morning light, and those thick auras of death were all wrapped and returned by the morning light, entering Baemon’s body, storing away all the powers accumulated by death’s authority over millennia.
And the dynasty became quiet again, finally settling.
Fisher had a dream, one filled with scenes he had once seen before.
In the dream, he transformed back into an infant, helplessly lying in a wooden cradle, swaying along with the person next to him who held the cradle.
He suddenly felt a bit dizzy, as the body of an infant was too weak.
“Thud! Thud! Thud!”
Not far away, the sound of a small brass bell from the church school that had permeated his childhood suddenly rang out from near the lighthouse. Clearly a low-quality brass bell that always sounded dull and quiet, but at this moment, to his ears, it sounded like a tsunami, threatening to pierce his eardrum and waking him up further.
He opened his mouth, opened his eyes, and tried with all his might to see the true identity of the figure beside him, but could only see her long fingers grasping the cradle.
Who are you?
Why don’t I have a past life? Why did you place me here?
Countless questions echoed uneasily in Fisher’s heart, but he found himself getting closer to the wall. The woman’s footsteps finally slowed down, and she switched hands to carry him.
“Who are you?”
Curiosity drove Fisher to eagerly seek the answer, and he opened his mouth to make a sound, perhaps wanting to ask her, but could only make the noises typical of infants.
Yet, unlike what he had seen in the Soul Supplement Handbook, at that moment, upon hearing Fisher’s cooing, the woman carrying him actually responded.
So, she lowered her head to look at Fisher, who eagerly looked back at her.
But the next moment, what appeared before him was not a person but countless golden tendrils coiled together, twisting and swirling, like a whirlpool floating in the dark depths of space, merging indiscriminately with everything as it approached him.
“&*()… ”
The tendrils continuously swirled, as if wanting to convey something to Fisher, but he was already chilled to the bone, suddenly sitting up from the dream.
He gasped for breath several times, his memories swirling in his mind, panic rising as he muttered, “Raphael?”
“…”
He found himself sitting on a soft bed, with no one around responding to him. Only a beautiful woman with golden curly hair, silently reading a book beside his bed, lowered her book slightly.
From behind, a pair of blue-golden disheveled pupils emerged.
