The fight for profits and the crushing repression that came with it was bloody and merciless. Lucca didn't seem to sympathize with these captives even in the slightest bit.
Perhaps those Warlocks of the new generation would have their doubts. However, having experienced the turmoil in the central continent, the hostility of the Magus World and the glory afterwards, Lucca definitely wouldn't entertain such a mentality.
"When we've arrived at the City of Alabaster and delivered our task, everyone can have a good rest!" Lucca yelled loudly, leading to his men joyously echoing his words. It was interjected by cries of fear from the captives. This scene was rather amusing.
"Also, everyone knows the rules, right? You don't need me to say anything."
Lucca then shot a fierce look across the people behind him. There was an exceptionally distinct hint of warning in his eyes.
The other Warlocks instantly turned sluggish. Lukard, on the other hand, forced a smile, "Please rest assured! Everyone absolutely will not show disrespect to the three madams of the City of Alabaster…"
"Very well!" Lucca was clear of the situation at hand. Although he knew that many of the Warlocks were reluctant to comply, his facial expression turned gentle.
While the City of Alabaster was under the control of Lord Leylin's subordinates, it was obvious that freedom was maintained to a certain extent. Not only was there no mutual interference between the Ouroboros Clan and the the City of Alabaster, Lord Leylin also had his own staff that only took orders from the Lord himself. They had a firm control over the other end of the bilateral trade.
If not for the newly formed organization which didn't have much manpower, Lucca and the rest wouldn't be doing such missions like exterminating people.
Even so, before entering the subterranean world, these Warlocks had been ordered repeatedly that it was necessary for them to comply to the commands from the City of Alabaster. They were not allowed to violate them.
As for the fellows who daringly attempted to go against these instructions, their bones had already been turned to ashes. Only their soul was left behind in the Endless Prison in the City of Alabaster, full of remorse...
Of course, there seemed to be some secret rumor going around that this situation had an some unclear connection to Lord Leylin and those three madams.
Although he was already quite convinced of it deep in his heart, it was evident that Lucca would not publicly announce it even till his death.
The vast cityscape of the City of Alabaster gradually started to appear ahead of the troop. The everlasting radiance at the top of the structures was exceptionally gorgeous and dazzling, and had an extremely special feel to it.
"Rumor has it that the City of Alabaster was established in an instant when the Lord fully put his powerful Magus abilities to use. It received blessings from the Lord himself, and now has an everlasting quality."
As he watched streams of people enter, as well as the envious and stunned expression on the face of the young lads in the troop, Lucca felt a sense of pride that couldn't be put into words.
"No matter how many times I've seen it, it's really so hard to believe!"
Lukard came to Lucca's side, his eyes filled with admiration. The ability to move mountains and suppress the seas was something that he could only look up to. Just touching the boundary of that sort of strength in his remaining years was hardly even possible.
"The city of underground commerce: Alabaster!" Lucca's voice had a rare hint of agitation in it. "When we've delivered our task, we'll be able to go home!"
"Go home! Go home!" The many youngsters cheered together.
"Bah!" At this moment, the sound of a frivolous spit could be heard amongst the cheers, and was exceptionally ear-piercing.
"Hm?!" Lucca glanced over to see where the sound came from. It was from a young Magus with a distinct aura of someone highborn. Only noble Magi or had such a special feel to them.
"I remember you! You're the first wife's son of the family we destroyed this time. You're rumoured to possess a noble bloodline, and you're the most highly-ranked slave here!"
"You bunch of damned invaders! The mighty underground Magus Alliance will not let you off!" Although there were wounds on the young Magus' face, and his body was bound by forbidden magic chains, he still raised his head stubbornly.
"The underground Magus Alliance? That disordered resistance organization?" Lucca felt like laughing, "I'm sorry, your wishes won't come true…"
"Everything is witnessed by the almighty Mother of the Abyss," The youngster was evidently very resolute. The look on his face made Lucca furrow his brows.
This sort of firm resolution was not because he was rooted to his beliefs, but stemmed from a confidence in some kind of trump card.
"Then… Can you tell me what makes you so confident in that?" Lucca asked inquisitively.
In such a circumstance, he was simply unable to see any possibility in the tables turning.
This fellow was about to sold as a slave, and would just be adopted as a boy toy at best by some highly-ranked Magus who took a fancy to his appearance and bloodline. However, Lucca didn't mind chatting with him for a while more.
"You'll see!"
The young man shot a fierce look at Lucca before looking away.
"You damned swine. Who do you think you are now? What position are you in to actually try to rebel against the reign of the Ouroboros Clan?!" Lukard shouted harshly, itching to lash him with the whip in his hand.
"Forget it, Lukard." Lucca grabbed Lukard's hand, and his voice turned gentle, which was a rare sight. He felt that he was still capable of showing mercy and compassion when dealing with this loser.
"Hmph! When we arrive at the slave market, I'll be sure to 'take good care' of you. You can spend the rest of your life rolling around in mud and becoming a lowly experimental subject and filthy animal…" Lukard gave the slave a menacing scare, making his face turn rather pale. His fist was clenched so tightly that his finger joints had turned white, yet he did not lower his head and continued to hold it high.
"This is the capital of commerce: the City of Alabaster! Remember to show your identification credentials and observe order, or you'll meet with expulsion or even be arrested!"
A few of the Magi from the City of Alabaster were on patrol around the city gate. They shouted this with the help of sound amplification spells, allowing their voices to travel far.
The many merchants and Magi roaming about seemed to be very familiar with this. They lined themselves up in a composed manner, and everything appeared neat and orderly.
"Ahem! I have some contribution points from exterminating the enemy powers, as well as these highly-ranked slaves. How much are these worth altogether?"
At this point, even the other Warlocks in the team couldn't help but beam with joy after calculating their profits.
However, strange distortions suddenly appeared in the sky in the distance. An enormous black stormcloud suddenly moved quickly across, and it had many strange skeleton runes at its centre.
"Let go of Vick!"
The angry bellow of an aged person could be clearly heard from the dark clouds, causing the area around the city gate to become chaotic. Lucca's legs also started to turn wobbly, even though his strength was at rank 3.
"This… This feeling… Rank 5 ! No! A being that's rank 6 or above! Wasn't he just from a small family? Why would they be involved with this power?"
At this moment, the young slave had gotten a pleasant surprise, and was full of smiles.
" Lord of the subsidiary clan! I'm here!" A crimson radiance emerged from the young man's body, which was evidently some sort of indication of his location.
"A subsidiary clan? Is this a conspiracy? Or a coincidence?" Lucca's thoughts were a mess.
King Arthur certainly wasn't the only Breaking Dawn contender in the first layer of the subterranean world. However, the majority of the other monsters lived in seclusion, and spent their days cooped up in their laboratories. The City of Alabaster obviously wouldn't offend them just for such insignificant benefits. Thus, both sides appeared to show restraint.
But now, a monster was clearly being dragged into the situation.
"How daring of you! You actually had the nerve to attack my affiliated clan!" Anger could clearly be felt radiating from within the black cloud.
The overbearing pressure of a solidified truesoul made all the Magi and Warlocks crouch on the ground. Only the slaves were left standing, their faces glowing with happiness.
"Haha… Haha… You lowly bloodline bastards. How dare you offend the noble young master, Vick! I will execute every single one of you! No! Before execution, I'll let you enjoy all the torturous punishments the subterranean world has to offer!" The young man laughed maniacally.
"We're done for! Unless Lord Leylin or King Arthur happens to be here, even the chief of the Lyas family cannot match up to a rank 6 being…"
Lucca's pupils shone with desperation as he watched the white arm bone reach out from the dark cloud.
"We cannot tolerate anyone violating the interests of our bloodline Warlocks!"
At this very moment, a booming voice suddenly sounded from within the City of Alabaster.
The voice was accompanied by a wave of terrifying bloodline strength. A scarlet radiance washed across the entire sky, as though it was inexhaustible and everlasting, pushing the dark cloud to a side.
"What bloodline is this? It definitely isn't the Giant Kemoyin Serpent!" A furious voice boomed from within the cloud, and there was even a hint of fear in it.
"It is I, Ouroboros! The limitless and everlasting snake: Ouroboros!" Lucca then saw the frighteningly enormous phantom of a giant snake burst out from the heart of the City of Alabaster, with a body that seemed to extend across the entire horizon.
Whether it was the gigantic body of the snake or the bizarre scales on it, it had a completely different appearance from a Giant Kemoyin Serpent. Yet, it made Lucca feel like bowing in worship.
"Is this… Is this the legendary Emperor bloodline?"
Even as a veteran Warlock of the Ouroboros Clan, it was his first time witnessing the Emperor bloodline explode firsthand.
But the familiar feeling from the bloodline and the orders originating from within his genes made Lucca bow down right away, his eyes involuntarily brimming with tears.
Having inherited Leylin's bloodline directly, the Emperor bloodline was also conferred the ability to grant these Kemoyin descendants life or death.
It was only now, after coming face to face with the might of the Emperor bloodline, did Lucca thoroughly understand the actions of the other bloodline clans.
Such an astounding bloodline was indeed worth sacrificing everything for.
-x-X-x-
"How is that possible? How could the City of Alabaster have a rank 6 Magus?" A voice of denial sounded from within the dark crowd. The owner of the voice clearly did not expect this, as he thought he had already performed a detailed background check on the City of Alabaster before he dramatically knocked down their door.
However, reality slapped him in the face.
"Nothing is impossible! Watch out you old bastard, the one and only consequence for those who offend the interests of the bloodline Warlocks is death!" The monstrous Ouroboros roared with an outburst of terrifying energy. It seemed still as eternity, yet was filled with infinite kinetic energy.
*Rumble!* The earth's crust shook violently, roaring. Even space itself was warped and the elements were pushed away. The only thing that came out unscathed was the City of Alabaster, which was under the protection of the Ouroboros.
*Pss!* The dark cloud split open, exposing an elderly man in black robes.
"Impossible! How could a rank 6 acquire this power?" The elderly's heart was full of regret. If he was given another chance, he would never choose to be Ouroboros Clan's enemy. Sadly, he would not have the chance to do so.
"Go and repent in the astral plane!" The monstrous serpent swallowed the elder mercilessly, and a terrifying quake shot out. It took over ten minutes for the earth to settle completely.
The phantom of a mountainous infinite serpent shrank, and with a flash of light merged into the body of a teenager with black hair and eyes. These features were proof that he was a pureblood of the Ouroboros Clan.
"Master!" Lucca and Lukard greeted him respectively.
"Mm" He nodded and disappeared into the air.
"Captain, could that be..." Lukard asked Lucca with disbelief.
"If I'm not wrong, that master should be be the the son of the Monarch of Blood's first wife— Master Syre! He's actually achieved rank 6 at a few hundred years of age! The bloodline of the Master… Sigh..." Lucca looked at Lukard worriedly, and he could seen a tinge of loneliness from Lukard's eyes.
"Legend says the pure bloodline of Master Leylin comes with two forms——the first is infinity, and the second is the world! So, that Master had inherited the bloodline power of infinity?" Lukard felt a sense of desolation. Both he and Syre were about the same age, but Leylin's son's achievements seemed out of his league.
Lucca had no choice but to shout for his attention. "Let's stop thinking about that, hurry up and escort all the captives in."
"No worries, Cap. No matter what bloodline they've inherited it's good for the clan!" Lukard bowed to him with full respect, and soon started to manage the crowd.
Many of the captives were chased inside, while the arrogant teenage captive was totally dumbfounded, stuck in place. Needless to say, the fight caused a sensation. However, Syre just flew straight back into the heart of the city.
"Aunt Aegnis!" A noblewoman with elegant hair stood in the living room, the perfect image of a nobility.
"Congratulations, little Syre!" Aegnis' eyes were full of surprise as she exclaimed, "You even entered the realm of Breaking Dawn directly. Leylin's bloodline really is extraordinary... "
"This is nothing to be proud of. After all, my brothers and sisters are just as powerful." Syre smiled humbly.
"Yes, your siblings..." Aegnis had a benevolent smile on her face.
"I've still got lots of things to work on. Daniel advanced far before I did!"
"His path is already fixed, all he needs to do is to stick with the path and keep on upgrading himself. If I were to compare, your effort definitely deserves much more appreciation… " Aegnis knew very well the differences between Leylin's two bloodlines, but either once was terrifying beyond her imagination.
"Anyway, Belinda and Sophia are rather caught up in something, would you like to see them?"
Syre rejected her suggestion. "No need. Nobody will dare to take any action for at least some time now that that Magus' plot is ruined. I want to return to the surface and visit Father."
"Hmm… It's being a long time since I last met that fellow!" Aegnis sounded dissatisfied as she talked about Leylin, and Syre could only smile wryly in response to the past affairs between his elders.
...
Within a laboratory in some unknown dimensional void, Leylin opened his eyes. They seemed to flash with black lightning.
*Buzz! Buzz!* Leylin's body shook, and a layer of stone came loose and fell from the surface of his clothes.
[Beep! The analysis of the World of Gods' apparatus has been completed! Time spent: 67 years and 13 months. ] The A.I.Chip's voice faithfully reminded him.
'It's been over 60 years… Together with removing memories and the preparations for the experiments, nearly 300 years have passed…' Leylin' s handsome face remained just the same as before, as though the power of time was completely lost on his body, 'However, the wait was extremely worthwhile. I managed to gather the required data.'
Leylin was deep in thought. When he swallowed Beelzebub the power of laws he'd gained had caused great agitation and chaos to his own memories. This was especially true because Beelzebub was an old freak who'd lived for an unknown length of time. His memories contained all sorts of information, including many secrets about Gods. Leylin did not want to put it to waste, hence he'd had the A.I. Chip record every single thing. It was why it took so long for him to wake up.
"However, all my efforts were worth it, I can finally start something practical!" Leylin came to a astral gate with an excited expression on his face.
This specific astral gate was incomparably enormous. On top of that, there were many strange runes on it that included Leylin's personal comprehensions of the power of laws.
"Gods!" An ancient yet dazzling light shot from Leylin's hand, merging into the huge stone gate.
*Buzz! Buzz!* The entire gat shook violently, and there were even some strange energy undulations in the laboratory. With his powerful soul force, Leylin connected to the entire astral plane in a moment.
The vast sea of stars which were as old as history washed over Leylin's own soul force. This feeling was rather different than his previous experiences, if not for his near rank 7 soul force the destructive power of the astral plane would have completely erased him.
The splendid nebulae seemed to ebb and flow continuously, distorting numerous rings of stars. It was like Leylin's body was a huge black hole, engulfing everything around him.
"This kind of extreme long-distance projection serves to be a great challenge for the soul force of a Magus!" Leylin remained calm, his soul force seemingly indestructible. He sat and watched the galaxies flow away before him. Finally, after what felt like a century, his expression changed as he almost saw the end of the astral river.
"Such a special feeling..." A simple premonition had Leylin sighing with exclamation, "The Magus World and World of Gods are like oceans at opposite ends of a galaxy. No wonder those ancient Magi were still attached to this universe."
In spite of his vast database, Leylin was still awed by the marvelous scenery in front of him after the indescribable sensation faded. There was a dense crystalline wall in front of him, shimmering like a well-constructed beehive. In the astral river, it looked magnificent and infinite.
Within the crystal wall was a radiant light, the light of the Gods!
"Ugh..." Leylin's body trembled, and a phantom Targaryen appeared immediately, its slit eyes filled with desire and familiarity.
"The World of Gods! The world origin force of such a powerful foreign world would be so great… Not to mention the law of devouring originates from here…" Leylin appeared to be rather calm despite every single cell in his body longing for it. Deep in his heart, he maintained his cold determination.
"This crystal wall system... " Leylin's soul force encircled around the huge crystal wall, feeling the immeasurable depths of its power. "The culmination of the worlds origin force, and there's also the conscients of Gods there…"
Leylin's expression turned more solemn the more he sensed, "It stubbornly rejects everything from outside, and has blocked all connections from the outside world. It's as solid as steel, and just as unyielding…"
With a simple probe Leylin understood clearly that even the creator of this system couldn't destroy it, of that he was pretty sure. "It's impossible to break through such a system, the only way is to use Beelzebub's method to smuggle myself in..."
"Beelzebub only needed to leave the World of Gods, and he was a native himself. It'll be much more difficult for me. It's only expected that I had to spend 300 years of simulation to find a safe method of passing through…
"Manderhawke plate!" Layers of virtual light gathered in Leylin's palm, forming a circular disc.
On the disc were peculiar patterns, especially the huge chipped edge, and it looked like it was bitten off by some unknown creature.
In the memories of Beelzebub, this was the key to secretly pass through the crystal wall system!
"The main material plane in the World of Gods also had strong isolating power, it's hard even for the Gods to transfer their powers. It was the same for Beelzebub who was located at the ninth of hell..."
Leylin recalled this bit of information that the A.I. Chip had organised.
-x-X-x-
The path of the gods, known as the path of faith, was the foundation of the laws of the World of Gods. Whether it was gods, demons or even devils, their desire for believers and souls was frightening.
The competition on the main material plane had been fierce from the very beginning. Compared to the gods who had resources and money to spare, a devil like Beelzebub was already on the losing end and had no choice but to wrack his brain for ideas. His reputation in the main world was awful as a result.
However, this all changed one day.
Beelzebub obtained a fantastic divine device— The Manderhawke plate! He had named it himself, since he had never seen any description of this device in history, although its effects were extremely powerful.
This Manderhawke plate had the miraculous effect of reducing the suppressive effects of a world boundary.
In other words, if Beelzebub wanted to transmit his godly power to the main material plane and would normally be taxed 90% of his power, the Manderhawke plate would reduce the amount he needed to pay to 10% or even fewer.
This consumption was much cheaper and convenient for him as compared to the gods of that realm.
Because of this advantage, Beelzebub had been able to develop and flourish in the main world, gathering large amounts of the power of faith and souls, establishing his status in hell in one fell swoop.
Of course, the gods were no fools. After a period of investigation, they had banded together and complete purged of the organisation that worshipped him.
Evidently, Beelzebub who resisted the many gods alone had no choice but to get lost. Not only did all the resources he had amassed in the main material plane disappear, with only a few followers slipping past the net and on their last legs, he wasn't doing well in hell either, where he was suppressed by the other hell sovereign kings.
Thankfully, the secret of the Manderhawke Plate had not been leaked, or else there was no way he could settle this matter so easily.
Even after all this, Beelzebub was already paranoid and did not dare take any more action in the main material plane.
He, who had the Manderhawke Plate, set his sights on areas outside the World of Gods.
In the limitless astral plane, there were many intellectual beings. The power of faith they could generate was a huge temptation for him, and it was even better because no gods or other enemies could notice this!
After a period of experiments, Beelzebub succeeded.
Of course, after that, he had been unlucky enough to meet Leylin. His main body was probably grievously injured and now in a deep sleep, and he could even die if he was unlucky. After all, hell was not a peaceful place.
"The power to extinguish the barriers between worlds…" The glowing disc arrived at the periphery of the crystal wall, where numerous runes were flickering. It seemed to attract some existence within the wall, which made the area surrounding the wall soften. This made Leylin wonder if this situation would spread to the rest of the wall.
"No! This isn't from a flaw in the laws. This was a way out left behind from the very beginning, set up during the design process…" With Leylin's foresight, he immediately saw how extraordinary the Manderhawke plate was.
"Based on Beelzebub's thoughts, the Manderhawke plate could very well be an imitation of the most powerful deity device in the World of Gods, the Clay Plate of Destiny. This is very possible. Perhaps this plate might even be a part of the Clay Plate of Destiny…" Leylin's eyes burned with fervour.
What he had in his hands was obviously not the real Manderhawke plate, or else he would long have been able to enter the World of Gods. Why would he have needed to go through all this trouble?
The shining plate in Leylin's hands was merely a specific device made by the A.I. Chip from Beelzebub's memories, as well as the precise calculations down with knowledge on the equipment of the World of Gods.
With data from experiments on the real thing, as well as long periods of observing and doing research to imitate it, Leylin had great confidence in this imitation.
Things were as expected. Under the rays of the fake Manderhawke Plate, the region of the crystal wall here was already beginning to melt, revealing a large passageway.
"It was this easy?"
Leylin furrowed his brows, but still separated a thread of a soul seed, which disappeared into the pathway.
"Get lost!" The moment the soul seed touched the crystal wall, a terrifying voice sounded, bringing with it a powerful isolating conscient.
*Pu!* The seed was immediately annihilated, and even the Manderhawke Plate was floating unsteadily.
"Has the World Will of the World of Gods awoken? No, this is just its subconscious mind! This extent is just…"
Instantly, Leylin knew what had happened. This was an instinctive reaction of the crystal wall, which repelled souls like Leylin who tried to enter. His different type of soul force was immediately discovered, without leaving any room for doubt.
"You're the one who should scram! You're just a sleeping subconscious will. Scram!" Two streaks of black lightning shot out from Leylin's eyes, his black hair flying while he looked to have turned into an ancient demon.
"Hss…" The tremendous body of a Targaryen emerged behind Leylin, its energy undulations and rank 7 will resisting the crystal wall.
*Buzz Buzz!* At this moment, the Manderhawke Plate in Leylin's hands flashed and completely enveloped the entire area, not allowing any information to be transmitted.
Near rank 7 power was something that even the wills of small worlds could only somewhat resist. While the World of Gods was incomparably powerful, it was still slumbering, and there was only a small region resisting. It had not activated its full force and the Manderhawke Plate had even removed a portion of its sensing abilities, so therefore it was at its weakest.
*Pak!* In that moment, a surge of powerful emotions disappeared, revealing a small space.
"Now's the time!" Leylin's eyes flashed, and numerous soul seeds separated and disappeared into the crystal wall.
*Boom!* Practically the very moment the soul seeds disappeared into the pathway, the entire Manderhawke Plate crumbled into powder. Leylin was sent flying backwards, numerous terrifying wounds already appearing on his body as he turned pale.
Fresh blood spurted everywhere, but it returned to Leylin's body at an even faster rate, as if his body had become a huge magnet. The terrifying injuries disappeared in an instant, though Leylin's face was still obviously pale.
"Just the backlash from a small portion of the crystal wall reduced me to this state, despite the protection of the Manderhawke Plate…" Leylin's eyes were filled with admiration. He had not attacked the wall forcefully before, or else he would have met the counterattack of the crystal wall and fury of the gods, which would have turned him into ashes in an instant.
This sort of powerful ability not only failed to make Leylin afraid, but it left him longing to best it.
However, Leylin's sighs of admiration disappeared in an instant. He was now putting effort into maintaining the connection with his soul, and the terrifying consumption continued.
Unlike separated truesouls, one couldn't sever the support to a soul seed if they wished to maintain it. Even for an existence like Leylin, the consumption from behind the barrier in the World of Gods was astonishing even though things had happened only for a short moment.
The A.I. Chip was now quickly recording. The process of traversing through the crystal wall was not smooth, and soon information on the soul seeds being annihilated was transmitted.
[Soul seed #1 extinguished.]
[Soul seed #2 extinguished. Estimated time that host can maintain support: 31h 24min 12s.]
However, this lessened the consumption on his end, allowing Leylin to go on for longer.
*Swish!* An orange meteor streaked through the night skies, descending in a dark forest.
"This is… the World of Gods?" Leylin's soul seed scanned the surroundings. It was a dark forest, and his blaming flames had already caused the area arounding him to be charred, creating an empty area there.
"An enormous malicious intent, as well as these laws!" Leylin's soul seed did all it could to gather data, "The terrifying World Will of the World of Gods might only be suppressing me unconsciously, but that's enough to suppress the range of the soul force's scanning to within 10 metres… On top of that, these limitations on otherworldly power…"
Leylin could clearly sense that this was an exceptionally strict world, with extremely powerful limitations on otherworldly strength. Even if Morning Star Magi came here, they would not possess powerful strength, and it was impossible for them to do what they could in the Magus World.
'The energy particles are very stable here and easy to manipulate… The exemplaries of this world must find it hard to break through individually. The norm should be to work in groups, ten adventurers in a group would be a good arrangement… Even if my main body comes, I'd probably be suppressed by one to two ranks and only be able to exhibit strength of Morning Star or Radiant Moon… Under such stringent conditions, how terrifying would the gods who have been able to break through be?'
At this point, Leylin suddenly found that he had underestimated the gods.
Their strength far exceeded his expectations, especially since he was being suppressed by such a large degree.
"Ovanna, look! Is that a meteor? It landed in the forest!"
In a little village by the forest, a little boy with some freckles on his nose glanced at the sky, suddenly speaking to the pig-tailed girl beside him, "I've made a decision. I'm going to look for it!"
"Tiff, have you gone mad? The priest has already said that a meteor is a bad omen!" Ovanna glanced her friend in worry.
"Priest…" Ovanna's eyes showed her fear. "That's true! Then I'm not going!"
The meteor from before had evidently brought a large change to the village. Many adults gathered, looking worried, and all began to pray nearby a little altar in the village.
Ovanna and Tiff quickly separated, but what the young girl did not notice was that after parting ways, Tiff ran outside the village, an excited look in his eyes.
-x-X-x-
"A meteor shower signifies the fall of a powerful being…" Tiff's eyes glinted, "Though it represents something ominous, I don't really care. Such a great opportunity is hard to come by! In no time at all, this area will be crowded with adventurers. I have to be the first to get the good stuff… who knows, I might walk the path of an adventurer and become a respected noble!"
From the perspective of a young child, those adventurers who passed by the village once in a while wearing their armour were amazing and powerful. The knights nearby were even more more of a big deal.
"If there's another legendary item…" Tiff's eyes were shining, and some saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth.
"Don't those wandering bards always talk about these in their stories? While the heroes are young, they'll pick up some deity device by chance and thus walk the path of destiny. That's so cool…" With his reverence towards heroes, Tiff gathered his courage and entered the dense forest.
At this moment, Leylin's soul seed was in huge trouble.
"Damn it! With this rate of consumption as well as the restrictions on otherworldly power!"
Leylin found himself completely immobile, and his remaining soul force was quickly being depleted by the pressure from the enormous pressure of the world.
"No! A naked soul seed completely bared is just too weak. I need to find a body to rest on!"
Leylin's soul force was constantly being depleted, and all the items within ten metres entered his sight, but were all denied.
"No living beings! These plants won't work because they're too weak. The rocks are alright, but if I can't find a substitute item…"
Near the end, Leylin's soul seed finally found an item that he was somewhat satisfied with.
This was a rusty and mottled broken sword that had been buried here for years. It was concealed by the rotten soil, and Leylin's appearance would allow it to see the light of day once more.
"Soul attachment!"
A thread of dark red luster flashed on the blade of the sword, and Leylin's soul seed disappeared.
After entering the broken sword, Leylin was delighted to find that the consumption on his end had lessned, though it was still terrifying.
Meanwhile, a feeling of weakness was transmitted from within Leylin's soul seed.
"Just the movement of my soul used up most of my reserves. At this rate, even with support from my main body, I won't last even a few days. I need to find a way to replenish it or gather some data…"
With the World of Gods' powerful wall as an obstruction, the support from Leylin's body would have to go through the barrier, which meant the consumption was tremendous. Even Leylin's main body could not last so long.
Once the main body recalled the energy he was providing, the soul seed would automatically be destroyed.
[Beep! Gathering data on air and elemental particles. Attempting to analyse world law. Recalculating physical constants.]
At this moment, the A.I. Chip was constantly scanning the surroundings, sending over the most precious firsthand information back.
"Even the rules are different. With the malicious intent and suppression from worlds like these, I'd be unable to display too exceptional strength even if my main body were to go over. All spell models must be modified."
Leylin looked solemn. Immediately after, external soul strength immediately sensed the approach of another life form.
"Hm?!"
In the senses of his soul force, the area around him in the forest was rustling. Following which, a boy with a head of fiery-red hair made his way in from the grass.
He wore linen clothing that looked tattered and had traces of being mended, showing that his family situation was not very good.
In his eyes, Leylin saw fear and anticipation.
"Is this an intellectual lifeform of this world? It's the same as in Beezlebub's memories and no different from ordinary humans!"
With Beezlebub's memory database, Leylin was not completely clueless about the World of Gods.
"From his appearance, he should be a child from a village nearby, or… I could make use of him. It's not bad to gather intel on the lowest level of the social hierarchy and the format of their organisations."
At this thought, Leylin immediately decided o his actions.
"This should be where the meteor landed… Hic…"
It was already night. The cool moonlight fell through the treetops, and the dark forest was whistling with cold winds. The temperature had evidently fallen quite a bit, and Tiff could not help but wrap his arms around himself.
The fear of the future as well as the dark surroundings in the forest left him fearful.
*Bugu!* *Bugu!*
Two bird calls were heard from the treetops, immediately causing Tiff to jump like a cat that had its tail stepped on. "Who is it! Who's there!"
The youngster's sharp voice pierced through the skies, alarming a few black birds.
The sound of flapping wings was heard, followed by dark figures that disappeared into the skies.
"Hah…" Tiff found that his heart was beating as hard as it ever could, to the point that it might even jump out from his throat.
"Mighty goddess of the spring waters, please bless me! Let me complete this expedition and find those hidden treasures! Tiff swears that he will go to your church and make contributions later…"
Tiff's hands were now clasped together as he prayed. He believed in the goddess of the spring waters, which was the main religion of the village. Though she was a new god and lacked much strength, it was for this reason that she was very generous to her followers, and therefore the prime selection for the peasants in poverty-stricken areas.
After praying, nothing happened, but Tiff was now more courageous.
His hands were shaking slightly as he pushed the grass aside, but his footsteps were firm as he headed to the empty land.
"Nothing… there's nothing at all other than a huge charred pit!"
After noticing this, Tiff obviously looked disappointed. Unwilling to admit failure, he rummaged through the area, still mumbling, "How can there be nothing? Where's the legendary weapon? Magic item? Oh gods, even a few golds are enough…"
"Yet another fool ruled by greed!" Leylin's soul seed watched on and judged disdainfully.
"But I can make use of that!"
With this thought, threads of light shone from the sides of the broken sword, exceptionally obvious in the pitch-black night.
"Damn it! The amount of energy here is enough to use a Morning Star spell in the Magus World, yet it only produces dim rays of light here…"
As he compared the rules of the two worlds as well as the consumption from using spells, Leylin's heart sunk.
With this consumption, the soul seed would not be able to cause any fatal damage to this lifeform even with Leylin's main body supporting energy.
"With the reserves of my soul force, I can't even use the most fundamental Intellectual Lifeform Bewitchment! However, metallic items are still quite valuable here. Especially for a boy full of fantasies, a broken blade can still attract his attention…"
Leylin judged.
As expected, after noticing the light, Tiff's eyes brightened as he arrived before the broken blade from before.
He expended much effort, pushing aside the soil and rocks and used his filthy hands to run his hands over the blade, allowing it to see the light of day again.
"The rays seemed to have been produced from this sword…" Tiff was rather confident of this, but as he observed the rusted sword as well as the signs of corrosion on the hilt, he was less sure now.
However, even if this broken sword wasn't any magic arTiffct, it was still very attractive to Tiff.
After all, boys had a passion for weapons from the depths of their heart, especially for boys like Tiff who had many fantasies.
"Mm! Blacksmith Uncle Glan could buy it. This is worth at least three coppers! No, five!"
Tiff held this broken sword in satisfaction, the heaviness making him feel extremely pleased.
The sword with only half its original length was much lighter, but Tiff's attempts at a few moves still failed.
"Mm! I've made my decision. Even if Uncle Glan gives me five coppers, I won't sell this!"
Tiff nodded surely and kept his spoils well, humming nursery rhymes as he returned near the village.
Of course, the price of exploring on his own was being taught a lesson by his father, and he was also given a stern warning not enter the forest again.
Tiff did not care about this at all. While his ass was smarting with pain, he cleverly kept the spoils from his adventure amongst some firewood. If not, he knew very well that his father would definitely sell off this sword and turn it into a few cups of cheap rum mixed with water, pouring into his stomach and completely disappearing.
This was the key to Tiff's life as an adventurer! How could it be squandered away so easily? This couldn't be allowed, even if it was for his father's sake! The boy made his decision.
With this thought in mind, the boy contentedly entered dreamland while daydreaming about being an adventurer and hero, while the surging darkness in the outside world never once stopped.
"With orders by the mighty oracle, purge this place of heresy!"
At some point, a group of knights had already encircled the village.
Their metallic armour as well as the runes unique to a church was intimidating.
This was the church of a god, and was also the army of the church! It represented a god's will and was not to be disobeyed!
-x-X-x-
"The oracle said this place has been polluted by a foreign force. A purge is necessary!" At the middle of the group of knights was an old man wearing the attire of a bishop, looking devout and pious. He seemed extremely stern.
"Lord Bishop, we have completely surrounded the area!" A knight reported respectfully after urging his horse over. He was chiseled, his features as sharp as a knife.
"Good! Divine corps, be prepared to coordinate with each other. Don't let even a single heretic escape!" The bishop waved his hand. Numerous youthful and resolute priests dressed in white ceremonial clothing followed behind him, followed by the groups of knights in an orderly manner.
A serious crisis immediately enveloped the little town, but the residents did not notice at all.
"Hm? An exemplary polluted by the power of other laws…" Though his detection abilities were largely limited, Leylin still sensed the people surrounding the village. It was a pity that there was nothing he could do. In his current state, he needed Tiff's help just to get out of the forest. There was no way to break through this besiegement.
"The surveillance by the gods is extremely strict!" Leylin exclaimed in admiration. He'd noticed the altar when he'd first entered the village, as well as the laws it emitted.
Of course, there were some differences between the laws here and those of beings from other worlds. Perhaps a more appropriate name for it would be divine force.
With the protection of divine force, the whole village was akin to a domain. Though the effects were extremely weak compared to a real domain, they had similar characteristics.
"A foreign being like me would be discovered the moment I enter the domain!"
Leylin sighed, "Unless I find an area where the truly faithless gather or evade places with altars or shrines, there's nowhere for me to hide when I'm in this form… It's a pity that it's impossible…"
In Beezlebub's memories, practically all intellectual beings of the World of Gods had faith in various gods.
Here, being faithless was very frightening. Even those followers of another religion or those who had faith in the devils were treated better than the faithless.
It was rumoured that after death, the souls of the faithless were not accepted by any gods, and could only howl and wail as they were crucified while alive.
"Faith in the gods spreads like numerous nodes throughout the World of Gods. Each follower's soul will be branded by the gods!"
Here, massacres were obviously not forbidden. However, all research done on souls were seen as a blasphemy to the gods, and those discovered doing so would be burnt at the stake.
It was fine to kill the followers of the gods, but if he tried to influence their souls in the slightest degree, the gods would notice in an instant.
The fury of having one's child touched by someone else was definitely enough to induce fury from the gods.
"The souls of priests, deity officials, devout followers and sacred warriors must definitely not be touched, or else their god will be provoked and surely won't take this lying down!"
This was the most important lesson Leylin had learnt from Beezlebub's memories.
"In other words, in the World of Gods, it's impossible to massacre and devour souls in order to quickly regain strength. If I do that, there'd be something like a tracker on me, and I'd be discovered by the gods no matter where I go. Of course, in a foreign world, my soul strength isn't much. I won't be able to escape…"
After determining the situation, Leylin strangely felt relaxed.
He was only a soul seed at this point, and it being exterminated would not really affect the main body much. He could make use of this opportunity to gather more data.
"Come at me, sacrificers to the gods!"
A streak of dark red flashed from the broken sword, with a bloodthirsty radiance.
...
The sounds of the neighing of horses, high-pitched roars, the blood-curdling screams and profound pleas for help.
Tiff used the back of his hand which was cleaner and rubbed his eyes, and then yawned.
He, who had been awakened by the sounds, saw the fire outside his window. The trotting of horses, the slamming of doors and shouts lingered by his ear like the mumbles of a devil.
"What's going on? Is this a nightmare?" Tiff's mind was in a state of confusion, unable to react to what was going on.
"What did you come out for? Get back in there!" After Tiff left the room, he was immediately pushed roughly back in.
On his father's face was a grimness and solemness that Tiff had never witnessed before.
But before he could obediently return to his room, a tall, handsome steed rammed into his garden.
Mounting the horse was a knight wearing steel armour. The luxurious armour made out of steel rendered Tiff speechless, for this usually belonged to lords who were knights or some family heirloom belonging to nobility, such as barons.
Even the baron who was closest to this area might not have goods of such quality.
Tiff's eyes were full of fear and envy. Meanwhile, he also noticed a crest on the armour— this was the crest of the Spring Water Goddess!"
"It's the holy knights of the Spring Water Goddess! What are they doing here?"
It had to be said that these holy knights used to be Tiff's idols, but what they were doing now was just destroying his dreams.
"Esteemed lord, may I know…"
Tiff's father gathered his courage and approached the knight. Before he could finish his sentence, however, he was ruthlessly sent flying and crashed to the ground.
"I'm only saying this once. All residents are to gather at the altar. Everyone!"
The knight burst through Tiff's front door, and what followed was the sound of trunks and boxes being rummaged through. Tiff's mother, brothers and sisters were chased out.
Following his father and the rest of his family, Tiff left through the front door and headed to the heart of the village to gather.
It was only at this point that Tiff noticed, stunned, that the other villagers had been expelled from their homes and, like flowed like a stream to converge at the center of the village.
"What– What's going on?" Tiff still had no idea of what exactly was happening. All he knew was that his mother had a tight hold on his hand, to the point that it was painful.
In front of him was his father, whose expression was dark and full of uneasiness.
Even when the famine had happened for the past few years, and when the tax officers had come to the village, Tiff had not seen such an expression on his father's face before.
The many villagers gathered like herded sheep. The knights raised their torches and surrounded them, shining brightly in the night sky.
Around the knights were also many priests.
Their clothes were even more extravagant than the priest he had seen previously in the village. To make it simple, all of them must be amazing people.
"Cough cough… cough cough…" The solemn atmosphere as well as the arrival of the deity officials and knights caused Tiff to begin to feel fear, though he had no reason why.
"Lord bishop, all the villagers have gathered. This is the village chief."
A knight with golden patterns on his armour tossed an old man who was trembling hard before the bishop.
"Lord bishop, our Kahn Village has always been piously worshipping the Spring Water Goddess and never dared go against her!"
From Tiff's perspective, this village chief who was usually very capable was like a baby here, weeping and sniffing in front of the old bishop.
"The god has taught us to treat every follower with love!"
The old bishop kindly helped the village chief up and even bent to his knees to help brush off the soil, immediately giving rise to feelings of gratitude from the chief.
"The reason I'm here is because I was instructed by the god to purge this area of foreign forces."
After the chief calmed down, the bishop expressed his purpose in coming here.
For some reason, Tiff saw his father's body swaying and almost crumpling to the ground. Even his mother was beginning to sob quietly, and the surrounding villagers looked as if the world was ending.
It was only a long time later that Tiff knew that the gods were very brutal when it came to dealing with foreign forces. Even the commoners in the area that were affected had terrible, miserable conclusions to their lives.
Of course, he was a mere child now. All he knew was that after the bishop who seemed very influential spoke, the many villagers, including the chief himself, went limp and fell to the ground, unable to even plead.
"Oh mighty Spring Water Goddess, your humble servants piously offer sacrifices to you. Please open your godly eyes and differentiate the foreign force here!"
In front of the altar in the little village, the bishop devoutly prayed. Immediately after, milky-white rays of light surged from the altar, bringing with it a holy, clean luster.
"Come here one by one so we can separate you. The god will not misidentify anyone."
The old bishop announced. Immediately after, those knights began to grab hold of the villages, pressing them down under the altar and forcing them to kneel and repent.
The villagers were forced to go through with this ceremony under the altar one after another, and the rays of light on the altar stayed white.
"Next!" The old bishop looked ruthless, as if nothing in the world was worth him frowning or hesitating over. The holy knights were like demons, only knowing to complete their tasks robotically.
Finally, it was Tiff's family's turn.
First was his father and sister, and then Tiff.
Tiff knelt on the cool ground, feeling very uncomfortable.
"Quick, repent!" A tremendous force could be felt on his back, and he had no choice but to bend down.
"Mighty Spring Water Goddess, Bynx, you are the god of all spring waters, and also the stars in the sky, the one who loves us like a mother. I confess to you…"
-x-X-x-
Tiff was muddle-headed as he prayed, but he'd already performed this ceremony of repentance in the past. Even if he stammered over his words, there were generally no mistakes.
"It can't be!" "We've found it!"
However, Tiff found that the aura in his surroundings had changed afterwards. The gazes gathered on him were like those of wolves, causing every hair on his body to stand on end in his nervousness.
"What's going on?" Tiff raised his head, stunned. He immediately saw that the milky white lights from the altar had turned a demonic dark red.
"Foreign force!" Tiff felt his neck being grasped, and his entire body was yanked into the air.
The old bishop in front of him now looked incomparably sinister. He could faintly see his father wailing before he was struck to the ground. Now even the villagers isolated his family members, keeping away from them like they had the plague.
"No! Once more, please try it once more! My Tiff definitely would not blaspheme against the goddess!" The cries lingered in Tiff's ears, but the grasp on his neck was becoming increasingly tight, to the point that he was feeling suffocated.
At this moment, the palm released its hold on him, and long-awaited fresh air poured into his windpipe. Tears and mucus flowed out of him. "Say it, Heretic! How did you go against the teachings of the goddess?"
Thee bishop's brows furrowed slightly at the sight of this heretic.
This heretic's strength was much too weak and was incomparable to the powerful blasphemers from before. Such a small threat would not have warranted the goddess descending and commanding them to act.
"Truth spell!" A dot of golden light flew from the bishop's hands, disappearing into Tiff's forehead.
Following which, Tiff found his mouth beginning to move involuntarily, answering all of the bishop's questions.
Tiff's life had been very normal to the point that it was boring. When he was asked about the exploration earlier in the day, the bishop's breathing evidently became rougher.
"Quick, surround the kitchen at the back of this home!"
A tremendous force flew out, and Tiff felt like his body was floating high up in the clouds before falling into a gigantic iron hoop, making his whole body ache everywhere.
With the escort of many soldiers, Tiff and his family members arrived in front of their house.
Immediately after, waves of knights rushed forward as if meeting with some great enemy, finding a mottled iron sword.
"Lord bishop!" The leading knight respectfully offered up the sword with both hands.
The powerful, sinister strength from the iron sword caused the bishop to frown, "A demonic item, or a temptation from the devils? Even appraisal techniques are useless on it."
Though he had no idea what the characteristics of this item was, the bishop had already decided what would be his current target.
"If I purify this item, the favour and care I get from the goddess should be able to raise my ranking as a priest by a whole grade, right?"
The bishop's eyes showed how bewitched he was by this notion before he repented piously, "Oh mighty Spring Water Goddess, please forgive your servant for his greed…"
For some reason, there were no strange changes to the iron sword that Leylin's soul seed was residing in. It docilely allowed the bishop to add all sorts of seals to it, and with numerous knights escorting it, they arrived at the altar in the village.
"This child's soul has already been polluted by the power of the foreign force…"
The bishop stood before the altar, stating his final judgement on Tiff.
"Burn him to death!" "Burn him to death!" "Burn him to death!" Before Tiff could react, the many villagers began to howl maliciously.
Such a zealous atmosphere and the large difference from what Tiff was used to seeing caused him to break out in tears.
Even his family were bound by the infuriated villagers on wooden crosses that had been made on the spot.
Tiff had a very bad of feeling of what was going to happen.
"No! Please forgive them. I… I did nothing! I only brought an iron sword back. I'm willing to repent for that!"
Tiff wailed and pleaded for the last time, "For the goddess' sake, you can punish me, but please let my family off!"
"The family of the heretic must also be purified!"
What answered him was the bishop's grave expression.
Immediately after, amidst large amounts of flames and the cries of children, Tiff fainted in his fear.
"Mighty goddess, your servant piously invites you to descend…"
After burning Tiff's family at the stake, the bishop began to pray in front of the altar devoutly with his other sacrifices.
As the chief offender, Tiff and that iron sword contaminated by evil needed to be personally dealt with by the goddess herself.
"Hm… is this the path of faith?"
The soul seed in the iron sword was watching all that the bishop was doing, "Using religious ceremonies to spread fanatic behaviour, while gathering the extreme emotions and soul force emanated from the followers…"
Leylin calmly analysed.
In his current state, he basically could not resist at all. Hence, he placed all his effort on gathering intel.
Through this period of observation, the details on the surface of the World of Gods were shown in front of him, clearer than Beelzebub's memories.
"First is the surroundings. Otherworldly power is limited to a very harsh degree. The regular beings here, with even the most common peasant, has a body that surpasses that of regular people in the Magus World by a huge degree, and even by several times. And then, we have the priests and knights here…"
Leylin could clearly sense the strength of another existence's laws from the priests.
Though this path was very similar to Purgatory World's parth of offerings, there were still differences.
The chief difference was that the usage of the power of faith was very wide-ranging. Just the slight disturbance he had caused had allowed Leylin to see so many of these so-called priests.
The number of people here were obviously gathered only from the surrounding regions.
If power was to be poured into all of the priests there were, the many dignitaries of Purgatory World would go bankrupt, and yet it was a simple matter for the gods here.
Furthermore, there were differences when compared with the trade of equivalent exchange of the path of offerings. The Sacrificers here all thought themselves to be the servants of the gods and believed they had very low statuses.
This situation aroused Leylin's interest, urging him to find out more.
"Furthermore… as there are too many, the gods can't focus on every single one of their followers, unless they are invited to do so or if there are blasphemous souls…"
Leylin watched the bishop that began to pray, the feeling of an existence of laws descending beginning to tingle in the area.
"I need to do something!"
He made his decision, and then placed his focus on Tiff.
Leylin, whose body was now but a broken sword, had no way to resist. He needed some sort of medium.
Come to think of it, this guy was rather suitable.
Blood and fire! And then there were the malicious smiles from the villagers, knights and priest… This was what Tiff saw in his dreams.
The heavy feeling of being suppressed was like a huge mountain, destroying this child's soul.
In this situation, manipulating Tiff was just too easy for Leylin.
"Hey kid, do you want to take revenge?"
Many flames shot out all of a sudden, converging into a huge face that stared at Tiff.
"Of course! No matter what you are, whether a demon or devil, it's fine even if you want my soul. Please give me the strength to take revenge!"
Tiff began to weep in his dreams as he knelt.
"How astute. I like it!" The flaming human face smiled evilly, turning into a gigantic blazing winged serpent that disappeared into Tiff's body.
"Remember. My godly name is Kukulkan— the feathered serpent Kukulkan! Your soul, flesh and everything shall, from hereon, belong to me!"
A voice sounded in Tiff's mind, and immediately after, he felt as if his body was lit with flames, and felt like it was burning.
"What's going on?" "This kid's body is burning!"
The clamour around him caused Tiff to open his eyes once more, but the charred crosses not too far away only resulted in tears of disappointment.
The boiling hot feeling did not dissipate as Tiff stared at his palm. This was no longer like a human. Strangely enough, there were scales with flames around, looking like a palm of vengeance that had come straight from hell!
"So… it wasn't a dream!" Tiff mumbled.
At this moment, the bishop and knights were startled by Tiff's appearance. From their point of view, he had suddenly been enveloped by a layer of fire, turning into some demonic thing that had come from hell.
"Kill him!" Holy radiance flickered from the bodies of a few knights as they brandished their large swords and charged towards him.
"Ah…" Tiff yelled, and the seals on the broken sword that Leylin had attached himself to crumbled, and then fell into his hands.
"Die!" The broken sword slashed and created a few mysterious red streaks. Immediately after, the knights' bodies fissured, with blood and innards flying everywhere alongside the horrified cries of the villagers.
As if there was a limitless amount of strength being poured into from the hilt of the broken sword, Tiff was like a death god as he reaped the lives of the surrounding knights.
"His life rays have gotten more powerful. He's at least comparable to a level 15 officer!"
"Goddess Bynx, how is this possible?"
"Goddess, please bless us!" The many knights and deity officials yelled in fury.
However, Tiff cared nothing at all for things like this. His mind had already been filled with the thirst for revenge.
One after another, the enemies were destroyed under his bloody red field of vision, which then focused on the bishop.
"Mm! Let's end this with a final experiment. Innate ability: Devour!"
With Leylin's will, Tiff's arm grabbed onto the bishop's shoulders.
Following which, his flesh began to melt at a visible rate.
-x-X-x-
"The goddess… will not let you off!" The bishop said as he put up his final struggle. His face was filled with the fanatic expression of someone who had died for a good cause.
Leylin simply did not give a hoot about all of this. "Well! The transformation efficiency of his flesh is not bad. His divine force is also rather decent. Next up… the soul, the most important part!"
However, when the broken sword came into contact with the bishop's soul, the situation changed drastically!
"You… You actually have the cheek to profane my soul?" The excruciating pain from somewhere deep within his soul made the bishop come to his senses. A mix of despair and resolution surfaced on his face, "Almighty goddess! Your devotee sincerely offers his own life, and longs for your arrival! Divine art— Deity's Descent!"
The powerful counter-attack made Tiff take many steps back in succession. The summoning ceremony that had been interrupted resumed, now moving very quickly. After all, the bishop had been working himself before but now the goddess only needed to take the initiative to descend.
"Indeed… The soul of a devotee is a forbidden zone." Leylin gave a forced laugh, and immediately sent a command to Tiff's brain, telling him to go far away and leave the iron sword with the soul seed behind.
'My power has almost been used up. Leaving now is useless, so I might as well contribute whatever strength I have left!' The broken sword suddenly turned scarlet. Molten iron started to dissolve and finally formed the outline of a humongous devil.
The badly damaged demonic wings, gigantic compound eyes, the devilish hand which had six fingers on it, and even the law of gluttony it grasped was all identical to the Sovereign King of Gluttony.
"After all, I also control Beelzebub's power of gluttony. Passing off as him will be far too easy..."
Leylin took control over the body of devil and looked over at the bishop in front of him — just that he was now lifeless. Yet, his body floated eerily in midair.
A powerful conscient was being implanted in the bishop's body, filling him with some sort of divine sensation.
Soon after, Leylin saw a pair of golden pupils.
"Now!"
Leylin did not dare to actually meet the other party face-to-face, or his flaws would definitely be seen. At the very moment when the Spring Water Goddess descended, he suddenly manipulated the body of the devil to explode spontaneously!
*Boom boom!!* The scorching flames, along with the power of laws, completely wiped this tiny village from existence.
Even the residents in the neighbouring towns could see the orange sky in the distance.
In the entire Kahn Village, not a single soul survived except for Tiff.
This incident was determined to be caused by the invasion of a devil. Through facilitation by the Spring Water Goddess Church, a new round of exercises took place across the entire central continent to root out heresies.
Of course, all of this didn't have any relation to Leylin.
*Crash!* The huge door of the astral gate disintegrated inch by inch. Leylin sat on the ground, his face as white as a sheet.
Weakness spread across every part of his body. Ever since he had transformed into a laws being, such a feeling was already very rare.
"The World of Gods is indeed incomparably powerful. A mere force that wouldn't even be able to support the soul for a day almost led to excessive depletion, and endangered my origin!" Leylin smiled bitterly.
"Moreover, this experiment has proven that any other force is extremely conspicuous in the World of Gods. It simply cannot be concealed, and the consumption is way too high, which is disproportionate to the benefits…"
There was a profound look in Leylin's eyes.
'The suppression and hostility in the World of Gods is something that even I am incapable of resisting against in my current state. In that case, it seems that the best method at present would be to walk the old path.'
After this experiment, Leylin had already made up his mind.
In the World of Gods, it was necessary to adopt a brand new format, which would be different from his former expeditions in the other worlds.
"I'll make my moves through an independently acting body, and he cannot receive any kind of power from the host body. Also, it's necessary for him to grow entirely based on the laws of the World of Gods."
Leylin stroked his chin.
"When he matures to a certain level, at least rank 7, then we can coordinate and work together to break through the crystal wall shackles."
"If we're going to do this, the Truesoul Splitting Technique that Melinda provided previously still needs to be improved on. Additionally, the method to maintain control over the body must be experimented as soon as possible."
A multitude of ideas emerged from Leylin's mind, and was arranged according to the level of importance.
Only when all of this was complete and the experimental data fully recorded did Leylin then step into the outside world.
"Yes!" Leylin shut his eyes and immediately knew of Syre's breakthrough using the sensing abilities of his bloodline origin.
"He's already advanced to rank 6? The limitless and everlasting power of Ouroboros seems to be highly compatible with Syre!"
Although his pace was slower than the eldest son Daniel, Leylin was extremely satisfied.
Both of his children that branched out from his bloodline had grown healthily, and even had a strong grip on the other Warlock families in the Magus World.
It was a pity that such lightning-speed advancements were only possible before these two bloodlines reached rank 6. When they attain the comprehension of laws, they would definitely meet with a bottleneck of greater difficulty.
Leylin knew this as clear as day.
"However, Daniel and Syre haven't made any achievements in the comprehension of laws, and are currently only equivalent to newly promoted rank 6 Magi. But with the additive effect of the bloodlines, their true combat abilities shouldn't be inferior to Magi like the Flame Monarch. I'll be able to execute my plan with ease."
Under the protection of the two rank 6 Warlocks Daniel and Syre, the Ouroboros Clan no longer feared clashing against others in most ordinary situations.
The remaining beings of laws naturally wouldn't provoke them as well, out of respect for Leylin.
After all, even the current Ouroboros Clan was just like a child's plaything in their eyes.
With such assurances, Leylin could finally let go of the Ouroboros Clan completely and concentrate on his own matters.
"A.I. Chip, show my current statistics." Leylin commanded.
[Leylin Farlier, rank 6 bloodline Warlock: Targaryen (rank 6). Strength: 185.64. Agility: 133.21. Vitality: 263.11. Spirit: 469.77. State of soul: peak of Breaking Dawn. Comprehension of laws: 99% engulfed. Host body has already been saturated with the original power of the Magus World, and is unable to be raised further.]
The A.I. Chip gathered and displayed Leylin's latest data.
"Indeed! The original power of the Magus World is now ineffective to me. Unless… I advance once more?"
Leylin's gaze seemed to shine brightly.
Within the past 300 years or so, he had three opportunities to enter the underground world to absorb the original power of the world and the comprehension of laws. It was a pity that no matter how astonishing his combat abilities were, which were even level to average law beings, he had no way of changing the fact that he was still at rank 6.
In comparison to the real laws beings, his current capacity was like a small cup, which had already been filled to the brim with the original power of the world.
If he wanted to continue absorbing the original power of the world, the only path he could take would be to advance to rank 7.
"In fact, the rank 7 realm has already been completely laid out in front of me. I just need to get rid of Beelzebub and wrest control of the last bit of his power of laws!"
Leylin's eyes seemed to be ablaze with excitement.
The repeated absorptions of origin power and comprehension of laws made him gain a greater understanding of the Magus path. It even allowed him to plan which direction to take in the future to a certain extent.
All of this had to be realised in the World of the Gods.
"Hmm?! Syre is requesting to communicate with me. Is it about the secret snake den? Forget it! I'll let him take full responsibility for it, he doesn't have to report to me."
Leylin then spent the next few moments casually dealing with the work that he had accumulated.
The secret snake den was in actual fact a pocket dimension that Leylin had constructed himself. It mimicked the same method that the Snake Dowager had used for the Serpentes Plains, and many different highly-skilled snake species were bred there.
Among them, it was only natural that the Kemoyin Serpent descendants were the most common. The bloodlines of the Alabaster Devilsnake and the Three-Headed Python, as well as a small amount of the Targaryen bloodlines also circulated among the snakes.
Through gradually reproducing over a long period of time, the secret snake den had turned into a paradise for highly-skilled snake species. A few variations had also appeared in some specimens.
Of course, this was still a far cry from the standard that Leylin expected.
However, that didn't matter. With his current life expectancy, he absolutely had the patience to continue waiting.
"Although the probability of success of such experiments in variation is almost insignificant, it's still a glimmer of hope! My financial ability and physical resources are also sufficient for this experiment to carry on without taking the cost of production into account."
Leylin supported his chin with his left hand, and suddenly lifted his eyebrows.
"Is this feeling a calling from the Dreamscape?"
The familiar sense of a bloodline caused a strange smile to creep onto the corners of Leylin's lips.
After receiving the bloodline of the Alabaster Devilsnake, his understanding of Dreamscape was already so deep that he had even obtained the ability to travel there directly.
His advancement to the halfway point of rank 7 as well as his comprehension of laws strengthened this ability significantly.
It could be said that the current Dreamscape was no longer some kind of backyard garden to Leylin, but a homeground that he was extremely familiar with.
Just moments ago, Leylin had sensed a call from Dreamscape, and the source was actually the Snake Dowager!
Ever since suffering a major loss at Leylin's hands when he had been promoted, the Snake Dowager hadn't appeared, making Leylin feel rather regretful.
He had looked forward to fighting her in the Magus World. Judging by the powerful and oppressing strength there, the Snake Dowager definitely wouldn't be able return home. Evidently, she wasn't a fool and didn't let Leylin fulfill his wish.
Leylin had also been tactful enough to hole himself up inside the Magus World and didn't give any Purgatory Exemplaries a chance, thus they could only fume with rage between gritted teeth.
"The Dreamscape? How interesting!"
-x-X-x-
In the infinite astral plane, the Magus World and the World of Gods were like the two ends of an hourglass. They were both extremely formidable, yet there were numerous smaller worlds in between them.
Among these worlds were large-scale worlds such as the Purgatory World, Icy World and the Shadow World. Although they couldn't be compared to the big two, these worlds were still plentiful in origin force.
Dreamscape, however, was even more marvelous. It didn't have a fixed form yet it spanned across many worlds, as though it was everywhere at once.
At its peak, dreamforce was comparable to the energy of the Magus World. However, this strange yet terrifying world was now at its lowest point because of how weak dreamforce was right now.
This characteristic of Dreamscape was evidently exploited by numerous beings. They used it as a bridge for communication and interaction. This was especially so for the Snake Dowager, who had mastered dreamforce.
"Since it's an invitation, I'll go!" Leylin smiled and suddenly disappeared from his laboratory. He was confident in dreamforce himself, and although he couldn't defeat the Snake Dowager in his current state, he was strong enough to buy himself the time to escape Dreamscape.
With such a premise, it was naturally impossible for the Snake Dowager having come to attack him. She likely wanted to make peace.
After all, no matter how unwilling the Snake Dowager was, Leylin had already broken free of his bloodline shackles and had even advanced to become the primogenitor of a new bloodline. This was an undeniable fact!
The Snake Dowager had the ability to live for countless years, and she had even successfully survived the final ancient war. It was impossible that she was still unable to accept this reality.
A scarlet flame flickered as a huge door appeared on the plain, and Leylin's figure emerged from the door frame.
"Is this… still Dreamscape?"
Leylin raised his eyes and gazed into the distance. What he saw was all withered trees and dried up streams and lakes. The entire world seemed to be an arid wasteland, and there wasn't even a trace of life.
Although he long knew that the entirety of Dreamscape had also entered a dreary phase in the wake of the value of dreamforce dropping, such a situation surprised Leylin.
"By the looks of it, I'm afraid that perhaps the entire Dreamscape has fallen in the hands of death…"
Leylin frowned slightly. He recalled the time when he was still at rank 5, and all the aboriginals he had come across in Dreamscape.
"I wonder what happened to little Gillian and their community? I'm afraid that things probably didn't end well for them…"
The Dreamscape aboriginals that Leylin had met previously were from the most lowly community in Dreamscape. Even though he had imparted his teachings to them previously, it probably only gave them a little more power to defend themselves.
In the face of the Master that was natural disaster, this tiny bit of power was like an ant, the difference being that it was just slightly bigger.
The deterioration of dreamforce was something that even those lords that could cause calamities had to defend against. Judging by Gillian's community's capabilities, it was likely that they were unable to survive.
"However, seeing how Dreamscape can be so strange and beyond belief, it's not that Gillian's community didn't have any hope of surviving at all, just that such a possibility is so small that it's practically negligible enough to be disregarded."
Leylin shook his head and didn't think further.
"The degradation of the world… exemplifies the fundamental truth of the astral plane. Even if I am a being of laws, I cannot escape from my final destiny, which is to perish… Forefather of Targaryen… What do you think?"
The surrounding land turned into nothingness, and the entire wasteland seemed to have transformed into a boundless sky in an instant.
A ball of snakes appeared like a star, and the heads of numerous giant snakes hissed angrily, revealing the Snake Dowager's charming face.
"It's precisely why it's able to excite me and vow to pursue eternity and to transcend worldliness, and I will abide by this even till death! Oh Snake Dowager, if you're of this level, you don't have to put up an act in front of me."
Leylin laughed gently and took a step forward with his boot.
*Snap! Snap!* Jet black cracks started to appear in the starry sky, and made horrifyingly loud sounds.
Shortly after, many of smaller cracks started to extend like a spiderweb. Numerous spatial storms rippled across the surface, and the entire sky shattered under Leylin's feet. The surrounding environment reverted into the original Dreamscape.
The Snake Dowager looked on as Leylin trampled the sky into smithereens. Her beautiful eyes shone with a profound radiance, and it was a good while before she spoke slowly, "Leylin! Your current strength is worthy enough for me to meet you head on!" Her voice had an inexplicable charm to it.
Of course, the Snake Dowager was expressing her natural bloodline abilities, which had long lost its effect on Leylin.
"The premise of a relationship is to have equal strength." Leylin had already understood this principle earlier, thus his facial expression did not change. He then asked unhurriedly, "I don't think you invited me here to discuss this issue, right?"
"Yes…" The Snake Dowager's voice was melodious.
"To have a being like you among my descendants is my luck, and also my misfortune. But since the bloodline origin has already been taken from me, it will be of no use to be entangled with you."
"So it seems that you have a method to resolve this?" Leylin was evidently ridiculing her, but the Snake Dowager didn't seem to feel it.
"As long as you assist me in seizing the Shadow World, I can write off all the previous incidents in one stroke, and even help you to become the other origin of the Ten Thousand Snakes. Together, we can share the power of the Shadow World."
The Snake Dowager bit her lip, as though she was making a huge sacrifice. Such a lovely and pitiful posture would make any male creature go crazy.
Leylin, however, was not enchanted by her graceful bearing. Instead, he was astonished at how fearless the Snake Dowager was.
"Seize the Shadow World? Mighty Snake Dowager, you have such an enormous appetite!" Leylin drew in a deep breath, and at the same time also recalled an intelligence report regarding the Snake Dowager.
"But that's right! You initially made use of shadow force to cultivate your own laws and form paths of laws, hence you would covet the Shadow World more than anyone else. You tried to capture the entire Shadow World in the ancient times, but unfortunately, you failed…"
The path taken by rank 8 beings was to exploit some kind of medium, continuously refine their own laws, and form a path that was exclusive to them only.
If one was able to achieve this, they would reach the peak of rank 8! They would be able to spy on beings in the rank 9 realm, such as the Mother Core, for instance.
The Snake Dowager's previous attempt failed, thus she had no choice but to migrate out of the Shadow World along with her descendants, and arrived at the Purgatory World.
But the origin of the Shadow World was crucial for the Snake Dowager to achieve the peak of rank 8, therefore she couldn't give it up.
Consequently, it was highly normal for her to launch an offensive once more. What Leylin didn't see coming was that her actually approaching him for assistance.
"Aid you in seizing the Shadow World? I'm afraid I'm impotent!"
Leylin was understood the level of the Shadow World thoroughly. It was a powerful world, much like the Purgatory World, and possessed numerous law beings.
In other words, if he was on the same camp as the Snake Dowager, he would have to take on many other law beings one on one. Leylin even strongly suspected that there was an extreme being similar to the Mother Core within the Shadow World, otherwise the Snake Dowager's plans wouldn't have been thwarted.
In such a situation, wouldn't it be suicide to form an alliance with the Snake Dowager?
"In reality, there aren't as many law beings in the Shadow World as you think! Besides, you inherited my bloodline. The same additive effect applies to your strength in the Shadow World as well. The assistance that the Shadow origin will provide you with will definitely go beyond what you imagined…"
The Snake Dowager evidently knew Leylin's considerations. For beings like them who had reached this level, most of her crafty conspiracies had already lost their effect. The only effective way was to tempt him directly with benefits.
"Does the Snake Dowager actually have so much confidence in seizing control over the Shadow World?" Leylin couldn't help but ask this question directly upon seeing her self-confidence.
"I almost succeeded the previous time! All I lacked was an assistant of the same origin."
The Snake Dowager shot Leylin a profound look, yet it made his scalp go slightly numb.
"An assistant of the same origin? Makes sense. We are, in fact, beings of the same bloodline origin. Even our powers can work in harmony and complement each other! If she really missed by only a hair previously, then coupled with my powers, perhaps…"
Leylin's pupils twinkled as he quickly analyzed the situation.
Of course, no matter how the Snake Dowager made it sound like a deluge of heavenly flowers, he wouldn't fall for her trap.
Just a vague and insubstantial agreement that she would write off all their previous grudges in one stroke, coupled with a promise that they would share the profits together, and she wanted him to sacrifice his life for someone else? What kind of joke was this?
What was more dangerous was that he was still a semi-rank 7. If they were in the Magus World, even if the Snake Dowager came down personally, he was confident of making sure that she would land herself in serious trouble. But if they were to fight for the controlling rights of the Shadow World, it was inevitable that he would have to make the trip using his actual self and descend within the Shadow World.
Since it was a foreign world, and also the Snake Dowager's home ground, Leylin wasn't foolish enough to deliver himself up straight into her mouth for free.
In all likelihood, the Snake Dowager might gobble him up straight away even if she couldn't capture the Shadow World, to properly make up for it.
"My apologies, I'm still incompetent when it comes to matters like these."
After much consideration, Leylin immediately rejected her without hesitation.
The moment the words left his lips, he could feel the surrounding space come to a standstill. The Snake Dowager's beautiful pupils nearly became as narrow as a straight line, as a horrifying sensation dissipated from the ball of snakes.
Leylin, however, was not fearful. The gigantic Targaryen phantom appeared behind him and started hissing at the Snake Dowager in anger.
Large amounts of bloodline energy seemed to begin to grow restless, and was about to fly out from the Snake Dowager's body.
Having already extricated himself from her control over his bloodline, not only was Leylin no longer under the Snake Dowager's control at all, but his body even had an odd restraining ability towards her.
No matter how mystical this force was, it still didn't have any effect in the face of such a tremendous difference in terms of strength.
But there was absolutely no problem for Leylin to break away from the Dreamscape during this short amount of time.
And the Snake Dowager could only grudgingly choose to reach a compromise upon seeing this.