"..."
Staring at the footage on the screen, the advisor's expression grew slightly awkward as he said,
"It's quite clear now—these lifeforms have surpassed the boundaries of what we understand. Our conventional laws of physics may no longer apply to them."
The president shot him a glare but didn't reply. Instead, he rubbed his temples with a troubled look, then turned to his aide and ordered:
"This is no longer just a national matter. Immediately release a global statement. Unknown invaders have entered our planet. They are extremely dangerous. Do not engage.
Avoid contact at all costs."
He knew full well other nations were already monitoring the situation through their own satellites, but the official protocol still needed to be followed.
Even as he gave the order, a creeping anxiety grew in his heart:
'If not even nukes can stop them… then what options do we have left?'
---
At ground zero.
The flameborn high demon remained sprawled leisurely in the center of the blast zone, basking in the lingering heat.
The extreme temperatures comforted him like a hot spring would a human.
Sensing that most of the orbital surveillance had shifted their cameras away, he scoffed lazily:
"Looks like they're starting to panic…"
Stretching, he found a comfy patch of molten rubble and lay down again.
He could feel another high demon ascending into orbit, annoyed by the constant surveillance. Since that nuisance was being handled, he didn't need to bother with it.
Then, casually inhaling, he absorbed the lingering heat and radiation from several hundred meters around him,
sighing in bliss:
"This place is paradise... I could lie here forever."
He wasn't the least bit concerned about the other demons stealing his prey.
According to the memories he'd devoured, this planet had billions of humans.
There would be plenty to go around.
---
In an underground military facility in another country.
Inside the command center, a large monitor suddenly went black.
The officer on duty, who had been coordinating the tracking of multiple targets across the globe, frowned.
"What happened? Is the signal being jammed?"
The operator at the console shook his head after checking the frequencies:
"Signal's stable. Doesn't look like interference… probably something else."
Just as confusion began to settle in, the screen flickered again—
this time revealing a close-up of a face.
A bizarre face—
like a twisted fusion of raven, cat, and human features.
Its eyes were filled with naked hostility.p
Everyone watching instinctively felt their skin crawl. Hair stood on end. A chill ran down their backs.
The creature appeared to be speaking, mouthing something directly at the camera.
But with no microphone or transmission capability, the satellite couldn't transmit audio.
The entire room watched in frightened silence, trying to decipher the lip movements.
The commanding officer snapped out of it and barked:
"How did it find our satellite feed? Was it tracking our signal somehow!?"
Meanwhile, the demon peering into the satellite camera also seemed to realize there was no audio function.
Disappointed, he gave a careless wave.
A blade of energy swept out like a guillotine—
splintering the satellite into countless fragments that drifted silently into the void.
He turned to glance across the space at the two thousand-plus satellites in orbit.
"No wonder I kept feeling watched.
These pests are everywhere…"
Then he twisted around—
spotting a space station behind him.
Through the portholes, a group of panicked astronauts were staring at him in disbelief.
One of them scrambled to grab a whiteboard, scribbled something in large letters, and held it up:
[We are friendly. Earth. Peace.]
Clearly, they were trying to convey goodwill.
After all, they'd just witnessed a satellite get turned into cosmic confetti.
And they had no illusions that their fragile space station would fare any better.
"..."
Reading the board, the demon looked slightly baffled.
"What the hell kind of nonsense…"
With an absent flick of his finger, he summoned a pillar of fire several meters thick, which punched straight through the porthole.
"BOOM!!"
The space station exploded from the inside out, a silent fireball lighting up the void.
Just like that, decades of space exploration efforts were reduced to ash.
All of it—funding, research, manpower—gone.
By the end of the day, every single satellite orbiting the planet had been destroyed.
All of them.
Half the world plunged into technological darkness.
Entire regions became islands of isolation, completely cut off from the outside world.
The ten-plus high demons that had descended no longer made any effort to hide their intentions.
They began open, unrestrained slaughter.
Humans, animals, soldiers—it didn't matter.
They killed everything in their path.
In just a single day:
Tens of millions of beings perished.
Over a dozen cities were reduced to rubble.
---
In one of those cities, under heavy gunfire, the four-armed high demon began chanting.
Hundreds of lightning chains burst into existence, zigzagging across the battlefield.
In a blink, they pierced through hundreds of soldiers and their vehicles.
Many were charred to ash or detonated on the spot.
Two nearby buildings were sliced clean in half, collapsing in slow, tragic symmetry.
Dust rose like a tidal wave, soaring dozens of meters into the air before raining down like ash.
The demon's body was already protected by an energy barrier, so no debris touched him.
He gathered the souls of the dead with a casual gesture, and sneered in disdain:
"So pitifully weak."
Satisfied, he began channeling a large-scale destruction spell—
intending to obliterate the entire city and harvest its souls en masse.
Not only would it speed up his soul collection, it would also leave an enduring scar on the planet—a symbol of his power.
But halfway through his chant, a strange thought struck him:
'Wait… I'm not supposed to destroy the environment too much…'
His casting halted.
Frowning, he scratched his head.
"Why would a high demon like me… care about that?"
Just as he was about to pursue that thought further, his expression froze for a brief second—
—and then instantly returned to normal.
"Doesn't matter. I'll just keep collecting souls. That's what's important."
And with that, he moved on, no longer concerned about the question that had interrupted him.
---
The 7,358,475th layer of the Abyss — [Eternal Obelisk Tower]
Nearby, Orsaga suddenly furrowed his brow.
Noticing the subtle change, Golarial, who had been discussing whether the robe in her hand suited him, asked curiously:
"What's wrong?"
Orsaga calmly replied:
"The distance is a bit too far. Some of the toys aren't listening properly."
Even with his current strength, directly manipulating high demons across dimensions was still somewhat of a strain.
"?"
Golarial didn't quite understand what he meant, but judging by his expression, she figured it wasn't anything serious.
So she simply shrugged and returned to talking about clothes.
__
T/N:
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