A mortal touching the divine realm?
Though he had gained magical power, in the eyes of Belial, the King of Hell, he was still pitifully weak.
If not for the forced master-servant bond of the summoning circle, Belial could crush him with a flick of his wrist.
"Heh… Interesting. That guy grants you magic and the summoning circle to call me, only for you to turn around and betray him immediately?"
Belial couldn't help but scoff. Still, he hadn't expected that guy to do something like this—and actually succeed in granting a human magic.
But this shouldn't be possible. Why would that guy go out of his way to research how to give ordinary humans magic? Wasn't that just asking for trouble?
Humans with magic would only grow more scheming, harder to control.
"Mr. Belial, let me correct you slightly. First, the magic and the summoning circle weren't given to me by that guy—though they are somewhat related. I happened to glance at two pages from a book in his possession, got curious, researched it, and ended up with magic. Summoning you was just a side effect."
The explanation left Belial stunned. Was he lying?
No. He could tell this human spoke the truth.
At this moment, he no longer looked down on him with disdain. Instead, his gaze was filled with disbelief.
There was no trace of divinity in this human—meaning he was born an ordinary mortal, not a descendant of the gods, nor a human with divine blood.
Yet, such a human had reached the divine realm. This completely overturned their understanding.
After all, in the past, gods had tried to bestow magic upon humans. The only success came from offspring born of unions between gods and mortals.
But this man had achieved it without such lineage—and worse, he had touched the root of magic. That meant he had accomplished something even the gods couldn't.
In a way, this human had surpassed the gods!
"As for betrayal? I never believed in so-called gods to begin with. How could I betray them? On the contrary, they tried to cram some kind of brainwashing into my head—now that was improper behavior. So, I figured I'd return the favor and stuff some nonsense into their heads instead."
The human spoke as amiably as ever, as if unbothered. Yet, Belial felt an inexplicable chill.
"So, Mr. Belial, have you made up your mind?"
The renewed invitation left Belial silent.
Now that he had calmed down, he needed to think carefully—was this human truly worth the risk of collaboration?
Betrayal—if it failed, his fate would be utterly miserable.
He couldn't even imagine the torment he would endure.
They probably wouldn't kill him, but they would make him wish for death.
But should he keep enduring?
He had truly had enough!
Was his hatred for the gods rooted in being treated like a slave?
Of course, it wasn't just that. There were deeper secrets involved.
On the surface, his past identity was that of the first angel born under God's command, once holding immense glory as the vice-ruler of Heaven—arrogant to the core. Thus, pride became his original sin.
In the end, his arrogance drove him to attempt replacing God, becoming the leader of the dark legions, the mastermind behind the rebellion, and he waged war.
But he lost—utterly and completely. He fled Heaven, descended into Hell, and became a demon.
Just like that, he became the Great Demon King of Hell, commanding countless demons, continuing his enmity with Heaven as its most troublesome adversary.
Yet, despite his title, he remained under God's control. It was all just part of God's scheme.
He was nothing more than a pawn, a tool for God to rule over the demons.
Outwardly, to the other gods, he appeared to have severed ties with Heaven's dominion. But in truth, a few of the older deities knew he was still a dog on God's leash.
Moreover, his true identity wasn't that of a created Power—he had once belonged to his own mythos.
Then, one day, it was suddenly invaded, his entire pantheon devoured without a trace, as though it had never existed.
In its place rose the mythos known as the Kingdom of Heaven.
And his wasn't the only pantheon to suffer this fate. Lucifer and the other fallen angels had once belonged to their own mythologies before meeting the same cruel end.
They were forcibly transformed into so-called angels, their memories erased, blindly serving as if their creator had always been God.
But the memory-wiping spell wasn't flawless. Their souls weren't completely scrubbed clean. These fallen angels regained their past memories—and that was why they rebelled.
Yet, in the end, they were still nothing more than playthings in God's hands.
And many of the demons in Hell? They, too, had once been gods. Not transformed into angels, but directly corrupted into demons.
Among his Seventy-Two Demon Gods, some had originally been deities.
"So, what's the plan? How do we cooperate?"
That was Belial's answer after a long silence—and it made his stance clear.
If mere humans could muster the courage to defy the gods, how could he remain so cowardly?
Had his courage really withered to this extent? Was he now inferior to humans?
How laughable. When had he become so spineless?
That endless humiliation, that existence as little more than a puppet—he was done with it.
Time to go all out!
"Simple. I need you to teach humanity secret arts and magic, train human soldiers, and show them how to hunt angels—even slay gods."
The human's words left Belial stunned.
"Human… soldiers?"
"Indeed, I will ensure more people possess magical power."
"But even with magic, humans ultimately cannot escape the lifespan limitations of their kind. I don't believe mere decades would be enough to train a force capable of rivaling Heaven's angelic armies."
Forget about Heaven—they probably couldn't even defeat any single army commanded by one of the Seventy-Two Demon Gods under his command.
"True, a few decades would never suffice. That's why—"
As the human spoke these words, Belial's expression suddenly shifted. He sensed another presence intruding upon this hall.
God? No, that wasn't it—the intruder wasn't nearly powerful enough.
Someone from another timeline was peering into this era from the future!
Simultaneously, the human also seemed to sense something and stopped speaking.
Without hesitation, Belial unleashed terrifying power to envelop the intruder's location. He absolutely couldn't let them escape!
----------
For advance chapters join my Patreon.
[email protected]/Aarvan