The forty-ninth day and night of the cataclysmic battle.
Across two lifetimes, I had stood aloof, transcending the laws that governed countless realms.
Twice reborn as a Demon Lord, yet both times, I met my end utterly alone, betrayed and forsaken.
Now, I unleash it.
The ultimate technique.
A cycle of reincarnation, ignited by sacrifice.
My targets are locked—
Behind me, the countless forms of my comrades, long since burned to ashes.
Before me, the endless legions of gods and demons blanketing the three realms.
Let us perish together!
Yet, I did not fall to the judgment or annihilation of the united armies of Heaven and the Inferno.
Instead, I failed to evade that sudden stiffness in the shoulder of the brother who once fought back-to-back with me, and the instant, chilling cold that pierced my heart!
—The voice of Karla, my brother-in-arms for a thousand years, seeped with a frost I had never known.
"Don't blame me!"
His hand trembled slightly, but it did not affect the steady, relentless advance of the blade of betrayal.
It truly hurt.
A bone-chilling cold pierced through from my back to my chest.
I turned my head, my gaze locking onto Karla's eyes. Gone was their usual firmness and courage;
all that remained was cowardice and hypocrisy.
Hah!
I spat at him with immense difficulty.
Perish together? That would be letting them off too easily.
I glared with seething hatred—
As the sky tore open once more,
the true forms of seven high-ranking angels finally descended from the Sacred Domain.
From the churning depths of the abyss beneath the earth,
five Great Demon Gods slowly manifested.
An utterly insane plan, one that set my very soul trembling, surged up like dark flame—
"So, Heaven, you want to play, is that it?"
"You who have toyed with my fate all along? Very well!"
"I shall return in a way you could never foresee."
I reversed the power of the sacrifice meant to obliterate all living beings, turning it upon myself!
The [Tree of Rules] instantly ignited—
The authorities that allowed me to reign over this world
responded simultaneously in this very moment.
[Demon Lord System • Authority Awakened]
[Battle Competition]
[Manifestation by Will]
[Termination of Intent]
—Final Authority Unlocked.
[Fallen Cycle]
LV • 1 / 1
Cost: Detonate True Spirit, Degrade Origin
Effect: Under this ideological framework, forcibly initiates one cycle of reincarnation.
"If becoming a demon is an inescapable destiny—then I choose to discard this heaven-defying demonic power, to cripple this immortal divine spark!"
"In my next life, I will personally shatter this damned Heavenly Dao to pieces!"
The first Great Archangel spread its wings.
Holy light did not erupt forth,
but instead coalesced into seven "Anchor Points" that pierced through the void,
driving deep into the very foundation of the world.
—Defining this place as a "Domain of Immutable Stasis."
The second and third Great Archangels chanted in unison.
With every syllable uttered,
a layer of possibility was stripped away from my surroundings.
Future, past, avatars, substitutes—each was peeled away one by one.
The abyssal wills of the five Great Demon Gods were forcibly gathered.
The darkness ceased its expansion,
instead turning inward,
condensing into five primordial seals of binding,
corresponding to—Annihilation, Devouring, Decay, Oblivion, and Finality.
For the first time, Demon Gods were being used to restrain a Demon.
My body began to sink.
Not a physical descent,
but a decline in the very hierarchy of existence.
The seventh Great Archangel stepped forward.
His wings had already begun to disintegrate,
for he bore the final step—the Ultimate Adjudication.
He reached out, pressing a holy sigil coalesced from the power of all seven Archangels
into the void.
And at that precise moment, the five Great Demon Gods simultaneously bit through their origin cores.
Their dark blood transformed into chains,
intertwining with the holy sigil.
Light and darkness,
in that instant, achieved an impossible fusion.
The Seal Array—complete!
My form began to blur.
My will was compressed, folded layer upon layer,
finally sealed within a null-space devoid of "time" and "direction."
As my consciousness was on the verge of fading entirely,
the residual power of [Fallen Cycle] not yet exhausted,
I directed this last vestige of energy,
choosing to reverse time to forty-nine days prior,
to the very beginning of this great war—
the day I declared war upon all the gods and demons!
That day—
—The sky burned like a torn scripture, black clouds churning above the endless abyss.
The avatars of the five Demon Gods,
rose slowly from their thrones within the Inferno.
They blotted out the sky and sun, as blood surged from the earth.
Beneath them, the demonic armies gathered like a tidal wave.
Destroyers dragged massive chains forward,
Fear Demons roared and brandished war banners,
the low growls of Hellhounds merging into an ominous war drum.
Fire flowed between their armored plates, as if the Inferno itself was on the march.
"The Court of Fallen Grace shall burn."
The Demon Gods thundered their proclamation, their voices like peals of thunder piercing through the Nine Hells.
The answer from the Inferno,
came as a light of judgment from the high heavens—
The firmament was split by fissures of purest white, hymns pouring down like a deluge.
The Great Archangels stood atop stairways of light, their silver-white armor reflecting eternal law,
their six wings, woven from light and will, unfurling like the turning pages of a divine judgment—
Behind them, angelic legions arrayed themselves like a sea of starlight.
Justicars raised lances of light,
Arbiters gripped holy blades and shields.
Intercessors chanted ancient vows in low tones.
"In the name of Light,"
the voices of the Great Archangels were songlike, yet devoid of emotion,
"Court of Fallen Grace, return to your nothingness."
"The day we meet again, you shall cheer for it, you shall tremble at it—"
My voice, though not loud, descended with perfect clarity upon the entire cosmos.
"I will personally tear away the laughable labels you have assigned to justice and evil."
The void above the battlefield was torn asunder,
tangible, oppressive space seemingly crushed by an invisible hand,
reality itself fragmenting into countless sharp shards that flew in all directions.
Tens of thousands of spatial fragments shot forth like loosed arrows.
The hellish legions had no time to roar, the angelic formations no time to regroup—
Those who could not evade were instantly torn apart;
Those who fell saw their very existence shredded into oblivion.
In the space of a heartbeat, nothingness and stellar annihilation simultaneously reached their apex.
I,
stepped forth slowly from the shattered dark void.
The sound of my footsteps was like the tolling of a hellish bell, shattering spirit and heart,
sending tremors of dread through every demon and angel present.
"On that day,"
my voice was low and calm,
"your destruction will solidify into an absolute truth…"
"Hahahaha—Ha!"
My manic laughter cut off abruptly.
In the next instant,
the void closed.
The seal took effect.
The world began to turn once more.
Among the seven Great Archangels, three had their wings utterly shattered, plummeting to the lower realms.
Among the five Great Demon Gods, two suffered permanent decay of their divine sparks.
There were no victors.
Only one fact was etched into the annals of all realms:
—
I,
The Great Demon Lord,
Founder of the Court of Fallen Grace,
Was Sealed!
But the price was eternal unease.
For everyone knew—
Such a seal
could only prove one thing:
I,
would inevitably return.
In that moment,
my soul shattered, the seal firmly in place—
I fell into an endless, lightless darkness…
…
Time lost all meaning in the darkness…
Eventually…
From within the profound dark,
came a distant, yet crystal-clear, ancient voice:
When the demonic tribulation descends,
A baleful star shall appear in the heavens,
The Dao's principles shall be bestowed upon mortals,
And cause, effect, and fated adversaries shall meet their final battle upon the Apex of Heaven—
Hah!
Get lost, stop bothering me—!
My soul roared out in fury—
Don't you dare define my fate!!
I refuse to become a demon!
The ancient voice faded away,
and the endless darkness continued to flow,
to swirl.
Another eternity seemed to pass…
I,
"awoke" once more—
And along with it came
a strange, ravenous stirring of demonic nature,
wildly and greedily taking root within the depths of my soul—