Chapter 43: You Do Not Understand My Power

Chapter 43: You Do Not Understand My Power

I [Demons never existed from the very beginning.]

The Great Lord Haier Mu had always believed this. Even though it itself was revered as the "Thousand-Eyed Thousand-Pupil Demon" by numerous different races across a thousand worlds, this was still the case.

Strictly speaking, this conclusion was not wrong. After all, the term "demon" was originally a name arbitrarily given by outside races, and it was unknown when it began to spread within the Abyss as well. The demons in each layer of the Abyss had their own unique self-designation for their race in their own language, derived from the names of the races that lived on that land before the world died.

Those fellows who merely took a turn or two in the Abyss and then arrogantly began to label them with the name "demon" understood nothing of the history behind it all and reached their conclusions with arrogance. But the truth was the opposite: there were no "true demons" in this multiverse, nor were there any beings "born chaotic from the very beginning."

How could such a life form, defying logic, exist? While the behavior of life certainly had innate tendencies towards ferocity or gentleness, nurture was equally important.

The root cause of everything was this world.

The sky, shrouded in smoke and dust for ten thousand years; the earth, poisoned by deadly toxins for several millennia. The "demons" might have originally been ordinary creatures—but on this wasteland, where even souls gradually decayed amidst mutual slaughter and plunder, there was never any soil for kindness and order to take root.

That was all.

Facing the sudden, fierce assault from the giant god beneath him, Haier Mu did not immediately plan a counterattack. As it watched the lava giant hand approaching relentlessly, the Demon Lord felt a long-lost emotion, one whose name it had almost forgotten. Amidst a wave of nostalgic shivers, its memory instantly returned to the distant past.

That was about nine hundred years ago. A powerful mage from another world, due to a failed teleportation, accidentally arrived at the Sixth Abyss. Unable to find a way home, he could only wander this barren wasteland. At that time, the Molten Sea Fire Prison had no Abyss Lord, no Demon Lord, only Greater Demons ruling over their own territories. With his strength, this mage could have claimed a piece of land and become a non-demon lord—this was not uncommon, as many evil dragons had placed their lairs in some corner of the Abyss. But this mage constantly missed his family and believed he must at least leave this terrible world. He kept searching for a way out.

Finally, he found one. This mage came to the banks of the River Styx, hoping to use this long river that pierced countless worlds to leave. He believed he would succeed, but reality was disappointing.

As the black river surged, his flesh was corroded by the Styx, and his soul shattered. Under the power of the Abyss, he was reincarnated into countless wild Abyss worms. Haier Mu's consciousness was born from the soul fragments of this otherworldly mage. It was the strongest among that group of Abyss worms, possessing wisdom and power from the moment it was born into the world.

With this innate talent, Haier Mu devoured most of its siblings and pieced together part of the mage's inheritance from the majority of his soul fragments, inheriting his name. Through this, it grew, relying on caution, cruelty, and immense power. Eventually, after several hundred years, it became a Demon Lord and led its army back to its "homeland" world, completing its first conquest.

The Thousand-Eyed Demon calmly reviewed its entire life in an instant. It re-examined the various efforts it had made to survive when it was still weak, and the subsequent excitement and ecstasy of achieving one goal after another. A sudden clarity dawned in its heart.

At some point, it had been swept away by a continuous stream of victories. Unending conquests and successes inflated its confidence, making it disdainful of otherworldly beings. Even the Gluttonous Lord, crowned with the title "Demon King," it considered merely a lucky one who had risen to power because of the Abyss's favor. This was arrogance born of strength, and also an overinflated sense of self-importance.

This conceit led to its first mistake: underestimating the Great Lord before it. Its second mistake was believing it could defeat the opponent without using its full strength.

How foolish.

Boom! At that moment, the tremendous roar from the ground finally arrived, and the Steel Giant God, already carrying a ferocious hurricane, grabbed directly at the Demon Lord, who had inexplicably stopped in place.

"Indeed, I had forgotten. There are still many powerful beings in the multiverse. Every existence capable of sublimating its life form should not be underestimated. Whether it is a demon or any other race, it is the same—they are all dangerous and powerful, wise and resourceful, capable of truly threatening my life."

Crack! It seemed long, yet also an instant. Emerging from its memories, the Demon Lord, now grasped in the hand of the Steel Giant, spoke thus. Its voice carried a strange rhythm, as if resonating with some peculiar frequency, drawing the surrounding magical elements into motion. But how could Joshua listen to a demon speak? A warrior naturally applied more force, intending to crush it instantly. He was not the type to stop just because the opponent was speaking.

But astonishingly, no matter how hard the Steel Giant squeezed, the Demon Lord's body, which had not been so hard when beaten earlier, did not burst. Under the giant god's thousands of degrees of heat and nearly one hundred thousand tons of pressure, Haier Mu's outer shell slightly dented. And at that moment, the demon spoke in a calm tone, no longer furious but far more dangerous: "You have made me recall fear. Thank you."

Snap, crackle! The sound of carapace shattering rang out. Countless cracks spontaneously appeared all over Haier Mu's body. Ultra-high-temperature rays of gold and red surged forth as a torrent of light, igniting the demon lord's mortal shell. Endless heat and light sprayed from between the giant god's fingers. The residual energy, striking the clouds and the earth, instantly caused a series of violent explosions. And the demon's final words came from within:

"Powerful one, I will fight with all my might!"

Boom! Accompanied by a sound that seemed to ignite the entire black, smoky sky, the Insect Demon Gewagangda, who had fled far away, couldn't help but look back. Then, it saw a Steel Giant God, and a golden serpent of pure energy that coiled around the giant, piercing heaven and earth, connecting clouds and soil! This colossal python was covered in densely packed eyes. All these eyes were originally closed, but now they were opening one after another. With each eye that opened, the serpent's aura rose another notch. Blazing hot flames burned on its body, as if to destroy everything. Golden light filled the sky, illuminating the sea of clouds.

'Demons' were embers that had lost their fire. They came from worlds that had died, so they desperately craved the breath of life, seeking to once again gain the glory of burning. Though rare, if the ashes were to catch fire again, their light would surely be no less than true flames.

"This is... His Majesty's true form!"

The Insect Demon stopped its flight. It remained in place, gazing with worship, fear, and intense longing at the Thousand-Eyed Python high in the sky, wrestling with the giant god. That was the true body of the Sovereign, bound within a mortal shell. Haier Mu had long ago, centuries past, transformed into a being of pure energy. The ray magic it usually used was merely a small trickle of heat leaking from the gaps in its shell. And at that moment, the giant and the python fell from the sky together. Their immense size, rubbing against the air, created massive clouds and sparks. As the two terrifying entities truly crashed to the ground, the entire central region of the Sixth Abyss shook violently. Continuous thunderclaps sounded, raising a dust cloud that blotted out the sky.

"What's happening..."

At that moment, high above, the Flame Demon, who had just been thrown and was now awakening, opened its eyes amidst intense pain and confusion. Syndica found that it had somehow transformed from a giant sword back to its original form and was falling from the pitch-black sky. It was still alive, but a third of its body had been vaporized, and the flames all over it had turned pure white. But the Flame Demon had no time to mourn its body or be grateful for its survival. As it fell from the sky, it stared in shock at the huge, bright spot that had suddenly appeared on the distant earth. Within that spot, countless pillars of light erupted, piercing the clouds. They swept back and forth, slicing the entire sky into pieces.

"So terrifying... so terrifying!"

At the very center of the battle, a lucky demon survivor cowered behind a large rock, trembling. This Succubus, with a body similar to a human's, loved to travel between different worlds, lurking among crowds to spy on souls. They were skilled in magic, the protagonists of many demon contract stories. Now, this immature, young Succubus shook violently all over. Countless pieces of molten rock, flying out at several times the speed of sound, struck the surrounding ground, creating craters. The high heat had also melted the entire bank of the River Styx into a sea of fire. The demon, staying in the only safe spot, dared not turn its head to watch the battle between the two great beings. It could only curl up in a crevice of the rock, weeping and swearing that if it survived this time, it would never stay in the Abyss again. It would find a remote place to live in seclusion, even if it meant never eating souls again.

"Baniel, do you feel that? That aura is very familiar."

And in a corner of the Sixth Abyss, the Writhing Forest, two legendary spellcasters looked up with some confusion. The legendary bard William adjusted the belt slanted across his waist and looked towards the southeast, which was faintly glowing gold and red. He spoke to his old partner in a rare, serious tone: "Stop looking at those crawling trees—look up!"

Hearing his friend's urging, the silver-haired old man reluctantly looked up. Baniel had been studying the countless strange lives on the ground, somewhere between animals and plants. He had a feeling that this time he would definitely find clues about the Ancient Dragon. But the old man couldn't resist his friend's urging, and being somewhat curious himself, he also looked towards the southeast.

And so, both legends widened their eyes—at the edge of the sky, they could see this illusion: a four-armed giant, standing tall between heaven and earth, grabbed a flaming python that also pierced the clouds. But the python also coiled around the giant. The friction between their bodies generated bolts of lightning. The giant swung its fists, pounding the python like hammering a piece of iron on an anvil. Meanwhile, countless eyes all over the python released blinding pillars of light, cutting at the giant's vital points. Their attacks together erupted into dazzling white sparks, illuminating nearly half of the Sixth Abyss, visible clearly even to them.

At the other end of the world, the world of the Scale Men, a continent named "Zuo Jia Er" by many of them, countless demons, who had been slaughtering and invading wantonly, suddenly stopped. A Frenzied Demon, climbing a city wall, froze mid-climb and was knocked down by the defending Scale Men soldiers. An Insect Demon, sucking the brain and soul of a Scale Man, also abruptly withdrew its proboscis and stood still. This scene occurred in every corner of the Zuo Jia Er continent. Those who were slaughtering, those who were attacking, those who were feasting and celebrating—all the demons brought to this world by Haier Mu, without exception, felt a shudder rising from the depths of their souls.

They stared in shock at the sky, where the Abyss Gate, like a deep, dark eye, was slowly closing. Its master, to fight with full strength, had withdrawn all external power. As the Abyss Gate closed, the aura of the Abyss was rapidly dissipating. Having lost the contamination of the Abyss's power, these otherworldly beings would undoubtedly be suppressed by the local world's will. Thus, the power gap between them and the native inhabitants would quickly narrow.

Pop, pop, pop. The perspective kept shifting. Accompanied by a series of popping sounds, like balloons being pricked, thousands of hidden existences lurking in various corners of the Abyss, scattered across many worlds, suddenly transformed into eyeball-like flames. Then, following the mysterious guidance in the void, they instantly returned to their main bodies. Before this, they might have been a taciturn, good restaurant waiter, or a silent miner in some mine. It could have been a seabird flying in the sky, or a wild pig rolling in the mud. But these were all illusions. Without exception, they were eye-clone avatars sent out by the Demon Lord Haier Mu to gather information.

And now, all these avatars had dissipated, their power withdrawn. This might delay certain plans by decades or centuries, causing some long-planned conspiracies to be directly exposed and fail. But Haier Mu didn't think about that now. It was using every ounce of its power to fight its enemy, and the enemy before it was worthy of such effort.

The Demon Lord had said it would fight with all its might, and it proved that it must. Facing a warrior who was also using his full strength, if the Thousand-Eyed Python did not constantly unleash rays powerful enough to melt small hills to block, it would likely be grabbed and torn apart by the opponent's four arms. Conversely, if the Steel Giant did not seriously concentrate all its power to defend against the python's energy streams, even its ultra-high-density material body would be scattered by the enemy's attacks.

At the center of the battle between the man and the demon, it was completely filled with high-concentration ionized plasma. In the vacuum, large patches of material debris would suddenly explode. These were parts of the Steel Giant's body that had broken apart. On the other side, the energy python's body flickered unsteadily. A materialized psionic body was, most of the time, no less than a real physical body. But facing this monster composed entirely of high-density matter, the advantage of a psionic body being able to mobilize energy for self-repair at any time was completely negated. The enemy's rate of damage was far less than its rate of energy recovery.

Boom, boom, boom—thunderous explosions seemed to be cut into countless small pieces, ringing out along with the violently torn, distorted atmosphere. As the two legendary beings fought in the material world, the environment suffered devastating blows.

Joshua silently endured the countless attacks from the Thousand-Eyed Python. His surface was constantly hit by explosions powerful enough to completely destroy a building, but to him, it was nothing. The warrior's outer skin was like reactive armor, capable of storing energy. Upon receiving a certain amount of impact, it would self-detonate, mitigating most of the pure impact and thermal damage. At the same time, Joshua continuously fine-tuned the surface of his body, making it increasingly mirror-smooth to reflect part of the ray's energy.

But Haier Mu was no weakling. Of course it wasn't. Not only that, it was very strong, strong enough to ignore all this.

The giant serpent suddenly shook violently. A materialized ray erupted from its tail, striking the Steel Giant. The force of this impact was enough to collapse a mountain peak, enough to carve a large depression basin in the plains. It could certainly push the warrior back. The Steel Giant raised its arms in a cross, steadily catching the blow, but its entire body slid backward nearly a kilometer, carving two long furrows in the ground.

And at that moment, having created distance, Haier Mu suddenly spoke.

"Truly a body of toughness that shocks me with its strength... What a pity."

Without finishing its sentence, the Demon Lord's main body, with its thousands of huge eyes, scanned the giant a kilometer away, who was slowly lowering its smoking arms. The talent of the legendary Eye Demon, the [Omniscient Eye], took in every structure, every material particle, every high-density particle, all the energy radiation and electromagnetic fields on the opponent's body. Every energy node and direction of power flow on the warrior was crystal clear, seemingly within reach.

No flaws. It thought. This terrifying enemy, from who knows where, was a true powerhouse. After such a fierce battle, he could still maintain a flawless defensive posture, approaching perfection.

But the Demon Lord didn't care. Haier Mu knew that it was still superior.

In a brief instant, the light of the colossal energy python, nearly two hundred meters long, began to dim. The golden radiance that had tinged the black sky started to recede rapidly. Under Haier Mu's control, the countless eyes covering the Thousand-Eyed Python began to close in sequence from the tail, growing dim. Vast amounts of energy began to condense and converge without limit. This was the path the Demon Lord had chosen.

Condensation. Condensation without limit. Compressing energy and temperature without upper bound, until this high heat and high pressure could crush adamantite into nothingness, shatter the most basic structure of matter, and then compress the product of this shattering into a brand new existence!

Finally, all the eyes closed. The light dimmed, as if the entire Abyss had returned to darkness. But a single golden star shone on the earth, emitting a brilliance that would blind any ordinary person who looked directly at it.

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