"A Godking never yields to fear!"
As Hades heard those words, he felt that Zatiel had become the mightiest star in the firmament. A heavenly body with a might capable of collapsing suns and providing the world all the light it could ever need.
It was not that Zatiel did not understand how dangerous the Depravita Race was, but he could not allow fear to deprive him of such a powerful weapon, especially as a war would soon arrive.
Hades did not say anything else and limited himself to performing a profound bow. His eyes were unwavering, and he made sure to engrave those words in his mind.
Zatiel nodded as he saw that, and then he and the Realm Avatar began to work together.
The Neo-Demon would create runes using the power of his Origin Essence Wheel. On the other hand, Hades extracted Nine x Nine Black Cage pieces and created new magic matrices.
Zatiel's rune and Hades' magic matrices began to fuse with the broken city, and slowly everything changed. The walls and buildings destroyed during the assault rebuilt themselves, but things did not end there.
Demons began to appear once again in Flay City. It was not long before the trillions that perished in the hands of the Corrupting Mist were back.
As more and more runes and magic matrices fused with Flay City, those Demons began to move and behave just like they did before Zatiel and Hades arrived.
Of course, the Neo-Demon did not bring those trillions of Demons back to life. The Depravitas left nothing of them, and not even Zatiel could revive someone when there was nothing left from their Primordial Essence.
Zatiel and Hades were implanting an illusion that would cover the entire Flay City, and that could even trick Rank 8 life forms. The duo did that in every layer they visited after performing a massacre. Had they not, the Rank 9 Archdemon Crisis would have definitely acted.
The name of this rune formation was Silent Death and was a Peak Rank 8 Rune Formation. Zatiel's current Rune Master abilities barely reach that level, but with Hades' help, he was able to achieve it.
Ironically, it took a lot more time to create Silent Death than to defeat Mordur and kill the trillions of Demons inside Flay City.
There was still a problem with Zatiel's plan since the Rank 7 Archdemons killed would return since their souls were still in the layer's origin.
However, even if a Rank 9 life form were to speed up the Archdemons' return, it would take at least one hundred years. By that time, he would have already completed his mission.
Once they finished, Zatiel and Hades teleported into the 34th Layer of Abyss. This one still had the red sky, but the blood rivers had dried up, generating massive canyons.
Zatiel immediately located the greatest city in the layer using the Sky Breakers' information and flew to it with Hades.
The city's name was Hin City, and its leader was a Peak Rank 7 Archdemon. His name was Ork, and he had already formed his Omega Law. That should have allowed him to enter Rank 8, but he could not do it due to the nature of his Path of Power.
Not every layer had a Rank 8 Archdemon guarding it. Only the mightiest could enjoy that status.
For a Demon to become an Archdemon, they need to fuse their True Soul with a layer's origin. While that granted them several advantages, it also came with some drawbacks.
The might of the layers' origin could become a fierce shackle on the Archdemon cultivation, stopping them from advancing higher. Archdemons like Ork, limited by their layer, needed to spend a massive amount of resources on improving the layer's origin or transfer their True Soul to one better.
While the second path was faster, it also carried great danger. Archdemons and Archdevils like to taunt other races about their immortality, but the truth is that they could die very easily at the hands of another member of their kind.
If Ork had sent his True Soul into the 33rd Layer, he would have had the chance to fight against Mordur. The Archdemon would have become a Rank 8 life form in the impossible scenario he would have won.
As for what would have happened to Mordur in that scenario, his soul would have become nutrients for the 33rd Layer's origin.
It did not take long for Zatiel and Hades to reach Hin City. In a few minutes, the Corrupting Mist devoured the trillions of Demons, and Zatiel sealed Ork's True Soul and Inner Universe.
Like with Flay City and the other before it, Zatiel and Hades implanted Silent Death before moving to the next one.
Zatiel and Hades spent twenty-one years going from the 1st Layer into the 64th Layer. It was only then that they stopped their march forward.
The Neo-Demon had already gathered the number of Archdemons necessary for his evolution. Now, he needed to capture Archdevils.
But, before leaving Abyss and heading to Baator, the Neo-Demon had one last place to look into.
Zatiel and Hades headed into the 6th Layer of Abyss. While teleporting multiple layers at a time could be done, there was a chance of alerting Archdemons, so the duo did not take that path.
Instead, Zatiel and Hades flew out of the 64th Layer, crossing the Crystal Wall and leaving Abyss. The duo flew up until they reached the 6th Layer location.
There were some dangers to moving outside Abyss, but Zatiel was not the Supernova Eye of Life and Creation and knew how to hide his presence.
Zatiel and Hades crossed the Crystal Wall but did not enter the 6th Layer of Abyss immediately. They remained in the dimension full of chaotic energy that surrounded each layer.
That chaotic energy could shatter Rank 7 life forms, but Zatiel and Hades could endure it as long as they did not remain too long in it.
More than one thousand years ago, Zatiel had given Heinz, Juntu, and Tyrus the mission of finding information about the Great Mother.
The Neo-Demon was certain he found a way into the fallen Rank 9 Archdemon's secret abode.
