"...Babe, I'm going."
"Okay, be careful out there."
"I will."
Ashton kissed Aria before pulling the hood of his cloak over his head. He disappeared from his office right after that.
Today, Ashton decided to once again venture outside of Last Bastion. This time, he's completely alone.
He chose to not take Aria with him since he was not planning to be out for long. He just wanted to take a peek at the situation of their enemies so that he can modify his plans according to what he sees.
Ashton also didn't tell anyone of his departure aside from Aria. West Two knows it too of course since he's his doppelganger.
He moved like a phantom in the night, contracting space at each step he took. With the enchantments he applied to himself, nobody should be able to sense him.
It didn't take him long before he was out of the Last Bastion's territory. He arrived at the sprawling jungle that grew right outside of Humanity's territory thanks to his influence.
He paused there for a bit. Silently admiring how he was able to see life flourishing here despite the obvious corruption not too far from here.
Ashton could see some small insects around like crickets, bugs, flies, and so on. He also saw a squirrel, a fawn, snakes, and even a boar.
Usually, these animals and insects could only be seen inside Last Bastion since they can't live with the corruption brought by the invaders, yet now there they are.
'...the Virtue of Life is protecting them from the corruption.' He mused to himself as he continued observing them.
Well, there's that and also the fact that he was already Half-Fey when he blessed this land, making the life force here extra durable. The corruption was trying to dominate this place but thanks to his blessings, this land gained some resistance against it.
Seeing this made Ashton a little bit proud of himself. Knowing that he had a hand in this, that he caused some positive changes to this world, makes him happy.
He released a pulse of Life Virtue, scattering them to the nearby land. This should stave off the corruption for some more time.
While he could indeed just cleanse the corruption off of this land, he knows that unless all of the invaders were gone the corruption won't go away, so he felt that it was going to be useless if he cleanses them now.
Moreover, life can adapt to that. By letting corruption be a constant threat to it, life will have no choice but to evolve to survive. That's what he's aiming for. It needs a delicate balance, yes, but it's worth it.
After blessing the land again, Ashton left this place. His next destination is the North Pole where the Qliphoth was.
Since he was no longer in the presence of anything he cared about, he didn't have to be careful anymore. He deployed the full strength of his movement ability, allowing him to travel long distances in just a step.
He's making a lot of noise, yes. He's also attracting the attention of some stray Demons on his way but he doesn't care.
Imps? Tormentors? Bone Wheels? Beast Demons? Avians? Cryptids? Ghouls? Ashton had outgrown them all. He could kill them with just a stare, to be honest.
He could ignore most of them, they wouldn't even be able to touch the hem of his cloak, so why the hell should he be careful around them?
This goes the same for Angels as well. It doesn't matter if they're from the 3rd Sphere or the 1st Sphere...
The real enemies he's worried about being stuck outside of this world, pulling their hairs out in finding a way to create an opening to invade this world.
So long as those things remain where they are, he has nothing to be afraid of here.
It took him around three hours to get to the North Pole. He wasn't even panting when he arrived. He's still just as energetic as he was before leaving Last Bastion. Hurray for being the Child of Mana...
Anywho, he's in a covert operation here. Although he's not afraid of anything here, he saw no point in picking a fight either so, stealth it is.
He didn't bring the Grand Library with him. He still owns it but it also belongs to humanity now. He can't just take it wherever he pleases.
Nevertheless, he's still fine out here. All of the spells necessary for him to completely erase his presence were maxed out at this point.
In fact, all of the spells he learned so far are all maxed out thanks to the abundance of Spells Points he received from the System.
If he doesn't want to, nobody in this world will ever sense his presence.
With all of the necessary arrangements in place, Ashton began infiltrating the Qliphoth.
The Qliphoth's entrance was a gaping maw of abyss, leaking with a perverted amount of demonic corruption. Entering it was bound to be an experience because it forces everyone to take a leap of faith.
This is Ashton's first time here so he's a bit nervous to be completely honest.
His moles, the Revenants, had told him enough information about it, and since they are bound with the Slave Seal, they cannot lie to him so it's safe for him to believe whatever they said.
Well, this isn't going to be much of a problem anyways. Ashton can fly and hover in the air, therefore he could control the speed of his descent.
He's a bit uncomfortable with the darkness swallowing him whole, it's like sinking underwater. He could feel that the darkness was trying to numb his senses but honestly, it should just stop, corruption no longer threatens Ashton, especially after becoming Half-Fey.
'It feels like they've truly dug a hole that reaches all the way to the core of this world.'
He thought about this to himself since he's been sinking for a while now and he still had yet to see where he was supposed to land.
Finally, after what seemed like an hour of sinking, he saw a glowing platform that had numerous demonic ritual circles in it.
From what the Revenants told him, this was supposed to be a sign, like an actual street sign, saying that: 'Hey! This is where the 1st layer of Hell is, come here if this is your stop.'
Ashton hovered in the air and gently changed directions. He followed the flock of demons who were going here to see for himself what this place actually looks like.
The platform leads to a tunnel that everyone follows until they reached a massive cave system that loops on itself.
Demonic Civilization here was thriving. He saw all sorts of nasty and inexplicable things that he would very much rather not talk about. The Revenants told him that the 1st Layer of the Qliphoth could be compared to the slums.
This is where most of the Stray Demons stay. It's violent and chaotic here, completely lawless as well. It's not rare to see a massive fight breaking out of here all of a sudden.
It's less crowded here than he expected though. Ashton remembers the Revenants telling him that this place is absolutely packed with stray demons but from what he had seen so far, there wasn't a lot.
'...hmm.'
Ashton observed the 1st Layer for quite some time. He memorized its layout, he even painted it just to be sure. After that, he flew out and went to the 2nd layer.
According to the Revenants, this Qliphoth in particular had 9 Layers. The further down one goes the stronger demons they'd come across. And for the most part, that's true from Ashton's observations.
"Darn! This place is a shithole now! I don't like it anymore, I'm going back to Inferno!"
"Man shut the fuck up. Do you honestly believe that you, of all people, could just return there whenever you please? Be for fucking real will you?"
"Shut up with your shit! Unlike you, I know how to stand up for myself. I'm not a pushover! Ever since those meteors fell here, we've lost so many people! What did those sons of bitches do? They shut us out! They didn't care, so why the hell should I? I'm not staying here."
Ashton raised a brow when he overheard the conversation of the demons guarding the 5th Layer.
'I guess the damage was bigger than I expected. But to what extent exactly?' He mused to himself.
"You say some real hot shit with that mouth of yours huh? Well, breaking news buddy. None of it matters. We're stuck here whether you like it or not."
"And how would you know?"
"Cause our dear Head Officer committed suicide. He hoped that by doing that, his soul will drift back to the Yellow River which leads back to Inferno. Unfortunately for him, the Yellow River didn't appear. His soul is now stuck down there at Torture Chambers, they're punishing him for trying to escape his duty. Do you know what means?"
"..."
"Yep, that's right. We're irrevocably and undoubtedly stuck in this backward planet with no means of getting out whatsoever."
"Fuck!!"
'Well, I guess that answers my question.' Ashton mused to himself.
