Chapter 688: Power.
"This is not good." Thor gripped his hammer as he stared at the pillar of Power; he narrowed his eyes as he felt 'Space' start to distort.
"This is definitely not good."
Even for a God like Thor, approaching the toxic Miasma that Victor and The Gate To Hell were releasing would cause significant damage to himself. Because of that, he had stood back and 'observed the situation from afar', waiting for an opportunity where he could 'help' his 'allies'.
When the Gate was closed, he noticed that the Miasma had subsided significantly. Because of that, he moved closer and began to observe the New King of Hell cautiously.
And the conclusion he drew was not a good one.
'The Biblical Faction will get stronger now.'
The reason for that thought was simple: Hell, in the future, would be on good terms with Heaven. As far as Thor could see, the New King of Hell had no hatred or grudge against The Leader of Heaven, and when Hell and Paradise worked together... The Faction would get much stronger.
'All-Father needs to know about this and that abomination as well.' Thor shuddered as he felt the Power of that pillar.
It was at these times that he was irritated that The Bridge Between The Realms had been destroyed. If the Bifrost were operating, he could've called for reinforcements.
"Heimdall, I hope you are seeing this." He spoke aloud.
...
"My King, we must get out of here," Adam spoke with wary eyes toward the Pillar of Power.
"...That brat... he has turned into a terrifying existence."
"He is more troublesome than Vlad now."
Adam couldn't help but show a slight smile:
"Believe it or not, he is much more of a Wolf than Your Majesty realizes."
"Oh...? You seem to understand him well."
"As you know, he is a great friend of my children, and I trust him enough to leave my daughter in his care."
Volk raised an eyebrow. He was about to grumble again about a female Werewolf getting in the same room as a male Vampire, which was nothing but a recipe for trouble, but he shut up when he heard what Adam said.
"The boy would die before anything bad could reach my daughter." Adam laughed.
"…A very Wolf-like attitude."
"Indeed ."
From Adam's words, it was apparent that the Vampire valued his daughter very much, and Volk really didn't want to get into a troublesome situation with someone with an entire Hell behind them.
'And who said it was my problem?'
Adam showed a small smile:
'Hahaha, that boy has grown into such a great person that even someone as arrogant and impetuous as Volk will now be careful in matters relating to him.' Adam felt that the decision to leave his children under Victor's protection was the best possible decision.
"We helped in the war; we did our part."
'I wouldn't call it helping, but from the beginning, it was specified that the Wolves would not face the great leagues of Demons and just demonstrate numbers.' Adam thought
"Call the scouts back; we won't interfere in the war anymore ... But we won't leave."
Volk looked at the pillar of Power with narrowed eyes. Concern was visible in his calm countenance. 'Light and Dark are in that pillar... Something is being born, and I need to witness it.'
...
Everyone watching this war looked on with mixed feelings at that pillar of Light and Darkness. They instinctively knew that what was inside that pillar was not something that had ever been seen before, a Being that broke The Rules of Balance made by the Primordial Entities...
A Being appeared in the clouds. His Power hid his presence. He was The Guardian of Balance, The Executioner, and The Leader of The Prison of Limbo.
"Is this what you wanted, Judges?" The man practically growled with visible annoyance.
"Did you want to create this abomination?"
"Do not misinterpret our actions, Limbo." Three Beings of Darkness appeared before the man, and they looked at the pillar of Light and Darkness.
"Our actions were merely for the benefit of the Souls and existence we swore to protect, nothing more, and nothing less."
"Then why don't you allow me to finish off this abomination!?"
"The Balance hasn't been broken yet."
"And even though he seeks that, an agreement was made, and we Prime Entities fulfill our agreements. The time of one year is the blink of an eye to us; Diablo will perish when that time is up."
"Death will make sure that happened."
"You fools. Didn't you think that if everything didn't happen to stop that abomination's plan, it would have become much stronger than we could control?"
"None are stronger than The Primordials, Limbo,"
"Even if he becomes a Being that breaks The Balance. We will not allow its existence to linger on for too long."
"He would be stopped by you or by Death himself."
Literal veins were pulsing in The Limbo Guy's head, 'Are these fuckers so fanatical about their work and the Souls they can't see something so clear in front of them!? If that abomination had carried out its plan, it wouldn't just stand in one spot and wait for its death!'
'He knows that breaking The Balance is something that would make everyone his enemy. Because of that, he tried to gather all the Hells under one flag, so the system we created would be completely unbalanced, bringing everyone's attention to this problem.'
'And the only ones who could intervene in all this mess would be Death and me.'
The Limbo Guy, as much as he wanted to interfere, had his hands tied by the very Rules of The Universe because, apparently, 'Diablo hadn't broken The Balance'.
The payment he made to The Judges of The Abyss ensured that the system could stay up and running and gave him immunity for a limited time from Primordial Beings like himself and Death. Now that a new King of Hell had been born and a new Ruler had been appointed, the system was recovered and back to normal.
He hadn't broken The Balance... Until now, the bastard had been walking a fine line on purpose.
'But now he has no excuses. I can intervene.' He thought until he tried to intervene and couldn't.
Why couldn't he intervene!?
The Limbo Guy narrowed his eyes and looked deeper at the pillar of Power that had started to dwindle.
"The balance has not been broken..." He opened his eyes in shock.
"Huh?"
The mouths of The Judges of The Abyss just grew into big smiles:
"Fool."
Limbo didn't know if that insult was meant for him or Diablo, maybe both, but he didn't care for it one bit; he wasn't in the mood for it.
...
When the Power started disappearing, a man was revealed in the sky. He had pale skin, several dark tattoos, two horns on his head were visible, and six wings that were a mixture of the Wings of Angels and Fallen Angels stretched out behind his back. In addition, a black tail was visible behind him, and his body had several parts that appeared like dark red armor, a feature he had when he was a Demon.
It was apparent he was a fusion of the Entities known as Fallen Angels, Angels, and Demons.
His very appearance was chaotic. He looked androgynous like Angels, yet fierce like a Demon, an abomination that shouldn't exist.
"Nephalem's power?" The man smiled widely when he saw Dark Demonic Miasma appear in his left hand and the Holy Light of Angels appear in his right.
An aura covered his body, and the surrounding pressure grew exponentially.
Clap, Clap, Clap, Clap.
The sound of clapping hands was heard all around, and everyone unconsciously turned towards the sound and saw a man sitting on a Throne with a big smile on his face.
"Congratulations, Lord Diablo, your evolution was amazing."
"You went from a lowly Demon who didn't know his place to an aberration of several Races together. What a great status upgrade." The disdain and amusement in his tone were so obvious that no one commented on it.
"Alucard… You cursed worm." A Sword of Light mixed with Darkness was created in his hand.
"I will kill you and take back what is rightfully mine."
"Oh? Before that, tell me, Diablo; I'm really curious about something." Curiosity was visible on Victor's face; he didn't even care about Diablo's threat.
"…What?"
"Was your whole plan going for this? To turn into an existence that breaks the Balance?"
"... My intentions are beyond your comprehension, but I will enlighten you with a piece of this knowledge. Yes, that was just the first step of my plan."
"Oh?"
"Now that I have Power that no one has dared to challenge, I can begin my plan."
"I see…" Victor smiled a little, "So much planning, so many years of controlling Demons... All this to become stronger."
"In a way, you are an example to be followed."
"You have great patience." Victor rose slowly from his Throne.
"With patience, you can achieve great things, and all I had left was Time."
"But I still don't understand something," Victor said as he stood up completely.
"You became a Nephalem; you should be powerful, but..."
Rumble, Rumble, Rumble.
Red Lightning started to cover Victor's body, and that Power made everyone retreat a few steps away from him.
He disappeared, leaving behind trails of Red Lightning, and appeared before Diablo.
"Why are you still so weak?"
"What- "
BOOOOOOOOM!
A punch so powerful that it sounded like a thunderclap boomed outwards, and Diablo disappeared from where he was and shot away from the impact.
'...huh?' Not even Diablo understood what had happened as he tumbled through the air.
Even though he hadn't completed his evolution with The Egg of Creation, he should have been stronger than all the worms down there; he was a being that broke the Balance!
The first Hybrid on both sides of the Perfect Balance!
'Unacceptable!'
"Lilith, Darling. Be a doll, and go back to your daughter. I'll ensure you get your chance for revenge later, okay?"
Lilith swallowed hard and shivered a little. When she saw Victor's 'gentle' smile, it was obvious that this was not a request but an order.
She felt her heart beat faster, and her face turned slightly red. The Power emanating from Alucard's body was intoxicating and powerful, almost like a drug.
"O-Okay."
"Good."
Victor, who had his hands behind his back in an open chest position, just raised his hand and caught the punch that came flying toward him.
An explosion of Power took place, which sent Lilith flying. The woman quickly regained her center balance and looked up in shock when she saw Victor holding Diablo's hand.
She could clearly see Red Energy covering Victor's hand.
"...Impossible!" Diablo yelled in disbelief.
"Impossible? Why is it impossible?" Victor's sneer grew.
"There's no way a mere Vampire could be stronger than a Perfect Hybrid like me!"
"Fool." Victor twisted Diablo's hand, and the sound of breaking bones echoed out sickeningly.
"AHHHHH!"
"The answer is right before you, yet you still don't see it. How short-sighted for the 'great Diablo'.
Victor punched him in the stomach and sent him flying into the sky.
Red Lightning covered Victor's body, and he disappeared. However, he reappeared behind Diablo and attacked him again, sending him flying in a different direction.
He repeated this process over and over, hundreds of thousands of times until everything became a red blur to Diablo.
From everyone's point of view, they just saw a lot of Red Lightning flashing around constantly, treating Diablo like a toy.
"What the fuck is this?! How does he manage to maintain such a stable state of speed!?" Natashia grunted in disbelief.
What she was shocked at was not his speed but the consistency of his speed. He was making several movements but showed no signs of slowing down or speeding up. Instead, it was like he was standing at a specific speed point.
A feat that was even more difficult than controlling Lightning, proof that he had wholly Mastered the use of Lightning.
Could Natashia do something similar? Yes, she could, but it wasn't perfect. There were always going to be adjustments to her speed.
'Even I can't be that stable.'
"He's gotten so strong…" Aphrodite took a heavy breath, disbelief and excitement visible on her face.
The Angels just watched in disbelief at what they were witnessing. Even The Heavenly Father himself had no comment. Instead, they all seemed to have stopped in time and watched everything as if a movie were occurring.
Even Kaguya, who had always believed in her Master's potential for breaking common sense, reacted similarly.
Scathach was in a similar state to Aphrodite... She was hot.
'So much Energy... So much discipline... So much control... So much Power...' Scathach shuddered in pleasure.
'Fuck, I'm so wet.'
Helena sniffed her nose and smelled arousal. She looked at Scathach, and the Generals, and at herself. Even Lilith herself, who was a little ways off, was giving off a similar scent.
'I guess that's expected.'
"ENOUGH!" Diablo screamed, and Power exploded from his body. When he stopped, everyone saw his battered body, which began to regenerate at high speed.
Rumble.
Victor appeared in front of Diablo.
The now Nephalem tried to attack him, but Victor just kept dodging in place."
"I am disappointed. I trained non-stop for 700 years, I expected a good fight, and this is the shit I get?" He looked at Diablo as if looking at a walking piece of shit.
'I even deliberately helped you get stronger, and you let me down like that.'
"Haah." He sighed as he dodged, then punched Diablo in the stomach again.
Cough.
He grabbed Diablo by the hair and made him look him in the eyes. Then he punched the Ancient Demon so hard that his whole face caved in.
Such brutality didn't even make Victor blink. Instead, he just threw the Demon-turned-Nephalem toward the ground, creating a crater with his body.
Soon, he gently floated down to the ground with both hands still behind him.
The reason for this stance?
He was simply giving his enemy a chance to attack him. This position was also a trap because, in the end, no matter what position he was in, he would still react so fast that few Beings would be able to perceive it.
He'd learned this in training, a position that demonstrated superiority. He was basically saying:
'I don't even need to get into a Martial Arts stance to deal with someone like you.' This was a message that anyone who trained in Martial Arts would understand.
An insulting message he only used for those he didn't respect.
"Let me teach you a lesson, Diablo."
"Don't worry; it's free."
"You- ."
Victor gestured with his hand: "Silence, I am speaking."
Cough.
Diablo touched his throat and felt blood seeping from his neck.
'H-How? How did he cut me!? I didn't even see anything!'
"Where was I?" Victor touched his chin: "Oh yes, let me teach you something."
"Yes, I admit, your Power has grown a lot. In your current state, you could fight your past self and defeat it easily."
"But from my point of view… You've gotten weaker."
"H-huh?"
"Diablo, you were a giant Being who used brute strength to attack and kill. That was your fighting style; your Power flowed better in that Form."
"Now, you are in a humanoid form and have no idea how to use this body. You are trying to fight as you used to in a completely different body. It is ineffective."
"Power is good, but Power without control is useless against someone of my level. Not only am I powerful, but I have a very solid Martial Arts foundation. It is simply revolting that you believed you could hit me with such mediocrity."
"Currently, even Scathach, who is much weaker than you in 'raw Energy,' would easily kill you."
"... that's im-""
Cough.
His throat and his entire body were cut once more.
"I'm not done yet."
"The basics are the foundation of all power building, at least for Humanoid Beings like us."
"Martial Arts, discipline, EnergyCcontrol, more effective use of Power, etc."
"This is what you lack."
"By acquiring immense Power, you cut off your own legs. You've gotten weaker."
"You can use raw Power to crush the puny vermin, but when you're fighting someone on my level, you need a lot more than just raw Power."
"It's just disappointing that you can't see that."
Scathach nodded her head with a satisfied smile. She immediately realized this when she saw Diablo; ironically, the Demon King used to be stronger than he was now.
"You can speak now."
"I-I-Impossible! I will not accept this! Are you saying that I've gotten weaker!? I, Diablo!? A Hybrid! A Nephalem! A being that broke The Balance!"
"If you think breaking The Balance made by Primordial Beings that have existed since The Beginning of Existence is so easy,"
"Then you are a fool."
"..."
...
The Limbo Guy looked towards the Judges of The Abyss and saw the three of them looking at him with shit-eating grins.
For some reason, he felt the three were looking at him with disdain.
"What?"
"It's nothing."
"Just thinking a young man has more control and calm than you."
Okay, he definitely felt it.
"As a Primordial Entity, shouldn't you take it easy and look at the whole picture? You've gotten so focused on your duty to protect The Balance; you've gotten so focused on Diablo that you forgot that he is not the center of The Universe."
"Each action has a reaction. It is up to us, those above all, to foresee the whole picture and make the best decisions."
"Because of that, we made a deal with Diablo because we knew that other Supernatural Beings also needed time to act."
"The future is written by the free will of living and breathing Beings."
"There is no such thing as a 'right' future. It's today's actions that shape the future... The past has already happened, and the present is the foundation you build for the future. That's what The Universal Tree asked me to tell you."
Okay... He felt it too.
"Haaah… I hate it when you guys do that."
The Judges of The Abyss just grinned in apparent amusement.
"The Universal Tree has been feeding the World Tree of this planet since the conflict was started so that it is not destroyed. It also already has all the Souls that were killed in that war. In the near future, they will Reincarnate into new Beings."
"For now, use your Power to lessen the consequences of the two Beings' attacks."
"...Okay, I'm going to throw the remnants of Power into Limbo, right?"
"Yes."
...
Veins were bulging in Diablo's head. Various mixed feelings that only increased his anger surged through his heart. He had long since lost all aspects of rationality.
Feeling all his efforts being negated by the Being in front of him only pissed him off even more.
"Impossible!" He screamed with hate, helplessness, and rage.
Several Spears of Dark Power and Light were created behind him, and he threw them toward Victor.
Victor looked at them with bored eyes and just dodged the attack casually. To him, it was so slow it wasn't even funny. He could avoid it with his eyes closed.
Several gigantic explosions erupted behind Victor. If it weren't for the barrier, this whole place would have been destroyed, but a strange thing started to occur. The explosions began to diminish in intensity as if someone had deliberately diminished the consequences of the destruction.
"Die, Die, Die!"
"Nobody is stronger than me, not even a worm like you!"
"...Very well." Victor flicked his wrist, and Diablo's arms fell to the floor.
"Huh…?" Diablo looked down at his arms and saw tiny threads of blood, but he didn't have time to contemplate it when he felt a frightening pressure in front of him.
He quickly looked forward and saw Victor's body covered in Dark Red Power.
"You said you're stronger than me..." Slowly, the aura started to grow.
"So it's up to me to prove you wrong. It's up to me to show you how small and insignificant you are."
"I will show you, Demon." His voice began to distort, and the pressure began to build until it became suffocating.
"The true definition of Power!" Victor's eyes started to glow, and Miasma and Negative Red Energy became more intense.
In the next second, a gigantic black and red pillar of Energy soared into the sky. The pressure of Energy was so great that everyone on the planet could feel it and see the effects of the pillar in the distance.
.....
