Chapter 702: Faith.
Night.
In the sky of the Bermuda Triangle, five beings were standing above the clouds, looking at the sea with visibly confused expressions.
"Oda, are you sure this is the correct location?" Scathach asked.
"Yes. Look." Oda pointed to a spot, and as the group looked at it, they saw a cargo plane. The group kept looking at the plane until it suddenly disappeared into thin air.
"Huh!?" Morgana exclaimed.
"A barrier... Wrong, a pocket dimension?" Jeanne narrowed her eyes.
"Correct." Oda nodded.
"Just how did you manage to find this location?"
"... The demons in the king's service are very competent, and they tracked the location according to the data obtained in the invasions of the last bases."
The group looked at Victor, who was looking down with his draconic eyes glowing faintly in violet.
Sensing the group's stares, Victor explained, "The demons that Vine made available are part of a specific breed of demons hailing from the section of hell where it is pure darkness. They are very proficient at tracking, and with Oda's help, it was only a matter of time until they found them, but I didn't expect them to have a hidden base in another dimension."
"...Did you get the support of the demons of despair?" Morgana asked in disbelief.
"I have the backing of every demon, Morgana."
"... You really unified hell... Amazing..." Morgana's eyes sparkled with a glint of genuine admiration.
Unifying Hell was something that not even Lucifer had managed. Yes, he was the king of all, but hardly anyone acted 'supporting' him of their own accord. After all, at the end of the day, demons acted only for their own interest.
"I really want to see the new hell you've built," Morgana spoke.
"As long as you can withstand the Miasma of Hell, I'll take you there, but if not. You will have to wait for my people and me to build something that will help the visitors of hell to walk smoothly through the three cities I built."
"Three cities... You built cities!?"
"Yeah, the last time I checked, Alexandria's population was almost 100 million, and I think Abbadon must have more citizens. We are always expanding, and eventually, the population will get so big that calling them a 'city' will be misleading."
"Cities the size of a large country will be a better explanation. I think the prediction is that in less than 1000 years, the population of the cities will be 30 billion beings, totaling more than 80% of hell."
Even with two wars, one provoked by Diablo and the other provoked by Victor, the population of demons was simply ridiculous, and this population increased more and more with time.
Victor thinks that in less than 50,000 demonic years, the population of hell will reach 100 billion. Of course, that is if there are no internal or external wars that will reduce this population.
The reason there were so many demons was quite simple, sin.
It's easier to commit sins than to be a good person.
Another reason is that there are many demons that lived a long time in hiding, demons that didn't live in cities controlled by the ancient pillars.
Hell was massive, and because it was so big, there would always be possibilities for entire tribes of demons to live in hiding away from the main 'stage'.
"..." Everyone looked in disbelief at Victor, and from the numbers he casually used, here was a man who was the leader of billions of beings.
"You really weren't kidding when you said all demons answered to you..."
"..." Victor looked at Morgana with a blank expression that said, are you serious? You know I don't lie.
"Ugh, I'm sorry for doubting it. It's just that from my perspective as a former demon, it's pretty unbelievable, you know?" Morgana spoke.
"That's surprising, Vic. That means you have a lot of manpower for war."
"Unfortunately, that is not correct."
"Oh?"
"The overwhelming majority of the demon population in Hell are lesser demons who are very weak in the grand scheme of things."
"Elite demons take a long time to create, and exceptional demons like Baal or my generals are even more difficult."
"Although this restriction only applies to ancient kings... I can change that, and with a merit system in place, I can 'grant' strength to them based on their contribution to Hell."
"...I see. You're using negative energy to give demons more power, but negative energy is just the 'reward' they strive for and desire. The real goal is the merit system that demons strive for to get stronger... That's quite ingenious. You're using the main traits of demons well to your advantage." Jeanne laughed a little at the end with an admiring tone.
"There are no useless demons, only a visionless king who cannot use them; take the example of the demons of despair. If it was the ancient society, they would be useless if they didn't have the strength of the Horsemen of Death. At least, that's what the ancient king would see..."
"I, on the other hand, value their ability to hide with the miasma and blend in with their surroundings, not to mention that they can form a very resistant layer like armor, all thanks to the special miasma, and are also able to smell negative 'emotion'. These demons are natural hunters, and with the training they received, they became deadly assassins."
The assassin's job is to kill, not fight. That is, they use anything to kill the target. And these demons are experts at it.
"They really are quite ingenious." Oda nods.
Even though he was talking to the group, Victor's eyes were still on the dimension beneath them. With the dragon's eyes that could see the world in its true essence, the ability to hide in a subdimension was useless.
Not to mention that upon receiving the dragon's eyes, his visual powers basically merged with what they had before, making him even more powerful.
He literally could see between dimensions, and if he wanted to, he could see behind walls with perfectly normal vision.
Of course, he could also change the tones of his vision as he used to in the past if he so desired.
'The base is unoccupied... They are just using it as a resupply point."
Narrowing his eyes even more, he saw several 'wires' in the air going to one point on the island.
Yes, the dimension beneath it hid a large island in plain sight, a very robust military base.
Focusing his eyes on that spot, he saw an entire community of people.
'Humans? They're all human... This doesn't make any sense. Are they using it for shelter? Or are they planning some kind of experiment on humans?"
"This is amazing... Honestly, I really need to see if I'm resistant to the miasma like before. I want to see the new hell." Morgana never thought she would want to go back to Hell so badly.
"The way he describes things, I also want to go in the future."
Scathach said: "This seems like an experience I've never had in the past." She laughed a little at the end.
'Being with Victor is never uninteresting.’
"I can agree with Scathach on that... I wish to see what Victor created.
I feel it will be an interesting journey." Jeanne added.
"I'll take you all one day. I just need to create an item that will keep the miasma away from you..." Victor trailed off as he focused on a man.
'That signature... There's no doubt about it."
"Victor?"
"A god is at the base, and a very strong one at that."
The group immediately turned serious.
"Description?"
Victor raised his hand, and a sculpture of ice appeared on his palm, then using the sculpture as a reference, he explained:
"He is tall, with healthy skin, long black hair, oriental features, and wearing a black suit with gold trim. The feeling I get from him is the same as I had when I saw the angel of death, so a god related to death maybe?... But the feeling of death is too weak; he feels more 'dark'?"
"...."" Everyone was silent. Even though the three women here were very experienced, it doesn't mean that they interacted with all the gods. Only a 'sociable' person was capable of that.
"I don't recognize him with just description and appearance... We need Aphrodite's knowledge."
"We also need Alexios," Victor added and narrowed his eyes as a portal appeared next to the man, and two more men came out of the portal.
The feeling they gave was very similar to that of the first man.
"Two other gods appeared." Victor made two other ice sculptures that show the two men:
"The first seems to be a god from Egypt, and the other, I have no idea."
"I've never seen them before either," Scathach spoke, then she looked at Morgana and Jeanne, and the two women also shook their heads, indicating that they didn't know them either.
"Why do we need Alexios? Can't you destroy the dimension?" Morgana asked curiously.
"Morgana... Destroying a dimension is very risky."
"Why?" Morgana was curious and a grown woman. So when she didn't know something, she simply asked.
"As Jeanne said, the dimension is something created by another being to protect or isolate an area. Without being invited, it's impossible to enter... That doesn't mean it's impossible to break the dimension, but if I do that, the whole island will disappear with the amount of power I will use."
"And if it isn't destroyed by the amount of power he uses, the sudden appearance of an island in the sea can cause the island to sink or cause other natural problems that I have no idea about but are best avoided."
"Oh..."
"Not to mention that the island is inhabited by an entire community of humans. There are even children in that place; if possible, I don't want to harm them with my direct actions."
"..."" This made the girls' expressions soften.
"Is the plan still on, Vic?" Scathach continued.
"Yeah, even though the island looks abandoned, it could still be an important point for them. New information can be gained just by searching around the island and talking to the inhabitants, not to mention that if we capture one of those gods, we can learn more."
"Oh..? Why not just absorb them?" Jeanne asked.
