Chapter 911: "My son, born from darkness."
Seeing that the conversation had ended, Victor asked, "Where is Sloth?"
Again, he didn't need to ask this; with his current senses, he could feel the entire abyss like the back of his hand, but a certain kind of display was necessary, especially now that he had 'visitors' with him.
Whether or not aware of his intentions, Zahal responded in a loyal tone as a good subordinate would, "The sin of sloth, Sloth Abyss Verneila, currently claims your majesty's fourth lower chamber and has been sleeping there ever since."
Victor's face twitched slightly upon hearing these words, a display of emotions that did not go unnoticed by the watchful eyes of the heavenly father and Ariel.
"That lazy woman..." Victor muttered; there was a reason Victor kept such an inefficient person around—precautions.
For example, in the possible case that he needed to replace one of his Rules, she would fill that position. She may be lazy, but as an ancient demon, she was quite competent when pushed. Plus, due to her sin, she grew stronger in power the more she slept.
One could say that Sloth was the luckiest woman around; after all, she didn't have to do anything to get stronger, just sleep, something she enjoyed a lot.
Of all the previous capital sins, she was the only one who had never really been seen training. Although such convenience had its disadvantages too, she was extremely weak physically, almost at the same level of strength as a common demon.
In RPG terms, Sloth was a glass cannon mage with strong magical power but extremely poor physical abilities.
"Well, let's start the ceremony without her," Victor nodded; he couldn't be bothered to try waking that woman.
"Ceremony...? What do you mean, Victor?" The heavenly father asked.
Victor walked towards his throne, and as he did, his clothes were covered by a black power, slowly changing into full-body armor that covered him entirely except for his head.
"Recently, I gave a mission to one of my most trusted subordinates..."
Victor sat on the throne, leaning back and resting his head on his right hand. His long miasma-made hair fluttered in front of him, and his crimson-violet dragon-like eyes faintly glowed, emitting an invisible pressure that made everyone hold their breath in admiration. Such was the sight of the strongest demon king to have ever existed.
"... To hunt one of the abyssal beasts that caused some damage around Abbadon City."
A hologram appeared in front of everyone, displaying an image of a black beast with multiple eyes and shades of red.
"ROOOOOOARRR!"
Upon hearing the beast's roar, Ariel, Nero, and Ophis shivered slightly. The heavenly father and Metis merely raised their eyebrows, curious about this creature.
"Although it didn't cause too much damage, and the soldiers managed to drive it away, this beast dared to attack my city, so measures were necessary."
"A total extermination... So, I sent my subordinate as a test," Victor gestured with his left hand, and the hologram disappeared.
"Interesting... It seems that the fusion of the abyss has caused significant mutations in the demonic beasts, turning them into complete monsters."
"Indeed. My researchers deduced that the denser the miasma these demonic beasts bathe in, the more they mutate." Victor waved his left hand again, and this time a hologram showing a completely darkened region of the abyss was displayed.
"So much miasma..." Ariel narrowed her eyes in disgust.
"I call these places 'abyss.' In this location where there is no light, monstrous beasts are emerging, creatures with no intelligence whatsoever, only craving destruction."
"How dreadful..." the heavenly father murmured.
"You think so?" Victor raised an eyebrow.
"Of course, after all, dealing with that must be very troublesome," he replied.
"My opinion is different," Victor said, looking at the abyss in the hologram. "I see it as an opportunity."
"Opportunity?"
"Yes, indeed."
"Friedrich Nietzsche once said, 'When you look into the abyss, the abyss looks into you... And he wasn't wrong.'"
The hologram image began to change, and a man with a greatsword engulfed in flames walked towards the abyss. He was tall, standing over 2 meters in height, and wore full armor, except for his helmet, which was instead a red hood concealing his face.
As the man walked towards the abyss, several giant eyes began to open, infernal horrors never before seen in Hell lay in that place.
The man raised his right hand toward the hilt of the greatsword behind him... And the moment he touched the hilt, the weapon ignited with the flames of hell.
Suddenly, the entire abyss was illuminated, and numerous gigantic creatures were seen.
"My King orders your death..." The man's cold and determined voice echoed around. "And his wish will be granted."
Several roars were heard, and a beast tried to swallow the man, but all that resulted from this futile attack was the creature's body being cleaved in two.
Bending his leg, he leaped into the abyss where hundreds of more monstrous eyes were visible. The image of a lone Horseman leaping into an abyss filled with infernal creatures remained in everyone's minds.
But unfortunately, they couldn't see the continuation because Victor dismissed the hologram with another hand gesture.
An action that left all present slightly disappointed; they wanted to see more!
Sensing everyone's emotions, he smiled coldly. "I can't reveal my Horseman's full characteristics, can I?"
These words made the discomfort of the celestial guests disappear. After all, it was courtesy enough for Victor to show so much of his society; revealing the strength of one of his strongest soldiers would be pure folly.
"... He is the Horseman of War, right?"
"Yes, indeed. But he is no longer just a Horseman... He is a demonic god of war."
These words left the heavenly guests quite shocked.
"... Huh?"
The idea of a demon becoming an entity equivalent to a god had never crossed anyone's mind. The heavenly father and Ariel could understand Lilith and Lucifer having the potential to become gods, as they were created by the heavenly father with complete souls.
Yes, complete souls; demons were essentially half of an existence. How could such an existence become god-like?
The heavenly father and Ariel, who had access to this information, couldn't comprehend how such a thing was possible. But they also realized one thing: if demons could become divine beings, did that mean the same could happen to their angels?
After the debacle that occurred with the original angels, the heavenly father no longer used his power to create beings with complete souls. Therefore, after the first batch of archangels, the next ones were not made with complete souls, only the 'good' part of the soul.
Basically, all of heaven was like that now. Something the heavenly father could no longer fix, as his creation powers were overseen by the primordial beings related to life and death.
The creation of new beings couldn't be done without the proper permission from these entities and the system itself. The reason for this was to prevent beings with dominion over creation from creating too many beings or beings that could threaten the balance.
Although such restrictions only applied to beings created with the divinity of creation, beings created 'naturally' didn't have as many issues.
Because of this, the Progenitor's work was necessary since he could convert other living beings into members of his own race or easily procreate and have more children.
The last time the heavenly father used his powers to create 'life' in the truest sense of the word, with a soul and everything, was when he made his son, the Progenitor of humans, Adam and Lilith.
Even Eve wasn't 'created' in the same way as these two beings; she was formed using Adam's soul as a base and another soul he had collected in the past.
After all, it was quite challenging for The Judge of Abyss and The Universal Tree to permit the creation of new souls. Initially, there were no issues, but as more beings began to exist, such creation came under scrutiny.
Just as the heavenly father was about to ask Victor for more information regarding this issue...
The door opened, and the voices of Victor's demonic Maids resounded around. "The Bloody War, the Demonic God of War, War. Presents himself before the Demon King of Tyranny."
Heavy metal sounds were heard, and soon the man's presence was visible.
Everyone looked at the man and saw the head of a monstrous creature with multiple eyes, and pure miasma oozing from its body... They swallowed hard for a few seconds until they realized that the man was underneath the creature's head.
Upon this sight, all present opened their eyes in shock. The reasons for this shock were many, with the primary one being the lack of damage to the Horseman's body and the strength displayed by his presence.
But undoubtedly, their main shock came from the overwhelming amount of miasma pouring from the dead demon beast's head. The miasma was so concentrated that the very air around it felt putrid and chaotic... They could swear that the concentration was so great that the miasma itself had become liquid. Something that had never happened before in Hell.
The heavenly father had no doubt that even strong demons or angels considered elites wouldn't be able to get near this monster without being killed just by its presence.
That beast, in pure miasma energy, was on the same level as his Seraphim, and the creature's body was completely toxic. Such a thought was absurd, considering these beings had no intelligence and were merely irrational monsters.
War walked toward the king, his eyes not registering anyone's presence, not even the heavenly father or Ariel. All he had in front of him was that being seated on the throne of Hell.
His body was covered in the blood of his prey, his faithful weapon was on his back, and in his right hand, he held the corpses of his recent kills, which he was carrying above his head.
Unconsciously, the visitors around him moved back and formed a line. On one side were Nero, Ophis, and Metis, and on the other side were Ariel and the heavenly father.
In front of the throne of Hell stood the ancient demons acting as the Demon King's bodyguards.
Approaching the throne of all Hell, he stopped walking and threw the massive head to the ground. He knelt with his left hand over his chest in a gesture of utmost respect, essentially saying, "I am here, offering my heart to you."
"My King..." The Horseman's cold voice resounded around. "Your Order has been completed."
