Chapter 395
The authority dwelling in the origin of a great devil, no matter how small a part, was not something a mortal's could compare to.
It was only natural that he would overwhelm the High Priestess, who was a mere mortal.
Slice.
[Guuuhhh!]
Blood spurted, and Chris spoke mockingly.
“How pathetic. Try to struggle a little more.”
A different side of him than usual.
Normally, although he was obnoxious, he did not inflict pain on his opponents for fun.
But now, it was as if a cat were playing with a mouse.
As if he had truly been tainted by evil.
[…Is it alright to just watch like this?]
An archbishop discreetly asked the Pope.
[If not watch? It is a duel decided by the doctrine. If we interfere, do you think the great devil who made a contract with him will let us be?]
The Pope frowned.
He could not understand the man's intentions at all.
The fact that the man had made a contract with a great devil added to the confusion.
It would be impossible for him to pull a trick on a great devil, so it must be true that he had offered his soul to evil.
But why?
Truly to convert to the order as he was spouting?
He could absolutely not believe it.
But if it were a lie, then why did the 4th-realm great devil make a contract with him?
‘It would be right to eliminate a variable that cannot be understood.’
Whatever trick the man was hiding, simply breaking him and making him a sacrifice for the great cause was the clearest solution.
‘To do that, I must not miss the opportunity of this duel.’
Whatever the man was hiding inside, he was now a subordinate under the protection of a great devil.
Even the Mystic Demonic House could not strike him without justification.
‘Should I just interfere, even if it’s unreasonable?’
Just then, the Pope’s eyes lit up.
He had seen a turning point occur in the duel.
‘As I thought, he did not become a 9-Star (mid). His limit has come.’
Chris’s momentum, which had been pushing the High Priestess back, had clearly dropped.
The power Chris was currently manifesting was him brandishing the authority dwelling in the great devil’s origin, and its limit was beginning to show.
No matter how great the Throne was, handling the origin of a great devil was no easy task, so it was only natural.
[Kekek, how dare you. You have run rampant until now. Prepare yourself. I will break you completely.]
The High Priestess muttered chillingly with a blood-soaked face.
Paaaat.
The Advent of Creation unfolded.
The Eight Hells.
It was the materialization of eight types of hell into reality to maximize the energy of evil.
Chris also unfolded his Advent of Creation to face her.
The noble Throne pushed back the hell.
But it was only precarious, as if it would be extinguished at any moment.
[Look forward to it. I will let you experience all the pain that exists in the world.]
Hwarereureuk.
Eight types of flames rose up by the High Priestess’s side.
Each one was a flame imbued with the law of causality.
An ultimate skill that made the opponent writhe in the agony of a terrible hell.
The law of causality of immortality was at work, so they could not even meet death unless she allowed it.
Kwaaaaaak!!
The flames rushed towards the Throne.
Chris’s darkness stood against the flames of Gehenna.
The Throne shook precariously, but he barely managed to block it.
[Hoh?]
The High Priestess licked her lips.
[Not bad. Good. It would be no fun if you were to collapse too easily. Please, entertain me more.]
Hwaaaaaaaat!!
The flames of hell rose up again.
An even more intense momentum.
It held a distant energy, as if it were the karma flame that would destroy the world.
Before that terrifying karma flame, Chris’s Throne looked only unstable.
[Now, I look forward to seeing how you will struggle in the flames of hell.]
The karma flame covered the Throne again.
Just like before, the darkness stood in the way of the karma flame, but it was only shabby.
The moment the High Priestess was eagerly smiling in anticipation of Chris’s screams, this time for sure.
Suddenly, an incomprehensible event occurred.
The karma flame split apart.
The light of darkness flashed for an instant, and.
[!!]
The High Priestess, feeling a sense of crisis, instinctively twisted her body.
But it was useless.
Slice!
Her arm was severed and flew into the air.
[What?!]
Those who were watching the duel cried out in surprise.
Sareureureu.
The karma flame lost its momentum and died down, and Chris’s figure appeared.
His atmosphere, his momentum, was somehow different from before.
The Pope let out a groan as if he could not believe it.
[Don’t tell me, 9-Star (mid)…?]
A faint distortion of the law of causality was flickering around the man.
It was a characteristic unique to the 9-Star (mid) that could not be seen in the lower states.
[Impossible? How?]
“What do you mean, how? It’s thanks to my diligent practice.”
A dumbfounding answer.
But it was the truth.
‘In the first place, the reason I was toying with her was to practice handling the law of causality.’
The way a 9-Star (low) and a 9-Star (mid) handle the law of causality is completely different.
A 9-Star (low) twists the law of causality within a given ‘justification’.
A while ago, when he was pushing back the 4th-realm great devil, he was able to handle the law of causality because he had the ‘justification’ that the devil had broken the oath of a subordinate.
On the other hand, a 9-Star (mid) can manipulate the law of causality according to their own will, without such a justification.
A state that Chris had not yet reached.
‘So I used the great devil’s origin to practice to my heart’s content.’
A great being, beyond merely handling the law of causality, is an existence whose very being is a part of the world’s law of causality.
Therefore, if he handled the authority contained in its origin, he could handle the law of causality as he wished, and Chris, while pretending to persecute the High Priestess throughout the duel, had practiced handling the law of causality and had finally succeeded in getting a clue.
‘If I had to grasp it from a blank slate, I wouldn’t have been able to master it so quickly either, but I had an excellent experiential tool.’
The High Priestess ground her teeth.
[Do not be so triumphant. You have only just set foot in this realm.]
Yes, Chris had only just set foot in the 9-Star (mid) state.
On the other hand, the High Priestess was in a state of mastery of 9-Star (mid).
If one were to consider their objective power, the High Priestess would have the upper hand, but.
“Sorry, but I’ve never lost to an opponent of a similar state.”
Paaaat!
The karma flame of hell and Chris’s darkness clashed in mid-air.
It was not a simple battle of momentum.
The law of causality dwelling within them engaged in a fierce struggle for dominance.
On the surface, the High Priestess had the upper hand.
Chris only seemed to be barely holding on.
However.
In the midst of the fierce struggle, the moment a faint gap appeared in the High Priestess’s law of causality.
Slice.
[Guaaaargh!]
Blood spurted from the High Priestess’s body again.
He had not missed the faint opening and had delivered a blow.
Similar events continued to occur.
Chris’s energy, seemingly on the verge of being pushed back, held on against the High Priestess’s energy, and he did not miss the openings that were revealed in between.
Moreover, as time went on, the frequency of his counterattacks gradually increased.
His ability to handle the law of causality was improving in real time.
Slowly, but surely, the damage accumulated.
[How can this be.]
[Impossible?]
The high priests of the Mystic Demonic House were agitated.
Just then, a chilling voice was heard in the Pope’s ear.
[What… are you doing? Are you just going to stand by and watch?]
It was the voice of a 4th-realm great devil!
The one who had made a contract with the High Priestess.
[Are you going to be swayed by him… like this? Step in… at once and dispose of him.]
But the Pope could not move.
It was not simply because of the doctrine.
The doctrine was merely a tool for serving the devils. It was only natural that the will of the great devils took precedence.
However, the problem was that it was not just one great devil who had conveyed their will.
[Christian is my subordinate. It is my will to make him the High Priest, so if you interfere, you will receive my wrath.]
It was not just the great devil who had made a contract with him.
Other great devils also began to voice their support for Christian, one by one.
[Christian is a great vessel. It is only right that he becomes the protagonist of the ruin, not a sacrifice for the great cause.]
They were the great devils who had joined hands with the ‘One Who Swallows the Light’.
All were those who did not wish for the ruin.
Chris had told the ‘One Who Swallows the Light’ to secretly persuade the great devils who were hiding similar intentions, and thanks to that, no small number of great devils had voiced their support for Chris.
In the grand scheme of the 4th realm, it was not a large percentage, but it was a number that could not be ignored.
‘For the wills of the great devils to be divided.’
The Pope wore a troubled expression.
In truth, this was not the first time such a thing had happened.
The great devils were incarnations of evil, more selfish than anyone. There were often times when their opinions were divided.
At times like these, they had to wait until the great devils reached a consensus and unified their opinions, but the problem now was that the duel was in full swing.
He had to make a decision right away.
‘If a 3rd-realm being were to step in, their opinions would be sorted out.’
But such a lofty being rarely revealed their will.
In the end, there was only one choice the Pope could make now.
Following the doctrine.
In other words, abiding by the result of the duel.
‘Surely the High Priestess will not be defeated….’
It was the moment he thought that.
Paaaaaaaat!!!
The power of hell intensified as if it would explode.
The High Priestess, feeling a sense of crisis, had drawn up all her power to end it at once.
The energy of the Throne, which had been barely holding on, was pushed back pathetically.
[The pleasantries end here.]
Along with the intense evil energy, the law of causality raged.
It was a law of causality that destroyed everything.
Crack.
Unable to hold on, the Throne began to crumble. Chris’s complexion also turned pale.
A moment of desperation. Suddenly, Chris twisted the corners of his mouth.
“You fell for it.”
[…What did you say?]
Yes.
Chris had been waiting for this very moment.
When the opponent’s energy was at its most intense.
And therefore, when the opening, conversely, became largest.
‘Because I have a powerful weapon that others do not possess.’
It was the power of light.
His state still did not reach the High Priestess’s.
But he possessed an outstanding ability to find the opponent’s openings, more so than anyone else in this world, and that was the same even if the power the opponent was handling was the law of causality.
‘The law of causality of ‘destruction’ that the High Priestess is currently putting forth. Because it is intense enough to destroy everything, the discrepancy is, conversely, also severe.’
Chris raised Andrill.
Until now, he had not been able to handle Andrill properly, but now that he had reached 9-Star (mid), it was different.
Perfection.
An absolute authority that did not forgive any falsehood in the world dug into the discrepancy of the law of causality.
Pajijijijik!!
A frictional sound was heard, as if the world were shaking.
No matter how great Andrill’s authority was, the High Priestess was a 9-Star (mid). She blocked Andrill’s authority.
But it was inevitable that the discrepancy would grow larger due to the distortion of the law of causality colliding with perfection.
Of course, it was a faint difference.
One that would normally be impossible to penetrate.
However, it was different if it was the power of light.
‘The source of her authority is the power of evil. Therefore, the power of light is the antithesis of her authority.’
No matter how intense the momentum of evil was, if it touched light, the part that touched it was bound to be damaged.
Even if it was an insignificant loss compared to the overall momentum, what if that was the core that formed the center of the law of causality?
Everything could come crashing down.
Just like now.
Crash.
[Gurgk?!]
As the law of causality crumbled, she vomited a mouthful of blood. She had received the backlash of the law of causality head-on.
It was a fatal wound.
[Y-you… the power of light?]
“Ah, because I am so great, I even dominate the power of light. An evil that has subjugated light, isn’t that cool? The great devil who made a contract with me was also pleased.”
Chris jeered.
“Now, let’s end this.”
The tables had turned.
At this rate, the result was obvious.
She took a step back, but there was nowhere to retreat.
In the end, she bit her lip hard and used her final method.
[O great one! Bestow mercy upon this servant, and let your majesty descend!!]
It was a devil summoning!
Her master was also a 4th-realm being.
If he were to manifest, it would be the end.
However.
“You, I think you’re forgetting something?”
The summoning ritual came to a halt.