Chapter 403

The Great Star’s avatar shook his head.

Originally, Great Devils and Great Stars were beings that could not coexist, but having been confined in the same space for a long time, they seemed to be communicating without any particular hostility.

—It’s not that I trust him, either. But do we have any other choice right now?

—Why… is there no other choice? Can’t we just take that bastard’s soul as our prey?

—!!

The Great Devil’s avatar smiled darkly.

—That bastard is a sacrifice prepared with great care by everyone in the Dark Heaven for the great cause. If we take him as prey, we should be able to recover some of our strength. With that recovered strength, we can defeat the ‘Gatekeeper’ that guards the seal.

He was right.

It might even be a much more certain method.

However, there was a problem.

—…Who will be the one to take this one’s soul?

—Naturally, I am the right one for the job. I, ‘Destruction’, am a more powerful being than anyone else here.

—Ha, how ridiculous. What makes you think we can trust you?

Chris’s soul was singular.

Naturally, only one Great Being could take his soul.

They were only coexisting out of necessity; they did not trust each other in the slightest.

There was no way they would hand over Chris’s soul to another.

—No, I, ‘Pain’, am the right one.

—You disgusting Great Devil bastards should shut up. If anyone is to regain their power, it is the share of us Great Stars.

As the atmosphere worsened, Chris let out a smirk.

‘Heh, their reaction isn’t the least bit different from what I expected.’

This was better, in fact.

It was all going according to plan.

—I think you’re all misunderstanding something. When did I ever say I would offer my soul to you?

—!!

—To be so greedy without knowing your place, even in this situation. That’s enough. I was a fool for trying to help pathetic fools like you. I will be leaving this 7th Realm.

—…You’re leaving?

—That’s right. My soul was originally destined for the highest floor of Paradise, so I suppose I’ll just go there.

—…If you go to Paradise, do you think the Celestial Realm will just leave you be?

—Is that something you bastards should be saying? After I went out of my way to help you, only for you to pant and drool over my soul.

—…

All the Great Beings were left speechless.

—Do you think there’s no way for me to survive even if I go to Paradise? I can just negotiate with the Constellations and secure a share for myself in the new world.

Chris turned his gaze toward Mefina.

—Mefina, the deal is off. I’ll be on my way now. I can see the Constellations of the Celestial Realm craning their necks, waiting for me over there.

It wasn’t a lie.

At the highest point of the 7th Realm’s abyss.

The Great Stars were looking down upon the 7th Realm.

‘This 7th Realm is a space of confinement, so they can’t just enter as they please from the outside and are only watching. But if I just say the word, they’ll get me out of here immediately.’

The Great Beings of the 7th Realm looked flustered.

—W-wait… Hold on a moment.

—What, you have something to say? How pathetic.

—…Don’t misunderstand. It was just some of those disgusting Great Devils who had a foolish thought. Most of us had no intention of harming you.

It was a lie that wouldn’t fool anyone.

—What reason do I have to trust any of you? You, who tried to stab me in the back the moment we joined hands.

—…

—If you want to earn my trust, then show me a gesture of goodwill worthy of it.

—…What must we do?

—Open the ‘Cradle’.

—!!

The Great Beings stirred.

It was because of the word Chris had brought up: ‘Cradle’.

—Do you even know what the Cradle is?

—Of course. Isn’t it a story that appears in the myths?

The Cradle was the place where Great Beings were born from the void.

The highest sky of the Celestial Realm.

It was said to be connected to the deepest abyss of Gehenna.

‘The deepest abyss of Gehenna is right here, the 7th Realm. In other words, this 7th Realm is connected to the Cradle.’

The problem was that the Cradle was a one-way passage.

Meaning, one could only come out from the Cradle into the Celestial Realm or Gehenna; it was impossible to enter it in reverse.

—It shouldn’t be impossible according to the laws of the planes of existence, right? If you inject a massive amount of energy to cause a dimensional fissure, you should be able to open a gap leading to the Cradle.

Theoretically, he was correct.

No matter how strong a wall was, if you could make a crack, you could pass through it.

—…How much power do you think is needed to open a gap to the Cradle? It is realistically impossible.

—No, it’s possible.

Chris smiled faintly.

—You can just offer the souls of about three of the 3rd-realm Great Devils among you as a sacrifice and use them as an energy source. Even if their power is sealed, the quality of their souls remains the same.

—!!

—And it seems we have some perfectly suitable sacrifices right here.

Chris turned his gaze.

He looked toward the Great Devils, including ‘Destruction’, who had been the most eager to claim Chris’s soul as prey.

—What…!! How… dare you!!

The designated Great Devils erupted with furious energy, but Chris just shrugged.

—Well, the choice is yours. Either offer those three as a sacrifice so the rest of you can live, or uphold your loyalty and wait for your doom together in this gutter.

It was a choice that didn’t even need to be asked.

In the first place, they had held extreme animosity for one another and had only been coexisting out of necessity.

If those Great Devils had possessed their full power, the others would have had to suffer immense damage even if they joined forces, but their power was sealed.

If they combined their strength, they could suppress them at any time.

—You…! Are you going to be swayed by a mortal’s petty trick!

—You bastards…!!

Having made their decision, the remaining Great Beings attacked the Great Devils Chris had pointed out in unison.

Since everyone’s power was restricted, there was no world-shattering impact.

Chris calmly waited for the situation to be resolved.

After a considerable amount of time had passed.

—…We have offered them as a sacrifice, just as you said.

The Great Star’s avatar approached, his face clearly showing the damage he had sustained.

As expected, a 3rd-realm Great Devil was still a Great Devil.

It seemed they had sacrificed a fair number of Great Beings, even with their powers sealed.

Of course, the extent of their damage was no concern of Chris’s.

—Are you truly going to enter the Cradle? If a mortal like you enters the Cradle, you will be swallowed by the void and your soul will be annihilated.

—You just have to grant me your blessing.

—…What?

—That is the second condition. Grant me the ‘Blessing of Atonement,’ putting your very existence on the line to protect me.

—!!

It referred to a blessing that would take on damage in his stead.

In other words, he was asking them to bear the damage Chris would suffer after entering the Cradle.

—That is absurd…

—It should be manageable if everyone here shares the damage, wouldn’t it?

He wasn’t wrong.

They were Great Beings.

Although their powers were sealed, the quality of their existence had not vanished, so they could endure that much.

—Or are you saying you don’t want to suffer any damage at all? How truly selfish. I never knew Great Beings were so cowardly and timid.

—…

—If you don’t want to, you don’t have to. However, don’t even think about regaining your original quality. I’m not foolish enough to show favor to those who have offered me no help.

It was a threat.

If they didn’t grant him the blessing, he wouldn’t release their seals either.

In the end, the Great Beings decided to grant him the Blessing of Atonement.

—It will not last long. You must exit the Cradle before the blessing reaches its limit.

Chris nodded.

There was no way for him to hold on once the blessing shattered anyway.

He had to achieve his goal within that time.

—Then I will open the path to the Cradle.

Gooooo.

As the souls of the three Great Devils were offered as a sacrifice, a shock as if the world were collapsing spread, and a fissure was created.

It was the Cradle.

It was time to become a 10-Star.

***

The Cradle.

It was a space famous even among mortals.

For it was the place where Great Beings were born.

It could be said to be a place akin to the origin of the world.

‘Which is why it is connected to both Gehenna and the Celestial Realm at the same time.’

Chris turned his gaze.

There was neither darkness nor light; nothing existed.

Not to mention color, he could not perceive anything, not even the flow of time.

A space of pure void.

He had to ascend to 10-Star in this place.

‘It’s possible. Because this is the place where Great Beings are born.’

Chris recalled the ‘birth’ and ‘definition’ of a Great Being.

‘A Great Being is an existence that is the law of causality itself. In other words, I must obtain my own law of causality here in the Cradle.’

All the Great Beings of the Dark Heaven were born here in the Cradle.

Meaning, the Cradle was a place where one could obtain the law of causality.

‘The problem is, I don’t have the leisure to leisurely obtain the law of causality.’

To newly define oneself, to realize one’s will, and to sublimate that will into the law of causality.

Even for Chris, there was no telling how long it would take.

This was no tranquil training ground.

Even now, the void was trying to swallow him. If not for the blessing cast by the Great Beings of the 7th Realm, he would have been annihilated long ago.

‘I have to use a shortcut.’

Chris turned his gaze.

He had a method in mind.

A space of void where nothing existed.

But it wasn’t that nothing truly existed.

Wriggle, wriggle.

Within the vast void, he felt an alien distortion.

Chris approached it and stretched out his soul’s hand.

‘Summon Andrill.’

After becoming a 9-Star, he had become Andrill’s perfect master, and Andrill had become bound to his soul.

This was why he could summon it even after having fallen into Gehenna.

He thrust Andrill straight into the distortion of the void.

Puuuk!

—*Gooooooooo.*

A great roar echoed, and the distortion, pierced by Andrill, tried to unravel like a skein of thread and disappear into the void space.

Chris reached out with his soul’s hand and grasped the remnants, nodding as if his guess had been correct.

—So this is the seed of a Great Being.

An astonishing story.

It meant that this skein of thread would one day grow into a Great Being.

The meaning of that was this.

Paaaat!

Chris’s hand shone.

It was the authority of Gluttony that he had obtained when he absorbed Sherad.

He absorbed the remnants swirling in his hand, and Chris felt the law of causality filling his soul.

That’s right.

Chris’s plan was to harvest the seeds of Great Beings and forcibly absorb the law of causality to ascend to 10-Star.

‘Of course, the law of causality obtained this way is only a speck of dust.’

It didn’t matter.

Chris expanded his perception.

The vast, vast Cradle.

Within the space of the void, he could feel countless seeds.

Their number reached the tens of thousands.

Not all of them would become Great Beings.

Out of the tens of thousands of seeds, only one or two would actually become a Great Being.

What was important was that all of those seeds, even if only a speck, were quickening with the law of causality.

‘I’ll devour every last one of them.’

Chris raised the corners of his mouth in a grin.

***

Meanwhile, at that time, on the surface.

The Dark Demonic House was submerged in a heavy silence.

It was because of Christian.

“…Is there still no change?”

“…No, my lord.”

Count Khazar answered Nordian’s question grimly.

The battle at the Mystic Demonic House had been a perfect, great victory.

Because they had completely brought about the downfall of the Mystic Demonic House, which had been called the Heaven Beyond the Heavens and was the strongest house in the Magus Empire, without suffering any damage.

It was an unbelievable miracle, considering the Pope’s power and the events that had transpired.

It was all thanks to Christian’s efforts.

‘Damn it. Then what’s the point?’

Count Khazar’s face contorted.