Chapter 7 - Those Who Gaze Into the Abyss (Patreon)

"The Blood War, or also Blood Wars, is either considered one huge conflict or a series of conflicts. Overall, it could be classified as an ancient war between the Races of the Netherworld against the Daemons of the Abyss.

The history of the Blood Wars is long, but the very first Blood War happened either after or during the event known as Dusk of the Gods in the Netherworld. The majority of conflicts in the Blood Wars took place in Avernus, the First Layer of the Netherworld. The conflict, however, often did not remain confined to Avernus, as destructive skirmishes emerged anywhere in the Realms, where the Netherworlders met with Daemons of the Abyss.

Fighting between the fiends continued on for millennia. Throughout all the battles and constant strife, no side had been able to gain even a definitive, permanent advantage over the other. The Netherworlders, under the leadership of the Stygian Nether Emperor Archeron and the Supreme Overlords under his command, were able to halt the advance of the Abyssal Daemons into the Netherworld.

Meanwhile, the Daemons of the Netherworld, due to their infinite numbers, continue causing problems for the Netherworld, and only due to the superior strategy, defenses, Hextech, and Magic, the Netherworld is able to stop their advances.

The chaotic denizens of the Abyss, while far more numerous than the devils, were, true to their alignment, constantly warring amongst themselves. They could contest the might of the Netherworld only through sheer individual power, and their seemingly limitless, if unorganized and uncoordinated, supply of warriors. The Netherworlders, on the other hand, deployed smaller numbers onto the field, but their warriors were regimented, well-trained and well-disciplined, all the while making incredible use of their ruthless strategies. This violent balance could have kept the Blood War fueled for an indefinite period of time.

Abeir-Toril's Superpowers often cooperate with the Netherworld against the Abyss, because, contrary to the Netherworld and its inhabitants, the Abyss only carves corruption and destruction of everything in their Path.

Even the ancient Netheril Empire was extremely wary of the Blood Wars, because even the strongest Archmages and Magisters of the Netheril Empire were deeply wary of these conflicts, because they couldn't stop them if they spread toward the Abeir-Toril."

- Excerpt from The Blood War: An Essay

***

Codex: Khaos Brigade

The origin of the Khaos Brigade could be traced to the times before the establishment of the Stygian Council after the reunification of the Devil Race and the establishment of the new government of the Devils.

The purpose of the Khaos Brigade was to create military enforcers for the Stygian Council that would be dealing with the dissent and possible traitors to the new regime. Members of the Khaos Brigade were recruited from the Burning Legion, the Stray Devil Hunting Squad, and some other parts of the Stygian Legions.

Compared to the other military units of the Stygian Council, the loyalty of the Sardaukar, first and foremost to the Emperor, even before that of the Stygian Council itself and the Netherworld.

Members of the Khaos Brigade were also experts at covert operations, managing to conceal themselves among groups for extended periods of time before striking. When in close-quarter, hand-to-hand combat, if they found themselves surrounded, they would group into threes, and adopt a fighting stance with their backs to each other.

Last, there was the thing that the Khaos Brigade was the most famous for, which were the Anti-Mage Skills and Abilities that were drilled into every single member of the Khaos Brigade. The abilities of the Khaos Brigade were largely attributed to the harsh environment and brutal discipline that they underwent as part of their training.

The Khaos Brigade took no prisoners. They only killed, and they always slaughtered all of their enemies till the last one. They were the sharpest sword of the Stygian Nether Emperor Archeron and were often called "Emperor's Blades".

The Khaos Brigade was often dispatched to the most crucial tasks by the Emperor when there was a lot at stake.

- The Khaos Brigade: Emperor's Swords

***

Netherworld, 3rd Layer - Gehena, Base of the Abyssal Satans Cult

The Magic Rule of Destruction swirled and danced around Sirzechs and MacDou, with the members of the Joint Suppression Destruction Task Force pouring their Demonic Energies into their bodies through the Magic Sharing Runic Array.

Through the Magic Sharing Runic Array, the Demonic Energy was transformed into Infernity, as both Sirzechs and MacDou were using Infernity and not Demonic Energy, as they had already transcended the concept of Demonic Energy altogether.

Everyone could feel the overhelming power within the two spheres of heavily congregated Magic Rule of Destruction that was reaching its strongest attack against more powerful Overlord-Class powerhouses.

When they were reaching their limits of what they could control, both of them released their attacks at the base of the Abyssal Satans Cult as crimson-colored energy spears shot from their location and crashed into the Bounded Fields that were protecting the entire base.

Sirzechs had to admit that the Abyssal Satans Cult was rather well prepared for the attack ike this, judging based on the sheer number of Wards and Bounded Fields that were around their base.

In the case that something like this happened.

It seemed that Shalba was rather paranoid.

Or maybe not.

Nevertheless, even these state-of-the-art Bounded Fields and Wards didn't stop their attacks that were reaching the realm of Elite Overlord-Classes and God-Kings like Odin the All-Father. In a split second, the entire area of the base of Abyssal Satans Cult exploded into crimson-colored dust.

One that was cracking with lightning all around the mountain range, and everyone from the Joint Suppression Destruction Task Force could see how some of the smaller mountains within the mountain range were even obliterated to the ground. 

The explosion was huge, and the aftershock knocked down all trees and everything in its path until it reached the encampment of the Joint Suppression Destruction Task Force, where it crashed into the Wards.

Surprisingly, the outer Wards around their encampment were destroyed in a split second, as they collapsed from the sheer power of the shockwaves of the explosion. With the Six Eyes, he could see that large swaths of the Wardsa around the base of the Abyssal Satans Cult have collapsed and have been completely obliterated.

He felt that several tens of thousands of Lesser Daemons were instantly killed.

Not banished back to the Abyss, but they were granted a True Death because their bodies were destroyed with the usage of the Magic Rule of Destruction... something that was instant True Death to the Daemons of the Abyss.

Sirzechs even noted down that one of the Greater Daemons that was in the place was killed by the surprise attack, which was good news as the Greater Daemon was peak Ultimate-Class.

Or at least that he sensed from a distance.

Meanwhile, their Joint Suppression Destruction Task Force had only 3 High Ultimate-Classes and several Ultimate-Classes. With the Gunguscar PMC, they had one more High-Ultimate Class and three more Ultimate-Classes.

Still, compared to the numbers of the powerhouses in the opposite camp, they were a bit outnumbered even in the elite spectre of things.

Of course...

Nothing went just well.

Suddenly, they noticed a spike of Demonic Energy... but one that didn't feel like a Demonic Energy at all, but rahter it was heavily tainted and corrupted by the stench of the Abyss.

"It seems that Babolat is acting."

Sirzechs muttered quietly as he saw the enormous figure of the Dark Lord Babolat... though it should already be Overlord Babolat, because the enormous blue-skinned Oni was bursting with the Abyssal Magic, which created some sort of field around him that protected him from most of the attack.

Not like it was surprising.

Actually, with the Six Eyes, he was seeing a lot of similar scenes, as the members of the Abyssal Satans Cult were using various means of negating the Magic Rule of Destruction and saving their sorry asses.

Some were actually fast enough and managed to survive the blast, but there was also a good number of people who were not that happy... the ones that were a tad slower in their movements and were incinerated to nothingness together with their very own souls.

"Well... that is done... we should get moving."

Even though Sirzechs was no Ajuka and wasn't any kind of strategic and tactical genius when it came to the wars and battles, he was still experienced enough to decide on the most appropriate strategy.

During his time as the Agent who hunted down Reincarnators on the behest of his Patron, he commanded a good number of military operations and other similar tasks, so he had enough life experience to draw from.

Everyone was divided into groups, because the targets were clearly given. Sirzechs, for several moments, analyzed the power of the Babolat with the Six Eyes as his brain processed the information before deciding on the next steps.

He weighed his chances against the Oni Babolat, if he could bring him low by himself.

"Lady Voldigoad, can you handle Shalba?"

After he weighed his options and chances, he turned to look at MacDou Voldigoad as the silver-haired Archdemoness already looked pretty eager for some combat.

Hearing him say that he would be fighting Overlord-Class Babolat, made her narrow her eyes at him, yet at the same time, she was pretty interested in how far he could go with his fight and how strong he was.

While she wasn't happy that she would be losing a good fight, she noticed that in the aspect of raw power, despite her Divine Rank, which was much higher than his, her Magic Rule of Destruction was considerably weaker than that of the young Gremory's.

They already agreed that in the case of a situation where he would be capable of confronting Babolat alone, she would take some of their stronger members of the Joint Suppression Destruction Task Force to go after Shalba Beelzebub.

This was a unique opportunity to either kill him or capture him, and Sirzechs trusted only someone as powerful as MacDou to handle the matter. Shalba was dangerous because he was cunning and smart enough to employ complicated schemes that could target the vital weak Devil Domain.

"Alright. I will capture him alive."

Even though MacDou perceived last Beelzebub as a schemer who fought only with items and borrowed power, she understood that he was the mastermind behind the entire Abyssal Satans Cult and thus they needed to capture him.

She also understood that Shalba may have information about other Abyssal Cultists and Chaos Sorcerers that may be hiding in the Netherworld or perhaps even across the rest of the Draconic Deus.

Even if they were outside of the Draconic Deus, she knew that information about their whereabouts was a valuable thing. Let's say, if he possessed information about the activities of the Abyssal Cultists in the territories of the Pantheon and factions. 

Both MacDou and Sirzechs knew that such information could be sold for an astronomical amount of money or it could be used as a favour to establish a relationship between the two factions and species.

"Roygun, you need to close down the Dimensional Pathway to the Abyss as soon as possible. Our combined attack should have most probably exterminated large parts of the Daemons that those traitors summoned. Garkin and the Gunguscar PMC will be handling the Lesser Daemons and cannon fodder cultists."

It was agreed between MacDou and Sirzechs that he would be taking charge of the Joint Suppression Destruction Task Force because she admitted that she wasn't the best at effectively commanding people under duress.

He himself wasn't that much pleased by such a development, but he accepted the agreement as he understood that they needed to have someone in overall command.

Sirzechs knew that it was rather dangerous if both of them commanded their own people independently and did what they wanted. 

"Alright, then, everyone, depart!"

***

Base of the Abyssal Satans Cult, Around the Same Time

Shalba Beelzebub looked around the base in utter rage, because everything that he had built for the past century or so was destroyed. Even though the headquarters of the Abyssal Satans Cult was located in Gehena for just fifty years, the entire Abyssal Satans Cult functioned for over one century.

He scanned the area, since the location where he had been was too half-destroyed and looked as if it would collapse at any moment. Which was rather disturbing, because this was deep underneath the mountains...

And yet...

He noticed the stench of the Destruction...

Two types of Destruction.

Bael and Voldigoad.

There were no other people who would have this kind of mastery and affinity for the Magic Rule of Destruction. There were not many people whom Shalba actually feared, but he couldn't help but curse his luck that he actually encountered some of them at this place.

Shalba gritted his teeth in anger, because it meant that he was discovered by the united forces of the Supreme Overlord Voldigoad and Ars Goetia that were hunting down Abyssal Cultists, Chaos Sorcerers, and other worshippers of the Abyss.

Which wasn't good for him.

"Razion!"

Shalba shouted the name of the number two in the entire Abyssal Satans Cult and the sole Sorcerer Lord under his command.

Chaos Sorcerers, also called Abyssal Sorcerers, were powerful Mages who used the raw Winds of Magic drawn from the Elemental Chaos to cast spells and unleash Chaos Sorcery. 

Those Champions of Chaos who seek mastery over the Magical Arts are known as Chaos Sorcerers, and they are madmen and malcontents all. They are amongst the most awful and depraved of all servants of the Ruinous Powers, for they long ago sold their souls in exchange for the heady elixir of pure power. 

Using the raw Winds of Magic from the Elemental Chaos was extremely dangerous, because it could almost effortlessly kill the Magician. Though there was probably a need to make a distinction between the Chaos Sorcerers and Abyssal Sorcerers, because not every Chaos Sorcerer was an Abyssal Sorcerer, but every single Abyssal Sorcerer was also a Chaos Sorcerer.

Abyssal Sorcery was the Magical Art that was drawing the power of the Abyss itself... a corrupted raw energy of the Elemental Chaos. What separates Chaos Sorcerers from other spellcasters is that these individuals derive their power directly from the Abyss itself.

"I am here... injured, but nothing that the grace of our God won't make up."

Razion was the Sorcerer Lord of Tzeentch. Sorcerer Lords were the Abyssal Sorcerers that were in the service of the Architect of Fate, whose mastery over the Arcane had reached such a frightening degree that they eclipsed even the old, seasoned Archmages.

These individuals are called "Sorcerer Lords", for in fact they are the equivalent of Champions of Abyss who have specialised in Sorcery. The Magic they wield is truly frightening and something that not many could witness... even fewer could survive it.

"We are being attacked by the combined forces of Devils and Voldigoad Faction."

Razion was a devil who became a devout worshipper of the Architect of Fate after witnessing the fall of Lucifaad to the hordes of Daemons. Over the centuries, he rose through the ranks of the Abyssal Sorcerers serving his God, and he fought against other Daemons, be it the servants of the other Ruinous Gods or the Abyssal Lords.

Now he was working together with the chosen instrument of his God in the Netherworld, and they were carrying out what other servants of the Changer of Ways were doing.

Scheming, plotting and making conspiracies.

"I will head to the Dimensional Pathway and start summoning more Daemons to drown them in numbers. That attacks by those heretics wiped out almost all of our Lesser Daemons, and even one of the Greater Daemons was turned to dust."

Razion stated with zeal and rage, because they had summoned tens of thousands of Lesser Daemons, hundreds of Herald Daemons whose power was on the High-Class... but all of that was now gone. 

Most of the Daemons were killed in the brutal anguish and torture by that accursed Magic Rule of Destruction... one of the very few things that can kill the Daemons of the Abyss outside of the Abyss.

And yet...

They were so unlucky that two of the strognest lieanges with the Destruction Attribute were attacking them. This was rahter unlucky for them, because there were not many ways that could counter the Daemons... 

And the Baels and Voldigoads were certainly ones of those.

"Alright."

Shalba said as everyone had their own tasks to handle.

While Razion went to the place where the Dimensional Pathway opened, the Dimensional Pathway to the maximum and used all of their sacrifices and Souls to summon more of the Daemons, Shalba went to the deeper parts of the entire base.

In the depths of the base of Abyssal Satans Cult, there was a central Wardstone where he would take control of all the Magical Defenses of the entire base. Or at least of what has remained of them, considering the fact that large parts of them were already destroyed.

Much to his dismay.

Nevertheless, it was still good news that a large number of the Wards and especially the ones that were laid by the Greater Deamons, the Lords of Change that his Patron sent him, were mostly intact, with only some of them collapsed.

He was already pondering over the plans of how to escape from this place because something was telling him that this wasn't going to be easy. Unbeknownst to everyone in the entire Abyssal Satans Cult, Shalba had several methods of leaving this place, actually.

These means were prepared when they were constructing their base in these mountains... in fact, one of the reasons why he had chosen this place as the base for the Abyssal Satans Cult was the fact that he could create several methods of leaving this place.

Unfortunately for him, the moment he checked on the Central Wardstone, he noticed that several teleportation arrays that could be used for the instantaneous teleportation out of this place collapsed.

All of them were overflown by the Magic when the Destruction Spheres created by those two monsters outside overflown the entire Ward Network, and some of the more subtle wards and Magical Formations have collapsed outright.

"Dammit... most of the pre-prepared escape routes are now gone and inaccessible. Dammed Baels..."

If there was one thing Shalba hated more than anything in this world, it was the Baels and the entire Bael House because they were the ones who exterminated the entire House Beelzebub.

And then he, like his fellow True Satans, was the fake one from the House Abaddon, Mammon, Belphegor and Lucifuge... all of them were fake ones and traitors who abandoned the ambitions of their predecessors and instead decided to keep hiding in their keeps and castles.

They were all cowards and nothing else.

The Old Satan Faction was the only one that was true to their heritage and the legacy of the Satan-Generals of their Lord, Lucifer Morningstar.

***

Sirzechs flew through the air as he was in front of his opponent...

The Dark Lord Babolat.

Who now reached the Overlord-Class.

With the Six Eyes, he noticed that Babolat was more powerful than he had initially anticipated... Nevertheless, for Sirzechs, this was rather a worthy challenge because the former Oni, now Overlord-Class Demon, was physically extremely powerful.

Sirzechs actually loved good fights... from the outsider perspective, the Heir of the Greemory seemed like a typical, perfect aristocratic Pure-Blooded Devil, but he was actually a huge battle maniac who loved battles above everything.

He suspected that he was also a user of the Touki and Senjutsu, as he was an Oni. 

Onis were experts in the usage of Senjutsu and Touki, because they were very well physically oriented when it came to combat. Not to mention, he also had access to the repertoire of the Demonic Spells that the Demons were using, which only further increased the danger of the former Dark Lord.

Sirzechs tried to learn Senjutsu, but he had no aptitude for it. Problem with the Senjutsu was that it was heavily tied to the Speiceis... most of the races had zero to null affinity for the Senjutsu, because it was mostly a thing of the Yokai and Oni.

Devils usually had low or moderate aptitude for the Senjutsu and Touki by that extension... though that was only true for ordinary devils, but for the Super Devils and Archdevils, their aptitude for the Senjutsu was actually beyond negatives.

Was it some sort of balance from nature?

The Archdevils that evolved their Demonic Energy to the Infernity were incapable of manipulating their Life Force at all. It was mostly because the Infernity was partially created from the Life Force of the devil itself, or something like that.

Sirzechs didn't understand it that much, because it was a topic that the Devils were not really good at understanding. The Oni Tribes that lived in the Devil Domain, guarded this knowledge with extreme jealousy because it was considered their Clan Trait.

Not literally per se, but the more concrete techniques of the Senjutsu and Touki were considered on the same level as the Clan Trait by the Decree of Ars Goetia, and the Oni Tribal Chieftains that had a seat on the Ars Goetia were on the same level as Clan Lords.

Senjutsu was the power to control the flow of Life Energy, also known as Ki, in every living being. Using it, one can strengthen both their internal and external bodies or even cause vegetation around them to bloom or wither.

Senjutsu Users were able to sense the Ki and Auras of others, thus letting them track targets from far away distances. This also explained the fact that Babolat was able to sense Sirzechs from a distance, as the Heir of Gremory was detected right away, and his moment of advancement was gone.

It could also be also used to see through illusions by detecting the flow of the Spirit or Ki of others, which rendered most of the deception methods void and null.

Senjutsu was also capable of dealing internal damage to others by targeting their blood vessels and internal organs, and through disrupting the Ki of their opponent's Ki or severing it, it is possible to cause direct damage to their Spirit and Life Force, and using this as an attack could result in killing their opponent.

As such, there are very few ways to defend against Senjutsu. Senjutsu could be used to disrupt the Aura of others, thereby preventing them from using their Abilities, but not all abilities, because it wasn't effective that much on the Clan Traits and Bloodline-based Abilities that well.

Sirzechs gripped his Asura Sword, which burst out with the Power of Destruction, while Babolat also burst out with energy around his body as the enormous Oni moved with speed and agility that was almost surreal for the being of his size and proportions.

'Dammed Oni... he also has a very high mastery over Touki. Though the Abyssal Aura in his Touki is rather enormous and the Abyssal Corruption is destroying him from the inside... but that only makes him even more dangerous.'

Those trained in Senjutsu are able to use Touki through controlling their Life Force. However, some can use Touki without formal training or practicing Senjutsu, all of which includes intensive physical training.

One can say that the usage of Touki was pure weaponized use of Life Force. Sirzechs visibly cringed at the thought, because he fought a good number of Onis within the Devil Domain, some of them were in the service of the House Bael and the House Gremory, and he never liked fighting anyone who was a Senjutsu Master and a Touki Master.

It was the worst combination ever.

Touki is, in essence, the external manifestation of one's Life Force, in other words, their Ki, which would be wrapped around them as an aura. Using this, a person achieves heightened offense, defense, and speed. It also had the added effect of damaging others at the slightest touch and defending a user against a wide range of attacks, while knocking their foes back, too.

Sirzechs reacted almost instantly to Babolat's attack and used Defensive Magic to create several Magic Circles to create a barrier around him that blocked Babolat's punch, and he instantly fell away.

The Defensive Magic that he cast between him and Babolat was shattered upon the impact with little to no effort. Not only was his Touki terrifyingly powerful, but he also had access to the Abyssal Aura that had corrupted his very own fundamental being.-

And it was very well known that the Abyssal Aura and Abyssal Magic were extremely powerful and destructive. Fortunately enough, it also gave Sirzechs enough time to fly away and escape the range of his attack.

What was playing into his advantage was Sirzechs's small size.... because Babolat was huge... the hulking Overlord-Class Oni was more than fifty meters tall, and Sirzechs was just two meters tall...

If we added the fact that Sirzechs was rather small compared to the Dark Lord, the Oni Demon had many problems hitting his target. Still, the Gremory Heir was extra wary of the Overlord-Class Oni, because through the Six Eyes, he saw the real power of the former Dark Lord.

He now understood why Dark Lord Babolat was listed as one of the most powerful Dark Lords under the command of Supreme Overlord Kyablis. He remembered that his grandpa told him that Dark Lord Babolat served as one of the primary Enforcers for the Kyablis Faction.

It was also for that reason that Kyablis invested a lot of resources into Babolat, which made Sirzechs ponder how exactly Shalba was able to poach him to his side. The giant Oni never ceased his attacks as he threw another punch coated in Touki at Sirzechs, but the crimson-haired devil was much faster.

With the superior speed that Sirzechs possessed, he was able to keep dodging with ease and speed, but it seemed that he had underestimated the intelligence of the former Dark Lord Babolat.

Because when the Overlord-Class Oni noticed that he couldn't really hit the opponent he was fighting, he decided on the other approach. Babolat started summoning every bit of the Abyssal Magic in his being, merging it with the Touki and released several blasts of unholy combination.

Sirzechs obviously saw this with the Six Eyes, so he immediately went to create distance between them and started using the Power of Destruction as a defensive measure against Babolat's attacks.

Normally, using Power of Destruction was ill-advised because, due to its nature, it was not usable as a defensive measure. But compared to something as Abyssal Aura, there were not many methods of defense.

In a split second, Sirzechs was coated with several layers of Power of Destruction, and not even a few moments later, he was hit by several blasts of Abyssal Touki Beams that Babolat was shooting at him at frightening speed.

Upon the impact, the entire area where they were fighting exploded into a violent explosion that obliterated the remnants of the Abyssal Satans Cult's base in the area that was still standing because of the impact.

The Power of Destruction that was imbued with the Magic Rule of Destruction reacted pretty violently when Sirzechs was hit by the Abyssal Touki Beams. This was the usual reaction to the Abyssal Magic crashing against the Power of Destruction, as explosions were rather inevitable.

But only then did Sirzechs realize that the power behind the Abyssal Touki Beams was out of the charts, because they were as strong as more powerful attacks done by some God-King Class God or individual.

Which was problematic.

Sirzechs knew that if Babolat continued spamming Spells like these, he would be in serious trouble. He had to admit that perhaps they had underestimated the intelligence of the former Dark Lord, or rather, his Battle Instincts were much higher and sharper than initially anticipated.

Nevertheless, he didn't dare to underestimate his opponent any longer and decided to end the fight as soon as possible. His eyes shone with a bright azure blue as he noticed something particular about the former Dark Lord of the Kyablis Faction.

The Abyssal Magic that he was capable of drawing was staggeringly high.

He was being corrupted. Demon Babolat was being corrupted and transformed into the Abyssal Daemon in real time. And this was a problem and most probably a situation that not even Shalba had anticipated, but it was happening right in front of his eyes.

Without the Six Eyes that allowed him to have Extreme Mana Perception and Atomic Perception, he noticed that parts of his body were already being transformed into those of the Abyssal Daemon.

'At this pace, he would become Daemon Prince... with his power even Daemon Primarch, well, even right now his power is comparable to the Champions of the Abyss among the Greater Daemons. This is rather problematic... I need to use that thing to deal with him.'

Sirzechs looked more serious for the moment, because he knew that thwa twas happening to the Dark Lord Babolat... 

He was ascending as the Daemon Prince.

The most powerful mortal devotees of Ruinous Gods of the Abyss try to gain the attention of their Dark Gods in order to claim the terrible power and great rewards that the Ruinous Powers can bestow upon their most favoured mortal servants.

Those striving in the pursuit of their God's designs are known as Champions of Ruin, whose ultimate, driving goal is to transcend mortality itself by becoming a Daemon Prince. Those members of other species who became Daemon Princes were counted among the most powerful of the servants of Chaos, second only to the Chaos Gods and their Champion-Level Greater Daemons themselves.

Abyss was a huge place.... There were countless Abyssal Lords, Evil Gods, and other terrifying entities that dwelled in that wreathed place. With the Four Gods of Ruin standing on the pyramid of the Abyss.

The Ruinous Powers.

Locked in the eternal war against each other and also against the other Evil Gods and Abyssal Lords across the Abyss. Overall, the denizens of the Abyss were fighting against each other as much as they were fighting against the factions across the Astral Sea, Elemental Chaos, or Prime Material Plane.

Sirzechs then released several Spheres of Power of Destruction, which intercepted the Abyssal Toku Beams and put away the Asura Sword. His tail, behind him, was swirling around his body as his entire presence released huge amounts of Power of Destruction.

Suddenly, the Power of Destruction, which consisted of tremendous amounts of Magic Rules of Destruction and was powered by the Infernity, took the shape of a huge star above his head. 

'Extinguished Star.'

This was the new application of the Power of Destruction that he learned now that he had reached the near limits of what he could do with his Power of Destruction, and if one focused enough on the attack, they could feel a faint trace of Divine Force in it.

The Demonic Star of Divine Extinction, or the Extinguished Star, was a technology that compressed Destruction into the shape of a star, which could be anchored at a point in space and autonomously attack its targets until it had power.

In a split second, the Demonic Star of Divine Extinction was doing what it was supposed to do, which was to distract the Dark Lord Babolat long enough for Sirzechs to complete the transformation that he was undergoing.

Every Devil who became the Archdevil was in their True Release Form, which was a manifestation of their Infernity and Magic Rule that they mastered and comprehended...

This was his strongest state and form, in which all of his parameters were tremendously enhanced, and his Infernity Regeneration Rate reached a rather frightening degree. Not to mention, when in their True Release Form, it was extremely hard to wound and injure such individuals.

Sirzechs's True Release Form was that of pure Power of Destruction... where he transforms himself into a mass of condensed Destruction, which appeared to be humanoid in shape alone. 

The very second that he unleashed the True Release Form, his power expanded exponentially to the ridiculous degree where he was even confident facing proper Overlord-Class powerhouses.

Even though Sirzechs was just a Demigod with the Divine Rank 5, his Divine Domain of Combat and Divine Domain of War were supplementing the True Release Form because the True Release Form was rather taxing on the Archdevil...

Unless one was at the Overlord-Class, then the devil in question could use the True Release Form freely without many side effects. This was a problem that Sirzechs was facing, because he wasn't at the Overlord-Class, as he hadn't reached the limit of mastery in the Magic Rules.

"Alright... then let's start playing for real."

Sirzechs, who has transformed into the humanoid Power of Destruction, grinned as his monstrous form charged at the Dark Lord Babolat. In a split second, he appeared in front of Oni Demon and hit him on his enormous head. 

Much to his experience, Babolat managed to block the strike of his fist, which was made from the pure Power of Destruction. It was rather surprising, but not really that much, that the former Dark Lord blocked the strike.

Yet, it wasn't without any aftereffects, as he was severely injured on his hand that blocked the strike from the Power of Destruction. When he was using his True Release Form, he was using the purest, densest and most intense Magic Rule of Destruction.

The giant Oni roared in pain because the Power of Destruction managed to incinerate a few of his fingers... but Sirzechs knew that it wouldn't be that problematic for the Dark Lord Oni, with his regeneration.

'Accursed Abyss... It seems that any of the Dark Gods that have taken notice of him have given him something to increase his durability and power. Otherwise, my last attack would take the entire upper half of his head.'

Sirzechs cursed internally as he delivered another blast of pure Destruction toward the Dark Lord because this time, the reaction speed Babolat was a tad slower, because unbeknownst to the Dark Lord, he was being contaminated by the Power of Destruction.

The Abyssal Aura and Ruinious Powers of the Dark Gods, were not the sole things that had corruptive attributes. When one reached higher levels of mastery over the Magic Rule of Destruction, they would be able to make the Destruction extremely hard to get rid of.

At the same time, Sirzechs controlled the Destruction in Babolat's enormous body as the Power of Destruction started destroying the enormous Overlord-Class Oni was being destroyed from the inside.

No matter how many times he was hit by the Babolat, it was futile, as several moments later Sirzechs was shot down to the ground by the giant Oni's pucnzh... 

Unfortunately for the creature, when the Archdevils were in their True Release Form, they were technically almost invulnerable to physical attacks. Only a few kinds of physical attacks were special enough to bypass this ability of the True Release Form.

If Babolat were smarter, he could have utilized the Abyssal Magic in a very specific way to bypass the ability of the True Release Form. Sirzechs just stood from the crater where Babolat punched him, as he was in his pristine form...

The only thing where he lost a bit was a minor loss of the Infernity, but under these circumstances, it was nothing because it was almost instantly recovered through rapid regeneration.

The Heir of the Gremory shot towards the injured Dark Lord, with lightning speed, while bursting with the beams of Destruction that were hitting the giant creature all over its body, with Sirzechs aiming directly at the head.

Just as he was about to deliver a very powerful hit at the former Oni, he was suddenly thrown off by a huge spatial wave... normally invisible to the normal observer, he, with his Six Eyes, was able to see clearly what was happening.

Suddenly, a Spatial Crack appeared in the fabric of space, and Babolat, who was fighting against him and was being destroyed by the Power of Destruction, was suddenly drawn into the Spatial Crack.

Sirzechs saw that it was connected to the Abyss, and he also recognized the aura and Magic coming from the Spatial Crack. He weighed his options, but in the end, he decided to refrain from doing anything as the enormous figure of Babolat disappeared into the Spatial Crack.

The aura of the Blood God's Domain was unmistakable, and because of that, he wisely decided not to do anything. Sirzechs knew that Babolat was someone on whom The Lord of Skulls set his sight and most probably wanted to make him his Daemon Prince... 

Most probably the Daemon Primarch.

In front of the powers like that, he was just a small fry.

Nothing significant.

Even though he believed that if the fight continued, he would be able to defeat and kill Babolat, he wasn't going to risk everything just for the opportunity to kill a rather insignificant Overlord-Class Oni.

In the end, once he got into the Abyss, Champions of the Greater Daemon couldn't descend into the Prime Material Plane and the Astral Sea. Sirzechs also knew that Khorne would be pretty enraged that he needed to save his newest pawn, so it wasn't even assured that Babolat would survive the upcoming tribulations that the Lord of Murder would prepare for him.

The Blood God didn't forgive losses, and seeing how Babolat was being beaten by Sirzechs must have disappointed Khorne very much. 

"Well, this is rather problematic... hopefully, this will be the last intervention in this mission."

In fact, Sirzechs didn't really care if someone like Babolat escaped. In the end, it was just muscle, a powerful one, which was true, but only a muscle. There were countless individuals like him out there.

But Shalba Beelzebub was a different case altogether.

He was the last member of the House of Beelzebub and the last bearer of the Beelzebub Lineage in its purest form. Not to mention, he had a brain in that head of his, contrary to his fellow weaklings, Creuserey Asmodeus and Katerea Leviathan.

Potential for causing trouble was immense.

Even though such people like Shalba were weak in the greater scheme of all things... at least they were weak when Sirzechs compared them to the people whom he considered on the same or similar level.

While in fact reaching Ultimate-Class was actually enough to be considered as true experts and famous powerhouses across the entire Draconic Deus.

***

Some Time Earlier, The Central Area of the Abyssal Satans Cult's Base

MacDou Voldigoad, the daughter of Supreme Overlord of Tyranny Anos Voldigoad and the Primordial Goddess of Creation Militia, was born with extreme power and unimaginable privilege.

As a result, it was rare for her to fight to her limits.

She was something around a century and a half old, but the number of times that she had a good life and death battle could be counted on one hand. Now she finally got what she wanted as she held her sword that her father had given her when she became an adult fifty years ago.

It was a huge sword that would require a normal demon to wield, but she was wielding it effortlessly with a single hand. It was an enormous sword of silver color, highly ornamental, and it radiated the divinity of her mother, because the sword was created by her.

It was an Ultra-Divine Tool.

Leviangilma, the Sword of the Almighty.

She looked at the opponent in front of her.

It was rather highly disturbing because it seemed that something had happened during the time when they were fighting above and breaching through the defenses and cannon fodder.

Power of the Shalba Beelzebub was reaching the limits of the High Ultimate-Class, and he had that kind of rather really frightening Abyssal Aura around him. The worst thing, though... was his appearance because he was heavily mutated beyond his ordinary devil form.

He looked more like an Abyssal Daemon if anything... the Power of the Ruin was seeping from him for miles, and even the stench of the Abyss was enormous on his person. She noticed that his devil form was completely deformed, his skin turned bloody red and fused with the armor he was wearing.

She could guess what had happened to him.

That was the reason why one should never pledge themselves to the Four Ruination Gods, Evil Gods of the Abyss, or Abyssal Lords.

Never.

It never ended well.

MacDou knew that Shalba was in cahoots with one of the Four Ruination Gods, and judging by the information gathered on the last bearer of the Beelzebub Bloodline, it was most probably Tzeentch.

Though what was bugging her was how he ended this much mutated beyond the reason... because this was probably one of the more severe cases of the Ruination Mutations that she had seen.

Either it was the "Gift" from his Patron God, or it was something that Shalba did to himself by carelessly using some Artifacts of the Ruinous Powers or Abyss. 

This was rather a common result of using the Ruinous Artifacts or Abyssal Artifacts, as they tended to completely corrupt and mutate their user into some kind of monstrosity. She didn't know what the reason was, but it could be both.

It wouldn't be any surprise.

Maybe the Architect of Fate decided to cut his losses with Shalba, because the last Beelzebub was rather worthless to him right now with the setup that was currently laying siege to the base of the Abyssal Satans Cult.

If she were a betting person, she would say that it was a combination of both factors and not just one.

She noticed that the young Beelzebub had lost much of his sanity, which was a rather common thing among those who were corrupted and mutated into the monstrosities of Ruin and Abyss.

In a split second, her eyes shone with crimson color as Runic Symbols appeared in her eyes, and the Ruinious Magic around Shalba's mutated form started collapsing into itself. 

These Magic Eyes are known to destroy everything in the user's sight. In truth, they are the ultimate form of Anti-Magic, and destroying people and objects is a byproduct of their power.

People with inferior Magic can be defeated with a single glare, and the power of superior users can be whittled down with the Magic Eyes of Destruction. While the power of the Eyes is impressive, they have to see Magic and spell formulas to destroy them. 

The Magic Eyes of Destruction was one of the signature abilities of the Voldigaod's Destruction Source. She readied her sword, Leviangilma, the Sword of the Almighty as she appeared in front of Mutated Beelzebub and slashed toward him with the Sword of the Almighty.

The ultimate ability of the Leviangilma, the Sword of the Almighty, was Absolute Severance.

The true power of this weapon was that it could cut through anything, no matter how indestructible it may be, including the Gods, even those that have abilities that make them Immortal.

It could sever and slash through anything that was on an existentially lower level than the one who created the sword. Meaning, anything at and below the level of the Primordial God was basically weak to the sword.

Much to her surprise, the mutated Beelzebub managed to block the strike of the sword... at least partially, because his hand was severed in that one strike, but he survived. Before MacDou could do anything, Shalba burst out with a mixture of Abyssal Aura and Ruinous Magic; whatever had caused the mutation was mutating him even more.

MacDou instantly created distance between them as she teleported away.

The transformation of his flesh and Demonic Energy was also instantaneous.

After being enhanced by the powers of the Ruin and Abyss, Shalba Beelzebub's Demonic Energy and Clan Trait King of Flies ability were enhanced to the point of transforming him into a monstrous form that she had never seen before.

A fifty-meter fly-shaped monster that has 10 or more legs, and not only those of insects but also beastial legs with claws and hoofed legs. The wings on the Devil's back were not only those of insects, but also birds and dragons, and possessed immense physical strength. Despite its appearance, it still retained the consciousness and intelligence that it had, though MacDou noted that it was getting smarter.

Which could be a problem.

The whole body started generating a vast black fog, and as soon as something touched the black fog, living beings such as plants and trees that had grown on the ground died out in an instant, and even the soil was rotted.

'Pure Ruination... fuck.'

MacDou cursed because she noted that his entire Demonic Energy was transformed into the pure Ruination that was characteristic only for the Gods of Ruin and their Greater Daemons... 

Whatever the mutant was, she knew that it was the pawn of one of the Gods of Ruin.

She found it rather disgusting as countless eyes were growing on its forehead and the flesh on its forehead was capable of forming the deformed face that was reminiscent of a merger between Shalba Beelzebub and some avian Greater Daemon.

"Fucking Chimera."

She muttered as she termed the being "Fly Chimera" based on the Clan Trait of the Beelzebub Clan, King of Flies.

The daughter of the Anos Voldigoad didn't wait for the moment, as she attacked the Fly Chimera with newfound speed and slashed at one of its deformed limbs made of flesh and metal.

Blood splattered on the ground, as she noticed that the blood was deadly poison, which proved to be another minor complication for her. The soil turned black and became poisonous as the poison was capable of killing even High-Class beings in mere seconds.

MacDou then utilized the ultimate ability of the Voldigoad Lineage, the Source Destruction, as she blasted a beam of crimson-black energy, which was very similar to the Power of Destruction at the Fly Chimera. 

In a mere moment, the entire upper half of the body of the Fly Chimera was obliterated into the nothingness, because despite everything, the Fly Chimera was still only a peak High Ultimate-Class being.

Maximally, he would be Pseudo Overlord-Class, because while she noticed that the energy levels of the Fly Chimera were higher than most of the Overlords that she had seen, there was no mastery or usage of the Magic Rule.

Even the usage of the Ruination by the Fly Chimera was rather subpar and very crude.

'Of course it would have a very high regeneration rate...'

It didn't even take a few milliseconds as the Fly Chimera regenerated to the top-notch state like it was before. She was growing visibly annoyed because her usage and understanding of the Source Destruction wasn't as high as that of her father.

Which was obvious.

But due to that, she wasn't able to negate the Ruination that was flowing through the very fundamental being of the Fly Chimera. She needed to create a new strategy and the best viable one was to find a Core inside his being.

Mutants like these usually had a Core or several Cores in their bodies. As long as these Cores were not destroyed, they would be getting regenerated all over again, almost infinitely, because these Cores were working on either Ruination Magic or Abyssal Magic that they were drawing directly from the Gods of Ruin or from the Abyss.

She knew that these Cores must be destroyed or else she wouldn't be able to fully kill the Fly Chimera at all. They were like the Anchors to the Gods of Ruin that were siphoning Energy into its bodies, making the Fly Chimera virtually unkillable.

Nevertheless, for MacDou, this was just a minor inconvenience because, fortunately, she had exactly the weapon that was needed to deal with enemies like this.

Leviangilma the Sword of the Almighty, with its ability Absolute Severence, was capable of cutting through the Cores.

The only thing that she needed was to find them.

That was all.

She raised her sword and attacked the Fly Chimera once more; this time, she aimed at the areas on its enormous body where she sensed something odd. Something that seemed like a huge concentration of the Ruinous Magic, which was characteristic of the Dark Gods of Ruin.

The Fly Chimera roared in pain when the Leviangilma the Sword of the Almighty, struck into its body as a minor explosion of pure Ruinous Magic followed shortly after when one of the Cores inside its body was destroyed.

MacDou instantly dodged another blast of Ruinous Magic that was short toward her by the Fly Chimera as her entire body was enveloped by huge amounts of Infernity as she readied for another attack.

She knew that the Fly Chimera had seven of such Cores, and now, with one less, the monstrosity of the Ruination got significantly weaker. In the following moments, she has cut down the number of the Cores to only two.

With each destroyed Core, the Fly Chimera got weaker and weaker... not to mention their regeneration has gotten weaker and slower. She noticed that the Fly Chimera wasn't regenerating as fast as before, much to MacDou's pleasure.

Leviangilma, the Sword of the Almighty, burst out with a certain kind of light, called the Light of Creation... one of the abilities that belonged to her mother, the Primordial Goddess of Creation Militia and the Goddess who created Leviangilma, the Sword of the Almighty.

Only such a powerful Primordial Goddess would be strong enough to create such a powerful Ultra-Divine Tool.

As the Light of Creation struck the Fly Chimera, large parts of its body were literally burned from existence, together with one of the two remaining Cores in its body.

Her father was one of the strongest and most skilled swordsmen in the entire Netherworld, and MacDou inherited a lot of that aptitude for swordsmanship based on how she handled such a weapon.

Her accurate senses noticed that something was happening in the body of the Fly Chimera, as she didn't give the mutated monstrosity any more chance, and with a burst of Infernity, she appeared in front of the Fly Chimera and pierced her sword directly through its head.

Which was the place where the last Core was located.

She considered herself rather lucky, because the Cores were static and not moving through the body. Some more skilled and smarter creatures, or the ones with more powerful Lineages, were able to move the Cores across their body permanently.

Which made the destruction of the Cores nigh impossible through ordinary means. 

And by ordinary, she meant rather unordinary.

As the last Core was destroyed, she activated one of the abilities of Leviangilma, the Sword of the Almighty, which released a tremendous amount of Light of Creation into the body of the Fly Chimera.

The creature screeched in pain, as its body was being burned by the Divine Light of the Primordial Goddess until nothing remained. Not even ashes remained as the body, and even the very soul of the Fly Chimera was burned by the Divine Light.

As the body of Fly Chimera was destroyed, several creepy-looking objects dropped from the body of the mutated monstrosity, which MacDou recognized as Artifacts of the Dark Gods.

More precisely, Artifacts of the Tzeentch.

By the symbols that were engraved on them.

The symbol of Tzeentch was a sphere, bracketed by a strange, twisting sigil, though his followers sometimes use the all-seeing eye, a symbol appropriate for the Architect of Fate.

The artifacts had both of the symbols.

"Ts... fool."

Now she knew exactly what had happened to Shalba Beelzebub, though she could imagine that Sirzechs would be pretty pissed that Shalba was dead. The Heir of the Grmeory wanted to take him alive, because he was a well of information.

And now that information was incinerated into the nothingness together with Shalba's body.

"Though that expectable.... everyone who deals with entities like them doesn't end well."

She then used the Source Destruction on the Artifacts of the Changer of Ways, destroying them for good, because they were too dangerous to be left alone or even collected and stored away.

Anyone with half a brain in their head knew that even owning an Artifact that was related to one of the Four Gods of Ruin was extremely dangerous for the owner, and it never really ended well.

After destroying the Artifacts, she went to another area of the underground base where the Central Wardstones of the entire base were located. MacDou put her hands on what seemed to be Central Wardstone and forcefully hijacked the control over the Wards and Bounded Fields across the base of Abyssal Satans Cult.

As soon as she took control of the Central Wardstone and, by extension, over the entire Defensive Network of the Abyssal Satans Cult, she controlled the Wards to start targeting the Daemons of the Abyss and members of the Cult.

While a large number of wards were already destroyed thanks to the fighting that was taking place throughout the entire base, a good number of the wards were still working, and once they turned against their former owners, the result was disastrous.

***

Base of the Abyssal Satans Cult, Three Hours Later

"Well, let's recount our losses and gains."

Sirzechs said as he sat on some random larger lock because most of the base of the Abyssal Satans Cult was destroyed during the fighting. Right now, he, together with MacDou Voldigoad and Roygun Belphegor, were discussing the aftermath of the operation against the Cultists of Ruin.

The Joint Suppression Destruction Task Force was currently cleaning the rest of the battlefield and going through the possessions of the Abyssal Satans Cult. Or at least, of what has remained from their possessions, because many things were destroyed, so they needed to make an inventory of what has remained.

Many things would be destroyed, because they were deemed to be too dangerous to be left in the Netherworld. Mostly, the Abyssal Artifacts and Ruinious Artifacts belong to the Gods of Ruin.

Anything and everything of that origin needed to be destroyed.

"On our side, we have minimal losses with only a few deaths among the High-Class troops. Some of our Ultimate-Classes are injured, but nothing serious. Thanks to Lady Voldigoad and her taking over the Central Ward Control System, our losses are considerably lower."

Roygun Belphegor reported the state of the Stray Hunting Squad, and its members, while Sirzechs nodded in acceptance because such looseness was acceptable and within reason.

In fact, they were actually rather lower than they had initially anticipated, which was good.

Most of it was thanks to Roygun, who managed to reach the place where the Dimensipnal Pathway to the Abyss was located, and she managed to close down the Pathways rather swiftly and soon enough.

"Also, didn't you encounter a Sorcerer Lord there?"

MacDou Voldigoad asked because she sensed another powerhouses within the base of the Abyssal Satans Cult.

"I did... but he jumped into the Dimensional Pathway the moment he arrived at the place and escaped back to the Abyss."

Both Sirzechs and MacDou actually looked at Roygun in surprise, but neither was really surprised by the revelation. They were smart enough to see that the Sorcerer Lord Razion, who was Shalba's number 2, was actually the true kingmaker.

Meanwhile, the Shalba Beelzebub was just a pawn on the board by the Architect of Fate.

"Well, that was partially expected... if they realized that this entire thing was a lost cause, they would cut their losses and escape. We are dealing here with the professional schemers, not some brutish Khornites."

Sirzechs knew that if they were dealing with the worshippers of Khorne, they would be fighting till their last breath, because the Lord of Skulls didn't forgive retreat or even consider it.

Dying on the battlefield was considered as the greater kind of honor that the servant of the Blood God could achieve.

And if he killed a few enemies during that, then it was even better.

But for the Daemons and servants of the other Gods of Ruin?

None had even a remotely tiny sense of honor.

Khorne wasn't called Lord of the Martial Honor for nothing, because one of the four was obsessed with the concept of the Martial Honor and combat. For the other Gods of Ruin, though?

Sirzechs knew that Daemons were inherently cowardly.

Even the other Abyssal Lords unaffiliated with the Gods of Ruin or Minor Gods of Ruins were essentially nothing more than just cowards who valued their own lives and possessions more than anything else.

"Well then, let's ignore this for the time being and focus on the other things. MacDou, how are your forces?"

Sirzechs was already on first-name terms with the daughter of the Supreme Overlord of Tyranny... something that didn't escape Roygun's attention as the heiress of the Belphegor House narrowed her eyes at the Archdemoness with strong suspicion.

"Minor losses of some unfortunate demons that were unlucky to meet some of the surviving Greater Daemons on the battlefield."

MacDou also had a similar kind of loss to Sirzechs, but it wasn't anything serious, which was pretty fortunate. 

"Gigai found one of the vaults that the Abyssal Satans Cult had stashed away. There are plenty of Arifacts there... mostly the ones related to the Powers of Ruination, but there are also some of the Abyss. Nevertheless, most of them would be destroyed because, well... they are too tainted."

The daughter of the Voldigoad stated that because her forces managed to find one of the vaults of the Cult, but the gains from there were...

Subpar.

"Anything significant?"

Sirzechs turned to Roygun, who, much to his surprise, nodded in agreement.

"Few Lore Books on the Winds of Magic, Lore of Chaos and even Lore of Ruin... the last book, though, bears too many implications and I banished it to the Abyss."

Roygun used her Clan Trait Crack to open a crack in the fabric of space and banished the Book on the Lore of Ruin. Her other companions agreed with it, because books that contained Lore of Ruin were indestructible.

Literally indestructible.

Those Grimoires were made from the power of the Gods of Ruination, and thus, they couldn't be destroyed unless one destroyed the God of Ruination who created the Grimoire. The only safe way of disposing of the Grimoires that were of the Lore of Ruin was to either seal them or banish them back to the Abyss.

"Did they even have anything of value aside from that?"

He was rather disappointed, because he had expected a good amount of loot in the base of the Abyssal Satans Cult.

And yet...

There was nothing.

"On my end, nothing of significance... while we recovered some Hex Crystals, but not anything that would make one rich. Certainly, they only possessed a meager amount of Soul Coins, some random enchanted weapons here and there, or materials for smithing and Alchemy."

MacDou Voldigoad stated, because well... she too was rather disappointed with the ending of the campaign. Even for her, finding anything would be a pleasant surprise because the Cultists of the Abyss usually had interesting items in their possession.

The kind that was outside of the Draconic Deus Segment.

Like the books on the Winds of Magic, rare Magical Items and powerful Magical Artifacts that were brought here from the outside through the Abyss.

"Whatever then... though at least we captured a good number of prisoners. What about those ones?"