More than a month ago, Kram World. When Lucifer's words regarding the invasion of the universe came out of his mouth, everyone in the room fell silent to the point that not even the inhalations and exhalations of the members of the Demonic Army could be heard.
From a certain point of view, it could be said that the quietest among those present was none other than Lilith. This was because all the Higher Existences present in the room, except for her, had already participated in at least one war against the invaders and survived to tell the tale.
"How can this be possible..." Fire Sorrow slowly sat up as she stared at the huge crimson crack that seemed to be the representation of the entrance to hell itself. "They always invaded once every thousand years at most, and that amount of time was already too short for us to refill our ranks... But now we are being attacked more often than before?"
The birth of a Higher Existence was not a particularly normal occurrence regardless of how vast the universe was. Even if one set aside the fact that not all planets with living beings were evolving as they had not yet met the requirements to be visited by the Soul Record, a Higher Existence could only be born when soul evolvers reached level 400, completed at least 50% of their evolution requirements, and met a member of one of the eight major factions who would immediately inform the Leader of their faction which would lead to the recruitment of said soul evolver.
Level up to level 400 could take thousands of years, and only the true genius elites among the geniuses could reach that level if they did not fall on the way.
The universe had no shortage of stars, but many of them fell and faded before they could even show their maximum splendor.
With so many obstacles in the way, the eight factions had to strive to recruit as much as they could but it was impossible to recover in less than 10.000 years from the losses suffered by each of them after fighting the invaders.
With luck, there were perhaps 10 living beings in the entire universe who ascended to the ranks of Higher Existences per year, and those 10 were divided into eight groups. Even if within the 7000-8000 year time limit a faction managed to make up a few thousand of the previous loss, it still wouldn't be enough and the next war would weaken them even more.
Fire Sorrow's concern was one they all understood and sympathized with, but there was little they could do in this regard.
"When?" Luciah asked in an emotionless voice.
"Could be today, could be tomorrow, could be next week or next month." Lucifer took back the device and said in a deep voice, "It's impossible to know for sure. Especially now that this irregularity is taking place. But, it will certainly be soon and we need to get ready for it."
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Lucifer stood up and said in a cold voice, "I hope everyone here has been able to live a good life so far, and in case you have loved ones hope you have been able to say some nice words."
"...What do you mean by that?" Lilith asked with a frown of apprehension.
"It means that the odds of many of us here present dying are not low." Lucifer turned the table around and walked to the giant stone door, and when he opened it he saw the hallway filled with members of his faction standing with serious expressions. "Little kids, I'm sorry to have to risk your lives but I really have no choice."
"What are you saying, Your Majesty..." Valiant walked to the door and said in a firm voice, "Most if not all of us would have died wrinkled with old age by now if it weren't for you. Your Majesty gave us years of life by making us part of the Demonic Army. Some have lived centuries and some millennia longer than expected, others have met the love of their lives after living thousands of years in solitude after arriving here. It is only natural that we fight for our home."
Valiant was certainly an exceptional general. Although she appeared to be an emotionless soul evolver as she never reflected any in either her voice or her actions or expressions, she definitely knew what to say to fan the flames in the heart of the army.
"It's just like Miss Valiant just said!"
"Fight, fight! Who is the one to smash this time? Don't tell me it's those pesky white pigeons!"
"Hahaha, as if! Those angels know they can't beat us with their numbers!"
"Now that His Majesty put on his battle gear it means someone will definitely suffer!"
"Bring it on! Let's show them that our Leader is no freak!"
... Lucifer looked at the battle flame burning in everyone's eyes and nodded.
"All right, let's go ahead and get started then." Lucifer stamped softly on the stone floor and said in a deep voice, "Alastar, wake up. Time to fight."
Then, something that left many, even Lilith, breathless, occurred. The castle walls released a faint but obvious pale blue glow, and in a minute the entire structure flashed. Then, an old voice rang in everyone's ears.
"Looks like peace is over, huh? Old friend."
Except for those Higher Existences who had been part of the Demonic Army for over 8000 years, everyone else was surprised when they felt the walls of the giant castle rumbling with every word from the unknown voice.
"Nothing big, just taking out the junk. The usual." Lucifer waved a hand casually.
"Hahahaha!" The entire castle shook. "All right, to the dump then, is that it?"
"Em. To the dump." Lucifer nodded and soon everyone felt a huge magic circle trigger outside the castle moments before a great amount of magical power and spatial laws began to shake Kram World.
"The castle..." Lilith stood in awe as she watched everything around her slowly become slightly more blurry and shaky than before.
She knew that the castle itself was an artifact, a creation that had been formed through forging, construction, rune encryption, and many other more areas such as magical engineering.
However, this was the first time Lilith and many others had heard the castle speak.
"This castle is not just a normal artifact." Fire Sorrow stood up and said in a serious voice, "Alastar... This entire castle is His Majesty Lucifer's Soul Armament."
"Soul Armament... The entire castle..." Lilith muttered in a voice that only she could hear and as she recalled the thousands of cannons with enough power to threaten Higher Existences installed on the fortress walls she couldn't help but sigh.
Although Lilith naturally knew that Annihilation of the Falling Sky was a sealed Soul Armament, the visual difference was colossal when compared to Alastar, Lucifer's castle.
If not for the fact that she didn't think everyone was having fun joking about it, Lilith would have thought that there was no way Annihilation of the Falling Sky was a more powerful Soul Armament than this giant fortress.
"We've arrived."
Lucifer's voice brought everyone out of the sack of surprise they had entered and it was only then that they realized that the castle no longer glowed, the surroundings no longer rumbled, and the spatial laws had returned to normal.
However, when Lilith looked out the large window, she noticed that although she had not actually taken a step she was no longer in her previous location.
"Let's go." Lucifer moved forward and the Fifth Order stocks opened to the sides.
The Seventh Order generals followed closely behind with Lilith that possessed power equivalent to that of a Seventh Order soul evolver being the only exception to this rule.
With Lucifer leading the way and the most powerful a few steps behind him, the rest followed.
As they walked out of the castle, more members of the Demonic Army were hovering in the emptiness with their wings outstretched or standing with serious expressions in the front courtyard.
Lilith did not know how many members of the Demonic Army were present, but it was definitely at least 1 or 2 million. She had only seen this kind of accumulation only once, and that was during the war against the other factions of Higher Existences in which she participated for the sake of gaining the right of ownership over a world that had just ascended.
Despite being so many numerically speaking, no one said anything and instead of asking questions, they followed in the footsteps of their Leader.
It was after approaching the edge of the front courtyard that Lilith realized they were actually in outer space. The castle was on a platform, and as she looked around Lilith could see that there were some Higher Existences belonging to other factions suspended in the empty space.
Lucifer stopped for a moment as he saw the other Leaders advancing in his direction before saying something to Luciah and Fire Sorrow and finally moving towards them.
Medes of the Army of Heaven accompanied by two well-known archangels, Gabriel and Uriel.
Lethar of the Heavenly Moon Army accompanied by two Seventh Order werewolves.
Salazar of the Evolution Army accompanied by two zombie females, both had red eyes and shared a striking beauty; they were Seventh Order powerhouses.
Last but not least, a mind-blowingly beautiful crimson-haired female, barely an inch below Uriel and Lilith, advanced with four pairs of fiery wings blazing behind her. At her side were two Seventh Order soul evolvers as well.
"You came, Lucifer." The first to speak was Medes, who had a slight pious, gentle smile on his face.
"Of course. Though I'd rather not have to." Lucifer snorted.
Lethar looked at the troops of the Demonic Army and said in a serious voice, "This is quite an anomaly even if they are only 10 years in advance. We will be watching beyond the Wall of Chaos, and if it becomes absolutely necessary we will step in."
"Heh." Lucifer scoffed but said nothing.
Step in? As if.
Lucifer knew that for everyone present, the Demonic Army would be weakened meant good news in many ways and aspects. What Lethar meant was probably the same thing they were all thinking, that if the Demonic Army showed signs of failing to stop the invaders they would lend a hand but not for the sake of saving Lucifer's troops but because they could not allow the enemy to reach beyond the Wall of Chaos and move through the universe at will.
"So, Nikolay and the little dragon boy didn't come?" Lucifer looked around and noticed that three Leaders were missing, but Star Devourer's absence was not a surprise at all.
"The little dragon boy is still recovering from what happened in the constellation of the Heavenly Wolf." The fiery red-haired woman, Leader of Endless Crimson Flame, sneered.
"Well, the Dragon God Realm has been quieter than usual after what happened in the outskirts of the Heavenly Wolf constellation. Just as Eternal pointed out just now." Medes sighed. "As for Nikolay... He's been investing quite a bit of time and resources to search for worlds belonging to the Dragon God Realm. It's likely he wants revenge."
"No wonder." Salazar chuckled sardonically and pointed out, "Long Tian ambushed and killed one of Nikolay's generals, and an extremely popular one at that. Things will definitely get interesting soon!"
"If we manage to survive, that is." Lucifer yawned.
His words silenced everyone for a moment as they stared at the large crimson crack in the distance.
... As Lucifer exchanged words with the other Higher Existence Leaders, Lilith and several other Higher Existences coming to this place for the first time looked at the large crimson crack with wide eyes.
However, what surprised Lilith the most was not the crack itself since even though this was the first time she had seen it in person she had at least heard and read about it in some books of the Demonic Army.
What surprised Lilith the most was the wall whose end was nowhere in sight that stretched both lengthwise and breadthwise in such a way that the universe itself seemed to be being cut apart and detached.
"What is that?" she murmured with eyes filled with wonder.
"Mm?" Crow looked at her in confusion before his eyes flashed with compression, "Right. This is your first time participating in a war against the invaders, Lilith. It's only natural that you don't know about the Wall of Chaos since there aren't even records of its existence."
"Wall of Chaos?"
"Em. That's its name." Crow nodded. His mood was clearly not good, his expression was serious and he didn't even feel like flirting with Lilith, proof of how worrisome the current situation was.
"The Wall of Chaos has been there seemingly forever. Even Fire Sorrow admitted many years ago that when she ascended along with His Majesty Lucifer and Luciah, the Wall of Chaos was already in this place."
Even older than Lucifer and Fire Sorrow... Lilith could feel her heart tremble as she looked at the slightly brownish-colored wall in the distance.
"The Wall of Chaos is the last defense of the universe. It is there to prevent invaders from entering our universe and causing disasters." Crow added in a serious voice. "The Wall of Chaos cannot be destroyed even with the strength of the Leaders of the eight factions working together, instead, our attacks will be absorbed and further increase the power of the wall... It is said that if the Soul Record deems us to fail in our mission to repel the invaders it will explode the wall killing everything on this side regardless of whether it is an ally or not."
* * * * * * * A/N: For those who are not on discord, these days have been busy as I am in the middle of planning to return to my country. Updates might be a bit irregular in terms of schedule but you will certainly have at least 1 chapter before each reset.
Sorry for the inconvenience >.< I'm doing my best. Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3

Comments

Loading...