Chapter 835: What will you choose? The Devil or The Crazy Witch?
"Abyss, we have a problem."
"What is it now?" The three spoke at the same time.
"The effects of the passage of Time have passed through the portal," The Universal Tree spoke.
"What!?" The three looked in the direction of the portal in Arcane and saw the state of the room around it.
As they focused their eyes on the portal, they saw that it was connecting the two planets in a rather direct way.
In other words, because of their action of increasing Time on that planet, some traces of that Time passage had passed through the portal.
"How did we miss this...?" Incredulity was evident in their tone of voice.
"Standing by this man is diminishing our intelligence."
"He's a nuisance."
The Judges of The Abyss were quite dissatisfied; it was not common for them to miss such small 'details.'
But in this specific situation, they had no choice but to blame themselves. After all, they had merely focused on the one planet and didn't pay closer attention to the portal and Earth.
The Universal Tree just rolled his eyes and didn't comment on Abyss's words, already accustomed to the perfection the three expected in their work.
"Anyway, we've finished our work here. The Balance has been achieved, and we should not interfere further with the Beings."
"Are you really going to ignore this situation?"
The Universal Tree shrugged. "My son-in-law and that Witch prevented the effects of Time from passing and spreading further; we have nothing more to do."
Their job was to maintain The Balance of The Universe, but that didn't mean they didn't have their own personal responsibilities.
Take The Universal Tree, for example: he was responsible for the continuation of Life, Existence, and The Maintenance of The Universe.
A Sector with stronger Supernatural Beings coming into contact with a Sector that hadn't even had a chance to develop yet?
He wouldn't allow that to happen; as the Primordial One dealing with Life, he wouldn't let the new 'plants' be uprooted before they could show their own potential.
Despite his bias towards Jeanne, The Universal Tree took his work very seriously.
A sentiment that the three Judges of The Abyss also shared: they were responsible for Souls and The Spiritual Side of Existence, and it was essential for Souls to progress and grow, which couldn't be done without 'Life'. Because of this, the two Entities often worked together since their jobs complemented each other.
This was the reason they intervened in this situation; after all, this situation was not 'normal.' Normally, an existence from a Higher Sector couldn't go to an underdeveloped Sector. It was a rule they themselves had created, but due to the 'connection' that the Witches had with this planet, they managed to open a portal to this place.
Because of this abnormality, they had to intervene and make a decision.
They could have simply blocked off this Sector entirely, but the damage was already done, and Victor had already entered the portal and announced his presence, causing many changes that they couldn't predict completely.
Since the milk had already been spilled, they chose to 'Balance' the game.
This time, even if a Pantheon from Earth decided to invade this place, they wouldn't be completely defenseless.
"I will go to The Nexus; I need to reinforce The System. I'm concerned about the 'anomalies' that have been appearing frequently," Abyss suddenly said.
"I will call Death and Infinity. We will be there too."
"Okay."
When the three disappeared from the scene, The Universal Tree looked toward the planet, specifically at his daughter, who was holding the hand of a young teenager who was her Negative counterpart.
"She has completely awakened her memory... Good, with this, she is safe," he touched his chin, contemplating a specific matter.
"Despite going through an 'abnormal' situation, she didn't take the same path as Roxanne. She didn't attempt to merge with the Soul of another Being..."
The Universal Tree was sure that when he created his daughters, their instincts would be to preserve the planet and their own existence.
Merging one's Soul with another and nurturing that Soul as if it were the planet itself was clearly an abnormality.
He thought about it for a moment, evaluating the situation, but then shrugged.
'Well, he's the man who willingly decided to help my sister because he wanted to see a woman at her best; I guess charisma must have been one of the factors that led Roxanne to make that decision.'
Even in an underdeveloped state, Roxanne found Victor, but she still had her instincts implanted by The Universal Tree. She wouldn't make a decision that could endanger the planet so lightly. The proof of these thoughts was that when Roxanne encountered The Universal Tree, she quickly apologized for failing in her existential duty.
"Hmm..." The Universal Tree made a hand gesture, and soon, a green Energy flew from his hands toward his two daughters.
"With this, if an unforeseen event occurs, she will be safe."
The Universal Tree was clearly biased towards his daughters, often intervening to prevent their destruction or protect them.
Well, that's what a normal father would do when his daughter was in danger, right?
...
"The portal has stabilized," Albedo said.
"...Not only that. It has changed," Victor added.
"As I thought. A 'Balance' has occurred, huh?" Albedo spoke.
"Is it because of me?"
"Probably. Your entry into the portal and demonstrating your Powers to the entire planet must have greatly shocked that weaker Sector."
"...Sector?"
"Oh, you don't know, do you?"
"Yes." He was honest and had no shame in admitting he didn't have knowledge. It would be more embarrassing to pretend to know and act foolish.
"Sectors are how the Primordial Entities categorize the Cosmos. Underdeveloped Sectors are regions of The Universe with intelligent life, but have yet to fully develop."
"Sectors are divided into Inhospitable, Low, Medium, and High levels."
"Inhospitable Sectors, as you can guess, are regions of the Cosmos where Life either hasn't occurred or hasn't fully developed. They are chaotic places with no intelligent life."
"Low Sectors are regions of The Universe with planets that have intelligent life. These planets have their own cultures and Species."
"Samar and Nightingale are classified at this level."
"Samar and Nightingale... I presume they are classified like that because of the actions of the Werewolves and Noble Vampires, right?"
Albedo smiled slightly and nodded. "Correct. If Vlad hadn't invaded Nightingale, the 'wild' Beings on that planet wouldn't have evolved so quickly."
"...The Primordial Entities again, huh."
"Balance is necessary, and the Primordial Entities don't take these matters lightly."
"Vlad invaded a weaker Sector with hostile intentions, and there are consequences to that."
"The thing is, all the low-level Sectors are under the protection of the Primordial Entities, specifically The Universal Tree. The reason for this is to give Beings a 'chance' to generate Life. Attacking when they are underdeveloped is like stripping the potential from an entire newborn Sector, and they want to avoid that."
Victor fell silent for a few seconds. These were things that not even he, with the memories of various Beings, knew. He quickly understood this information and its consequences for Beings in general, so he spoke:
"...It's like a protection that prevents a level 100 Demon King from going to the level 1 Starting Village, huh."
"Yes. Without this protection, Beings from Higher Universes would conquer the entire Cosmos recklessly," Albedo said.
Victor nodded. Unlike the comic book stories he read, here it seemed that the Primordial Entities took their work very seriously.
"So, in the case of Samar, the Progenitor of The Werewolves got lucky. He found a new Sector that was about to begin its transition from an inhospitable Sector to a living one, so the intervention of the Primordial Entities wasn't necessary," Albedo explained.
Victor nodded as he commented, "You seem to know a lot about this, Albedo."
"Of course," she smiled with a sickly smile. "It's fascinating, isn't it? Discovering the 'Truths' of the world."
"Well, I can't say I don't like it." Victor chuckled lightly when he saw the woman's crazed look. She truly lived up to her Titles.
"What level is Earth at?" Victor asked.
"...At the top of the Medium Level. We would only be considered High-Level if we were united under a single Overlord... But even I'm unsure whether I'm correct or not."
"Oh? Why?" Victor asked curiously as he stored that information in his head.
"Because of anomalies like you, Kali, The Apocalyptic Beasts, and even Diablo."
"..."
"You're a Human who became the Progenitor of Vampires and somehow became the Progenitor of Blood Dragons, a Race that is the perfect mix of Noble Vampires and Dragons."
"Kali, a Goddess of Destruction who is heading towards becoming the very Essence of Destruction, a Primordial Entity."
"Diablo, a Demon who disrupted The Balance and became a Nephalem, a Being on both sides of the scale."
"And, of course, the three Beasts of The Apocalypse, embodying The Concept of The END."
"In a normal Sector, there would only be one Beast of The Apocalypse. In a normal Sector, a Progenitor shouldn't be born while another Progenitor of the same Species is still alive. In a Sector that follows The System's Laws, all these situations mentioned should have been avoided."
"But... Somehow, the Beings on this planet achieved it," Albedo finished the explanation, hiding the fact that Victor himself was an even greater anomaly than the three.
After all, he wasn't just a Blood Dragon; he had within himself a World Tree that sustained his entire Soul, something that, according to her research, had never happened before in all of existence.
World Trees were meant to nurture the Life of a planet, not the Soul of a Mortal.
Not to mention that the man himself had two END Beasts as pets on a leash.
After absorbing all the knowledge that Albedo had so bluntly shared, Victor pondered for a few seconds.
'An Overlord, huh.' Although he knew this specific part of the information she mentioned, as it was told by Samar's own World Tree,
Victor didn't think that this would be the requirement for a Sector to become High-Level.
'The stronger I become, the more I discover about existence, and I realize how small we truly are in the eyes of the 'Primordials.'' Victor couldn't help but glance at Jeanne, who was watching the golems.
The oldest woman in the Universe was there. 'I wonder how she, as one of the oldest Beings, someone that even a Primordial called his sister, sees our world.'
"Hmm?" Feeling Victor's gaze, Jeanne looked at him and then smiled sweetly.
Seeing that smile, Victor thought, '... It doesn't matter. After all, she is my Wife. In the end, all this information doesn't matter either. In the end, the situation hasn't changed much. The strong speak louder. The strong are right. The strong are the law. So, my goal hasn't changed... I will become even stronger.'
Victor returned her smile with a gentle one, made a gentle hand gesture as if beckoning, and then turned towards the exit.
Jeanne quickly flew towards Victor with her wings, and Zaladrac, who had been observing the Magic Circle, stopped what she was doing and flew towards Victor as well.
"Where are you going?" Albedo asked curiously.
"To spend time with my Wives."
"...And what about the portal?"
"That's not my problem," Victor said casually.
"..."
He stopped walking and looked at Evie, who was watching him.
"Evie Moriarty was the one who initiated this Ritual. You and I, Albedo, are just meddlers who got involved out of curiosity."
"Well, that's true..." She didn't deny it.
From the beginning, Victor didn't do anything here. He didn't initiate the Ritual, didn't make plans; the protagonist was Evie Moriarty, who even aided Diablo in the Demon War for this purpose.
Yes, he may have gotten a little too involved and even gone to another planet for a few seconds,
But these actions were just Victor being Victor. He was a man who had always done what he wanted from the start, and that wouldn't change now.
"Evie Moriarty, my dear 'Magic Master.'"
"...What?" For some reason, Evie had a bad feeling about Victor's next words.
"You opened a rift in space that was felt by all the strong Beings on the planet. Due to my and Albedo's intervention, they were expelled, and you didn't suffer as many consequences, but... will it stay that way?"
"..."
"When I walk through that door and return to the embrace of my beloved Wives, the barrier that I created with Albedo will dissipate because I will stop feeding it."
Evie looked at her mother, who nodded in agreement with his words.
"I wonder what you will do when the greedy Gods of all the Pantheons come knocking on your door. Unlike before, I'm sure that they will not come with the intention of talking. They won't acknowledge your existence because currently, you no longer have the 'status quo' you had in the past."
"Like a bunch of hooligans, these Gods will invade and take whatever they want."
"Your home will be burned, your Witches will be killed, and your people will suffer because of your decision."
Evie's face began to lose color as she heard Victor's vivid description; for some reason, she could completely imagine that scene.
"In this moment of despair, will you ask for help from your 'beloved' and 'kind' mother?"
Albedo snorted when she heard Victor's description of her.
"Will you surrender to the Pantheons in exchange for benefits?"
Victor smiled 'kindly' at her, a smile that, to Evie, was just a smile of pure malice. Those violet-crimson eyes were tainted with pure evil!
"...Or will you call upon The Devil and offer yourself entirely?"
Violet fire enveloped Victor, Jeanne, and Zaladrac, and then the three disappeared, leaving Victor's voice echoing around.
"I will be watching, Evie Moriarty. I wonder what kind of choice you will make."
Silence fell around them until Albedo spoke, snapping them all out of their stupor.
"Well, isn't he charming? It seems I made the right bet by giving him my Blessing."
Evie really wanted to unleash a Strategic-Class Spell on that woman right now; she was simply too irritating.
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