Chapter 374
Lugia was a being who dared to share a god’s memory—no, he was actually part of the Demon Spirit himself, so Lugia could remember the first, thrilling meeting between the Demon Spirit and Lucifer, the tragic angel that had descended to the bottom of the Demon Realm’s abyss after being betrayed by a fellow angel.
“It’s ridiculous. An angel—no, a fallen angel who lost his wings caused the shockwave that shook the entire Demon Realm… I thought all angels were weaklings, but was there an angel as strong as you?” the Demon Spirit exclaimed.
“Get lost,” the fallen angel bluntly replied.
“…What?”
“I told you to get lost,” the fallen angel repeated.
The Demon Spirit was rendered speechless. The fallen angel indeed had great potential, but he already lost most of his power. So what was with his attitude?
“Do you know who I am?” the Demon Spirit asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t care.”
“You don’t care…” the Demon Spirit gaped at him.
In all of the eternity the Demon Spirit had lived, he had never been treated like this. Once he showed up, gods from both Demon and Angel Realm busily avoided making eye contact with him, but… but strangely, the Demon Spirit didn’t dislike how the fallen angel was treating him.
“…Hahaha.” The Demon Spirit chuckled as if he had gone mad and then reached out his hand. “Yeah, it doesn’t matter who I am.”
“What are you doing?”
“I actually want to ask you the same. Look at you. How long are you going to stay in that pit?” The Demon Spirit looked at the fallen angel up and down.
The fallen angel’s wings were ragged; most of the feathers were ripped out along with the skin of his back. They were at the deepest part of the Demon Realm. The contaminated demonic power from the pit was slowly affecting the fallen angel, turning his skin black.
“Take my hand. Don’t you want to get revenge on the people who put you in that state?” the Demon Spirit asked, but he was already half certain. It was clear how heartbroken the fallen angel was after his betrayal. That made the Demon Spirit anticipate that the fallen angel was going to take his hand, but he was dead wrong.
“I don’t need you, so get lost. I want to rest.” Lucifer closed his eyes, flatly rejecting any further conversation.
The Demon Spirit didn’t want to give up now, however. “Then what do you need? You don’t want to die in this nameless pit, do you?”
Lucifer still remained silent, so the Demon Spirit hurriedly added, “I’m telling you that I have the power to make your every wish come true.”
“My… every wish?” Lucifer finally responded, even though he hadn’t even budged when the Demon Spirit mentioned revenge.
“Yes! Anything!” the Demon Spirit excitedly shouted.
Lucifer raised his head and quietly looked up at the gray sky of the Demon Realm. The sky was so gloomy and lacked even a single source of light, but Lucifer watched it for a long time.
“…I do want to meet again,” Lucifer quietly said.
The Demon Spirit’s eyes widened as he felt Lucifer take his hand. He beamed, revealing his white teeth.
“Welcome, shining darkness! The first being that does not belong anywhere!”
That was how Lucifer was reborn, and the new Lucifer was surely great. Under the principle of the strongest takes all, the twelve demon kings had been struggling for power for over a thousand years, but four of them were killed by Lucifer. Now he even had followers.
“Although he might not want it, it’s understandable here, in the Demon Realm,” the Demon Spirit commented.
Lucifer might have been alone in the hypocritical Angel Realm, but it was the opposite in the Demon Realm, where might made right. Of course, the citizens of the Demon Realm gathered to become Lucifer’s people, so Lucifer eventually led a faction that even the Demon Spirit couldn’t take lightly.
However, the Demon Spirit was feeling greedy, rather than nervous, and thought that he might be able to accomplish his long-cherished ambition using Lucifer. In the end, the Demon Spirit expressed his desire out loud.
“I’ll open up the path to the Angel Realm, Lucifer,” the Demon Spirit offered.
Lucifer didn’t answer.
“What’s wrong? Didn’t you want this to happen?”
A long time ago, the Angel Spirit and Demon Spirit had made a promise, sealing off the pathway that connected their two realms. However, the Demon Spirit was offering to remove the blockage.
“When will you open it?”
“I thought you’ll be happier than that… but you’re pretty nonchalant.” The Demon Spirit tilted his head at Lucifer, who was silently pressing him to answer. With a slight shrug, the Demon Spirit said, “Anytime you want. In fact, I can open it right now if you want.”
“…Is it that simple?”
“Opening the pathway isn’t difficult, but I’m taking quite a risk. You know how serious a promise between gods is, right? This is just my way of thanking you for all the hard work you did until now.” Raising his hands dramatically, the Demon Spirit continued, “Come back after you’ve done everything you want to do. I want you to help me again afterward. I genuinely like you, so if you want revenge, I’m willing to help you even if a war breaks out between the Angel and Demon Realms.”
“I don’t need it. Just like I told you before, I’m not trying to go there to have revenge,” Lucifer said.
The Demon Spirit’s expression subtly changed. “Are you really going to let them be?”
“Yeah.”
“…Well, if you say so.” The Demon Spirit drew up his power. “Then I’ll open it right now.”
The sky shook as a black hole was created from empty space. Lucifer examined the hole for a long time. There was something bizarre with that hole.
“The pathway that connects the Angel and Demon Realms is called Gray Zone, and it doesn’t belong to any realm. Nothing exists there except chaos. There are only two exits: one to the Angel Realm and another to the Demon Realm,” the Demon Spirit explained.
The Demon Spirit looked at Lucifer and smiled. “What’s wrong? Wait, are you having second thoughts?”
“…No.” Lucifer shook his head slightly and then stepped into the hole. “I just had to think about something for a moment.”
“…Is that so?”
Lucifer disappeared into the black hole.
The Demon Spirit was finally left alone. He stared expressionlessly at the spot where Lucifer had been for a moment.
“Now then…” the Demon Spirit mumbled, “shall I get moving?”
If Lucifer’s goal wasn’t revenge, that was a problem because it had been the Demon Spirit’s sublime dream for eternity. So he was going to create a situation where Lucifer had to take his revenge. It would be a piece of cake.
There was actually only one reason why Lucifer was abandoned by the angels: he had demon blood. So if the Demon Spirit sent the army of darkness to the Angel Realm after Lucifer…
“The angels will strike first even if Lucifer himself doesn’t want to fight, hehehe,” the Demon Spirit chuckled.
The Demon Spirit came to a decision. To unify the Angel Realm and the Demon Realm, he was going to tear down the Angel Realm and get everything that stopped him from achieving his grand plan.
“I hope you die with the angels, Lucifer. Hehehe.”
* * *
Joshua still had work to do. Although there was a change in his plan due to the unexpected appearance of Heimdall, he reminded himself why he was heading to the Agnus estate in the first place. If Heimdall and his apostles were still there, Joshua was going to sneak in, but it turned out he didn’t need to worry about it. The manor was as eerily empty as it had been.
‘I know there is no head of the family right now, but…’?Joshua thought bitterly.
Just like Joshua’s previous life, the Agnus Family was weakened. The Dark God had disappeared, although people believed he was dead. Due to the War God’s attack, Babel was bedridden for a long time. Nevertheless, Joshua never thought the glorious Agnus Duchy would be laid so low.
‘Heimdall must have planned to use it as a headquarters since no one should be in here.’
Joshua strode confidently toward his destination.
Joshua came to a halt, and his eyes turned cold. He didn’t even need to look closer because his extremely heightened senses were telling him that there were no signs of life around the area except one. But that energy was familiar, and it seemed to be leading Joshua, calling out to him.
“…Lugia,” Joshua mumbled.
He resumed walking.
Joshua walked across the wide garden, passed by the mansion that was bigger than most kingdoms’ palaces. This place was where his new life began and his life as the human Joshua Sanders totally changed.
Joshua finally came to a halt. He looked up ahead at the five-meter-tall boulder which had been believed to be the Agnus’ “guardian stone” for generations.
Without hesitation, Joshua drew up his mana. He didn’t have to go through the trouble of spilling his blood since he was no longer the young Joshua von Agnus.
With a light swing of his hand, the guardian stone exploded, revealing a dark hole. Joshua jumped in right away. Everything had started from the ancient ruins where Lugia had been asleep.
“You became quite aggressive while I was away,” a voice chided as soon as Joshua landed.
From the darkness in front of Joshua, someone walked out. He had been waiting for this moment. The person held the two-pronged red spear, and also carried an unconscious woman over his shoulder. The person looked like an exact replica of Joshua.
“I've been waiting for you, Lucifer—no.” The person beamed, baring his teeth. “My old friend, Joshua Sanders.”
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