The sky over this area took on a strange, unusual color.
The sky was no longer a bright blue, but a deep, dark crimson, as if filled with black smoke.
The sun, eternally hanging on the horizon, was now stained a unique orange-red hue.
A distorted visual effect swirled in the central sky, converging towards the center.
It was as if something below was generating a powerful suction force, causing even the air to distort.
Looking down into the earth...
A vast, bottomless pit stretched for kilometers.
The pitch-black pit seemed to have absorbed all the surrounding light; it was pure blackness.
Beside the pit lay a wall, formed from cooled lava.
It protected against the seawater, and now, looking over, it became clear that one side of the pit connected to the current leading to the continent beyond. From the edge of the pit, bizarre creatures constantly crawled out and spread across the surrounding area. Upon closer inspection, these creatures were all demons of various kinds.
Occasionally, powerful demons could be seen bursting out from the pit, screaming and spreading their wings.
They roared with excitement, as if entering this world for the first time, and a variety of roars echoed endlessly.
They even fought each other as they climbed, then fell back into the pit.
These demons spread out from the edge, seemingly without stopping.
Around them lay a demon camp that stretched for kilometers, its end in sight.
Countless demons of all shapes and sizes roamed within the camp, where conflict and bloodshed were constant.
These demons, even without doing anything else, would consume a large portion of their numbers simply by fighting within the camp.
On the shore, one could see the demons' crude and simple forge, a forge that made one wonder if it was even functional.
There was a volcano nearby, its crater constantly gushing crimson magma, which flowed into the forge.
The forge churned out a chaotic mass of steel ships and a variety of weapons and equipment for combat.
These items looked crude and chaotic, raising concerns about their usability. Yet, they were reliable.
Next to the deep pit stood a towering mountain, from which lava flowed like a stream.
Atop the mountain, a throne stood.
The throne was composed of molten steel and crimson magma.
And upon this throne sat the demon.
It was dark red in color, its body covered in exaggerated scars. Even its wings, folded behind its back, were tattered and tattered, with a single piece missing.
Most striking was the demonic horns atop its head.
They were exaggerated and hideous, branching into four upward-pointing horns. Far more majestic than the other demons.
This demon was incredibly massive, and every muscle in his body felt a surge of power.
Beside him, a floating giant sword, nearly three meters long, was vast and powerful, its blade straight, unlike the monstrous, fang-like blades wielded by most demons.
A pitch-black chain wrapped around the hilt, and the blade, lifted by a wild aura, floated beside the throne.
The throne faced the enormous black cowpea below.
Suddenly, a crack opened in the space beside him, and a seemingly slender demon emerged.
"The Devouring Mouth's method has failed. Belairai and the Link Demon are likely dead."
Hearing this demon's words, the powerful demon sitting on the throne remained motionless.
Just stared at the black hole.
"Sure enough, a lowly half-blood, forced into this state by a tiny ant..." His voice was extremely low and hoarse.
Yet, a certain aura could be heard in it, making one's soul tremble in submission.
"What a pity for Belairai's corrupted bloodline."
Upon hearing this, the demon that had just emerged from the gap stood respectfully nearby and asked, "Should we take action and find a way to kill this ant?"
Upon hearing this, the demon suddenly stood up from the throne and casually glanced at the demon next to him.
At this glance, the somewhat frail demon immediately bowed his head and bent his waist respectfully.
"Forget it, Kophis. Although Devourer is a bastard, he's undeniably no fool. If he had a way, he would have done it long ago.
His pride constantly makes him yearn to wash away the shame he carries, and the voices mocking him become a laughingstock among these demons."
"But, if this continues..."
The demon named Kophis hadn't finished speaking when a circular hole appeared in the air beside him.
The hole opened like a worm's mouth, studded with sharp teeth and a smear of slime.
Devouring Mouth, dressed in the formal attire of a human gentleman, gracefully emerged from it.
He glanced at the powerful demon standing there, then at Kophis standing beside him.
"What are you talking about? Don't you want to tell me?"
Kophis glanced at him and silently moved behind the powerful demon, completely ignoring his response.
"Swallow, you failed. Just like you failed before."
Looking at the powerful demon's face, the Devouring Mouth narrowed his eyes slightly, seemingly expressionless.
He spoke calmly, "Sullenster, you seem to have forgotten how you came here? If it weren't for me, you'd still be dozing off in your desolate abyss.
Now you're expounding on my failure before me? You thief who stole my success."
"Steal? Thief?" Sullenster glanced at him, then suddenly sneered. "No, devour. I prefer to call it robbing. If you have the ability, you can take it back."
Hearing this, the Devouring Mouth remained calm, but didn't utter a word of rebuttal. Clearly, this conversation had happened countless times.
"Okay, let's get down to business. You should have noticed by now that this rift is shrinking. The aura of the Abyss here is also beginning to weaken, and the chaotic space is slowly returning to order.
If we don't act now, we will only grow weaker and weaker, and our advantage will be gone.
Thousands of years of war will turn into a failure, and we will fail at the last moment."
He narrowed his eyes and looked at Sullenster. "After so many years of war, even you can't afford the expendable energy, right?
The number of demons in your Abyssal layer has dropped dramatically, and now many lords are eyeing it covetously.
As you said, they want to seize it.
Honestly, I'd love to see you reach the same level as me. I'd love to see the look on your proud face then."
At this, the Devouring Mouth grinned.
Sullenster glanced at him, still calm. Compared to the cunning and treacherous Devouring Mouth, he acted even less like a demon.
He lacked the anger and recklessness typical of a demon.
"Since you're here, call Emeron as well."
The demon who had been standing behind him nodded, then vanished across space.
Soon, a massive rift appeared above the two of them, and a massive demon plummeted from it.
With a resounding crash, it crashed down beside them.
When the smoke and dust cleared, they discovered a dragon-man covered in pitch-black scales, its limbs covered in hideous bone spurs.
Lava flowed from the cracks in its body, and a pair of demonic dragon horns sprouted from its head, appearing incredibly wild and exaggerated.
The most conspicuous thing on its back was an absurdly large double-edged axe.
His strength was comparable to that of the Devouring Mouth, perhaps even surpassing it.
From his aura, one could sense that he was a being from the abyss.
The three powerful demons before him were the pinnacle of the world's scarred demons.
"You two are here? Haha, what happened?"
His voice was gruff and resonant, even his words carrying an aggression.
The Devouring Mouth glared at him with disdain.
"If you look at me like that again, I'll tear your wings apart and hang them on the headboard of my bed."
"A bed? That's too civilized for you. You wouldn't be smart enough to sleep on one, would you?"
After a few casual words, the hostility between the two quickly escalated, and it seemed like a fight was imminent.
"It looks like the three of us have no chance of taking over this world," Salunster said calmly.
He interrupted their conflict and turned to look at him. Devouring Mouth couldn't help but smile. "Finally figured it out. Are you willing to let go of your useless pride?"
"Why? I'm having a blast on the front lines. What happened?"
Emeron seemed completely oblivious to their current situation.
He acted like a reckless, purely combat-minded individual.
Perfectly fitting the popular stereotype of demons.
"This world was once glorious, but now it's shattered. I thought the power of the three of us was enough.
But after all these years, we haven't achieved much, and now we've lost our advantage."
"And this... is all your fault, you idiot."
With that, Salunster cursed Devouring Mouth without hesitation.
Only then did he display the demonic attribute of chaos.
In response, Devouring Mouth charged forward, and the two instantly engaged in a fierce battle.
Seeing this, Emeron licked his teeth with his enormous dragon tongue. He instantly drew the great axe from his back, spread his massive wings, and soared into the sky.
He had inexplicably joined the battle.
As the three fought, numerous demons below perished, and countless others began to disperse, avoiding the fray.
Even the most brutal demons would not engage in the clash between their leaders.
The original lava peak and the throne atop it began to crumble and collapse in the battle.
After an unknown amount of time, the three men, each bruised and wounded, finally stopped.
At some point, the shattered lava peak rose again, and the once-shattered throne was repaired.
"As I told you, after they repaired the city wall, and we failed to achieve the expected results for centuries, resulting in a stalemate, our defeat was inevitable," said the Devouring Mouth, scarred and calm.
It was as if the battle they had just fought had never happened.
"Oh, it seems you've suffered a great defeat while I was away?" Amelon, standing beside him, finally understood and couldn't help but smile. His voice was filled with gloating, not a hint of sympathy for their disadvantage.
After a few words, he couldn't help but ask, "But is it worth it? For such a broken world?"
To be honest, when he joined the two-person group to invade this world, humans had already begun their counterattack and attempted to build a magic wall.
If he hadn't joined, humans might have pushed the magic wall even closer, or even driven the demons out completely.
To be honest, he didn't know much about this world. If it weren't for the invitation of the two people before him, he wouldn't have invaded it in the first place.
The Devouring Mouth and Saren Ace glanced at him, completely ignoring this fool.
Devouring Mouth and Saren Ace exchanged insults, but they genuinely disdained this simple-minded individual, if not for his martial prowess.
This demon was powerful, fitting every creature's stereotype of a demon.
Reckless, bloodthirsty, powerful, favoring brutal, bloody melee combat, yet mindless and possessing a chaotic personality.
"I hope your future allies won't be like this fool. I've had enough of him. If another one comes along, I might just abandon this world, even if I've dedicated tens of thousands of years to him, even if it means I've even taken my own lordship."
Hearing the Devouring Mouth's words, Emeron couldn't help but pick up his axe again.
This world was originally discovered by the Devouring Mouth.
Back then, he was still the Lord of the Abyss, ruling over a layer of the abyss and commanding countless demonic forces.
But upon discovering this world, he knew it was beyond his reach.
Because it was the Golden Age.
Invading this flourishing world at that time would require a full-scale invasion and attack by the Abyss.
A joint invasion from at least dozens of Abyssal planes would be necessary.
Obviously, such an invasion would be meaningless without the coordination of the Abyssal Will.
It wasn't until the Devouring Mouth discovered the discord between the gods and the World Will that he, with their tacit agreement, had almost completely expended his energy to blow up this world.
This earned him countless favors from the Abyss, allowing him to master rapid progress and become one of the most powerful lords of the Abyssal plane.
However, things didn't go as planned.
Despite the gods' tacit approval, he was still crushed by several powerful gods after the explosion.
Demons who had given their all were also swiftly slaughtered.
Some gods even completely shattered the portion of the Abyssal plane he controlled.
However, for a demon as powerful as him, completely destroying him wasn't easy.
After tens of thousands of years, he was resurrected.
But his Abyssal plane, his lordship, the fruits of his labor, had long since been snatched away by other demons, and his former demonic plane had been completely divided up.
He had returned to his former self, even weaker than when he discovered this world.
That was why he later allied with Salunster to destroy the Sararon Empire.
What he had lost here, he must regain here.
He chose this place because it was the point of origin of the entire world's explosion.
It was also the easiest place to connect to the Abyss.
He had originally thought that with the gods' departure, the world's fragmentation and reunion, this world would be extremely easy to invade.
Clearly, he had overestimated this. Even after being forced to bring in an ally, he still couldn't do anything.
Demons are chaotic, evil, and selfish.
Each additional ally would cause problems later, leading to a greater division of interests.
And so the stalemate continued.
Until Alka's arrival and his unique identity, this area was connected to the dream world.
The world's repair mechanism was activated.
The already precarious state of balance was disrupted, and they began to gradually fall into disadvantage.
All of this was due to the Devouring Mouth's negligence and arrogance.
His chaotic personality still affected him.
As for invading the dream realm...
That was better forgotten.
Besides adding nutrients to this world, it had no meaning, and it wasn't even their primary battlefield.
Demons, after all, were material creatures oriented toward the real world.
Not creatures of the spiritual world.
Facing the two men fighting again before him, Salunster sat quietly on the throne.
Looking at the deep black chasm, he began to think.
He had to find suitable allies, and they didn't necessarily have to be found in the abyss.
As a demon, he knew clearly that these of his own kind were all unstable factors.
As he spoke, he couldn't help but look up at the sky.
He didn't know what he was thinking.
He also tilted his head to avoid the attack that had come his way at some point.
It was unclear whether it was intentional or deliberate.
While thinking, he grasped the floating greatsword beside him and flew up to join the two men's battle.
…
"Is this your new ability, a Mirror Prison or something?" Jason asked, looking at the mirror card in Alka's hand and the sealed demon within.
He had never seen anything like it before.
Clearly, Alka had rebuilt his skills after arriving at the fortress.
Alka nodded. "Mirror Seal, sounds better."
"So what's the point of sealing them? Like throwing them into a dream, killing them forever?"
Jason asked.
That was the easiest use for him to think of.
Alka nodded and briefly explained the sealing process and its purpose.
Besides completely killing the demons and turning them into sustenance for the dream, one could also study them, since many of them were new.
With more research, one could develop more targeted strategies. Jason nodded.
"Speaking of which, it's quite chaotic here."
"I don't like it. My power has been weakened," Ululius said, squatting on the chair with her legs crossed.
She is the Scholar Dragon, the Crystal Dragon, and the Savior Dragon. The more orderly the world, the greater her power.
However, while the chaos here makes many elements and rules easily broken and manipulated, it actually weakens her.
This was something Alka hadn't expected.
But Alka smiled and said, "Your link still has the power of sharing. How can you actually use it like this?"
Hearing this, Ululius smiled and nodded.
The Link Demon's parasitic link had been tampered with during the previous battle.
As a result, the demon at that time had lost its ability to detect spatial fluctuations and its strong mental defenses.
Then they actually forced the demon to share his full elemental resistance.
Furthermore, this kind of sharing weakened the demon itself, not the selfless kind that benefited both parties.
In contrast, the advantage originally intended to target Alka turned into a disadvantage.