Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Never Changes
Arc: The Great Guerrilla War
Scarlet King shot toward the cave in the Forest of Screaming Death.
He flew at terrifying speed, passing beyond the borders of the outer sect floating in the sky, with river water pouring from its edges.
Suddenly, Scarlet King heard a voice inside his head:
"Oh, oh, oh… it seems the great Scarlet King is playing again and grabbing onto other people's tails."
In the next instant, he could no longer move. Within seconds, Scarlet King was transported into a void between dimensions, a place filled with stars, black emptiness, and violet-blue clouds. Above him, he heard the Writer's voice:
"Hello."
Scarlet King raised his head and found the Writer seated on an imperial throne, holding a black ink pen in his hand.
Scarlet King spoke in a low voice:
"You know you are not an ally, but an enemy. Why did you bring me here?"
The Writer asked:
"An enemy? Also, I brought you here because I'm bored."
Scarlet King replied:
"Yes, an enemy. In the end, one of your fundamental duties is to prevent beings of the Mortal Dimensions from ascending into the Immortal Dimensions unless they possess the qualifications."
The Writer laughed loudly.
"You know a lot. But perhaps you are qualified to ascend into the Immortal Dimensions."
Suddenly, the Writer's pen moved, creating a black stone chair behind Scarlet King.
Scarlet King glanced at it calmly, then sat down and rested his hand against his chin. The Writer said mockingly while playing with a universe in his hand like a small ball:
"Look, you are in your rightful place. Why not abandon your pursuit of your impossible goal and help me write stories instead?"
Scarlet King replied while staring at the Writer with complete coldness:
"I can truly feel it… I can feel your pen on the pages of narrative."
The Writer fell silent for a moment and thought inwardly:
(What does he mean? I cannot underestimate the Devil of Rebirth, the terror of heaven and earth. In the end, he is smarter than I am. He is considered the most intelligent being in existence.)
Scarlet King continued. The void around him began to distort, and countless eyes emerged all around him. Those eyes came out from openings in the void, along with octopus-like arms. Black blood began to flow from Scarlet King's eyes.
"I know this is a story, but I have gone beyond it. I am its destroyer. I am the immortal idea that does not die."
Scarlet King fell silent for a moment, then pressed lightly against the chair and shattered it completely, scattering pieces of the black throne through the black void. He stood and looked at the Writer, his eyes burning with perseverance and willpower.
"I endured the impossible and what lies beyond the impossible. I am the ending that resists its own eternity. I am the first and last defense against endless existence. I am living perseverance that resists everything. And before the light, and before everything beneath and above the narrative of the story… I chose to rise."
The Writer was silent for a moment. Then an overwhelming aura exploded from him, crushing the void and nothingness and turning them into yet another page of the endless narrative around him. He said, while his white body shone with a black, mocking, devilish smile:
"Words do not change your place. Do not forget yourself. You are still a part of the narrative."
The Writer thought with tension:
(His words cannot be understood. His speech has gone beyond all narrative domains, and beyond the domains of imagination, reality, and stories. His words themselves have become eternal.)
Scarlet King replied with a laugh:
"If I were still fully part of the narrative, you would be able to manipulate my foundational true existence. But I am part of the narrative, not one with it."
The Writer fell silent. He sighed, then snapped his fingers. A white spiral spatial gate opened behind Scarlet King. The gate closed, and nothingness and the void returned to their natural state. The Writer spoke while placing his hand over his face:
"Just leave. Your words do not belong to this region above the lines of narrative."
Scarlet King turned with complete coldness and rushed into the gate.
The gate closed behind him, while the Writer remained looking downward… looking at the Mortal Dimensions.
"Hah… I am alone."
"I should ask one of the incarnations of the Existential Emperor what Scarlet King's words mean."
"But for now… I will write some different narratives."
He raised his ink pen, and with a simple motion in the void, thousands of different stories began to take shape, each one a complete world with laws and systems different from the others.
[In the Mortal Dimensions — First Dimension]
Scarlet King floated in the violet-blue void, passing through the wormhole created by the Writer toward the wormhole leading him back to his previous location.
He drifted and moved randomly through the violet void, but at the end of the passage, he finally noticed a spiral violet gate. A small portal opened in the sky directly above the Forest of Screaming Death.
Scarlet King emerged from the portal, falling toward the earth. But seconds later, he adjusted his direction forward, toward the cave, and said coldly:
"Hah… we left the realm beyond narrative in the superior framework between the Sixth and Seventh Dimensions, and returned to the First Dimension."
He had returned to a lower world… a simpler world… a world that could be broken with ease by the Devil of Rebirth.
[After Minutes of Flight]
Scarlet King arrived at the cave inside the mountain and landed on the green grassy ground, while the trees around him swayed violently under the force of the wind.
He stood before the dark, silent cave entrance. The moment he stepped inside, dozens of different weapons appeared from the walls and ceiling of the cave. Some were rifles, others machine guns, some were explosive weapons, others were missiles, and more… all aimed directly at him.
Bullets and missiles fired toward Scarlet King, but his eyes flared with a red glow, and lasers shot from them. In an instant, he swept them from far right to far left, slicing the bullets and missiles in half with ease and causing them to fall to the ground.
Then he heard a voice from inside the cave:
"Oh, great master, I thought you were a stranger, so I activated the advanced security system."
Scarlet King asked as he continued walking inward:
"What are these upgrades?"
The weapons retracted and disappeared back into the walls and ceiling as if nothing had happened. Even the bullets Scarlet King had destroyed were swallowed by the ground when it opened beneath them.
Scarlet King stepped forward and stopped before the cave wall. The cave was completely sealed, but suddenly the wall opened, revealing what looked like another world: a white room lit with blue lights everywhere, a huge laboratory with many workers inside. The bears were sleeping peacefully in the corner, while the System Engineer stood at the entrance and said calmly:
"I greet the great master… come, let me show you the laboratory's developments."