With a cigarette between his lips, pushing up his sunglasses with one finger, the man dressed entirely in black—black hair, black leather coat, black shirt, black leather pants, and black boots, his appearance aggressively hostile—blew smoke into the air in irritation at the fact that all of his existence as a Devil had been compressed into this body, a Homo sapiens body.
Even after deliberately emerging from the Hellverse, he still had to confine himself within such a fragile shell. The Devil Amon, whose appearance resembled a twenty-five-year-old man, took another drag from his cigarette as though muttering bitterly about his terrible luck.
That shapeless lifeform, which resembled both smoke and paint dissolving into water, was called an Astral Soul by the gods and Devils.
Countless lifeforms, including humanity, were organized structures composed of multiple elementary particles. Yet among them also existed beings made purely of spirit—entities referred to as composite spiritual forms. They were lifeforms beyond human recognition and comprehension.
All living beings were constructed from overlapping non-material entities that could only truly be called souls, existing in quantities equal to the endless concept of infinity itself. Simply put, a lifeform was formed from bundles of thin, paper-like souls layered together into a single individual. That was the law of nature.
These infinite spiritual entities combined to form individuals, yet all of them were contained within shells. For humanity, the body itself was that shell. As long as spiritual entities remained imprisoned within those shells, they could never reveal their true forms, restricted and constrained within physical space.
However, when a lifeform evolved into a higher existence known as an Astral Soul, it could finally enjoy true freedom in its purest sense.
This place was the world inhabited by those who had reached the forefront of such ultimate evolution.
The world known as the Astral World.
Astral Souls, perceived by physical vision as cloudlike or mistlike forms, were not truly visible to the eye at all. This place existed detached from physical space and separated from all dimensions.
Yet exceptions existed.
There were beings capable of perceiving those who transcended everything.
Gods and Devils.
Joseph brushed back his hair, which shimmered between blue and white, biting his lower lip as his exhausted eyes turned upward.
At that moment, several Astral Souls vanished as though blown away by the wind.
The god immediately understood that the disappearances were intentional acts carried out by someone.
He also understood that each disappearance represented the annihilation of trillions upon trillions of lifeforms.
Joseph's hair flickered between blue and white, while his eyes glowed deep blue.
Originally, he had been a young man descended from Noah through Abraham and Jacob. Yet after death, he had ascended into godhood and created a Heavenverse of his own.
Unlike other gods, he always maintained a human form. His shimmering hair symbolized divine power, while he wore sleeveless white linen garments that exposed muscular arms, along with white leather trousers.
He appeared roughly thirty-six years old, though physical age held no meaning for gods. Even his Arab-like facial features were merely remnants left behind by the era described within the Old Testament, echoes shaping his current divine appearance.
To him, what appeared merely as masses of mist were actually communities composed of uncountable Astral Souls beyond numerical comprehension.
Thus, even though the scene resembled harmless fog being scattered by the wind, it was in reality a horrific massacre that had erased unimaginable numbers of lifeforms.
When Joseph's blue eyes focused forward again, he saw Amon staring directly at him with the smile of a mischievous child, savoring the sweetness of his own slaughter.
"What are you grieving over so deeply? Destroying lifeforms is the law of Devils—the rule of nature itself. Yet you look upon it with sorrow. You truly are a strange god."
Running a hand through his short black hair, Amon tilted his head like a doll, unable to comprehend Joseph's emotions.
Black hair.
Black clothes.
Black leather long coat.
Sunglasses.
Amon's appearance resembled an ordinary white man far removed from humanity's typical image of a demon. He inhabited the body of a human appearing around twenty-five years old.
In truth, Amon was a Devil traditionally depicted with the head of an owl, the body of a wolf, and the forelegs of a serpent—a being sometimes called the strongest warrior of the demon world.
"Perhaps I should not say such things to you of all beings… but I truly do not understand. Lifeforms are born. They live, and at the end of their journey, death always awaits them. Then why do lifeforms continue living? Why are they born merely to die?"
Even Amon fell speechless before such a question coming from a god.
He had never imagined a god could speak with such weakness.