Chapter 451

## Chapter 451: Otherworld Conquest (3)

The capabilities of the fiends governing Divore fluctuated dramatically. They ranged from entities far removed from the threshold of transcendence to powerful individuals who had advanced just beneath the position of Great Demon. Because these entities extracted their strength from the karma and dread associated with their specific titles, their inherent domain was just as vital as personal exertion when it came to expanding their might. No matter how much effort a being put forth, if their designated title was something minor like “Thievery,” they faced definitive constraints regarding their progression. Consequently, the completely devastated upper world, overflowing with intense negative feelings, served as a goldmine for obscure fiends looking to rise.

Roughly a century in the past, the moment the Hell Gate unsealed within this realm, inferior fiends trapped at the lowest depths of Hell—who barely survived on paltry rewards from mediocre contractors—moved to the upper realm in a unified mass. Upon reaching the surface, they were freed from their dependency on questionable summoners. These fiends traversed the lands without restraint, satisfying their desires at will, while the accumulated karma and dread they gathered served as direct nourishment for their growth. Such was the standard state of this devastated realm in the current era—a literal playground for fiends and a cultivation field to extract energy.

Perhaps this resistance occurred during the initial period following the unsealing of the Hell Gate, or throughout the middle era when the remaining defensive factions made their final stand. Today, however, with humanity reduced to mere livestock, absolute submission was the rule, and nobody dared defy the fiends.

Splash-!

hk!”

This reality was precisely why the current global events represented a massive aberration that no inhabitant of this world could have anticipated. Fiends were dropping one after another under the abrupt onslaught of the Army of Death.

“Graaaah! What is happening? What in the world is this?! How can basic undead possess such power?!”

Naturally, the casualties were not confined to minor entities like the “Demon of Deception”; notable figures highly regarded within fiend hierarchy were falling as well.

“I held certain expectations for the Demon of Swords… Quite disappointing. I anticipated an opponent who might actually make me exert myself a little.”

The Demon of Swords, occupying the physical form of a heavily built adult man, mashed his teeth together in pure fury while glaring at the invading figure speaking quietly in front of him. The challenger was a middle-aged combatant clad in foreign, dark martial attire, holding nothing but a single longsword. His expression remained entirely tranquil, completely ignoring the fact that he had just severed the fiend’s hand.

‘Me? Bested by a blade? The Demon of Swords?!!’

He scowled, staring down at his detached right hand still grasping its weapon as it rolled away on the dirt. Even while restricting his swordsmanship to the constraints of a mortal vessel, the idea of the Demon of Swords suffering defeat at the hands of a swordsman was entirely unthinkable. Should word of this reach the ears of his peers, he would endure centuries of mockery. To make matters worse, his conqueror was a corpse, not even a living person…

[This insolence is unforgivable! I will tear your form into microscopic pieces!]

A monstrous shriek resounded as a torrent of razor-sharp sword intent radiated from his being. Immediately following this outburst, a gargantuan blade pushed forward from his ruined wrist. The metamorphosis continued to escalate.

Whoosh-! Crackle!

His physical form expanded exponentially, causing blades of every imaginable design to pierce outward from his entire body. His remaining left hand transformed, replacing fingers with five incredibly sharp knives, while his hair shifted into slender, elongated, malleable swords that caught and scattered the surrounding light.

[This physical vessel is the Demon of Swords! I am the very definition of the blade! No strike of yours can ever hope to pierce me!]

A massive creature standing over six meters tall, entirely constructed from lethal edges, bellowed downward at the earth. Regardless of any arguments, his absolute title was the “Demon of Swords.” He possessed mastery over blade techniques, but such secondary applications were minor details. His true essence was defined by the weapon itself. Furthermore, blades had existed as instruments of terror, accumulating fear since the very origin of mortal history. The Demon of Swords, utilizing them simultaneously as his weaponry and defensive plating, occupied a secure position as a high-ranking fiend, vastly superior to common rabble.

“Hmm.”

In spite of this terrifying display, the middle-aged combatant showed zero signs of intimidation before the monstrous entity.

“If the entity representing the Demon of Swords proves to be this disappointing… then the ‘Demon of Weapons’ positioned above him is likely just as underwhelming. How unfortunate.”

He merely made a clicking sound with his tongue, calmly evaluating the giant radiating sharp energy.

[Arrogant parasite! I will reduce you to dust to ensure you can never resurrect!]

Consumed by rage, the Demon of Swords lunged forward with frantic movements, ripping through the air with his strikes.

‘My earlier failure was simply due to dropped vigilance! No blade can possibly damage this flesh!’

Every single weapon integrated into his structure was bound to legendary tales. They possessed attributes of being indestructible, bypassing all defensive armor, ensuring absolute fatality upon a single puncture, guaranteeing triumph, and even executing transcendent entities. All of those legendary traits belonged to him. That was the magnificent domain of the Demon of Swords, an attribute that had brought despair to countless champions throughout eras. An ordinary warrior dependent on a blade would surely suffer the exact same fate—even this presumptuous corpse.

“Sigh, acting precisely like an unthinking brute. Your previous appearance was honestly more respectable.”

That was how the encounter should have concluded…

Ssshhhk-

The attacking Demon of Swords instantly locked up. Mechanically, his vision dropped toward his own frame. An unfamiliar laceration ran directly across his abdomen, where nothing had been a second prior.

Crack-! Clatter!

Ruined blades shattered and dropped to the earth along the line of the wound. Ultimately, unable to support its own mass, his upper torso slid completely off and slammed into the ground.

Clang! Crash-!

A solitary movement brought a swift and hollow conclusion to the brief engagement. Yet, the loss itself was not the primary concern occupying his mind.

[Gah! By what means?! How can an ordinary blade sever my flesh?!]

The literal Demon of Swords had been cut apart by a sword. He was thrown into utter bewilderment by this impossible reality. An attack that completely bypassed his conceptual domain? It violated all established logic.

“There should be no need for me to clarify such elementary principles.”

The formerly transcendent martial artist who had once achieved the legendary boundary, the Heavenly Demon, gently wiped his prized weapon—the Heavenly Demon Sword—as he gave a detached response.

“My being is the blade, and the blade is my being. The source of an intent-filled strike is irrelevant, whether it flows from a physical weapon or not.”

It was a straightforward execution of Sword-Body Unity and Heart Sword. An anomaly preoccupied entirely with the basic concept of a weapon, rather than seeking the pinnacle of martial paths through dedicated training, would never comprehend the concept.

[Gaaaaah! This is impossible! I cannot meet my end in this place-!]

Those were the final words uttered by the Demon of Swords. A blinding burst of light erupted next, reducing countless weapons into scattered splinters. The Heavenly Demon gently turned his hand, turning away from the site.

“Hm, it wasn’t a completely worthless endeavor.”

The duel had concluded rapidly, though it required deliberate execution. Despite his casual demeanor, the opponent possessed a fundamental counter attribute, requiring a near-maximum concentration of power within that single strike. Through this exertion, he managed to reclaim a portion of the martial understanding he had lost to past memory degradation.

“It seems you have finished your task. I understood that the Demon of Swords was quite formidable—your skill remains remarkable.”

A female figure walked up, speaking to him. She was a female combatant outfitted in solid black armor that seemed to consume light like a dense void, carrying a matching defensive shield and a crushing hammer. The Heavenly Demon gave a slow nod of acknowledgement, observing her mounting dark energy corrode the immediate environment.

“Your own engagement concluded smoothly as well, from what I can see.”

His associate, the individual who once served as a holy official and chronicler. The walking corpses following behind her carried visible marks of intense fighting across their forms.

“The entity I faced was not particularly powerful for a fiend. Even so, I ensured they received the correct instruction. Imagine boldly displaying a disrespectful title like ‘Demon of Disbelief’ when our Master has arrived in the flesh?”

She gave a brief shrug accompanied by a radiant grin, stating that blasphemers merited nothing short of destruction, while her massive hammer—stained with an unidentifiable crimson fluid—rested conspicuously across her shoulder.

“Very well. Does this signify the liberation of this particular region?”

The relentless, rapid offensive of the Undying Army showed no signs of slowing down. Like a spreading malignancy within blood vessels, the Death Legions advanced across the globe, specifically hunting down fiends. Though they sustained losses, such casualties meant very little to an army of the deceased. This realm was heavily populated with resentful souls waiting to restock their numbers regardless.

“Correct. Moving forward…”

The chronicler broke off her sentence, gazing blankly into the open air. The Heavenly Demon mirrored her behavior. Somewhere immensely distant, far beyond the horizon. One of two massive, colliding energies completely overcame and extinguished the other. Moments later.

“…It has concluded.”

“The battle is done.”

The observations escaped both of their lips at the exact same moment.

“Does only a single target remain?”

“Indeed. That constitutes the primary objective.”

They walked directly toward the transport array that had just been finished by the deceased spellcasters.

Vrrr-

These massive spatial shifts were occurring everywhere; every undead entity throughout this world mimicked the coordinated movement. A massive movement of forces capable of altering the rigid destiny of the realm. Consequently, the Undying Army—having eliminated the Great Demon of Despair, followed by the destruction of the Great Demon of Ruin and his followers—redirected their entire focus simultaneously. They adjusted their course toward the domains of the final surviving Great Demon. The supreme fiend who occupied the absolute apex of Divore. Straight toward the territory commanded by the Great Demon of Infinity.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

Hans gave a slow nod while rotating his limbs, assessing his physical state.

‘Truly, I can comprehend why the Great Demons are viewed as the absolute peak of this realm.’

The initial target he eliminated, Despair, and the secondary foe he brought down, Ruin. Both of them commanded highly problematic conceptual domains. The domain of Despair stripped opponents of their power while completely neutralizing any offensive measures directed at its person. It was an ability perfectly tailored for large-scale warfare and personal survival. Any form of power would wither and evaporate upon entering its proximity—preventing any clean attacks from landing.

[Absolute concepts do not exist within this realm.]

The Great Demon of Ruin, who commanded the absolute obliteration of all matter, operated on a comparable level. His underlings would have dissolved before ever closing the distance to the target, though he had zero intention of counting on them from the start. As the absolute ruler of Death, how could he possibly submit to mere Great Demons?

‘It is quite unfortunate. Had the Great Demon of Death remained among the living, he would have provided tremendous utility to my cause.’

By eliminating those two entities, he achieved a portion of his intent. Just as he suspected, remnants of the Reverse Heaven Society Lord were present within Divore.

‘An entity capable of shattering the structural boundaries of the world, unsealing the Hell Gate, and systematically hunting down absolute entities like the Great Demon of Death. Such a feat could only be executed by the Reverse Heaven Society Lord.’

Regrettably, he failed to harvest the entirety of the data. Because Despair and Ruin had achieved their elevated status after the opening of the Hell Gate, their understanding of the preceding era was highly fragmented.

[Kehheheh, destroying the Great Demon of Infinity will provide the remaining verification.]

The entities of Slaughter and Terror had been eliminated by the Executor a hundred years ago.

‘Did the downfall of those Great Demons of Hell by his hand serve as the catalyst for the realm’s destruction?’

Stated differently, the internal stability of Hell dissolved, causing its contents to spill onto the upper world. With the protective boundary separating the planes obliterated amidst the chaos, the influx of fiends onto the surface became unavoidable. The structural foundation of Divore’s dimensions had fundamentally disintegrated.

‘If I purge the fiends currently occupying the surface first, a gateway might present itself. The administrator of this world can oversee the remaining reconstruction.’

His immediate priority was to eradicate the overwhelming corruption before initiating a complete restoration. The fiends of Divore were generated directly from the world’s accumulated negative energy. Even if he eliminated them entirely right now, they would eventually reconstruct within Hell—however, by that point in time, the dimensional boundaries ought to be fully repaired. Securing that temporary window was more than enough to fulfill his objective.

‘Naturally, that requires the elimination of those forces first.’

Hans directed his gaze forward, his eyes burning with an intense, dark luminescence. The open plains were packed with overwhelming armies. These did not belong to his own Undying Army.

[Infinity, without a doubt…]

These were the infernal battalions summoned by the fiends. They were not merely hollow numbers meant to fill space. Advanced fiends that he considered potentially problematic were heavily distributed throughout the ranks.

‘An immense quantity of identical duplicates. They have even replicated the deceased. Possessing the capacity to generate copies of fallen fiends…’

This display likely did not represent the absolute ceiling of the trait. The concept of “Infinity” possessed limitless applications.

‘It matters not.’

Hans remained completely unbothered. There was no reason for him to care.

“Kyaaaaak-!”

[Glory to the King of Death! Annihilate every single entity that obstructs our advance!]

“Grrrrk!”

He stood as the absolute summit of all wrappers of the dead, uniquely optimized above all else for catastrophic army-scale engagements. The Immortal King.