Chapter 57: Abyssal Blood War
In the Endless Void.
While roaming in the Astral Realm, it is rare to encounter others, but Soren seems to have come across one.
A traveler wandering through the Astral Realm with their true body.
Travelling in the Astral Realm lacks air and gravity; projections are the simple way to traverse. If one’s true body travels here, even deities must constantly expend power.
What Soren encountered was a lich!
As an undead lifeform, many restrictions in the Astral Realm are inconsequential to it, despite the saying that “legends abound and liches are everywhere.”
But in fact, this was still a lich that Soren had met.
Liches are generally very powerful spellcasters, many of whom have strength that can rival deities. The one Soren encountered was wandering in the Astral Realm, appearing to collect something he could not comprehend—a strange dust emitting a faint silvery glow. It should be from the material plane or some extension of it. Just one glance was not enough for Soren to determine its origin; he only knew that it was effortlessly drifting in the Astral Realm, at least possessing 25 profession levels.
“Your Excellency, the Deity!”
Facing Soren’s projection, the lich appeared quite relaxed. The divine aura emanating from Soren did not escape its notice. It slightly bent forward to show respect and said slowly, “I am pleased to encounter the trace of a deity here.”
It was not surprising for such a powerful being to meet a deity.
Currently, Soren posed no threat to it at all, because a projection only possesses a small portion of the true body’s strength. Moreover, as a lich, it possesses a phylactery; unless it is foolish enough to participate in the Abyssal Blood War, it can completely rely on the phylactery to resurrect itself if its physical body is destroyed. In this regard, even deities may sometimes find themselves helpless. Unless one has mastery over divine professions related to death, it is impossible to destroy a lich’s physical body while also eliminating its hidden phylactery.
Soren nodded slightly, standing in the void, observing the other.
Neither of them seemed inclined to speak. Once they confirmed there was no hostility between them, they simply passed by each other in the void.
If a projection dies, the true body suffers a certain amount of damage and becomes weakened for a period.
The lich also did not wish to offend a deity!
In its hand, it held a strange alchemical device that continuously absorbed the faint silvery dust of the Astral Realm. Only after Soren had traveled far away did it seem to release a slight breath of relief and quickly put away the device, opening a portal. The Astral Realm is a dangerous place where battles frequently occur. Encountering a deity was quite surprising for it, even as a lich.
Soren had not strayed too far from the material plane.
Because he still needed to allocate some of his energy to Modo and another location.
In the Astral Realm, it is possible to encounter the corpses of ancient deities. These corpses still retain powerful energies and pose a great danger while also providing opportunities for deities. The corpses of these ancient gods are imbued with immense divinity; they are gods that no longer exist in the records of time, and they are the creators of the Lord of Hell—Asmothiels. These ancient gods fought against the primordial demons born from the source of chaos. Some perished in the void of the multiverse, and their corpses have remained to this day.
The power of primordial demons tainted Asmothiels and led to his complete downfall, as the greatest warrior of order over endless ages. Asmothiels finally severed ties with the gods completely and evolved into the present Hell of Bartok. The downfall of Asmothiels directly caused a significant portion of the ancient angels to fall into hell. Some have already perished in the eternal Abyssal Blood War, while others remain in the deepest part of the Hell of Bartok, but the bloodlines of fallen angels have spread throughout every layer of the Hell of Bartok.
The reason Soren chose to enter the Bottomless Abyss instead of considering the Hell of Bartok was that the space of the Hell of Bartok is quite limited (only nine layers), the competition is fierce, and one must submit to the rule of Asmothiels.
In contrast, the Bottomless Abyss is chaotic and its space is quite vast.
Although there are many powerful demon lords, there is no absolute ruler, as chaos represents opportunity and the potential for Soren to rise!
In fact.
On his first Astral journey, Soren still had a small hope that Lady Luck would smile upon him or that he would have a stroke of fortune like the Child of the Plane, suddenly encountering the fleeting corpse of an ancient god in the Astral Realm.
Unfortunately, compared to one vast plane after another, the corpses of ancient gods are still too small.
In this nearly boundless expanse of the Astral Realm, the probability of encountering them is unimaginably low! Soren had always believed that the abilities he possessed could help him absorb the immense divinity residual on the corpses of ancient gods, but the problem lay in how difficult it was to find them in this vast and mysterious Astral Realm.
It had been a very long time since someone encountered a corpse of an ancient god.
Soren prepared to circle the void of the material plane, as the Astral Realm holds many valuable things; the key is whether one can encounter them. It connects all planes of space. Sometimes you might even come across a meteorite flying by that could be entirely of diamond structure or some metal that could directly forge extraordinary weapons.
Since he was already here, he might as well take a few more turns and try his luck!
………………
In the laboratory.
Gloria was busy analyzing experimental data, occasionally glancing at the new Tower Spirit ET-1 standing nearby, recording notes. Compared to the Tower Spirit 13 she encountered in the Chess Dimension, the Tower Spirit she created was far too weak. Whether it was combat ability, computational power, or intelligence, the gap between them was vast. This only heightened her curiosity about the knowledge of the Arcane Empire; she truly wanted to understand the secrets that could keep a massive floating city operational and just how much captivating knowledge was hidden within.
A faint sound of footsteps echoed.
The figure of the Fallen Witch appeared outside the laboratory, holding a thick book, gently pushing open the door.
“Mother?”
Gloria paused her experiments, turned, and looked at the Fallen Witch, slowly asking, “Is there something you need?”
The two laboratories were separated.
Under normal circumstances, her mother rarely came over at this time, so she was a bit puzzled.
“Take a look at this.”
The Fallen Witch used Mage Hand to present the thick book to Gloria, quickly flipping to one page and softly saying, “This is the information I found regarding the Abyssal Blood War.”
Gloria took it curiously; it contained a large block of text and illustrations:
“In the unrecorded ages of civilization, the Abyssal Blood War had already erupted.”
“At that time, the River of Underworld was merely a small stream, and the gray wasteland, Hell of Scorching Flames, and Shura Realm had not yet fully formed. The Hell of Bartok was still ruled by the ancient Bartok natives, and Ygoroth had only just been born!…”
“The Abyssal Blood War, which has lasted countless ages, never sees an end; the existence of Asmothiels completely tipped the balance of power, as the war seemed to become a stalemate!…”
“From the Ten Thousand Abyss Plains to the blood rift (the largest battlefield between the Abyss and Bartok), Avernus, gray wasteland, Hell of Scorching Flames, and the Shura field—there is not a single place that is not a battlefield of bloodshed, where millions of evil spirits fight. Countless evil spirits die every moment, and countless lesser demons and coward demons are born under the laws of the planes to continue the slaughter!…”
“Ygoroth, Ghost Hags, and Night Witches are neutral evil creatures that benefit from both sides of the blood war. The Ygoroth Chamber of Commerce exports vast resources from the endless layers of the Abyss to Bartok while importing various meticulously crafted weapons and equipment made by demons from Bartok back to the Abyss (Bartok has countless factories, being the largest weapon production force in the lower planes, while the chaotic Abyss lacks commercial weapon forging in many areas).…” “The Ygoroth family also monopolizes some of the River of Underworld ferryman business. If it weren’t for the fierce internal competition among Ygoroth, Night Witches, and Ghost Hags, their commercial power could overshadow the multiverse.……”
………………
Gloria raised her head in confusion after reading this part; she had seen some of it before.
Any powerful wizard should know something about the Abyssal Blood War that had existed for countless eras, but the Fallen Witch gently shook her head and continued, “Keep reading.”
There were many more texts after that, but the focus seemed to be on a single part:
“In some ancient period.”
“Millions of a coalition composed of aberrants and angels participated in the blood war, but only 3,000 returned to the upper planes alive; this disastrous defeat made the beings of the celestial realm more cautious and careful when dealing with the lower planes!”
“Let the evil spirits slaughter each other; the higher planes have also lost interest in interfering with the blood war. As a result of this failed expedition, beings of the celestial realm split into order and chaos factions.”
“In ancient times, many gods of order or chaos participated in the blood war. A deity from the chaotic faction perished in the blood war, and even more terrifying is the fact that the gods who died in the blood war could never be resurrected; they were utterly done for. Thus, most gods chose to withdraw from the blood war, at most sending some lower servant believers to participate, as it seemed their divine power was also being absorbed by the blood war from too much involvement!…”
“There are even rumors that even if a lich dies in the blood war, it is very likely that even the phylactery will be destroyed, making many powerful beings who value their lives feel cautious, and even demon lords and hell princes rarely risk personal involvement….”
At this moment, the Fallen Witch suddenly spoke, “Look at the last section.”
The last section?
Gloria continued to read in confusion and soon felt a shiver run through her body:
“Of course, it is different for those evil spirits who wish to advance or seek to become stronger through the blood war! This is one of the fastest methods to gain strength; as long as they survive, they may be able to absorb the power of the enemies they kill!…”
“A lowest-ranked coward demon could directly evolve into a powerful frenzied combat demon after a single blood war.”
“Moreover, if it survives several blood wars, it could evolve into a six-armed serpent demon, assassination demon, Balroth Fire Demon, and other greater demons!…”
“If it is fortunate enough to kill a particularly powerful being!”
“That might mean another demon lord would emerge from the Bottomless Abyss, or a devil duke would appear in the Hell of Bartok!…”
“Throughout long history.”
“Occasionally, some extremely powerful and also incredibly lucky beings have killed gods in the Abyssal Blood War!…”
“This could allow certain individuals to become one of the lofty gods in a very short time!… No one knows what kind of rules and powers are contained within the blood war!… But it seems to be the only place where anyone has a possibility of standing shoulder to shoulder with gods in the shortest amount of time!…”
“Slaughter knows no bounds!…”
—“Abyssal Blood War,” Volume Three, Chapter Sixteen.
………………
Gloria quietly closed the book, turned her head, and looked at the Fallen Witch with a complex expression, slowly saying, “Why did you show me this?”
The Fallen Witch fell silent.
After a moment, she slowly said, “Soren’s power!”
“From a weak mortal to becoming a deity in such a short time!… I sense too many secrets from him!… No one has risen like a comet as he has!…”
“What you just saw is the greatest possibility I can imagine!…”
“He possesses a power similar to that of the blood war!… What direction will this power lead him towards?…”
Gloria stood in place.
She quietly gazed at her mother, her expression still calm, but in a firm voice said, “No matter what the future holds, since I have chosen him, I will always stand by his side until the end!”
“Mother.”
“It’s getting late. You should return to rest soon.”
………………(To be continued ~^~)
