Chapter 119: Devil Empress
"I want you to protect this treasure with everything you have," Alze-beus commanded. "Even if you end up dying, I will revive you."
For the first time, the Devil Empress replied without moving from her prostrated posture. "But Lord, if I leave Hell, shouldn’t revival be impossible?"
Alze-beus scoffed. "That is not for you to worry about." Internally, he thought: If you manage to die even while possessing Devil Monarch strength, then your secrets aren’t worth much to begin with.
The Devil Empress didn’t say anything else, accepting his words as truth.
"Now, move to the middle of the Curse Circle," Alze-beus ordered.
Without showing any unwillingness, she got up and teleported to the center of the Curse Circle.
"This will hurt," Alze-beus warned right before the circle activated.
The Devil Empress immediately felt unbearable pain, as if her entire foundation was burning to force her rank higher. But her face barely twitched.
At the same time, she felt herself being pushed out of Hell. It was as if, all of a sudden, Hell had stopped treating her as a native and started rejecting her as an invader.
Her eyes widened in shock, but she quickly composed herself.
Since she knew the Devil Monarch was not interested in her body, she dropped her coy act entirely. And since she already knew the nature of the plan, she didn’t feel the need to show her pathetic, begging side either.
Alze-beus noticed this shift, but he couldn’t care less about disciplining her right now.
As for her betraying him? In the Surface World, Devils were hunted on sight. Without any connections, it would be extremely difficult for her to survive, especially since she would barely be left with the strength of a Devil Slave once the ritual’s effects ended.
As for her teaming up with [Zethe-thoth]?
That would be even better. Alze-beus could already sense His Highness Aathan’s gaze upon him. He would just have to inform the Sovereign of her betrayal, and His Highness Aathan would personally ensure she suffered the worst death possible.
She undoubtedly knew this as well, which was why Alze-beus was certain she had no logical reason to switch sides.
As for any other schemes this newbie Devil Empress might be cooking up? He could already smell them from a mile away.
While it might have seemed like a lot of time had passed during their conversation, barely 10 single second had passed in the outside world. The time dilation in the Secret Realm was different was more than standard time difference between Hell and the Surface World.
...
"You finally showed youra true coloura," [Zethe-thoth] mocked, acting as if he were hurt and had never expected a betrayal.
Alze-beus sneered. "Did you really think I would act like your bitch after all that you have done?"
[Zethe-thoth] smiled again, and this time, it didn’t reach his eyes. "So, it has nothing to do with the plant," he observed, pointing at the core upon the throne.
Alze-beus was stunned inwardly, but outwardly, he maintained a confident smirk. "That’s just a bonus. After I am done with you, that Witch will be next."
"I wondera what gives you the confidencea to fight meaa," [Zethe-thoth] mused.
"I have the world on my side," Alze-beus declared. "An invader like you should understand this more than anyone."
Just as Devils were suppressed on the Surface World, the same held true for beings from outside the planet; the invaders, it was many times worse.
[Zethe-thoth] paused. Then, he laughed covering his face behind his hand. His who body shook as he laughed as if the whole situation was too funny. He laughed continuously for a full minute.
Alze-beus watched closely, but something about the way [Zethe-thoth] was acting didn’t sit right with him.
Wiping a mock tear from his eye, [Zethe-thoth] spoke, his voice dripping with condescension. "I may not look like it, but I am a native of this world. And the world has no reason to suppress me."
[Zethe-thoth] finally dropped the Indian accent he had been using until now, clearly done with pretending.
For the first time, Alze-beus didn’t know what the heck was going on. This revelation was too shocking. [Zethe-thoth] was clearly a God, and it was impossible for this world to still be at the Demigod Grade if a native God had been born here.
No matter their origin, once a native became a God, the world would practically bend over backward to accommodate them and upgrade itself.
But then Alze-beus thought of something, something utterly absurd. And when he did, every hair on his body stood on end. If it was that... then it makes sense. But how? But... But if that is the case, then...
Looking at the dawning realization on Alze-beus’s face, [Zethe-thoth] smiled. "You are right. I am a nightmare birthed into reality."
Alze-beus gulped. "But you are a God..."
[Zethe-thoth] chuckled, as if amused by the terror on Alze-beus’s face. It was normal to assume he was a God; after all, he already had a Chosen.
"I am a God. In fact, I am more than a mere God," [Zethe-thoth] proclaimed. "My presence is such that even in the river of time, my terror rings throughout history. So much so that even this world, which originally had no relation to me, worshipped me in the distant past."
"As an Eldritch Horror. An Outer God."
He explained it freely. It was his first time stating it out in the open, and he wasn’t worried about the sneaky Gods who might be peeping. After all, his original main body had already reached the edge of this Cosmos.
As for why he specified "Gods"? Unlike the weaklings of this world, [Zethe-thoth] could sense whenever someone was looking at him, even if they were Gods. Right now, he could sense at least twenty-five gazes fixed upon him including the two Primordial Gods.
"But how?" Alze-beus asked, bewildered. "I thought beings like you had all retreated into the No. 1 Death Zone, ’The Nightmare Domain’, and the rest went into hiding."
Unlike most beings on Earth, Alze-beus was aware of a lot more about history, perhaps even more than some of the peeping Gods eying their world non-stop.
[Zethe-thoth] smiled, but this time, it was the smile of a true killer. A schemer. The smile of someone playing 3D chess while everyone else didn’t even realize they were mere pieces on the board.
"After I learned that beings like me existed in reality, do you really think I would let them live?" [Zethe-thoth] said coldly. "The cowards who understood the reality of the situation escaped into ’The Nightmare Domain’."
But something in all of this caught Alze-beus’s attention. "So, right now... you are not a God. And even your main body that is hiding somewhere on this planet, the one that was birthed from a nightmare, is also not a God yet."
"So what of it?" [Zethe-thoth] asked dismissively.
Why did it matter if he was a God or not? To him, they were all just ants. The only reason he was entertaining these ants at all was for one purpose.
He wanted the God’s Corpse located within the Death Zone. Every fiber of his being craved it. He had even brought his original cosmic body to the edge of this Cosmos and concealed the Cosmos, so that he could secure the corpse before anyone else noticed.
After all, that wasn’t just any God’s corpse. It belonged to a being for whom the category of "God" was an insult.
Just a mere whiff of its lingering aura was enough to terraform a world. [Zethe-thoth] was certain that if the System hadn’t interfered, the entire universe would have mutated to reflect its nature, perhaps even the entire Cosmos.
Just then, a Curse Circle appeared beside Alze-beus. The moment it materialized, Alze-beus’s aura soared, instantly breaking through to the Devil Monarch realm.
As soon as it happened, the blackish-purple mist blanketing the surroundings was blown away, receding until barely any of it was visible anymore.
This was the terrifying might of a Devil Monarch (Rank 7).
[Zethe-thoth] finally dropped his smile. A serious look replaced it, but his expression quickly stiffened when he sensed another aura of a similarly ranked being approaching.
Something else was emerging from the Curse Circle, and though it felt slightly weaker than Alze-beus, [Zethe-thoth] sensed the being was far from simple.
He wanted to stop the summoning, but Alze-beus immediately locked the surrounding space, making it impossible for him to move.
[Zethe-thoth’s] aura flared. Despite being a rank lower, the spatial lock failed to hold him, and he shattered it in the next moment.
Knowing it was too late to stop the summon, he decided to observe the newcomer instead.
From the Curse Circle, a Devil rose. First, her red horns appeared, then her forehead, her face, and finally, her petite body.
Standing barely five feet tall, she was short, but the aura radiating from her made her seem like a towering giant.
Opening her eyes, she looked around.
She had two small red horns on either side of her head, with crimson hair and matching red eyes. She wore a modest red robe adorned with flickering black runes that covered her assets perfectly, that is, if there was much to cover at all.
She looked at [Zethe-thoth], then at the plant on the throne, and finally at Alze-beus.
Giving a curt nod to Alze-beus, she moved toward the plant, completely ignoring [Zethe-thoth].
Unlike what Alze-beus expected, [Zethe-thoth] didn’t try to stop her. He simply let her cross his path without lifting a finger.
The Devil Empress stopped in front of the throne and turned around, standing with her back facing the plant.
She made her intentions clear: she was not there to fight, but to defend the treasure.
[Zethe-thoth] merely looked at her, then shifted his gaze back to Alze-beus.
A mocking smile returned to his face as he repeated the Devil’s earlier words.
"So... it has nothing to do with the plant, right?"