However, in the final second before his consciousness fully cleared, the former God of Meteorology still took note of the fate of his adversary. The result, however, made him curse out loud.
"So, Iâm the only one who didnât even leave a corpse behind?"
As the thought crossed his mind, he then sunk into a cold slumber, all that was happening on the battlefield now irrelevant to him. But it could be imagined that Criusâs sleep would likely only last for a brief moment.
Soon, he would awaken anew in the "Boisterous Hollow Tunnels." Unharmed in essence and perhaps, before long, he might even celebrate the victory of the Nine Hells.
...
In the first layer of Hell, near the gateway blasted open by the Mother of Demons. Stay connected via empire
At some unknown time, the once tranquil teenage deity who sat here playing his flute had vanished without a trace, leaving only a handful of grey feathers drifting down in the empty mid-air, with only two slumbering Demon Gods remaining.
Yet by their looks, Squenos had evidently left only just a moment ago; otherwise, deprived of his sustaining power, they would have likely awakened by now.
Above in the high sky, relentless storms continued to blow, and small movements began to stir upon the bodies of the two Demon Gods. The last few grey feathers became blurred, as if about to vanish into nothingness with just a gust of wind.
However, in the next moment, everything came to a halt.
ââChuff
From the deeper layers of Hell, a certain power swept âupward,â unstoppable in its onslaught.
At its forefront, it seemed to carry a ferocious head, struggling and roaringâthat was the last refuge of the Abyssâs power. But as it advanced, that familiar head reverted back to its original form at a rate visible to the naked eye, returning to its initial state.
Nonetheless, this did not hinder the force from moving onward. Even after it shattered the Abyssâs protection left on the four Demon Gods and lost most of its energy, it appeared unstoppable.
Humââ
As if sensing mortal danger, two invisible forces simultaneously rose upon the Demon Gods. They seemed to try and stop this exceedingly overwhelming attack, but the incoming wave only paused briefly before effortlessly breaking through the power repelled by Hell itself.
In the following moment, the âDivine Arrowâ shot across the sky, its âcurrentâ brushing past the two Demon Gods. Although they werenât directly in the path of this âDivine Arrow,â the result was only marginally better.
The black shadows seemed to awaken for an instant, then were torn asunder in a fraction of a second, plummeting to the outside world along the âarrowâs trajectory.â On the other hand, the Demon God shrouded in blue mist held up somewhat betterâit managed to struggle before one-third of its body was cleaved away, plummeting alongside it into the void beyond Hell.
In the blink of an eye, with the last two Demon Gods one dead and one wounded, the âarrowâ still showed no sign of stopping.
It continued forward, flying out beyond Hell under the watchful eyes of many. Yet, it seemed to have reached the end of its strength, and its final resting place was not too far offâmerely flying to where the Serpent of the Central Court and Moyaâs powers met, amidst those time-space bubbles constantly being tainted and reborn.
Carrying the âarrowheadâ with the Demon Godâs Origin, it fell freely, embedding itself in that void. Like an axe splitting chaos, where it landed marked the beginning of creation.
"All is going well."
In the void, indifferent to the sudden shock and rage of Moya, the Ancient Serpent nodded slightly. Then, in the next moment, the âsacrificeâ rule embedded in the interface due to Zeusâs prior influence emerged.
The Titans with their three heads and eight arms wielded three distinct powers: one that slowly corrupted everything, one that efficiently annihilated all spirits, and the last in the middle that could siphon the power of its foes from slaughter to strengthen oneself. (See 3-117)
The Divine Tree that grew from Gungnirâs main trunk inherited its most core capabilities: one supplanting another, gains matched with sacrifices.
Lastly, there was the unique connection between the Abyss and Hell... They fell together into that time-space bubble, the space that for many years had been born and destroyed in the clashes between the Ancient Serpent and Moyaâs powers, or the collision of Hell and the Abyss.
"You should have another title."
A transformation was underway, the will of the Abyss seemed to be boiling over with rage. But the Ancient Serpent was relaxed, because at this point, everything was unstoppable.
So, looking at the birth within the time-space bubbleâseemingly slow but actually swiftly taking shape, even vaguely belonging both to the Abyss and Hellâa deep voice came from the serpentâs head.
"A fight to the death, âthe survivorâ as the king... From this day on, you shall be called Asura Field."