Using the time bought by Balzefen's "betrayal," Leilin finally reached the demiplane ahead of all the other devils.
Powerful spatial fluctuations flickered before his eyes, and he could even faintly make out the contours of an entirely new world.
Within the demiplane, magma and flames were everywhere, and at its very center, a devil so vast it resembled a mountain range lay slumbering in its true form.
With each rise and fall of its chest, the demonic wings on its back and its massive compound eyes stirred slightly, radiating formidable vital energy.
"It's
The other deep hellfire demons screamed the moment they caught sight of this scene, the flames in their eyes blazing to full intensity.
To them, this represented supreme authority—the overlord of all devils—and freedom from eternal torment!
Yet at this moment, Leilin halted in his tracks, refusing to advance further into the demiplane and claim everything he had ever dreamed of.
"So realistic... it almost fooled me. What a pity..."
The Chip's glow flashed through Leilin's eyes, and without the slightest hesitation he turned and departed, his figure vanishing in an instant.
Stripped of their domain and divine power resistance, the deep hellfire demons gathered before the demiplane.
"What do we do? That god seems to have left. Is it a trap?" Zhapan's eyes darted about, but the true body of Beelzebub within the demiplane radiated such tremendous power that it lured them ceaselessly.
"Send in a sacrificial pawn first, how about it?"
Another devil rolled its bead-like eyes, wisps of flame continuously streaming from its body.
"Cowards—this one is mine... haha..." Yet just as the devils were hesitating, one deep hellfire demon suddenly burst into wild laughter and charged headlong into the demiplane.
Under its influence, several more deep hellfire demons leaped in after it.
"The first one was Bazar—it already knew it couldn't pass next year's evaluation..." One devil sighed. "I'm leaving..."
If these had been demons, they would all have charged in at once and then brawled among themselves until they beat each other's brains to mush.
But devils were different. They possessed order—and even more importantly, wisdom.
"I smell a conspiracy, so if you'll excuse me, I won't be joining you..."
The devils that had rushed in earlier were merely the unlucky few already destined for demotion next year, gambling everything on one last throw. But some of the remaining devils, seeing this bizarre scene, began to waver.
"That god may have left before, but that doesn't necessarily mean this is a trap... Besides, with our combined strength..."
The rest lingered indecisively, each trying to convince their companions.
BOOM!!!
But at that moment, the demiplane underwent a terrifying transformation. The entire demiplane roiled and writhed, as though turning into a monstrous beast—the original entrance now forming the beast's gaping maw.
CRACK! The first deep hellfire demon to charge in, Bazar, made contact with Beelzebub's true body at the demiplane's center and then exploded into a ball of flame.
Within the flames, the enormous devil figure melted away, forming a foul-smelling corrosive oily substance that splattered onto the remaining devils.
"Ahhh..." "What is this..."
Screams erupted continuously from within the demiplane. Those reckless devils found their bodies melting away, as though trapped inside a beast's stomach undergoing digestion, while the corrosive black oil served as its gastric acid.
"ROARRR!!!"
The demiplane-turned-monster let out a thunderous roar. The entrance generated a tremendous suction force that kept expanding.
"Damn it—it's a trap! Run!"
Zhapan of the Eight Demon Generals bellowed in alarm, only to discover with horror that he was already within the demiplane's expanding range.
A colossal mouth blotted out the sky, nearly biting down on the entire region and consigning numerous deep hellfire demons to a dissolving death.
After swallowing so many deep hellfire demons in one gulp, the monster that had become the demiplane appeared to grow satisfied and remained where it was. Waves of evil energy—formed from the digested deep hellfire demons—emanated outward, then channeled through specific pathways to some unknown destination.
...
"What a pity..."
The Ninth Layer of Hell—the Nessus Plane.
Above Marchem's castle,
But
"Just a supplementary agreement with Beelzebub, that's all..."
Asmodeus waved his hand dismissively. "I plotted nothing against your subordinates. Everything was part of the arrangement Beelzebub made with me before falling into slumber! The plan was to lure an enemy in—if it could devour them, it might recover from its severe injuries and restore order to
"So what you're saying is... you were deceiving us as well?"
The frost around Levistus surged violently.
"Oh! No, no, no! My friends!" An evil smile played across Asmodeus's face. "The River Styx Pact remains equally valid. If your former subordinates had managed to seize Beelzebub's authority, I would absolutely have recognized their status. But unfortunately, they failed—so it's only natural that they became nourishment for an infernal lord's recovery, wouldn't you say?"
"So now we've gained nothing and paid the price to help Beelzebub recover? Damn you!!!"
Mammon and Samael roared in unison: "Let us return—our territories must be in complete chaos by now..."
"I'm afraid that's not possible just yet. After all, the oath hasn't been fulfilled..." Asmodeus blinked, his pupils seeming to reflect all of Hell itself. "Let us wait and see..."
...
"So that's how it is. You set a trap, hoping to devour me and recover what you lost?"
Inside the Iron Tower, Leilin's figure materialized directly in the void. Undulating divine power stabilized everything around him.
Gazing down at the Plane Devouring Beast rampaging below, his eyes blazed with brilliant light.
Now he could confirm with certainty—this was the trap Beelzebub had laid! The goal was to ambush him and reclaim its authority and energy!
And now that the plan had failed, it had settled for the next best option: devouring a massive number of deep hellfire demons to mend its injuries using their devil essence.
It wasn't as effective as swallowing Leilin directly, but it was far from insignificant.
"What a pity... Your scheme revealed a weakness—and a truth!"
Leilin's eyes brimmed with amusement.
"The truth is... you have indeed fallen into a deep slumber, which is why you could only hastily arrange this plan without directing it from behind the scenes, making it rather crude..."
"And the weakness is even more fatal... The fact that this creature can absorb your evil energy means your true body must have some kind of connection to this place!!!"
Energy transmission was not infinite, and Beelzebub had clearly mastered the art of manipulating hearts to perfection—hiding itself in the most dangerous yet safest place possible.
"Even now, I still cannot sense your presence. There is no trace of you anywhere in this plane..."
Leilin narrowed his eyes slightly. "In that case... the only possibility is the Mandehoak Disc! You used the Mandehoak Disc's power to conceal yourself within a spatial rift of your own creation? That way your aura wouldn't be in the Dis Plane, yet you'd be right here!!!"
"Chip!"
Leilin issued the command sharply.
[Ding! Task established. Opening the Mandehoak Disc folder. Initiating replication sequence!]The Chip's mechanical voice responded faithfully, transmitting vast quantities of information into Leilin's memory.
Back in the
Exquisite patterns and symbols emerged from between his fingers, forming precise and intricate designs.
Numerous patterns overlapped to produce the shape of a peculiar disc.
[Mandehoak Disc replica operation commencing. Searching for matching frequency bands!]
Reading the Chip's prompt, Leilin descended directly to the ground and walked up to the statue before Beelzebub's bedchamber.
The Plane Devouring Beast's sudden eruption had reduced the entire bedchamber to ashes, yet this spot had miraculously remained untouched.
[Ding! Search successful! Target location:...]
The Chip displayed another prompt.
"As I suspected!" Without a moment's hesitation, Leilin pressed the illusory image of the Mandehoak Disc against Beelzebub's statue.
Hummmm...
The disc's phantom flowed like water into the statue, and then a hidden space was opened.
The space was small in area, blanketed in an ashen haze, and waves of evil energy radiated ceaselessly from a devil curled up at its center.
"At last I've found you, Beelzebub..."
Leilin murmured, though he hadn't expected the Devil Lord to have grown this weak.
Though the exterior was the same, its body had shrunk to the size of an infant. Several phantom tubes connected it to the Plane Devouring Beast, as though drawing nourishment through an umbilical cord.
A slowly reviving will, upon seeing Leilin, immediately transmitted emotions of tension and dread.
"From the Wizard World to the Infernal World, and then to the Divine World and Hell—our entanglement is finally coming to an end..."
Leilin gazed at the being before him, a sigh of his own stirring in his eyes. Dark crimson patterns surfaced across his entire body, and his brow split open to reveal a bizarre vertical eye.
"Nightmare Energy Absorber—Innate Talent: Dream Devouring!"
Faced with this ideal nourishment, Leilin wasted no time in deploying the most fitting method. A layer of dark crimson dream force enveloped the demiplane with Beelzebub at its core, forming an enormous oval egg that began to tremble and undulate softly, as though a living thing were breathing within.