Evolution: From Little Devil to Devil Empress

Liora nodded her head, satisfied with the chaos spreading through the 173rd Layer of the Demon World.

For her current self, the more chaotic the situation became, the better.

After all, she was still in a period of rapid improvement in combat power.

Given enough time, she had the confidence to grow strong enough to fear no one, including the Hollow Ancestor, the Catastrophe Devil, and even the rioting Elementals.

With that thought, Liora waved her hand and pulled a mountain of Earth Spirit Ore out of her space ring.

The demonic energy in the cave instantly became several times denser, making her feel as if she had returned to Hollow City.

“Assira mentioned that the Elementals, regardless of their type, are mainly focused on mining such minerals, ores filled with pure demonic energy.”

“According to the judgment of Hollow City’s Archdevils, it is highly likely that their scheme requires a large amount of demonic energy.”

“Some even suspect that it is needed to truly break the seal, allowing the beings slumbering deep within the forbidden areas to come out.”

Liora shook her head. She didn’t dwell on whether this was correct, but focused on the mountain in front of her.

For other Devils and the native creatures of the Demon World, the Earth Spirit Ore indeed only had a single function, which, although simple, was actually shocking.

Even she, having already advanced to the Throne Stage, could make use of it. Absorbing the ore would increase not only the volume but also the quality of her demonic energy.

Since she had emptied the entire mine before she departed from the Hollow, she had enough to let her strength skyrocket.

“However, this is a waste of resources.”, Liora shook her head.

“Other Devils can indeed only use it as such. But for me, there is a far more efficient method.”

Profane Offering—by sacrificing anything with value, she could bypass the requirements of practicing Devil Techniques.

The details of this ability surfaced in Liora’s mind as she began to sift through her memories.

In an instant, she locked onto a certain technique.

Primordial Sin Art—a technique she had obtained from reading the memories of the Thousand-Eyed Devil.

Since the other party had only learned it but never practiced it, Liora had not been able to obtain it through Absolute Extraction.

Primordial Sin Art was a rare Archdevil-level technique, stronger than any other technique she had ever gotten her hands on.

Yet, this was not the reason why Liora focused on it so much.

Rather, it was because she was already somewhat familiar with it.

The Demonic Body Art, which she had just recently mastered using Profane Offering, was merely a derivative of this technique.

“The Demonic Body Art is widely spread through Hollow City. This is why I was able to obtain it so easily.”

“Now, it seems that this was not a mere accident.”, Liora pondered.

“It’s highly likely that the Primordial Sin Art belongs to one of the city’s many organizations. If that’s the case, it’s indeed natural for its lower-level technique to spread.”

Though this made sense, Liora had another, more likely suspicion.

Purchasing Devil Techniques was quite common, especially when one reached the Archdevil stage.

Because of their rarity, however, such techniques were extremely precious, requiring materials of equal or even higher value in exchange.

With that in mind, Liora strongly suspected that the Demonic Body Art was spread on purpose.

Once a Greater Devil who had practiced it advanced to an Archdevil, they’d surely wish to practice its higher-level technique and seek to purchase the Primordial Sin Art.

Take Liora, for example.

If she were to learn of the Primordial Sin Art’s existence and were in Hollow City, she would have gritted her teeth and paid a high price to obtain it.

After all, having practiced the Demonic Body Art and already comprehended its principles, she’d be able to make rapid progress, far surpassing other techniques of a similar level.

“I’m afraid that this is not the only technique with such an issue. Perhaps all the widely-spread techniques in Hollow City are the same.”

“The many organizations are just waiting for people to advance, before reaping a wave of benefits in exchange for the higher-level techniques.”, Liora pinched her chin, looking thoughtful.

Having already obtained the Primordial Sin Art in an alternative way, this didn’t matter to her at the moment.

However, it fully demonstrated the scheming of Archdevils.

Something as simple and ordinary as that was used to enrich themselves.

Was this the only “trap”?

Shaking her head, Liora suppressed her thoughts and turned her attention back to the Primordial Sin Art.

Closing her eyes, she worked to digest its contents, confirming that it and the Demonic Body Art were indeed related.

The two followed the exact same principle.

The Demonic Body Art integrated Indestructible Matter and demonic energy to create Demonforce, while the Primordial Sin Art integrated the above, as well as the power of one’s Throne. The resulting energy was called Sinforce.

It only differed from Demonforce in a single aspect. Yet, the Sinforce’s effect was several times more terrifying.

Not only with regards to activating spells while using it as “fuel”, but also with regards to tempering one’s body and the accompanying effects.

Looking at these effects and at the benefits of practicing this technique, Liora raised her eyebrows. The next moment, her expression relaxed.

She closed her eyes and concentrated her mind.

She began to follow the Primordial Sin Art’s description, regulating the distinct energies in her body as mentioned.

The Demonforce in her body dissipated while her soul space trembled.

An inexplicable power flowed from her World of Heart, fusing with her Indestructible Matter, demonic energy, and even her vitality.

Everything went smoothly at first.

However, just as the aforementioned energies were about to fuse and Sinforce seemed ready to be born, something stopped her.

Liora felt the existence of an imaginary wall, preventing her from completing the process. It seemed that no matter how much she tried, she’d never be able to succeed.

Liora was not surprised.

Archdevil Techniques had even higher requirements than Greater Devil ones.

Even practicing the first level required one to absorb corresponding materials, comprehend certain concepts, etc.

In particular, practicing the Primordial Sin Art required the absorption of sins, negative emotions, and everything “evil”.

For a Devil in a place like the Demon World, such things were easy to gather.

But the large amount of them required was bound to stun most Devils, giving a headache even to those at the Archdevil stage.

Fortunately, Liora faced no such issue. Though she had none of those things on hand, she had something else.

Opening her eyes, her gaze landed on the mountain of Earth Spirit Ore before narrowing.

Her mind stirred. Then, a bang!

A portion of the mountain instantly exploded as she activated Profane Offering.

A stream of invisible force formed around Liora and poured into her body, settling on top of the already gathered energies.

The next moment, her body trembled. A faint click rang out as the first unit of Sinforce was finally born.