Evolution: From Little Devil to Devil Empress

Liora’s reason for coming to the Blood Forest Realm was to complete the Trial assigned to her by the War Academy.

For the mission to be considered completed, she had to remain alive for three whole months.

Although the first days of her journey were quite eventful and drastic changes happened almost every day, the following weeks were mostly unremarkable.

Granted, this was only the case for Liora, who had secluded herself in the Twilight Forest.

For the rest of the continent, the past few weeks had been quite exciting.

The destruction of the eastern region’s largest trouble had caused countless undercurrents to surge through the Blood Forest Realm.

Even the forces situated in the central region had been alarmed and worked tirelessly.

Wave after wave of spies were sent to investigate what had happened.

Unfortunately, no matter how much effort they expended, the result of their investigation was the same:

No one could find any traces of the culprit behind Hydra Tribe’s destruction.

--

In an underground cave hundreds of kilometers beneath the surface of Twilight Forest, the only source of light was the scorching, flowing magma.

At the center of an artificially created cavern, a figure sat with its eyes closed.

The air around the figure vibrated violently, with several extraordinary phenomena occurring from time to time.

An illusory river appeared, and time itself froze. The space itself began to shatter, and countless spatial doors appeared.

Grass sprouted beneath their feet before withering away.

The phenomena alternated, each one being unique.

The only constant was the figure itself, which resembled a revolving black hole.

This process lasted for quite a while.

It was only hours later that the illusion shattered. The figure returned to normal.

As Liora opened her eyes, she waved her hand and suppressed the visions surrounding her.

A fierce glint flashed across her crimson eyes as she softly breathed out.

Her consciousness dove into her body.

The rioting energies within it were all regulated.

Demonic energy, Cosmic Energy, and Sinforce were forced to coexist.

Within moments, her rioting aura returned to normal.

After several weeks of practice, she had managed to familiarize herself with her newfound strength and abilities.

Although she had yet to fully master them, let alone integrate them into her combat methods, these abilities no longer remained a mystery.

"This is more than enough for now. Going any further would require several years of practice...", she whispered and gently tapped on her own temple.

A blue light erupted, quickly taking Alpha’s appearance.

Compared to the last time the two had met, Alpha’s structure had changed as well.

Her body was no longer semi-translucent. Or at least, its illusory nature was no longer obvious.

If one didn’t know any better, they would have regarded her as an ordinary person rather than an "AI Assistant".

Clearly, the past month had been as beneficial for Alpha as it had been for Liora.

Taking advantage of this rare period of peace, she had managed to further fuse with the AI Chip, deepening her control over it.

"My Lord.", Alpha bowed respectfully.

"I’ve been working for the past few weeks to analyze the information you previously gave me."

"This is what I gathered." she said and pointed her finger.

A stream of light emerged and shot toward Liora’s forehead.

As they touched, it transformed into information regarding the Blood Forest Realm.

During her journey, Liora had obtained a lot of memories and pieces of information.

Due to the sheer volume of this information, she had been unwilling to waste any time digesting it.

Taking advantage of her brief seclusion, she had tasked Alpha to do it for her.

Closing her eyes and sifting through the information, Liora quickly noted everything of value.

A few moments later, she opened her eyes.

"It seems that whatever it is that makes this secret realm special is located in the central region."

Alpha nodded and added:

"Indeed. Whether it is the Human Temple or the other major forces of this secret realm, they are all situated in the central region."

"Only the Hydra Tribe is somewhat special, mostly because of the Divine Dragon. Otherwise, a powerhouse like the Nine-Headed Hydra would have long left this region."

Liora remained silent, knowing full well that Alpha’s conclusion was correct.

The environment of the secret realm was such that no powerhouse could be born in the other regions.

Even if some were indeed born due to a series of coincidences, these beings would soon move toward the central region.

Only the Nine-Headed Hydra, who had the Divine Dragon’s remains and could thus not "transfer its base", would stay here.

Thinking of this, her gaze sharpened.

Although her Trial was only to survive for three months, she was no longer satisfied with this condition after having already tasted the secret realm’s benefits.

She believed that there were many other things that could prove valuable to her.

Unfortunately...

"Despite my advancement, my strength is still lacking. Or rather, the Blood Forest Realm is far more mysterious than it seems on the surface."

"An Ancient Devil-level being like the Divine Dragon had died in a single strike."

"Although the Human Emperor has not been seen or heard of for thousands of years, it’s hard to know if he has left, perished, or is simply hiding somewhere."

Liora shook her head.

Moments later, her face grew serious.

"It seems that I can only rely on outside forces. Perhaps it’s time to activate some unorthodox methods..."

The moment that thought surfaced, she rose to her feet and waved her hand.

Her Throne resting within the River of Time rioted, as did her Devil bloodline.

Countless crimson patterns flowed out of Liora’s hands and into the air.

They wove together in the space before her, gradually turning a giant gate.

Both sides of the gate were closed.

However, after she placed her palm on it and muttered a few indescribable words, something changed.

The gate established a connection with a distant, faraway place.

A summoning call quickly spread throughout the Origin Sea.

Nothing changed at first.

But only a brief moment later, millions of roars echoed within Liora’s mind. Gradually, the crimson gate began to open.

Demonic energy erupted from its gaps as a bloodthirsty aura emanated from within.