Vol 4. Chapter 58: Deduction

A little girl's voice had actually appeared within Flame Prison's inner world?

This truly left Kaelrode utterly shocked. His dark crimson eyes had already gone dull and vacant from sheer astonishment.

An existence at the Demon King tier that, in his eyes, had originally possessed no intelligence whatsoever had suddenly spoken rational words after establishing a mental link with him. It truly made Kaelrode feel as though his entire understanding of reality had been thrown into doubt.

However,

compared to the inconceivable fact that Flame Prison possessed reason,

the ‘Mother’ mentioned in the girl's words concerned Kaelrode even more.

Mother? The mother of the Abyss Demons?! Then... what kind of existence would that be? Could it be the legendary Demon God?!

Kaelrode, who at the time was still a very young Heavenly Apostle, was not only stunned but swallowed by a tsunami of bewilderment.

However,

Kaelrode had no ability to ponder that question at the time.

Under the burning of the hellfire, the Holy Aura within Kaelrode's body was being consumed at a frantic rate, leaving him unable to continue resisting the waves of heat radiating from the Flame Demon King's body. Coupled with the suffocating pressure of the blazing demonic claw, Kaelrode's consciousness was becoming increasingly hazy, already on the verge of cutting out.

Now,

all he could do was instinctively struggle a few more times.

Unfortunately,

his struggles could not harm Flame Prison at all, much less allow him to break free from the Flame Demon King's grasp.

Kaelrode's heart seemed to sink into despair as well. Helplessly, he closed his eyes and prepared to await the arrival of death.

However,

just as Kaelrode had fallen into complete despair, a young girl's voice suddenly entered Flame Prison's mind and, through their weakening mental link, slowly reached Kaelrode as well.

-"Little Na, be careful. Don't go too far."-

The girl's voice was as beautiful as the gentle flow of a clear spring, soothing to the heart. Yet at the same time, it invisibly subjected Kaelrode to an unprecedented pressure, a pressure that felt as though it could directly tear his soul apart. Even though Kaelrode had already lost all strength, his body still trembled instinctively.

?!?

W-Who is this now?

Kaelrode couldn't help asking himself.

But immediately after that thought crossed his mind, both his body and will reached their limits, and endless darkness closed in around his consciousness from every direction.

Kaelrode's consciousness finally sank completely into an endless black abyss...

And in the final instant before Kaelrode lost consciousness, the young Heavenly Apostle vaguely sensed

the blazing claw tightly gripping his neck slowly loosen...

...

That was Kaelrode's final experience within the Great Winter Forest.

When Kaelrode awakened again, the young Heavenly Apostle had already returned to the Divine Capital Grand Hall of the main church. At that moment, he also learned a heartbreaking yet unsurprising fact.

The allied forces had been utterly defeated, and the plan to drive out the Abyss Demons had completely failed.

What shocked Kaelrode most, however, was the condition of himself and the other two Heavenly Apostles.

Although all three had been gravely wounded and remained unconscious until then, not a single one of them had died in the Great Winter Forest.

Whenever Kaelrode recalled his battle with Flame Prison in the Great Winter Forest, he still found it impossible to believe that he had returned from that battlefield alive. The absolute killing intent Flame Prison had directed toward the three Heavenly Apostles still left Kaelrode with lingering fear even now.

In that condition, when all three of them had already lost the ability to continue fighting... how could they possibly have escaped from Flame Prison alive?

Why had they survived?

In Kaelrode's eyes, there was only one explanation.

The young girl's voice that had entered Flame Prison's mind at the time was the key to their survival. It was that voice that had stopped the murderous Flame Demon King and even made a Demon King-tier existence, one that had always been hostile toward and despised humans and Holy Aura, abandon the intention of killing them.

"That voice... what exactly... was it? Whose... voice was that?"

From that moment onward, Kaelrode had constantly pondered this question.

Until now...

...

--

Staring at the analysis report Anjinuo had provided, Kaelrode's thoughts involuntarily returned to several centuries ago. That incomparably gentle and beautiful, yet terrifying voice repeatedly echoed through his mind.

For hundreds of years, Kaelrode had never forgotten that voice or the aura he had sensed through his soul at the time.

Nor had he ever stopped speculating about the identity of the voice's owner.

Someone capable of stopping Flame Prison's actions with a single sentence could certainly be no ordinary existence. Therefore, Kaelrode had two primary theories concerning her identity.

One was the Demon God who had brought the Abyss Demons to the Anqieka Continent in ancient times.

The other was an even older and more powerful Demon King-tier existence.

The Demon God?

Kaelrode, who firmly believed in the Goddess's prophecy, quickly rejected that possibility. According to the prophecy, the Demon God no longer existed. Moreover, that soft, melodious female voice was completely different from the Demon God's rough voice described in the legends.

As for the other possibility? An even more ancient Demon King-tier existence?

After Kaelrode subsequently fought Sword Demon and Red Spider Lily, he directly rejected that theory as well. Whether it was Sword Demon or Red Spider Lily, their auras were entirely different from the one he had sensed back then.

"Could there really be a Demon King-tier existence even older than Red Spider Lily?"

Kaelrode couldn't help pondering internally.

Unfortunately,

even now, Kaelrode had never discovered any trace of an even older Demon King-tier existence.

This caused another possibility to emerge in Kaelrode's mind.

"Could the owner of that voice actually be the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons..."

According to common sense,

objects possessed no life.

But that wasn't absolute.

Hadn't the Elves' Holy Sword developed a will of its own? If a divine artifact could develop a consciousness, why couldn't a palace?! Both contained unimaginably powerful forces. If a divine artifact could possess an artifact spirit, perhaps a palace could possess a palace spirit?

The main reason people considered the idea of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons possessing consciousness so utterly inconceivable was that the birth of such consciousness generally required an incomparably vast amount of soul power, while the success rate remained extremely low.

The creation of the Holy Sword Yixiufier had required twelve attempts, and every single attempt had exhausted the entirety of the Tenth Elf King's soul power.

For an entire palace to develop consciousness, the amount of soul power required would surely be as vast as ** itself.

Where in this world could such an enormous amount of soul power possibly come from?

Therefore, most people believed that the idea of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons possessing consciousness was nothing more than a fantasy. Influenced by this conventional understanding, Kaelrode himself had previously regarded the possibility of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons possessing consciousness as nothing more than an extremely unlikely hypothesis.

However, after roughly deducing the true purpose of the trial, this hypothesis no longer seemed quite so fantastical.

And today, after receiving Anjinuo's report, Kaelrode became even more convinced of his own theory.

Thus,

under Anjinuo's bewildered and confused gaze, Kaelrode, who had been staring at the report for a long time, gradually began trembling. Strange, quiet chuckles slowly escaped his lips, instantly sending a chill down Anjinuo's spine.

Trembling slightly, Anjinuo raised his head and looked toward the blond man wearing that strange smile.

"P-Pope?! Y-You... what's wrong?"

"Nothing, my friend."

Kaelrode's dark crimson eyes narrowed once again as he looked playfully at Anjinuo, who was kneeling on one knee.

"You don't need to be anxious. I don't doubt what you've told me."

"Really, Pope?!"

"Yes. The intelligence you've brought me, as well as your deductions, are extremely important. I am very pleased, my friend."

Kaelrode gently raised a hand and patted Anjinuo on the shoulder. Gradually suppressing the emotions within him, he walked toward the statue nearby and assumed a posture of prayer.

"Then, if the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons has left the Great Winter Forest... where would she go? And what form would she take?"

"Ah, th-that? Forgive me... I don't know."

"I see. Hmm... But speaking of that, Anjinuo, what were the coordinates where Blood Butterfly was born again?"

Hm?

Why was he suddenly mentioning that new Demon King-tier existence?

Caught off guard by the Pope's sudden question, Anjinuo froze for a moment, but quickly composed himself and respectfully lowered his head before replying,

"B-Blood Butterfly? Let me think... Uh, according to the scout's report at the time, I believe it was at coordinates T350, W420."

"That's very close to where you discovered the barrier."

"Y-Yes. Hm?"

At the Pope's words, Anjinuo's brows abruptly furrowed as he looked tentatively at Kaelrode.

"Pope?"

"Blood Butterfly, despite being a newly born Demon King-tier existence, effortlessly withstood a Mana Fission Bomb, killed Bernard, the Third Prince of the Snow Night Empire, from ten thousand li away; defeated Welt; suppressed another newly born Demon King-tier existence; and at Skyvault, the aura Blood Butterfly released left even the Holy Tower's Venerable shaken to this very day... Compared with Snow Devourer, Nightmare, and the others born in the past, Blood Butterfly's power is somewhat beyond the norm. She doesn't resemble a newly born Demon King-tier existence at all."

"Now that you mention it... indeed... she really doesn't. Pope, you... you mean?"

"Mm. If my judgment is correct, Blood Butterfly... is the incarnation of the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons. That Abyss Demon broodmother truly has left the Great Winter Forest, just as you suspected."

With that,

Kaelrode ignored Anjinuo's questions behind him. Together with the four white-robed Holy Spirit Envoys, he solemnly knelt before the statue, staring fanatically at the imposing divine figure.

To think...

Before we could even enter the Great Winter Forest to find her,

the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons... actually came out on her own?!