Chapter 2463: The Largest Client

"....." Caesar kept his gaze lowered toward the black sand that formed the small hill beneath him, cold sweat soaking his body as he struggled to identify exactly what emotion was overwhelming him after hearing all of that information and realizing the sheer scale of what Mortex had just confessed. You’re the reason for what’s happening now... No, you’re the reason for the evil that fills the universe? Damn what you’ve done, Mortex. Damn what you’ve done.

<You don’t need to tell me. I know that better than anyone, but unfortunately, I only realized it far too late.> Mortex’s voice began to echo with a different weight than before, <I finally awakened from my delusion while the Necrofortress Galaxy was already being transformed, and I watched the people I’d personally invited and taught about the contracts, exactly as I’d been ordered to do, begin new reigns of tyranny in other places as well. At that point, even I—someone who had always regarded death itself as an ally—finally felt disgusted by what was happening and decided that I had to stop... But stopping was never truly an option. The devil I’d contracted with dragged my soul into a hellish place, a place so terrible that it would make everything you see here in the Necrofortress Galaxy look like a beautiful garden in comparison, while even its heavy, oppressive air would seem like a refreshing breeze... And he told me very clearly that this would be my fate if I stopped, that this was the inevitable fate awaiting tainted souls.>

<So I went back on my decision and returned to fulfilling the promises I’d made, but while doing so, I was secretly developing a small side technique for the time when I might eventually need it, preparing it for the day that would inevitably come if I continued down the path I was already following. Once I finally finished developing it, I intensified my tyranny even further and fiercely attacked everything that lived, while teaching more and more people about the contracts and Cursed Arrays as time passed, until... Well, perhaps you’ve already heard about Athena’s slap that eventually reduced my entire body to dust.>

<But unfortunately, what was happening here didn’t stop simply because I died. The devil had already taken the galaxy itself as a refuge for himself, and from here, he began drawing in more and more.>

...Then why didn’t the other powers attack the Necrofortress Galaxy and put an end to this entire matter of the contracts? Caesar quickly asked, unable to understand why something of this scale had been allowed to continue unchecked. Why don’t the Star Academies attack the powers that use these methods? Identifying the ones who use them shouldn’t be that difficult!!

<I had already personally taught a large portion of those powers, and they had begun using these methods themselves, while the rest would never have willingly entered the dangerous Necrofortress Galaxy without a leader powerful enough to protect them once they came here, and Athena simply wasn’t the leadership type! As for the Star Academies, hehe.> Mortex laughed before continuing, <A house cannot be divided against itself. How could the Star Academies possibly put an end to these methods when their own leader is the greatest client here?>

"...?!?!!?" Caesar’s eyes immediately widened to their absolute limits as the meaning behind Mortex’s words struck him. Qarun?!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH—!!!!!"

The human’s scream from the center of the enormous array suddenly intensified beyond anything Caesar had heard from him before, tearing through the surrounding area with an agony that had reached an entirely different level.

Caesar couldn’t stop himself from taking another look toward the center of the array after hearing that scream, and the instant he saw what was happening there, his expression transformed into a mixture of overwhelming pity and horror.

The other four devils had now begun skinning their victim alive as well, with each one of them working on a specific part of his body rather than all of them concentrating on the same place.

One was skinning the victim’s head to reach the soul domain, the dwelling place of his memories, while the second was digging deep into his chest to reach his life artery, the artery that had witnessed every stage of his life; the third was carefully excavating his spinal cord in search of every command it had carried from his head toward his limbs throughout his entire life, while the fourth was digging into the center where his energy gathered and searching through the patterns contained within it... And all of that was happening in addition to the fifth devil, which continued removing the layers covering the rest of his body one after another without stopping.

<Alright, you don’t have to keep watching any more of this. I only brought you here so that you could understand the idea and see for yourself what I was talking about.> Mortex reminded him when he sensed Caesar’s vital functions beginning to worsen from everything he was witnessing.

"....." Caesar actually lowered his head and buried his forehead deeply in the sand beneath him, no longer willing to keep his eyes anywhere near the horrifying scene taking place on the other side of the small hill.

He found himself thinking about the fact that he was a military commander, someone who had personally watched millions of people being killed before his very eyes over the course of his battles, and had even been the one who gave the orders that led to the deaths of many of them, yet despite everything he had already seen and experienced, he still felt this overwhelming horror and uncontrollable trembling because of what was happening before him now... What would happen if an ordinary innocent person were here in his place and forced to witness the same thing?

But then again... Perhaps what had ultimately saved his soul throughout everything he had experienced and preserved at least some trace of innocence within it were the rules of clean warfare that his father had declared and imposed from the very day the Empire was founded... At this moment, that was the one thing Caesar could still hold onto firmly and genuinely feel proud of.

You said... Caesar slowly asked after remaining silent for a moment, that Qarun actually uses these methods?

<Of course. From that day until today, Qarun has been the biggest client here.> Mortex laughed as he answered, <The amount of depravity he has committed in the past, is still committing now, and will continue to commit in the future at their request increases by the day and has already reached a truly terrifying degree. His primordial soul can no longer be described as merely tainted; the corruption within it has already reached the point of no return.>

How... Caesar shouted inside his head as countless questions immediately rushed through his thoughts, How and why?! That man possesses all the treasures in the entire universe! That man has absolute authority over all the powers in the universe! That man is powerful enough to have remained firmly in his position for all these years despite never fighting even once! That man—

Yet while speaking and mentally listing everything he knew about Qarun, Caesar suddenly seemed to notice something hidden behind all those facts, causing his thoughts to stop halfway through what he had been saying. What exactly is going on here...

<Those are simple matters compared to everything else. They did indeed help him with such things, although even those services came at an astronomical price... For example, there was one of his opponents who died when a Young Space Beast suddenly appeared out of nowhere, swallowed his entire planet, and then disappeared just as suddenly. That entire incident was arranged by the devils, and the price for it, if I remember correctly, was allowing 100 billion humans to die. Or take that cursed ring he always wears: he sacrificed a similar number merely to obtain the coordinates of the Relic buried within it, and then, once he reached that location, he made another sacrifice in order to extract it.>

Mortex then continued, <But all of those side tasks in which they helped Qarun are one thing, while his requests concerning Master Laws are something else entirely. The price he had to pay for those was terrifying, my friend, believe me.>

Master Laws?! Caesar nearly shouted aloud when he heard those words. Qarun actually asked the devils for Master Laws? Laws, in the plural?!

<Yes. In particular, he obtained Identity and Creation from them. He only took two degrees of Identity, which were enough for him to conceal the truth that his soul was tainted, and afterward he chose Creation so that he could improve his own combat style. After that, he kept those two alongside a third Master Law, Causality, for a very long time, doing nothing except continuing to raise their degrees. But a few years ago, he came here on another visit to his favorite location and began preparing to acquire a new degree of Causality while simultaneously obtaining the first degree of a fourth Law, and he has already begun working on the sacrifices required for them. I think something has changed in his beliefs.>

"..." Caesar clenched both of his hands tightly as he absorbed the implications of what Mortex had just revealed, then asked, ...What exactly does he have to pay for each degree of a Master Law?

<A lot. Believe me, you truly don’t want to know. The sacrifices he made merely to eliminate the obstacles standing in his path are nothing compared to what he pays for this... Even everything I did back then is nothing compared to what Qarun has committed for the sake of obtaining those Master Laws.> Mortex’s voice gradually grew heavier as he continued explaining, <He doesn’t simply ask them for a description or explanation of the new degree and then go away to study and comprehend it himself. Qarun asks them to imprint the new degree directly onto his Creation Code and into his soul itself, and only afterward does he begin taking his time adapting to what has already been imprinted within him.>

...I have to stop this somehow. No matter what, I have to reach the heart of the galaxy. Caesar repeated those words firmly inside his head, then raised his gaze one final time and cast a long look toward the victim still trapped at the center of the array. ...I’m sorry. I can’t even give you a merciful death.

Afterward, Caesar began slowly retreating down the hill.