Chapter 321: Hell, Human, And Heaven

"The Great One... is dead?" Remnant mumbled in disbelief.

Mother nodded and let out an exasperated sigh.

"How is this possible? How can someone who has seen everything die?" Remnant asked, his expression grim.

The Great One was one of the main pillars of the Crimson Heaven, and with the impending war, losing him wasn't just unfortunate but devastating.

Mother placed a hand on his head and said softly, "Don't worry about it. We were already aware of his death."

Remnant furrowed his brows and asked while frowning deeply, "What do you mean?"

Her face darkened slightly.

"How do you think the other heavens found out about the youngest's destiny?"

Remnant's expression turned confused, and he answered after thinking for a while, "They gazed into fate?"

She laughed. "Do you think just anyone can see such a fate?"

His eyes widened in understanding, and he mumbled, his tone heavy with disbelief, "It cannot be..."

She brushed her eldest son's long white hair with her delicate-looking hands and nodded, "Yes. It was that giant bastard. He revealed the information to them... he told them the youngest has the destiny of dual thrones."

The next instant, the world turned dark and then white, and a different vision unfolded before Rion's gaze, leaving his mind in awe and dismay.

'Destiny of dual thrones,' he burned the words into his memories and focused on what was happening before him.

His eyes widened in utter disbelief.

'Father...?'

He had returned to a familiar place; it was the place where the great one's prison was, and right now, a man who looked exactly like Haden stood there staring at the gigantic pillar and the man nailed and chained to it.

'No... that's not Father,' Rion concluded because, unlike Haden, this person had twin black horns with red accents coming out of his forehead, and he wore attire similar to that of a dark noble.

The person also had small black scales on his body, but that wasn't the point.

'Why does he look so similar to father?' Rion wondered.

"Have you lived so long that you have forgotten to fear death?" The person asked, his voice full of regal authority.

The Great One's eyelids opened briefly, and his voice boomed across the second layer of the abyss, "At the end... we do what fate wants us to... it wanted me to see it and tell others of it... and I did exactly that. Now, it wants you to judge me... and you would do just that. Nothing can escape fate, Judge. Fate is absolute. Nothing is above absolute."

"Regardless of what fate wishes. I will uphold my duty as the Judge of the Crimson Heaven," The Judge stated, and the next moment, crimson ethereal chains shot out of his body and dug into the Great One's limbs and heart.

Golden blood seeped out from the corner of the Great One's mouth, and the Judge raised a hand and brought it down.

A crimson lightning crackled in the dark sky of the abyss, followed by a deafening, primal roar.

The dark clouds and the rain of ash parted as a gigantic crimson dragon made entirely of the Judge's spiritual power thundered in the sky and flew toward the Great One at an astonishing speed.

The Great One smiled faintly, and the next moment, the crimson dragon slammed into him.

A violet shock and pure white light filled the area for a few minutes, and once it settled away, the Great One was no more. Instead, his wounded body, with most of its flesh melted, stood chained to the pillar.

The Judge stood upright as he stared at the remains of the Great One, and then he turned.

Rion flinched as the visage of the Judge looked at him. However, his next words caused Rion to frown deeply.

"Find Hell, Heaven, and Earth."

Before Rion could understand anything, the Judge raised his hands and brought them down.

The very instant, Rion's vision exploded into shards of glass, and he appeared at the final tomb of the Great One.

His body was aching from the continuous changes and trials of Devilisation.

Rion opened his lips, and the words shuddered out, "C-Cease."

The word instantly transformed into a conceptual firmament and slithered into Rion's body like a worm.

The worm moved past the devastating energies in his body and entered his layer of existence; then it wiggled into the enormous green flame burning brightly.

For a mere second, the green flame turned pale, and seizing the opportunity, the gathered, dense demonic energy seeped into his heart.

"Ahhh!" A scream tore through his lips, and his sweat gathered all over his body as his gray demonic heart darkened into a black devil heart.

The sound of his heartbeat echoed across the ruins, and his forehead split open at two spots as two jagged, pitch-black horns came out of it. His pupils turned entirely black, and a dark smoke gathered around him like an unholy blanket.

Noir watched the transformation happen with a shocked heart and mumbled in his head, 'It can't be...'

Black veins bulged across Rion's body, and he forced himself to stand up before letting out a feral roar.

The ruins shuddered, and then golden strings wiggled across him.

Black and gold lines filled his body like a canvas, and instead of destroying one another, they began to fuse.

Rion had used demonic energy, but his body had never assimilated it. However, now the energy was no longer foreign but a part of his self.

As the changes finally stopped, golden threads appeared in Rion's eyes, and he looked up with a determined expression.

He wasn't looking at the ceiling nor was he looking at the golden threads; rather, his gaze was on the place all the threads were moving to and falling apart.

He was looking at the gate of Celestia, which was closed by the Devil of Chains.

He clenched his fists at his sides and mumbled, "I must open Celestia."