Will of chaos

As soon as we passed through the portal with the ship, we were presented with a horrific sight. The space tunnel had been altered. There were hundreds of wooden gates decorated in the Infernal style, each one devoured in unique ways.

Some of them were made of rotting flesh, others were made of people chained alive, another was made of body parts, another was a living Demonic creature with its mouth open as a gate, another was a wooden gate studded with eyes that followed us. There were many, many types of gates, all lined up like a corridor filled with horrific presences.

There was a truly horrific feeling the entire time, and the ship’s movement speed was very slow. Those gates were large enough to rise above a planet’s atmosphere—truly horrific, designed to cause discomfort.

“How did he do that…?” (me)

“This is disgusting, these people are alive, their sealed potential and power wasted, everything they are fading away along with their senseless suffering…” (Sarazar)

“How horrible… how could they do something like this…” (Lolth)

Tears

“This is her doing, she’s trying to mess with our heads.” (Davoth)

“Yes, and besides, these aren’t real, they’re mirror images of Hell. I’ve seen one of these gates in Hell and it looks exactly the same. It wouldn’t be possible to replicate it so perfectly, they’re just images.” (me)

It was horrible to see all this, but it doesn’t affect me as much as it does others. Lolth spent millennia in peace before her universe was attacked by the Anomalous Dragons. Her ancient enemies only kill and devour, they don’t do such macabre things as this, which is why she’s crying.

Sarazar is even worse. Even with the memories of his former self, he’s still young, not even a year old. His still immature mentality makes him feel angry at the sight of all this.

Davoth, like me, was also able to calmly analyze the situation. He realized the truth and wasn’t affected. He has vast experience and seems quite old—not exactly, but it’s clear he’s older than the entire Ascended race, at least.

But my eyes couldn’t help but look at No. 89. That’s because he just stared, his eyes filled with emotions, but his face didn’t change, he didn’t even move, and even his Aura was completely unaltered.

“(Is he that broken…?)” (me)

I was worried about them. Their condition wasn’t normal, and there wasn’t much I could do. He’s already bonded with Urd. I guess I can only wait to see more of him from now on.

“Why is Callidora doing this?” (me)

“You had a daughter with her and you still don’t understand her, do you?” (Davoth)

“Not enough, maybe you never will.” (me)

“That’s the right path. Never think you understand her completely, that will deceive you. Never let your guard down.” (Davoth)

“But about those gates, it’s most likely she’s doing this to everyone, not just us. Look at our speed and the number of gates. How long do you think it will take to get to the other side?” (Davoth)

“At this speed… about an hour… I see.” (me)

“She wants everyone to arrive together.” (me)

“That’s what I thought too.” (Davoth)

“But why? What does she gain from this?” (me)

“Nothing, she just wants this and acted accordingly. Look at the Demon that was sent here. Doesn’t her behavior remind you of something?” (Davoth)

“TV host… you mean Callidora is treating this all like a TV show?” (me)

“Yes, I’ve seen this kind of program in many universes, most often in more technologically advanced universes, these kinds of programs focused exclusively on entertainment, exactly what Callidora always seeks.” (Davoth)

“That’s great, all this and in the end you still want to treat us like this.” (me)

“(Callidora wouldn’t be able to intervene, so Niryna must have done this at Callidora’s request. It seems I have to pay more attention to my Daughter from now on so she doesn’t become too negatively influenced by Callidora.)” (me)

———————

More than an hour later.

Ding!

<[ The Demonic Chaos Begins in 0:12 hours ]>

“(The timer is running out…)” (me)

Finally, the last gate was in front of us. This was the only normal one. It looked more like an Asian-style red gate, worthy of a tourist attraction. Leaving this for last like this is exactly what I’d expect from Callidora, as if all those horrible things from before had never existed.

I look at Lolth and Sarazar with angry faces. Lolth, in particular, had tear stains beneath her eyes. No. 89 sat near the window as if analyzing everything around him, pure curiosity about everything around him, sometimes even glancing at everyone’s reactions to what he was seeing.

“What do you think I should expect?” (me)

“You should be careful with everyone. Half of them, if not all of them, are your enemies. Greed and War, in particular, might target you.” (Davoth)

“Ayden…” (me)

“He’s targeted you, and he can be quite persistent. He won’t stop looking for you to fight, whether you win or lose.” (Davoth)

“I’ll try to stay away from him.” (me)

“If you do, he’ll force you to fight, target the people around you, or use other means to get you to fight him seriously.” (Davoth)

“Deal with him directly, win or lose. You must take care of him personally. Don’t even think about losing on purpose. Combat for him is a Divine ritual that must never be tainted.” (Davoth)

“Damn bastard…” (me)

Sigh

“…” (me)

I watch the ship pass through the door as if emerging from a soap bubble. Suddenly, we were in a different place. All the gates disappeared, along with their hideous presences.

Looking around, I saw several groups, all very far apart. It was as if each of us were a planet floating in space, and Callidora’s Envoy was the sun in the center, surrounded by all of us.

Near him stood Niryna, accompanied by her Maid Lara and her servant Dante. There was also a ritual in which Magic Circles and Runes were arranged to take the form of a greatsword, a truly horrific energy contained within.

Niryna saw me and waved at me for a moment. For some reason, I was the one right in their line of sight; clearly, everyone’s position had been set from the start.

“I didn’t expect to see them here.” (Davoth)

“Ascended…” (me)

“It seems you were right; he did something to them.” (me)

“Vecna has always been intelligent, not as intelligent as he believes himself to be, but still intelligent.” (Davoth)

“You won’t be able to achieve anything alone, you can’t be everywhere, and facing armies alone only works when the power difference is overwhelming, which isn’t the case here with so many Avatars.” (Davoth)

“Everyone seems to be looking at them.” (Me)

What my eyes were focused on was the group of Ascended. They all emerged from portals almost simultaneously, each portal creating a mound of Aura, alerting everyone to their position.

My eyes were focused on the group of Ascended. They were different from before. The Ascended were all stronger. Half of them had four pairs of wings, revealing they had reached Ascended Level 4. In front of them were three individuals. One of them was a surprise: Valius, with four pairs of gray wings on his back. All the Ascended had gray wings now.

Mavor stood beside him, his five pairs of wings accompanied by a closed eleventh wing, showing that his strength had advanced again. He was smiling broadly as he looked at me, his killing intent immense.

Besides them, there was another individual who could only be Vecna. He had six pairs of very large wings, even compared to his body, which must be around 3 meters long. He looked very different, and I only recognized him because his aura was the same one I’d sensed two days ago.

Vecna didn’t look in our direction; his gaze was actually turned away. Seeing the large insects in that direction made it clear they were from Curse’s group. It seemed he was wary of them.

As for Valius, he didn’t look anywhere, looking more like a doll, motionless, not looking anywhere, just standing where he was.

“What’s Valius doing?” (me)

“Same as always, staying close to the enemies, like, he’s reporting to me now.” (Davoth)

“How does he contact you?” (me)

“A magic carved into their skulls, they all possess it, so they communicate unnoticed. I taught it to them.” (Davoth)

“Did he tell you anything interesting?” (me)

“Yes, it seems Vecna has several goals. The first is to find you specifically. He seems to have realized your situation and its risks. He also knows that your power of chaos can solve his problems.” (Davoth)

“Besides that, it seems his second goal is to ally with War to eliminate Curse and Hatred from this universe.” (Davoth)

“He hasn’t spoken openly about the third goal, but having been by your side for the past two days, it seems he’s trying to create a technique to refine Urd into an Ascending Law to reach level 7.” (Davoth)

“Has he gone mad?” (Me)

“No, he must have sensed that this path has already opened. He possesses the Ascending Law just like Urd, so he must think she achieved it and not know it was actually you.” (Davoth)

“He must be desperate, thinking that this would be enough to repel or control the two Concepts within him.” (Davoth)

“Then we have to be careful with him.” (Me)