Chapter 98
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 98
Chapter Title: Ultimate Demonic Realm
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-SPLASHHH!
Thankfully, he didn't have to trek all the way back to the mansion. There was a large stream flowing nearby where he could dunk himself.
The stream wound through the heart of the forest, its waters clear and cool—a favorite spot for nymphs to bathe during these sweltering summer days.
Luckily, a quick scan with his senses revealed no signs of life. It wasn't bath day for the nymphs today; the stream lay utterly still and silent.
"Talk about perfect timing."
Greek garb amounted to little more than a few draped layers of cloth, now soiled with venomous fumes and stench from his body. He tossed it aside without a second thought and eased slowly into the stream.
-Splash!
The stream was deeper than it looked. He submerged himself up to his scalp, letting the water cascade from a nearby waterfall as he scrubbed clean.
"Whoa... Is this what true bone marrow cleansing feels like?"
To be honest, he'd never undergone a full bone marrow transformation before.
To be precise, when he'd crossed into the martial world, he'd skipped the ultimate demonic realm's version entirely. Everything after had been refining a body that transcended the flesh.
Witnessing his physical form sublimate like this felt utterly novel and wondrous.
"Has my body ever felt this light, this unburdened?"
He manipulated the water currents to scour every inch, then rose slowly, letting the moonlight illuminate his form.
Flawless skin without a single blemish. A physique in perfect golden proportion, like a Greek statue.
His ripped six-pack, the masculine swell of muscle in his limbs—they rippled with beastly power.
His long hair, grown out to veil his teeth, gleamed like silk threads heavy with moisture. Catching his reflection in the water's surface, he couldn't help but gape in ridiculous shock.
"Whoa..."
It was like a temple idol or Greek sculpture had come alive.
And that living marvel was him.
"Heh, putting on a solo show here."
No audience in sight, yet startling himself with his own reflection—it was comical. He chuckled for a moment before checking the most vital thing.
Closing his eyes, he focused all his senses inward.
Beneath that Greek god-like beauty lay pristine meridians, untainted by impurity, coursing with two energies.
A torrential demonic qi that surged through his channels like a flood.
A black divine power of the night, weaving freely through meridians and blood vessels.
The two forces composing his body had both grown immensely in quantity and control.
-Shaaaah...!
He summoned the divine power first—the one resembling the pitch-black night.
Despite Eris's nagging and Nemesis's fervent lessons, he'd wandered blindly toward the miracle realm, like groping through mountains at midnight.
Yet now, somehow, he instinctively knew how to wield it.
"Hup!"
Eyes shut, with a ridiculous kiai, he visualized.
Not transforming divine power into an apple, but one already existing atop his palm.
He focused on the result, skipping the process entirely.
A ripe red apple. Temptingly edible.
It already rested in his hand.
How many seconds passed in that trance? He opened his eyes cautiously and gazed at his power-filled hand.
There it was, exactly as imagined—a succulent apple gleaming in the moonlight.
"Ha... hahahaha! Gods, gods are just cheat codes, aren't they!?"
Artemis's divine power had scattered as silver dust over Pasos Forest.
Eris's had morphed into apples and snakes to tease him.
Divine power was truly the might of gods.
A miraculous authority that knew no impossibilities.
"No wonder it wouldn't respond when I treated it like human tech or martial arts!"
Just hours ago, he'd been shackled by his mortal flesh, blocked by an invisible wall.
No matter how he wielded divine power, he couldn't manifest true miracles like the gods.
But ascending to the ultimate demonic realm let him peer into the heavenly principles, freeing his energy flow.
He'd instinctively grasped how to materialize qi into matter.
"Gotta consult our lovely big sis about this. Wonder if she'll like it?"
Thinking of the beautiful goddess who always flapped her wings encouraging him brought a smile.
Eris had blushed and fled last time, cutting their talk short.
Time to repay her teasing with a visit.
"Alright, now for the demonic qi?"
-Whoooong!
This time, he channeled it lightly.
Inky-black demonic qi bloomed in his hand, rumbling low.
Unlike before—when it had tried devouring him during the Heracles fight or earlier summons—it now rose obediently, rippling at his command. Watching the Asura Defying Heaven Art, he grinned.
"Yes, this is the true ultimate demonic realm..."
A ferocious demonic qi to shatter worlds and challenge the heavens when the time came.
Its complete submission to his will proved the Asura Defying Heaven Art was fully under his dominion.
Unlike his half-baked early rebirth state, this was genuine ascension.
"See this, Demon Lord? I've finally earned the right to wield your Defying Heaven Art once more."
The Heavenly Demon of Transformation and Serenity Heaven—the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult's chief deity, passed down through Podalab and the Western Esoteric Faith—was the Demon King of the Six Heavens, a demon god enthroned above Indra.
Asura Path's Asura stood as the ultimate foe of the heavenly gods, his power said to surpass the combined might of all Twelve Heavens.
Yet bound by heavenly principles and fate, the Heavenly Demon fell to Buddha, and Asura could not best the heavenly host.
Thus, the orthodox claim: the demonic path could never surpass the righteous.
The Demon Lord—hailed as the closest to the Heavenly Demon in ten millennia of Heavenly Demon Divine Cult history—scoffed coldly at this.
In mockery, he dubbed himself Asura Demon Lord and named his unique art after defying heaven, vowing to shatter such fates with his own hands.
And his Asura Defying Heaven Art lived up to the name, rivaling Asura's divinity.
Mountains crumbled at Asura's step; armies turned to blood mist at the Demon Lord's gesture.
The arrogant Nine Great Sects and Orthodox Alliance fled their headquarters in terror of one man.
Fitting such dread power, the art seemed possessed of its own will—devouring the unworthy, driving them to qi deviation and rampage.
Thus, until he crushed it into submission at the ultimate demonic realm, even the Asura Demon Lord wouldn't deign to see his face.
"Honestly, unleashing it against Heracles was a gamble. But it paid off."
Looking back, he was one step from transcendence.
To bridge it demanded an all-out brawl, pouring everything he knew into mortal peril.
So he'd provoked Heracles—on the cusp of awakening—into a Styx-bound oath, dragging him into combat.
Facing Heracles's killing intent, he'd met it with desperate resolve, unleashing the Asura Defying Heaven Art against the Zeus-empowered hero.
Even at near-ultimate peak transcendence, invoking the art without true realm was near-suicide.
But as he'd told Chiron, no risk meant no gain.
The Defying Heaven Art demanded the ultimate demonic realm to cultivate and control.
He'd flipped the danger, forging a crisis where his body either tamed it or died—win or perish.
"Worth the bet. Big payoff too."
He'd scaled the demonic heights countless fiends craved.
And elevated a promising great hero to his level. Quite the lucrative wager.
"But... heh, what a specimen. Manifesting qi without arts or divine gongs."
Heracles.
Greek myth's most ancient, renowned great hero.
His name rang true: explosive growth, even awakening thunder divine power through Zeus's blood.
Where its ripples would spread, even he couldn't say. But in myth's era—sans proper demonic or divine arts—how had a human ascended?
Witnessing this great hero's awakening, he simply savored history unfolding.
"Maybe time to teach him for real."
Heracles had awakened his divine power. Testing his reborn body on the guy with proper martial arts training sounded fun.
Done right, he might craft a worthy long-term rival.
Bonus: if the punk made a name, myths might credit him for the beatings.
"Ah, body's itching."
Thrilling clashes with him sprang to mind.
Recalling that prior bout and fury, his eager new flesh yearned to rampage.
Like a kid with a new toy.
Or a warrior gripping a famed blade.
How long since deepened mastery made him itch to test his might?
He craved gauging his unrecognizably empowered body's strength, his deepened energy.
"Can't hold back. Time to hunt down Ares or—"
The Greek war god popped into his head.
He'd been about to bolt for his longtime equal—a rare matchup after ages together—when...
-Shaaaahhh!!
"Hm? What the—"
The air around him shifted abruptly.
Sensing ill omens, he extended his senses. The familiar surroundings blurred into murk.
Even his perception warped, dizzying.
-Woooong!!
Then, with a resonant hum, alien scenery pierced the distortion, overwriting reality.
His space seemed bridged to another realm—a bizarre vista.
Illusion? Qi deviation hallucination? Absurd. Scanning about, one oddity stood out.
"...Crescent moon."
Mere moments ago, a full moon had blazed overhead. Now, a razor-thin crescent—like a wolf's fang—hung in the sky, glaring down.
-Rustle!
-Rustle!
-Woof! Woof!
-GRRRROWL!
As the warped space solidified, footfalls and hound bays echoed in his senses.
Only one meaning.
"...Ha!"
A high crescent moon.
Fierce women's steps, hunting dogs' cries.
As the Queen of Gods forewarned, this reckless goddess had invaded his sanctuary for payback.
"Impervious to pleas, huh? Best toy's walking right in."
Grinning ear-to-ear with delight, he lounged deeper into the stream.
"Well then. Let's see what you've brought."
No more devouring Heracles-fights in famished frenzy.
The awkward war's abrupt end—scarce a year in—was done.
Time to savor, conclude it properly.