In the Lower Realm, in the deepest depths of a canyon in the Crimson City, the final member of the Crimson Army finishes their power leveling session in the most powerful labyrinth on the human world.
Pluto, the True Cored Common Blood Demon, follows the protocols of his orders and brings the labyrinth up to its 200th Floor.
There is enough pure mana inside this labyrinth to fuel an entire 2nd Class World, as a majority of it was pulled from off-world. What is happening now should not be possible by normal means, certainly not on a 3rd Class World.
Initially, before meeting the Rising Emperor, the demon’s only goal was to bring it to its 1st Rank-up point, 100 floors, and present this offering to one of the 5 Great Families in order to apply for a position as an Ascended Red Cored Knight.
Now, as a barrage of mana settings flashes before the demon’s eyes, the floors below him start to compress in on themselves, and the excess luminite from each floor’s structural integrity forms a small item that melds with the demon’s dark essence, creating a light purple key.
The Earth Dragon that stands behind Pluto in the boss room watches with a gleam in his eyes, thinking deeply to himself, ‘A mission to betray the Demons, to make way for a new Rising Emperor.’ Then he speaks out loud as the final floor below them collapses.
“We cannot fail. No—We will not fail.”
The entire labyrinth collapses into a small orb of compressed mana, yet the demon and dragon do not get teleported back into the canyon of dungeons.
Instead, the two watch the boss room around them dissolve and float in a black abyss, reminiscent of a Titan’s Domain.
It could be perceived as a pocket realm in between space or even a realm of its own, but in reality, it is just the shell of the last remnants of the labyrinth’s mana programming.
From the outside, the green spinning portal is still there, and if one were to jump through, they too would land in this strange black void.
While it looks open and endless, one full-powered attack from either of the true cores sitting in it would easily tear it open and release them back onto the human world.
This is not what they do. Instead, Pluto grips the purple key in his hand and plunges it into space in front of him. As he turns it with a single rotation, the key dissolves, and a tear in space opens in front of them.
Behind the tear, the familiar endless red hills, desolate deserts, dark black towns filled with intelligent life, and roaming demonic beasts of the Demonic Realm—Pluto’s home world—come into view.
The tear in space opens wide enough for the six-meter-tall Arch Demon and his bonded dragon to fly through, holding their brightly shining orb of pink light surrounded by dense white strands of protection. This is a very distinct object in the demon’s home world, as one the size of a demon’s palm is proof that they have cleared a labyrinth trial.
The one in Pluto’s grasp, larger than his own head and needing both hands to carry, is proof that he has completed the trial that even the most ambitious demons often hesitate to attempt.
The tear in space closes just as quickly as it opened, and the green portal beneath the canyon of dungeons fades away, releasing the excess few million MP into the air.
In the Demonic Realm, far out in the wastelands, the rift that opened up to let a demon and dragon out closes as well.
The two bright yellow True Cores begin to warp reality around them as a vast open world is seen below.
Wild demonic beasts, fledgling demons, and tens of thousands of kilometers of open mountain ranges and deserts where demons train and commoners form civilizations to survive and ready themselves for labyrinth trials.
As gravity bends around them with a dense yellow aura, Pluto lifts the glowing pink orb above his head with both hands, standing on his dragon’s back, and lets out a long and exhilarating laugh.
They are a few kilometers above the ground, but many fledgling demons look up at this anomaly, believing they are witnessing one of the Generals of the 5 Great Families do a scheduled surveillance lap around this world.
In reality, it is a commoner just like them, heading straight toward the five massive black thrones that sit at the north pole.
–
Confirmation of their arrival pings in Bri’s consciousness as she sits calmly cultivating in her own private chamber on the Great Belt of Brymia.
On the same asteroid, in an equal sized chamber, her brother Rodrigo has begun his Red Core cultivation, while Fisher and Lydia both continue cultivating yellow threads on the opposite side of the ring to bring themselves closer to compressing their true cores.
A few of the Crimson Army’s Knights are on the belt as well, alternating time slots when not on guard duty on the human world.
Alveron keeps a careful eye on the frozen 1st Class Demons from the Morvale Family that continue to orbit around the red star millions of kilometers away, while simultaneously monitoring all of the cultivators and processing thousands of profitable trades per minute on the worldwide connectivity system.
–
This update is transmitted back to me inside the Wilderness of the Grand Citadel, putting a smile on my face as we venture deep into a jungle biome full of 3rd Class Geko Monsters.
A large number of the Lords in these higher Class zones are intelligent life and do not wish to fight, only to hunt the wild beasts for profit.
With my growing pool of ether from killing all of these monsters, the pace at which my crowns fill up accelerates too. The first crown in my set of five is almost a quarter of the way filled.
Ava, on the other hand, has barely a small white glow at the bottom of hers.
Though, my attention is more captivated by Bri’s message, as it seems my plans in the Lower Realm have started to move into place just in time, with less than six days to spare.
It puts a smile on my face, but this grin doesn’t last for long as a message from Ember enters my consciousness next, no more than a few minutes later.
“There is good news and bad news. What would you like to hear first…?”
I raise an eyebrow, as I’ve been watching what he sees in Ellipsia at the back of my mind this whole time, and it appears as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened at all.
“What happened…? All I see is the generals moving up the tower as intended.”
A light chuckle comes back.
“Yes, that is the good news. Your ascension chamber is working as intended, and the Generals are finding their own ways to adapt to the pressure like you did. In addition to this, Seraphel has managed to survive his first few days and has fully grasped the base stage of his Celestial Form.”
I raise an eyebrow and reply.
“This all still sounds good. What’s gone wrong?”
“Well—In order to survive his breakthrough, Seraphel released a wave of High Noble Vibrations strong enough for me to pick up on here… If no one notices now, his next breakthrough will surely cause some chaos. That means total concealment until the first strike will not be possible.”
I stare forward, looking into the endless wilderness, comparing the hundreds of biomes all around me to the skills left to upgrade on my status, and firmly nod while giving a response.
“Very well. I shall alter my plans accordingly. Update me again if there are any additional signs that they have caught on.”
“I will.”
There is a nod back from Ember, and he only stares forward, watching the generals ascend further.
I then speed up my walking pace and send a message to Ava through our link.
“It’s time to step things up a notch. Total concealment is no longer the number one priority. If they haven’t caught on by now, their surveillance systems must not be as advanced as I thought…”
I pause for a moment, mentally pointing to our white-haired travel partner. While I’m extremely eager and curious about what or how an elf still exists in the Upper Realm, and why my purple ring resonated when touching their skin, even siphoning memories; it is extra baggage we must carry.
The goal of this mission was to get a mapping of the Grand Citadel and scope out its weak points and battle forces before the generals and warlords execute their orders.
Before I propose anything, Ava interjects, reading my facial expressions with ease.
“That Lord is necessary. I don’t know why, but my instincts… we can’t leave Ren behind just yet…”
I raise an eyebrow, then power my footsteps with ether and large amounts of mana while turning back to the white-haired Lord that follows.
“We’re going to pick up the pace. Stay close by. Nothing in here can hurt us… We’re heading to the center of the wilderness.”
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