Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

"It’s finally starting... If we drag this out any longer, his Divine Body will probably be completely eroded."

"By the time it takes him a few thousand years to recover, that would be the least of our problems, but at this critical juncture, without him, I can’t hold back these things on my own."

In the second layer of Hell, Mephisto held a silver mirror aloft in a secluded airspace.

Of course, he was still in the Nine Hells and had never truly joined the battle; after all, as a mortal who was promoted, he was far from comparable to those innate deities.

To truly familiarize himself with being a quasi-god-like entity, Mephisto still had much to complete, like the simplest thing—he still did not have any sort of authoritative item.

The second layer of Hell had indeed brought him power, but that was all. Compared to the God of Meteorology, who came with his own provisions, this place was still in its primal state as a realm, not on the same level as the other layers at all.

His gaze turned towards the distant battlefield, where, in the even farther center of the realm, intense vibrations and booming noises intermittently erupted. Crius was still resisting, but the aura emanating from his body had already weakened by more than a fraction.

Clearly, with the inherent resilience of an innate deity, Crius continuously repaired wounds that seemed fatal, but such recovery was not without cost. Once he exceeded a certain limit, he would, like Hyperion, the former God of Sun, suffer damage to his Divine Body, lose the support for his consciousness and power, and be forced to retreat into the symbol of his Godhood.

Only by waiting for eons could he eventually walk among the worlds again in full glory.

Of course, unlike an eternal slumber, deities in such a state, though significantly weakened, are not unable to influence the outside world. However, if they fall into such a situation in the face of a formidable enemy, clearly, they wouldn’t be able to hold back those Demon Gods anymore.

"...Yes, it has begun, your method had better work."

Silently, a voice came from around Mephisto. However, there was nothing around the devil at this moment; the so-called ’sound’ rather seemed like the noise produced by the spontaneous friction of air under natural conditions.

Obviously, nature couldn’t produce such a human-like voice; therefore, it must have been created by a sentient being. Moreover, in that barely perceptible voice, Mephisto detected an odd emotion.

Indeed, the devil understood this quite well. He lacked the ability to see through the realm, and before, he had no idea of how ugly that Mother of Demons was. Now he knew, and deeply lamented on behalf of his ’boss’ for that matter.

But it couldn’t be helped, if he could take the place, he would step up himself... Well, Mephisto had to admit that deep down, he actually didn’t want to step up at all.

"Ahem, Your Majesty, this was personally verified by you... and it’s currently the best strategy."

"Regardless, when it comes to raw power, we’re still lacking."

With a subdued cough, facing his superior’s interrogation, the ’outstanding employee’ expressed his helplessness, yet he defended his standpoint earnestly.

If possible, who wouldn’t want to simply bulldoze their way through? However, after repeated confirmations, it was clear that the Nine Hells indeed fell far short in raw power compared to the Abyss, and seeking outside help was an impossibility.

Yes, initially, Mephisto hadn’t planned to use Hell’s power alone to confront Tartarus. His first suggestion was to go to the living world personally, in the name of the envoy of the Lord of the Nine Hells, to persuade the gods, like the Titans who hid from the world according to the rumors, or the Ancient Sea Gods who were forced to seek shelter with Poseidon due to the Principal God’s slumber.

There were still quite a few of such deities, and from the words of Asmodeus, he also learned some things, like the fact that their big boss still had some sort of network in the living world. The God of Light and the Goddess of Daylight whom he mentioned were Ancient Gods hidden from the world that Mephisto had never heard of in the living world.

So if they could find some help, today’s situation might have been much better, but ultimately, his idea was denied by the Lord of the Nine Hells. Because only the master of the realm could see, at the moment of the first full-scale collision between the Abyss and Hell, any force not of this world trying to intervene would inevitably be struck by both forces simultaneously.

Fundamentally, the two were still one entity.

Divine Artifacts were not a big deal because they did not possess consciousness, but if gods from the outside joined, their fate would be imaginable.

Therefore, with insufficient raw power and the difficulty of external forces intervening, Mephisto had to apply his Wisdom to some more unconventional methods. For this, he proposed several ideas to the Lord of the Nine Hells, some aggressive and some conciliatory. However, to his surprise, the one he saw as having the lowest chance of success was ultimately chosen.

"The key to success or failure is still whether it’s as you said, able to make the Mother of Demons lose most of her sanity..."

Halfway through his words, Mephisto immediately halted.

As for what relations the Lord of the Nine Hells had with the monster from the outside, or how he knew how to provoke her rage upon her birth, Mephisto was unsure and didn’t intend to be sure. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

His responsibility was to give advice; after all, matters affecting the rise and fall of a realm were still to be decided by the true master of the Nine Hells.