Myriad Devils-Chapter 113: Survival

All of this happened in an instant, catching the two stellar geniuses by surprise.

Their expressions simultaneously darkened, but as they prepared to face this new ability, they were left slightly perplexed.

"Huh?!" Anon blurted out before spitting blood.

Anon’s aura emanating from his worldly flesh dissipated and he began descending towards the bottom of the gorge after suddenly losing consciousness!

Seth revealed two rows of white teeth as the sea of darkness seeped into the walls of the gorge.

The beast general’s aura rapidly disappeared from his perception.

Instantly, before either of them could react, it had escaped.

’So, its final ability wasn’t even the slightest bit attacking.’ Seth deduced. ’Instead, it’s completely focused on escape.’

The amount of residual stellar cosmic energy permeating the air twisted the atmosphere and caused it to violently tremble.

Seth sighed at this.

’It’s just residual energy and yet it’s completely beyond anything I’m currently capable of manipulating with this spirit. I’m getting sickened by this kind of weakness. How long ago was it since I was this weak? I can’t even remember. Tsk! If only I could establish a connection now, and just run rampant throughout this world...’

Hmm?

Sensing something amiss, he glanced downwards at Anon’s falling figure.

The demonic markings etched across Anon’s body flickered with a demonic light, and Seth’s figure directly appeared next to Anon, already embracing him.

He had disappeared and reappeared, crossing hundreds of meters in precisely no time.

It was most definitely teleportation, or something no different.

As he landed atop the garden, he gently placed Anon on the ground, to lean against a tree trunk. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Then, he stared at Anon’s unconscious figure.

With a wave of Seth’s hand, the blood staining Anon’s body disappeared. Although his skin remained pale, it was just so, and there were no more signs of any physical injuries.

Seth remained there, standing motionlessly in front of Anon, staring at him.

His crimson orbs glowed with amusement.

...

By the time Anon had returned to consciousness several hours had fluttered by. Opening his eyes, he first looked around in confusion. His brows were knitted tightly.

But the scene before him made his brows unconsciously relax. Seth was beside the white as milk river, pulling at a clear heart crystal.

In fact, in his hand there was more than one clear heart crystal.

Once he plucked one more, the bracelet on his wrist lit up, revealing a holographic box with a faint blue glow.

Within this box, there were more clear heart crystals, but it also showed that Seth had plucked the plum-shaped fruits that were attached to the tree branches.

Anon quickly analyzed the garden’s trees, realizing that Seth had indeed done so.

"Do you know what they are?" Anon’s hoarse voice entered Seth’s ears, causing it to twitch.

He turned around and saw Anon staring at him with an expressionless face, almost reminiscent of his own.

The sight caused a smile to unravel on his face.

"This?" Seth asked, raising the clear heart crystal in his hand.

Anon shook his head and pointed at one of the tree branches above his head.

"Azure plums." Seth chuckled lightly and placed the rest of the clear heart crystals in the bracelet’s space. Then, his hand went into the holographic box, taking out one of the plum-shaped items.

"These things are called azure plums. Truthfully, they’re very useful to us, and at the same time, they’re useless to us. Azure plums are consumable mystical treasures that heal damage done to a stellar fighter’s spirit. For example, with it, once we don’t overdo it, we can strain the spirit and surpass our limit without damaging our potential."

"Still, I’d say for you to not even think about using it since most of its effects would be squandered on us, second world stellar fighters." Seth explained.

Anon’s eyes widened once he heard this.

’Most of its effects would be squandered on us?!’ Anon repeated, exclaiming inwardly. ’Then these azure plums are genuine treasures for third world stellar fighters!’

After all, the Void Rain was useless to humans, and the Red Water had the greatest effects on second world stellar fighters. Naturally, it also meant that the weaker the second world stellar fighter was, the greater the effect it held.

For a third world stellar fighter, the Red Water’s benefits would practically be null.

Though these Azure Plums did not directly improve his strength, currently, Anon did not need any help in that aspect.

’I can already feel it.’ Anon thought to himself, ’I said that I’ll not hold myself back just to develop a fourth ability that I’m not even certain is genuinely necessary. The battles before served to consolidate the effects of the magic ritual, and even before these battles, I was already at the pinnacle of the second world.’

’Now, after those battles, and then this one, I can enter the third layer and catch up to Seth, at least in rank title.’ Anon assessed.

Once he broke into the third layer, both he and Seth would be in the third layer of the second world.

Still, Seth would be closer to the peak of the second world, if he wasn’t already...

Anon glanced at Seth who happened to be looking at him too.

There was a subtle light hidden in the depths of Anon’s eyes.

This light was dark and could not be sensed easily.

As he stared into Seth’s eyes, although the two pairs of eyes were of different colors, for a time, it could be difficult to discern which was pair of eyes were whose.

For a time, they both carried that wicked, callous intent.

The devil that Anon’s mother spoke of.

Who was the devil?

"I’ll be entering meditation for a time, Seth. I hope that you can watch over me." Anon broke the silence and said.

"Is that so?" Seth replied concisely.

Though he already knew why Anon was suddenly entering meditation, he did not appear to be surprised.

This world was not one solely of cultivation.

The slow and grueling process of cultivation was an outdated path, and magic rituals allowed for a swift rise.

With the right conditions, this path can also be steady.

And this condition which made the steadiness feasible, was naturally the intertwining of cultivation and magic.

However, just when Anon was about to begin his meditative session...

"Have you developed a fourth ability?" Seth suddenly asked.

"No." Anon replied simply.

Then, he closed his eyes and took in a deep breath of air, calming his heart, purifying his thoughts, and emptying his mind.

Seth remained expressionless upon hearing Anon’s reply, observing him without any emotion in his eyes.

Like usual, what he thought and felt could not be read.

Though Anon questioned himself, if what he was doing was correct, he only doubted himself for a moment before reaffirming his will.

As he had said before, if there are consequences to his actions, his future self will have to handle them.

Currently, his only job was to become his future self, and that could only occur by living.

Staying alive and cultivating greater strength.

In the great path established by his mother, this was his only task now.

Indeed, this was the foundation of everything, and though it was the most boring piece to the puzzle that was this path, it was also the most crucial.

Like a geniuses’ potential, nothing could be achieved if he died prematurely!

...

Anon had no concept of the passage of time.

Unknowingly, he had fallen into the dark clouds, and the container holding his soul had been blasted apart by the crackling lightning.

Now, beyond the dark clouds, Anon appeared in a completely new world.

The ground beneath his feet was dark, not black per se, but dark like the clouds he had previously plunged in.

In fact, within the earth, the scene of dark lightning crackling across the earth was visible.

Sensing the destructive aura that emanated from the earth, and from these lightning strikes, a trace of apprehension appeared in his heart.

But he subconsciously knew that this had become a figment of his past.

After all, he had already crossed this dark cloud and appeared in a foreign environment, the second layer of this strange world.

Here, the land was barren, the skies were red, there was golden droplets of rain, and at the center of it all, a black stairway leading towards the crimson sky had been established.

"Oh?" Anon caught a glimpse of the stairway and understood immediately.

Innately, he felt the need to approach the black stairway and ascend towards the dark red sky.

So as his hair became soaked from the golden rain, he traversed the dark earth and took his first step onto the stairway.

A dark light flickered from under his foot, but he did not take notice until he stepped onto the second stair.

There, a slight burning sensation came from the soles of his feet as he ascended the stairs, but to this discomfort, he did not show much reaction.

"If it is a test of enduring, then I’m already a second world stellar fighter of the third layer." Anon said this with unwavering certainty.

The sound of thunder rumbling in reaction to his claim echoed from the depths of the dark earth, and within, dark lightning crackled with intensity.

The golden droplets of rain shimmered with blinding light whilst the red sky radiated an intense bloodthirst.

And as if reacting to all these changes, the pain originating from the dark stairway multiplied tenfold!

"Why did you do this to me?" Catharina still had a gaping wound on her back, and her heart was crushed.

She looked at Anon, asking him with a pained voice.

"Anon!" Bolan growled with pure rage festering in his eyes.

"Did you really use me knowingly? I thought you were different?" Andrew had a wronged expression on his face as he appeared on the dark stairway, alongside Anon.

"Do you have anything in that heart? Did you feel anything after my death?" Melissa did not even dare to stare at Anon’s eyes as she said this.

"He has nothing in there. A wicked soul that deserves all the suffering that comes his way, that’s Anon." Elizabeth replied to Melissa, shaking her head whilst she sighed.

"You’ve changed, Anon." Old Lady Su struggled to walk up the stairs, but she was helped by Elizabeth.

"This is not you." She said this with tears trickling down her face as she looked at Anon.