Myriad Devils-Chapter 212: Empyrean Eclipse

Somewhere in the endless expanse of the crimson heaven, an Empyrean cloud spanning over two hundred thousand meters, slowly sailed across the sea.

Suddenly, it resonated with an Empyrean cloud infinitely far away. The crimson seas churned, and the world began to stretch unnaturally.

"Don’t move." The Empyrean ordered, and the phenomena occurring in the world began reversing by force.

On his back were dual blades crossed.

He was a human native, and not a traitorous one like the flame daemon; however, weirdly enough, he did not have a grimoire floating behind his head.

His eyes were closed, and ever so often, his dual blades would release a light hum. The resonance was forcefully suppressed without the say of the Empyrean on the other side.

Soon after, a daemonic Empyrean was warped to this location. There was a vicious grin on its face, and there was bloodlust in its eyes.

It had been no less than a thousand years since its last battle. The slaughterous energy drowning its mind was unbearable, and it was this slaughterous thirst that spewed out of its eyes.

However, this all changed when it laid eyes on the Empyrean that stood with folded arms.

"Eclipse?!"

Though the latter’s eyes were sealed shut, he spoke nonetheless.

"Go."

It was only one word.

But when it was spoken, no before the word fully fell, the daemon’s will enveloped the Empyrean cloud and resisted the resonance.

The daemon, atop its cloud, disappeared soon after.

Time passed.

The resonance had long disappeared, but Eclipse still stood at the edge of his Empyrean cloud.

Finally, he opened his eyes, a pair of dark, obsidian orbs.

A deep sigh escaped his lips.

"Supreme mastery... an elusive mountain seemingly within reach."

His voice was filled with unwillingness and yearning.

"If even I fail to attain it, then it is nothing but the false delusions of past generations!"

Such words were heavier than mountains and caused space to buzz. The two blades on his back released hymns that caused the Empyrean cloud to quake.

Suddenly, a frown etched itself onto his face.

His Empyrean cloud resonated once again.

"Less than a year since the last one, and you still dare to resonate with another?"

Eclipse was about to order the Empyrean cloud again; however, the frowning expression on his face changed in an abrupt and drastic manner as the dimension’s consciousness descended.

"Are you forcing me?" He scowled begrudgingly.

But information poured into his drifter cloud, and right after, his drifter cloud transferred information straight into his soul.

His eyes lit up with understanding.

.....

Anon meditated on the much larger Empyrean cloud. With undying flames swallowing his left hand, a ghastly aura swallowed his right.

Intrigued, he observed the nature of his stolen death magic. Back then, he had acquired curse magic this way, too.

Naturally, at the time, that was an attack at the nascent stage, and no matter what evil treasure had been used back then, it could never match the quantity or quality of the death aura wielded by the Empyrean, apostle of apocalyptic death.

Exhaling, the two magical powers extinguished as well.

His hands propped up his back as he leaned back and observed the world around him.

Since devouring the apostle of apocalyptic death’s Empyrean cloud, he didn’t really think much of her disappearance.

To him, what mattered was deepening the complexity of his soul.

This was achieved very naturally when he devoured other drifter clouds, and when he devoured the slaughterous energy of the dimension’s consciousness.

Not much time had passed since the death battle, and the battle itself was not enough to perfect his undying flames battle art.

"I only hope that my next opponent also wields death magic," Anon spoke in jest whilst chuckling to himself.

Death magic focused more on metaphysical abilities, which meant dealing with the spirit and soul.

Whilst targeting the soul guaranteed an advantage nine parts out of ten, Anon happened to be the one invulnerable part.

In fact, attack his soul with magic?

Yes, please do!

Though death magic also had spells that focused on the physical entity, the real, instantaneous killing moves targeted the spirit and soul, unless of course, one was dealing with an ordinary mortal susceptible to heart attacks and...

Anon sat up and pinched his chin.

"My curse magic, augmented with death magic, will become very scary in the future." Saying this, he could already picture the scene.

Enemies dying without even knowing why, or maybe even weakening an enemy before confronting them and taking advantage of their deplorable state.

Anon had the smile of a maniac plastered across his face.

His deathly gaze, though, almost made it seem that the smile on his face was merely an attempt at forcing one.

"However, the fact that I have no death grimoire makes developing magic spells slightly challenging. Or should I borrow the framework from curse magic?"

Without a grimoire, it was akin to understanding a language, but not being able to read and write.

Such a thing, though, did not worry the swarthy-skinned youth.

Instead, he began perfecting his undying flame battle art once again. Moreover, with the constant evolution of his soul and increasing comprehension ability, his speed of perfecting his battle art constantly grew.

Unknowingly, time flickered away.

At some point, Anon, lost in the perfection of his battle art, felt the quaking of his Empyrean cloud.

By the time he realized, there was another Empyrean cloud some distance away; however, it did not continue drifting toward his own cloud.

The figure stood with their arms folded, observing Anon with a hint of amusement in their eyes.

"Are you willing to go separate ways?" Anon asked when seeing the other drifter suppress the cloud’s resonance.

Internally, he wished to curse.

This was too damn fast.

As an ancestor, it took him over a century to battle thrice, and now, his first two battles as an Empyrean came before the second year...

Wasn’t the pattern hinting at a progressive lengthening?

Eclipse leisurely gazed at the swarthy-skinned youth. He himself appeared as a young man in his early twenties.

His black hair was darker than ink, and each strand cascaded down his back like an inky waterfall.

He was adorned in a crimson robe that was, in previous times, emerald, purple, and black. Simply dressed, he stood in an imposing manner.

He concisely voiced, "It depends."

"Actually, the dimension revealed something that I’ll need your confirmation on. All I wish to know is, how long have you been in this world? No, how many drifters have you defeated?"

The dimension?

Hearing this, Anon immediately frowned. His heart twisted with a dark, foreboding sensation, and his thoughts churned whilst thinking of a reply.

’Since when was the dimension so communicative? I always felt that the dimension had been targeting me. If that’s really the case, and this dimension purposefully set up this battle, then what kind of person has this dimension aligned me with now?’

Thinking this, he took another look at the youth standing on the foreign cloud.

The young man had ink-black hair swaying behind him and dark, obsidian-colored eyes. On his forehead was a minute blade symbol. His shoulders were broad, and his waist, thin.

His appearance was ordinary, and he could not be considered extraordinarily alluring; however, his eyes, those dark, obsidian orbs, appeared bottomless and unreadable, utterly fathomless.

Once their gazes met, Anon was slightly dazed. This state was fleeting, but the mere fact that he had felt this way, even if it was only for a moment, left him with an unnerving chill in his heart.

’Do I evade his question? No, he’s already revealed that the dimension communicated with him, and likely about me.’

’If that’s the case, is he testing me, and whether I’ll speak the truth or not?’

"Not many. One as a nascent drifter to become a mature drifter, three to transform from a mature drifter to an ancestor, and three more as an ancestor." Anon opened his hands wide, embracing the world.

Eclipse raised an eyebrow once he heard Anon’s words.

"Enviable, how enviable."

Though Anon was searching, there were no clear changes in Eclipse’s facial expressions, almost as if he didn’t care about his claims.

Who knew what reason this Empyrean asked such a question for?

"These soul clouds," Eclipse sighed. "As vast and numerous as the cloud in the old world’s sky, the fundamental core of another drifter’s soul."

"But when devouring other soul clouds, gaining little was a blessing, and being unable to chew one’s meal was a common matter."

"On the other hand, you seem very capable of devouring most, if not the entire soul cloud of a fallen drifter. Oh, how enviable."

"What are you?"

Anon grinned, "Naturally, I am but a human, just like the rest of you all. It really isn’t my fault if you’re lacking that spark."

Eclipse was not flustered by Anon’s words and instead grew even more intrigued, amused.

"Good," Eclipse clapped his hands.

The restrained soul cloud began approaching Anon’s once again.

"The dimension said that it was you, back then," Eclipse showed a cruel smile, "The little nascent drifter that had interacted with my fiendish army and lost consciousness from fear. Today, I, Empyrean Eclipse, wish to see the true ability of an anomaly."

Anon’s eyes gleamed with the strangest of lights. His heart violently thumped within his chest, reacting to Eclipse’s words with excitement swirling in vicious intentions.

Tilting his head, Anon asked with a grim expression, "So, it was your army back then?"