After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 121.1

Ayni’s attire stood out among humans, so wherever She walked, She would attract some glances. Moreover, She was cheerful and eloquent, enthusiastically answering people’s conversations. Along the way, many people talked to Her, sharing many legends about “Mr. Yi Xiusi”.

Such stories included him being the most famous cat lover in the city and the student of Great Mentor Matros. Many citizens liked Mr. Yi Xiusi and held a favorable impression of those who visited him.

How could one describe it? Mr. Yi Xiusi had no bad people around him, and he himself was gentle in character, with a good temper, humble, polite, and practically flawless in every aspect.

Someone reminded Ayni, “Mr. Yi Xiusi’s bookstore might not be open today. I noticed his little cat hasn’t come out yet.”

Many passersby knew that in recent days, the little cat had been watching the store. Mr. Yi Xiusi seemed to be busy somewhere, apparently studying, researching magic, and staying home, rarely even going to the library.

Ayni nodded, “I understand. What if I arrive and the door opens? Perhaps Mr. Yi Xiusi’s little cat might like me.”

The passerby thought about it and agreed.

One topic ended, and another began.

However, amidst the many voices, there was one voice, as if emerging from the depths of hell, that made one shudder.

They called out in a low voice, “Abyss Lord Ayni.”

Directly calling Her name showed clear ill intent.

Ayni stopped walking but did not turn around, her expression calm and nonchalant. Then She used a voice that only high-ranking beings could hear, “What do you want?”

That voice was extremely cold and continued. “They kept you in the dark and never treated you as a sibling.”

Ayni paused, Her gaze visibly darkening. Only then did She slowly turn around.

She had just understood this matter by tracing the activity traces of Aelioge and other demons, ultimately obtaining one person’s name.

— “Mr. Yi Xiusi”.

A well-known cat lover in the Oedipus Imperial City, keeping nearly twenty cats. Of course, this alone was not enough to make Her suspect her siblings. However, She happened to see the cat portraits at “Mr. Yi Xiusi’s place”.

Good heavens, not knowing was one thing, but seeing was another. Weren’t these exactly the portraits of their family’s brothers and sisters?

It matched completely!

Moreover, with the name “Xiusi”, how could She not think of Her father?

Consider this: How could Her usually arrogant brothers and sisters collectively transform into cats to please a human? Of course, it was possible! If that person was the father they had been separated from for thousands of years and deeply missed!

After learning the news, Ayni immediately wanted to go to that bookstore to meet Her father. However, She did not teleport there but walked slowly. Why? Of course, to understand Her father’s situation through human accounts.

Although humans knew little, something was better than nothing. Then She learned that Her father had actually returned a month ago. Aelioge and other demons knew this but only turned into cats to monopolize Her father, not telling other demons. How despicable!

Ayni realized afterward the reason behind the rebellion against Her big brother: wasn’t it because they were scheming and deceiving him, then got caught and were all dispatched?

Hmph, they deserved it! Although Sister Paimon was completely innocent and implicated.

Various thoughts flashed through Ayni’s mind, knowing nothing about the person who had suddenly called out to Her.

She was about to reunite with Her father. What was this fellow? Did they want to obstruct Her?

Thinking this, Ayni’s gaze instantly turned unfriendly, looking darkly toward the distant alley.

There was darkness, not physical darkness, but darkness covered by magical power.

In the darkness, no form was visible, only a distant voice came through.

“I can eliminate all your brothers and sisters, as long as you listen to me.”

This statement completely revealed their extraordinary nature. The Abyss Lord Ayni should have no brothers or sisters on the continent, just as abyss creatures generally lack parents, being consciousness products of abyss miasma. Yet She spoke of having siblings.

How should this be understood?

Ayni knew without much thought that this fellow probably knew that the Abyss Lords were siblings, and moreover, knew something about their father.

They knew more than She did, and appeared to have ill intentions.

Ayni was not anxious. She fixed her gaze on the opposite alley with an intriguing expression and said, “You can deal with all my brothers and sisters?”

“Yes, all of them.”

The voice seemed extremely confident, with a hint of bewitching power.

Not like a Word Spirit, but more powerful. Ordinary people would become violently aggressive the moment they heard Their voice, wishing those who conflicted with their interests would die immediately.

But who was Ayni—she was the twenty-third ranked demon among Abyss Lords, the youngest sister except for Beelzebub who was outside the rankings. She carried the birthday blessings of countless brothers and sisters. Ordinary power was completely ineffective against Her. Even the power of ultimate existence appeared powerless before the nullification magic pinched by Her second brother Agares.

Ayni’s lips curled upward, Her twin ponytails floating in the wind, Her gaze sharp and cold. “Including my big brother the Demon God Baal and Second Brother Agares?”

“Yes.”

The voice in the darkness continued to answer.

“Hahaha.”

Ayni couldn’t help but laugh, her eyes simultaneously brightening. Magic operated, and Her gaze penetrated the darkness, casting toward the deep alley where the voice originated.

At the same time, the originally bustling street suddenly became eerily silent, as if enveloped by an invisible force.

People’s thoughts seemed controlled by some suggestion. They stopped conversing, lowered their eyes, and emitted an oppressive, foul atmosphere.

This was clearly a form of consciousness manipulation, a demonstration of powerful authority.

Not just this street, but probably the entire nearby area had fallen under the other’s control, becoming an extension of their domain.

In contests between high-ranking beings, domain control often determines the key to victory. Generally, in battles between equally powerful entities, entering the opponent’s domain essentially means defeat is already determined.

With Ayni’s current power, successfully escaping the opponent’s domain domination was not simple. She would likely be forced to accept the other’s arrangement and lose autonomy.

However, facing such a severe situation, Ayni’s face still displayed an unflappable smile, with dimples faintly visible.

“Defeat my eldest and second brothers? With you?”

She even dared to provoke, her words revealing an inherent confidence.

The black-robed figure in the darkness slowly raised their head, revealing murky blood-red eyes beneath the hood.

They did not reveal their true appearance but obviously had the face of an apprentice. If Xiu Si were present, he would immediately recognize them.

Without doubt, this was the “Evil of the Universe” recently discussed among demons.

Though They did not accept this title, They had a more suitable name—such as the God of Filth.

Filth was both natural and conceptual, leaning more toward concept.

Because without the linguistic concept of filth, filth would not exist in the world.

This was the greatest difference between natural gods and concept gods.

Natural gods exist even without language, but concept gods would have an ambiguous existence without language.

Wang Chang’er was not wrong—They were indeed the Evil of the Universe. After all, the universe’s evil substances were constantly gathering around Them, like a massive magnet attracting evil and filth from across the universe.

Every moment was spent filling, expanding, and bursting.

If asked how They manipulated some unconscious gods, the answer would indeed be as expected—by using omnipresent evil substances.

For any “collective life”, as long as a certain proportion of evil substances existed within the whole, They could alter its consciousness, devour its body, and accomplish various things ordinary gods and demons could not.

During the time the God of Chaos fell on the continent, They used Their own “magnetism”.

Like a magnetic iron, using Themselves as a magnet to attract evil substances within the God of Chaos’s body.

The God of Chaos would naturally descend. The other two otherworld gods were similarly affected.

However, it was not that simple, because They had been growing weaker these days, weak to the point of unclear consciousness, repeatedly defeated by Arnold.

Arnold was human, also part of Them, different from other containers—a severed part of Themselves. Very weak, very foolish, very fragmented. Sometimes They would conduct such experiments, expanding and cutting Themselves to increase capacity, like humans with small stomachs trying to eat to expand their stomachs, but rarely succeeding. Arnold was one of the rare successful cases, bringing Them some trouble.

Gods and demons who had lived for over tens of thousands of years knew that nothing was more troublesome than something with self-consciousness.

Yet, they continued creating such beings as if cursed, because life was too long, and creating life was a way to alleviate loneliness—whether through natural reproduction or genetic editing.

Because they had this ability, they did so, just as humans with stomachs would want to eat.

Everything seemed so natural.

Although Their creation was different from the “Creator God’s” creation, not creating something from nothing.

At this moment, Their blood-red eyes were dim, staring at the white-dressed girl with twin ponytails, slowly opening Their mouth and indifferently saying, “Abyss Lord Ayni, you know nothing about strength. I tell you, defeating Them, I can do it.”

Again, a very confident tone.

But Ayni didn’t engage at all, saying carelessly, “If you could do it, why come to me? Shouldn’t you first go defeat my eldest and second brothers?”

Her words carried a natural childlike innocence, without a trace of malice, as if merely a simple question.

The black-robed figure remained silent, blood-red eyes brightening.

“I think you’re not short on time,” Ayni said calmly, continuing, “Moreover, you should have more needs than me.”

The black-robed figure said, “You don’t like your brothers and sisters, do you?”

Ayni showed a surprised expression, as if shocked the other knew about Her family’s conflicts.

The black-robed figure seemed very familiar, continuing, “Your family has too many demons. Young in age, low-ranked, with weak power, you barely receive attention, so you don’t like your brothers and sisters. You wish for Their disappearance.”

Ayni remained silent.

The black-robed figure seductively said, “Eliminate Them, and you’ll get all the attention. Don’t you want that?”

Their eyes brightened, blood-light fierce.

Ayni, who was originally planning to circumvent the topic, finally felt impatient, coldly saying, “Isn’t this provocation too obvious?”

The black-robed figure was unconcerned, “You have this thought in your heart.”

Ayni didn’t answer, just dismissively said, “Heh, you can’t do it.”

The black-robed figure: “…”

“And what are you? Why interfere in our family conflicts?”

Ayni stared at the black-robed figure. If not for sensing the power difference, She might have rushed forward.

“In your brothers’ and sisters’ eyes, I am a villain, and indeed, I am.”

The black-robed figure was silent for a while before directly revealing Their identity.

“Evil of the…Universe?”

Ayni’s face showed a surprised expression, though She didn’t know what “Evil of the Universe” meant, but it sounded unpleasant.

Ayni asked. “What is your purpose?”

The black-robed figure was silent, Their eyes beneath the hood extremely sharp, blood-light surging. After a long time, They answered, “My purpose is to kill an existence that cannot be killed.”

Ayni narrowed Her eyes, pressing, “Cannot be killed—does that mean no ability to kill, or not allowed to kill?”

The black-robed figure was silent again, ambiguously answering, “Both.”

Ayni seemed to see through something, “But you still want to kill.”

The black-robed figure did not deny, directly answering, “Yes.”

But Ayni stared at Them for a long time, suddenly saying, “No, this is not your ultimate purpose.”

The black-robed figure remained silent, Their eyes more obscure, “Why do you say that?”

Ayni intuitively said, “More despair than hatred.”

“What are you despairing about? What are you hoping for?”

Among Her siblings, She was known for strong intuition, able to see through lies to some extent, though this “extent” was sometimes hard to define.

The black-robed figure lowered their head after hearing the words, and then surprisingly clapped their hands, with a tone of slight admiration, “The youngest sister is unexpectedly more sensitive.”

“Speak.”

Ayni frowned, vaguely showing some impatience.

She had disliked riddles since childhood.

Although some of Her brothers seemed to like them, such as Amon and Lelagin. As for Her second brother… well, Second Brother was a mystery without knowing it, not a matter of liking or not liking.

The black-robed figure slowly said, “Am I hoping for something?”

Their tone was like a self-questioning soliloquy, ghostly, inexplicably carrying an overlapping echo. Suddenly their expression darkened, and said gloomily, “Your father should know.”

“Hm?”

Ayni was surprised.

The black-robed figure seemed to have finished speaking, looked like they had not achieved their purpose, and decided to withdraw, “Let’s stop here. If I were to make a move against you here, I would die. Death is a troublesome thing, meaning all previous efforts would be in vain, having to overturn and start over. Well, your father and your uncles and aunts should also know that having to initialize a game midway, changing accounts and starting over, is indeed a test of patience.”

Ayni frowned. “What is your purpose?”

The black-robed figure’s form gradually disappeared, their tone becoming weaker, “You will know.”

Ayni: “You clearly know that even if I rebel, I could never do anything to my brothers and sisters. Your attempt to sow discord was doomed to fail from the beginning.”

“Is that so.”

As soon as the black-robed figure finished speaking, the body they were controlling lost consciousness and fell down with gravity.

Ten or so seconds later, the humans who were consciousness-controlled gradually came to, not knowing what had happened here.

“What happened?”

“Ah… my head feels so muddled.”

Everyone looked at each other, completely bewildered, thinking they had encountered some subspace creature.

Ayni looked at the alley and casually sensed around, discovering there was indeed no trace.

How strange. She couldn’t understand, but it seemed to have some conflict with Her brothers, sisters, and father.

Hmph, She really wanted to catch and beat them up. Trying to sow discord, who are you anyway!

Ayni was furious but was indeed somewhat provoked. Her brothers and sisters finding their father but not telling Her was truly despicable!

“However… if it were me, I would also hide it from other brothers and sisters.”

****

One day earlier.

Continental Human Alliance, third-floor conference hall. A few minutes ago, hundreds of people had gathered here, and a few minutes later, they were dispatched to various places to complete their tasks. Only Norman Til and Wang Chang’er remained.

Wang Chang’er sat in the main seat, with many documents and materials in front of him. Many required his signature, but to avoid troublesome procedures, he directly used magical signature, which was faster than a printing machine with a whoosh.

Norman Til stood three meters away from him, his expression hesitant, with a small elf occasionally running around him.

Wang Chang’er seemed to know what he was hesitating about and directly spoke, “The Elf King is looking for me?”