After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 136.1

BOOM!

The central palace collapsed with a massive crash. Fierce winds howled, and scorching flames burst forth from spatial rifts, twisting and distorting the very air!

In an instant, the Creator God’s boundless fury swept through the entire Divine Kingdom of Creation, and chaos was about to erupt.

Bachin and Barbatos acted swiftly, jointly grabbing the three demons out!

“Sitri, this pervert, what demonic nonsense was He speaking!”

“Nevermind that, let’s take Him away first.”

****

Meanwhile, the gods waiting outside noticed the anomaly in the central palace.

How could they not notice? Abyss Lord Sitri had just gone in, and now there was a major collapse – Sitri must have angered the Creator God!

The Twelve Zodiac Gods erupted in fury, the magnificent constellation diagrams behind them instantly radiating terrifyingly brilliant light.

The gods and demons present were so shocked they didn’t dare breathe.

Aries’s face contorted with rage as He cursed, “Abyss Lord Sitri, I knew He had ill intentions!”

He instinctively wanted to rush into the central palace, but the ceremonial puppet blocked Him.

It respectfully reminded Him. “Your Excellency Aries, without the Lord’s permission, no being may enter.”

Aries questioned. “Why can’t we enter? Since Abyss Lord Sitri dared to trespass, we should kill Him!”

The ceremonial puppet smiled and said, “Even so, you cannot enter.”

The Twelve Zodiac Gods burned with rage, watching helplessly as the central palace collapsed.

Aries’s eyes blazed with divine fire, “We must kill Abyss Lord Sitri, kill Him now, where is He!”

They sensed that Sitri’s presence was no longer inside – He must have fled.

“Hehehe, trying to provoke and show power? Whether it’s the Abyss Lords or the Lord of the Abyss, they all must die!”

“Pisces, find Him for me now.”

“It’s impossible, He disappeared too quickly, it’s already too late.”

“Useless!”

Aries’s divine power suppressed the entire space. He seemed to think of something and turned to address the gods, “Conquer the Ancient Star immediately, I want to destroy the place they protect right now!”

“Yes!”

The gods instinctively obeyed.

However, Pisces shook His head and said, “Ancient Star’s defenses are activated – anti-invasion, anti-malice, anti-all attacks.”

“Ancient Star” was their name for this planet. They themselves were already very ancient, but this planet was even older than them. No one knew how many civilizations had been born and destroyed on it, and moreover, no one knew how many gods had been born there before, so they called this planet – Ancient Star.

Ancient Star Defense was, as the name suggested, the planet’s defense system.

Aries paused, His expression growing darker as He gritted His teeth. “Who did this? Those humans couldn’t possibly know about Ancient Star Defense.”

“The humans did it.”

Pisces frowned, His eyes flashing golden light as He directly pierced through space and answered. “Those six heroes did it.”

“What?”

At least half of the gods and demons present didn’t know what “heroes” referred to. They looked questioningly at Pisces.

But Pisces didn’t explain further about the heroes, only saying, “After learning about Ancient Star’s history from the Elf race, they worked with the Elf King to activate Ancient Star Defense.”

“The Elf race, huh.”

Aries sneered, the constellation diagram behind Him blazing with intense light. The Elf race had a long history, so it wasn’t surprising they knew about Ancient Star Defense.

“One after another, they all oppose us. When we Twelve Zodiac Gods gather, all traitors must die!”

Before His words faded, the gods present shuddered in fear.

It was only then that the ceremonial puppet received orders. It understood immediately, slowly approached Aries, and bowed saying, “Your Excellency Aries, the Lord requests your presence inside.”

Aries turned His head in delighted surprise.

****

Meanwhile, at a certain coastline.

“Hahaha, did you see that?”

Arnolo laughed loudly. “He got angry again. He’s always had quite a temper since ancient times.”

The God of Transformation gazed at the sky and said calmly. “With Him this angry, I suppose this universe won’t be able to contain Him afterward.”

But Arnolo shook His head and said to the God of Transformation. “This is the place of beginning. Whether He can destroy this place is questionable.”

“Is that so?”

The God of Transformation was somewhat surprised. From His perspective, the power currently gathered by the opposition already rivaled or even surpassed the God of the Universe. Destroying a galaxy system wouldn’t be a problem, so how could they not destroy a single planet?

Arnolo explained. “This planet’s ‘heart’ is very powerful, not so easily destroyed.”

The God of Transformation was startled and asked curiously. “Heart?”

Arnolo turned His head, “Yes, this planet is different from ordinary planets. It has a heart, and it’s not my Father’s creation.”

The confusion in the God of Transformation’s eyes deepened.

As everyone knew, the Creator God created the universe, so in this sense, all planets were the Creator God’s creations. Yet Arnolo said this planet wasn’t the Creator God’s creation.

What did that mean? And what was this heart?

Arnolo looked toward the sky, His eyes narrowing as He said, “I only learned about this later. My Father often creates gods and occasionally creates planets too, but He’s actually not very skilled at creating planets. The planets He creates are always unstable with very limited lifespans, often naturally collapsing before civilizations can even develop. I found it strange at the time – on one hand, He’s indeed not very skilled, but on the other hand, there exist some long-lived planets in reality. Isn’t that contradictory?”

“Indeed.”

The God of Transformation couldn’t help but ponder.

Arnolo continued. “I investigated further later, and do you know what I discovered? All those long-lived ancient planets have ‘hearts,’ while none of the planets my Father created have ‘hearts.’ So I came to believe that ‘heart’ is the key to whether a planet can be long-lived, and those long-lived planets weren’t created by Him. After all, if He knew how to create them, it wouldn’t make sense that He could do it before but can’t now. Moreover, He seems to not know about creating ‘hearts’ for planets, or perhaps He knows but can’t create them.”

The God of Transformation fell into a subtle silence, naturally thinking of a question. if those long-lived planets weren’t created by the Creator God, then who created them?

But He didn’t ask this. Instead, He asked, “What is a heart?”

Arnolo’s eyes darkened slightly as He pondered. “Soul, consciousness, thoughts – three in one, where the three converge, that is heart.”

The God of Transformation’s face showed shock.

****

Meanwhile, in some distant cosmic region, several demons were arguing.

“Meddlers, why did you all come too!”

“Sitri, you foolish demon, without us you would have been finished there!”

Sitri said dissatisfied, “When I went there, I had my own methods.”

They stood on the desert rocks, with Aelioge and Beelzebub closest to Sitri, and Bachin and Barbatos behind them.

If it hadn’t been for Barbatos’s power, they wouldn’t have been able to leave the Divine Kingdom of Creation.

Aelioge stared at Sitri and said bluntly, “You, with your father complex brain, running to say those things in front of an enemy god – are you sure you had methods to escape unscathed?”

Sitri’s face instantly darkened, “Ha? My fighting the Creator God alone has nothing to do with you all. You’re the ones who interfered. Secondly, I don’t have a father complex, and finally, I don’t have a father complex!”

Beelzebub beside Him said. “Stop denying it, Sitri. Explaining is covering up. We grew up together – don’t we know what kind of demon you are?”

“Hmph.”

Sitri’s face grew even darker at these words, and He gave Beelzebub a cold glance.

Seeing they could argue until nightfall, Bachin walked over to mediate. “Let’s not talk about that. Sitri, first tell us why you went to the Divine Kingdom of Creation.”

Aelioge added. “Start from when you split up with Busson, explain everything clearly.”

Sitri frowned. With His solitary personality, He had always disliked explaining His thoughts to other demons, especially to Aelioge and Beelzebub.

The more similar types of demons were, the more they internally rejected each other.

Sitri didn’t answer and turned His head aside, showing an uncooperative attitude.

Beelzebub turned and said. “You knew we were observing from the shadows all along, right?”

Sitri frowned. “……”

Aelioge asked. “Were you planning to use us to escape?”

Sitri’s face darkened again, and He immediately said, “With or without you all, I could have escaped.”

Aelioge raised an eyebrow, “Are you serious? Not to mention how powerful the Creator God Himself is, those six Twelve Zodiac Gods outside – are you sure you alone could have beaten them?”

Hearing this, Sitri gave a chilling smile, “They would kill themselves.”

Aelioge was somewhat speechless.

But it had to be said, Sitri’s “emotion” power was the most troublesome kind of power, impossible to guard against, causing huge problems. The reason He was called the Phantom God of Civil War was precisely because of this.

Moreover, “emotion” manipulation itself was already outrageous enough, and on top of that, He could create illusions and generate various conflicts, making it impossible to distinguish truth from falsehood.

With these dual powers combined, He had an innate advantage in group battles.

Back in the Abyss, He had single-handedly challenged a duke’s city occupied by thousands of great demons, entering as if no demons were there, going in with white clothes and coming out with white clothes, leaving blood flowing behind Him without moving a finger. He had merely used His power to stir up conflicts, casually destroying a city.

Aelioge acknowledged Sitri’s strength, but this time the opponents were different. It was better to be overly cautious than not cautious enough.

He stared at Sitri and demanded, “So? What did you go to the Creator God for? You think you alone can handle everything?”

Sitri stared directly into Aelioge’s eyes and countered, “Why not? As long as they’re beings with emotions, I can handle them. And as you all saw, the Creator God has emotions and can be angered by me.”

Before Aelioge could answer, Beelzebub said first, “The Creator God’s condition was indeed beyond demonic expectations.”

Bachin followed this line of thought. “Is He emotionally unstable because He just came out?”

Beelzebub analyzed. “After being confined by Second Brother for so long, it’s understandable to be in a bad mood.”

Sitri’s gaze swept over them, “Anyway, I can handle it.”

The air grew subtly quiet for a moment.

At this point, Barbatos finally spoke. She looked at Sitri and said directly. “Little Brother Sitri, since we’re all out here now, why don’t you be honest with Elder Sister?”

Barbatos was the elder sister, having taken care of Sitri when He was young. Sitri was cold by nature but was relatively mild toward Barbatos.

Sitri was silent for a moment, then answered. “Every war needs scouts. I just went to find the Creator God ahead of you all.”

“Can you tell us everything from start to finish?”

Barbatos asked gently.

Sitri fell into brief silence again, then slowly began. “The first time I saw His figure was when I was exploring ruins with Busson. Because He looked exactly like Father, I became very concerned afterward and kept investigating His traces.”

All four demons present perked up their spirits, listening intently to what He would say.

Sitri continued. “Then, I discovered Him in other places too. His way of existing was like a ghost – suddenly appearing, suddenly disappearing, with no apparent stable consciousness. So I began to suspect that what I saw might just be some kind of subconsciousness or momentary thoughts, fragmented and discontinuous, difficult to form complete thoughts. At first, I thought this might be related to Father, but as time went on, I gradually ruled out this possibility.”

“Why?”

Aelioge couldn’t help asking.

Sitri disliked being interrupted and glared at Aelioge, saying angrily, “Because He’s not worthy of being related to Father.”

He continued. “In my deeper investigation, I finally focused on the Elven Ancestor Land, but without Lelagin’s permission, I couldn’t enter. Then I started suspecting this had something to do with Agares, because Agares was the last demon to see Lelagin in my memory. I tried contacting Agares, but Agares didn’t respond to me, so I prepared to force my way into the Elven Ancestor Land, and indeed took action. The next day I heard Agares’s voice.”

Bachin asked curiously, “What did Agares say?”

Sitri glanced at Bachin and answered. “Agares told me some things, and I finally understood their true thoughts. At the time, I suggested Agares kill the Creator God, but Agares said it couldn’t be done.”

“Why?”

“Once the Creator God is destroyed, the entire universe will collapse, meaning complete destruction – everything will cease to exist.”

At this point, the air somewhat solidified.

Sitri continued. “I said let it collapse then, but Agares didn’t agree. I couldn’t do anything either, because Lelagin used the Memory Cube to lock up the Creator God, and I couldn’t get inside from the outside world, so I couldn’t do anything for the time being.”

So that was it – everything matched up.

Aelioge and Beelzebub exchanged a glance, as if exchanging thoughts.

Sitri’s gaze grew deep as He said calmly, “I know Agares is waiting for a timing. Once the timing comes, everything will be settled, but I lack patience – I can’t wait for Agares’s ‘timing.'”

“So you acted first?”

“Why not?”

After that, they compared some more intelligence.

Aelioge briefly explained the situation on His end.

Sitri’s eyes half-closed, “Hmph, how could I not know? All of you changing to cat heads – it would be hard not to notice you. Unlike you all, I’m a truly mature demon. Love is shown through taking real action, not through being willful and acting cute.”

This statement hit many demons like an arrow to the knee. But what was wrong with acting cute if Father liked it!

Aelioge’s mouth twitched slightly as He scolded, “Father finally woke up, and you, unfilial child, not only didn’t come back to see Father first but have the face to criticize us?”

Sitri said even more matter-of-fact. “What do you all understand? Once I see Father, I won’t want to leave. So I have to handle other matters before I can see Father! That Creator God fellow dares to use Father’s appearance – seeking death!”

“Give it a rest.”

Aelioge could no longer comment. He had spent so much time wondering if this guy had been brainwashed, but this guy’s father complex was even more ridiculous than a love-struck brain – how could such a brain be washed?

It was puzzling and left demons speechless.

In comparison, that snake Botis was really much more straightforward and understandable. If Botis’s feelings for Father were like a straight arrow, then Sitri’s feelings for Father were like a hugely curved arrow as winding as mountain roads and intestines.