After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 63.2

The other two demons were used to this.

Celerios’s love for forging was actually because Father had once praised the things He made.

Sometimes, a casual compliment from a parent can have an unimaginably huge impact on a child.

Their Father always liked to praise them, and praise was indeed an educational technique.

****

Outside, the sun was shining, and the air was fresh and clean.

Celerios’s residence was a large garden, with a sky created by magic power. Almost everything that the eyes and body could perceive was created by magic power.

At this time, the sun was high in the sky, with only a few clouds left to block the sunlight.

At a stone table in the lush garden, two young men sat facing each other, with a bird perched on the table.

The matter of the red coffin was temporarily left to Celerios, and they could finally calmly analyze this round of events.

First, the first doubt: Why did the mastermind use the Hero Justin as bait? Second, why did Aelioge repeatedly encounter “misfortune” when attacked? Was it the mastermind working with the Goddess of Fortune, or some other situation?

Third, had the mastermind become desperate, shifting their target from Father to them? They actually dared to make a move against them, this was truly unprecedented.

The mysteries were indeed piling up.

Aelioge sipped His tea, fingers gently caressing the cup’s surface, His posture elegant and naturally noble.

“It’s getting stranger and stranger. Why would the mastermind release information about the Hero Justin for no reason?”

Beelzebub responded. “Now that the hero Justin has fallen into our hands, His identity is probably about to be exposed.”

Aelioge nodded. “Even if it’s bait, this method can hardly be called sophisticated.”

A faint smile appeared on Beelzebub’s lips. Without moving, invisible magic power poured tea leaves into the teapot, then hot water, and swirled the pot. The fragrance of tea overflowed, naturally dispersing in the air.

Although they had just experienced an assassination attempt, it didn’t affect their leisurely mood. Their conversation had to have style, with violin music and red tea pastries.

Disliking each other was one thing, but their demands for lifestyle quality were surprisingly consistent.

Regarding Aelioge’s confusion, Beelzebub said unkindly, “Could it be because He thought you were weak, that a few assassins could kill you?”

The sibling relationship that had just calmed down nearly fractured again due to Beelzebub’s casual taunt.

Aelioge’s face immediately darkened, “Then He must be an idiot. I could have eliminated them without you. I’m really being underestimated. Did He think a few max-level assassins plus an unlucky debuff could kill me? Haha, that’s ridiculous.”

Beelzebub swirled His teacup, watching the tea leaves distribute evenly, and summarized. “The current situation is that the mastermind is still in the dark. He’s using some things to lure us to the Divine Kingdom of Destruction while observing the situation covertly.”

There was no intelligence about the mastermind in the present castle. They could only hope that Justin’s awakening would provide more information.

Aelioge: “Speaking of which, Federi’s gang of monsters shouldn’t be related to the mastermind, right?”

Beelzebub: “Most are unrelated, but perhaps one or two are in cahoots?”

“Heh.”

Aelioge liked to scheme but hated being schemed against. Honestly, His patience was limited. If it weren’t for Father’s feelings, His actions definitely wouldn’t have been so mild.

“By the way, your repeated misfortunes, can you confirm they were caused by the power of luck?”

Beelzebub took a sip of tea, His manners undeniably elegant.

“Oh, but it doesn’t seem like the Goddess of Fortune acted directly.”

Aelioge analyzed. “If She had acted directly, it should have been more unfortunate.”

Beelzebub casually mocked. “I agree, at least you should have received a curse.”

Aelioge was annoyed and glared at Beelzebub, “You wish I was cursed too, don’t you.”

“I didn’t say that.”

The little black bird on the table was at a loss. Can’t these two self-proclaimed reliable adult demons stop arguing?

As the only reliable god, the little black bird had to pull himself together and said to Beelzebub. “More importantly, isn’t the Goddess of Fortune in the Divine Kingdom of Destruction? Why don’t we capture Her?”

Beelzebub paused in His tea-drinking motion, “You’re right, at least let’s remove the curse first.”

The little black bird was also dumbfounded. Hey, outside brother, you’ve forgotten, haven’t you? Such a forgetful demon!

But Aelioge held back, raising His head to look directly into Beelzebub’s eyes, “Wait, let’s understand the situation clearly first, no need to rush.”

Beelzebub, who had just reached out to open a spatial rift, turned to look at Aelioge, His eyes revealing confusion.

Aelioge added, “Besides, you don’t like the Divine Kingdom of Destruction, do you?”

“…It’s just an instinctive aversion.”

Beelzebub had no impression of the Divine Kingdom of Destruction, today was His first visit there.

Aelioge: “They’re resurrecting the God of Destruction. Are you confident in opposing the God of Destruction?”

“How could I not be?”

Beelzebub’s tone subtly revealed arrogance.

Aelioge knew Beelzebub was powerful, but… the issue wasn’t whether He could win or not.

“Let’s not worry about them for now. Our focus is the Hero Justin. The Divine Kingdom of Destruction’s opponent is humanity, this should be resolved by humans.”

This matter was aimed at humans in the first place.

Beelzebub: “I’ll go kill Fortune first; Her curse is annoying.”

The little black bird appeared to ponder for a moment, looking at Beelzebub, and suddenly spoke, “More than that, have you noticed—”

He was cut off by a glare from Aelioge.

Aelioge said coldly, “I suggest you don’t go to the Divine Kingdom of Destruction. I know you’re capable, but now the Goddess of Fortune has sided with them. Once you go there, you’ll suffer misfortune. Be careful, you might forget to use your magic power while fighting.”

“…”

Beelzebub felt Aelioge was acting strangely, as if He didn’t want Him to contact the Divine Kingdom of Destruction. Indeed, He hadn’t encountered them before today, but with His strength, if He fought seriously, could Federi stop Him? Could the influence of misfortune be strong enough to determine the outcome between the originally strong and weak?

“You…”

Just as Beelzebub was about to ask why, a voice sounded from outside.

“Um… the coffin is open.”

Celerios suddenly appeared, unaware of what they were arguing about, His eyes revealing a hint of curiosity.

The two demons turned simultaneously, asking in unison. “Where?”

The little black bird also jumped up. Impressive, it had only been half an hour. Was this the power of their new sibling?

As expected of our Abyss family!

A few seconds later.

They were back in the forging room.

Before them was the opened red coffin, and a stone slab bed emanating an ominous aura.

Aelioge was a bit surprised, His gaze fixed on the stone slab bed, “This is…”

Celerios walked to the side of the stone slab bed, looking down, He said, “The coffin is open, but look…”

On the stone slab bed lay a body wrapped in layers of black cloth. The curse surrounding the body was so dense it had almost become tangible. If you got a little closer, you would hear an extremely piercing scream in your ears, enough to make your hair stand on end.

Despite their extensive experience, they had never seen such an intense and concentrated curse. An ordinary person would have died long ago; probably only the Hero Justin could survive this.

Justin’s entire body was wrapped in black cloth, seemingly unable to move. It was hard to imagine what had happened to him during his time missing.

If he had been imprisoned in the red coffin for the thousands of years he was missing, his survival was truly a testament to his incredibly strong willpower. What kind of will to live must one have to cling to a thread of life like that?

Should it be said that this was truly befitting of a hero?

Aelioge had seen many humans, but faced with Justin’s situation, He felt solemn respect and admiration.

Celerios then looked at Aelioge, “What… should we do about this?”

Beelzebub approached, extending his hand palm down. The magic energy gathering in his palm glowed red, as if scanning Justin’s condition. He analyzed, “Forget about feeding him potions, he can’t even open his mouth.”

Perhaps someone would ask, why not tear apart the curse?

The answer was that it could be done, but the risk was extremely high. If torn off, Justin might die immediately. Among the many twisted curses, one was meant to keep him alive forever to endure suffering.

Aelioge thought for a moment, and tried to break the curse himself, but it proved to be outside His area of expertise. So He gave up and said, “Let’s take him to Buer to have a look. But do you have any impression of this curse?”

“…”

The two demons and one god fell silent.

Curses could be traced to their source, usually carrying the power of the one who cast them.

If it was a god’s curse, it would be even more obvious, because a god’s curse would contain divinity, which was the unique identifier of a god, recognizable at a glance.

As for the curse on Justin…

“He has been cursed by multiple gods, there’s more than one god’s curse on him.”

The little black bird landed beside Justin, sniffed carefully, and said in shock. “There’s even my curse in here.”

While the little black bird was active, the other two demons didn’t notice, but Celerios was staring blankly at the little black bird, as if pondering where this bird had come from.

“Is that mastermind really so good at hiding?”

Beelzebub was a bit irritated, his mood reflected in reality, his magic power igniting abyss fire, almost burning down the refining room.

Celerios nervously said, “Brother Beelzebub, don’t be angry, this is my home.”

Beelzebub seemed not to hear, perhaps because he was hungry, his magic power was a bit out of control.

Aelioge couldn’t stand it anymore and said to Celerios. “Be tougher, if you’re annoyed with Beelzebub, you can totally scold Him or hit Him.”

Celerios timidly said, “I…”

The little black bird couldn’t hold back anymore and said, “Can we stop the idle chatter? Hero Justin is about to die!”

The three demons immediately looked towards the stone bed.

They only then realized that the curse on Justin looked like it was about to erupt, like a whale about to explode after death!

The little black bird shouted, “Quick, send for emergency treatment!”

****

Not long after, Buer had just finished her work for the empire and was about to go home to seek praise from her father, when she was unexpectedly intercepted midway.

Buer was puzzled and grumbled, “What’s going on?”

Aelioge pulled Her to the refining room. When Buer took a closer look, her face was filled with surprise.

“What is this thing!”

Beelzebub glanced at Her and said, “It’s not a thing, this is Hero Justin.”

Buer’s eyes widened as she looked left and right, circling around, stunned by the variety and complexity of the curses.

“How many curses has he been afflicted with? There are over a hundred god-level curses alone, even a god would have difficulty enduring this, right?”

She didn’t notice Celerios standing in the corner with barely any presence.

It only took Buer a few seconds to enter a focused state. As she spoke, she reached out her hand and began manipulating magical power.

Even for Buer, curses were extremely tricky things to deal with, otherwise She would have waved Her hand and resolved the curse on Beelzebub.

She wouldn’t normally be this serious, if not for the fact that the subject was Hero Justin, an important friend of Her father.

Half an hour later, Buer was visibly fatigued, but she didn’t stop his operation.

She continued using magical power to control the flow of the curses, guiding, channeling, and dissolving them.

Unlike Beelzebub’s proper and complete god-level curse, the curses on Justin were not specifically targeted at him personally, but rather pieced together and patched up using other curses by someone. Therefore, they were less targeted and a bit easier to remove.

Another hour passed, and Aelioge and Beelzebub waited quietly, as several hours were but the blink of an eye to them.

The curses on the stone slab bed visibly weakened, until finally they were barely perceptible, like a wisp of smoke that was about to dissipate but lingered.

Buer took out a bottle of something from thin air and sprinkled it directly onto the person, which immediately caused smoke and even sparks to appear.

Then, She crooked Her finger, and the magic power automatically operated, tearing apart the black cloth that was wrapped around Justin.

It was only at this moment that Justin’s true condition was exposed to the air.

The elderly state was comparable to that of the aged Luo Jie, but being a healer by profession, his build was thinner than Luo Jie’s.

His complexion was deathly pale, with almost no signs of life.

Buer approached and, without a word, poured resurrection potion directly into Justin’s mouth.

Aelioge and Beelzebub exchanged another glance.

As long as the Hero Justin was revived, They should be able to know the truth.

After Buer had administered several revival potions in succession, Justin finally showed a slight movement.

His fingers twitched slightly.

“He moved, he moved!”

The little black bird cheered from behind.

Celerios wore a look of amazement.

However, it was just a slight movement. Justin quickly became still again, his breath becoming increasingly faint, as if he might breathe his last at any moment.

While entangled in the curses, he seemed to have been holding his breath, refusing to die so pathetically, and had stubbornly persisted until now in his fierce resistance.

Now that the curses were gone, with nothing left to fight against, Justin seemed to have finally found peace and was ready to die. His consciousness loosened, causing his life force to drain away frantically.

But how could Buer allow his father’s hero friend to die before Her eyes?

Buer let out a cold snort and said without hesitation. “Justin, your Brother Xiu has returned from the abyss.”

The air suddenly fell silent.

Celerios’ pupils trembled.

In the next second, Justin on the stone slab bed abruptly opened his eyes.