After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 85.1

Perhaps Beelzebub appeared too aggressive, as the other side failed to snatch it and suddenly vanished on the spot.

When Beelzebub looked again, He couldn’t find even a trace of aura or presence.

It was as if the clues had been completely erased by some power, leaving no trace behind.

The only power He could think of with such capability was Amon’s authority.

“Slightly weaker than Amon’s authority, but still a cheating-level power.”

As expected of a rat, useless in everything except hiding.

Beelzebub let out a contemptuous cold snort, His gaze turning coldly towards that black coffin. Then, He slowly walked closer, extending a hand to place it on the black coffin, sensing it with His magical power.

“Exactly the same as Justin’s, only Celerios can open it.”

Beelzebub lowered His gaze in thought, feeling puzzled as well. The other party knew He was investigating, yet so easily handed over this black coffin to Him.

At least Aelioge had an assassination attempt back then, while He didn’t even encounter any decent resistance.

Was the rat behind the scenes giving up?

Beelzebub retrieved the black coffin into His own domain, but His form remained motionless, still standing in place. Suddenly, He slowly turned around, His gaze piercing, staring straight at the end of the church.

This was the site of the ancient Church of Dawn, with buildings at least three thousand years old. The walls were full of religious paintings, depicting both familiar and unfamiliar deities.

Logically, a normal demon who obtained the black coffin should quickly find a way to open it and save the person inside. This would be the course of action taken by the vast majority of humans, gods, and demons.

However, Beelzebub was not a normal demon. After a moment’s thought, He realized the intention behind this.

The black coffin might just be a distraction, with the important things inside. The other party feared He would discover something inside, so they came up with this ploy.

Yet a question arose: if they were afraid He would discover something inside, why not just move it away? This rat behind the scenes, running back and forth, must be quite skilled in spatial magic. Couldn’t they move it? Even if they couldn’t move it, why not just destroy it?

Beelzebub chuckled, a flash of dark light passing through His eyes. Without hesitation, He walked straight into the deeper parts of the church.

Dust particles floated in the air, appearing as dispersed particles in the sunlight.

The spreading light dust resembled mountains and rivers, exuding a sense of long-standing time.

The gravity here was clearly different from the outside world. As Beelzebub went deeper, the gravity gradually weakened, as if entering a domain of a different dimension. The hem of His clothes floated gently under the weak gravity, His hair suspended in the air, as if submerged underwater.

It felt a bit strange. He extended His magical power, His authority dominating the entire domain, yet He still felt something was odd.

It was like multiple domains overlapping, authorities stacked layer upon layer, thick and piled up.

The entire space was incredibly heavy, yet the gravity within the space was very small.

This sense of disorder reminded Beelzebub of an authority called [Reversal].

One of His siblings possessed this authority, making them very tricky to fight against. It was counterintuitive, against habitual thinking, often catching you off guard.

Beelzebub analyzed this space in His mind, His gaze falling on the scene before Him.

A dilapidated marble statue stood there, its head completely gone, right arm incomplete, left lower leg shattered, and even the right thigh missing a piece. The surface of the statue was severely weathered, covered in dense erosion patterns.

In this circular church space, the walls were carved with images of numerous deities, while in the center of the church stood this broken marble statue. The surrounding gods seemed to be silently worshipping it, regarding It as the supreme being.

From an overall perspective, its ambition was blatantly obvious.

— God of Gods.

This design wasn’t new to Beelzebub; almost every hidden Church of Dawn had such a place designed.

It was hard to imagine what kind of madness would drive someone to build such things everywhere. Either an extreme ambitious person or a lunatic transcending history.

But Beelzebub never believed that His goal was to become the “God of Gods,” despite many clues pointing to this.

His construction of buildings and sculptures around the world might also be… a form of comfort, a kind of soothing, the delusions of a mentally ill patient manifesting.

Beelzebub was good at reasoning factual logic, but not so much at emotional logic, especially disliking irrational things from unstable minds.

Therefore, He couldn’t understand the motives of the rat behind the scenes at all.

A few hours ago, Amon had told Him about the trigger of events, and He couldn’t comprehend it at all either.

Afraid of Father discovering their identity, or thinking Father had already discovered their identity, so they started targeting Father? What kind of mental illness was that?

Beelzebub wandered aimlessly in the depths of the church, His impatience growing stronger. A few minutes later, His footsteps stopped in front of that statue, and a sudden anger welled up in His heart. He violently swung a fist.

The statue instantly crumbled, turning into a shower of stone fragments and dust, scattering everywhere. The remnants of the statue lay strewn across the ground.

Beelzebub stared at the base of the statue, finding nothing. His eyes couldn’t help but reveal some frustration. Just as He was about to turn and leave, He seemed to catch some subtle clue. His gaze focused again, as if discovering some unusual sign.

Still, there was nothing.

But He saw a thread of thought.

Thoughts are invisible to the naked eye, only perceivable by “feeling”.

Beelzebub originally couldn’t sense it, but recent events had changed Him somewhat, giving Him a bit more of this perceptive ability.

He approached that thread of thought.

It was like a faint flame, possessing no power, seeming as if it would extinguish with a single blow, but subtly maintaining its final tenacity.

It was an obsession.

Beelzebub was slightly surprised.

He reached out His hand, fingers closing together, wanting to feel what kind of obsession it was.

But after five minutes, Beelzebub’s brow furrowed deeper, because He couldn’t sense anything.

“What’s going on? Has the thought become too faint, or is it my problem?”

Question marks popped up in Beelzebub’s mind, but He didn’t insist on solving it immediately. He collected this thread of thought. He couldn’t discern the thought within, but surely some demon could sense it.

****

A while later.

At the Aust Empire Library, several demons were having a round table conference, exchanging information in real-time.

Their situation here was completely different from the Sisters’ Meeting. If anything, it was more like a Brothers’ Meeting, and each had an extraordinary appearance, their sitting postures and gestures fully displaying each demon’s personality.

Whether it was to deliberately create some atmosphere or not, the surrounding lighting in the library was dim, with only a halo hovering above their round table.

Looking closely, that halo actually came from a small white bird.

“What did you say? Barbatos has disappeared? With Her authority, it’s impossible for Her to disappear when anyone else could.”

“Barbatos often disappears for a year or two. It’s only been a few days without contact, aren’t you worrying too much?”

“The situation is unknown, even Vassago can’t find Her.”

As they spoke, the three demons turned to look at the silent youth with an eye patch.

“…Has Third Brother’s narcolepsy gotten worse recently?”

Inpos was a bit confused.

“It’s fine? Isn’t He capable of sleeping for hundreds of years? This recent period is probably the longest He’s been awake, right?”

Amon didn’t think much of it.

The short-haired youth lay on the chair, His eye patch drooping, His breathing shallow but regular, obviously sleeping very peacefully. Recently, Vassago had been looking for Agares, but finding Agares impossible to locate, He seemed to have given up like this.

Their Second Brother was really something, He couldn’t actually be playing Sleeping Beauty in the dream realm, could He? He only seemed to come out sleepwalking to look for Father.

Inpos was also at a loss for words.

Just then, the space suddenly fluctuated.

The three demons and the bird all turned their gaze.

Inpos was startled. “Ah, Beelzebub is back.”

Before His words faded, a spatial portal suddenly opened, and out walked the cold and proud Beelzebub.

Beelzebub glanced around, walked to the round table, found a seat, and sat down gracefully. He seemed to have heard their recent conversation and immediately asked, “Barbatos has disappeared?”

Amon turned His gaze to Beelzebub and said, “It’s hard to say for sure, but Vassago can’t find Her. This at least indicates a problem, as there are few things Vassago can’t find.”

Speaking of which, among their more than twenty siblings, only Vassago’s three main essence settings had never been unlocked.

Vassago was very powerful, especially in magical power and His usual magic reserves, but His settings and skills were noticeably fewer compared to His flashy siblings. The authority of [Search] wasn’t Vassago’s essence setting, but a skill setting. Several of their siblings had it.

Authority was a very important power, especially for high-ranking beings. However, their Third Brother didn’t seem to care, appearing indifferent even though He hadn’t unlocked it. How could they say anything about it?

Botis rested His chin on His hand, His gaze fixed on Beelzebub, and said directly, “Beelzebub, from your look, you’ve discovered something, haven’t you?”

Beelzebub smiled, then spoke of His two findings in the Church of Dawn.

“A black coffin and a thought?”

The three demons were shocked to varying degrees.

After speaking, Beelzebub privately called Celerios.

Two minutes later, the small short-legged cat walked out of the void, slowly transforming into human form.

As soon as He landed, His brothers turned to stare at Him, frightening Him into taking a step back, unsure what to do.

Beelzebub pointed behind Him and said, “Cele, go open the black coffin first.”

Celerios followed the instruction and saw a black coffin, quickly understanding. He nodded and began working, docile and obedient without complaint.

Beelzebub turned to the other demons and said, “Although we don’t know who’s inside, at least we have one more hero.”

Amon lightly supported His chin, sinking into deep thought.

Botis raised an eyebrow and said, “What does that thought look like? Bring it out for us to see.”

Beelzebub nodded, stretched out His hand, and a flame the size of a firefly randomly jumped from His palm.

The other demons looked on in wonder.

“It really is a thought?”

The firefly then drifted to the center of the round table, emitting a faint light.

Botis asked Beelzebub, “Are you sure it’s Theirs?”

Beelzebub: “Ninety percent sure.”

Inpos pondered in His mind, “With this thought, can we now know Their motives?”

Amon’s gaze fell on the flame, and He said calmly, “In theory, yes, but can you feel anything?”

The answer was no.

Sensing emotions wasn’t something they were good at.

Moreover, this thought was exceptionally weak.

Amon asked Beelzebub, “Is there a possibility that this thought was fabricated to confuse us?”

For the rat behind the scenes, exposing their motives was almost equivalent to exposing half of their true identity. Amon didn’t believe the rat behind the scenes would easily expose themselves.

It might be that everything Beelzebub saw, heard, and thought at that time was deliberately set up by the other party, and the black coffin was intentionally released just to reinforce Beelzebub’s perception.

But Beelzebub shook His head.

Beelzebub had doubts about this too, but after some thought, He still believed it wasn’t the case.

“That place is a Church of Dawn ruin over 3,000 years old,” Beelzebub raised His hand to display the recorded scene, “I estimate They had stayed there for a very long time, and thus left behind some thoughts.”

Inpos was confused. “They’re so good at hiding Themself, how could They leave thoughts there of all places? Even if They did leave them, why not erase them? Given Their style, that seems unlikely.”

Amon had the same doubt.

Beelzebub pondered for a few seconds, then said, as if realizing something, “Perhaps They felt it was something that couldn’t be destroyed.”

What kind of statement was that? Inpos looked shocked.

Amon immediately questioned. “What’s so hard about destroying a few thoughts? Unless they’re very important to Them?”

Beelzebub’s statement seemed too counterintuitive.

“Let me explain,” Beelzebub suddenly stood up, looking very professional, “Humans sometimes do this. Take an example of emotional deficiency syndrome. I know a person who was emotionally rich in his youth, gradually lost emotions in young adulthood, severely lost them in middle age, and by old age his mind was empty, hollow. For that person in his old age, the naive impulses and unwavering dedication of his youth became something he repeatedly recalled and cherished immensely.”

Inpos widened His eyes, wanting to speak but stopping Himself.

Beelzebub added, “That person in his later years always reminisced about his younger self, never able to kill the youth within his heart.”

The air froze for a full three minutes.

Beelzebub’s explanation was truly inconceivable. But thinking carefully, it wasn’t entirely impossible. Especially for long-lived species prone to eternal depression.

But this wasn’t a common situation. You can’t characterize something based on a mere possibility.

Amon thought for a moment, then looked at Beelzebub, “What you say makes some sense, but They’re not human, are They?”

Beelzebub’s expression was indifferent, “Who knows, maybe They were in the past.”

Inpos had a sudden idea and exclaimed in shock. “Could They be from the same era as Father?”

Beelzebub was silent, then said, “Come to think of it, we seem to have been ignoring something all along.”

Amon, as if in sync, helped Beelzebub finish. “The hero summoning magic was jointly created by seven deities, but it was actually activated by humans, specifically, the human sages of that time.”

Beelzebub nodded, “If we’re saying it’s their doing, it’s possible. Although they’ve long since died completely.”

Inpos was about to faint, “So, so…”

Beelzebub said calmly. “So speculation is useless, unraveling this thought is the key.”

Amon nodded. “Whether it’s a fabricated smoke screen or a real clue, we’ll know once we unravel it.”

However, who could do it?

The four demons looked at each other, all thinking of one demon’s name.

— Barbatos.

Barbatos was the demon among them with the strongest empathy ability, often crying rivers at the slightest sad story, truly emotionally abundant.

Moreover, Her authority [Connection] could sense various thoughts left on substances by touching them.

She could connect not just space and matter, but also various emotions.

Amon had once given it a name, calling it the “heart-to-heart” authority, originally teasing Barbatos, but Barbatos instead smiled and said She liked it, She liked heart-to-heart.

She even expressed a view at a family meeting that shocked all the demons.

— “Wouldn’t it be great if everyone was heart-to-heart? Why don’t we implement it? Although we have a shared mental domain, we’ve never had mental unity. If we use my authority, everyone could be united and unified.”

Isn’t that a truly hair-raising statement?

It must be said, compared to them, Barbatos was indeed a good demon, but Barbatos also had aspects of darkness She wasn’t aware of.

At times, it was quite frightening.

They thought for a moment. Amon said, “Let’s work together to find Barbatos. She should be fine, just stuck somewhere.”

They could sense their sibling’s situation, and the reality should be pretty close to that.

Beelzebub hesitated for a moment, then agreed as well.

Botis smiled and said, “A long-overdue family mobilization?”

Inpos paused, realizing it was indeed true – they hadn’t been so united in a long time.

Thinking carefully, since when? Probably not since they left the Abyss.

Inpos lowered His gaze, His father appearing in His mind.

Father had always hoped for them to love each other. But whether in the past or present, they had always done as they pleased, without regard for others.

Inpos’s eyes dimmed slightly, thinking that it wasn’t like that now – they would listen to their father’s words.

Then, Beelzebub stood up and looked around at the demons, saying, “Shall we search separately?”