As Devil Monarch Farbauti clashed with Giant King Aurmir, Truman hurled the stolen demon ritual, reactivating it.
He had taken the ritual for this precise moment.
The reactivated ritual emanated waves of depraved aura, rapidly spreading, capable of defiling all it touched by linking to the Abyss.
Truman raised a hand, summoning Creator's Heaven's sunlight to confine the depraved aura within a limited range.
Amanises gently gestured, concealing the trio's fates.
Truman held several drops of demon blood, stolen from the fallen demonic angel.
"Come forth!" His Sage Robe shimmered with surging information flows, parsing the data.
In a few breaths, Truman thoroughly understood the demonic angel, then reached out, pulling its historical projection into being.
The demonic angel began praying, conjuring a faint passage within the Abyss projection.
"Let's go!" Truman, using his "Traveler" ability, tore open space, stepping into the passage toward the Abyss, deep beyond the mainland's seas.
Amanises tossed out a red moon, which Lilith deftly caught, activating it. Blood-red moonlight spilled, sealing the teleportation passage.
This would be their return path.
"The Abyss's environment is harsh; only 'Criminals' can survive, not angels." Entering the Abyss, Truman was hit by a foul, sulfurous stench of depravity.
He donned the Black Emperor Crown, its distorting power disrupting the Abyss's survival rules.
"Hm? Something's off!" Truman suddenly felt a tangible pull from the Abyss's depths, the Black Emperor Crown trembling.
It yearned!
"Creating viable order in the harshest environments…"
This was a facet of the "Black Emperor" ability, twisting to the extreme to establish a functional order.
Adjacent pathways could also directly impose special rules.
The Abyss was harsh enough, perhaps the universe's most inhospitable place.
Yet many weak demons thrived here, a feat typically requiring at least an angel from other pathways.
"Has Farbauti consumed high-sequence characteristics from the Order pathways?" Truman speculated.
Farbauti's madness rivaled the Annihilation Demonic Wolf, an ancient god who could abandon even self-identity. He likely held high-sequence characteristics from at least two pathways, perhaps more!
"Farbauti didn't die in the end, did he? Or maybe his characteristics were torn off during the divine war…"
In Truman's memory, angels had been dismembered into characteristics; Farbauti might have faced similar.
Amanises and Lilith entered the Abyss, frowning at its harsh environment.
Lilith, brimming with vitality, openly expressed disgust.
"Only a lunatic like Farbauti would claim the Abyss."
Having fully "gone ashore," Lilith already disdained ancient gods, scorning these relics of a bygone era.
"Didn't Farbauti create the Abyss?" Truman recalled this point.
"I'm not sure… Before we gained sentience, everything is untraceable. By the time I had memories, the Abyss already existed."
Lilith hadn't expected this question, her delicate brow rising, answering uncertainly.
"When Farbauti first appeared to fight us, he crawled out of the Abyss."
So, it was indeterminate.
Truman and the two goddesses traversed the Abyss, greeted by black-red magma, sulfurous odors, and pervasive defilement in the air.
"Such a harsh environment truly isn't suited for survival, but it's not enough to threaten angels."
Truman adjusted the Black Emperor Crown, its authority radiating, twisting local rules to shield the trio from the Abyss's influence within a certain range.
Pop!
A faint sound made all three tense.
Whoosh! A tide-like surge of pollution roared in.
Black, red, indescribably depraved colors formed a current, sweeping the Abyss at intervals!
Using the Black Emperor's mastery of rule distortion, Truman carved a safe haven amidst the tide, standing firm against the onslaught of pollution and depravity.
Simultaneously, he gleaned information from soil, air, and stone, deducing the area's secrets.
"This power exceeds Sequence 2…"
Amanises, maintaining a semi-concealed state as a faint silhouette, sensed the pollution's rank, making a judgment.
"Farbauti has no Sequence 1 vassal gods," Lilith added.
So why, with Farbauti absent, did such high-rank pollution persist?
"It's the Abyss itself or something beyond it!" Truman realized.
Either way, the Abyss was deeply problematic!
"Let's go straight there!" Truman tore space, teleporting toward the Abyss's deepest layer.
That was Farbauti's domain for living and slumbering, filled with unimaginable pollution, potent enough to affect deities!
This was why Sasrir paid a steep price for the trio's joint mission.
He needed to know the Abyss's deepest state, and only with Farbauti engaged in divine war with Aurmir was this possible.
"Careful!" At the entrance to the Abyss's final layer, Lilith halted, not rushing in.
"What's wrong?"
Truman and Amanises stopped, tensing for surprises.
"There's an abundance of life aura inside."
Lilith frowned, eyeing the final layer's entrance, sensing something odd.
"We're near the Abyss's bottom, a place only demonic angels can reach. Life should be scarce."
Truman and Amanises grasped Lilith's meaning, their caution heightened.
"I'll go first." Truman approached the Abyss gate, unwilling to retreat here.
He opened the Book of Dreams, its dreamlight enveloping him.
Confident, he believed even if Farbauti were present, the Book of Dreams would prevent an instant kill.
Truman didn't touch the gate, instead tearing space, "opening a door" to enter.
"Are you kidding? This is the Abyss's final layer?" Truman's shocked voice echoed through the still-open door.
The two goddesses exchanged glances and stepped inside together.
(End of Chapter)