Remiel’s body arched violently in the air, his wings flailing out of control as he was hurled toward a distant mountain with terrifying force. The terrain beneath his trajectory cracked and splintered even before he landed, deep scars ripping across the battlefield as if the land itself was crying out.
The echo of the collision carried for miles, rolling through the continent like a lingering roar.
The mountain was blown to smithereens, massive rocks and scorching dust thrown violently into the sky. An earthquake shook the ground beneath, and the Central City was unable to endure the shock. The layers above finally collapsed, burying all the dead dwarves under the fallen stone and shattered foundations.
The Saints, witnessing the collapse, hurriedly fled outside. Their hearts were filled with dread, each step heavy as fear clawed at their minds.
Even Whisperer had a dark shadow cast over his expression. The disturbance caused such violent commotion that even Amelia began to stir awake, but her mental state was unstable after the last dream she had witnessed. Without hesitation, the old man forced her back into unconsciousness and retreated to a safer distance, his movements tense and controlled.
"Cough...Cough...Cough..."
Golden blood spilled from Remiel’s mouth as he lay within a deep crater where a massive mountain once stood. His body was drenched in radiant golden blood, and a gaping hole pierced his stomach where the Demon King’s strike had landed. Crimson energy lingered stubbornly around the wound, gnawing at his flesh and making the healing process painfully slow.
Remiel’s eyes, now bleeding, stared at the dust-filled surroundings with a hollow gaze. His mind was gripped by despair and an unfamiliar fear directed toward the Demon King of Destruction.
The crimson energy continued to interfere with his recovery, worsening his injuries with every passing moment.
Never had he imagined being defeated by a single punch. That realization burned fiercely within him, his blood boiling in defiance. His pride and arrogance, born from the natural superiority of his kind, screamed in protest as he accepted the truth. To be reduced to such a state by what he considered a lowly demon was unbearable, and that humiliation only fueled his fury further.
Slowly, light returned to his eyes and his expression hardened into something grim and calculating. His mind churned relentlessly as he replayed the sensation of the attack again and again.
Unusual energy embodying destruction, having the power to destroy anything and unstoppable penetration that ignores all defenses, and energy stronger than even Divine energy.....don’t tell me...
A strange gleam appeared in his eyes.
Its a RUNE!!!!!!!
He screamed inwardly, a mixture of horror, fear, and uncontrollable excitement flooding his thoughts.
How could he not recognize it. All Angels who ventured into the Cosmos were given foundational knowledge about the Runes. After all, one of the primary goals of Venturing was to search for and identify these forbidden existences.
Earlier, he had failed to realize it, but after enduring the attack directly, the sensation aligned perfectly with the description of one specific Rune he had studied before.
Although the energy he faced fell short when compared to the Pure Divine Energy wielded by high ranking Angels, he was still certain. Controlling a Rune was never a simple matter. Drawing out even a fragment of its true power was beyond most beings, let alone releasing an energy that could rival Divine forces.
Its Rune of Destruction, damnit how can this lowly demon possess such Rune, but it explains his unusual powers, normally he is not my match, but using the power of Runes, he can bridge the gap between us. And the demons are also Abyssal creatures their powers is already above those in the Mortal realm....
Even with this realization, his emotions were tangled.
Fear surged through him at the possibility of death, yet excitement followed close behind. As long as he could survive and report this information, the rewards from the Heavenly Realm would be immense, enough to push him higher within the rigid hierarchy.
-Step!!
The sound of approaching footsteps abruptly pulled him out of his thoughts.
***
Tsk, he survived....
Aamon, the Demon King of Destruction, thought as he sensed the Angel’s life force was still vibrant, though far dimmer than before. It flickered unsteadily, like a dying star struggling to shine.
His gaze calmly settled on the crimson energy still swirling faintly around his fist, the power pulsing as if alive.
Just four percent comprehension of the Rune could bring out this much power. I cannot even imagine what would happen at one hundred percent. That Angel is only alive because the passive effect of the Rune did not trigger. If it had, he would have died for sure...
As those thoughts passed through his mind, his body trembled slightly, not from fear but from excitement. His blood boiled with renewed vigor, a deep sense of exhilaration flooding him.
Everything I faced until now was definitely worth it.
His journey had never been easy. He was not always what he looked like now. If Ash or even Orien were present, they would have been shocked beyond belief. In the original novel, the Demon King did not carry the title of Destruction, nor did he possess this youthful form.
Instead, he had been depicted as a middle aged man, bearing the weight of time and authority. This complete reversal of fate was nothing short of a butterfly effect caused by Ash, one that had altered his entire existence.
Everything began the moment he acquired the Rune and the method to absorb it. Using the true name of the Rune, he successfully absorbed it and learned about its passive effects through the Universal System status screen.
From that same Ruin, he also learned fragments of information regarding where Runes could possibly be found. Through divination and careful observation of the alignment of stars and cosmic bodies, details recorded in ancient historical records within the Ruin, several coordinates were revealed.
Many planets fell under those coordinates. However, among all of them, only one planet harbored life. The others were nothing but barren wastelands.
As for who left behind the Rune, the absorption method, and how that unknown party knew the locations where Runes could appear, he had no answers. Those mysteries remained buried far beyond his reach.
He sent his most trusted right hand man, Azgorth, to investigate anything unusual or possessing hidden power. Azgorth scoured all the barren planets first, but found nothing. There were no strange artifacts, no remnants, nothing of value.
After all, a Rune would not reside within lifeless rocks. Without man made artifacts or natural treasures, the probability of a Rune being hidden there was abysmally low.
In the end, Azgorth turned his attention toward the planet Akumia. Unlike the other life planets, this living planet possessed an extremely strong World Barrier.
They researched the barrier and eventually learned its true nature. Anyone who had stepped beyond the Rank of Saint and embarked on the path toward becoming a Demi God would be rejected entry. If someone of that level forcefully entered, the barrier would forcibly eject them out without exception.
And once someone was ejected out, they can’t enter again.
This restriction did not apply to the residents of the world. They could walk the path beyond Saint and begin that journey, yet no matter how far they went, they would never be able to truly reach the realm of a Demi God.
This anomaly only made the Demon King more excited. Such a defensive mechanism was rare, and the possibility of a Rune existing there increased drastically.
Thus, Azgorth forced his way inside along with the Demon Prince, One Overlord demon, and a small army of demons hidden within a miniature concealed world. The task assigned to Orien was simple. Either dominate the world completely or damage the World Barrier enough to allow free and stable passage.
After entering Akumia, Azgorth was running out of time. In few days he would be ejected out.
But by luck he learned of a hidden human town, isolated from the rest of humanity and guarding something of great importance. The information came from a high ranking member of the Black Market, an organization that had attempted to steal the guarded object multiple times but always failed.
The guardians were far stronger than expected.
Azgorth went there personally, filled with excitement, convinced that he had finally found what the Demon King was searching for. After slaughtering everyone in his path and retrieving the item, he was finally ejected out of the world.
When he presented it, the Demon King was content.
As the artifact possessed time related powers and could create a zone where time flowed at a hundred times the rate of the normal world, it became invaluable to him.
Being in the Saint Realm, the demon king could easily access his Soul Space. Without hesitation, he began comprehending the Rune of Destruction, wasting no time.
Even so, he still did not know whether the artifact he possessed was truly a Rune or not. He had no clear confirmation, but at the very least, he believed it to be something connected to Time.
Yet he dared not try.
If by chance the Rune carried a name different from Time, tied instead to some unknown cosmic concept related to temporal laws, or if the artifact did not bear a Rune at all, then casually attempting absorption and uttering the wrong Rune’s name could result in Soul Death.
Names held power. True names revealed everything about existence itself.
One could not simply utter such names without absolute certainty, and no one was ever truly certain when it came to the names of Runes.
According to historical records, it had not always been this way. In ancient times, the Runes were not sealed or hidden. Anyone who wished to comprehend them could attempt to do so. Yet even then, no one knew their true names.
The knowledge contained within a Rune was so vast that a normal mind could not encompass even the entirety of a single Rune. As a result, people only comprehended fragments of one Rune at a time.
But nothing was impossible.
During a golden era, unparalleled geniuses were born one after another. Somehow, they gained the acknowledgment of the Runes and absorbed them within themselves.
The entire Cosmos was shaken.
Before this, no one had even known that Runes possessed their own will. But once one person succeeded, others followed. One by one, the Runes were absorbed, leading to the formation of the Celestial Circle civilization.
However, after the Celestial Circle was eradicated in a single night, the Runes were sealed and hidden away. No one knew how or why the civilization fell, nor why the Runes were sealed.
All knowledge related to that civilization and its accumulated wisdom was lost and destroyed. What remained were only scraps salvaged from ancient Ruins.
Thus, even if the twenty Rune Bearers of that era had once known the true names, that knowledge vanished with them. Still, through relentless searching, a few true names were eventually uncovered.
They were not many, only around seven. The Rune of Destruction was one of them. Even so, no one knew where it was hidden or sealed, making the knowledge of its true name seemingly useless.
After the fall of the Celestial Circle, anyone who uttered an incorrect Rune name, or mistook a powerful artifact for a Rune and attempted to form a connection, met the same fate. Their soul was destroyed and dissipated into the Cosmos.
No one understood why.
And so, everyone feared the unknown.
This subject gradually became a taboo. Even though many high ranking beings possessed knowledge of how to absorb a Rune, no one dared to attempt it unless they were already at their final breath. If death awaited them regardless, then failure no longer mattered.
This was something even Ash, who had read the novel, never knew. He believed no one understood how to absorb a Rune, when in truth, it was not ignorance that stopped them, but fear.
How could something recorded within a Ruin and discovered by the Demon King remain unknown to others.
One thing led to another, and after enduring countless trials, I finally comprehended the Rune to at least four percent. If not for the time dilation artifact Azgorth brought back, it would have taken me centuries...
Although only a few years have passed in the outside world, within that time zone I spent centuries comprehending just this four percent of the Rune...
Feeling that everything he had endured had finally borne fruit, a deep sense of satisfaction filled him.
For the first time in a long while, he was genuinely happy.
***