Chapter 982: Peculiarity of the Abyssal Rift (part3)
Chapter 982: Peculiarity of the Abyssal Rift (part3)
Lilith immediately noticed that everyone in the room was staring at her, but she didn't care. Despite knowing that her words might cause some commotion, there was nothing to negate as there was nothing to be ashamed of, and it wasn't as if she owed anything to anyone present.
Therefore, Lilith shrugged as she looked at Fire Sorrow and said casually, "Who knows. Maybe."
Although she hadn't said it openly to avoid future trouble, not for herself but mostly for Bai Zemin, the fact that she didn't deny it certainly meant something.
Lilith was loved by MANY men, so many that they could not be counted. There was also no shortage of females who had fallen victim to her charm and natural beauty.
One could only try to imagine the kind of expression everyone in the room put on when instead of hearing a negative response from her what they received in return was a shrug of shoulders and a response that was unclear but somehow left wide open the possibility that the heart of one of the two most beautiful women in the entire universe had already been taken by someone.
Even Lucifer's presence could not hold back the increasingly outrageous mutterings of the Sixth Order demons standing on either side of the table.
"Lilith... you're joking... aren't you?" Crow looked at her with a fairly dark expression on his face and it was clear to everyone that he was trying his best to contain his temper.
"Joking?" Lilith gave him a sidelong glance and said with her usual indifference, "Did you or anyone in this room ever hear a joke from me?"
"Before Crow gets violent, we better get this meeting started. It's important." Lucifer sighed. He looked at Crow and then at Lilith as he calmly said, "The Bloody Succubus' partner could be anyone and we'll never know if she doesn't want to say. Who knows, it could even be a Lower Existence and we'll never know. She's under no obligation to tell us if she's in a relationship or not after all."
Naturally, when everyone heard Lucifer's words they took it as a joke on his part in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit as certainly no leader wanted to see their generals getting into an argument.
In fact, even Crow relaxed his expression a bit at the mention of Lower Existences. He thought Lucifer had said those two words with disdainful intentions as if to point out that probably there was no one and Lilith probably just wasn't compelled to respond with a yes or no answer.
Only Lilith herself felt that something was not right when Lucifer mentioned the possibility of her being in a romantic relationship with a Lower Existence and frowned tightly in her heart. Unfortunately, it was hard to know what Lucifer was thinking even though many saw him as a fool, therefore, no matter how much she stared at him she didn't figure out anything at all.
"So..." Lucifer looked at the surroundings and said in a low but clear to everyone voice, "Does anyone know where the hell Hellscar is?"
They all frowned and looked at each other, shaking their heads at each other's eyes to signal that they had no idea.
It was at that moment that Fire Sorrow suddenly thought of something and her bewitching eyes widened.
"Y- Your Majesty..."
"Mm? What is it?" Lucifer looked at her with boredom.
Fire Sorrow took a deep breath to calm herself, and after a moment asked trying to keep her composure, "I'm sure you already did but, just in case... Your Majesty released Hellscar from the confined space you put him in about 9 or 10 months ago, didn't you?"
"Mm? Hellscar was locked up?" Crow raised an eyebrow at the news.
"Hmph, that ape probably did something stupid again." Valiant snorted without too much surprise on her face.
Regardless of the murmurs, Lucifer and Fire Sorrow just stared at each other for what felt like an eternity.
"You... don't tell me Hellscar still..." Fire Sorrow gulped audibly as she stared at him in utter disbelief.
Even though she hadn't finished her words it was obvious what she meant.
"Ummm... I did get him out of prison, of course." Lucifer nodded with a serious expression and pointed to the side of the room, "Look, there he is."
As Fire Sorrow turned to look at the seemingly lifeless giant man with his eyes rolled back and dried tears on his face lying on the ground on his back she couldn't help but turn quickly to face Lucifer, "You think none of us felt when you activated your magic?!"
Lucifer looked away as if he dared not look her in the eyes and said in a low voice, "Bring forth the evidence of the crime or make the victim talk, it's the law."
"Nonsense with your law!"
The corner of everyone's mouth trembled fiercely as they looked at their Leader and highest General discussing but not arguing.
Lilith secretly shook her head and even for her it was difficult to keep her expression indifferent against the scene in front of her.
...
After Hellscar woke up from his nightmare and when he saw the daylight again, he immediately burst into tears like a little child. He even ran to Lucifer apologizing while throwing glances filled with hidden bitterness at Fire Sorrow, clearly blaming her for sending him as a messenger and putting him in such an ugly situation.
This made Fire Sorrow not know whether to laugh or cry.
How was she to blame for the one who led them being so irresponsible in certain matters?
...
Thirty minutes later, Lucifer looked at everyone one by one, and then did something that made the expression on everyone's face undergo drastic changes.
What seemed to be black flames covered his body for an instant, and when those black flames disappeared, his silk pajamas were nowhere to be seen.
When they saw the light plate armor shining like gold on the body of the one who led them, all the members of the Demonic Army present realized that this meeting was not only not a casual one but could no longer even be classified as something serious as the word serious would be a great understatement.
All laziness disappeared from Lucifer's eyes, and for the first time in a long time, Lilith felt like she was looking at a colossal mountain standing before her.
"War?" Luciah asked in a monotone voice.
Among those present, only Luciah and Fire Sorrow dared to speak directly to Lucifer when he went into serious mode. This was because he didn't like wasting his time and everyone who wasted his time didn't end well.
"That's right." Lucifer nodded, his voice was deep as he gave his younger sister a sidelong glance, "But it's not against any faction you might be thinking, Luciah."
"... Don't tell me..." She muttered, and for the first time since Lilith had known her, she saw Luciah's ever emotionless expression showing shock.
Lucifer pulled a round, flat disc-like device from his storage ring and tossed it into the center of the table. He injected his Mana and the Soul Stone embedded in the center glowed, causing the device to float a few inches above the table and release a strange energy that soon became a sort of 3D oval, and seconds later everyone could see the image of a certain part of the universe.
Everything was black except for the white, silver, blue, red, and yellow glows of what appeared to be countless distant stars.
However, what caught the attention of everyone was the huge blood-red crack right in the center of the image. Beyond the crack, there were no stars, there was nothing but red; it was as if that was the limit of the universe.
"Impossible!" Fire Sorrow stood up with wide eyes. She ignored the shocked looks from those who had never seen her lose her self-control in such a way and as she stared at the image she remarked, "How can... How can it... How can it have expanded so much? We should still have at least 10 years left before the Abyssal Rift expanded enough to allow an army from the other side to invade!"
Crimson Crack, Abyssal Rift, End of the Cosmos, Gate of the End, etc.
That great blood-red mouth was known by all the Higher Existences, and over the years it had been given many different names.
When a living being entered one of the eight existing factions, the first thing the newcomer was told about, apart from the rules of each faction, was exactly about the Abyssal Rift.
The Abyssal Rift, a door to an unknown place that no one could pass through but from which terrifying enemies could emerge to invade.
Protecting that place and not allowing invaders who were not attached to the rules of the Soul Record to immerse themselves through the universe and wipe out the lives of countless Lower Existences was the task of all the factions of Higher Existences.
"As we all already know, the last ones to defend were the white pigeons," Lucifer said in a cold voice as he stared at the huge rift that seemed to split the universe in two. "This happened 990 years ago, so in theory, we should have another 10 years since the Abyssal Rift used to open once every 1000 years at least. And I say used to because as you can see that peculiarity or characteristic disappeared a week ago."
"In a nutshell."
Lucifer looked at everyone present, especially those who had the qualifications to sit at the table next to him, and said in a deep voice.
"We are being invaded... again."
* * * * * * *
A/N: I will do my best to make up for a missing chapter, probably within the next 12 hours. I am very busy with irl stuff in life >.<
Really thank you very much to all those who send gifts to the novel and support with valuable Golden Tickets. I hope we can all keep it up <3