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Ch. 326 You Have to Give Me an Explanation
🕑 Added 2024-03-17 16:00:06 +0000 UTCUpon seeing Paris rushing towards an intermediate-level demon without hesitation, Doom was momentarily stunned.
Then, he handed over Paris's advanced magic, originally intended to obliterate, to other demons.
Doom didn't really understand what Paris was thinking.
But witnessing Paris's actions, he began to understand why Russell had such high hopes for Paris.
This demon was truly promising!
Though Russell was dozens of kilometers away, he also sensed Paris's presence.
Not only him, but Mephisto also sensed it.
Discovering that an intermediate-level demon was voluntarily helping Russell and Doom, Mephisto's already displeased face darkened even further.
However, at this moment, Mephisto had no way to stop or punish Paris.
The current Mephisto was as if completely bound, standing motionless in front of Russell, helplessly watching Russell absorb his infernal authority.
No, it wasn't stripping his authority away; it was merging it with his own!
Time passed slowly.
Ten minutes flew by in the blink of an eye.
Just as Doom's magic began to plummet dramatically, Russell, who was controlling the power of the sun and the divine power island, suddenly revealed a smile.
Success!
After so much time and effort, and paying the price of contaminating the divine power island and the divine power ocean, he had finally successfully absorbed Mephisto's infernal authority.
As the infernal authority that originally belonged to Mephisto slowly fell into Russell's divine power island, Mephisto, who couldn't move, noticed that the infernal power he had previously controlled was beginning to reject him.
Though not all of the infernal power started to reject him, about half of it no longer obediently followed his commands.
Damn it!
Though Mephisto couldn't see the situation inside Russell's divine power island, he knew what this meant.
When his divine power island merged with the infernal authority, the infernal power began to consider Russell a part of hell.
To be precise, it regarded him as a fallen lord of hell.
While the infernal will sensed the divine power within Russell, it didn't reject Russell's presence. In the infernal will's eyes, Russell, who willingly absorbed the infernal authority, was a good thing. It meant that hell now had another powerful fallen lord.
Whether Russell was a demon or not, the infernal will didn't care. As long as Russell possessed the infernal authority, even if he were an archangel from heaven, he was now a fallen angel of hell, not an archangel of heaven.
It's over!
Though Mephisto hadn't communicated with the infernal will, he knew that he was in serious trouble now that the infernal will hadn't rejected Russell's absorption of the infernal authority.
Before, he was the sole spokesperson of the infernal will.
Now, the infernal will had a new spokesperson.
Or rather, it had two spokespersons simultaneously.
After the infernal authority had completely merged with his already contaminated divine power island, Russell decisively lifted the Gate of Heaven hanging high in the sky.
Now that he possessed the infernal authority, maintaining the Gate of Heaven would be equivalent to attacking himself.
While the Gate of Heaven wasn't particularly intelligent, it wasn't foolish enough to not recognize the infernal authority.
Simultaneously with removing the Gate of Heaven, Russell withdrew the divine sun power he had invaded Mephisto's body with.
Then, he cast a teleportation spell and instantly retreated several kilometers.
After creating enough distance, he quickly reviewed what kind of authority he had stripped from Mephisto.
Just like divine sun power could accommodate many authorities, there were many authorities related to hell.
Among them, there were some authorities that were useless and had strong side effects.
For example, authorities related to bloodlust, madness, rage, and so on.
Due to time constraints and the fact that he hadn't yet defeated Mephisto, Russell didn't waste too much time carefully assessing what authorities he had obtained. He only roughly browsed through the larger authorities within.
Corruption, bloodshed, fear, pollution, desire, and death!
After seeing the authorities he had obtained, Russell quickly returned his focus to Mephisto.
Though these were just some of the larger authorities he had acquired from the infernal authority, and he hadn't stabilized or separated them yet, they were already more than enough for his use.
As long as he had the infernal authority, he wouldn't be at a disadvantage to Mephisto in hell.
Whether he remained half a rank lower than Mephisto no longer mattered.
With the infernal authority, Mephisto wouldn't find it easy to kill or defeat him.
Of course, because Mephisto had more authorities than him and was half a rank higher, Mephisto's strength was still slightly superior.
However, these advantages only meant that Mephisto couldn't completely kill or defeat Russell, not that Russell couldn't hold his own against Mephisto.
Mephisto didn't attack Russell while he was browsing through the authorities.
He was well aware that he couldn't defeat or kill Russell now.
Even if he revealed his true demon form and engaged in an endless battle with Russell, there was a chance Russell could escape the battlefield.
Realizing this, he had to admit that he had lost this time.
Seeing Russell redirect his gaze back to him, Mephisto returned to his initial appearance as an English nobleman.
Then, he took half a step forward.
Space twisted, and Mephisto appeared in front of Russell as if teleporting.
Looking at Russell, who was less than three meters away, Mephisto slowly said, "You've succeeded!"
"Yes, this is thanks to your cooperation!"
Russell replied with a smile.
"Hell hasn't seen a lord gaining authority for a long time."
"Now that you have gained the authority of hell, you are a part of hell."
"Considering that you are also a part of hell, I won't attack you again."
"However, you have to give me an explanation for this matter!"
Mephisto said to Russell.
"Explanation?"
"Why should I give you an explanation?"
"If you're not satisfied, or if you want to regain your authority, I'm ready anytime!"
Russell said, not changing his expression.
At this point, Mephisto wasn't qualified to demand an explanation from him.
It might just come down to a battle!
He wasn't afraid of Mephisto now.
Or rather, he had never been afraid of Mephisto.
"You don't think that by having authority, you can sit on equal footing with me."
"In hell, I am still the unquestionable lord of hell!"
As soon as he finished speaking, an astonishing momentum burst forth from Mephisto, releasing his full lord of hell aura without reservation.
At the moment Mephisto released his aura, a thundercloud rapidly gathered in the sky as if it intended to completely shroud the heavens.
However, before this ink-black thundercloud could completely form, it split into two, dividing into two thunderclouds in intense competition.
"As of now, I indeed don't have the qualification to be on equal footing with you. But if you think you can oppress me with the lord of hell aura, you might be overestimating yourself."
After speaking, Russell snapped his fingers with his right hand.
Immediately, the thundercloud above his head dissipated, replaced by a thundercloud that was blood-red and shone with golden lightning.
"Wanna give it a try?"
"There probably haven't been many battles of this scale in hell."
Russell looked at Mephisto, speaking calmly.
Seeing that Russell had no intention of backing down, Mephisto frowned.
At this moment, the more he looked at Russell, the more he disliked him.
However, reluctantly, he truly didn't have much he could do to Russell at this moment.
But the next moment, he revealed a sinister smile.
"Indeed, I can't do anything to you right now, but you probably want this."
After saying that, Mephisto casually reached into the void and produced a soul crystal the size of an egg in his hand.
Inside this purple soul crystal, there was only one soul, a human female soul.
Without needing to ask, it was the soul of Doom's mother, Cynthia.
"You should know I can't be threatened."
Russell said to Mephisto.
"Indeed, you can't be threatened, but he might be."
Mephisto played with the soul crystal in his hand, raised his staff, and pointed in the direction where Doom was.
Seeing the smile on Mephisto's face, Russell sighed.
"What kind of explanation do you want?"
Even though he wasn't very familiar with Doom, having only met a few times, Doom had proven one thing with his actions: he hadn't broken his promise and hadn't disappointed Russell.
When Russell absorbed the authority of hell, it was Doom who, with his own strength, stopped all the demons trying to join the battle, buying enough time for him.
Russell wasn't the kind of person to burn bridges. Since Doom had shown sincerity, he had to show his own sincerity as well.
"It's simple!"
"Just admit that your position is beneath mine."
Mephisto quickly said.
'Admit my position is beneath yours?'
Russell didn't expect that Mephisto's desired explanation would be this.
Even if he didn't admit it, the demons in hell would never think he was on equal footing with Mephisto.
Although he now had the authority of hell, Mephisto had it too, and even more than him.
Not to mention, Mephisto had been the lord of hell for tens of thousands of years, and he was a legitimate demon.
From all these perspectives, no matter how you looked at it, other demons couldn't possibly think he had the qualifications to be on equal footing with Mephisto.
However, he quickly guessed Mephisto's true intention.
Although Mephisto said to admit the position beneath him, unsurprisingly, what Mephisto truly wanted was to preserve his title as the lord of hell that he had held for tens of thousands of years.
As for why Mephisto valued the title of the lord of hell so much, Russell couldn't understand it at the moment.
However, judging from Mephisto's behavior, the title of lord of hell probably wasn't just a title.
After thinking for about ten seconds, he said to Mephisto, "The explanation you want, I can give you. Now, you can give me Cynthia's soul."
"Not yet. You need to declare this to the demons in hell using the authority you just obtained."
Mephisto said with a smile.
This guy...
"Fine!"
Suppressing his displeasure, Russell said to Mephisto.
Then, he activated the authority of hell he had just gained and admitted that Mephisto was still the only lord of hell in hell.
His declaration spread through the pervasive hellish aura within hell at a speed beyond imagination.
"Give it to me!"
Russell said to Mephisto.
"You fulfilled your promise, and I'll fulfill mine."
After saying that, Mephisto tossed the soul crystal imprisoning Cynthia's soul to Russell.
Seeing Mephisto toss the soul crystal, Russell remained on guard, expecting that Mephisto might suddenly attack.
However, Mephisto didn't act as he had imagined. He just watched the soul crystal fall into Russell's hands.
"Remember your declaration today!"
After saying that, Mephisto picked up his black staff and lightly tapped the ground.
The next moment, his body turned into a black smoke and disappeared.
After Mephisto disappeared, Russell carefully sensed his surroundings. After confirming that Mephisto had truly left, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After Mephisto left, the demons who had been fighting with Doom and Doom's duplicates left one after another.
Doom, whose magical power was almost depleted, arrived in front of Russell.
Along with him, heavily wounded and missing a wing, and without his right arm, Paris was also there.
Seeing the two of them, Russell handed the soul crystal imprisoning Cynthia's soul to Doom.
"This is what you wanted."
Doom didn't speak, taking the soul crystal in both hands, and his whole body couldn't help trembling.
Seeing Doom in his current state, Russell didn't disturb him. He raised his hand and released a blood-red energy, healing Paris's injuries.
Then, he beckoned to Paris, and with Paris, temporarily left.
Doom was still in an excited state, and at this moment, it was better to let him spend some time alone with Cynthia.
After leaving dozens of kilometers, Russell said to Paris, "I'm satisfied with your performance today."
"As a reward, I will personally preside over your promotion ceremony. When do you want to start?"
"Now!"
Paris answered without hesitation.
Then, he knelt in front of Russell, looking respectful.
"Very well!"
Although he had only recently obtained the authority of hell, presiding over the promotion ceremony of an intermediate demon was as simple as breathing for him.
