Chapter 106 


A thunderous roar echoed across the spiritual plane, making Lucifer whip his head around.


Beelzebub was supposed to be keeping the Abaddon at bay—what happened?


It didn’t take long for him to get his answer.


“Damn it. Damn it all!!”


Far off in the distance, Beelzebub was frantically racing toward them, his mouth stained with the residue of cursed souls. It was clear what had happened.


The Abaddon had thrown out a decoy, luring Beelzebub away just long enough to slip past him unnoticed.


Lucifer shot a murderous glare toward his subordinate, but it was too late. The damage had already been done.


Expecting Beelzebub to hold off the Abaddon alone had always been a gamble.


The only thing Lucifer had really hoped for… was a little more time.


And truthfully, Beelzebub had bought them a decent amount.


No, the real problem wasn’t Beelzebub.


It was the fact that Satan, Belphegor, and Leviathan had taken too long.


Now, Lucifer was straining himself to the limit—one hand suppressing the wrathful descent of divine beings from the Pantheon, and the other gripping the black chains anchoring Asmodeus’s wings.


He couldn’t handle another opponent.


Especially not that one.


Still, he stood tall. Pretended he wasn’t phased. Pretended he was in control.


“Well, well… if it isn’t the maggot from the Abyss. What do we owe the pleasure?”


The Abaddon let out a booming laugh.


“You speak as though Hell and the Abyss are so different. You sent Satan, Leviathan, and Belphegor, and yet the Saint hasn’t fallen? Tch. That one’s tough—I should know. A fragment of me got burned out inside him.”


The smile vanished. A snarl replaced it.


“I won’t bother asking why you tricked me—we both know there’s no such thing as trust between us. But trying to reclaim Asmodeus as one of Hell’s own? That was a step too far. Do you need me to kill her Chosen again to knock some sense into you? Her last self-destruction was… spectacular, as I recall.”


Lucifer growled low in his throat.


“If you so much as lay a finger on the Saint, I’ll tear you apart.”


“Oh, I should be saying that. Looks to me like fingers—and more—have already been laid on him. Are you trying to break the balance, Lucifer?”


“Shut your filthy mouth, maggot.”


The Abaddon only chuckled.


“Oh come now, Lucifer. Aren’t we supposed to maintain the balance? You hold back the Pantheon, I keep the Fallen in check. That’s the deal. But if Asmodeus crosses over again… I can’t just sit back and watch. Maybe I should just kill her Chosen. Again.”


Lucifer’s expression turned to ice. He scanned the battlefield.


“[We’re still working on it!]” shouted Belphegor, fingers plunged into Amael’s forehead.


“Move, you damn fool! I’m helping! Satan, hold him off!” Leviathan roared, abandoning her post restraining Asmodeus and rushing to join the soul-breaking effort.


“Amael!!”


Asmodeus thrashed wildly, and Lucifer struggled to hold her down with the black chains.


Too much.


He was holding back the divine host and restraining a manifest Asmodeus—all while her powers were bleeding into the Saint. It was getting to be too much.


But he couldn’t show it.


No weakness. No hesitation.


His mind raced.


Lucifer raised his voice—his true voice—and it thundered through the heavens:


“GET LOST! Crawl back into the Abyss you came from, Abaddon! I know what happened. That fragment of your divinity inside the Saint—it was devoured by Asmodeus. You’re just trying to reclaim it. You’re not in any shape to challenge all of Hell right now, are you?”


A bluff.


A desperate one.


But if he could just buy a little more time…


They were close. So close.


Two of the Three Great Dukes were fully engaged in corrupting the Saint.


Just a little longer—and it would be done.


Lucifer gritted his teeth, screaming into the divine winds as he held the chains and fended off the Pantheon:


“I said get out!! Get out, Abaddon! Don’t test me! This is your last warning—back off or—”


“You’ll go berserk like you did during the Celestial War?” the Abaddon interrupted, smirking. “Do you even have the strength for that anymore?”


“Try me.”


“I don’t think so. Especially not once your attention shifts… elsewhere.”


Abaddon reached into his cloak and drew something out.


Lucifer’s eyes went wide.


“You… you wouldn’t!”


“Isn’t it funny? The Pantheon—they were obliterated three hundred years ago. And they still haven’t fully recovered. You alone have been enough to keep them contained. Pathetic, really.”


He revealed twelve small, luminous orbs—divine cores sealed and compressed into tiny spheres.


Both Lucifer and Beelzebub instantly recognized what they were.


“But faith... faith is a terrifying thing. They’ve recovered fast. Too fast. Now they’re a threat again. Which is why…”


Two of the orbs floated into his palm.


“If that Saint falls to Hell, I’m done. I can’t allow that.”


“ABADDON!!”


Lucifer roared, and Beelzebub launched himself forward.


Too late.


With a flick of his wrist, Abaddon sent out a wave of force that crushed Beelzebub against the distant edge of the spirit realm.


“You think Gluttony alone can stop me? Did you forget who killed Lilia all those years ago?”


His voice was feral now, dripping with venom.


“If I wasn’t expending power just to suppress these divine cores, I could crush all of you.


Including you, Lucifer.”


The two orbs in his hand shimmered.


“The Moon Goddess Messiah and the Goddess of Wisdom Athena. I’m sure you remember them. They were a real pain for you during the Celestial War.”


He let them go.


“NO—!!”


Lucifer’s scream shook the heavens.


The two divine essences rose in a blinding flash.


Ascension was always beautiful.


Terrifying, radiant beauty.


As the heavens rang with celestial resonance, Abaddon turned with a mocking laugh…


...and descended back into the Abyss.


[Enjoy your playdate with the Pantheon, Lord of Arrogance.]


With those venom-laced words, Lucifer released the black chains restraining Asmodeus.


“You bastard! Abaddon!! You son of a—!!”


Two of the Pantheon’s long-vacant thrones were now filled.


The power and divine light pouring down from the Celestial Realm suddenly surged, becoming unbearably intense.


From that moment on, even Lucifer could no longer hold back Asmodeus and the Pantheon at the same time.


Belphegor desperately dove deeper into Amael’s soul, trying to break him.


She looped the worst of his memories—again and again.


The agony of being burned alive in a fire.


The shock of his father’s sudden death.


The quiet, bitter horror of watching the mother he loved slip away in a hospital bed.


[Break. Just break already—damn it!!]


When despair and hopelessness pile up, the human psyche inevitably collapses into sloth.


Sloth seeps into the soul like water into cotton—slowly, silently corrupting everything.


Once the mind crumbles, that’s when Belphegor takes over.


She would twist, rewire, and enslave the soul.


All she needed... was for Amael to fall apart.


Just a little more.


But—he didn’t break.


“Eat up, son. I’m proud of you. Just watching you do your best is already a blessing.”


The voice of his father—gentle, encouraging—echoed through his memories.


He had lived for this. His father had died for this.


And because of that, Amael couldn’t give up.


“I need to make your favorite—green onion kimchi. Don’t forget to eat.”


His mother’s last words.


He remembered them not as curses of fate, but as reasons to keep going.


Even the trauma of losing both parents—those wounds that should’ve shattered a normal man—couldn’t destroy him.


So... what about the pain? The fire? The agony of burning alive?


“Yeah, it hurt like hell. But the kids lived, so… that’s enough.”


He accepted it.


[YOU IDIOT!! Who the hell just accepts burning to death with a line like that?!]


Belphegor roared in fury.


He wasn’t a zealot. Not obsessed with perfection. He didn’t struggle against his own sins or fight some inner beast.


He was just... good. Stupidly, stubbornly good.


The worst type of human to try to corrupt.


And Leviathan had finally had enough.


She lunged forward.


[Let’s see you survive this, you damn Saint.]


Her power flooded into Amael’s soul.


Unlike Belphegor’s slow, creeping sloth, Leviathan’s envy was fire.


Raw, burning, toxic.


The Saint’s mind began to boil with self-hatred and shame.


[So what? In the end, you couldn’t save your mother or father.]


[What was the point of surviving the fire? That little kid won’t even remember your name.]


[Your death would’ve been meaningless.]


[Stupid bastard. You couldn’t even pass the college entrance exam. You just drained your parents’ wallets.]


[If you’d made more money, maybe your mom wouldn’t have died. Maybe she could’ve gotten real treatment.]


[You’re a failure.]


[What’s the point of your life? You’re a high school dropout with no skills, no future.]


[Everyone else went to college. Got girlfriends. Jobs. Cars. What do you have?]


[Do you even deserve to live?]


Darkness erupted from the deepest corners of his soul—self-loathing, doubt, despair.


It surged like wildfire.


Faster than Belphegor’s method ever could.


[Yes!! Belphegor—just a bit more! Once his mind snaps completely, that’s when you move in. Finish it with your brainwash!]


Belphegor grinned as she watched the final pieces fall into place.


Almost there.


So close.


They were this close to breaking the Saint.


Once he fell, everything would change.


The balance would be shattered.


Hell would claim it all.


She waited, eyes gleaming with anticipation.


Waited.


And waited.


But—


[What the hell? Why? Why isn’t he breaking?!]


No matter how deep the envy dug, no matter how fierce the flames of shame…


Amael’s mind did not collapse.


Leviathan sensed something was wrong. She looked deeper.


And then she screamed.


[This... this little UNICORN BASTARD is shielding the Saint’s soul!!]


A variable no one had seen coming.


An unexpected guardian.


A unicorn... had taken root in the depths of his mind.


And it was protecting him.

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