Ch.303304. The Eve of the Decisive Battle (3)

Southern Continent, Southern Region.

As the dimensional gate opened and demons of ‘Wrath’ poured out from within, this region was finally unable to resist the invasion of wrath and became occupied, causing the landscape to begin changing.

The demons captured locals and offered them as human sacrifices to their Demon King—Satan, while simultaneously erecting symbols and altars engraved with Satan’s insignia throughout the area. At the same time, they channeled their demonic energy into the land, altering the very nature of the region.

As a result, the southern lands gradually began to erode and transform into a demonic realm.

The soil took on a gloomy, unsettling purple hue, and the water flowing from underground was no longer clear but instead a dark red blood color—heavily contaminated in the worst possible way.

With the land so corrupted, the living beings inhabiting it also began to transform one by one.

Plants were the first to change, with their once-vibrant leaves falling away to be replaced by sharp thorns, or the plants themselves becoming demons that devoured animals, turning into Devil Plants.

Meanwhile, demonic plants began growing on the purple soil, such as Blade Grass with edges sharp as knives, and Man-Eating Flowers that devoured living creatures.

Now these changes extended to the animals living in this environment.

Growing sharp fangs and claws while becoming violent enough to openly prey on other animals was just the beginning. These animals started slowly transforming into Demon Beasts as horns and spines sprouted from their skin and scales grew over their bodies.

Some Magical Beasts with good environmental adaptability even reached the extreme of their mutation, becoming full-fledged demons—beast-type demons like Hell Hounds.

Human races were not exempt from this demonic transformation of reality.

Beast-folk began to be gradually consumed by their bestial body parts, slowly becoming beast-human type demons. Dark elves who failed to escape either became humanoid demons or, in some cases, transformed into dream demons like succubi or incubi.

There were also a considerable number of humans, but while they underwent various mutations and transformed into demons, most couldn’t endure and perished.

In a certain plain in the southern region of the Southern Continent, which was gradually transforming into a demonic realm, an environment like the demons’ homeland…

Perfectly flattened using numerous slaves, this place featured an enormous magic circle that gave the impression of a large-scale ritual site.

Massive torches the size of pillars were embedded in the ground in blasphemous formations, and on the floor was a pentagram magic circle drawn with flesh and blood made from ground-up slaves.

Around this magic circle, thousands of demons sat in a circle, chanting profane and blasphemous incantations.

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The incantations were pronounced in a language impossible for human sensory organs to comprehend, yet one could sense that they carried clear intent and praise.

Understanding this, the people piled in the center of the magic circle—their tendons or legs damaged so they couldn’t walk—trembled in terror…

In the next moment, as the sacrificial offerings floated into the air—as the void swallowed them—tremendous heat spread in all directions.

The flesh pieces forming the magic circle instantly burned to ashes, and the black bodies of the demons began to gradually turn red from the inside, as if heating up.

Amid this situation, the surrounding environment began to transform as if burning from the tremendous heat.

The purple ground changed to a pitch-black color as if burned by flames, and simultaneously, cracks appeared throughout the ground, with something red glowing through the crevices, exhaling heat.

A faint but acrid smell of burning and sulfur spread through the air, and the polluted river water instantly dried up, replaced by red-hot molten metal that began to well up and flow like a river.

As the demonic plants that had grown on the ground and the creatures that had adapted to the existing ecosystem died from this tremendous heat, various wild demons from the realm of ‘Wrath’ filled their place.

Devil Plants of ‘Wrath,’ with charcoal-like bark reminiscent of burned trees and molten metal sap, sprouted everywhere, while burning plants unique to wrath grew densely, replacing the grasslands.

And among these plants, wild demons of the ‘Wrath’ category began to spontaneously generate.

The most representative were the Embers of Rage, resembling living flames; Imps of Fury, said to only appear in the realm of wrath; and Beasts of Rage, which looked like a mixture of quadrupedal beasts.

Among the indigenous life forms that had completely become demons, those with strong resistance to flames, like Hell Hounds, survived, but even they began to change in form due to the influence of the energy and heat of ‘Wrath.’

Thus, even before its appearance, the entity that covered this area with its energy by its mere aftermath—

It breathed a part of its consciousness through the space it shattered.

The overwhelming heat evaporated the moisture from everything around, instantly clearing the hazy clouds in the sky to reveal a deep blue expanse.

As dimensions creaked under its overwhelming presence and surrounding demons suddenly collapsed in an anomalous phenomenon, the entity that flowed through the broken space gradually began to take shape.

The entity was a ‘massive’ being reminiscent of a living volcano.

It possessed a body where lava containing hot heat seemed to bubble through cracks in its skin, and its enormous frame—nearly 20 meters tall—was encased in armor that resembled an artistic masterpiece meticulously carved from brass and bronze.

The armor seemed to hold its body, which looked as if it might collapse at any moment, anchoring it to this world.

Behind its back spread massive demonic wings not covered by armor, which became like red mist toward the tips, giving the impression that the sky behind the wings was dyed red.

In its hand, which looked capable of crushing any weapon in an instant, was a jagged steel sword with a blade glowing red in response to its endlessly burning wrath. On its surface, blackened flames burned, using the souls of those sacrificed as fuel, screaming with rage.

Its face, not covered by the helmet that wrapped around the top of its head like a crown, appeared not as a clear form but merely as a huge fireball with facial features.

But even on such a face, the only feature with a distinct form was its eyes. If one looked carefully into those red eyes filled with contempt and rage toward the weak…

There, one could find the essence of this being—wrath.

The one who rages, the wrathful one. He is wrath, and wrath is him. No distinction is needed between the two; he was literally ‘Wrath’ itself with self-awareness.

His name was Satan, the adversary of God and the first demon—or more precisely, his aspect.

《I have come. I have arrived here.》

The moment Satan’s aspect opened his mouth and began to speak, the demons of ‘Wrath’ who heard his voice could feel rage welling up inside them, an unreasonable anger.

Satan was wrath itself. He originated from the resentment and grudges of all things in the world, and he was the destroyer of the world who gained physical form from the emotions and hearts of those who rage.

《I have answered your call. You yearned for endless rage, and so I appeared. You wanted ‘Wrath,’ and so I appeared, servants of wrath. I am Satan. An aspect of Satan. I am the end and death of you, and of your enemies.》

And with the words uttered by Satan’s aspect serving as a catalyst, the surrounding demons began to rampage as if to destroy themselves.

Not suppressing or controlling their rage, they spewed their wrath at everything except Satan, stabbing and burning each other.

《Heh, hahahahahahaha───!!!》

And as Satan, pleased with the sight of these demons, burst into laughter, satisfied with the endless display of wrath, yet another apocalypse revealed itself to this world.