On the Island

Bexia and Lucifer strolled along the shoreline. They had no interest in anything on the island; they’d only come ashore to get some fresh air.

“By the way, why hasn’t Hela reacted? She should’ve sensed me by now!” Bexia said with a frown. Hela was the guardian he’d left behind to watch over his power—a contingency he’d deliberately put in place.

“Maybe she hasn’t sensed you. We’re only at the edge of the Abyssal Sea, after all,” Lucifer replied.

While Bexia and Lucifer strolled across the island as if nothing were amiss, an eerie atmosphere was spreading elsewhere. Some demons who’d entered the mist fled in a panic, terror written all over their faces. Stranger still, as they ran, their bodies gradually withered until they crumpled into piles of dry bones.

The demons who happened to witness this from the edge of the mist went deathly pale, breaking out in cold sweat. It was as if a chill wind had swept past, raising the hairs on their necks.

The mist seemed to thin a little. The demons at its edge suddenly caught a glimpse of what lay within: an evil tree made of bones and rotting flesh, swaying in the wind and setting the “fruit” hanging from its branches swinging.

But every last one of those fruits was a mummified corpse!

All the demons shuddered. This was far too eerie.

“Crack—!”

Suddenly, a branch snapped, and one of the “fruits” fell from the tree.

“What was that…?”

The fallen fruit trembled on the ground. The mummy’s body began to move, bit by bit, then slowly climbed to its feet.

“Sssshaaa—!” The mummy that had fallen from the tree let out a roar. As it bellowed, a pair of rotten bone wings spread from its back, and it charged at an immortal-level Demon God with a vicious aura.

“You’re asking for death! A mere mummy dares challenge me?” the immortal-level Demon God snarled. He hurled a burst of blue flame that sent the mummy flying, but the fire clung to its body and kept burning.

The flames could both burn and corrode. They wouldn’t go out until their target had been reduced to nothing.

But the mummy only let out a strange cry before getting back up. It completely ignored the flames on its body. In fact, the burning fire seemed to make it even stronger than before.

“What’s going on?” The immortal-level Demon God frowned. As the mummy charged at him again, he poured in more power and unleashed another attack.

“Aaaah—!”

But this time, the attack was completely ignored by the mummy. The flames landed on its body without effect. It lunged forward and drove a claw through the immortal-level Demon God’s chest, splitting him in two. All the scattered flesh and blood vanished strangely, and by the time the corpse hit the ground, only dry, stick-like bones remained.

After tearing the immortal-level Demon God apart, the mummy mechanically turned its head. A strange smile crept across its grass-parchment face as it looked toward the other demons.

“Get out of here!” One demon saw that things had gone bad and immediately turned to run. The others followed suit.

But the eerie mummy didn’t chase after them. It stood motionless, its strange smile growing wider. Behind it, on the great tree, one “fruit” after another began to stir…

The events here alarmed the demons across the entire island. Most gave the place a wide berth, but some dared to go and see what was there. Others hoped to seize an opportunity and find some treasure. Most of them, however, never returned.

Bexia leaned against the boat, listening as nearby demons spoke in shaken voices about what was happening on the island. He turned to Lucifer. “What do you think?”

“It’s only a demonic tree. If you want it, Master, I can retrieve it with a little effort,” Lucifer replied.

“Sounds like this demonic tree is pretty powerful, if even you’d have to put in some effort,” Bexia said with a nod. Lucifer was an immortal god now. If even she would have to work for it, then the tree had to be at least top-tier Eternal-level.

“The main problem is the island’s natural barrier. The demonic tree is bound to it, so to take the tree, we’d first have to break the barrier,” Lucifer explained. It wasn’t that the tree itself was especially powerful; the barrier on the island was the real trouble.

“Hm?” Lucifer’s expression shifted slightly. She looked toward a spot in the sky above the island. A violent explosion rang out.

“Hahaha! I never thought I’d run into the Ancient Tree of Death here!” a booming voice cried. Another violent explosion followed.

“Boom!” A deafening roar shook the heavens and earth.

The pitch-black mist slowly dispersed, revealing a towering ancient tree. Its branches, thick with the aura of death, swayed as a terrifying presence spread outward. A twisted face appeared on its trunk.

Facing the Ancient Tree of Death was a skeletal demon wreathed in black lightning. Its bones gleamed a brilliant, bright white, a stark contrast to the dark sparks crackling around it.

“Give me your life essence, and I might consider letting you live,” the skeletal demon said.

“Submit to me, or die!” the Ancient Tree of Death replied.

Neither of them was one to back down. A single disagreement was enough to set them fighting, and wave after wave of powerful shockwaves spread out. The battle engulfed more than half the island, killing countless demons in the aftermath.

This was a battle between the mightiest of the Eternal-level beings!