Chapter 578
There were uncountable layers of the Abyss, an infinite cosmos of damnation, and among them, many unconquered ones. These were Vorenza’s true objective. But to reach a layer such as this, a pristine unclaimed domain without risking her very own being, a steep price was demanded. Given her current, formidable strength as a sixth tier demon, the Abyss required a sixth-tier soul as payment to get her safely to an unconquered Abyssal layer.
Of course, she could try and travel without paying the price, but that was bound to condemning herself to death. The chaotic currents between layers, the raw, untamed energies, would tear apart any unwarded traveler. Moreover, no established Abyssal Lord would tolerate someone who so brazenly aimed for their seat to simply walk freely within their realm. Such an uninvited guest would be crushed, their ambition extinguished before it could even ignite.
With this grim, decisive new goal meticulously mapped out, Vorenza remained poised, unmoving, within her crumbling domain. She was no longer waiting for the Empire’s army as an enemy, but as a grim, vital resource. They were her ticket, her way out, the final, crucial sacrifice. Her confidence, stemmed from her own strength, the little information she got on the two mages left and the general followed by the clarity of her renewed purpose.
Her past encounter with Zarvok, and more recently, the intoxicating experience of the Abyss’s raw, untamed grace after the earlier battle, had awakened a profound, insatiable greed within her for that very same grace. She yearned to put on a spectacle so magnificent, so utterly devastating, that it would offset the immense loss of face and power she would incur once she formally proclaimed her withdrawal from the battle for this layer’s throne. This final, brutal flourish would be her payment, ensuring her future ascension in a new, unconquered realm.
As for her remaining generals and the tattered remnants of her army, Vorenza harbored no benevolent intention of ordering their retreat to safety. She was keenly aware of their hesitant actions, their thinly veiled desire to abandon her, but she needed them here. They were a crucial, expendable shield, intended to tie down the Imperial army—what little of it remained. She had no desire to expend more of her own precious power than absolutely necessary.
Her true focus lay on the mages and the generals. She had already meticulously planned a series of counter-concepts specifically designed to unravel them. Vorenza, after all, had once been a mage herself, and she knew that a mage’s greatest strengths lay not just in raw power, but in insight, in acute awareness, and in the profound depth of their knowledge. These were the very foundations she intended to exploit.
Back at the newly established fortress, hastily erected before the churning Abyss portal, Kaelen and the two remaining sixth-tier mages, Lyra and Korvin, sat for a brief, somber meeting. The air in the tent was heavy, thick with the unasked questions of their new reality.
The discussion wasn’t about strategy or the remaining demons; it was about the new Abyssal armor, or more precisely, them adorning it. They had finally pushed the enemy back to the Abyss’s doorstep, but they all knew the grim truth: once they stepped into that chaotic realm, their inherent strength would be suppressed. This was a fundamental being a plane not of one’s own, a smothering weight that dampened external magic and power. It was a reality none of the three liked or wanted. They needed to be at full strength, every ounce of their formidable power available, to deal with Vorenza. Anything less was an invitation to disaster.
Lyra ran a hand through her short-cropped hair, her expression tight. "We can’t afford to be half-strength. Not against Vorenza, not in her domain. It’s a gamble just to step through, let alone fight at a disadvantage."
Kaelen’s gaze swept over them, cold and analytical. "My calculations confirm the suppression. However, the armor’s unique integration with Abyssal essence might provide a workaround. It not only will resiste the Abyss’s nature, but mimicking it. If we present ourselves as partially integrated, the suppression might be lessened, or at least less debilitating."
"Might?" Lyra scoffed, a rare show of frustration. "That’s a slim thread to hang our lives on. What if it accelerates the full corruption once we’re inside? What if it turns us into the very abominations we’ve been fighting?"
"The risk is inherent," Kaelen stated, his voice flat. "But the alternative is facing Vorenza at perhaps 80 percent of our true power, while she, presumably, operates at full capacity. Beside we three are sixth tier being, while suspictable to the abyss corruption, it would take far more before it get’s it’s hold on us and It’s the only way we stand a chance of operating near peak efficiency in a hostile environment."