The Demon Against The Heavens 104 For How Dark Was The Nigh

"See, little one, since you've had a pretty hard time, I made up my mind to bestow you with a special gift. I'm sure he would agree with me on giving you this - namely, the chance to see how deep the wound of love might be. I'm sure this could help, somehow. You are in a fairly high level, which means you can concretely benefit from this story… I'm sure that witness his deeds will open countless possibilities on your Dao of Mana."

The giant ran a hand through his long bushy beard and heaved a sigh. "My worst regret is not being able to serve him anymore. I've served in his army as a general. I've fought by his side. Bloodshed has always been a fair price for what he believed in. He's never manipulated anyone. He was brave enough to kill anyone who would dare betray their fellows. He feared no judgement. He believed so firmly in everything he did that very few people could boast to have such a strong determination as he did. Maybe only Amaterasu could. Heed my words, little one, because this is the story of a G.o.d who suffered so excruciatingly that eventually, he welcomed death - the ultimate agony - as the sweetest riddance."

The spirit of the old giant was suddenly covered by a waterfall of white lotus petals, which began to revolve slowly around his imposing figure. Perion though was so lost deep in thought he could hardly notice. His eyes turned into two bottomless wells.

"He was unrivalled. Truly unrivalled." The old demon fixed his gaze afar on the infinity. "By the time the Great War came to an end I was already dead, but my Soul shrapnels scattered across the universe learnt about his lasts feats. His strength was so unmatched he didn't die by hand of someone else. He was the one who inflicted the defeat to himself. He suffered, little human. He suffered violently."

Vidio was enraptured. He couldn't see why, but the old man's words caught him completely. The giant's voice had now turned grieving. It betrayed a primordial inexplicable pain which imbued every fiber of his body. Vidio though knew that the pain did not belong to the old demon himself. The pain belonged to another creature.

The giant closed his eyes and fell into a meditative state. His voice began to spread through the whole Dungeon, the walls shaking, without his lips opening.

Originally, a golden age thrived when no judge nor law was necessary. Everyone would naturally follow probity and rightness. No law was written, no punishment was sentenced. There was no such thing as execution.

No rafts or ships existed, and mortals knew no soil but the one they stepped on. Cities wouldn't be enclosed in walls and trenches. There were no wars to engage in nor weapons to carry. Without armies, people would just live their idle lives in leisure.

n.o.body would practice agriculture. People did not know plows nor magic, and they would let nature free to grow. There was plentiful of fruits people would freely nourish themselves with.

Nothing existed but Chaos. Life and Destruction were far from what you've been taught them to be, and Good and Evil were but mere details in the immensity of the universe. Immortals wouldn't split in factions. Their only aim was the search of Epiphanies down their Dao of Mana.

It was one of those dedicated Immortals to first give in into temptation. He sinned. He caused harm to those around him. He fell into vice. His name was Saturn. He was later expelled and stuck into the depths of the earth. This was the origin of Destruction.

Saturn's rebellion caused him to be cast into the darkest abyss. He made the first insurgent, but definitely not the only one. Several Immortals joined his crusade, and together they formed the forces of Destruction. In the attempt to reestablish peace, Jupiter appointed himself leader of a new force whose aim was to stop the munity. They called themselves the Forces of Life. It was he who had sealed Saturn down into the underworld.

Jupiter overtook the power. Thus, he gave birth to the silver age, when men discovered free will and the first ancestral creatures stepped into the world.

Jupiter split the world into three different areas.

One land was pa.s.sed on to Destruction. There, the brute would kill and procreate with everyone alike. The second land belonged to Life. There, people would live in peace in exchange for blind obedience and restricted freedom.

Between the two lay the Belt of the Calm Sea, a no man's land created to avoid border warfare. No conflict would occur here. In between the two main lands, power didn't belong to Life nor Destruction.

This splitting brought along the beginning of long series of hideous wars. One day, Jupiter perished by hand of a member of Destruction. All his life, Jupiter had considered himself sacred and faultless. But he had sinned anyway. His sin was conceit. He had always claimed he had some right to judge those of Destruction. He would attack them relentlessly because they were evil. Jupiter was a sinner of the worst kind indeed; he had extinguished countless lives in the name of good.

When it comes to rule over people, no means are better than mere coercion. Or so suggested his experience. When Saturn had committed a sin, he was sealed into the depth of the earth and deprived of his freedom forever. Violence had been enough to put into chains someone as powerful as Saturn. Therefore, it would be similarly effective towards all of those he reigned over. Jupiter had never paid much attention to the means. He only cared about the outcome.

See, little one, the forces of Life slaughtered their way down to Destruction. The members of Destruction though did admit they acted for their own sake, be it good or bad. The Forces of Life, on the other hand, only operated in the name of some hypocritical goodwill. They would kill indiscriminately and claim it was all for a greater good that we common folk couldn't grasp.

It was then, after Jupiter's death, that Qinguang took over and the air caught fire. Thus we stepped into the bronze age. The lowest one. It was a time when the forces of Destruction couldn't gather and join anymore, nor could Life recover after Jupiter's death in the silver age.

The forces of Life cast adrift. They killed their way through the universe and left a long trail of dead bodies. Soon enough the piles of dead bodies became towers. This way, they hoped they would be able to climb all the way up to their lost heaven. It was an epoch of pain and mediocrity. Loyalty, sincerity and scruple lost their meaning. Fraud was the only thing that could possibly hold any sway on people.

Qinguang tried to wash away the dishonor Destruction had brought about with blood. He took full advantage of the now dismembered forces of Destruction.

Saturn was long dead by that time. When Jupiter's seal came to an end, Saturn had wandered through Minor Dimensions. It was during a fight inside one of those that he lost his life. When he died, the forces of Destruction slowly dispersed. Despite being far more powerful than those of Life, they couldn't fight as one. Our ranks lacked someone strong enough to lead the army like Saturn had done in the past.

As they abused of the term "good", and tarnished themselves in hypocrisy, the Clan of Life banqueted with the fresh blood of our fellows.

It weren't their strength or motivation, but their unity, that led them to victory.

And as he dropped victims on victims, Qinguang's blood gave birth to an extraordinary progeny.

Two daughters, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, just terrifyingly alike in the power they wielded.

And, if I may over-speak, I daresay that alongside the lineage of Qinguang, this new generation saw the birth of the paladin of the universe himself.

The Immortals of Life carried hatred in their heart. From the top of their thrones, they would yell at how we deprived them of some sovereignty they claimed to have over the universe. But while Qinguang covered his little daughters in gold, a young boy grew up immersed in hatred. His existence was drenched in a b.l.o.o.d.y sea. He was named after the oldest book of the Clan of Destruction. He was the direct heir of Saturn, the first of Jupiter's long trail of enemies.

For how dark was the night, the paladin of the universe plunged in the very far deep ends of this darkness. Without the slightest hesitation, my little one.

Without the slightest hesitation.