The Devil Does Not Need to Be Defeated

Chapter 609: A Song of Victory

“An existence that can naturally ignore and surpass the limits of life, reaching the level of Transcendence…?”

Even Shien Buztout was shocked upon hearing the High Priest’s words.

If such an existence could truly be created, it would be incredibly heaven-defying.

Until now, besides the few at the apex of the God and Demon Races, only Heroes throughout history had successfully surpassed the limits of life and reached Transcendence.

In the countless years of Omnipotence’s history, there were perhaps only a dozen or so Transcendent Level beings.

Among them, the Three Goddesses, the Six Demon Lords, and beings like the Goddess of Justice and the Strongest Evil God were all inherently transcendent.

Only a very limited number of Heroes, through their own efforts and growth, successfully surpassed the limits of life and reached Transcendence.

Therefore, an existence that could naturally ignore and surpass the limits of life would be a “miracle of birth,” comparable to the Three Goddesses and the Six Demon Lords.

Such an existence had never been born in the countless years of Omnipotence’s history, and this necromancer actually wanted to create one?

Shien was truly shocked.

However, a hypothesis was just a hypothesis. Whether such a heaven-defying existence could truly be created was still unknown.

The conditions for creating a Greater Spirit were undoubtedly harsh.

First, it required a massive amount of “materials.”

These “materials” referred to a combination of vast death energy and magic power – [Soul Essence].

[Soul Essence] was the fundamental ingredient for creating a Greater Spirit. To create one, a large amount of this material was needed.

And each [Soul Essence] required an immense amount of death energy and magic power to be refined.

To put it in concrete terms, creating one [Soul Essence] required the life force of at least a hundred people, refined into death energy, and all the magic power from a small magic power source.

Even then, the refining process could fail, with only about a fifty percent success rate.

And to create a Greater Spirit, at least tens of thousands of [Soul Essence] were needed.

What did this mean?

It meant that the High Priest needed to drain the life force of at least millions of people, refine an immense amount of death energy, and find tens of thousands of small magic power sources to meet the basic requirements for creating a Greater Spirit.

This didn’t even account for failed refining attempts.

So, how harsh the conditions were was self-evident.

Furthermore, the High Priest could no longer recklessly extract death energy from living beings, lest she attract the attention of Anima, the Goddess of Life. She could only do this secretly, increasing the difficulty even further.

And just preparing the “materials” was already so troublesome, not to mention the other conditions.

For example, even with sufficient [Soul Essence] as materials, creating a Greater Spirit still required a vessel.

A vessel to withstand the transformation of [Soul Essence] and become the foundation of a Greater Spirit.

In other words, the High Priest needed a person.

This person had to be able to withstand the transformation of [Soul Essence], so there were also strict requirements.

First, the vessel couldn’t be a demon or a god, because they had terrible compatibility with [Soul Essence]. Only humans, who were “artificially created” like Greater Spirits, had good compatibility. Therefore, even elves born from nature were excluded.

Second, the vessel couldn’t be the High Priest herself, because she was an undead creature, between life and non-life, and her undead body was a collection of vast death energy. If [Soul Essence] was added, not only would the ratio of death energy and magic power within the [Soul Essence] be disrupted, but it might also go berserk.

Third, what the vessel needed to withstand the transformation of [Soul Essence] wasn’t a strong body or immense power, but a spirit that could resonate with [Soul Essence].

Such a spirit, since it could resonate with [Soul Essence], which was refined from vast death energy and magic power, naturally wouldn’t be positive energy.

In short, the vessel needed to possess extremely strong negative emotions, strong enough to resonate with [Soul Essence].

Only then could they withstand the transformation of [Soul Essence] and gradually become a Greater Spirit.

For the past thousand years, the High Priest had secretly searched the world, quietly collecting death energy and magic power to refine [Soul Essence] as materials, while also searching for a suitable vessel.

Unfortunately, the High Priest searched for countless people, but almost no one met the conditions. Either their negative emotions weren’t strong enough, or even if they were, they didn’t resonate with [Soul Essence].

It seemed that [Soul Essence] required negative emotions that were compatible with its nature, not just sufficiently strong negative emotions.

There were many types of negative emotions, and not all of them were suitable for resonating with [Soul Essence].

After many experiments, the High Priest discovered that negative emotions like hatred, unwillingness, and anger born from love were the most likely to resonate with [Soul Essence].

And the stronger the love that caused these negative emotions, the more likely it was for [Soul Essence] to react.

Therefore, a thousand years ago, the High Priest finally found a suitable vessel, allowing it to successfully withstand the transformation of [Soul Essence] and gradually become a Greater Spirit.

Unfortunately, although that successful case, which made the High Priest ecstatic, continuously increased its power thanks to the characteristics of a Greater Spirit, even reaching Limit Level, it was stuck at the last step, unable to surpass it no matter what.

The High Priest hadn’t figured out what the problem was, but the Greater Spirit went berserk, not only breaking free from her control but even turning against her, causing her a thousand years of regret and humiliation.

But for her obsession, to achieve her goal, the High Priest endured and began planning to create a new Greater Spirit.

Once she successfully created a Greater Spirit and had it reach Transcendence, the High Priest would discard her undead body, her soul invading the Greater Spirit, taking it over and becoming a supreme being comparable to the Three Goddesses and the Six Demon Lords.

For this purpose, the High Priest struggled for another thousand years, until she met Limgir, this young master of a duke’s family consumed by intense anger, hatred, and unwillingness due to unrequited love, finally finding a second suitable vessel.

Therefore, the High Priest tempted Limgir, intensifying the love and hate in his heart while having him accept the transformation of [Soul Essence].

Just now, it was because of Shien’s provocation that Limgiro’s negative emotions erupted, successfully resonating with [Soul Essence] and transforming into a Greater Spirit.

The High Priest was naturally ecstatic about the birth of this second Greater Spirit after a thousand years.

But Shien annihilated this rare Greater Spirit.

Completely, without leaving a trace.

How could the High Priest not be enraged and hateful?

“You must pay the price!”

The High Priest shouted, commanding her undead legion to attack Shien.

“Groar…!”

“Grrr…!”

The undead roared and charged towards Shien.

It was like an army of zombies running rampant, a terrifying sight.

“Roar!”

Yulin in mid-air roared, flapping her wings and rushing forward without hesitation, blocking Shien. A scorching dragon breath erupted from her mouth.

“Boom!”

In the remote mountain forest, the roar shook the atmosphere.

The scorching dragon breath landed on the undead army, instantly vaporizing and burning countless undead, turning them into ashes.

“Go!”

Shien also didn’t stay idle. With a wave of his hand, the celestial bodies battling the death energy shot towards the undead legion, releasing ribbons of light and bombarding the undead army.

The undead hit by the ribbons of light were either blown to pieces or vanished in explosions, creating thunderous sounds.

“[Astarte]!”

The High Priest also didn’t stay idle. Enraged, she no longer held back, releasing a large amount of death energy, making the faces of the vengeful spirits fly around and attack.

With the undead army in front and the ghostly group of vengeful spirits behind, this place truly became like hell, filled with roars and howls, extremely terrifying.

Yulin was entangled by a large number of vengeful spirits and undead. Although she didn’t lose the upper hand, spewing dragon breath and burning countless undead, dispersing countless vengeful spirits, she couldn’t break free.

The celestial bodies of [Starry Arrays] were the same. Although they moved freely among the undead army and the ghostly group of vengeful spirits, they couldn’t gain the upper hand.

“In that case…”

Shien unhesitatingly unleashed his magic power, soaring into the sky with his vast magic power, hovering in mid-air.

“—With vast magic power, I invoke the aurora from beyond the heavens—”

Starlight once again flickered from Shien’s body, illuminating the entire space filled with howling death energy.

“—Tears of the sky, rain of stars, the bright expanse of the heavens, now shines upon the earth—”

Facing the High Priest’s undead army and the attack of vast death energy, Shien finally used the magic that made countless people tremble – [Auroras Meteoric].

“Don’t even think about it!”

Although the High Priest didn’t know what magic Shien was about to use, she sensed a great danger from him, so she immediately released her most powerful death energy attack, turning it into a pitch-black storm that bombarded Shien.

But the celestial bodies of [Starry Arrays] flew back, swirling around each other, forming a nebula that blocked Shien, intercepting the incoming death energy storm.

Shien’s chanting voice echoed throughout the area.

“—Answer my call—”

“—Obey my command—”

“—With the radiant sword of light, judge the world—”

“—Descend, stars—”

Shien pointed at the undead army below.

“[Auroras Meteoric]!”

The sky instantly lit up.

Just like the scene that appeared above the Imperial Capital yesterday, meteors flashed and transformed into a meteor shower, rapidly descending.

Each meteor was dazzling and brilliant.

Each meteor shone like a burning flame.

A breathtaking meteor shower fell from the sky, colliding with this world.

“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!” …

Explosions echoed continuously.

The falling meteorites crashed into the ground one after another, creating loud booms, shattering the earth, causing it to collapse and kicking up dust storms.

Under this destructive scene, the undead were struck by meteorites in droves, disappearing along with the collapsing earth, becoming minced meat under the meteorites.

Yuri and Sona were among them, finally finding release along with the victims of the First Knight Order, buried under the meteor shower.

Soon, the entire wilderness trembled.

Dust storms raged, explosions echoed, meteors fell, the earth collapsed, a scene of apocalypse, frightening countless monsters and beasts, making them roar and flee in panic, hurriedly escaping from this dangerous place.

This Celestial Magic was truly terrifying, worthy of its reputation as the most wide-ranging and destructive Celestial Magic. If Shien used it seriously, he could even destroy a small country.

Now, Shien still limited its range, not expanding the meteor shower, only targeting the area where the undead army was, but the entire wilderness was still affected.

At least, the barrier covering the High Priest’s secret base was broken, the waterfall was destroyed by meteorites, and the secret base behind the waterfall was also ravaged, with countless panicked screams coming from inside, clearly the knights, slaves, and servants screaming in fear.

As for the death energy that tried to stop the falling meteors, it was all blocked by the celestial bodies of [Starry Arrays].

The celestial bodies of [Starry Arrays] also erupted with the appearance of [Auroras Meteoric], creating swirls of light and shining like star rings, rushing towards the death energy and shattering it.

The High Priest’s two proudest methods were thus destroyed by Shien’s two most powerful Celestial Magic spells.

Even the High Priest, in a moment of terror, was struck by a meteorite and completely vanished.

This apocalyptic scene lasted for an unknown amount of time.

Until, after a long time, the meteor shower gradually stopped, and the meteors stopped falling.

Shien teleported to Yulin’s head, riding her and hovering in mid-air.

“Roar—!!!”

Yulin let out a roar that shook the entire apocalyptic scene.

As if singing a song of victory.

Chapter 610: “You Are…!?”

Today, many people near the wilderness where Shien was saw a dazzling meteor shower.

The meteor shower came and went suddenly, attracting the attention of many caravans and even armies.

Especially the commotion it caused. The Imperial Capital might not have noticed it, but those closer to the wilderness couldn’t possibly miss it.

This caused quite a stir, and some even reported back to the Imperial Capital.

Soon, many would know that the meteor shower that annihilated the Raifurut family last night had appeared again in this wilderness.

Therefore, it was inevitable that the Imperial Knight Order would come here to investigate.

Of course, Capeline, the princess who led the female knights of the Broken Blade Knight Order, was the closest and witnessed the most shocking scene.

Although they had left the battlefield, they hadn’t left the wilderness.

They had each hunted a monster, skinned it, cleaned the fur, and draped it over themselves, finally having something to cover their nakedness.

However, the meteor shower was too powerful, and the resulting shockwave was terrifying. The female knights were caught off guard and blown away by the dust storm like a tsunami, falling to the ground, covered in dust, coughing non-stop.

Capeline was also among them, lying on the ground, looking at the direction where the meteor shower gradually disappeared, her face full of shock.

“What… what kind of power is this?”

Capeline trembled.

She recognized the meteor shower as Shien’s Celestial Magic at a glance.

Besides Shien’s Celestial Magic, no one else could cause such a phenomenon.

That’s why Capeline was so shocked and couldn’t believe it.

She had been defeated by Shien’s Celestial Magic before.

Although at that time, Shien used [Starry Arrays], a versatile Celestial Magic, not [Auroras Meteoric], the large-scale, destructive Celestial Magic, Capeline felt that even if Shien had used this magic back then, it wouldn’t have been this powerful.

That destructive power was beyond the scope of magic.

At least, Capeline had never seen any magic reach this scale, truly earth-shattering.

Of course, Capeline didn’t know that even back then, Shien could have used [Auroras Meteoric] with this level of power.

Because of its wide range and destructive power, he had always restrained himself when using this magic. Otherwise, razing a large city to the ground wasn’t impossible for him back then.

But if Shien wanted to use [Auroras Meteoric] with this level of power back then, he wouldn’t have been able to do it so effortlessly.

The reason he could do it so easily now was, first, because his magic power had become much stronger, and second, because the enhancement of [Inner Vision of Heaven’s Decree] on magic was also stronger than the maxed-out [Magic Guidance] skill from before.

Capeline thought that Shien couldn’t have used Celestial Magic with this level of power back then, simply because she didn’t know the extent of his full power.

Using an AoE magic like [Auroras Meteoric] in a fight against people was impossible.

If the High Priest hadn’t summoned the undead legion, Shien wouldn’t have used such a powerful weapon.

Unaware of all this, Capeline could only realize one thing in shock.

That was…

“He… he’s become so much stronger than before…”

Capeline was lost in thought.

…

Meanwhile, the battlefield on Shien’s side had calmed down.

Above the dust-filled ruins, Yulin flew, gently flapping her wings, allowing Shien, riding on her head, to easily survey the scene below.

The meteorites that fell from the sky had gradually disappeared, turning into remnants of magic power.

The ground was covered in craters, looking like the surface of the moon.

The undead army had been completely annihilated by the meteorites, either lying scattered on the ground or incomplete, some even buried under the rubble, turning the battlefield into a horrifying scene of carnage.

The waterfall had also been destroyed by the meteorites, reduced to rubble with flowing water, no longer possessing its former majestic appearance.

The stone wall space behind the waterfall was completely exposed.

Shien glanced at the stone wall space, then retracted his gaze, looking back at the ruins below.

After a moment, Shien closed his eyes and spread out the perception of [Outer Awareness of Heaven’s Decree].

Soon, a smile appeared on Shien’s lips, and he teleported away from Yulin’s head, appearing in a shadow.

“[Bestowal: Imprisonment].”

Arriving here, Shien extended his hand and cast the magic without hesitation.

Shien had used this magic a few times before, not often, but that didn’t mean it was useless.

If used against magic power, it could even imprison magic power, turning a magician into an ordinary person, unable to use their magic power.

But this time, Shien wasn’t targeting magic power, but something he had never seen before – a “soul.”

Because the necromancer herself had said that even if her physical body was destroyed, her soul would still remain.

As expected…

“Ah!”

With a piercing scream, a crystal ball suddenly appeared from the shadows, a green light attached to it, as if the crystal ball was possessed, the green light struggling within.

Unfortunately, that green light seemed to be imprisoned by Shien. No matter how it struggled, it couldn’t move the crystal ball at all.

Shien reached out and grabbed the crystal ball without hesitation.

“You look much better as a ball than as a withered skeleton, High Priest.”

Shien chuckled.

“Let… let go of me…!”

The High Priest’s voice, filled with anger and shock, came from the crystal ball.

“Let go of you?” Shien smirked, “Do you think that’s possible, my High Priest?”

“You… what do you want?” The High Priest shouted in anger and shock, “I’m warning you, you can’t do anything to me. Let me go!”

These words sounded somewhat forceful but weren’t entirely unreasonable.

There were countless ways to kill someone in this world, but methods to destroy a soul were rare.

Otherwise, how could the High Priest have survived the Goddess of Life’s attack?

Besides Anima, the Goddess of Life, not noticing the remnants of her soul, it was also because souls were difficult to detect and destroy.

Facing this High Priest, who was now only a soul, even a Demon Lord like Airi might be helpless. Only a few people with special abilities could deal with her.

For example, Lilith, whose power could even penetrate and influence souls. If the High Priest fell into her hands, she would definitely be in trouble.

And Millu, the Ghost Demon, whose Unique Skill, [Ghost Seed], allowed her to exist like a true ghost. She could probably devour and destroy souls, crushing the High Priest as easily as crushing an ant.

As for Shien…

“Slash!”

He raised his Holy Sword, and as magic power surged, the sword glowed with golden light. He slashed at the High Priest’s soul in the crystal ball, the blade passing through the light.

“Aaaaaaaaaaah…!”

The High Priest screamed in pain as if injured.

“How is this possible!?”

The High Priest was both in pain and horrified.

How could that sword injure her soul?

Wait…

A sword that could injure her soul…?

“I know! I know!”

The High Priest finally understood why she felt the power of the sword in Shien’s hand was somewhat familiar.

Because it was the strongest weapon in this world, the weapon she had always been wary of.

This sword possessed the power to slay even the Demon King, the nemesis of the Demon Race, capable of countering all evil and purifying all uncleanliness.

Death energy would be purified by it, and her soul, as an undead creature, also had to regard it as its nemesis.

It was…

“The Holy Sword!”

The High Priest cried out in disbelief.

“You possess the true Holy Sword…? You are…!?”

The High Priest realized Shien’s identity.

How was this possible?

How could this be!?

The High Priest roared inwardly.

But more than disbelief and shock, fear filled her heart.

Until this moment, the High Priest realized that she was in danger.

This Holy Sword wielder before her had the ability to truly destroy her.

Realizing this, the fear in the High Priest’s heart could no longer be suppressed.

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

The High Priest could only struggle and plead desperately.

Shien watched this scene indifferently.

There was even a cheerful look on his face.

“Wouldn’t it have been better if you had done this earlier?” Shien said lazily, “Talking tough when you’re about to die is something only a third-rate character would do. You’re a Legendary necromancer, someone who once shook the world, even Anima, the Goddess of Life, couldn’t kill you. You’re definitely not a third-rate character, so you shouldn’t do such uncool things, right?”

That being said, this High Priest was truly unlucky to encounter Shien.

“Answer my questions honestly, and you might get more screen time, maybe even live for a few more chapters, understand?”

The High Priest, an ancient being who had lived for thousands of years, naturally couldn’t understand Shien’s casual threat.

But she couldn’t refuse to cooperate.

She might not be a third-rate character, but she was definitely more afraid of death than anyone else.

Back then, it was for immortality that she became a necromancer, transforming herself into an undead creature. After being vanquished by Anima, the Goddess of Life, she lingered for thousands of years, not daring to show her face.

This precisely showed how much she valued life and feared death.

Therefore…

“I… I’ll listen to you! I’ll do whatever you say!”

Overcome by fear, the High Priest gave in completely.

Shien finally nodded in satisfaction.