Chapter 462: The Strongest Being In Existence

Damian blinked several times as the wind swept through his hair, sending the strands across his face. For several seconds, he simply stared at Lin Qui, trying to determine whether he had misunderstood what the former Prince was saying.

"You said what?" he muttered.

Lin Qui nodded firmly, his expression carrying none of the uncertainty in Damian’s voice.

"You heard me. The only reason why the Underworld has not been besieged since the death of the Demon Lord is not because they fear the Council of Elders. It’s because they fear Sol."

Damian’s breath caught.

He lowered his gaze toward the tea in his hands but didn’t drink from it. Instead, his fingers slowly tightened around the cup as everything he had witnessed over the past year began replaying in his mind. Until now, he had viewed Sol as an exceptionally powerful God, perhaps the strongest among his brothers, but still ultimately another Sin like himself. Someone he would eventually have to surpass.

But now the pieces were beginning to fit together.

When the Sin of Envy had attempted to descend forcefully into the mortal realm and kill him, it was Sol who intervened. Damian still remembered the sight vividly. Sol had grabbed Envy by the head and dragged him away as effortlessly as a grown man pulling an unruly child away from a fight. There had been no prolonged struggle between two Gods. No exchange of devastating techniques. Envy simply disappeared from the battlefield in Sol’s grasp.

Even now, Damian struggled to believe what he had witnessed.

Then there was the unfortunate demigod who had dared to call Sol by his name. The moment the words had left his mouth, divine flames had consumed him, and nothing had been heard of him since.

And then there was Lazarus.

For all the chaos that God had caused during Damian’s time on Earth, he had never directly attempted to kill Damian himself. Damian had once believed that Lazarus simply didn’t consider him worth the effort, until he realized the real reason. Sol had literally threatened a God and forced him to suppress his resentment for five years. Lazarus had accepted that condition despite possessing enough power to make Damian’s life miserable.

The more Damian remembered, the colder his expression became. Everything suddenly made sense. But one question remained.

"How?"

Lin Qui chuckled softly, though there was no amusement in his eyes. Instead, his expression carried a bitterness Damian had rarely seen from him. The question reminded him of his younger days, when he had spent countless years asking himself the exact same thing while trying to understand the existence of the man who would eventually become his greatest obstacle.

"Because Sol is the only Sin of Pride who has unlocked one hundred percent of its abilities. He is the only True God in the Underworld as we speak."

Buzz!

Damian stood so abruptly that his seating pillow shifted beneath him. His eyes widened, his mouth falling slightly open as he stared at Lin Qui. For several seconds, no coherent response came from him.

"Did you just say..." His voice trailed off.

Lin Qui simply nodded.

"Since the first wielder of the Sin of Pride, Lucifer Morningstar, who was also the Demon Lord of his era, Sol is the only one who has broken that thirty thousand year record. He didn’t merely unlock the full inheritance. He went further and completely obliterated Lucifer Morningstar’s consciousness."

The wind seemed to disappear and Damian’s expression slowly emptied as he stared at Lin Qui.

"From now on, whoever gains the power of the Sin of Pride will not find Lucifer Morningstar behind those gates. The one they will find is Sol."

Huff!

For a moment, Damian couldn’t hear anything.

The garden vanished from his awareness. The moon disappeared. Even Lin Qui’s voice became distant as Damian’s thoughts collapsed beneath the weight of the revelation. His knees weakened, and he slowly fell backward onto the seating pillow.

He stared ahead without focus.

Lin Qui didn’t react to Damian’s silence. He calmly picked up the tea pot and began refilling their cups, his movements remaining as composed as though they were discussing something completely ordinary.

"The main reason I went through all the effort to place the Abyssal inheritance into the hands of my successor, and why I was willing to give up my life for that goal, was because Sol was going to kill Majin anyway and take his place."

Lin Qui’s hand paused briefly above the cup.

"Now imagine what Sol would have become if he possessed both the Sin of Pride and the Abyssal inheritance."

Lin Qui looked down at his own hands, his expression becoming distant.

"I gave up my life because I knew what would happen if I did nothing. My death and Majin’s death shocked both the Heavens and the Underworld, but if I had remained passive, Sol would have eventually made his move."

"And if Sol became the Demon Lord..." Damian’s voice weakened as he struggled to finish the thought.

He couldn’t.

His hand slowly moved toward his chest as goosebumps spread across his skin.

When was the last time he had genuinely felt fear?

This was the realization that there was someone in existence who could potentially stand at the top of everything he was trying to reach and make even the Abyssal inheritance insufficient.

Lin Qui nodded, confirming the thought Damian couldn’t bring himself to say.

"If Sol became the Demon Lord and combined his already absurd strength with the insane inheritance of the Abyss, he would have started by eradicating every demon in the Underworld. My wives included. I would not have been able to protect them. I would have been forced to helplessly watch him murder everyone and everything I held dear."

Huff!

Damian slowly exhaled while Lin Qui emptied his cup and placed it gently on the table before letting out a tired sigh.

"In my three thousand years of existence, I was fortunate enough to encounter people from countless races. Racism, tribalism, bigotry, prejudice... It exists everywhere. I witnessed and experienced all of them firsthand, so I understand his rage."

He slowly refilled his cup, watching the colorless liquid ripple beneath the moonlight.

"However, I also made genuine friends and formed genuine connections with people from different races. I watched them sacrifice their lives for me, bleed for me and show me undiluted love. So why should they die for the crimes of the monsters who ravaged Sol’s home?"

Lin Qui placed the tea pot aside and picked up his cup again. He slowly rotated the liquid inside it, his eyes fixed upon the swirling surface.

"And even if he succeeds, what difference does it make that they are humans? Across the universe, countless species of humans have always reduced themselves to the same tribal divisions. Humans kill each other over something as simple as skin color. Why would different species be any different?"

His voice remained calm, but the bitterness behind his words was unmistakable.

"In your world, Homo sapiens won the struggle for dominance while the Neanderthals disappeared. In mine, the Neanderthals won and wiped out your species. Regardless of where you go, prejudice exists. It doesn’t matter whether the division is between races, species, tribes or nations."

Lin Qui finally looked directly at Damian.

"Sol is wrong, but no one is strong enough to show him that. That’s why I gave up my life and placed my hope in the future."

His eyes softened.

"You."

Damian remained silent.

The fear slowly faded from his expression, replaced by something far more complicated. For the first time since he had been thrown into the world of Gods and demons, he understood what Lin Qui had been trying to accomplish.

Damian slowly lifted his head toward the moonlit sky.

"I... I understand now."

Lin Qui released a long breath.

For the first time in thousands of years, the weight he had carried seemed slightly lighter. He had deliberately kept Sol’s true danger hidden from Damian in the beginning. If Damian had understood the threat too early, he might have openly opposed Sol before gaining enough strength to survive the consequences.

That would have been suicide.

But Sol’s strange favoritism toward humanity gave Lin Qui another possibility.

If Sol believed Damian was human, then he would naturally be inclined to protect him. A man created specifically to eventually kill him had been placed directly under the protection of the very person he was destined to oppose.

It had been the perfect plan.

Damian lowered his gaze and looked toward Lin Qui.

"Will what I have be enough to kill him?"

Lin Qui didn’t hesitate.

"No."

Damian’s expression remained calm, but his fingers tightened slightly against his knee.

Lin Qui slowly lowered his tea cup.

"Now that brings us to the second method through which one can become the Demon Lord."