Chapter 574: Drawing Corbin Out

Within a cold, cramped cell, Twenty sat against the wall with his knees drawn toward his chest, his body exhausted from weeks of imprisonment.

The stone walls were damp, and the faint light leaking through the narrow opening above him did little to illuminate the miserable room. Then a voice echoed across the city, impossibly loud yet unmistakably familiar.

Twenty’s head snapped upward, his eyes widening as tears began running down his cheeks involuntarily. For a moment, he simply stared at the ceiling as though his mind refused to believe what his ears were telling him.

"He.. Bro really came like he promised!" Twenty gasped, his voice trembling between disbelief and relief.

But Twenty wasn’t the only one who recognized that voice. Throughout the prison, members of the Black Apostle Gang froze in their cells. Some slowly raised their heads, while others pressed themselves against the bars as they listened.

They had spent years wondering whether Damian would ever return. Yet that voice erased every doubt in an instant. Their leader had returned, exactly as Twenty promised.

Meanwhile, deep within a dark chamber surrounded by golden arrays, a white haired mountain of a man stood over ten feet tall while seated in a crosslegged position. His enormous body remained perfectly still, and his eyes were covered by a piece of white cloth covered in several golden inscriptions.

The arrays surrounding him pulsed softly, filling the chamber with a dense concentration of energy that had clearly been accumulated over years of secluded cultivation.

Directly ahead of him sat a twelve foot tall archangel upon a magnificent golden throne. His legs were crossed casually, and a thick book rested within one hand as he watched the chamber in silence.

Michael’s expression remained composed, but the moment Damian’s voice shook the world, his eyes slowly shifted toward the ceiling and a small frown etched itself across his face.

"That demon... Has returned and he will most likely come for you." Michael said calmly.

Corbin chuckled, his white hair fluttering mildly from the disturbance spreading through the chamber. "Is there a reason to fear? He is a demigod and I am one myself. From the looks of it, I can say my cultivation as advanced farther than his. He is just a little bit above above what it was before he left while I have spent the last decade here practicing in seclusion."

Corbin explained calmly. "That plus the fact that this city is crawling with angels. The world government is run by us now. He is outnumbered."

His confidence came from more than simple arrogance. For ten years, Corbin had remained hidden within the Vatican, dedicating himself to cultivation while the forces of Heaven gradually expanded their influence over Earth. He had built an entire network of angels and human followers around himself, turning the Vatican into a stronghold that Damian would have to break through if he intended to reach him.

"IS THAT SO?" Damian’s voice suddenly rang across the room.

Buzz!

The golden arrays surrounding the chamber trembled violently as a suffocating darkness poured through the room. Corbin’s confident expression vanished instantly. He slowly looked over his shoulder, only to find a pair of massive purple eyes looming within the darkness behind him. The eyes were enormous, cold and utterly devoid of warmth, their presence alone making the entire chamber feel smaller.

"CORBIN... THE VATICAN WILL FALL AND YOU WILL DIE WITH IT." The eyes slowly closed after saying those words, leaving behind a silence far heavier than before.

Outside the Vatican, priests and deacons poured out of the surrounding buildings after feeling the tremendous disturbance. Their eyes widened as they stared toward the sky, where an unnatural darkness had spread across the entire Vatican.

A gigantic black dome now surrounded the holy city, sealing it away from the outside world. No one could understand where it had come from or how such a phenomenon was possible. At the center of it all floated a lone figure dressed entirely in black. His unnaturally long hair fluttered gently within the violent winds, looking almost unreal against the modern world surrounding him.

"What kind of power is this?, it actually makes no sense." A deacon gasped in confusion, his hands trembling as he stared upward.

The priests around him could only look toward Damian in fear. None of their scriptures, rituals or magical formations had prepared them for something like this.

"Corbin... Must I bury the entire Vatican before you show yourself?" Damian’s voice boomed across the city as his purple eyes swept over the gathered priests and angels.

His expression carried no urgency. If anything, he looked exhausted. After everything he had endured in the Underworld, this confrontation felt almost like an unpleasant chore he wanted finished as quickly as possible.

"Forgive me for worrying about your safety. I didn’t think this planet would be full of weaklings there is nothing worth your attention here." Abel sounded really disappointed from Damian’s side.

Biron, still resting comfortably upon Damian’s right shoulder in his small pet like form, stared across the Vatican with an equally unimpressed expression.

"Honestly, I expected something worth while but the strongest thing in existence here is a seed at the Demi-god realm with an arch angel for protection. It’s quite shameful you hold a grudge against low level creatures." Biron stared at Damian judgementally.

"Silly bull the one who harmed him was Kaizer. He only hates them because they stole his girl." Rin snapped back from Damian’s other shoulder. "They stole his girl? Even worse!" Abyss and Biron blurted out simultaneously.

Damian’s face immediately dropped into his palm. He had barely returned to Earth and already the three spirit beasts had turned his revenge into a conversation about his romantic history. If having three spirit beasts was already this much of a headache, he couldn’t help but wonder what kind of disruptive life he would be forced to endure after gathering all seven deadly sins.

"Everybody just shut up, let me deal with this and get back home. I need to rest." Damian rubbed his forehead with a frown.

He had already sent Jota ahead to gather Twenty and the remaining members of the Apostle Gang. With the mark of the fox, Jota could draw power directly from Damian and deal with any angel that attempted to interfere. Whatever he had to do on Earth shouldn’t cost him more than an hour.

"You can’t silence the wealthy... I’ll speak when I want to." Biron broke Damian’s chain of thought. Damian’s eyebrow twitched.

"You must be bold trying to silence the representative of the abyss." Abel snapped at Damian. Rin immediately barked from his shoulder, "I told you these bastards have no respect! This is why I’m always at odds against them!" Damian rolled his eyes and decided that responding would only prolong the argument.

His attention shifted when a lone figure emerged from the distance. Corbin finally stepped out from the Vatican, his enormous white haired figure moving through the darkness with Archangel Michael directly behind him.

However, the confidence they had displayed within their secluded chamber was gone. Both wore ugly expressions as they stared at the figure hovering above the Vatican. Whatever calculations they had made before confronting Damian had clearly changed after witnessing the darkness surrounding him.

"The abyss... How did a mere demigod get his hands on such an inheritance?" Michael hissed from behind Corbin.

His grip tightened around the book in his hand as he studied Damian carefully.

Corbin raised one hand, signaling Michael to stop. His eyes remained fixed on Damian as he stepped forward.

"Every time I meet you, you have fallen deeper into the darkness. I see there is no hope for repentance for you." Corbin chuckled.

Damian shook his head, his expression becoming slightly more serious. "Unfortunately, I can’t have the commandment of peity descending into your body. I’m in no condition to fight a other God."

Buzz!

Corbin and Michael’s eyes widened with shock and disbelief. Damian had spoken casually, but the implication behind his words was enormous. They had assumed Damian was still merely a powerful demigod, perhaps slightly stronger than when he had left Earth. Yet he was speaking as though fighting a God was now within the realm of possibility.

Damian glanced toward Rin, clearly confused by their reaction. "They don’t know I killed Lazarus just thirty minutes ago?"

Rin immediately smacked him across the cheek with his paw.

"Dummy, how can the earth and heavens know the private mattress of the underworld?" Rin scolded.

Damian rubbed his cheek and reluctantly nodded. "True."

Abel nodded as well. "If it gets out that one demigod possesses the sin of pride, lust and abyssal inheritances, I’m afraid the heavens will siege the Velmora to stop you from growing."

"We can just pay the other princes to aid us. So they are bound to fail regardless. Even enemies are moved by money." Biron said indifferently.

Damian rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh. Between a sarcastic fox, an arrogant abyssal dragon and a wealthy little bull who seemed to believe money could solve every problem in existence, he was beginning to understand that surviving the Underworld’s politics might not be the hardest part of his journey.

Truly, dealing with three spirit beasts all at once was the greatest challenge of his life.