Chapter 577: Threat Of The Dark Continent

Damian reached the massive stone gate leading toward the Mother Stream and slowed to a stop just before it. He turned his head and looked back at Earth one final time. The planet stretched beneath him. He knew this would be the last time he ever looked upon Earth as his home. Whatever happened after today, he would never return as the same person who had once lived here.

"Jota... When we get back take some people and return here to spread the teachings of the ministry of love. With Corbin dead and the Vatican destroyed, nothing can stop me from claiming this planet for myself." Damian said calmly.

Jota immediately lowered his head. "Yes, your majesty."

Jota bowed without hesitation.

Behind him, Twenty and several hundred people who had gathered after being freed from the Vatican’s influence stared at the exchange in complete disbelief.

Twenty’s mouth remained slightly open as he looked between Damian and Jota. Hearing Jota address Damian as royalty was one thing, but seeing the demon obey him without even questioning the order made the reality finally sink in.

Damian wasn’t simply some powerful supernatural being. He was a ruler, and Jota clearly regarded him as one.

Before Twenty could say anything, Rin spoke first.

"Are you really going to leave without asking about her?"

Buzz!

Damian’s brows narrowed slightly. He knew exactly who Rin was talking about. The question struck somewhere he had deliberately avoided looking for years.

"I can’t sense her presence on this planet... Maybe she’s dead already. It’s better I don’t know." Damian shook his head.

His voice was quieter than before, and for a moment his usual confidence disappeared. There were some questions he had convinced himself were better left unanswered.

Rin turned his cold gaze toward Linda, his expression becoming stern. "What happened to her?"

"Are you talking about Clara?" Linda asked from the side.

Damian’s eyes shifted toward her immediately, but he remained silent.

Linda hesitated before continuing. "She’s not dead... Actually, she grew strong very fast, becoming a demigod in just three years and left the planet. From what I know she’s known as the Preacher, spreading the message of salvation across worlds and converting entire planets for the heavens without spilling a single blood."

Buzz!

Damian was taken aback. His eyes immediately shifted toward Rin, who was already staring back at him. Neither of them needed to say anything for the other to understand what they were thinking.

"Her absurd talent must come from her time with you... Only the prince of lust can turn a normal human to talented cultivator." Rin said.

Damian frowned and remained silent for several seconds. Clara’s image flashed through his mind, bringing back bitter sweet memories. He shook the thoughts away and returned his attention to the gateway leading toward the Mother Stream.

After staring at it for several seconds, Damian shifted his attention toward everyone standing behind him. Twenty and the former members of the Black Apostle Gang stood together.

"I’m taking you all to a place where I am known as God. A place free from all these suffering you have endured on earth and you can live in peace without lack. But this is not a place where you can go with your bodies. You will leave behind your human flesh once we enter that gate." Damian explained before stretching out his hand.

His expression remained serious as he gave them the choice instead of simply forcing them through. "Are you willing?"

"Yes! Yes we are." Twenty spoke up without hesitation.

The other members of the Black Apostle Gang immediately nodded in agreement, their expressions showing no doubt about their decision. They had spent years suffering on Earth, and after everything they had just witnessed, following Damian into an unknown realm was still preferable to returning to the lives they had known.

Linda, however, slowly shook her head.

"I don’t want to go at least until I know why you have kept me alive." She demanded. Damian looked at her for several seconds before answering.

"I will make my reason for bringing you along known once we get there. If you still feel the same way, I end it all and give you the chance to reincarnate." Damian assured, causing Linda to blink in surprise.

Her feelings toward Damian were complicated. One part of her still felt sorry for him and understood his anger, just as she had always understood him while they were on Earth. Yet another part of her could not ignore what she had witnessed. She had watched him effortlessly massacre the Vatican and kill Corbin, someone who had once been her closest friend. She could not simply erase those memories because the man standing before her had once been someone she cared about. She felt she had every right to hate him.

Damian didn’t wait for her response. He simply flicked his hand, and his aura expanded around everyone like an enormous protective shell. Purple energy wrapped around their bodies, separating them from the surrounding space before Damian shot toward the gate.

The moment they entered, the world disappeared.

The first thing Twenty, Linda and the others experienced was a blinding white light that completely filled their vision. They instinctively raised their hands to shield themselves, only to realize something strange was happening to their bodies.

Their flesh began burning away, dissolving into the light without causing the slightest pain. Skin, muscle and bone gradually disappeared, leaving behind increasingly transparent versions of themselves.

Panic spread through the group until Damian’s voice reached them from ahead.

"Your body is being purged, all that will be left is your soul... Don’t worry you won’t be harmed in anyway." Damian’s voice rang through the strange space, attracting everyone’s attention toward his figure standing ahead of them.

His long hair whipped wildly in the endless current of energy surrounding the gate, while his black robes moved with the same force.

Buzz!

The blinding white light finally disappeared, and everyone slowly opened their eyes. They found themselves moving through what appeared to be countless clusters of enormous beams of light, all converging together and forming something resembling a massive funnel. They were being carried through the center of it, surrounded by streams of energy that stretched farther than their eyes could see.

Then they saw what lay beyond the funnel and everyone became completely silent.

A massive megalithic tree stretched through the void before them, so enormous that they could not see where its trunk began or where its branches ended. Countless branches extended through the surrounding darkness, covered with flowers that looked larger than planets. Vast roots stretched across the void, wrapping around entire star systems and galaxies as though they were nothing more than small objects attached to the tree. From their position, the humans felt like tiny atoms floating inside an incomprehensibly larger body.

Twenty stared in disbelief before pointing toward the center of the tree. "Bro, what the hell is that?"

Buzz!

Damian, Rin, Abel and Biron immediately frowned. Unlike the humans behind them, they recognized the significance of what Twenty had pointed toward.

At the center of the enormous tree was a massive revolving darkness resembling a black whirlpool. It twisted endlessly, swallowing the surrounding light and slowly expanding outward.

"Is it just me or is the dark continent growing... It wasn’t this large a decade ago." Rin said as he remembered passing through this place when Damian had been unconscious.

Damian shared Rin’s perception and immediately noticed the difference. The darkness was undeniably larger than he remembered. Biron and Abel noticed it as well, their expressions becoming increasingly serious.

Damian’s gaze shifted toward the golden and crimson realms located to the left and right of the dark continent. Both were covered by enormous transparent shells that separated them from the surrounding void.

The darkness was slowly encroaching toward them.

"In a few thousand years it’s bound to reach the boundaries of the underworld and Heavens... If that happens, we will be besiged by the outer creatures living within the dark continent..." Abel speculated. His voice had lost its usual mocking tone.

Biron nodded slowly as he studied the expanding darkness. "And if both sides fall, there is nothing stopping it from spreading further and reaching all parts of the universe... Our entire realm will eventually be consumed by it..." Biron added.

Damian’s frown tightened as he continued staring at the growing darkness. "This is a problem I need to bring up at the council of princes summit, we can’t stay idle until the last moment."

Scoff!

Rin rolled his eyes. "You want the other princes to give up their war for supremacy against the heavens and underworld and focus on a distant threat? Hahahaha you think too highly of your short sighted brothers."

Damian’s expression tightened at those words, but he couldn’t immediately refute them. He continued staring at the revolving darkness as it slowly consumed more of the surrounding space.

"So we ignore it?" Damian asked.

Abel nodded firmly. "Your focus should be claiming supremacy over the underworld as soon as possible.. Only when all your brothers are dead and you have supreme control of all demons can you lead a coordinated defense against this threat, if not all your efforts would be sabotaged by your greedy brothers."

His words were harsh, but Damian understood the logic behind them. A divided Underworld would be incapable of organizing a unified defense against something that could eventually consume everything.

"I agree..." Biron nodded. "Now you possess the sin of Lust and greed, the balance has been broken and the other princes will get active. If you don’t focus on them you will die and lose everything."

Twenty, Linda and every other person standing behind Damian listened to the conversation in silence. None of them understood the full scale of what they were hearing, but they understood enough to realize something deeply unsettling.

They are not safe even in the underworld.

They couldn’t help but wonder if the place they were being taken to was truly the peaceful sanctuary Damian had promised, or a warzone that would make Earth’s conflicts look like child’s play.