Chapter 552: Battle Between Seers
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Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The battle on the Plains of Despair ended very quickly.
The deaths of Andariel and Duriel caused the demon army under them to collapse. Under Julia and Benia’s lead, Roy’s army slaughtered all the way, killing these h.e.l.l demons until they fled in all directions.
When they returned, Roy had just finished extracting the divine sparks of Andariel and Duriel.
After losing their divine sparks, their souls experienced a large-scale decline. A divine spark would promote the growth of the soul, and after losing the divine spark, the soul would naturally decline. At this moment, the souls of Andariel and Duriel, who were imprisoned in Kanai’s Cube, had degenerated to the level of ordinary demon lords.
Looking at these two souls, Roy frowned because they really surprised him. It felt like… two demon lords who had been forcibly promoted.
Could these not be the souls ofAndariel and Duriel?
That’s not right. How do you explain the divine sparks?
Seeing Roy frowning in thought, Julia asked curiously, “Darling, what’s wrong? Is there something wrong?”
“… I’m not sure. I keep feeling that something’s wrong!” Roy said. “Although Andariel and Duriel are the weakest of the seven demon kings, they lost too quickly…”
“Do you think this isn’t their main bodies?” Benia asked. “Won’t you understand by looking at their divine sparks?”
Roy thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he opened Kanai’s Cube and took out the extracted divine sparks.
“This…” The moment Roy saw the divine sparks, he was stunned for a moment before his eyes turned cold.
The abnormalities with divine sparks of Andariel and Duriel extracted by Kanai’s Cube could be seen with the naked eye. The light in the divine sparks was smaller, and the Möbius Ring mark inside was also smaller.
Compared to ordinary divine sparks, these two divine sparks had shrunk by at least half!
After seeing the divine sparks, Julia and Benia looked at each other. “The divine sparks… was divided?!”
“That’s obvious!” Roy frowned. “But the question is, what’s the point of doing this?”
Divine sparks could indeed be divided, but this meant that the power of the authority would also be lost. Andariel and Duriel were not powerful demon kings to begin with, so dividing their divine sparks like this was equivalent to a substantial drop in their combat strength. Facing Roy and Lilith’s attack on the Burning h.e.l.ls, not only did they not think of a way to increase their strength, but they instead divided the divine sparks. What did this mean?
“Could the seven demon kings want to use the same trick and combine their powers into one body?” Julia pondered. “Just like when Diablo attacked the High Heavens?”
“If they want to combine their powers, then they shouldn’t split the divine sparks!” Benia retorted. “If that’s really what they plan to do, then Andariel and Duriel shouldn’t even appear. The seven demon kings should be together in one place.”
Julia and Benia discussed it at the side while Roy ignored them. After thinking about it, he contacted Lilith.
Although they were fighting separately, he had left a Demon Eye with her to facilitate communication. When he called her, she didn’t answer immediately but only answered after a while.
“What’s wrong, Osiris?” Lilith asked through the Demon Eye.
“I want to ask how your progress is. I just finished off Andariel and Duriel!” Roy said.
“That’s good. I just finished my battle. Belial and Azmodan appeared together to stop me, but now…” Lilith laughed heartily. “I’m stepping on their corpses!”
“Did you capture their souls?” Roy asked. “Do you have a way to detect their divine sparks?”
Hearing his question, Lilith was stunned. “Yes, but what do you want to do?”
“See if their divine sparks are complete!” Roy said. “I only have half of the divine sparks of Andariel and Duriel. This means that their main bodies are probably not one but split into two. If Belial and Azmodan’s divine sparks are the same, then I’m afraid these guys are plotting something else. I need you to look at the future and see what they’re up to!”
Hearing this, Lilith didn’t say anything for a while, seemingly checking the divine sparks of Belial and Azmodan according to Roy’s instructions. After a while, her voice came. “It seems you’re right. There’s only half of the divine sparks of Belial and Azmodan!”
“It’s absolutely abnormal to lower your strength in the face of a powerful enemy!” Roy said. “It’s up to you, Your Majesty Lilith!”
The communication from the Demon Eye fell silent again. Although Lilith controlled the power of time and was a true seer, she was not staring at the River of Time at all times. She would only use her power when necessary.
After a while, her voice came, and she said in a slightly exhausted tone, “Osiris, we’re in trouble! Unlike the last time I observed the River of Time, the future has changed. A new tributary has appeared, but it’s shrouded in mist!”
“What do you mean?” Roy didn’t understand what Lilith’s observation of the River of Time was like. He only wanted to hear the result.
“The demon kings dividing their divine sparks from their main bodies is probably Mephisto’s idea!” Lilith said. “He’s very powerful, so he has a certain ability to intercept future scenes. In my last observation, the possibility of us killing the seven demon kings appeared in the River of Time. Mephisto probably saw this possibility. Although he’s different from me and doesn’t have the power to control time truly, he is very smart and thought of a way to blind the eyes of seers!”
“Blind the eyes of seers?” Roy was a little confused. “Can this be done?” “Of course!” Lilith said. “How do you think I observe the River of Time?” “Overlooking?” Roy probed. “Overlooking the River of Time?”
“No, wrong!” Lilith said. “Any observation of time requires a marker. These markers can be people or things. Observing the River of Time is based on these markers.”
“Reference objects?” Roy seemed to understand a little.
“Yes, reference objects. If you choose a creature, you can see the scenes it will experience in the future when you observe it. During the entire process of its life, different possibilities will appear when it faces different choices. But if this creature dies, then the subsequent possibilities won’t exist, and it will disappear in the River of Time.”
“What if you choose objects?” Roy asked. “You can observe non-living objects for a long time, right?”
“Yes, but non-living objects can’t move, so I can only observe a fixed scene.
Everything that pa.s.ses through these objects will appear in the scenes, but the limitations are too great, and it’s completely random, ” Lilith said. “So I usually use individual creatures as markers to observe, such as your future or my own future, to obtain a glimpse of the future.”
“So, your observation of the seven demon kings is based on your markers on them?” Roy suddenly understood. “But now that the seven demon kings have split their main bodies, it means that your marks on them have been divided?”
“They’re not divided. To be precise, they’re transferred!” Lilith said. “The marks have been transferred to the divided individuals, so what I can observe are the futures of these divided individuals. The other halves of the seven demon kings’ main bodies and divine sparks are hidden. This is why I’m blinded.”
“… That’s not right!” Roy pondered and replied, “Time is continuous, and so is the future. Even if they can spare no costs to blind you for a while, you only need to use yourself as an observation point and look at your own future. Since we know that they’ve divided themselves, we’ll definitely have to find the other halves of the seven demon kings after entering the Burning h.e.l.ls. Won’t you be able to find them by observing your future or mine?”
“That’s the problem. Be it you or me, in the River of Time in the future, I saw the seven demon kings die in battle. I killed Diablo with my own hands, and you killed Mephisto and Baal. We destroyed the h.e.l.lforge together. But in the following hundred years, the other halves of the seven demon kings’ hidden main bodies never appeared again. In other words, the other halves of their main bodies and divine sparks never had any interaction with us!”
“Tsk, hiding in plain sight?” Roy had a headache. The situation Lilith said was really beyond his expectations, and he couldn’t help complaining. “Your Majesty Lilith, your power as a seer isn’t that reliable!”
“Heh, do you think that being able to control time makes me invincible?! Then, why do you think I was banished to the Void before? I’m not truly omniscient and omnipotent like the Creator!” Lilith was a little unhappy with Roy’s words. “As I said, any future is full of uncertainty. The probability cloud of the quantum state will only collapse and become reality at the last moment… And before that, the observer can’t make choices for others! Mephis...o...b..inded me only because he made a very small probability choice, so everything in the future changed!”
“Okay, these things are too profound, and I don’t understand them… Okay, so what they’ve done is spare no costs to split their divine sparks and main bodies to cause your observations to deviate. Then they adopted forms that don’t cross paths with us to avoid the seven demon kings from appearing in our future scenes to avoid your observations!” Roy concluded. “This is the entire process of Mephisto deceiving your seer eyes. So, why did they do this?”
“It can’t be to sneak attack us because any sneak attack will inevitably come into contact with us. This is the stupidest choice!” Lilith said. “Mephisto took great pains to deceive my observation. How could he expose himself again?
When Roy heard this, his heart suddenly stirred. “You said that they won’t appear in the next hundred years? In other words, you’ll still be in this world for the next hundred years and haven’t embarked on your journey to find the Creator?”
“Yes, half of their main bodies are still hiding. How can I leave in peace?” Lilith said.
“Hmm… In that case, if you don’t make such a choice and choose to leave this world afterward, you won’t be able to see the follow-up of this world, right?” Roy smiled. “Then, why don’t you make a choice to leave after destroying the h.e.l.lforge and then find someone who will continue to stay in this world to see his future?”
“You mean…” Lilith said thoughtfully, “The seven demon kings are waiting for me to leave?”
“Yes. Have you thought of a possibility? The seven demon kings actually don’t need to fight us head-on!” Roy deliberated over his words. “I, Osiris, am an outsider, and my foundation and territory are in the Abyss. As for you, you want to continue your goal. We attacked the Burning h.e.l.ls to leave a safe living environment for Sanctuary. Mephisto can also see some scenes of the future. Perhaps it’s precisely because he saw the future scenes of us all leaving this world that he knows our goal isn’t here. If we fight head-on, the seven demon Kings nugnt lose everytnmg. But tney avoid us ana mae, we’ll nave to leave eventually. At that time, they can make a comeback. This way, even if they lose half of their strength and divine sparks, it’s not a big deal. They can totally replenish them.”
“But in that case, if we destroy the h.e.l.lforge, the Burning h.e.l.ls will be gone…” Lilith was still a little puzzled.
“There’s something I forgot to tell you. When I attacked the High Heavens, I destroyed the Crystal Arch!” Roy said. “Among the pile of holy crystals, I found a key containing rich holy power. I think it should be the foundation of the Crystal Arch, and Mephisto and Diablo exchanged for this key. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but now that I look at it, is it possible for them to use this key to rebuild the Burning h.e.l.ls?” Roy pondered. “After all, the holy power in the key can also be contaminated by dark power…”
“Hmm, in theory, it’s feasible…” Lilith pondered. “I looked at the River of Time just now and indeed found this extremely small probability…”
“That’s right!” Roy sighed in relief. “But in order to verify it, let’s meet up first. I plan to leave my foster son, Sareth, in this world. You can use him as a marker to see his future, and we can strengthen our thoughts of leaving at the same time. This way, we might be able to see the day the seven demon kings return from Sareth!”
“Okay, this is a very safe method!” Lilith agreed. “Let’s meet up first!”
In fact, Lilith could also observe the future of the nephalem warriors she led. But after trying, she found that most of her children would die in the following battles. Even if a small number of them survived, they wouldn’t survive for long. The poisonous air of the Burning h.e.l.ls had already buried huge hidden dangers in their bodies.
Among them was Mendeln… Lilith saw the moment of his death. He was killed by Diablo to protect her…
In Lilith’s opinion, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d Trag’Oul had ill intentions. Although he had allowed the necromancers of the Priests of Rathma to obtain the power of death, the power of death was an immense taboo for the living. While necromancers obtained powerful strength, they were also walking step by step toward decay. It could be said that no necromancer in history had a good ending. It was the same for the first-generation nephalem, Mendeln. Although he had been struggling at death’s door for so long, he was still approaching the end.
Even without this war, he would still die in pain not long later. And dying to protect Lilith could be regarded as him atoning for the sins committed by the nephalem against their mother…
Therefore, although Lilith sighed about it, she had no intention of changing anything.
Perhaps it could be said that Lilith was full of anger when she returned from the Void. But when she saw Mendeln and the scene of him dying to protect her in the future, her anger had already dissipated. Although she didn’t say it, she had already forgiven her children’s past mistakes. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have agreed to save Sanctuary so easily…
Roy didn’t know these things. After pa.s.sing through the Plains of Despair and entering the depths of the Burning h.e.l.ls, he led his army to eliminate the h.e.l.l demons while approaching Lilith’s army. Two days later, Lilith and Roy met in the Temple of Destruction, which was in Baal’s territory.
Sareth stood rooted to the ground in a daze, not daring to move, waiting for Lilith to observe his future.
For some reason, Sareth felt a very rea.s.suring aura from Lilith, so he kept stealing glances at her. Roy, Julia, and the others noticed this scene.
With the authority of reproduction, Lilith actually had an absolute maternal instinct. It was precisely because of this maternal instinct that many myths and legends of various worlds portrayed her as the first mother of humanity. Sareth was also a kind of nephalem, so he felt this maternal instinct in Lilith very deeply.
While observing the River of Time, Lilith’s eyes glowed with golden light. She clearly had the image of a demon, but she looked very holy. After the observation ended, she closed her eyes and sighed softly. “You guessed right, Osiris. The seven demon kings indeed want to avoid us! In my observation of Sareth’s future, they did return. Seven years after we left, the seven demon kings rebuilt the Burning h.e.l.ls using that key… And that time, they returned and completely destroyed Sanctuary!”
Upon hearing this, Roy heaved a sigh of relief. “That’s good. Since we found them, it means that the future has changed again, right?”
“Yes, the fog has dissipated!” Lilith said. “Mephisto calculated very accurately.
He even increased the amount of poisonous gas in the Burning h.e.l.ls in order to completely kill all the nephalem who entered. Moreover, he destroyed the place where they gathered and discussed and erased everything that I might observe…
“But they didn’t expect that I would keep Sareth here, right?” Roy grinned. “They didn’t figure out what I wanted to do from beginning to end. With Sareth as a variable, we have a marker and can see their future.”
Julia added, “In that case, Mephisto shouldn’t know that the future has changed again. We have to deal with the halves of their main bodies and divine sparks that they left behind to confuse us as soon as possible. Otherwise, if Mephisto sees the future change again, it’s hard to say what they’ll do.” “A battle between seers is really a headache…” Benia muttered softly.
Roy asked Lilith, “In the future, could you see where the other halves of their main bodies are hiding?”
“Hmph. Where do you think they’re hiding?” Lilith sneered.
Looking at her expression, he suddenly thought of something. “Where Trag’Oul is hiding?!”
“That’s right!” Lilith nodded. “In that spatial crevice! What’s laughable is that
Trag’Oul thought that he was hiding very well, but he didn’t know that Mephisto had long found his hiding place. He just pretended not to know. I reckon that when we entered the Burning h.e.l.ls, the halves of the seven demon kings had already attacked where Trag’Oul is hiding!”
“Is that fellow dead?” Roy rubbed his chin. “He shouldn’t be able to stop the seven demon kings, right?”
“Not yet. Mendeln should still be able to sense Trag’Oul’s existence!” Lilith turned to look behind her. “Perhaps if we move faster, we might even be able to pick up a hot world-soul t.i.tan soul…”
With that, there was no need to say anything else. The armies of both sides continued to advance and soon met the h.e.l.l army led by Baal.
Although there was only half of the divine spark, Baal’s main body still displayed considerable combat strength. But compared to when the seven demon kings attacked Lilith together, it was apparent that his strength had decreased a lot. But this guy acted well. If Roy and the others hadn’t seen through the plans of the seven demon kings, they might have really fallen for it.
The seven demon kings had been in this world for so long, but they had never taken down the High Heavens or destroyed Sanctuary. Not only had they not achieved their goal, but they had also been sealed in the Black Soulstone a few times. It could really be said that they were unlucky.
Perhaps it was precisely because of this situation of losing every war that the seven demon kings had long lost their pride as demon kings in the depths of their hearts. They had never thought of fighting to the death. This could be seen from the fact that Mephisto had brought in Roy as external help. They didn’t have much confidence in themselves.
In human terms, this was called being beaten by society…
Therefore, it was reasonable for Mephisto and the others to choose not to fight Roy and Lilith head-on. It could even be said that Mephisto’s plan to blind
Lilith’s seer eyes was an utter stroke of genius. Without the existence of Sareth, Roy and Lilith might not have had any good ideas. As long as they left, the seven demon kings could take over the entire world of Sanctuary without any effort. At that time, there would be no enemies, and they would be truly carefree.
But a plan was a plan. From the moment it was seen through, the stroke of genius suddenly became a failure. If the seven demon kings might have had the strength to fight against the combination of Roy and Lilith before, then after splitting their main bodies and divine sparks, this move suddenly became their greatest mistake!
The process of killing Baal was not as spectacular as imagined. It could even be said to be a bit simple. In order to confuse the seven demon kings, Roy even killed Baal according to what Lilith had seen originally!
After his soul was captured, Baal had been cursing Roy and Lilith, but only he knew what he was thinking deep down.. Perhaps he was still feeling smug, thinking that everything was going according to what his brother Mephisto said…