Indeed, Selene was right. From humor to behavior, l.u.s.t aside, Konradreminded Qehreman of his eldest brother. The similarities wereastonis.h.i.+ng. However, his brother didn"t start out that way and wasforced onto the road of a devil for the sake of his beloved.
But if not for that change, none of them would still exist.
Inthat instant, Qehreman"s mind drifted to distant times, countlessepochs ago, when all lives chafed under the oppression of that race, andtheir invincible sovereign. The sorrow, the losses, separations, anddespair.
If not for his eldest brother"s transformation, howcould it have ended? All he was and all he had was built upon the evilof those days.
And seeing him flinch, Selene made her last move.
"I believe there is something on him you will find interesting."
Arching his eyebrows, Qehreman spun toward Konrad, and with a glance, saw through the entirety of his existence.
Two things astonished him.
Onthe one hand, while Else used her life to save Konrad through timeparadoxes, although he still failed, the period of his Death Conversiongrew increasingly longer!
Right, for some incomprehensiblereason, although at first, the increase was barely noticeable, Konradmanaged to extend his Death Conversion and approach closer to success.If this carried on, he would indeed succeed!
Alas, Else"s life had reached its end.
But the surprise of that prowess was nothing when compared to that one thing he found on Konrad"s body.
Qehreman stretched out his hand, causing an incomplete painting to leave Konrad"s s.p.a.ce treasure and appear within his hand.
"How…could this be?"
Thispainting was the incomplete G.o.d-artifact Konrad had obtained within theTower 1 . After all those years, he still failed to put it to use. Butwhen Qehreman"s eyes laid on it, and he saw the story it retold, hishands trembled!
"Did eldest brother really…choose him? Otherwise, how could this possibly be with him?"
Whatthis incomplete painting retold was the first half of their life, theentirety of their struggles, and how, for their sake, their eldestbrother rose in rebellion against the sovereign-master of their era.
Seeing it, the most horrid parts of his past reappeared within Qehreman"s mind, and his eyes turned misty.
"Alright,then in front of this house, with your deceased parents as ourwitnesses, let"s swear an oath. An oath not to heaven or the world, butto ourselves, to our hearts, that although we weren"t born of the sameparents or on the same day, we shall live and die together!"
"Today,we four swear that although we weren"t born of the same parents or onthe same day, we shall live and die together! In this pledge, we arebound, with a link stronger than blood!"
And they did.
"Nevermind. For the sake of that brotherhood pledge, I will give him achance. However, success or failure will still depend on him."
Qehreman declared and waved his hand, causing a white ray to dive into Konrad"s forehead.
And without further ado, he returned the painting to Konrad"s s.p.a.ce treasure and vanished from the Ancient Crystal World.
"I ask for nothing more."
AlthoughQehreman no longer stood there, Selene still bowed in thanks. She thens.h.i.+fted her attention toward Konrad and was pleasantly surprised to seethe prism mark on his forehead glitter with resplendent light.
Meanwhile,within his mind, Konrad"s soul was submerged by unending waves ofdarkness that threatened to devour it whole. At the same time, themillions of souls trapped within his body rose in rebellion andcoordinated with the tidal waves of darkness to tear his soul to shreds.
Konrad knew that escaping served no purpose. Therefore, hewelcomed the darkness, allowing it to merge with his soul and triggerthe start of an intense battle. That darkness was Death.
And ashe grew increasingly closer to becoming one with it, the rebelling soulsinterfered, sneak-attacking him at the critical juncture, to preventhis success. Although he managed to repel the first wave, it was but adrop in the bucket when compared to the millions of souls he had to copewith.
In the previous tries, at one point or the other, thesouls would always get the best of him and usher his demise. However, atone point, he had a crazed idea:
Consumption.
And withouthesitation, like a Ravenous Ghost, Konrad started devouring the soulsone after the other. As he did, his soul grew increasingly bigger, goingfrom 1.9 meters to two, then three, four, five, ten…and still it grew.
Andby the time he consumed the first million, his soul towered at morethan three hundred meters. However, unending legions remained,preventing him from s.h.i.+fting attention toward Death, which ate him frominside.
At that time, a bright light emerged within his soulworld, preventing the remaining tens of millions of souls from makinganother move. And seeing them suppressed by this foreign force, Konrads.h.i.+fted his attention back onto Death and a.s.similated it once and forall.
By the time he"d completed the a.s.similation, the souls wereback in motion, but this time, Konrad faced them with full confidence.
Initially,he planned to make those souls the building block of his chthonianarmy. But since they wouldn"t stay put, he could only suffer a loss, anddevour them all!
His soul turned into a dark light beam, and tore through all the souls, turning them into nutrients for it to grow further!
Konrad"s soul now reached one thousand meters, and overflowed with endless quant.i.ties of nether force!
Meanwhile, in the outside world, his body bathed in death essence.
Afaceless creature cloaked in black appeared before Konrad and extendedits hands toward him. A black ray shot from the creature"s sleeve,attempting to obliterate Konrad"s soul. But by the time it reached him,the ray vanished, unable to leave the tiniest damage!
Thecreature nodded in approval and vanished from Konrad"s sight. However,as it did, he had the conception that if he could somehow destroy thatcreature, he would reach a grander level!
A matter for another time.
For now, his Death Conversion was…a success!
Thedark lines covering Konrad"s flesh vanished from his skin, and in aneruption of pitch-black fog, his ma.s.sive soul emerged from his body,bringing alongside it the entirety of his death essence!
Toolarge for the cave, Konrad"s one-thousand meters tall soul compacteditself back to 1.9 meters, and in his black fog state, he fell towardElse"s side, but was startled to see…that she no longer breathed!
"Thank you."
Konrad whispered as he realized the cause of Else"s fall.
Icy-bluenether force erupted from his soul, dancing with his pitch-black deathessence while his ethereal shape underwent drastic changes!
In aflash, Konrad"s foggy shape morphed into a brand-new body nigh identicalto the one that laid on the ground within Else"s arms.
Insteadof the previous translucent shade, his skin now appeared snow-white,while his jade-colored hairs became pure white, and his golden eyeschanged to icy-blue. Dressed in a simple black robe, he dropped onto theground, perfectly landing on his feet.
Within that new body, themastered laws of Death and Nether stood in harmony, forming a perfectcycle of chthonian energies. Indeed, through his death conversion andthe digestion of those millions of souls, Konrad also achieved NetherWielding.
And while his current body didn"t have the previousone"s cultivation, within those small hands of his, the strength toobliterate a world rippled!
Indeed, following the deathconversion, on top of a startling range of new abilities, Konrad wasforced to condense this new body, which in terms of strength, speed, andresilience, stood leagues above his previous peak!
"Even by relying on flesh alone, I am far stronger than Dasra at his best."
Konrad realized.
Althoughbefore, he"d managed to crush Dasra, that was because he relied on hisMight Reversal Armor. Without it, the battle wouldn"t have ended on sucha favorable note. Moreover, Dasra didn"t use any artifact, relyingsolely on bloodline, physiques, and cultivation.
But now, thoughnot an ounce of cultivation base laid in him, with his body thatsurpa.s.sed most peak-stage Minor G.o.ds in strength, Konrad didn"t doubtthat ten Dasras weren"t his match!
Still, that mattered not.
Konrad stretched out his right hand and aimed it at Else"s deceased body.
"Death Negation."
He uttered, causing a black ray to erupt from his index and dive into her chest.