Indeed, Selene was right. From humor to behavior, l.u.s.t aside, Konrad
reminded Qehreman of his eldest brother. The similarities were
astonis.h.i.+ng. However, his brother didn't start out that way and was
forced onto the road of a devil for the sake of his beloved.
But if not for that change, none of them would still exist.
In
that instant, Qehreman's mind drifted to distant times, countless
epochs ago, when all lives chafed under the oppression of that race, and
their invincible sovereign. The sorrow, the losses, separations, and
despair.
If not for his eldest brother's transformation, how
could it have ended? All he was and all he had was built upon the evil
of 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.
On
the one hand, while Else used her life to save Konrad through time
paradoxes, although he still failed, the period of his Death Conversion
grew increasingly longer!
Right, for some incomprehensible
reason, although at first, the increase was barely noticeable, Konrad
managed 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?"
This
painting was the incomplete G.o.d-artifact Konrad had obtained within the
Tower 1 . After all those years, he still failed to put it to use. But
when Qehreman's eyes laid on it, and he saw the story it retold, his
hands trembled!
"Did eldest brother really…choose him? Otherwise, how could this possibly be with him?"
What
this incomplete painting retold was the first half of their life, the
entirety of their struggles, and how, for their sake, their eldest
brother 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 our
witnesses, let's swear an oath. An oath not to heaven or the world, but
to ourselves, to our hearts, that although we weren't born of the same
parents 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 on
the same day, we shall live and die together! In this pledge, we are
bound, with a link stronger than blood!"
And they did.
"Never
mind. For the sake of that brotherhood pledge, I will give him a
chance. 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."
Although
Qehreman no longer stood there, Selene still bowed in thanks. She then
s.h.i.+fted her attention toward Konrad and was pleasantly surprised to see
the prism mark on his forehead glitter with resplendent light.
Meanwhile,
within his mind, Konrad's soul was submerged by unending waves of
darkness that threatened to devour it whole. At the same time, the
millions of souls trapped within his body rose in rebellion and
coordinated with the tidal waves of darkness to tear his soul to shreds.
Konrad knew that escaping served no purpose. Therefore, he
welcomed the darkness, allowing it to merge with his soul and trigger
the start of an intense battle. That darkness was Death.
And as
he grew increasingly closer to becoming one with it, the rebelling souls
interfered, sneak-attacking him at the critical juncture, to prevent
his success. Although he managed to repel the first wave, it was but a
drop in the bucket when compared to the millions of souls he had to cope
with.
In the previous tries, at one point or the other, the
souls would always get the best of him and usher his demise. However, at
one point, he had a crazed idea:
Consumption.
And without
hesitation, like a Ravenous Ghost, Konrad started devouring the souls
one after the other. As he did, his soul grew increasingly bigger, going
from 1.9 meters to two, then three, four, five, ten…and still it grew.
And
by the time he consumed the first million, his soul towered at more
than three hundred meters. However, unending legions remained,
preventing him from s.h.i.+fting attention toward Death, which ate him from
inside.
At that time, a bright light emerged within his soul
world, preventing the remaining tens of millions of souls from making
another move. And seeing them suppressed by this foreign force, Konrad
s.h.i.+fted his attention back onto Death and a.s.similated it once and for
all.
By the time he'd completed the a.s.similation, the souls were
back in motion, but this time, Konrad faced them with full confidence.
Initially,
he planned to make those souls the building block of his chthonian
army. But since they wouldn't stay put, he could only suffer a loss, and
devour 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.
A
faceless creature cloaked in black appeared before Konrad and extended
its 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!
The
creature nodded in approval and vanished from Konrad's sight. However,
as it did, he had the conception that if he could somehow destroy that
creature, he would reach a grander level!
A matter for another time.
For now, his Death Conversion was…a success!
The
dark lines covering Konrad's flesh vanished from his skin, and in an
eruption of pitch-black fog, his ma.s.sive soul emerged from his body,
bringing alongside it the entirety of his death essence!
Too
large for the cave, Konrad's one-thousand meters tall soul compacted
itself back to 1.9 meters, and in his black fog state, he fell toward
Else'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-blue
nether force erupted from his soul, dancing with his pitch-black death
essence while his ethereal shape underwent drastic changes!
In a
flash, Konrad's foggy shape morphed into a brand-new body nigh identical
to the one that laid on the ground within Else's arms.
Instead
of the previous translucent shade, his skin now appeared snow-white,
while his jade-colored hairs became pure white, and his golden eyes
changed to icy-blue. Dressed in a simple black robe, he dropped onto the
ground, perfectly landing on his feet.
Within that new body, the
mastered laws of Death and Nether stood in harmony, forming a perfect
cycle of chthonian energies. Indeed, through his death conversion and
the digestion of those millions of souls, Konrad also achieved Nether
Wielding.
And while his current body didn't have the previous
one's cultivation, within those small hands of his, the strength to
obliterate a world rippled!
Indeed, following the death
conversion, on top of a startling range of new abilities, Konrad was
forced to condense this new body, which in terms of strength, speed, and
resilience, stood leagues above his previous peak!
"Even by relying on flesh alone, I am far stronger than Dasra at his best."
Konrad realized.
Although
before, he'd managed to crush Dasra, that was because he relied on his
Might Reversal Armor. Without it, the battle wouldn't have ended on such
a favorable note. Moreover, Dasra didn't use any artifact, relying
solely on bloodline, physiques, and cultivation.
But now, though
not an ounce of cultivation base laid in him, with his body that
surpa.s.sed most peak-stage Minor G.o.ds in strength, Konrad didn't doubt
that 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.
