A giant spider carrying an icy Imperial Palace on its back slowly stood up, waking and moving for the first time in countless years. Ice shards fell densely and the wind howled harder as it raised its head, yet it was not the only force bringing change. It had sensed a familiar presence, which was why it awoke, and because it was that presence, it would never allow its domain to be violated by that burning heat.
The edge of the crown began to melt into water, heat rising impossibly as forbidden light shone over the dead snowfield. It let out a piercing cry and controlled its Authority, countless spikes rising along the mountain roots into a giant maw-like cage reaching for the sky. These icy spikes forged from ancient cold were melted away before reaching their target, dissolved from within.
Strands of blazing light licked greedily at the ice, a lone but brilliant sun descending from the sky, its mere arrival melting an entire corner of the icy crown. The newcomer spread its wings from the sun, their edges blazing like a corona, the heat rising until it turned white and even edged toward black. Covered in crimson armor, its body like molten land torn open by Rend, a massive red pterosaur of flame and shadow landed, its claws turning the ground into lava.
After a roar announcing its arrival, rings of white-hot fire expanded outward, melting and evaporating mountains in waves. Silence and ruin, ice and decay, clashed here in opposite forms, one side a frozen world, the other a molten hell. With a thunderous blast, a fireball like an amplified nuclear explosion erupted atop the icy Crown.
"That's some luck. I just went out and already ran into everyone."
After sensing the violent energy fluctuations, Belial quickly analyzed the directions. Since all four directions had already met resistance, that was perfect. He would go fill the last gap himself, and a reverse encirclement began to take shape.
If Belial's strength when he first arrived were counted as one, then after eating his way here, that number had risen to about seven or eight. By activating a burning state and pushing all systems up, he could roughly double that again to around fourteen or sixteen. This was normal, since the stronger he became, the slower the growth felt, and beating weak targets no longer brought much improvement beyond raw volume.
To keep his earlier Clone bodies strong enough to draw fire and trade blows, Belial had split off a large portion of his power, meaning the black mist that made up his body was thinner than before. As a result, his current level had dropped back to around the time he ate Anguirus and those three, leaving him at roughly four or five. Only by activating the burning state could he surpass his old normal level.
"My power is low, but it is enough. I got weaker, but that does not mean you got stronger," Belial muttered to himself. "And as long as you all have enough tricks in your heads, you will not come at me in a solid block like before."
When a group of nasty figures finally tried to unite against an outside threat, true unity would indeed be dangerous. But when every one of them was full of schemes, and multiple fights broke out the moment they tried to work together, suspicion would rise immediately. At that point, everyone would start wondering who was trying to stab them in the back, and even surface cooperation would fall apart.
That was where Belial could work freely. First, he needed to find or create a chaotic battlefield, and with so many familiar faces and such dense prey, baiting the area had become far more effective. Thankfully, he had already branded the Cyber Fishing Beacon, allowing him to recreate several of the same lure devices nearby.
He stuffed the lures with leftover soul fragments from the giant lobster and mantis he had eaten earlier. The lingering soul waves were enough to draw in starving predators, something Belial had noticed long ago. With a solid plan in place, he worked carefully, avoiding overdoing it and attracting more than he could handle, lest fishing turn into Leeroy Jenkins.
"The range cannot be too big at first. One or two is enough," he said quietly. "I can expand it slowly after I see how things go."
After tossing down a crimson Shard fragment, Belial dissolved himself into Black Mist Form, a form far better suited for hiding. He suppressed all energy fluctuations and lowered his physical parameters, vanishing into the endless Void. In a normal world, the fear and resentment leaking from this form would have been obvious to anyone.
Here, however, resentment filled Abyss everywhere, and dense patches were common enough to look ordinary at a glance. There was no light at all, so darkness meant nothing, and this disguise played perfectly to Belial's strengths. He settled in to wait, half asleep, ready to wake at the slightest disturbance.
It did not take long. Two presences arrived almost at the same time, both catching the sweet scent drifting through Void and changing their search paths without hesitation. Each was a Crimson God, aggressive in bearing and full of hidden intent, and both noticed the lone Shard fragment floating in the void.
They also sensed each other, raising their guard instantly. Neither dared to move, eyes locked, each ready to unfold their Authority at the first sign of trouble. The distant echoes of other undisguised battles only made them more cautious, as trust collapsed even further.
Their first shared thought was simple. Someone was trying to set them up. Anyone fishing at a time like this was either the prey itself or a hunter in disguise, and neither option was safe.
Still, the fragment was too tempting, and neither wanted to show weakness. They roared and released pressure, posturing without advancing, stuck in a strange stalemate because their strength was too close. The moment stretched on until the crimson Shard fragment suddenly vanished, snatched away by a slick tentacle reaching in from the side.
The octopus-shaped Crimson God showed brief annoyance but did not hesitate. It reeled the fragment in and immediately fled, and an unspoken agreement formed between the other two. If a third party took the prize, that third party would face both their wrath.
They attacked together, unleashing their Divine Kingdom as they charged. The Giant Octopus was no fool, though, or it would never have dared steal under their noses, and its single combat power was even slightly higher than either of them alone. Three roars echoed as the clash began.
One was a dragon-like beast that stamped the ground with two legs, its mountain-sized body releasing a shockwave roar that erased matter into dust and tore open a black Crack in its wake. Another was a massive crab with many legs and heavy claws, slipping into the invisible depths of Void before bursting out and releasing dreamlike bubbles that sealed matter and concepts into tiny worlds and drained them dry.
At the center was the Giant Octopus itself, with eight thick tentacles and a body larger than the other two combined. Its presence was like a deep-sea leviathan, its domain a ruined temple sunk beneath Abyss. When their powers collided, the first shock alone was enough to tear apart a landmass the size of a region of The Continent.
They all recognized the gap in strength, but none of them had survived this long by being simple. This was two against one, and even a fragile alliance could cover the difference. Long-range barrages and close combat followed, each side using their Authority to overwrite and twist the other's rules.
Wounds appeared and vanished again and again, while parts of their Divine Kingdom warped into a tangled mess beyond simple sight. This was the true power of a Crimson God, not just smashing worlds into Shard dust, but reshaping concepts themselves. Only one exception came to mind.
As for Belial, he was thinking and adjusting his angle. He charged energy smoothly, opening his jaws as internal reactions climbed, the fluctuations hidden by the chaos of the battle. Like a patient fisherman, he watched the three prey fight, judging how to fire a single Heat Ray to skewer them all.
Killing all three in one shot was wishful thinking, especially without the burning state, but seriously wounding them was realistic. With his reduced strength, caution mattered, so he observed their abilities while idly commenting on their forms. A big dinosaur, a crab, and an octopus were not exactly subtle.
Their power hovered around Anguirus's level, one even weaker. After a quick assessment, Mephist felt confident. These were manageable targets.
"Get ready, and line up nicely," he whispered. "Try to make this easy for me."
A blinding white light ignited in the distance, like a star lit in the void. The heat and violent energy drew the attention of the three Crimson God before they could react, as the beam erupted outward. This was his strongest normal-state attack, the Fusion Reaction Beam, weaker than the burning state's Red Lotus Dragon but still devastating.