Volume 36

Chapter 724: The Betrayal of the Fallen Prince

When Asasus arrived at the gates of the Tower of Ten Thousand Doors, accompanied by the undead demon Tanobos disguised as a guard, the two legendary Soul Judgers on duty immediately flapped their short wings and strode forward with their bulky bodies, greeting him with flattering expressions.

“Prince Asasus, how may Chakchik assist you?” “I am at your service, Your Highness!”

Satisfied by the behavior of these powerful Soul Judgers, Asasus nodded gracefully and smiled. “I intend to use a portal. Open the main gates!”

“It’s an honor, Your Highness!”

Without the slightest hesitation, the two Soul Judgers bowed in unison, immediately operating the winches. The clinking sound of chains echoed as the iron gates slowly swung open, revealing the numerous portals inside the Tower of Ten Thousand Doors.

Though the Soul Judgers appeared burly, they were actually quite cunning, their deceitfulness standing in sharp contrast to their seemingly simple appearance. Delighted, Asasus nodded subtly and stepped inside, followed by his demonic entourage.

Glancing at the strange demons behind Asasus and then at him, the two legendary Soul Judgers saw that the fallen prince said nothing, so they did not try to stop him. Both in terms of strength and status, they were far inferior to Asasus, a half-divine demon prince.

Moreover, since the Fallen Monarch was not in his domain, Asasus’s authority seemed even greater in their eyes. After all, they were merely guards—If Asasus found an excuse to execute them, even the returned Prince Grant would likely not punish his favorite son. In other words, dying would be pointless. Given the demons’ chaotic, evil, and utterly selfish nature, they certainly wouldn’t risk their lives for a mere possibility.

Of course, this applied only to Asasus. If it were one of Grant’s other children, they probably wouldn’t have been allowed to pass so easily.

After opening the main gates to welcome the fallen prince inside, the two legendary Soul Judgers stopped outside, not daring to go further. Their task was limited to guarding the gates; the interior of the Tower of Ten Thousand Doors was managed by the Fallen Monarch’s servants.

Although various demons and strange creatures served the Fallen Monarch, Grant still preferred those who were attractive and eloquent.

His domain was filled with handsome lion-human hybrids, male and female succubi, harpies, and demons. There were also many Tiflins, Cambions, and other offspring of demons and mortals—races of striking appearance. The one in charge of guarding the teleportation gates inside the Tower of Ten Thousand Doors was a demon, a legendary priest of the Fallen Lord. She was a beautiful female demon, yet her old cloak and aged expression cast a grayish hue over her appearance, as if she were an elderly servant guarding her master’s tomb, faithfully awaiting his return one day. “I’m going to the lowest level—prepare the keys!” Asas ordered the demon. The ageless administrator of the Tower of Ten Thousand Doors glanced up at Asas but said nothing. She simply picked up a bunch of keys from the wall and clanked down to the lower levels. Asas wasn’t visiting here for the first time; he knew this legendary demon never spoke, even when his father came here. So he didn’t mind her silence. In fact, this lack of conversation was advantageous for him—those who liked to talk would surely question his intentions. The interior of the Tower of Ten Thousand Doors resembled another world. If one hadn’t come in from the outside, no one would have guessed it was the interior of a tall tower. It was a cylindrical cave carved inside a mountain, with a faint glimmer of sky light visible at the top. The center of the cave was open, with no buildings, and below lay utter darkness, like an bottomless abyss. All structures were carved into the cylindrical walls, with door-like cavities built along the mountain sides. Movement up and down was only possible via spiral stone stairs carved into the walls. The Tower of Ten Thousand Doors had six levels, not only because of the Fallen Lord’s fondness for the number six but also because it housed teleportation gates corresponding to the Star Realm, Celestial Realm, Inner Realm, Material Realm, Lower Realm, and the Hidden Layer. The lowest level Asas was heading to led to a little-known hidden layer of the multiverse. Just as they reached the lowest level via the spiral stairs and prepared to choose a teleportation gate, a voice echoed through the empty tower above. “My dear Asas, where are you going?” Asas looked up and saw a petite, elegantly dressed woman descending the stairs.

This beautiful woman with milky-white skin and golden long hair was bare-chested, with the lower half of her body being that of a strong lion—a human-lion, clearly one of Grant’s favorite types of servants.
“Beliala, what are you doing here?”
Yasas said coldly. Yet upon seeing it was this girl, he felt relieved.
The beautiful half-human, half-lion girl smiled sweetly and said, “I heard my dearest brother has returned, so of course I had to come and see!”
She was one of Grant’s children, just like Yasas, born to the fallen monarch. Descendants of this lustful fallen monarch could be found throughout the multiverse. There were so many of them that even Grant himself didn’t know everyone’s whereabouts.
However, as Grant’s four most outstanding children, Yasas, Beliala, and Azar were allowed to stay by their father’s side in the Silver Palace, while Iuz managed an empire for the fallen monarch in the Material Plane.
To outsiders, Yasas, who seemed perfect in every way, was Grant’s favorite child. But Yasas knew that the one who brought the greatest pride to their father was Iuz.
Iuz’s power and achievements far exceeded his parents’ expectations. This chaotic and evil half-demon human warrior was the child of the fallen monarch and the Witch Queen Ig.
As a mortal witch who once imprisoned Grant and acquired a portion of his immense power, Ig possessed undeniable wisdom and strength due to her heritage from the legitimate Arcane Empire. With such outstanding parents, her offspring naturally had extraordinary talents.
After reaching adulthood, Iuz seized the throne of the empire created by his mother through his own strength. The Witch Queen Ig, having had that power taken back from her by the fallen monarch, dropped to a legendary rank. Though she still had some powerful survival methods, she was forced to hide in hidden realms of the multiverse to avoid trouble from her enemies.
As a demi-god and ruler of a vast empire, Iuz achieved great success in a short time. Now, Iuz had become the key figure in Grant’s campaigns against the entire Material World and the higher realms. But with the multiverse in turmoil, the fallen monarch wasn’t in a hurry to carry out his grand plans; all he needed was for Iuz to control certain parts of his empire on his behalf.

Rumors circulated in the Triple Kingdoms that the great Fallen Monarch wished to reconcile with Ig to birth another powerful offspring in a new material plane, thereby reviving Iuz’s great achievements. That was why Yasas feared his half-brother Iuz greatly. If Iuz discovered his actions, he would likely be exposed this time. But now that his sister Belara had appeared, it was impossible to stop his plans. With disdain, he said, “Thank you, my dear sister, for caring so much about me. Now that you’ve seen enough, you can leave!” Hearing Yasas’s words, Belara grew furious, but as a descendant of the Fallen Monarch, she was skilled at acting. She didn’t show anger but instead smiled and said, “Where are you planning to go, Yasas? The lowest levels of the Tower of Ten Thousand Doors lead to very secret and important areas. Even you probably don’t have the authority to wander there, right?” Well aware of her status in the Fallen Monarch’s eyes, Belara was always self-aware. If not for the suspicious behavior of Yasas this time, she wouldn’t have risked offending him by trying to stop him. Though she was one of Grant’s most mysterious children, with a mysterious origin, she stood out among the countless descendants of the Fallen Monarchs as one of the four most favored, seemingly receiving special attention from her father. Yet Belara knew her place—in the eyes of the Fallen Monarch, she was only slightly better than Azar, that ambitionless good-for-nothing. Perhaps Azar was the least ambitious of Grant’s children. Lazy and decadent, he managed a territory in a remote corner of Pazunia, guarding the portal to the Triple Kingdoms, living only for drunken indulgence every day, yet never truly happy. Despite lacking power and influence, Azar was Grant’s most loyal child. In his father’s eyes, he might even be more trusted than her. Due to the invasion by the gods of the heavens, Azar had long sealed the portal in Pazunia and returned to the Triple Kingdoms to hide. Belara had originally planned to persuade Azar to come and question Yasas’s actions, but Azar didn’t want to cause trouble while his father was away, ruining her plans. She had no choice but to come here on her own, gritting her teeth. “I’m on a secret mission assigned by my great father. Are you even interested in that?”

With Asas’s single sentence dismissing many of his excuses, Bel’Yala waved his hand in anger, snorted coldly, and turned to leave. However, he deliberately slowed his pace, clearly trying to figure out which portal Asas wanted to enter. But Asas’s patience left Bel’Yala disappointed, and in the end, he stormed out of the gates of the Tower of Thousands of Portals. Only after seeing Bel’Yala truly leave did Asas point to a dark and dim portal at the lowest level of the tower. After the Demon Manager used a special key to open it, he stepped through with his demonic attendants following closely behind.