Chapter 730: Asas’ Deception and Redemption (1)

At the very heart of the Hidden Hall, the wails of the dead and their whispered secrets continued to echo deep within this city of death. There stood a throne built from piles of bones.
On top of the throne was a giant skeleton clad in a black robe, with a rust-red skeleton. In its hands, it held a massive staff several feet tall, deep brown in color, emitting a divine glow that brought a sense of utter coldness and death to those who saw it.
This skeleton did not have the flames of soul fire burning in its eye sockets like other undead creatures, nor did it exude any sense of power; it seemed like nothing more than a dead corpse.
Yet those who knew about the lowest prisons of Kasseli and the city of death could guess its true, terrifying identity—it was the ancient God of Death, Nairaku.
After Asas and Thanobos entered the city of death, this terrifying skeleton showed no reaction. As Thanobos had said before, during its slumber, for some reason, this flesh-reaper had little awareness of the outside world. As long as one did not deliberately reveal oneself in front of it, it was possible to sneak in and out.
However, this situation changed when the waters of the River of Darkness flowed past them, passing by the location of the Hidden Hall. The moment the colorless river flowed through the Hidden Hall, sparks seemed to appear in the giant skeleton’s eye sockets, with a flash of scarlet light.
Then, a creaking sound, like that of mechanisms being activated in a secret room, came from the joints of the giant rust-red skeleton. The scarlet flames of soul fire within its skull flared up suddenly, as if doused with gasoline. Silent howls, along with a cold and insane sense of death, instantly dominated the entire city of death. All beings within the domain of the gods of death began to howl in response.
No matter how deep the God of Death was asleep, this was still the domain of a former supreme god. With such a powerful force as the River of Darkness invading the core of its domain, if it still showed no reaction, it was likely on the verge of destruction.
Asas and the others were unaware that they were affected by someone else. They thought it was just bad luck—having been discovered by the God of Death, Nairaku, as soon as they entered the city of death!
“There’s no other choice. We must first find Aedimachus and then escape together from this city of death!”
Asas spoke with a determined tone. Thanobos pretended to agree, but his true thoughts remained hidden.

There were quite a number of rooms attached around the Hidden Palace. Moreover, their owners changed frequently, so Asas could not be sure whether Edimachus was still imprisoned in the room he knew of. Yet he had no choice but to take the risk and try while Nairou had just awakened. Fortunately, the location of his target had remained unchanged over the years. When Asas made his way deep into the City of Death and arrived once again before that familiar stone chamber, breaking through the outer defenses, he saw the figure locked in the center of the chamber with iron chains—still standing tall despite endless torment. Even a cunning demon like him could not help but have his eyes fill with tears. “Edimachus!” The figure in the center of the chamber slowly turned upon hearing his voice. On its pale face appeared a smile filled with madness, despair, and struggle. “No! Damn you, Miraku! What have you done to Edimachus?” Asas cried out Edimachus’s name in disbelief, but Edimachus seemed to hear a faint voice from afar and failed to react immediately. At that moment, a sinister laugh came from the other side of the chamber. A withered demon skeleton, its eyes glowing with evil light and surrounded by an aura of death, approached them. This was the most powerful undead demon priest of the City of Death—Dark Miraku. “Prince Grant was right after all. You truly felt something for Edimachus and would surely come to save him one day. The problem is that the Layers of Death are not the main world. Great Lord Nairou has awakened, and you and your immortal companion have lost any chance of leaving. I wonder if you regret it now, my dear Prince Asas!” With a semi-divine status, he could rely on the power of the god he worshipped—especially in the home territory of the City of Death—enough to fight against lower gods. Miraku also knew he had too many enemies and was infamous; many righteous gods wanted to destroy him completely. This was why, even as Nairou’s messenger, he could obtain the chance to leave the prison dimension of Kasseli, a dream for many others, yet he rarely left. Faced with Dark Miraku, the undead demon priest, Tanobos, who was a lower god-level powerhouse, wasn’t too concerned. What he feared was still the God of Death, Nairou.

And Azathoth harbored utter hatred toward Miraku. Seeing his beloved tortured into an unrecognizable state filled the fallen prince with such rage that he wished to break Miraku’s bones into pieces and throw them into the Plane of Fire, where they would be scorched by endless lava.
“I’ll deal with this guy. You go wake Edimachus, and then we’ll break out together!”
Tanobos feared that Azathoth might act on impulse due to such provocation, jeopardizing his plans, so he immediately diverted Azathoth’s attention after meeting Miraku.
This tactic indeed worked for Azathoth. Concern for Edimachus’ safety took precedence in his heart, overshadowing his hatred for Miraku, preventing the fallen prince from making any rash moves.
Then, Tanobos, the lord of the undead demons, engaged in battle with Dark Miraku, the demon priest who had willingly descended into an undead lich.
As both powerful entities in the realm of the undead, even without considering their true strength, Tanobos still held the upper hand by nature.
Compared to Miraku, an undead creature who had become a lich later in life, Tanobos—created from the start as a powerful half-undead, half-demon being by a mighty creator like Oscar—had a significant advantage. Moreover, Tanobos was himself a lord of undead demons at the level of a lower god.
Although Miraku could achieve lower-god-level combat strength by leveraging the power of Nairou, his undead physique offered no advantage against Tanobos. Nor could Miraku’s cunning tactics compare to Tanobos’ vast experience gained through countless years of battles in the abyss.
Thus, from the start, Miraku was at a disadvantage after making a mistake in his first move.
Meanwhile, Azathoth went to Edimachus, who was imprisoned, freeing him from his bonds while recounting their past together, trying to awaken Edimachus’ true, conscious will.
Speaking of Edimachus’ background, many in the multiverse who knew something about the history of the heavens or the abyss had surely heard of this fallen angel and demon king.
As one of the three giants of the abyss, he not only possessed strength comparable to that of higher gods but was also infamous—even throughout the multiverse—for his perverse preferences, which were even more well-known than his immense power.

Grant’s favorite pastime was to tempt those orderly and righteous beings who detested evil into corruption, which was no different from other demon lords’ preferences. But what made it terrifying was that, while other demons used life, wealth, and power as bait, Grant preferred to disguise himself as a righteous figure to win his targets’ trust, gradually weakening their resolve. If things didn’t go as planned, he would threaten to use the most important people in their lives, ultimately forcing them to willingly embrace corruption. Often, the victims even failed to harbor resentment toward him as the instigator.

Anyone familiar with past examples would be deeply horrified by the manipulative tactics employed by this Fallen Monarch.

As the most successful case of a Fallen Monarch, Grant still took pride in having successfully corrupted Edimachus, once the strongest warrior in the heavens and a leader of celestial beings who had nearly eradicated ancient demons. Even his efforts to tempt the ugly Koshcherch as a succubus queen paled in comparison to his achievement in corrupting Edimachus.

And this might not have been surprising if it were all there was to it, as other powerful demon lords had also accomplished similar feats. Edimachus, though blessed by the gods of justice and as powerful as a true god, still fell short of the level of an upper deity and was not among the greatest.

Yet the story wasn’t over there.

Even during his exile in the abyss, Edimachus, now a demon lord, never gave up on his former glory or his hatred for the Fallen Monarch. In pursuit of greater power, he began to seek revenge on Grant. Relying on his unique charisma, this once formidable leader of celestial beings gathered a band of demons in the abyssal world. Leading this fierce army of demons, Edimachus, leveraging his knowledge of the upper realms, successfully invaded the paradise realm, where celestial beings lived.

The celestial armies of Paradise Mountain reacted in time and repelled the demon forces, but at a great cost. The angelic populations of Paradise Mountain were forced to tear out a section of their realm contaminated and occupied by demons, discard it, and hurl it into the Bottomless Abyss. This large chunk of realm material landed in a layer within the Abyss known as the Skull Pillow Realm. The corrupted Edimachus quickly incorporated the remnants of Paradise Mountain into the Skull Pillow Realm.

In this way, he became the demon lord of that plane, gaining almost infinite power and evolving into a demon prince in the process. Aedimachus ruled the Cranium Realm for many years, transforming it from ruins into a vast demon empire, his power once returning to its peak as a mid-tier god with the support of the gods. Even after being defeated by Grant’s schemes, he still achieved some success, becoming the second most powerful fallen being in the heavens after the fallen monarch Mathius.