Chapter 731: Azathoth’s Deception and Redemption (II)

News of Edimachus being defeated by the Fallen Monarch in a revenge-driven challenge and disappearing completely spread swiftly throughout the multiverse. However, no one knew the true details or the behind-the-scenes circumstances.
Some believed the Fallen Monarch had killed or imprisoned Edimachus, while others claimed he fled and hid himself just before being defeated by Grant. A few even suspected that Edimachus left the Abyss out of conscience and sought redemption in the heavens.
Only a few entities knew the truth behind Edimachus’s disappearance: he had been deceived and imprisoned by the Fallen Monarch’s scheme, all stemming from his inexplicable feelings for Azathoth.
When he first met Azathoth, Edimachus was a resolute Asmodean holy warrior with six fingers on each hand. Like half-demon hybrids, Asmodeans, who inherited divine bloodlines from the heavens, represented kindness and justice. Unless they fell, they could only be on the side of goodness or neutrality, never embracing evil.
Years ago, Azathoth, a legendary holy warrior and believer in the true gods of the heavens, was tasked with redeeming Edimachus’s fallen soul, hoping to bring him back to the heavenly side.
Azathoth fought his way to the Tumorous Plains of the Abyssal Crownland and bravely confronted Edimachus, the powerful fallen angel, within the throne room of the Demon King. The battle continued until Azathoth was exhausted, ending with the Demon King destroying the Asmodean warrior’s sword with his own Ashen Blade.
When Edimachus grabbed Azathoth by the throat, he saw something in the young warrior’s eyes that reminded him of past events, stirring pity in him. Edimachus couldn’t bring himself to kill Azathoth, but he also couldn’t let the warrior suffer in the harsh environment of the Abyssal Crownland.
He tried to lure the warrior to the side of evil but, for some reason, failed to do so thoroughly—perhaps because a remnant of kindness still existed in his heart, unwilling to let the other fall with him.
Thus, Azathoth remained a prisoner in the Abyssal Crownland, reaching an agreement with Edimachus to help him fight against their common enemy, the Fallen Monarch Grant. Over time, Azathoth succeeded in kindling Edimachus’s anger toward the abyssal demons.

And through countless battles fought side by side, a peculiar friendship began to grow between their hearts. Edimachus’s trust in Yasas and his willingness to follow his orders puzzled Edimachus’s demon subordinates, prompting some of them to betray him. The Fallen Monarch also learned of this from one of the traitors and planned a premeditated attack against Edimachus and their alliance, resorting to the most common form of demonic betrayal in the Abyss—colluding with Edimachus’s traitorous subordinates to overthrow his rule over his domain. In the fierce battles between Edimachus’s loyal forces and the Fallen Monarch’s army, the demons under Grant easily captured Yasas and imprisoned him in the most terrifying prison in the Casselly Plane. Unable to bear losing Yasas, and with the demons’ betrayal fueling his hatred, Edimachus abandoned his army, his kingdom, and his evil ways, fleeing to Casselly to rescue Yasas and seek redemption. Yet, to Edimachus’s surprise, things were far from simple, and their story was not over yet. When the Fallen Monarch’s army defeated the demons Edimachus had abandoned, Edimachus finally made it to the City of Death at the bottom of the Casselly Plane, where he found Yasas imprisoned. But he discovered that Yasas had become a prisoner of one of Grazt’s powerful allies. Tormented by that powerful undead priest named Dark Miraku, Yasas had lost his former brilliance and appeared dull and lifeless. Without the support of his army and domain, and reduced to the power level of a lower god, Edimachus could not free the Holy Warrior from Dark Miraku’s grasp on his own. Believing it was all his fault, he was on the verge of true redemption and resolved to exchange his freedom for the Holy Warrior’s restored mind and safe return to Heaven Mountain. The demon warlock Miraku naturally agreed to this. After Edimachus was imprisoned and the Holy Warrior was freed, Edimachus witnessed a heart-wrenching scene. Yasas, far from his previous dull state, had transformed from a handsome and radiant celestial Holy Warrior into a dark Holy Warrior with six fingers on each hand and dark skin—a half-demon human. He explained the reason and begged for Edimachus’s forgiveness. It turned out that Yasas had been deceiving Edimachus from the beginning.

In truth, he was Grant’s loyal son. The fallen monarch kept all news about this son hidden until he could use him as a useful pawn, and personally disguised him as a holy warrior with celestial blood using his powerful magic and sacred weapons. The moment he learned the truth, Edimachus realized how foolish he had been. Grant had long discovered his enemy’s weakness—a deep-seated desire for redemption that Edimachus thought he had already lost. The fallen monarch successfully exploited this weakness to carry out a masterful scheme. This harsh reality was beyond Edimachus’s acceptance, driving him nearly mad. His futile longing for redemption and his pathetic pursuit of love cost him his kingdom, his freedom, his sanity, and everything else. The dark Mirak used these things to torment him for 50 years. The words of the demon warlock fueled Edimachus’s madness, causing the fallen angel to descend even further into evil. Desperate, Edimachus’s heart was consumed by resentment, longing for freedom, power, revenge, and countless other things that even demons could not possess. Destroying everything became the fallen angel’s only thought. Yasas was unaware of all this; he only knew that Edimachus, who mattered to him, had been driven insane by Mirak’s torment. He desperately wanted to awaken Edimachus and earn his forgiveness. To save him, he was willing to betray his terrifying father and give everything he had. Chains made of black necrometal tightly bound Edimachus’s sides, passing over his gray wings at his back, preventing him from breaking free even with the power of a true god. With tears of regret in his eyes, Yasas carefully used his divine sword to slice through the necrometal chains, freeing Edimachus. Yet, even though the intense pain from the chains tearing at his delicate wings should have caused some reaction, the beautiful fallen angel remained unresponsive. Yasas could only repeat their past memories over and over, trying to awaken Edimachus’s consciousness and restore his sanity.