476 Final Battle (1/2)
No matter how confusing the situation was in a two-sided battle, at least one would be able to discern the overall situation and tell who had the advantage. But if the battle became three- or even four-sided, it would be difficult to tell what side a chess piece was even on, so of course the situation would become more confusing.
We of the Hell Faction were originally trying to survive in between the more powerful Order and Chaos Factions to begin with. We could only win taking advantage of the two major factions' conflicts. But since this was now a three-faction situation, many people's true allegiances became difficult to determine. There were quite a few individuals who were double or even triple agents, such as the Queen of Temptation, or myself with all my identities. And now, Karwenz had revealed himself to be a fourth faction, making things even more chaotic.
Despite such a chaotic situation where everyone had their own goals and plans, it still wasn't difficult for me to determine the overall situation of myself and my enemies. That was because no matter who a person or faction was, they would all desire personal benefits. As long as I could determine what they wanted, and if they would be friendly towards Hell's successful construction or not, it would be easy enough to determine if someone was an enemy or not.
And now, the chess match appeared to be nearing endgame. Naturally, this made things even easier to determine.
The relatively weaker Order Faction didn't have much to pressure us to begin with. Karolan, the God of Holy Light, had already lost his incarnation here to three forbidden spell level attacks in succession. Although incarnations were just like consumables, he would still be unable to recover the lost divine power. Weakening him yet again would be a good thing for us. And, the God of Wisdom Kalumandas didn't even come here with the intentions of fighting us. We had reached an agreement, and perhaps he would even become our ally in the future.
From a certain standpoint, this was a negative of overly pure Order. Without emotions and sufficient benefits as motivation, the relatively more independent Order Main Gods naturally wouldn't work their hardest for the completely emotionless Source of Order.
So, from the very beginning, our main enemies would be the Chaos Faction led by Cynthia. I also used almost all my ace cards against the Chaos Faction.
Right now, there were still three ongoing fights against the Chaos Faction. The two forever hungry beasts were still tearing at each other, so let's just ignore them for the time being. I was highly on guard against Chaos War God Donatis, and Devil Lord Marshan and enraged Bastian wouldn't be so easy to deal with. I also left a backup plan to deal with him, so Donatis probably wouldn't be a problem.
As for Sophocles the Deceiver who'd previously signed a ceasefire agreement with us but broke it? Envy Marsolit and Pride Omar had already finished reviving. I directly sent them to the Lust Inferno to support Cher, but I didn't order them to fight to the fullest and force Sophocles to the brink.
Any Main God existence who was forced to the brink would definitely bring out all their hidden ace cards. Since Hell's overall combat strategy was only to stall for time, maintaining a stalemate would be perfect for us. There was no need to force things to an all-out fight.
Karwenz appeared to be quite bored sitting there as still as if he was a sculpture. It seemed that he had zero intentions of going into battle against any of the remaining Demon Lord Main Gods.
”Do you think that I'm an idiot? You want me to fight for you for free before I even complete my goal? I'm just going to wait here.”
As for that fish soup… it had already been tossed aside. Nobody even wanted to look at it.
Just a single sip had caused the Abyss Prince himself to turn a shade of green and then run over and vomit for quite a while. This had already surpassed the power of any poison in the world. A Main God level Demon Lord like Karwenz should have been naturally immune to all poisons already.
Originally, I didn't intend on trying it, but I became curious and tried the fish soup after seeing Karwenz's reaction. I then directly changed to using another incarnation's body in an attempt to immediately forget the memory I'd just obtained.
The older the fish, the staler and harder its meat would be. And as this fish was formerly a Demon Lord itself, it had an uncalculatable age, and the fish meat itself was hard enough to ignore any normal Myth-ranked weapon. No normal amount of cooking would ever possibly soften it. And in order to soften this fish meat, Karwenz had tossed large amounts of strange ingredients into his soup such as powerful acids, sharpening portions, armor-piercing enchantment potions, corrosive magic flames from the Chaos Abyss, and so on.
After he randomly stirred a lot, this fish meat indeed softened somewhat. Yet, the color and the taste, and that super acidity… I immediately changed to yet another incarnation. At least this was far more convenient than creating a new head and face.
Setting aside the matter of the super-acidic fish soup which was absolutely disgusting, I intentionally tried to learn more about my enemies from Karwenz… er, just chat!
”What other ace cards do those Chaos Main Gods have? Are any of them relatively easier to deal with?”
”Anything can be possible as long as you're willing to pay the price. Still, don't even think that it's a good idea to force them onto the brink right now. Oh, if what I see is correct, it will be impossible for all the existences within this dimension to leave here after Hell is complete?”
He actually tried to learn more information about Hell from me instead.
”Yep, all those with Hell's Concepts will find it impossible to leave. Any dead souls that want to leave can only do so through the Cycle of Reincarnation. These are ironclad dimensional laws of Hell that all existences have to obey.”
Some things were impossible to hide, so of course I could tell him. Of course, if he misunderstood and got the wrong impression, that wouldn't be my fault at all, would it?
”What about you?”
”I'm Wumianzhe Roland, one of the Four Pillar Gods of Hell. Of course I'm tightly tied down by Hell's dimensional Laws. It's impossible for the Four Pillar Gods to ever leave Hell. This is one of the foundational rules of Hell. I can swear on my very soul.”
”The Four Pillar Gods? Ha, you've always been a scammer who only tells the truth. Don't you know that the more serious you act, the more likely it is that you're scamming someone? And if you ever swear on your soul, then it's one hundred percent certain that you're scamming someone by only telling the truth.”
Really? Did I actually have such a habit? I tried thinking back and was rendered speechless. He was actually right!
”Wonderful, then. It would seem that we'll have chances to fight again in the future. Right, since you're so free right now, how about practicing some swordsmanship with me?”
I looked quite free right now? Okay, I was indeed quite free, but I wouldn't be stupid enough to practice swordsmanship together with Karwenz. I was merely a Holy Knight who practiced swordsmanship on the side. How could I possibly compare to a professional Sword Saint in swordsmanship? Would I be that idiotic?
[Now you're only calling yourself a Holy Knight who practices swordsmanship on the side instead of a Sword Saint yourself? Such a convenient memory you have there.]
Hmph, the situation in Hell was going wonderfully now and I was in a great mood, so I pretended not to hear Astrya.
Hell's operations were becoming ever smoother. The only remaining enemies were those few Chaos Main Gods, and our original greatest weakness, insufficient combat strength to guard the Four Pillars, had been solved by Karwenz.
Yep, Karwenz had filled in this insufficiency for us. No matter how casual he acted, since he needed to use my Tower of Ice and Tower of Death to pull out Cynthia's soul and give her a physical body so that she could be killed, then he would naturally guard these two towers until the Pillar Gods awakened. In that case, he naturally became my personal fighter… What about after the Four Pillar Gods woke up, you ask? As long as Ayer revived successfully, what would I have to worry about? Who cared if Karwenz tried to turn on me then?