Chapter 264: The answer. (2/2)
Arima snickered. ”So? What do you say? Will you accept?”
”…I will,” she grumbled.
***
After that, Arima proceeded to visit Loren. The middle-aged looking man was similarly living in a secluded place like Baba Yaga. In contrast to the latter, he didn't react strongly when Arima appeared at his door.
”What is the purpose of your visit, Kind Demon?”
”Would you accept if I asked you to be our gardener. The man who planted Yggdrasil and even used his own soul to create an even more majestic World Tree is the best choice, don't you think?”
Loren's eyes widened. He was surprised indeed. But it only took him a few seconds to accept the offer. He knew that the man in front of him wasn't a corrupt man. And it was a fact that he was a gardener. Now that he had been robbed of his life force, being a humble worker for the greatest God that ever existed was not a bad prospect.
***
Following that, Arima went on to meet current inmates. He had already released most of the Pillars of Elysium who were under Ahura in the past. There were still some remaining within the 'prison' because they still needed some time to repent in his opinion.
Then there were the Plane Guardians he had personally killed at the city of Melumnia. Among the three who remained within Kymestuos, Shiva and Ambrogio were the ones he went to meet.
Arima visited them to determine how long he should let them stay in Kymestuos. Ambrogio wasn't evil at all in the first place. You could even say he was a kind of gentleman vampire. He was just a bit too loyal toward the Original God. Arima declared that he would automatically be released after 10 years and he silently acknowledged it.
In contrast, Shiva was completely different and Arima honestly disliked him. Even if he was a sort of cousin to Shakti, the guy was so annoying that he was sentenced to one thousand years of imprisonment.
”{Well… poor guy.}”
”I seriously don't regret it. Even if he's not that bad, I just can't afford to let a spiteful mouth like his be free.”
Krynox chortled at Arima's response.
”{Anyway, what are you going to do from now on? Will you go back to your soul realm then live peacefully until the end of your life?}”
”Nah. I'll enjoy my married life I guess but I still plan to do some cool things or whatnot. And it's not like I will stop here.”
”{'Stop here'? What do you mean?}”
”Although there's no one stronger than me at the moment, that's not a reason to stop improving. As long as the saying 'there's always someone above' is valid, I will never stop to aim for greater heights. In order to never lose this peace to anyone.”
”{…}”
Arima grinned. ”I refuse to kneel before anyone. And believe me, I will do everything I can so that it will never happen.”
”{I see... Sounds like you. By the way, what are those 'cool things' you mentioned?}”
”Well, you will soon learn about one of them.”
Arima declared and invoked his soul gate. He stepped inside and disappeared from Kymestuos, leaving the room full of doors awfully quiet and empty.
But from time to time, loud screams would echo. If you ever were to go to the lower floors, you would notice that each one of them was larger than the previous one. This symbolized the potential danger of the inmates.
To be precise, the larger it was, the weaker the prisoner. Consequently, the smaller it was, the stronger the prisoners were. Kymestuos had exactly fifteen floors and would probably resemble an endless tower if it was something remotely near to a physical edifice.
At the very lowest level, the room wasn't one anymore. The dome-shaped hall was simply as a big as a planet. But this didn't mean that it was limited to one.
Each floor of Kymestuos is virtually infinite. It can hold as many prisoners as needed. Through the God of Eternal Night's 'theory', it became the largest prison that ever existed.
Kymestuos could be considered a Reality all by itself. On top of that, it wasn't only big, it was also very 'populated'.
Since Kymestuos was the depiction of Hell connected to the Kind Demon's legend, if any criminal were to die on a land marked by the Kind Demon's Cross, which basically meant everywhere, the man's soul had a chance to get trapped by the Cross and forcefully brought to Kymestuos before being chained and punished accordingly to his sins.
This applied for any soul weaker than Arima's. Which, once again, meant essentially everyone.
Kymestuos had become the absolute prison for every single evil soul across Realities and a symbol of authority for any powerhouse who heard of the God of Eternal Night.
Because they were aware.
A prison, that held billions, trillions, quadrillions of souls was not only frighteningly hazardous, but it also represented a stunning amount of energy.
As the tales of the Kind Demon spread, people started asking one question. Was it possible for the God of Eternal Night to lose? The answer was generally negative. He couldn't. As he was the sole administrator of the biggest prison, he had access to every soul detained within it.
For a God, spiritual power from its believers meant power. But similarly, spiritual power from its antagonists wasn't all that bad because it nonetheless gave them strength.
Based on this, how strong would the Kind Demon be? He not only had forced everyone across Realities to be aware of his existence through the Crosses but he now also had an incalculable number of people hating him because he had caged them.
In the end, some people cursed him, others worshipped him, a certain portion prayed for him, the majority feared him, and most of them respected him.
No matter what emotions they felt, all of them without any discrimination were all hoisting a single name. Over and over again.
Ultimately, what could they say?
The answer to 'the' question was obvious. He was the strongest.