296 2nd layer (1/2)

After the voice of the NRAI manifested itself in Zatiel's mind, an invisible force entered Oliver, Tomas, and the rest of the members of the Heavenly race. They trembled, and the next second, their souls were extracted from their bodies and poured into the metallic floor.

Zatiel's eyes were cold as he saw the hundreds of new crystal statues that appeared in the 9th layer of The Final Purgatory. Oliver and Tomas were at the center while the rest of the members of the Heavenly race were surrounding them. The faces of the dukes displayed what could only be described as unbearable regret, while the rest of their people showed pure agony.

Unlike the rest of the statues in the layer, the ones of Oliver and Tomas were tiny, measuring less than ten centimeters, and the ones of their people were even smaller.

Slowly runic lines began to appear on the surface of the statues of the members of the Heavenly race. If your soul was strong enough to resist the pressure they generated and your perception reached a high enough level, you could see the true nature of these runes.

Their bloodlines, their law comprehension, their techniques, their mentality, their hopes and desires, everything about them could be understood through these runes. Due to these characteristics, they were a treasure trove to any life form.

A skilled Rune Master could decipher the mysteries of their bloodlines and create a runic set that emulated the abilities they granted, or a Magic Creator could integrate them into his creations. Powerful individuals could learn the theory behind the technique they learned through their lives and benefit from the experience they developed over them, allowing them to copy those skills or even improve them and make something suitable for them.

One could use the runic lines in the statues to obtain their law comprehension. Emulating the law comprehension of others would harm your foundation and make the advance to the Minor Completion level almost impossible, so for the Neo-Demon race who had the Soul Seeds was not worth it. But if you only used them as a reference and not the core of your law comprehension, they could be beneficial.

”So the soul of a Rank 4 life form creates a statue of approximately ten centimeters.” Zatiel focused a moment on the statues of Oliver and Tomas before looking at the more than two meters tall statues around him.

Every single one of the millions of statues present in this layer was a Rank 6 life form before having their soul placed into this black pyramid. Some of them were the absolute leaders of their worlds, while others were puppets put in place by Beings of Law to control their territories, but either way, they were existences worshiped by countless people.

The noise that depicted the madness that invaded the mind of the individuals in this layer kept filling Zatiel's surroundings, but he couldn't care less. They may have enjoyed glorious lives before, but now they were nothing more than batteries, and in fact, they were the lowest type present in the pyramid.

Zatiel gave one final look at Oliver's statue, and a smile appeared on his face as he imagined what he would have to endure from now on.

”Enjoy eternal torture.” After having fulfilled his promise, the Neo-Demon picked the shadow cocoon and flew to the sky, where a runic formation was present, and the moment he touched it, he and the cocoon vanished from the 9th layer.

He appeared in another layer, just like the previous one, with a metallic floor and crystal statues filling it. The difference, however, was that these statues were larger, almost ten times bigger than the ones present in the 9th layer, and the black gas they released was more powerful.

Zatiel appeared in the 8th layer of The Final Purgatory. This was not his final destination, but the seal and protocols put in place inside the black pyramid forced him to begin at the last layer and gradually progress to the first one.

The Neo-Demon ignored the cries of agony around him, and he advanced to the runic formation in the sky before disappearing once again.

He kept advancing through the layers of The Final Purgatory. The higher the Neo-Demon rose, the greater the crystal statues became, but their numbers decreased. It wasn't long before the black gas that filled the layers grew powerful enough to affect Beings of Laws.

By the time he reached the 3rd layer, there were less than ten statues, but they were even larger than stars. The runes that covered them were unimaginably complex and released a pressure that could crush even the strongest Rank 6 life form if they take even a glimpse of them.