Chapter 42: The Moon
The day of the Holy Pilgrimage finale soon arrived. After the adepts completed their representative journey through the mountains and had a few weeks for reflection, they had to, for the audience's delight, document their journey and attempt to reach a higher level on the moon.
Those who were the most intelligent or battle-hardened were to receive the great honor of ascending to the Foundation Stabilization level, which in the 66th hellish dimension was associated with prestige and a completely different status than the average devil.
In a society that worshiped strength, Foundation Stabilization symbolized a mature, fully-formed devil—no longer an adept and a typical member of the younger generation. This was someone who could make their own decisions and demand respect no less than that of the hellish nobility. If they wished, they could join the ranks of teachers in the mountains they had previously visited and thus seek further development.
Boruta, speaking before the crowds gathered on his mountain of mists to see the event, was in an exceptionally good mood:
"With the holy war approaching, we will need ever stronger blood to worthily represent us in the service of the Ruler of Hell! There is no doubt that today's youth will make the worlds of humans and the celestials weep when they meet them!"
His pompous speech was met with bursts of enthusiasm from the audience, which had gathered here to see the magnificent games.
Inside the mountain, Justinian listened to the entire speech, sighing heavily. He certainly had no intention of making the human world weep. However, he wanted to reach the Foundation Stabilization level to be able to take his revenge.
'I heard Felix recently attacked Greedius's mountain, shouting that Belisara is a murderer...'
The matter of the adept with whom he shared a past gave him no peace. He had already decided to resolve this issue during the upcoming ritual.
"To get a chance to progress, you must offer a gift to the spirit of the dimension!" Boruta continued to explain.
"Perhaps not all of you know this, but this is not the only gift for the spirit! Once you contact it, it will require an important sacrifice from you!"
The young man listened with some curiosity. Francis had not yet reached the Foundation Stabilization level and didn't know much about the details of the ritual. And Ignatius had been particularly useless lately.
'Whatever it is... it won't stop me from achieving my revenge.'
For the devils, the entire pilgrimage was, in essence, a coming-of-age story. Upon reaching Foundation Stabilization, all the foundations they had built in the ki-gathering phase were meant to ascend to a higher level. The spiritual veins, formed during Ki Gathering, were to lead to the construction of a spiritual organ—a second heart that would become their cultivation base.
'They say previous rituals often ended in a bloodbath...'
The devils had no mercy for each other, so he didn't expect them to find any for a human whose reputation was terrible.
In his right hand, he clutched a horn that allowed one to gather the special spiritual energy needed to begin the ritual. It was this energy that was the element of competition between the adepts on the moon.
"Importantly! Whatever you have planned, there will be no possibility of cheating!" the voyvode of the 66th hellish dimension explained further.
"The spirit of the dimension does not like this type of behavior, and regardless of your strength, no magic that communicates with the test site is possible!"
Justinian had already learned about this as well. Apparently, all attempts at magical communication were dispersed, and only after the ritual was completed did the dimension's spirit allow them to be effective.
"Transport everyone to the moon!" Boruta's voice echoed through the corridors carved into the mountain.
The mountain lords, using their power, teleported the adepts to that very place.
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The competition had begun, and Justinian entered the game.
On the moon, the adepts immediately sprang into action. The beasts they found there were a challenge for most, but the elite dealt with them surprisingly quickly.
"They say the amount of energy collected affects the quality of the transformation achieved!"
"I heard it doesn't matter at all, as long as the horn is full."
"Is it just me, or is the Grim Judge surprisingly handsome?!"
As usual, the devils celebrated another opportunity to exchange gossip and comments.
In the box of honor, along with Boruta, were the mountain lords, this time including Maleficius, Greedius, and Eusebius. Ignatius the Empty-headed, consumed by his paranoia, once again did not grant the others the dubious pleasure of a joint meeting.
The atmosphere between Eusebius and Greedius was so tense that even the presence of Rokita's murderer did not particularly dispirit them.
He, in turn, watched the various adepts with curiosity, trying to estimate the dimension's level and its real strength compared to other hells.
In his eyes, apart from Septima, there were a few other individuals whose talent exceeded the scale of this forgotten place.
'Felix Faustus. The Orange Prince, Belisara from the Mountain of Envy and Conflagration... even that strange man of justice.'
It was much more than he had expected from such a remote world, and he believed that in a few years, the 66th dimension could really shake up the ranking of hells.
'That is, if they live that long, of course...'
After a few hours, the young man had his container about half full. He had gathered the energy mainly from various spiritual creatures he encountered on his journey. It was a relatively simple process, as one only had to kill such a spirit and then present the open bottle.
'I wonder how much I need to even get to the next level...'
His official mentor, Ignatius the Empty-headed, was of course not very helpful on this topic.
'I don't know what happened to that devil, but he didn't even want to come out to see me when I went to ask for advice,' Justinian shook his head.
Ultimately, using his reputation, he spent a few days before the tournament at the mountain of research and development, where he reviewed several books in the library about achieving foundation stabilization.
'Apparently, the amount of essence required to enter a higher level is related to the coherence of the cultivation character built during ki gathering,' he recalled some of the information he managed to gather.
He didn't know much about this topic; after all, these were the secrets of cultivators, and he himself was simply trying to remain true to his ideals.
'My instinct tells me I need more power...'
Noticing that there were no longer many essence-leaving beasts in the area, he concluded that he must head to another region, where both the danger and the strength of the beasts increased.
'They say there are places with legendary creatures that provide incredible amounts of energy...' he thought.
Of course, he had no desire to meet such beasts, but he had to remember his revenge. Knowing he had no choice, he directed his steps towards areas with more beasts.
At the same time as Justinian was heading to a new region, an intense battle was taking place elsewhere on the moon, one that was set to shock the 66th hellish dimension. The cursed snake, rumored to be the father of all beasts in the dimension, over 50 meters long with a giant head several meters wide... fell dead!
On its sword-pierced head, wounded from the heavy fight, stood Felix Faustus, whose cold eyes scanned the area for additional dangers. When he was sure that no one else was there, he pulled out his horn, which until now had been completely empty.
The adept pointed it towards the dead reptile and... began to absorb vast swathes of energy.
A gusty wind began to rage around, and soon Felix himself was surrounded by a tornado, which indicated that his process of entering the Foundation Stabilization level had begun!
Outside, Boruta and the mountain lords observing the exam were in absolute shock at the image displayed before them.
"It seems you have raised a true monster, Eusebius," the hellish voyvode said to his subordinate.
He just shrugged, but in truth, he was also surprised to see what Felix had accomplished. While his talent had long been known and widely regarded as top-tier in the 66th devilish world, Felix did not usually take such risks as he just had.
'Eh... it's not hard to guess what he's after,' the lord of the Mountain of Research and Development sighed in his thoughts.
In a rare show of consternation, Maleficius also stared at the image with a serious expression, not expecting to meet someone so talented at this far end of the hellish kingdom. While he was sure that Septima could handle challenges like this, he had to admit that this young man was undoubtedly talented, and if he managed to ascend to the next level, he could pose a problem for his protégée.
Ultimately, however, he could only trust in her skills and sigh.
'Much bigger problems await her soon; she should learn how to get out of similar situations.'
Greedius was also impressed, clutching his slightly scarred hand while commenting sarcastically on Felix's performance. However, he also noticed that one of the most anticipated guests of the evening had still not appeared.
"What about the Emptyhead?" he asked the voyvode, whose mood immediately soured.
"What about him?!" the hellish ruler snapped back. "That idiot has gotten it into his head that someone is after his life, and now he's afraid to even come down from his mountain to participate in the festivities!"
The buffoonery of the lord of the Mountain of Misfortune and Plague was a topic that particularly irked Boruta, out of respect for the memory of the Empty-headed's father. After all, that devil had significantly helped him take power over this hellish dimension. And now, his son was bringing shame upon himself in an ever more astonishing manner...
