Chapter 72: Just Another Day

  As the cloud of swirling sand began to inevitably settle, Justinian surveyed the scene remaining after the great explosion.

  The strange rock had exploded upon being struck by lightning, and its fragments caused quite a commotion in the area. Some flew towards nearby cultivators—like that tall, kneeling devil from the 63rd Dimension—while others headed for the stands. The latter, however, did not breach the space populated by the audience.

  'It looks like the stands are protected by some kind of shield.'

  In the immediate vicinity, the 63rd Dimension suffered the most, being the closest. Justinian didn't expect any wounded; after all, even the weakest devils there had reached the Foundation Establishment level. The fact that they had to struggle a bit to dodge the debris didn't particularly concern him.

  'No one told them to be such buffoons.'

  He had seen their contemptuous glares earlier and felt no guilt over the situation. Now, however, it was necessary to assess the effects of his actions. The fact that Micromegas had already confirmed the result lifted a heavy weight from Justinian's heart.

  As the chaos slowly subsided, visibility improved, revealing the reactions of all present representatives. The audience was still behind a slowly settling wall of sand and dust.

  'The devils seem to be taking us more seriously now.'

  Those delegations that had looked down on the 66th Dimension with superiority were now evidently shocked. Similarly, the fake smiles of the 62nd and 64th delegations welcoming them to the arena had vanished. Instead, fear and dread of the unknown reigned on their faces.

  Evidently, they didn't often deal with summoning a dimension's wrath, let alone doing so intentionally. The Voivode of the 61st Dimension, whose eyes were covered in white, looked as if he couldn't believe what had happened and was now staring at his eternal enemy. His antithesis was the delegation from the 66th Dimension.

  Justinian's friends looked at him with disbelief and excitement. Nikodem Rudnicki held his chin much higher now than a few minutes ago, while the Sarmatians... mostly still slept drunk on their mounts. Septima was also somewhat of a surprise; looking at him this time, she didn't even try to hide her shock.

  'I probably should have warned her beforehand about what I intended to do.'

  The truth was, ever since he received the warning from Cardinal Jean about the devilish nature of the test, he had been attempting to solve this difficult situation. His plan A was to rely on strength, which the Little Devil's Primer posited as the most important pursuit of every devil. It was only due to the impossibility of this option that he had to resort to provoking the dimension's wrath, the omnipresence of which he had tested during training in the transitional dimension.

  In that moment, as all the stress left him and the last sands obscuring the audience settled, Justinian forgot himself a little. Disregarding who he was dealing with, a certain habit took over, and he smiled apologetically in her direction.

  He didn't have to wait long for the effects.

  The she-devil herself simply widened her eyes, already somewhat accustomed to his strange behaviors. However, the audience slowly being revealed... was more expressive. The first to scream was some devil child from the upper rows of the stands, where the sand had completely settled.

  "M-Monster!"

  Other feverish voices immediately joined in. The young man quickly caught himself and his smile vanished instantly, but it was already too late. From the devils' point of view, such behavior only confirmed his image as a scheming terror.

  "That can't be a human!"

  "Weren't there rumors a few months ago about a cruel human manipulator from the 66th Dimension?!"

  Hearing reactions very similar to those from the past, Justinian felt as if a familiar nightmare was claiming him once again.

  Emotions also ran high in the Voivode's box. A handsome young devil with curly silver-white hair furrowed his brows as he looked down at the arena. The ancient Lechitum, which the Lord of Darkness had left to be used in the tests, had exploded into many pieces, unfit for reuse.

  "Is accepting this result really the right decision?"

  Micromegas nodded, slowly calming down from his earlier surprise.

  "The regulations do not mention that using the power of tribulation is prohibited. And there is no doubt that it was summoned by this very human."

  Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

  Envidius understood this logic, yet looking at the visitor from another world laughing maliciously in the devils' faces, he couldn't convince himself of it.

  "In that case, will we now allow everyone to use this power to bypass the trial?"

  "You fail to notice that there are few fools who would intentionally undertake such an action." — Here Micromegas paused briefly, as if carefully weighing the words he was about to speak. — "And even fewer who would not only do it but also survive."

  Before the young devil could reply, a quiet laugh floated through the air, followed by a whisper. It came from the observers' box, hidden from the outside world.

  "Envidius, over the last thousands of years I have seen many tests of devilishness, and none ending with a similar result. This is creativity that we cannot punish."

  This whisper carried an authority that the handsome silver-white-haired one dared not oppose. A moment later, a drawn-out yawn and a bored female voice came from the same observers' box.

  "Can we move on to the other teams now? There is no point in wasting more time."

  Micromegas immediately stood up and bowed his head slightly towards the source of the whisper.

  "I still have a certain stock of Lechitum in my residence. We should be able to continue in a few minutes."

  Saying this, he dissolved into the air, leaving the Observers to themselves. The moment his aura vanished, a certain presence below, vigilant for a long time, immediately noted it.

  Justinian, walking back with a calm but steady step towards the 66th Dimension's area, felt a vein on his temple pulsing stronger and stronger in response to the ridiculous slogans shouted by the devils from the stands. As it turned out, gossip was so strong in Hell that even here, tales of his deeds from the Holy Pilgrimage had reached.

  'Of course, all of them are lies... Who even came up with the idea that I eat little devils who don't want to listen to their parents for breakfast?!'

  'Or that my greatest pleasure comes from torturing decent devils, and even humans?!'

  The worst nonsense he heard was the story about how he burned half a hellish dimension, and in response, they started teaching about his villainy in local schools.

  Particularly painful in this story, however, was the grain of truth. After all, in the 66th Dimension, they really did teach about his alleged cruelty in schools...

  Resigned and wishing to break free from this damn place, he looked at his companions gathered nearby. Rudnicki's face had regained its color, a few Sarmatians had woken from their drunken slumber and were now posing as model soldiers. Seweryn, meanwhile, looked as if the executioner's axe had finally stopped hanging over his neck.

  Shaking his head, he intended to simply lose himself in the crowd of friends when suddenly his face froze.

  In a fraction of a second, he felt a power concentrating on him so mighty that it could erase his entire existence! Seweryn, Septima, and even some of the Sarmatians felt it too and reacted similarly. The fastest was Rudnicki, who was the strongest cultivator of the representation; drenched in sweat, he shouted in anger.

  "Don't you dare!"

  He himself started frantically searching for something in his pocket, but it was already too late.

  Lo and behold, one breath later, both he and everyone from the 66th Dimension except Justinian were encased in a massive block of ice that materialized in their area! None of them could even move anymore!

  "This..."

  "Someone attacked the 66th Dimension!"

  "Hell itself has rebelled against these miscreants!"

  In the general confusion, the Voivodes of the other dimensions began to watch with curiosity. More and more of them noticed that Micromegas was no longer in the arena!

  The chaos only began to grow, and Justinian felt a force focus on him surpassing anything he had encountered so far. It was so great that, involuntarily, only one image came to his mind, one he had experienced a few months ago.

  'This is power on a similar level to Boruta's attack on Greedius!'

  Screaming loudly, he tried to spark any power from his cultivation base, but it yielded no results. The difference between him and the attacking force was simply too great. He wasn't going to give up and wanted to reach for his sword when he felt his world stop.

  An invisible force lifted him into the air, and a corpse-pale hand materialized on his neck, followed by the rest of the terrifying figure. Bright, long hair, full armor, and white eyes devoid of pupils.

  He was attacked by none other than the Voivode of the 61st Dimension! A face twisted in madness slowly articulated one question.

  "You... are his envoy?"

  Gritting his teeth, Justinian barely managed to open his mouth to whisper his answer.

  "I-I don't know w-what you're talk..."

  The enemy did not let him finish.

  "You lie!"

  In his fury, the Voivode threw him at tremendous speed towards the destroyed rock. Then, with a powerful kick to the stomach of the flying human, he made Justinian spit out a small puddle of black blood.

  This did not change the attacker's attitude.

  "Where is he?!"

  Not even waiting for an answer, he began to accumulate a sphere of energy in his hands, which with every second increasingly resembled strange, semi-melted ice. Seeing all this, Justinian laughed pitifully.

  'Is this entire journey supposed to end like this?'

  Desperation and refusal of this state of affairs flashed in his eyes. In the same moment, he began to prepare for a final attack containing all his power. The arena held its breath in anticipation of the end of this madness.

  The Voivode was already releasing his projectile from his hands when... the energy suddenly disintegrated!

  "NO! YOU ARE WRONG! YOU WERE NEVER RIGHT!"

  The devil, screaming in terrible pain, began to thrash about as if he was possessed. It was a horrible sound that made the very soul begin to suffer. This lasted a few seconds, after which... his completely white eyes regained their pupils and tears began to stream from them!

  Lifting Justinian up and sobbing, the Voivode completely ignored the power being gathered by his opponent.

  "I... I... I'm sorry... I shouldn't have... I shouldn't have... I... Such atrocity..."

  Looks full of disbelief appeared in the arena, which was holding its breath. Justinian himself didn't know how to react when he realized that his opponent, instead of the expected blow... had started to heal him?

  All the while, he mumbled unintelligible phrases to himself.

  "No... no... I don't want this..."

  The Voivodes of the other dimensions, who had until now been watching the whole affair in surprise and some curiosity, exchanged glances. It was clear they knew more than the others present.

  In this tense moment, grains of sand on the arena began to slowly vibrate and rise upwards. The air suddenly became almost unbreathable and very heavy.

  A simple question pierced through this tension.

  "What is happening here?"

  Micromegas had returned from his expedition.