Chapter 1691: Pandemonium's Resolve
"This can't be..." Pandemonium was shocked to find himself in the waiting lobby, the interior of a large temple made of red stone, faintly illuminated with bright yellow crystals stuck in the ceiling.
"Looks like you lost too," the figure that had been accompanying this entire time walked to his side. "Tough foes, isn't it? Are you done underestimating him now?"
"YOU!"
RUMBLE!
Pandemonium's rage unleashed a shockwave of Infernal Essence, shaking his surroundings and distorting space around him. He glared with utter fury to the man shrouded in shadows in front of him.
"If it weren't for you, we could have made it! Why did you had to lose so quickly, you miserable piece of shit?!"
"Miserable?" The man laughed, sighing, ignoring that Pandemonium's rage could easily destroy him.
"Have you not forgotten the rules? We have not lost," said the man. "The two of us gathered a lot of Score Points, more than you imagine. With this, it should be possible to easily pass the first trial."
"I don't care about your stupid game!" roared Pandemonium. "I only care about myself, and I HATE losing! That fucking lizard, who does he thinks he is?! If everyone was going to pass, what need was there to come and attack my territory?! He obviously wanted to humiliate me, in front of all my demons, no less!"
"Well, that's your problem," the man laughed, looking down at the king of all demons. "You have a very fragile ego for a being so powerful. Pandemonium, that power you have would do better in my hands."
"You wish, you piece of shit..." Pandemonium smiled defiantly, looking at him into his bright red eyes. "I am grateful to your little soul fragment for reviving me, and I will do the end of the deal... But once this fucking trial is done. I won't take responsibility for what happens to you..."
"Ah, of course, thank you for keeping your end of the deal," the man shrouded in shadows said with a joyous voice. "You can also have Drake all for yourself. You cant ear him to pieces for me, and eat his soul, I would be grateful."
"Tch..." Pandemonium walked away, exploring the waiting lobby, which had a bathroom, a dining area with lots of stored food, and ten different rooms with many beds and other commodities. "This is ridiculous. Hey flame bastard, did you had to go this far?"
"What's wrong? You'll have to rest before the next trial. Even an incommensurable monster like you has to rest his mind, in specific his soul, isn't it?"
The voice of the Flame Venerable reverberated, only making Pandemonium more pissed off.
"I don't need your fucking pity. I killed all of your ancestors and I'm going to finish the job and kill all your people. You think I'm going to be merciful because of this trial? I'll rip apart their heads with my bare hands, your entire beloved continent, all of Muspelheim will be reduced to nothing but burnt corpses," Pandemonium said, with a serious tone of voice.
"Oh, I am so scared of your magnificence," laughed the Flame Venerable. "Please spare me from your wrath, hahahaha! HAHAHA!"
The Venerable just laughed at his face. Yet Pandemonium remained calm this time, as he took a large piece of meat, the leg of some giant dragon and started eating it raw.
"The new generation of "Gods" sure is bold..." Pandemonium smiled, shrugging. "All the same, all the same... They will be begging me to stop once they're on their knees. Always."
"You seem to relish in the thought that you are superior to others because of your strength, but what else are you, Pandemonium?" asked the Venerable. "Nothing but a cursed child, someone that has lived for thousands of years yet still acts the same way when he was summoned for the first time. You're the only person in this world that has perhaps never changed. And perhaps that is also part of your curse."
"..."
Pandemonium remained in silence, as he tried to ignore him now.
"You used to be a human in another world, a peaceful one, right?" the venerable kept talking. "Instead of trying to change for the better, you continue to think that you can accomplish anything by destroying everything. The Old Gods that summoned you are dead, and everyone that is alive now cannot be blamed for their sins. You're a pitiful empty husk, without an actual identity, without an actual person behind, you're nothing but your Curse now, you've been completely consumed by your powers."
"..."
"The person that Chaos loved is no longer here, isn't it?"
BAAAM!
And then Pandemonium's face distorted, smashing the ground open with a single slam of his foot, countless cracks spread across the temple, shattering into pieces to reveal an endless sea of divine essence below.
"Don't you dare talk about her as if you ever knew her, child."
"Every Venerable knows her very well, she's the creator of the Chaotic Plane, the mother of all those disgusting Chaos Spirits and Chaotic Beasts, and your accomplice on trying to destroy Yggdrasil."
"I'll kill you if you keep this up."
Pandemonium glanced down, below this sea of divine power laid the soul of the Flame Venerable.
"You can try, but you will be teleported outside of this trial before that happens."
"I can break open a hole through it and enter again."
"It won't change the outcome either way."
"Chaos was a victim, she was..."
The king of all demons started recalling her, one of the first Originals, someone summoned before him, someone that had been trapped and used by the Old Gods for hundreds of years before he appeared.
The only girl he ever loved, the only girl that ever loved him.
His fists clenched tightly.
"Just when she had finally freed herself and obtained a new body, you tore her to pieces and sealed her..." he muttered. "The same happened to me too. Do you think I need another justification to destroy this world? The world that has brought us all this pain? You must be delusional if you think I can change my mind at this point."
"I certainly am..." the Flame Venerable nodded, and then, he simply decided to no longer speak.
"All the same..." Pandemonium looked at the floor rapidly regenerate back. "Chaos, wait for me..."