Contract Severed

"... So demons really can evolve."

With blood still streaming down her face, Ligeia murmured in surprise, "I thought it was just a legend."

"It's indeed pretty much as the legend says."

Yanis sighed, "Even I have never seen a demon complete its evolution in my entire life, let alone you."

Theoretically speaking, demons can undoubtedly evolve. After all, the power system of the Great Sin Imprint exists here, and maintaining an unchanged form would certainly not conform to the transformative nature of the Path of Transcendence.

"Because the evolution of demons often involves accumulating a large amount of Path Power, which requires devouring a large number of souls and accumulating an extremely long period of time."

Iver overheard their discussion and, while healing himself, replied, "If we extend the timeframe to five hundred years, then demons that have independently completed their evolution still exist."

After all, in this world, even the souls of mortals are quite dangerous to harvest.

According to the rules of this world, after all life with a soul perishes, the soul enters the Dream Realm and, according to its strongest path of adaptation, enters one of the nine rivers of the Dream Realm.

After being selected twice by the Nine Pillar Gods and the Celestial Judges, souls unwanted by any of the gods are reintegrated into the world, becoming material for the souls of newborns of various races. These souls grow stronger as their personalities mature and their intellect increases; an old person can become nine infants after death. This cycle continues, and the number of living beings in the world increases.

In other words, every soul in this world is on the books. It cannot be misappropriated at will.

Creating an apostle requires sharing a portion of one's own power, and all nine rivers need to be infused with souls, otherwise it may cause the world to tilt—if one path has not returned the soul of that path to the world for a long time, then the proportion of that path mixed in the soul of a newborn will undoubtedly become less and less.

Then the influence of this path in the Material Realm will decrease. This will give celestial officials who are inclined towards other paths an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

From this perspective, the soul given to the world can also be considered a kind of "tax." Only after paying the tax can what remains be one's own, and the tax paid is shared by everyone.

Yes, even the highest gods in this world have to pay taxes.

Numerous Dream Realm wars have occurred between Pillar God Pillar God, between Pillar God and celestial beings, and between celestial beings themselves. The direct cause of these wars is often a problem with the distribution of souls.

It's possible that the person chosen by the Candle Master to be an Apostle was poached by a Celestial Master from another path before his death; or perhaps the soul that was originally meant to enter the Blood Domain was secretly branded with Great Sin Imprint and turned into a demon.

Even destroying a soul outright would be better, as it would mean the soul returns directly to the world, and few gods would be dissatisfied. At most, the Pillar God or celestial being who pre-selected that soul would be angered.

However, stealing a soul, especially one favored by Pillar God or celestial being, is undoubtedly a very serious sin.

—It may seem like just stealing a soul, but in reality it is equivalent to killing an apostle in advance and stealing a soul that might have belonged to another path to Path of Transcendence.

This is an "unbalanced" move.

Therefore, responsibility will only transfer to the party who signed the contract if the terms of the contract are met—that is, if the other party has agreed in advance to "hand over their soul" and has voluntarily accepted the transaction.

"The illusionary demons of other paths are alright, but those demons who Path of Transcendence must have a strong desire to rise, yet they themselves have no flesh and blood, and are merely illusionary demons living in the Dream Realm. Therefore, they cannot become stronger through the Path Power itself like creatures in the Material Realm."

"Therefore, demons can only obtain those extremely valuable souls by signing contracts. The transcendent power emitted by the host can slowly enhance the demon's power; demons can also try to complete the contract and directly devour souls to obtain a large amount of transcendent power."

Iver used a simple analogy. "It's like eating the egg versus eating the hen that laid it. While the latter may seem less worthwhile, if another fearless hen is willing to take it over, it's not impossible to betray her and switch sides."

This is why very few demons can gather enough power to complete their evolution. They need to be active in the Material Realm for at least four or five hundred years to have a chance to accumulate the power to support their evolution—and they cannot die completely during the entire process, otherwise, if they are reborn as Phantom Demon Egg, their power will naturally have to start from scratch.

Iver doesn't recall many demons that have clearly completed evolution.

For example, the Giant King's brother, the beholder—it gained a little bit of power during the Ouroboros Ring Ritual and evolved into the Eye Demon Lord.

This is one of the evolutionary directions, and it is also the simplest one.

Iver's Shadow Fiend can also directly evolve into Shadow Demon Lord. This merely strengthens its template without changing its skill set or form, essentially providing a comprehensive upgrade. The race remains the same; only the elite monster becomes a lord monster. However, this still doesn't qualify as Greater Phantom Demon.

In addition to this, Shadow Fiend, who possesses the mark of "Rage," has another true path of evolution.

That is the "Flame Demon" who becomes Greater Phantom Demon demon.

The Balrog also belongs to the Mark of Wrath system, and is Greater Phantom Demon, making it extremely powerful.

The Balrog is also the only demon among demons to master the power of the Dedication Path. The Balrog can create a large number of familiars by devouring souls and can infinitely split itself. It can also forge "demon equipment" that is equivalent to the level of Deep Purple "holy relics".

This is roughly equivalent to a low-budget version of Fallen Angel – instead of turning people into demons, it turns them into familiars; at the same time, the Balrog can also grant others power... although it is given through equipment, equipment can certainly be considered part of the power.

—So guns don't count as combat power? Don't even mention a combat power of 5 with a gun; without a gun, the combat power wouldn't even reach 5! But without a doubt, if Iver's Shadow Demon becomes a Fire Demon, then Iver can no longer form a contract with her as Great Sin Beast. Because the Paradox Flame Butterfly is also Fire Attribute, overlapping with the Fire Demon's attribute.

And there's another problem.

That is, the Balrog is ugly.

Some players might think it looks impressive, but Iver just thinks it's ugly.

The Balrog is a scorching Magic Creature composed of flames, magma, and red-hot metal. It looks like a robust giant... Not only is it impossible to make contact with Iver, but even its outward appearance and the intense heat that can easily melt the earth would be unbearable for any creature in the vicinity.

Furthermore, if the Shadow Fiend truly transforms into the Balrog, it would mean that all the power she accumulated on the Path of Love would be rendered useless. She could still use some of the Shadow Power, but not much—after all, she still needs to accumulate a large amount of deviation on the Dedication Path before she can possibly complete her evolution.

But Night Demon is different.

As a demon Brand of Jealousy, the Night Demon's counterpart is the Mirror Demon. The essence of jealousy is comparison and imitation, and imitation is the essence of ritual. Therefore, the Mirror Demon is a demon that purely Path of Transcendence, and evolving into the Night Demon across paths is quite difficult.

However, it just so happens that the Shadow Fiend's Wrath Brand has become the Jealousy Brand. If she evolves from the Shadow Fiend Mark into the Night Fiend, she can retain a considerable portion of the Shadow Fiend's power while also gaining the new Night Fiend template.

—A Greater Phantom Demon of the Sixth Level!

In terms of sheer power, it already represents the strength of the final boss in the current version.

"Brother," Yulia frowned slightly, "You were too dangerous just now..."

She didn't want to blame Iver, nor did she want to reflect on what had already been accomplished. But what she had just done almost made her cry.

What if Iver does this again? What if the demon betrays him next time? —That's a demon! A demon whose nature is betrayal!

"Don't worry, I will only raise one Viennes, Venes, and there won't be any others... The others will be phantom demons from other paths, not dangerous demons."

Iver comforted her, "I know Viennes very well; she would never betray me. Moreover, the transcendent desire Viennes receives from me is more exquisite than the soul of the vulgar. It's like the nutrition and flavor of an egg surpassing that of a hen..."

... So she wouldn't hurt me, you can rest assured.

Iver wanted to crack a joke to help Yulia relax.

But seeing her red-rimmed eyes and the silent gaze fixed on him, Iver shrank back and didn't dare to say those words.

—Iver's intuition told him that Yulia might explode if he said that.

So Yanis quickly changed the subject. "I remember that demons can devour other people's souls, and they might also be discovered and punished by the hourglass's agents."

"Hmm," Iver nodded and immediately replied, "Although the Hourglass is somewhat meddlesome... it is indeed the Pillar God who cares most about maintaining the balance between the two worlds."

"The Hourglass is credited for restricting the Pillar God and Celestials from descending into the Material Realm and for locking down the upper limit of the world level to protect the Material Realm. When the Angel Shard fall into the Material Realm and increase the power concentration of the corresponding path, it will diligently raise the upper limit of the world level of the corresponding path to restore balance between the two worlds."

"Without Hourglass, the master of balance, this world would be doomed—"

This is a heartfelt statement.

Just imagine, the Nine Pillar Gods and the Celestials could roam freely in the Human World without any constraints, and could easily launch world-scale wars... Iver couldn't even imagine how chaotic that scene would be.

... Of course, the Hourglass is also the Pillar God who is most busy.

When the Phantom Demon Contract summoned from the Dream Realm expire, He will prevent these phantoms from lingering in the Material Realm; if anyone steals souls in the Material Realm, He will also send agents to deal with it; if the war in the Material Realm lasts too long and the people suffer, He will also intervene to mediate; if there are wild Greater Phantom Demon in the Material Realm that are too powerful, He will also send them back to the Dream Realm...

Once the Ouroboros Ring Ritual begins, the Hourglass will become the busiest Pillar God.

When players challenge the Celestials, they will receive a specific blessing from the Hourglass to devise a strategy – this is the normal mode.

However, if players choose not to accept the blessing of the Hourglass and forcibly challenge and clear the Celestial Tribe, they can obtain another high-difficulty achievement. This is considered a high-difficulty achievement.

In terms of the game's Ouroboros Ring, features like pity systems for gacha pulls, pseudo-random critical hit rates, inventory checks, and difficulty balancing—designs that only exist at the game level—also fall under the purview of Hourglass. At least, that's what the official statement says.

...Um?

Iver thought of this, his expression suddenly changed, and he clutched his chest. The Night Demon, who had transformed into a raven, also suddenly reverted to its original form.

"...etc?"

He felt as if something inside his heart was cracking and breaking.

—That was the night Iver awakened his Previous Life memories, the contract he signed with the Shadow Fiend.