Diabolo carefully explored the mysterious space.
Mephisto had already entered the Rule Gate. Most of their astonishing plan was in motion; only the final step remained.
Whether they could trap those powerful figures—especially the leaders of the Dark Council, whom Diabolo hated to the bone—whether Purgatory could fully advance, and whether Baal could finally awaken from his deep seal all came down to luck.
"Everything is ready. Even the stage is set. Now we wait to see who takes it! I'm a player in this game, and those factions are the pieces. Demon lords of the Fifth Layer, will you, the players across from me, enter the game and become pieces yourselves?"
Diabolo sat above the Sacrificial Magic Array. As he added to the two time-space chains, he pondered and kept watch on his surroundings.
Far away, deep within the layers of time and space, a vast sphere of light like the sun still poured out endless radiance. Its light pierced billions upon billions of spatial barriers and streamed into the Elemental Prison beyond.
The light contained all manner of strange elements, from the most basic—metal, wood, water, fire, earth, and darkness—to light, which was rare in the Abyss, and even poison, souls, ice, and snow.
To Diabolo, the enormous sphere was like the engine of the First Abyss Layer's Elemental Prison. It drew energy from some unknown void, transformed it into more potent Elemental Energy, and poured it into the prison.
When he had first arrived, Diabolo had tried to teleport toward it. But it was like a mirage. No matter how many endless layers of time and space he forced his way through, the sphere remained impossibly far away.
The distance never changed.
It was as if the sphere were an illusion, or existed on another plane altogether.