Baal descended slowly. The deeper he went, the darker it grew and the harder the journey became. Every step felt like walking through a sea of fire over a mountain of blades. Unknown energy had almost solidified into blades that slashed against his black scales, ringing with sharp metallic clangs.
Fine cracks had appeared across his body. They were the result of countless strikes—hundreds of millions of impacts.
Pfft—
A black scale on his chest shattered, and crimson blood sprayed out. Baal's expression changed.
I can't go any deeper. Another step down, and I'll die. There's no chance of surviving.
"Damn it. Give up just like that? My path to becoming a Legendary Demon..."
Baal muttered to himself, a ruthless glint in his eyes. He looked below. It was still like an abyss, so dark he could barely see the bottom. All he could sense was an immense, unfathomable power lurking in those endless depths. It was like a bright moon high in the heavens, like golden crystal being forged in fire: dormant, yet poised to erupt at any moment.
That power kept drawing Baal in. It drew on the Destruction within him, even the Void. The Destruction Core, housed in the huge Black Crystal in his chest, throbbed violently. Even his soul trembled. Something indescribable welled up from its depths like a spring and flowed into every part of his body.
"What is this..."
The disturbance in his soul startled Baal. He examined it closely, but found nothing wrong. Yet the strange feeling that something was spilling out of it grew ever stronger.
With a soul nearly as powerful as a Legendary Demon's, he still could not detect the cause. It was inconceivable.
"What the hell is it?"
Baal pondered. The disturbance in his soul did not seem to