Sealing and analysis

The North, Sea Dragon Point Peninsula, Western Mountains, Blackstone Ruins, Dream World.

The demon B'lack was extremely excited, for it had never encountered a being like Eddard before. In its view, if it could defeat Eddard and completely absorb his perception, it stood a very good chance of gaining incomparably powerful strength.

When it first arrived in this world, the demon B'lack had been delighted. To its eyes, this was an untapped world where it could establish a demonic kingdom of its own.

The demon B'lack possessed Plague Authority and Desire Authority. In Brenham, a world dominated by demons, the demon race was the most powerful existence.

The reason demons had always remained invincible was their innate ability to use magic, and they could use magic because they were born with powerful mental strength.

Mental strength was an ability that could affect the microscopic world, a form of thought-based power. Under normal circumstances, almost all demonic creatures could trigger bursts and transformations of energy by interfering with energy reactions between substances.

Over their long exploration and research, demons had developed all manner of methods for interfering with energy. These methods eventually became various systematic categories of magic. As their exploration deepened, some powerful Demon Seeds could even interfere with the evolution of life, acquiring mighty powers comparable to those of gods.

The demon B'lack's Plague Authority and Desire Authority were evolutions of this ability. Plague Authority helped it manipulate the birth, aging, sickness, and death of living creatures, while Desire Authority helped it control their emotions and desires.

After being banished to this world, the demon B'lack first appeared on the ancient continent of Westeros, where it encountered the Children of the Forest. As a cunning demon, its favorite activities were secretly wreaking havoc and corrupting intelligent life.

The demon B'lack first provoked a war between the Children of the Forest and the Giants. Then, by chance, it came into contact with the ancient First Men. Through savage, bloody worship, B'lack gained a great many worshippers in Essos, across the Narrow Sea, and incited the First Men to invade Westeros. Its power continued to grow as the invasion began.

The demon B'lack had played a considerable part in bringing about the war between the First Men and the Children of the Forest. It had also secretly corrupted some humans and Children of the Forest, making their souls filthy and depraved.

However, late in the Dawn Age, an accident caused the demon B'lack to inadvertently expose its identity. He then faced a joint campaign by the Children of the Forest and the First Men, and was finally sealed here.

Although it had been sealed for an unknown length of time, the demon B'lack felt it had all been worthwhile, for it believed the favor of the supreme demon king had brought Eddard here.

The demon B'lack believed Eddard was one of the Consciousness Gods, a newborn god who had not yet developed at all, a member of a powerful race as ancient as the demons themselves.

"God" was an honorific ordinary intelligent creatures in certain worlds used for supernatural races. Over their long existence and exploration, demons had encountered all kinds of peoples. The evolution and expansion of any race depended on plundering resources and oppressing other races.

Gods was the demons' term for certain powerful races of spiritual beings, just as demons called themselves demons. The makeup of the gods varied enormously, as did their strength.

The most common among these gods were the Faith Gods. Like certain gods in this world, they were aggregates of the thoughts of intelligent creatures,

possessing the ability to manipulate life. There were also Primordial Gods and Consciousness Gods. Primordial Gods were the product of energy becoming conscious, born with the ability to control all manner of energy-or rather, they themselves were energy.

Consciousness Gods were stranger and more wondrous still. They, too, were manifestations of something spiritual, yet they possessed certain powers similar to those of Primordial Gods. Although Consciousness Gods were not as powerful as the former two, they could survive longer and continue existing without end.

Eddard's distorted body and the way he used his special abilities looked just like the Consciousness Gods of legend. The demon B'lack had not been certain at first, so it had kept secretly probing Eddard's capabilities. Only after confirming his power had it dared attack him directly.

"Hmm..."

Just as the terribly weakened demon B'lack was considering how to devour Eddard, a strange pressure suddenly appeared in the area where the explosion had occurred. As energy erupted, Eddard's form gradually emerged. He looked even stranger now than he had at the beginning.

After being injured, Eddard's left and right hands had undergone further mutations to different degrees. If they had still been recognizable as hands before, they had now completely transformed into two things resembling living creatures.

The scales on his left hand had turned entirely fiery blood-red, and his five fingers had become terrifying, lizard-like talons. The hooked, keratinous claws looked as though they were about to drip blood. The materialized muscles were filled with terrifying explosive force, as though they could easily tear through this space.

Most terrifying of all was the eye on the back of Eddard's hand. It was a beast's eye that looked stained with blood, with a diamond-shaped pupil like a black hole. A single glance could plunge someone into boundless terror.

Eddard's right hand, meanwhile, had completely transformed into a twisted arm made of Dragonglass. The arm seemed to consist of all kinds of twisted crystal columns overlapping one another, covered in various spiral barbs.

In this somewhat dim area, those spiral Dragonglass barbs emitted a smoky blue glow. In the middle of the Dragonglass Pillars, white specks resembling flames were even visible.

On the back of this crystallized right hand was another eye-like creation. The eye looked like blue jelly, with sparkling points of light like ice chips scattered around its black vertical pupil. It looked quite beautiful, yet this strange eye exuded a terrifying aura, as though even a simple glance would freeze one's soul.

Everything above Eddard's neck had now become a structure like an evil-eye monster. Green eyeballs and tentacles seemed to have been forcibly glued together by a clumsy child, making for a deeply uncomfortable sight.

The demon B'lack felt extremely uncomfortable under those eyes' gaze. It was an indescribable feeling, as though they were looking at it the way it looked at intelligent creatures while torturing them to death.

For an instant, the demon B'lack even wanted to flee. But whenever it recalled the suffering it had endured while sealed away, it felt unwilling to give up, so he forcibly suppressed that fear again.

The stronger Eddard was, the greater his value. The demon B'lack considered itself no worse than any god in this world, so it once again manifested the violent energy within its body as a weapon. Forcing down the fear in its heart, it attacked Eddard again.

Boom... bang...

This time, Eddard's left hand met the demon B'lack. When its weapon collided with his left hand, a terrifying force like exploding thunder erupted through the area.

The terrifying shock wave even struck the evil spirit hiding off to the side to watch the show. After being hit by the energy fluctuations, this evil spirit, which specialized in mental attacks, shot violently into the distance like a floating plastic bag struck by a stone.

"Aah... aaaoow..."

The evil spirit's shrill screams echoed endlessly through the area like a banshee's wail. That attack made both Eddard and the demon B'lack glance in its direction, though it was only a glance. They then clashed once again.

At that moment, Eddard's perception felt extraordinarily ethereal, as though his body did not belong to him at all. But he did not simply wait helplessly. He had been manipulating the Golden Eye's power all along, using it to investigate the past and future of the consciousnesses in his left and right hands.

Unfortunately, Eddard could uncover very little information. Or rather, his current power was still too weak to deconstruct the two consciousnesses parasitizing his perception at all. One thing, however, was clear to him: these two consciousnesses were immensely powerful. The difference between his perception and theirs was like the terrifying difference in size between Blue Star's moon and Blue Star's sun.

Upon noticing Eddard's probing, both his hands actually reacted at the same time. His dragon-claw-like left hand acted first. As its talons opened and closed, an even stronger force erupted.

Boom...

The terrifying shock wave spread outward with Eddard at its center, blasting away the demon B'lack as it came slashing down with its sword.

Then Eddard's perception began to counterattack under his left hand's control. Eddard also diverted some attention to analyzing the consciousness in his left hand, hoping to find clues to the use of supernatural power.

Boom...

With a blaze of fire shooting skyward, the demon B'lack's flames transformed into something like a fishing net. The net of fire then attacked Eddard's position.

Eddard's left hand instantly swelled, suddenly growing as tall as the demon B'lack. Then Eddard, grotesque as a conjoined monster, burst straight through the net of flames and closed in on it.

Just as Eddard was about to strike the demon B'lack, it suddenly spewed a gush of scorching liquid from its mouth. The hot, corrosive liquid appeared so abruptly that it completely engulfed Eddard's perception. This liquid, which combined energy attacks with mental attacks, caused Eddard waves of discomfort.

"Hiss..."

At that moment, Eddard's left hand changed once again, transforming directly into an enormous maw. Flesh like an abyssal mouth swallowed the demon B'lack in an instant.

Bang...

After being swallowed by Eddard's left hand, the demon B'lack struggled desperately. Eddard could clearly feel those powerful impacts, but as time passed, its resistance grew weaker and weaker, until finally there was no sound or movement at all.

Before Eddard could react, his right hand erupted with a deep blue light. Under that light's influence, his right hand rapidly expanded, completely enveloping the area in no time.

The evil spirit watching the show from afar grew somewhat panicked when it saw Eddard's actions. Sensing something was wrong, it tried to break out of this Dream World and enter the real world, but the surrounding smoke-like energy refused it passage.

This instantly sent the evil spirit into a panic, and it secretly regretted not leaving earlier. Ultimately, it had been too greedy, hoping that the demon B'lack and Eddard would both suffer grievous injuries. It had already felt an urge to leave earlier, but upon seeing Eddard's tremendous power, it had been unable to resist staying.

"My lord... my lord! Please don't hurt me. I only wish to serve you, I..."

Before the evil spirit could finish, spike-like Dragonglass surrounded it. Its unfinished words in the Common Tongue were also shut inside the seal, unable to escape in the slightest.

Why not hear what it has to say?

As Eddard watched the Dragonglass preparing to attack, that thought instinctively arose in his perception. Then he discovered that the Dragonglass Pillars had actually ceased their attack posture.

Huh... you're actually willing to listen to me? Then... what are you? Why are you parasitizing my perception?

Upon realizing that communication might be possible, Eddard hurriedly sent over a string of conscious messages. But the blue eye on the Dragonglass showed no response, and the consciousness remained dormant.

After trying several more times, Eddard stopped testing it altogether. It seemed the other party was merely following some kind of rule, like a computer system. Unless Eddard gave it the correct command, it would not respond at all.

Moreover, through his tests, Eddard discovered that the consciousness in his right hand could only carry out a few simple commands. Perhaps it would operate only when it detected a threat.

"What are you? Or rather, were you once human?"

"Oh! Thank you, great being. Thank you for sparing me. I'm only a humble witch. Compared with you, my power cannot compare to yours at all. Aah... help!"

After directing the Dragonglass Pillars to open a few gaps, Eddard addressed the evil spirit struggling incessantly inside.

But after gaining a moment to breathe, it began chattering on and on. So Eddard used a little trick, ordering the Dragonglass to contract rapidly and bring it completely under control.

"I don't like wasting words. Tell me your name."