Chapter 809: Roots of the War

Chapter 809: Chapter 809: Roots of the War

The stairs seemed endless. The gloom grew denser with every step Ethan took toward the abyss, broken only by the faint glow emanating from his body as he advanced into the earth’s depths.

"How can I improve my bloodline?" asked Ethan, breaking the tunnel’s silence. "Is there a way to restore it?"

[Of course there is, but it is as difficult as ascending to the heavens with bare hands], Crul replied, a serious resonance in Ethan’s mind. [You must find Amethyst Energy... a pure vein of Amethyst Energy.]

Ethan raised an eyebrow, pausing for a second on the steps.

"Just that?" asked Ethan.

[It sounds easy, but Amethyst Energy is one of the rarest substances in creation], Crul explained with a sigh. [Beings of higher dimensions can obtain the energy of their own attributes without trouble because it is always there; demons only have to go to the infernal plane, and void creatures go to the Void... just like when you entered the Void and felt comfortable, where your body strengthened just by breathing. But finding Amethyst Energy is not something achieved easily. Although...]

Ethan furrowed his brow at the deliberate pause.

"Although what?" asked Ethan.

[Although you are doing much better than Lord Amethyst], Crul revealed, a hint of fascination in his voice.

"Why? What do you mean?" asked Ethan.

[We didn’t know that Void power could combine so perfectly with the amethyst inheritance], Crul said. [When you devour things or living beings, your Void blood transforms them into energy your body can digest, and a portion has been gradually nourishing your amethyst bloodline. Even though it is still a small amount, if everything continues like this by the time you reach the higher realms, continuing to feed it will likely awaken your bloodline to a higher level. Don’t despair.]

Ethan nodded slightly, absorbing the ancient sword’s words as he resumed his descent. He looked at the eroded stone walls and the bottomless darkness surrounding them.

"And what does any of this have to do with this place?" asked Ethan.

[Ah, yes... I almost forgot], Crul said.

Ethan rolled his eyes and shook his head at the spirit’s distraction, waiting for him to continue.

[As I was telling you, creation was divided by attributes; however, there was a place where all attributes converged. It was called the Middle Plane, or the Great Center], Crul narrated, adopting the solemn tone of ancient chronicles. [In the Great Center, all races arose and managed to establish contact. For eons there was peace, at least among the higher beings of elevated dimensions. There were minor conflicts, yes, but nothing that changed history. However, there were races that were oppressed from the beginning: the first ancestors of the mortal races.]

Ethan listened attentively, feeling ancient history come alive through Crul’s words.

[The Great Archangel of twelve wings, son of the Celestial King, took a liking to a golden-crowned white crane inhabiting the mortal valleys; he went after her and tear off her crown to crown himself Celestial King], Crul continued. [The King of Hell loved the core of an ancient lava golem resting in the terrestrial mountains, and ripped it out without hesitation to forge a ring for his betrothed. And when the King of Chaos arrived at a mountain range where wind fairies lived, he disliked the color of their eyes; he decreed that such impurity could not exist and hunted them until almost exterminating them all...]

Ethan clenched his teeth in the gloom, feeling the cold injustice that had governed the dawn of the universe.

[Do you understand, Master? Beings from higher dimensions terrorized the mortals of the Middle Plane for millennia, but they never crossed the ultimate line... until a Demon King emerged], Crul said, lowering his tone to a somber whisper. [That Demon King saw a great fire dragon in the skies above the earth. Upon beholding the creature’s majesty, he declared it would make a great mount and enslaved it completely. It was the first living being enslaved in the history of creation... and that unleashed an uncontrolled wave of destruction. Entities from other dimensions began kidnapping mortal inhabitants and invaded Middle Earth, declaring their territories and exterminating thousands of native races.]

Ethan sighed, letting the cold air from the depths fill his lungs. In his mind, he could visualize the scene with absolute clarity: the suffocating pressure, the terror of the mortals, and those beings with godlike power terrorizing them without mercy.

[And that is not all, Master... it is not even the worst of it], Crul continued, a somber tone echoing in his consciousness.

"What else could they have done?" asked Ethan.

[The higher races committed an abhorrent taboo], said Crul. [Since the dawn of Creation, every faction possessed the firm knowledge that crossbreeding between beings of different attributes was an impossibility imposed by the laws of the universe. They had tried tirelessly across eons, but the results were atrocious, yielding only three fatal outcomes.]

Ethan did not interrupt, keeping his steady pace while listening.

[The first was that during copulation, the collision of opposing natures caused both lovers to explode on the spot], Crul explained. [The second was that only one of them died, consumed or poisoned by their partner’s incompatible attribute. And the third... was the fetus.]

Crul let out a heavy sigh that sounded like the echo of an ancient wind.

[If they managed to conceive, the fetus almost always died inside the mother’s womb. And the extremely few who managed to be born by miracle led a miserable existence. They were born with horrific deformities, crushed by spiritual diseases and agony, as though cursed by heaven itself. They died a few years later after enduring unimaginable suffering.]

Ethan clenched his teeth in the gloom.

"An abomination against the rules of Creation...", whispered Ethan.

[Indeed], confirmed Crul. [Yet the higher races did not stop. Blinded by the ambition of creating perfect armies or servants with multiple strengths, they turned the Great Center into a laboratory of aberrant, bloody experiments.]