Chapter 174

               

There are several rules in the Creation Abyss.

The most basic rule was that the creator should not directly intervene, and that other creators should never touch the creation.

But now, both of those rules have been broken.

Ahetta has set foot in his own ‘Third Night,’ and another creator has forcibly broken down the walls of the abyss and entered.

‘This is absurd…….’

But the reason Ahetta was so startled and horrified was not simply because another creator had ignored the rules and entered his abyss.

Beyond the level, the Demon God, the most influential being in the abyss, had intervened.

Demon God!

The beings at the pinnacle of countless demons.

The 72 Demon Gods were administrators who managed the entire abyss.

The usual rules of the abyss do not apply to them.

In the first place, who would dare to punish them even if they violated the rules?

Of course, there are the Great Nine Lords above the Demon Gods, but they tend not to pay much attention to what happens in the abyss.

So, in reality, the masters of the abyss were those 72 Demon Gods.

‘Why suddenly a Demon God……!’

Forced intrusion.

Something that other creators could never have imagined.

He would have easily annihilated any stupid fellow who entered his territory.

But the opponent was clearly a Demon God.

There was no chance of winning even if he fought.

Even if he waged war, the probability of Ahetta winning was 0.

Not close to 0, but literally, there was no future in which he could win.

…It felt like his thoughts had stopped.

‘The Demon Gods don’t intervene unless something happens that would shake the entire abyss.’

Even though the Demon Gods were the administrators of the abyss, they rarely took action themselves.

Because the abyss was so vast and extensive, they tended to overlook most rule violations. At most, they would send a minion to warn.

They usually only took action when it was closely related to the “Twelve Species” or when a “Species War” broke out.

But, why?

Especially her, who was known to be the most indifferent among the Demon Gods.

―……Gremory of Sorrow, what brings you to this humble ‘Night’?

……She came into the ‘Third Night’ that was only for humans.

Ahetta asked calmly.

Gremory of Sorrow.

The most ‘unknown’ existence among the 72 Demon Gods.

She held the position of Demon God, but had never appeared in public, and had little contact with other lords, so she was even called a ‘recluse.’

Ahetta only handles one ‘Army of Death,’ but she handles more than thirty legions.

And the strength of those legions was incomparable to the ‘Army of Death.’

Swish.

Wearing a golden crown askew and covering her entire body with white lace, she quietly stared at Ahetta.

Her eyes seemed gentle at first glance.

But if he was deceived by that appearance and acted carelessly even a little, Ahetta would be erased in the most terrible form.

Even a speck of his soul would be thoroughly mocked.

‘Getting close to Gremory of Sorrow leads to a terrible end.’

That was why the lords of the abyss avoided Gremory of Sorrow.

They didn’t bother trying to get close because everyone who approached her had been horribly annihilated.

It is even said that all the legions she leads are not actually located within Gremory’s castle.

…The one who should never appear has appeared, so it’s bound to be a question.

‘Maybe she didn’t appear for punishment for violating the rules.’

At the same time, a little hope arose.

Keeping his distance as much as possible, Ahetta asked, and Gremory of Sorrow replied.

【Ahetta. You’ve crossed the line.】

……Crossed the line?

Well, he did cross it.

He incarnated in the created abyss and scammed the creators.

But.

―Gremory, what line are you talking about me crossing?

He feigned ignorance.

He was already openly incarnating, but admitting it from the beginning would only be asking to be killed.

Besides, this was his abyss.

Although it had been taken away, as long as the ‘Super Blue Moon’ was up, it was still his territory.

Even the Demon God Gremory could not easily punish him…….

【This human knows honor. He is someone who cannot be killed by someone like you who does not know honor.】

…Human?

Suddenly defending a human?

But the only human here was the Archmage, even if you looked with a magnifying glass.

The other humans were unable to even approach the temple because they were dealing with the Army of Death.

‘Could it be that Gremory has contact with the Archmage?’

Ha!

That’s ridiculous.

How could a recluse, someone who never leaves her castle, make contact with the Archmage?

Moreover, it was even stranger that she was directly discussing ‘honor.’

To her, a Demon God, humans were less than dust.

They were insignificant creatures, like dust that disappears with a puff.

Nothing made sense or was convincing.

―That guy disturbed my territory by using tricks. But why is the Demon God defending a mere human?

Ahetta tried to argue as unfairly as possible.

He meant, what was wrong with responding to tricks with tricks?

Also, he pointed out that it was not reasonable for a being with the status of a Demon God to show up to save just one human.

Shouldn’t she be taking the side of the same demon instead?

However, Gremory simply shook her head.

【There were no tricks. Even if there were, they would be ridiculous compared to the rules you have broken.】

Gremory already knew everything.

It was because Ahetta had made the situation too big.

In particular, the act of soliciting investments from creators and scamming them could not be overlooked.

But, Ahetta’s biggest sin was not that.

If it was just those things, Gremory wouldn’t have needed to appear in person.

The reason she tore through Ahetta’s territory and appeared was simply to keep her promise with Park Chanwoo.

Soon, Gremory declared.

【Master of the Moon, your ‘Night’ is over.】

Thud!

It was that moment.

The red sky of the abyss turned pitch black.

Neither the ‘Super Blue Moon’ nor the ‘real sky’ could be seen at all.

Only then did Ahetta realize.

That his authority had been revoked.

Beyond being completely cut off from the territory of this ‘Third Night,’ he had lost the ‘Night’ itself!

In the first place, the rights to the ‘Night’ had been temporarily entrusted to Ahetta by the Demon Gods.

Naturally, the Demon Gods also had the right to take back the entrusted rights.

―W-why! P-please give me a chance! I can’t be less honorable than that human!

Ahetta burst into a passionate speech.

He never dreamed that they would reclaim the authority so quickly.

Was that damn honor so important?

What honorable things had that human done!

…No, maybe it was just an excuse.

There might be another reason why Gremory was defending the Archmage.

She was hiding the real reason and trying to find unnecessary fault.

―Perhaps that guy is your Incarnation? It is the ultimate taboo to directly incarnate and attack another creator for the sake of a mere Incarnation……. (T/N : Wow…. coming from you? The nerve… )

【Shut that vulgar mouth.】

Crack!

As if a zipper was being fastened, Ahetta’s mouth was shut.

Ahetta shuddered all over from the irresistible magic.

Just one word.

That one word was enough.

‘The level… is different.’

Shiver!

Ahetta trembled all over like an aspen tree.

That was why all the lords of the abyss revered the Demon Gods.

Their influence was truly enormous.

Ahetta could not defeat her with any of her power, capabilities, vessel, authority, or anything else.

To the demons living in the abyss, the Demon Gods were no different from gods.

Soon, countless messages began to appear in front of Ahetta’s eyes.

Ting!

《‘Master of the Moon Ahetta’ has lost the authority of ‘Night,’ and ‘Third Night’ will be forcibly terminated.》

《Starting the final settlement.》

《Double the invested coins will be forcibly repaid.》

《Punitive compensation will be imposed for violating the rules.》

《All of your coins (125,500) have been exhausted.》

《Converting the insufficient amount into other assets.》

《All of ‘Ahetta’s Hidden Treasure Vaults’ have been opened.》

《70% of the treasures in the ‘Treasure Vault’ have been recovered.》

‘N, no……!!’

Ahetta screamed.

He had not only lost the authority of the night.

Forced settlement was beginning.

Gremory had no intention of giving Ahetta even a small chance to defend himself.

The fact that she had even prepared a ‘punitive compensation plan’ with the authority of the Demon God meant that.

It was a way to appease the other lords who had been deceived by Ahetta and to bankrupt him without leaving him anything.

―G-Gre, mo, ry……!!!

He screamed as if squeezing it out.

Please. Please forgive me just once!

But it doesn’t stop.

The problem was that the proper settlement had not even started yet.

《Amazing survival rate!》

《All survivors who participated in ‘Third Night’ will receive an additional ‘Death Box.’》

《The final settlement for the participants will begin.》

《The assets for the settlement are woefully insufficient.》

《Bankrupt!》

Ah.

……Bankrupt.

The first time he had seen the word.

He had so many treasures that he could never go bankrupt.

But the settlement executed with the authority of the Demon God did not miss even the slightest calculation.

In an instant, it took everything away.

《Forced collection will begin.》

《Soon, the body and soul of ‘Master of the Moon Ahetta,’ as well as the qualifications of the creator, will be recovered and put up for auction.》

The process proceeded smoothly.

In the blink of an eye, Ahetta’s body, soul, creator qualifications, and everything else were seized.

There were cases like this from time to time.

If a creator’s assets were insufficient, their body would be taken away.

However, if the assets were woefully insufficient, they would be put up for ‘auction’ altogether.

Then, after being auctioned off to the lord who bid the highest price, the remaining compensation would be paid with the auctioned coins.

‘Just kill me! Just kill me cleanly!’

This was the greatest humiliation and disgrace for a creator.

It was worse than dying, a situation where he could never be comfortable until he died.

If it was auctioned off instead of being unsold, everything he had would be seized.

Perhaps, he would be eaten.

He would be swallowed whole and all of him would become nutrients for the lord who won the auction.

But, there was hope.

Even though he had lost the authority of the night, he was the Master of the Moon.

The base price was set high, so there would be no one who would easily bid.

《Congratulations!》

《You have won the bid for 1,000,000 coins!》

《Everything that makes up ‘Ahetta’ will be transferred to the ‘Demon King of Hellfire’!》

《Converting the insufficient assets into 1,000,000 coins and starting the exchange.》

《A ‘Hidden Treasure Vault’ will be specially opened for those who have achieved a Unique Achievement.》

《A special reward plan will be prepared for the ‘Archmage.’》

‘Ah……!’

He was torn apart.

His body, his soul.

Torn to shreds and being attributed to the ‘Demon King of Hellfire.’

It was a damn thing.

He couldn’t figure out how it had come to this.

He was the Master of the Moon, managed the night, and would have eventually risen to the position of Demon God.

‘Archmage! If it weren’t for you, if it weren’t for you!’

Everything was going smoothly.

If only there was no Archmage, everything would have gone as he wanted.

He should have just not confronted him.

He shouldn’t have bet everything on the game!

The price for touching someone he shouldn’t have touched.

He shouldn’t have even looked at him from the beginning.

…But, no matter how much he regretted it, it was too late.

―Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Before he knew it, his body and soul, and everything else, began to be compressed.

Ahetta’s screams, writhing in terrible pain, soon disappeared.

And in an instant, it was refined into the form of a bead.

Gulp!

……It went into the mouth of the ‘Demon King of Hellfire.’

That was how the ‘Night’ ended.