Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2462 A deal that changed the world

Caesar's already pale face began to lose what little color still remained in it, his complexion steadily draining as he stared at the horrifying scene unfolding before his eyes...

At that moment, something strange was happening at the center of the enormous array... One of the devils was touching the back of the victim's head, the second had placed its hand against the side of his head, the third was touching the center where his energy gathered, and the fourth was pressing its hand against his heart.

As for the fifth devil, the largest among the five, it slowly extended both of its fiery hands toward the victim's forehead, bringing them close to his skin before Krrrriish it began pulling backward with slow, steady movements.

"....!!!" The victim's eyes immediately began trembling violently within their sockets, and his entire body convulsed uncontrollably as his previously silent scream gradually grew louder and louder, struggling to escape until it finally seemed to decide that it no longer needed functioning vocal cords or even an intact throat in order to come out, "...Aah... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH—!!!!!"

The horrifying scream tore through Caesar's ears, but what happened immediately afterward tore through his soul even more violently... That devil had actually pulled something tangible out of the victim. It had pulled away the outer layer of the victim's skin, steadily dragging it outward until the uppermost layer separated completely from his face, then it continued pulling and peeling him downward without stopping until it finally reached the very tips of his toes.

"...!!" Caesar's entire body began trembling uncontrollably in horror, for this was truly the first time in his life that he had ever witnessed anything resembling this. That devil was now holding what appeared to be an external copy of the victim, an entire layer of his outer skin that retained his form, a layer so incredibly thin that it was almost transparent, yet despite its extreme thinness, removing it had caused the victim to bleed heavily all over his body.

The devil carefully examined the transparent layer it was holding for several long minutes, looking over it thoroughly, then Shwala the entire layer suddenly burst into flames and disappeared.

Afterward, the devil extended its hand toward the victim's forehead once again, placing it in the same position as before, and repeated the exact same process.

This time, however, they didn't heal the victim or accelerate his recovery before continuing. The devil simply began tearing away the next layer immediately after removing the first.

Caesar desperately wanted to look away from what was happening before him, and he wanted even more desperately to turn around and flee from this place altogether, but his entire body had frozen completely where he was...

The victim had already been peeled seven separate times by now, yet despite everything that had been stripped away from his body, they still hadn't reached the flesh underneath. That man had already been skinned alive seven times while remaining conscious through the process, and judging by what the devils were still doing around him, it looked like they intended to continue!!

<Alright, that's enough watching. Lower your head.> Mortex's voice suddenly snapped Caesar back to his senses and pulled his attention away from the horrifying sight. <We don't want those hooded people standing around the array to see you!>

"...!!" Caesar immediately lowered his head as quickly as he could and placed one hand firmly over his violently beating heart. To hell with the hooded people! I'm afraid the devils will discover me. I need to leave this place!!

<Heh~ They already noticed you while you were still making your way here, long before you reached your current hiding place. They simply don't care about you; they already have a task they need to finish.> Mortex laughed as though Caesar's fear toward those creatures was unnecessary.

"....?!" Caesar's heart nearly stopped altogether upon hearing those words. Those things already know that I'm here watching them?!

What exactly is that task they're supposed to finish? Some kind of torture that no one has ever experienced before?! Caesar thought in complete horror, and if he had been forced to speak those words aloud instead of communicating through his thoughts, he probably wouldn't even have been able to put together a single complete sentence because of how badly he would have been stammering.

<I've seen many of these rituals before.> Mortex began to explain in a calm manner, as though the horrifying sight Caesar had just witnessed was something he had encountered enough times to recognize immediately. <They're extracting information from him.> He then continued in an extremely simple and measured tone so that Caesar would listen carefully and understand exactly what he was seeing, <There are people who take a soul oath never to reveal certain things under penalty of death, while others might deliberately destroy their own memories to prevent anyone from obtaining what they know, or place self-destruct traps that activate if someone vastly stronger attempts to search through those memories by force... There are countless different ways to protect memories and information from others, and perhaps your adoptive father follows the same practice when it comes to protecting important secrets.>

He continued, <The devils here were given the task of extracting certain information from this particular person, and judging by what we're seeing happening to his body right now, that information is connected to the body itself, most likely a training technique or a technique involving some rare Law. And considering both the quantity and quality of the sacrifices gathered here for this ritual, I'd say it's probably a technique involving a merged Law.>

The devils... are actually extracting a merged Law technique from this person right now?! Caesar felt his body tremble again at the thought, unable to immediately comprehend how something like that could possibly be accomplished. Is that even possible?

<Memories and experiences reside primarily in the brain, but when something is practiced and used often enough, it begins leaving traces in muscle memory as well, traces that can even reach the Creation Codes themselves... It's obvious that our friend here decided to protect his secrets by destroying them, or perhaps by destroying all of his memories altogether and turning himself into an idiot in order to prevent anyone from obtaining what he knew, but they'll extract the information anyway, and they'll eventually hand their client a complete copy of everything that man has ever trained in. As long as the contract has already been signed, they'll inevitably fulfill the duty they agreed to perform regardless of the difficulties involved... In the end, he merely made things harder on himself.>

<Devils, or rather jinn in general, have certain special ways of dealing with concepts, things like karma, the Creation Codes, and other similar concepts. Those concepts stand above even the Master Laws that created the universe itself, and therefore, even if the jinn's actual knowledge and understanding of those concepts is limited and merely comes from their immensely long lifespans or perhaps from the very nature of their creation, they still possess certain special methods of interacting with them that we simply don't understand.>

Concepts... are actually above the Master Laws? Caesar's trembling gradually began to subside slightly as his fear momentarily gave way to contemplation over this new information. Just how powerful are those things, I wonder...

<The correct question isn't how powerful they are, but rather: just how capable are they? As I've already explained to you, you'll never need to actually fight one of them, so thinking about their strength in that manner isn't particularly useful. Just don't ever let anyone capture you and hand you over to a contracted devil, because if that happens, then this will inevitably happen to you regardless of how powerful you've become. The real question in such a situation would simply be whether your enemy possesses enough sacrifices to pay the required price.>

What terrifying and harmful creatures. Caesar cautiously glanced toward the victim once again, only to discover that the devils had already begun peeling layers from his flesh itself, causing him to immediately turn his eyes away once more rather than continue watching what was happening. I could've gone on with my entire life without ever knowing anything about them.

<That's impossible, my little friend. Anyone who wishes to rule a world must first know what exists within that world instead of remaining ignorant of the things hidden inside it, and you have to reach the very heart of this galaxy and rule this world... You have to rule the Necrofortress Galaxy!>

Are you saying I'll actually have to deal with those things after I rule the galaxy?! Caesar shuddered again at the mere possibility, his previous fear immediately returning. I don't want to!!

<...Once you rule it, you'll have an opportunity to deal with them, and a very significant opportunity at that, but you can also choose to simply ignore them altogether and prevent any more rituals like these from being performed here. After all, a ruler does whatever he wishes within the world he rules.> Mortex's voice sounded somewhat hesitant as he spoke this time, before he eventually continued, <And truthfully, I'll support you if you choose to stop what's happening here and refuse to deal with them at all... There is nothing in this world precious enough to be worth paying the price of permanently tainting your soul.>

...? Caesar found the unusual tone in Mortex's voice somewhat strange, especially after everything the other man had just explained to him about these creatures and their contracts. You sound like you're speaking from experience.

<How do you think I obtained the Minor Law of Death and managed to reach the strength of a Dominator in it despite being nothing more than a human? And why do you think I transformed an entire natural galaxy into an enormous region of death?> Mortex laughed, although the words that followed carried the answer Caesar had been looking for. <I was the first one to create an array and sign a contract with their leader, and he was the one who appeared before me without even being summoned and personally taught me everything... I was the foundation he established for himself in this universe, and I am the foundation of all the depravity you can see before your eyes here, all the depravity that eventually spread throughout the entire universe. Because of my love for authority and power, I followed him and carried out the sacrifices that were required of me... and in the end, both my galaxy and I became what we are today.>