Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Cycling the ether through my veins, I felt the core of my being vibrate with the Divinity of sin that slowly began to spiral with Almighty Essence. The winds howled like a deprave devil as a bleeding black light pierced down from the Heavens. Striking against Avenos, the Devils and Demons burned like vampires in the sun.

Embers fluttered through my visions in a vast sea of death as the air quivered. It shuttered before the space began to grow heavy. As if hundreds of planets were on my shoulders, I stood still, shouldering my own aura, but the demons around me weren\'t so lucky as they fell to their knees one by one before my tyrannical pressure.

And from the skies, Seven Swords of a blazing inferno fell, and sound vanished, as did the laws of space and time. By the time anyone had figured out what had occurred, a colossal shockwave black as night had splintered the Hells, tearing a hole through the fabric of reality. And yet even with the destruction spreading over High Gods and lower, those that stood at Elder were frozen in a single moment, unable to defend themselves as the radiates of Storm of Heavenly Bind clawed at their bodies.

And with a quick Shadow Step, I ended their lives, cutting them down like wheat before the effects of this Seraphic spell ended.

\'Ten percent of my total Divinity. That\'s quite a lot," I mused, standing over the cold white bones of hundreds of thousands of demons. "Lily… When did I become a High God?"

"A few Chaos Cycles back. You were at the peak anyway. You are currently a Monarch. Congrats. Not like any of that means anything to you. You\'ve long since cheated the system with your insane battle prowess. In a few more years, you\'ll be at the peak of this stage. And that\'s just passive. You need more followers and to begin devouring Abyssal Qi from the Abyss."

Scratching my cheek, I chuckled rather triumphantly. " I\'m a badass. What can I say?" Surveying the calm battle that seemed frozen in place, I opened my palm and took hold of the Seven Elder Gods I killed. And flickered back to Ezra\'s side.

Watching the daughter of Asmodeus cut down demon after demon, surrounded by a blinding red sword light spiraling in graceful semi-circles, I couldn\'t help but nod at her impeccable technique.

"You got this?"

Flashing me a thumbs up, I didn\'t bother to stick around as I began to fuse the Seven Elder souls into me, which required a seven-year incubation time frame.

Ready to step away, my feet suddenly froze as my gaze slid to the Prince of Hell staring dead at me. A cold frown slipped to my face, but a smile soon appeared as I sent one of my slave princes a message.

"Drar, get a meeting with the Prince of Avenos. I\'m going to kill him."

Sending the prince, whose death was quick to arrive, a smile, I turned around and took my leave. There was no reason for me to stick around. At least not yet.

Allowing the darkness to swallow me, I appeared in the room beside Freya. " It won\'t be long till I ascend to a higher realm. Just a little more. Now then. I\'m sure at least one of the souls I took had some broken spells or arte that I can modify. This shit is so easy now. My God, no wonder the Abyssal Fiends be kicking ass? I\'m about to go challenge, Julius."

"Hmmm, it\'ll be a good fight that you\'ll lose. He can be an instant paragon, you know. With an affinity for Death and Destruction. Like Aurelia. You\'ll die after twenty moves."

"There are levels to paragon, right?"

"Pillars are the right word but yes. No idea what they\'re called in this lower realm but in Arcadia, we call them pillars."

"Is there a limit on the amount"

"Technically, no. But you should ask Zariel. He should be able to better explain it to you. He made the system. He knows all the tricks."

I frowned at that. Lily was usually a blabbermouth. " Why can\'t you tell me?"

"Because I\'m busy. The almighty Lily is about to ascend past the laws and become a true entity that shall create terror in her reign. Bodies of men and women will litter the streets, convulsing in orgasms as I bang every one of them… Now silence."

Funny ways of saying I\'m creating a body, but I dread the future. Lily is about to have hundreds of simps at her command. I pray for humanity.

Shaking my head, I sat down in the lotus position and reached into my soul where the Seven Elder ones resided.

With the creation of the Hive Mind, I no longer needed the Abyssal Shard. Once something is in reality, it means that replicating it again would be a hundred times easier. The Shard was only there to pull my ideas into reality. Now that they are, it serves no other purpose.

Perhaps through my will and recent actions, there will be entities born with a Hive Mind through the ages. Although I\'m sure they\'ll not be as superior as mine or, God forbid, Liliths.

My Hive Mind allows me to take techniques and experiences, but not Dao or concepts. Should a new race come about, they\'ll, at best, only be able to share information. But not learn from experience as I do. It\'ll still be dangerous but not as monstrous as I or Lilith.

Beginning the process of acclimating each soul, I stole. I couldn\'t help but stare in wonder at the magical transformation taking place within my soul.

Almost like the Path of Abyssal Night had changed the properties of my soul with my recent success. I found the fused souls that usually took Seven years to merge now only needed a day, and oddly enough, the link between my main soul and these fused were forming at the same time of the fusion.

Watching as all seven souls began to merge and link themselves to the Hive Mind, the core of my being exploded in a sensation of utter euphoria.

The Seven demon souls hummed in harmony as a sense of freedom grew within me. And a realization struck me. I was freeing these souls from hell. However, they are about to be plunged into a new type of hell, one where they have no hope of escaping.