Ominous, malevolent, bloodthirsty, chaotic, and ruthless—all these traits characteristic of the Abyss converged on the figure standing before the Succubus Queen.
It had a humanoid body but lacked arms, replaced instead by numerous writhing tentacles of varying lengths. On its neck sat a baboon-like head, twisted and fierce.
Besides the ferocious baboon head, it bore a new, round head with golden eyes and a massive mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. Purple veins snaked from the base of this new head, spreading across one side of its body, giving it a grotesque and sinister appearance.
It stood there, absorbing the surrounding Abyssal aura like a black hole.
This was Demogorgon, the Demon Prince who had been hiding for a long time.
"Beast Lord Baphomet, Mother of Demons Pale Night, Graz'zt the Dark Lord."
"The Queen of Chaos, the Worm King, the Spider Queen."
"...Don't celebrate too soon. You will all become stepping stones for my ascent to the throne, uniting with the great Mother's will!" Demogorgon muttered to himself.
He then looked up at the Succubus Queen and said, "Next time the Beast Lord comes here, you won't need to humor him any longer."
"I will use him as a banner, declaring my return to the multiverse!"
Before becoming queen, the Succubus Queen had already been conquered by Demogorgon. Her continued seduction and manipulation of various demon lords to build her network of influence wasn't due to distrust of Demogorgon but was at his behest, creating an illusion.
An illusion that Demogorgon and the Succubus Queen were only physically involved, devoid of any genuine emotional connection.
In truth, Demogorgon felt no real affection for the queen.
She was merely a contingency plan, a way to leave himself a way out.
Unwilling to remain merely a demon prince, Demogorgon sought the throne and saw beauty only as a distraction.
The Succubus Queen nodded gently, her voice excited and girlish, "My beloved prince, are you regaining your strength?"
Demogorgon flashed a predatory smile, his tentacles wrapping around the queen, pulling her close amidst her coquettish gaze.
"Not just regaining—I will surpass my past self and reach new heights."
"The Abyss will belong to me, Demogorgon, sooner or later!"
The Succubus Queen's gaze shifted to Demogorgon's newly grown head, her eyes filled with fascination.
Had Garon been present, he would have been astounded to see Demogorgon's new head.
The head was that of the Primordial Devourer—a being Garon had faced multiple times in the Prime Material Plane, each encounter ending with the Devourer escaping, leaving Garon empty-handed.
Now, let's rewind to the events during the second Dawn War.
While the Dawn War raged, the battle for the throne among the Abyssal demon lords reached a fever pitch, with each lord vying for supremacy.
Demogorgon, the target of every demon lord's ambitions, was forced to hide in an unremarkable, foul swamp within an Abyssal layer.
At this time, he was at his lowest.
In the stench and decay, surrounded by maggots and flies, Demogorgon lay hidden in the muck, reminiscent of his humble beginnings when he was abandoned by the Queen of Chaos.
Weak, helpless, fragile—Demogorgon was once again on the run, just as he had been in his early days, evading the mighty demons around him.
His memories of past glories overlapped with his current dire circumstances, making Demogorgon feel as if his rise to being a demon prince had been nothing but a fleeting dream.
The terror he instilled in the multiverse seemed like a distant fantasy.
But Demogorgon knew it wasn't a dream.
"I rose from the lowest depths."
"Why was I able to stand out among billions of demons and become a demon prince?"
Demogorgon reflected on his life.
"Incredible luck?"
"Exceptional talent?"
"Unyielding will?"
"...No, none of those."
Demogorgon cautiously lifted his muck-covered head from the swamp, gazing at the blood-red sky of the Abyss.
"It was the favor of the Abyssal Mother."
Staring at the sky, feeling the Abyss's vastness, he whispered inwardly, finding clarity.
Demogorgon had always known his success was tied to the Abyss's will.
Before, he arrogantly believed his rise to demon princehood and the Abyss's favor were due to his innate talent and wisdom.
Even when he sought the Abyss's response, there was a lingering sense of pride and confidence in his heart.
He believed the Abyss would support him just as it did when he was weak.
Because he was Demogorgon, because he was worthy, because he was irreplaceable.
He respected the Abyssal will, viewing it as his mother, yet in his core, he arrogantly saw the Abyss's will as merely an aid to his destined success, with himself as the rightful king.
Everything else was beneath him.
But the Abyss's will had remained silent, watching coldly, abandoning this suffering demon prince.
Following this, the Worm King arrived, crushing Demogorgon in his own domain. Soon, even lesser demon lords, whom Demogorgon had once looked down upon, began seeing him as prey.
The prince's glory was gone.
Demogorgon had fallen from the heights to the dirt.
During his repeated, desperate escapes, mirroring his early struggles, Demogorgon reached a profound realization in the depths of the Abyss.
"It wasn't my extraordinary talent or irreplaceability that earned the Mother's favor. It was the Mother's favor that made me irreplaceable and turned me into a demon prince."
Demogorgon gazed at the night sky, feeling small and forlorn.
Suddenly, a breeze blew.
The night wind lifted a few withered leaves, twirling them in the air before drifting away.
Demogorgon's eyes widened, then he wept with joy.
"Mother, I understand now."
"Thank you for your grace and forgiveness. From now on, I will follow your guidance, never again showing disrespect or defiance."
The night wind caressed Demogorgon's body tenderly, like a mother's warm touch.
In his weakest moments, when any demon could have trampled him, Demogorgon had considered ending his life to escape his bleak existence. At his lowest, he felt the guidance of the Abyss's will.
A warm breeze.
Then and now, the feeling was the same.
Demogorgon didn't hesitate. He leapt from the swamp, chasing after the drifting leaves carried by the wind.
Gray stones formed jagged mountains, standing like monstrous bones clawing at the Abyssal sky.
At the same time, a metallic star streaked across the sky, falling into Demogorgon's sight.
It wasn't a real meteor.
Its surface was covered in a metallic exoskeleton, rough and cold, with a gaping maw in the center that seemed capable of devouring everything. It was battered, steam hissing from its body, still glowing red as if it were cooling molten metal.
On the Prime Material Plane, the World Devourer had just survived a brutal battle with the Eternal and Time Dragon. Pushed to its limits, it had fled into the Abyss.
Unlike before, the moment it entered the Abyss, the World Devourer felt an intense, malevolent presence.
It came from the darkened sky, the silent mountains, the swaying forests, the black and yellow earth... from every inch of the Abyss.
The Abyssal will had focused its power, manipulating the plane's very rules to oppress the World Devourer.
The World Devourer sensed danger and tried to flee, tearing through the invisible restraints with its jaws.
At that moment, countless tentacles shot up, obscuring its vision. The World Devourer, overwhelmed, was consumed by Demogorgon.
With the Abyssal will sealing off the surrounding space, the process went unnoticed.
"Mother, I will heed your will, win the War of Kings, and make the multiverse an extension of the Abyss, bringing endless worlds into your embrace."
Demogorgon rose again, but unlike before, his dependence and trust in the Abyssal will reached their zenith.
He no longer saw his success as a result of his abilities, attributing all his achievements to the Abyss's guidance and favor.
He firmly believed that without the Abyssal will, he would be nothing.
This once proud and brutal demon prince had been completely molded into a puppet of the Abyssal will.
Returning to the present, in the luxurious palace of the Succubus Queen.
On the surface, Demogorgon enjoyed the pleasures brought by the queen, but internally, he remained cold and calculating, analyzing the power dynamics of the King Slayers, the Worm King, the Spider Queen, the Queen of Chaos, and the Pantheon.
Now, the World Devourer had become Demogorgon's second head.
But unlike before, after completely eradicating the World Devourer's residual will, both heads were now solely under Demogorgon's control.
Demogorgon's innate ability was energy absorption.
He earned his title of Demon Prince by taking advantage of a conflict between Tanar'ri and Obyrith demons, suddenly rising and absorbing the energy of thirteen demon lords, cementing his status on their corpses.
However, physical attacks from the Prime Material Plane were a weakness for Demogorgon.
The Sword of Temporal Destruction, forged from divine essence, embodied both energy and matter, which Demogorgon couldn't absorb, causing him
significant harm.
The World Devourer's strength lay in its ability to crush and tear apart all matter, including intangible rules and energy.
While the World Devourer could endlessly shatter matter, it couldn't absorb energy indefinitely, complementing Demogorgon's abilities but differing in nature.
Now, with the World Devourer captured and fused into his second head, Demogorgon had no weaknesses. He became a terror capable of destroying and absorbing everything.
However, fully integrating the World Devourer and erasing its remaining will would take time.
Once the World Devourer was fully merged, Demogorgon would become the most powerful demon lord in history, unmatched.
At that point, Demogorgon would be ready to embody the vast will of the Abyss.
He would become the perfect ruler of the Abyss, commanding all demon lords.
"World Devourer... How long can you resist me?"
"Dragon Pantheon, Pantheon... Enjoy your time at the top a little longer. My era, the era of Demogorgon, the era of the Abyss, is coming."
Demogorgon whispered silently to himself.
After enjoying the pleasures with the Succubus Queen and venting his accumulated emotions, Demogorgon once again hid in the queen's palace.
Focusing intently, he began to dismantle the World Devourer's will bit by bit. Meanwhile, purple veins spread like webs across his body, and his gray fur slowly turned a more sinister shade of violet.
...
"Your resistance is futile."
In the Hall of Eternal Heroes within the Heroic Domain.
Garon opened his eyes, his platinum gaze reflecting another identical "Garon Aurelian" held in his claws, albeit much smaller in form.
The Garon formed from the Faceless King was lifelike, with every scale and detail matching the original Garon precisely.
Its remaining will had been thoroughly eradicated by Garon, leaving the dragon form stable and unmelted.
It had become a true shell.
Garon was infusing it with his spirit and temporal energy, leaving his mental imprint on the Faceless King's body, turning it into an extension of his will, a new avatar.
This was not a task that could be completed in a day.
Under Garon's shaping, the Faceless King's current form was an ordinary dragon shape. However, if fully expanded, it could envelop countless stars in its vast, fluid form.
Infusing his will into such a primordial body, even without any resistance, was a complex task.
Garon had planned to make the Faceless King his third avatar ever since acquiring its body.
But at that time, Garon was only a pseudo-intermediate deity, unable to realize his vision. It was only after three hundred years, upon reaching pseudo-powerful divine strength, that he could begin this process.
After some time, as one-tenth of the Faceless King's body became an extension of Garon's will, he looked down towards the Sky Garden below the Dragon's Court, where the realm of the Time Dragon resided.
At the same moment, a divine radiance rose, shining in all directions with the might of both the sun and time.
In countless worlds across various planes, all who believed in the Eternal and Time Dragon paused, then beamed with joy. After tempering their excitement, they began to pray fervently.
"Lord of the Heroic Domain, Master of the Dragon's Court, the great Eternal and Time Dragon."
"Your loyal followers rejoice in your ascension, celebrating and blessing you."
Many wealthy believers performed elaborate ceremonies, offering gold, silver, gems, or time-related treasures as tributes, seeking no divine favor in return, only wishing to convey their blessings.
These offerings came mainly from non-draconic beings. Draconic followers, unless they were fanatics, would never part with their treasures. Asking a dragon to give up its hoard was akin to asking for its life.
Buzz!
In countless worlds, regardless of the previous weather—be it cloudy, night, or even pouring rain—a bright sun emerged, spreading gentle rays across the land.
All who basked in this sunlight felt an unprecedented comfort.
Many incurable ailments healed under its light, and troubled hearts found rare peace.
A human king who had given a great deal of tribute felt vitality surging within him.
His frail, aged body experienced a reversal, growing younger and stronger, and even his dulled mind became sharp once more.
"...I can live another hundred years."
"Thank you, my Lord! You have granted me a second life."
"I will remember your grace. All lands and people in my kingdom will become your followers, chanting your name!"
The king, now youthful and handsome, was overjoyed, solemnly promising to spread Garon's faith.
Nearby, the middle-aged prince, who did not worship the Eternal and Time Dragon, stood in stunned silence, his smile frozen in place.
During this ascension to powerful deity status, Garon's followers reaped the most benefits, though other intelligent species also received some blessings. Among them, the Wind Queen's followers enjoyed a special favor.
Following this, the gods gathered to celebrate in the Time Dragon's divine realm.
"Another powerful deity for the Pantheon, a joyous occasion."
"The multiverse rejoices in your glory."
"This is a blessing for the Dragon Pantheon and the gods."
"..."
Flowers and praises flowed, along with divine gifts from the gods and the vast wealth offered by countless followers. I could rebuild the entire divine realm in gold! The Time Dragon thought happily, engaging with the other gods.
During the celebrations, the Time Dragon also formalized his relationship with the Wind Queen, issuing divine decrees announcing their union.
Double joy filled the Time Dragon's realm, where a grand feast was held.
Gods gathered, watching the Celestial Maidens and Subspace Maidens dance, enjoying the food and wine in a vibrant, divine atmosphere.
In countless worlds, followers of both the Eternal and Time Dragon and the Wind Queen held feasts, celebrating the union of their deities, forging alliances between their faithful.
Garon himself chose not to overshadow his avatar's moment.
Honestly, the union of the Time Dragon and the Wind Queen was beneficial, though Garon felt somewhat odd about it. After all, the Time Dragon was merely an extension of his will. Despite being one entity, Garon and the Time Dragon were inseparable in essence.
"In stories from my previous life, would this be pure love or a harem?"
The Time Dragon's partners weren't limited to the Wind Queen. However, she was the only one recognized as a spouse.
After the Dawn War, Auriel had been resurrected by the Time Dragon as his subordinate, along with a retinue of dragon maids including Nicolina, who had indescribable relations with him.
To the Wind Queen, these subordinates and attendants were of little consequence. Her position remained unassailable.
As an omnipresent embodiment of the wind, she was magnanimous, unbothered by the Time Dragon's subordinates and attendants. Without such tolerance, they couldn't have become partners.
"Pure love or harem... It's a question worth pondering."
The silver dragon shook his head, dismissing the odd thoughts and continued refining the Faceless King.
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