171: The hero lost the high ground

One of the Four Heavenly Kings's actions were swift.

He proclaimed himself a Missionary Priest of the Gospel of Fantasy.

He declared you to be the God of Fantasy descended into the world.

And he spread the Demonic Gem and Demonic Tool Awakening Rituals to every corner of the continent.

Because there had never been a Demon King or a Hero in this world, they were unaware of the dangers of demonization.

But they sensed danger.

Yet it wasn't that dangerous!

Demonization plus the Demonic Tool Awakening Ritual.

This was a new type of transcendent path.

And no transcendent path is ever smooth sailing.

Perhaps because it was once a world of Outer Gods, the indigenous people here were not so rigid in their thinking.

They readily accepted this power.

Although many were observing, as time passed,

when they found no harm, they all joined the ranks of the demonized.

And the transcendent beings who originally existed also began to study and engage with the transcendent path of the Demonic Way Mage, or rather, the Demonic Tool Mage.

Some resisted and detested it, while others studied and joined.

However, regardless of resistance or detestation,

they could not stop the Demonic Way Mage from spreading like a snowball across the Crimson Continent.

Those mortals who had never obtained transcendent power were the root cause of the Demonic Way Mage's nourishment and growth.

Based on the sheer number of people, the wave of the Demonic Way Mage's rise completely erupted.

So much so that, just half a year later,

Demonic Way Mages were almost everywhere living beings resided on this continent.

They rose to prominence, becoming the mainstream transcendent path in this world.

Among the myriad Demonic Tools, there were also a few exceptionally outstanding geniuses.

Subsequently, these geniuses were taken in by One of the Four Heavenly Kings, becoming a good batch of combat units under your command.

And One of the Four Heavenly Kings was also constantly absorbing the experiences and ideas from the awakeners of the Demonic Way Mage's transcendent path.

He even received unique feedback as the pioneering creator.

His strength was continuously growing stronger.

It even caused a hint of anticipation in your tyrannical emotions, a thought that perhaps killing him would be very interesting.

Fortunately, it wasn't that strong, and you could suppress it under normal circumstances.

You just feared that one day, you might suddenly have a whim to gauge One of the Four Heavenly Kings's capacity.

At that time, One of the Four Heavenly Kings would very likely be doomed.

Of course, this also proved that One of the Four Heavenly Kings had undergone a transformation, becoming far stronger than before.

He possessed the blessings of laws and authorities above S-rank, but not yet Divine Being-rank.

However, he was indeed very useful.

He even presented you with a Divine Demon Crystal within these six months; at first, you didn't know what it was, but upon receiving it, after the Divine Being nature you birthed smoothly absorbed the Divine Demon Crystal and grew considerably,

you knew this thing was good!

Then, you suddenly remembered that you were a Demon King, here to demonize the world.

And then, you belatedly realized that, through One of the Four Heavenly Kings's operations, demonization had quietly covered the entire continent.

So... the Hero should be descending!

The one-year period had arrived!

The Hero came as promised!

The Hero, Auditorne, was an SS-rank Heavenly Hero!

He was the Heavenly Hero carefully selected by the Divine Realm this time.

A Hero specifically for conquering you, or saving you.

The Goddess of Holy Light was indeed misled by you; after you were transformed into a Demon King, she diligently ran around the Divine Realm for you, hoping you could be saved.

After some discussion in the Divine Circle,

they decided to send the SS-rank Heavenly Hero Auditorne to conquer you.

Auditorne's Divine Being blessing was SSS-rank Divine Purification.

He was on the verge of becoming a Divine Being Hero.

It could only be said that he was just one step away from being a Divine Being Hero.

The Divine Circle's intention was that you were worth saving; if there was still hope, save you.

If there was no hope, let Auditorne kill you.

As soon as Auditorne descended, he sensed the almost ubiquitous demonic aura on this continent.

His expression was solemn; in just one year, the entire continent had been demonized. Indeed, the former Dawn Hero was beyond saving.

Subsequently, relying on his experience of successfully conquering multiple worlds,

Auditorne keenly sensed a slight abnormality.

So, relying on his intuition, he disguised himself as an indigenous person, then identified a direction and moved forward rapidly.

Auditorne blended into a small town.

Then Auditorne was confused.

Everyone he encountered, every person he met, even beings of other races,

were all demonized creatures.

But they were living their lives as if nothing was wrong.

There were also things like the Demonic Way Grand Competition, the Demonic Tool Crown Team... all speaking things that outsiders couldn't understand.

However, Auditorne was very patient.

He spent some time understanding the worldview and transcendent paths of this world.

He quickly discovered something unusual.

The Demonic Way Mage, the exclusive Demonic Tool Mage, who suddenly appeared half a year ago and then swept across the entire world!

The artifact of the God of Fantasy.

The Gem of Fantasy!

Auditorne secretly investigated, and it was clearly the Demon King's exclusive demonization ability, capable of demonizing all things.

A faint unease, an ominous premonition, rose in Auditorne's heart.

And his premonitions were often very accurate.

Indeed, when Auditorne secretly captured a lone, not very strong Demonic Way Mage indigenous person,

after Auditorne used his Divine Purification to dispel their demonization,

the indigenous person, upon learning that he had lost his Demonic Tool and his transcendent power,

fell into despair, a look of utter desolation.

This made Auditorne's mood plummet.

It's bad!

I've become the villain!!!

Auditorne was questioning life a bit.

He, a dignified Heavenly Hero, just one step away from becoming a Divine Being Hero!

Wasn't he a savior-like figure in that world?

Wasn't he a symbol of glory and faith?

But as Auditorne walked through city after city,

witnessing indigenous people who were demonized but unaware, believing they had gained transcendent power.

They were not affected mentally by the demonization at all, still doing what they believed they needed to do.

Auditorne's mood was numb.

This Demon King is truly hateful!

He even took away the moral high ground that a Hero could occupy!

He even truly whitewashed himself and became the spokesperson for an orthodox divine religion.

Where is there any God of Fantasy?

Never heard of him in the Demon Realm, and certainly not in the Divine Realm!

Now, even if Auditorne had immense abilities, they were useless.

Even if he lectured these indigenous people, no one would listen.

No one would think that the power of the Demonic Way Mage they wielded was evil.

He could never wake a person pretending to be asleep!