Chapter 266: 266: Cycle Of Existence

Capítulo 266: Chapter 266: Cycle Of ExistenceOne by one, following after their husband, they entered the golden magic circle, which allowed them to pass directly through the several-meters-thick wall of the dome of the [Life Engine Matrix], a structure formed from naturally occurring materials drawn from the deepest regions of Biblical Heaven.

Once inside, they were met with an environment filled with countless rock mountains and canyon-like formations made of white, silvery, and pale crystalline stones.

Several ponds were scattered throughout the land, interconnected by rivers that flowed with nothing but liquefied energy of Aurema, moving smoothly without a single ripple.

Even though Damien had constructed this place as a fully sealed dome, completely cut off from the outside in every direction, there was somehow still light present within it.

The interior was brightly illuminated, making it appear as though it were daytime upon a newly formed earth.

The space within the [Life Engine Matrix] stretched for a little over five thousand meters in radius, forming an enormous dome.

Its entire interior shared this same terrain.

Mountains and canyons of varying shapes and sizes resembled naturally formed landscapes, alongside deep rivers and ponds of diverse forms, all interconnected by flowing currents.

Everything about it looked as though it had been shaped by nature itself.

Nearby, there was even a volcano, its fiery pit filled with white flames composed entirely of condensed Aurema energy.

Even Avanora, who had witnessed thousands of different landscapes across hundreds of worlds, found it astonishing just how natural this place appeared, even more natural than landscapes formed through purely natural means.

“Have you noticed?” Damien asked, standing beside her.

“Yes,” Avanora replied, nodding. “This place looks like a perfect replica of the earlier version of Biblical Hell, except everything is white or silvery. Unlike Hell, which was scorched red or black and shrouded in amber and darkness.”

Her eyes widened slightly as realization dawned on her.

“I see. You are trying to replicate the conditions under which the first batch of demons came into existence, only this time within Biblical Heaven, in order to create their counterpart race,” she said, clapping her hands together.

Damien smiled.

That was exactly it.

He was attempting to recreate the process by which Biblical demons had naturally come into being.

Demons were beings of negativity, born from the soul energy of the damned, souls that had fallen into Biblical Hell and were sustained by the dense energy of miasma.

They rose from the pits and corrosive soil of Hell as a race that stood close to being spiritual in nature, having been formed from pure energy.

At the same time, they were also a race bound to the cycle of samsara, the cycle of birth, life, and death.

It was as though the universe itself had sought to give birth to a race that embodied universal negativity, one that would oversee the souls steeped in it, the damned souls of Hell.

In doing so, demons became an integral component of the cycle of samsara.

As for their origins, demons existed in many forms, differing according to the pantheon from which they emerged.

Though their essence and core were fundamentally the same, their appearances, cultures, and methods of dealing with damned souls varied greatly from one pantheon to another.

For example, biblical demons possess varying skin colors such as red, brown, and pale, similar to vampires.

They have horns, tails, and demonic wings, all of which differ in size, shape, and number depending on factors such as hierarchy, power, and age.

Despite these differences, all biblical demons share certain common traits: horns, tails, and demonic wings.

These features are the defining characteristics of the demons of biblical Hell.

Their primary element is hellfire, powered by their ability to wield the energy of Hell, Miasma.

Another type of demon is the Norse demons, who inhabit the hellish, icy, and blizzard-ridden lands of Helheim.

Unlike the demons of biblical Hell, Norse demons have white, grey, or slightly bluish skin and white horns.

Not all Norse demons possess wings; they must reach a certain age before they are able to grow them.

Additionally, unlike the fire-based demons of biblical Hell, their primary element is hellish ice, powered by their ability to wield Miasma of an icy nature rather than fire.

Both biblical demons and Norse demons also possess various subspecies, such as succubi, imps, and lamia, yet their core nature remains the same.

There are also demons originating from other pantheons, such as the Asuras of the Hindu pantheon.

The Asuras of the upper plane are demons as well.

While they possess abilities similar to biblical demons, their appearances and certain physical traits differ, showing disimilarities to both Norse and biblical demons.

Regardless of the place their origin, all demons are identical in core and essence.

They are a race born from the pits of Hell, their nature shaped by its negativity, their flesh sculpted from the energy of Miasma, and their souls manifested from the soul essence of damned souls.

Damian was replicating this same process to create a new race.

This new race would become the counterpart of demons.

If demons were born from the pits of Hell, then their counterparts would be born from the pits of Heaven.

If demon souls were created from the soul essence of the damned, then their counterparts would be formed from the soul essence of virtuous souls.

If the source of a demon’s power is Miasma, then the source of power for their counterparts would be Aurema.

That was why Damian had created the controlled environment, which looked exactly like Hell, except it was Heaven’s version of it, imbued with all of Heaven’s properties.

“I have a question,” Ana continued, raising her hand. “If the process is the same, then why haven’t the counterparts of demons appeared naturally?”

Damian sensed that Amaya wanted to explain, so he allowed her to speak.

“It’s simple,” Amaya said. “Existence occurs within the cycle of creation and destruction. For creation to occur, destruction must also exist. For positivity to exist, negativity must first exist, and the reverse is also true. The same logic applies here.”

She continued, “First come beings aligned with negativity, and next in the cycle come beings aligned with positivity.”

“So there is an established order in the cycle of negativity and positivity?” Ana asked. Based on Amaya’s explanation, it felt as though death, destruction, and all aspects of negativity came before creation, birth, and the aspects of positivity.

“Not exactly,” Avanora replied. “Creation and destruction coexist, just as positivity and negativity do. To put it more simply, creation can occur within destruction, and destruction can arise from creation… I made it sound more complicated, didn’t I?” She sighed.

“…Um, let’s put it this way,” Avanora continued after pausing for a couple of seconds. “There is no order in the cycle of creation and destruction. It’s more like triggers.”

“Triggers?”

“Well, not exactly triggers. It’s just easier to describe it that way,” Avanora said. “Creation and destruction are always occurring infinitely. Within that endless process, deviations can happen due to any number, perhaps an infinite number, of factors, most often to correct imbalance.”

She continued, “When such an imbalance occurs, it can lead to causeless creation birthing destruction, or destruction birthing creation. Demons were the result of such a deviation, a trigger that birthed a race aligned with negativity. If everything proceeds normally, then once the universe reaches a certain stage of growth, their counterpart, just like demons, would naturally come into existence as well.”

“I think I understand,” Ana said slowly. “You’re saying demons were the result of a trigger that happened to occur, resulting in the creation of a race representing negativity.”

“Yes,” Amaya nodded. “It could just as easily have been a race of positivity that came into existence first. It simply happened to be demons. Regardless of which manifested first, their counterpart would have inevitably appeared in the future.”

All three of them then looked at Damian, waiting to see whether their understanding was correct.

Even though Avanora had become an arcane scholar, she knew she could never be as knowledgeable as Damian, not even by a few percentage points.

Compared to his knowledge, hers was a drop in the ocean.

“You’re right,” Damian said. “There is no established order dictating which manifests first. An aspect of positivity can appear first, and in response, negativity will manifest, or the reverse can occur as well.”

He raised a finger slightly. “The important thing is this: as long as one exists, the other will inevitably follow. That is how the universe maintains balance.”

“My king explained it more clearly than either of you,” Ana said.

“Well, he has mastered all the laws, including the Law of Teaching and the Law of Guidance,” Avanora shrugged with a sigh. “Even if he were speaking incoherently, you’d still understand him. Besides, I’m a learner, not a teacher.”

“You guys are cute…” Damian muttered, a small smile tugging at his lips.

Then he raised his hand.

As his energy poured from the pores of his skin, a thick, dense sphere of unknown power rapidly gathered before him.

It expanded several meters in radius, floating above their heads while remaining firmly under Damian’s control.

With a bit more concentration, he made an opening gesture with his hand.

In the next instant, the sphere of unknown blue energy burst apart into countless particles, hundreds of thousands of them.

Another wave of his hand sent the innumerable blue energy motes flying outward, dispersing themselves randomly across a five-thousand-meter radius of land within the dome of the [Life Engine Matrix].

Each and every one embedded itself somewhere.

Some sank into the soil, others into the lava of the hundreds of volcanoes filled with white liquid flames of Aurema, and still others into the ponds and rivers formed from condensed Aurema energy.

Then he took out an object that he retrieved during his trip to the library within the Shadow Dimension, a white cube roughly the size of a football, inscribed with mysterious markings and circular symbols on all six faces.

It began to glow, as though responding to its master’s will.

The cube levitated from his palm and accelerated toward the center of the dome.

Upon reaching it, the cube released a burst of white light and began to disintegrate into countless fragments.

Those fragments rapidly expanded through magical means, transforming into a vast circular formation that covered the entirety of the dome before fading from sight.

Damian raised his hand once more and sealed his energy.

An enormous amount of dense golden power began to seep from him, accompanied by the essences of countless laws manifesting simultaneously.

[Law of Creation: Activated]

[Law of Birth: Activated]

[Law of Maturation: Activated]

[Law of Containment: Activated]

[Law of Regulation: Activated]

[Law of Calibration: Activated]

[Law of Origination: Activated]

[Law of Proliferation: Activated]

[Law of Sapience: Activated]

…and several more.