Volume One: The Devil's Nature Never Changes
Arc: The Great Guerrilla War
Scarlet King was being brutally beaten by the beast.
It held his body and repeatedly punched him, forcing him to spit out blood. Scarlet King was exhausted and nowhere near his full strength. The beast's regeneration had merely slowed; it had not lost any of its power. Because of this, it overwhelmed Scarlet King and began crushing him.
As the beast struck Scarlet King's face, abdomen, chest, and every other part of his body within reach, Scarlet King thought:
(Well, it seems this is death. Life is as heavy as a mountain, while death is as light as a feather. Humans fear the hardships of life even though they are heavier than a swift death, yet they do not fear death itself as much as they fear the moments preceding it. Those moments are what truly terrify them. And what everyone fears has become nothing more than a theatrical scene endlessly repeated before my eyes… Well, it seems I'll surrender myself to madness.)
Scarlet King slowly closed his eyes.
The beast suddenly stopped attacking, as though its animal instincts had sensed something commanding it to stop, kneel, and submit.
Even its screams ceased.
The entire area fell silent for several moments.
Scarlet King's aura suddenly erupted with such madness that even Ikalat and the stone giants felt its power.
They stopped fighting and turned toward its source.
A blood-red, demonic, and deranged aura spread across an enormous portion of the universe.
The same thought crossed both sides' minds:
(Could this be the Devil Madness Mode that multiplies his power twenty-twofold?)
Their suspicions were confirmed when a word written in blood appeared for everyone to see.
RAMPAGE
It was written in clear, blood-red letters.
Scarlet King stood.
His eyes radiated an overwhelming crimson aura that caused the beast to retreat slightly.
Scarlet King suddenly appeared before it at such speed that the beast could not even comprehend that he was already standing in front of it.
He struck it with a blow that completely shattered the bones in its face and hurled it away with tremendous force.
The impact sent the beast flying all the way toward Ikalat and the stone giants.
It crashed into the ground and destroyed several trees.
Along the way, it tore through space-time, shattered numerous mountains merely by passing near them, and triggered countless avalanches.
Everyone looked toward the beast, which had been driven deep into the ground.
Scarlet King suddenly appeared before it within a fraction of a second.
He swung his arm and delivered an immensely powerful blow that shook the entire region and unleashed an energy wave that pushed everyone backward.
Ikalat thought:
(Damn it. Devil Madness Mode will make him abandon everything and focus entirely on eliminating whoever drove him into this state. He won't stop until his target dies. If anyone tries to interfere, they'll die as well.)
The beast managed to punch Scarlet King in the face, but the strike neither moved nor affected him.
Scarlet King raised his fist and delivered a punch that unleashed a wave of heat.
The beast's skin and flesh melted away until nothing remained but its burning skeleton.
The skeleton was hurled backward and crashed into one of the stone giants, shattering it into pieces.
The Stone General spoke:
"Who is this fool interfering with our pursuit under the Chaos Network Arrest Decree to capture Ikalat?"
A chain ending in a pointed metal sphere suddenly flew toward the general, but he avoided it with ease.
The attack had come from Ikalat.
"He's someone no one in existence enjoys dealing with!"
Ikalat thought:
(I planned to send Liu Zai Hang to help Scarlet King so I could deal with the stone giants using my knowledge of them. The two of them could then return and help me. But Liu Zai Hang was intercepted, and Scarlet King has entered Rampage Mode as well.)
Ikalat looked toward Liu Zai Hang and saw him fighting three soldiers and one of the four commanders.
Liu Zai Hang appeared to be enjoying himself.
From his perspective, the fight was neither too easy nor too difficult.
It was moderately challenging and entertaining.
Meanwhile, something else was unfolding within Scarlet King's consciousness.
[Inside Scarlet King's Completely Dark Consciousness]
Scarlet King knelt on the ground, clutching his head, with part of his body submerged in the waters of his consciousness.
His appearance was slightly different.
His entire body was white, but darkness was spreading upward from below, slowly invading his pale form.
Several other versions of Scarlet King appeared around him, each possessing a different appearance.
One wore his military form.
"You fail every time, so why do you continue?"
Another appeared in his adult form.
"Eternal Rest doesn't truly exist, so why do we keep going?"
Another was a cartoonish version of him.
"Eternal Rest has become a joke we cling to so we can laugh, but that joke is no longer funny."
Suddenly, all the versions retreated.
Scarlet King's younger form appeared—the boy with long black-and-white hair, black-and-white eyes, and purple clothes.
"So it's you, the human heart? I didn't expect you to remain alive for this long, but it seems pain and despair have begun eating away at you."
The kneeling version screamed:
"I don't want to stay!! This is Hell!… H-How in the heavens can you endure all of this?"
The younger version answered calmly as he raised his hand, causing a small green butterfly to appear and flutter through the air.
"In this world, it is the world itself that creates devils and, at the same time, creates angels. So what is the difference? The world is neutral, and everyone is equal before the laws of nature and in their right to live or die. What is the difference between the death of an emperor and the death of an insect? There is none. Both are dead."
An enormous green tree suddenly appeared, covered in traces of celebrations—melted candles, emblems, and sheets of paper bearing drawings and writing.
Beneath the tree appeared a grassy patch of muddy land, and upon it stood a small grave with nothing written on it.
He continued:
"The laws of nature are neutral, just like the world. I and everyone else are equal before those laws, but we are not equal in what nature grants us. The world is filled with countless opportunities, but it does not distribute them equally, nor does it guarantee that anyone will ever reach them."
"Willpower does not always create victory, but it is what prevents a being from stopping before their opportunity arrives. That is why we see people walking the same path, yet one fails while another succeeds. Even so, someone with tremendous willpower may die after being struck by heavenly lightning, while a lazy prince lives a beautiful life."
The tree faded away, and the grassy ground disappeared.
The grave remained.
The consciousness returned to complete emptiness.
Nothing remained except darkness, a faint light surrounding only them, and the watery surface beneath their feet.
"The difference is that the world gives some people a reason to advance while giving others nothing. That is not evil on the world's part, but a hierarchy and existential inequality within it."
"Even so, the world's neutrality does not mean it is just. Anyone who falls from a mountain will die, whether they are innocent or a criminal. Both will simply be dead."
"Fate rules and controls. Heaven constructs and creates it, while the earth carries and contains it. Heaven, the world, and fate possess no hearts, yet they are conscious. So why must I possess one?"
He looked toward the kneeling version.
"Now tell me… Do you want to reach Eternal Rest, or do you want to remain like this in this Hell?"
The version remained silent and gave no answer.
The younger version turned away and began disappearing into the darkness.
"I'll wait for your answer."
He stopped and looked toward the cartoonish version.
"Merge yourself with the Black Hole Transformation. It has begun developing a consciousness, and your cartoonish abilities will be more compatible with an illogical transformation."
Darkness once again surrounded everything.
Only the weakened human-heart version remained, kneeling and trembling violently.