Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Chapter 289: Contract and Loopholes

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Cedric's consciousness touched the barrier of this world, which is the Purgatory Realm.

Roughly a month or so ago, doing this would've consumed a lot of his energy and placed an immense burden on his mental faculties, but right now? It's as easy as breathing for him; he doesn't even need to try.

If he wanted to, Cedric could put the entire planet under surveillance, and even though that wouldn't take much from him, he'd be able to do that all day. After all, compared to the worlds that the Divine Council had, Prime Earth was relatively small.

But doing that isn't necessary right now. What he wanted to do was study the structure of the purgatory realm to have a better understanding of it.

So far, he knew that Acala, in a brave move to save herself and her citizens, created this realm and was forcibly tied to the Demon Race's Soul Network, the key to their false immortality.

That said, knowing what she did is different from understanding how it actually works. And if Cedric wanted to tweak things in the Purgatory Realm, it would be imperative for him to understand its existence first.

The process, which Cedric thought would take some time, is actually far simpler than he anticipated.

"I see..." Cedric opened his eyes, releasing a relieved sigh. "At the end of the day, it all boils down to runic symbols, huh? My, isn't that just fantastic? I happen to be an expert on that!"

That's right, it's all about runic symbols again.

Cedric discovered pretty early that runic symbols worked similarly to written language, which translates the profundity of heaven and earth. This discovery was proven to be correct, especially when he made contact with the Tower of Prodigies and mastered the Runic Heaven Records.

Acala essentially baited and forced the Demon Race to sign an agreement that put hers and their people under controlled aggression. She did so to give humans time to develop and prevent demons from going all out. It was a risky but extremely rewarding move. Alas, it aggrieved many people. Moreover, even with these shackles, the means of the demon race were plenty.

How could a recently developed species contend with that?

Thanks to his mastery over runes and symbols, the 'agreement' or 'oath' that both parties signed—tthe contract, per se—became visible to Cedric. And while he couldn't 'edit' it without alarming the opposing parties, he could certainly exploit some obvious loopholes to make it more advantageous for humans.

See, this 'contract' is what's causing and forcing humanity to do their monthly Hell Dives, and the Hell Dives is what made humanity place a monitoring chip into each other for the sake of security.

In the 'agreement' both forces will be pulled into the Purgatory Realm to fight. Humans see this as a test of their abilities, while demons see it as a form of entertainment or a chance to learn more about humans.

If the human participant wins, great! They get to live another month and get rewards like Demon Souls—the essence of demons plucked from their very origin. Humans could then use demons souls to make themselves stronger.

If the human participant fails, though, they become a danger to everybody around them. If they fail three times in a row, according to the agreement, demons could claim their prize.

They not only claim the human's soul but also turn their body into a spatial node, which they could then use to 'legally' invade Prime Earth—a process that could be prevented if the failed participant willingly hands over their life to their peers.

But with how many humans are alive on Prime Earth, how could every single desperate and unlucky person be willing to just die? They were born into this unfair setting; none of them wanted this. Moreover, they're treated as sinners for something they can't control. How is that fair?

The 'three-time losing streak' might sound fair in business terms, but in truth, it isn't. If it were, then aside from the system rewarding humans who manage to maintain their winning streaks, shouldn't something bad also happen to their enemies?

Like, for example, one of their facilities blowing up, a stipulation that their fleet will move back a certain distance, or even something simple like one of theirs turning into humanity's slaves.

Sure, the demons that die in the purgatory slowly lose their memories, starting with the oldest ones, but that hardly matters to them because they have the Soul Network and the Flesh Incubator. Demons could reincarnate as many times as they want, so long as they have resources. Why would they care about some old memories?

If true fairness were to be applied on both sides, the Demon Race should be panicking right now because there's at least a hundred people who maintained a winning streak of 1000 and above.

Do any of those happen? No. But if a human loses their battle three times in a row, demons could legally invade and wreak havoc on Prime Earth, and the only way to stop it is when the loser willingly commits suicide. How is that fair?

Of course, it's unfair. However, what can they do about it? Human civilization isn't as advanced as these space pirates are, so they could only swallow this kind of setup.

'Not anymore, though.'

Because Acala had been in a deep slumber as soon as this agreement was made, the Demon Race was able to get away with many things by exploiting the loopholes. Truthfully, nothing much will change even if she's awake now, since she's still too weak to challenge them.

Fortunately, Cedric isn't as weak as her. That said, he's keeping a low profile, so it's not convenient for him to personally make the move.

However, that doesn't mean that he's completely out of cards...

"Granitas, heed my call," Cedric muttered.

With a slight breeze, the Earth Core Golem, Granitas, appeared in a kneeling position behind him.

"I await your orders, my lord."

"How long will you need to isolate this solar system?" Cedric asked.

"Three days is enough, my lord," Granitas replied. "But if you desire my movements to be hidden from our enemies' senses, I will need no more than two weeks."

"Alright. Two weeks it is." He nodded. "Isolate this solar system and make sure that they can't run away. Also, reinforce the Grand Solar Laws as much as you can without them knowing while you do that. Report to me after you're done."

"As you wish, my lord." Granitas then sank into the ground and began performing his duties.

Meanwhile, an ocean of runic symbols poured out of Cedric's body. One by one, they turned invisible before fusing to the Purgatory Realm.

Cedric wasn't 'editing' the clauses on the agreement between Acala and the Demon Race. What he's doing is simply reinforcing the already existing rules in it and adding some clauses here and there without their knowledge.

He made it so that humans could still turn into spatial nodes, but when they did, they wouldn't open up within humanity's territory. The node will appear on the Lost Continent instead. That place is already literate with demons anyway, so why not dump them in there?

This was something that wasn't specified in the contract before and was something that demons exploited greatly. Not anymore, though.

Cedric reinforced the rules and added more clauses that he thought necessary to even out the situation without alerting the Demon Race. He also added additional rewards to those who are performing well in their hell dives since he's super freaking rich right now.

On the surface, nothing seems to have changed, at least for now. It will take some time before anybody notices this, and by then, it'll be too late for them to do anything.

Truthfully, with Cedric's foundations right now, he could just simply flip the table and tell them to 'fuck off'. He's strong enough to challenge them anyway.

He didn't do so because, as much as others see this as an existential threat, it is also an opportunity.

Even Cedric couldn't refute that, without the presence of the Demon Race, humanity wouldn't have come this far.

Besides, the Demon Race is just one of the many space pirates roaming around. Any other space pirate could cause as much suffering as the demon race could. Some are even scarier than them, so, in a sense, humans are fortunate that they're only dealing with demons.

That said, this has gone longer than either party wanted to. Cedric himself wants this to end in his era. He doesn't want the younger generation to deal with the same sh*t they're dealing with right now.

He wants them to broaden their horizons. See far greater sights than their ancestors ever did. See and experience real prosperity beyond the oppression of the Space Pirates.

Cedric wants to show them what's beyond this place. He wants to lead everybody into a bright tomorrow, and he himself wants to explore that world too.

Obviously, the first step to do that was to get rid of some nuisances.