The Stubborn Skill-Grinder In A Time Loop

Chapter 53: Battlefield Grinding III

The lessons learned during the formative years could make or break someone. And Orodan had learned one very important lesson through all the adversity he’d faced growing up.

That hard work was the only reliable way forward.

The enemy’s missile troops were depleted, their own assaults returned to reap their lives. Their frontline meat shields were routed, the enslaving magics scoured from their minds. And now, the force of two-hundred enemy Gods and Transcendents assaulted him with fury.

An assault that wasn’t as effective as it was many loops ago.

“How does he not fall?!”

“Where does all that power come from!”

His enemies were beginning to show signs of frustration, but these weren’t the Apprentice and Adept level soldiers of an Inuanan army. They were Transcendents and Gods, the core elite of the enemy army, and morale wasn’t something Orodan could easily capitalize on. They wouldn’t break due to simple bafflement at his persistence.

The Scouring Liquid Sovereign - whose acid washed over him ineffectively - showed the most shock, and more than a small amount of fear. She was one of the enemy army’s commanders, a powerful cultivator whose reputation was widespread among the Ascendent Sword Cluster. She was one of the strongest members of the Puppet Sovereign’s forces.

Which made it rather shocking that Orodan was outright ignoring the waves of acid she was slamming against him.

The Endless Wealth Sovereign - another one of the enemy’s commanders - was also finding his assaults with liquid gold to be rather ineffective. Where were the veins to infiltrate? How could it breach the body when Orodan’s skin had no pores? Even at the most minute level, there was no vulnerability to exploit. And Orodan’s natural openings? There were none, save for the appearance of them as enforced by his will. His entire body was free of organs and his innards were entirely composed of muscle and bone for efficiency.

The gravity cultivator whose singularities had previously torn him apart, was now a good source of training for Body Tempering. The singularities still hurt, and they often ripped small chunks of flesh off his frame, but his denser and more compact body was a great natural defense. And each muscle group flexed in the opposite direction as he worked hard to train Physical Fitness using this opportunity.

Until finally…

…Zaessythra’s familiar voice rang in his head warning him of the approach of a familiar flying fell beast. The Puppet Sovereign approached.

“Hold all attacks! Immediately!” the voice of the puppet thundered. “Time looper! Your actions betray your looping nature. How many times have you fought us by now?”

“Perhaps a little over thirty?” Orodan said. “Come, let’s skip the pleasantries and get to the part where you ignite the soul nexus in a bid to kill me.”

“You… you survived even that?” it said. “…troubling.”

“Indeed, now let’s get on with it,” Orodan said as a feral smile graced his face.

In response, the Puppet Sovereign had only one word.

“No.”

Which was followed by it exploding into its true grotesque form and immediately fleeing. Something that Orodan had expected.

“Oh no you don’t!” Orodan declared as a Teleportation immediately closed the distance, ignoring the rest of the puppet’s army and the allied Third Army.

He stepped through space and this time wasn’t greeted by the sight of the Devil King sending out a familiar pulse of world energy. Rather, it looked prepared to fight him.

Which was just fine by Orodan!

Blade met demonic claw and shield intercepted fell hellfire. Both his weapons survived the strain of the deadly attacks, even if he barely held on in a straight physical contest.

All historical reports he’d read were of Arch-Devils as a species, and the Devil Kings were spoken of in hushed whispers as something terrible. Which was true, since in Alastaia’s history his home world had only assisted in invading and cleansing a small portion of the seventh hell. The strongest demon anyone from Alastaia had encountered was a relatively mid-ranking Arch-Devil.

This, however, was a Devil King, the highest ranking of Devil just beneath their faction leader. Equivalent to what would be a Sovereign of the Ascendent Sword Cluster. That Orodan could hold on at all was surprising. While he’d grown in strength, in a contest of pure physical might he still felt Devil King Gutriyaz was stronger than him.

“I thought you’d be stronger,” Orodan said. “Are you weaker than Devil King Gutriyaz? I suppose they sent the reject to influence the Celestial Court’s civil war.”

“Watch your tongue, mortal,” it venomously spat, breaking free from the deadlock. “Devil King Gutriyaz is but a brute, and not a terribly good one at that. He specializes in base forms of combat, and his hellfire is of poor quality. It’s no surprise that he failed to kill you.”

“And what of you? Will you fail like he did?” Orodan asked as he and all his ‘clones’ sent the full might of his melee fury towards the foe. Blows which were evaded as the Devil phased in and out of reality.

“Make no mistake, Gutriyaz was a weakling, and you only stalemate me in strength because I have no interest in pursuing the base physical arts,” the Devil King said. “And kill you? Why would I play into your devious strategy of growing more powerful through death? No, I will delay you, frustrate you, and waste your time until the arrival of the Administrator. Come, time looper, the universe is a massive place, and you have yet to see anything. Let me show you that Devil King Gutriyaz is but an unschooled whelp among us kings of hell.”

One moment the Devil King was before him. The next, it was gone.

Or rather…

[Dimensionalism 10 ? Dimensionalism 11]

…the battlefield around them had suddenly turned into a dark and demented hellscape.

The skill gain message and strange sensation he’d felt was the only clue as to where he was.

The previously misty sky and surreal geometric shapes overhead were now pitch black. It was dark and nothing could be seen above. Dark pillars of maroon hell fire dotted this weird landscape, yet these spouts of flame did little to illuminate the surroundings. The shadows cast by the flames were especially deep, unnatural even, and seemed to devour all light.

The puppet’s army behind them was nowhere to be seen, nor was the Third Army. And the only sign that he was still somewhere similar, was the strange red hue in the shape of a whirling vortex in the background. The only thing visible in the otherwise black sky. It was the soul nexus, or a vague imprint of it. As though he was looking at something gigantic through a dirty pane of distorted glass.

Impacts from unseen places jarred him, a reminder that he was still in battle. He was knocked about as hellfire, fell ice, corrupted water and black lightning struck him.

“Resistances for fire, ice, water and lightning. Irritating, but manageable. The sting of your damage return skill is quite heavy too, but in here, I’m continually empowered and healed by the flames of hell,” the Devil King spoke calmly, like dissecting a captured rat. “You’ve collected much in your time loops, haven’t you? However, I doubt you have a skill to resist the soul, nobody does.”

It was dark enough that he couldn’t see the next attack visually. Vision Of Purity also didn’t tell him much, which meant it was likely empowered by soul energy. The glowing claws of energy sheared through flesh and bone to come out the other side, bisecting him entirely.

Even if they were immune to corruption and divisive tampering, direct damage and destruction could still outright destroy the new cells he was composed of.

He reattached instantly and responded with vigor. Fourteen ‘clones’ appeared, and a titanic number of Flares and Draconic Fireballs shot out in all directions.

“Oh? Capable of spell craft too?” it asked. “I’d thought you the one-dimensional sort, perhaps with a bit of dabbling in spatiomancy as befitting a warrior. I suppose your determination in diversifying your talents deserves some admiration.”

Zaessythra and her dogged insistence that he learn magic throughout the loops could be thanked for that.

The strange hellscape was lit up a meagre bit with his titanic volley of Draconic Fireballs and Flares, and both skills even gained levels as he did so. It was for naught however, as the pillars of maroon-colored hellfire dotting the area simply drew his own flames in. Any light produced was then hungrily devoured by the unnaturally dark shadows cast all around.

“An interesting place you’ve drawn me into,” Orodan called out, unable to see his opponent within the sphere of Vision Of Purity. Aside from pure soul energy and world energy, everything he’d seen thus far could be detected through Vision Of Purity. Which means his opponent was outside of its range. Smart. “I notice you’re also cowering away at a distance. Care to come closer so we can have a face-to-face conversation? Or are all Devil Kings so cravenly?”

“You amuse me, time looper. Do all your opponents happily face you in your position of strength? Perhaps you’ve heard stories of the famed pride of us Arch-Devils and think to bait me with words?” it asked. “As for where we are, the hells possess dimensional underways in most parts of the galaxy. A System-restricted skill unique to us is accessing and controlling this place where we reign supreme and can draw upon endless power. Facing a devil without anti-dimensionalism items is unwise, and now, you face one of the greatest masters of Dimensionalism in the hells.”

“An impressive resume,” Orodan replied. “I look forward to learning from you.”

“Hah! You truly are mad. Whichever higher being gave you this power, it chose well,” the Devil King said. “Struggle for me, I wish to see the fruits of this time loop for myself before the descent of the Administrator.”

“As you wish. Let’s see which fire burns hotter, these hell flames, or mine.”

Fourteen ‘clones’ formed once more, and Orodan began a stupendous show of throwing Draconic Fireballs anywhere and everywhere. All while the soul energy-based claws, a ranged projectile, continually came in and sliced him apart. He didn’t think the Devil King was trying to kill him. In fact, he wouldn’t put it past this vile demon to try and delay him here for the entire month until the arrival of his fated adversary.

“Pace yourself time looper, else you might run out of power,” the Devil King taunted.

Orodan simply smiled as his ‘clones’ continually lit up the entire landscape with endless amounts of flame.

Run out of power? His opponent needn’t have been concerned.

The very ground here was foul; demonic taint infested the very rock he was standing upon. It was a strange place, as this hellish dimensional underway was just a dark mirror of the actual dimension he was in. Yet, the solid and hellish rock he stood upon wasn’t an illusion. Just different from what he was used to on the material plane.

It was Orodan’s first time seeing this manner of ‘hellish’ corruption. It wasn’t Eldritch, and it didn’t spread virulently like the Eldritch Avatar’s particular strain of it. Yet, the ground was tainted all the same, yet ‘tainted’ wouldn’t be the right word. Rather, the rock he stood upon, by its very nature was hellish. Much like the True Vampire he’d cleansed was at core, a vampire.

He couldn’t just use Domain Of Perfect Cleaning carelessly. Not without understanding better exactly what he was cleaning. Or rather, he could use it, and to great effect too, but the gains would be sub-optimal.

And as his Action Increase selves raised utter mayhem and inflicted his own flames upon the hellscape they were in, his actual body did the one thing that could always be expected of him…

…and took out a broom from his spatial storage ring.

A good cleaner needed to understand not only good technique, but also what was being cleaned. A broom could sweep many things, dirt, sand and hells, even water. Especially if one had the correct technique. However, the correct techniques for each substance being cleaned was different, and using the virtually magical Domain Of Perfect Cleaning was but a cheap fix to a situation that could be a good opportunity for training.

His broom, empowered by the Weapon Aura part of his Celestial skill, got to work in sweeping just the surface of the hellish rock he stood upon. Yes, the very rock would need to be purified, and yes, it wasn’t possible with just brooming alone. But, if there was one thing he’d learned recently, it was that the most basic fundamentals mattered in ways one would never think of.

He could’ve gotten a better broom. Certainly, some of the Third Army’s cultivators practiced the Dao of Cleaning, and many more honed it as a secondary focus. Yet, luxurious equipment would only spoil his fundamentals and could become a crutch. Instead, he’d found the most basic broom he could locate, in the tent of a cleaning cultivator too.

This meant that the hairs on the broom were unoptimized, not sturdy at all, and if anything, a slight bit shoddy. Meant to be used as assistance in meditations or a training aid.

Exactly what Orodan wanted. Sub-par equipment meant he’d have to work even harder and understand the techniques on a deeper level in order to succeed.

The very first sweep was rough, a poor brush over the demonic rock in which many of the hairs upon the broom head were scattered to inefficient positions. He lifted the broom up and began manually adjusting the hairs upon it once more.

Another soul energy empowered claw from his distant foe came in, and the empowered broom was used to partially block it. He ignored the assault, after all, his enemy wasn’t interested in his death.

“What madness has gripped you now?” the Devil King asked, a bit of astonishment in its tone.

“Just focusing on tidying this place up a bit,” Orodan replied.

“Madness and lunacy. The flames of hell are eternal and infinite. You’ll never succeed.”

A solid reason to be dissuaded, Orodan felt. Or at least, it would’ve been a good reason to stop for anyone else. Yet how was the Devil King to know that its words were wasted upon the one man who attempted impossible and mad tasks for breakfast?

The first five minutes were spent in a cycle of cleaning. All while his ‘clones’ got to work flooding the surrounding area with endless flames. As soon as he released them, his flames were drawn into and devoured by the maroon-colored pillars of hell fire. It seemed entirely pointless if not for the steady skill level gains he was making.

Simultaneously, his actual body which focused on brooming was in a cycle of sweep, re-adjust broom head and repeat. With each brush of the broom, he was understanding better and better just what this hell stone was, and the nature of it.

Until at the twenty-minute mark…

“I sense no dimensional tether or connection leading anywhere else, your soul burns abhorrently even by my standard and the amount of power you’ve generated should have drained you a hundred times over,” the Devil King spoke. “Are you a secret weapon sent by the Conclave, calling upon that foul light of theirs? Some hidden connection to the realm of light that even I cannot detect?”

“Neither of those,” Orodan answered. “It’s my soul. I simply cycle it faster and faster, burning it hotter and hotter, all to produce ever-increasing amounts of soul energy to fuel my needs.”

“You lie. Even the Overking of the Hells would have his mind shattered if his soul was churned at that level for so long,” the Devil King declared. “Are you afraid to reveal your true secrets? Worry not, the Administrator will pry them from you.”

In response, Orodan simply laughed.

“The Administrator only comes because I’ve gone around declaring my time looping nature like a fool. Do you really think I have any reason to lie about such a minor thing?” Orodan asked. “Regardless, it matters not. I think I’m beginning to understand.”

“Understand what?” it asked.

“The nature of demonkind and how to purge it,” Orodan replied as his eyes began glowing white, overflowing with soul energy.

[Domain Of Perfect Cleaning 86 ? Domain Of Perfect Cleaning 87]

As the message flashed by, another event of note occurred. The nearest pillar of hellfire that had been absorbing the brunt of Orodan’s endless barrage of Draconic Fireballs… turned a slightly lighter shade of maroon.

And the small piece of rock that he’d been so furiously sweeping all this time looked strange. It had lost its dark and blood-red tint. It was a small bit of regular stone amidst a sea of demonic rock.

The results were currently small, but the implication was not.

“Foul purifier! This changes nothing! You shall remain stranded here until your doom approaches,” the Devil King declared. “The hells are endless, and your vile touch cannot reach everywhere.”

“You sure about that?” Orodan asked in challenge as his broom continued working and the skills under the umbrella of Domain Of Perfect Cleaning began weaving together. At the same time, even his Draconic Fireballs ramped up their speed of conversion. “Still, you seem to know an awful lot about this Administrator as well. Perhaps you can tell me once I get to you.”

With that, the work continued. And as Orodan worked he was constantly assaulted in futile attempts to distract him. Despite this, he meditated.

What was a broom?

Yes, the broom in Orodan’s hands counted as a broom, that much was obvious.

But beyond the apparent, wasn’t a broom just a cleaning implement? And no matter how poorly optimized, couldn’t a broom be used to clean things it wasn’t meant for? A horsehair broom was utterly unsuited to cleaning fluids for instance, yet, with incredible difficulty, precise technique and extricating the fluid from the soaked hairs after each sweep, it could be done.

The horsehair broom Orodan held was meant for sweeping hard surfaces, getting rid of the dust itself. And thus far, his Domain Of Perfect Cleaning had worked as a holistic skill, using multiple skills under its umbrella to completely purge something of undesirable qualities. In other words, Whirlpool Whirlwind was used to cleanse small particles, his Cleaning skill itself provided the technique, and skills like Basic Healing and All-Consuming Rage helped restore damage and purge filth that was extricated.

Yet, at the end of the day, the skill wasn’t the Domain Of Perfect Whirlpools, or the Domain Of Perfect Healing. No, it was the Domain Of Perfect Cleaning. To that end, what he really needed to focus on, was cleaning. And doing something with just the cleaning aspect of his skill.

He wasn’t sure how far this philosophy would extend, but Orodan felt that true mastery came from the ability to make the simple do the impossible.

And from the simple concept of a broom sweeping the ground… much could be gained.

After all, by extending this mentality, could anything not be a broom?

He spoke as much to himself as he did to the broom in his hands. The words that came forth felt natural.

“Anything can be a broom. Cleaning comes from within. A clean heart, a pure mind… this is just the foundation from where we begin the journey…”

[Domain Of Perfect Cleaning 87 ? Domain Of Perfect Cleaning 88]

Yet, before he could meditate further, a sudden intrusion of a most unexpected plea interrupted him.

“Wait - wait! I surrender, just stop, I implore you!” the Devil King suddenly begged. “I am not ignorant to the fact that your advancements in that… ‘talent’ of yours defy all reason. I can sense when my defeat is inevitable. What do you want? Can we perhaps negotiate?”

What?

Was that it?

“Those soul energy empowered claws you send my way are quite lethal, and I can tell you’re holding back greatly. You could easily kill me if you want, why do you surrender?” Orodan asked as he swept.

“I can kill you easily now, but can I do so in a thousand loops? Do you think me ignorant? The sudden increases in performance you’ve shown in so short a time are utterly illogical. You gained two levels did you not? Nobody should be capable of advancing a Celestial skill so quickly. I wish for no enmity with a calamity like you,” it explained. “I, Devil King Saathmaraz can recognize when I’m in an unwinnable position. How about we let bygones be bygones?”

“We both know I have no intention of allowing you to flee,” Orodan replied.

“Then we bargain,” the Devil King said. “What do you want from me?”

“To purify you into something less foul,” Orodan said, and he immediately heard the snarl of rage and dare he say… fear.

“I would rather die!” Devil King Saathmaraz spat. “Is this your warrior’s honor? To defile your foes instead of granting them a proper death?”

Orodan grimaced but had to think for a moment. It had a point, foul as it was. To just alter what someone was at core, was to cross a sacred line. He’d done it once against a foe he truly despised, but only because she’d threatened to do the same to him once upon a time.

Something inside didn’t sit right with doing such a thing so casually.

“Surely you can’t expect me to just let you go? Your kind is wicked. Just moments ago, you were wearing the corpse of a man like an abominable suit of flesh,” Orodan accused.

“He asked it of me! The man formerly known as the Puppet Sovereign summoned me and begged I take up residence within his body,” it said. “And do you know why?”

“The Celestial Emperor, Jian Huangdi,” Orodan answered.

“Precisely, but it extends beyond mere mention. You see, when the Puppet Sovereign approached me, his mind had gained but a moment of freedom from the tyranny of the Dao Of Domination and Supremacy,” it explained. “Tell me, is it so heinous a crime that I possess his body in order to slowly unravel the mind controlling dao upon it? After all, you too must’ve tasted the Celestial Emperor’s might, no?”

“So, he traded one master for another,” Orodan replied. Yet, he wasn’t blind enough to realize that the man had done so by choice. That the Puppet Sovereign preferred the Devil King over the Celestial Emperor spoke volumes about the Celestial Court’s ruler. “Still, even if I buy this tale, you still decided to destroy his body and then end up igniting the soul nexus in a bid to harm me permanently. Both of which I doubt he’d like.”

“Lies between us will serve no purpose at this juncture. I confess, I likely would do such a thing, particularly if I had reason to believe it would harm you,” it explained, and Orodan frowned. “Try and look at it from my side. You purify a True Vampire, fight against Devil King Gutriyaz and now threaten to fundamentally alter me at core. With you being a time looper, you’re the single greatest threat my race has ever encountered to date. I consider not just you as you are, but you as will likely grow to be. Do you expect me to play the convenient stepping stone for your ascent to power?”

Damn it all. This parley was stupid, and it was detracting from the fight he could be having.

“Your innately wicked nature makes it difficult for me to parley with you,” Orodan said bluntly. “You only negotiate because you’re aware of my power. Otherwise, you’d all too happily go along with your devilish ways. Tell me honestly, what do you get out of assisting the Puppet Sovereign? I doubt you’re doing it out of the goodness of your demonic heart.”

“Again, I shall be honest, for lies are futile against a time looper. The hells are at war with both the Conclave and the Celestial Court. Your home world and many like it are often ‘guided’ into conflict with us as well,” Devil King Saathmaraz explained. “Assisting the Puppet Sovereign would weaken an enemy faction and also allow us to set up a tributary tap on the soul nexus, drawing a scant few souls to the hells. A small price to extract…”

“Wouldn’t stealing from the soul nexus of the cultivators allow you access to their System-restricted skills?”

“Precisely so. It’s not a novel concept by any means, but even raising one tormented cultivator soul into an Arch-Devil over a few hundred-thousand years would be a great boon for us,” it replied.

“Then everything you do is wicked. Is there a part where you convince me that you’re worth sparing?” Orodan asked.

“Pah! You mortal races and your morals. Yes, we demons do not ascribe to the same sense of morality that you do, but we have certain standards of conduct we abide by. Am I wicked simply because I covet power and aggressively move to claim it? In that regard your warmongering attitude is rather similar to mine. Your battle-lust would earn the respect of even the Overking.”

“I don’t go around butchering innocents or infiltrating other worlds to cause mass destruction,” Orodan fired back.

“Lies and slander. Just because the mindless beasts of the lower hells are summoned by cultists from your world and then rampage does not mean the Devil Kings are responsible for it. Do you control the rabid beasts of your world? Do you have omnipotent sight over all territories?” it spat. “The rule upon worlds drawn into my domain is one of efficiency and fair meritocracy. I cannot speak for the other Devil Kings, but then, neither can you speak for the foul mortals among your kind who commit depraved acts, can you?”

“Do you honestly expect me to believe that you’re just a normal being who doesn’t commit any atrocities? One who can honor a deal?” Orodan asked. “Your ignition of the soul nexus in an earlier loop doesn’t give me much faith. I doubt that was part of your agreement with the rebel cultivators.”

“I can only admit to my imperfection. Would you not also strike a blow against the deadliest enemy your race has ever faced?” Saathmaraz asked. “As for atrocities? We simply have differing sets of morals. This ‘torture’ that you mortals often engage in, we demons do not subscribe to the notion. The torment-filled process of becoming an Arch-Devil is one of honor and is treated with due respect and care. And without consent we would never defile or control the mind of any who aren’t criminals. The bull demons you see used as fodder are criminals serving justice. Expendable.”

“And all the demonic possessions I read about in history?” Orodan asked pointedly. Recalling how demonic possession had been a real concern in an earlier period of Inuanan history, at least before the crusade which had destroyed the seventh hell.

“All consensual. At least, those practiced by us Arch-Devils in civilized society,” Saathmaraz said. “What your historians and ‘holy leaders’ don’t want to tell you, is that the possession is a two-way connection. Before I discarded his form, the Puppet Sovereign and I would often share control of his body. You might think it a tyrannical take-over, but we devils abhor such a thing and consider it most… distasteful. Your historical records of possessions fail to mention that the summoner must call the demon forth from the hells. And that the possessed gains great power.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Borrowed power will never hold as firmly as strength earned through one’s own sweat and blood.”

“A privileged opinion from a time looper who hasn’t had to experience true death,” it said. “Even among demonkind not all are proficient in the ways of violence. Do you think it fair to make that insensitive comment to a grieving grandmother whose village is raided, and her kin slain? Should she ‘earn’ power through her own sweat and blood when the killers still roam free? Or do you callously judge her for not following in your path when she never had the advantages that you do.”

A fair point. And Orodan would have to admit this Devil King made sense with its words.

“If I were to let you go, what’s stopping you from causing trouble for me again?” Orodan asked. “You mentioned that things are somewhat orderly in your domain, but what of other Devil Kings? You realize that I’ll be at odds with many of them, yes?”

“Common sense. I have no desire to poke the calamity that is you. If the other Devil Kings cause you trouble, then that’s on them. I would only ask that you don’t join the Conclave in its mindless genocide of my kind and remain open to some sort of reason,” Saathmaraz laid out. “We demons are a violent and bloodthirsty lot, but there is honor in some of us, and I do not think my entire race needs make an enemy of you.”

“Perhaps there’s honor in some demons… but is there honor in you?” Orodan asked. “How do I know you’ll keep to any bargain we’ll make.”

“Simple, we shall start with small steps. Give and take,” it said. “You’re in a time loop, yes? How about we expedite this training regimen of yours. Is there anything you would like to learn? A foe you would like to hone yourself against? Your bull-headed mentality would lend well in pitting you against certain powerful Devil Kings.”

“A tempting offer, but for now, I only have one goal. Do this for me, and I shall consider our deal sealed,” Orodan said.

“Oh? And what would that be?” it asked. “If you ask me to do something silly such as turn myself in to you, I shall have to decline.”

“Well, not that. But I don’t know if you’ll like this either…”

Orodan said as his eyes began blazing with soul energy once more, Eternal Soul Reactor churning to its absolute limit.

“Ignite the soul nexus for me. Stopping that explosion will be good training.”

For a moment, the eerie dimension they were in was silent. And then…

…mad laughter broke out. It was haunting, monstrous and every demonic chuckle and guffaw echoed for miles.

“Truly, time looper. There could be no better candidate for such a power. Consider our pact sealed.”

Orodan was no stranger to being decisive, but as the vague imprint of the soul nexus suddenly glowed monstrously bright in the sky he had to admit, Devil King Saathmaraz’s determination in seeing something through was quite impressive.

The explosion of trillions of souls caused the boundaries of the hellish dimensional underway to shatter and mix freely with the dimensional divide they were mirroring. And just before the explosion reached him, Orodan erupted with power and it all went towards one skill…

…which was utterly overwhelmed.

[Time Reversal 52 ? Time Reversal 56]

[Time Mastery 50 ? Time Mastery 54]

His new Absolute Composition skill allowed him to channel a greatly increased amount of soul energy, yet it still wasn’t enough. This was a soul nexus containing trillions of souls. All souls of the Ascendent Sword Cluster’s many worlds entered the cycle of death and rebirth here. The soul detonation of it all could destroy an entire solar system.

Even with his improved body, it was an amount of power he just couldn’t bring to bear in the short time he had.

As the darkness took him, he had a grin on his face.

It was a new mountain before him, gift-wrapped and ready to be broken by his head.

[C$h@ec(kp*oi#nt R#es%to&red]

[U@ses Re^ma#in@ing - 2178]

“My Prince! The puppet’s army has been spotted on the horizon! They… they come in extreme numbers!” a messenger declared.

“That Devil King… it really is something else,” Orodan said with a smile on his face. “Zaessythra, attempting to reverse time on the soul nexus to prevent its explosion is going to be my new goal.”

“You… I’m sorry, what?” she asked. “You want to reverse time on a soul nexus containing trillions of souls?”

“To prevent its ignition by Devil King Saathmaraz,” Orodan clarified.

“What?!” Prince Zhou Shan immediately exclaimed. “That foul devil! It dares to defile the System’s protected mechanism for the cycle of life and death?!”

Well, it did dare to do so, but it was partly Orodan’s fault in the last repeat too. Ruthless as it seemed, this was necessary if he was to face the approaching Administrator by the time it arrived. Additionally, enemies who could ignite soul nexii existed, evidenced by Devil King Saathmaraz. Better he hone himself and learn to prevent their destruction here and now rather than have to face it at a later time.

Additionally, his skills had truly increased across the board over the loops of struggle against enemy Gods and Transcendents. He felt he was quickly approaching a tipping point.

“Leave the enemy army to me. I’ve been abusing the time loops to get stronger and stronger against them. This time, I feel I can truly make them panic,” Orodan said as he walked towards a familiar tent. “And excuse me, I’ll be borrowing this broom.”

It was time to clean, and it was time to grind.

#

Many loops passed. And throughout them, he battered the rebel army until the Puppet Sovereign’s arrival, and then he was drawn into the dimensional underways of the hells. There, he cleaned, and eventually, he convinced Devil King Saathmaraz to ignite the soul nexus.

Throughout all of that, he’d learned much.

“Why suddenly throw your lot in with me? When we bargained for the first time, you said the Administrator was coming for me,” Orodan had remarked. “By the sound of it, you were happy to keep me stranded here until it arrived.”

“My kind have no loyalty for those beings,” it replied. “The Celestial Emperor is rumored to be in contact with one of them, but whatever knowledge the Overking has of the Administrators, our leader keeps close at hand.”

“And how do you know about them?” he asked.

“The Overking trusts his inner circle with certain bits of critical knowledge.”

The explosion of the soul nexus had followed that conversation.

In the next repeat, Orodan found himself somewhat curious about hellish society.

“I’m curious Devil King, how the hells do worlds work… in the hells?”

“Getting bored of your mad endeavor? I suppose I can spare a moment for curiosity’s sake,” it replied. “The hells are a separate dimension consisting of eight layers in totality. The eighth and the seventh hells have been all but destroyed, scoured clean. They’re no more than the hunting grounds of greedy mortals nowadays. Worlds within the hells are from the third hell onwards.”

“These worlds in the hells, were they always there?” Orodan asked.

“Some of the core worlds where demonkind first came from, yes,” Saathmaraz answered. “Our ancestral home worlds aside, many of the current worlds of the hells were drawn in after conquering the world core.”

“You can pull an entire world into your home dimension?” Orodan asked, more than a bit impressed. “How is anyone supposed to reclaim ground lost to demonkind then?”

“A complicated and costly process during which a demon skilled in Dimensionalism works over a period of months to draw the world into a dimensional bubble which is then ferried into our home dimension,” it answered. “Of course, this leaves them vulnerable. And great battles have been fought in the past between Conclave and Hegemony crusaders and defending Devil Kings seeking to expand their territory. Aside from the defense of our territories, the conquest of suitable worlds is one of the few times where we Devil Kings come together. I was often chosen as the dimensionalist due to my talents. As for their ‘reclamation’, the Conclave and Hegemony have some irksome methods of launching a crusade to retake a world.”

“And the population of these worlds… what happens to them?” Orodan asked.

“We butcher them all, eat the children, torture everyone beforehand and then dance over the corpses,” it said dryly, and for a moment Orodan actually took it seriously until it finished. “Was that macabre enough for you?”

“How about a serious answer?”

“Can you give me a serious answer about what you mortals do upon conquering a world?”

“I haven’t spoken to many world conquerors, and the one I do know is notoriously secretive when the topic of her ascension to Sovereign comes up,” Orodan said, thinking of how Zaessythra refused to speak much of it. He surmised that it was an atrocious affair filled with much innocent death.

“Ah, I forget that the time looper comes from humble origins. The informant reports did say something along those lines,” Devil King Saathmaraz remarked. “Then, listen well. Much like you mortals, certain Devil Kings do enjoy committing atrocities and butchering the rebellious populations of entire worlds upon their induction into the hells. But it’s mostly a peaceful transition, as unbelievable as it may sound.”

“So, you’re telling me that the population of a world abducted from the material plane and into the hells can just… live a peaceful and happy life?”

“Why not? Demonkind ever has need of crafters, farmers and laborers. And the aspiring warriors among them often choose to undergo the sacred process of ascending into an Arch-Devil. From birth till death, an untalented Initiate-level laborer can enjoy a happy life wanting for nothing,” the Devil King said and then paused before speaking once more. “I see, you’ve only seen two Devil Kings so far, have you not? What you’ll come to learn is that Devil Kings can physically look different depending on their species and individual form prior to undergoing the Arch-Devil transformation. Do you think the hells would have a variety of Devil Kings if we simply slaughtered the native populace of inducted worlds? Many of our most powerful members come from the populations of conquered worlds, ascended to the glorious blood of the Arch-Devil through zeal and devotion.”

Perhaps the hells were a little less nefarious than he’d been led to believe.

“And the civilians, they’re not enslaved or coerced into labor by force?” Orodan asked.

“The protection we provide from the wild demons of the hells beyond a world’s atmosphere is often motivation enough. Still, a rare few Devil Kings might, yet even those are through predatory contracts more than whip-cracking and chains. Most prefer their working populations to be content and loyal,” Saathmaraz explained. “Better productivity, stronger warriors and most importantly… less defections to those chanting fools of the Conclave.”

“Then, there’s an entire economy and society… I have a hard time picturing that,” Orodan said. “Truth be told, it goes against everything I’d heard growing up about the hells and the Arch-Devils.”

“We would not be able to hold onto any worlds if we simply oppressed the locals upon their induction. Not when the Conclave threatens our conquests with regular crusades of ‘reclamation’.”

“A shame… I was expecting more ritual sacrifice and summoning of demonic Gods.”

“We are not caricatures, time looper. We’re more than just the scary fables your mother and father recited to frighten you into obedience,” the Devil King said.

“I never knew my mother and father, but I believe I understand a bit better now.”

“Then for what it’s worth, you have my sympathies. I too, had no hive-matrons during my upbringing, but it made me all the stronger for it.”

“Oh? Tell me-”

“No. I believe we’ve ignored the soul nexus long enough.”

The ignition and subsequent explosion took up his focus for the remainder of that checkpoint loop, but from then on, he decided not to broach that topic with the Devil King.

And another conversation two loops after had Orodan asking questions about ethics.

“You mentioned torture was abhorrent to demonkind, why?”

“I do not recall telling you this, which can only mean it was my past self,” Saathmaraz concluded. “And among the more ‘righteous’ of your kind, I’m told you mortals also despise torture.”

“Well, obviously, but it’s a bit strange that you have no problem with invading worlds and subverting the populace into the hells while also being against torture,” Orodan said. “Why torture specifically? Are there any other things demonkind can unanimously agree to detest?”

“It is of… ancestral significance to us. Legend has it that the progenitor of our kind was tortured for a hundred-thousand years by vile holy beings who were attempting to purify them,” the Devil King said. “To this day, anything resembling torture is widely detested among us.”

“No wonder Devil King Gutriyaz tried to immediately kill me…” Orodan muttered.

“Now you understand. You successfully changed the very nature of a being, something our ancient enemies attempted to do. Do you wonder why an Arch-Devil might take poorly to that?”

“But what about enslavement? Murder? Pillaging?”

“What about them? Some do them, some do not. Do you mortals not do the same?” it asked. “We simply hold no special disgust towards these acts. Breaking agreements and violating bonds of kinship are severely frowned upon however, so these acts are rarer than you would think. And the subjugated populations of conquered worlds need simply comply to avoid such fates.”

“Your kind are like warlords then? Aggressively expanding and subjugating those who defy you… yet treating loyal citizenry fairly. Would that be a fair assessment?”

“By nature, all Arch-Devils - whether natural or transformed - crave power,” Saathmaraz explained. “Yet, power need not come through cruelty and mad violence. There are some Devil Kings who conduct themselves in such a manner and you’d get along well with some of those for their battle-lust, yet there is room for peace and co-existence.”

Orodan had to admit, Devil King Saathmaraz was a good ambassador for its species. His opinion of demonkind had risen from hostility to consideration. Depending on the demon at least.

His constant deaths against the near-unstoppable soul nexus explosion aside, the battle against the rebel army was another point where he’d learned new things. The constant battles slowly increased his skills across the board.

It had been fifty loops of repeats since his first visit to the dimensional underways of the hells.

And now, in this final loop where he felt the tipping point approach, everything would come together.

“This time, I think I’m going to win,” Orodan said.

“Win? What do you- oh, of course,” Zaessythra said. “Feel up to the task of slaying the enemy commander?”

“Not quite.”

“I thought you said you’d win this time.”

“I believe so, but it won’t be through slaying the enemy commander,” Orodan answered. “We have an agreement. Prince Zhou Shan, please hold the Third Army back. I’ve been through this battle enough times, now… I think I can show some results.”

The Prince only nodded, and Orodan didn’t stick around to speak any further.

The teleportation which tore through the enemy’s space-lock formation brought him before the enemy army.

The enemy whip cultivator, the commander of the centre-line, shouted orders as usual.

“Front ranks! Advance and engage! He’s isolated!” barked the Transcendent whip cultivator

The bull demons moved to advance and engage as usual. But before that…

“Orodan! The flying fell beasts are converging on your position! You’re about to become the target of focus fire!” Zaessythra warned him mentally. This was fine, Orodan had been through this enough times now, and he was far stronger and prepared now.

The enemy missile troops fired in volleys. The first two volleys were unit specific, as in, each unit of archers, elemental cultivators or javelineers would coordinate their own volleys. But the third… the third was where the entire enemy army’s ranged troops hit him all at once.

If he used Warrior’s Reciprocity during the first or second volleys, not everyone would fire by the time of the third volley as they’d notice the dead. Early on in the repeats, he had a hard time surviving and thus needed to utilize the skill right away to alleviate pressure. But now, with his healing and defensive skills far higher, he simply withstood the damage. Confident.

The first and second volleys came and went, their impact minimal.

But the third?

As the missiles and elemental assaults of the entire enemy army connected…

…Orodan allowed Warrior’s Reciprocity to return it all.

The result was pure cataclysm.

Fifteen-thousand troops arrayed in neat formations in the back lines. In their place was now fifteen-thousand corpses.

“By the heavens! Hold fire! Hold fire! He can return damage!”

“We have no ranged forces to give orders to!” the enemy hydra God bellowed.

“Silence! Do not panic! Advance and engage with Gods and Transcendents! Pull back the bull demons! Now!”

The bull demons were about to act on those orders, yet before they could, Domain Of Perfect Cleaning shot out to envelop the entire opposing force and purge all of their minds. Fifteen-thousand bull demons, cleared of their binding mind magics in an instant.

“T-the bull demons are breaking and fleeing!”

“Mind cultivators! Work on restoring the bindings on the remaining ones!” the whip cultivator barked,

“Captain… all the bindings have been broken!”

“Damn it - damn it all! Call for the generals! All captains and commanders, charge!”

The enemy elite began their typical assault, yet Orodan weathered it with frightening efficiency.

The gold cultivator’s assault was ineffective. The acid cultivator’s fluids simply gave him a bath, and the singularities of the gravity cultivator were not only endured… but dealt with in a unique manner.

A broom left his spatial storage and lashed out to quickly cleanse the space where the singularities were.

“He’s somehow unravelling my singularities!”

Additionally, with Warrior’s Reciprocity at a higher level, it now caused a new dilemma for the foe.

“Why do you shirk your blows?! Attack him!”

“The damage return from that skill is outpacing the healing Xue Ran can provide!” the enemy hydra God retorted.

“Xue Ran! We need more healing!”

Yet, the healer in the skies above looked to be struggling heavily. The man’s eyes were bloodshot, and the healing cultivator was bleeding from his nose. The damage return from Orodan’s Warrior’s Reciprocity was keeping the man’s hands more than full.

“Melee! Close in and engage! Buy some time for Xue Ran to heal the backline!”

Orodan once more made contact with the enemy’s elite Transcendents and Gods who were specialized in close combat. Yet over fifty loops he’d grown stronger. Clashing against Devil King Saathmaraz certainly helped, and thirty loops ago he’d begun doing well enough that the enemy’s melee specialists had to get involved.

The familiar lightning-fist cultivator and whip cultivator charged him alongside the enemy hydra God. These three were the main frontline, all while a squad of fifty weaker Transcendents and Gods, newly ascended or possessing low-rarity skills, supported them by swarming him.

Survival and outlasting the enemy was his real strength. Which was why he had yet to actually kill any Gods or Transcendents. The Puppet Sovereign always arrived before he could. This loop however, he felt would be the victory loop. And that was because he had a gut feeling he could lash out and reap at least one life.

The three main frontliners were doing a good job of occupying him, however he was now at a point where he could ignore many of their blows with the confidence that he could survive the damage.

The melee continued for ten more seconds until…

…one tired and injured spear-Transcendent, multiple cuts across his body, lashed out with a full power strike. A moment of desperation or carelessness perhaps.

Immediately, Orodan ignored every other attack even as he was run through, sliced, crushed and pummelled. He ran headfirst into the injured Transcendent’s attack… and simultaneously unleashed the most powerful All-Strike he could as Warrior’s Reciprocity did its work too.

The man’s chest cavity received a man-sized hole from the backlash, and then Orodan’s All-Strike reached him too.

[New Title ? Transcendent Slayer]

The battlefield halted for a brief instant at the kill. The fear and reminder of mortality was now apparent in the eyes of the rebel forces.

And of course, his show of dominance hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“Orodan! The enemy general is-”

“-approaching. I know, Zaessythra, I know. You say that every time,” Orodan interrupted.

“Well, if you don’t like it, you’re free to tell me to shut up from the next loop,” she fired back.

“And why would I do that?” he asked. “After all, I’ve grown quite fond of hearing your voice.”

“Ugh… you’re such a fool,” she said in an irritated tone.

As usual, a flying fell beast carrying the two enemy leaders approached. One of them, the Puppet Sovereign, possessed by Devil King Saathmaraz. The other, his conversation partner.

“Hold all attacks!” the puppet bellowed. “Time looper! Your brazen display of charging my army by your lonesome is audacious. I came in with forty-thousand, and I’m left with just above ten-thousand. A complete disaster. But do not presume I don’t recognize the possibility that you’ve been looping to achieve this outcome.”

“Enough of that, Devil King,” Orodan said, causing the Puppet Sovereign to freeze and closely eye him. He’d found that dropping his knowledge of its true nature caused it to stall for a bit, giving him time to converse. “Thousand Broom Sovereign, tell me, is it better to utilize a broom upon the dust and a mop upon the water? Or does the road to true mastery lay in knowing how to use the broom to sweep water and the mop to brush away the dust?”

“Why, that’s an odd regimen but I would argue that the broom can solve all problems,” the cultivator replied, seemingly forgetting about the context he was in. The man seemed to be much like Orodan, a cleaning savant. “If there are nine-hundred and ninety-nine things that need cleaning, and you have a thousand brooms, then victory is yours. A broom for each task.”

“But then if you run into a thousand-and-one things that need cleaning you’ll be defeated,” Orodan replied, and the man had a scandalized look on his face. “It seems our philosophy on cleaning differs. I’m of the belief that having one broom which can clean all things is the path to mastery.”

“Given that I can conjure millions of brooms if needed, my earlier words were more philosophical than practical,” the man said. “What do you want?”

Instead of his sword and shield, Orodan drew his broom.

“Face me in a battle of insights,” Orodan demanded. “I shall prove that my understanding of cleaning is superior to yours.”

“I get an instinctual feeling that you’re quite special in the path of cleaning, but you stand before a Transcendent and the greatest cleaning cultivator of the Ascendent Sword Cluster,” the Thousand Broom Sovereign said. “Celestial skill or no, do not take me lightly.”

“Thousand Broom Sovereign! This is the time looper! You play into his hands with this farce!” the Puppet Sovereign said. And Orodan had to wonder if Devil King Saathmaraz’s words were true. That it shared a body with the Puppet Sovereign, after all, the Devil King sounded a bit more composed while the puppet had a slightly angrier demeanor.

“And? My pride as a cultivator refuses to let me shirk from this contest,” the man said and conjured enough brooms to blot out the sky.

It was a magnificent sight and Orodan had to admire the sight of so many well-made brooms hovering in the sky. He could see now how Jian Song lost to this man.

He pointed his own broom towards the ground.

“This patch of ground beneath us… no tricks, no magic, no Qi… just brooming technique,” Orodan declared. “I, Orodan Wainwright, guarantee that I can clean it better than you with just this poorly-made broom! If you win, I surrender and join your side. I’ll even resurrect your dead. And if I win… I demand an audience with Devil King Saathmaraz.”

The nearby cultivators who were overhearing this were shocked. Some gasped, some muttered, and many were in utter disbelief that what was moments ago a battle, would now be a contest of cleaning. The mentions of a Devil King, a somewhat taboo secret among the rebels, also didn’t help matters.

“Very well! Just know that you’re a million years too early to challenge me!” the man declared. “Like a frog in a well, you know not what your limits are, Orodan Wainwright!”

“I’ve been humbled often enough. But in this, when it comes to cleaning… I doubt you or anyone in the universe can match me.”

The man’s face held a look of severe pride as a million brooms descended from the sky and began assaulting the ground. The man himself controlled them all to descend and sweep half of the patch of ground Orodan had indicated.

In a sense, it went against the rules a bit. After all, he’d stipulated no magic or tricks, but it was still a display of excellent broom technique. Very good in fact. The Orodan from Ogdenborough from before the time loops would’ve been quite awed…

…and the Orodan from after his time at Novarria would have considered it on his level.

That’s all it was.

He cared not that this man was a Transcendent, past level 100 in the Dao of Cleaning. Orodan’s talent in cleaning was such that he could clean well above his level. And this man’s sweeping technique was…

“Lacking.”

“You dare?!”

“A million brooms working with sub-par technique isn’t enough,” Orodan declared. “Now, then… behold what a single broom can do.”

Instead of bringing the broom to the ground right away, Orodan first minutely adjusted every single hair on the broom head to perfection. Then, the Weapon Aura part of his Celestial skill held it in place as he took a stance and every muscle in his body was poised to move.

It wasn’t a forceful move; it wasn’t one overloaded with power as he was so often wont to do.

No. It was just a simple sweep.

A mere stroke across the ground.

[Domain Of Perfect Cleaning 88 ? Domain Of Perfect Cleaning 89]

Every cell of his new body could now function as a brain; therefore, he was thinking with all of himself as he focused on the task. Each movement, beyond mere perfection.

The skill levels didn’t accurately reflect his comprehensions, but that was okay. He was beginning to outgrow the boosts provided by skill level gains when it came to the act of cleaning. The System couldn’t properly quantify him in it. The insights he’d been gaining over the last fifty repeats were something the System couldn’t accurately quantify.

His fingers, arms, legs and waist moved in such a way during the sweep that the very air was drawn towards the broom head which he’d arranged perfectly for that reason. The broom head, with naught but immaculate technique, swept up the very impurities in the rock itself.

And as Orodan had come to learn long ago, Cleaning depended on the user’s version of what was deemed unclean. And in this strange battlefield within the dimensional divide where reality was surreal and impossible geometric shapes existed…

…Orodan deemed the dimension itself to be filth.

The rock under his feet had always possessed a rather immaterial and imaginary quality to it. It was real, certainly, but not of the material plane. Not of the regular dimension that Orodan came from.

His sweep rectified that, and the dream-like and surreal rock he’d swept over, became all too real and tangible.

[New Skill (Mythical) ? Reality Alteration 1]

The Puppet Sovereign twitched once. The entire battlefield had gone silent, and what followed was a million brooms falling to the ground from above, yet the sound of the Thousand Broom Sovereign’s knees hitting the dirt was the loudest.

“…you transformed it into rock of the material plane. To defy reality itself…”

“No… I simply cleaned it. Through a singular broom, all things are possible.”

And then, before the Devil King could assume its true form and destroy the Puppet Sovereign’s body, Orodan teleported right in front of it… and swept out with the broom.

It would’ve been all too tempting to purify the Devil King itself, but Orodan was no oath-breaker. Rather, his sweep pushed it out of the possessed man’s body.

“I refuse to be purified! Have honor and grant me a clean death! What have I done to offend you, time looper?”

“Not very much, actually,” Orodan answered. “I won’t be purifying you. But I will ask you to ignite the soul nexus. We came to an agreement, even if you can’t remember it.”

Devil King Saathmaraz’s eyes flitted through various emotions and calculations until they finally narrowed in understanding. With a pulse of world energy, the reaction began.

Throughout his fifty tries at this madness, Orodan had found success with some methods, and failure with others.

Oddly enough, Shield Intent surrounding the soul nexus was a quick and easy method of preventing its ignition. Yet, Orodan refused this cheap solution as it was for weaklings, and when the time came and he actually needed to save a soul nexus, it would come back to bite him.

Spatiomancy to redirect the pulse of world energy which started the fire was also successful but rejected for the same reasons above.

Other solutions such as attempting to absorb the world energy using his own crown hadn’t worked and attempts at developing a hypothetical ‘soul black hole’ hadn’t panned out.

Hard work was the only way forward. And Orodan had struggled, strained and died fifty times to make his body capable of tolerating the insane ravages of soul energy needed to cast a Time Reversal on this scale.

Yet, this time he felt success was due.

[Time Reversal 69 ? Time Reversal 70]

[Time Mastery 62 ? Time Mastery 65]

Orodan’s body was reduced to a single cell. A common occurrence when channelling enough power to destroy a planet at least. And just as the darkness was about to take him a final message came forth.

[Harmony Of Vitality 96 ? Harmony Of Vitality 97]

His one cell stabilized, and another was born. Bit by bit, the tide was turned.

His soul burned hotter and hotter; beyond any level he’d ever brought it to before. Kept alive only thanks to his new body composition and the increases in his healing abilities.

The hellfire that had begun spreading through the trillions of souls… slowly began to halt, and then… to reverse.

“…amazing!”

It was Devil King Saathmaraz who muttered next to him, simply looking on in wonder.

The reversal continued, until finally, it reverted to before the world energy pulse ever struck in the first place.

[Soul Nexus Tampering Detected - Administrator Notified]

As Zhou Shan had warned, tampering with the soul nexus came with consequences.

Frankly, Orodan couldn’t care less at this point. He already had an Administrator coming for him.

“Did any message pop up for you as well?” Orodan asked.

“N-no… no it did not,” the Devil King said, simply staring up at the still white and swirling vortex which moments ago was aflame and on the verge of exploding. “Whatever you did… it seems to have noticed you as the primary participant.”

“Which is fine by me,” Orodan said and then looked behind him. “Anyhow, you might want to get a move on, Devil King. The cultivators behind us don’t look too happy. I’m not one for deceit, so I can’t convincingly trip over and act as though you got the better of me either.”

“You’re… letting me escape?”

“I can’t say we’ll get along, Devil King Saathmaraz, but from what you tell me, the people of your world are treated marginally better than I’d thought,” Orodan explained. “And… we had an agreement. Give and take. And with this, I’ve more than taken my share of what I needed.”

The Devil King gave him a strange look before getting to its feet and casting a dimensional bubble.

Before it enveloped the devil, it spoke.

“If you have the time, find me in the third hell, time looper. No… Orodan Wainwright.”

The Devil King promptly vanished. Presumably to the dimensional underways of the hells. Orodan had advanced his Dimensionalism by a fair bit, and while he could likely leave the hells, actually entering it was another thing. Teleportation didn’t seem to work in carrying him back there.

He quickly checked to see that his new Transcendent Slayer title, alongside the Space Elite title he’d gained throughout his grinding had added sixty more runes to his total. Which meant sixty more uses of the checkpoint system. He had 2188 uses remaining.

An angry Prince Zhou Shan came barging over, cutting his ruminations short, however.

“Orodan Wainwright, thank you for all you’ve done, but why let the Devil King escape?” he asked. “It and its ilk are enemies of all good folk throughout our galaxy.”

“I thought so too at the beginning of these loops,” Orodan said. “However, you can come to learn some strange things about someone when you have all the time in the world. I wouldn’t say we’re allies, but we had an agreement, and he honored his part of the bargain.”

The Prince shook his head, clearly resigned, but accepted the explanation.

“Just be wary of making deals with devils my friend. Still, enough chastisement and sour talk. We’ve won! The soul nexus is returned to the sons and daughters of Xian!” the Prince said. “We shall maintain communal custody of this with the rebels as we negotiate how to deal with my father.”

“And the Eldritch that corrupts him,” Orodan said, causing the Prince to grimace.

“Yes… the real foe behind our woes.”

#

The after-battle mop-up wasn’t complicated.

The escaped bull demons were rounded up and Orodan insisted they at least be imprisoned fairly. He wasn’t about to insist that the Third Army show mercy and release them after the casualties they’d likely suffered in prior battles. The Celestial Court still considered the hells their enemy, and Orodan didn’t have a particular side as of yet.

The cultivators of the rebel army were resurrected by Orodan, a god-like feat even by his standards, but one he was now capable of. And they joined the Third Army after an intense bout of negotiations where both sides agreed that the Celestial Emperor was a true problem and the man’s tyranny needed to be stopped.

All in all, it was agreed that a campaign against the Celestial Emperor would begin soon, and Orodan was invited to join, which he gladly accepted. Troops were slated to move out the very next day, and the few loyalist worlds of the Third Army and the many rebel worlds of the Puppet Sovereign’s uprising began mobilizing troops for the effort.

As for the Puppet Sovereign himself, the man’s mind was clearly broken in some irreparable way which Orodan offered to take a look at but was immediately refused.

The man’s trauma from the Celestial Emperor’s brainwashing ran deep, and he refused to allow anyone access, even for healing. Which was fair enough and Orodan respected that.

Orodan sat in his assigned tent, reading a book on dimensionalism - Zaessythra perched on his shoulder also reading along - when a messenger came in.

“Sovereign Wainwright!”

“I’m not a Sovereign…”

“You have dominion over a world core you fool, it’s custom in the Ascendent Sword Cluster to refer to World-Rulers as Sovereigns.”

Orodan sighed but accepted it.

“Yes?”

“My lord, there is a letter for you,” the man said. Yet, something was off.

Orodan looked closer and…

“An illusion,” Zaessythra muttered.

“You see it too?” Orodan replied.

“Yes… how utterly remarkable… I never would’ve noticed unless the creator wanted me to,” she said. “This is an illusion of the highest caliber.”

The messenger vanished into motes of world energy after the letter was taken.

The letter, however, was quite real.

Well, as real as something with at least two-thousand different types of magic upon it could be.

“It’s not trapped,” Orodan said, scanning it with Vision Of Purity. “At least from what I can tell. The letter itself is real too, even if there’s way too many spells upon it.”

Not that Orodan worried about things like rigged letters and ambushes.

“Well? Read it already!”

Such a demanding book…

Orodan opened up the letter. No magical traps, hells, even the handwriting was just…

“System glyphs? It’s as though somebody wrote this whole thing in the language of the System, yet my eyes can read the content just fine,” Orodan said.

The System translated all. Yet, depending on the language written, the handwriting and whatnot, it could be a clue as to the identity of the author, yet this letter was written in the glyphs of the System itself. It translated perfectly to Orodan, but he had not a clue who the writer was.

‘I hope this letter finds you well, time looper.

Unlike yourself, secrecy is not only critical to my plans at understanding the situation I’m in, but also necessary for my own safety. Thus, you’ll find over two-thousand spells empowered by various sources of energy, all meant to obscure this letter and prevent any forms of tracing.

We can’t all go around dying thousands of times to best a single enemy. And the one that comes after you in a month is a most dangerous one. I strongly, no, I absolutely advise, that you immediately flee to another galaxy to avoid it. And System forbid it has already touched you… then it can track your location throughout the loops, with a reminder that you’re rather important. The one that pursues you, The Reject, he is mad and corrupted by something fell, something that terrifies me and should scare you as well. The other four are not like him and I would even suggest seeking refuge with one of them.

I also write to complain about the mayhem you’ve caused since the beginning of this loop of mine. Your recent tampering with a soul nexus has caused quite the stir, please try to keep it down. Or don’t. It’s amusing.

Signed, Someone In A Similar Situation’

“Well… this complicates matters,” Orodan said.

“At least they seem a lot smarter than you,” Zaessythra said. “Not that it’s a hard feat to manage.”

Orodan let her have the newly improved Warrior’s Reciprocity for that one.