Ashen Dragon

Cassius extended his claws, grasping the handle of the Purgatory Greatsword, immediately feeling a supreme power empowering him.

The framework of the plane, the laws of the world flooded into his mind, the Red Dragon seemed to stand amidst the Divine Realm.

To Cassius, Aphernas now was like a game, and he possessed the administrator's authority, able to easily change everything, even possessing the strength to contest with the Divine.

This is the Plane Lord!

This is the power of the Hell Lord!

"Such marvelous power..."

At this moment, Cassius finally understood why Piere was so obsessed with the Steel Throne. This feeling of controlling everything was indeed irresistible, even to him.

But now, the most important task was to kill Koschech and end this abyssal invasion.

"Roar——"

The Red Dragon raised its head and let out a long howl, the sound echoing across the sky, as the authority of hell slowly merged into the gigantic dragon body, with endless hellfire surging towards him.

The scorching hellfire gradually gathered, coalescing into flesh, scales, and even bones.

Eventually, a giant dragon, entirely dark red and resembling a Prison Fire Ancient Dragon, appeared in the sky, nearly 500 meters in length, its body covered with flowing lava and surrounded by raging hellfire, like the incarnation of purgatory.

"Roar——"

Another earth-shattering roar, this time exuding supreme majesty.

For a moment, whether it was hellhounds, Original Demons, or little devils, almost all hellish creatures felt an uncontrollable urge to worship.

"Lord of Nine Prisons above..."

"This, what on earth is..."

"How is it possible? Could the Red Dragon be the embodiment of Aphernas's will?"

"What a majestic figure! What a powerful presence!"

Listening to the devils' exclamations, Piere felt uneasy, clenching his fists and muttering to himself in a voice only he could hear: "These should all belong to me, belong to me!"

Under the relentless prayers of the Tanari Frost Giants, Koschech finally regained some sanity, emanating a frost divine power.

The Angry Lord looked up incredulously at the majestic dragon silhouette, hoarsely saying: "No, impossible!"

"How could that Deep Prison Demon Refiner let you obtain the complete authority? How could that old man Naisse allow a five-colored dragon to become a true Hell Lord!"

"I understand now..."

The Tanari Frost Giant stood on the scorching, fiery ground, raising the Frost Battleaxe, pointing to the sky, furiously roaring: "Damn reptile, you're bluffing!"

"Die——"

Koschech leaped up, swinging the battleaxe, unleashing all his frost divine power.

His whole body exuded extreme cold, with a sky-high chaos black mist, jumping thousands of meters high, and the battleaxe ferociously cleaved towards the enormous Red Dragon.

Cassius flapped his wings, stirring up a hot storm, issuing a deep growl: "Koschech, I shall, in the name of Aphernas——"

"Grant you death!"

The blood-red mouth capable of swallowing a Giant slowly opened, dark red hellfire surged from the depths of his throat.

In that hellfire, numerous demonic shadows appeared, including wailing mortals, laughing little devils, ambitious Deep Prison Demon Refiners leading the Hell Legion in slaughter...

Currently, Bod Gate is ruled by a four-person council, all of whom are Grand Dukes, with a council leader making decisions in ties, and Grand Duke Elder Ravenclaw overseeing Upper City's security with the elite Watch, while other areas are secured by a mercenary group named "Flaming Fist." Elder Ravenclaw is also the supreme leader of the mercenary group, headquartered in Bodlan Sea Tower, Bod Gate's strongest fortress against maritime invasions. Encompassed by a crescent moon-like form lies Gray Harbor, the economic lifeblood of Bod Gate, where hundreds of merchant ships enter and leave daily, bringing gold coins, as well as greed and crime.

The Upper City, elevated in terrain, consists of Castle District, Temple District, Manoburn District, and Wide Alley District, with numerous religious buildings. Miracle Hall and Supreme Miracle House are the centers of the Church of the God of Craft, Gund, at Bod Gate, with Miracle Hall showcasing Gund's great inventions, while Supreme Miracle House also functions as a workshop. Lower City mostly consists of stone houses across six districts: Sea Tower District, Blonrich District, Steep District, Crowded Side District, East Road District, and Branpton District. Middle-class individuals generally reside in Blonrich District close to Upper City's nobility, while the more mixed East Road District near the Stone Lizard Gate leading to the Outer City hosts many lively bars and cheap inns. Sea Tower District is the Flaming Fist mercenary group's base, near which its headquarters, Bodlan Sea Tower, is built on the largest rocky offshore island. Branpton District and Steep District are comparatively dilapidated, being the living quarters of sailors and laborers. The Outer City, spread along Chongsar River, gathers temporary buildings and slums, with the stone bridge Flying Dragon Crossroad as a landmark building, attracting numerous vendors and expanding the bridge surface with boards for additional structures. Law and order are absent here, and even the Flaming Fist's protective reach is very limited, attracting some homeless or criminal elements.

The sewer's arched moss gleamed eerie green under the dim phosphorous light, as murky sewage swirled over boot soles, each step inciting a sticky "gurgle." Purple-black slime seeped from wall cracks, converging like veins toward the drain—this was the neuro-corrosive quality unique to the Spirit Sucking Monster Nest, which induced auditory hallucinations in ordinary people, as if countless tiny tendrils were squirming inside their ear canals. Suddenly, a fractured cast-iron pipe resonated with the sound of misaligned bones "cackling," as if something was twisting through a narrow space. Three patrolling guards barely raised their lanterns when sewage exploded! Four Spirit Sucking Monsters burst from below, pale humanoid bodies blanketed in decay, octopus-like heads vibrating high-frequency tendrils, unleashing visible purple mind shock wave ripples. The foremost guard's helmet caved in, his eyes exploding into a bloody mist; the second barely screamed before tendrils pierced his ear canal, and spinal cord extracted like a marionette from the body; the only survivor staggered backward, but the firearm's accidental shot was swallowed completely by the Spirit Sucking Monsters' collective infrasound shriek. These Spirit Sucking Monsters were evidently trained tactically. Two decoy individuals slapped the water's surface with tendrils, stirring a mist of corrosive liquid, shrouding vision; the third hung down from the ceiling, using suction cups to attach to a guard's skull, tendrils precisely pierced the occipital foramen—not immediately lethal but controlling the captive like a puppet, using his trembling hands to reload a comrade's firearm. Meanwhile, the fourth Spirit Sucking Monster was using bone blades from its knuckles to open a fallen guard's chest cavity, extracting a warm liver to stuff into its mouthparts, pale-yellow digestive fluid dripped from its jaw, etching whisps of smoke on the ground. The parasitized was not completely dead. The guard's remains twitched back up, with translucent Spirit Sucking Monster larval tendrils emerging from the neck slit, pupils dilating to a milky white. He grabbed a dagger, stabbing at his former comrades while squeezing out an unhuman synthetic voice: "Skulls... for the Overmind...". And the real horror was just beginning to unfold—the distant sewage pool started bubbling, as more pale figures surfaced, dragging a dozen captives cocooned in mucus, those human faces twisted into silent screams under the cocoons. When the last gunshot faded, the sewer returned to silence—with only the floating torn uniforms and still pulsating neuro-corrosive quality mycelial blankets testifying that this massacre happened. The Spirit Sucking Monsters dragged the captives into the depths of the drainage pipe, the mucus cocoons occasionally twitching, as if the "seeds" within were about to hatch. In the Overmind's mental network, the coordinates of these new bodies transformed into a string of cold purple light, merging towards that pulsating giant shadow beneath Bod Gate.