Volume 5 Chapter 0125: Reach the highest point in this battle! - I, The Dragon Overlord

To a deity, three days pass as swiftly as a blink for mortals. When Louie came to, those three days had already gone by. Gazing at his now-empty temple, Louie felt a touch of nostalgia for the departed goddesses he once hosted there. In his hands, he held two flowers: one a delicate silver, the other a pale black. Each was mesmerizingly beautiful in its own right, but when placed together, their combined allure was almost irresistible. Bees were drawn to them, gathering nectar and leaving traces of pollen that spread across the earth. Despite the absence of past beauties, the temple still retained a lingering fragrance that was intoxicating and dreamy. "But just as a delicate flower can attract undesired creatures, like a spider akin to a black widow," Louie mused with a light smile. Though spiders often invoked fear with their webs and eight hairy legs, they also possessed their own unique beauty. For those who could appreciate it, there was an exotic allure to them, capable of captivating just long enough for someone to caress or even taste. Subduing a fearsome yet beautiful spider and having it offer itself could be a rewarding experience. Putting these thoughts aside, Louie began to sense the activities of the deities. He had given them three days to prepare—an ample amount of time for gods. More time could have risked Asmodeus suspecting something was amiss, so hastening the process ensured a foolproof plan. Even if any deity betrayed him to the devil king, three days were sufficient for the gods' preparations but hardly enough for the devils to devise a countermeasure. Moreover, Louie did not believe any god would risk informing the fiends, admitting a deity's inferiority to devils, jeopardizing the pantheon’s rule, and inviting universal scorn. Such a god would have truly lost their way. To ensure absolute success, Louie demanded the gods summon all their avatars, deploying most of them alongside their true forms. His goal was to eradicate Asmodeus in one decisive move. Louie anticipated the gods might not fully comply but hoped each would commit at least half their avatars to meet his expectations. The combined might of avatars from a powerful deity equaled seven to eight weaker gods. A single deity was like an army; a coalition of gods was an unstoppable force. Only a hundred gods could form an army solely of deities, an awe-inspiring, terrifying force. "If one of the War Gods, either Marzlis or Gorrush, led the charge, they’d likely grasp their divine essence swiftly, amplifying their power, possibly even wresting control from the other War God's domain." War Gods, also known as army gods, excelled in wartime command over troops, igniting the divine essence within them. The ultimate army was composed of deities, and commanding them once would satiate the essence of war. Just as Louie's dominion over trickery and deceit reached its zenith after deceiving the gods, exceeding even the insights of the 'Prince of Lies,' he wouldn't allow Marzlis or Gorrush to benefit from this campaign against Asmodeus. Commanding the divine forces was a role reserved for him alone. Until Louie united the Serpent of Order with the Serpent of Chaos, achieving a complete Ouroboros form, he would retain authority over the gods. At that level, Louie would parallel a creator deity, indifferent to gods gaining divine essence. Even at the highest echelons of the San Soleil world, all would align under the dual forces of order and chaos. Louie would become akin to Greek myth's Chaos, Norse legend's Ymir, or Hindu mythology's Brahma. The birth and end of everything would occur at his whim. All worldly laws and order would be his to dictate, while only absolute chaos could overturn them, yet even that chaos would belong to Louie. With both creation and chaos under one command, he would be absolute, singular, omniscient, and eternal. "Heh, I still have my old habit of planning far into the future," Louie chuckled self-deprecatingly. Rising from his exalted throne, his avatar stood, closing his eyes slightly as his divine will swept through the realms. He announced to the gods that it was time to march toward the ninth layer of Hell, Nessus. Though he sent forth few avatars, the rule of absolute adherence post-establishment prevented direct conflict between Louie and Asmodeus. Otherwise, Asmodeus’s virtual godhood of 20 wouldn't have saved him from Louie's might without needing to summon the gods. Moreover, Asmodeus capitalized on this unbreakable rule, along with millennia of Abyssal research, to craft a scheme aiming for Louie's demise. "But no matter how well you plan, Asmodeus, you couldn't predict the existence of the 'Fate Slate.’" Louie chuckled quietly, standing before his throne as his godhood linked with his mind for rapid contemplation, hunting for flaws in his scheme. He calculated even the minuscule possibility of total divine betrayal. If such occurred, with gods allying with Asmodeus, Louie would activate the 'Fate Slate,' severing all divine faith sources. Concurrently, he'd order the complete activation of the Terran's extinction weapon, prepared in the spatial-time wormhole, to obliterate all of San Soliel. Simultaneously, he'd destroy the wormhole, returning to the Earth realm. Thus, even if Asmodeus survived without faith, he'd be left with a desolate San Soliel. Given Louie had transported part of the Serpent of Order to another cosmic crystal sphere, Asmodeus would never ascend to godhood, imprisoning him in a void for eternity. This was the most ruthless, unforgiving plan Louie had conceived. Yet, as long as he lived, opportunities for future ascension remained. Worlds with rules akin to San Soliel surely existed beyond it; through patient exploration via the wormhole, Louie would eventually find another. There, as an alien god, he could infiltrate, slowly seizing power to become the god of gods. "But the chances of that are so slim it’s not worth scaring myself over," Louie muttered, reassuring himself. With a deep breath, he stepped forward and opened the gateway to the Ninth Layer of Hell. The ascent to the pinnacle awaited in this encounter!