Chapter 3241: Spiritual Presence
Chapter 3241: Spiritual Presence
Date: Unspecified
Time: Unspecified
Location: Myriad Realms, Dark Realm, Seven Prince of Hell Territory, Pandemonium City, Center of Pandemonium Volcano, Millennium Volcano Heart Natural Array
Leaving Mommon to his devices after explicitly informing him about my plan to deal with the Bloodrool crisis once and for all, I sat down in a comfortable spot in his secret herbal garden and awaited the Demon Merchant Code to begin the hearing.
Since it was merely a hearing and not the actual trial, the parties involved didn’t need to be spiritually present in the Demon Merchant Code’s court. A connect call with the parties involved and the judge, the Demon Merchant Code itself, was enough.
[NOTICE OF HEARING: Demon Merchant Dalton Wyatt, the Demon Merchant Code hereby summons you to appear for a hearing on appeal made by Grand Vizier of Owlape Empire, representing the Mulias Royal Family.
> (Answer/Ignore)
Note:
i) Failure to respond to this summons will result in a default judgment. The Demon Merchant Code will presume you guilty, and the burden of proving your innocence will fall on you.]
I agreed, of course, only to be hit with an unusual notice from the Demon Merchant Code.
[NOTICE OF UPDATE: The Demon Merchant Code hereby summons you to appear in spirit before this Court for the hearing, in lieu of remote attendance.
> (Attend/Request Excusal/Decline)
Note:
i) Declining this summons without good cause, or failing to respond to it, will result in a default judgment. The Demon Merchant Code will presume you guilty, and the burden of proving your innocence will fall on you.ii) Request an excusal only if you have valid grounds for being unable to appear in spirit before the Demon Merchant Court at the time of the hearing.]
I was astonished to see the Demon Merchant Code ask me to be spiritually present for the hearing. It was highly unusual, but I understood that the Owlapes had paid the Demon Merchant Code to request my spiritual presence at the hearing. I had no idea why they would do that, but if I had to guess, it was mostly to intimidate me and scrutinise my reasons in person. Clearly, the hearing wasn’t going to be easy.
Of course, I decided to attend the hearing spiritually in the Demon Merchant Code’s court. It was in the inter-realm city outside the sectors. So, when my spiritual body entered the court, I found myself standing in a trial stand opposite an empty trial stand. However, soon I saw an eleven-foot-diameter white orb that looked very much like a moon descend onto it. The orb then began to crack like an egg. Then a huge, sanguine-feathered Owlape burst out of it, while the cracked shells transformed into mist midair and entered the Owlape’s beak. Meanwhile, a huge apparition of an Owlape gazing at the moon formed behind him.
Having faced the Deviant Devil, I wasn’t impressed by what I was seeing, but not to be outdone, I too manifested an apparition of a celestial body behind me, which then unfolded into a thousand pairs of floating arms and floating heads with bones made of roots and flesh made of mud.
I wasn’t afraid of them figuring out what it meant because I was the first World Calamity Tree Celestial across the Myriad Cosmos, let alone the Grand Vizier of the Owlapes. Even the Demon Merchant Code and the Librarians would have no idea what it represented and would ignore it as a bloodline from some backwater corner of the Myriad Realms.
After his initial shock at seeing the apparition I manifested, the Grand Vizier then clashed his apparition with mine. It was basically a clash of each other’s presence in reality through intent. I had a disadvantage in terms of realm, but my opponent had a racial disadvantage. I hailed from the Cosmic Corridor, while he hailed from a cosmos that didn’t have a path to transcendence. Initially, it seemed like our presences were just as strong in this reality, but eventually, it became obvious that my presence in his reality was stronger than that of the Grand Vizier’s.
The Grand Vizier’s spiritual body actually looked like it was about to pop from how hard he was exerting his presence in this reality, trying to make it stronger than mine. I liked the fact that he didn’t give up despite realizing by now that he simply wasn’t my competition.
Visible cracks began to form on the Grand Vizier’s spiritual body. If he continued, he was going to hurt himself.
One had to understand that, though we were competing against each other, his actual opponent wasn’t me but reality itself. He was using strength beyond his limits to assert a higher presence in this reality to match mine, even if he failed to overtake it.
That was to say, if the Grand Vizier were to hurt himself, the Demon Merchant Code would not hold me responsible. Not to mention, he was the one who had offered a high tribute to make this clash of our presences possible.
The cracks on the Grand Vizier’s spiritual body began to grow in number and length, spreading like spiderwebs. Yet, he showed no intention of stopping or ceasing to overexert himself. Not that I cared whether he hurt himself or not. If I were to withdraw my presence out of concern for him, he would not be grateful. Instead, he would think that even though my presence was stronger than his, my will wasn’t stronger than his.
Otherwise, what kind of fool would try to intimidate their opponent in the middle of the court right before the hearing starts? These guys believed that might made right. If you didn’t speak their language, you couldn’t get through their thick, stubborn skulls.
Therefore, I didn’t show mercy. Instead, I unleashed my full presence in this reality to intimidate him in turn. It might seem contrary to what I planned to achieve during this hearing, but it wasn’t. Absolute strength was the only language these Dark Races understood, especially races like the Owlapes.