Chapter 531 - 516: Even in Death, Demons Return to the Flames
Chapter 531: Chapter 516: Even in Death, Demons Return to the Flames
Cybertron, Biological Laboratory 7.
Baroque’s head was secured within a spherical Force Field formed of Runes.
Several Magic Power Probes, thinner than a strand of hair, were inserted into his skull, making direct contact with his still-active soul. The faint blue light of the binding Runes flickered, securely locking in all the Evil Energy that attempted to leak out.
Allen stood before the control console, his deep blue eyes reflecting the cascading data. He ignored Baroque’s eyes, which were filled with resentment and terror, and kept his gaze fixed on the topological map of the soul structure on the main screen.
[Soul Sample Activity: 91.4%]
[Extremely faint directional jump signal detected. The soul is passively attempting to establish a connection with unknown coordinates.]
[Channel establishment failed. The binding Force Field has isolated the connection.]
"Interesting," Allen murmured.
It seemed that Baroque’s clamoring about "Purgatory Resurrection" was not an empty boast. Through initial research and interrogation, Allen had roughly figured out the mechanics behind it. Deep within the souls of Demons, an underlying protocol named the "Rebirth Agreement" was engraved. Once their physical body died, this protocol would activate, forcibly transmitting the soul—like a "data packet"—back to the Purgatory Plane.
As long as it could return, the Blood Pool of Purgatory would use it as a blueprint to fashion a new body. For them, death was indeed just a Resurrection that required waiting out a respawn timer. But the prerequisite was that the soul had to be able to make it back.
"You... you thief! Robber!" Baroque’s head let out an incoherent roar, his soul trembling violently within the Force Field. "Let me go! Let me return to the flames! This is the gift of my Lord!"
Allen didn’t even bat an eyelid. "Jarvis, pull up the data for samples A3 through A7. I want to do a horizontal comparison."
[Data retrieved. The soul structure scan data for Sample A3 Abyssal Hound, A4 Hellfire, A5 Flame Demon, A6 Fear Demon King, and A7 Lord of Purgatory have been projected onto Light Screen Two.]
Five sets of soul topological maps unfolded side by side. Allen’s gaze shifted rapidly between the five sets of data.
The soul structure of the Abyssal Hound was the simplest—crude, like a cluster of uncompiled raw code. It had almost no independent consciousness, possessing only three instinctual command chains: "track," "bite," and "devour." Yet, even in the depths of the soul of this lowest-tier Demon, the Rebirth Agreement was similarly branded.
The soul structures of the Hellfire and Flame Demon were slightly more complex, possessing more diverse abilities. However, the stronger the Demon, the deeper its "binding" with Purgatory.
"Next, we verify the second hypothesis," Allen said.
He injected an artificial soul into Baroque’s head. The next second, an astonishing scene occurred. Baroque’s soul instinctively pounced on it, greedily devouring and absorbing the offering. But the moment the absorption was complete, the Law shackle branded deep within his soul suddenly lit up.
A burst of Soul Energy, accounting for roughly thirty percent of the total absorbed amount, underwent forced Stripping from Baroque’s soul. Guided by the rebirth path, it prepared to be transmitted out. Of course, it was intercepted by the binding Force Field, but this process alone was enough to explain everything.
Allen repeated the same experiment on the other five samples. The results were highly consistent—regardless of a Demon’s tier, after devouring a soul, a portion of the energy would undergo forced extraction and be transmitted outward through the Rebirth Agreement.
The only difference lay in the proportion. Ten percent was extracted from the Abyssal Hound. The Hellfire and Flame Demon lost twenty percent. The Fear Demon King and the Lord of Purgatory were close to thirty percent. Baroque was also at thirty percent.
"So that’s how it is... After all that, it’s a ’tax’."
Demons waged wars across various Planes, devouring souls to strengthen themselves—but this business was not an enterprise without costs. Their souls were carved with an incredibly domineering Law the moment they were born: the "soul tax." No matter how much Soul Energy they obtained through whatever means, they were forced to hand over a portion at a fixed rate.
Hand it over to whom? The answer was self-evident.
The will of the Purgatory Plane.
Allen leaned back in his chair and interlaced his fingers. If Purgatory was viewed as a corporation, then the so-called Abyssal Commanders, Demon Monarchs, and even the unseen master of the Burning Legion, Sargeras—were nothing more than "employees" of the company. From High-tier executives to grassroots salesmen, the hierarchy was distinct.
Their desires, their killing instincts, and their thirst for power were all KPIs meticulously set by this "company." Their job description? To "expand the market" across various Planes and harvest souls, the ultimate hard currency. Ultimately, the lion’s share of the profits flowed back to the corporate headquarters through the mandatory Law of the "soul tax."
To the Purgatory Plane itself.
It wasn’t a lifeless place; rather, it was more like an automatically running operating system. Every Demon was a process it had released. The consumed souls were data, and the soul tax was the data packets these processes periodically transmitted back to the mother system. The Demons thought they were fighting for their own ambitions. Little did they know, from the moment they were born, they were slaves with pre-written underlying logic.
"Pathetic tools," Allen delivered his final assessment. "They don’t even get benefits, and when they die, they have to queue up and pay for their own Resurrection. What an ’outstanding’ corporate culture."
He glanced at Baroque’s head, which was still struggling within the Force Field. The basic value of this pitiful creature—whose very meaning of existence had been tampered with—as a research sample had been bled dry.
But there was one more question that needed answering.
Allen stood up and walked deeper into the laboratory. There, five independent Demon-Sealing Pods were lined up in a row. The pod walls were half a meter thick, and the inner walls were carved with triple Suppression Runes. This was where the five "Demon Mages" were imprisoned.
Demon Mages were the most unique among all the captives. They didn’t rely on brute force to survive; instead, they mastered forbidden Magic and knowledge systems originating from Purgatory. To some extent, they were the "intellectuals" among Demons.
Allen walked up to Demon-Sealing Pod Three and looked inside through the observation window. A frail, gray-skinned humanoid Demon was curled up inside. Its limbs were nailed to the wall with Rune chains, the sharp claws on its fingertips had been severed, and its eyes were covered by a seal.
But its head twitched slightly, as if sensing Allen’s approach.
"You’re back..." the Demon Mage rasped, surprisingly speaking in standard Common. "You Wizards of the Material Plane are even more evil than us Demons."
Allen couldn’t be bothered to waste words and directly began the interrogation. Dozens of Magic Power Probes extended from the pod walls, inflicting irresistible agony directly onto the Demon Mage’s soul.
The Demon Mage’s body suddenly went rigid, and a suppressed hiss escaped its throat.
"First question," Allen said, his voice devoid of any emotional fluctuation. "The hierarchical structure of the Purgatory Plane. Explain it in detail."
"Heh... you think pain will make me talk?" The Demon Mage forced a smile. "The torture I’ve endured in Purgatory is far worse than—"
Allen tripled the output power of the Magic Power Probes.
"Aaaagh—!"
The Demon Mage’s howl echoed within the Demon-Sealing Pod. Its soul trembled madly in agony, its entire body shaking like a leaf.
Fifteen seconds later, Allen adjusted the power back to its original setting.
"I don’t have the patience to repeat my questions."
Silence lingered for three seconds.
"...Ninety-nine levels," the Demon Mage finally spoke, its voice sounding as if it were squeezed through its teeth. "Purgatory... has ninety-nine levels. Every level has a ruler. We call them ’Lords of Purgatory’... No, your term for them should be ’Demon Monarchs’."
"Continue. Which level is Sargeras on?"
The Demon Mage’s body stiffened slightly. Even through the seal, Allen could feel the instinctual fear welling up from the depths of its soul, which was entirely different from the pain of the interrogation just now. It was an absolute dread of a superior being, carved into its very genes.
"...The ninth level." The Demon Mage’s voice was suppressed to a whisper, as if even mentioning that name was a transgression. "Sargeras has essentially suppressed all the Demons on that level."
"How strong is he?"
"I don’t know the specifics... I am merely a low-tier Mage. I don’t have the qualifications to seek an audience with a Monarch." The Demon Mage’s tone carried obvious bitterness.
"One last question." Allen took a step closer, lowering his voice. "What is the deal with Baroque’s promotion?"
The Demon Mage’s mouth twitched. "...That is the power of a Monarch. He can... can forcibly elevate a Demon’s tier, as long as... as long as there are enough souls as sacrifices."
The Demon Mage stopped speaking. It wasn’t out of resistance, but because it could feel that the information it had just leaked was already more than enough. If it said any more, even if it luckily made it back to Purgatory in the future, what awaited it wouldn’t be Resurrection in the Blood Pool, but a complete soul meltdown.
Allen didn’t continue pressing for answers either. He had already gotten what he wanted.
"Souls really are the universal currency of the cosmos."
He hypothesized that a soul was not only a high-dimensional information structure but also a special energy source that could be stored, converted, and transmitted.
"If Purgatory treats it as a strategic resource, then I... naturally can, too."
Allen still needed higher-tier samples. Baroque was merely a regional manager. What he wanted to see was the core technology of this "company"—the legendary Demon Monarch, Sargeras.
Only by analyzing a soul of that caliber could he truly glean the ultimate mysteries of "Soul Engineering," and perhaps even... reverse-engineer the operational Laws of the Purgatory Plane. He had a premonition that if he could capture him, it would definitely allow him to take another step forward on the path of the Soul Law.