Chapter 372
by fanqienovelChapter 372: Unyielding Barbatos
The Core Council of Chaos convened yet again.
For Barbatos, meetings never boded well.
Every session sent his blood pressure soaring beyond control—no medication could rein it in.
This time proved no exception.
Though the scheduled hour hadn’t arrived and attendees remained incomplete, Barbatos’s blood pressure already redlined.
The reason was plain—their military operation had catastrophically failed. The Giant God remained uncaptured.
It had slipped Barbatos’s snare yet again, as though anticipating his every maneuver.
Final intelligence indicated the cunning deity had taunted them by lingering just beyond reach of the three core councilors’ ambush point. After a deliberate pause, it turned and departed.
The gesture unmistakably declared: *"Dumbass, I saw through your scheme ages ago."*
*"Love watching you scramble pointlessly while I slip through your fingers."*
…
*Always one step ahead—that’s true confidence!*
A brazen slap to the face!
Even now, Barbatos felt his cheeks burn as if struck.
Worse, the First Demon God remained utterly clueless about the Giant God’s whereabouts.
In earlier times, such a colossal entity traversing the Chaos Swamp Realm couldn’t possibly evade detection.
But now the issue wasn’t concealment—the Chaos Council had gone blind.
Ever since Barbatos replaced the Outer Gods from the Void with Outer Predators, intelligence efficiency plummeted.
Not that the Predatory Deities shirked duties; their numbers proved too scant for agile void navigation like their predecessors.
Will existed, but strength fell short.
Compounding this, numerous Predatory Deities had mysteriously vanished…
Now one assigned to report back to Barbatos had disappeared into thin air.
"Someone’s hunting down my Outer Predators!"
"Who could it be!?"
Gimmerly topped the suspect list.
"But I’ve branded her with the Will of Chaos."
"She wouldn’t dare such defiance…"
"That leaves Sotiko—unmarked by any Chaos Brand."
"Yet Sotiko’s divine form lacks the agility to catch Outer Predators darting through the void."
"Besides…"
Barbatos scanned the round table. Sotiko sat undisturbed in his seat while Gimmerly conversed with the newly arrived Lady Xidi…
“At least for now, they didn’t have time to commit the crime.”
“Could it be…”
Among the absent demon gods, three were Border Demon Gods, too distant to arrive in time.
Then there was Barbatos.
He hadn’t appeared for unknown reasons.
“Surely it couldn’t be him…”
Baal massaged his temples, struggling to think clearly as his blood pressure spiked.
“Though Barbatos supported Lady Xidi’s reinstatement last time and voted yes, he never seemed close to her faction.”
“Maybe that was just a transaction!?”
Double-crossing happened often among demon gods.
Even deadliest enemies would cooperate when interests aligned.
“He’s always been at odds with Xidi’s followers.”
“No reason for him to attack my ‘Predatory Deity’.”
“Besides, he bears the mark too.”
“So…”
This line of thought sent Baal’s blood pressure soaring again.
“Who was it then!?”
—-
“No—!”
“You can’t kill me!”
“I belong to Baal’s—”
Outside the Fantasy Tree of Subspace, the Outer Predator shrieked warnings and despair.
Its dragon-like divine form was crushed against the trunk by colossal claws.
“Rooaaar—!”
Barbatos unleashed a guttural yet shrill roar.
Crimson eyes burned with madness and greed.
“Whoever… you are!”
“I want…”
“Energy! Energy!”
“You!”
“Dripping with energy!”
“Aaaah—!”
The giant jaws filled with sharp teeth slowly approached; the aura of death was very close!
But…
“Hmm…”
Barbatos surprisingly used his strong will to suppress his desire to devour.
He was a demon god with a strong sense of self and was very hostile to the “Giant God,” who had long colluded with Gimmerly.
“That fellow…”
“Can’t have good intentions!”
He knew that if he accepted the “vision” offered by the Giant God and submitted to the changes, it meant giving everything freely to that greedy, terrifying deity. All his weaknesses would be known!
If he kept indulging in that “wonderful vision,” his Soul would soon be eaten up by the Giant God.
He would become a pathetic being like Gimmerly, with no will of his own, only knowing to follow the Giant God.
“That vision is poison!”
“It also forced me to give up the elegant chains of a demon god!”
“She, Gimmerly, was willing to be a dog!”
“I was not willing…”
Just as Barbatos, full of fighting spirit, prepared to release the Predatory Deity…
A voice echoed in his mind…
“Are you truly willing to accept this?”
“Whoa—!”
In his mind, scenes appeared of Gimmerly controlling the authority of the void, summoning storms, making the Outer Gods from the Void submit!
Sky-covering wings moved between the Fantasy Trees, casting long shadows over the Ether Sea; the void cheered, the void roared, the void submitted!
“This scene should have been yours.”
“It was so close!”
“Are you content?”
The voice was calm and familiar but filled with temptation and mockery, making Barbatos tense.
It was his own voice.
It felt as if his soul had split, leaving him in a daily struggle between purity and corruption.
“Damn it…”
His Divine Body trembled, and his claws clenched tightly.
“Who!?”
“Stop tempting me!”
“I will not… I will not…”
“Yield to temptation!”
“Before, I had resisted the temptation, and I would do the same now!”
“Huff… Huff… Huff…”
After a furious roar, Barbatos panted heavily.
He did not want to be led by other deities, and he succeeded, suppressing the power of that mark with great effort.
Of course, more importantly…
“I don’t want to be associated with that fellow, Lady Xidi, and I definitely don’t want to offend Barbatos!”
“So…”
He relaxed his body and loosened his claws slightly.
“Maybe if I tell Barbatos about the mark of the Giant God on my Soul, I can gain Barbatos’s favor and trust.”
“And I can’t do this myself; I need to let Barbatos’s messenger deliver the message, so it can be done without drawing any attention…”
At this point, Barbatos got stuck.
The thoughts in his pupils gradually solidified.
“Wait…”
He looked down at the "Predatory Deity" pinned beneath his claws.
This fellow had its mouth wide open, tongue out, eyes bulging, and its wings had broken from immense force.
A pool of blood spilled from its mouth.
The taste of divine blood spread through the void.
“Buzz—!”
The taste of divine blood made the mark of the Giant God even more excited; it shimmered and vibrated.
“Uh…”
In an instant, Barbatos felt an even greater “desire” erupting from deep within his Soul.
What was worse was…
“It’s over…”
“The Outer Predator is dead…”
The power of the core councilor of chaos was three levels higher than the Outer Predator, which could only serve as a scout and was at most on par with a back-row councilor.
Crushing them was truly effortless.
So, when Barbatos got overly excited, the Outer Predator really was crushed to death.
Barbatos looked at the corpse of the Outer Predator, his Double Eyes gradually growing hollow.
“Now, there’s no way to turn back…”
“Uh…”
Soon after, his hollow eyes regained a glimmer.
However, this time it was dominated by greed and brutality, driven by appetite!
“Ahhh—!”
With a single bite, he tore the Outer Predator in half, divine blood splattering and staining the Fantasy Tree of Subspace.
“Blood sacrifice for the Giant God!”
“Skull offering!”