Demon Bible

Chapter 116: Flowers Rooted in Rot

Beneath the ruins, several lives were fading away.

No one was watching this place; their lives seemed entirely inconsequential.

The only ones paying attention were demons.

Krew appeared on the outside, his body turning somewhat ethereal as he phased beneath the rubble.

Looking at the dying figures, Krew let out a sigh.

"This is what happens when you lack power. Your only value is being dragged down as someone else's dependent," he murmured.

Since Nemus had decided to escalate matters slightly and use Fass as a living billboard, that billboard needed to look presentable.

A walking advertisement whose family had been completely wiped out for joining the Construct Protocol would serve no useful purpose.

Krew softly chanted an incantation. Meanwhile, his main body back in the Cathedral connected to the Grid, simultaneously releasing a divine art.

Radiant divine light bloomed from the demonic Krew's hands, washing over Fass's family.Supernatural power surged into their rapidly cooling bodies, restoring their vitality. Their forms, not yet fully claimed by death, began to stir once more.

Beating hearts pumped blood back through their veins.

Krew reached out and effortlessly shifted the heavy timber pinning them down.

A few members of the Construct Protocol materialized moments later. After respectfully addressing Krew as Bishop, they escorted Fass's family away.

Over the past few days, the people of the Construct Protocol had established their organizational framework, basic operational rules, secrecy guidelines, and a systematic approach to spreading their faith.

They would secretly contact individuals like Buke—those wandering the bottom rungs of society who refused to stay there forever—grant them a fraction of demonic power, and then preach the doctrines of the God of Fiction.

The speed at which their membership expanded depended entirely on how quickly this demonic power could be endowed.

Currently, numerous victimized lesser demons had already emerged within the Abyss.

Fortunately, lesser demons were inherently selfish and malicious creatures. Even though they had been scammed out of most of their savings, they did not go around the Abyss warning others about a new fraud.

Instead, they waited. They waited for other lesser demons to fall for the trick. Once those demons lost their wealth and returned to the Abyss in a weakened state, it would be the perfect opportunity to hunt them down.

A few of the more cunning lesser demons, upon realizing they had been harvested and were about to be banished back to the Abyss, even proposed cooperating with the Construct Protocol.

They offered to distribute the Construct Protocol's desire covenants, asking only for a tracking feature to be added when the covenants were activated.

However, the Construct Protocol rejected these offers.

There were simply too many lesser demons in the Abyss. With such immense profits at stake, there was no need to share the spoils with those pathetic creatures.

Fueled by these massive gains, the Construct Protocol was experiencing explosive, unchecked growth.

While their numbers still appeared small, they had already laid down incredibly deep foundations.

Given just a single opportunity, the Construct Protocol could rapidly penetrate the South District and even expand toward the North District. It was entirely foreseeable that they would eventually grow far larger than the Floating World Society ever was.

After all, unlike the Floating World Society, the Construct Protocol actually delivered tangible benefits.

Though the power they granted was temporary, it was immediate, highly effective, and hinted at even stronger forms in the future.

And in this world, the absolute best way to elevate one's status was to acquire power.

It was an obvious truth: once those who wielded power reached a certain threshold, they transcended their very race!

"My Lord, everything has been arranged," Krew reported.

"The value of a person's life flows from the outside in, and then from the inside out. The moment they are endowed with value is the moment they grasp the opportunity for power. What do you think?" Nemus asked, looking at the returning Krew.

He was clearly responding to what Krew had muttered earlier over Fass's dying family.

"Your words are always so deeply philosophical, My Lord," Krew replied. He held out his hand, and the wooden bird hopped over, fluttering onto the back of his hand.

"Although I possessed power, my life before was nothing but a sea of gray. Even with that strength, I never dared to use it. It was only when I met you that everything changed. Therefore, my value was also endowed by you, My Lord."

"Thus, you should hold tight to everything you have now, and truly master your power," Nemus said with a smile. He understood the genuine gratitude in Krew's heart, but he refused to be weighed down by such sentiments. "Right now, I understand one thing with absolute clarity: following you, My Lord, is the only true path for me to attain even greater heights of power!" Krew similarly understood Nemus's underlying will.

They were of the same kind, but in certain aspects, Krew still fell short of Nemus.

Everyone had their own ambitions. Krew's ambitions had been ignited by Nemus, and the current Krew revered him beyond measure.

However, the purpose of a person's life could not always point in the exact same direction.

Nemus did not expect his subordinates to pledge eternal loyalty, either.

In Nemus's eyes, they were merely people waiting together on the same shore.

When the tide finally rushed in, someone would inevitably retreat.

Or perhaps even become an enemy.

Purr was like this, and so was Krew. They were kindred spirits who chafed at their current lives, waiting for a heaven-shaking, earth-shattering change.

Among these kindred spirits, Nemus was temporarily the strongest, holding the dominant position.

But it was hard to say if this advantage would last forever.

If the day ever came when Krew found an opportunity to reach the summit by stabbing Nemus in the back, Nemus had absolutely no doubt that Krew would take it.

By the same token, if Nemus only had to sacrifice these subordinates to summon that perfect, once-in-a-lifetime tidal wave he dreamed of, he would do so without hesitation.

"We have all seen this world for what it truly is, witnessing its rotting underbelly," Nemus declared.

"Our ideals are flowers rooted in that rot."

Nemus had chosen the path of a demon after being betrayed, sacrificed, and stripped of everything.

A flower born amidst the rotting ruins of a once-golden dream.

Purr was a twisted, sickened individual, crushed by the weight of life and pushed to the absolute fringes of society.

As for Krew, his nature stemmed from the inherent influence of his innate bloodline.

All of them were living lives stitched together from the shattered fragments of normalcy after their ordinary existences were obliterated.

Tough, yet fundamentally broken.

At this thought, Nemus chuckled.

Krew Krew laughed as well.

He bowed respectfully to Nemus before taking his leave to handle the Lord's official affairs.

It was precisely because they both knew the other would absolutely betray them under the right circumstances that they shared a profound sense of trust in the present moment.

Inevitable betrayal required the perfect opportunity.

But right now, they were all outcasts utterly rejected by society.

Nemus was the pioneer, their mentor, and their protective umbrella on this desolate shore.

Thus, as long as the opportunity remained unsuited, the counterpart to absolute betrayal was absolute loyalty.

Because they were the same, they understood each other's convictions. Because they understood, they remained rational through their stubborn perseverance.

And because of that rationality, they could appreciate the blossoming flowers of their own kind.

Watching Krew depart, Nemus stood before the window. The sky had grown gloomy, and the wind was beginning to howl with reckless abandon.

"What wonderful weather," he murmured.