Indeed, Selene was right. From humor to behavior, lust aside, Konrad reminded Qehreman of his eldest brother. The similarities were astonishing. However, his brother didn’t start out that way and was forced onto the road of a devil for the sake of his beloved.
But if not for that change, none of them would still exist.
In that instant, Qehreman’s mind drifted to distant times, countless epochs ago, when all lives chafed under the oppression of that race, and their invincible sovereign. The sorrow, the losses, separations, and despair.
If not for his eldest brother’s transformation, how could it have ended? All he was and all he had was built upon the evil of those days.
And seeing him flinch, Selene made her last move.
“I believe there is something on him you will find interesting.”
Arching his eyebrows, Qehreman spun toward Konrad, and with a glance, saw through the entirety of his existence.
Two things astonished him.
On the one hand, while Else used her life to save Konrad through time paradoxes, although he still failed, the period of his Death Conversion grew increasingly longer!
Right, for some incomprehensible reason, although at first, the increase was barely noticeable, Konrad managed to extend his Death Conversion and approach closer to success. If this carried on, he would indeed succeed!
Alas, Else’s life had reached its end.
But the surprise of that prowess was nothing when compared to that one thing he found on Konrad’s body.
Qehreman stretched out his hand, causing an incomplete painting to leave Konrad’s space treasure and appear within his hand.
“How…could this be?”
This painting was the incomplete God-artifact Konrad had obtained within the Tower 1 . After all those years, he still failed to put it to use. But when Qehreman’s eyes laid on it, and he saw the story it retold, his hands trembled!
“Did eldest brother really…choose him? Otherwise, how could this possibly be with him?”
What this incomplete painting retold was the first half of their life, the entirety of their struggles, and how, for their sake, their eldest brother rose in rebellion against the sovereign-master of their era.
Seeing it, the most horrid parts of his past reappeared within Qehreman’s mind, and his eyes turned misty.
“Alright, then in front of this house, with your deceased parents as our witnesses, let’s swear an oath. An oath not to heaven or the world, but to ourselves, to our hearts, that although we weren’t born of the same parents or on the same day, we shall live and die together!”
“Today, we four swear that although we weren’t born of the same parents or on the same day, we shall live and die together! In this pledge, we are bound, with a link stronger than blood!”
And they did.
“Never mind. For the sake of that brotherhood pledge, I will give him a chance. However, success or failure will still depend on him.”
Qehreman declared and waved his hand, causing a white ray to dive into Konrad’s forehead.
And without further ado, he returned the painting to Konrad’s space treasure and vanished from the Ancient Crystal World.
“I ask for nothing more.”
Although Qehreman no longer stood there, Selene still bowed in thanks. She then shifted her attention toward Konrad and was pleasantly surprised to see the prism mark on his forehead glitter with resplendent light.
Meanwhile, within his mind, Konrad’s soul was submerged by unending waves of darkness that threatened to devour it whole. At the same time, the millions of souls trapped within his body rose in rebellion and coordinated with the tidal waves of darkness to tear his soul to shreds.
Konrad knew that escaping served no purpose. Therefore, he welcomed the darkness, allowing it to merge with his soul and trigger the start of an intense battle. That darkness was Death.
And as he grew increasingly closer to becoming one with it, the rebelling souls interfered, sneak-attacking him at the critical juncture, to prevent his success. Although he managed to repel the first wave, it was but a drop in the bucket when compared to the millions of souls he had to cope with.
In the previous tries, at one point or the other, the souls would always get the best of him and usher his demise. However, at one point, he had a crazed idea:
Consumption.
And without hesitation, like a Ravenous Ghost, Konrad started devouring the souls one after the other. As he did, his soul grew increasingly bigger, going from 1.9 meters to two, then three, four, five, ten…and still it grew.
And by the time he consumed the first million, his soul towered at more than three hundred meters. However, unending legions remained, preventing him from shifting attention toward Death, which ate him from inside.
At that time, a bright light emerged within his soul world, preventing the remaining tens of millions of souls from making another move. And seeing them suppressed by this foreign force, Konrad shifted his attention back onto Death and assimilated it once and for all.
By the time he’d completed the assimilation, the souls were back in motion, but this time, Konrad faced them with full confidence.
Initially, he planned to make those souls the building block of his chthonian army. But since they wouldn’t stay put, he could only suffer a loss, and devour them all!
His soul turned into a dark light beam, and tore through all the souls, turning them into nutrients for it to grow further!
Konrad’s soul now reached one thousand meters, and overflowed with endless quantities of nether force!
Meanwhile, in the outside world, his body bathed in death essence.
A faceless creature cloaked in black appeared before Konrad and extended its hands toward him. A black ray shot from the creature’s sleeve, attempting to obliterate Konrad’s soul. But by the time it reached him, the ray vanished, unable to leave the tiniest damage!
The creature nodded in approval and vanished from Konrad’s sight. However, as it did, he had the conception that if he could somehow destroy that creature, he would reach a grander level!
A matter for another time.
For now, his Death Conversion was…a success!
The dark lines covering Konrad’s flesh vanished from his skin, and in an eruption of pitch-black fog, his massive soul emerged from his body, bringing alongside it the entirety of his death essence!
Too large for the cave, Konrad’s one-thousand meters tall soul compacted itself back to 1.9 meters, and in his black fog state, he fell toward Else’s side, but was startled to see…that she no longer breathed!
“Thank you.”
Konrad whispered as he realized the cause of Else’s fall.
Icy-blue nether force erupted from his soul, dancing with his pitch-black death essence while his ethereal shape underwent drastic changes!
In a flash, Konrad’s foggy shape morphed into a brand-new body nigh identical to the one that laid on the ground within Else’s arms.
Instead of the previous translucent shade, his skin now appeared snow-white, while his jade-colored hairs became pure white, and his golden eyes changed to icy-blue. Dressed in a simple black robe, he dropped onto the ground, perfectly landing on his feet.
Within that new body, the mastered laws of Death and Nether stood in harmony, forming a perfect cycle of chthonian energies. Indeed, through his death conversion and the digestion of those millions of souls, Konrad also achieved Nether Wielding.
And while his current body didn’t have the previous one’s cultivation, within those small hands of his, the strength to obliterate a world rippled!
Indeed, following the death conversion, on top of a startling range of new abilities, Konrad was forced to condense this new body, which in terms of strength, speed, and resilience, stood leagues above his previous peak!
“Even by relying on flesh alone, I am far stronger than Dasra at his best.”
Konrad realized.
Although before, he’d managed to crush Dasra, that was because he relied on his Might Reversal Armor. Without it, the battle wouldn’t have ended on such a favorable note. Moreover, Dasra didn’t use any artifact, relying solely on bloodline, physiques, and cultivation.
But now, though not an ounce of cultivation base laid in him, with his body that surpassed most peak-stage Minor Gods in strength, Konrad didn’t doubt that ten Dasras weren’t his match!
Still, that mattered not.
Konrad stretched out his right hand and aimed it at Else’s deceased body.
“Death Negation.”
He uttered, causing a black ray to erupt from his index and dive into her chest.
