A Plan To Seduce A Primordial Demon Goddess
Point out any errors I made in the chapters, as I'm very lazy and sometimes can't be bothered to reread them. Also give your opinions on something I should change or add
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"Die, you damn human."
Celestina clearly wasn't intending to have a peaceful conversation over a cup of tea with Feng, as she pointed her finger at the human in front of her, a huge amount of Mana gathering around it and instantly forming a pitch-black Magic Array.
Tier 4 Curse, Demonic Vortex!
A cone of purplish-black flames shot out of the Magic Array and flew at Feng. Despite the incoming danger which possessed power at the Tier 5 standard, Feng showed no signs of worry as he merely snapped his fingers.
In the next moment, the Demonic Vortex fizzed out of existence as Celestina collapsed to her knees while clutching her head in pain.
Due to her anger, the demon girl didn't take the time to investigate her current situation and condition, not pausing to wonder how this human had managed to summon her out into the physical world after she had been trapped inside of the Pandemonium Lashblade as only a soul fragment.
What Celestina hadn't yet realized was that she was summoned by Feng via an item that allows for the summoner to completely control the being whose soul is inside the item. Thus, it was easy for Feng to force Celestina to cancel and remove all the Mana from her Tier 4 Curse; as well as force her to kneel while inducing soul pain on her.
Though, Celestina seemed to have mostly realized her current situation after a moment of feeling soul pain and noticing the Spectral Animacell in Feng's hand.
"Lowly human, you actually dare to-"
"I'ma stop you right there." Feng interrupted Celestina, already being able to predict how the demon was going to react and what she was going to bitch about. He had taken control over multiple Demon Gods using the Bible of Darkness in his previous life after repairing it and practically knew all of their dialogs after repeatedly listening to their rants since they could resist the Bible's control to some extent.
'Damn mortal' this, 'lowly human' that, 'hOW DarE yoU!!!!!!!' were usually their go-to lines, and Feng had long grown tired of them, when the end result is the same anyway. Either making some deal that favored him if he was in a good mood and they are cooperative, torturing them into submission with the Demons forfeiting their souls to him, or he erases their conscience and turns them into a puppet.
For Celestina, although they had been partners and something of comrades in his previous life, their relationship was mostly business, and there was no manner of friendship between them like he had with Sharlyn or some other NPCs, so Feng naturally had no issue with taking advantage of her when she was vulnerable in this life; and even planned to use the information he had on her, including the stuff she had trusted him with, for his own benefit in their conversation in order to achieve his goal.
Of the three usual methods, Feng was unwilling to use the third one, as Celestina's conscience and knowledge were too valuable to him, and he was more inclined for result number one, but the second option wasn't at all off the table. After all, with her soul under his complete control, Feng had many ways to induce unimaginable torture on the demon girl, but he preferred to keep things as peaceful as possible in order to not sow discord between them.
As long as he could form some kind of deal with Celestina that could benefit them both, Feng could leverage her strength during these times, and could get even more use out of her if she recovers her strength further.
Of course, the thought of releasing her and returning to the same relationship as they had in the previous timeline never once crossed Feng's mind, even if that meant Celestina would be unable to ever recover to her full strength and cost him some potential combat power.
Even his peak self and Sharlyn when she's fully recovered are much weaker than a fully recovered Celestina, so unless he somehow manages to become stronger than even that, setting her free is out of the question; but Celestina didn't have to know that.
"Are you interested in making a deal with me, Miss Celestina?" Taking out a chair from his Spatial Bag, which he kept on him at all times for special occasions just like this, Feng leisurely took a seat as he proposed straightforwardly.
"A deal? With a mere human?" Standing up straight after the pain disappeared, Celestina answered disdainfully, and continued with her insulting, however...
""The likes of you wishes to make a deal with me?" Yes yes, I've heard it all before. Do you want a chance to get your freedom back or not?" Feng predicted Celestina's sentence and spoke the line along with her, causing the demon to pause in surprise, while Feng continued on with a tone and expression that indicated he didn't want to waste any time.
"Well, umm..." The sudden drastic turn in conversation and Feng's domineering attitude put Celestina at a loss, as well as causing her to become slightly embarrassed after what she was going to say got predicted.
She was a prideful Demon Goddess! A being standing at the top of Primordial God ranked existences, yet Feng treated her as if she were any ordinary demon, or even another human, with which he wanted to make a deal; resulting in the demon girl's anger growing even further. Moreover, his indifferent bearing and nonchalance while being a mere Tier 1 Swordsman in the presence of a Primordial God caused Celestina to not know what to make of this hateful human.
Observing Feng carefully, Celestina quickly realized that this guy was in no way ordinary. Apart from sensing unprecedented strength for a Tier 1 creature coming from him, Celestina also sensed the War God's Purple Stigmata, a Legacy belonging to that sword maniac, along with some God's Blessing on him. The Blessing seemed to have come from a very powerful God as well judging from what she could tell according to the human's soul, as well as possessing a holy element that made the demon feel uncomfortable.
However, there was something off about the Blessing. Celestina had seen a large number of Blessed people and quite a few Heroes as well throughout her life, but she had never felt something like this from any of them. There was something almost divine about the human, particularly his soul, but Celestina's further perception was blocked by some force.
While inspecting Feng, the Demon Goddess was also looking around from the corner of her eye, partially to check the surroundings, and partially to look for another seat, not wanting to be standing while talking to a lowly human who was comfortably sitting down. But even after investigating the entire Private Warehouse in the vicinity, all she found were rows of cabinets.
Celestina suddenly caught a chair thrown to her by Feng, which he kept as a spare for situations like this, after noticing her glancing around and guessing the demon's thought process.
"Ahem," Once again growing embarrassed after being seen through, Celestina cleared her throat and immediately recollected herself, her expression turning cold as she sat down "What do you want from me?"
"Simple," A faint smile appeared on Feng's face as he answered "You work for me and I'll help you recover your strength, as well as eventually revive."
"So you want to form a partnership contract between us?" To Feng's surprise, Celestina didn't immediately react hysterically upon hearing his proposition, only a disdainful sneer appearing on her face as she replied calmly "In your dreams, human. I'd rather die than serve you."
"You speak as if you actually have a choice in the matter," Celestina's refusal was within Feng's expectations "I could still force you into doing what I want even if you're unwilling. Me asking is simply out of curtesy."
"Is that what you think?" The disdainful smirk on Celestina's face grew even more apparent while a hint of mockery appeared in her eyes "Although I currently can't kill you or resist the control you have over me while my remaining soul is within that tool, if you think that I'm helpless because of that and at your mercy, you are sorely mistaken, human."
As Celestina spoke, the pitch-black soul in the Spectral Animacell started going berserk, becoming unstable as if about to collapse, and Feng understood what Celestina previously meant after seeing her soul fragment about to self-destruct.
"As I've said before, I'd rather die than serve under a lowly human." Celestina's expression remained the same as she really seemed more willing to die rather than even consider Feng's proposal; but to her surprise, Feng didn't seem at all concerned with her soul that was about to self-destruct, and his lips curled up into a faint smile instead.
"Please, enough with the bluffing, Celestina." Feng shook his head as if disappointed by Celestina's performance "We both know that you can't afford to die here since this is all that remains of your soul. After all, what would become of the remaining members of your clan if you were to truly fall?"
"How do you know about that!?" A shocked and cautious expression appeared on Celestina's beautiful face as she questioned Feng, the aura around her turning ferocious while her soul inside of the Animacell calmed down slightly.
"I have my ways." Naturally, Feng knew the history behind Celestina, the Demon Empress, and the strongest Demon God in history who was betrayed by her fellow Demon Gods and some Evil Gods, resulting in her nearly dying under theirs and then the God Slayer's hands.
Feng also knew which of the demon girl's buttons to push in order to achieve the result he wanted, and mentioning the remaining runaway members of her clan that had nearly been exterminated along with her followers by her enemies was an easy way to get her riled up.
Still, due to Celestina's efforts to hide and save whatever remained of her clan, as well as the Demon Gods' fear of the Demon Empress coming back for revenge if she were to ever revive, while they didn't have any information about her current whereabouts, some survivors of her clan still remained throughout the Universal God's Domain[1].
But if whatever remained of Celestina's soul and presence were to completely disappear, her enemies would spare no effort to clean up the remains of her clan. Celestina knew this as well, and Feng exposing it and his knowledge of her situation increased her frustration immeasurably, along with the little calm she had left disappearing. Feng's simple answer also only served to fuel the fames of her rage.
"Not to mention," Feng continued on without waiting for Celestina to think of a reply. In the next moment, Feng's soul energy wrapped around Celestina's soul fragment that was inside of the Spectral Animacell, the soul fragment being restabilized by him through his Soul Manipulation ability and freezing it in place, preventing its self-destruction.
Celestina's expression changed as she realized that she was no longer able to control her soul or her body, but before she could react, Feng pointed slightly up with his index finger, causing Celestina to instantly stand up to her feet regardless of her will and resistance.
Hooking his finger inwards, the Demon Goddess's legs moved on their own as she approached Feng, the fear in Celestina's mind quickly growing as she realized that there was nothing she could and that she was completely helpless against Feng.
The worst part was that she had no idea how the human had managed to completely sever her control and connection with her own soul, forcing her threat of committing suicide to an abrupt stop.
Throughout her life, Celestina had always prided herself over her affinity with souls, which was much higher than any other Primordial God, and it was one of her strongest suits as well as a talent which had once allowed Celestina to reign over the Demon race.
But even she wouldn't be capable of doing what Feng did while at Tier 1, not to mention that the method Feng had used to achieve it, as well as to previously imprison her in the Pandemonium Lashblade, was one Celestina had never seen or heard of before, being a complete mystery to the demon even now.
Even now, despite spreading her senses, the only thing Celestina managed to find out is that this human had somehow utilized his soul energy to accomplish it, but anything else beyond that was unknown to the Demon Goddess.
This was one of the reasons Mental Strength Great Grandmasters were nearly invincible in God's Domain aside from their extremely high Concentration. Their abilities allowed them to achieve impossible things and became unpredictable factors that even Gods were not privy to.
Of course, most Mental Strength Great Grandmasters' abilities were not that remarkable and certainly weren't as busted as Feng's, but they could still provide a large improvement to a player's combat power when enhanced by their Concentration.
After arriving within half a yard from the still sitting Feng, Celestina's movements finally stopped as she gazed at the young man before her, now a hint of fear appearing within her previously disdainful gaze.
"As I've said before, your opinion on the matter is irrelevant." Feng reaffirmed, as if the only choice Celestina had was to agree.
But a moment later, the fear in Celestina's eyes disappeared "So what if you can control my body to this extent? This is all you can really do, is it not? If you wish to truly use my power, you'd have to erase my consciousness and take complete control over me; but that doesn't seem to be your goal."
"True," Feng nodded without trying to hide anything. Although he could somewhat take control of Celestina this way, Feng had to manually control her movements while she was fighting for control over her body. If he wished to completely utilize her power without fear of Celestina's interference and resistance, Feng would have to erase her consciousness and turn her into a mindless puppet.
However, he was unwilling to do so, as Feng wished to make use of Celestina with her combat power and knowledge intact, as there were quite a few things that he needed Celestina's mind to remain complete for.
If that wasn't the case, Feng wouldn't have been wasting his time trying to make a deal with Celestina at all and would have just turned her into a puppet to use her current strength for his goals.
"However, I recommend you take my current offer while I'm still in a good mood. Otherwise, I can simply torture you into entering an actual master-servant contract with me."
Feng's threat only caused Celestina to grow even more disdainful than before, though.
"Boy, if you think that there is any pain in this world that can cause me to submit, you are more than welcome to try your best." A chuckle escaped Celestina's lips, which slowly turned into faint laughter as if she had just heard a hilarious joke.
As a Primordial God who had risen to the top from the bottom, what had she not experienced? Although the soul pain Feng had previously caused to her was painful, it was nowhere near comparable to the pain she had been through throughout her life.
"I wouldn't be so confident if I were you." The aura around Feng suddenly took a drastic change as he looked coldly at the demon girl before him, while Celestina's laughter came to a stop as well "As a matter of fact, I happen to be a master when it comes to torture both on the physical and spiritual level. The pain you've felt before was only the tip of the iceberg." Feng was not exaggerating at all when he said that.
In his previous life, Feng had lost count of how many people's teeth, nails and eyeballs he had ripped off and out, switching to skinning them alive if that wasn't enough to achieve his goals, whether it be to get some information, revenge or simply for sport. Both in real life and God's Domain, with the latter being a bit more tricky but also possessing countless more options for torture.
Feng had long since perfected the techniques of torture to cause someone as much pain as humanly possible without killing them. In fact, he had even gained the hidden Subclass "Torturer" in God's Domain during his previous life due to the atrocities he had committed. It had also served as a faint deterrent to some powers of all races who would have to think if it would be worth it to cause trouble for him at the risk of getting caught alive.
Though, it had also earned him no shortage of enemies as well, with some reciprocating in kind. It was especially so for the Guild Leader of an Apex Power called Demon's Gate, with Feng and her exchanging videos of torturing the other's guild members; many times to death.
Aside from physical torture and pain, the soul pain Feng was capable of inducing was in a realm of its own. The pain Feng had previously caused to Celestina when she had attempted to attack him had merely been Feng slightly squeezing her soul fragment. It was naturally possible for him to do much worse through his ability and the Spectral Animacell, and slowly tearing apart a person's soul from its center out was a method many had either submitted to or died from shock trying to resist.
As if to prove his point, Feng directed his soul energy into Celestina's soul fragment and did his magic, the Demon Goddess instantly collapsing and shrieking in pain from the feeling of her soul's insides getting cut.
Thankfully, the pain disappeared as quickly as it came, resulting in Celestina breathing out in relief with sweat running down her forehead.
"And don't even get me started on when it comes to completely destroying your dignity as a woman. Or, although it would cost me aplenty, I could also hunt down whatever remained of your clan members and slaughter them in front of you." Although he was talking about committing all sorts of horrors, the expression on Feng's face remained casual as if he were talking about an everyday chore; only a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes as he gazed down at Celestina, whose fear was slowly returning as she looked at the human's merciless eyes.
If someone were to witness the current situation in Feng's Private Warehouse, they would have to wonder who here is the demon.
Feng also wouldn't hesitate to follow up on his threats. Although rape has never been his thing or something he did, he could always have others do it; wouldn't even be the first time he allowed such torture on his enemies regardless of gender. After all, if he could achieve his goals and obtain Celestina's complete power by forcing her into a contract, there was no low Feng would not stoop to.
Hunting down her clan members and forcing her to watch as he slaughtered them one by one could also achieve the effect, as Feng knew about Celestina's connection with her clan members and that, unlike most Demon Gods, or demons at all, she deeply cared for them.
The only problem with that strategy is that it would take too much time, and by that point, the assistance the current Celestina could provide him would be minimal.
However, he preferred to keep things peaceful and have Celestina enter a contract with him willingly, as it would be more beneficial in the long run.
"Of course, all of this can be avoided if you hear me out." Feng's easy-going smile returned as he offered once more and allowed Celestina control over her body.
Getting up to her feet, Celestina was no longer as calm as before. The previous aura she felt from Feng was not something that should belong to a Tier 1 creature; or a mortal creature at all. It was an instinctive sense of danger, not on a physical level where he was a threat to her due to a difference of strength, but something more...
Something completely inhuman that Celestina didn't quite know how to describe.
It almost made her feel like she was back there, when she still hadn't become a God and stood before those creatures, giving her the feeling they were something that shouldn't exist in this world.
"Well alright. I'm a magnanimous person, so the least I could do is hear what you have to say." Coughing to make it seem like she hadn't just been freaking out, Celestina recomposed herself "So what exactly would you have me do for this deal of yours?"
"There isn't any specific task," Feng answered after pondering for a moment "It's mostly helping me out when I need it or some of my guild members. For instance, I'm about to go on a hunt for some powerful Mythic and Superior Mythic monsters. Your assistance will make things easier during it." Feng gave a simple and brief example of mostly what he'd need Celestina for; wisely omitting the fact that he was planning to use some of her abilities to fight against a God before either of them tier up.
"Let's say I humor you and agree to the contract. What do I get out of it?" After listening to Feng's words, Celestina realized his wishes weren't as outrageous as she had originally thought they'd be; but she still couldn't agree to serve under him for free.
"I'd help you recover your strength. Although upgrading the Pandemonium Lashblade to increase your tier is still difficult, I can feed you the souls of other creatures in order for your remaining fragment to recover. Like this," Saying so, Feng directed a soul of one of the Great Lord rank wolfmen he had previously killed out of the Pandemonium Lashblade before controlling it to float towards Celestina "Open wide."
Understanding Feng's intention as she could see souls with her basic vision, Celestina's thin lips parted and allowed the wolfman's soul to enter her mouth. A moment later, the soul was converted into soul energy which directly replenished Celestina's soul fragment and caused it to recover a bit of power.
Although the recovery was practically nonexistent due to it being a Tier 3 soul, Feng's ability to accomplish this was the incredible part. Due to the damage her soul had sustained, Celestina's current fragment was completely unable to recover through normal means, and she needed either a large source of soul energy or some special treasures in order to recover even a bit.
Of course, Celestina was perfectly capable of devouring the souls of other creatures in order to recover, but the souls would, at the very least, need to be at Tier 5 in order to have any effect at all. However, Feng seemed able to directly convert Tier 3 souls, and possibly even souls of lower tiers, into soul energy to help her fragment recover its strength.
Not only was the souls' tier requirement lower, the efficiency was much greater as well, and Celestina couldn't help but wonder how Feng had managed to achieve such a thing.
This would undoubtedly make her revival much easier and faster. After all, obtaining the huge number of Tier 5 souls that she would normally need with her current strength by herself was impossible, but Tier 3 souls were everywhere aplenty for the taking.
Considering this, even if the human was unable to obtain a Demon God's Heart to help her tier improve, if Celestina could have her soul completely or at least nearly completely recover, she would be capable of slaying Tier 6 Demon Gods by herself even at Tier 4.
Though, the question would then be if the human would allow for her to recover by that much, or even allow her to obtain souls on her own. Not to mention that she would have to follow a human's orders, Celestina still hesitated.
"Something else I'd like for you to keep in mind is that you and I aren't necessarily enemies. Although I know you have a past with Kratos, and I possess his Purple Stigmata, that doesn't mean I'm on his side. I purely work with whoever benefits me the most." Although the Feng of the past would hesitate to make deals with a demon, which might put him against other humans, Feng no longer cared about such trivial things.
If it would allow him to achieve the things he wanted and accomplish his goals, Feng wouldn't hesitate for a second even if he needed to convert into a Demon Player or betray the entire human race. Morals, principles, good or bad; such things had long stopped mattering to him, and results were all that was important to Feng at the moment.
If it meant he could obtain a chance to rule over the demon race and obtain Celestina's servitude, he'd stab Kratos in the back any day of the week.
Feng didn't bother with trying to convince Celestina any further and merely sat back in his chair while munching on a Chocolate Stick and waiting for the Demon Goddess to make up her mind.
After a while of considering her options, Celestina looked towards Feng and spoke "I can agree to work for you, but I have some conditions."
"Lemme hear 'em." Feng wasn't surprised that Celestina would have her own terms, so he simply allowed her to state them.
"First, you can't take too long to upgrade the Pandemonium Lashblade and will need to continuously give me souls or allow me to obtain them myself and then you feed me whatever I manage to obtain." Celestina stated her first and most important condition, as she was afraid that Feng would simply keep her as she is right now and make use of her strength before getting rid of her.
"That's fine. I'll look for ways to obtain a Demon God's Heart, and I'll naturally give you any souls that I don't need and feed you any that you manage to obtain through you own strength and means." Feng nodded, as it was his plan to begin with to feed Celestina as much as possible to recover her strength and have her obtain more souls on her own as well.
"Second, if I happen to die, with my soul being extinguished, your Immortal Soul shall be destroyed as well." A ruthless look appeared in Celestina's eyes as she stated her second condition. In order to prevent Feng from throwing her into situations where she'd die, or destroy her soul himself through his strange ability, Celestina had decided to tie her life with Feng's.
"Nope, that won't work." Naturally, Feng would never allow his life to depend on someone else's survival, so his refusal to the second condition was a given.
"So you want me to get into danger for your sake and potentially die because of you without any guarantee that I won't simply be used as fodder." Celestina sneered, feeling like she had seen through Feng's plan.
"Girl my life is danger. If you're so weak that you'll die simply by working for me, than I'm better of just obtaining another Tier 4 servant that won't bitch about every little thing." Feng rolled his eyes at Celestina, knowing what the Demon Goddess was alluding to "But I can agree to not place you into situation where there is a very high likelihood of you dying, force you to fight opponents much stronger than yourself or kill you myself. If I do any of that, than my Immortal Soul will be banished from God's Domain."
Celestina's eyes narrowed in displeasure upon hearing Feng's words and him changing her condition, but she decided to let it go as it was good enough.
"Fine. Third, you can't give me any outrageous orders." Celestina stated her third condition, that was a bit more vague but as important as her previous terms. If she was going to take orders from a human, she definitely must draw a line between what kind of things she'll accept.
"Define outrageous. I've already said that I wouldn't place you into any overly dangerous situations, what else do you want?" There was no way Feng would allow such a loose term into the contract between them, otherwise, Celestina would be able to refuse anything she deems as outrageous, which could be anything and everything; so Feng had to create a clear group to categorize what fell into outrageous.
"You know what I mean!"
"I really do not. Please clarify."
"I still remember your previous threat, so anything like that. Also, anything that would be way too much work and take too much time, I won't do. As for things in between, I'll let the contract's power decide." Celestina clarified when she realized Feng seemed to genuinely not know what she was talking about, but seemed a bit apprehensive as she spoke.
A realization came to Feng after hearing Celestina's words. It would seem the demon girl had taken his previous words too seriously and was still worried of him using the contract to force her to do unsavory things. Though, her worry was needless, as Feng had never thought of utilizing Celestina in that way.
"Alright, though I'll have to state some things that you'll need to do regardless of its difficulty and tediousness." Nodding, Feng agreed to Celestina's third term, as there would indeed be some odd jobs which he'd throw on her if he didn't feel like doing them, so it'd make sense if a Demon Goddess didn't wish to be bothered with them.
As for everything else, Celestina left it for the Main God's System to decide whether it fell into the outrageous category or not.
"Finally, I want some degree of freedom when you don't need me to do anything, and not be stuck in the summoning space of that ball." Celestina stated her final condition that was of the least importance to her.
She had naturally been able to sense the moment she was transferred from the Pandemonium Lashblade's soul storage to the Spectral Animacell's summoning space where the soul is kept, and had noticed it was dark and cramped while her conscience was still inside.
As Celestina didn't want to spend a lot of time stuck in there with nothing to do after being trapped in the Pandemonium Lashblade for so long, while she also wished to inspect the current situation of the modern world as well as obtain more souls to become her nourishment through Feng feeding them to her, she had came up with the fourth condition to request some manner of freedom.
"It won't be a problem for you to remain outside, however, I also can't have someone with your level of power running around unchecked, so unless necessary, you won't be allowed to use your skills, Mana or attributes. You'll also have to conceal yourself and not allow other people to casually see you. If a Tier 4 or Tier 5 powerhouse were to realize your identity as a demon, it would cause plenty of trouble for both of us." Feng agreed to Celestina's final term as well with some of his own conditions after thinking for a moment.
He could imagine how much it would suck to be stuck in the summoning space all the time and only be called out to fight, so he decided to agree. Though, that was mostly because he had already planned to have Celestina running around with his guild members and kill powerful monsters when he wasn't around anyway, so it all worked out this way.
Though, as Celestina was still a demon, they'd need to be careful with where she went, as it would make things difficult for him if his Demon Goddess servant were to be discovered by someone powerful and possibly killed before she had the chance to recover her strength, and it would be even worse if she was traced back to him.
Hearing Feng agree, although she wasn't happy with having her powers restricted and having to hide like a fugitive, Celestina understood Feng's point and simply nodded to his terms.
After the two of them had hatched out the terms and conditions for the contract, Feng took out a sheet of paper and some ink which he had prepared beforehand. The human and demon both placed a drop of their blood in the ink, before Feng drew some kind of ritual circle on one side of the paper, and the contract's contents on the other.
Unlike players who could sign system contracts governed by the Main God's System when creating deals, the process for NPCs was a bit different. When signing a contract between a player and an NPC, unless there is a quest binding them, the validity of the contract depended on what force was imposing the contract, which was usually the region's governing power.
Naturally, such a thing was useless on demons most of the time, so there were special contracts designed for deals between humans and demons, with them being governed by the Main God's System to ensure neither party goes back on the contract's terms.
Meanwhile, the contract Feng was currently creating was a special one which he had learned from Celestina herself in his previous life, and it was one whose conditions even Primordial Gods could not renege on.
Celestina couldn't help her shock as she watched Feng draw out the contract, as she was familiar with the type of contract it is and its power. If she were to sign it, even she would be incapable of getting out of its terms.
The most shocking part was that this human even knew of the contract. According to her knowledge, only a few Primordial Demon Gods knew of its existence, so Celestina had no idea how a mere Tier 1 human Swordsman could have obtained its design.
Still, the contract's power also reassured her to some extent, as now there would be no way for Feng to screw her over by not fulfilling his part of the promise or scheming to get rid of her when she became a threat to himself.
Not noticing anything wrong with the contract, Celestina signed it under her name after adding a clause that Feng was not allowed to kill any of her clan members or threaten her with their safety unless provoked, to which Feng had no problem with.
Little did Celestina know that him agreeing to not kill her only worked for normal means. Indeed, Feng would not be able to kill her physically or attack her soul to destroy it through the Spectral Animacell on purpose, but it would be a different thing for his Soul Manipulation ability.
There was no way for the contract, or to be more precise, the Main God's System to detect the usage of his ability as it wasn't a part of God's Domain. Mental Strength Great Grandmasters had often used their abilities to cheat in many ways that would normally not permit some things to work.
It was the only time the line 'Is he/she hacking?' would actually be correct.
Though, there were some special contracts and agreements between players that could prevent Mental Strength Great Grandmasters from using their abilities in God's Domain, or at least allow the Main God's System to notice their usage; but there was no way for Celestina to know that.
To her, Feng's Soul Manipulation ability was simply one of God's Domain's many hidden techniques, so Feng agreeing to not using it to kill her in the contract would guarantee her safety.
Thus, Feng could still shatter Celestina's soul anytime he wanted and no one would be none the wiser. The only way it could possibly be traceable would be if he used the soul energy of his Immortal Soul, but Feng could simply use the power of his real soul to accomplish it if needed.
However, when Feng took the contract from Celestina and was about to sign it with his God's Domain character name after reading through it one final time, a system notification rang in his ears...
System: You have triggered the Universal God's Domain's Mythical Main Storyline Quest "Demon Empress's Revival". Do you wish to accept?
'That's problematic.' Feng blinked upon seeing the system notification, his mind becoming stupefied by the implications of this change and his hand stopping over the line meant for his name.
It would seem like the Main God's System would not allow him to cheat himself a potential Primordial God ranked combatant for nothing with no risk involved after all.
This would also undoubtedly mess up his previous plans.
Signing his name on the contract and agreeing to it would result in him accepting the quest, but Feng was no longer able to back out of it; not to mention the benefits this contract would bring him. However, if the requirement to complete the quest was helping Celestina recover to her peak, Feng would no longer be able to kill her if she posed a threat to him.
Even if he could bypass the contract's terms, the penalty for failing a Mythic ranked Main Storyline Quest was not something Feng could afford. Moreover, there were also the possible rewards for completing it.
In the world of God's Domain, even Epic Quests were already enough to cause various experts to grow ecstatic. This was because the rewards of any Epic Quest could offer even Tier 5 experts to achieve qualitative improvements, the rewards ranging anywhere from Fragmented Legendary items to powerful Legacy items.
However, Epic Quests were both loved and hated by players. This was because players would be given a severe penalty should they fail to complete an Epic Quest. Some Epic Quests could even ruin a player's whole account.
As for Legendary Quests, which were two ranks above Epic Quests, they could cause an entire God's Domain to go crazy.
This was because any Legendary Quest could rewrite the status quo in an entire God's Domain. The completion of a Legendary Quest could easily result in the birth of a new superpower. Hence, even Tier 6 God-ranked experts were constantly searching for clues relating to Legendary Quests.
As for Mythical Quests, which were two ranks above Legendary Quests, the chances of one appearing in a God's Domain was almost zero. This was because quests of this rank could affect the entire Greater God's Domain.
In the Greater God's Domain, standing above the various top-ranking Hegemonic Powers were Apex Powers.
Meanwhile, the main reason the Greater God's Domain's Apex Powers were able to achieve their current positions was because every one of them had completed a Mythical Quest. Thanks to the Mythical Quest they completed, they were able to establish foundations and gain power beyond the imagination of the various Hegemonic Powers.
Unfortunately, Mythical Quests were exceedingly rare, so much so that the various Hegemonic Powers were willing to pay one Legendary item just for a clue that could potentially lead to a Mythical Quest.
During Feng's previous life, he had only ever managed to come across and complete one Mythical Quest, but that was only a Mythical Quest in his God's Domain that had the potential to affect the Greater God's Domain, thus the rewards he had obtained from it weren't as grand as from a Mythical Quest on the level for the Greater God's Domain. Regardless, this achievement had brought him many benefits and helped him greatly during his journey in the Greater God's Domain.
Feng had then spent several years just to find a few clues relating to Mythical Quests in the Greater God's Domain, but failed to trigger one even with his heaven-defying luck. Even then, his findings were more than enough to cause the various top-ranking Hegemonic Powers to grow envious. After all, those top-ranking Hegemonic Powers were only short of one Mythical Quest to become an Apex Power.
As for quests for the Universal God's Domain, they were far rarer and more dangerous; but naturally brought much greater benefits as well. Main Storyline Quests in the Universal God's Domain were especially on another level, and they could affect all of the races in the Universal God's Domain by a large extent.
Meanwhile, Mythic rank Main Storyline Quests were another thing entirely.
A Mythic Main Storyline Quest for the Greater God's Domain could lead the race in it to much greater heights or to its fall, but such a quest for the Universal God's Domain was nothing but trouble for everyone except the person who manages to complete it.
Such quests were merely regarded as myths by most players, though, as no player from any race had managed to trigger one for thousands of years, and there are only records of a few of them appearing throughout God's Domain's history; with only one ever being completed.
Those that had undertaken one but failed to complete it had suffered unimaginable disasters, with even every race, especially theirs, being implicated. According to what Feng knew, a race belonging to a player that had failed one such quest had nearly gone extinct in God's Domain a couple thousand years ago, with even the race in the real world falling into dark times and suffering the consequences of that player's failure.
However, the result of that one Mythical Quest that was completed had brought about unimaginable changes to the entire Universal God's Domain and every race in it, causing the doom of many of the Universal God's Domain's residents partially due to the changes' results, partially due to the race wars caused by the changes, as well as partially due to infighting between races.
As for Feng who had triggered a Universal God's Domain's Mythical Main Storyline Quest all of a sudden, he was raking his brain on how to go abut this situation. Of course, Feng didn't care for the consequences others would suffer from either his success or failure if he chose to accept the Demon Empress's Revival Quest, but his own problems.
'The Main God's System sure knows how to make things difficult for me.' His original plans would no longer viable, so there were great problems with him accepting the quest, but he also didn't wish to reject the chance to undergo it; not to mention the effort he had put into acquiring Celestina's assistance.
The only option he would have remaining if he chose to accept it was to make his partnership with Celestina as great as possible and become friends along the way as he helped her regain her strength and revive.
As Feng was brooding over this matter, he received a message from Fire.
She was notifying him that she had already arrived at the Bank and needed permission to enter his Private Warehouse, as well as asking what he had called her for, with a suggestive winking smiley face at the end of the message.
A faint smile appeared on Feng's face as he read through the message, but suddenly, a light bulb lit up in his mind as a brilliant idea came to him.
"Is something the matter?" Seeing as Feng had just been staring at the contract for a while now without doing anything, Celestina couldn't help but ask with a hint of worry in her voice. A chance for her to make a comeback had finally appeared, and now that things had arrived at the final step, she couldn't help but grow slightly anxious.
"It's nothing." Feng answered with an appeasing smile as he signed his name on the contract, 'Operation "Seducing The Primordial Demon Goddess", is a go.'
Since he was no longer able to go through with his original plan, while the other alternative he had thought of wasn't the most favorable for him, another idea that could potentially bring him even greater benefits made Feng rethink his strategies.
What if he just fucked the Demon Empress?
No joke, if he could seduce Celestina and make her fall in love with him, all of Feng's problems would disappear.
As crazy as it sounds, Feng was honestly considering its probability of working out.
The reason Feng was able to come up with such a bold thought was due to him discovering an interesting matter about life during the previous timeline. Even Ancient Gods and Primordial Gods desire sex to some extent.
No matter the creature, nearly anything alive had some amount of longing for partnership and intercourse. Although the higher a creature's strength and tier, the less they'll have such needs, buried deep down, there will still be some desires.
Even Primordial Gods and beings at the very top of the universe possessed them; no matter how miniscule. Naturally, Celestina was no exception.
Moreover, Feng was quite familiar with Celestina's personality and tendencies, so it wasn't an impossible goal to seduce her as long as he plays his cards right. Only, Feng had never even considered such a method during his previous life to get closer to her, or even up until now.
However, after seeing Fire's message, the thought occurred to him. He was no longer the same as before.
After being reminded of what it was like to be an actual person during the changes he has made in this timeline, Feng's thought process has inevitably changed by quite a bit.
Now, he was prepared to make another change and take a risk in his path to ultimate power. He shall seduce the Demon Goddess standing before him!
As long as he could do that and have Celestina fall for him, and then help her recover to her peak strength and once again rule over the demon race as the Demon Empress, Feng will become the Demon Emperor and have the entire demon race at his disposal.
Along with his own strength and means, his guild members, and Sharlyn, achieving his goal of ruling over the entire Greater God's Domain, and then the Universal God's Domain, will become much more doable.
The ritual circle on the contract's back page lit up with a red glow after Feng had finished signing it before it combusted into purple flames and disappeared.
Celestina and Feng felt a connection form between them simultaneously as well, with Feng experiencing an urge to feed souls to her and Celestina feeling an urge to serve Feng and accept his commands.
At the same time, another system notification appeared in Feng's mind.
System: Congratulation! You have accepted the Universal God's Domain's Mythical Main Storyline Quest "Demon Empress's Revival".
Quest content: Upgrade the Pandemonium Lashblade to Legendary rank and help Celestina recover 10% of her soul's power within three months. Rewards Unknown. Penalties Unknown.
'That can't be it.' Feng immediately knew there was more to the quest after seeing its contents, and guessed more parts would await him after completing this. It wouldn't be the first time he had taken on a quest with multiple parts, which was a fairly common trait among high ranking quests.
After all, although the quest was indeed difficult, and impossible to complete for a Tier 1 player, such a task was inconsequential for a Mythic Main Storyline Quest meant for the Universal God's Domain.
Meanwhile, the impossible was just a cumbersome task for Feng. Upgrading the Pandemonium Lashblade to Legendary rank is indeed quite a difficult feat to achieve at the moment, as he was required to feed it a Tier 6 Demon God's Heart, but he had three months, so it was feasible for Feng to get strong enough to kill a God within that time and accomplish that part of the quest; not to mention he didn't necessarily have to kill a Demon God to obtain a Demon God's Heart, and he could just give the Demon Sword one that he randomly finds through other means.
Of course, Feng doubted that the Main God's System or Celestina would complain if he gave the Pandemonium Lashblade the heart of an Ancient Demon God or of a Primordial Demon God, which would directly upgrade the Pandemonium Lashblade even further to Fragmented Divine Artifact or Divine Artifact rank, and will most likely be a future task for the Demon Empress's Revival Quest, but that would be beyond even Feng for a long while.
Though, helping Celestina's soul recover to 10% wasn't as complicated and difficult, and would merely require a lot of time to gather enough souls, especially if they were going to use lower-tier souls, and be bothersome for Feng to expend a lot of Concentration in the process.
"Now that that's done, we should prepare for the upcoming raid." Feng fished out a Fragmented Legendary Disguise Tool from his bag and passed it to Celestina "Use this to hide your demonic parts and aura. It would be troublesome if someone noticed them afterwards."
Catching the Disguise Tool, Celestina begrudgingly used it to make her horns, wings and tail disappear, not feeling good about having to change her appearance to fit in among some mortal humans, but she knew it was a necessity at the moment.
With her demonic body parts removed, Celestina looked no different from a human noble lady with her dress, and only her blood-red eyes that screamed of murderous intentions showed her true identity.
"Right, since you'll be working for me from now on, we should change a few more things as well." Feng turned to Celestina with a kind smile, but for some reason, the Demon Goddess had a bad feeling as soon as she saw it.
---
After leaving the main body's Private Warehouse, Black Flame headed to the three of Star-Moon Kingdoms top five cities that the Candlelight Trading Firm didn't have a Shop in and bought the best Golden Land in each of them before constructing a branch of Candlelight there.
Teleporting back to White River City, Black Flame headed towards the City Hall and upgraded the Candlelight Trading Firm next to the Auction House to a 2-star Shop.
When a Shop was promoted to 2-star status, the building itself could also undergo an upgrade. However, a significant sum was required for the reconstruction.
Without hesitation, Black Flame spent 1,000 Gold to reconstruct the Shop. The reconstruction did not take much time at all; it was done in just a dozen minutes or so. Suddenly, the three-story-tall Candlelight Trading Firm rose to five-stories. It became an extraordinarily eye-catching display beside the Auction House, attracting the attention and discussion of many players.
It was common knowledge that Shops could only possess a maximum of three floors. Throughout the entire God's Domain, there had yet to be a single player-owned Shop that had more than that. Yet, now, the Candlelight Trading Firm's Shop had five.
But Black Flame wasn't done yet, as he took out a purple-gold, diamond-shaped token and said to the NPC beauty standing behind the VIP counter, "I wish to upgrade the Candlelight Trading Firm into a 3-star Shop."
The NPC beauty stared at the 3-star Shop Promotion Order in Black Flame's hand for a moment, not expecting this guy to upgrade his Shop to a 3-star one immediately after upgrading it to a 2-star Shop, but quickly recomposed herself and said "Sir, if you wish to promote your Shop to 3-star status, you still have to pay an additional 3,000 Gold reconstruction fee."
Without hesitation, Black Flame handed 3,000 Gold over to the receptionist.
After Black Flame paid the fees and completed all the necessary procedures, he called up the System Panel while walking towards the City Hall's exit and chose four branch Shops and upgraded them to 2-star Shops. When upgrading these Shops to 2-star status, he saved far more money by using the special rights of a 3-star Shop than when he had used a Promotion Order. Each Shop only cost 600 Gold to upgrade. With this, he would only need to spend 3,000 Gold to obtain five 2-star Shops.
Aside from the branch Shop in Star-Moon City which was immediately promoted to a 2-star Shop, the remaining three Shops which were still being constructed and would only be upgraded after the two hours of construction end.
As for the fifth slot, Feng and him had decided to wait for Underworld to make a move and choose which power they'll support before making a Shop in that power's city and immediately upgrading it to a 2-star Shop.
Afterwards, Black Flame headed to the Starstreak Trading Firm while listening to the commotion that had broken out among players on the street.
"Did you hear? The Candlelight Trading Firm's Shop has transformed again!"
"Yes I've heard. It suddenly became a five-story building. Apparently Candlelight had somehow upgraded it to a 2-star Shop already."
"No, that's not it. The entire trading firm itself has undergone another transformation! Before, it was only a five-story building. Now, it is seven stories tall! Currently, it is only second to the NPC-operated Starstreak Trading Firm in terms of floors!"
"What? Aren't the number of floors for Shops fixed?"
"That's right! That's why everyone suspects that Candlelight's Shop has been promoted to a 3-star Shop!"
"What!? Even the various Empires don't have a 2-star Shop yet! How can the Candlelight Trading Firm possibly upgrade to a 3-star Shop so quickly?!"
"That's not even the end! From what I've heard, the Candlelight Shop in Star-Moon City has been upgraded to a 2-star Shop as well!"
News of the Candlelight Trading Firm obtaining a 3-star Shop spread like wildfire. Very quickly, every Guild in the entire Star-Moon Kingdom had found out about it.
As for the 2-star Shop in Star-Moon City, although the powers in Star-Moon Kingdom's capital had attempted to purchase the Shop from Candlelight before, they were all similarly chased away like what happened in White River City, so the various powers could only gaze at the five-story building enviously.
After arriving at desolate Starstreak Trading Firm with its doors closed and windows boarded up, Black Flame entered. He had previously contacted Melancholic and had her gather a large number of Candlelight's members on which they could use the Books of Gold and have them forge Basic Light Stones.
During this time, the Trading Firm's expert forgers had already studied the Peak Light Stone Forging Design and learned the basic principle behind its functions before they worked together to create a replica of the Design. Although it was a unique Design, in front of these Lifestyle professionals who had once been Grandmaster and Great Grandmaster Forgers, it was remarkably simple and easy to recreate.
Thus, after creating their own custom Designs for Advanced and Peak Light Stones, which were slightly different from the original but have been named the same anyway for convenience sake, they had started copying them and giving them to some of the restored members to forge.
However, since those designs were a bit more complicated, as well as there needing to be some Basic Light Stones for sale as well, it was decided to let the unrestored members who were lower ranking in forging be on Basic Light Stone duty, of which's Designs Feng and the members of Zero Wing had obtained plenty.
Meanwhile, when these unrestored members gathered at Starstreak by Melancholic noticed Black Flame, they immediately grew nervous with cold sweat forming on their backs.
This was the man who had singlehandedly forced Overwhelming Smile, which was thought to be one of Star-Moon Kingdom's potential overlords, to disband overnight; proving why he was the undisputed number one player of Star-Moon Kingdom and a top 100 expert on the Secret Pavilion's Expert List.
When faced with such a powerful character and feeling the monstrous aura around Black Flame, these Lifestyle Players felt their legs shaking.
"Guild Leader, I've gathered them here just like you had asked." Melancholic reported as she walked up to Black Flame, not noticing anything different about him or that he was a clone.
Unless one possessed an extremely high ranking identification skill, which didn't exist in this God's Domain as even Feng's Eyes of Truth had failed to detect Black Flame was a clone, merely showing him that his copy was a Level 22 Tier 1 Swordsman player named Black Flame, the only way to notice any difference between Black Flame and Feng was to look at their souls; so there was naturally no way for Melancholic to discover Black Flame's true identity.
"Good. Use these to upgrade the Forger ranks of whoever you deem fitting and let them learn the Light Stone Forging Designs. Also, I got a bunch of other Designs and Recipes. Figure out how and when to use them and who should learn them." In true Guild Leader of Zero Wing fashion, Black Flame passed everything to Melancholic as he traded the Books of Gold and everything else Feng had given him to her.
After leaving Melancholic to deal with everything, Black Flame left to the Candlelight's new 3-star Shop to forge Intermediate Mana Armor Kits.
Standing stupefied on the spot, Melancholic looked through the thousands of items her Guild Leader had handed to her, wondering how he had managed to obtain so many items of this quality at this stage of the game, when she suddenly noticed Black Flame had already left; and couldn't believe he had left everything for her to handle, while also not believing she had expected anything else from him.
---
Fire sat in the Bank's lounge while hiding her appearance with a Cloak and waiting for Feng to let her into his Private Warehouse. Though, even after a few minutes had passed since she had sent him a message, she had still not been granted access.
Finally, a notification rang in Fire's ears, telling her that she was now allowed inside of Feng's Private Warehouse.
After arriving at the Warehouse's entrance, Fire knocked on the steel door and prepared herself to jump into Feng's embrace as soon as he opened the door, but when the entrance to Feng's Private Warehouse parted, Fire's plan was instantly foiled.
Instead of her beloved, the person who opened the door for her was a beautiful girl with violet curled hair wearing a maid outfit.
"Who the fuck are you?" The girl, from which Fire could sense a faint demonic aura, spoke in an almost berating tone with an expression that showed her extreme anger, though it wasn't clear if the girl was angry due to her presence or for some other reason. A moment later, though, the girl stopped and focused her gaze on Fire, before asking "Why do I sense the aura of those those disgusting Atrocities on you?"
"Let her in." A voice came from deeper inside the Private Warehouse, causing the girl's anger to flare up once again as she spat on the ground before moving out of Fire's way and going back inside.
However, Fire didn't immediately enter and instead stood on the spot as she played back the scene that had just occurred and wondered in her mind.
'Was that the Demon Empress wearing a maid's outfit just now?' Naturally, Fire had seen Celestina many times during the previous timeline and could recognize her at a glance, but the Demon Goddess's odd outfit caused her to question her own vision 'Nah, I'm seeing shit.'
Shaking her head, Fire entered Feng's Private Warehouse and closed the door behind her.
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1. I just realized that I haven't yet clarified what the Universal God's Domain is and my vision of the rssg universe outside of Feng's God's Domain properly, so I'll do it now.
I've actually had the plan to have multiple races and the Universal God's Domain in my fanfic before LOC had even introduced the Holy Race in SS. It was suppose to bridge out on the world building and make things more interesting since I felt like LOC's Greater World and Greater God's Domain were too lackluster, soft, without danger and a bit plain, so I had decided to add a couple races to the mix like how there existed in God's Domain aside from humans. Elves, giants, beastmen, etc..., with all of the races having both NPCs and players like the human race did; and all of them using Mana, the only power system that existed at the time and seeming like the logical thing to do.
But then LOC came up with the Holy Race and there own Holy Power system, which actually props to him, since he didn't just add basic other races like in most other novels, and like I was planning to do, and instead came up with his own. It was a fine idea which I liked, but it did mess up my plans a bit.
After thinking for a while, I decide to stick with my original plan, and just add the Holy Race, and now the Crystallian race, as a separate thing. So, in my fanfic, there exists a Greater God's Domain for the human race, as well as Greater God's Domains for other races that used Mana, with a Universal God's Domain encompassing all of them, and then another two Universal God's Domains separate for the Holy Races' Greater God's Domains that used Holy Power and the Crystallian Races that did whatever Crystallians do.
Imagine the current universe in the SS on a larger scale, with the Twelve Sanctuaries being for the Universal God's Domain what they are for the Greater God's Domain in SS.
Now the thing that got more complicated are quests, but that's easily solvable. Greater God's Domain Quests were effective for whatever Greater God's Domain they were in and affected the race in it, Main Storyline Quests changing the storyline for that Greater God's Domain, while Universal God's Domain did the same thing and affected all the Greater God's Domains and races in it, with Main Storyline Quests changing the storyline for everything in that Universal God's Domain.
Stuff in the SS that applies to this fanfic also kind of changes as well as some of the quests' ranks depending on their scope and how much they'd affect. For instance, the Incinerator's Shadow Greater God's Domain Main Storyline Quest would transform into a Universal God's Domain Main Storyline Quest like the Demon Empress's Revival.
I'll explain further in future chapters either through the story or through notes if I feel somethings are unclear.