Chapter 285: You Eat What He Licked...
Who is Mephisto, the Lord of Hell, best at?
Framing and plotting, sowing discord, lies and deception, trapping with contracts, tempting hearts...
This guy is cunning and crafty, with countless victims to his name, whether they are heroes or villains.
In short, Johnny was the unfortunate victim who last fell for his evil deeds.
Oaks was prepared for various traits that Mephisto might exhibit, including the conditions he could use to tempt him...
But he never expected that it would be about this!
Elevate Avalon, the pocket dimension, to a true dimensional space?
Indeed, this was one of the few things that could pique Oaks' interest.
"...Truly, Mephisto is a devil indeed, the Lord of Hell, who peeks into people's hearts..."
Oaks helplessly shrugged his shoulders. He was very interested in this matter and had nothing to hide.
Moreover, Mephisto was a true dimensional lord. The reason he still had a notorious reputation and lived carefree was precisely because of the immense power of a dimensional lord, right?
When in their own dimension, dimensional lords could harness the power of the entire dimensional space. Unless the enemy's power surpassed the entire dimensional space, the dimensional lord would stand invincible.
The size and power of a dimensional space were on a different level than a pocket dimension.
Therefore, if Oaks, the owner of Avalon, confronted Mephisto's true form in Avalon, the outcome would be uncertain.
However, even with Oaks possessing all of Avalon's power, he couldn't contend with Mephisto in the Hell dimension.
Unless he combined it with the power of the real world.
"It is indeed possible for a pocket dimension to evolve into a dimensional space, but it's not an easy task..."
Oaks narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Mephisto with a strange expression. Mephisto even conjured up a recliner and then pulled out a glass of red wine, enjoying himself:
"Indeed, it's not easy. There are basically two paths."
He swirled the wine in his glass and then created a sunshade with his staff, inserting it next to the recliner to block the sunlight from above:
"The first is quantitative change leading to qualitative change.
The pocket dimension selects one or several attributes of power, and by absorbing power, whether from other pocket dimensions or reality, or even directly devouring other fragment spaces or pocket dimensions, triggers a qualitative change, ultimately advancing the power level and upgrading to a dimensional space."
Oaks nodded. As the owner of a pocket dimension, he was well aware of this.
His previous actions followed this route.
By mirroring Gaia's consciousness in Avalon, he could greatly enhance the connection between Avalon and the real world, gaining more power from nature.
And once Malorn analyzed the Ego's seed and his own power reached a certain level, he could establish a connection with other seeds with the assistance of Avalon's power.
Whether the Nature Energy from thousands of worlds would be enough to elevate Avalon to a dimensional space was unknown, but even if it wasn't enough, Avalon at that time would undoubtedly be the peak pocket dimension!
"And the other method... is much more straightforward."
Mephisto leisurely swirled the wine in his glass, and then his mouth twitched as he looked at the vines entwining behind Oaks, forming a uniquely styled vine chair.
Oaks sat on the vine chair, crossed his legs, and pulled out a large acorn, which he twisted to reveal a straw.
"Go on, I'm listening."
He raised the acorn in his hand to Mephisto, who had a strange expression:
"This is the drink that even the Supreme Sorcerer approves... Well, you're just a soul imprint, so you can't drink it. What a pity."
Watching Oaks enjoy his juice, Mephisto glanced at the red wine in his own hand, then expressionlessly tossed it aside.
After all, he was just a soul imprint. The chair and the wine were just illusions, a way to show off. The taste had to be imagined.
"...The other method!"
Mephisto gave a cold snort, instinctively crossing his legs as well:
"It's directly replacing control, merging a complete dimensional space with a pocket dimension!
Of course, that dimensional space must be ownerless; otherwise, it would be the pocket dimensional merging into the dimension space...
And it's countless times easier!!"
"...An ownerless dimensional space?"
Oaks had a "Are you kidding me?" expression:
"If there's an ownerless dimensional space, I can just become the dimensional lord directly. Why bother merging with a pocket dimension?
A pocket dimension can't bring about any qualitative change to a true dimensional space!"
"Hmph! Naive!"
Mephisto scoffed disdainfully. This guy didn't show the slightest fear in the presence of the Lord of Hell and always appears to be in complete control, but in the end, he is still too naive!
"The power attributes of a dimensional space are uncertain. Unless you happen to find a dimensional space that completely matches your own power attributes, or you change your own power attributes to match the dimensional space!"
Oaks furrowed his brow slightly. It did seem to be a problem.
For example, Dormammu, who originally seemed to be a human wizard, accidentally discovered an ownerless dark space, and paid the price of abandoning his physical body and completely transforming his power into dark energy to become the Lord of the Dark Dimension.
Oaks couldn't choose that path, neither in terms of his physical body nor his power.
Seeing Oaks' expression, Mephisto coldly smiled and shook his head:
"Do you understand? I see that you're not the type of guy to make that kind of choice... So the important part comes next!"
He sat up a bit straighter, pointed his finger at Oaks:
"If you want to control a dimensional space on your own, you must adapt to it.
But you already have a pocket dimension that aligns with the nature of your power... to be honest, this luck, even I envy it!"
Mephisto licked his lips. It had been many years since he had seen something like this.
This probability is much lower than winning the lottery!
"So, what you mean is that I can indirectly control the dimensional space with the pocket dimension... and use it as a power conduit to align the power of the entire dimensional space with the nature of my power?"
Oaks' eyes lit up. Theoretically speaking... This was indeed not an impossible thing.
It just didn't occur to him initially.
Although Mephisto was a bit of a trickster, as an experienced dimensional lord, he had a great understanding of these secrets.
"So, you know of an ownerless dimensional space? I don't think you'd be so generous as to hand it over to someone like me who... spoiled your plans."
Oaks took a sip of juice and shook his head.
"Get straight to the point. You like signing contracts with others, and I like fair exchanges, mutually beneficial...
So, what do you need? Explain what this so-called ownerless dimensional space is all about."
"Straightforward!"
Mephisto clapped lightly.
"I like people who get straight to the point... But as you said, if there were an ownerless dimensional space presented to me, I wouldn't readily give it away."
He smirked, and a hint of red light flashed in his eyes.
"What gave me this idea was what you did before.
You caused me to have less income in my account, but there is a solution to this matter—do you know that the Hell dimension is not exclusive to just me?"
"I've heard something."
Oaks frowned.
"Each of you dimensional lords claims your own dimension to be Hell... well, your dimensions do have the ability to receive souls and negative emotions.
So you're planning to snatch souls from other Hell lords?
No... you're planning to drag me into killing a Hell lord, and then you'll take the souls while I take the dimensional space?"
Oaks stood up, ready to leave.
"Haha! Find someone else for this kind of good fortune!
Hell lords may not get along with each other, but when it comes to an outsider like me, you would all unite to devour me...
And kill a dimensional lord? Are you serious? Even April Fools' jokes aren't this funny!"
"No, no, no..."
Mephisto was not in a hurry either. He raised a finger and shook it with a serious look on his face.
"First of all, you're right. It's a win-win situation—
If things go well, I get souls, and you get dimensional space. It's not conflicting.
Secondly, the dimensional space I'm talking about is one that other lords won't meddle with—because we've all been disliking him for a long time."
"Hmm? Is there such an existence?"
Oaks turned back, sat back down on the chair, and showed a puzzled expression.
"Which existence did something significant that affected your interests?"
"Perhaps you still don't fully understand how we utilize souls when they descend into Hell."
Mephisto had an innocent look on his face, but then it turned into one of deep resentment. The speed at which he changed expressions amazed Oaks.
"First of all, a soul is composed of its own energy, spiritual power, negative emotions, especially fear, and soul imprints. What our Hell dimension primarily needs is all of it.
However, there's a dimensional lord whose dimension is not Hell, so he's not interested in the souls of the deceased but is in great need of the souls of the living...
He can invade the dreams of living beings, bring them into his domain, torment them, and then absorb their fear.
Generally speaking, we have clear divisions of labor: he absorbs fear and other negative emotions from dreams, while the fear of the waking and deceased souls is absorbed by us, the Hell lords..."
Oaks raised an eyebrow. This division of labor...
"So, you're essentially consuming what he leaves behind? Hmm... or should I say, the souls he has licked?"
Oaks gestured in a strange manner, and as expected, Mephisto's expression became fascinating.
"In fact, I have conducted research on dreams. Dreams to some extent can reflect reality. If the fear in dreams continues into reality, you can surely reap more...
So you want to kill him and have it all?"
If we exclude Nightmares' active invasion of living beings' dreams to create fear, his method of absorbing fear from dreams could almost be considered that of a benevolent psychiatrist...
"That's right!"
Mephisto stood up, his eyes were flashing red and his mouth revealed the demonic signature fangs.
"If there's less quantity, we must raise the quality...
And after you said that, I don't even want those souls anymore!"
He was so angry that his hand trembled. Licked...
"Why didn't I realize this before... that guy, Nightmare, must die!!"
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