For a long time, probably hundreds of years, Eden had wanted for nothing more than to kill the Dead Three personally, to carve them up and have their insides greet the outside.
That desire for personal revenge had eroded with time, however. There was still some anger, of course, and he would still have them die, but he no longer cared whether it was by his hand or not. Truthfully, it was more a matter of principle than anything else at this point.
Same with Vlaakith. Speaking of which, he would have to give her a visit sooner or later. Sooner rather than later.
But back to the Dead Three, holding onto the grudge and absolutely wanting to kill them himself felt pointless, and even childish.
His arrogance had apparently not been completely curbed by his time in the Abyss either since, despite not wanting to admit it, Eden started feeling like they were hardly worth his time anymore.
But it was true. Now that he had faced Kali, and held up so well against her, nearly defeating her, a bunch of Quasi-Gods truly felt inconsequential.
Kali herself was not a weak goddess by any means. Eden did not know the exact hierarchy between Gods, but he did have some other figures to compare her to.
She probably did not reach Mystra's level, but that was hardly fair since she was one of the most powerful gods in the multiverse. Besides, Eden could hardly judge her since he had not been able to see her status, which he suspected was not because of a difference in attributes, but because he had been looking at her with a spell she had handed to him, and possibly created.
Attempting to glimpse at the attributes of the Goddess of Magic through her own spell was a rather foolish task, with hindsight.
But Eden had seen another powerful deity: Tharizdun.
Eden had never heard of him before, but considering he had created the Abyss, he had to be a powerful god. He had been suppressed for countless years, but that presumably did not change his status.
And Kali had had rather similar attributes to him. Actually, she had higher attributes on average, but lesser resistances and weaknesses, as well as a probably weaker domain.
The other divine figures Eden had crossed, Diinkarazan and Vaprak, only confirmed his hypothesis. Diinkarazan had technically been Tier III, along with his best Perks, but his best attributes only went up to 99, still within Tier II.
Vaprak, the God he had crossed but not fought, had been slightly better, with one of his attributes breaching 100, but even then, it had been limited. Had it not been a waste of time, Eden might have fought him, and he might have even managed to kill him.
Both of these guys had much lesser attributes than Kali, so Eden thus suspected she was rather high in the divine hierarchy. In comparison, the Dead Three, being only Quasi-Gods, were probably only as strong as Diinkarazan.
Definitely stronger than any mortal, but also much weaker than any true god.
So, that was why Eden had become rather dismissive of the Dead Three.
Of course, if he had nothing else to do, Eden would just kill them himself, but he happened to have other plans.
Vlaakith he would probably have to take care of personally since she was hardly involved in the matters of his mission, but the Dead Three were deeply involved with the Absolute, and might very well be summoned to the battlefield without his intervention.
After all, although Eden had not crossed one for a long while, for obvious reasons, he never forgot that there were other Players, and they were all after his head.
Although individually, or even together, Eden doubted they could ever pose any kind of threat to him in a fair fight, Players were experts at gathering forces and creating chaos. It would not surprise Eden that some Players would have joined the camps of the servants of the Dead Three and were planning on using them as trump cards.
Considering Eden's own plans, those trump cards would get played.
So Eden did not concern himself too much with the Dead Three. Yeenoghu was good enough to challenge one of them, and Eden would not stop at only Yeenoghu.
After taking care of Yeenoghu, Eden conquered a few more layers before stopping on the 421st, ruled by a cocky ghoul he easily exorcised, Eden took a rest, which only took less than a minute in the outside world, and doing so discovered his Simulacrum had made a breakthrough as well.
Eden had decided to only have his Simulacrum transmit information whenever he was also in the demiplane since processing information going 666 times faster than he did was bothersome, and would result in a near constant stream of information for himself.
Although Eden had his Simulacrum devout some time to attempt to merge Holy Flame and the Abyssal Flame, most of its time was still spent on divination magic, which was where it had made its breakthrough.
The directive was to work on locating magic. Although Eden could teleport pretty much anywhere he wanted with his grasp of spatial magic, he did need to know where he had to go to use it.
For example, Eden knew Vlaakith was somewhere in the Astral Sea, but not where exactly. For the Dead Three, he had no idea where they were at all. And since even with his current level he was unable to forcefully pull entities of that level to him, Eden needed to go to them.
Unfortunately, his Simulacrum had not managed to breach the threshold of Tier III, or 7th Circle magic in that regard, but he did manage to improve on a spell he had wanted to improve for a while.
[Superior Truesight (6th Circle): Allows the user to peer into the invisible, discerning things as they actually are, seeing past any magical disguises for 2 (8) hour. Cost: 990 (250) MP.]
Eden had gained permanent Truesight with his Solar Metamorphosis, but truthfully, with the duration of 4 hours the spell had, Eden pretty much had it always active already. For Superior Truesight, which had a duration of 8 hours, even with its steep cost, Eden could easily have it constantly active as well.
This was not a spell that would improve Eden's combat prowess, he could already see through most things. He had never met anything that could hide from his Truesight. The only thing this would have an effect on in battle would be his Shattering Darkness, since he would be able to see through it, but Eden could fight blindly without much of an issue already.
The true worth of this spell was outside of combat. The description of the spell was nearly the exact same as it had been for Truesight, and just like that first spell, it allowed Eden to see into the secrets of the universe, and on a deeper layer.
Of course, now that he had access to the spell, and had another that had granted him permanent Truesight, the temptation to turn his Superior Truesight truly permanent was strong, but that was only a passing thought.
He was sure it was possible to do, and would do it if he had time to waste, but he did not for now, so he had his Simulacrum continue working on what it was supposed to be working on, while he resumed his conquest of the Abyss.
The higher he went, the faster he moved as he encountered less challengers, so many having abandoned after Yeenoghu, and the speed at which he cleared through the ones who dared to remain.
He also passed by a few Divine Realms, but they did not bother with him, and he replicated the courtesy. In reality, most gods could not care less for him claiming the title of Demon King. Kali had challenged his claim because she sought a good fight, while Diinkarazan was mad and could not help it.
Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on the point of view, there were still some other lonely gods who sought to dance.
The 200ish layers after Yeenoghu were passed uneventfully, and that streak was stopped when he reached 241st Layer. There was only one challenger on that layer, one of a semi-godly nature, but he was not alone in there.
The 241st Layer was perpetually dark, though that was hardly a problem for Eden, and was filled with countless shadows and wraiths. Seeing the spirits made Eden feel nostalgic of his time in Pirates of the Caribbean, where he had faced wraiths as well.
Things had been simpler back then.
… Eden did wonder whether he would be able to kill Mictlantecuhtli today.
While Eden was deep in thought however, his danger sense suddenly picked up something. He had not expected any meaningful attack since the challenger was some distance away, but he suddenly felt a strong danger to his life.
As unexpectedly as it came, it only took a thought from Eden to form a 5th Circle Shield, completely blocking the arrow headed for his chest.
The 5th Circle version of Shield was capable of blocking 685 damage, which was well into Tier III, and thus was more than enough.
Shield was also by far the spell Eden had grown the most used to, allowing him to use it as easily as breathing.
Eden required to chant the incantation to a spell to use it at full power because that was a way to reach full concentration to cast a spell. It was a matter of intent.
He had cast Shield so many times though that Eden was able to use it to its fullest form even without speaking. That was the only spell Eden had managed to bring to such heights.
Now was not the time to ponder on such things however, as Eden turned to look at his attacker, while feeling his challenger approaching.
The one who had attacked him was well hidden, so much so that even with his Superior Truesight, Eden was only able to get a glimpse of their figure before they disappeared, though their presence was still undoubtedly around. That glimpse was enough to see their status.
[Name: Grankhul]
[Title: God of Hunting, God of the Senses]
[Talent: ?]
[Perks: Tier III, Godly Dexterity III, Ancestral Will III, Magic Resistance III, Divine Sight, Regeneration, Domain of the Hunt]
[HP: 800/800]
[MP: 800/800]
[Strength: 80]
[Agility: 105]
[Physique: 80]
[Intelligence: 80]
[Wisdom: 100]
[Immunity: Bludgeoning III, Slashing III, Piercing III]
[Resistances: Necrotic III, Magical Piercing III]
[Weaknesses: None]
He was at about the same level as Vaprak had been. A deity, but a weak one.
While this one disappeared, prepping up another ambush, the second one, the challenger, arrived. This one he could clearly see: it was Bugbear, of all things. The Goblinoid creatures often leading their lesser cousins.
This one did not look very different from other Bugbears in build, although his limbs were red, and his lips spread in a crazy smile. Did Eden attract crazies, or was it just the Abyss?
[Name: Skiggaret]
[Title: God of Fear]
[Talent: ?]
[Perks: Tier III, Brutish Wit II, Crazed Mind III, Magic Resistance II, Truesight, Regeneration, Domain of Fear, Aura of Fear]
[HP: 800/800]
[MP: 950/950]
[Strength: 70]
[Agility: 70]
[Physique: 80]
[Intelligence: 95]
[Wisdom: 99]
[Immunity: Cold II]
[Resistances: Piercing II, Bludgeoning II, Slashing II, Fire II]
[Weaknesses: None]
A bottom-of-the-barrel deity. One like Diinkarazan, and probably the Dead Three, a Demigod. Grankhul was probably a Lesser God then.
A Demigod and a Lesser God attacking him together… he had been wondering how he could do against the Dead Three. Fighting these two might be a good reference.
When Skiggaret arrived, Eden felt him use a spell on him, attempting to manipulate him, probably to freeze him considering a deadly arrow quickly followed. He dodged, unaffected, and chanted, "I cast Avatar of Wrath."
As his form turned demonic, Eden felt two domains extend towards him, working together with surprising harmony. They had probably felt his danger-level skyrocket with the activation of Avatar of Wrath. Eden used the Radiant version, since they both had Regeneration and one of them was Resistant to Necrotic damage.
He did not immediately deploy his own domain though. In Jujutsu Kaisen, although the usual response to a Domain Expansion was another Domain Expansion, there existed a technique called Simple Domain, or the domain for the weak, which was considerably easier to master than Domain Expansion and could counter the sure-hit effect of Domain Expansions.
Ironically, Eden had not mastered it yet he had a complex domain. However, that did not mean he could not take inspiration for it.
So, as the two domains formed over him, Eden opened his hands wide, activating his Innate Technique to the fullest as he drew all ten fingers on the space around him, Cleaving it.
At the same time, he infused some of his mana into the slashes and the severed space, amplifying it.
Domain Expansion was a technique that required incredible precision, especially since Eden's version mixed Cursed Energy and Mana. Any miscalculation would result in the domain being wasted, not working.
Here, Eden did exactly that, starting as if he was about to deploy a domain, but focusing on messing with the space around him. The chaos did not destroy the domains, but the sure-hit effect was instantly disabled.
Domains, after all, were nothing but someone claiming ownership over a particular expanse of space, infusing it with their being or technique. The sure-hit effect came from the targets standing inside the space owned by the technique, so the technique could freely move through said space.
Eden messing up with the space around him did not change its ownership, but it stopped any attack from freely traveling through it. The ten rifts in space would not last indefinitely, but it cost Eden very little to disrupt the space around him.
The two gods likely understood this as well as Skiggaret rushed at him, pointing a skull-tipped wand at him. A cone of dark magic spread out from it, but Eden remained unaffected as he rushed Skiggaret.
However, before he could approach, his danger sense warned him of incoming danger, and he barely dodged a couple of longswords. Grankhul made himself fully visible this time, having switched from the bow to swords as he slashed away with deadly precision.
Grankhul did not look very different from any other Bugbear, except for his large protruding eyes, staring intensely at Eden and his every move. The moment he raised a hand to strike him, Grankhul dodged ahead of time, Eden's strike completely missing.
The two started exchanging rapid strikes, yet neither managed to hit the other, both playing on the defensive.
Grankhul had a similar ability to predict attacks, Eden realized quickly. Considering he was a God of Sense, it was probably visual predictions pushed to the extreme, but the effect was the same anyway.
At the same time, Skiggaret had been preparing something, and after a moment unleashed a black ray at Eden, one too fast to be dodged. It was stopped all the same by a 1st Circle Shield.
The Shield was obliterated easily, but the ray was still slowed down ever so slightly, giving Eden the time to Misty Step next to Skiggaret. Both gods could see into the Ethereal Plane, but Eden moved through it near instantly, thus surprising them as he reached Skiggaret's side.
He himself could not teleport away, with space having been disrupted. Misty Step was special because it was not true teleportation, but extremely fast travel through the Ethereal Plane.
Before Skiggaret could draw distance between them, Eden slammed a reinforced fist into his lower abdomen, activating Cleave. His punch did not deal much damage by itself, since Eden had 49 Strength with no related Perk, while Skiggaret had 80 with a Tier II Perk, making for quite the difference. Adding the Resistance to non-magical Bludgeoning damage, it hardly did anything.
However, the Cleave that came with drew a long gash into Skiggaret's flesh, and before any blood could pour out, it was seared by the Holy Fire generated by Eden's Avatar of Wrath, dealing even further damage, and stopping any regeneration.
Screaming in pain, Skiggaret swung his dagger at Eden, the caster being quite strong already, but the dagger hardly felt dangerous to Eden. A glance at it with slowed down time told him why.
[Dagger of Supreme Venom]
[Rank: Epic]
[Attack: +250]
[Agility: +15]
[Venom Tip: All attacks dealt with this weapon cause an additional 50 poison damage.]
[Scorpion's Sting: Inject paralyzing venom into the target, immobilizing them for one minute. Cooldown: 1 hour.]
[Hide Piercing: This weapon goes through all manners of skin or natural defences 20% more easily.]
Eden fought the urge to smile, pretending to attempt to dodge the attack, but failing to do so, allowing the dagger to graze his skin while he attacked himself. Though the attack would only graze, and Eden's punch would hit Skiggaret in the face, Skiggaret accepted the exchange.
The dagger easily pierced through Eden's skin, an extremely potent poison spreading from the blade to the wound, infecting Eden's blood and flesh, while his own punch caught Skiggaret in the face, disfiguring him with the damage.
At the same time, another arrow headed for Eden's nape, one which he was supposed to not be able to dodge. Yet, to the two's shock, Eden simply titled his head to the side, dodging it as he chanted, "I cast Shattering Darkness."