My God domain is the endless abyss Chapter 72: Damon and the Will Node

"Lord, I have made a new discovery."

The announcement reverberated through the dark expanse just as Cillian concluded the purging of several 'unqualified' demon kings. Damon, a product of a failed reverse-ascension experiment within the Sea of Mind, had dispatched a message. Among the various theoretical models Damon had been exploring, a particular strategy aimed at altering the Abyss's structural nature had surprisingly yielded unforeseen outcomes.

Cillian paused, his expression subtly shifting, a flicker of surprise momentarily surfacing in his eyes. Ever since Damon, an emergent intelligence originating from the Sea of Mind, had fallen under his command, Cillian had tasked him with numerous seemingly insurmountable problems concerning the chaotic essence of the Abyss, problems requiring immense computational power beyond the capacity of ordinary abyssal minds.

However, with billions of fully operational brain clusters unified into a single consciousness, Damon was far from ordinary. His processing capability rivaled that of most mid-tier gods, straddling the line between stellar intellect and divine reasoning. It was precisely this formidable computational strength that rendered Damon an indispensable asset.

Cillian had managed him akin to a high-performance computing system, allocating half his operations to the perpetual administration of the Abyss and the other half to deciphering the intricate mathematical foundations of its deeper structure. Damon, true to Cillian's expectations, had not faltered. Within a short period, he had already successfully resolved several of Cillian's assigned enigmas, furnishing comprehensive deduction reports for appraisal.

"However, my Lord," Damon's mental voice intruded once more, tinged with a subtle undercurrent of apprehension, "I must implore your leniency. The remaining souls you possess are critical to my novel design. I require them for this experiment." Cillian's hand halted its movement abruptly. The remnants of the dying demon princes within his grasp ceased their cacophony, their tormented souls suspended in an eerie silence. Such unexpected hesitation seemed to momentarily amuse Fabudi, though a hint of disappointment could be discerned on his countenance.

"What results has your undertaking yielded?" Cillian inquired, turning his attention toward the dark consciousness that was Damon. "And for what purpose do you necessitate these residual souls?"

"Great Lord," Damon responded with profound deference, "I have transmitted the complete strategy via your black mist to the very core of the Endless Abyss. I urge you to review it personally." Moments later, an unusual luminescence coalesced within the swirling shadows before Cillian, solidifying into a form resembling a crystalline shard, emitting a faint, dreamlike aura. A Dream Crystal. It was a rare byproduct, usually manifesting when Nightmare Demons ventured too deeply into the idealistic-dimensional planes and managed to return – a rare occurrence indeed.

When improperly handled, Dream Crystals proved lethal, ensnaring their victims in inescapable, perpetual nightmares that offered solace only in death. No external influence, not even divine illumination, could rouse them. Yet, when subjected to precise ritual and purification, the very same crystal could be transmuted into a coveted luxury, capable of bestowing eternally tranquil dreams – a veritable treasure among the chaotic inhabitants of the Abyss. Potent demons frequently bartered fragments of their vanquished foes to procure these crystals, yearning for the solace of illusion.

However, following Cillian's imposition of a seal upon access to the idealistic plane, the production of Dream Crystals had drastically diminished, until Damon's advent. Upon discovering that these crystals possessed the ability to pacify the fragmented consciousness within his own Sea of Mind, Damon initiated a large-scale endeavor. He captured thousands of Nightmare Demons, compelling them into controlled dimensional descents and cultivating Dream Crystals on an industrial scale. Normally, such demons would succumb instantly to mental collapse during the descent. But under Damon's protective shield, approximately twenty percent invariably survived, consistently yielding Dream Crystals for his utilization. This peculiar symbiosis became the bedrock of Damon's domain.

The Nightmare Demons existed in a state of captivity, generating Dream Crystals in exchange for Damon's protection. While ostensibly a mutually beneficial arrangement, the Nightmares themselves held a decidedly different perspective. Still, none of this held consequence for Cillian. What mattered was Damon's groundbreaking discovery. Through exhaustive analysis of the Dream Crystals, Damon had devised a methodology to condense his computational findings into crystallized data clusters – dreamlike vessels containing raw calculations and their inherent logical structures. This advancement enabled him to offload partial computations, thereby liberating substantial mental reserves for further intricate work. Now, a single imitation Dream Crystal hovered before Cillian. He reached out, his touch making contact. Instantly, myriad streams of data unfurled within his mind, akin to a living, boundless ocean.

He meticulously set aside the superfluous simulations, sifting through the dense information until he arrived at the pivotal proposition of Damon's meticulously crafted plan.

"A design that minimizes the demons' internal energy expenditure... while concurrently boosting their readiness for perpetual conflict?" Cillian pondered, his voice laced with fascination.

A memory surfaced. This endeavor had certainly been one of his earlier undertakings, an attempt to bring stability to the Abyss by mitigating its inherent self-destructive tendencies.

The Endless Abyss was a realm that offered no quarter. Its very essence fostered aggression, compelling every demon to ceaselessly devour, battle, and slay to achieve advancement.

The outcome was a curious paradox. Despite the formidable individual strength of each demon, the very process of their genesis consumed staggering amounts of resources, resources that could have otherwise been utilized to forge entire divine civilizations.

For the present, Cillian could still provide these necessary resources. However, he was keenly aware, more so than anyone, that such plentiful supply was not an infinite asset.

Eventually, the Abyss was bound to face the bleak reality of scarcity.

It was precisely for this reason that he had initiated these trials, to fundamentally reshape the very bedrock of demonkind.

Yet, what Damon had laid forth surpassed his initial expectations.

Not only had the entity resolved the prevailing issue, but it had introduced an entirely novel concept, a structural "amendment" to the fundamental logic governing the Abyss.

As Cillian accessed the blueprints, the world around him seemed to grow dim.

Data flooded his being, akin to celestial waves crashing against divine bedrock. The intricate calculations arranged themselves into complex geometric structures, charting potential evolutionary trajectories across the diverse abyssal species.

Once the torrent of information finally subsided, he remained in profound silence for an extended period, his expression utterly inscrutable.

The revelation contained within the crystal was deeply disquieting.

Damon's proposition entailed the establishment of a vast, auxiliary plane situated at the precipice of the Endless Abyss, intended to serve as a crucible for nurturing new lifeforms.

These would be creatures deliberately engineered to harbor an implacable loathing for demons in their very essence, and reciprocally, to be despised by demons without rational cause.

Their sole purpose for existence would be warfare.

A conflict without end, a perpetual bloodletting ritual fostering adaptation and annihilation.

Cillian gazed intently into the artifact, its surface pulsing with an inner light.

"How did you conceive of this strategy... and," Cillian's voice dropped subtly, his gaze sharpening, "why do you wield such sophisticated expertise in biological engineering?"

There were two primary aspects of Damon's blueprint that troubled Cillian the most profoundly.

The first was its uncanny familiarity; he felt a sense of recognition.

In a previous existence, there had been certain mentions of entities that coexisted with demons, yet were perceived by them with such vehement revulsion that it evoked both disgust and dread simultaneously.

These beings were referred to as Devils.

Not the nominal Devils Cillian had formally designated in his capstone project, but profound Beings that demons considered inherently superior to, yet were simultaneously natural adversaries by design.

Legend held that these Devils resided in the deepest recesses of an Infernal Hellscape. There, they engaged demons in an unending, gore-drenched conflict.

This ceaseless warfare acted as a natural crucible. It tempered the demons, compelling their evolution, adaptation, and ascension through sheer brutality and relentless carnage.

Many of the most formidable demon lords had indeed emerged from these very conflicts, forged and perfected by the constant bloodshed.

However, this represented merely one facet of the undeniable truth.

From the Devils' vantage point, the very same conflict proved equally generative.

They too underwent evolutionary changes, perhaps at an even more accelerated pace, becoming sharper, and intellectually superior to their chaotic counterparts. The clash between demons and Devils was not simply a struggle for survival, but an existential arms race. It had endured across tens of thousands of years, propelling both factions towards a state of monstrous perfection.

In stark contrast to the frenzied and untamed nature of demons, Devils embodied logic and order, a unique amalgamation of keen intellect and pervasive malice.

Their rationality was extreme, and they remained entirely devoid of any mercy.

Where demons pursued destruction through overt violence, Devils achieved it through insidious manipulation.

This chilling methodology was what rendered them truly terrifying.

They derived pleasure not merely from the act of killing, as demons did, but from the meticulous orchestration of it. Pain and suffering were their art form.

To them, a sob, a cry of anguish, or a desperate plea for clemency was not a source of joy, but confirmation. Undeniable proof that their intricate machinations were succeeding.

If Cillian were compelled to encapsulate their essence in a single descriptor, it would be hypocrisy.

Ostensibly, Devils could present themselves as refined and sagacious, articulating their proposals with gentle tones, offering solutions that seemed to spring from a profound comprehension of one's deepest desires and inherent vulnerabilities.

Yet, concealed behind every seemingly benevolent offer lay an intricate snare.

Should one's willpower falter, should the conviction of one's heart waver even slightly, their insidious charm would ensnare them completely.

They would present a formal contract, a pact that appeared equitable, perhaps even remarkably advantageous. Every stipulation meticulously drafted, every clause seemingly drafted in your favor.

Nevertheless, woven into the very ink of that agreement, these fiends embedded imperceptible clauses articulated in tongues only they could truly decipher, lines that shifted their orientation depending on the viewing angle, and even spectral glyphs inscribed in enchanted ink upon the document's reverse side.

And the moment you appended your signature, your ultimate destiny was irrevocably sealed.

The most optimistic outcome one could anticipate was simply oblivion.

For demons, oblivion was never the true conclusion.

Upon reviewing the data Damon presented, Cillian's certainty solidified.

The race detailed in the plan, conceived as a countermeasure to the demons, bore an unmistakable resemblance to the Devils.

He himself had once contemplated the creation of a domain mirroring their Infernal Hell—a carefully architected ecosystem of strife intended to govern the Abyss and temper the ceaseless self-annihilation rampant among demons.

However, that initiative had long since been shelved.

At that juncture, the Endless Abyss was undergoing rapid expansion, consuming nascent planes, and Cillian found himself wanting for both the stability and the necessary resources to embark on such a grand undertaking.

Compounding this, he had never managed to perfect the fundamental biological blueprint for the Devil race.

To engineer a species potent enough to rival demons in evolutionary prowess and intellect was a feat that challenged even the most accomplished divine architects. The sheer intricacies of such a creation demanded an astronomical quantity of experimentation and genetic refinement.

The data alone required for such a process would vastly overshadow the entirety of Damon’s current research.

And yet, inexplicably, Damon had presented him with a fully realized schematic.

The complete design for the Devil species.

Grasping the data sphere, which pulsed with ethereal light, Cillian turned his gaze towards the shadowy mist connecting him to Damon’s distant awareness.

"Did you personally architect these biological foundations?" he inquired.

A brief void of silence permeated the connection before Damon's composed voice responded:

"No, my Lord. These blueprints did not originate from me. They were put forth by the Will node of the Void Zerg."

Cillian's brow twitched subtly. "The Will node?"

"Indeed, Lord," Damon affirmed. "I can engage with it directly, coercing it if necessary, through the immense currents of my Sea of Mind. However, before I detail the outcomes of our exchange, allow me to issue a single admonition."

Cillian's eyes assumed a sharper focus. "Proceed."

"The Will node expresses a desire to converse with you. It states it harbors questions... questions of great import."

He hesitated for a moment, then added, a trace of apprehension coloring his tone:

"It seeks to comprehend why you bestowed upon it life... and consciousness."