"You don't scare us, whatever you're about to show us won't change that!" Exclaimed Sylvar confidently, though he was clearly hiding his nerves.

"Heh, we'll see about that," I replied with a dark smile, "Oh, and feel free to attack this barrier, it's pretty much unbreakable, and while it keeps your attacks out, any attacks that we fire out from it won't be stopped."

"Enough, die!" Snapped Bell, as a massive bolt of lightning burst down from the skies above, right onto my barrier, striking down with a devastating amount of force, a large dust cloud bursting forth upon impact...this is even bigger than the blast she used that triggered my Phoenix Resurrection last time.

But Absolute Defense is unbreakable, and my time limit with maintaining it continously had basically doubled, so a maximum of one minute. As the dust cleared, Bell's eyes widened in horror as she saw that I was perfectly fine, with not so much as a scratch on the barrier.

"Az, if you would?" I suggested, prompting him to do what I asked him to before we teleported here.

"Alright, it'll take a few seconds, probably," He replied, before closing his eyes with a look of focus on his face.

A literal chill ran down my spine as the temperature dropped like a rock, an icy mist emanating from AZ and rapidly spreading out, Bell and Sylvar both backing away instinctively and cautiously as the mist filled the area around us in the blink of eye, before rapidly spreading through and filling the rest of the forest.

Okay, wow, it's freezing, and I had it real bad since I was right next to him...oh, wait, I have all five Elemental Magic attributes at my disposal, some weak Fire Magic embers should be enough to warm me up....ahh, that's better...

Az then opened his eyes, a slight smile appearing on his lips as he did. Huh, he looks almost...proud? Smug? Either way, I take that to mean that it went well, I guess...but from what I was seeing through the monsters I'd scattered throughout this place, all he's done is spread mist through the entire forest.

"Are you done already or...?" I inquired uncertainly.

"No, I've just set it up, but I can get it done in an instant now that I've spread my reach throughout this entire forest. And I think I can do better than what you asked for," He replied with a slight smirk.

Oh...I like the sound of that.

"Hah, is this all that you are capable of, unworthy Water Sage?" Scoffed Bell, sounding unimpressed, "A simple mist is all you are able to conjure, how pitiful-..."

She was then abruptly cut off as Az snapped his fingers, his smirk widening as he shut her up, looks of shock appearing in her and Sylvar's eyes.

W-woah...seriously? He's capable of all this? Holy shit...this is unreal...

The entire forest was frozen...literally, THE ENTIRE FOREST. It took him all of twenty seconds to set this up, and then with just a snap of his fingers, he-...I'm completely blown away here, this is absolutely incredible. And what's more, he'd made sure that not even a single one of my monsters were caught up in the ice.

Meanwhile, from what I could see through my monsters, every Elf and Silvland troop each had their feet and legs frozen to the ground and a shard icicle shard next to their throats. Same with Sylvar and Bell...their feet were wrapped in ice, all the way upto their knees, and sharp ice spikes rising up from the ground were literally millimeters from their necks.

"Every single person in this forest is in the exact same position that the two of you are in right now, I made sure of that using Water Mapping, and you confirm it for yourself by asking everyone afterwards," Remarked Az, before adding, "If I'd wanted to, I could have killed everyone in the forest without them ever realizing it...including you two. Oh, and I'll advise you not to struggle, the frozen parts will snap right off."

Alright, time to wrap this up.

"Abyss isn't interested in anything like world domination or territory expansion...in other words, if you leave us alone, we won't bother you either. But, if the Laus Domain ever shows us any signs of aggression, we'll wipe all of you out without a shred of mercy, got that? As you just saw, we're very much capable of doing so...," I stated with a smirk, "I advise that you heed my warning...or I'll personally guarantee that you'll regret it."

———————————————————————————

Point-of-View: Belia Lasmodeus

———————————————————————————

"Heh, well played...really, really well played, Kuro," I muttered to myself with a wistful smile.

I was currently floating above the clouds around where Silvland used to be, and down below me, all my remaining troops were milling about in the crater, struggling to process the fact that their nation no longer existed.

I'd brought them back using my Dimensional Magic, a few minutes after they all got frozen. Their legs were still encased in ice, that was some seriously powerful Ice Magic...I've never seen Elemental Magic on a scale like that before, not even close.

Well...now what?

I have to admit, now that the initial frustration over Silvland being destroyed had faded...I felt almost...relieved. Huh, I wonder why that is?

I descended back towards the ground and landed in the crater, the Silvland sheep quick to surround me with a barrage of questions and concerns, annoying me almost instantly...ah, now I get it, why I feel relieved...this deception had certainly started out fun, but lately, it had start to get pretty damn tiring.

Having to constantly put on an act and pretend to be an Archangel or whatever, it's gotten old...I don't want to do it anymore. Yeah...I don't want to keep this charade up any longer. It's starting to compromise my chaotic decision making, and that's unacceptable.

As the realization sunk in, a laugh escaped my lips, silencing the rabble surrounding me. I mean...it's just so ridiculous, to think that I'd dig myself so deep into this role that it began to affect my decision making...I threw back my head and let it all out, laughing almost maniacally as I thought about everything that's happened over the past year or so.

"L-Lady Belia, is something wrong?" Inquired Aguil, the joke of a king.

"Heh...no, nothing's wrong. In fact, everything's perfectly fine," I remarked with a laugh, before snapping my fingers and undoing the illusion spells that made my sidekicks and I appear as angels to the Silvland idiots, revealing my black halo and wings and their Demonic features.

"Wh-what is this!?"

"My lady, what is going on!?"

"Is this a nightmare!?"

"A trial from God, perhaps!"

Ugh, even now, they can't see beyond their religious tunnel vision, can they?

"Uh, Belia...what are you doing?" Inquired Shiro warily.

"Isn't it obvious, Shiro?" I replied, before flying up and addressing everyone in a loud voice, "I've made my decision...I'm putting an end to this tiresome farce! I should have done this a while ago, and that's on me!"

Unsurprisingly, everyone's attention was on me, including the three remaining summons. I suppose I might as well make a show of this...

"Alright, listen up! God doesn't exist, and neither do angels! I suppose you could call me a Demigod, but make no mistake, I serve no one but myself, everything I do, I do with my own best interests in mind! And I have to say, citizens of the former nation of Silvland...you all made excellent pawns in my games!" I exclaimed as I laughed gleefully.

Their expressions, the undoubtedly-chaotic emotions they must be feeling right now from this betrayal...this is what I live for!

Shiro flew up to me as a stunned silence fell over the crowd, the dumb sheep staring at each other with wide eyes and open mouths.

"You sure about this?" He inquired with a raised eyebrow, "Cuz there's no going back."

"Yup, I'm sure, and don't try to stop me!"

"What, are you kidding me? This is entertaining as hell, I just came up here to get a better seat...," He responded with a laugh, staring down at the Silvland troops with a look of amusement, before shifting his gaze to my body, "And also for the view, you can't beat this view!"

"...seriously, how are you this horny all the time?" I sighed with a shake of my head, before turning my attention back towards the crowd below, "As I was saying, you've all been excellent pawns, I'm grateful! Using your bogus religion to manipulate you all was pretty fun for a while, but I've grown bored of it now! And just so there's no doubt, let me spell it out...I am not an Archangel, I don't serve God, because such a being doesn't exist...no, I am Belia Lasmodeus, the Demigod of Chaos, and everything I've done is for the sole purpose of creating chaos! Oh, and just so you know, I'm the one that brought the other races back to the planet, so yeah, there's your proof!"

Oh, I should probably clear things up for the summons as well. Kyle and Lily flinched as I shifted my gaze towards them, while Shin stared up at me defiantly.

"As for you three, the remaining half of the six that I summoned from another world...yeah, sorry not sorry, I was totally using you guys too! I had you, heroes from another world, fight on the side of a nation of deranged religious lunatics, against the most fundamentally pacifistic nation in this world! And you were ridiculously easy to deceive...yeah, the Rustlands actively preaches equality and fair treatment, so you guys just killed a ton of innocent people for no justifiable reason! And it was great! Also, seriously talking, I kinda feel bad that three of you died...but only kinda," I admitted honestly, before adding with a smirk as I looked over the crowd beneath me, addressing them all, "You know, I have to say...you all sure were easy as hell to manipulate!"

_____________________________________________

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Don't forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP