Galaxy's First Ruler

The aura that couldn't be seen in the dark background of the emptiness around the altar became a golden-black dust stream.

It was like countless rivers of tiny golden suns, giving a blackish glow, were dropping into the ocean that was the Devil. His purple hair flailed and as the Devil's aura entered his body and became a part of him, his size kept increasing.

The two pillars around him, which were even taller than him even now, thrummed and the entire altar gave out a golden glow. The two chains almost lifted in the air and slithered as if they were metallic snakes.

100 ft

200 ft

1000 ft

10000 ft

It seemed like the Devil's size had no limit. But as soon as two-third of the Banished Golden Devil's aura entered into him, the purple-haired Devil's colossal size started to shrink. And it shrank at an exponential rate.

1000 ft

100 ft

30 ft

But it didn't stop there.

The Devil's body lost its thick structure and became leaner and leaner. The muscles that were bulging got condensed, and the claws became sharper and sharper. Even the wooden logs like legs became lean and felt like two blackish vines. As the Devil reached a height of 7 ft, the transformation stopped.

Yet, the most drastic change happened to the Devil's face.

The face, that no one could tell if it ever belonged to a human, had changed to match that of the original Aldrich's face. But like his body, the face was also jet black. If it weren't for the last traces of the golden stream and the altar, it would have been impossible to distinguish him from the dark space. And the purple hairs on his head were long and had a golden shine about them.

Thrummmm!

As the Devil opened his eyes, the pillars quaked. Those eyes were deep, menacing purple in their entirety, and had no pupils. But there were two golden rings at the center of the Devil's eyes that gave out a ghastly dark glow. The chains with their open shackles lunged at him, trying to bind him for eternity.

The Devil didn't run away or even prevent the chains from approaching them. The shackles, like a snake's open mouth, bite down on his lean black wrist. But as soon as they came in contact with his skin, they bounced off as if following a pre-described rule. The Devil muttered as he saw the pillar getting silent and the chains returning to their position.

"Can't bind the traces of humans? It seems the agreement is still valid then."

The Devil brought his hands up and looked at them. His gaze went down to his entire body, and he mumbled, shaking his head in annoyance.

"Still not enough. It only brought me to 50% completion."

The shaking of his head made him chance upon the Rumok on his right hand that had covered his long hand up to the elbow.

"You/I learned how to carve Rumoks by myself. But didn't how to use Perception. Tch! A disgrace!! No wonder I couldn't use the Rumok to its full capabilities…"

The Devil raised his hands outwards, and commanded.

"… Perception. ZERO!!!"

The enormous Divine Sense that had almost covered a spherical volume of 4 cubic miles, with the Devil as the center, came rushing back to his body. For the first time, Aldrich's Attribute changed without the use of any Skill.

[…

Perception: 0 (-280)

…]

The lost value of 280 didn't transfer to any other attribute but vanished. And the Devil, whose presence had riled up the altar, also disappeared along with it. Without looking directly at him, none could even sense if the Devil was even there or not.

Perception could sense only those who had Perception. And that included all things, Crawlers, and even Dreamers.

The Devil rotated his head to look at the dark space, and his eyes fumed with revenge. As his head came to stop to stare at the pillars and chains, the image of a golden figure flashed by his mind. His sharklike teeth grated in wrath, and his eyes shut themselves to savor the emotion of loss.

"I swear in the name of Ancient Devil, one day I will bind HIM here."

By the time the Devil opened his eyes, he had already returned to the Plaza.

Time slowly seemed to come alive, but the swords aimed at El Cid's neck couldn't find their target, as the Devil's height wasn't overly large and crude anymore. Shadow Blink brought the Devil back to the pillar's top, and no undead Crawler or Dreamer noticed what had taken place in that one second. None could sense the Devil anymore and even though the Devil's figure had been shortened and morphed, all attacks were still aimed at him.

Zoooom!!!

A massive mass of condensed thunder, surrounded by twelve sics of wind, got fired at him. Countless thorns and petals rained down from his right. His left was covered in hundreds of Skills and over his head, there were millions of insects. And the tens of thousands of lances thrown by the undead army had replaced his background.

The raging thoughts had still occupied the Devil's mind as he saw the countless Skills and weapons coming towards him. The golden rings in his deep purple eyes rotated, and the Devil took a horse stance and put his palms together. His long purple hair rose as if there was an updraft of air and all the furious emotions came out through his voice.

"All things in the Universe that have Perception, cower before my Might…

… ALMIGHTY PUSH!!!"

Time seemed to bend as the Skills and weapons almost traced their path back a little. The entire fabric of Space-Time ruptured, ripping apart everything that was subjected to the rules of the Universe. Outside the Dungeon, the towering statue of the El Cid, which couldn't be touched even by the Dukes, shook. And countless cracks appeared on its black surface.

CRACKKKKKK!!!

As everything calmed down, multiple fissures opened up in the plaza. Purple-white thunder cracked and spatial winds ravaged the false Sky. The Plaza's earth kept disintegrating and reappearing following the RECORD's rules. It was apparent that Skills at this level weren't meant to be used in a Dungeon having Count Ranked Bosses.

The Devil stood up and looked around, thinking of El Cid's outcome, and soon the abysmal song echoed again.

"Ra ru ra ra la la…

…"

All undead again came bursting out of the broken earth, but half of them got annihilated by the spatial winds and thunder. The Devil's chest moved up and down in sheer anger and he put down his hand on the pillar.

"Goldy, among us, only you had the true understanding of Justice."

The golden rings in his eyes again rotated and a brilliant golden flash came out from the tip of his two curved horns. On the pillar, the horned Black Bull seemed to have come alive as it ran across the surface of the Pillar.

Shooop!

BOOM!!!

The entire pillar shortened and became a 13 ft Bo Staff. The Devil landed on the earth, but the weight of the Pillar hadn't changed, and a cloud of dust exploded out. From all around, the remaining undead again rushed at him equipped with Skills and Items, and the Devil saw El Cid's hands reaching for the two swords.

"All Proficient…"

The Devil ignored the notification related to the Penalty and took a stance holding the Bo over his shoulder. Even the Bull on the Pillar seemed to bellow in El Cid's direction.

ROARRRRRR!!!

"… I am sick of you! I am sick of All of You!… Aldrich's Original…

… Bojutsu: TEN THOUSAND KYU-SHAKU PRESSURE POINTS ARTS!!!"

It is unknown whether the Devil is saying You or I here.