If One Could Devour a Divine Being

Purgatory

In the sea of flames, countless fallen souls struggled, letting out piercing screams from the depths of their consciousness. The King on the Flaming Star quietly admired their grotesque appearance.

This man had the same appearance as Yafuan, but he was completely different from the Yafuan who was born a mortal.

He was born the Lord of Purgatory. Unlike Yafuan, he lacked any empathy for mortals or the people of Avel.

These fallen souls were his prisoners. Their desperate cries were his sustenance.

Suddenly, the King seemed to notice something.

"Abyss..."

"Is it him?"

But soon, the Lord of Purgatory dismissed this suspicion.

"Oh, it's that fool."

"That plaything of Original Sin."

He sensed that one of his cursed targets had become tainted with the aura of the Abyss. The Abyss's power had contaminated the target, competing with him for control over the person.

It pulled someone, originally destined for Purgatory, toward the Abyss instead.

That person was a mortal named Suero, a very interesting fellow.

After committing the forbidden act of cannibalism and becoming cursed, he was consumed by terror. He struggled desperately and attempted everything he could to escape from the quagmire.

After being cursed, instead of trying to distance himself from the curse, he recklessly drew closer, delving deeper into it.

He always came up with unexpected methods, even utilizing the power of the curse itself.

Since being cursed, he had continuously expanded and perfected the Cannibal's Curse.

He then tried everything possible to rid himself of the curse, but his so-called loophole methods did not make it disappear. Instead, the curse only expanded further.

Because of the Cannibal Cult he established, the curse began to spread continuously.

In the end, he continued to sink deeper into the mire, unable to escape its grasp.

However, the deeper he sank, the more fiercely he struggled.

Until now, he had fallen directly into the dual quagmire of both the Abyss and Purgatory.

Through this, the Lord of Purgatory saw an interesting aspect of mortals. Sin and evil thoughts were like a plague that could spread.

When a person fell into darkness, they would drag a group of people down with them into the bottomless pit.

Before long, the Lord of Purgatory became aware of the porcelain doll's actions. It had transformed Suero into a Son of Gluttony.

This was equivalent to issuing a challenge to Purgatory, to him.

The Lord of Purgatory was not annoyed at all. His eyes showed only contempt.

"Fool."

"Do you truly think this is just a game?"

He looked toward another direction in the Dream Realm, toward the Abyss.

"This is war."

In games, there are winners and losers, but for games, enjoyment is more important than winning or losing. Although victory is usually part of that enjoyment, it is still different from an all-out pursuit of it.

The porcelain doll was such an entity. It often placed its own whims above purpose and victory.

War was different. Both sides would use any means necessary to win because the loser would lose everything.

The Lord of Purgatory did not know where the porcelain doll came from. He also did not understand why the Original Sin Evil God, such a powerful entity, would let such a creature prance around in the Abyss.

Perhaps it was simply due to some twisted amusement?

He was unaware that millions of years ago, there had been another little doll. At that time, its master was not Xiao but a mythological monster trapped within a bottle.

"You want to escalate matters?"

"Then I'll play along."

The Lord of Purgatory laughed. He was not in a hurry to drag Suero down to Purgatory.

The more trouble the other caused, the greater the benefit to him. He did not accept the porcelain doll's challenge but rather welcomed it.

The Lord of Purgatory had no interest in playing the porcelain doll's mundane human games.

At this stage, he only wanted to ascend quickly to the mythological throne.

He now sought to elevate Purgatory to the realm of Mythology. After that, he would challenge the terrifying master of that fool, the evil deity of Original Sin.

But at this moment, the Lord of Purgatory suddenly thought of a question.

He stared into the darkness at the Abyss, as if seeing that thin, cold figure.

That Original Sin Evil God.

At this very moment, was he looking down at him with the same gaze he used when looking at the porcelain doll?

In the mansion, as Suero merged with the Seed of Gluttony, he drifted into a dream that took him back to his childhood.

As a child, he had also lived in Mooneclipse City, but not in his current home. He lived in the slums instead.

His father was not, as he often claimed, a renowned physician.

In reality, he was a veterinarian who also worked as a butcher.

Suero was sent to a temple branch by his father after a temple acolyte recognized his potential.

His father spent a considerable sum of money, hoping he would be chosen by the temple to become an acolyte.

There were many children in the temple, but few were ultimately selected.

Suero was very timid at that time.

After not being chosen, he was too afraid to go back.

He had pleaded with his father to send him there. His father had spent a significant amount of money to provide him with this opportunity, and returning empty-handed would undoubtedly provoke his wrath.

He pleaded with the priest in charge of selecting acolytes. He begged the priest to choose him, saying he could not return like this.

Perhaps it was not just the fear of being beaten upon his return, but also his desire to change his fate and become someone of status.

The priest with the surname Yueyeh grew impatient with his persistence, especially when the desperate Suero grabbed the hem of his robe.

The priest struck him with his tail, throwing him down the steps of the temple's side hall.

The ground was muddy from the rain the night before, and Suero was now smeared with it.

The high-born priest looked down with disdain at the veterinarian's son. "Lowborn scum," he said.

"How dare you grab my clothes?"

"These robes, with their patterns, represent the temple. Do you think you're worthy to touch them?"

"A son of a veterinarian and butcher, wanting to become a priest?"

"Look at yourself."

"Are you worthy?"

Suero continued to beg pitifully from the mud.

"Great Priest!"

"Please, give me a chance. I'll truly be beaten to death if I go back."

He looked pathetic and ridiculous.

The handsome, high-born priest laughed. "What does that have to do with me?"

"Stop right there."

"Don't come up here again, or I won't be so polite."

The priest looked at Suero, who refused to give up. His gaze then shifted to a pile of animal dung by the roadside, likely left by a passing beast of burden. "If you truly want to become a priest that badly," he said in a mocking tone, "then eat that. Do it, and I'll let you in."

Suero was stunned for a long while. No one knew what he was thinking at that moment.

Afterward, he did as instructed.

In full view of everyone, he truly pressed his face into the animal dung like a dog, gritting his teeth.

He heard the people around him immediately burst into raucous laughter. The children who, like Suero, had come for the acolyte selection all laughed loudly.

Hahahaha!

"He actually ate it! He actually ate it!"

"What a fool, an absolute fool!"

"His family are veterinarians. Perhaps they're used to eating such things at home."

"Hahahaha, I'm dying of laughter!"

The priest had originally just wanted Suero to give up and leave. He had not expected this outcome.

But he would show no mercy to the son of a veterinarian and butcher, nor would he actually allow him into the temple because of this. He still rejected Suero with his superior attitude.

"I'm sorry, the temple cannot accept a defiled person like you. That would tarnish the glory of our temple."

"Priests are the noblest beings in the mortal realm, not something someone like you can aspire to."

Suero stood on the uneven ground, covered in filth.

He was ridiculed by a crowd of people.

The scene shifted, and he returned home.

His father greeted him with a slap to the face.

Smack!

"I told you that you weren't meant for it! Who do you think you are?"

"You made me lose all that money!"

His father had a violent temper. He lashed out at Suero with a severe beating, clearly upset about the money he had spent.

If Suero had been selected, their family would have gained wealth and prestige, allowing him to bask in the shared glory. However, his failure to be chosen changed everything.

"A waste is a waste. To think you believed you were different."

"From now on, just help me and your older brother. Assist us with our work obediently."

The following scenes were still of his father's beatings.

His father seemed to have heard something outside, bursting in like an enraged land dragon, grabbing Suero and beating him violently.

"What did you do?!"

"You idiot, you've completely disgraced me!"

"I'm going to beat you to death today, you good-for-nothing waste!"

There were many other interwoven scenes, mostly of people mocking him and various humiliating words and nicknames.

As a child, Suero had hated this place immensely and wanted to escape.

So after he became an adult, he left this city.

After wandering through various places and mastering supernatural powers and evil divine techniques, he chose to return here. Yet, no one could truly understand what was on his mind.

Perhaps it was similar to how ordinary people return to their hometown basking in glory.

However, he had taken on a new name and severed ties with everyone from his past. The people from his childhood would likely fail to recognize him now, considering how drastically he had transformed.

Lying on the ground, Suero closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and let out a roar.

"Why?"

"Why?"

"Why!"

"You promised me! You promised me!"

After letting out one final great roar, Suero finally got up from the ground.

He rose unsteadily, looking around in all directions.

The first thing he did was look toward that mirror.

Everything in the mirror had returned to normal. The mythological door representing Original Sin and the evil light and shadow had disappeared. The bronze mirror only reflected Suero himself and a corner of the room.

The memories of the past still echoed in his mind, along with the image of himself trembling beneath the mythological door just now.

He had truly been afraid then. Its power was too immense, exactly like the divine beings he had imagined.

But the fear and shame passed.

Suero's eyes were filled with endless hatred and resentment.

Suero pushed everything off the table onto the floor, also overturning the bronze mirror.

"Curse it!"

"Damn it!"

"You look down on me too! You look down on me too!"

What Suero hated most was that kind of gaze, that superior look.

When he was small, the priest from the temple had looked at him that way.

Back then, he had stood below, looking up at the other.

From that moment on, the fear, the humiliation, and those memories became nightmares that haunted him for the rest of his life.

But the greater the fear, the deeper the humiliation.

Suero did not focus on finding a way to escape.

Instead, he fixated on erasing everything that had ever caused him fear and humiliation, no matter the cost.

He wanted to devour that fear, that humiliation.

He tried everything to gain power. He traveled far and wide, experimenting with all sorts of evil divine techniques at any cost to obtain what power he could.

Then, he returned to this city.

On a dark night, the first person Suero ate was that priest from the Yueyeh family.

He was not, as Akmanmon had been told, attempting to extract power from corpses.

He only wanted to consume that person, to devour his own fear and humiliation.

To consume the humiliations that had once scarred him, to erase those memories etched in time, leaving nothing behind as if they had never been.

He felt extremely satisfied then. It was a pleasure he had never experienced before, a joy that seemed to emanate from the depths of his soul.

Killing someone would leave a corpse, and burning someone would leave ashes.

Even if they died, they could still enter the Kingdom of God.

No.

He wanted nothing to remain of that person.

Not even ashes, as if they had never existed.

Yes, only by eating them.

Only by completely consuming them without leaving a trace, by thoroughly devouring them, could everything be erased and that humiliation and fear be entirely eliminated.

At this moment, the porcelain doll brought those memories back to life in Suero's mind. The scenes of humiliation replayed vividly.

Suero tore through the room in a frenzy, smashing everything in his path. His roars and howls echoed like the cries of a wounded beast.

"I will eat you!"

"Chew you into pieces, bite by bite, and swallow you!"

"Taste your fear, taste your mythical blood, taste your emotions of despair!"

"Make your spirit howl within my body, wail in despair inside me, never able to escape!"

Suero spoke these terrifying words as if he had gone mad.

"Eat him!"

"Eat him!"

"Eat those hateful Snake People, eat those who looked down on you, eat everyone in this city!"

"Devour them!"

Changes were also taking place within Suero's body. The people he had devoured earlier, along with the Wisdom Divine Blood he had merged with, began to stir and rise up against him.

But Suero was not afraid. He had already eaten them, and he would not fear those he had devoured.

With a tyrant's will, he suppressed the resistance of those he had devoured.

"Come on!"

"Scream in my body, wail in my body!"

"Let me taste your despair!"

At that moment, the figures wailing in his consciousness seemed to lose their strength, sinking deeper and deeper into his body, one by one.

Finally, they were drawn into the depths of his stomach, consumed entirely.

His stomach seemed to undergo some transformation, like a whirlpool continuously swallowing the lake water above it, instantly devouring all the Wisdom Divine Blood within Suero's body.

A strong, irrepressible hunger surged up.

He felt as if a fire was burning in his stomach, an unstoppable desire to devour consumed his consciousness.

"Hungry!"

"I'm so hungry!"

At this moment, the servants below heard the commotion upstairs and rushed up.

"Master, what happened?"

But as they pushed open the door, they saw Suero's reddened eyes in the candlelight.

His pale face revealed a wild, beast-like madness.

Before they could cry out, the servant was pinned to the ground, his head smashed against the floor, splattering blood everywhere.

Then, bone-chilling sounds of swallowing and chewing came from the room as the wild beast devoured the servant alive.

Suero opened his mouth, and deep in his throat, there was nothing but utter darkness.

His Gluttony Stomach was like a black hole, directly swallowing the servant.

That night, a terrifying event unfolded within the mansion.

Consumed by his madness, Suero devoured every single person in the mansion.

Blood stained every corner of the mansion, covering the stairs, spreading across the hall below, and seeping into the passages and corridors.

Terrifying bloodstains could be seen everywhere, but not a single person or corpse remained.

The sun shone in from outside, illuminating Suero who stood on the balcony.

Suero was covered in fresh blood, but he felt fantastic. He could feel himself growing stronger.

But the hunger from deep within, a void that could never be filled, still lingered.

"So hungry."

He felt as if that stomach in his body was not just eating others, it was also eating him.

If he could not fill it, then it would devour him instead.

He had gained the power of a Son of Gluttony.

That organ with mythological power, the stomach implanted with the Seed of Gluttony, gave him the ability to feed without restraint.

He no longer had to worry about any backlash, any madness, any curse.

Power seemed to have no limit for him, just a simple mathematical problem.

This power compelled him forward. He just needed to keep eating. If he ate enough, he could continuously grow stronger.

But if he stopped, he would immediately die.

Suero felt a bit afraid because that stomach could devour him at any time.

But he also felt a strange pleasure, as if his endless desire for gluttony had finally found an outlet.

Suero walked through the empty mansion, fear and smiles alternating on his face.

Finally, he burst into wild laughter.

"No!"

"Why should I be afraid?"

"This is power. I only need to devour enough mythical blood to become an Apostle."

He gradually walked outside, standing by the window.

"This is not enough."

"I'm not eating fast enough."

In the morning sunlight, Suero looked at the entire Mooneclipse City.

With tense jaw muscles and a raised neck, his face radiated a fearsome smile.

"I will eat this city."

"I will..."

"Devour everything here!"

This was the reason he had returned to this place, to devour all of his past.

In the secret underground cave beneath Mooneclipse City, the headquarters of the Cannibal Cult stood hidden from the world.

Cloaked and masked, Suero once again conducted experiments with Akmanmon. This time, their goal was to create controllable Ghouls.

The two had become increasingly skilled at working together.

Akmanmon learned quickly, and Suero was teaching him his forbidden knowledge without any reservation.

In a sense, Akmanmon was Suero's student.

Akmanmon had also learned some divine techniques from the royal collections. However, his systematic knowledge, his concepts about inheritance, and his research into divine techniques all originated from Suero.

They shared the same madness. Both were driven by a similar fanaticism for power, though their motivations for seeking it were not entirely identical.

On the stone platform, the two once again used the Plague Blood Curse to fuse with a living person and transform them into a non-human monster.

They had modified the Plague Blood Curse slightly, trying to use their own mental power to control it and make these monsters obedient.

The Ghoul created through the Plague Blood Curse would be controlled by the mental power of its creator.

The experimental process was not smooth, failing several times.

Although they already had successful experience, they had made some changes this time.

Finally, a monster emerged on the stone platform, its entire body appearing to be encased in a layer of limestone.

It struggled on the platform, letting out howls devoid of any rationality.

It was clear that its original consciousness and thoughts had been completely scattered by the Plague Blood Curse.

A devouring desire originating from the Plague Blood Curse had taken over all its consciousness.

"Rise," Suero commanded, and the frenzied monster immediately calmed down, standing beside Suero.

"Sit," Suero ordered again, and the monster obediently sat down, though it looked at Akmanmon with a hungry gaze.

"Attack," Suero commanded. The monster immediately attacked Akmanmon.

Akmanmon knew that the other wanted to test the Ghoul's strength.

Akmanmon's arm suddenly sprouted black feathers, the entire arm swelling, blocking the monster's attack and knocking it down.

But the monster immediately pursued him again. It had no fear of death, and its strength was immense.

More importantly, the power of the Plague Blood Curse surged within it.

In the end, they determined that it possessed three abilities: hardened skin, mental shock, and blood curse infection.

Its hardened skin gave it incredible resistance to physical damage, while mental shock was a devastating weapon against ordinary people.

As for blood curse infection, it allowed the creation of new Ghouls, though this would weaken the Ghoul's own power.

It was a monster with supernatural powers, but its consciousness and desires were controlled by the Plague Blood Curse.

"Ghoul."

"How's this name? Pretty good, right?"

Akmanmon nodded. "Very fitting."

Suero looked at his masterpiece. "Not just fitting. This name is destined to become everyone's nightmare, to resound throughout the entire world."

Suero was about to say something more when he suddenly bent over.

Akmanmon watched as Suero repeatedly dry heaved.

Then he took out a vial of blood and drank it, after which he seemed to feel better.

Akmanmon noticed that Suero had become much thinner, and his eyes had become unusually bright, and they seemed to emit light in the darkness. This was a sign of supernatural power growing too quickly and out of control.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Chief, you seem to be in a bad state."

"Is it backlash?"

Suero did not explain why. Even with Akmanmon, he would not completely reveal everything.

"Second-in-Command," Suero said with a faint smile. "I feel great. Better than ever."

"I'm growing stronger every day, but I feel this isn't enough. I can become stronger, even faster."

Hearing Suero say this, Akmanmon no longer focused on these issues.

He looked at the newly created, controlled Ghoul.

"Chief, can you now talk about the plan you mentioned before?"

"What exactly do you want to do?"

"Your plan must be related to these Ghouls, right?"

Suero hesitated, staring at Akmanmon for a long time, as if confirming something.

After a while, he finally spoke.

"Second-in-Command, have you thought about this? Even if we escape the curse of the Lord of Purgatory, how can we avoid the other two types of backlash?"

"Falling into Purgatory, descending into madness, turning into a tool or an unformed supernatural material."

"We might escape one, but can we escape the other two?"

Akmanmon asked, "So, you've found a way to escape the other two types of backlash?"

Suero looked at Akmanmon. His answer was terrifying enough to make an ordinary person faint.

"Fall into the Abyss, become an Abyss King."

"If we fall into the Abyss, the Will of the Abyss will help us resist madness."

"If we fall into the Abyss, we can escape the backlash of Mythical Blood."

"If we fall into the Abyss, the Lord of Purgatory can no longer touch us."

Suero was incredibly fervent, seemingly wanting to release all the power within his heart. From his increasingly emaciated body, an immensely powerful pressure erupted.

Akmanmon looked at Suero, feeling that powerful pressure.

Though he had not yet become an Apostle, he already had the aura of one.

Akmanmon did not question like ordinary people would, nor did he show the fanaticism of common cult members.

He simply asked Suero, "What do you want to do?"

Suero looked at his creation, touching its rough skin as if caressing a work of art.

"Ghouls..."

"We can create a large number of Ghouls, then cause an unprecedented plague disaster in Mooneclipse City."

"At that time, I will ascend to the position of Apostle, fearing no one."

"By then, countless Ghouls will be born here, and these Ghouls will eat everyone in this city."

"Finally, I will devour all the Ghouls and eat the entire Mooneclipse City."

This was Suero's plan. For him, eating could be categorized by level.

This time, he wanted to eat an entire city.

Suero showcased his insane plan to Akmanmon, inviting this King of Ten Thousand Serpents who was not really a king.

"Second-in-Command, you must hate this place too, don't you?"

"Hate everyone in this city, hate those who imprisoned you, those who drove your loved one to death."

"Let's join forces to devour this city, then together enter the Abyss."

"Mooneclipse City has a population of over a hundred thousand. If we can devour everyone here, we will gain power that surpasses that of ordinary Apostles."

"In the Abyss, we will also have power far exceeding the norm. Any curse or backlash will be nothing to us."

"Any throne, any rights, all things in this mortal world will be nothing to us."

As Suero spoke, he became increasingly excited.

He wanted to eat this city, then journey to the Abyss.

Finally, with an incredibly powerful presence, he resolved to devour the one who dared to mock him.

As a genius who always had many novel ideas, he often made many related associations while speaking.

And now, a terrifying thought suddenly arose in his mind.

If he could devour a divine being, what would happen?

Suero suddenly felt a special door opening before him, and his heart filled with infinite expectation.

Yes!

If he ate a god, what kind of power would he possess?

Could he perhaps become a god?

Suero looked at Akmanmon. This time he did not call him Second-in-Command, nor did he call him Your Majesty.

Instead, he called him by name.

"Akmanmon, come!"

"Let us destroy this hateful place together."

"Then together, let us devour the entire Abyss."

Suero stared intently at Akmanmon, inviting this fellow traveler whom he acknowledged.

Akmanmon looked at Suero. This was the person who, though not officially his teacher, had guided him to the door of the supernatural world. He found himself unsure of what to think.

"Chief, you truly are a madman!"

Suero laughed heartily. "Then, are you willing to join the madman's world?"