Mythology: Ragnarok

Chapter 267 The Soul Sea's Recognition

Then Satan, the most powerful of the Seven Deadly Sins, flapped his six fiery wings and flew to Agreed, shouting, "Newborn abyssal dragon, hello. I am Satan, the ruler of the 'Sin of Wrath' among the Seven Deadly Sins. Your existence has caused great damage to the Sea of ​​Souls, so... you must be restrained."

At this moment, Lucifer, with his classic demonic appearance, also came up and chimed in, "The Soul Sea does not welcome monsters who do not know the rules and only know how to destroy. You must follow our rules to continue to stay in the Soul Sea, otherwise we will work together to expel you or seal you here like Tiamat."

Agreed had just fought a great battle and hadn't had time to digest Tiamat's divine power, so he didn't want to devour these lords of hell in such a hurry. Therefore, Agreed had no choice but to temporarily yield and reply, "Alright, I accept your rules. So how can I join here?"

Lucifer then opened an oval portal, where the dense fog of the Soul Sea, powerful enough to easily kill a god, was gathering, resembling a solidified ocean. Mammon then explained to Agreed, "This is the very core of the Soul Sea. You need to enter and recognize your sins. When the Soul Sea acknowledges your sins, it will take them away and grant you the immense power that comes with the punishment for those sins."

Upon hearing this, Agreed immediately asked in surprise, "So, if I succeed, there will be an eighth deadly sin in this hell? Interesting, then I really need to go in and take a look." With that, Agreed plunged into the portal and came into contact with the core of the soul sea.

Mammon was stunned when he saw this scene. Before he could finish speaking, he said that many high-ranking demons had tried to commit a sin, but most of them failed to gain the approval of the Soul Sea and were eventually devoured by the Soul Sea and became a core part of it. The Soul Sea is not so easy to fool; if one is not careful, one may die and perish.

Moreover, the most crucial point is that the difference in power brought by sin is not actually that great. Even 'Pride,' which is rated as the strongest sin by the Soul Sea, did not make Lucifer's strength surpass Satan's. The ranking of sins only represents the Soul Sea's recognition of demons. Although it makes the seven deadly sins far superior to demons of the same rank, the strength of demon leaders who are also the best of the seven deadly sins cannot actually be separated by this. Even if Satan is incomparably powerful, he can only be on par with other demon leaders.

So Tiamat didn't choose this path back then because the effort and reward were indeed disproportionate, but no one expected that Agreed, this outlier, would jump right in.

But what Mammon didn't know was that even if Agreed knew the risks and rewards were disproportionate, he would still enter the core of the Soul Sea without hesitation, because that was what he came for!

Seeing that the other party was so obedient, Lucifer closed the portal indifferently, then turned to the other six demon leaders and said, "Let's go. If he passes through, he will come out on his own. If he dies in there, that would be even better. We'll get rid of this troublesome one. We can redistribute the share that Tiamat took back then, and the Seven Deadly Sins will be even stronger that way."

The demon leaders unanimously opened a portal and returned to their respective hellish realms. In the blink of an eye, all the demons vanished from their original positions, except for a handsome man dressed in simple clothes who looked somewhat forlorn and remained in this destroyed hell.

The man was none other than Mammon, the master of the sin of greed. Mammon looked at Lucifer and the others as they disappeared and sneered, "It's just another pointless war. When will this boring game that has lasted for endless years finally end?"

At this point, Mammon glanced back at the spot where the dragon had disappeared and muttered to himself, "Agred, is that you?..."

Within the core of the Soul Sea, Agred's soul gradually turned crimson under the erosion of the soul mist. If he did not provide a satisfactory answer to the Soul Sea before being completely eroded, he would become a part of the Soul Sea.

The evil and chaotic voices of the souls in the Sea of ​​Souls kept echoing in Agred's mind.

They asked, "What are your sins?"

Tell me, what is sin?

You don't know, do you? Hahaha.

"Speak! Speak! Let us see just how evil you really are!"

Argreed stared calmly at the endless crimson before him, and as if he already knew the answer, slowly said, "My sin... is hypocrisy!"

Even though I am arrogant, greedy, lustful, envious, gluttonous, angry, and lazy, I still disguise myself as a perfect person, deceiving the whole world, including myself, with the most unforgivable lies!

I possess every sin imaginable in this world; everything I am, everything I have grown up, stems from this. Darkness nourished me, and I also made darkness what it is. I am extremely hypocritical, and therefore, I am extremely evil.

The seven deadly sins are merely appendages of hypocrisy. When all sins and punishments descend, lies and hypocrisy are the sole consequence of all these sins, and the source of all these sins lies in hypocrisy and ignorance.

Agreed's voice echoed throughout the core of the Soul Sea. The previous noisy questions suddenly disappeared without a trace, and the entire core of the Soul Sea fell into a deathly silence. Agreed looked at the suddenly calm Soul Sea in bewilderment. Wasn't his answer good enough?

Just as he was reflecting on himself, the core of his soul sea suddenly came to life. As if suddenly alive, it rushed towards Agreed like a vibrant being. At the same time, it used a soul transmission that seemed to be a mixture of different voices to shout to Agreed: "We have finally waited for you, pure soul, soul that can recognize its own sins. The soul sea is willing to merge with you and tear apart the most extreme darkness in this world. You will be the only sin in the darkness, you are the only darkness in this world."

The core of the Soul Sea surged wildly into Agreed's soul, which startled him because it was different from what he had imagined. He thought he would just start a new sin like Lucifer and the others, but he never expected that this would gain the approval of the core of the Soul Sea.

The core of the Soul Sea, with an irresistible force, completely dyed Agred's soul crimson. In an instant, all the power of the Soul Sea, except for Hell, was gathered and converged on Agred. The Soul Sea was merging with Agred in its own way. The Soul Sea's idea was also very simple: to use its own life as a price to make the only one it recognized, and the true 'Supreme Demon,' leave this 'sea' with no future.