Above the river of ti, Mike and the child stood silently in midair, watching the events unfold below.
After being spat out by the Supre Demon God, Afterskin unleashed a torrent of profanity, hurling every insult imaginable at the towering, malevolent entity.
His core philosophy was simple:
If you've got the guts, kill !
It was a sentint that bore an uncanny resemblance to the Fifth Demon God's attitude.
Mike understood that, as the chosen one of the Apocalypse, Afterskin's life had likely been anything but pleasant.
Especially after being swallowed by the Supre Demon God...
At first, the Supre Demon God's plan had likely been to assimilate Afterskin.
The Apocalypse couldn't destroy the Tower of Truth, nor could it destroy the Supre Demon God.
However, the Supre Demon God had its own internal problems. Countless powerful wills were locked in an eternal struggle within its body, vying for control.
Every second, these wills fought to dominate the Supre Demon God's form.
If one succeeded, it would rcilessly annihilate all the others.
The Supre Beings participating in this battle were all driven by an unrelenting determination to erge victorious, no matter the cost.
Each sought to achieve their own glory, even if it ant sacrificing everyone else.
By absorbing Afterskin into its body, the Supre Demon God had hoped to use the Apocalypse's destructive power to eliminate so of its weaker competitors.
But in the end, the Supre Demon God's plan had failed.
Without Afterskin's unluckiness, the Tower of Truth-originally the most powerful source weapon-would never have beco the seal that suppressed the Supre Demon God.
The child, noticing Mike's confusion, offered an explanation.
"It was his idea to eat Afterskin."
The "his" in question was, of course, the Fifth Demon God.
Mike nodded slightly. If the Fifth Demon God's true identity was what Mike suspected, this was indeed sothing he would do.
The Fifth Demon God was the one who understood the Tower of Truth better than anyone else.
By suggesting they absorb Afterskin, he had turned the tables. Under the influence of Afterskin's unluckiness, the Supre Demon God had ended up sealed by the Tower of Truth instead.
In just a few sentences, the child had revealed a deadly ga of strategy and risk.
Even as a re observer, Mike felt a chill run down his spine.
To turn the tide in such a dire situation, minimize losses, and seal the Supre Demon God within the Tower of Truth-only to be the first to escape after the Abyss opened...
Mike had to admit, the Fifth Demon God had so serious skills.
If not, things wouldn't have turned out the way they had.
The Fifth Demon God bore full responsibility for this ss.
Mike refocused on the scene below.
Afterskin's relentless insults didn't seem to anger the Supre Demon God.
To the Supre Demon God, it wasn't even clear who Afterskin was yelling at.
When Afterskin finally ran out of breath, the Supre Demon God's chaotic consciousness regained a sliver of clarity.
Its voice echoed, as if countless mouths were speaking at once, each word grating on the ears.
"Find the human potential Supre Being..."
Afterskin shot back, "You're just a cock! Kiss my ass!"
The Supre Demon God continued,
"There are... many... potential Supre Beings among the humans... which one..."
Afterskin interrupted, "Pick one who can kill your bitch ass!"
For every sentence the Supre Demon God uttered, Afterskin had a retort. The back-and- forth was as chaotic as it was absurd.
The Supre Demon God's fragnted consciousness spiraled into another bout of madness.
"The one from the Blackwell family... his unyielding spirit... the sound of it breaking would be exquisite..."
"Calderon... too weak..."
"This one won't do either..."
"Wait... I foresee... a terrifying weapon will soon be born among the humans..."
"No more waiting... the Tower of Truth must be opened... the Apocalypse... is near..."
The Supre Demon God sounded like the ultimate schizophrenic, muttering to itself in a
frenzy.
Afterskin sneered from the side.
"Can't decide, huh? Let help you pick."
The mont he said this, the Supre Demon God fell silent.
Several glowing orbs appeared before Afterskin, each bearing a faint, indistinct face.
Afterskin pointed at one of the orbs without hesitation.
Pop!
The orb vanished, leaving the remaining ones floating in front of him.
Mike couldn't help but laugh.
Even the Supre Demon God knew how to use Afterskin for process-of-elimination!
One by one, Afterskin eliminated the glowing orbs until none were left.
At that mont, a tiny orb slowly erged.
The Supre Demon God had already made its choice.
The earlier "selection" process had rely been a ga of cat and mouse.
"The abandoned one..."
"The lonely one..."
"The one who has never known light, never felt love, never been treated kindly by the
world..."
"We will give him the Supre Mark. Find him. Bring him to the Tower of Truth... bring him... here... to save ..."
With a final, piercing shriek, Afterskin vanished, and the Supre Demon God descended into another round of madness, its internal battle resuming with renewed ferocity.
Before Mike could process what he had just witnessed, his vision blurred again.
The child, assuming Mike wanted to learn more about Afterskin, had fixed the perspective on
him.
The scene shifted.
Afterskin arrived on Earth, quickly adopting the appearance of a holess man.
He showed no interest in finding the potential Supre Being.
Instead, he was promptly beaten up by a group of local gang mbers.
Finding him pitiful, the gang took him back to their hideout.
But Afterskin soon escaped, ending up in an abandoned factory.
Rain poured down as he lay on the ground, staring at the gray, overcast sky.
He wanted to scream, to shout to the world:
The Apocalypse is coming! The Supre Demon God is on his way! Run!
But... what was the point?
Afterskin knew there was no hope.
The Supre Demon God was unbeatable.
No one understood its terror better than he did.
A single tear slid down his cheek, mixing with the rain before disappearing into the dirt.
A child wearing oversized boots approached, the rainwater sloshing inside them with every
step.
He waddled like a duck, hopping over to Afterskin and asking,
"Were you stolen too?"
In this place, the children were either abandoned or kidnapped.
Given Afterskin's age, the child assud he must have been stolen.
"Get lost. I'm not in the mood," Afterskin grumbled, rolling over to avoid the kid.
But as he turned, his face landed in sothing soft and squishy.
It felt like...
Shit.
Afterskin's anguished scream echoed through the night.
"FUCK! Who the hell shits here?! Have so decency!"
"Calderon, was that you?"
"What the hell are you talking about?! That wasn't !"
Two voices argued behind the child in boots. Afterskin couldn't believe his luck-or lack thereof.
After cleaning his face in a nearby puddle, Afterskin noticed the child still following him.
The kid offered him so paper, but Afterskin hesitated and didn't take it.
"I make everything I touch unlucky," he said bitterly.
With that, he prepared to leave. He had no intention of finding the potential Supre Being,
nor of helping the Supre Demon God.
As far as he was concerned, the Supre Demon God's words were nothing but bullshit.
Anyone who believed them was an idiot.
Having been inside the Supre Demon God, Afterskin had seen firsthand what true madness
looked like.
Countless powerful beings, all consud by greed, fighting like rabid animals.
There was no way they could accomplish anything.
Afterskin had learned so secrets during his ti in the Supre Abyssal.
The most uncontrollable fragnts of the Truth Source had escaped, falling into the Abyss
and becoming demon gods.
And most importantly...
That guy had escaped too.
But escaping the Supre Demon God ca at a price.
Afterskin suspected that he had gone mad as well.
For now, Afterskin's plan was simple: go with the flow and wait for the Tower of Truth to
descend.
When it did, no matter who the potential Supre Being was, Afterskin would stop them.
As he prepared to leave, the child in boots called out,
"Wait here."
He ran off into the rain.
Who does this kid think he is?
Afterskin scoffed and took a step forward-
Crash!
A steel beam fell in front of him.
Afterskin froze.
When he tried to step back, another beam fell behind him.
Huh?
Afterskin realized sothing was off.
He was unlucky, sure, but this was too much.
Over the years, he had noticed a pattern:
Sotis, his unluckiness would reach a breaking point, and he'd have a brief window to
change his fate.
If he wanted to fight back, he had to seize these monts.
So, he stayed put and waited for the child to return.
Soon, the kid ca back, dragging another boy who was two heads taller than him.
"Calderon, apologize to this man!"
"Apologize? For what?" Calderon grumbled, clearly annoyed.
"You shouldn't poop wherever you want," the kid said firmly.
Calderon: ...
"Look, we're all abandoned, stolen, or unwanted kids. The world's already a shitty place-
what's wrong with taking a dump wherever I want?!"
No matter how much Calderon argued, the kid stubbornly repeated,
"Apologize."
Finally, Calderon relented, gritting his teeth and muttering,
"Fine. I'm sorry for pooping wherever I want."
Under his breath, he added,
"It's not like I pooped in his mouth..."
Afterskin: ...
He couldn't help but notice that the kid in boots seed... special.
The more special soone was, the more Afterskin wanted to stay away from them.
Before leaving, Afterskin warned,
"I'm unlucky. Don't touch anything I've touched-including... that pile of shit."
With that, he disappeared into the night, heading for a quieter place.
The next day, Calderon sat by a bridge, watching as a series of "coincidences" unfolded.
A scar-faced man and his friends, drunk from a celebratory al, got into a van.
The driver floored the gas pedal, sending the van hurtling toward the edge of the bridge.
The old, crumbling guardrail couldn't stop the van, which plumted off the bridge and hit a concrete pillar below.
The impact left everyone inside severely injured and unable to move.
Then, as the scar-faced man shifted slightly, the van lost its balance and fell into the swollen
river below.
Bubbles rose to the surface, and then... nothing.
It was a total wipeout.
Calderon, crouched by the bridge, stared in shock.
After a long pause, he began clapping furiously, his hands turning red.
"Holy fuck, that was amazing!"
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