Ember Dragon

Chapter 719: The Final Sin
At the deepest part of the palace is a huge magma pool, filled with solidified lava, red-hot chains, and bloodstained torture instruments.

This was the place where Bayer once imprisoned Zariel, but now it has become Zariel's bedroom, and the fallen angel is in the center of the bedroom.

With her eyes closed and wings folded, she sat on the iron throne made of swords and demon bones. Her body was wrapped in hellfire, emitting the terrifying pressure of Avernus.

Zariel has projected most of his power into the material plane, leaving his body behind on Avernus only to maintain the connection between the two realms.

At this time, the confrontation between the will of Avernus and the will of the material plane was extremely fierce and had reached a white-hot stage. The entire Avernus was shaking, the ground was cracking, volcanoes were erupting, and many inferior demons died in the disaster.

As the signer of this "fall into hell" contract, Zariel also needs to bear the burden of body, mind and even soul alone - not to mention that her incarnation is still fighting with Cassius.

"The scorched earth splits the river, the iron city is on fire, the corpses pile up into mountains, the blood gathers into the sea, and the night is sleepless forever."

The ballads of hell began to play. If an ordinary devil intruded without permission, he would be captured by Avernus's power before he even got close. His soul would be branded and he would become Zariel's eternal slave.

But Bayer is a powerful hell demon, the former lord of Avernus, and has an extremely strong will.

"The Throne of Avernus."

Bayer looked towards the throne covered with bones and swords. Instead of fear, his lava-ball-like eyes revealed endless greed, as if he saw himself sitting on the throne.

Green venom dripped from the corners of its mouth, hissing and corroding holes in the ground.

Nearly a thousand years ago, Bayer was the highest-ranking legion commander under Zariel. He secretly contacted Mephisto and Baalzebub, and without hesitation launched a coup to betray his mistress and became the new king of Avernus.

Hundreds of years ago, due to the disadvantage of the bloody battle, Asmodeus, the Lord of the Nine Hells, dismissed him from his post and re-appointed Zariel to the throne, leaving him a wandering stray dog.

What Bayer regretted most was not the rebellion, but that he did not find a way to kill Zariel after the rebellion, but simply imprisoned him.

And now, Bayer finally returned here and saw the place that had been lingering in his dreams.

"The Throne of Avernus"

Bayer stared at the fallen angel not far away, laughing crazily, muttering to himself: "Hahahaha, Zariel, that position belongs to me after all--"

His voice became more and more passionate, gradually turning into a thunderous roar and scream, "In the future and forever!"

Before he could finish his words, Bayer flapped his giant bat-like wings, grabbed the burning sword, and rushed towards Zariel.

"Wow--"

In an instant, the forbidden spells of hell that Zariel had set up around him were activated, and countless hell chains flew out from the magma, like giant pythons, attacking Bayer.

But Bayer was well prepared. With one swing of his sword, all the hell chains were cut off.

Then, scarlet thunder roared and struck down, raging flames rolled in, and the majestic power of hell turned into deadly poisonous smoke, almost drowning the hell demon.

This is a powerful forbidden spell from hell, enough to turn anyone who trespasses into ashes without leaving any body behind.

But Bayer had been waiting for this moment for hundreds of years and had already made all the preparations.

The twelve angel heads on his belt opened their mouths wide, emitting sharp screams with great resentment, releasing strange ripples that dispersed all the thunder and fire around them.

Bayer flapped his wings suddenly and flew out like an arrow. Space gradually twisted under the collision of energy. This hellish demon could not wait and instantly broke through more than a dozen blood-colored barriers and came in front of Zariel.

"Hahaha, Zariel, finally, I can finally do it."

Along with the fluctuation of space, Bayer actually took out a long sword from the void.

This sword is made of heavenly steel. It is bright silver all over and has intricate patterns carved on the blade. It emits a faint light and a crisp hum, releasing a holy energy that is incompatible with hell.

This is the Sword of Zariel, the weapon that Zariel wore when he was still an angel. After Zariel fell, this sacred sword changed hands several times and finally fell into the hands of Bayer.

Just by holding the sword, Bayer's palms hissed and were burned with charred marks.

But Bayer smiled happily and roared at the top of his lungs: "I'll kill you with my own hands!"

The runes engraved on Zariel's sword lit up, emitting a light that was enough to make any devil tremble.

Bayer held the sword in both hands, and without hesitation, stabbed Zariel's chest like an executioner, regardless of his burning body.

The hell-iron breastplate suddenly shattered, and the sword pierced through the flesh and touched Zariel's heart.

The lord of hell suddenly opened his eyes, and a thrilling light flashed in his golden pupils.

"Bayer! You - dare to collude with the outside world -" Zariel's roar shattered the sulfur rocks within a hundred feet radius, scarlet thunder fell from the sky, and raging hellfire surged from all directions.

"You have violated the great will of the Lord of the Nine Hells! You will pay the price!"

This is the wrath of Zariel, this is the wrath of the Lord of Avernus!

But Bayer had already made up his mind and would never give up easily.

Facing the overwhelming terror, the hell demon gritted his teeth, grinned, and roared, "Farewell, Zariel! That red dragon will completely tear your soul apart!"

In an instant, veins on Bayer's arms bulged, and he exerted force suddenly, pushing the holy sword completely into his heart.

"Thorn-"

The blade pierced flesh.

As if sensing the death of its master, tragic wails filled the entire sky.

The earth shook violently, and the blood-red sky trembled, as if a terrifying beast was about to descend. Almost all the demons raised their heads and looked at the sky anxiously.

They knew, Avernus, things were going to change again.

Material plane.

Kingdom of Thrace, Augustus.

In the sky, a bloodshot eye opened on the black sun. Bloody cracks spread across the sky, and demons poured out like a tide.

Under the blood light, the red dragon's body was like a red mountain, rising and falling with its breathing, and under him was a huge pit with a diameter of one hundred meters.

Cassius used his sharp claws to press Zariel tightly into the ground. The power in his claws continued to increase, causing the ground to continuously make "cracking" sounds.

Zariel spurted out a mouthful of dark red blood, his voice hoarse: "Red Dragon, I am the master of the bloody battle. If you kill me, you will break the balance of the universe, and the consequences will be disastrous.
And the Lord of the Nine Hells will not let you go." She spoke haltingly and with great effort.

"Do you really think you are irreplaceable?"

Cassius shook his head and said with a grim smile: "To put it bluntly, you are just a knife that Asmodeus is more comfortable using. As long as someone can do better than you, you can be abandoned at any time."

"No, it's impossible. You don't understand the nature of a bloody battle!" Zariel's voice was a little excited.

But soon, she was struck by lightning, her wings drooped weakly, and the strength in her body dissipated rapidly.

"How is this possible?" Zariel's expression froze, and she lowered her head in disbelief, only to see an illusory silver sword stuck in her chest - this was Zariel's Sword, her weapon as a Seraph.

What happened to her body in hell has been projected onto the material plane. Zariel struggled hard, trying to get that last chance to survive, but unfortunately Cassius would not give her such an opportunity.

"It seems that my ally can't wait any longer." Cassius grinned, pressed Zariel firmly to the ground, and then stretched out the claw equipped with the beheading sword.

"Zariel, what was your biggest mistake?"

"Thorn-"

Before the other party could answer, Cassius suddenly swung his claws, and the silver-white flame of order and the holy light of heaven surged out.

The claw-tipped vortex sword pierced Zariel's chest fiercely, and the blood vaporized into dark red steam in the holy light.

"Your biggest mistake is standing in front of me and blocking the path of the Burning Empire's progress." Cassius said lightly.

"boom--"

Thunder suddenly roared in the sky with great force. The moment the tip of the sword touched the heart, the angelic essence that had been suppressed by the Lord of the Nine Hells burst out.

The blackened holy text on Zariel's breastplate suddenly lit up, like thousands of rays of morning light piercing through the dark clouds, and the chains wrapped around the remaining wings of Burning Sky also broke one by one.

Her pupils faded from their sulfurous color, briefly returning to the azure blue of the Seraph.

"This is."

In the severe pain, countless illusions appeared before Zariel's eyes:

Zariel saw her radiant light when she was on Mount Paradise, her grief and indignation when faced with the tragedy of devastating losses in the bloody battle, and her resoluteness when she fell into hell.

At that time, she vowed to end this eternal torment and bring a brighter future to the universe, even if it meant falling into hell.
But soon, Zariel also saw cities burning under her iron hoof, tens of thousands of mortals crying out under her atrocities, and innocent souls wailing in pain under her long whip.
She saw countless extremely tragic scenes, many of which were even as tragic as bloody battles.

The remaining spiritual power of heaven awakened the last bit of conscience in Zariel as an angel.

"So this is my atonement." Zariel laughed bitterly, holding the sword that pierced his chest, and letting the holy light burn his palms.

"Shh-"

Zariel exerted force suddenly and pushed the sword completely into the heart.

The Hellfire and the Holy Flame collided, confronted, and annihilated each other, creating a vortex of flames with a diameter of one hundred meters. Under the turbulence of energy, her body gradually crystallized, and even many parts of her dissipated into the air.

"Tell Bayer." At this last moment, the dying Zariel sneered at the red dragon in front of him, "In Hell, there will never be a winner."

In the end, the body of the fallen angel completely turned into ashes and dissipated in the wind, leaving only a scarlet crystal - that was the core of hell, a strange substance condensed from the soul of the lord of hell.

Cassius picked up the crystal with his claws and swallowed it into the other-dimensional space in his stomach. Then he flapped his dragon wings, stirred up a scorching gale, and soared into the air.

After Zariel's death, Avernus' connection with the material plane could no longer be maintained. The black sun in the sky shed tears of blood and slowly closed its eyes.

As space distorted, the black sun gradually became blurred and distorted, and finally disappeared out of thin air.

The entire material plane seemed to be rejoicing.

The dark clouds covering the sky suddenly dissipated, the space cracks slowly closed, the blood-red light faded, and was replaced by the brilliant light of the [Holy Day].

The devils that were fighting also noticed something strange.

"No, it's bad! Master Zariel has been killed!"

"Lord of the Nine Hells!"

The bodies of those low-level demons and little devils cracked like pottery. They screamed and fled to the cracks in hell, turning into illusory ghosts.

"This, this is impossible, how could Lord Zariel die! How could she die!" The hell demons struggled and roared frantically, but it was all in vain.

The gates of hell slowly opened, and countless chains stretched out from nowhere, dragging their bodies back to the Nine Hells.

Compared to those low-level devils, these powerful hell demons were more frightened, panicked, and even showed expressions of despair.

Because they knew that if Bayer returned to the throne, Avernus would face a major reshuffle from top to bottom, and their status, power and even lives would most likely cease to exist in this bloodbath.

What's more, many of Zariel's confidants were "heroes" who had participated in the overthrow of Bayer.

In the city of Auguste, the Holy Guards who had lost their master began to burn, gradually turning into charred humanoid remains. Even their wings turned to ashes and scattered everywhere.

Just like that, in just a few minutes, all the demons near August disappeared into the main material plane, leaving behind only a scorched earth and devastation.

The light of the Holy Day shines on the earth, illuminating the scarred land. The area around August City is covered with solidified lava.

The Imperials and Thracians, who had just recovered from the battle with the Devil's Legion, all raised their heads and looked toward the sky.

"Amaunator, above."

"That's... His Majesty Cassius!"

"He killed the devil, ended the disaster, and brought light to us!"

"Long live the great red dragon! His Majesty Cassius is the true King of the Sun!"

High in the sky, a red dragon was seen holding the scorching sun in its mouth and flapping its wings. Its red-gold scales sparkled in the sunlight, and the blurred light outlined its contour, making it look even more sacred.

Cassius roared, "As long as I am here, Augustus will always be shrouded in the glory of the sun!"

"Long live the Empire!"

"Long live His Majesty Cassius!"

In an instant, under the sunshine, almost everyone present - regardless of gender, age, or race, cheered and many even burst into tears, extremely excited.

After experiencing the despair of the black sun covering the sky, they had developed immense respect for the emperor who saved August from hell.

The sound rose and fell, like waves, one after another, for a long time.

Cassius looked down at the earth with his light golden pupils, feeling the surging power of faith rising up and pouring into his body.

New words appeared on his panel.

【The Destroyer】

"Tear up the oldest sheepskin contract in hell, judge the power of purgatory with your mortal body, and every crack in the crown of hell is an inscription of your merit."

(End of this chapter)