I am not a cruel man by nature. Once, I had sought enlightenment and peace, striving to rise above the conflicts that plagued our world. Now, I found myself on a mission of eradication, my hands destined to be stained with blood.
As each zealot fell before me, I felt no joy, no satisfaction, only an unfaltering determination to see my decision through to the end. I knew that this was not a path chosen lightly, but one necessitated by the horrors that would follow if I faltered, if I failed.
I stood alone in the aftermath, the bodies of the fallen strewn around me. The sect was no more, its followers wiped out to the last. I had done what was necessary, but the weight of my actions settled heavily on my soul.
The Absolute Asura cultists were annihilated.
I believe it is true what I once heard: true power lies not in the strength of one's fist, but in the resolve of one's heart.
There was one thing that surprised me, I pushed open a massive door at the far end of the sect, hidden even beyond the site of resurrection, its hinges groaning under the weight of centuries. Inside, the air was cool, untouched by the violence that had ravaged the rest of the stronghold. Shelves lined the walls, filled with scrolls and ancient tomes, the collected knowledge of the sect. I tried to search for anything worth preserving, searching for anything that might hold the key to understanding what the Absolute Asura wanted.
One scroll, in particular, caught my attention, its edges worn and frayed, the ink faded from time. I reached for it, the parchment almost crumbling under my fingers as I carefully unfurled it. The script was unfamiliar at first, written in a dialect long forgotten, but as I traced the symbols, their meaning slowly became clear.
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"Die once, live thrice; die thrice, live true."
The words sent a shiver down my spine. The phrase echoed the teachings of ascension, yet it carried a darker, more enigmatic tone. I read on, the scripture unraveling before me like a riddle:
"The first death breaks the body, the second death shatters the soul, the third death annihilates the self. But only through this cycle can one truly transcend the shackles of immortal existence and grasp the essence of true life."
The weight of the words settled heavily in my mind, each phrase resonating with an unsettling truth. I thought of the Absolute Asura, of his followers who had willingly embraced death and destruction in their pursuit of power. Was this their guiding doctrine? A belief that only through the ultimate sacrifice, through the destruction of self, could they attain a higher state of being?
But the scripture spoke of something more profound, something that stirred a deep, unspoken fear within me. What if this was not just a doctrine of the sect but a universal truth? A truth that applied not only to those who sought chaos but to all beings, myself included?
If this had been said in the lower realms, I might not have paid it any mind. But the Absolute Asura was a being who stood at the peak, alongside many others. Yet, as I delved deeper into this phrase, I discovered that it was echoed not only by the followers of the Absolute Asura but also by the Heavenly Demon cult and the cult of the Dual Demon. All three of these sects, bound by the same scripture.
A trinity of the same belief, a trinity formed of three demons. No a Trinity formed of two demons, the Heavenly Demon and the Dual Demon are one and the same, yet the Absolute Asura is not. Or am I missing something?
There is something greater brewing here, something beyond my comprehension. I can only hope that I have not erred.