Red.

Deep red.

That was all he could see.

"So it was accepted"

An ordinary person would have started panicking, but not him. This was a sign that he had succeeded.

The Origin had granted him the right to ascend.

"That thing was right in the end, push my path beyond the limit of mortals and I would only have to sacrifice a continent"

The demon shook his head and sighed.

"It took thousands of years just to raise my path to the level of gods, it would've been quicker to complete the original condition and sacrifice the world. But that thing said if I followed this method, that would happen."

He looked around the cocoon, taking in the result of his efforts, before narrowing his eyes at a spot where Devil Essence was pushing itself.

"If it was right about this, then it must be right about that"

Closing his eyes, he slowly inhaled, steeling himself for what was about to come. Obtaining the right to ascend was an achievement in and of itself, but it was only the first step. The real achievement was ascending to the Realm of Gods, and that was the demon's goal.

The demon exhaled. He was ready.

"It's time to ascend"

The moment the words left his mouth, Devil Essence rushed into the cocoon, quickly filling it up but this was just a tiny fraction of the Devil Essence that lay outside the confines of the cocoon. Every single pore of the demon's body opened, inviting the essence inside, an invitation that it accepted without hesitation as it rushed inside.

The Devil Essence ran rampant inside the demon's body, rushing into every cell causing them to deteriorate. His lustrous skin began to wither, its vitality slowly disappearing. After a few moments, the demon's muscular physique was no more all that was left was skin and bones.

But that was not the end.

Every organ held within his vessel...exploded. Parts of his skin burst out with blood and pieces of various organs.

Had the demon failed the ascension process?

No.

This was merely the first stage of Devil Ascension: Destruction of the Mortal Body.

And this stage was almost complete.

The fleshy bag of bones burst apart as the demon's bones exploded leaving behind white fragments with parts of withered skin stuck to them.

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The first stage was complete.

Only a purple orb remained, floating above the remains of the demon's mortal vessel. The flow of Devil Essence shifted to this orb, however unlike the body, the orb remained intact.

Instead, it seemed to be changing. Growing. Evolving. The shackles of mortality were broken. The purple orb turned a shade darker, and an intense aura started leaking from it. The Demon Core had ascended and became a Devil Core.

Stage two, Core Ascension, was complete.

The aura from the core moved towards the remains of the demon's body, gathering them into a ball of flesh and bone. The Devil Core glowed brightly and pulled the ball towards it until the two touched each other. The core's light dimmed as it started to absorb the ball until both the core's light and the ball had disappeared. Throughout this entire process, the Devil Essence continued the flow into the core but as soon as the ball of flesh and bone was fully absorbed, the remaining Devil Essence rushed into the core.

This was no small amount either. Stages 1 and 2 used about a third of the crimson ocean, meaning that the amount of Devil Essence that had just entered the Devil Core was the remaining two-thirds of the Devil Essence.

Nothing happened.

The core remained floating in the centre of the cocoon.

A few moments passed, yet there was still no reaction.

But then, thin streams of violet energy flowed out of the core moving in different directions. A structure was being created by these streams, at first, it wasn't recognisable, but as time passed it became apparent that it was a skeleton. A devil's skeleton. It was quite apparent from the large, thick horns that reached towards the sky.

Once the skeletal structure was complete, the energy began to darken and congeal. Soon, a jet-black horned skeleton floated in a meditative position with the Devil Core floating in the top left side of the ribcage.

More streams of energy exited the core and began to twist and entwine around various parts of the skeleton. Some flowed into the skull whereas some hovered in the ribcage, unlike how it was with the skeleton, the energy rapidly solidified quickly forming the fleshy parts of the devil's body.

Now a skinless being floated in the cocoon, its flesh various shades of purple. The core was no longer visible, it was now deep within the body of this skinless being, sitting in the position of the heart.

Stage 3, Body Formation, had reached its final step.

Skin began to form, covering the purple flesh of the devil, a layer of the darkest of blacks spread over the being's form.

Once the skull had gained skin, strands of snow-white hair rapidly grew out reaching the middle of the devil's back. The devil's eyelids snapped open, revealing a set of violet pupils that seemed to pull in the world around them. Interestingly, the devil's face only consisted of his eyes, he no longer possessed a mouth or a nose.

But that didn't worry him at all. Instead, he relished the feeling that assaulted his senses.

Freedom.

That's what he felt.

He was no longer bound by mortality.

He indulged in the moment for some time before focusing his attention on his surroundings.

The cocoon was rising.

It was taking him to a realm that could hold beings of his power.

The Realm of Gods.

It would take some time for him to reach his destination, so he turned his attention to his body, only to realise he was naked. His garments had been destroyed during the process. As he wondered about his clothing situation, particles of light began to gather around his lower body, slowly forming a white battle skirt.

Confusion was visible in the devil's eyes.

"Did that thing help me out?"

The devil thought back to the entity that he met all those years ago.

"Has it been watching me all this time?"

The devil shook his head, whoever or whatever helped him out, likely had good intentions for if they were capable of controlling those light particles to create clothes, then they could easily use them to kill him. He had sensed it. The power of those light particles was above his, there was no doubt about it.

For now, he could only hope for this to be a one-off interaction. Otherwise, it would be quite problematic if he had a being higher in the hierarchy watching his actions.

His thought process was brought to an end by the cocoon coming to a halt.

He had finally arrived.