A few seconds earlier.
Dimensional Gap.
Asmoday led the Liyue faction gods straight toward the "Underworld."
As the Supreme God who mastered all "space laws" within the Teyvat Universe, she instantly saw through everything within the Underworld.
She then transmitted everything she saw to the divine army behind her.
"Merely two upper-god-level devils and two mid-god-level devils, plus ten thousand non-divine-level ones. Morax, capture that world using a standard Teyvat system cycle."
Asmoday's golden eyes were cold and authoritative as she spoke.
"I will suppress the instinct of that world to resist."
As she finished speaking, she raised her hand, and space laws condensed into a black and red cube glowing with a crimson aura, which she hurled toward the membrane of the world ahead.
Even within the Dimensional Gap, the cube of space struck the world membrane in the blink of an eye.
Though the attack seemed casual, it was actually a serious strike.
A world's barrier has far greater resistance against external forces than against internal ones.
When the spatial cube struck the world membrane, it exploded like a firework, fracturing into countless spatial cubes beyond what the eye could count.
The world membrane was violently torn open, leaving a massive wound thousands of kilometers long. The spatial cubes spun into a vortex, wedging into the wound's center and preventing the world from healing itself.
The scene looked as though the world had opened its eyes.
At that instant, the world's instinct began to fight back.
Rejection force from the Underworld surged toward Asmoday.
Expressionless, Asmoday manifested the phantom of the Teyvat Universe behind her. All of the world's counterattack was absorbed by the Teyvat Universe.
She continuously released space laws more advanced than this world's. The linked spatial cubes extended like tendrils into the depths of the Underworld.
Teyvat's power was used to suppress the world's instinct.
To use an analogy: if the world were a person, then this was the equivalent of knocking that person unconscious—rendering them unable to resist, and thus free to be manipulated.
Morax, holding his spear, responded calmly, "Understood."
As he spoke, a divine ring marked with the Geo element appeared behind him.
The laws of Geo surged toward the torn section of the world membrane.
Even though the other world had no such thing as the Geo element, and its laws were already claimed, this invasion was backed by the entire Teyvat Universe.
Every operative drew their power directly from Teyvat, so there would be no issue of "not adapting to local rules."
In any world with gods, the laws were owned. Without Teyvat as backing, even a Primary God could lose to an Upper God on enemy turf.
That's the power of home-field advantage.
"Let's start with intimidation."
"Planet Befall."
Zhongli didn't go all out—he used only ten percent of his strength.
After all, his goal was deterrence, not slaughter.
Living devils were far more useful than dead ones. If they could bring all the devils of the Underworld into the pantheon, that would be a tremendous accomplishment—and one that would provide deep future reserves for the Liyue faction.
Besides, his superior had granted him one Teyvat system cycle's worth of time.
Though brief, he believed it was more than enough.
After all, the strongest beings in the entire Underworld were just at the upper-god level.
...
A massive "Planet Befall," fifty kilometers in size, descended from the swirling sky, crashing toward the devil army.
This was not just a boulder formed by Geo elements—it carried "laws." The moment it appeared, a crushing, solemn aura descended with it, pressing down on the devil army.
Whether it was lesser devils or greater devils, all of them were swatted down like flies, plummeting to the ground at incredible speed.
The sound of devils hitting the earth resembled a torrential downpour.
This overwhelming force—if analyzed by a scientist—would surely be mistaken for gravity.
The heavy presence of Geo, from a certain perspective, was identical to gravity, but in essence, it was something fundamentally different.
The sudden terror gripped the fallen devils, who screamed in panic.
"Aaaah—"
"Help! A star from the sky is falling into the Underworld!"
"No, I don't want to die!"
"I can't move!"
"Lord Satan! I don't want to die!"
Rias was pinned to the ground, trembling, staring up at the descending Planet Befall that blotted out the sky. As it drew closer, her fear intensified exponentially. Her eyes filled with despair.
The Planet Befall was so massive, it filled her entire field of vision.
Other than despair, only one thought remained in her mind:
We're doomed.
All the devils here would die.
This entire vast region would be permanently reshaped by the impact of this star.
Only beings at the Satan level could even move under this star.
The Four Great Satans, after a brief moment of shock, unleashed their full strength without hesitation and launched their attacks at the Planet Befall.
Four streaks of light shot straight toward the massive object.
Their roars echoed through the realm:
"Obliteration Burst!"
"Demonic Freeze Lance!"
"Tyrant's Equation!"
"Absolute Rebound Energy!"
Red, blue, green, and orange magic circles burst into formation beneath the Planet Befall like a storm of fireworks. In the blink of an eye, thousands of magic circles formed and expanded in every direction.
In a flash, the magic arrays covered the entire sky.
From each circle, red lightning blasts, icy spears, green energy threads, and rebounding shockwaves fired continuously.
The brilliant magical light turned sky pale white.
These attacks all carried the power of "rules."
Sirzechs, the strongest devil, wielded the Will of Destruction.
Ajuka mastered the Law of Direction, freely manipulating the direction of any incoming attack and even amplifying its speed and power.
Falbium held the Law of Rebound and Defense.
Serafall had command over a sliver of the Law of Ice.
BOOOOM——
Countless magical attacks struck the Planet Befall. The flash of light blinded all devils below the Satan level.
But even under such an onslaught, the Planet Befall's speed didn't decrease—it only lost an outer layer.
As it descended closer, the crushing pressure grew even stronger, forcing even floating mountains to crash to the ground.
"Aaaaaaaah—"
The Four Great Satans screamed with madness, draining every ounce of strength from their bodies.
The speed of their spellcasting doubled.
The entire Underworld was lit up by the radiance of their attacks.
BOOM——
It finally worked.
Under the frenzied barrage, the Planet Befall shattered.
A deafening explosion shook the Underworld. The fragmented star scattered in every direction.
Each piece, as it landed, unleashed devastation across the land.
Even a single shard could kill a high-class devil.
BOOM—
The Four Great Satans were struck by the shockwave and hurled from the sky.
They crashed through several floating mountains before slamming into the ground.
The impact left a crater over a kilometer deep.
Exhausted, the Four Great Satans lay at the bottom of the pit, staring upward with bloodshot, trembling eyes.
The Planet Befall was gone.
But the being who had summoned it now descended—alongside a group of god-level entities beyond even Satans.
Behind him shone divine rings, and his golden eyes looked down arrogantly upon the entire land.
An aura far beyond that of any "Transcendent" pressed down on the world.
The devils who survived the Planet Befall's impact stared in fear, despair, and dazed silence at the foreign divine army descending into the Underworld through the rift in the world membrane.
Under the overwhelming presence of the strongest god among them, not a single devil had the courage to resist. Their bodies were frozen stiff, like statues.
Some of the highest-ranked devils had met gods from other worlds before, but none had ever encountered such an overwhelming aura.
In their eyes, the scene unfolding now was...
An unfathomably powerful god from another world, on par with the God of the Bible, descended from the swirling crimson vortex along with a host of gods.
Behind him, divine rings radiated light as brilliant as the sun.
Countless strange red cubes formed tendrils that stretched from the crimson vortex toward the depths of the Underworld sky.
The tendrils spread like an enormous net, as if to capture the entire Underworld.
"It's over..."
The Four Great Satans looked up at the terrifying divine army, hearts sinking to rock bottom.
The first strike had already made it clear they were here to capture everything in one go. Was there really no option but the worst one?
They had exhausted all their demonic energy just to shatter the Planet Befall.
And the aura of this god was far stronger than that star—it might have just been a casual strike.
Sirzechs rose from the center of the crater. Though uninjured, he had little energy left.
Ajuka, Serafall, and Falbium also climbed up from the pit.
Serafall gave a tearful, helpless smile. "Sirzechs, Ajuka, I've got nothing left. I'm sorry. It looks like they have no intention of negotiating peace."
Sirzechs' face darkened.
He was about to declare his willingness to die fighting for their race when a powerful, domineering voice echoed from the sky.
"Devils of the Underworld, we have come to conquer."
"The Teyvat World offers you two choices."
"First, resist us with the resolve to die. Teyvat will grant you the dignity you deserve. You will fall as heroes who protected your world."
"Second, join our Pantheon. Become one of us. We will treat you as kin, as family, as brothers and sisters."
"You have ten minutes to decide. After ten minutes, we will purge all resistance."
Morax released his full divine aura, gazing down at the devils below.
These devils were already the elite of the entire Underworld.
At this moment, the entire Underworld's devil population barely exceeded one million—and the vast majority were lower devils transformed from humans. Pure-blooded devils numbered fewer than ten thousand.
The devil race had nearly been wiped out in the last war.
If their leadership made even one rash move, the entire race could vanish.
As ruler of Liyue for thousands of years, Morax knew exactly how to govern.
Use a threat capable of total extinction to create deterrence, then offer clear rewards for submission.
In the face of a species' survival, all other issues became fleeting concerns.
The Four Great Satans, who had been ready to fight to the death for their race's future, were momentarily stunned.
Their preparations to burn their life force halted.
In that instant, it felt like even the Underworld sky had become as bright as the human world.
Exchanging glances, they let out a long sigh of relief and quickly shared their thoughts.
They raised their heads, looking up at the majestic gods from another world, and, with forced courage, flew toward them.
Wasn't this exactly what they had hoped for deep down?
Suddenly, it all made sense—why the enemy had attacked so violently at first.
As rulers, they understood: this was about establishing dominance.
As for whether the offer was genuine or a lie...
How could a god on par with the God of the Bible stoop to lying? Unless they held a divine authority over lies.
But clearly, the aura this god emanated—so open, vast, and dignified—was unmistakably that of a martial god.
The devils pinned to the ground by pressure stared in fear, despair, and shock as their Satans flew toward that terrifying existence.
They had no idea what choice the Satans would make.
But none of them had the will to stand and fight anymore.
In the moment under the Planet Befall, all their will had been crushed.
Rias and Sona looked up at their "brother" and "sister."
They knew exactly what choice their siblings would make.
There was no shame in it.
These foreign gods were so overwhelmingly powerful that even if the entire Underworld united, they could not resist.
When the one oppressing you is so powerful that you cannot even fathom their strength, their words become absolute truth.
Morax looked at the Four Great Satans flying toward him without hesitation and retracted the oppressive aura. His golden eyes gazed at them calmly.
There was no surprise in his expression. In fact, this was exactly as it should be.
As long as reason existed, no one would make a suicidal choice.
Sirzechs was the first to arrive before the foreign god. A red magic circle appeared at his feet as he knelt on one knee without hesitation and bowed his head.
The other three Satans followed suit, kneeling and bowing.
Though bitter, they understood—they had no right to resist.
Resistance would mean annihilation of their entire race.
No one would doubt the words of such powerful gods. They weren't joking.
If they said it, they would do it.
And the offer wasn't slavery. They promised that those who submitted would become true members of their pantheon—equal in status.
Sirzechs spoke: "Of the 72 Pillar Families of the Underworld, 33 remain. All are willing to submit. The four of us speak on their behalf."
Ajuka asked, "May we know your divine name?"
Morax lowered his spear and clasped his hands behind his back.
"I am Morax, Primary God of the Teyvat Pantheon. Since you are willing to submit, then join us."
Noah had temporarily granted Morax the authority to induct others into the pantheon.
With that, Morax added the Four Great Satans to the divine group.
Upon hearing the name "Morax," the Four Great Satans were visibly shaken. Their eyes widened.
"What!?"
"Morax!?"
As families descended from the 72 Pillar Devils, they were all too familiar with that name.
Originally ranked 21st, Morax had perished in an ancient war alongside the God of the Bible. The entire family line was thought extinct.
What was going on?
Coincidence? Imposs—
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