The Spire of Ascension.
Floor 100.
Not all floors of the Spire of Ascension are made like mazes, where the walls are made up of mithril and adamantine.
Floor 100, which is the topmost floor of the Spire of Ascension, is a vast solar system in itself.
There is a sun, moon, plants, etc... just that there's no life in this solar system; it's completely empty.
This is a perfect place for not only one, but several SS-rankers to go wild without caring about anything at all.
"I take it that you have completely betrayed humanity then..."
Sitting on a small boulder, Ashtel sighed while saying those words. After getting sucked into the portal, he found himself standing on this empty and barren planet.
Neo was standing opposite him, not far away, and it is clearly the real body this time.
"Where is this place?"
Ashtel glanced around him, and with his mana detection and amazing eyesight, he noticed that there's no living beings on this entire planet except for the two of them.
Neo smirked at that question and spoke in a smug tone.
"This is inside the spire of Ascension; we are currently at the very top floor..."
Ashtel smirked at those words.
"This place is completely empty; there's no hostages or anything at all; how are you going to make me hold back if you don't have some hostages?"
Neo and Ashtel suddenly laughed out loud at each other together.
"You really know me quite well, don't you, Ashtel! I always make thorough plans, so obviously I won't do things so sloppily..."
"Usually, I would need hostages to blackmail my enemies, but that won't work on you, so I don't think it's necessary..."
Neo has fought many battles together with Ashtel; he's completely aware that Ashtel is not a kindhearted person either; he is capable of being cold-hearted when the need arises.
If the threat of the enemy exceeds certain limits, Ashtel can afford to sacrifice the hostages to deal with the enemy first.
"What I don't understand is, why not take my son Link or someone else close to me as hostage? That would have been more effective, right?"
"Have you lost your mind now that you have joined the side of demons?"
Just like Neo knows all about Ashtel, the same is true for Ashtel too; he knows that Neo is the type of person who can go to any lengths to get his goals accomplished.
Neo sighed at that question, leaned his back against a giant boulder, and spoke in a calm tone.
"I would have also liked to do so actually, but you see, this Spire of Ascension doesn't belong to me... It won't obey my commands; it belongs to the demon I am partnering with..."
"His name is Alverto, a demon prince who's first in line for the demon throne..."
Ashtel frowned at those words and asked in a curious tone,
"You keep mentioning this 'Spire of Ascension,' but what exactly is this thing?"
Neo sighed at that question and replied immediately,
"Normally I wouldn't have told you about it, but my plane is already 99 percent completed; the only part that's left is that I need to stall you here for the next three hours..."
"I was originally thinking it would be quite the hassle, but you are just making my work easier by doing this pointless talk... so let's keep going..."
Ashtel just shrugged his shoulders at those words.
"Indeed, normally I would have shattered your skull by now, but I am quite curious right now about what's giving you such confidence, so I am going to wait and see..."
Neo smirked at those words of Ashtel,
"Your arrogance will be your demise. Ashtel Rex, you are too overconfident in your abilities, it seems..."
"Forget it... Let's continue where we left off..."
"The Spire of Ascension is basically a giant 'Medium'; it's a medium to get in touch with the 'core' of the world..."
"The power that sustains the world, the power that from which everything came to exist... The Spire of Ascension is a medium to get in touch with the power of 'Origin'!"
Neo stared into Ashtel's eyes and continued,
"I believe even you know that the power of 'Origin' is the supreme power in this world... There's nothing that can defy it in this entire universe..."
"Mana, miasma, laws of the world, the living, the dead, etc.-everything came to exist from the 'Origin', its power is so immense that it's immeasurable!"
Neo shook his head at that moment.
"That's all I know about the Spire of Ascension; Alverto only gave me these few clues; he said whomever can successfully gain the favor of the 'Origin', can rule the world easily!"
"Alverto is a cautious man; I couldn't get anymore information out of him-"
At that moment, Ashtel interjected suddenly,
"And you don't believe anything of this bullsh*t at all, right?"
Neo and Ashtel's eyes met, and the two of them laughed out loud once again.
"You really know me well... Yeah, I don't believe any of this bullsh*t either; there's no such thing called 'origin' it's just a myth made up by that vile demon..."
"The fact is that if there really was an 'Origin', this world wouldn't have been such a sh*tty state as it is right now!"
"Anyway, Alverto's plan is to use the spire of ascension to get in touch with the 'Origin'..."
Ashtel was a bit disappointed after hearing that.
"It's just that simple? It's kind of disappointing... I thought it was some grandiose plan or something..."
Neo shrugged his shoulders and replied in a calm tone,
"Well, I don't know the full extent of his plans, and I don't know more than what he has told me through random conversation... But yeah, that's the gist of it..."
"He's just a fool who's trying to achieve something that pointless from the start. I always knew demons were delusional sh*ts, but their prince is even more of a weirdo..."
"I only joined that guy's side because of my own benefits; once I am done with you, the next thing I will do is go and kill Alverto, Jin, and all the other SS-rankers in the world..." "While I am at it, I will also kill every single being who has the potential to become SS-ranker in the future just to be sure..."
The more Neo talked, the more amused Ashtel became.
"I think you really have gone insane or something; you are saying that not only will you kill me but all of the SS-rankers in the entire world? Are you out of your mind or what?" "Even if you target the SS-rankers one by one, the alliance will eventually notice that several SS-rankers have gone missing, and then all of them will unite to fight you together..."
"I am confident that I can deal with the entire alliance alone, but can you do that too?"
Neo nodded his head with a smile on his face.
"Think about it, Ashtel. If I can kill you here who can beat the entire alliance alone, can't I just defeat the alliance too? You are just wasting time on purpose now by asking random
questions, aren't you?..."
"This is the exact reason I hate you so much; you are overconfident, you are brash, you don't care about others thoughts, and you make others obey you without giving anything in
return!"
"You are a selfish, piece of sh*t Ashtel Rex! The only reason why you are so strong is because you were blessed with great talents!! Without them, you are nothing! Nothing at all!"
Ashtel got up from his seat and laughed in amusement.
"It's been a while since someone last cursed at me so much... I think the last time someone did
such a thing was during the fifty-year Orc..."
"I made a sculpture out of the other party's corpse afterwards, you know..."
Ashtel sighed to himself and spoke in calm tone.
"Talented? Blessed? Hahaha, you think I was born blessed hahaha, seriously... You claim that
I know you well, but it seems you don't know me at all, Neo, not even the tiniest bit..." "Well, I don't blame you; people only look at results after all; they don't look at how much hard work you have done to reach those results..."
"Forget it; I don't care what your or that demon prince's plan is; either stop me here, or I will destroy it all along with this so-called 'Spire of Ascension' that the two of you have worked so hard to summon..."
"I don't like the look of it anyway; it seems more like some kind of demonic and cursed entity instead of an instrument that can contact the true 'Origin'..."
Neo also nodded his head at that moment.
"Yes, that's what I was aiming for too... There isn't really any need for us to talk about each
other anymore; we are mortal enemies; we will kill each other just for the sake of it..."
"There's no other deeper meaning to it... Just like you can't allow others to go rouge and always try to make others stay disciplined and morally good..."
"I can't allow you to manipulate me to do as you tell me; I will do whatever the f*ck I want to!
If I want to force others to become my summons, I will do it without hesitation, and it has nothing to do with you!"
"You have been suppressing me and have been meddling in my business for too long now, Ashtel Rex! It's time we settle it all for once and all!"
As Neo waved his hand, twelve more portals opened in the sky nearby, and twelve more SS- rank auras pressured on Ashtel all at once along with Neo.