BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!

The entire pit rumbled and the magma columns along its side frothed and churned as the blade made landfall! For a moment it was as if the whole pit had turned from night to a seemingly purple day!

WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHH!!!!!!

A gale of wind gushed from the bottom of the pit and rattled Lineir in his flight. He was actually flitting from place to place with his fire wings trying to avoid hundreds of thousands of demons which had been dislodged from the pit walls and were falling from above!

"ARGHHHHHHHHHHHH"

"GRAWWWRR SO CLOSE!!!'

"NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Their pitiful screams rent the air as those without wings were helplessly tossed into nigh certain death!

"Kiddo, you gotta get down there now! Though that attack might have looked impressive this is a Hellhole, more forces will be teleported here as soon as the special turbulence dies down!" Mei cried out and Lineir shot down in response,

"Got it!"

As Lineir approached the ground he gradually made out a nightmarish scene. There was death and devastation, the floor of the Hellhole had been utterly decimated by Dahn's technique. Destroyed demon bodies sprawled across the ground. Those were the ones which were lucky enough to die with whole bodies. Likely, these were the demons which had fallen from the walls of the pit in the aftermath of that vicious blow. As for those demons which had been on the floor when the sword landed...they were perhaps being breathed in by Lineir right now as a fine mist or simply ceased to exist! This was the terrible price of life and death paid for true power. Though these were the forces of the Hells, Lineir's conviction was shaken at seeing such a gruesome scene. Was this what he sought power for? The ability to create this destruction? There was glory in it, a terrible glory. But more so...who would want this?

"They would do that and worse upon your world." Mizuchi suddenly said and Lineir refocused. She sounded oddly mature in that moment. Once again he questioned her true intentions. This whole scene had happened because of her...was she really just playing or was there something else at work here behind the scenes?

"I know. Do not worry. My Third Heart is too strong to falter here. However, is this really the fate of us all, to engage in endless slaughter until the senior generation rains down destruction from above and so on as the other side responds in kind? Is that what I pursue power for? I just want to survive in this world and bring my sister the kind of life we never had. When will it be enough...Never?" He said. Mizuchi simply refused to respond afterwards. Shrugging Lineir squared his shoulders and touched down on the bottom of the Hellhole. His feet sank into the warm red rock.

"Mizuchi, where do I need to bring you to seal this place?" He asked while looking around. It was quiet. There was not a living thing in sight for the moment. The rain of falling demons had stopped and in the freakish red glow of the molten magma bubbling all around Lineir felt extremely isolated.

"Bring me to the center of the pit. There will be a transfer formation there and another Command Tablet. Strike the Command Tablet with me and I will destroy it." She said and Lineir began to walk carefully. The Hellhole was massive after all. It would take him some time to find the center and he prayed that he could find the tablet before more demons came.

"The next wave is coming soon. And no doubt once their fear settles, some of the survivors on the walls will come down and check on the floor. If I use my phoenix wings I'll give my position away when that happens. I'll have to search on foot. Ugh...so slow." Lineir lamented. He was coming to realize that while flight was an invaluable tool, it had its limitations and at his level wasn't always the best choice. For the time being he proceeded quickly but maintaining maximum caution using his movement techniques to quickly cover the kilometers. After some time,

Sizzle....sizzle....

"Ugh. The ground is starting to heat up. It's eating through my protective Qi and burning my boots. Perhaps that means I'm getting closer to the center?" Lineir remarked while looking at his soles. Soon he was forced to pump up his protective Qi defenses. After all while the heat wouldn't cause serious damage to his strong physical body, he would prefer not to let it damage his equipment! Despite the fact that his equipment was random garbage he had picked up from weak Chosen, Lineir was something of a miser!

"Ahhkkk..." There was a crumbling moan. It's weary owner sounded like it had given up on anything and everything. Lineir on high alert quickly saw that it was a demon. Well, what remained of a demon. Heavily injured, the main torso was rent with grievous wounds and was missing 5 out of 6 limbs. It stared pitifully at him with one its one bloody eye left and gasped at him,

"Human!! Put me out of my misery! I just wanted...to see the sky again... it's been....so long....aaahkkkk..." It hacked and as it did its wounds were agitated. Soon it was unable to even speak. However its pained eye continued to glare at him and Lineir sighed.

"As you wish." He said and ended the demon's suffering. He wondered. Why did the Hells have to forever seek to breach the mortal realm? What motivation did both sides have to constantly war since the beginning of recorded time? Was this merely the will of Fate itself? Who benefited from this? At the moment it looked like there was no real winner. How many mortal empires, civilizations had fallen since the beginning of time to the Hell's onslaught? How many demons had ended up broken and defeated under the banner of the Imperial Armies and the Old Guard?

"Kiddo. Don't think too much about this now. You must understand, there is more to life than simply growing powerful, but those who disdain the path to true power end up unable to change anything! In this messed up world, what choice do we cultivators have to enact true lasting change but to war! To war against the Heavens, to war against the Hells, to war against even each other? Mortals enact change for generations but all eventually pass away with the ages. Only a true immortal could have the power to rewrite the laws and seize control of the reins of destiny. You are a cultivator, you must cast aside your doubts or be left behind with them."

Mei voiced her thoughts with the wisdom of her experience and Lineir hardened his heart. He stowed away these new doubts and only allowed himself a little sigh. How simple things were when all he had to worry about was returning to his sister and fighting the White Horizon Sect.

"Truly...to stand on a grander path one must be willing to sacrifice."

Swwwwiiiiiittt!!!! Ping!

Lineir raised a bone scythe and deflected a maroon devilish arrow into the ground.

"An attack? Not good I've been spotted." He quickly flickered and disappeared under a huge boulder formation. "That arrow had very little power. Either its owner was very weak or that arrow came from far away, it's unlikely that they are clear I'm a human just yet. The demon race is famed for its infighting, they probably just thought I was an easy target. I doubt I've been exposed just yet."

He forced himself to remain cold and calm though at any moment he might become the public enemy of the entire pit.

"I better silence whoever just attacked me before heading on. Archers often practice strong detection techniques along with their distance attacks. They'd have the highest chance of learning that I am no demon." He smirked. With his bone scythes extended and his Madness aura he did very much resemble a mixed demon race member. Using his divine sense he quickly sensed a faint presence at a medium range. Smoothly he rose from cover and crossed his arms so that his bone scythes protected his upper body and rushed the archer!

Twang! Peng! Peng!

The attacks which came had a strong strength component, indicative of a natural born physical build. However, they lacked any real comprehension of the laws and Lineir blocked them with little difficulty with his bone scythes. Before the archer could unleash more than two attacks Lineir had reached him!

"Grawr!! You're not a dem--!" The demon began to say before Lineir sliced through his hastily raised bow and decapitated him.

"Hmph. Small fry. Must have survived the assault by hiding deeper in the pit or maybe this is one of the ones which fell off the wall...No matter, time to get going." Lineir started to get going when suddenly the pit began to melt and a hideous laughter came,

"Too easy."

Lineir heard Mei's warning at that moment as if from too far away,

"Not good! This is an illusion formation!"