Mustering the full depth of her willpower, Rati suppressed any show of ire to grace Konrad with a disarming smile.

"Rudra, Rudra, I've seen my fair share of dissolute rogues, but I must admit that you put the worst of them to shame. If I were mortal, you'd probably infuriate me to death."

Rati remarked in a playful tone, making no attempt to fight her way out of Konrad's grasp. There was no point. When the man could take down Half-Step Legendary Gods with more ease than plucking fruits from a tree, what purpose did resistance serve? Instead, using her wiles to pull critical information from him surely was more valuable.

As she spoke, the devi nestled against Konrad's shoulder lifting up her chin as her long, silky hairs draped his chest and shoulder. Her cheek brushed his, and while her gleaming eyes peered into his, Rati's lips stopped an inch away from Konrad's. According to Nehal, though incomparably mighty, the Chthonian Primogen possessed one horrendous flaw: Lasciviousness.

Unrestrained in wantonness, terrorizing men and taking their women. If at first, Rati didn't dare believe Nahal's words, when faced with Konrad's rake-like behavior, she was inclined to take her niece's words at face value. Men ultimately were simple specimens. Bat a few eyelashes, flash a few smiles, nestle against their chests and in a flash, they danced in your palm.

Back in those days, didn't Asmodeus play the majority of Hell's Primogens in the same manner? If that "Rudra" was of the same mold, then the situation wasn't entirely hopeless.

"Forward, I like. Then let's resume where we left off."

Konrad chortled before leaning down and seizing Rati's lips with his. How could he not see through her thoughts? If the devi wanted to play, as a cultured man, he was duty-bound to entertain her...with soul-searing flames!

The moment their lips connected, Rati felt as if her very soul had suddenly been cast into a blazing furnace. Her heart rate spiraled out of control, beating at a speed that would have ended a mortal's life while her porcelain white cheeks and face reddened at the same pace.

Alarmed, Rati instinctively tried to resist, but as if animated with a will of its own, a traitorous will that didn't belong to her, her body refused to obey. When her hands did move, she was wrapping her arms around Konrad's neck, pulling him deeper, and coiling her tongue around his in an ardent, languorous kiss that kept her eyes wide open.

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before she tore off her clothes!

Rati's knees weakened, her mind blanked, and struggle died in her heart as Konrad lowered her onto the ground with their tongues still intertwining in that soul-stirring kiss. For the first time in eons, Rati felt her inner thighs moisten, and like a broken dam, the excitation juice drenching her pants unleashed tidal waves. As her mind fell to the Devil's grasp, Rati's ample breasts pressed her oppressors' muscular chest, and she panted in his lips, releasing crass moans she didn't know herself capable of.

There, Konrad broke the kiss, letting Rati's moans echo in a tantalizing tune as she subconsciously spread open her legs.

"Ahh...ahh...ahh…"

The Mara devi panted against Konrad's face while he remained on top of her, trapping her between his arms. In a flash, Rati felt herself freed of the eldritch forces throwing her ancient mind into chaos, but still, her heart erratically beat, and now genuinely frightened, she quivered like an alarmed kitten within Konrad's supreme grasp.

"Beautiful, this is my game. I decide the start, I decide the end. I set the rules, and you follow them...even when you don't know you are. Try as you might, you...have no control."

Konrad clarified before planting a hickey on Rati's neck. Now she realized her folly, striving to tempt the Devil was no different from throwing an egg against a rock, or diving into self-immolation.

And as Konrad's breath grazed her, Rati felt herself shrinking, and Konrad expanding, becoming a giant of immeasurable proportion that kept her pinned within the palm of his hand.

Her fate now held a new master.

...

Meanwhile, deep within the Essence Nurturing forest, the Nature Spirits' leader and High Custodian felt the demise of two elders and seven great guardians. His mind reeled and alarmed he stood up

"Who, who could it be? Have the Deva Primogens arrived? Or did a new powerhouse emerge? Forest, speak to me."

The High Custodian beseeched with a deep bow. No words echoed and a weighty silence followed. But when the High Custodian straightened his back and raised his eyes, they shone with enlightenment!

"I see. The enemy is beyond what I can handle. But the same doesn't apply to the rest. Forest, I understand."

The High Custodian replied to his invisible, mute interlocutor, before connecting to all his dispatched elders and tribesmen's mind.

"Return to me. If brawn alone won't triumph over that new force, then brain shall lead the way."

The High Custodian declared, and instantly, the dozens of Nature Spirits rushed from the shadows of the forest to go back to his side, forming circles around him. Unsurprisingly more than one had already fallen to the Silent Blades.

Constraining his wrath, the High Custodian soared into the sky, turning into a radiant emerald beam swelled by dreadful Life Laws! The High Custodian had achieved Life Wielding!

At his back, around 140 Nature Spirits at the Cosmic God Rank or above followed, all moving toward a single location:

Verena!

At the same time, from within the forest's depths, three sources of tremendous energies rose, soaring toward Heaven's sky in three mesmerizing emerald pillars that announced the birth of unprecedented Life Treasures!

...

Before, due to the forest's suppression, the Life Plates of the fallen devas didn't break, fooling the Cardinal Lords into thinking their kin and disciples safe. However, when the three pillars rose into the sky, hundreds of life plates broke simultaneously!

Not a single male deva at the High God Rank or above survived! As for the devis, who knew what horrendous fate they suffered?!

"Suppress the news at first, then release them in one go? Lure, this is a lure."

Surya reasoned. And though the loss of his close brother daggered his heart, he remained stoic. Unlike the other Cardinal Lords, Surya didn't send his children to the competition.

The reason? He was starting to feel that Heaven's current situation was far too fishy. Why would the Warden entrap him? It served no purpose whatsoever. Another force played tricks, holding the chessboard within its grasp. If he were right, the Essence Nurturing Forest was an opportunity to reveal that force's presence. How could he risk his children in such a mess? As for the rest, their fall bore little impact. With the elders, with Surya and his progeny, rebuilding was a matter of years only.

Mahava was the only painful loss.

And as his Life Plate crumbled, white fog containing Surya's Truth Wielding spread within his chambers to form the image of all his brother last saw.

"Mahava, elder brother won't let you die in vain. Have no doubt that I shall avenge you."

Surya pledged while the events predating Mahava's fall played before him...almost.

A force boasting grander Truth Laws clouded the scene, allowing Surya to see...a royal nothing.

His eyes narrowed in a frown, but still, he retained his cool, stretching out his hand to reveal a golden lotus as bright as the sun.

"Soon, very soon, whoever you are, This Eminence will make you pay ten-thousand folds."

"Receive my order, regardless of background and gender, all human scions of the Primal Sun Domain are invited to attend a Grand Talent Selection. The three-hundred most outstanding shall receive my blessing and become Ravmalahks!"

Surya proclaimed before returning to his secluded cultivation. His voice thundered within the entirety of the Primal Sun Domain.