But what the Demon King didn’t know was that, if he begged Anthony, or even asked nicely, Anthony could help him ascend. After all, Anthony was a guy who practically did whatever he wanted, usually on a whim. If the Demon King asked, Anthony might just accept for the fun of it. After all, it would be a sight to see, and he would want to know if the Demon King could still cause as much chaos for the Upper Galaxy as he had within the lower Galaxy.

If the Demon King found out about this, would he beg Anthony for his help? Definitely, he would. But what about his pride and ego? Please, real powerhouses knew that if pride and ego couldn’t offer anything tangible at the moment, then they would simply hold them back, nothing more, nothing less.

"Now, let’s talk about Null Anthony, what details can you give me?" the God’s projection snapped out of his thoughts as he asked the Demon King, after all, it seemed as though the Demon King knew the boy better.

And although the God’s projection called Anthony a child, never in his years of living would he guess that Anthony was merely twenty years of age; if he knew, he wouldn’t believe it.

Even the Demon King, who was aware of the truth, couldn’t help but doubt it after Anthony’s recent achievements. But he knew it was the truth, after all, he had seen Anthony with his own eyes and read the flow of Vitality and Lifespan by himself. Although his World Knowledge skill had failed against Anthony at the time, he could at least find out that much.

’To think I told him to join me and I would help him ascend after a few centuries,’ the Demon King mused to himself as his thoughts shifted to the discussion he had shared with Anthony upon their first... and currently their only meeting.

He had thought Anthony was being arrogant at the time, but now, he understood that he, the Demon King, was the one being arrogant.

’Sigh... if only I could ascend with someone,’ the Demon King thought to himself.

Just like Anthony, he had overthought it, assuming that someone couldn’t ascend with another person. Which was why one of his plans was to gather talented individuals, and if any of them could ascend, maybe when they were stronger, they could open the boundary between the Upper Galaxy and the Lower Galaxy and help him, the Demon King, ascend. But that was simply one of his plans. After all, the Demon King couldn’t exactly leave his fate in someone else’s hands... especially a Demon. Even if they had a Chaos Contract, who knew if that thing could be nullified in the Upper Galaxies?

Besides, one of his currently standing plans was to take possession of Anthony’s body, then initiate the ascension. Just because he was teaming up with the God before him didn’t mean he wouldn’t have a backup plan. One couldn’t lay their eggs in one basket... right? Well, they could if they had no other option.

And as for how he planned to do such a thing, it was through one of the many soul skills he had; Soul Merging.

The Demon King had billions of years to experiment with souls, souls of the dead, his own soul, and the souls of demons. He had even divided his own soul into a hundred pieces and implanted them into his hundred subordinates. With this kind of mastery, it was obvious that he had created various skills and abilities that would allow him to merge with another soul, one which he had ’perfected’ over time.

After the incoming battle with Anthony, he would try merging his own soul with Anthony’s, forcefully transferring his own soul into Anthony’s body in order to take over his talents, abilities, and everything. With this method, he would be able to manipulate both Mana and Chaos within his body without them going berserk.

But if things didn’t go according to plan, he would capture Anthony’s soul after his death, then merge it with his own soul into his Demon King body. Although he would lose some abilities this way, like various Physique-related abilities and such, it didn’t matter. What mattered was the end goal, which he would achieve at that point, without having to wait years for the God to spread his Faith or convert people, or waiting for him to find the Acarnis Galaxy Core and finally use both Galaxy Cores.

But of course, this Demon King Soul Merge skill could only be used once and with only one person, as the soul was a very delicate existence that the Demon King dared not assume he fully understood. If he merged with more than one soul, he risked madness, insanity, loss of identity, bipolarity... or even something far worse... tripolarity.

All in all, he would lose his sense of self. He would no longer be the Demon King, he would no longer be Azrath Kaelthar Morvanyx Doomrend... he would only be a madman... an echo of his former self. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

So, he couldn’t just go around merging souls with individuals of immense talent just to increase his own ’natural’ talent in order to receive the Calling. He wasn’t that desperate.

But... only if the Demon King knew how suicidal his plan truly was.

Let’s assume for a moment Anthony lost in the battle, could he, the Demon King, truly come into possession of Anthony’s soul? Even if he did, could he even merge with it? Anthony’s OP system was linked to his soul, Romulus was there, and ’Boundless’, the laziest being since the dawn of existence, was also there. And if there was one thing lazy people hated... it was having their peace and free time disturbed.

So, the Demon King might even die at the hands of the ’Unbound’ before someone like Romulus could even do anything.

Sigh... if only the Demon King had someone who could truly pray for him at the moment and tell him how foolish his idea was... but alas, it seemed the Ruler of the Abyss was destined to die one way or another... pitiful... truly pitiful.