Liora stood silently at the center of the Life and Death Arena, while the seats of the Colosseum around her were densely packed with people.

Thousands of Devils—of all races and bloodlines—had gathered here to watch her fight.

After all, Liora's name was resounding, having spread throughout the Crucible.

As long as a Devil had communicated with their kind over the past few months, they would have surely heard of her.

Her fame did not stem merely from her status as the first-ranked Devil on the Crucible Ranking.

Besides that, her recent actions in the Life and Death Arena also contributed to increasing her popularity.

Facing the loud howls, curses, and cheerful voices of the Devils in the audience, Liora didn't even flinch.

She had long become used to this kind of attention, and by now, she could completely ignore it.

"Waiting for your opponent..."

Staring at the blinking string of words before her, which had not changed for quite some time, Liora couldn't help but let out a sigh of regret.

"It seems that no one is going to come.", she exhaled softly as she cast a glance at the arena around her.

Then, with no hesitation, she communicated with the Demon World and left this place.

Her movements did not escape the audience's eyes, who—just like Liora—were also very disappointed.

"I hoped that I was finally going to see that person fight. I didn't expect that the once proud ranked Devils would not dare to show up again. Cowards!", a Devil spat angrily, and their words were immediately echoed by the Devils next to them.

--

Liora didn't know, nor did she care about the disappointment of the idle Devils.

Having communicated with the Demon World, she didn't choose to spectate other Life and Death battles, but instead asked the Demon World to bring her back to reality.

Inspecting the room around her and finding nothing wrong, Liora brought up her current record in the arena.

"Victories: 953. Draws: 0. Winning Streak: 953."

Looking at this record, although Liora prided herself on her composure, she still couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

"Time goes by so quickly. It's already been twelve months...", she whispered in a low voice.

That's right.

In the blink of an eye, it had been almost a year since the deaths of the Unknown and the Blasphemer, as well as her subsequent rise to the apex of the Crucible.

Even though such a long time had passed—time that was actually the bigger part of her life so far—Liora had the illusion that it had gone by extremely quickly.

This was mostly because of the lack of eventful experiences and struggles.

Over the past year, most of Liora's time had been spent within the Gothic castle, only going out every now and then and wandering in the city to relax.

From time to time, she would enter the Life and Death Arena, hoping to accumulate enough victories to leave the Crucible.

Unfortunately, this seemed increasingly unlikely.

"My original guess was indeed correct. Getting one thousand consecutive victories is almost impossible... At least for me.", Liora thought as she recalled her experiences in the Life and Death Arena.

At first, just like before, she killed every opponent she faced with ease, quickly managing to reach 900 consecutive victories.

But from that point onwards, it had become increasingly difficult for her to find opponents.

Although the Demon World was cruel, the Life and Death Arena was created to test the Young Devils rather than kill them.

As such, it would only match a Devil against other Devils with a similar winning streak.

This meant that since reaching nine hundred consecutive victories, Liora was supposed to be fighting against opponents of that level.

It was exactly because of this constraint that it had become almost impossible for her to find opponents.

"The people who hold such a high record in the Life and Death Arena are all powerful Devils, who understand my strength the best. At first, a few bold people dared to stand up and fight me."

"But as the news of their defeat spread and the few truly daring people died at my hands, the other ranked Devils simply decided against entering the Life and Death Arena."

Liora understood the thoughts of these Devils.

In their opinion, it was only a matter of time before she left the Crucible.

As long as they persevered for a year and held back from entering the Life and Death Arena, everything would be fine.

Although doing so would mean wasting a year of potential progress, it was much better than what could only be considered certain death.

Thus, Liora was stuck at that front, unable to make any progress.

"Thankfully, the past year has not been a complete waste of my time. Not only have I further developed my awakened abilities, but I've also grown far more familiar with my current strength."

Even though Liora's base stats had not changed much and she had not created any new abilities, her combat power had actually soared.

This was because her control over her power had massively improved. She was now able to use her strength more accurately, effectively, and with far more ease.

The short time that Liora had lived had always been her shortcoming, evidenced by how she was unable to easily defeat the Blasphemer despite the massive gap between their respective strength.

But now, this shortcoming had ceased to exist.

"If I were to face myself of a year ago, I would be able to easily suppress them within a few moves."

"This process is somewhat similar to what those beings in cultivation worlds like to call 'strengthening one's foundation'.", Liora thought silently.

Shaking her head, Liora pushed those thoughts aside and was about to return to training when a loud knock on the door interrupted her.

Sensing the person standing outside, Liora remained calm.

She waved her hand and, as if in response, the door opened on its own.

From the opening that had just appeared, a familiar maid—Alpha—walked into the room.

"Lord, the 'taxes' of this month have been delivered.", she stated, and as she flipped her hand over, the countless mourning souls hidden within her palm were revealed.

Glancing at these souls, Liora showed neither shock nor happiness.

Controlling her demonic energy, she wrapped them up and brought them closer before turning to Alpha and asking:

"Are the City Lords waiting for me?"

"No, Lord.", Alpha shook her head.

"I previously came to inform you about their arrival, but I couldn't find you. Seeing that, I asked the City Lords to leave, just like you previously instructed me."

Hearing this, Liora nodded her head in understanding.

In fact, she already knew the answer to the question, having sensed no particularly powerful aura in the city.

"These guys should be very happy. This is their final 'offering'.", Liora whispered as she lowered her head and stared at the souls floating on top of her palm.

The souls numbered in the tens of thousands—if not even more—and although unconscious, the deep resentment they had before their death was apparent.

Ignoring their unwillingness, Liora fell into thought.

"The social structure established in the Crucible is anything but random. The entire 'order' is made to benefit the few Devils standing at the top of the pyramid."

"The ranked Devils did not build cities out of kindness. Instead, they established them so that they could continuously exploit the weaker Devils through the so-called fees and other services."

When she was still a young Devil that was being exploited, Liora absolutely detested that system.

But now, having reached the top of the Crucible and having become the system's biggest beneficiary, Liora felt like a patient farmer waiting for their crops to grow.

"In just a year, I obtained more souls from having the City Lords pay 'taxes' than I would have gotten if I had gone on a rampage and carried out a massacre."

This couldn't help but make Liora wonder.

What would happen if she continued forcing the City Lords to pay for two, five, or even ten years?

Thinking of a mountain of souls that were seemingly waiting for her, Liora's eyes shone with excitement.

But not long after, she shook her head, knowing that she would never achieve this dream.

At least, she would never achieve it while in the Crucible.

"It's already too late. The time has come."

Inexplicable words came out of her mouth as she raised her head and looked toward the sky.

The world around her froze, becoming somewhat unreal, as if it had turned into a painting.

At the same time, a chaotic Will that was dripping with bloodlust descended onto the Crucible and scanned the entire land, before its attention turned to the City of Pain.

Or rather, to the Gothic castle at its center.

Being at the epicenter of the impact, Liora recognized that Will and immediately realized what was happening.

"The Will of the Demon World has arrived!", she muttered.

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