Awakened: Evolving to Godhood

Tyler's body began to deform at a rate visible to the eyes. Many veins popped out from behind his snow-white skin, throbbing and wriggling as if it was alive. At this moment, thousands of crimson lights glowed out of the ritual circle, and each of them charged towards him. One by one, they entered his body, causing it to increase in size and mass.

"He had become a complete monster." Elliot shook his head in disgust. With muscles as big as a few watermelons stacked together and a skull five times that of a human, Tyler Barnes no longer looked like a human. Moreover, the folds of fat covered his once beautiful facial features, making him look as hideous as they come.

Huala!

Suddenly, lightning streaked through the sky, and a few cracks appeared in the space above Tyler's head. Elliot could see endless darkness behind it.

[Serpentine Devil's Right Eye Socket!]

[Monster Name: Serpentine Devil]

[Status: Injured]

[HP: 400000/8363022

[Energy: ???]

[Hell's Paradise: Deadly Gaze]

[Special Abilities: ???]

His eyes widened in the very next moment, though, as his godly right eyes of wisdom told him that that darkness was the eyes of the demon he condemned with all his heart.

As if to verify his recently obtained information, a crack appeared in the endless dark as the serpentine devil opened one of its eyes, revealing a hint of crimson. The darkness receded quickly, and a comparatively large iris of a grayish color with a crimson-colored pupil in its middle came into Elliot's view.

The elders of the academy and Instructor Leonardo saw that the sclera of its eyes was dark, a color that showed that it belonged to the Demonic God's faction! There were 36 streaks of red light in them, indicating something.

"36 streaks of red light in a single eye. That means a total of 72 rank-determining lines. The serpentine devil is now the 72nd ranked general of the army led by Belphegor!"

There was joy in instructor Leonardo's eyes, almost as if he had seen a treasure trove with thousands of artifacts.

The elders heard his words, and they became even more confused.

One could indeed determine the rank of a demon through the streaks of rank+determining lines that appear anywhere on their body or in their eyes.

However, the serpentine devil was never a 72nd ranked demonic general!

"Ranked 72nd? But how is that possible?"

"Wasn't It already at the 36th rank, one of the middle-ranked generals with the highest chance to ascend into a high-ranked general?!"

The resistance members use the term demonic general to identify the 72 General of Belphegor's army. At any time, Belphegor has 72 generals under him, and each general leads a corps consisting of two or more divisions and support troops. Only the first rank to the ninth-ranked demonic general are allowed to make the field army move, that too only after obtaining the permission of their boss.

Furthermore, each of its generals holds an extraordinary power called Hell's paradise. The generals ranked 37th to 72nd are low-ranking demonic generals and can only possess one type of Hell's paradise. The one in between the numbers 10 to 36 has two. All the demonic general above them have more than two types of Hell's paradise.

"There's a lot of internal strife going on in their galactic empire. The serpentine devil had probably failed to protect itself from it, becoming a victim instead, leading to it losing one of its two extraordinary powers! It's definitely a lot weaker than before. No! It's nothing compared to its prime. It's more like a young man that had suddenly become old, becoming hunched, going bald, and losing all its teeth." Instructor Leonardo taunted. Although he spoke pretty loudly, the invisible sound blocking barrier around them stopped his words from getting heard by others. If others heard it, they would have gone foolish. After all, they didn't know a lot about the serpentine devil, much less that it was merely a general in someone's army!

If they knew that the bastard they had been facing all this time was merely one among 72 demonic generals, they would've felt hopeless!

"Hahaha!"

The four elders laughed.

Instructor Leonardo, who was outwardly nothing more than a Magic Lord but secretly a high-ranking member of the resistance with many king-ranked subordinates, had a sharp brain and an even sharper tongue, one sharp enough to cause others to turn beet red from embarrassment. Thankfully, the serpentine devil was behind the screen and couldn't hear his words. Otherwise, it would have gone all out to kill him.

Their laughter sounded for a moment before coming to a halt. Among the seventy-two demonic general, even the weakest could go against the strongest of magicians!

A Magic Emperor was only as strong as a demonic general, if not weaker against one. According to the information of the resistance organization, the human race only had our magic emperors, and Elliot was defiantly not among the four. 

The serpentine devil, although weak and wounded, wasn't something anyone below the emperor stage could go against face to face. They just hoped that it would attack Elliot by using its own body! Otherwise, Elliot would die for sure.

The onlookers looked at the screen and saw the serpent's crimson eye staring straight at Elliot. Under its gaze, Elliot didn't even flinch. The demon's eyeball was dozens of times his size, but he wasn't scared. Not even the slightest hint of fear flashed across his eyes. After all, he knew that it couldn't come out of the crack in space. It was impossible to do so; that's what his godly eyes told him.

"Shua!"

The crimson eyes glowed brightly, showing that the serpentine devil was angry. Just like its name, it had involved itself in the politics of the demon world. It was a general but still did something foolish. It was forbidden for those with military might to entangle themselves in civil matters. Who told it to be greedy and crazy for more power?