"Whenever the number of demons reaches a certain scale, the demon lords will lead them in an assault on Heaven, sparking a war with the angels. Most of the time, these wars end in a crushing defeat for the demons. Yet their obsession with Heaven goes far beyond common sense. As a result, every ten thousand years or so, a large-scale war erupts between angels and demons. And each time, the vast majority of low-tier demons are wiped out."
"But what's the point of such meaningless losses?" Hel asked.
She could understand what Niv had said earlier about souls falling into the Abyss. The demons Niv described sounded very much like devils—races that delighted in devouring souls. After all, even humans possessed secret techniques that could strengthen the soul by consuming other souls. So it was only natural that there would be races that specialized in feeding on souls.
What Hel couldn't understand was this: why would demons knowingly march to their deaths in Heaven when victory was clearly impossible? Weren't they worried that their deaths would cause Abyssal souls to be left behind in Heaven? Could it really be that they were all so rule-abiding, afraid of harvesting too many souls from the main world, and thus staging some kind of "feedback event"? Were demons really that kind-hearted?
"So even if there are too many demons and the Abyss can't contain them anymore, couldn't they just devour one another?" Hel continued.
"Like devils do—sacrificing the lower ranks to cultivate stronger existences."
"Uh… about that…"
Niv hesitated. After scanning the records in her database, her expression turned a little strange.
"In the giants' records, there's a statement attributed directly to a demon lord that answers this question quite bluntly. He said that the souls inside low-tier demons have already been polluted by the Abyss, and eating them tastes like eating shit. So when there are far more delicious souls from the main world available, they wouldn't even consider eating low-tier demons.
"As for why they attack Heaven every ten thousand years—on one hand, they want to weaken Heaven's power. On the other, they want to release those polluted souls from the Abyss and send them back to nourish the main world again. After each Abyssal invasion ends, Heaven is littered with demon corpses. At that point, the angels take advantage of the rare period of peace to cleanse the polluted souls from those bodies."
"So the angels are basically free labor for them," Hel muttered dryly.
"Hearing it that way, the demons even seem to understand sustainable development. But are the angels really willing to be used like that? Did they never consider just dumping those corpses into the main world? If people from the Church were there, I bet they wouldn't hesitate for a second—they'd throw them straight down. It makes no sense that angels would suddenly abandon their usual traditions."
"Purifying souls seems to be one of the angels' duties," Niv replied.
"But the giants didn't record any more detailed information. That said, the goblins left behind some accounts about angels."
She waved her hand, streams of data flowing before her eyes as she pulled up the relevant records.
"These say that angels are extremely troublesome creatures. They're like murder hornets—once someone provokes a single angel, what awaits them is an endless swarm of angels beating them down together. They also lack a clear concept of life and death. Even when gravely wounded, they can keep moving. Unless their heads are cut off, they'll use every possible means to attack their opponent."
"Damn… are those really angels?" Hel sucked in a sharp breath. The way Niv described them, they sounded more like undead than anything divine.
"That's exactly how it was. When the Goblin Empire first faced an angelic enemy, they hesitated to strike decisively, hoping to capture a living specimen. That mistake allowed the angel to call in more companions. Eventually, an entire angelic legion descended from Heaven and nearly wiped out the Goblin Empire. If the Abyss hadn't invaded Heaven at that time, the goblins probably wouldn't have survived until the end of the era.
"After that incident, the Goblin Empire issued a standing order regarding angels: if you don't have the strength to kill one, it's best not to provoke them at all."
"Yeah… that really is terrifying," Hel nodded, committing to memory this hard-won lesson paid for in goblin blood.
"Still, hearing all this makes me afraid to collect souls freely in the main world. If my actions draw the attention of either of those two races, I'd be finished."
"At least for the short term, you don't need to worry, Master," Niv said, nodding as she explained.
"Both the giants' and the goblins' records point to one fact: angels find it extremely difficult to appear in the main world. The giants only saw angels after breaking through the Elemental Sea and reaching Heaven itself. As for the goblins, they traveled to the far north of this continent, where there stands a mountain range that pierces both sky and earth. At its summit lies a world that intersects Heaven and Hell.
"That place has been called the Battlefield of Gods and Demons by successive Fate-chosen races. Legend says that the two great pantheons of Supreme Might and Holy Judgment once clashed there. Even the corpses of gods may be buried in that land. It is also the only route by which angels can descend from Heaven.
"Even so, leaving the Battlefield of Gods and Demons comes at a considerable cost for them. So unless you provoke them directly, they won't send large numbers of angels down to the main world like they did when they attacked the Goblin Empire."
"Something still feels off. The more you explain, the more worried I get," Hel said, rubbing her head.
"Demons need to consume souls. Angels need to purify souls. If I cut off all the souls of the main world, won't both sides come after me with everything they've got?"
The more Hel thought about it, the more she felt that what she was planning would invite enormous trouble. At first, she built the soul network partly to make communication easier, and partly so it could supply her with some souls. Later, after learning that merely practicing the cycle of reincarnation would open the path to godhood, she slapped her forehead and immediately decided to spread the soul network across the entire world. By doing so, she would establish a reincarnation system of her own.
But here was the problem: If she only made small moves—harvesting souls from a few countries—then compared to the total number of souls on the continent, what she took would be negligible. Yet if she truly spread the soul network across the entire continent…Would she be harvesting the souls of the whole world, or letting them pass untouched?
If she harvested them, she would certainly attract the attention of both angels and demons. And who knew—once those two sides realized someone was interfering with their interests, they might immediately make peace with each otherand come down together to deal with her.