Chapter 195 — Annulment

Although a lot of time had gone by and a lot of events had occurred, Liora had not forgotten that during her advancement to a Young Devil, she had been brought to an advancement space and had to select one of many potential bloodlines.

At the time, the System had actually interfered with the rewards given by the Demon World, being the very first time that it displayed its supreme power.

Through its guidance, Liora had selected the bloodline with the highest compatibility.

But to this day, she still didn’t know the name of that bloodline, nor did she know its characteristics.

In the System Panel, the column still showed [Unknown Bloodline].

Of course, this didn’t mean that her decision at that time had been for nothing.

Skills like Shadow Manipulation, Soul Tear, and Void instinct had provided great help during her growth period, and their upgraded form was still being used by her to this day.

However, now that she had come into contact with the World Origin, Liora sensed a new characteristic of this Unknown Bloodline.

Though she couldn’t confirm it, she sensed that it could devour World Origin to strengthen itself.

"Is my bloodline related to World Origin? Or is it related to the world itself?", Liora couldn’t help but wonder while doing her best to restrain the impulse of rushing forward and munching on the light.

Even though she knew that swallowing this World Origin would grant her great benefits, she understood that now was not the time to do so.

Not only because the illusory being, who she had named Beast Emperor, was standing not far away from her, but also because she had a hunch that doing so would be very unwise at the moment and would have unexpected consequences.

Countless thoughts raced through Liora’s mind, but the Beast Emperor knew none of them.

After it entered the room, it glanced at the cluster of light before turning to Liora and explaining:

"This is the World Origin. By using it as a medium to cast my ability, I can establish a contract between us.", the Beast Emperor said.

It waved its right hand, and the lights surrounding its silhouette gathered in its palm, transforming into a white page.

With a thought, words began appearing on its surface, wriggling into existence like insects.

Then, the Beast Emperor pressed its palm on the page.

In response, the cluster of World Origin at the center of the room trembled, and a white thread grew out of it, wrapping around the Beast Emperor’s body.

"All you need to sign it is pour your energy into the contract. This energy can be Life Force or any other kind.", the Beast Emperor stated and tossed the white page to Liora.

Whistling through the air, an invisible hand seemed to control it as it gently landed on her hands.

Liora quickly browsed through the contract’s terms.

As a Devil and the possessor of the Devil Contract ability, she was quite familiar with contract loopholes and could spot them with just a glance.

After all, the legend of Devils tricking people into signing uneven contracts was not without a reason. Devils indeed enjoyed playing such tricks.

As she read through the page, Liora didn’t discover anything wrong.

In fact, the terms of the contract were quite simple and straightforward, almost impossible to twist.

Effectively, she and the Beast Emperor agreed to fight against the Founding Emperor. During this time, the two could not attack each other.

Since that was the case, Liora did not hesitate. She immediately placed her hand on the page and poured her Life Force into it.

Her name immediately appeared at the bottom, right next to the Beast Emperor’s.

At the same time, the cluster of World Origin tumbled once again, and a thread wrapped around her body, signaling that the contract had been established.

But the next second, something surprising happened. Just when Liora felt the weight of the contract pressed on her, the thread of World Origin binding her made a cracking sound.

Then, it snapped with a loud bang, breaking into pieces.

Instantly, the contract the two had signed became void, as if it never existed.

Liora sensed this and was about to say something to the Beast Emperor, but when she turned to look at it, she discovered that it showed no change of expression.

It was as if the earlier scene had merely been her illusion, and there was nothing wrong going on.

But seeing the lack of thread on her and the lack of any sense of contract, Liora understood that the previous scene was not an illusion.

Subconsciously, she couldn’t help but recall the last time she signed a contract, during her time on the Crucible and City of Embers.

At that time, she had also felt something similar, as if the Devil Contract signed by all parties had no binding effect on her.

However, due to the lack of a way to confirm this and the lack of a clear benefit, she had refrained from putting that idea to the test.

"But now, it seems that my suspicion may have been correct. The System can indeed shield me from the power of contracts."

"Or at the very least, it can shield me from the contract established using the World Origin."

"As for whether the contracts established through Devil Contract and during one’s descent into another world can become null, it remains to be known.", Liora judged.

She tried her best to act as naturally as possible, making it impossible to see any clues.

Liora didn’t want the Beast Emperor to realize that the contract between them was nothing but a worthless piece of paper.

Thankfully, the Beast Emperor did not realize.

It couldn’t be blamed. In its opinion, the power of the World Origin was supreme.

How could it guess that a mere "King of Knights" possessed the ability to bypass its power?

"Now that we’ve signed the contract, we can both fully trust each other. But before we take action against the Founding Emperor, I need some time to recover from my previous injuries.", the clueless Beast Emperor said, and continued.