Chapter 264: Astral Prism
It had been a long time since Cassius had felt threatened since his slumber ended. Even the newly born Balrog was just a minor trouble in his eyes.

But now, this call from the void made him feel extremely threatened.

“It’s time to look at the truth behind all this.”

After pondering for a moment, Cassius thought so.

If the other party really had the ability to get rid of me, then I could have done it right when the fight just started. There would be no need to lure him over.

With the Red Dragon's current strength, the only ones who can prevent him from escaping are the demon lords with quasi-divine powers in the abyss. However, these beings are rejected by the material world and it is difficult for them to appear in their true form in the main material world.

The existence behind it definitely has interests for the Red Dragon, otherwise it would not have trained it to become the world boss in the previous life. And he might be able to use this to stage a play of snatching food from the tiger's mouth and take away the power that should have been given to "Casius" from the existence behind it.

Thinking of this, Cassius folded his wings, pressed them tightly against his torso, lowered his head slightly, and carefully entered the passage.

This place is spacious for many demons and fallen giants, but it is a bit too narrow for Cassius. However, this is the only passage leading to the depths of the nest.

Fortunately, his dark vision allowed him to see everything clearly, and his light golden pupils flickered in the darkness.

Finally, he entered the deepest cave.

The cave was filled with unclean black and red blood, wriggling worms, and acid that corroded everything.

However, that’s not all there is to it.

"This is."

There was a rare look of surprise in the red dragon's eyes.

I saw a twenty-sided prism suspended in the center of the cave, with chaotic runes engraved on each side, and countless dark yellow lights emitting from it.

A black chaotic fog filled the air around it, with tiny particles constantly moving irregularly and making shrill screams, making it look like a small abyss.

"Astral Prism."

Cassius whispered the name.

In his eyes, this twenty-sided prism was a portal to the astral world, but it was temporarily infected by the power emanating from the devil.

Astral realm.

Familiar name.

That is the pure spiritual world, the silver void between all true planes.

It is boundless and extremely mysterious here, but also extremely dangerous. The warships of the "Star Pirates" Githyanki often drift around with the Silver Stream, launching looting on various planes, but they are only an insignificant part of the Star Plane.

There are things bigger and uglier than these—cosmic beasts, celestial whales, and floating islands formed from the corpses of dead ancient gods.

Even powerful and mysterious planeswalkers view this plane as a way station that is best left as soon as possible.

They often skip the exploration step, preferring to use magical devices to accomplish this step. The most direct method is through an astral conduit or a crypt, which can rush a person directly from the Prime Material Plane to any of the Outer Planes.

"Astral Realm?"

If it is not necessary, Cassius does not want to enter the astral world at this stage. With his strength, he can already gain a foothold in the astral world, but he cannot deal with unknown dangers.

"Come on, this is the inevitable destination."

"Don't be afraid, don't hesitate, accept it all."

The low call came from the astral prism again, but this time the sound was stronger, almost like a wave, continuously washing over the red dragon's mind.

"Do not……"

"Don't be affected by this voice." The red dragon shook its head, its pupils flickering.

Even if you are greedy for power, you cannot do it recklessly.

After thinking for a moment, he summoned the [Heavenly Tribulation Dragon Eye] and breathed out a raging fire, personally creating a dragon-shaped incarnation made of flames.

The powerful will of the dragon sorcerer warps reality.

The illusory dragon eye was embedded in the incarnation's eye, becoming its eye for observing the outside world, and also becoming the connection channel for the red dragon to control these magical flames.

"Turn it on."

Cassius only mobilized a little of his will, and each rune on the prism emitted a faint starlight, and the gate to the star world slowly opened in front of him.

Under his control, the incarnation of the fire element roared with a hot breeze, and then went straight into the passage.

Through the [Eye of the Heavenly Tribulation Dragon], Cassius saw that behind the door was a rainbow-like tunnel of light. He traveled an imperceptibly long distance until his vision around him became blurred. Finally, he passed through the final portal and came to this deep void - the astral realm.

"Is this the Star Realm..."

The flame incarnation of Cassius stood on the dark rock, muttering to himself.

In his previous life, he was just a mercenary wandering in the main material world and had never accepted any high-level cross-dimensional missions. It was not until now that he witnessed this magnificent scene.

——There is endless void all around, with silver turbulence flowing in the darkness, dotted with countless twinkling stars. These are not just light sources, but may also be portals to other planes, or projections of some outer space.

There are huge islands floating in the void. They may be the corpses of astral beasts, or even the remains of forgotten ancient gods - their origins have long disappeared in the dust of history and are unknown to the public.

The familiar voice came again, this time it became extremely clear.

"The fire of revenge is burning..."

"Embrace the abyss..."

"bring it on……"

Cassius's incarnation floated over following the sound.

He shuttled between one floating island after another and finally found the source of the sound.

On the floating island with a diameter of nearly 10,000 meters, a three-meter-tall humanoid creature was tied up there. His spread wings, ferocious horns, and exposed red skin all revealed his identity - a Balrog from the abyss.

The demon had three pairs of wings on its back, but they were not symmetrical. Its twisted body was entangled in heavy chains, its hands and feet were nailed to the stone, and it was surrounded by complicated and mysterious magic runes.

The entire floating island seemed to be a huge prison, created just to imprison this demon. Broken rock fragments floated around the floating island, and there were huge cracks thousands of meters long, as if a fierce battle had taken place there.

The demon in front of him was not as big as an ordinary fire demon, and was even a little skinny, but it exuded an extremely dangerous aura all the time. As long as the seal was slightly loosened, the nearly solid fog of the chaotic abyss would leak out.

The demon was suspended in mid-air with its head lowered.

Suddenly, as if sensing Cassius's arrival, the Balrog raised his head, the fire of revenge burning in his deep eyes, and a strange smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

“The trajectory of destiny may change, but the destination of the journey has long been anchored and cannot be easily changed.”

"This is both the destiny of the world's rules and the final choice of the will of the abyss."

"Casius, my most perfect and destined contractor, you still came here."

"Nice to meet you. I am the Lord of Vengeance - Jezalslak. I am a Balrog from ancient times, a former lord of the abyss, and your future partner."

(End of this chapter)