The Prince’s consciousness carried weight, suggesting this represented the True Realm’s deepest secret.

’Ethereal Conception is the pinnacle of Ancient Majik—a unique power birthed when an individual achieves perfect mastery over one or multiple Arts and the Techniques within them. It represents original capability that transcends normal Technique frameworks.’

’Each Ethereal Conception is absolutely unique—once manifested by one individual, it can never be replicated or copied by another. It becomes that person’s ultimate trump card, their signature capability that defines their combat effectiveness at the highest levels.’

’Only Archangels, Archdukes, and Ancients can manifest Ethereal Conceptions. Normal Angels, Devils, and mortal practitioners lack the necessary mastery and power to birth such capabilities.’

Rey felt his mind racing through implications. ’So the power hierarchy is:

’Mortals use Arts through Techniques organized by Sequences.

’Angels and Devils possess enhanced mastery and immortality but still operate within normal Ancient Majik frameworks.

’Archangels and Archdukes develop Ethereal Conceptions—unique powers that transcend normal limitations.

’And the Ancients possess both Authorities granting absolute dominion over their Arts AND Ethereal Conceptions representing their ultimate capabilities.’

’Precisely,’ the Prince confirmed. ’Which explains why the Ancients are effectively untouchable. They don’t just have more power—they operate at qualitatively superior levels that make direct confrontation suicidal for anyone below their status.’

Rey was silent for a long moment, processing the scale of what he faced.

’And Lucifer challenged this system?’

The Prince’s consciousness carried something approaching awe.

’Lucifer was the greatest of all Archdukes—the Devil who served K’haos with capabilities that exceeded even other Archdukes by significant margins. His power approached the Ancients themselves, his mastery over Chaos Authority rivaling K’haos in specific applications, his Ethereal Conception unique even among elite celestials.’

’He was, by all accounts, the strongest being in the True Realm below the Six Ancients themselves. He was even the one who invented the Hollow Technique, possessing such unmatched mastery in it that it was terrifying. Unmatched among Angels and Devils, respected and feared by both Aether and Nether authorities.’

’What was his Ethereal Conception?’ Rey asked.

’Unknown to me,’ the Prince admitted. ’That knowledge was suppressed after his fall. But it must have been extraordinary to make even the Ancients themselves take notice and coordinate response.’

The Prince continued with evident gravity.

’Lucifer observed the True Realm’s power structure and recognized its fundamental injustice. The Ancients ruled through divine authority rather than earned merit, their Authorities granting them power that could never be challenged through normal advancement. Angels and Devils served as eternal subordinates, their immortality purchased through permanent submission to divine will.’

’So he rebelled,’ Rey raised a brow. ’Attempted to overthrow the Ancients and establish a new order based on different principles?’

’He gathered followers among both Angels and Devils who shared his vision. Built a coalition that transcended the Aether-Nether divide, united by the belief that the Ancients’ absolute authority represented tyranny rather than legitimate governance.’

’For a time, his rebellion threatened the fundamental structure of reality. His forces challenged both Aether and Nether simultaneously, his personal power allowing him to face multiple Ancients in direct combat.’

The Prince’s voice carried profound sorrow.

’But ultimately, he failed. The Six Ancients coordinated their full combined power—all their Authorities, all their Ethereal Conceptions, all their divine capabilities focused on a single target. Even Lucifer’s extraordinary strength couldn’t withstand assault operating at those scales.’

’He was defeated, cast down from the True Realm, his existence shattered into uncountable fragments scattered across dimensional layers. Not killed—entities at his level cannot be truly destroyed—but broken so thoroughly that reconstitution would require power exceeding what defeated him.’

Rey felt a cold understanding settling over him. ’And before his defeat, he made arrangements. Contingency plans that would activate if his rebellion failed.’

’Yes,’ the Prince confirmed. ’One such arrangement existed in the Labyrinth of Darkness. He created me—the Prince of Darkness—as a tool to await specific conditions. He prophesied his second coming through the help of a Nephilim who would satisfy precise requirements.’

’A Nephilim with dual Art affinities, including Chaos mastery. Someone ruthless enough to sacrifice everything for their objectives. Someone carrying grievances against divine authority that would make them willing agents of rebellion.’

’Someone like me,’ Rey concluded.

’Someone exactly like you, Master. Your arrival, your capabilities, your motivations—all of it matches what Lucifer prophesied millennia ago. Which suggests his planning extended far beyond what even I understand, that his arrangements transcend the True Realm’s current reality.’

Rey sat in stunned contemplation, pieces falling into place with implications that made his previous manipulations seem trivial by comparison.

Lucifer.

The Ancient Chaos God.

The millennium-spanning prophecy.

The arrangements that were made before the ultimate defeat.

And suddenly, another name surfaced in Rey’s memory with sharp clarity.

Ater—his familiar from H’Trae.

That mysterious entity possessed capabilities that defied normal understanding. Back then, he had provided Rey with cryptic guidance about forces beyond mortal comprehension.

Ater had told him things—fragments of truth about origins, about being forced to descend from higher realms, about powers and authorities that transcended what H’Trae’s System could accommodate.

Rey had dismissed those comments as cryptic mysticism, interesting but not immediately relevant to his survival concerns.

But now, with full context about the True Realm and Lucifer’s rebellion— 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

’The description matches,’ Rey realized with growing certainty. ’Was it just a coincidence that all of this occurred? I was reincarnated after the Archdukes ruined my world, and I just so happened to be a Nephilim with two souls? I fulfilled all the conditions necessary for Lucifer’s arrangements as well. Ater possessed knowledge about the True Realm, about divine authorities, about power structures that existed beyond normal reality.’

’Ater specifically sought me out, bonded with me despite having no apparent reason to ally with someone weaker than him at the time. He also provided exactly the capabilities I needed to survive H’Trae’s conflicts, positioned me for advancement that would eventually lead to this moment.’

The connections were too precise to be coincidental.

Ater wasn’t just a Familiar who happened to ally with Rey.

Ater was part of Lucifer’s arrangements—possibly a fragment of Lucifer himself, scattered across dimensions when his existence shattered, operating with partial awareness and limited power but still working toward the same ultimate objectives.

Or perhaps Ater WAS Lucifer—the core consciousness that survived defeat, adopting a new identity while orchestrating revival through carefully positioned agents across multiple realities.

Rey’s hands trembled slightly—a rare physical manifestation of emotional response he typically suppressed completely.

Because if Ater was Lucifer, or connected to Lucifer’s arrangements, then—

Ater might still be alive.

Somewhere in the True Realm or scattered across dimensional layers, existing in fragmented form or hidden identity, working toward goals that extended beyond Rey’s current comprehension.

And Rey owed him everything.

Ater had saved him when despair threatened to consume him completely, and he had granted power sufficient to protect what mattered and pursue revenge when loss demanded it.

He gave Rey the greatest opportunity to reincarnate and have his revenge.

If there was even a possibility that Ater survived in some form—

’I will find him,’ Rey vowed with absolute conviction. ’Whatever it takes. However long it requires. I will discover the truth about Ater’s connection to Lucifer, locate wherever his consciousness exists, and repay the debt I owe.’

’Not because some prophecy demands it. Not because Lucifer’s arrangements require it. But because Ater was my friend.’

At this point, Rey felt a tiny spark of hope in his heart.

A hint of warmth.

’It appears I may not be completely alone in this world, after all...’