Heaven, Earth, Me

…Tatyana made herself comfortable in that position, surrounded by Yasenia, and explained about the abyss while receiving the caresses of the dragoness. “Unlike some people might think, The Abyss, or demon realm, isn’t the place where souls go. It is just the place where most of the demon race lives. Their realm is underground, and it is massive.”

Tatyana continued explaining, “For them to come to the surface, they must go through some natural spatial cracks. However, these are guarded by the surface strongest races. Because of this, the strongest of their race open spatial cracks from time to time to invade the surface, steal resources, and create demon colonies.”

Tatyana then said, “Their modus operandi is like this. They send an advanced unit and try to tempt powers with their demonic craft and techniques. Then, they get a foothold in a difficult to attack the place, and finally, they open a portal to The Abyss and let the invasion begin in full force.”

Andrea asked, interested, “Demonic craft?”

Tatyana nodded, “Similar to blacksmithing, but they use demonic energy… Before you ask, yes, there are different types of energy apart from attributed energy. For example, Yasenia’s energy.”

Yasenia stopped rubbing herself on Tatyana and asked languidly, “So this is why Master told me to deepen my Celestial energy comprehension and not my Sun, Moon, and Star energy comprehension…”

Tatyana nodded, “When you did the elemental roulette, your attribute was called Celestial attribute. Moreover, it is a unique attribute. This means you are the only one under the heavens with this attribute right now, and no one else can be born with it until you die.”

The others raised their eyebrows. Cecile said, “Why did no one tell us about this until now?”

Tatyana shrugged, “This is something that you will naturally learn in the Dantian Spiritualization realm. Moreover, it is very rare for humans to have these energies, so it isn’t a priority to teach about it in sects and similar. I am telling you because I don’t think you will remain in the Academy much longer…”

Yasenia asked, concerned, “Are demons that strong that the academy won’t be able to fight back against them?”

Tatyana said, “If their attack is on the scale that it was 30 000 years ago… I think only the first-rate sects will have a fighting chance. Even I am helpless against their stronger demons. Thankfully, other strong races like Divines, dragons, phoenixes, quilins, Spirits, Elves, and more will come to fight against their invasion.”

Yasenia frowned and asked, “What did we do when we opened the letter?”

Tatyana chuckled and said, “Well, we sent a signal to them telling them that they got caught on their sneaky invasion!”

Yasenia and the others choked, ‘Why do you look so happy!?’

Cecile asked, “Do they respect seniority? Or will their transcendent realm cultivators attack mortal cultivators without any care?”

Tatyana smirked and said, “Depends; they can’t be put in a single group. Can you generalize humans and say that every human will respect seniority? If there is nobody to stop them, they will just invade the continents they appear in and impose their rules and culture.”

Tatyana elaborated, “There are already some continents that fell to them, and living there is absolute hell for most non-demonic cultivators. Their culture is quite different in some aspects, especially in relationships, learning, and common sense. Of course, they know about our culture and learn about it in the later phases of their lives. However, most of them learn about this after their original culture is internalized.”

Tatyana sighed and said, “This war has already been going for a million years, so it isn’t something out of the norm having demons attack a place. Moreover, it doesn’t seem that it will ever end.”

Angel gasped and asked, “A million years!? How do people keep track of something that has been going for so long!?”

Tatyana smirked and said, “A million years ago, a big war happened. In that war, a lot of gods stopped being neutral and fought. The fights between gods are normally catastrophic. However, after reaching the transcendence realm and above, you gain the ability to fly freely. Hence, to not destroy the land, our battles normally happen high up in the sky to avoid total destruction.”

Tatyana then said, “However, one attack happened that seemed to reverse heaven and earth, and the damage to the land was enormous. Continents shifted, some land sunk in the vast oceans, and new land appeared. The attack was a cataclysmic event.”

Tatyana continued, “The heavens, whose main priority is the protection of the balance of the world, were absolutely furious and punished all gods unleashing The Heavenly Catastrophe. All over the world, for more than 100 years, the sky could be seen flashing with fearsome energies killing god-level cultivators all around and their legacies. Most of the gods of that era created inheritances all around the world, with hopes that their legacy would continue.”

Tatyana looked at Yasenia and kissed her cheek, “Little treasure, your legacy enters that category.”

Yasenia nodded, absorbed in Tatyana’s tale. Tatyana continued speaking, “After the heavens unleashed their wrath across the land, reaching Godhood became harder. However, thanks to this event, the demons, divines, and other races that the gods oppressed were finally able to reclaim the land.”

Tatyana sighed, “When this land became available, without high-level gods protecting them, a brutal world war started. This war has been going on since then. Since the records of this catastrophic event had been kept around until now, we can guess how much time it had passed since the start of the war.”

Yasenia frowned as she realized something, “The academy doesn’t teach much about the world.”

It wasn’t a question but a statement. Tatyana chuckled and said, “It was my order. One of the reasons that Academy students who graduate are so fought for is that they only know the basics of the world and have completely neutral thoughts most of the time. What the academy trains are logical and rational thinking.”

The others nodded. Tatyana leaned back, resting her head between Yasenia’s breasts, and continued, “Even if there are bad seeds like Alysa, that is normal and inevitable, so we don’t care much. We don’t tell you that demons are bad or that divines are good. We let the students investigate by themselves and develop their own ideologies. Thanks to this, Academy students can be said to be the least discriminatory.”

Andrea said, “Didn’t you just say that the places where demons live are hellish? How can demons don’t be bad?”

Tatyana was about to answer when Yasenia said, “It is hell for non-demonic cultivators. For demonic cultivators must be a paradise, right? Everything depends on the point of view you see things from.”

Tatyana smirked proudly, “Exactly, I had lived in demon lands for a while, and debauchery, massacres, and the like are daily things… My days there were quite crazy.”

Tatyana chuckled and said, “There aren’t rules other than the stronger fist is right. Even then, there are cities, towns, and society. There, rules don’t bind people; they are bound by logic. You won’t see a demon or other habitant killing a bystander just because, but you may see a very strong male or female cultivator forcing themselves on beautiful females or handsome males in the middle of the street. And I speak about female and male in general, demon, human, beast-human, spirit, elves, undead….”

Angel said, horrified, “That’s awful!”

Tatyana, however, shrugged and said, “Is it? What is the objective of a cultivator besides achieving strength and longevity? A family, right? Leave your bloodline and legacy in the world. In demon lands, being liked by a strong cultivator, be it a demon or not, is something to cherish. They aren’t stupid, so, most of the time, when they take a liking to a person, they protect that person and use resources to strengthen them. This way, they will be able to sire or give birth to stronger children.”

Evelyn frowned, “But forcing themselves on someone unwilling is awful.”

Tatyana nodded, “Yes, on someone unwilling. But people grow up differently there. Their culture, where the strong are revered and the weak are bullied, is something taught from the beginning. “Stealing” weaker cultivator’s mates is something normal there.”

Tatyana sighed and said, “However, for the rest of the world, their culture is… Abhorrent, and thus, demons and their allies are hated by “normal” cultures. This is the root of the ongoing war. Neither side wants to give up their culture and accommodate the other, and consequently, there is a constant war ongoing.”

Tatyana continued, “After so many years of war, hatred had accumulated, making the only outcome to end this war one side being completely wiped, which is impossible. Thus, even if it is in constant war, the world is also in a strange balance.”

Andrea asked, “Do they have the same cultivation system as us?”

Tatyana nodded, “Yes, but their transformation is different. Some races add racial features each time they upgrade their realms. For example, demons and divines gain wings with each realm. Divines have feathered wings on their back, and demons have fleshy wings. These wings aren’t only to fly; they also have a similar but weaker energy absorption function than Yasenia’s tail. That is why more wings sprout in each realm to multiply those qualities.”

Tatyana said, “Mortal demons and divines have a single pair of wings, Dantian and Meridian creation demons and Divines have two pair… You get the gist. They are also called differently. mortal demons are just demons, Dantian and Meridian creation realm demons are called adult demons, then, demon barons, demon viscounts, demon counts, demon dukes, and here ends the mortal realms.”

“On the other side, mortal divines are called angels, Dantian and Meridian creation realm divines are called archangels, then, principalities, powers, virtues, and finally dominions, they are the last realm of the mortal realms.”

Tatyana ended by saying, “The first realm above the mortal realms for each of them is called, Demon Monarchs, and Thrones. Moreover, in this realm, the number of wings reverts back to a single pair of normally bigger wings with different traits.”

Evelyn asked, “Then how to differentiate a normal demon from a demon monarch? Or an angel with a Throne?”

Tatyana chuckled, “Well, if they are good at concealing their aura, you can’t. However, you won’t see them use cheap tactics like that. Both races are quite arrogant.”

Yasenia wanted to ask more, but Tatyana cut her. “We will speak about them more in the future. For the moment, you have to know that the abyssal realm wants to attack here, other races will come to aid, there will be a war, and they have very different cultures compared to us.”