-Death and Lucifer -
"I've been waiting for this call. I know how it looks, but please be patient with me. I'm on your side in this." Hades assured the two.
"What's going on? Are you and Persephone okay?" Death asked.
"We're fine, as always. Nothing is going wrong for us." Hades cleared his throat. "I have no plans on being a part of this alliance. My brother has his problems, but I wouldn't dare usurp his place. For one thing, I don't even want to rule the above-ground. I actually like my home, unlike the others."
Hades was one of the most trusted gods for Death and Lucifer. He routinely proved himself as being far more understanding and reasonable. The two were relieved to hear him say he wasn't planning on overthrowing his brother.
"What are your plans then?" Death asked. "We know how you feel about Zeus, but so do the other underworld gods. Surely they would be keeping a suspicious eye on you?"
The sound of multiple dogs barking could be heard coming from the other side along with a muffled "Cerby stop! He's on an important call right now.". A whimper was heard shortly after.
"Have you told them?" Persephone's voice barely came through.
"I was about to." Hades sighed. "Under normal circumstances, I'm sure they would have questioned my loyalty as an ally. However, it appears that the unknown convinced them I was worth trusting. I don't know why they listened to it, but they did."
"This alliance is more than it seems friends. It's not just the underworld rulers. Demons are a part of it as well."
Death held himself back from yelling "WHAT?!" so as to not alarm the others. Death and Satan's relationship was at best neutral. Throughout his life, Death would question Satan's motives and whether or not he was planning something greater. Nothing ever happened, and if anything Satan was a large help when it came to integrating humans into the Otherworld.
"It's not what you think!" Hades caught himself, realizing what he had implied to Death. "The demons in question are Belphegor and Asmodeus."
"Oh." Death and Lucifer replied in a monotone voice.
Belphegor and Asmodeus were well-known for being outcasts among the demons. They both wanted to take Satan's title as demon lord and both had tried various schemes in the past. When asked about why he allows them to continue what they do Satan casually replied "I think it's fun that they keep trying." and dropped the conversation.
"I'll let Satan know, assuming he doesn't know already." Lucifer sighed. "Anyone else we should be aware of?"
"That's as much as I know," Hades said. "I only have the information they've given me. So you know, Zeus is fully aware of my "betrayal". I had to let him know, otherwise, I might accidentally start a war in my attempts to prevent one."
"Stay safe. I don't want you getting dragged into needless conflict." Death said in a somber tone.
"I will friends," Hades assured. "Our ways of life are peaceful, if not sometimes hectic. I believe in what you both do and don't want to see this world become how it was. That time...it should never come back."
Death and Lucifer exchanged some stories with Hades before ending the call. They both looked at each other and groaned. They were happy to hear that Hades was only playing at treachery to gain information, but upset that he was potentially putting himself in danger.
"Do you think Satan knows about Bel and Asmodeus?" Death asked.
"I'm sure he does. Him not telling us is just him being his usual asshole-self. I'll ask him anyway just to be sure." Lucifer answered.
"What I'm more worried about is the influence this unknown seems to have." Death pressed his fist into his cheek. "He was able to vouch for Hades, a far more prominent figure than themselves. Do you think this unknown is trying to start some kind of underworld-human alliance?"
"Not an alliance, no," Lucifer assumed. "I think they're trying to stir things up. If you're a small group that wants to break down the systems around them, one of the best means is causing mass chaos. Gods fighting gods is beneficial to their cause, so long as they don't get caught in-between." He suggested.
"Humans will get caught in the middle though. If this world becomes a battlefield again then it will only lead to the...lessers-" Death said lessers through his teeth. "-getting slaughtered."
'He must really be upset to use that word. It's a good thing I'm the one about to talk to Satan. Don't want to add dynamite to the fire.' Lucifer stood up.
"Let's get our calls out of the way," Lucifer said. "If you need any help with the underworld gods, ask me."
"Thanks." Death rubbed his thumb with his index "If you need any help with Satan just tell him there will be a repeat of the "horn incident" if he doesn't comply."
Lucifer grinned. The two made their separate calls and both got exactly what they expected. Satan confirmed his knowledge of Belphegor and Asmodeus working with the unknown, with the addition that it was actually a more recent alliance. Milu didn't answer Death's call, while Hel argued with him. Death's conversation with Yama was short. "I want to prove I'm better." was all that was said after the initial greetings.
The two reconvened and shared their information. They were disappointed in how predictably their calls had gone. The only upside was actually Satan's reveal of the two demons. The fact that the alliance between the two demons and the unknown was more recent was a little relieving, but only slightly, and not enough to stem any worries.
"I guess for now we just wait and keep moving forward with the mission." Lucifer sighed. "I think that whatever happens with this unknown we need to make it back to the three realms and start preparing the border. I don't like the idea of letting this part of the world burn, but I hate the thought of a war spilling over into our territory."
Death rubbed the back of his neck. He was running a lot of images through his mind of the past. Battlefields littered with bodies. Warped landscapes that had clearly seen a clash of powerful magics. These thoughts gave him a blank look in his eyes as he responded to Lucifer.
"I agree. Let's...let's just keep moving forward." Death's tired tone and blank eyes sent a chill down Lucifer's spine.
'What was that?' Lucifer wondered. He left Death to call Zach and decided it would be best to take his mind off of things for now.
- Lucifer -
Lucifer walked up to his team who had been sitting around explaining various aspects of their magic.
"Do you feel like playing a few rounds of pakad Peter?" Lucifer asked.
"I'm guessing you aren't talking about something like a baseball and catcher's mitt?" Elijah questioned.
"You still aren't lettin' that conversation go are ya? Pele invented it so it's called hopu." Peter jeered.
Lucifer appeared angry but was actually happy with the response. He liked the sense of normalcy he got from arguing with Peter about something so irrelevant.
"The argument was about who popularized the game, not who invented it. Agni popularized it, so I'm calling it pakad. Just because she beat me in a match doesn't mean I have to call it what she wants."
"Alright ya sore loser." Peter stood up. "I think this would be perfect for teachin' Elijah," Peter suggested.
Lucifer actually hadn't thought of using the game to teach. There were a lot of reasons the idea didn't come to mind, one of the biggest being Elijah's current skill level with his magic.
"I don't know how much he's going to learn by watching. You need to be at least master tier with lightning magic to even consider redirection." Lucifer shrugged. "Maybe it'll be a good lesson on control."
Peter and Lucifer got some torches from the cart and set up a rectangular pattern. Sabu and Heinrich were on the sidelines ready to catch any stray fireballs.
"The rules for the fire variant are simple, Elijah," Lucifer started to explain. "You throw a ball of fire at your opponent who sends it back. With every third volley, you add another ball to the mix. First to miss loses."
"You can catch someone else's fire?" Elijah asked.
"Yes." Lucifer was enthusiastic. "This game can be played with any of the elemental magics so long as the participants share the same affinity, though personally, I think wind is boring, no offense Sabu."
Sabu shrugged and Lucifer continued.
"I don't want you trying this game anytime soon. Lightning is considered the most enjoyable to watch because of how dangerous and difficult it is." Lucifer warned.
"I wasn't planning on catching lightning anytime soon..." Elijah mumbled.
Lucifer conjured a baseball-sized ball of flame and shot it towards Peter. The two went back and forth as they caught the other's fireball. Peter ended up forfeiting before Lucifer could return the next volley of twelve fireballs.
"I know it doesn't use much mana, but I'd prefer not gettin' hit by-" He turned to Sabu. "-how many was it?"
"Twelve," Sabu answered.
"Yeah, I don't want to take twelve fireballs to the chest. I think that's a new record actually." Peter guessed.
"Your old record was fifteen. In fairness, you did end up severely burning your arms that day." Lucifer corrected.
Lao and Yvere checked on the two, making sure there were no burns.
"I can't believe the ridiculous number you and Pele got to." Peter reminisced. "I thought ya two were goin' to burn the whole festival down."
"I've been wondering something for a while now," Elijah questioned Lucifer. "If you can grab other's fire, what's to stop someone from grabbing water or air out of a body?"
Everyone was surprised by the dark question except for Lucifer who got an excited look on his face
"It's one of the laws of magic, but laws in more of a scientific sense. For whatever reason, water and air magic don't allow control over another being's insides. It's actually an inconsistency that I've studied and tried to find out why it works how it does." Lucifer's tone was contrastingly happy with how he usually spoke.
"Here we go." Peter and Lao mumbled.
"The magics work on corpses so I think it has something to do with life force." Lucifer hypothesized. "Then again there's possession magic that does work on living beings, but even that has multiple restrictions."
Lucifer continued explaining in tiring detail the lengths he's gone to test what magic can and cannot do. Most of it was obvious, with the occasional long-winded exception. A lot of it bored the others, while Elijah was completely absorbed in the information.
"So lightning magic works on one's own body, but water and air don't? There seem to be restrictions on those two magics specifically." Elijah added to the discussion.
"I know!" Lucifer said in an excited tone.
Peter groaned, snapping Lucifer out of his endless ramblings of magic theories.
"I know ya find this stuff fascinatin' Luce, but please calm down. Elijah has barely scratched advanced tier. I think he should learn how to attack without losin' a hand first."
"Of course." Lucifer agreed.