- Lucifer and Amaterasu -
The two blasted around the arena, littering the area with smoke clouds. The speed of the two's combat drew raucous cheers from the audience. The announcer flew above the two's combat, dodging stray attacks as they cast the match.
"ONE HAS QUANTITY, THE OTHER QUALITY! WHICH MATTERS MORE WITH FIRE, WE WILL FIND OUT!"
Amaterasu had five rings conjured, including the one she was riding. She kept two by her side for defense while the other three were sent out for offense.
"Can't give him time," Amaterasu mumbled to herself.
The two's combat was a continued back-and-forth with Lucifer slowly closing distance on Amaterasu. As it felt like the match was starting to drag, Amaterasu decided to switch up tactics. She understood attrition was to Lucifer's benefit. She recalled all her rings to her and rushed Lucifer down in her wolf form.
'What is she?' Lucifer wondered as Amaterasu bit down on one of his wings.
Amaterasu swung her body weight down, swinging Lucifer to the ground. Before Lucifer could ignite the bitten wing, Amaterasu released her grip. Amaterasu landed on the ground while Lucifer flew back up. Amaterasu looked up diagonally at Lucifer and moved her six rings in front of her into a coil shape. Her mouth opened with a roar of flames.
'Shit!' The announcer thought before quickly moving out of the way.
The flames grew to such a size and force that Amaterasu's sixth ring turned to ash as the fire passed through it. The entire upper half of the arena was a sea of flames, the edges of which were being managed by demon guards stationed all around the stands.
'Weaving has its limits,' Amaterasu was confident.
Amaterasu saw what looked like a meteor crashing towards her. Lucifer crashed into Amaterasu using his wings as a shield. Amaterasu couldn't believe what she was seeing. The site of Lucifer's black wings smoldering in defiance of the damage that should have destroyed them. Lucifer lifted his slightly burnt arms, revealing two sets of fiery snakes coiling around each arm.
"Surrender?" Lucifer asked.
Amaterasu responded with a growl as she conjured new rings in front of her. Lucifer pointed his arms at Amaterasu, separating his palms so that the gap in between spyglassed Amaterasu.
"T-TO THINK IT WOULD REACH A CONCLUSION SO SOON!" The announcer shouted as they wiped the sweat from their head.
Amaterasu knew the smart plan was not to take Lucifer's attack head-on and to instead reset things back to the start of the match until she could find an opening for a counter. Lucifer's grin, whether it was purposeful or not, taunted Amaterasu into committing to her mistake.
'It's not a fight to the death,' Amaterasu reasoned to herself. 'I want to know the difference in strength. Win or lose, this is the right decision.'
A fiery cannon blast left from the gap between Lucifer's palms, shaking the arena with its force as it hurtled towards Amaterasu. Amaterasu was easily able to deflect the flames of the attack but what she had not expected and was now realizing, was that the attack wasn't truly one of fire.
'It's sheer force,' Amaterasu and Lucifer had the same thought. 'I/You can't weave it like normal fire, that's the point.'
Amaterasu was launched backwards, her body only stopping as it slammed into one of the arena walls, leaving a wolf-shaped crack as she fell from the wall.
'He focused the blast of force from the explosion,' Amaterasu transformed back into a woman as she stood up. 'Less deadly, but more effective against a fire god.'
Amaterasu tried conjuring new rings but could only manage three. The painful ringing in her head was too much for her concentration. She lifted her hands up.
"AND THERE YOU HAVE IT! LUCIFER WINS BY FORFEIT OF AMATERASU!"
"Fuck," Amaterasu was bitter. "I'll have to make him show me how to do that during our trip," Her expression changed to confusion. "First those attacks he used against Mother, now this? He isn't reported to have chaos magic, it should just be normal fire."
Lucifer flew over with a proud grin. As he approached to offer Amaterasu a handshake, he noticed her confused look.
"Sorry, but you really should have just dodged it."
"Yeah," Amaterasu shook Lucifer's hand. "Who do you train with?"
"What?" Lucifer didn't understand as he let go of Amaterasu's hand. "I was taught in Heaven? As for who I train with currently, it's mostly self-practice."
"No," Amaterasu shook her head with doubt. "You were banished longer than you weren't, so I'm asking where you learned the things you know now. That ring of fire and the burning smoke you used against my mother, that blast attack," She stared at Lucifer's black wings. "I'm sure you know how well-documented your existence is, but nowhere in that documentation does it mention you training or sparring with a prominent fire god."
Lucifer was honest, "I was taught by an unknown. The unknown in question values her privacy so that's all I can tell you about her."
Amaterasu was skeptical. "Fire gods, at least the powerful ones, don't have privacy."
Amaterasu wanted to press Lucifer for further information but she felt it would be disrespectful. She dropped the questions and decided to say a playful insult instead. Lucifer grinned and reciprocated insults. Despite the two's jovial outer appearance, they were both thinking about the being that trained Lucifer.
- Lucifer and Satan -
Lucifer and Satan sat at a table in a large barren room.
"Chamber and all," Lucifer mocked. "When was the last time we used this room? Was it-"
"Careful," Satan growled. "You want favors, I want confirmation. The sooner this is done the sooner you can go get killed on the E.B."
Lucifer whistled and leaned back. "So petulant when you're in the dark. How ironic."
Satan exhaled through his nostrils. "I want to know what you were actually doing in Cosm. I want confirmation of what was and wasn't said. Two favors, agreed?"
"You know it isn't," Lucifer grinned and leaned forward. "First," his grin shifted to a scowl, "you owe me for sparing the Izas."
"Excuse me?!" Satan was bewildered.
"Shiri," Lucifer mentioned. "He said this funny thing during our battle with Izanami. It had to do with him giving me his life if I spared her."
Satan grinned with hatred. "You cannot be serious? You really want to argue intent of favor with ME? Shiri-"
"Knows better," Lucifer interrupted. "He absolutely knows better than to use such words loosely. He truly wanted me and Death to spare the Izas. Shiri's loyal to the leaders he respects, for better or worse."
"You fu-" Satan mumbled, "Fine. Three favors then, agree--FUCK YOU!" he shouted as he stood up and slammed his hands on the stone table.
Lucifer looked at Satan with casual defiance. "Get as angry as you want, threaten me if you feel you have to, but understand one thing," he stood up and leaned closer to Satan, "you deserve this. Now, sit back down, and let's discuss terms properly."
Satan sat down slowly. "You want to Seeker's handshake this? You think your information is that valuable to me?"
"You know I do," Lucifer said, sitting down. "One favor per question, agreed?"
Satan dug his claws into the table as he spoke through his teeth. "Agreed."
Despite the palpable animosity between the two, there was a moment of silence. Satan was meticulously planning his questions and Lucifer was preparing his answers.
'Devil,' Lucifer thought. 'He's gone and even if he wasn't it's not as if you could prove his existence,' he sighed. 'I'm sure you'll notice shifts with the name 'Warden' now as well. I need to be careful around eldritch, at least the ones that are as in tune with the mental plane as Cthulhu.'
Satan tapped his fingers on the table. 'He's uncertain of something. Probably just constructing the most obnoxious answers he can,' he stopped tapping. "Devil..."
Lucifer changed his expression to show annoyed frustration. "I'll give you that for free, but any further and I'm considering it a question."
Satan covered his mouth to stop himself from speaking. 'Why does that name matter to you now? What changed? You've heard the name enough times that it lost meaning but suddenly it matters again?' he exhaled slowly. 'It's not important. I need to focus on the relevant information.'
Lucifer looked around the empty room. 'He won't ask. The questions are too valuable for him to ask. Of all the places in Hell to use for secret meetings...' he looked past Satan. 'Level four is the most secure but what purpose did this room have prior?'
As Lucifer looked closer it seemed as if the walls of the room were pulsing, as though the stone-like structure was alive. The lights that adorned the walls were occasionally distorted by the pulse of energy that appeared to emanate from the room.
"First question," Satan spoke, snapping Lucifer out of his curiosity, "Did Cthulhu discover information pertaining to demon contracts while he was digging around your mind?"
"No," Lucifer answered.
Satan opened his mouth but quickly closed it. 'Is that a lie? He wouldn't, he knows better, and if he doesn't...'
Lucifer spoke, "I'll tell you for the sake of this not taking multiple days: I discussed archdemon contracts with Kamlai. Whatever conflicting thing you're seeing in my emotions, it'll be because of that."
"Why--fuck!" Satan couldn't stop himself. "Might as well. Why were you discussing archdemon contracts with Kamlai?"
Lucifer was stunned that Satan would accidentally ask a question. For Satan, the thought process was more obvious.
'Kamlai is easily the least informed of the current archdemon contract holders. What could he have possibly discussed with her? The contract's side effects? They already know she's blind. How her contracts interact with each other? Already documented, and he specified archdemon contract, instead of saying 'contracts'.'
'He wasted a question,' Lucifer was in disbelief. 'No...no that isn't it. He doesn't know. If he did he would have never wasted the question.'
- Lucifer and Death -
(Before Lucifer and Death left Han'ei)
"I promise you I didn't know," Death said to Lucifer.
Lucifer doubted, "Why wouldn't Mary and/or Zach tell you?"
"Mary hates Satan," Death said. "When I called her to ask about this, she said that if she told me I would have told you, and then you would eventually trade the information to Satan."
"Mary..." Lucifer groaned. "So she's operating on the assumption that Satan doesn't already know?"
Death shrugged, "It's a fair assumption. There are currently eight archdemon contracts active, with two in reserve. Mary did tell me one other part of her theory as an apology."
"For fuck's sake Mary," Lucifer rubbed his face in frustration.
"She said she also believes there's a certain amount of time a being has to have had the contract," Death shook his head. "Despite Peter having had his contract for the shortest amount of time among the three, he's still lived with it longer than the average being that gets an archdemon contract. Her current guess is a minimum requirement of a century. She almost sounded relieved that Peter just barely crossed the time threshold."
"Well," Lucifer sighed, "I have no current plans to trade the information with Satan, mostly because there's no reasonably safe way to check if he knows without accidentally revealing the information."
- Lucifer and Satan -
Satan tapped his claws on the table. "If you don't have a suitable answer..."
"I do," Lucifer maliciously grinned. "I recently came across some information in regards to archdemon contracts. I wanted to confirm said information with Kamlai."
'Purposefully vague,' Satan ground his teeth. 'Purposefully vague and not lying. What could he have possibly learned that I don't know? He would have learned it after his time spent with Xiao, so the question is: what would Xiao know? No...not Xiao, Mary. Any and all information that could be even the slightest bit relevant goes through her at some point.'