- Lucifer and Satan -
Satan spoke in a calm tone, "What new information did you learn in regards to archdemon contracts?"
Lucifer covered his mouth as he ruminated. 'Is there any answer I can give that diverts him?' he clasped his hands. "It relates to the contract's effect on mana."
"Too vague," Satan argued. "That's not an acceptable answer."
Lucifer's eyes narrowed. "Feel free to involve a third party who can judge the answers' quality."
Satan chuckled, "You think I won't?" his tone shifted to menace. "I'm sure Thoth would love to join this conversation."
"Call him then," Lucifer shrugged. "I'll just let the others know the trip will be delayed a few weeks."
Satan scowled so deeply that he showed teeth. The scowl shifted to a smile before he burst out laughing. He slowly clapped as he spoke.
"Very good! Very fucking good!"
Lucifer frowned as he asked a question, "What do you know of the mana costs in regards to demon contracts and archdemon contracts? So we're clear, this is not a trade of information, I'm asking for confirmed clarification so we can better determine what is and is not a fair answer."
Satan sighed happily, "Regular demon contracts take a percentage from one to five, at a minimum rate of every sixty seconds up to a maximum of one hundred and fifty seconds, variance reasons unknown."
"Happy?" Lucifer asked.
"Overjoyed," Satan responded. "I was blindingly furious for a moment there but then I realized just how long it's been since we've had a proper back-and-forth," he released another happy sigh. "Anyways, an archdemon contract functions the same way in terms of mana costs."
Satan realized, "And you said you learned that there's a difference in functionality? Meaning..."
"That the answer is acceptable," Lucifer said.
Satan shrugged. "I suppose it is. Well then, what is this new-found functionality?"
"Cost reduction," Lucifer answered.
"How much?" Satan didn't hesitate.
"Four favors currently," Lucifer reminded.
"Uh-huh," Satan seemed unbothered. "How. Much?"
"One hundred," Lucifer revealed.
With Lucifer's answer, it felt as if all the air had left the room. Satan sat back and rested his chin on the back of his hand. Lucifer had seen multiple faces of Satan today but the current one interested him the most. There was a deep contemplation happening in Satan's mind.
'Not even questioning the number,' Lucifer thought. 'He believes it wholeheartedly and now he's trying to figure out how he didn't learn of this sooner.'
"What," Satan stopped briefly before continuing, "What triggers this cost reduction?"
"The current theory-"
"Theory~?" Satan hummed. "I'm not accepting theory for something of this magnitude. A Seeker's handshake has specific rules when it comes to information this important, as I'm sure you know?"
"I do," Lucifer agreed. "Firstly, I can prove my words through Peter, and secondly, I'm calling it a theory because of a number of unconfirmed variables."
"Fine," Satan conceded. "What's the trigger?"
Lucifer explained the Seven Sins Theory. Satan argued that there are currently more than seven active archdemon contracts. Lucifer acknowledged the discrepancy and cited it as one of the unconfirmed variables.
"Five favors," Satan nibbled on one of his claws.
"Five so far," Lucifer mocked.
"Why not six?" Satan joked. "Does Cthulhu know?"
"No," Lucifer said. "At least, if he does, it's because of Kamlai, not me."
"Right..." Satan said as he stood up. "It's been interesting but I'm done here."
Lucifer stood up. "Wait."
Satan tilted his head back. "The handshake is over. If you would like to trade for MY information, feel free to ask questions."
"['Contract mutation']," Lucifer spoke carefully. "That's what you called it when a demon has the ability to give a contract."
Satan looked up at the ceiling. "The world thinks that every Hellspawn demon can give a contract but only a small percentage can."
'He's repeating what he told me so he can gauge my emotions,' Lucifer knew.
'Nothing new,' Satan noticed. "Why bring it up?"
"Has anything changed?" Lucifer asked.
"I'll trade the answer for a favor," Satan said as he turned around.
"No," Lucifer shook his head. "It matters more to you than it does me. There is one question I'd be willing to trade for, however."
"Oh?" Satan was cautiously optimistic.
Lucifer conjured his warden's key and held it up. "What does this thing do?"
"It's not the reason your wings turned black," Satan assumed Lucifer's intentions.
Lucifer dematerialized the key and walked past Satan. "Good enough answer. That's still five favors."
As Satan watched Lucifer walk away he had a thought. 'Maybe it is the reason your wings turned black, not that I can confirm. I'm sure the day will come when you learn what that key actually does. Might even happen in the N-H knowing your current luck.'
- Lucifer and Satan -
(Past)
Lucifer and Satan sat in a barren room. The walls of the room pulsed slightly. Lucifer looked around the room, noting the distortion of the light as the walls pulsed.
"Talk," Lucifer said. "You told me we had something important to discuss, didn't say a word on the absurdly long walk here, and now you're being quiet?"
"It's called 'thinking'," Satan responded. "It's that thing some beings do before committing to an action. I know such a concept clashes with your angelic blood but please bear with me."
Lucifer rolled his eyes. "You really expect me to believe you think before you speak? I thought demons were supposed to be good at lying?"
Satan chuckled briefly before returning to a more stoic expression. He conjured a small crowd of illusory demons onto the table. Some of the demons had a small red crystal floating above them.
"Swear on your name that you will never share the information that I'm about to give you."
"Depends on the information," Lucifer said. "I need more context before I agree to a swearing of the name."
"Demon contracts," Satan said. "I'll save us both time and tell you that the reason I have for "wanting" to inform you of this is because of a certain female archdemon that says you've "earned" this information."
"Abaddon?" Lucifer guessed. "Why doesn't she just tell me?"
"Because," Satan leaned in, "for all her stubbornness, she knows better than to share this information without approval."
"I swear on my name that I will not share this 'demon contract' information," Lucifer said. "The sooner we're out of this room, the better."
Satan sighed, "The world currently believes that all Hellspawned demons have the ability to give a contract that can boost the overall physical capabilities of the being who receives it," he increased the number of small illusory demons on the table. "However, the ability to give a contract is not ubiquitous. It's a mutation, or [contract mutation] as we've come to call it."
Lucifer was shocked. He looked at the illusory crowd of demons and noted how many red crystals there were.
"Why hide this information? More importantly, how have you hidden this information?"
"Good questions," Satan responded genuinely. "The two questions go hand-in-hand. The half-lie that I and the others propagated is that the ability to give a contract doesn't appear until age one hundred, which is true for those who WILL have the ability. The other lie we've created is told to the demons who reach their contract age but don't develop the ability."
Lucifer made a guess, "You told them that not ALL demons--Hellspawned demons, gain the ability to give a contract, but you lie about the percentage."
"Good guess," Satan complimented. "The others and I settled on the percentage being around sixteen."
"Like a dice roll," Lucifer stated.
"Exactly," Satan said. "Of course, we made it a rule that demons shouldn't share whether they do or do not have the contract ability. Not with demons, humans, and certainly not with anyone beyond Hell's walls. We made the rules for giving a contract exceedingly strict to assist the lie."
"Ok," Lucifer said. "Still though, why? Why lie about such a thing? Wouldn't the rarity increase the value?"
"Yes and no," Satan said. "Hellspawned demons on average are treated better outside of Hell if it's believed that any of them could have the ability to give a contract, whereas if the world knew the truth it would be exclusively the ones that can give a contract that get special treatment. And, unfortunately, there's no way to prove a demon can give a contract until the contract's actually given."
"You must use the level four prisoners to test this?" Lucifer assumed. "You have a demon attempt to give a contract to a level four human, If it works, you execute the human so the contract returns to the demon?"
"Interesting theory, but no," Satan shook his head.
Lucifer had a question but waited for Satan to continue.
"Demons that have the contract ability can feel it in their mana. It's like a stone that we can instinctually feel the ability to share. The final lie that's been made is that the feeling or the absence of the feeling does not necessarily guarantee a result."
"You and Abaddon," Lucifer said. " You two lied about having the feeling. No demon would question you two or your intentions. I am still curious about one thing though."
"What?" Satan asked.
"Archdemon contracts," Lucifer said. "Does every archdemon have the ability to give a contract? Because given what I've learned, it seems unlikely that every single archdemon would have the ability."
"About that," Satan changed the illusion on the table to only show seven demons, "The archdemons were originally normal demons. At one point though, the demons changed and their contracts with them. The change seemed to coincide with..." he stopped.
"Is it related to the [Creator's paradox]?!" Lucifer asked hastily.
Satan didn't answer right away. An on-and-off look of irritation appeared on Satan's face. It was clear to Lucifer that there was a debate going on in Satan's mind on whether or not to continue this line of thinking. Lucifer tried to hide his excitement about potentially discussing the [Creator's paradox]. Unfortunately, Lucifer forgot for a moment who he was speaking with.
"How would I or anyone else know?" Satan said dismissively. "Maybe, maybe not, but it doesn't change anything regardless."
"Fine," Lucifer said, defeated. "What caused the change?"
"I'm not sure," Satan admitted. "The change seemed to happen around the time of the first Demon War. It happened again during the Second Demon War but during the Third Demon War, nothing."
Lucifer looked at the illusory demons that were still on the table. "How many archdemons existed during the Third Demon War?"
"Seven," Satan said. "I can see where you're going with this but there are currently more than seven archdemons."
"How many in total?" Lucifer asked as his eyes scanned the illusions.
"The highest number was ten," Satan said.
"Ten..." Lucifer mumbled to himself.
Satan stood up and removed the illusion from the table. "I'm not here to discuss the [Creator's paradox] with you. If you ever tell another being about what was shared here today, then not even Death will save you, understood?"
"Understood..." Lucifer agreed with disinterest.
Satan looked back for a moment before walking out of the room. There was a brief look of disappointment on his face before he turned around and left.