Arms poised behind his back, the butler bowed as he offered out his hands towards the door, slowly opening towards the sanctuary. A half-smile hidden on his face, he chuckled. " Pontiff Yor'fenli will see you now."
Welcoming the sight of rows of chairs capable of housing well over three hundred demons and devils, alongside those foolish enough to bow before this madman, I stood with my eyes narrowed at the intricate design that left a chill racing down my spine. My heart was palpating while sweat dotted my brow.
Lilith's arms squeezed as her voice reached my soul, " We shouldn't have come here."
She was right, but we were here now.
Stepping through the threshold, with Lilith by my side, I looked up to the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors hanging above our heads, shifting my attention towards the podium that sat a table with the familiar face of the Marquess, now Pontiff of Belphegor's little cult.
"Arsene and Lilith Snow." He spoke, carrying a heavy weight in his voice, sending ripples that seemed to bring out the fears in Gods.
Tian Wang's footsteps had already paused at the threshold, and I wasn't going to beckon to him. He had a brain, and at this point, separation meant death. I wanted him dead anyway; I just couldn't be the one to kill him.
Foolish imp.
"We meet again, Marquess Yor'fenli," I challenged, with a smirk holding back my unease with the Dao of Devils Heart.
If anyone were going to cause me to fear something, it would be myself. The only way to fight someone with a Mortal Dao was to use your own against it or have some idea what it was, and I had both.
Yor'fenli arched lips dipped a little, "Still cynical, I see. Dine with me, you too, Loki; I've read much about you."
"You've read? Now that's a surprise; most would have heard of me by now; I am quite famous in your circles; I have tricked a few dukes and Marquess such as yourself before." The trickster uttered, "or did such a thing not register in your mind."
"A trivial matter, I'm sure. But you were and still are a faded illusion of your past self." He replied.
Loki did not seem to mind the insult as he took a seat with a carefree smile.
I like this snake. It just makes me wonder what's going through his head?
Finding my seat at the head of the table, with Loki and Lilith facing each other, I shot one more glance at the fearful duo at the door and could help but feel embarrassed.
Those idiots.
Not bothering to waste my valuable time, my eyes pivoted to Yor'fenli draped in his regal attire, crowned by an elegant black and gold miter. I studied the surroundings to look for a Scepter like the one Baphomet had shown me, as I figured most Popes or Pontiffs, whatever they were called, would have at least one.
"My lord has a request," Pontiff Yor'fenli began, " A simple one, but one I'm sure both you would not mind having."
"Where is Beelzebub?" I asked, cutting in, gleaming nothing from Yor'fenli.
"Have I been rude to you, Mr. Snow?" He asked softly.
Brow lifting in a questioning manner, I answered, "No, you've not been rude."
"Then show some respect; you're a devil, are you not?"
"Don't you think that window has been thrown out since you tried to kill me?"
"Lord Mephisto put a stop to that, I'm afraid. It seems he saved your life." He remarked, eyeing me with a look of emptiness as if nothing around him was of relevance. Yet the half smile over his lips told a different story.
Peering into his heart showed nothing but serenity. Even for a Devil or Demon, I'd thought that was impossible. No way my mind could be so calm.
"Only making conversation; my other two guesses are returning shortly."
Two?
"Arsene and my-oh-my, do my eyes deceive me? Is that the great Avatar herself, Lilith snow?" A playful voice sent more chills dancing along my spine than the Marquess, and his demonic Chapel uttered.
Watching Tian Wang and his wife foaming red from the mouth as two familiar beings stepped through the threshold, I narrowed my eyes.
"Dagon and Beelzebub," Lilith said, noting the absence of some generals that should be watching them. "What the hell are you doing here?"
Wait, that child said they were not physically here.
"Pleasure to meet you again," Beelzebub said.
" Indeed, I've been watching through the eyes of my Hell Knights, and it seems like you two have come a long way."
Hell Knights? Don't tell me.
"They belong to you?" I bitterly asked,
"They do; I must congratulate you on defeating one during your infancy, an impossible task to boot were it not for Asmodeus and my intervention. Or did you honestly believe you could fight a weakened Hell Knight?" Dagon uttered calmly, twirling his fingers through his scarlet hair.
"So you control the Knights of Hell," I stated.
"I do. Although in this realm, they are so weak it's embarrassing. Shame that my control over the Hell Knights is faint but enough to alter reality." He added teasingly as he took a seat beside the Pontiff, as did Beelzebub.
My eyes narrowed, noting the attempt to wound my pride, but what can I say? I am feeling a little shameless right now. I'm going to take that victory with my head high.
"No need to tease him, Dagon," Said Yor'fenli in a different tone from before.
It was sleek, noble, with nodes of superiority I couldn't miss.
There was just something different I didn't hear when a Fallen spoke to me. There was something about how he spoke that felt almost angelic.
"It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Mr. and Mrs. Snow, alongside the acolyte of Mephisto; I am Belphegor." He introduced, narrowing his ancient grey eyes.
My heart was reeling, and honestly, I was thankful it was in my Spear. It might have leaped out of my chest.
What the hell was this indescribable pressure?
"We met once before, or do you not remember that?" He asked, arching his lips, " Using you as a distraction, I was able to nick the neck of Zariels."
Memories were unfolding, and my fingers clenched as I recalled something like that in the Origin Realm, "He got you back, I'm sure."
"Destroyed my weapon, forged by the bones of the first whore."
"Lilith?"
Belphegor smiled, as did his brothers, ' I'm afraid not. Despite what we call her, Lilith was by no means a whore. The Hells is a utopia of knowledge, my friend, something not even your bloodline holder Bael knows. To us, Demons and Devils are the beginning, the mix we use to forge new races."
"New races?" Lilith questioned while Loki remained silent, contemplating something.
"Indeed, Father had band such things after Lucifer created the Hell Spawns," Dagon informed," But Bel here after his rebirth went through a rebellion of his own and Flooded the Hells with beings using the Mother of Demons and Devils bloodline as cores."
"And your tell in us this? Why?" Loki questioned with a straight face.