Uhhh...
Hey.
Yeah, I know, I know, it's been FOREVER since I updated this damn thing. I know I usually keep to updating my fics once a month, and that just came to a screeching halt with no seeming rhyme or reason. After 24 left off on such a massive cliffhanger too. For that, I don't think I'll ever be able to apologize enough.
SO I'M NOT GOING TO TRY. I think just an attempt at an explanation of why this chapter, above all others, took such a long-ass time. Apart from how long it is: I mean, it's half as long as the first Harry Potter book BY ITSELF. I feel like that part of why it's taken so long should go without saying... even if that phrase has no meaning now that I've, you know, said all that.
BUTT N-EE-WAY! Next, there's the simple fact that as the 25th chapter, a silver anniversary of sorts, and the fact that this chapter's kinda the climax of this entire first saga of OA , I'd felt since the beginning that this chapter was gonna need a bit more time in the proverbial oven than those that came before. But just HOW much... I underestimated. VASTLY.
As development of 25 began, I quickly came to the realisation that what I had in mind for this chapter was smaller in terms of scale than a milestone like this really called for. A LOT smaller. Like three episodes of Bluey vs. the Lord of the Rings trilogy (extended editions, of course). THAT kind of difference in scale. Luckily for me, one of the people that I talk to a lot and bounce ideas off of regarding this fic stepped in and has been helping me a LOT with the chapter's development, both with expanding my ideas for what this chapter was originally going to be, suggesting some of their own, and even helping me with writing it all out/making sure it all fit together as well as it possibly could. They've asked to remain anonymous, but they know who they are and they have my eternal gratitude. They're the fucking best, they've BEEN the fucking best throughout all the shit, this entire fic wouldn't be close to what it is, never mind what it's GOING to be, without them.
However... life happened.
I don't know if we racked up a shitton of bad karma in our past lives, or if whatever God or Devil up/down there that we can't see (and if they even exist, won't just fucking reveal themselves already? IF YOU'RE SO ALL-KNOWING, YOU'LL KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO DO TO GET THE ENTIRE WORLD TO BELIEVE IN YOU, SO WHY THE FUCK WON'T- ahem) felt like playing a cruel joke on us, but throughout this entire development, stuff that I can only describe as 'shitty poopoo life shit' kept happening and happening with both of us, pushing development of this chapter further and further back. When one thing was dealt with, another would crop up, and so would another once THAT was dealt with, rince and repeat until... well, today. I don't know if I can guarantee to be able to keep up my unofficial 'once a month' fic updating schedule. The most I feel comfortable doing is amending that to an official but less restrictive 'WHEN THE CHAPTER'S READY'. Same goes for my other fic, And Then There Were Quirks, if anyone here is also reading that. If you're not, and you like Ben 10 and/or My Hero Academia... give it a look... please?
But now, after nearly half a year... it's ready. Not just my, but I think OUR magnum opus, it's ready.
So here it is.
...
Enjoy.
Line Break
Raylix felt a sense of tension tickle his skin as he scanned the crowd currently forming over the area.
It made sense that so many Devils had come into the scene, considering Katerea, Shalba and Creuserey hadn't exactly been quiet when they started their outdoors fight… but the sight of Lilith showing up in Hebeth for the second time in only two days, this time along with both her daughters and Raylix's own gathered companions? That likely attracted whoever's attention hadn't been caught by all the noise of the fight and left him feeling he was seeing the damn near entirety of Hebeth's population right now!
Katerea's focus was also aimed at the huge crowd of her faction's servicemen, scanning the looks on their faces as a majority stood outside, none daring to venture in or make a run for it. A small minority, however…
"What the heck is going on here?"
"Did someone attack us just now? I thought this location was well hidden!"
"Hold up, is that Lady Lilith?"
"What happened to Lord Creuserey and Lord Shalba?"
"Is Lady Katerea alright!?"
"Did she do this to them?"
Those words rang across her ears as she moved her gaze across the crowd, spotting expressions of shock, fear, uncertainty, sometimes a combination of the three, and a few others on those she could directly see… and presumably across everyone she couldn't directly see.
Though, who could blame them? Nothing about the current situation was able to be explained by the scene alone. Shalba and Creuserey were battered, bloodied, and had just dropped unconscious after Lilith had done… something, to them. She was fine, yet both her and Raylix were standing over the pair of them, along with the Vanishing Dragon, some creepy-looking Gothic-Lolita girl that Katerea had never seen before, a pair of Magicians (one of whom Katerea was sure some of her servicemen recognised as a Platinum like she had), a bluenette who looked like she was holding back a grin at the sight of Shalba and Creuserey's ravaged forms, and… wait, was that Tamamo-no-Mae? Wasn't she supposed to be dead?
Either way, the overall sight had to be a pretty paralyzing one, to say the least.
'Keep calm.' Katerea quickly told herself, 'Yes, there's quite a shocking sight before them and a lot of people you've never seen before, but if I take time to explain everything…'
She moved to look at Raylix, who did the same as they shared a glance and breath over their current circumstances. However, before either of them could indicate or speak to the other about any potential next steps, Lilith's voice cut through the silence that had been stretching out for the last several seconds, ever since Hikari had dropped Shalba and Creuserey's bodies to the ground.
"Katerea, are there any servicemen currently operating outside of Hebeth?" she inquired. "And if so, can you get them to return here immediately?"
Katerea immediately turned to Lilith, shocked out of the silence by the Lilim Queen's return to an even tone, before nodding in confirmation.
"Good." Lilith continued. "Then you know what to do."
Katerea took a couple of steps away from Raylix and Lilith, opening a comms-circle by her ear and waiting for a couple of seconds, before addressing whoever it was on the other side and ordering them and anyone who served under them that they needed to return to Hebeth immediately. Raylix wasn't exactly paying attention to that, he was more occupied by Lilith opening a comms-circle of her own by her own ear, also waiting for a couple of seconds as she waited for whoever it was on the other end to reply.
"Yes, hi." Lilith spoke, as whoever it was seemingly replied. "Did you just get up?"
There was a pause for a few seconds as whoever it was on the other end replied. Whatever they said prompted a smile out of Lilith for a moment.
"Get him to make something for you, it's what he's there for." she replied, seemingly holding back a giggle. "Listen, things in Hebeth are going well right now. The rest, though, might take a little bit longer than I was initially anticipating. I'm still coming back, just a bit later than I thought I was going to. Thought I'd give you the heads-up."
Another pause, this one slightly longer. This time, Lilith couldn't hold back a small giggle into the comms-circle at whatever whoever it was on the other side made their reply. Even though it wasn't him she was giggling specifically towards, Raylix couldn't help but feel his stomach turning in circles at the sight and sound of Lilith doing something like that.
"Who do you think you're talking to?" she asked, as she recomposed herself. "See you soon."
The comms-circle around her ear disappeared, and Lilith took a breath, looking over at Raylix as he spoke up.
"Who were you talking to?" he asked. "Can't be someone I know, since…" he trailed off slightly, his eyes shifting over to Hikari (who had dispelled her White Dragon armour) and Kurumi, who were quietly chatting with each other off to the side, and back to Lilith.
"Oh, have you not…?" Lilith replied, giving a look of surprise for a couple of seconds, before shaking her head. "Never mind. I'll introduce you after we've taken care of this." she assured, her eyes flicking to the gathered crowd of TSF servicemen that were still outside Shalba's mansion gates, before back to Raylix. "They can be trusted, Raylix, I promise you."
Turning on her heel, Lilith looked over at both her daughters and Raylix's companions, who had fallen silent and were looking over at them.
"If you want to head back to the house, you're all free to do so." Lilith spoke. "For what's about to happen next, I only really need Raylix and Katerea here with me. The rest, you can stay or go, it's your choice."
"We'll be staying." Hikari immediately replied, closing the distance between herself and her adoptive mother half a step. Kurumi nodded in agreement, imitating her sister.
Irene, Cinder, Esdeath and Tamamo on the other hand, looked between each other for a couple of seconds, remaining in place before all collectively shaking their heads.
"We'll head back." Irene replied, waving a hand to open a transportation-circle large enough for herself and the other three women to step into. "See you back at the house, Raylix."
Raylix nodded to Irene and the other three women, with Tamamo letting out a loud yawn as the circle activated, warping the four of them away in an instant and leaving Raylix, Lilith, Hikari and Kurumi alone. After a second or two, Katerea approached them.
"It's done." She informed the four of them. "All operatives outside Hebeth will be returning, as soon as they possibly can." The tan-skinned Devil let out a small sigh, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as she looked from Raylix to Lilith. "But I don't know how long all of them are going to be. I told them to get back here ASAP, but that could still be at any time… and we still need to address the rest of the faction." She gestured to the gates of Shalba's mansion, outside which the crowd of TSF servicemen continued to watch what was going on, though all their prior discussions had ceased the moment Lilith began talking. Raylix could tell, at a glance, that they- at large- were clearly starting to get restless.
Katerea wasn't wrong in her remark that they needed to be addressed, and Lilith seemed to think the same as her eyes flicked to the gathered crowd, before looking back to Katerea and nodding.
"Go ahead." She spoke, taking half a step back as Katerea stepped forward, reaching up with one hand and firing off a loud bang out of it. That caught the crowd's immediate attention and caused those who had since been distracted by their personal thoughts to either jump or flinch as the bang shot through the air.
"Thank you." The granddaughter of Leviathan began. "I'm sure you're all wondering what has happened here, and rest assured, any questions you might have will be answered. Though I feel it's best to share the most important point first," she pointed down at the ravaged, still-unconscious forms of Shalba and Creuserey, that laid a few feet to her right. "Which is that, as of today, Shalba and Creuserey's tenures as co-leaders of the True Satan Faction… are over!"
Instant uproar erupted from the crowd. Raylix almost winced from how quickly the noise level jumped from relative quiet to a pure cacophony of yells, with everyone outside shouting over each other in a frenzy of disbelief and confusion, all giving their simultaneous thoughts on what Katerea had just declared. No singular voice could be heard above another, and so he prepared himself to take half a step forward, intending to draw Rubilacxe as a warning to the crowd to quiet down so Katerea could keep talking without any danger from the crowd before her.
But, before Raylix could even summon the First Devil King's sword to his open hand, he caught the look on Lilith's face aimed squarely at him. She didn't even need to speak, or use the telepathic communication she'd established with him yesterday for him to tell what she was asking- no, ordering- of him with that look:
'Don't.'
After a second of consideration, Raylix closed his hand, and watched as Katerea, to quell the raging crowd, fired off an even louder bang from her hand than the one she'd set off prior. It didn't completely quell the din that had broken out as a result of her declaration, but it was now noticeably much quieter than before.
"I told you any questions you might have would be answered, and I believe it's time to make good on that." Katerea continued, magically enhancing her voice a little bit. "By explaining what led to what you see before you this morning." Taking a second to swallow and lubricate her rapidly drying throat, Katerea began. "Some time ago, while out on a long-term mission in the human world in service of the True Satan Faction, my… then-ward, Raylix Gremory, encountered Lady Lilith on his travels."
Whatever noise the crowd was still making after Katerea's declaration about Shalba and Creuserey had died completely, as she looked back at Raylix and Lilith for a moment before turning back to the crowd and resuming.
"During that time, the Mother of Hell made a proposal to Raylix," she informed the crowd. "One for a potential collaboration between us, the True Satan Faction, and a growing power in the wider world known as the Khaos Brigade, whose goals are quite similar to ours. After hearing the proposal myself, delivered personally by Lady Lilith herself yesterday, and after considering every angle, I truly believed it to be the way forward for this faction, and deemed it the best path to achieving our goals of deposing the fraudulent noble-run and New Satan-led Devil government."
Silence followed for a moment, and then a few heads turned as a new wave of murmurs began to break out.
"Lady Lilith was willing to help us?"
"Amazing!"
"Wait, didn't she refuse to help us back when Bidleid asked for her aid?"
"Maybe the problem was how he asked her?"
"I remember him having a mark on his neck at Lucifaad…"
After a few more seconds of murmurs passed by, they eventually settled back into silence, a signal which prompted Katerea to continue.
"Shalba and Creuserey, however, didn't see it that way." She spoke. "In fact, they didn't see it at all, or even try to for that matter! Too blinded by their own self-pride, or focused on personal, petty past grudges against Lady Lilith, to even properly consider her proposal, they turned it down on those grounds. Had their reasons been more legitimate, I might have been willing to respect my then-co-leaders' decision to turn down Lady Lilith's proposal, but their actions yesterday made it clear to me that they care more for their own interests than the interests of the faction that we had formed nearly half a millennium ago!"
A new wave of murmurs followed, all more reactionary than the ones that had broken out moments prior.
"They refused her?"
"I can see why Lord Shalba might refuse, but…"
"Wait, was that really what happened!?"
Unlike last time, Katerea chose to continue on without waiting for another round of silence or having to let out another magical bang of any kind.
"This, obviously, wasn't something I could stand for with clear conscience, so I had to take action. With the help of Raylix, his allies, Lady Lilith, and her own powerful allies, one of which is this generation's host of the Vanishing Dragon- yes, the SAME Vanishing Dragon that she herself destroyed at the end of the Great War- we were able to make sure that Shalba and Creuserey's narrow-minded vision for Hell's future will shackle us no longer!"
An almost unanimous gasp of shock left the mouths of the crowd, though that was near immediately by expressions of rage and betrayal as the crowd's unity seemed to splinter in real-time.
"This was your doing?"
"I should have known that this was a power play!"
"You just wanted to be in charge, didn't you?"
"How dare you!"
It was damn obvious, almost immediately, to Katerea that her declaration hadn't made the desired effect as soon as the words left Katerea's throat. Though the declaration in question was the kind of thing that, in the right context, would leave a crowd cheering for hours… those cheers would never come. Raylix looked from the crowd to Katerea, in a similarly nervous state from the newly formed chaos and not quite sure of what to do in this delicate situation… though his eyes widened slightly when he saw Lilith coming up from behind him, out of the corner of his eye. He noticed Katerea's eyes widening too when she walked past her, stopping a few steps in front of her and immediately attracting the attention of the entire gathered faction.
"I understand your concerns." She began, her volume silencing the crowd's outburst from the surprise. "Someone just walking into your faction and seemingly taking over, with your only remaining leader having thrown in her lot with them? I'd be suspicious too if I were standing in your shoes. Which is why I stand before you now, personally delivering my new proposition for this faction. During the times that I must continue to act as the Lilim's Queen, the very Devils that saved you all from Shalba and Creuserey's self-interest and shortsightedness," she revealed her horns and tails at that moment, using her tails to point at Raylix and Katerea in that moment "will work as your leaders going forward."
That didn't make the looks the crowd was giving lighten up at all. If anything, they had only doubled down in response to her words.
"Are you serious!?"
"Why should we listen to you at all?"
"I agree! Tell us, oh, great Queen!"
"You tyrant!"
Katerea and Raylix shared a look with each other, with Katerea noticing the neutral expression Raylix had been holding ever since the start of this entire conversation had gotten a little bit… tighter? It looked like he was attempting to hold it together yet was starting to struggle with it. Though, she supposed that made sense: having only been an HEIR, and not the real leader of one of the noble Clans up until he threw all of that away to join the True Satan Faction.
For him to suddenly be thrust into a position of greater leadership in front of the people he'd be leading, which was closer to how Lucifer and Lilith had led the entirety of their race, would be quite the daunting task for anyone.
'And all while it seems like Lady Lilith is…' she suddenly felt her thoughts pause, noticing the smile Lilith hadn't dropped since she began. 'Wait… a smile?' Katerea then let out a silent gasp as it clicked. She hoped she knew what Lilith was doing, because if she was right about what the Lilim Queen was intending… then she was playing with some SERIOUS fire, here.
And at that moment, Lilith's eyes tensed as a ripple of her demonic power shot out. It had an immediate effect as everyone felt a shiver bring them to a stilled silence.
"The lot of you I see before me," Lilith continued. "Is just the beginning. Under Raylix and Katerea's leadership, and my guidance, this is simply the first step down a path that will lead to a glorious future for Hell. One not shackled by the ways of old. The Underworld Reformation Faction," she spoke, magically enhancing the volume of those words a little, prompting loud gasps from the gathered servicemen. Even Katerea, Raylix noticed, widened her eyes in surprise at Lilith… changing the name of the faction, just like that. "a new force far greater, more powerful and more successful than one shackled by fools," she gestured with her eyes towards Shalba and Creuserey's still-unconscious forms for a fraction of a second, before returning her gaze to the crowd in front of her. "could ever hope to be. This, I personally guarantee to each and every one of you."
Those words lit the fire in the crowd that Katerea was presumably looking for with her own declaration, judging by the uproar that erupted as soon as the new name for the faction left Lilith's throat, and was kicked into overdrive as soon as she finished talking. But it wasn't a unified one either, as the operatives of the True Satan Faction now-turned Underworld Reformation Faction had broken into near-chaos, with voices shouting over one another and seeming to move, as a unit, closer to the fence that separated Shalba's mansion from the rest of the city. A barrage of questions was heard above the sudden racket, directed at the two Devils and one Succubus directly in front of them-
"What gives you the right to just change the name of our faction like it's nothing?! What else are you going to change on top of that?!"
"Was there really no other way to make things work with Shalba and Creuserey other than all of you beating the shit out of them?"
"Do you really care about our goals for the Underworld, or are you just planning to hand us over to the frauds in power among the Devils as soon as it's convenient for you?!"
"I bet Raylix just handed us over to Lilith on a silver platter because he gets a boner every time she looks at him!"
Unnoticed by anyone, Lilith's smile finally disappeared as she heard that remark. Her eyes focusing on the culprit as they shrunk and tightened with rage.
"What do the Khaos Brigade really-?!"
The questions (and general noise) vanished in an instant as Lilith threw out her hand, and a female Devil in the crowd- presumably the one that had made the comment directed at Raylix- found herself lifted into the air above the crowd by their neck. Almost immediately after the noise faltered did Lilith, whose outstretched hand told everyone with crystal clarity who was responsible for the act, slowly began to squeeze the air, and what looked like an invisible hand started to tighten and constrict the Devil's neck, slowly cutting off her air supply. The Devil struggled, her hands clawing at her throat in a vain attempt to remove the invisible force choking her out.
Even Raylix and Katerea were left paralyzed by the sight, despite having seen… whatever she had done to Creuserey and Shalba.
"Do you really think THAT little of ME?" Lilith asked, her tone now a deathly calm that cut through the silence like a hot blade slicing an arm off. "That I would be so shallow as to be easily swayed by the idea of taking over a faction just because one of its new leaders has the hots for me? And do you REALLY-" Her astral grip on the Devil's neck tightened, and her face began slowly turning from red to blue as she ran out of air. "Think that Raylix would be so weak-willed as to give up on a cause he abandoned EVERYTHING to join, for such a petty reason!?"
Before anyone could speak, or even react, Lilith reached out with her other hand and fired a bolt of dark demonic energy from it, seemingly aimed at the head of the Devil she was choking out. As soon as she saw Lilith's other hand raising up, the Devil had closed her eyes, bracing herself for a death that, after the bang that sounded as Lilith fired off the shot, she was surprised to find didn't come. She did, however, feel the shot whizzing by her head, purposefully missing her brain by centimetres at most and grazing the upper part of her right ear, before after a few seconds she opened her eyes. She found that Lilith's grip on her neck had slackened slightly, allowing her to finally breathe again.
Which she did, what breaths she could manage coming out of her mouth in shaky pants, along with a shout of pain. Her eyes widened with pure fear, and her face burned in humiliation as the pain of Lilith's shot slicing through her ear finally hit her, once the shot of adrenaline she'd gotten after her brush with death began to wear off.
"So, you DON'T want to die." Lilith remarked, the cold fury in her voice replaced by a more composed calm as she lowered the hand she had fired the shot with. "Could've fooled me. Pull a stunt like that again, and I won't miss next time."
The crowd immediately felt a sense of dread hit them as they realized Lilith could kill them all with ease at any time. Lilith fully released her grip, allowing the Devil to drop unceremoniously to the ground, and lowered her other hand and returned her focus to the crowd at large, from which murmurs immediately followed.
Murmurs immediately followed as the fear Lilith had cultivated leaked out.
"What the hell did she just do?"
"I think that was some kind of telekinesis, but I thought only the Marbas Clan was able to use such a power, and they were one of the houses that fell."
"But Lilith is the reason we Devils exist, right? Maybe… maybe she can use all our powers?"
The Devil who said that looked at her, and he saw Lilith tilt her head and grab her chin with her thumb and forefinger. Upon seeing her give a brief smile, the ambiguity left by the gesture was clear.
"Now that you've all finally settled down," she continued, as if she HADN'T just nearly killed one of her own before the rest of the faction's very eyes "The Khaos Brigade is a new organization that operates the world over. They may not be much in terms of numbers against the rest of the world as of yet, but rest assured, it is RAPIDLY growing to meet that aim. As for the reason it's managing to grow that quickly?"
She paused for a second, taking a breath before continuing, the crowd now hanging onto her every word far more than they had been when Katerea was talking.
"It's quite simple." She continued. "Because the Khaos Brigade's members aren't bound by such simple things as race or creed, but by something greater and far more powerful than either: ideals. Their goal is a redefinition of this world, where boundaries that have caused nigh-unquantifiable harm over the millennia, are torn down for good. Boundaries that have led to little more than war, suffering and most recently, stagnation and decay… and if that means deposing the leadership of all factions the world over like what happened today, including the Devils in power that the Underworld Reformation Faction so despises and the Lilim monarchs that I've worked alongside for centuries…" she added, after a short pause. "Then so be it."
It took a couple of seconds for the weight behind Lilith's words, spoken with complete sincerity, to fully sink into the crowd.
"Sorry, but…" One Devil quickly said. "Did you just say you'd be willing to betray your fellow Archsuccubi?"
"Yes, I did." Lilith verified, not missing a beat.
But before anyone could make any noise that would distract the rest from her words, Lilith held up a hand for silence before continuing.
"For those of you who might not fully grasp what I'm saying," she began. "Allow me to spell it out for you all: the goals of the Khaos Brigade, and of the Underworld Reformation Faction, are one and the same. Both seek the end of the current systems that have held the world back, and the emergence of a new order free from the mistakes of the past, which led to the situation we find ourselves in today. The only difference between that faction and yours is the scale that the Khaos Brigade operates on, seeking this change worldwide rather than just in the Underworld."
The crowd remained silent, their attention on Lilith absolute. It was as if they'd completely forgotten about the female Devil she'd just lifted up and nearly choked out in front of the lot of them, as she continued.
"The new order that's coming," the Succubus Queen spoke, her voice a couple of tones softer than before, but no less intense. "I'm ready to do anything for it. Up to, including and beyond, making enemies of the very fellow Lilim monarchs that I've worked with for so long. Ever since the Lilim went independent from the Devils, we have stood together as comrades and fellow leaders, but I'll risk those bonds, potentially make enemies out of them forever, for the sake of a better world. Not just for myself, or for those I personally care for-" She glanced behind her, at Hikari, Kurumi and Raylix before turning to face the crowd again and continuing. "But for each and every one of you that stands before me right now… and for all that would join us in our campaign for a better, stronger world."
The crowd began to stir a little again, but immediately shut up when Lilith raised one of her hands again. It was damn clear that she had them in the palm of her hand after her scare and lack of hesitation in answering she would betray even the Lilim monarchs if need be.
"I now ask," she continued, her eyes sweeping across the crowd. "How many of those among you chose to join the True Satan Faction because you realised how weak the Devils had gotten after the wars you'd been through? How many of you recognised that after the farce of so-called 'noble' blood, the only way you become truly recognised in new Devil society is by how much destruction you're able to cause against whoever they deem an enemy, rather than the good you can do for the Devils as a whole?"
A few voices rose from the crowd, offering up positive answers to Lilith's question. Some who lacked the same courage merely raised their hands, while a small few were brave enough to yell out their past experiences, but quieted down when Lilith opened her mouth again.
"And how many of you here joined because you felt like the only thing that had changed, ever since the end of the Devil Civil War nearly half a millennium ago, was who was the one in charge to call the shots?" she asked. "Not the old Satans that built the very Underworld you all call home, but the less than half of the surviving Pillars bloodlines who took the title of nobility just because they thought it'd give them authority over what was left of the Devils?"
More voices joined in along with the few that had spoken up in response to Lilith's first question. They'd gotten louder, but immediately quietened down as Lilith opened her mouth again.
"Or, maybe even," she continued, in a slightly softer tone this time. "How many of you chose to make the leap from a life of relative peace to the True Satan Faction, not just for yourselves but for the sake of becoming part of something greater than yourself? Simply for a better future for Hell as a whole, for friends or loved ones, perhaps?"
Caught off-guard for a moment by Lilith's softer tone, the crowd took a couple of seconds to respond. One voice above the others, Raylix caught with his ears, mentioned how his wife and her entire home village had been ordered to fight alongside the Heir of the Zepar Clan against a giant Wulf, ended up dying in the fight, and he joined the TSF in their name. He remembered, all too well, the noble gathering he'd overhead the Zepar and Stolas Heads discussing that… and just how ANGRY that had made him that night.
He felt a flicker of anger at simply recalling that moment, but found that anger becoming a bit less focused as he noticed the crowd once again had scowls. However, time the scowls weren't out of anger towards Lilith or Katerea's words, but the former cacophony of chaos being turned into a united symphony. It was then that Lilith spoke up again.
"You've heard from Katerea that yesterday, I met with the True Satan Faction's leadership." Lucifer's former wife spoke, the softness of a moment ago gone from her voice. "Some of you might have seen me arriving in Hebeth yesterday for that very purpose. It was during that meeting that I, as Katerea did, realised Shalba and Creuserey's true nature and their true potential- or rather lack thereof- as leaders of such an important group of Devils. Rather than consider the proposal I had gone out of my way to personally deliver to them for a second, or even listen to it at all, they thought they could USE me as a sort of loyalty-test for the very Devil who set up that meeting in the first place."
One of her tails, which were still out along with her horns, lifted up and pointed directly at Raylix, prompting another small stir from the crowd.
"Loyalty test?"
"I know that Raylix might have been kind of suspicious at first, but he's proven himself by now, right?"
"Maybe we should wait for Katerea to say something?"
Katerea noticed some Devils looking at her, and she shook her head.
"I never doubted Raylix's loyalty, even from the start." She stated. "Any suspicions Shalba and Creuserey had about him were theirs alone."
That left the crowd feeling nervous, as they all returned their attention to Lilith.
"Using me…" Lilith continued, before pausing for half a second. Raylix could have sworn he heard her voice shaking a slight bit as the words came out. "That's bad enough. But after I learned of the reasons behind their actions, the stupid and petty reasons you've all heard… beyond the pale. Furthermore," she continued. "The fight you witnessed between Shalba, Creuserey, Katerea and Raylix did not come solely as a result of simple disagreement. If it had just been that, I'm sure things could have been easily resolved without the need for escalation… but no, the fight was started by Shalba and Creuserey as they attempted to kill not only Raylix, but Katerea too. The last survivor of Leviathan's bloodline, no less! How, I ask you, could someone do that and still claim that they act in Hell's best interests, or even in the interests of Hell's former leaders and their descendants?"
A new cacophony soon followed over such a- albeit understandably considering the claim in question, the murder attempt of a founder's sole descendant- blasphemous declaration.
"They did what!?"
"No… no way, that's… they couldn't have!"
"You have to be lying to us!"
As the discord from the servicemen grew more and more, Lilith prepared to cut through the noise as she had done so multiple times already.
"It's true!"
Everyone, including even Lilith, turned as they saw a single Devil coming up from behind a collection of rubble. Raylix vaguely recognised her as someone that worked as a domestic servant at Shalba's mansion. Over his years with the faction, he hadn't seen her very many times, and had exchanged words with her on even fewer occasions.
"There was someone else here?" Katerea remarked, slightly shocked, exchanging a look with Raylix.
"She had to have been in the crossfire." Raylix replied, his eyes flicking from Katerea to the new Devil in question, who nodded at his guess.
"I was… I was nearly hit by one of the attacks Lord Creuserey launched at you. I'm not able to fight, so… I just hid like a coward," she admitted as her legs shook. "But… I was there. So, I heard everything they said word for word, and know the truth."
She closed her eyes and turned to the crowd of servicemen, tearing up.
"She said to Shalba that she didn't want to kill him, and… and what he said to her in response was," her voice shook as she struggled to convey his response. "'Of course a spineless slut wouldn't be able to do what's necessary!'"
Hebeth suddenly became so still and quiet, a pin could have been heard dropping if anyone had one. The blank stares of what the crowd heard setting in as walls of doubt slowly crumbled.
Raylix and Katerea looked across the crowd (with the servant that had just spoken immediately disappearing through a transportation-circle when the two leaders' attention left her), right as all of them began to stir a little harder in response to those words.
"How dare they say such a thing!"
"They're disgraces to their ancestors!"
"Bastards!"
Raylix soon turned his attention to some of the servicemen standing at the front of the crowd, some that he recognised to be among the more hardline supporters for the Old Satans and their descendants. If he had to guess, they were probably among the number that were in support of the old Royals Faction that Raylix had fought against so long ago. They'd looked pretty stoic throughout Katerea and Lilith's addressing of the faction at large so far, but when Lilith had said what she'd said about Shalba and Creuserey attempting to kill Katerea along with Raylix, along with the one brave non-combatant's claim of Shalba's words towards Katerea, their rock-hard faces had shattered in lieu of looks of shock and outrage, for not even they could accept what they tried to do.
'About time they started properly paying attention.' Raylix thought, letting out a small snort from his nose.
'I know, right?' the Succubus Queen's voice telepathically sounded off in Raylix's head, making use of the little balls of light they'd been using since yesterday to silently communicate with each other, which he'd actually forgotten about in all the excitement earlier. 'I think the people here deserve to hear an actually noble reason someone would fight for this faction, don't you? Particularly from one of this new faction's leaders.'
Lilith turned around, gesturing with her head for him to step forward. Nodding the slightest bit in Lilith's direction to let her know he knew what she was thinking, and agreed with it, the auburn-haired Devil stepped up, taking a breath as he faced the crowd. He hadn't had to speak in front of this many people since the Devil Civil War, he vaguely recalled as he opened his mouth.
"At first, I wasn't able to see how bad things were for the Devils in the post-War Underworld." He began. "I was born during the Great War, so the earliest things I can recall are chaos and battle. But once it all stopped, I found myself suddenly a noble Devil, in the top echelons of demonic society for no other reason than the fact that someone no-not many of us were even alive to see in person," he corrected himself quickly, before continuing smoothly. "was chosen to receive extra power from the original Lucifer for some reason. I was so close to the top of the ladder that I couldn't see what was at the bottom."
The crowd, who had felt another pulse from Lilith to regain their attention before Raylix had began speaking, went silent again, but he could tell they were listening intently to what he had to say. Katerea had almost lost their attention when they began, but Lilith had been the one to recover it. If she wanted them to hear what he had to say, this was definitely the best opportunity she could have created to make that happen… and Raylix wasn't about to put that opportunity to waste.
"That time of blindness, as a result of my sudden ascension to nobility, ended recently." Raylix continued. "In the aftermath of… seeing the lives of two of the bravest and best that Hell had to offer cut short in an attack, and the sheer APATHY from my fellow aristocrats in the aftermath of what happened… that woke me up to the true colours of Devil nobility, in a way that even my veiled eyes could see."
He paused for half a second, his eyes scanning the crowd again. He could see the many who were showing shock or starting to cry, while some of the hardliners' faces softened ever-so-slightly. Former noble or not, his words- and the sincerity behind them- had begun to resonate.
"And it was the shock of being woken up like I was, I personally believe," Raylix continued, after that half a second's pause. "that drove me to cast away the luxuries that came with aristocracy, to join the Underworld Reformation Faction, to endeavour for the same Hell that you all wish for! I was taught, from birth, to fight like Hell FOR Hell, and by joining you when I did, fighting for and still fighting for you, and now working as one of this faction's leaders- at both Lady Lilith's and Katerea Leviathan's behest… that's exactly what I'm continuing to do!"
The immediate response from the crowd was unexpectedly positive. The hardliners that Raylix had an eye on throughout his talk had begun to talk amongst themselves, and he spied a couple of them nodding- seemingly in approval- of what he'd said. From the wider crowd, he heard smatterings of cheers and applause. Tearing his eyes away from the crowd, he saw Lilith taking a couple of steps towards him, laying a hand on his shoulder once she was close enough.
'That was perfect. Thank you, Raylix.' She telepathically spoke, smiling down at him. 'I'll finish things from here, now.'
Raylix stepped back, allowing Lilith to take centre stage once again. With the crowd's attention back on her, he let out a slight breath out of relief that he hadn't made a mess of whatever Lilith was cooking up with his verbal input.
"That," she spoke up, pointing to Raylix with one of her hands this time, rather than just one of her tails. "is true nobility, right there. Acting in service of Hell as a greater force rather than just thinking about the benefit to him and his fellow aristocrats. And CERTAINLY rather than Shalba and Creuserey, whose shallow stupidity revolved purely around settling petty grudges against the New Satans, without a care in Hell for how many of their own kind they'd have to throw into a meat-grinder to achieve that goal. Precisely the line of thinking that the Old Satans themselves lived by, killing BILLIONS of their own kind as a result through the course of the Great War, and the exact same mentality of the Royals who were prepared to continue in their name, if they'd won the Devil Civil War. Something Shalba asked me during our talk is why I refused his father's proposal, asking me for that stupid alliance when he came to me in his last days."
Lilith suppressed a scoff at the memory of that day. Bidleid had interrupted her in the middle of a… training session, with Adam when he'd come to her that day. Prick, she recalled, that interruption had thrown her all out of focus for the rest of the day.
"Because his father was a maniac! All of the Old Satans brought Devilkind to the brink of extinction, and even after the Lilim went independent, the Royals wanted to drag all of us down with them!" Lilith remarked, her voice laced with contempt. "With that in mind, it wasn't a stretch to say that they were more a threat to Hell than Yahweh and Heaven ever were!"
Had Lilith just gone and said that without priming the gathered crowd to her side throughout the last twenty minutes or so, those words would probably have triggered outraged riots from the gathered True Satan Faction-turned Underworld Reformation Faction servicemen right there and then, Raylix thought to himself. Not that there was no outrage at all, Raylix heard some voices rising up in immediate- probably instinctual- disagreement with Lilith's words, but he could see a lot more servicemen that, judging by the looks on their faces and their more muted reactions to her insane-sounding declaration, had since come to realise her points and were listening.
"Yahweh is powerful, we all know this!" Lilith continued, cutting through the erupting noise. "Any sole deity presiding over the world's second-largest religion at the time would have been! But consider this, can any of you say that you know Yahweh as anything other than the head honcho for Heaven, or leader of the Angels? Because I can."
The few uproars and outraged cries died down a little, replaced by curiosity as Lilith, without missing a beat, ploughed on.
"Before I was rebuilt as what you see before you," the Succubus Queen continued. "During my days as a Human living in the Garden of Eden, before I was cast out, it wouldn't be wrong to call Yahweh my father. And I KNEW my father, probably more than he or my then-husband and brother Adam, even realised. For all his faults as a being and as a father, waging war with the goal to destroy the other factions that fell under his pantheon's umbrella, is NOT something he'd do. Not without a good reason, at least, but on the other hand? An aggressive war, to settle a petty grudge with the father of the Christian Pantheon? Now, who does that sound like the actions of?"
Now there was dead silence once again, as the crowd seemed to consider Lilith's logic. The unspoken answer to her rhetorical question hung in the air as she continued, the momentum behind her building.
"Let's not also forget that you could name a decent number of beings that, not that this will ever be his style, could singularly challenge Yahweh in a fight." Lilith remarked. "My late husband Lucifer at the peak of his power, Thor of the Norse Gods, Indra of the Hindu Gods, Hades of the Greek Gods, and the twin Heavenly Dragons: Ddraig and Albion, who if any of you remember, took the Angels, Fallen Angels, Devils and us, the Lilim, calling a truce on the Great War itself in order to take down. Some of you here before me might have even personally taken part in that operation."
"Didn't you kill Albion that day?!" a singular voice rung out from the crowd, somewhere around the middle. Raylix couldn't fully see into the crowd who, specifically, had asked that question, but now that the Devil in question mentioned it, he DID recall Lilith being the one to deal the final blow to Albion's body, before… whatever it was, had descended from above to smite Ddraig from existence a moment or two later.
"I sure did." Lilith replied, nodding towards where the voice had come from. "But even then, that operation still cost us many lives. On all sides, not just our own, and a lot more than I myself, Azazel, and Yahweh wanted. Speaking of Ddraig and Albion, if neither one of them had their souls sealed inside a Sacred Gear, it's nigh-universally agreed that they would currently be among the strongest beings in the world: right up there with Indra, Thor, Hades… in fact, they'd easily be among those in the Top 10 most powerful entities currently existing in the world today."
There was no stopping her now, Raylix thought, shifting his weight from one foot to another as Lilith continued. The momentum behind her was increasing with every word, to the point that she was more like a runaway train than anything else as she spoke… an extremely sexy runaway train.
"Now, let me ask you all… did any other Gods- not just any of the heavier hitters I mentioned a moment ago, but ANY God among the HUNDREDS across all Pantheons- who could have brought armies of their own- join in our fight against Ddraig and Albion?"
…
The silence that the crowd had been stuck in, ever since Lilith had elaborated on her claim of the Old Satans/Royals being worse for Hell than Yahweh/Heaven, continued to stretch out. Though rather than just rapt attention, curiosity and fear was re-added to the air as they anticipated her elaborating on whatever point she was about to make.
"Not. One." Lilith answered her own question, after a few seconds' silence. "Now, even if we- the Devils and the Lilim- were to somehow have gained ultimate victory and superiority over Heaven and the Grigori at the end of the Great War, what victory would it have been if, along with the Old Satans- EVERY Devil or Lilim who could have taken up the mantle of leading Hell into the future was gone, destroyed at the Old Satans' behest? A Hell without leadership, where the only beings left are what we refer to as Low-Class Devils and single-tail Lilim, who have little to no experience in governing a realm and even less power to defend it? A Hell resulting from Shalba and Creuserey's short-sighted thinking, the legacy of the Royals and the Old Satans… what Hell is that?"
Lilith paused again, her words clearly sinking into all presently gathered. Just as clearly as the mental picture she was painting in everyone's mind of what the future could have been like had Shalba and Creuserey's leadership, the Royals' leadership, and even the Old Satans' leadership, could have led to.
"And… this is without considering someone else could still us attack later on?" Someone asked, a clear shakiness in their voice. "A person or group who wants to eradicate those Low-class Devils to guarantee our extinction?"
"My best answer to that? You should know that, despite the examples I gave of those superior to Yahweh in strength, there is only a single being he has ever truly feared…" Lilith began as she closed her eyes. "the undisputed strongest being in this world, Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God." she opened her eyes as that reveal hammered into everyone's mind. "And this isn't even a secret to the current generation of Devils. Hell, it's even common knowledge every parent tells their children. Some of you might already know of them yourselves."
Raylix winced a little as he noticed many in the crowd end up pale in the face. Lucky for them, Lilith wasn't going to tell them Ophis was involved with the Khaos Brigade… at least not yet.
"Petty rivalries, misguided ambitions, pointless death…" Lilith continued. "That is all what our kind will be remembered for by whoever's left… if we, as a world, continue down the path we're currently on." The Succubus Queen took a breath. "But no more!"
Even from behind her, Raylix could see that the calmness she'd been exuding ever since letting that female Devil she was Force-choking (he had to wonder if Lilith had ever seen Star Wars) beginning to slip and crack a little. It was damn clear that even SHE was getting a little swept up in the hype generated by her words over the last twenty-five minutes. Though maybe even that was calculated, Raylix thought, as she'd clearly been building up to some kind of grand finale that she was about to unleash.
"I've lived in the worlds that make up our reality, walked longer across them than anyone still alive today," Lilith spoke. "Not even Adam and Eve, the supposed First Humans, can claim anything close to the distances I've gone. In all that time, across all that distance, I've come to see one thing: the problem that Hell faces right now? It's not something simply contained to our realm, but a problem faced the world over!"
There were a few smatterings of cheers of agreement, rising above the silence as Lilith continued.
"You all know how we now have Reincarnated Devils- mostly former Humans- in the picture. Hell, it's probably part of why some of you, at the very least, joined this faction in the first place. Devilish leadership might be at fault for relying on them so heavily thanks to all the lives that were lost, but Devils- not just Devils, in fact, but ALL species- have always relied on Humans long before they were a thing! Granting their desires for a cost, which is not only a transactional relationship… but a detrimental one, in the extremely long run. The pride and malice of not just the people, but the Gods and others that influenced them led to the war, along with the suffering and stagnation that broke not just this world, but broke everyone currently living in it and any chance of a bright future, unless we all do something about it!"
Lilith was full-on shouting now. And she had to, over the even louder cheers that were beginning to sound off. In spite of said cheers, though, her voice could still be heard above the din thanks to her magically enhancing her voice. It was definitely something, Raylix thought, seeing her take control like she was. Certainly different to how she usually took control of a situation… which Raylix quickly realized vaguely reminded him of how Lucifer would take control of all Devilkind with his speeches, usually before any massive battles during the Great War. Still, it wasn't any less enthralling to watch and hear.
"If we wish for the future we deserve," Lilith cried to the crowd. "Not just us, but all that walk the world as we do… then the world itself must be redefined for us to create that future ourselves, not simply conquer and try to reshape what already exists as those of the past did! What good is pride if a world and people in shambles is the result, with billions dead for naught?"
An ear-shakingly loud cry of "NOTHING!" was the main reply from the crowd at large. Lilith grinned, raising a clenched fist to the sky before placing it down over her heart.
"Lend us your strength," Lilith's voice bellowed over the crowd, with her other hand sweeping backwards to Raylix, Katerea, Hikari and Kurumi. "And your lives will be in our care, this I vow to you all! I look forward to celebrating the dawn of the new world with as many of you as possible, when we've all made it to the end alive!"
Absolute bedlam erupted from the crowd after Lilith's words. Raylix couldn't see anyone NOT letting out some kind of noise: it was mostly cheers and applause, but he could hear some personal vows of loyalty rising above the football crowd-like roar, even from the hardliners at the very front. He even spied some people emulating the raised fist-to-fist-over-heart gesture that Lilith had done a minute ago, as a sort of uniting salute. Lilith seemed to spy it too, judging by how she performed the gesture again for the entire crowd to see… which got damn near the ENTIRE crowd doing it right back to her.
Letting out a couple of breaths to calm herself, Lilith turned around and took a couple of steps away from the crowd, back towards Raylix, Katerea, Hikari and Kurumi.
"You think you got them, Mom?" Kurumi asked, looking out across the crowd and then back to Lilith, genuine admiration masked by amusement in her eyes. "Some might call all of that overkill."
"I'm not 'some' people, Kurumi." Lilith replied, allowing herself a smile as she looked over at her daughter. "I'd call what I did necessary. You and Hikari can head back to the house, let everyone know what's happened. Raylix and I just need to go over a couple of things with Katerea, and then we'll be right behind you."
"Sure, Mom." Hikari replied, nodding and turning around to cast a transportation-circle in front of her and Kurumi, which the latter immediately stepped through and disappeared. "See you in a bit."
Lilith nodded, watching her silverette daughter step through the transportation-circle and disappear herself, with said transport-circle disappearing itself a second later.
"Now, Katerea." Lilith remarked, turning to look up at Shalba's mansion for a second before looking back at Katerea herself. "I don't think Shalba will be needing such an extravagant mansion anymore, not when he's no longer the leader of a faction that, technically, doesn't even exist anymore. Same goes for Creuserey, with whatever he's got for himself. However, I think the new faction's new leaders could do with a compound of their own, don't you? One large enough for not just them, but their direct subordinates to comfortably live in, with room for more if they should come."
Katerea blinked in immediate response to Lilith's remark, before she seemed to understand what the Lilim Queen was getting at and nodded.
"In direct place of Shalba's mansion, I'm guessing." she replied, looking up at the dwelling herself before facing Lilith. "Since, yeah, he definitely doesn't need it anymore."
"Indeed." Lilith nodded. "Can I ask you to remain in Hebeth for the time being, handle… them," she gestured to Shalba and Creuserey's unconscious forms with a dismissive wave of her hand "and initial preparations for the compound's construction? I'll return and finalize the details with you soon."
Katerea nodded in return, immediately walking over to Shalba and Creuserey's brutalized bodies. After picking them up and slinging them over her shoulders (looking like she was about to vomit at the amount of blood that dropped down from them onto her dress all the while), she disappeared through a transportation-circle of her own making, while Lilith turned to Raylix.
"Let's head back." she remarked to him, opening a transportation circle while casting an eye over the still-cheering crowd. "We've still got a lot to do, but for now, we should take a moment."
Raylix nodded, immediately following Lilith through the circle and returning to the outside of her human-world villa. As the sound of the crowd's cheering disappeared- the instant he passed through the transportation-circle- in favour of nothing more than a light wind and the occasional bird-chirping, Raylix let out a heavy breath. The kind one didn't even know they'd been holding for ages upon ages until it finally came out.
Upon hearing the breath, Lilith- who was heading towards the front door of her villa without even breaking stride- turned around and smiled over at Raylix, letting out a small giggle.
"Different from what you were preparing for as the Gremory Heir, I guess?" she remarked.
"Yup." Raylix replied, almost falling over from how drained he suddenly seemed to look. The last half an hour or so had clearly taken a lot out of him, Lilith mentally surmised, not to mention the fight that he'd been a part of before she'd even got there. "How the hell do you DO that?"
Lilith had been half-turned between Raylix and the front door of her villa, though at the Devil's question she turned fully towards him.
"Do what?"
"You know…" Raylix paused for a second, gesturing vaguely at nothing in particular with his hands as he looked over at her. "…That! What you did with the crowd back in Hebeth just now!"
Lilith let out a small snort from her nose, shifting her weight onto one foot and folding her arms under her breasts.
"You tend to pick up on how to command those listening to you when you're listening to Lucifer do it on a damn-near daily basis." She replied. "Lucifer was always preparing for something- usually related to the war- needing to get whoever he wanted to do it riled-up enough to follow through with his wishes or spouting off propaganda to the kids along with the other Old Satans." Her voice got steadily more annoyed sounding, to the point that she was barely holding her obvious anger in, doubtlessly brought on by whatever memories she was recalling.
'Definitely sounds like him.' Raylix thought to himself, holding back the urge to shudder from Lilith's tone as she took half a second to calm herself.
"That, and I've had more than enough practice, ever since the Lilim went independent at the end of the Great War." She added. "So yeah, I'd say I've got the whole 'what I did with the crowd back in Hebeth' thing, as you said, down pretty well."
"No need to say it, you've proved it." Raylix replied. "Not that I didn't believe you before."
"I appreciate the faith." Lilith remarked, nodding. "But still, at least if you didn't before, you get that ruling a domain- which you were preparing for- versus an entire faction… two completely different beasts. Granted, the scales of the factions in question- the Underworld Reformation Faction as they are now, the post-war Lilim, the united pre-war Devils and Lilim- vary greatly, but still." She took a breath, turning back around towards the house. "We've got a lot of work to do, so as I said earlier, we should take a moment before getting to it."
Raylix nodded in agreement, taking a breath of his own and beginning to follow Lilith towards the house. As Succubus and Devil walked, the front door of the house opened, and a woman that Raylix hadn't seen before poked her head out. She blinked, before pulling the door all the way open as her forest-green eyes latched onto Lilith and Raylix, revealing a figure that, despite being rather conservatively clad in a simple pink knee-length dress, he could tell was absolutely INCREDIBLE. Like, on a level that, going by first impressions alone, rivalled Lilith… something he never thought he'd catch himself thinking.
Now that he looked at the woman a little closer, her choice of clothing, the eye-colour and her hair (cream-coloured, almost looked beige under the shadow of the doorway she was standing in) were the only major differences he could tell between her and-
Wait a second… un-holy shit!
"Oh, did you just finish?" the woman asked, taking a couple of steps out into the sunlight. "I guess you took care of things earlier than expected?"
"That's right." Lilith replied, smiling as she approached the woman and leaned down slightly, planting a soft kiss on her lips. "Slightly overestimated the potential resistance that we'd end up dealing with, is all."
"Mmhmm." The woman nodded, before turning to Raylix. "Hello, Raylix. It's nice to finally meet you."
Raylix blinked, still occupied with looking the woman over, feeling himself slightly jolted by her addressing him directly. And doing his damndest to shove down the images that were beginning to formulate in his mind at the sight of her and Lilith kissing… good God…
"Uh, sorry." Raylix spoke, for the first time in a couple of minutes. "But I don't think we've met… are you who Lilith talked to about half an hour back?"
"The very same." The woman replied. "And there's no need to be sorry. Lily's just told me a lot about you is all." Bending her right leg, she grabbed the ends of her dress and sunk into a cute curtsy. "I'm Eve, third of the Primordial Human race… and one of Lilith's pets."
Raylix blinked as Eve straightened up, what she'd just said hitting him. Eve… Primordial Human… one of Lilith's pets…
He had to mentally shake that last bit out of his mind for the time being, he'd come back to that, but the first two bits linked together surely pointed in the direction of- and then it clicked. He had already made the connection, somewhat, after seeing her nearly on Lilith's level figure, but hearing it had finally broken the dam.
"Eve!?" he asked, shifting his eyes from Eve to Lilith and back again? "Like the first human woman Yahweh made? That one!?"
"Well, second human woman." Eve replied, her eyes flicking to Lilith and back to Raylix. "And how many other Eves do you know?"
"A few, actually." Raylix remarked. "But still…" his eyes, again, flicked to Lilith. "How'd that happen?"
"That's a long story." Eve replied, re-drawing Raylix's attention back to her as she shifted closer to Lilith. "Probably as interesting as what Lily's told me about you."
Raylix let out a snort as he looked over at Lilith again.
"Interesting, huh?" he remarked, scratching a random itch that formed on his cheek at that moment, while trying to hold down his surprise at THE Eve… being right there in front of him. Of all the people among all the factions in all the world, he never would've expected one of Yahweh's prized creations to be shacking up with the widow of His mortal enemy. Suffice it to say, he definitely believed Eve when she said the story of however THAT happened was interesting, indeed.
"Very." Lilith replied, flashing Raylix a smile as she did so. "Might tell you about it sometime."
"Right…" Raylix nodded, his eyes flicking between Lilith and Eve once again, the idea of the latter as the former's 'pet' worming its way back into his mind, along with all the mental images that came with such a thought. Someone that looked that close to Lilith, albeit was cuter and more wholesome when compared to Lilith's pure sensuality, submitting in such a way to the real thing? It was all he could do to not burst out into a nosebleed that would IMMEDIATELY force him into unconsciousness, or maybe even death, from sheer blood loss.
Whatever expression formed on his face as a result of the mental struggle, Lilith seemed to pick up on it immediately, as well as the reason behind it.
"Thinking of something a little… naughty, Raylix?" she asked, a couple of her tails (which were still out, along with her horns) sneaking around Eve's back. "Wonder what you think of THIS, then?"
Said tails quickly wrapped themselves around Eve's body, dragging the human towards Lilith. All she could do was let out an "Eep!" as Lilith glomped her from the side, easily shoving her head in-between her humungous breasts with one of her tails while her hands snaked down towards her rear. Covered by the dress though it was, it didn't stop Eve from moaning when Lilith laid her hands on it, squeezing on both cheeks a little bit as she played with her, grinning at Raylix all the while.
"L-Lily, not here!" Eve whimpered; her voice slightly muffled by virtue of her face being smooshed into Lilith's legendary chest. "Raylix is watching!"
"Why do you think I'm trying to put on a show, Evie?" Lilith replied, grinning for a couple of seconds and keeping Eve held in place, before letting out a sigh and relinquishing her hold on the cream-haired human. "But yeah, I know. Too much important stuff on my plate today to worry about a good time. Not right now, at least."
Raylix audibly gulped as Eve took a half-step away from Lilith, breaths escaping her in the aftermath of being stuck where she was (shit, did he wish he was her in that moment…). He was quick to notice what looked like a tattoo of a red choker with a heart-charm on it glowing on and around her neck, but before he could get a better look at it, it faded away. Within a couple of seconds, it was as if it had never been there in the first place.
'Probably a marker of whatever special relationship they have with each other.' He thought to himself. 'But still, wasn't expecting… that.'
"Yeah, I bet you weren't." Lilith remarked, out loud, in response to the auburn-haired Devil's thoughts. "Thought that makes me wonder what you'll think of this?"
Raylix raised an eyebrow as Lilith raised her hands and clapped twice, calling out.
"Adam!"
Within the moment or so it took Raylix to mentally berate himself for not at the very least suspecting that if THE Eve was here with Lilith, THE Adam probably wasn't too far away, he heard the sound of scurrying behind the closed door of Lilith's villa, before the sound of it being ran into was heard by all three beings standing outside. A second or two later, it was pushed open, with the sight that met Raylix's eyes…
A rather effeminate-looking… man(?), who looked only slightly older than Eve, with long black hair tied back into a tight ponytail. Though that was hardly shocking in comparison to the fact that after opening the door, he'd dropped to his knees and crawled towards Lilith and Eve, looking more like a dog than a human. Or the fact that he was in his birthday-suit, and his face carried a look that Raylix could only describe as… broken. Plain and simple.
"D-did you call for me, Ma'am?" he asked, his eyes facing the ground as he addressed Lilith, who smirked a little in response.
"Nah." She lied, using one of her tails to force Adam's chin up so he looked her in the eye for a second, before she let it go. "Just rolled out a use of the word 'and'. But since I've got you here, make yourself useful and go prepare some snacks for everyone. After this morning, I think we all deserve some."
"Understood, ma'am…" Adam replied, turning around before making his way back into the house, as pathetic looking as when he'd come out. Raylix followed him with his eyes until he was out of sight, raising an eyebrow when the sight of Adam's asshole, stretched-out and abused, met his vision. Once Adam was gone, he turned his eyes over to Lilith and Eve.
"THAT was Adam?" he asked. "That guy is Eve's hu-"
It was at that second Raylix heard the sound of knuckles cracking, a sound he found came from the act of Eve tightly clenching one of her hands.
"Uuuuuuu…" he held out the sound as he looked up, noticing Eve's expression- while unchanged- had become noticeably more hardened. His eyes flicked over to Lilith, and he noticed the sharp look she was giving him as his mind raced to find a plausible course-correct… though he couldn't come up with anything good so quickly, so the first thing that came to mind that sounded at least semi-feasible was what left his mouth instead.
"-uuumiliated pack horse?" he offered. "You know, since he crawls?"
Eve and Lilith both blinked and turned to each other. After a couple of seconds' silence between the two women, they offered their summation on Raylix's course-correction in relative unison.
""Six out of ten?/Four."" "Okay, four."
Well, at least Raylix had tried.
"I'm gonna go let everyone know you're back." Eve remarked, moving back towards the door and pulling it open before turning back and waving. "Nice meeting you, Raylix!"
With that, Eve moved into the house, shutting the door behind her and leaving Raylix and Lilith alone outside again. A couple of seconds of silence passed between Devil and Succubus before the Devil spoke up, his eyes flicking to the door and back to Lilith, who opened her mouth before he could even think about opening his.
"Before you say anything, whatever you were expecting him to look like when I called?" Lilith remarked. "That's pretty much exactly what he used to look like, before I got my hands on him. Prick didn't stay that way for long, though, I saw to that. Eve helped too, once I got her on board."
"Say what?" Raylix replied, an eyebrow raising again. By way of response, Lilith flicked her hand to form a magic-circle and show him how Adam used to look… and true to her word, exactly what he'd been picturing when Lilith first called for Adam, was pretty much what he used to looked like. Bulging muscles, handsome, chiselled features… Adam looked- or used to look- like the avatar of testosterone itself.
"Toxic masculinity to a T…" Lilith sighed. "I've got stories. And Eve's got them too, though you're best not asking her. Not until she's ready to tell you. At the very least, she hates him as much as I do, and that's all you really need to know.
"Yeah… I figured." Raylix replied, recalling Eve's hardened expression and cracked knuckles with a noticeable pause. "Anyways… you mentioned a new compound to Katerea. Back in Hebeth?"
"I did." Lilith remarked, dispelling the image of Adam as quickly as she'd summoned it with a wave of her hand. "And, well, I don't think it'd be the best look for the faction's leadership to be leading it from a relatively dinky little apartment. Nor would it for ME to lead from either here," she gestured at the villa behind her, "Or the Lilim's side of Hell. Better to have a new place built, for the leaders of a new faction to work and live in, wouldn't you agree?"
As Lilith spoke, she pulled the door to the villa open and stepped inside, with Raylix nodding and following after her. Without breaking stride once both were inside, Lilith made for the stairs, making her way up to her office on the villa's top floor, with Raylix following a couple of steps behind. When they got there, Lilith sat down on one of the chairs around the table beside her desk, upon which there was a plate of snacks presumably made and delivered by Adam. Raylix imitated the Succubus Queen, sitting down in the chair directly across from her as she grabbed a couple of the berries on one of the plates, transferring them to her mouth.
"So, any ideas for what you'd want in the compound?" she asked, looking across at Raylix after swallowing the berries. "Amenities-wise, I mean."
"Somewhere to train." Raylix replied, immediately. "Something like the training-hall you've got here downstairs. Maybe a gym, too, in case anyone's more in the mood to work out than practice their moves."
"Understood." Lilith nodded, snapping her fingers and summoning what looked like a hologram of a piece of paper between herself and Raylix. At the top of the page, a couple of bullet-points appeared: 'sparring chamber' and 'gym'. "I'll add the basic stuff, just so the guys I get to build the compound don't forget…"
Within a couple of seconds, a few more bullet points appeared on the virtual page: 'bedrooms', 'offices' and 'library'.
"How many bedrooms are we talking?" Raylix asked, his eyes flicking from the virtual page to Lilith. "There's me, you and Katerea, three leaders, Hikari and Kurumi make five, and the women I arrived here with on top of that make nine…"
"Oh, I was thinking… at least twenty?" Lilith replied, adjusting her position in her chair before reaching for more berries. "Twenty-five…? Actually, let's be really safe and call it fifty. You never know how many trusted allies you'll end up running into, on the path we've started down." She remarked, when she saw Raylix's slightly incredulous expression. "And want to keep close. Nowhere near that many offices though, only you, Katerea and I really need them."
"Yeah, I was gonna say." Raylix replied. "Would it be too much to ask for a home cinema of some kind? I remember the Gremory Castle having one installed a few decades before I left… don't think it got used more than once every couple of years, though."
"Of course it wouldn't be too much to ask." Lilith remarked, immediately adding 'home cinema' to the virtual list. "It's your new home we're building, just as much as Katerea's and mine. You can ask for whatever you want: the sky's the limit, as humans say nowadays."
A small chuckle escaped Raylix as he leant back in his chair.
"Probably a bar, too, then." He remarked. "And a wine cellar. I get the feeling there's gonna be a fair bit of drinking going down."
"Good feeling." Lilith nodded, adding the points 'bar' and 'wine cellar' to the list. "I'll handle keeping both of those stocked, no need to worry. Now, let's see…" she leant back in her chair, transferring the last of the berries in her hand to her mouth before chewing and swallowing, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Hm, there should be some more recreational amenities too… how about…?"
Over the next few seconds, some more bullet-points appeared on the list, which Raylix read out as they did so.
"Games room, sports court, bowling alley, and… swimming pools? Plural?"
Looking up for a second, Lilith noticed Raylix going slightly pale at the last entry.
"I saw something in a magazine about some people that own lakefront properties in the human-world." Lilith explained. "They pay loads of money to have part of the lake their properties are in front of essentially converted into a private mini beach. Was thinking of trying to have something like that here, as well as a more regular pool like you'd see at the Olympics or something."
"Ahhah, right…" Raylix replied, still slightly pale as he adjusted himself in his chair. "Probably wouldn't use those pools either way, personally. Don't know about any of the other games stuff, either."
"Good thing the compound isn't just gonna be for you then, huh?" Lilith retorted, grinning as she dispelled the list with a wave of her hand. "That's enough for now, anyway. I'll see if Katerea's got anything to add to it when we head back to Hebeth: she's probably moved Shalba and Creuserey away from the mansion by now."
"Yeah, can't have them knocking around when we're building a whole-ass new compound in place of Shalba's mansion." Raylix remarked. "Actually, what ARE you planning on doing with them? You gonna kill them, or something?"
"As tempting as that may be, no." Lilith replied. "No need to jeopardize the good work we did on their former servicemen by taking such extreme actions. Plus, that's not really my style."
"Seems to be Hikari's." Raylix remarked, taking some berries of his own and chomping down on the lot of them at once. Lilith let out a small giggle at both his remark, and the action.
"Yeah, it definitely is." She nodded. "Either way, I know of some lands dotted around the human world that aren't supernaturally inhabited. I was thinking of setting Shalba and Creuserey up in one of those areas, maybe have a small place built for them to live away from the faction that they've lost. Under surveillance, of course."
"So, imprisonment?" Raylix asked. "Exile?"
"If you want to call it one of those things, sure." Lilith shrugged. "Though now that I say it out loud, we should probably extend that offer to anyone who, somehow, isn't on board with us in the aftermath of our little talk with them earlier."
"Like who?" Raylix asked. "From what I could see, pretty much everyone who we talked with earlier ended up pretty taken in by what you said."
"True, definitely a majority." Lilith replied. "But if I had to make any kind of guess, I'd say anyone who's more loyal to Shalba and Creuserey themselves, than to the goals of the wider faction, would be harder to flip. Any royal guards or personal forces, stuff like that."
Raylix hummed in acknowledgement, as Lilith fixed him with a look.
"You should probably think about building up some kind of similar force of your own, Raylix." She remarked. "Having a personal group of elite fighters… never know when you might need them. Anyway," she let out a breath, lifting herself out of the chair and onto her feet. "I think I'm gonna head back to Hebeth, soon. There's a lot to do, so the sooner we get started, the better. You coming?"
"Mmhmm." Raylix hummed in agreement, making to get to his feet. Though just as he did so, a loud gurgling sound met both Raylix and Lilith's ears. A second or so later, they realised just where said sound was coming from: Raylix's stomach. Looking down at it for a second, he looked back up at Lilith, a nervous chuckle escaping him.
"I… don't think I had breakfast this morning. Before the fight."
"Get some." Lilith remarked, letting out a breath and shaking her head. "And have some of those snacks, it's what they're there for. Then we'll head out."