The sun had already gone down; a lot of time had passed since Jacob was attacked by those creatures, and in all this time, he hadn't spoken a word.
His pace was steady, his gaze steeled. While he encountered other creatures at various points of his journey, he directly crushed them, not bothering to absorb their souls, much to the dissatisfaction and constant nagging of Lucifer.
"Haaah..."
Jacob came to a stop and opened his mouth for the first time since then, only to release a sigh that sounded defeated.
"I can't even feel anything anymore," he muttered to himself.
"Hey Lucifer, I always wondered why you'd rebel against God. Everyone's always talking about how bad and evil you are, but you really don't seem all that bad to me."
'What do you mean I don't seem all that bad? I'm literally evil incarnate—in fact, scratch the incarnate; I birthed the concept evil. You do not know me; don't misjudge.'
"So... why'd you do it?"
'It's the same story you've always heard; I grew jealous of my father's empire, and also disgust towards his creations.'
"I can tell you're lying, you know."
'What can I say, I invented it.'
"Fine, don't say... I'll figure it out eventually."
'You won't.'
"By the way, I've not really understood this whole crap about a game and all that shit."
'There really is not much point to it, to the best of my knowledge. I don't really know much about it. I think a god died and they need a replacement.'
"God?"
'No, not him, something like a divine being.'
"Then can't they just pick someone? Why go through all these troubles."
'Well, you know, maybe they're trying to build character or something.'
"Bullshit."
'And maybe a little bit of entertainment.'
"A little?"
'Maybe like half.'
"-_-"
'Alright, it's mainly for entertainment, but your world is basically an entertainment hub anyway.'
"....very encouraging."
"So do you know the others I'm competing with?"
'Do you know anything about the seven princes of hell?'
"No?"
'Of course, you don't. You're not very religious, are you? Actually, you're quite lucky you met me like this because if you arrived in hell, you'd be suffering eternal torment.' Without leaving time for Jacob to retort, Lucifer continued,
'The seven princes of hell were a concept mortals came up with to give physical representation to the seven deadly sins: lust, pride, gluttony, envy, sloth, greed, and wrath. Coincidentally, this wasn't just mortal knowledge but was exactly how the hierarchy was structured—seven divine beings, each with their own conceptual sin, possessing a fathomless understanding of it enough to make them 'fathers' of it, so to say. The other divine beings refer to them as the seven princes of hell.'
"So are they like your brothers? Or sons, you know, since you're the king of hell."
'I'm not really related to them; those are just titles that give them some level of authority. I'm still supreme though. So as I was saying, for some reason, they needed a successor from the dark side of divinity. The princes were apt choices; we were made to choose envoys to represent us, guide them to victory, blah...blah...blah, and a lot of specifics.'
"You lose interest in things fast, you know."
'It's boring; it's the same they've been doing for so many years. It's either choose a candidate and give him a quest or a crappy tournament like this.'
"Sheesh, you really don't want to be here."
'No, I really don't. My lovely Lili would be missing me now.'
"Tsk."
'Speaking of which I never told you your abilities. As the envoy of Lucifer, the light and dawn-bringer, one who had experienced both sides of divinity, anything under the light and especially under the stars will bend to your will. This is the most basic apart from your physical enhancements.'
"Could you explain in simpler terms."
'It basically means you can manipulate any element; you grew up in the 2000s, right? It's basically like being the avatar of everything and more; your influence could even spread to living things provided you have the soul strength.'
"Cool." Speechless, Jacob couldn't help but mutter under his breath.
'Look at you impressed by just that, you mortals really are hopeless.'