It had been almost a year since the day Nero's arm had changed, and in that time, Lilith learned quite a bit about it.
The most obvious was its ability to conjure a spectral version of itself that often mimicked whatever Nero's arm did. When she watched him play on the playground, he accidentally manifested one and picked up a blue-haired girl whose entire head was a large eyeball. Though Nero was quick to apologize and put her down.
The next thing that they learned was that Nero performing magic with his new right arm was borderline impossible. The arm itself was akin to a valknut, but with far more magic output. Whenever Nero used it to perform a basic spell, he always put in far too much power and it resulted in him being blown back by the overwhelming force of magic his arm unleashed. Thankfully, Lilith was always there to catch him. He could still perform magic with his left hand as easily as he could previously, but his right arm was effectively handicapped thanks to its sheer output.
Lastly, not only was Nero's new arm incredibly durable, it was also far stronger than his left arm. Now, Nero had always been very strong for his age already, but his mutated arm was far beyond that. She remembered when one of Nero's toys had fallen out of his arms and into the streets, landing underneath a carriage that belonged to a group of demon hunters. Despite the fact that the carriage contained a large monster and despite Lilith's protests, telling her son to just wait for them to move, he used his right arm and lifted the entire thing to get his toy back. The display would have been impressive had the container not collapsed under its own weight and accidentally released the trapped monster into the streets. Lilith spent a good minute helping the hunters recapture it and apologizing for her son's actions.
Despite Lilith's words to her son the night he gained his new arm, he tended to feel off put by his limb, spending a lot of time staring at it or trying to hide it, always saying that it was too weird. Lilith found herself constantly dispelling that notion, telling him that it was nothing to be ashamed of and that he should never have to hide something that was a part of him.
For the most part, Nero eventually stopped trying to hide it, but Lilith could tell that his arm still bothered him. Lilith knew that it would likely take years for him to truly adjust to his newfound mutation and that it wouldn't happen overnight.
Nevertheless, today was an important day, so any thoughts about altered limbs would have to wait. As Lilith and her son rode on her staff and flew through the air, they travelled to her old school for what would be one of the biggest, most important days of her son's life.
Nero's first day at Hexside.
Lilith saw that her son seemed very apprehensive at the prospect of going to school. Earlier at home, he even said that he didn't really want to go to school, but Lilith insisted that he needed to go forth and start befriending others his age. Besides, this would also help him realize that his worrying over his right arm was all for nothing, and that others wouldn't mind it.
As the closed in on the front of Hexside, Lilith proceeded to lower them down to ground level.
"Alright Nero. First day at Hexside." Lilith said, "Are you ready?"
Nero jumped off the floating staff and landed on the floor, saying, "I guess so." not sounding very convincing.
Seeing her son's trepidation, Lilith got off and knelt to his eye level and comforted him, "Nero, Hexside was admittedly hard for me when I first started here as well. The first day is usually the toughest, but you're strong. I know you can get through it. Once you do, every other day that follows should be easy. Okay?"
Nero nodded, though he still looked like he didn't want to go. Seeing as he would have to go to his first class soon, Lilith formed a spell circle and out of it came a bright red lunch box and several snails.
"Now, I packed you some lunch money, but just in case someone steals it, I also packed you your own lunch, and I made sure to pack some extra snacks in case you get hungry outside of lunchtime."
"What do you mean if someone steals the money?" Nero asked with a perplexed look on his face.
"Um..." Lilith twirled her hair with her fingers as she looked away before saying, "L-let's just say I have some experience with that. I'd rather not go any further."
She was silently hoping that her son's time at Hexside did not go on to include the cavalcade of madness that Lilith and Edalyn's time was. Poor Principal Bump would probably have an aneurism if another army of Abominations attempted to seize control of the entire school.
A small part of her actually missed those days. None of the constant workload of the Emperor's Coven, no putting up with Kikimora's incessant condescension, no ever present lingering guilt over-
"Alright!" Lilith said louder than she intended so as to quiet her worsening line of thought, "I'll be here to pick you up at 3:00. Now, try to make friends, but most importantly, stay out of trouble. Understand?"
When Nero nodded, she embraced him in a hug, which he wholeheartedly returned. Upon releasing him, she watched and waved as he walked into Hexside's front door.
As her son disappeared behind the front doors and into the halls of Hexside, she felt a buzzing sensation in her pocket and saw that her pocket mirror was receiving a call. She opened it and saw the image of Coven member Steve.
"Madame Lilith. We've located a band of rogue demons causing trouble around the western fingers of the Isles. We can't get close though. Requesting backup!"
"I'll be there as soon as I can." Lilith said as Steve saluted and hung up. She got back onto her staff and flew off to the western fingers.
It had only been the first class that he had finished, and Nero was coming to a super depressing conclusion about school.
It was so boring.
All the teacher, a spider woman named Mrs. Arachne Webson, did was go on and on about stuff he already knew about.
So far, they were just going over the basic runes. Nero found himself tuning it out because all of this was stuff his mom taught him already. He was way past any of this.
As the bell rang, he gathered his stuff and started following the other students and his homeroom teacher to the next class. As he walked through the halls of Hexside, he looked around the walls and ceilings. He liked the colors on the lockers. Besides blue, his favorite color was red.
Just as everyone went around the corner, he stopped and started walking out of the line, seeing something out of the ordinary.
He saw a bunch of paint and words covering a set of lockers. The words spelled out things like "Eda rules, Bump eats stink" and the word "Hoot" was written a couple times. There was also some lightning drawings here and there.
As Nero walked up to them, he couldn't help but find them pretty cool to look at. They were definitely more interesting than the basic, boring runes they were talking about in homeroom.
"Young Clawthorne." Her heard Mrs. Webson call out. He looked and saw her walking up to him, "Please keep up with the rest of the class."
As he walked back to join the rest of the class, he heard something that sounded like a fart or a spitting noise come from behind him. He saw Mrs. Webson glare not at him, but at the set of lockers behind him. He turned and was surprised to see that the drawings had changed, now looking like a face that was sticking its tongue out, only it actually moved and made that sound.
"Please ignore the vandalism, young Clawthorne, we're still working to get it out." Mrs. Webson said as she gently pushed Nero back to the class.
As she did, Nero turned his head back to the 'vandalism' as Mrs. Webson called it, and saw that it shifted again, this time looking like a happy face that was waving goodbye. Compelled to reply, Nero slightly waved goodbye to it, finding a smile on his face as he did so.
The second class, mathematics, ended up being just as boring as runes.
Just like with runes, it was all just super basic things that him mom had already taught him. Nero was really starting to have second thoughts on school. Not because it was hard, but because it was just so uninteresting. Everything so far had either been stuff he already knew or stuff that he picked up on too easily to get invested in.
As far as interacting went, he hadn't really found any chances to talk with anyone. So far, unlike him, the rest of the kids in his class seemed really interested by everything they were learning.
So far, nothing was bad, just boring. And now he found himself back in line walking with the rest of his grade to the next class-
"AAAAHHHHHH!"
Before everyone stopped when they heard screaming. Nero looked and saw a bunch of older girl students running away from what looked like a bunch of ghosts.
As he and the other students curiously looked at what was happening, one of the teachers walked up to the teacher guiding them and said, "Another locker room incident?"
Their teacher nodded and said, "It's been years, but we still can't get those ghosts out of the locker room." Then muttered something about someone named "Eda", much like what the drawings on the lockers said.
Whatever that was, Nero couldn't hep but find it interesting. He'd never gotten to see ghosts before, so seeing them chase a bunch of older students was actually kind of funny. He found himself chuckling, and he heard a few of the other kids in his class giggle as well.
The teachers then shushed them. Nero didn't get why. Maybe they didn't want them to find what happened funny? But the ghosts seemed like fun.
As they started walking again, Nero thought about where his mother was and hoped that her day wasn't as boring as his was right now.
"SHIELDS UP!" One of the Coven warriors next to her yelled as their enemies launched massive blasts of fire down on them.
Lilith slammed her staff down and formed a large barrier that protected many of the Coven members within its range. Those outside of it were able to dodge, notwithstanding the one whose cape caught ablaze and was now screaming like a girl in the background.
Lilith was now starting to get frustrated. So far, they'd been kept down while the rogue demons just launched fire from their encampment atop the hill. At this point, she'd had it and decided that she was putting an end to this now.
Casting a circle, she launched herself high into the air in a burst of flame, reappearing high above the encampment. Getting a good view on her enemies, she threw her staff down at the center, wreathing it in fire.
A massive explosion shook the air as all the demons that bombarded them were scattered and knocked out cold. Lilith landed right next to her staff and plucked it from the ground as the other Coven soldiers entered the camp and apprehended their former attackers.
Lilith walked up to one of the criminals, a tall blue demon with black horns, and cast plant magic, tying him down with large roots and vines. She put the tip of her staff to his neck and set it ablaze.
"Where's your leader," She demanded from him, "Talk, or face the wrath of the Emperor's Coven."
"Huh, funny, aren't we already facing that nutjob, Belos', wrath?" The demon was feeling snarky, it seemed. Lilith amplified the heat and brought it closer to his face.
"W-wait, WAIT!" That seemed to do the trick, "He's in the tent at furthest edge of the camp. You can't miss it."
Lilith nodded and had the vines wrapped around his mouth, muffling his cries for help. She then looked to her fellow Coven allies and said, "Everyone, surround the leader's tent and block off all areas of escape. I'll deal with him personally."
After Lilith gave the orders, the Coven members moved with her and they arrived at the leader's tent, signified by an odd looking emblem at the entrance. Lilith motioned for everyone to block off all escape roots as she entered the curtains and found the back of the rogues' leader facing her.
Said leader seemed to be an old, goat-like hermit garbed in black robes. He sat at the center of what looked like a large pentagram drawn using blood. Whatever he was doing, he was muttering something in a language Lilith couldn't understand.
Deciding that it didn't matter, Lilith pointed her staff at him and declared, "You are hereby arrested by the order of the Emperor's Coven."
The demon gave no response and just kept muttering in that same ominous language. No getting fed up, Lilith approached the leader and forced him to turn around, "I said-"
But she stopped and saw that his eyes were glowing a dark shade of green. The pentagram was also now glowing the same shade of green as the goat demon's muttering grew loud enough for her to fully hear him.
"Venit porro, potens Illa-Vipera! Ultus nobis et expandit semen tuum inter insularum! Devorandum, o magna Echidna!"
As he completed his mantra, the entire ground shook as the leader's body crumbled to dust in her hands; said dust mixing into the pentagram as it glowed brighter, almost blinding her. Sensing that she shouldn't be standing so close to it, Lilith ran out of the tent and yelled, "Everyone evacuate, NOW!"
As she and the other Coven members got to cover, they were blown back as the wind shook everything around them. Lilith could hear the sound of the other tents being demolished by the sheer force of the gusts of wind.
Just as it arrived, the wind ceased, and Lilith looked up to find that the entire encampment had been destroyed, the only thing remaining was the pentagram from the center of the leader's tent, only it was no longer glowing.
"W-what was that!?" One of the Coven guards yelled as he came to and shook his head.
"I...I don't know," Lilith admitted as she looked around and saw that the rest of her men were getting up. Shaken, but alive.
"Uh, Madame Lilith," She turned and saw that Steve was looking at something in the sky. He spoke with a frightened tone as he continued, "What's that?"
Lilith looked up to where he was pointing and what she saw made her eyes widen in shock. Flying in the sky above them was what looked like a giant serpent with an almost plant-like body.
As the serpent lowered closer to them, it started launching large seeds directly at them, prompting Lilith to get up and command, "Take cover!"
She and the guards scattered to avoid the seeds. Rather than stay on ground level, Lilith hopped onto her staff and proceeded to fly after the serpent. When she got in close, the beast made its way into the forest below, flying through the trees as Lilith gave chase. Just as she got in close, the serpent turned swiftly and lashed out at her with its tail, knocking her away and into a large clearing surrounded by the forest.
Just as she stood up, the serpent arrived and floated in the air before its mouth grotesquely opened up, dividing itself into fourths like a four-fanged trapping plant. The mouth revealed what looked like a pale woman wearing a leaf green bodysuit that opened up to expose much of her chest. Her head didn't have any ears and instead gave way to two massive tendrils on the back of her head that seemed to move on their own.
"Well, well, well. Look what we have here," The monster haughtily said as it looked down on Lilith, "A little witchling, all alone. Why those fools would summon me to deal with a worthless rodent, I'll never know."
Lilith ignored her insults and pointed her staff at the beast, "What are you, and why are you here?" She demanded from the monster.
The creature laughed at her and said, "Why should I explain myself to one of the Titan's parasites? It won't matter anyway, you'll be dead soon enough!"
The beast then spun and tried to slam her tail down on Lilith. The Coven leader easily dodged in a burst of blue fire and spun on her heels, forming a large spell circle that launched her into the air on a pillar of ice.
Now afloat, Lilith held her staff aloft and spun it rapidly, causing the clouds above the thunder and strike down on the stave with lightning. Lilith took the gathered electricity and blasted it at the serpent woman, causing her to scream in pain.
This didn't last long, as the beast flew into the air and then straight into the ground, burrowing itself within the forest floor as Lilith landed.
Lilith felt the ground rumble beneath her as she frantically looked for where the monster could pop out. Her senses flared as she looked directly beneath her and saw the ground crack, causing her to backflip out of the way as a large tendril attempted to impale her.
Sensing that wasn't the end, Lilith found herself flipping, dodging, and rolling out of the way of several more thorny, vine-like tendrils, doing everything she could to avoid certain death.
Just as she dodged the last one, she reacted too late to another ground attack, this time from the maw of the beast's serpentine form as it grabbed her with its teeth. Lilith cried in pain as she felt the teeth sink into her. Not letting up, she started casting as much fire as she could within the monster's mouth, forcing to let go as it threw her to the floor.
Lilith groaned in pain and shakingly picked herself up as she faced the serpent as it snarled and roared at her, scorch marks visible within its mouth.
Right now, she only hoped that her son's day wasn't as hectic as the hers was at the moment.
Nero sat alone when it came time for lunch. As much as he wanted to take his mother's advice and try to make friends, he was still pretty iffy on walking up and talking to people, especially since he didn't know anyone here.
It also didn't help that none of the thigs he did today had been interesting so far, all of it being things he already knew about. If school was just doing the same thing on a constant loop, then he wasn't sure he wanted to do it.
But since he had to be here according to his mother, he didn't really have many options.
Just as he was about to start eating, he felt someone tap him on his shoulder, although there was no one present when he turned around to look.
"Yoink!" Nero turned back around just in time to see a green-skinned witchling make off with his lunchbox.
"Hey! Give that back!" Nero yelled to the thief.
"Make me, dweeb!"
Nero felt his face grow hot with anger as he instinctively punched the air with his right arm. The act caused a spectral claw to rush towards the thief and pull him right back to him. He was held by the scuff of his uniform in the air by the manifested arm and forced to face Nero.
"O-okay, okay, it's yours, just let me go!" said the thief as Nero dropped him and took his lunchbox back.
"Whoa..."
Nero turned and saw that the other students in his grade were looking at him. Even some of the students in older grades were looking at him.
He felt his face turn red from the attention and instinctively tried to hide his right arm behind his back before his mother's words ran through his head and he timidly moved it back to his side.
"That was so cool!"
Before Nero could react, he was suddenly surrounded by the other kids in his class and all of them were asking questions, complimenting his arm and calling it awesome, and one kid asking him to sign his face.
It was starting to become to much for him to take. Rather than respond to any of them, he found the attention too overwhelming and pushed past the students. He ran as fast as he could. He didn't care where he ran to, just as long as it was away from them.
He just kept running and soon found himself running outside of Hexside and into the forests surrounding it as he felt the cold winds of the isles surround his face as he ran further and further.
Soon enough, he felt like he was running out of breath and stopped for a moment; his hands on his knees as he faced the floor and panted.
Nero didn't like it. He didn't like school, and he didn't like all the attention everyone gave him. He just wanted to go home.
But he couldn't go home, not yet at least. Instead, he found the nearest tree and slumped down, sitting on the forest floor as tears welled up in his eyes.
He lost track of how long he'd just sat there and cried until he heard a shing sound and he felt like he was in trouble. Almost instinctively, he rolled away from the tree just as a sharp blade cut through the trunk, almost taking his head.
As Nero turned, he saw what did it. It was a shambling, awkwardly walking monster with a blade for an arm.
To Nero, the monster looked like a doll. A disturbing doll that was turned inside out with a sharp blade for an arm.
The monster shambled towards him, and Nero didn't know what to do. He backed away slowly, but found himself tripping on something and landing on the ground. As he backed away, the monster loomed over him and lifted the sword-arm over its head.
For a split second, Nero choked his fear down and jumped up.
"Go AWAY!"
And he punched the monster with his left hand, sending it flying right into a nearby tree and making it cry out in pain.
Nero stared at his hand as he opened and closed it. He couldn't believe what he just did. He punched a monster in the face.
It was...actually really fun.
Nero looked up when he heard twigs break and saw the doll monster get back up. This time, Nero didn't feel scared. Instead, he smiled as he raised his right arm and summoned a spectral arm to grab the monster. He then turned and made a throwing motion with the arm, making the spectral arm lift the doll beast into the air and throw it far. Nero watched as the monster flew away and disappeared over the sky.
"Human wares! Get your human wares here!" Eda called out as she waited for customers to come flocking to buy her recent acquisitions from the human world. As she did so, she looked at what she knew was a human shoe, but that obviously wouldn't sell. A lightbulb went off in her head as she took out a piece of wood and wrote on it.
Finished, she placed the sign out front and yelled, "Discount on severed human foot! I repeat, three percent discount on severed human foot!" she then became contemplative before she went back to the sign and made some alterations by crossing the number out and replacing it with a newer, more money making one, "One percent discount! I repeat, one percent discou-"
"CRASH!"
Eda coughed as dust and gravel was kicked up. When it settled, she saw on the floor was...probably the ugliest thing she'd ever seen...so far. Looked like a messed up doll with a sword for an arm.
Eh, money's money Eda, now wring it out of 'em, She thought as she started a sales pitch, "Good day my good sir. Could I interest you in a severed human foot. We're now offering a zero point five percent discount."
"SCREEEECH!"
The next thing Eda knew, her head was cut off and, with quick reflexes, she was able to catch it in her right hand.
"OWWW! You could have just said 'no', jackass!" She yelled at the now unwanted customer as it lifted the blade again. This time, Eda cast a fire ball and incinerated the bastard. Whatever it was, it screamed as it burned to ash.
Eda placed her severed head on her stand next to the register as her body leaned on the front counter. She sighed and said, "Oh well, guess we're back to waiting."
"Nero!"
"Young Clawthorne!"
"Mister Clawthorne!" Whatever sort of reverie Nero was in from fighting the strange monster was broken by the sound of his teachers calling for him, and he remembered why he was away from school in the first place: he ran away; of course that meant the teachers would be looking for him. Much to his shock, Nero didn't really have much of a problem with this, as beating up the bizarre doll monster had allowed him to vent most of the frustrations Hexside had created; he faintly remembered his mother calling this something like "catharsis".
"Oh, thank the Titan." Mrs. Webson came out of some nearby bushes and rushed over to him in a panic. "We were so worried about you! Are you all right?"
Nero nodded and said, "I'm fine. I just needed a minute to myself."
"Well, in any case, you shouldn't run off like that. Let's get you back to Hexside, young man." Mrs. Webson put out one of her four hands and Nero reluctantly latched onto it. As the two of them headed back to school, Nero looked back at the forest and wondered if there were any other monsters like the one he fought running around in there, or even in other forests just like it.
He also wondered how long it would take for him to be able to fight them.
Lilith was groaning in frustration as she dodged another lash from the tendrils on the beast's head. She had managed to marginally recover from her wounds and was moving at full speed again, but that didn't make this thing any less frustrating to deal with.
Currently, the beast had planted herself in the ground and was summoning tendril after tendril on her again. Any time she got close, she'd use the ones on her head to lash away at her and throw her back.
That is it, Lilith thought in anger, I'm ending this now!
Lilith crafted a spell circle that teleported her high into the air. She held her staff vertical to and in front of herself as she gathered power into it. Her whole body was set ablaze and all the flames she generated were absorbed into the staff as Coronis unfurled her wings; her eyes shining a bright blue as they glowed with raw magical power.
Once she was finished, her staff looked like a spear of pure azure flames. She looked down and saw her target, still wedged into the ground.
Perfect.
With all her strength, she threw her staff straight at the beast. The flames took shape to appear as a burning blue raven that soared down on its prey. At immense speeds, it struck the serpentine beast, creating a massive bursting column of fire that shook the entire surrounding forest. As Lilith descended, she could hear the agonizing screams of the monster woman as she called her stave back to her hand.
The monster still lived, but she was limp with scorch marks and burned flesh covering her entire body. Her bottom half still covered by the ground.
Lilith felt no pity for this beast as she walked up to her and knelt down, grabbing the creature's face and forcing it to look at her. The she-beast glared at Lilith with pure hate in her eyes.
"Now, start talking," Lilith began, "What are you? Why did those rogues summon you?"
The monster kept glaring before she answered, "I am Echidna. The She-Viper and ruler of the great forests of the Green Hell."
That made the gears in Lilith's head spin. This creature claimed to be from a layer of Hell? She had read that Limbo, the realm of the Boiling Isles, was one of Hell's many layers, but she had never seen anything from another layer of the Demon Realm.
"Why are you here?" Lilith demanded from Echidna.
"I was summoned to kill those that demanded your death," Echidna snarled as she coughed her own blood, "And I refuse to be bested by a mere witchling!"
Lilith stood at full height and said, "Well, I suggest you get over it. You'll be coming with me to the Conformatorium for questioning. Then the Emperor will decide your fate."
Echidna merely snarled once more as she weakly tried to move before her nose twitched and her face morphed to one of curiosity.
"Wait," She said as she sniffed the air, "That scent. I know that smell. You have a familiar stench. Where do I know it from?"
"If this is your idea of trying to insult me, then you're even more pathetic than I thought," Lilith said as she started casting a large circle to constrain the She-Viper.
"Your smell. It reeks of..." Echidna's face grew shocked, "You smell like HIM!"
Lilith stopped forming the circle, "What?"
"S-stay back," Echidna's expression became terrified as she suddenly found her strength and began to burrow into the ground, "Stay away from me!"
Lilith moved to stop her, but dust and gravel blocked her vision and entered her throat. She coughed and waved her hands to get the filthy air out of her face. By the time her vision and throat were cleared, she saw that Echidna was long gone, having burrowed deep into the ground and was likely far away from here by now.
"Shit," Lilith cursed as she admonished her failing to capture the rogue demoness. "Better regroup with the others."
The Coven leader then got on her staff and proceeded to take to the skies to fly back to where her fellow Coven soldiers were. As she arrived back at the rogue encampment, her eyes widened at what she saw.
Many of her troops were on the ground and unmoving, appearing to be dead. She only saw two members that were still alive; Steve and one whose name she couldn't recall. It looked like they were fighting large hairy masses with two arms supporting them. By the time she landed, They had killed the last one.
"What happened here?" Lilith asked.
The other Coven soldier huffed and panted before answering, "It was those seeds the monster launched at us, Madame Lilith. They turned into these things and started attacking us. We fought back, but we lost most of our men."
"I see..." Lilith whispered as she looked down on the corpses of her men.
"Well, at least you kicked that monster woman's butt and have her wrapped up to send to the Conformatorium," Steve said jovially.
"I apologize," Lilith began, "I was able to defeat the She-Viper, but she escaped. She ran away."
"Oh," Steve uttered as he quickly regained his jubilation, "Well, at least you sent her running. No one messes with the Emperor's Coven. WHOO!" He then pumped his fist and yelled out, "ALL HAIL OUR GLORIOUS EMPEROR!"
"Uh, right," Lilith said more awkwardly as she slightly raised her fist, "All hail Emperor Belos."
As valued as Steve was as a Coven member, his exuberance was...a bit much sometimes.
"I think we should return to Emperor Belos and report what happened," The other Coven soldier said.
Lilith nodded before her pocket mirror buzzed and she pulled it out to see the time, "Oh shit. It's 2:45. Look, I have to go pick up my son from school, could you two handle the reporting thing for me. Thanks, gotta go bye!"
Lilith said all of that at a rapid pace, giving them no time to respond as she took off and flew back to Hexside to pick up her son from his first day of school.
The wind blew in Lilith's face as she descended upon the grounds of Hexside. The final bell was screaming and students of all ages poured out of the building. Lilith smiled when she saw her son within the crowd and hugged him the second he ran over to her.
"How was your first day, my little raven?" Lilith asked after letting him go. To her dismay, Nero didn't say anything, and he didn't even try to look at her through his silence. "That bad?"
"No, it was fine. Just super boring," Nero said. "You already taught me all this stuff, so why do I gotta go here?"
"I suppose that it's just a natural part of life," Lilith said, "So, did anything bad happen while you were here?"
Nero looked apprehensive for minute before he said, "No, nothing bad happened."
"Nero..."
"Really momma, nothing bad happened!" Nero said.
"Nero, if something happened and you're not telling me, I can always ask the teachers. Please, just tell me." Lilith pleaded. Nero looked at her nervously before he finally spoke.
"A bunch of kids surrounded me and kept calling my arm "cool" or "awesome". I didn't like everyone staring at me."
"But they weren't shunning you like you feared," Lilith said. Nero only shook his head in response.
"But they kept staring at me. I hated it."
"Nero, I-"
"Momma, can I please not talk about it? I just wanna go home now," Nero cut in. With a sigh, Lilith agreed to table the discussion for the moment, and as they flew away, she hoped both that he would want to discuss it sooner rather than later and that the rest of his days went better than his first evidently did.
"So, you say that a large serpentine creature calling itself 'She-Viper' wiped out the rest of the Coven members before Lilith defeated her?"
Belos' question reverberated throughout the entire room as he sat on his thrown under the beating heart of the Titan.
"Yes, my lord," the taller, less irritating one said as he kneeled, "We were preoccupied handling the seed monsters she threw at us."
"Interesting," Belos said to himself as he mused over what his Coven soldiers reported. From the description, they were describing Echidna, ruler of the forests of the Green Hell. What puzzled him was how a band of renegade outlaws managed to get their hands on the means of summoning a demon lord from Hell's lower layers.
He exited his thoughts and told the two kneeling before him, "Here are your orders. You are to investigate how these rogues were able to acquire the means of summoning this 'She-Viper'. I don't particularly care for how long it takes you, so long as you see it done."
"As you wish Emperor Belos," the two said as they kneeled and saluted before uniformly marching out of the throne room.
"My lord," Kikimora began as she stood next to his throne, "Should we not search for where this 'She-Viper' has run off to? She wiped out a good deal of our men after all. Shouldn't such acts be punished?"
"Worry not, Kiki," Belos calmly told his advisor, "She does not pose a threat to us at the moment. We will wait until she resurfaces, and strike her down if she continues to be a nuisance. For now, let her think she's safe. That illusion will make her sloppy."
Belos returned to his contemplation. Echidna's appearance wasn't anything worrisome, but if she could be summoned, then demon lords far greater than her could appear here as well. But one thing was for certain; one way or another, they would all fall.
Such was the fate of their kind, and any like them.