"The audience keeps pouring in…"
What Balzefen failed to notice was that the horned demon Rachel — who had been trailing timidly at his side all along — now had a sharp gleam in its eyes.
For Lei Lin, this lair of Beilu-Sebabu was equally fraught with danger.
Though he had already secured Azrock's allegiance, the latter was merely guarding the outer perimeter of the Iron Tower, with no opportunity to venture inside.
And to fully explore the lair of such an arch-devil — without the lives of hundreds of high-ranking devils, or the sacrifice of numerous Abyssal Forge Devils — was utterly unthinkable.
Lei Lin naturally had no intention of purging his own subordinates, and he also wanted to lure out the hidden coveters, which was why he had been concealing his identity all along, following Balzefen into the Iron Tower.
But it was easy to imagine that Balzefen's actions this time would inevitably trigger a chain reaction, shattering the previously balanced situation.
The Eight Hell Generals he represented, and
Moreover, using the strength of other devils to explore the entire Iron Tower on his behalf was clearly quite the brilliant scheme.
……
The Ninth Layer of Hell — Nessus.
Deep ravines and gorges stretched in every direction, formed by vast expanses of lifeless stone.
It seemed these surgically carved landforms must have originated from a cataclysmic explosion, or perhaps a battle on the scale of gods — but by now, no one could know the truth.
Within a gorge of staggering depth and width stood the infernal fortress of Malsheem, radiating its dark, noble, hellish beauty. The fortress was impossibly vast, towering miles above the surrounding plains, its breadth and expanse beyond the imagination of every devil.
Over a million devils dwelled within the castle, and according to the proclamation of a certain devil's conspiracy, these devils would one day surge forth without warning, drowning all of
"Ah… Malsheem, how beautiful you are! How I long to possess her, to lovingly caress every inch of her skin…"
A voice brimming with greed suddenly echoed from the void, and the figure of a devil materialized.
It had a human torso and arms, but its lower body was that of an enormous viper. In its hands it wielded a weapon resembling a trident, and its triangular eyes now brimmed with avarice.
This was
"Mammon! It's been so long, old friend! Five hundred years since we last met, wasn't it? I recall it was in the City of Minaros…"
An ethereal devil materialized from the summit of Malshem. It resembled an aged devil, with meticulously combed black hair, a black goatee, and eyes that seemed to spit fire. It greeted Mammon with courtly politeness, as though reuniting with a long-lost friend.
"Your hypocrisy makes me sick, Asmodeus!"
Another voice rang out, and the figure of yet another Lord of Hell appeared beside Mammon. Blazing flames of infernal power coiled around its body, or perhaps it had become wrath itself—an endless fury that could burn and annihilate everything in the world.
It was this devil who had just named the old one's true identity!
The ancient devil hovering above Malshem was none other than the legendary King of the Nine Layers of Hell—Asmodeus, the nominal ruler of the Infernal Plane!
"Oh! Samael, is it? Still so quick to anger…"
Asmodeus seemed entirely unfazed by the tremendous power radiating from Samael. The smile on his face only deepened.
"When will you ever shed this guise and face us in your true form?"
Pure white snowflakes drifted down, instantly freezing a vast stretch of the canyon. A devil who commanded the ultimate cold stepped forth, gazing back at Asmodeus without the slightest hint of fear. An aura of aloof pride hung about his being.
"Oh! And
A faint flush had risen on Asmodeus's pallid face, making him look like a dying old man on the verge of his last breath.
Rumor held that the true body of the Lord of the Nine Layers bore grievous wounds. The form he now projected was nothing more than a high-level illusion or avatar of some sort.
Even so, Asmodeus remained the most powerful among all the Lords of Hell!
If any lesser devil were to witness this scene, it would surely be struck speechless with shock.
Mammon, who ruled the Third Layer. Samael, master of the Fourth. Levistus, sovereign of the Fifth. And Asmodeus himself, the original lord of the Ninth—four Lords of Hell gathered in one place!
Since the last time they had plotted together to unleash the cruel Blood War, smashing through multiple layers of the Abyss and even dragging the flames of battle into the Material Plane and the divine realms, the Lords of Hell had rarely met face to face.
And now, even if someone claimed they were hatching a conspiracy to overturn the world, there would be those who believed it.
When several Lords of Hell gathered in one place, how could anything good come of it?
"*Cough, cough*… Might I ask what matter brings everyone here?"
Asmodeus pulled out something that looked like a pair of reading glasses and began leafing through a thick leather-bound tome.
The black cover, along with the hellfire emblazoned upon it, made the book look supremely evil.
And the parchment pages within—each one represented a diabolical contract!
"Naturally, it concerns the second layer of
Mammon, with his serpentine body, was the first to speak: "The appointment of a Lord of Hell—even if the rest of us seven gathered together and formed a council, we could not decide such a thing!"
"Oh, really?" A venomous insect crawled out of Asmodeus's goat-like beard, and he caught it and swallowed it down.
"But... according to the oath-bound contract of our alliance, you didn't seem to think so..."
Asmodeus flipped to a certain page of the contract and pointed to a clause upon it. "How about it? Shall I read it aloud and explain it to you all?"
"That only grants you the right to assist when a given layer's Lord is unable to fulfill their duties—and even then, it's only temporary!"
Samael roared in fury.
"But... as King of the Nine Layers of Hell! Fine... even if it's only in name, maintaining the stability of Hell and upholding order is still my responsibility..."
Asmodeus argued.
"Even so, that doesn't mean you can seize the opportunity to appoint a second-layer Lord—especially when the candidate is one of the Eight Demon Generals, beings with no authority whatsoever..."
Leviathan sneered.
"Even if it's just a Pit Fiend, if the other party can guarantee the order of the second layer, a small reward would be in order..."
Asmodeus persisted.
"All I've seen from them is scheming and destruction!" The flames upon Samael's body suddenly surged with violent fury.
"The only one who can truly stabilize Dis is the
Greed flickered in Mammon's eyes.
"It's said that after suffering a grievous wound, it fled to the Prime Material Plane. One of my followers once spotted its trail on the surface—it had apparently adopted a rather interesting disguise..."
Asmodeus spoke casually, as if this were no secret at all.
This openness and magnanimity, rather than reassuring the other three Archdevils, left them feeling more uncertain than ever.
"What exactly do you want?" After a long silence, it was Levistus who finally broke it.
"That's what I should be asking you!" Asmodeus's face was full of innocence. "You show up at my doorstep unannounced, brazenly block my entrance, and yet you ask what I'm after?"
"Obviously it's for the stability of Hell—and you will not meddle in the affairs of the Dis plane!"
Samael roared.
Although among the eight Archdevils, Asmodeus was universally acknowledged as the strongest and most enigmatic, the gap between them was not insurmountable.
In terms of raw power, Asmodeus was indeed the mightiest of the devils—there were even rumors that, were it not for the grievous wound it bore, it could have unified all of Hell long ago!
But in truth, its current strength would at best allow it to defeat a single Archdevil, and it could never land a killing blow. Even two Archdevils acting in concert could hold it down with certainty.
With three of them allied, they could confirm that Asmodeus was in an absolutely untenable position.
"Give it up! The Countess of Hag Queens won't help you, and Belphagor stays in Maladomini permanently—too lazy to stir, let alone forcibly intervene. As for
Mammon looked Malshemar up and down. "If you handed Malshemar over to me, I might give it some thought—truly! On the honor of an Archdevil, I swear it!"
"Seems I really don't have much of a chance, do I…"
Asmodeus waved his hand in resignation. "Very well. Per our covenant, I'll remain within Nessus and go nowhere. But Dis does need a proxy, so how about we draw up an agreement?"
Before the other Archdevils could respond, Asmodeus simply carried on: "We all stay here—right here—until all of Hell has calmed down and order is fully restored. None of us leaves. How does that sound? Wasn't that precisely what you all came for in the first place?"