Chapter Seven

Antithesis passed through the next gate and looked around to see nothing, but shades of pink and red sprinkled about the dusted ground. He looked up to see a large, silhouetted figure. It spread its arms out and several females since the beginning of the spirits journey appeared, including the ones from the bar, Erza, Selene Delacroix, Temptation, Manipulation, Astral, Vitruviana, and Celeste.

“Do they suit your tastes, abandoned one?” the silhouette said. 

“Abandoned?”

“Have you ever considered why the angels refused to aid you on your quest?” the silhouette fished. “Why they sent you on the quest in the first place in order to reach eternal glory? How many other souls do you think must go through this process?”

As the silhouette asked these questions, the females began to attack the spectre. He easily dodged and disposed of them while continuing his conversation with this archdemon. 

“How many other souls have had their family killed by a demon?” Antithesis questioned. The archdemon chuckled. “Who are you?”

The silhouette leaned forward to show a beautiful woman’s face, then it turned into an ugly wretch’s face. Antithesis figured the wretch’s face was the true face of this archdemon. 

“Asmodeus, the archdemon of lust. One of the seven sins,” Asmodeus revealed. His face shifted again, revealing the face of Antithesis’s wife. 

“Change face, demon,” the wraith demanded. “I do not wish to kill my wife again.”

“That’s right, you killed Temptation when she disguised herself to look like your wife, didn’t you?” Asmodeus said. After saying this, the women Antithesis was fighting morphed to all look like his wife. 

The phantom then willingly stopped fighting and let them capture and bind him. Asmodeus smiled and switched his face again, revealing a beautiful looking male. 

“Who’s face--”

“This is my actual face,” Asmodeus said. “You think the wretch’s face was mine?”

Antithesis said nothing. Asmodeus chuckled and vanished in the darkness before re-emerging among Antithesis’s wives and the wraith himself, appearing to be their size. He was shirtless and shoeless, only wearing tight pants. Antithesis was on his knees as the sea of his wives split as Asmodeus walked through them. He leaned in and smirked at the submissive spirit.

“You know, none of the archdemons look like what we imagine we do,” Asmodeus said. “Some of us, like Satan, do choose to appear in other forms, but we are some beautiful beings. I’ll even give the angels that.”

Asmodeus stood straight up and cocked his head to the side, keeping his smile. 

“Just wait until you meet Lucifer,” he said. “Should you make it to him.”

Asmodeus then turned and walked away, waving his hand at Antithesis’s wives to finish the spirit off. 

“My journey will not end here!” Antithesis proclaimed. 

“Oh?” Asmodeus said, turning to see Antithesis setting himself ablaze and in turn, killing the copies of his wife. The spectre then made a beeline for the archdemon and before connecting a fist to Asmodeus’s face, the archdemon raised his hands in surrender. “Then I won’t hold you.”

Antithesis let his flames dissipate and lowered his fist. 

“Why?”

“Well, I can’t really entice you or defeat you if I wanted to,” Asmodeus admits. “You don’t have any feelings I can fuck with. Sure, you’re nervous around attractive females, but what the hell could I do with that? It’s not like you wanna bone ‘em. You’re not even thinking about doing that to your wife. Your sole purpose is to see your family again, so there’s nothing I can do.”

Antithesis stared him down as the archdemon of lust vanished among the darkness once more. 

The spirit then continued to move past the next gate, entering the fourth circle. The air was heavy but thin. With each breath, it felt as if the phantom had to inhale and exhale more than normal. Each breath was like he was preparing to hold his breath for a long dive underwater, but the water never came, and neither did the relief of being able to breathe normally. He heard munching among the darkness and came across the next two archdemons. 

Both sat in front of piles of food, but only one ate. This was Beelzebub, the archdemon of gluttony. Next to him, hoarding his food instead of eating it, was Mammon, the archdemon of greed. Antithesis believed they didn’t see him and snuck past them to reach the next gate, but a tall, giant archdemon, Belphegor, the archdemon of sloth, stood in front of the gate, blocking the wraith’s path. 

“Hey, come on guys, I don’t wanna have to stop him,” Belphegor said. Beelzebub and Mammon exchanged looks.

“So, don’t,” Mammon said. “Don’t take credit for that idea though, that idea’s mine.”

“How could any spirit here ever take any of you seriously?” Antithesis asked.

“Whaddaya mean?” Belphegor asked.

“Are you not archdemons?”

“Well, yeah, but we have punishments for the souls sent here. We don’t have to be scary or intimidating-- boy that’s a long word to say-- in order to get the point across,” Belphegor said. “Observe.”

The archdemon waved his hand and revealed several millions of souls being forced to do tasks they would not be able to cease. There were souls that ate non-stop, their stomachs ever expanding. Other souls attempted to get an unobtainable, indeterminate, flying object and none of them could grab onto it, as it was always out of their reach. Other, other souls lazed around, unable to sit or lay down, so they stood motionless, moaning like zombies. 

“Pretty fucked up, right?” Mammon asked. Antithesis said nothing. “Don’t worry, they’re not here forever. They move around the circles.”

“Bet you’re wondering what someone has to do to land themself in Hell like this?” Belphegor asked. “Well, it’s kinda controversial, but--”

“I do not care,” Antithesis interrupted. “If you are not here to stop me, then move out of my way.”

Belphegor looked at Mammon and shrugged with his brother. 

“Hey, just a fair warning though, we’ll probably be your last easy encounter,” the archdemon of sloth warned. 

“What do you mean?” Antithesis asked. Belphegor yawned. 

“Ah, I don’t really feel like explaining myself,” the archdemon said. Antithesis went to withdraw his sword and demand answers, but instead he decided to avoid the battle and continue forward, for these three were harmless towards him. 

As the Heavenborne phased through to the next gate, Belphegor watched him leave while Mammon stole one of Beelzebub's items of food. But, the glutton kept chomping.