Chapter 185: Stray Heir

 

Now that is very interesting. I gazed down at the great city below us and let out a little whistle of appreciation. This city made Averlon look like a village. It was massive city with tall flaming spires that stretched all the way to the horizon. 

It would be quite inspiring if it didn’t reek. The whole place smelled of blood and rot. Alastor insisted I enter this city to get an idea of what demons were like. Not in my usual body, of course, but using my proxy body with a healthy bit of illusion magic. 

This place was a giant slum and it was the only city in all of the Wrath Ring. The Daemon Prince of Wrath was a demon known as Satan. An interesting thing about the Daemon Prince of Wrath is he was but half of a being. His other half ruled the Pride Ring as the Daemon Prince of Pride, Lucifer.

Lucifer Morningstar, child of Magne Morningstar was clever much like his mother. He ruled hell and to consolidate his power, he split himself in two and took control of the Wrath Ring. Now he effectively held all of the major rings in a stranglehold since he essentially held all of them in a pincer hold.

This was the only city in all of the Wrath Ring because at the end of the day the Ring of Wrath needed a place of government, a place for the palace of Satan to stand. So while the rest of the Wrath Ring was nothing but burning wasteland covered with the ashes of a million ghosts, this place was a city.

It did make sense to a degree, after all Satan’s other half was the Daemon Prince of Pride and Pride would not allow for it to live in squalor.

Well, thats enough examination, let’s get this show on the road. I bounced on my feet for a moment to warm up my limbs and glanced down at the red skin that now covered my arms.

“Seems good enough.” Mahaila stated as she glanced at me.

“Yeah, seems to be.” I replied as I looked over at her who looked for all intents and purposes like a female Wrath Demon.

We were both immaculately dressed and wielding some of Mahaila’s powerful enchanted weapons. Power spoke really loudly in hell and within the Wrath Ring combat power practically screamed.

“So shall we?” I asked and she nodded. It would just be the two of us, Serchax wasn’t a good fit given her lack of subtly, Rosa wasn’t that good of a fit considering her lack of subtly, Azatherin was a horrible fit given her complete lack of subtly and Alastor… well he would meet us in there…

This place smelled of many things, blood, rot and above all desperation. The city had no wall, but there were only a few safe entrances. The edges of the city were mostly covered with slums, and walking into one of those was an easy way to get shanked and maybe eaten.

I would imagine starvation was a common problem in this city. This whole realm wasn’t that conducive for growing crops and with a city this size food would definitely be a problem. Judging by the butcher shops that seem to be serving some suspiciously shaped cuts I would assume cannibalism was undoubtedly on the table.

How much of that was desperation or how much of it was taste remained to be seen. But then again this was literally hell so I wasn’t expecting a virtuous place.

The long queue in front of me for instance was mostly filled with skinny and starving fools. The strong ones were in the heart of the city or they were part of the warbands. A brief scan of the line showed that these ones were a weaker variant of demon. They had shorter horns, smaller frames and were overall just weaker.

“Impids…” I muttered as I stared at the line.

“Yes, the Seraphim have the Cherubin and the Daemons have the Impids. The rot sinks deep, no one is safe.” Mahaila said as we just walked down the line, not even bothering to queue.

“And what does Terra have?” I asked with a knowing grin.

“Humans. They used to call humans Ratlings because they bred like rats.” Mahaila replied calmly. Our conversation wasn’t exactly out of place, considering where we were and what we looked like.

The Impids all got out of our way, looking at us with fear. The weak fear the strong; that was the natural nature of things. When we eventually reached a group of guards, they turned as if to tell us to get back in line. However, the moment they got a good look at us, they bowed and gestured to the head of the line as if inviting us.

“You, make sure the ones at the checkpoint don’t fuck anything up.” I heard one of the guards bark at one of the more junior-looking guards. The guard turned and ran ahead of us towards the checkpoint in the distance.

“Quite the reception.” I mused as I flashed a feral smile. The pair of Impids who was staring at me squeaked in terror when they saw my smile and turned around, trying to make themselves as small as possible.

“Wait till we get in there. Some idiot is going to pick a fight…” Mahaila muttered in response and I let out a small laugh in response.

When we reached the previously mentioned checkpoint, we found a group of guards waiting for us. Standing at the head of the formation was this smug but nervous-looking demon who was sizing us up.

“Oh this’ll be fun.” I said with a grin.

“Don’t kill anyone you don’t have to.” Mahaila replied.

“Don’t have to? My my we really are in a different world.” I said with a laugh.

“I’m someone with principles, not an idiot.” Mahaila replied dryly.

“Fair enough.” I said as we approached the group.

Hmm, I think this idiot wants to shake us down. I could just kill him but with a Daemon Prince so close it wouldn’t be a good idea. Not yet at least. Bottom line is, we need to figure out Satan’s position on this whole thing. Alastor mentioned that Satan might be on board even if his other half wasn’t.

Remember when I mentioned that Lucifer cut himself in two and made Satan so that he could pincer Hell? Well, that plan is a few hundred thousand years old. Other than the Firstborn everything degrades so now Satan and Lucifer weren’t on talking terms. It was like looking at the worse version of self-hatred or even schizophrenia.

Some people say internal problems could cause external ones. I never heard anyone say that both were one and the same.

“What do you want?” the lead guard said with a snarl. He must be very stupid to be so openly hostile to people who look like us. Mahaila could cut through that group like she was carving a cake.

“Came to see your handsome face.” Mahaila replied dryly.

Woah that’s new, master infiltrator Mahaila in the house…

“You got some lip on you girl, you may be able to cut us down but Lord Satan isn’t that far away.” the guard growled as he jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at the towering palace that dwarfed even the massive towers in the inner city.

“A Daemon Prince would not care less about a welp like you.” I said with a grin and that got a flash of anger from him.

“Come on, do it. I have been itching to kill something all day.” I said with a wide feral grin and a flash of white fear crossed his eyes.

“I suggest you let us through, my friend here is serious. He hasn’t spilled blood in weeks.” Mahaila said as she raised a gold soul coin, the standard currency in the Searing Hells.

“For the toll, bribe, whatever you call it. Let us in and you just might keep your head.” Mahaila said with a pointed stare. The demon nodded mutely and took the coin before stepping aside.

Heh, good cop bad cop, oldest trick in the book.

“You are surprisingly good at this.” Mahaila commented privately as we headed towards the edge of the city.

“I read alot of books.” I replied and Mahaila just gave me this bemused look in response.

“Whatever you say.” Mahaila said as we continued along.

“You know I thought, dealing with some of the warbands would be a better way to figure demons out.” I said, this time I used a spell to beam the thought right into her head.

“The Wrath Ring has a large standing army if Satan ever bothers to unite them. But honestly, you have seen one; you have seen them all. Alastor’s plan is on the mark. We need to ally with some of the Daemon princes and kill the rest. If they all jump us at once, we don’t have a prayer in the world. We need to play the Blood War to our advantage,” Mahaila replied through the spell.

“So what, we come in here and play politics?” I asked my lack of enthusiasm leaking through.

“Not really, we just need to kill the right people, for the right people. Most demons are stuck in their rings, but the Ars Goetia are free to travel. A pair of Ars Goetia might rail against each other in their respective rings but they could be drinking wine with each other a day later. 

Granted they would be trying to poison each other but the point stands.

Hell is built on power, lies and bargains. Your word means nothing, your strength, deception and a good old-fashioned infernal contract are what matters.” Mahaila said.

“Can’t sign contracts remember? They don’t work on me.” I replied.

“They won’t know, it will feel the same for the other party.” Mahaila stated.

Well, that is interesting. So I can sign a nonbinding contract with a Demon, and they would be none the wiser. But still, some of the ancients were immune to the contracts. It wasn’t just a Firstborn thing. For example Primordial Dragons are immune to the contracts, as some unlucky demons found out. So I would be viewed with a vague sense of suspicion. 

“Hmm, now that is interesting.” I mused as I glanced to the side and saw this frail demon boy begging by the roadside. He looked to be in his early teens and his hair was matted and clumps of it were falling out from malnutrition. A quick scan of his body indicated that he would probably be dead in a week if he didn’t get some serious help. But there was something else about him, I’ve seen it in a few people but what this boy has is rare, very rare.

As I walked past, I saw him weakly shake this metal cup that was empty of coins. I looked down at his eyes and saw weariness, but yet there was a sense of strength in those eyes. He hadn’t given up even though he basically had one foot in the grave. Then I noticed he had another scent on him. I noticed he was next to an alley, and I peered into it. I saw this small girl who was so weak she was just slumped against the wall.

Huh, this one looked quite similar to the boy. I saw the boy stand up warily as if he was about to get between me and the other girl.

“Your friend?” I asked, I could sense Mahaila staring at me warily. 

“Relax, I’m not going to hurt them.” I said through the spell and I noticed her drilling gaze lessen.

The boy didn’t reply he just kept staring at me, I saw his hand reach for something that was strapped to the back of his waist. If I didn’t know better, this kid is getting ready to shank me.

“Relax, I would give you this but I think that’s just going to get you shanked and robbed.” I said with a grin as I held up a gold Soul Coin.

The boy’s eyes bulged briefly, but then he snapped back to his senses as he narrowed his eyes slightly.

“What do you want?” the boy asked cautiously.

“I need some hired help and I think you would do nicely.” I said, and I could feel the mounting confusion from Mahaila. 

“Ok what are you doing?” Mahaila asked.

“Oh you’ll see. Nothing bad, I promise.” I replied with a grin.

I waved my hand, and the boy was bathed in my healing spell. Just like that, he went from malnourished and diseased to perfectly healthy.

“So how about it? Want a job? You can bring that one too if you like.” I said as I nodded at the girl.

The boy paused as he looked at me with suspicion. A short while later, he nodded. Wise, it's not like he has a better choice. That girl had days at best before her organs started failing. The only reason they were still alive was probably that they were too skinny to be worth eating.

“Excellent, now then let's get her on her feet, and we can get you two something to eat.” I said with a happy clap of my hands.

A short while later, the boy was pulling a very confused girl down the street as I headed towards the nearest tavern.

“What’s your game? Since when do you pick up strays?” Mahaila asked through the spell.

“I pick up strays when they are useful.” I replied mentally, as far as the boy and girl were concerned, the two of us were silent.

“Useful?” Mahaila asked.

“You know someone has to replace the Daemon Princes we kill right?” I replied dryly, and I could sense Mahaila’s mounting confusion.

“Eventually anyway.” I added with a slight shrug.

“These two are going to replace the Daemon Princes?” Mahaila asked sounding even more confused.

“Well the boy is anyway, the girl isn’t that useful.” I replied, and I could sense some irritation starting to well up inside her.

“Speak plain, what the hell is going on?” Mahaila snapped.

“What do you mean? Can’t you tell?” I replied slyly.

 

It’s not everyday we run into an Heir of the Firstborn…