Chapter 12.1: Third time's the Charm (1)

  Mephistopheles spoke first. “I assumed it was related to the new power you obtained, my lord.”

  Apollyon nodded. “That was my conclusion as well.”

  Lucifer was not surprised by their reasoning; both were highly intelligent, after all. He confirmed their assumption, explaining that his eyes had changed because he had reached a new stage of power, and the transformation was a natural result of that advancement.

  The light-hearted atmosphere in the throne room gradually shifted into something far more serious as the discussion turned to war. Lucifer informed them that he had devised a different plan of attack—one he would now explain.

  As he laid out his strategy, every Demon Lord present—even Kane—was visibly surprised. When he finished, Lucifer allowed them the opportunity to voice their opinions. However, none dared to oppose his decision, and the plan was ultimately accepted without objection.

  With the strategy finalized, there was nothing left to do but proceed to the Gates of Hell.

  Lucifer rose from his throne and strode toward the exit, Kane and the Demon Lords following closely behind.

  They were teleported outside the castle. Truthfully, Lucifer felt relieved to be leaving the Demon King’s castle, which had begun to feel more like a prison than a home.

  He turned back for a brief moment, gazing at the towering structure. A faint smile touched his lips before he turned away and continued forward.

  Lucifer sprouted his wings and took to the sky, the Demon Lords following closely behind him. Interestingly, Kane was the only one who did not require wings to fly. He simply rose into the air as though gravity had no claim over him.

  Lucifer glanced back at Kane and thought to himself that he could have done the same. However, he chose not to. He still needed to conceal the true extent of his abilities—even from his own subordinates.

  Lucifer reasoned that if his subordinates were ever to turn against him, he would need hidden trump cards of his own. What he did not know was just how deep their loyalty truly ran—especially Kane’s. Unfortunately, that was not something he would discover anytime soon.

  Shaking off the thought, Lucifer refocused on the mission at hand.

  They flew for quite some time before finally reaching the Gates of Hell. As they arrived, Lucifer saw thousands upon thousands of creatures gathered before the entrance, forming an endless sea of demonic forces awaiting his command.

  However, something was different.

  The Gates he had once personally forged with his magic were gone. They had vanished the moment he lost the ability to wield his power. Now, only the vast opening into the abyss remained, a silent reminder of the period when he had been weakened.

  Lucifer landed directly before the massive stone doors of the Gates of Hell and placed his hand against them. With a single, effortless push, the colossal doors groaned open, revealing the vast swirling portal behind them.

  He turned around just as Kane and the Demon Lords descended from the sky, landing behind him.

  In an instant, every member of the demonic army bent the knee in reverence to their Demon King. Even the Demon Lords and Kane lowered themselves in respect.

  Lucifer’s gaze swept across the endless sea of kneeling warriors. Among them, he spotted the Seven Sins—also kneeling.

  He walked toward them, his boots echoing against the stone. Stopping before them, he looked down and commanded calmly, “Lift your heads.”

  They obeyed immediately.

  Lucifer studied them for a moment before speaking. “How have you been? The last time I saw you, none of you were in the best condition.”

  Wrath, the leader of the Sins, met his gaze without hesitation.

  “My lord, you have nothing to worry about. We are all at one hundred percent…” A savage grin spread across his face. “…and we are itching for a fight.”

  The air around them seemed to grow heavier with anticipation.

  Lucifer examined each of the Sins carefully. They were all in peak condition—especially Greed and Pride. From the two of them radiated an intense, razor-sharp aura, the unmistakable presence of warriors hungry for battle.

  Sloth, however, was… Sloth. Lucifer could barely sense any energy from him at all, and he appeared to be asleep even now. Lucifer sighed softly. That was simply how Sloth had always been—even in his presence.

  Gluttony stood nearby, drool slipping from the corner of his mouth. Lucifer chose not to wonder what—or who—he was imagining devouring.

  Lust remained as seductive as ever. When Lucifer’s gaze briefly met hers, he felt a sharp glare from somewhere behind him. He ignored it.

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  Envy, as usual, stood silently apart. She had always kept her thoughts to herself. Lucifer still did not quite understand how someone so introverted managed to remain among the Sins, whose personalities clashed violently with her own. But then again… Envy was one of the most formidable among them when pushed. Silence did not equate to weakness.

  After his brief assessment, Lucifer stepped forward once more and faced the army.

  Activating his Overlord sense, he scanned the vast expanse before him. The demonic forces gathered there far exceeded the number he had anticipated.

  He was impressed.

  Still, he knew better than most—numbers alone did not determine victory in war.

  “I’m sure you have all been waiting to return to the human world. So, as your King, I will not waste any more time. I have but one command: once I give the order, you will slaughter to your heart’s content and turn the entire battlefield into an ocean of blood.”

  The army trembled with anticipation.

  Lucifer then turned his attention to Kane and gave a slight nod. Kane nodded in return and walked toward the portal.

  As soon as Kane placed his hand upon it, the portal darkened, turned pitch black, and shattered into fragments of fading light.

  “As I thought,” Lucifer said calmly. “Your power is pure negative energy, Kane. That portal was created using life energy. Naturally, it would shatter under the weight of your overwhelming negativity.”

  He stepped forward. “It seems I will have to do this myself.”

  A flaming red sword materialized in Lucifer’s hand. The air around him distorted from the heat radiating off the blade. He walked to where the portal had once stood and thrust the sword forward effortlessly.

  Though nothing was visibly there, the blade met resistance—as if it had struck an invisible surface.

  “A portal is a link between dimensions,” Lucifer explained. “It can never truly be destroyed. Once a connection between two dimensions is established at a specific location, that link remains there indefinitely. What you destroyed was merely the door used to access it.”

  He pressed the sword further into the unseen barrier.

  “What I will do now… is recreate that door.”

  The space before him began to tremble.

  “And then,” Lucifer said quietly, “I will open it.”

  “I see,” responded Kane.

  Lucifer began pouring his energy through the sword and into the unseen dimensional link. An ominous aura started radiating from the space before him, distorting the air. After a short while, the portal was fully reconstructed.

  Lucifer slowly turned his hand anticlockwise, and the portal responded—opening with a deep, resonating hum.

  He then swung his flaming sword horizontally to the right, creating a blazing curtain veil of fire. With another powerful swing to the left, a second curtain of flames formed. The portal expanded outward as the two fiery veils stretched across a distance of five hundred meters.

  Lucifer had widened the gateway, making it far easier for his vast army to pass through at once.

  “My lord… isn’t this the portal located at the far side of the human kingdom?” asked Kane.

  “It is,” Lucifer replied calmly. “But if you’re worried about where we will emerge, you may relax. I have already accounted for that.”

  Satisfied with his work, Lucifer turned to face his army.

  “It is time.”

  At his command, the demonic forces rose as one and began marching forward, passing through the massive flaming gateway and into the human world.

  After watching some of the demonic army pass through the fiery veil, Lucifer smirked and stepped through himself, followed by Kane—who was still wondering what the Demon King had meant when he said he had already made a plan. The Demon Lords and The Sins followed shortly after.

  When Kane finally emerged on the other side, he immediately understood Lucifer’s words. The place they had arrived wasn’t the far end of the human kingdom—it was the forest, just a few miles from the capital. The same forest they had used as a staging ground during their previous attack on the human capital.

  “Do you understand now, Kane?” Lucifer asked, a sly smile on his face.

  “Yes, my lord. I understand,” Kane replied. “This miasma you brought into the human world… it was never meant as a weapon, but as a means of teleportation. You connected the portal in the Demon Realm with the residual miasma we left behind in the human world.”

  “Exactly,” said Lucifer.

  Kane tilted his head. “But my lord, how were you so certain that the humans wouldn’t purify all the miasma in this forest—or even around the kingdom itself?”

  Lucifer’s smile widened. “It’s simple. They have their own problems to worry about inside the kingdom. Do you remember the attack I fired at the human king after our meeting?”

  “Yes, my lord. It was that dark energy beam, but if I remember correctly, you missed the human king’s head by a hair and it ended up killing a mage on the wall instead,” Kane replied.

  “Of course, you remember it perfectly,” Lucifer said, a smirk forming on his lips. “But what you didn’t notice… even though it pierced that mage’s skull, it also went through the barrier protecting the humans inside their capital. And since it penetrated, I decided to add a little… mana poisoning to the air within the kingdom. I’m certain they’ve been far too busy healing their people to notice anything else,” he said, his smirk widening.

  “My lord… when exactly did you devise such a plan? I thought you were simply flaunting your strength to show the humans you could kill them anytime you wanted,” Kane asked, bewildered.

  “Hahaha, Kane… don’t always assume my actions are mere displays of strength. I’ve never flaunted my power for fun. Almost everything I do has a purpose, a use for the future,” Lucifer replied, shrugging casually. “And to answer your question—this? I didn’t even need to plan it. It happened in the heat of the moment.”

  Kane sighed and face palmed himself, muttering under his breath.

  Lucifer turned his gaze toward the forest and saw the entirety of his demonic army finally assembled. Wrath stepped forward, bowing slightly. “My lord, shall we begin the attack?”

  Lucifer shook his head slowly. “Not yet. There’s another part of the plan.” He looked at Kane and gave a subtle nod. Kane returned the gesture and then faced the human capital of Damestia.

  Raising his hand, Kane summoned a swirling purple aura. A complex magic circle appeared beneath him, pulsating with raw energy.

  “MASS TELEPORTATION!” His voice rang out like thunder across the army.

  A sudden, violent wind tore through the forest, rustling trees and sending leaves flying like shards of glass. The ground trembled beneath the feet of the waiting demons. Then, as if the sky itself had opened, an enormous, glowing circle formed on the battlefield where they had fought previously.

  From within that circle, a horde of mindless ghouls surged forward, their movements jerky and unnatural, their eyes glowing with unholy light. They charged straight toward the human capital, shrieking and gnashing their teeth.

  Lucifer’s crimson eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he watched the chaos unfold. “Kane, let them spread fear, but do not engage the main defences yet. We’ll strike when the time is perfect.”

  The Demonic army waited silently, their anticipation sharp as a blade. The humans would not know what hit them.

  Kane hovered above the human capital, his figure framed by the dim glow of the miasma and the chaos below. The barrier around the castle shimmered violently under the assault of the mindless ghouls, yet it held firm, impervious to their desperate attempts.