"All right, you guys don't need to doubt the Bloody Succubus so much." Lucifer straightened himself in his seat with some difficulty and gently waved his hand as he said lazily, "Just as it could have been her it could also have been anyone inside or outside this room."
"Has Your Majesty figured anything out yet?" Fire Sorrow seemed to notice something as she asked with a slight frown.
"Mhm. Something like that." Lucifer nodded softly and said quietly, "In a galaxy distant from this point, there is a constellation that is not visible from every point in the universe, unlike the vast majority. That constellation was named Ice Goddess because of how especially low the temperature is in that area of space; you can even see the frozen stardust. The gist of the matter here is that a few years ago that constellation was brimming with power, which suggested that the Firmament Fragment with the Will of that existence was still there. However, not long ago, the constellation's power began to slowly decay."
"In other words, Your Majesty suggests that the culprit of the events that happened on the world Petra must have used the power left behind by the Will of that existence?" Crow inquired with a frown.
"If that's the case, then it's basically impossible to find out who the culprit was." Fire Sorrow sighed and gently rubbed her temples as she said, "If the Will left behind by that Ice Goddess or Ice God possesses dark energy, then even the angels themselves could be the culprits of this."
While it made no sense for the angels to destroy one of their worlds from which they obtained vast amounts of natural treasures every year, let alone slaughter their own just like that, what Fire Sorrow wanted to convey with her words was that literally, anyone could be the culprit.
"Mhm." Lucifer nodded and then said with his eyes closed, "So, no need to overthink it. This bullsh… That's not right. This meeting is simply for the purpose of calming the white-feathered ones down a bit. They themselves also know that our Demonic Army might not be the culprit and probably someone is trying to incriminate us."
Bang!
Hellscar finally couldn't help but hit the table hard. Fortunately, he restrained himself and this table had been forged using a treasure called Starstone which made it extremely sturdy, or else it would have collapsed immediately.
"Damn!" he shouted out loud and the walls of the room shook, "Those fucking feathered bastards are really asking for it! Do they think we're scared of them and that they can intimidate us or what!"
Lucifer had already covered his ears the first moment he finished speaking as if he knew what was coming next. He looked with tired eyes at Hellscar and there were even slight dark circles under his eyes as if he hadn't slept for several nights.
"It's the opposite, you stupid ape." Fire Sorrow sighed and said in a complicated voice, "It's because we're stronger than them that they try to give us some trouble and that's also why none of the other factions said anything despite the circumstances."
Hellscar's face changed when he heard Fire Sorrow's words and instead of feeling proud at the fact that the current Demonic Army was more powerful than the Heaven's Army he looked more gloomy than before.
In fact, everyone seemed to have awakened from a dream and the look of the vast majority changed. Some for the worse, others simply sighed as they looked down at their own hands.
"Well, however it goes." Lucifer stood up and stretched his body, making his bones crack softly. "This meeting ends here. All of you scram wherever you came from. Remember we will meet again in a few months."
As everyone stood silently without saying a word, Lucifer seemed to think of something and said out of nowhere, "Bloody Succubus, you stay in the castle. Fire Sorrow can probably give you a tip or two on a variety of stuff."
Lilith frowned slightly for a second but the next instant she was back to normal. While she was an amazing talent, she was still relatively young and there were many things she still didn't know and many more in which she was inexperienced. Having an extremely powerful and experienced mage like Fire Sorrow whose age was at least a dozen millennia old would definitely be good for her growth. At the same time, Lilith could also take the opportunity to get more information about the universe to help that man who was currently far away on the small blue planet called Earth struggling hard to grow up quickly.
"Understood. Thanks in advance." Lilith nodded and bowed to Fire Sorrow before leaving the room as she thought about what Bai Zemin might be doing and if he was missing her or not.
Inside the hall, only Lucifer and Fire Sorrow stayed. Neither of them said anything and after a few minutes, Lucifer walked towards the huge window more than twenty meters high that overlooked the back of the castle.
From there, he could see how Lilith was heading to the training ground that had been built with materials strong enough to withstand the attacks of the Seventh Order's existences for a certain period of time. These types of materials were rarities among rarities since as long as they were given time they could regenerate on their own.
"Your Majesty?" Fire Sorrow inquired puzzled as she looked at the back of the lazy leader of the Demonic Army.
"Mmmm…." Lucifer looked thoughtful as he stared at Lilith's seductive back and her shapely hips that swayed tantalizingly with every step she took. His eyes held not the slightest lust and his mind held not the slightest impure thought as he muttered under his breath, "Fire Sorrow, how long has it been since the Bloody Succubus joined our faction?"
Fire Sorrow didn't understand the reason behind Lucifer's question but answered anyway, "If this subordinate doesn't misremember, Lilith joined our Demonic Army a little less than a decade ago."
"Mmmm…."
Lucifer's head tilted to one side as if he was too sleepy and without energy to stand up straight. However, Fire Sorrow knew him well enough to know that while Lucifer appeared to be a lazy fool, anyone who underestimated him would not live to tell the tale.
Approximately ten years… Space rift… The weakening of the Ice Goddess constellation… The destruction of the world Petra… Hundreds of thoughts flashed simultaneously in Lucifer's head as he watched Lilith disappear beyond his line of sight.
How could someone who reached his position, the position of a total supreme of the universe, be anyone normal? Lucifer was not only powerful, his intelligence was nothing to scoff at.
"Fire Sorrow, I want you to search around the world Petra." Said the leader of the Demonic Army suddenly.
"Excuse me?" Fire Sorrow looked at him blankly.
"If I'm not mistaken, there must be about two or three galaxies beyond the galaxy the world Petra is in and the Soul Record had not yet reached that area," Lucifer said in a lazy voice. "Find out if the beings in those areas began to evolve or not."
"This… O- Okay." Fire Sorrow looked puzzled but in the end, nodded anyway.
A leader's command was absolute command and Fire Sorrow really respected the man in front of her a lot. Therefore, even though she didn't quite understand what was going on, she decided to carry out the task.
"About Lilith…"
"Teach the Bloody Succubus everything you know," Lucifer said calmly. "The more the better. Don't hold back. With the Bloody Succubus' talent, she will be able to become more powerful in a short time. After you finish training her, you can start with the task I just gave you."
"That's fine with me…. However, there is something I don't understand, Your Majesty. I hope you can help me clarify my doubts." Fire Sorrow hesitated for a moment before making such a request.
"Tell me," Lucifer replied with laziness in his voice.
"You suspect Lilith?"
"More than suspicious… I'd say I'm 90% confident that the destruction of the world Petra was caused by the Bloody Succubus." Lucifer said casually, his voice unaltered.
Fire Sorrow's expression changed slightly as she heard this. After a moment of silence, she asked quietly, "Since Your Majesty is so sure, then why…"
"You want to know the reason why I don't lock up the Bloody Succubus and force her to talk or something similar?" Lucifer finished what she wanted to say.
"Yeah… Well…" Fire Sorrow nodded with a slight frown.
"Mmm…" Lucifer didn't answer right away and instead looked up at the sky. His bright emerald eyes focused on the two nearest stars that glowed red and orange like two suns, he seemed to be remembering or thinking of something far away.
"To be honest, it will be a pain in the ass to do anything against the Bloody Succubus. I'm afraid she might let the devil slip out." He said words that left Fire Sorrow even more confused than she already was.
Release the devil? From what Fire Sorrow understood, Lucifer was the devil himself.
Lucifer didn't give too much explanation either and instead said again in a sleepy voice: "Go, Fire Sorrow….. Also, if you find a race of humans on any of those worlds that started evolving recently, I want you to see if you find anything strange on any of them."
"I'm afraid that might take me some time…" Fire Sorrow said with some mental exhaustion.
Even if it was her she could not cover such vast distances in such a short time and carefully studying the races would take even longer. Even weeks or months would not necessarily be enough time for her.
"You just need to do it. If you find any anomalies just inform me, you don't need to intervene or anything similar." Lucifer concluded before falling silent.
Seeing him waving his hand as if dismissing her, Fire Sorrow bowed and walked away without another word.
Lucifer remained silent in the same spot as his eyes flashed uncannily. Then, he took a step and stepped through a black portal, appearing in the middle of outer space.
As he gazed into the emptiness before him, his lazy appearance disappeared for an instant. It only lasted a moment, but those eyes filled with sleepiness turned deadly serious and sharp as a mortal sword as he gazed into nothingness.
"Just like a joker, it can bring salvation or destruction. However, when the joker appears, the game is destined to end faster than planned." He muttered under his breath before his mouth fell open wide as a yawn escaped from what seemed to be his very soul. With tears of exhaustion in his eyes, he said quietly, "Well, whatever it may be, I plan to see it all through to the end…. 'Lilith', uh… That's an interesting name…. Who cares, it's not like this has anything to do with me and as long as things get a little more fun it will be enough…. Ah, shit. So sleepy."
Soon, all was silent and the place where one of the most powerful beings in history stood not so long ago was now empty once again.
As she waited for Fire Sorrow to arrive in the training room, Lilith had no idea that Lucifer had practically seen right through her. While she was very smart, cunning, and her plans perfect; Lucifer was a monster who, despite his youthful appearance, had already lived hundreds of thousands of years. To him, she was literally a baby and from the moment she joined the Demonic Army, something she had wanted to hide was seen by the leader of the faction.
Fortunately, Lilith was right about one thing: Lucifer was not an overly controlling person. As long as he knew what was going on, he would be more than happy to watch everything from the side with his eyes narrowed due to his seemingly endless sleepiness.
If it were any other faction leader of Higher Existences, she probably would have run into a lot of trouble as they all always wanted stability and to have everything that happened under their control.
* * *
Planet Earth, China.
"I finally have some free time." Bai Zemin scrubbed his hands impatiently as he pulled out various items he had stored away.
Soon, his King-sized bed was filled with different shiny objects, scrolls, papers, stones, etc.
Because of everything that had happened during the last few days, only now he had time to take a good look at his spoils of war after defeating the goblins. Although he already had a rough idea of what was to come, he had only just taken a quick glance at the items he had collected.
Besides, looking at them inside the vehicle wasn't comfortable at all so he didn't do it on the way back to the Beginning Village as well.
Bai Zemin decided to do so now before finally capturing Baiquan Camp once and for all. From now on, he would have to pick up the pace if he wanted to finish his breakthrough quest to Blood Mystic within the time limit.
* * * * * * *
Thank you very much to everyone who voted for Blood Warlock with Golden Tickets! <3
