A Serpent's Tale
Chapter 136: Satan and Belphegor

Chapter 136: Satan and Belphegor

The two of us then spent the next few minutes figuring out some smaller details for the explanation we would give to those pests. Satan wasn’t involved because all of his ideas after the initial one are just idiotic, not surprising honestly.

Lucifer then moved the conversation elsewhere, "With that decided, let’s get to why I called you here."

I groaned as I knew where this would go, we’ve done this before and it’s a pointless waste of time, nothing ever happens because of it.

Lucifer began, "Satan here is both angry and worried that you are going to overthrow his hold on Wrath. This would also upset the dynamic between the other sins."

"Hmph. Not my fault he can’t improve upon his own Sin like I did." I remarked.

"This isn’t about that, you can’t just encroach upon his Sin, otherwise the metaphysical concept of Wrath will leave him and go to you instead. This would upset the dynamic of not only Hell, but everything we just talked about."

"Still has nothing to do with me, it’s HIS problem, it’s HIS Sin, He should deal with it himself, if he can’t, then he’s just too weak." I chided.

"HOW DARE YOU!!! I AM NOT WEAK, YOU’RE WEAK, YOU DON’T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT STRENGTH!!!!" Satan yelled in anger.

"Ha! Don’t make me laugh, even at your peak you can’t beat me, not to mention, you couldn’t even wring control of your own domain from me earlier, if that isn’t weakness then you must be nothing." I snapped back.

"Enough! Both of you simmer down." Lucifer ordered.

""Yes milord"" Both of us replied.

"Asmodeus, do not encroach upon his Sin any more."

"No promises."

"And Satan... Get good."

"Wha! What do you mean ’get good.’ What the hell am I supposed to do with that?"

I quickly left before I was dragged into another conversation. The doors to the throne room behind me closed with a banging creak and popping out from the shadows was Belphegor. I sighed at having to deal with another twat.

"So, how did it go?" He asked snarkily.

"You know damn well how it went, you were listening the whole time. Hell, I bet you’re not even here, are you?" I rebutted.

"No, I’m not here as you guessed, but that’s because I’m busy making plans."

"Oh pray tell, what machinations have you constructed this time." I said sarcastically, knowing that he would try to involve me somehow.

"Oh don’t give me that attitude. When was the last time I came to you about such matters?" He asked.

It is true, the last time he came and asked me for something was when I gained a new understanding of my powers, but that was several millennia ago, and even then, it was just so that he could gain an understanding of how and why it was happening so he could replicate it for himself.

"Fine I’ll bite, what have you got in mind."

"Let’s talk back at my place." He said as he dissipated into a puff of pale blue smoke, dispersing this body entirely.

I turned into a plume of pink smoke and transferred myself over to Belphegor’s lab inside his domain.

His place was designed like a lab with flat white walls of painted metal, bright square lights in the ceiling and various mechanical noises firing off in the background.

The wall before me opened with a mechanical hiss by sliding into itself as a fog rolled out of the room. I stepped forth into the room as the fog faded.

"Ah, welcome back to my personal lab, not much has changed when it comes to stuff here, just stuff being done." The prince of Sloth greeted me whilst sat on a high stool, looking down through some technical apparatus.

"Hello to you to Belphegor." I greeted back.

"Ah, stop with the cold facade, we know each other well enough to not need such puny acts." As he said that, the door behind me closed with the same mechanical hissing.

"You just caught me in a bit of a bad time is all, what with those mortal scum daring to harm my daughter and Satan getting pissy about his domain wavering because of me. And the impending crisis I guess."

"Yeah, but I knew that if I didn’t get your attention now, then I wouldn’t be able to get to you at all." He pointed out.

"Well, that’s true. So what’ve you got in mind?" I asked as I sat down on a stool similar to his.

"Hehehe~ I’m glad you asked my friend. Here’s what I got..."

So apparently, he’s seen some of the other Sins already and they’ve agreed to be part of this plan, which was to basically replace Satan with someone else. He’s already got Mammon, Leviathan and Beelzebub in on this and all they needed now was a candidate to replace him, and they wanted me to be that candidate.

"No." I said flatly.

"Why?!? You’re the perfect candidate, so why not? Besides, you think Lucifer will give a shit?" Belphegor questioned my answer.

"Because he WILL care. You heard what he said, if I gain that much power, it would upset the power dynamic. Say what you will, I’m not about to upset Lucifer just for a boost in power, find someone else."

"Fine, but this will take a long time to do, you understand?"

I nodded, "I do, now is there anything else you’d like to say or show to me? I’d like to get back soon."

"Yes there is! I wanted to show you my progress on my Sin." He exclaimed enthusiastically

"Oh yeah, I remember you said that you would show me your progress when we next met, so, how are you doing?"

He smiled and smugly released his aura, a small portion of the Sin of Sloth, and it had indeed grown stronger, but it felt a bit off.

So I told him, "It feels off."

He sighed and retracted his aura, saying, "I knew you would see it, and I expect Lucifer would too, no one else did. But yes, it is off and that’s because I’m stuck. I can’t figure out what exactly I’m missing."

He seemed so downtrodden by it that I decided to give him some advice.

"If you’re having trouble, then let me give you some advice." His eyes lit up and his ears twitched. "If you want to increase the power of your Sin, then you need to thing about broader concepts of the meaning of Sloth, take for example, Lust. Lust is not just a Sin of carnal pleasure through the flesh, it represents giving into your desires and cravings and getting them. For example, I DESIRE the downfall of humanity. You need to find a way of looking at it BEYOND your base understanding."

"I see..." he said as he put his head down in thought.

"Oh, one more thing, I’ve become more powerful since I had a daughter. I’m not saying you should have a child, but maybe some time in the mortal realm will do you some good, just stay away from the human domain, okay?" I added, not wanting him to do something stupid.

"You just thought something bad of me, didn’t you?"

"Nooo, you must be imagining things. Think about what I said and go to the mortal realm, I’m sure you’ll find what you’re looking for." I said as I made my way to the exit. "Oh, one last thing, find something to embody whatever abstract form you come up with, that’s what my daughter does, she helps me define that abstract form I’ve managed to come up with for my own Sin."

"I’ll see what I can do, thanks for your helps Az." He said waving me off with a smile.

"I told you not to call me that." I replied with a smile of my own, waving him goodbye before turning into a puff of pink smoke and returning to my domain, my home.