The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 62: Volume 2 - Prologue

Chapter 62: Volume 2 - Prologue

From the battlements of the Citadel Tzal, one could be forgiven for thinking the city below was engaged in a frenzy of battle.

Everywhere one looked, the signs of activity were constant and frenetic as demons of every shape and type hurried about, gathering resources before the massive, vertical circle at the northern vertex of the roughly teardrop-shaped city, carved of black and grey stone and built over half of a deceased caldera.

Those with wings, mostly imps, held much smaller loads in bags on their fronts as they waited on rooftops. Their wings and tails twitched with nervous energy as the hundreds of magic circles inscribed on the circle gently pulsed with gathering mana, a sickly green color washing on and off as it darkened towards blue slowly.

Before the aperture, the largest demons held staves the size of pillars as they guarded it against the crowd, while in the air dozens of similarly sized demons hovered in deterrence of their winged siblings.

At the very peak of the towering Citadel stood a single figure. A towering, three-meter-tall demon with red skin, a massive spiked and fleshy tail, and fiery red hair looked out as his clawed hands rested on the banister.

Maledict, Duke of Heresy, watched the gate and his subjects with equal interest. It had taken him most of the last twenty years to devise the complex circles that ringed the massive construct on each stone, and soon, within the year, he believed, he would see the results of his efforts. Amidst the crown of horns on his head burned a perpetual flame, more for show than practicality. A sign to any demon that looked his way that their Duke was watching. He kept his wings stowed away, a display of intent that he would remain where he stood.

Already small Perditions were forming, enough to where his two little visits to Ayther had little impact on the powering of the gate, which he could control almost at will thanks to the sympathetic magic circles he’d carved into his very body, hidden by clever flesh shaping. To his eyes, the sky above was filled with strands, formations of mana that reached out toward the blue and green world above. The gate waited only for a connection between there and here, and so did his people.

A shadow large enough to cast its darkness upon even the towering figure of Maledict crawled across the Citadel as a being far larger than him landed behind him. Maledict did not turn, despite knowing the presence of the female demon he’d battled with time and time again in his youth.

"Leviathan. You’re late," Maledict stated. "I thought you might miss what I invited you here to see."

"The skies grow chaotic as the Eye opens. You know this." Her form, which was best described as a mix of human and dragon, came with a deep yet feminine voice. She settled in next to him, taking a smaller form, yet still taller than him as she became more humanoid. "I see you are meeting me in your battle form. Pining for our old fights?" she chuckled. In her humanoid form she was still broad and barrel-bodied, scaled in most places and vibrantly purple, with thick slabs of muscle barely hidden by the form-fitting bodysuit she wore. It was made of a substance called ashflesh, which hugged her every crevice with its shining grey texture. It did not cover any part of her tail but the base, leaving the spiked, fleshy appendage free to swing with its razor-tipped scales.

"Only if you try something. I trust you came alone?" He watched as the first spark of near-connection formed at the center of the gate; yet he knew it would not last. Even as the spark died out, an eager group of imps tried to rush forward, only to be beaten back by the aerial guards.

"I am Leviathan, I need no guard," she chuckled deeply. "If I wanted to, I could have simply landed on this citadel in my full form and flattened your home."

"And my demons would have torn you apart where you landed. Do not mistake size for strength, Levia," he scowled.

"A lesson you have been keen to teach me time and again, Mal," she slapped him on the back, jostling him and the flame amidst his crown of horns. "I can’t even remember what your old name was... But I have considered your offer," she continued.

"And?"

"And I will not flee before the Heavenswar. I do not share your cowardice."

"You call it cowardice, I call it pragmatism. Heaven is intent on destroying all of us, and yet you will simply stand your ground, the same as every Leviathan before you? When will you realize the insanity of that?" He squeezed one hand on the edge of the battlement, slicing claws into stone. "Almost as insane as trying to invade Heaven."

"They have always been intent on destroying us. This time is no different."

"It is different!" Maledict raised his voice. "I’m not talking about some spat where we fight Heaven and die and go our separate ways. I’m talking about the utter destruction of demonkind. What they gained from the mortals on Ayther is sheer numbers, Levia. And their weapon-"

"Is a myth you concocted to bid for the title of Demon Lord, at least as far as the others are concerned," Leviathan said, crossing her arms.

"That is Kainur’s fault. The Duke of Pride won’t let himself see that unity would have made this much simpler," Maledict growled. "What good is the so-called co-equality amongst us if at every turn we simply get in each other’s ways? Instead, everyone will act on their own and die on their own. You, at least, I thought would see reason."

"The Duke of Heresy speaks of reason? While running with his tail between his legs?" She scoffed. "If ’Cowardice’ was not the Duke of Terror’s domain, that might be your title instead.

"I would fight if I could win... if we could win. Here, my only heresy is doing whatever it takes to survive. Even if that meant offering peace to our enemies."

"That at least, I know. So I will offer you a deal of my own if you would take it." She took a breath.

Before Maledict could respond, he felt the surge of mana as the gate found a stable strand. This time when it sparked, the portal formed properly, and on the other side of it awaited the darkness of its destination. An underground city, lit by few lights and only near the opening of the portal. Shadowy blocks stretched out into the darkness behind the small ring of territory occupied by the vanguard, sent months ago during the last strand capable of holding a portal.

There was no formal name for the place yet, and no name yet rediscovered for those who once lived there.

As almost one, the guardians of the portal stepped aside, the gargantuan form of one of Maledict’s captains visibly bellowing for the first ranks to charge through. The organized dash lasted about ten seconds before he bellowed for the next. Each line was large enough for only twenty or so demons to stand side by side, peppered with large demons who carried as much as they could, some carrying other demons, mostly the youngest, to keep them together.

Above, the air filled with chaos as the fliers took a less disciplined approach, streaming through as fast as their wings could beat.

Maledict and Leviathan watched as line after line of demons charged through, not stopping on the other side as they spread out into the abandoned city. His hands tensed as the end of the first column came closer and closer to the gate, digging into the black stone of the battlement. It took him a moment to realize there were only four lines left... three lines... two-

A sudden, internal sense of snapping filled him as the portal shuddered and began to fail. The gate’s circles flickered, dropping out of blue and approaching red as they fell in power. Maledict fed his own mana into the system, trying to stabilize it just long enough for those at the edge to make it through. A split second was all he could buy before the whole gate finally shut down.

He did not need to be down there to know the many emotions that his people faced as their path to salvation closed. He did not need to see the blood that had stained the area around the aperture, as those maimed and killed by incomplete passage wailed their pain.

And he did not need to see her face to know that Leviathan now felt the temptation of every demon to earn the title of Devil. Leviathan, Duke of Wrath, could kill him where he stood now, with barely a fight. The city of Tzal could be hers with one blow...

Yet she didn’t strike.

"Speak your bargain," spoke Maledict, Duke of Heresy, Heresy Sin, Devil of Tzal, and one of the nine to vie for the rulership of all Sheol. "Old friend."

"I would send one of my spawn with you. The youngest and least of my children. If I fall, if my children fall, I would that one of my line survive to become the next Leviathan," she explained. "I know killing you would prevent that possibility. And the time is not yet come when those of us without your... considerable expertise could hope to cross the void to Ayther."

Maledict laughed. "The Duke of Wrath plots and schemes to save her line... it seems you did learn something from me after all these centuries. Jorog would have a fit."

"The Duke of Lies schemes only to save himself. With you, there is some honesty, I suppose... I would take advantage of your heretical idealism. Perhaps after a time, you can awaken the wrath of my child such that they will be more than a persistent runt. I know of none better at getting others to hate them than you." She laughed, her tail smacking the ground and cutting small scratches as she slapped Maledict on the back again. "Heaven, turn her to your side if that’s what you want. If I am still alive after the end of this Heavenswar, she can challenge me for my name."

"Her? I thought your youngest was male."

"Was. The one who sired her was an incubus. And the one time she showed her wrath was to claim herself, and in that, she dared challenge me. I care not about what she is called as long as she earns it. You should know better than anyone how malleable the children of lust demons are with their genders... But even there she is strange. Her heart is cold, or so it seems... Perhaps you can put some fire in it. Or have you forgotten when you were an incubus already?"

"I have not forgotten. Just as I have not forgotten that it was battling you that made me... more." Maledict had more than mere history to account for his openness to what she was telling him. Her situation, after all, reminded him of his own. "Very well. I shall accept her to be at the front of the next Perdition. Your child will survive... at least..."

"Until the angels or mortals find your little shelter. I am guessing you will scatter your subjects rather than fight properly, but that is just as good. Ayther is not a kind place to us. If she learns her wrath there and returns, then that is just as good as learning it from you." She sighed. "What is your price for accepting?"

"Nothing," Maledict said. "I have owed you nothing for a long time, and you owe me nothing. I will take nothing because it is unwise to take debts from the dead."

The Duke of Wrath’s eyes narrowed. Maledict sensed her suspicion, but time was short and he did not want to waste a more creative lie on an uncreative rival. Not least because, of all the rival Dukes of Hell, he respected her.

"You sound so certain," she said after a long moment. "I will send her out to check the Eye at the turn of the month. You may, ah, "abduct" her at any point after she crosses the Span of Ire. Frame Jorog or Kainur if you want, but let me know. I will back your claim with an accusation. I long to see the look on their faces when it happens."

"I’ll see to it then," Maledict replied, finally tearing his gaze away from the gate to meet the Duke of Wrath’s fiery red-on-black eyes. "Why her, if I may ask? Why not your oldest or strongest?"

Leviathan shook her head. "There are some things only a parent can understand, Heresy. If you cared for your spawn, you would too... But I suppose you do care for something since you would let your people take flight for your cowardice. Tell me, is the rumored Forbidding you declared to keep them in line?" She gestured outward toward the city. Down below, the soldier demons were piling up the resources brought by the civilians, arranging things for the next time the portal opened, which could be in days or months.

"Let the Duke of Heresy keep his secrets. This is an evacuation, Wrath, not cowardice, and I do not need a Forbidding to keep my people in line. They are compliant because they fear me, and you know the price of what a Forbidding of that breadth would do to a demon. Remember the Duke of Lust?"

Leviathan grunted her affirmation.

"I am not ’letting’ them participate in being killed for nothing, as has happened in every Heavenswar for the last five thousand years." He offered her a clawed hand, which she shook without hesitation. "You have have my word I will do the same for your daughter."

There were no further words between them.

It was the last time the old rivals, now old friends, went their separate ways.