As Carl was led through the halls of the palace on Eden, his head continued to throb, the countless steps staircases they climbed bringing every memory of Lillim he possessed to the forefront of his mind.

Each one causing more cracks to spread, each one chipping away at the instinctual persona his forcibly evolved mind and body had adopted to help him better adapt to the sudden boost in capacity, each one leading to memories of his other friends and family members.

It grew so intense the artificial personality his mind had created even began to see it as some kind of mental coup d’etat, manifesting as a fit of rage that saw him swat at thin air to his right and scream at the ghosts of his old life in rage.

“Cease your buzzing you insignificant flies!”

The outburst caused what should have been catastrophic damage to the palace, blasting the external wall he swatted at to burst away so dramatically it seemed as though a meteor had punched through.

Even the act of raising his voice caused damage to the structure and blasted Cocytus up the staircase as the stairs crumbled beneath him.

As if about to crumble because of the sudden destruction, the entire building trembled horrendously, but then it fell still and the rubble and damaged sections became awashed with light before restoring themselves by some unknown means.

“Apologies, suffering pests in such a grand place was simply insufferable Cocytus, please continue.”

Cocytus himself would have loved to, but as he tried to stand, he found his rear legs and tail unresponsive. It didn’t take long for him to realise what had happened, by simply raising his voice, Carl had shattered his spine and rendered his rear quarters paralysed.

‘Infinity itself refuses to intrude on his life.’

Cocytus repeated his brother’s words in his head, never before had he been beaten so easily as he had been in his realm. Yet just a short while after, the one who had bested him did so again with just a sentence spoken in anger.

‘I think this “hero” might be more monstrous than the King Of Hell, even Father wasn’t this strong back then. How can the difference be as great as the similarities? Eckro, you need to find out what Infinity refuses to reveal.’

Cocytus swallowed his pride and dragged himself onward by his front claws, refusing with every fibre of his being to ask for assistance and deep down a little glad it would give his father more time to prepare for a battle which every step forward made him doubt could be won.

It was as he pulled himself forward the tenth time it finally happened, those unspoken concerns for his father’s safety finally crossed the line over to betraying his values.

The moment that line had been crossed, Cocytus suddenly felt it, his body slowly began to be consumed by his own divinity. The ice thickening and hardening as it grew to form a pillar that joined the stairs to the ceiling above.

“Pathetic.” Carl grunted as he continued up the stairs on his own, focusing on the presence he felt suddenly beckoning him and following its directions.

As he continued his ascent and came level with the pillar, he caught the eye of his own reflection, something between a projection of the struggle going on inside and a flat hallucination.

“You’re too weak for this fight, sit tight so you don’t embarrass us.”

The reflection acted independently, looking to him like a clone banging on the walls of an inescapable prison, but when he could of sworn he saw the ice begin to crack he snapped his fingers.

The ice shattered, the real Carl pushed back, the crown of loyalty dead.

Before that had happened though, his friends, families and allies had started waging war on the entirety of the Infernal Realms.

Amongst them were his children, they arrived in a realm of gluttony, ruled by crown of insatiability, Beelzebub. It was easily the single most populated realms, home to demons numbering in the billions, assaulted by the force of five.

“Raziel, I have faith in you, but promise me you aren’t showing off the Dad in you and being reckless.” Omedra’s words weren’t necessarily off the mark, Raziel herself knew it was out of character and she hadn’t exactly shown anyone proof she could do what she declared, mixed with the gluttony-demons beginning to notice them made doubt inevitable.

When the demons started charging towards them with hunger in their eyes, they all prepared to unify their abilities to make a barrier that would grant Raziel time to do whatever she was planning.

“Sensory Tyrant: Pandemonium.”

The words came before they could even do that much, her aura washing over the entire realm in an instant. It didn’t hammer anything like everyone else’s seemed to do with sudden releases, but rather absorbed every demon in its warmth.

The demons were suddenly stopped moving, as though Margo’s game had suddenly crashed.

“Razy, what did you do? I thought you controlled senses.”

“That’s what I did. Sense of time, sense of self, sense of being. I robbed them of everything and since one sense is no different to another, it really takes no effort at all.”

Listening to their sister casually say “I can make them forget they exist” was harrowing to say the least, but it raised the question of why she hadn’t used that on Carl. A question she was expecting and explained that it wouldn’t help him get over what he was going through since he’d be completely deprived of his sense of self and time.

It was a shame but watching Tiamutael, whose chief talent was hearing all and seeing all, panic that his sister could shut him down as she saw fit if he annoyed her.

“Razy, I’m really sorry I always jump about and shout when I watch my kid vids.”

As Razy chuckled and told him she prefers it to how distant and placid he had been lately, his slate started chiming and they listened as he asked Gillian if he forgot he could hear him.

Then they heard Gillian shout back. “Tiamutael! Tiamutael! Tiamutael! She made a mech! She made a mech! She made a mech!”

Tiamutael quickly hung up the phone and acted disinterested, but since the victor of the fight had been decided there, he didn’t see the harm in subtly changing the perspective of his senses to watch the others instead.

Unfortunately it wasn’t as subtle as he had thought it was, the pure bliss that was apparent in his expression a betrayal to all attempts at going unnoticed, but even if he didn’t wear his heart on his sleeve when it came to such things it would have been obvious when he warned everyone of an incoming enemy and it turned to absolute fury.

He immediately started ranting to himself as a being in stark contrast to the other demons of the realm appeared. Whereas the ones present were bloated mutants, with boney blades jutting out of their elbows and gaping mouths of rotten fangs in their stomachs, the new arrival was practically human.

Pallid, scarred skin hugged his bones tightly, black eyes sunken into his skull, blood dripped from his mouth and ringed the base of his fingers that told a horrific story of a being that had gone so made with hunger he consumed himself only to heal the cannibalised appendages.

He looked around at the demons of his realm. “Why do you gluttons not feast? If they don’t wet your appetite then why not feast on each other? Why not go to where your hunger takes you?”

“Excuse me, are you Beelzebub?”

“I am not here to speak intruder. An angel? No, something else…” Beelzebub began to salivate at the sight of the morsels before him, beings he had never seen before. “…Maybe you will finally sate me.”

“Okay, well we don’t want that, so how about if I can make you lose your appetite, you swear to surrender.” Even her siblings who had seen her power weren’t exactly sure what she was angling for, something about it though reminded them of the times when Carl would act so vague his enemies would beat themselves though.

Beelzebub on the other hand, found it insulting. The idea that anything could actually satiate him and leave him satisfied was an impossible wish. “Fine then, but when you fail I eat you and your companions after you show me where I can feast.”

Beelzebub immediately took on his true-form, that of a shadowy mass filled with gaping maws, the embodiment of hunger and the all consuming abyss. Yet, Raziel accepted.

“Sensory Tyrant: Bloodless victory.”

Nothing happened at first, but then jets of putrid vomit started jetting out from the countless mouths, vile enough to make both Raziel and her siblings wretch in response. The only one not effected was Tiamutael and that was because he was too busy critiquing the names.

Unfortunately for him, Raziel was in an incredibly uncharacteristic bad mood and in a bout of spite, she sent his sense of smell into overdrive for a split second. Luckily for them all that made her think to turn his and the rest of theirs off that same instance.

“Sis that was mean, I’m sorry, okay?”

“Me too… I guess you guys are safe to leave me alone and go help the others though.”

“Nuh uh. We promised to keep you safe, I’ll take Tiamutael over to watch the mechs, then I’ll send Illerion over to her troops…”

As Omedra was running through the plan for after Beelzebub surrendered, Tiamutael suddenly heard someone call his name, Scylla. She was begging to be brought into the fight alongside Gillian, but Tiamutael wasn’t sure.

She was strong, but Lillim specifically said that no one who wasn’t at least three stars could join, so he deferred to Omedra as the one who had taken charge of their group.

It was a tough call to make, she was only the leader of the group as the most physically mature of her and her siblings and the fact she had already moved out. It was a shallow authority at best and didn’t feel like she had the right to make any decisions.

In the end though, Squidge stepped in. “Tell Illerion’s troops to keep her alive until Gillian and Illerion get there, then whilst you’re at it, start sending demons over here for Raziel to beat them bloodlessly.

Omedra, you go with them and keep Illerion in line while you pull yourself out of the funk you’ve been in the way Tiamat taught you.

Levi and I will stay here and guard our sister.”

It wasn’t often Squidge played the “I’m the oldest” card, but it certainly made the situation easier and then he told Raziel to ease up once Beelzebub and stopped vomiting but still restrict his sense of direction, time and balance.

They all stood waiting until it finally happened and when she eased off, the mass of shadows contracted, accepting surrender before he had even fully retaken his human form.

“…I’m… too… sick… to… eat… I surrender… Please… I’ll Die if this keeps up.” The moment he had resolidified, Raziel accepted then included him in the Pandemonium variant the others were under and he froze.

“Good. Omedra, Tiamutael, get moving.”

As they did, Tiamutael made sure to update everyone on what was happening, which suddenly gave Lillim an idea. She had one of her daughters open a portal to Raziel then stepped through and told Raziel to try extending her power through the portal.

It was a long shot, heat and vacuums were one thing, but such abilities were typically warped through portals and neutralised. As a result, when it worked and all the demons in that realm fell still, she updated everyone in the other realms in turn.

Then she realised that Leanna had gone completely blood drunk and was being restrained by her sisters.

It was a price she wasn’t willing to pay.

Before anyone knew what was happening, the daughters restraining her were flung away and the resounding noise of a mother slapping her daughter.

“Leanna, if you lose yourself now we may never recover Carl’s senses. You’re a mother, think of your child first and breakdown later.”

It was shockingly tame, a scene soft enough to make Lillim’s daughters certain of something they had been wondering for quite some time, but seeing such a mellow reaction when she would have normally dismembered the offender until they regained control was all it took to know.

The malicious mother of demons who struck terror in the hearts of her king’s enemies was gone.

Whatever happened in the coming years, the infernal realms would be under the control of one who had lost their taste for the degenerate nature of their kind, one who would demand civility and bear the full weight of the labour involved in enforcing that transition.

There was something weighing on her though, as she looked around the charred remains of the once impenetrably thick forests.

“If we don’t end this soon I’ll be queen of the largest mass grave to ever exist…”

She immediately sent her daughters to scatter and have portals opened to every realm so that Raziel could leave them frozen.

As they all scattered on command to fulfill their orders, Leanna looked at what she had done and trembled at the heinous actions she had taken.

The most haunted by far however, were the remaining members of the old committee.

Lillim wanted to ensure they understood the gravity of what they had done, determined to make it impossible for them to feel disassociated from their sins.

To that end, they had been sent to Limbo, the realm of isolation. It’s denizens were among the most harmless of all the hells, but it was also the most psychologically trying of all of them.

The reason was simple, the demons that called it home had the appearance of mutant infants and ambling corpses that produces endless screams of torment.

It was brutal, forced them to recommit atrocities they’d all been complicit in with their own hands, it was the final act of merciless horror Lillim inflicted on another.

Whether the experience broke them or not, whether they succeeded or not, Lillim would make sure they were haunted by their pasts for all time.

Venusiah was unsurprisingly the first to break, it barely took them any time at all to realise the forms the demons took were ones familiar to those their prey knew and in her case, they had chosen to take on the forms of those that she had been born to.

The trial proved hard for them all though. Regardless of where they ended up, none were devoid of close ties prior to their conscription under Gilgamesh.

It was the single most vile truth of humanity that everyone has someone they cherish or cherished beyond reason, but they could still bring themselves to harm others who held that place in the heart of others.

They weren’t just forced to fight random entities, but those from their past. Former lovers, friends, family and even the children whose births they had celebrated.

The moment they each defeated their first foe, they were forced to face their own darkness and that was the horror of Limbo. The moment you arrived you had two choices, die or prove you were the kind of person who could kill someone you loved.

It was the one realm that received no aid, at least not until every single one of them was broken and begging for it to stop, only then did one of Lillim’s daughters appear and let Raziel’s influence wash over the realm.

The daughter in question then walked over to them and kneeled down, to there level before speaking.

“Mother has been tracking you quite closely, keeping track of everything you have done here.

Neptunia, you managed to kill a staggering three-thousand, three-thousand creatures bearing the faces of your loved ones.

Satur, you managed to kill nine hundred and eighty-seven.

Marsian, you killed four hundred and twelve.

Mercurian, you killed two-hundred and two.

Jupiterran, you killed fifty.

Venusiah, you are today’s winner having broken immediately at the thought.”

The way she phrased it lingered in their ears, “winner”, like it was a game to them. Only one of them was otherwise preoccupied.

“What about me?” Sol asked, the only one unaffected thanks to the nature of his power.

“You, Sol. You will be taking this test again, after Carl seals away a large portion of your divinity that is.

I’m sure you’re all eager to know exactly what these represent, so I’ll get to it now.

For every kill, you will endure a decade of squalor, stripped of your power, but made as hard to kill as Dracula in his heyday.

Venusiah, you will receive a decade of psychological therapy to help you overcome your issues and before you think you can take the same Sol…”

“My mind will be under observation from the Queen Of Constructs, I won’t be allowed to stop until I’m properly broken?

Why don’t we save the time, I’m a monster and completely numb to such things. I’ll submit to it indefinitely.”

The flat tone of his voice left them all nervous, wondering if it would truly be acceptable. It was as much to set a narrative of “they have paid for their crimes ten times over”, as it was to make sure they were seen sweating in their efforts and suffering for the betterment of mankind.

Allowing an unrepentant monster to hold a seat of power would set a dangerous and undoubtedly ill-received precedent, one which could come back to bite them later on, especially with Leanna’s intentions to have each half-breed race nominate a representative.

The daughter sighed and the others braced themselves for his demise, but then she whispered something in his ear that robbed him of that confidence before she led them through the portal.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep