Chapter 278 - Melicia, The Angel, The Witch, The


    Betrayer Of All


    Trapped in his underground training facility right by the territory Haruki had


    reimed, Inferno was fuming in rage yet his soul siblings deterred him from taking a


    step outside. Bound to a chair by a lever mechanism pulling him down on it with


    chains, Inferno could easily tear it apart, yet the only reason he didn''t do so was


    because deep within he knew his rage was a product of rampant emotions.


    "Fuck you all!" But that didn''t mean he wouldn''t let his frustration be known,


    especially when he''d lost his army trying to cover for the two who''d been missing for


    more than two days at this point. "Mercie, Deus, and Reya, you too! You''re all a


    bunch of morons who can''t do a single thing right! Do you know how much it taints


    my name to lose a territory that I''d upied not even a month ago?!"


    "Inferno, calm down!" Mercie yelled back crossing her arms.


    Between the two, Deus knew who was at fault, however, opening his mouth or even


    letting Inferno loose would''ve been the biggest mistake he could ever make. Only if


    Michael wasn''t apanying Haruki or if they had Asmodia, the three of them


    might''ve stood a chance against the demon lord of lust as well as the dragon yer,


    but with the strongest of all demon lords dead, there was no way they could defeat


    them on their own.


    "Aghhhhhh!" Further enraged by Mercie''s confrontational attitude, Inferno finally


    decided to break through the chains. Once unshackled, he stood tall and started


    walking towards his soul sister. And although Deus was witnessing it all, he had no


    ns to protect that monster. "Reya, I can understand she''s never been the one to


    fight on the frontlines, but you, Mercie! What the fuck were you doing?!"


    Walking backward as Inferno kept stepping closer and closer to her, Mercie tried to


    keep up some distance between her and Inferno. But tripping onto the rotting body of


    one of the royal guards Inferno had killed a while back, she fell down onto her butt


    and couldn''t do anything more than hopelessly look up at her older brother.


    "Inferno stop, please!" Mercie pleaded, covering her face from the mes that were


    soon toe.


    Grunting out loud with mes pressured out through the gaps in his teeth, Inferno


    drew his hand back to teach Mercie a lesson. As his fist began to burn, however, the


    sudden opening of the underground hall''s door stole Inferno''s attention.


    Leaping back, he readied himself to face whatever or whoever was on the end side.


    Expecting an enemy as well, Deus conjured up his guns and even summoned an


    Astromech model that appeared like a fusion of a kangaroo and a bunny. As for


    Mercie who was still down on the bloody ground, she only had enough time to turn


    towards the door to see who they were about to be facing.


    While three kept a stern watch on the door, it flung right open with nobody standing


    on the other side. At first, they wondered if it was the wind that pushed the door


    open, but as the trio noticed a shadow eerily move towards them from under the door


    frame, they all went back into their defensive state.


    Stomping the ground, Inferno set me to the dried bloodyered across the floor.


    With everything instantly catching fire, the room for shadows was near to none,


    forcing Haruki to crawl out of the ground before he was stuck into the ground.


    "Haruki?!" Deus eximed, his eyes wide open.


    "What the fuck?!" Mercie yelped, getting back on her feet.


    Like always, Inferno had another means to ry his shock, which happened to be in


    the form of anger. The fist he''d clenched shut for Mercie, he decided to rush over to


    Haruki with it. Storming through the mes, he marched like a Pegasus with loops of


    mes left behind his every step.


    Inches away from Haruki, Inferno swung his fist towards his face, but before it could


    make contact, he noticed in his eyes a different kind of glow that he hadn''t seen while


    fighting him in the arena.


    "What did you do?!" Breaking his strike by jumping back, Inferno knew that standing


    before him wasn''t the same Haruki he''d met in the Colosseum.


    "I don''t have much time for exnation," saying those words, Haruki used mana to


    create a steam of vapor to put out the mes around the room. "Michael has gone


    back to the castle for some reason, and while I''ve tricked my battalion with a clone I


    doubt it''ll be long before they figure out that that''s not me."


    Taking a few steps forward, Haruki got closer to Inferno and peered right into his


    eyes with a determined gaze. Knowing well enough that backing down or appearing


    reserved would only make things harder in front of someone like Inferno, he wanted


    to set the tone of their conversation beforehand.


    "Asmodia isn''t dead yet, we met in purgatory while I was looming between life and


    death," the moment Haruki revealed the news, Deus and Mercie let out an audible


    gasp as for Inferno his eyes widened eye further as he stumbled a few steps back.


    "There''s a way to bring her back and that''s why I had to pretend to be the emperor''s


    servant."


    "What about my army then?!" Inferno growled, still pissed off about his lost soldiers.


    "Unlike lust, my men are born from me and can''t be made overnight!"


    cing his hand on the side of Inferno''s arm, Deus pulled him back before his temper


    worsened the situation. Being possibly the only one capable of sound negotiation,


    Deus wanted to know more about this contract before making any decisions toward


    helping Haruki.


    "Even if you revive her, how would you escape the emperor''s curse? What does doing


    this for her, have for you?" Deus asked, a subtle frown riding across his forehead.


    Taking a moment in silence to collect an answer, Haruki drew a deep breath before


    replying.


    "She''ll die eventually, but ording to our contract I can only kill her when I''ve


    reced As as this world''s god," starting with the heavier part, Haruki knew he


    would raise plenty of eyebrows, and that is exactly what happened. "That said, we


    can''t kill each other until then, and I have to help her be revived in exchange for a life


    without the meddling of gods and demons alike."


    Thest part of the exnation loosened up the tension in the room a little, but even


    now there were plenty of questions that needed to be answered. One of which Deus


    was just about to ask.


    "And how do you n on doing it?" He muttered.


    "I need a total of three people to revive her," holding his hand forward he tried to open


    a dungeon portal window to show something, but it failed as the emperor had


    restricted his use of the ability. Clicking his tongue, he washed his frustration off with


    a shake of the head.


    "What the fuck do you need, apuse or something? Just tell us what you need!"


    Stilling raging, Inferno howled at Haruki.


    Ignoring him, Haruki scoffed before speaking out the names of the three people


    instead of showing them through the portal.


    "First I need Moriyana Malice, she''s…Never mind, the other person is Reya, the demon


    lord of sloth. As for thest, I need Reya to summon her so we can visit thend of


    fairies, and open the path to purgatory to get Asmodia''s soul,"ying out his ns,


    Haruki tried to remember everything he could that he''d learned through the books of


    arcane in the emperor''s library. Even though it had been a pain trying to decipher


    them to an intelligible degree, doing so with his affinity for lost tongue helped him a


    long way.


    "None of this makes sense," Mercie retorted, and to some degree, the other two


    were in agreement.


    After all, why would Haruki need to visit thend of fairies? Disregarding even that,


    there was no way Reya would''ve been able to open a portal to purgatory since if it


    was so simple why wouldn''t they have done it already? However, that is when the


    massacre of Infernal demons came into y.


    Reaching into his cloak, Haruki took out a luminous ss jar shimmering with a


    rampant soul ready to burst out of their clear prison. Enveloping it in a mask of


    darkness, Haruki hid its light again before putting it back inside his white cloak.


    "Mellicia the witch, an angel of pathways, and melody, that''s whom I need Reya to


    summon, and once we offer her these souls in exchange for Asmodia, we can revive


    her with some extra effort," still keeping parts of his ns a secret, Haruki let them on


    all everything they needed to know.


    For a moment, the trio seemed dumbfounded and not that convinced by the whole


    n, but since the clock was ticking and they had little time they ultimately had no


    choice but to agree to Haruki''s n.


    "Sure enough Mellicia is a witch that can open a portal to heaven, hell, earth, and even


    purgatory, but even then convincing her to help a demon would not be an easy task,"


    Dues pointed out, worried about the possibility of failure.


    "These souls aren''t the only ones I''m going to offer her," with an expecting god


    waiting for Haruki on the other side of that portal, he had not one but two excellent


    bargaining chips to use. "So, have you heard of Destinia and her kingdom of fairies?"


    With a maniacal smile, Haruki went on to discuss a massacre that would leave the


    land of fairies barren like a dessert.