Author's note:
I'm sorry that it took such a long time for me to post another chapter to my story. I have several reasons for this. The first is that I accidentally deleted my notes on the story so there may be some inconsistencies with the previous chapters, I was careful but I may have missed something. The second was that I joined the US Air Force as a trainee. The third reason is that partway through my training, I was sent to the hospital in San Antonio and diagnosed with both autoimmune hepatitis and advanced cirrhosis of the liver. Eventually I am going to need a liver transplant if I hope to well... Live. I'm immortal like these fucking bastards in my story... No, don't be jealous now. Well, the third reason is that I, in the last two weeks have been working on both this chapter and a completely separate non-erotic novel which I hope to complete someday. In any case, I won't be consistent with my chapters, I'll be going to the hospital too much for that. But thank you for any support you've sent or will send my way in both for the story and my quest to find a healthy liver. (No I didn't get cirrhosis from alcohol)
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The Lost World Ch. 6
Seven rulers from seven different circles were relaxing each in their own special way in a closed off room. Only the seven were allowed in this room, not even their most trusted retainers were allowed to hear a single word or go within ten meters of the room.
"If you're going to be here, at least pay fucking attention damn Envy bastard!" This rather impatient voice erupted from none other than Abaddon, the Warmaster of Wrath. A maniac obsessed with battle and hunting, who also proved to be quite honorable due to his previous altercations with another one of his fellow rulers.
Belial, the Emperor of Envy, apathetically was concentrated preoccupied with filing his fingernails with a serrated knife he produced from thin air. He rolled his head ninety degrees to the Warmaster and flashed a half-lidded expression before returning to his current task. "I'm listening, don't you worry your fool head."
"Then follow these four syllables: PAR-TI-CI-PATE!"
Belial sighed and flipped the knife in his hand before catching it on the blade edge. He then casually tossed the blade behind his back where the knife then fell into a black hole bent into reality in thin air. The hole closed up as if nothing had happened. This was in fact a type of magic that allowed the storage of items.
"Oh very well then, where are we now?"
"So you weren't paying attention, how am I not surprised?" This set of words belonged to Ifrit, the Princess of Pride. She was, of course, a prideful and domineering woman who was also surprisingly caring for her children.
Belial snorted and rested his head on his hands behind him. "Queen cunt over here seems to have gotten her panties all ruffled."
Out of nowhere, purple flame in the form of an arrow was conjured and hurled towards Belial. In response, Belial stretched out his arms and spread them wide, opening a large black hole with pure darkness emanating forth. Tendrils of darkness spread out like an octopus and swallowed the flame arrow whole, bringing it into the tangible pit.
"Seriously?! We just got finished with one duel, let's not bring about another one, it's so damn tedious!" The one complaining was named Rainer, the Lord of Lust. The youngest of the rulers present and the possessor of most powerful known magical artifact simply called the Grimoire.
"He started it-" Ifrit yelled while wildly pointing at Belial with sparks coming out of her pointer finger.
"Seriously, you're a Ruler of Sin, the Princess of Pride. Do you really think someone of your venerable stature should waste her magic on someone who's so obviously trying to antagonize you?" Rainer effectively used Belial's pointless motive and Ifrit's weakness to flattery to defuse the situation.
Ifrit harrumphed and crossed her arms while returning to her original position. Belial on the other hand laughed with a bemused expression as if he didn't care how the situation could have progressed.
There were three other rulers who didn't participate in the confrontation. The Governor of Greed, Ennariel, who cleanly personified the business part of Greed. There was the General of Gluttony, Dagon, who voraciously consumed enough alcohol that could threaten the lives of a thousand drunkards. And finally the Shah of Sloth, Justinian, the oldest of the current Rulers who still looked quite young due to his immortality.
"If you are all finished, we have a strategy to plan." Said Ennariel with a grim smile.
Yes, this was a meeting to plan an overall strategy to deal with their sordid enemies of Heaven: Angels. However, angels were not the only threat. Like demons had the support of various and powerful humanoid species, the angels had their own "minions" so to speak. The various religions that followed the solitary god, most notably Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and their various sects all had skilled members that knew about the existence of angels and demons. Of course each of these humans were willing to fight on the angel's behalf, though they still had their differences in their religions to deal with and were often unruly.
Humans, after all, were easily susceptible to the demonic Seven Sins.
The seven Rulers of Sin, aside from Belial and Justinian all crowded around the table in the center of the room. On the table was a large map filled to the brim with diagrams of the various explored realms and worlds from Heaven and Hell to Earth and the Circles of Sin. There were also the worlds of pagan gods on the map, but right now they were irrelevant and their portions of the map were darkened.
The portals, both large and small, were highlighted in a blue light. In all worlds, these portals held important strategic value due to them being the only way to traverse the realms unless you were blessed at birth with a rare magic to teleport between worlds (though it wasn't easy).
"The average demon is weaker than the average angel, but that doesn't mean our armies are weaker than any angelic army." Ennariel began the war conference with a summation of the two opposing forces. "It's a simple equation of quantity over quality. How can we use numbers to our advantage? There are a variety of ways. Swarm tactics, encirclement, waves, martyrdom, and so on."
Rainer imagined these various tactics and their results, all of them sacrificing numerous demonic lives. They all seemed rather useless in practice, but Rainier had never been in a legitimate war. The rebellion he fought against in the past began and ended in a single siege and Rainier didn't get to actively take a part in the battle strategy due to his lack of knowledge about warfare and the sieging portion.
And in this case it was not a single battle, but an entire war.
"Each of the previous wards resulted in us furiously defending our Circles of Sin or fighting it out on the outlying worlds. Demons even fought in hell and purgatory, but not once have we as a race brought the angels on the defensive."
"They are damn powerful, I can respect that much. I don't like losing though, those last three wars I was in were humiliating." Abaddon frowned with crossed arms. His muscles tensed, bristling at the thought of his race losing against the angels.
Each of the four previous wars resulted in the demons loss to varying degrees of a partial loss to the recent fourth war complete loss. Yet in the end, demons never gave up in their passion, in their Sinful ways. It was in their nature, and it was the angel's nature to bring balance to human lives with Virtue.
"Yes, and I would feel bad if we allowed our most recent addition to the Rulers of Sin participate in a losing war. Besides, I intend to win this one and acquire the great resource of human souls." Ennariel grinned widely like the lazy Cheshire Cat.
Rainer frowned in his mind. He was originally human, not a demon. So he wasn't sure about how he felt about using his former race as cattle for cultivating human souls. His mind was greatly changed since he was human, but it was within the realm of his own feelings. Basically, it was as if the darker thoughts of Rainer as a human came out more often now that he is a demon.
"And how do you propose we win a war against angels? Realistically speaking we have equal strength in our forces, yet we have never won." Queried Ifrit.
"My turn to speak! FINALLY!" Roared Dagon, putting away his flask of what was presumably a strong alcohol (scotch this time around). "I have discreetly infiltrated the human world with my own forces. Though... Um..." Dagon scratched his with a pained yet flippant gesture. "They aren't really following my commands anymore."
Ennariel frowned with a hand clutching his forehead as if in pain. "Just what are you saying now?"
"I dispatched a group of special forces under the lead of a high ranked demon named and titled 'Ripper'. They infiltrated the human world using a portal formed by a demon worshipping cult. However upon entry, Ripper immediately closed the portal and ceased all communications. And knowing his personality, he has most likely turned renegade with his annoyingly loyal troops so he can feast as much as he likes on human souls."
Everyone in the room stared at Dagon in silence, each with a different expression on their face. Ennariel seemed weary, Rainer had a half open mouth as he wasn't sure how to react, Justinian was gently hitting his head with his book, Ifrit stared at Dagon with disdain, Belial seemed amused again, and lastly Abaddon nodded his head as if commending this Ripper character for his initiative.
"Well then, I wonder how the angels will respond? Nevertheless, this means we need to speed our actions up. Rainer, since you are quite new in being a Ruler of Sin, I would like to ask how well versed are you in leading an army of great magnitude?"
"Not well." Rainer had never really commanded an army so to speak. Sure he had given various basic orders to the troops in vast army of his Land of Lust, but that was about it.
