A lone figure stood on a peak ten thousand miles away. Despite the distance between where he stood and the castle, his eyes were fixed on it. His keen eyesight would have allowed him to see the hairline cracks forming on the building if that was what he was interested in. The decrepit state of the castle, however, wasn't what drew his gaze. Hell was full of ruins and wrecks from the past. So much so that a castle that was in good condition was the exception, not the rule. The reason this particular demon's unkind gaze was drawn to this castle, wasn't the building itself, but the one he knew to be inside it.
"Prince Asmodeus!" his name was called out with reverence by the demon lord in whose territory he was. His jaws clenched in annoyance. Prince Asmodeus had done his best to hide his aura from being detected. He, however, was one of the seven princes of hell. Even without his power, his very existence was enough to subdue more than half the demons in hell.
Despite his best efforts, it was almost impossible to keep himself hidden for too long in hell. Most especially because demons were always on the lookout for other demons more powerful than they were. If the power gap wasn't that big, the weaker demons would seek to overpower and supplant the stronger demon. If the power gap was too big to overcome, then they would acquiesce and try to kiss up to the stronger demon in an attempt to gain their favor. The latter was what would happen here.
The demon that was carefully approaching him was almost four times as tall as Prince Asmodeus. So that, despite standing at six feet seven inches of height, Prince Asmodeus only came up to the knees of the approaching demon. Still, Prince Asmodeus didn't even acknowledge his existence let alone his greeting. Even if the approaching demon lord was a hundred times as powerful as he presently was, he still wouldn't be a match for him. Both parties were perfectly aware of this. Hence the caution and respect in the tone of the inferior demon. Prince Asmodeus didn't know the name of the demon lord calling out to him. The last time he'd been here, thirty thousand years before, another demon lord had occupied this territory. He didn't know or care how many demon lords there had been after him just as he didn't care who this current demon was.
"This demon lord is proud to welcome Prince Asmodeus to his territory," the demon lord offered respectfully. Despite the courteous way in which the demon lord was addressing him, both parties knew that if he had the power, the demon lord wouldn't hesitate to kill him and take his place as one of the seven princes of hell. Everything in this realm was dependent purely on power. Nothing was freely given here in hell. At the same time, however, almost nothing was out of your reach so long as you had enough power to forcefully take it.
Power in itself, however, wouldn't have been enough to garner this kind of treatment from the lesser demon. They were demons, after all, respect and courtesy wasn't exactly the modus operandi of their race. Even more than self-preservation, the demon lord knew that to be acknowledged by one of the seven princes of hell would lead to a meteoric rise in his status among the demon lords. There were, after all, thousands of demon lords in hell, but only seven princes. For a demon lord to be acknowledged by one of the seven princes of hell was a rare event that happened maybe once every ten thousand years if at all. If prince Asmodeus were to acknowledge the demon lord and accept the hospitality he was offering, he would be inadvertently also taking the demon lord under his banner and marking him as one of his own. Even in hell, there were no free lunches.