Chapter 4

The Underworld

The `Camp´ - that at least was the official desigation - in fact the term was more of an simplification. In fact, most of the complex was actually more a large underground prison.

It´s location was not far away from the ruins of the old Underworld capital - the town named Lilith... that had been eradicated at the end of the Great War.

The core of the prison-facility was build out of the decayed remains of an old fortress of the Devil forces back from that time. That also included a line of underground bunkers that were connected to it.

Now it had been turned into a prison for the same beings who had created these buildings in the first place a long time ago... Devils - now slaves to the Erebos Demon Empire. For the most part they were not even called these name anymore and instead `Half-blood´ or Halfbreeds, referring to their heritage as hybrids between the original Demons, transformed humans and Lucifer´s first generation of Fallen Angels. But that was eons ago.

By now the only ones of them who were still openly calling themselves Devils were the few who were still in freedom, mostly as part of the Rebellion or secret enclaves like New Kuoh.

The ones who were captive here however had mostly given up hope a long time ago.

While the prisoners were for the nights locked inside, in their large holding cells and dungeons. The wide system of over- and underground constructions gave room to hold several hundreds of prisoners, who were held here.

At day they were allowed to move outside, in the area directly surrounding the building. So you could say the actual `camp´ was not just the former fortress, but also the land around it.

The entire place was being surrounded by a large metallic fence, in addition to strong magical wards, that did´t allowed any of them to escape. The power of a very high High Class or Ultimate Class being would be needed to break these wards. That meant if the prisoners had even been able to use their powers. But like it was, they had absolutely no chance.

All that gave the entire place even more the appearance of what in another world would have been called a Concentration Camp.

Beside that the prisoners themselves were being forces to wear specially designed technomagical waste-bands, that suppressed the actice use of their powers and also send out a constant signal that allowed their `masters´ to locate them at any time.

The prison camp was also manned by a garrison of Demons - consisting mostly of overseers, security personel and guards - who were constantly observing them... but also a number of cooks to keep the prisoners fed and a professional healer - who was however not so much assigned for the prisoners, but for the rest of the Demons.

The prisoners were slaves.

But the term might be a bit misunderstandable. In opposite to some other camps - and despite what the Resistance first thought - this ones here were not actually put to physical work.

Given that they were all supernatural beings, this would be - more or less - a waste... of both resources and time. What could they have been put to work for, what magic couldn´t achieve far easier?

Instead the entire prison was designed to extract and absorb their demonic and magical energies - To be syphoned and conserved, to be used for the purposes of their Masters.

In some way their fate was even worse than that of the slaves who were forced to work. These beings were leading nothing but a miserable existence, consisting of vegetating uselessly doing nothing and constantly getting their powers drained, a sense- and pointless life, being barely more than a battery. That or being mistreated and often beaten by the guards.

Many commited suicide over the time. But their Masters didn´t really care, as long as there were still enough others around to take their place. The only reason they were even allowed outside during the day was to keep the rates of the deaths from getting too high.

Now however, even this would not longer be enough. The leadership would soon be starting a `special project´... and for that they needed more than just magical energy.

They needed life-force - much of it.

That meant every single one of the imprisoned Devils would soon be sacrificed for a higher purpose. They did not longer cared about `replacing´ the slaves anyway.

Or at least what was what the leadership of the Demon Empire had planned.

xxx

For the moment however, the daily routine was still continuing like usual... Or more precisely, nearly like usual.

What was different was that aside from the regular garrison several combat-groups of soldiers had been send here from Central Command, who had just arrived the day before. Most of them were Demons, but also one small group of Fallen Angels was under them.

Their purpose was to accompany and the transport of the prisoners to the current capital of Kyoto-Earth, where the ritual was going to take place. And they were here to make sure that they would reach it without problems. Or with other words, that the rebellion would not manage to interfere and stop the transport.

And with the information the rebels now possessed, they were practically sure they would attempt something like this.

Of all the controversial decisions that the current Emperor Dagon had made during his reign, the one to move the Capital from the Underworld to a town in the Human one, had been quite high on the list. The reasons for this move were also only known to himself and his Inner Circle.

But like so many others, it in the end seemed to play out well for the Erebos Empire. At least on the first look.

The leadership was well aware that the rebels had managed to steal part of the information about the coming ritual... and the number of Life Sacrifices coming with it. Given that - beside humans and Yokai - the resistance also had a significant number of Devils in their ranks, they were fully expecting them to attack them and try to free as many of the prisoners as they could.

That was the true reason availlable troops from across the Empire had been gathered and send to this area.

The Empire however saw this also as a chance to set an ambush... to get rid of at least a few of them and if possible weaken the resistance as a whole.

xxxxxxx

One of the teams send here was the one now led by the female Demon named Serena, who had just recently been promoted to group-leader, after their clash with the Red- and White Dragon Emperor´s and their group of rebels.

They had by now also been briefed about the `full´ situation. That meant in truth they had been told exactly as much as their Superiors believed they needed to know.

What they had known the whole time was that some kind of high-level data had been stolen by the resistance. The same one they had tried to stop from falling into enemy´s hands, when they had been beaten by the Dragon Emperors.

But only now they had been informed what exactly this data had been.

The rebellion, Serena´s thoughts were for a moment focussed on them. She had to supress her rage as she thought about the last fight, how the rest of their team had been killed... easily on top of that.

She forced herself to remember that it was the Empire that had invaded and were now occupying their land. And all too often Demons were killing and terrorising humans or Yokay for little to no reason. The destruction of the old Kuoh for example was only one of many atrocities that her kind was responsible for.

Yes, she admitted to her self that the rebels had reason to fight them.

In fact, she admitted she couldn´t help but feel some respect for the rebels... at least for some of them. They were still there and fighting, even after generations of occupation and countless attempts to wipe them out. Even if they were facing the entire Empire and should, purely logically seen, have no hope at all, they were still holding out.

And despite that odds, they even managed to be quite dangerous and had still some incredible powerful fighters on their side - the two Dragon Emperors under them. A part of her secretly admired that.

Her lifelong indoctrination might have caused her to feel nothing but contempt and hate for the `Devils´.

But the Rebellion was another matter. As a Demon, she had been raised to respect strength... and that she did - even if that strength had caused the lives of comrades and kicked hers and her team´s asses.

But that didn´t mean that she wasn´t angry about it. She had lost comrades during the last fight she had known for years, friends even. And if she were given any chance to take the two Dragon Emperors and their teams out, she would gladly take it.

But who was she kidding? She was dimensions away to ever even have a chance to take on opponents like that. Bringing down the Dragon Emperors - if at all - was something that others would do.

But that didn´t mean that she and her teammates couldn´t have at least some revenge by taking out a few of their weaker comrades.

xxx

Besides the possible threat from the rebels attacking them to disrupt the Empire´s plans however, there was also another problem that the resident Demons were dealing with right now, one smaller and less obvious... and as you could say, much closer to home.

A problem that they had now with the enemies outside, but with each other. To put it short, the Prison Garrison and the newly arrived warriors were simply not getting along.

Or more precisely, both sides had a fundamental problem with each other.

At the one side, for the garrison of the prison-camp and their Commander, the warriors were a bunch of interloppers who were undermining their authority in their own base... and beside that, were showed little respect to them in general.

And in that was the actual root of the problem.

Because there was a reason the warriors didn´t show any respect to them. With the ongoing conflict with the resistance and the large stand-off with the Free Human Countries, they were regulary involved into smaller and larger battles and skirmishes and constantly taking part in military campaigns. That meant most of the Army were risking their lives on a regular base.

The branch of the forces however that were guarding the slave and prison facilities never took part in the actual fighting.

Both groups had been brought up under the same kind of propaganda and discrimination. The same hatred had been intigrated into them since their early childhood.

But the closest thing the guards usually saw to actually battle, was beating up a magically shackled and defenseless Devil.

For that reason, the warriors had slowly come to see the guards as not much more than cowardly thugs.

To say it plainly, the term `prison-guard´ had nearly become something like a curse-word under the troops. The fact that many of them did their best to live up to that reputation didn´t help much either.

xxx

Speaking of which... Serena and her teammates were just now witnessing a perfect example of this, as they watched a couple of guards kicking and beating on a frail and exhausted looking Devil, who was lying before them on the ground.

They had just beaten their victim down and were now taking turn on kicking her.

The female Devil had the appearance of a woman maybe around her fourties. That alone would normally be somehing quite unusual for a Devil, who had the habbit of using their own magic to keep their bodies young. The females normally never let themselves age older than about thirty.

Here however, in this prison, it was nothing unusual for a Devil to look older. Years or even decades of having their magic drained had an effect on many of them, like this one.

One of the guards then materialized a weapon in his hand, no doubt to finish their victim off. But as it looked, he was taking his time with that, as he watched his comrade - a female Demon, looking maybe a few years younger than Serena herself - continuing to torment the slave.

While they were doing that, they were making making comments about: `teaching the filthy halfbreed a lesson´ and throwing in a few more racial insults.

Serena had no problem to say a sick feeling was coming up inside her as she watched the display.

It was not that she felt any compassion or pity for the creature - certainly not, she told herself. Like the rest of her race she had been brought up to hate th Halfbloods (Devils) and would never allow herself to feel something like this for any of them.

But still, something about this scene just felt wrong to her. One look to her two present comrades told her that they were thinking the same thing.

"Is this enough now?" Serena´s sharp voice cut through the scene.

Both guards turned to her.

"Well, it seems we have two `true heroes´ of the Empire here," she said with a side-glance to her comrades. "Teaming up to beat down a `dangerous enemy´."

Both of the guards turned around to her.

"Do you have a problem with it?" the male one asked irritated.

"Yes - don´t tell me you feel sorry for this filthy creature here," the female said. She gave the Devil another kick. "Feeling sorry for a Halfbreed - `Devil´? I didn´t kow our army was full of traitors," she commented with sarcasm and contempt.

"I will tell you what I have a problem with," Serena responded with even more venom. "Two cowardly, pathetic, weak low-life weakling thugs - who had never seen a actual battle in their lives, but are now pretending to be strong by beating on a already captured, defenseless slave, who had her powers lobotomised."

"What is it to you?" the female guard hissed.

But she didn´t came to say more.

The two guards saw that Serena´s teammates were now taking position behind her.

They would have never expected a warrior - an officer nonetheless - to actually interrupt them from assaulting a `Devil´... and even less for the rest of her team to assist her in it.

"Let me make one thing clear," Serena stated coldly. "I don´t care in the slightest what happens to this halfblood here. If it gets his head cut off in the next hour, I wouldn´t give a damn," she said with a side-glance to the terrified Devil.

"But the sight of scum like you who are pretending to be Warriors makes me sick."

No. She certainly didn´t care at all about what happened to this creature. She would be dead, along with the reast of the slaves here in a few days anyway.

It was just that these two - how the humans would say - `assholes´ here and their attitude, pissed her off.

"I´m completely with you here," Kraith - one of her teammates agreed.

The rest of her team was now lining up next to her, silently backing her up even more.

Only Kaira, the other female in Serena´s team seemed somewhat reluctant. After all what they were doing here could in fact be interpreted as assisting a `Devil´ - well Halfbreed. And she certainly didn´t want to get into trouble with the higher ups because of it.

But after a short moment, she also joined the line of her comrades.

"I agree," another voice spoke up, interrupting them. "Your show here is quite pathetic."

They saw that is was the leader of the team of Fallen Angels who had joined them, with one of her comrades standing next to her. The leader of the Fallen team was actually a very attractive young girl, with long black hair, violett eyes and very large breasts.

"Now - this show of violence against someone who can not fight back - ara ara," she stated smugly. "I guess normally I would find something like that hot. But I agree with the warrior here, this is just cowardly."

"Shut up Fallen and take care of your own business," the male guard yelled.

"Oh, don´t be like that," the Fallen Angel said softly. "It is not as if I can´t understand you. Being a guard here... - I mean your own comrades from the forces who actually fight are thinking you are the lowest scum. It must be really hard having inferiority-complexes like that. So it is really not wonder that you just want to beat someone up."

Her voice was practically dripping with sweetness... and Serena and her teammates could barely hold themselves from breaking out into laughter.

"You bitch," the male guard called out. "Who do you think you are? You Fallen are nothing without us and..."

As an answer, the Fallen Angel raised her hand... and summoned a large wave of lighting, that hit the two guards and forced them to the groud, screaming in pain.

The smile the Fallen had on her face as she did it, showed all to clearly that she was enjoying this.

"Who I am?" she said. "Nobody special you could say. My name is Akeno by the way - Akeno Himejima."

Serena recognized the name instantly. The daughter of Baraquiel, one of the Fallen Angel leaders, one of the more level headed ones - half human, but still a member of the Grigori and serving under her father.

"Please," the female guard pleaded, "stop."

Akeno finally ended her onslaught of lightning.

"Get out of my sight," she said coldly to both of them, "and think twice the next time about torturing slaves."

"That was quite impressive," Serena commented.

"Thanks," Akeno replied. "By the way, I didn´t thought a Demon would actually do anything to stop this thugs."

"Like I said it was not about that halfblood," Serena answered.

She suddenly realized that the Devil was starring at her. These eyes, she though.

"You have heard it," she suddenly yelled at the shocked and frightening looking Devil. "So don´t think about thanking me or something. You and the other slaves here will die very soon anyway. But there is no need to torture you before that... And now leave," she hissed at the slave... who was moving away as quickly as her weakened body was able to.

"Was it really necessary to tell her that?" Akeno asked. She was looking after the retreating Devil slave. "You don´t want to torment them, but scaring them with the coming death they can´t prevent is okay?"

"I - sorry, I know that was not exactly smart," Serena admitted. "I it´s just..."

"I see," Akeno responded. "I guess this entire operation is getting to you?"

"Yes, I guess that is it," Serena replied unsure.

Her thoughts flashed for a moment back to the look from the Devil woman. She had never seen such dead eyes on anyone, not matter the species. But that didn´t matter.

xxxxxxx

At the same time the three strike teams from the resistance and their allies from the Church were by now about to enter the Underworld.

The Magic Circle that would be bringing them into the other dimension was already forming before their feet.

Without another word, the combined group of resistance fighters and Church agents stepped inside it. The circle began to glow and one moment later they were gone... reappearing in the realm of the Underworld.

They were, for now, still in a far enough distance to the facility... or to the town, for the transport-spell not to be detected instantly. With a second teleport, they would soon transport directly to the area of the camp. And then the battle would start.

The plan thy had come up with was quite simple. Half of their group would start a direct frontal assault - clearly visible. Their attack however would not be for the prisoners, but directly at the enemy forces.

Meanwhile the other half would use this distraction and transport themselves directly into the center of the camp and free as many slaves as they could.

And that was exactly what they were doing now.

xxx

Issei and Vali were leading the diversive assault, backed up by the greatest part of their teams.

The Exorcists however for now stayed out of the battle. The reason was simply that they wanted to keep the Demons from realizing right away that the Church was helping them. At the first moment, they should believe that this was an attack purely by the rebels. Then the rest of them would move in in the second step of the plan and attempt to free the prisoners.

The wards might have been able to resist High Class beings, but under the combined assault of Issei, Vali and Serafall, it was breaking down instantly.

"Let us beginn," Issei said to both Vali and the rest of their comrades around them - including their Dragons Ddraig and Albion - at the same time.

They teleported one again, this time bringing themselves right in front of the assembled forces... just like it had been planned. Both Dragon Emperors already had their Ballance Breaker Armor activated.

[Boost]

[Divide Divide] Ddraig´s and Albion´s voices were halling through the air as they used their special abilities.

With their first attacks they already eliminated a line of enemies.

But then the leaders and High Class fighters under the assembled troops powered up to face them. Neither of them was under the illusion that it would be so easy like the last fights they had.

And they were completely aware that the Demon forces inside the town and the regional Lord would for sure be informed about their attack very quickly. That meant they would have a Satan Class Demon Lord and a group of Ultimates here very soon.

They needed to do this quickly.

A moment later the other half of their group - with Kuroka and the Exorcists - reacted. With the wards broken they could now transport themselves right into the middle of the camp.

All was going as planned... at least for now.

xxx

Serena and her team were standing at the side of the just outbroken battle, with Akeno and her Fallen Angels close to them.

Just like the attack of the rebels itself, the fact that it were the Red and White Dragon Emperor and their teams, was no great surprise. They were the most infamous and well known fighters the Rebellion had after all.

What was a surprise however was the presence of the female Devil next to them. The power she radiated was just insane. It surprassed even that of the two Longinus Users.

A Satan Class halfbreed? Had one of them actually survived to this days?

They had heard rumors about the existence of a Devil like this under the rebels. But so far Serena and her team, like most other Demon Warriors, had dismissed this as resistance propaganda.

But it was obviously time to rethink this belief.

Serena and the others had learned from their last encounter with these particular rebels. Instead of going in for a direct fight, they were keeping their distance and kept sending barrages of spells and blasts at them... and so assist the High Class Warriors, who were strong enough to challenge them in close combat.

It might not be the most brave tactic on the first look, but it was better than commiting suicide.

Then however something happened that had not quite been foreseen by their leaders.

"A second group of enemies had just appeared," the Fallen Angel Akeno stated. "They had just teleported a team right behind out defenses."

She actually sounded quite smug as she said this. As if she wanted to point out that their leaders should have seen something like this coming.

The second group had, by what they sensed, materialized right next to the assembled slaves.

Well, it seemed like the guards were now actually getting some taste of actual fighting, she thought thought by herself.

Still, for their forces to be outsmarted by the rebels so easily...

xxx

Kuroka and the Exorcists materialized indeed very close to their target.

After a short moment of shock at seeing a rebel team appearing right next to them, the guard activated their own powers and raised their weapons.

But the short moment already made a fatal difference.

Kuroka blasted two of them, killing them before they even came to react.

The rest of the guards fought back, but were quickly cut down by Griselda, Freed, Irina and Reika.

The slaves these guards had been overseeing, a crowd of over seventy Devils - all of them with power dampeners on their bodies - were starring at them as if they could barely believe what they were seeing.

"Well, that was quite easy so far," Reika commented.

"So far - yes," Freed replied. "But I fear it might not stay that way."

"We are here to get you out of this place," Griselda declared.

The prisoners were even more surprised that it was a Exorcist saying this.

In this moment however, they suddenly sensed a set of immense powers appearing in close distance.

"That..." Irina murmured.

"It seems your prediction come true Freed," Kuroka stated. "Our luck is running out. Now we will have to show how good we really are."

"Lord Meloch," Griselda said. "He is here."

They thought about what they had heard about the reputation of this particular Lord of the Erebos Demons. Of the four High Lords of the Empire, who answered only to the Emperor Dagon himself, he was known as the most cruel and sadistical one.

While Pazuzu was said to be extremely dangerous due to his ressourcefullness and tactical prowess... and Lamashu was infamous for both her cruelty and her cunning, she couldn´t quite match Meloch in that regard.

It was one of his ancestors who had been worshipped as a god in ancient times and had children sacrificed and burned in his honor. Mentioned even in the Bible... And this Meloch did his best to live up to his family with his infamous excesses.

xxx

Issei and his team found out very quickly that Meloch´s reputation was not unfounded.

They sensed it nearly instantly as the newcomers arrived. But they were currently locked in close combat with several High Class opponents.

Another Magic Circle appeared close to the battlefield... the Demon Lord and his Elite materialized themselves, sourrounded by a half dozen other warriors.

Meloch himself had the appearance of a tall man with long blonde hair that he was wearing in a ponytail. His three Elite Fighters next to him consisted of two men and a woman. All three of them had Ultimate Class power. They all were showing their demonic wings and the small horns on their foreheads.

"Interesting," Meloch said as he saw the ongoing fight.

In particular Issei, Vali and Serafall fighting off a group of a dozen High Class Demons.

"This are the Red- and White Dragon Emperor, but this female Devil is also very impressive. It seems our Great Purge has actually missed a very dangerous one."

"We will defeat them," the female Elite said confidently.

"If you say so Cira," Meloch replied with a smirk. "You will get your chance soon." He began to power up.

"But first let us put them through a little test."

He was gathering more and more energy. The three Elite Fighters were following his example.

xxx

"Vali!" Issei called out. "Serafall!"

They all were sensing what was happening.

A moment later a barrage of powerful blasts reigning down of them, blowing up and scorching everything around them.

Meloch didn´t even seem to care that a half dozen Demons were hit as well by the attack and literally incinerated. He truly was the monster he was said to be.

`Ddraig,´ Issei thought.

[It is okay Partner. We can shield ourselves from that - not easily, but we can,] he replied, [and that means Albion and Vali can to.] The Dragon knew his host was worried about his girlfriend/rival.

Despite Ddraig´s statement that they could survive it, the assault was enough to force Issei and Vali to their knees... and even Serafall didn´t came out undamaged.

A moment later, with visible scorched Scale Mails, they were looking up to their new enemies.

"What do you think Valerie," Issei asked grimly, using Vali´s full name, "can you take one these bastards down on your own?"

xxx

From the distance Serena and her team - and their new ally Akeno - had been watching as well in growing frustration and disgust, how their leader and his so called Elite had gladly killed their own troops just to land a hit on the enemy.

Authors note: While the names of the Devils are named on the Demons of the Ars Goetica, the Erebos Demons are mostly based on pre-christian Demons and Demon like gods. Pazuzu and Lamashu for example sumerian/babylonian Demons and Meloch is based on the biblical God Moloch/Meloch.

Like implied or stated several times in the story, the Demons are indoctrinated (brainwashed) from early childhood to follow the doctrin of the state. So the Erebos Demons as a whole are in a way a metaphor for dictatorship.

The version of Akeno introduced here has already been shown in a short scene of the story Guardian.