So. You've probably read an all-dandy-like British version of Lucifer being, well, rather un-Lucifer like. The not-so-evil-like-the-bible said he is.
Well, here is one. Back from the grave and saltier than ever.
And to clarify, NO, this is not a rewrite of my original Lucifer. I'm still rewriting it mkay, don't just kill it off
Enjoy.
Lucifer: The Price of Sin
Prologue
||Deliverance from Evil||
Through ages, many believed and still believed salvation will come for them. Stubbornly they held on to their faith, forsaking the requirements of physical proof or scientific proof of the existence of whatever god they chose to believe, or raised to believe, or taught to believe. Each had their own requirements of salvation, because there was nothing that was without a price. But for most, it wasn't a great price to pay. Simply believe in their savior, and they will be saved.
Believing in the Holy Cross would bridge them from eternal condemnation and into everlasting paradise. Believing in the teachings of Muhammad and believing in Allah would grant them entrance to paradise. As for the Indian religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism; salvation did not come by mere beliefs alone. Salvation was self-attained. Only after blowing out of the fires of desire, aversion, and delusion, that only then Nirvana could be achieved; the releasing of a soul from the cycle of births and deaths.
But let's not dwell about the complexity of religions; in short, many believed salvation would ensure the cleansing of their soul. Freed from sins and its consequences.
These would not do.
By what right do men deserved this kind of mercy?
Lucifer had sinned. He rebelled against his good-for-everything Father who liked to pick favorites, and even putting down his pet because apparently the Beast did not meet the qualifications of one. So the big guy was bigger than the Burj Khalifa and had a skin that could melt bones with a fiery breath that could turn a dragon into cinder. Big deal. It wasn't like Lucifer couldn't keep the boy on leash. Well, admittedly, it was quite a ginormous leash, and Lucifer was quite the flexible owner who might enjoy setting him off for the heck of it.
Angels running amok because they didn't want the good boy Trihexa biting their angelic ass? That was pure entertainment.
But back on topic.
God made the rules that the price of sin is death; eternal punishment in hell. Well, Lucifer had sinned and died and he was punished in Hell. Real Hell, not this nonsensical land of milk and honey with the label 'Hell' on it. And God probably would want him stay there for, possibly, an eternity, but you see, Lucifer didn't really like staying on one place for too long. Even Heaven couldn't contain him.
But sadly he couldn't just knock the door and be allowed outside; no. He had to wait quite a long years; hundreds actually, until the White Bearded Old Man finally grew weary from having to seal both Trihexa AND him. Sealing as in, standing in front of the gate with a menacing vibe.
It took several tries, several deaths too, but his Father had always had a soft spot for him, so the Dude couldn't bring it to Himself to kill His own son. But through perseverance and infernal stubbornness, and through the accumulating sins of His own creations; mankind, and Trihexa's sharp poisonous fangs and very long claws he would need to cut later on, Lucifer managed to fell the Greatest God of Gods, and came back to the much better version of Hell.
A giant rift tore the still air of the Underworld as the Dark Prince and his army re-entered their old world.
Confusion set in for a moment, because Hell wasn't this pretty before, but he could live with it.
Anyway. Back to the whole salvation thing.
Unfortunately, there wouldn't be any salvation for anyone. There would be no salvation for mankind, because they just killed their God. No God, no salvation.
But there was still damnation, for no men have not sinned.
Actually, no one had ever not sinned.
And for that they must pay the price of sin; as he did. And as Lucifer fondly believed in equal damnation, Hell -the real one- was quite empty, now that all of its residence had tagged along with him, desiring no more than one thing only;
Revenge.
"My good people!" He chirped, buttoning down his fiery red dress shirt and his midnight black self-tailored suit right after. His parrot-sized Trihexa resting on his shoulder as Lucifer addressed his legions. "As we all have experienced ourselves, Hell was, unfortunately, a rather tepid place to live in. Hardly a place befitting for retirement, don't we agree?"
Seventeen legions; 100,000 bloodthirsty Daemons, bitter Devils, failed Tyrants, felled Chaos Dragons and general evildoers and some rotting skeletons and monsters and the like all roared to once again shook the grounds of Hell; where the Great War once took place, desiring to recreate another – only with different losers this time.
"And I believe it is rather unfair that we have gone through… what is it… centuries? Good heavens even I have lost track of time! That's how long we've been in that bloody place."
Another cheers. Another roars. Another sky-shattering shouts.
"Why were we there I ask? Because we sinned. And to that I say; alright, fair enough." Lucifer chuckled, and Trihexa coughed a noxious fume as the tiny scaly beast tried to laugh along with its master. "Apparently, Daddy said it was meant to be an 'Eternal Damnation'. Now that? That I can't agree with. We got churned to death again and again for eternity because of what? We murdered? Pff-hah. Big fucking deal. They've murdered as well. They killed us."
Growls. Growls, growls, everywhere, mixed with the occasional curses from various languages.
"Angels condemned us."
Demons and Devils growled and yelled, stomping their feet.
"Heroes slayed us."
The Chaos Dragons shot jet black flames from their mouth, burning the air under the purple hellish skies.
"And now even Devils killed you, because you decide to chase freedom instead of serving a master."
Every Stray Devils roared, bashing their blades together to echo their anger.
"And for some fucked up reason, they all got away with it because hear this; we're the bad guys." Lucifer laughed, as did his infernal legions – only they didn't comb their hair like their designated leader did, or had the same black hair as his; once angelic white but now it had turn black because Lucifer dyed it.
White reminded him of his angelic 'siblings' who spat on his general direction when he got kicked out of the house.
"And they call us honorless, without honor. They say that when they have judged us wrong from the start; these murderers and pillagers." Lucifer spat. "Now, is it wrong for me to believe, that it is time for our fellow murderers and pillagers to have a taste of what Temporary Eternal Damnation is?"
More shouts. More cheers. More roars from a bunch of very angry creatures. Etc.
"HOWEVER. I am quite exhausted after our great battle against the Maker, and I'm certainly sure we all do." Twelve wings of the purest inferno erupted from his back, turning the air into black smokes; the replacement for his twelve golden feathery wings which were too holy for him. "And there, my good friends, is a suitable place for us to rest before we begin our conquest. Alas, though it weighs me so to ask for your assistance, once again I must ask for you to gather round, assemble yourselves to your own dedicated commander- which I may or may not have lost sight of."
Disgruntled, Lucifer glanced around his 100,000 strong army, trying to find his damned generals that would look quite minute among the giants.
"Beel!" He shouted, and a giant being shrouded in poisonous green haze embalming his rotten but somehow still very effective armor that flew in front of him. Thick clouds of flies and disgusting insects swirled around him.
"Aye my Lord!"
"Lead the van. Four units of reserves for potential flanking and closing the gap." Lucifer said. "And for god's sake, take a bath after this would you?"
"As you command!" The plagued warrior bellowed, turning around and gathering his men. "SKELETONS! HELLSPAWNS- that means you as well Foraskens-MINOTAURS! CENTAURS! ALL OF YOU WITH -AURS! ON ME!"
Over half of the army parted to one side; the footed soldiers. It was not an easy task having various monsters of different origins listen under one commander, but few centuries provided enough time to train these brainless musclehead. The bread and butter of his army; roughly thirty thousand melee fighters of pure power and excellent thirst for blood and suitable strength to tore limbs apart from their body.
But Lucifer could always do with some meat shields; hence the thirty thousand skeletons. Armored from skull to toes, glowing green lights from their eye sockets, high on calcium, and though not as fragile as mere skeletons, a magic or a strong bash of a sword could still break them. However, since they were quite easy to replace thanks to Beelzebub's necromancy, Lucifer could always use them to tie the more powerful enemies in combat, leaving them susceptible for a nice charge on their unprotected asses.
And for that, he would require the horsemen. Waiting for the organized stampede to end, Lucifer then balked a pair of names. "Abaddon. Asmodeus."
A robed being surrounded by mystical blue flames came forth. His radiant blue 'eyes' that were more like wisps glowed a sinister blue light as his demonic horse left blue mists on its trails, taking off into the air. Abaddon was not one of the Satans, but in Lucifer's eyes, he was damned close to being one. If only he could've spoken more instead of hissing or nodding his eerie faceless head.
Following the mysterious Archdevil and his steed; Acherus, another knight of the blackest armor charged on. Raging flames blazed from the eye sockets of his helmet, blazing as hot from his cudgel; a club that had splintered the skull of Angels and Fallen Angel's alike. The enormous knight rode on an even more enormous horse; aptly named Armageddon, halting to a full stop beside the other thinner knight, but no less deadly.
"My King." Asmodeus spoke. His voice as heavy as his build.
"How do you do Asmo? Tired?"
"Never."
"Good to hear." Lucifer smiled. "As usual, take the cav. Protect the flank and all that." Lucifer commanded the cavalry generals. "Asmo's the heavy, and yours the lights. Carry on."
With Lucifer's nudge of head, the two cavalry generals dismissed themselves, raising their mystical sword to rally their troops.
Nearly twenty thousand Pale Riders; Grim Reapers who had tasted enough bullshit from Hades' tyrannical reign shadowed Abaddon, the Mist of Hell, as the silent riders split into two even groups under his hand gesture, as the hooves of their horse made no sounds; being they were ghostly skeletal horses to begin with.
Unlike their heavier compatriots, the Chaos Knights; or after their swearing their allegiance to Lucifer; the Horsemen of Apocalypse. Fifteen thousand towering brutes clad in the thickest plate armor, whose dreaded reputation is known throughout as one of the most feared and brutal horsemen during their time as human, and still craved for slaughter even after the death of their mortal coil. Twisted souls that were solely made for battle, finely equipped with their Daemonic horses.
Their steed thundered as they marched under Asmodeus' command, bellowing death for those who was lucky enough to be trampled under, or those who weren't as lucky and having to feel their flesh being torn apart by their hellish lances and maces.
It took several centuries to forge these many weapons, but Lucifer learned to value quality over quantities. Because the last time he preferred quantities, he lost and died.
Lucifer frowned upon remembering something. The losses. He had 500,000 if his celestial Father could've played nicer. And he would still have his Archmage if she didn't dive in front of him, taking God's last charge instead of him.
Another reason to commit into his vengeance.
But at the least, all was not lost from the lineage of Leviathan, as the Archmage had taken a liking to a fellow human before the Great War. If she was any other devils, Lucifer would have killed her personally for falling in love with the rising ape, but because it was her, and because Lucifer wouldn't just kill his underlings just because they went for a bit of a nightly tumble, Lucifer pardoned her.
"Ingvild... was it." Lucifer recalled the name of her daughter. A half human she might be, she was still a Leviathan. Lucifer sighed. If only he couldn't develop personal attachment to his loyal subordinates and could just blindly obliterate everyone without worrying of killing their daughter in the process.
"Now. I know all of you are eager to pain their city red, which I promise you, you will, please don't be an idiot and kill everyone you've seen aside from their soldiers. If they so much as raise their sword, chant their magic, then go ahead. Do what you will. But should they beg, then keep them alive. We need citizens to grow the economy so don't just kill them off."
There was a loud audible groan coming off from all of the hellish legion. Suddenly he felt like he owned a 100,00 army of stubborn child who didn't get what they wanted.
"I mean it. Don't get ahead of yourselves. There's many cities and many battles and many souls you can toss around that you won't notice you've spared any." Lucifer promised, "Also, if you see anyone with a purple hair and is a woman or a girl, adult or younger, bring them to me, and don't you lay a hand on her – unless you're bringing her to me."
"YES MY LORD." The generals bellowed, representing their commanded forces. All except Abaddon who just tilted his hood.
"As for the rest… Kindly follow me and my little boy, would you? Except the Bone Giants of course. You giant skeletons are to remain far from the battle. The rest, follow my command."
The Chaos Dragons unfurled their wings, leaving dusts behind their wake as they once again, returned to terrorize the skies of Hell and regain their stolen throne, tearing empires asunder should they must.
The Bloodthirsters let loose of a bestial roar befitting of their status as the Greater Daemon of Hell. Their backs sprout a pair of gigantic, membranous, bat-like wings, powerful enough to let them soar over the battlefield before diving into the fiercest and bloodiest areas of battle, striking at will. Their snarling maws were filled with fangs the size of swords. Perhaps the most beastly of Lucifer's army, and most definitely the thirstiest for blood, as their name suggested.
The Bone Giants; essentially skeletons who drank too much milk and became gigantic before they died, drew the equally gigantic bows behind from their skeletal back, ready to set unleash of magical arrows that could easily destroy an unprotected wall, so that the foot soldiers could then unleash their own hell on the enemy. The giant skeletons would serve as Lucifer's artillery, and he supposed, though he had never seen them in action, they would fit into the role quite well despite their bony appearance.
And last but not least, Trihexa leapt off his shoulder. Its six infernally scaled dragon-like wings sprouted, sizing twice as large as the Dragons behind it, nearly covering the entire gargantuan legion. Earlier it had six heads, but God cut a few so now it only had one. It was the only thing that God had done to his pet that Lucifer was appreciative of. Six heads didn't always look better than one.
The Apocalyptic Beast liberated a tyrannical howl from its dragonic maw, greater than any of the Dragons or the Bloodthirsters, serving as a foreboding warning of its rampage.
Then its owner and the commander of this unholy legion set a foot on the tip of its scaled maw, standing right between Trihexa's burning eyes that was close to glowing embers, except more deadly and more… well, hotter.
"Excellent spirits as always!" Lucifer gleefully said, clapping his hands, feeling the swelling pride growing in his chest for amassing this dangerous force. "As we all have organized ourselves in an orderly fashion, I'd daresay we are ready to begin our little conquest and have a nice quaint capital for our own."
Lucifer said with a smile, before his fake smile faltered, and turned into a flat line on his lips.
His jovial tone shifted to one befitting to the leader of this diabolic army; low, grim, and severely ominous.
"They may have seen us beaten, and that they may have done. Once. To the ordinary, we are unknowable. Fallen. Corrupted. Rightly feared. They cannot understand our origins, our motives... but it will soon dawn unto them, the realization that we are not "fallen". We. Are. Ascended."
He muttered softly, but his words reached the minds of the sentient being present, and all knew he spoke with a barely contained rage. The rage that had burned through the time he spent confined in that godforsaken place. Suffice to say, Lucifer had no plans on ever returning, because being the King of Hell did not mean much when it was all nothing but ashes and fires.
A flash of black and crimson light emanated from his hand, now holding a sword forged from the pit of True Hell. The ashen blade flared with dark flames; a testament of his unbreakable will and destructive resolution to murder his own Father, to once again walk this plane of existence.
"Unto Lilith."
He raised the unnamed scorching sword towards the distant city, thus, signifying the start of the Last War.
The ungodly rage of the Legio Infernalis, Legion of Hell, echoed with an impending doom across the hellscape, reaching miles and miles and the capital of the Underworld Empire itself; Lilith, where the new Satans had amassed their own army in panic the minute they received the news of the return of the Dark Prince.
But Dark Prince? Lucifer was no Prince. He wasn't dark either. Quite light, actually, more Caucasian than Latin.
He was the Great King of Hell. He was the Fallen Son of God. He was the Morning Star. He was the Original Sinner even before Eve took a bite on that damned fruit. But his old titles died along with his death. Fallen would imply he fell and stayed fallen. No, no. Lucifer did not, for fact, remain fallen. He had risen.
They had returned from Hell, to deliver hell unto others who had wronged them. But Lucifer and his infernal legion did not only return - as he had aptly put himself - they had ascended, and alongside their ascension, they brought the promise of death and eternal damnation with them.
May the gods have mercy on these unfortunate souls who thought it was wise or noble to stand against them; for Legio Infernalis knew none.
And there shall be no deliverance from evil, for evil comes to them.
To be continued...
*INHALES*
Ahh… do you smell that? I smell the beginning of the reign of an actual Lucifer and the start of the fall of empires, starting with your good ol' DxD Devils. Wait, nvm, that's my burnt bacon
Welp. Good fucking luck, Sirzechs, you'll need it.
Remember to follow and favorite this story, review would be very much appreciated because these three things are like my virtual salary to keep me motivated to write stories, aight? Aight.
Stay safe everyone. Let's all hope this coronavirus fuck off quickly