Hello again. I hope you will all enjoy this chapter. This is the start of a new arc. Hope this will be good for all of you.

Chapter 22
"Do you not hate me?"

It was quite a while since Luicfugus heard actual painful screams from one of his Pens. He really missed that. The feeling of helplessness coming off of a tormented Pen, the smell of a fresh blood coming from their wounds, skull parts and brain matter oozing out of their heads and beautifully spreading across the pages, the satisfying crunch in bones, the beautiful serenade of pain and despair, oh how much he loved it... And now he does that to previous second in command of one of this realms greatest threats. Completely strapping this one from any sort of dignity they were holding on to up until now. It was truly sweet moment that let him relish in his own nature. All the while Pen himself was telling both him and Healer the story behind their fight. Both of them were impressed by how nicely Pen was handling it, even though at some point it became murky... and the parts where he talked about his thoughts... They made Lucifugus feel odd, but that was of no matter now. Emissary between his painful grunts was correcting some parts and adding his perspective into it. Lucifugus almost wanted to give him a break.

"OW! FUCK YOU!"

Almost.

"Careful now... You don't want to accidentally make anyone go on a rampage here right?" Lucifugus reminded him which made him actually calm down.

That meant starting to write again which made Emissary scream as well. What a joy.

"SERIOUSLY! Is this what- YEOOW!" He stopped mid sentence as Lucifugus wrote another letter " Is this what that Low was handling every day?!"

Emissary sounded both horrified and impressed, he probably would be if it wasn't for excruciating pain he was going through at this moment. Lucifugus was most amused.

"Yes." Lucifugus said with a hint of pride "And guess what, by accident that was powering him up. He is a Pain Devil."

Lucifugus pointed at Pen's broken head. He was scratching part of it.

Emissary's POV

"Oooohhh, that explains a lot." Now everything was clear to Emissary "(Why didn't I think of this before? Makes logical sense, although I never saw one so... developed...)"

As he thought about it he once again looked at Pen. This Low simpleton acting like an innocent child when not so long ago he was holding piece of his ear in his mouth.

"Yeah, turns out if they go through enough they lose sense of pain." Lucifugus said as he slightly poked Pen with his finger, Pen just laughed a little even though this act made a small hole in his stomach which Healer quickly closed "Right now Pen is at the peak of what Low Devil from 1st level can be."

Emissary had to let those words sink in. He almost forgot about the pain he was in.

"(True potential of Lows)" That made him quite afraid, but he had to control it, just like every other emotion in this job.

The peak of those seemingly small, weak and insignificant things is THIS. Now it made him realize what the true potential of their entire species can be, what monstrosities can be created in this world...

"(My lord... Is this what you were afraid of?)" He asked the one that could never answer again

The realization almost made him sick... How powerful could Middles be at their peak? Or Highs... Highs... That made him remember. The pain came back, but it wasn't him being used as a Pen... No. The pain was more focused on the right side of his face. The wound dealt by High from 4th level... Then he remembered about her... the snake knew him.

"Alright... A break for now." Then Lucifugus put him down.

Another page was done. That one was telling about the illegal escape from work. Punishment would be 300 Stone Horns for one day of slacking, each day after that would cost 100 more horns until one week has passed and then the Devil either returns with said Horns and explanation or will be taken care of by Law Department of a level they are currently residing in. Additionally each day of said illegal free time will equate to one week of non stop work, if a Devil takes illegal break in those weeks it shall be taken care of by Law Department also. Emissary surprised himself with how much he remembered of that law. Then again he had to hear that Healer's explanation about it for a few hours... But just as he was thinking about her he started to feel her magic around his head. Seems like she started to heal him. All the while he saw Pen talking to Lucifugus. From what Emissary gathered he tried to convince Lucifugus that "He was fine now and can work" Lucifugus didn't seem very amused and just lightly pushed Pen with his finger, making him fall to the ground, but it seemed like he tried to avoid hitting his crack in the skull. It was strange to see a Supreme Devil being so... gentle..., but with that Healer on his head all Emissary could think of is...

"Why?"

"Huh?" Healer seemed pretty surprised

Emissary then realized he said that out loud. But he didn't care. In fact it made things a whole lot easier.

"Why are you like this?" His question was blunt and quick

"Well... it's my job." A simple answer, but not satisfactory to hornless High "We don't have any other Pen at this point and you are-"

"No." He had to know "I mean why do you not hate me?"

Healer was silent in that moment, but she kept healing his wounds. Pen and Lucifugus didn't seem to notice their small conversation.

"Why should I?"

"..."

The pure honesty in this question made Emissary quite shocked, speechless even. Like this question hit him with a force of 10 punches from that brainless Low. But he had to follow his question up. He had to know.

"I killed that High of yours... What was his name?" He realized he couldn't remember it... It was strange considering how he scarred him

"Warmonger..." Her tone slightly changed, her hands started to shake a little and her magic wavered "And it wasn't you who killed him."

"He survived?" That made Emissary interested "Impressive. So he is still alive?"

"No..."

Her voice was far more quiet now. Her magic became even weaker. He knew he shouldn't push further, but he had to.

"What happened to him?" He kept on

"Why are you interested?" A question Emissary didn't know the exact answer for...

"I don't know... He gave me this scar..." He pointed at it, the scar that couldn't be healed "And you... you seem to not despise me for beating him and now I hear he survived our fight..." He turned around to face her making her stop her healing "Natural curiosity."

And slowly the images of that fight started to reappear in Emissary's mind as he looked into her eyes. That day at the 4th level...

In the past

It was a hard day... And now he found himself on level 4. Obviously he didn't want to be here, but he had no choice. He had to move forward. Find him... The last of them. It was a miracle already that Lord Beelzebub allowed him to get between levels given his past allegiance, he had to use that chance.

"Hello there!"

Then he heard a voice. It was hard not to notice enthusiasm in it. As he turned around he saw him. A Devil with wide grin on his face, he was a High given his humanoid and quite muscular form and black hair. They were quite long, floating in the air, like they perpetually moved by non-existent wind, his wings were of impressive size, easily longer than his arms and he had two tails intertwined with each other, but having one ending and his horns were in shape of lightning. He had an aura of pride and elegance to him, but there was underlying stench of arrogance in his smile and way of moving. As if he was giving a show with every move he made. Usually No one's Emissary would find this kind of Devil annoying, but there was something unique about this one.

"What do you want?" Emissary though didn't want to waste too much of his time

"FIGHT ME!" He quickly pointed at himself with his thumbs "I need to prove myself to the world and I can tell you will give me an amazing fight!"

Idiotic. That's all Emissary could think of. Did this 4th level Devil really wanted to challenge him? It was pretty sad.

"Just so you know... I'm Emissary from 7th level of Underworld" Emissary warned the overly excited Devil as he stood tall before him "I will give you a slaughter."

He was honest here. Emissary wouldn't find pleasure in fighting such an opponent. Maybe once in his past, but now he felt empty... He had something else to do.

"Even better!" But his words did not sway this maniac

And on those words this Devil charged at him. That is when for a moment he saw a smaller Devil behind him. It was a female, shaped in her lower half like a snake and she had 4 lean arms, she had a worried look in her eyes. But he had no time to focus on her because this High from 4th level was surprisingly fast and closed the distance between them in less than a second. He almost landed a punch on his lower chin, but he quickly took a step back to avoid it, that's when he felt chains on his foot as he took that step. Before he could look down he was brought in the air by them. It was a trap! Surprisingly clever one. And then the enemy jumped and created several chains in the air and landed on one of them. Emissary grabbed one of those as he was brought up and broke out of the chain that got him here from his feet. But then he found his own wings bound as he did it. And then noticed that he and this strange Devil were standing in the middle of web of chains that this Devil created in the second he was distracted. They were surprisingly hard, much harder than that trap and Emissary couldn't break his wings out.

"Let's have some fun!"

His opponent said as he started to jump on the chains, jumping between them, propelling himself off of them, becoming faster and faster as he did so to the point of becoming a blur between the chains. Emissary found it hard to follow his moves. Then he felt it. A punch that landed right into his back. It didn't hurt that much, but he still felt it. He was almost pushed off of the chains, but managed to jump into the next one, but this troublesome High was waiting for it and punched him again in the stomach after jumping on a chain Emissary wanted to land on. That one he felt a bit more and was pushed back and almost fell again, but he managed to grab onto one of the chains below and quickly got on top of it. Balancing wasn't that big of a problem, but he could feel that this Devil was master at it as he saw him casually laying on one of the chains above him. He looked fairly impressed.

"Hmm...hmmm..." He was shaking his right hand that so far claimed both hits "You are really tough. It makes my fists hurt when I punch you."

He looked at his arm, it seemed like this realization hurt him a bit, but suddenly it seemed like he was about to roll from the chain, but instead grabbed onto it with his tail as he started falling, launched himself in the air and landed on the chain again into the exact same position. This Devil clearly mastered this magic to perfection. It almost made Emissary worry.

"So maybe get this over with." But he knew the gap here was far too wide and no matter how long or strong, those chains wouldn't close it in any way "You will not win against me!"

Emissary REALLY had no time for this show off. This Devil though looked merely annoyed, but in a blink of an eye his face was once again adorned with his smile.

"But that's what makes it exciting!" He sat down on the chain as he said it "If I beat you that will mean I got somewhere!"

Then this Chain Devil rolled back and once again grabbed the chain with his tail, but this time after launching himself in the air he landed on the chain above on one leg. Emissary was baffled. This Devil was clearly insane. But before he could process his words and actions he disappeared again in the sea of chains. Emissary tried to look for him among them, but then he felt a rustle beneath him and his leg moving slightly. The chain he was standing on started to move, making him lose some of his balance and then he felt it.

*SLICE*

As he was looking down this insolent Devil came from above him, slicing his right cheek with one of his chains that had an extremely sharp blade at the end of it. This was a deep wound. Now he could tell those chains abilities. They were not simple chains... they were capable of bypassing durability and weaken magic of those that touch them. That infuriated him! And so he jumped right after him and decided to land a solid hit on him, but this fucker was getting away, jumping from chain to chain and then THAT happened. As he was chasing this Chain Devil he saw several chains moving again, they were closing in on him and as the Devil jumped perfectly between them they immobilized Emissary midair and then he fell on the ground extremely hard, not being able to move. The Chain Devil landed next to him.

*CLAP* *CLAP*

"Well...Well..." The Devil started clapping "I didn't think it would be THAT easy." Then the clapping stopped and this Devil put his foot on Emissary's head "I have to say.. you... YOU... DISAPPOINTED ME!"

He could feel hate from his voice. His magic started to work. Good. Because now he was REALLY tired of this Devil's shtick. And as this Devil was ready to strike him with another chain-

*BREAK*

He quickly broke out of them and landed a powerful hit filled with his magic into this Devil's stomach making him fly away as the huge amount of blood splurt out of his mouth. The chains disappeared and that Snake like Devil quickly run up to that Chain Devil. He wasn't moving... most likely dead. No matter. He had to go. But he had to give this Devil one thing. That was quite... intriguing fight. And as he walked away the pain didn't disappear from his face and blood didn't stop pouring out, that cut... it will take a while for it to close.

In the present

In real time it most likely took no less than few seconds, but it was an eternity for him as the details went back to him. He remembered now. Then he felt the pain again as the old wound opened. Healer quickly touched it and closed it with her magic. But that made Emissary think.

"How did he die?" He wondered who could possibly end this Devils' life

Healer's answer though was only silence as she retracted her hand. The scar still remained.

"..."

He had no answer for silence... What is the answer for silence?

"He..."

But then she spoke and explained to him what happened in great detail. Warmonger's rage, despair and his death by his own hand. That event clearly affected her, he could tell from her voice and the way her body moved and trembled as she recollected that memory... now it all made sense.

"So I DID kill him..." This realization wasn't hard... just disappointing

"What?" She clearly didn't understand "No... It was-"

"It WAS me... From what you told me... the time it happened..." Then he remembered what happened after, who he met... his state "It must have been effect of my magic. It amplified my emotions within him due to my attack... and caused him to do what he did. Despair and rage... yes... That's what I felt after that fight, when I reached my goal."

The silence returned. And then he noticed Lucifugus and Pen looking at them. He wondered how long they were listening. But he didn't care. At this point he couldn't care less.

"Do you hate me now?" He turned towards her as she looked down on the desk

"..."

She was... There was no questio-

"No..." She said as she looked up at him

"...!"

That... he did not expect. For the first time, he felt his own soul and heart become completely frozen. It was strange. Off mix of relief and shame. It both burned and froze everything. As if he was letting those two freaks from the 1st level to use their magic all over him.

"Warmonger may have died because of your magic... but he was the one that attacked you." She pointed at his scar, there were still hints of pain as he was reminded of it's existence "You were protecting yourself. It was him who got into this stupid fight... killed himself... No... it was because of me..."

*SLAM*

"Healer!" Lucifugus spoke up and slammed his hand on the desk, making it shake. "It WASN'T your fault!"

It was surprising for both Healer and Emissary. No, almost unthinkable for Emissary... Lucifugus... The one he hates so much, this walking pile of bitterness and cruelty... cares so much about those lower than himself? Comforts them... Makes sure not to harm them... This was an anomaly. And she... she was the greatest anomaly of all.

"How can a Devil like you exist?" He gained her attention again

He had to know... What his master tried to do... If he knows who she really is then maybe...

"I don't know..." She just shrugged her shoulders "But does it really matter? I exist. And that is enough for me... questions of "How?" or "Why?". What meaning do they have? They wont change the fact that I simply am."

Her voice spoke the truth, but it had great meaning for him though, for what he and his lord were fighting fot... She may be the answer they were looking for... and that Warmonger.

"I never heard of a High Devil killing himself over harming a lower class." It sounded like an odd joke made by a strange comedian "Most Peculiar."

"Warmonger liked her..." Pen said as he raised his hand, gaining attention of everyone as he spoke in his innocent voice "He hurt her and he felt bad... Is there other reason?"

Pen asked him such a simple question... But he didn't know the right answer to it. And most likely none of them knew... It couldn't be so simple... Could it?

"It's something none of us can change." Healer said as she touched the place where her 2 other arms were "We can only live with what we have..."

There was truth in her words. Those words though made him think of another detail from her past.

"The thing Warmonger was saying about..." He tried to find the right words

"Proof of ones existence" Lucifugus and Healer spoke in unison

She seemed embarrassed by this ordeal and lowered her head and hid her face behind her hair. Lucifugus though still didn't seem to even notice although Emissary could tell did, but he was hiding it well. Almost fooled him. But that made everything even stranger.

"Right..." But now he wanted to think about those words "It reminds me... of..."

The image of hid Lord appeared yet again before him... His pride and shame.

"Of the Fly." Lucifugus finished for him.

Now he could feel something else in his voice. Distain. Resentment. It made Emissary a bit angry and he looked up at his lord. He was about to scream out at him and his control over his emotions was about to disappear. Healer could tell something bad was about to happen and she moved away, but then-

"OOOH! CAN YOU TELL US!?" Pen appeared right before his face.

He seemed genuinely excited. At least someone was.

"Yeah... Good idea." Lucifugus said as he patted Pen on the back with his hand "How about we hear YOUR side of the story... about that war..."

Emissary could hear mockery in his voice... He wasn't just curious. He wanted to feel superior to him. Over broken enemy. But Emissary didn't care, or rather he couldn't show that he cares before him. He was proud of what he was and this Supreme wont break that pride! And he will show him their real history!

"Yes... I think I will!" He said with a smile forming on his face as he looked up at Lucifugus "And he was LORD of the Flies! Our Lord and Master. The one that showed us the light and saved us from darkness of this world!"

His passion was shining through now. Lucifugus seemed almost impressed. This was bound to be interesting.

TBC in Chapter 23
"Forgotten Lord"

Sorry for the delay. Personal stuff happening. Hopefully you all enjoyed this start of a new arc. This one will be quite weird in few places. Hope you all like it.