Welcome again. Recently I had a few things happen in my life. Now I have job, got some pains and now I got a covid to boot. Hopefully I wont lose my passion for this fic.

Chapter 25
"A War long passed"

"Well we got enough of that backstory I believe." Lucifugus suggested to Emissary who raised his head again "I suggest you get to the War part now."

Emissary could tell Lucifugus already had enough of hearing about Lord of the Flies's lunacy.

"Right... So, the first thing we needed were strong allies. Only two of us wouldn't last very long even with my Master's strength. So I went back to the arena I was fighting in at the time and met the High ones I've been fighting and asked them to join us. Among them were few exceptional Middles as well. I explained them what was happening, our quest to protect World Above and gave them a choice to join us. Many of them bend the knee right away with all of them being Devils that already lost to me so they knew that the Devil I respected had to be someone very powerful. Some other ones though were less inclined to join, some of them went with us anyway to make a decision once they met him. Some others of course completely rejected it, claiming this was horrible insanity..." Emissary paused for a moment as he recollected their words "They were not wrong, one of them even wanted to kill me. So I killed him instead by showing his horns into his heart."

The memory quickly came through his mind. There was no passion, no rage and no pity. Just indifference and a rotting body. One of the first among many in this war.

"Why didn't you take the horns?" Pen scratched the remaining parts of his skull as he asked Emissary

"Because back then they were not a currency!" Emissary got a little irritated with braindead Devil "And please do not interrupt me"

He found it strange how polite he tried to be here. That fight with this Low must have really affected him.

"So... I went back with those Devils that agreed to come to my Lord. He quickly gave all of them the vision. Of course many of them my master saw through as a "rotten" Devils, the ones that were more than eager to destroy that world. He was not merciful to them and quickly took control over their bodies and trapped their minds in them. But those that remained were incredibly loyal... Although some... took it far worse on their minds and sometimes couldn't serve us." Emissary's mind went back to few of those who's minds got forever broken because of that magic... Back to... something that should be left well enough alone "As for those that go with me just to get a better understanding of it all were free to leave unharmed if they didn't want to be part of this. My master was fair in this regard..."

"Sounds like an incredibly naive thing to do." Lucifugus pointed out

"Of course it was..." Emissary bluntly agreed, getting a small chuckle out of Lucifugus "But then my master explained to me that he did took control of some of them, albeit in a more subtle way, particularly those close to Lord Beelzebub, Lucifero himself and... You..."

"He just made them his quiet spies." Lucifugus didn't seem shocked in the slightest.

"To break a promise like that and use their trust against them. That's quite terrible thing to do!" Healer made her discontent with Flies's actions clear

"Not for us..." Emissary didn't even look Healer in the eye as he said it "We are all Devils. Rotten creatures. Many of those that were rejecting our offer chose the path of destruction of the World Above. World that we had to protect! What else do you think we were meant to do?"

Emissary wanted an answer from her... There was none.

"Now... Where was I?"

Pen raised his hand. Emissary nodded at him

"Spies?" Pen answered with little doubt in his voice

"Ah yes... Thank you." It felt strange thanking a Low Devil "So with first spies planted among you and us having support from several High Devils we were ready to start becoming independent, my Lord's Control power allowed us to go between levels without using Lord Beelzebub's power and made the gates's grasp on us weaker. Making our loss in power on different planes limited.

"What?" Pen raised his hand as he was getting weirded out.

Lucifugus quickly spoke up

"When a Devil goes to another level than their own without help of Qliphoth their energy gets unstable, the shackles that keep us on our respective level grow tighter and they make Devils weaker in the process, such a thing is not a problem for a Supreme Devil, but Middles, Highs and Lows are often feeling weaker on different levels and they even start to lose parts of themselves." Lucifugus then turned to Emissary "I'm surprised your Lord had a power to defy it Emissary... I always thought you had an extraordinary Spatial Devil."

"I was too. But it truly worked." Emissary still remembered as he saw those gates open for the first time... the sheer awe he felt, but then immense pain as he went through the gate "It didn't make us immune to it, but we could walk on other levels with more power. And as I found out later... Walk on the outside before all gates opened for us..."

That made Lucifugus quiet... This was definitely concerning for him. Emissary could already tell what he though. A High had this kind of power?

"And so with all of that we started to become stronger and stronger. Our numbers grew larger every day and our ranks were filled with both the thinking and controlled ones. I always came first to every settlement, as an Emissary, bringing my Master's word for all to hear, giving them a choice between joining our cause, dying or becoming our puppets, those that refused were crushed later and in time there was enough of us to defy you."

Emissary looked at Lucifugus. He didn't seem very angry at this remark. After all, it was the past.

"Yes..." Seems like part of Lord Lucifugus's memories was coming back too "The first real battle of our forces... It was-"

"In the blazing pits." Emissary quickly finished "Yes, I remember."

Healer then spoke up

"I guess it's another long gone location?" Her guess was correct

"Yes. They were pits of raging magma capable of burning almost everything like Lord Naamah's fire magic. Entire Valley filled with blazing pits that at random spat out huge chunks of fire rocks. If I remember correctly there was another settlement there with a Supreme Devil, that was capable of traversing them safely. That was one of our first ones we wanted to recruit. But once I got there with my personal army we found it completely abandoned, everything was quiet and then we saw the chunk of Lucifero's army in the upper part of the Valley, ready to charge at us. We quickly got ready for a fight. And then another army of Devils jumped at us from every direction, many of them jumping out of the Blazing Pits once they erupted. That Supreme One was well prepared and it seemed like he figured out timing on those damn pits to make his army get quick advantage. As we had to now fend off the damn ambush the army was approaching from the hill. So I did what anyone obviously would. I quickly jumped between two armies waiting for yours to come close. And then I used all my rage into that one, blissful moment.

...

Lucifugus remained quiet, but it seemed like he remembered what happened. Judging from the way he listened for them it was...

A disaster in the past

All of the rage Emissary now felt towards Devil kind was released as he used his magic on everything around him. The entire area was slowly covered in dim bloody red light as Emissary's bloodthirst was released. It was most incredible what soon ensued. First it was a slight bump of one of those Devils on their comrade as they ran down the hill, then a punch came from one of them to the other in the back of the head, then accidental kick, then a bite, a slash, a ripped out limb and soon enough they stopped advancing as they were too busy tearing each other to pieces. In this moment Emissary truly saw the worst in those Devils... The worst in all of them. Some were ripping each other's skin, other were biting off their horns and others were tearing off their own limbs and used them as makeshift clubs on their previous comrades. Their eyes filled with blind rage, but in some of them Emissary could see hints of pleasure and satisfaction at their bloody work. They were enjoying it. They loved killing themselves here. No care in the world for what they were supposed to do. All that mattered was a slaughter.

The Devils that ambushed them also were affected. Some even threw themselves to the Blazing Pits again. Seems like they had a Devil protecting them from effects of the Pits, but now once they fell into them they were burning. Emissary didn't know if either that Devil was too busy killing others or he was already torn to pieces by his own team and Emissary couldn't care less. All that mattered was that this fight was over. And thanks to his Master's Control his army was affected to a lesser extent, letting them keep some composure in the fight and kill off those pitiful Berserkers. Soon only a handful of them were left once Emissary calmed down and let his rage be replaced with complete indifference as he looked upon the massacre and saw some of those Devils still clinging onto life as their own rage and bloodlust was slowly gone. Those were definitely good enough to be part of Lord's army. And so he ordered for them to be taken away. Sadly, the Supreme Devil wasn't among them. Seems like he was too much of a coward or had too much confidence in his plan. Well. Now it didn't matter.

Present from Healer's POV

The image of such a slaughter greatly unnerve Healer. Pen only seemed slightly uncomfortable about it, most likely due to his own experience with Emissary's magic. Lucifugus seemed to be frustrated more than anything. Like he really wanted to forget about it. And who can blame him? Your own army tore themselves apart before they even reached their enemy. Pathetic. Most pathetic.

"So let's move on from that." Emissary said in a whisper which Healer heard, he must have realized Lucifugus's mood as well "The next few fights went about as well. Sometimes though it was very close and some other times we didn't have enough captured Devils to replenish our own troops. Some of those fights were lead by Supreme Devils that still remain today. At one of those times I met... a particular Devil."

"Let me guess..." Lucifugus seemed to already know, Pen just got a bit excited, Healer though really didn't want to hear anything anymore

"Yes... Zagred." His voice was now full of contempt

"You hate Zagred of Word Soul Magic?" Healer asked Emissary in confusion

"Yes... You want to know why?" Emissary seemed very eager to talk about it... in a very hateful kind of way

She heard much about Zagred. One of the few Devils that actually managed to escape Underworld on his own. Granted she also heard not too long ago from Pen and Lucifugus about... not so flattering circumstances of his escape, but he still seemed to be very capable Devil. So... maybe that is why.

"Well I can imagine why you may hate him." Healer grabber her hands "He is the only Devil that managed to escape outside of your master apparently so I can see how he could be a powerful opponent that-"

"WAIT!" He quickly interrupted her with his hand going up "Do you imply that I hate him because I lost to him?"

Emissary's question was quite a surprise for Healer.

"N-No... I just..." She tried to gather her thoughts "If you hate him then something like maybe beating your troops or leading a successful ambush must be-"

"Pfth... Kehehe... hehehe" Lucifugus then started to laugh slightly which made Healer uncomfortable

"Ghkkhh, hehehe... GYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHYA!" All the while Emissary burst out into hideous, loud laughter.

It made Healer feel horribly embarrassed.

"Oh Lucifero I said something wrong?!" She quickly hid her face behind her hair, not wanting to be seen anymore

Pen just patted her one the back while also laughing quietly under his nose. Then Lucifugus put her hand one her as well making her let go off her hair for a moment.

"Hehehe... Don't blame yourself..." Lucifugus patted her some on the back "You don't know about this..."

"Hyahaha..." Emissary was still laughing... Healer was surprised this wasn't affecting her, but maybe she was just too embarrassed "Yeah... yeah... No."

Then Emissary got far more serious and spit on the desk, annoying Lucifugus slightly in the process.

"It was none of it! I hate that fucking Devil for something different." Emissary was getting bery heated there "After the fight of Blind Canyon, one of the routes we used, I saw him standing on one of the cliffs. He was doing nothing. Just stood there."

In the past

Blind Canyons. A place so dark and hard to navigate through that they warranted no other name, a good place for an ambush and preparing yourself to be ambushed. One group of Lucifero's loyalists tried to set up a trap, but Emissary before that channelled all his fears and let them lose around the canyon causing Devils all around the canyon to start screaming their lungs out as they tried to escape from Emissary's presence and soon enough their wish was granted as his army of controlled cut them apart one by one and soon enough the entire bottom of the canyon was filled with bodies of Devils that were thrown down here from the rocks.

As Emissary stopped his magic he flew up out of the canyon to see if there were any survivors and that's when he realized someone seemed to be a very keen observer here. A Devil was standing at the edge of one of the cliffs away from the places where Loyalists stationed themselves. Emissary approached him quietly. Most likely it was another spy of Lucifero. As he was prepared to take his head off the Devil turned around. He seemed... scared... despite that Emissary's magic stopped working already.

"Ahh... WAIT!" The High Devil with straight horns and extremely annoying voice seemed pretty terrified, it was evident from his stance as he pulled up his hands and lowered his head "I... Please! I'm not..."

Was it one of their own?

"Do you belong to us?" Emissary asked this strange High "Who are you?"

"I... I'm..." The High avoided eye contact with Emissary as he tried to form a sentence "I'm Zagred, but... I'm not-"

"Not one of us?" Emissary finished for him

"..." And this Zagred didn't speak further

"So you are with them?" Emissary pointed at the bottom of the valley where the bodies of Lucifero's Devils were

Devils that thought they were being clever by ambushing them here. Big mistake.

"No" Zagred answered further making Emissary question this Devil's honesty

"So you are not with us..." Emissary took one step closet to him "But you are not with them either?" he took another step as he pointed at the bottom of the canyon "Is that right?"

"... Y..yes..." His voice sounded genuine

After dealing with so many Devil's lowshit and some teachings from his lord he was able to pick up on lies and deception. This Devil seemed to be telling the truth. So he was...

"So you are a coward?" That word made Zagred slightly flinch

He seemed to regain some of his composure and fixed his posture. He was now standing more straight up and actually looked into his eyes. He was almost at the height of Emissary. Although from the look in his eyes Emissary knew already. He was scared beyond belief.

"I... I'm NOT a coward!" But he tried his best to suppress it. And failed.

"So are you with us or against us?!"

Emissary asked him louder gaining attention of some more lucid Devils from his army.

"I..." He quickly stopped himself "No... I..."

"NO as if not with us or not against us?!" Emissary came closer to him again

"..."

The Devil didn't say, he didn't even move a single step as Emissary got closer.

"Are you going to answer me or not?!" He was louder now, but as he got closer and closer this Devil still didn't move even when it looked like one more move would push him over the edge "ANSWER ME!"

"NONE OF THOSE!" Zagred burst out at him, but still didn't move...

"..." For Emissary it was quite unbelievable "Right."

Now he knew everything he needed. So he turned around and walked away. This Devil didn't even tell him to stop... This was just horribly pathetic. This kind of Devil wont benefit them in any way. But then again, he wont benefit Lucifero's side either. So why even bother? As he turned around one last time he just saw this Devil, still clinging onto that false image of bravery, this somehow still present small bit of pride... What a joke. Emissary had no time for such bad jokes. He just went away to his troops.

Present from Healer's POV

Healer was quite surprised. So he hated him because...

"I hate him because he was too much of a coward to choose a side!" Emissary angrily spat out

"..." Healer now understood, but... it seemed so strange. "Why do you hate him for it?"

Emissary's face was a mix of contempt and fury. It made Healer worry if he will lose control again.

"What I hate more about those that blindly follow Lucifero... are those that are too much of weak pieces of Lowshit that they refuse to choose a side in the first place. Move an inch in any direction!" Emissary's voice became more angry as he explained it "Those are the worst kinds of Devils. Those that will abandon anything and anyone just to be on top. Those kinds of selfish Devils without principles or spine are the ones I hate the most. Because those are the worst our kind has to offer. Not even a fly, but a mere bug without wings that hides under a rock!"

Emissary got very angry there, but he somehow managed to control his magic to not make anyone around him go insane. Healer was impressed.

Lucifugus's POV

"If I have be honest..." Lucifugus then spoke up "I think he is the only one that did a smart thing in this entire mess of a war."

Emissary didn't seem surprised at this, but he did seem to be very annoyed by it

"He was one of the only ones smart enough not to get wrapped up in that pointless squabble." Lucifugus was almost impressed actually "Deciding to stay away from the fight and not associating himself with anyone was a good choice. That way he could survive either way."

"I'm well aware of that!" Those words though did not seem to temper Emissary's hatred "But I don't care. To me it's better to choose a side and take responsibility for that choice." He then pointed at his hornless head "My horns and horns of my companions were taken away and we are forbidden from growing them back for the rest of our lives. A sign of who we were, but I wear it with pride. I actually decided to stood for something unlike that failure!"

"So why didn't you kill him if you were so disgusted by him?" Lucifugus asked, but he already knew

"Because that was something far more cruel than any death would ever be." Emissary's voice was filled with malice "Eternal shame."

Then Pen seemed to realize something

"My lord, is this why this Ziggy was hated so much?!"

Lucifugus looked down on Pen for a moment and a small smile appeared on his face as he saw Pen use those last remaining parts of his brain and then it was slowly replaced with his usual, indifferent look.

"Not really..."

That was quite shocking for both Pen and Healer.

"Then why?!" Both of them asked in unison

"It's definitely my reason." All the while Emissary added his piece

"That war we talk about now..." His memories started to appear again, fixing themselves and flooding his mind "It's something long forgotten. When it was over most Devils were just scattered away, Lucifero was victorious again, punishment was given, another fight happened and so... no one cared enough about it to actually remember it. Outside of me, Beelzebub, Lucifero, some other Supremes, Emissary here and others from Flies's side that survived."

Now that he thought about it it wasn't that short list... Or it was when compared to how many Devils there actually are.

"But most Devils quickly forgot. It was just another bloodbath. Who cares about those here anymore?" Healer gave him a pretty annoyed look "Well. One person cared more than anyone... Even more so than Lucifero... Ziggy. He never chose a side and so he got to live in a horrible shame ever since. He survived, but never got the praise of the victorious or the punishment of the defeated. Some Devils at the time called him a Devil with no Voice. He never moved an inch and so he never was able to take a mile."

"Serves him right" Emissary added again, but Lucifugus paid no heed

"It gave him quite a complex on it. Ever since then he constantly tried to prove to everyone how strong and brave he is. How amazing his magic is. How invincible he can truly be..." Lucifugus's voice was full of mockery "But he failed to realize that at some point no one cared anymore. No one remembered or cared about that... No one except him."

"And me." Emissary added again

"Shut up already Emissary or I will return to writing right away!" But Lucifugus now got a bit irritated, but no answer came so he guessed his message was heard.

"This in turn made everyone annoyed with Ziggy, no one cared about him, but he was showing off so much that everyone despised him more than they already did. And so he started to be hated and bullied all across Underworld. He was a joke. And no one could figured out the punchline, not even him." Lucifugus slightly shook his head as he remembered the day he escaped "I could still see that when he ran away from here, right there I realized, up until the very end he could never truly move away from that spot."

"..."

No one spoke up for a moment. It was hard to tell if they felt bad or were just perplexed about this situation. That's when Lucifugus realized something.

"Then again... Who am I to judge?" the revelation just hit him

"My lord?" Pen seemed to be concerned.

Healer also seemed to be troubled at those words.

"Not being able to move on..." He looked at his hand he used for so long to write his Law Book "Truly. How can I insult him for it... I... I constantly live with what was in the past. Even with how much I forgot I still somehow cling onto that..." He clenched his hand into a fist now "That fucking time... When Lucifero was someone I could follow. The time where there was purpose, as I looked upon Underworld with Lucifero... And now..."

Lucifugus slowly looked upon the book. His bane that Lucifero placed on him. The chain that could never be broken...

"Now that I think about it. Maybe this is why I forgot so much..." Slowly Lucifugus felt his heart gaining weight "Maybe... I tried to move on and so... I forced myself to forget. Just to not remember anything and move forward as someone else."

Lucifugus just sat there, everything was quiet and slight wind from somewhere slightly moved the pages in that great book. It was like a mockery, a spit in the face. So many pages. And for what?

"I guess... it didn't work." The last words were hard for him to get out

"Moving on."

Emissary let out a few words catching the attention of Lucifugus and the others.

"Ehh... I guess I'm not better in this case than him either." He scratched the back of his head as he sat down on the desk "Quite infuriating. But in terms of moving on... In all the things I saw across this world and the other, I often found it that the first and hardest part about moving on is accepting that you need to move at all."

Emissary said as he looked upon Lucifugus. His new bane.

"Don't beat yourself too hard." He said in the most sincere tone Lucifugus ever heard from him "If this is the reason you tried to forget then I guess you made that first step. The question remains if this is the hardest one you had to take."

Emissary ended his thought and looked away into the distance. Lucifugus wondered if he was thinking about Lord of the Flies again. Then he looked upon Healer and Pen. Both of them also seemed lost in their thoughts. Pen... still with name that doesn't even suit him anymore... and Healer. The wound left with Warmonger must've also cut her very deep. Strange, it almost feels like he wants to help...

Helping those lower than yourself? Insanity I tell you. Discard those thoughts.

"(I guess... No one is really able to move on here... Is this why we are all here now?)" Lucifugus was lost in thoughts as well... he wondered where exactly is the exit "(No... That would actually mean something, that there is some purpose to all of it... And in this world it is a fleeting dream that anything has any purpose at all...)"

"Okay, let's move on with my story." Emissary quickly got back on track, Lucifugus and the others also get back their attention.

With time we finally got enough attention to make Lucifero himself make a move on us as our first base was discovered at the place where Rotting Mountains once were. You remember that right?

Emissary asked Lucifugus who still was very quiet after his moment of doubt.

"I remember that Lucifero went in there with Beelzebub and came back very frustrated." Lucifugus crossed his arms as he remembered that day "At the time I had to straighten out some other units that were ambushed some time before that by your squads so I never saw what went down."

"Yes... That was our greatest moment of triumph." A smile creeped unto Emissary's face "The moment Lord Lucifero, Beelzebub and my Lord met at the basis of what was once the Rotting Mountains. The moment those Behemoths fought and my Lord displayed his real power for all Underworld to see."

Emissary looked in the air now, as if he was still seeing it now before his very eyes. Lucifugus was really interested now. Did he really fought them? Both at once? Not even he could ever manage such a feat... And up until now he didn't think anyone could.

"I'll try to explain as best as I possibly can, but I still remember it clearly. The moment I truly felt hope that this was all not by chance." Emissary said with great passion, but Lucifugus could tell that this wouldn't last long... They lost in the end after all.

TBC in chapter 26
"3 Behemoths"

Hope all of you enjoyed this chapter. It was basically me trying to add some deal of realism to this whole civil war and also showcase some fights Emissary was involved in with his armies. Next chapter will be basically one big fight and that one will truly show why Lord of the Flies was such a dangerous opponent for Lucifero himself and everyone else. Hope all of you will like it.