"Nothing," said Leo after he had returned to the manor. "The Elders have no idea what's going on. And they can't figure out why the demons would simply ignore you. Every demon in the underworld has been trying to destroy you since your powers were first unbound. Now to have them ignore you like you aren't even a threat is completely out of character."
"Tell us something we don't know," said Piper. "You mentioned something about some unusual activity in the underworld. Any idea what that's all about?"
"Just speculation and conjecture," said Leo. "Nothing solid. The Elders have several sources that provide them with information on the underworld but so far none of them have reported anything. And it's not like a Whitelighter can just orb down there and ask. That would be dangerous for both the Whitelighter and the one he goes to see."
"Well I can tell you," said Paige, "I think I'd rather have demons attacking than ignoring us like they were. At least we know how to deal with demons that attack us. We just vanquish them. What do we do about demons who ignore us?"
"We vanquish them anyway," said Phoebe. "They're demons, after all."
"But why are they ignoring you?" Leo asked. "It doesn't make any sense. There are some well-known rivalries between certain demonic factions. But it doesn't make sense that they'd ignore a chance to kill you over those rivalries."
"Well, there's no Source," said Piper. "The Seer and most of the demonic leadership has been vanquished. So who's controlling the demons that are left?"
"Normally when a high enough level demon is vanquished," said Leo, "the next most powerful one just assumes his position. There can occasionally be some fight to establish their control but those rarely last very long. And the ones that take over have to spend some time organizing their new domains."
"That makes sense," said Paige. "Everyone has their own way of doing things. I guess it's the same for demons. They'd have to get their house in order, so to speak, before they can move on to whatever plans they have."
"That takes time," said Leo. "And with the number of high level demons that have been vanquished it should take quite a bit of time for the demons to get everything set up the way they want. They shouldn't be ready for all out attacks just yet."
"Most of them aren't," said a voice coming from the entryway. "But as you've seen, they're more than ready to take up old rivalries, some that have existed for centuries."
They all turned and saw a man standing only in the entryway. He appeared to be about Leos' age. He had dark hair and was wearing a dark colored robe. The type of robe that many demons wore. He was smiling as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"Michael," said Piper, recognizing the warrior Whitelighter. "What are you doing here?"
"It's the first chance I've had to get away," said Michael, coming into the living room. "Since you vanquished the Seer and most of the demonic hierarchy the underworld has been in a bit of an uproar. And since the new Source seems to have vanished without a trace, things have gotten even more chaotic."
"You mean Cole," said Phoebe. "We had to vanquish him."
"I didn't think that was possible," said Michael. "After he came back from the Wasteland he seemed undefeatable."
"It's a long story," said Leo. "Michael, why haven't you reported to the Elders recently? They're concerned about things that seem to be going on in the underworld. None of their regular sources have reported anything but something is definitely going on down there."
"They can't report," said Michael. "It's one of the reasons I'm here. I can't go up there. It's too risky. My dual identity as Malevant is still safe but a lot of demons are watching me. Trying to decide which faction I'll ultimately side with."
"Faction?" questioned Paige. "What faction?"
"Demonic factions," said Michael. "A lot has happened in the underworld lately. I haven't been able to report all of it to the Council. After you vanquished the Seer and most of the demonic hierarchy, lower level demons began to move up the ranks. As Malevant I was able to keep some order. There aren't many demons as powerful as Malevant, but there are a few. So far, I've been able to keep them in check.
"Then, when Turner turned evil and became the new Source, things settled down quite a bit. The underworld had a new leader and most of the demons at least outwardly paid homage to him. Then you vanquished Turner and the chaos erupted all over again. When Turner returned but didn't reassume the role of the Source, most of the demons didn't want to push him. So there was a very uneasy truce.
"Now, Turner has mysteriously vanished. None in the underworld knows why. Even I didn't know until you told me just now. And the longer he's gone, the bolder many of the new demonic leaders are becoming. It's a common belief that he's not coming back. That means the position of the Source of all Evil is open for grabs."
"And the demons are vying for that position?" Leo questioned.
"Exactly," said Michael. "Until recently it's been confined to minor skirmishes in the underworld. Demonic leaders testing the limits of their new powers and positions. There hasn't seemed to be any one demon powerful enough to take the reigns of power and hold them."
"What changed?" Piper asked.
"That's hard to say," said Michael. "I can tell you that there are five major factions, each controlled by demons nearly as powerful as I am. Some of the demons are holding back waiting to see who I'm going to throw in with. So far I've been able to put them off. But I can't do that forever. Eventually they're going to demand that I back one of them. If I don't, they'll become suspicious. That would be very dangerous for me."
"What does that have to do with what happened earlier?" Phoebe asked. "We went to save a little girl from a premonition I had. About half a dozen demons showed up but they completely ignored us. They seemed to be more interested in going after each other."
"That's exactly what happened," said Michael. "A few days ago two leaders of rival factions had a very heated argument. It quickly got out of hand. Pretty soon there were fireballs flying everywhere. The demons ended up vanquishing each other. As is common in such fights, their lieutenants immediately assumed their positions. All of the lower demons all moved up to a correspondingly higher position.
"But it didn't end there. After the demons vanquished each other tempers began to flare on all sides. Pretty soon each faction was announcing that their leader was the new Source. But no faction has a clear advantage. So the demons are doing what demons have always done in situations like this."
"Try to kill off the competition," said Leo.
"Exactly," said Michael. "Only it's escalated far beyond anything previously known in the underworld. Virtually every demon has sided with one faction or other. I can tell you the one certainty in the underworld right now. It's all out war. A war the proportions of which have never been witnessed before. The underworld is in the midst of the worst demonic war in history."