Ch28: Maiden of Lust and a Grave Warning
When we got into the depths of the Crater, we immediately saw that Azmodan had indeed merged the realms of Hell and Sanctuary into the same dimension. And upon walking down a bit into the depths, we saw a singular person that perched herself on a string of thread coming from her ass. "M-Momma Cydaea?" Serena gawked when she saw the Maiden of Lust. And I could tell that Cydaea was also surprised to see Serena and smell her essence as well.
"J-Javina? Is that you, my little troublemaker?" Cydaea asked, her face showing pure shock and awe. "Y-Yeah... it's... um... nice to see you again... though I wish it weren't on opposite sides..." Serena said with shyness, something I never saw in her before. "Javina... you know deep inside you that you were always my favorite daughter when it came to the Succubi... I don't like this turn of events anymore than you do..." Cydaea sighed from above us as she lowered herself lower just enough to look at Serena face-to-face. "I must admit though... I never expected that the Imp Nephalem would be you. I find myself both in awe... and... terrified at the same time." Cydaea gulped. "You don't have to be, Cydaea. Just join us," Lilith suggested.
Cydaea looked very weirded out by Lilith's suggestion, but then she shook her head sadly. "I apologize to your offer, but I am bound to Azmodan's rule. If I refuse his duties, I will be reborn as another demon... apologies," Cydaea sighed. "Well, there is a certain way that we could change that, according to Cain's journals," I said with a smile, having read some of the finished excerpts from the Demon hierarchy info that Kuelle added to the book. "If we can kill Azmodan before killing you, then you will be reborn by the monster/demon that defeated him," I explained.
"You say that as if it is smart, but I'm supposed to guard the Sin Hearts with my life... so how would that turn out?" Cydaea asked with a frown. "Simple," I smiled as I activated a puff of Blizzard at Cydaea and froze her whole body solid, minus her head, much like with Adria. "W-What the... ah... very clever..." Cydaea frowned at my idea as she simply tried her damnedest to break free, only to find that my powers were too great for her. "This way, you won't be breaking his rules. You're just going to be... 'pinned down' from our attack. You're still trying to defend the Sin Hearts, so keep trying to break free, Cydaea. If you do that, I'm positive you can be reborn via me," Serena smirked. "Oh? I would love to see how that would turn out," Cydaea chuckled softly.
We then proceeded forward as Cydaea stayed behind, desperately trying to break free from the icy prison I had entombed her in. Unluckily for her and Azmodan, however, so long as I had Belial's powers inside of me (which I would obviously get rid of when we sealed Azmodan away), that blizzard definitely wasn't going to melt or crack anytime soon. Hell, that much could've been seen with Adria, since only 1 drop of water had melted from the ice after nearly 5 hours of me casting the spell on her. When we approached the first tower, the Tower of the Damned, I got another call on my cell phone, which I quickly answered.
"Hello?" I asked with a smile. "Lisa, we have to tell you something," Leah said to me over the cell phone. "Yes? What is it? Is it something to do with the stone or Adria?" I asked her. "No, it's not that. But it's something else... Tyrael has said that he feels that something bad is going to happen when that stone is destroyed. He states that there is an angel that he knows, Malthael, that has become the Angel of Death. His goal is to kill anything with demon blood, including humans. Tyrael believes that, once all of the demonic essences are poured into that stone, Malthael will most likely try something nasty before we can go to your world for refuge," Leah explained.
Her words actually made me realize something very important. I hadn't played the sister game to this one, Diablo 3: Reaper of Souls, which was basically the same game, but I knew that the extra story to it revolved around Malthael stealing the Black Soulstone (with Diablo still trapped in it along with Leah's soul having been consumed completely and never to return), sending his various Revenant soldiers to attack all the major spots, and even trying to make it so the Black Soulstone could contain all demonic essences, which included killing all humans in this world, since they all had Demon blood in them as well as Angel Blood.
I knew that me and mom were safe from Malthael's evil magic (because of humans in our world not having demonic blood at all... unless you were a Satanist and believed all that stuff about worshiping the devil), but I feared of what might happen to any of my other allies from this world should Malthael try to do such a thing after the Soulstone is destroyed.
"Okay, Leah. Malthael is dormant as of now, so it isn't a concern. But if he does attack, and tell this to the others as well: they are not to engage his army or Malthael in any way whatsoever. Malthael's magic over death allows him to not only absorb the life of every human he and his reapers kill, but since every human in this world has Demon Blood in them, if he or his reapers so much as breath on you, you will be turned into a mindless reaper yourself. So if Malthael so happens to resurface, you should take Shen, Haedrig, and Kuelle, and Maghda and go into hiding. The setting of the main plot is in Westmarch, so we'll meet up there when I have the place safe and secure in the future, okay?" I monologued, Serena and Lilith already having destroyed the first Sin Heart while I said this.
"Okay. I'll tell that to them... and I talked to my mom for a bit and I found out her life story and, I must say, I now get why she was so cruel and malicious in the first place," Leah explained. "Really? What did she say?" I asked as we had already made it to the second tower, the way being almost completely cleared out by my Disintegration spells and Lilith and Serena killing the demons that threatened to impede us. "She said that she was born as a witch and that her father reveled in showing her how witches burn at the stake, calling them pure evil. Ever since, she had learned to hate other humans, but also hate her own family members more. If what she said was true, she hates talking to anyone related to her because it just brings up the horrible memories of her seeing witches burned at the stake as well as her father abusing her," Leah said.
"Wow. I didn't know that Adria had it so rough. No wonder she decided to trust the Lord of Terror rather than her own kind," Serena frowned, which meant that every word spoken of Leah was truthful. "Well, tell her that I thank her for cooperating and for finally talking to you. Now it's up to her whether she wants to change her ways or not. After all, we've been as kind to her as we possibly could be, even after discovering her to be a traitor," I said. "I'll tell you that you thanked her... but I still feel very mad at her for wanting to put me through that horrid experience..." Leah frowned.
"It's not going to happen, Leah. I can assure you of that," I sighed to her. "I really have to go now. We're almost to Azmodan's lair." "I see. Bust his big fat ass a new one for all of us, okay?" Leah smirked. "You got it, babe!" I smiled as I hung up and I sent another Disintegrate spell at the second Sin Heart. Now the path to Azmodan was open and the flow of his legions would stop completely. "Let's go see if this big brute lives up to his Lord of Sin reputation," Lilith smiled.