Lance's Role

by Thrudgelmir2333

A 'shonen' fic that sequels Next Dimension and Lost Canvas. In 1960, the Pope of Athena receives three prophecies from an old enemy that irremediably set the course of his reign over Sanctuary's tragic history and almost two decades later a Saint of Pegasus finds himself put through the unfolding of a new age of violence caused by the Pope's actions. Please enjoy and review.

28. SS1: Arrival of the Gods - Part 2 of 3

Notable OCs: Pegasus Lance's Bronze Saint Generation, Heracles Aguilon's Silver Saint Generation, Gemini Akassius' Gold Saint Generation, Daemon Lucifer, Maiden Elisa, Priam's Black Saints

Notable Original Concepts: Training Ground, Sanctuary Court, Teos Cloth, Athenian Empire mythology, Isle of Gardens; Stardust Prison

Recurring/Cameo OCs of Jenny DeVic: Mrs. Schafurwatt, Cyrus

Recurring/Cameo Concepts of Jenny DeVic: Great Bodyguard Legend, Golden Line Heritage, Sanctuary Orphanages, Andromeda Island's Geography & Tests, Sanctuary Nobility, 88 Knights Festival

Author Notes:

-Even though these are retrofitted chapters, I encourage old readers to read them anyway as their quality is much improved and the plot itself is buffed.

-I updated the story's timeline in my profile ever so slightly :p

{======================|\(/\)/|======================}

Please enjoy and review (^_^

{======================\(/\)/======================}

"Dear (D###y) JOURNAL,

(#'#) My name is Cerah Helóise. I'm the youngest of a family of Paladins. I don't know who they are, but I guess you could say they were a group people concerned with living up to a strange (orthodox-al) traditional idea of what Sanctuary should be like. Yeah, turns out Sanctuary has those kinds of people too.

They're gone now, though. Aezrel killed them. Well, except for Daese. I don't know where Daese is. She left me here with the Crow Cloth so she could go kill Aezrel and every Saint that stands in her way, I suppose. I'm trying to write something up but I'm not sure what. LORD Lucifer told me to do this and says he's gonna check it for mistakes at the end.

Where do I start with this? Okay, what kind of young girl's (d###y) journal is just read by someone else for grammar and spelling? If he really thinks I'm going to let him-XX he's absolutely right and it's for my own good. Thank you, Lucifer 3.

He says I can't go outside without a Skeleton Soldier costume, or Hades might decide to kill me. Comforting. They look suffocating, though. I wonder if there's a way I can recraft them to something that doesn't make me look like a goth doll? Maybe I really should start practicing Light-Craft. Or maybe I should try a hand at poker cheating, who knows?

I miss Daese. I really do. It's been months since I've seen her. She could be dead. I don't have cosmos so I don't know how to sense it, so I can't check if she's even still alive. Lucifer says it doesn't matter. That she doesn't love me. (wet smudges) care about that, I just want to know if she's ever gonna come back.

I don't care about her fight, though. She kept telling me things like "Cyrulia was important, our family was important" but who cares? They're gone. Not just dead, the whole city, the whole culture raised to the ground and salted. I know cause Daese kept yelling it at my ear to convince me. And what good did they ever accomplish? I bet that if I asked a Saint he would name pretty good reasons for what they did. I'm half-thankful Aezrel did what he did. interesting

LORD Lucifer wants me to fight anyway, though. He says that if I unlock my cosmos and reach Gold Rank, I could do anything. I don't know how much long I can take this place, though. There's no sunlight, I can't talk to anyone without that helmet and half the Specters are psychos. I think that (b### ##y) Charon Specter had this gross look on his face when I tried to get away from here and had nothing to pay with, but I don't want to think about it.

I guess I'll see you tomorrow, (d###y) JOURNAL

-Cerah's Journal, dated 1970, first entry; the corrections and additions were made in red pen with a second handwriting.

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Months Earlier

'Desert Beyond'

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Beyond the premises of the Eight Prisons, the mysterious Desert Beyond laid as a vast sand realm beneath the 108 Stars. It was an extremely dangerous place, a wasteland beneath the starry sky, hot without sun, terrifying without monsters (in sight), stormy without winds and completely out of control of even Hades himself, whose omniscience felt not but the primordial energies of this expanse from his seat in Giudecca. It was in these wastelands littered with mysterious ruins of broken down marble buildings and pillars that Hades had first carved his realm into, like paint tossed on a canvas.

Yet no Specter ventured into it. This was not because of any prohibition from the God's part or any lack of interest in what these sands hid, but rather that it was just too dangerous. Losing themselves forever in the ever shifting landscape was enough of a deterrent to personal curiosity and the rumors of giant corpse-eating worms tunneling beneath the surface helped the desolation stay so. The fact that Hades seemed unwilling to lay down his law in these dunes was of no encouragement either.

Even if the Underworld God knew better, some humans are just too curious.

Over the eras, some felt encouraged to venture into it believing it hosted treasure and not man eating undead monstrosities, so eventually the 'Safe line' was marked. A row of Symplegade rocks carved into a makeshift picket fence that delineated how far a mortal could safely step into this deadly place. While it extended in a circumference no further beyond than a few hundred paces, it was enough for some to come to visit this place and bring respite to their thoughts after a long day tending for the dead. Daemon Lucifer had visited this place countless times in his long life, occasionally seeking rest from Hades' ceaseless supervision.

Amidst the sandstorms of the wastelands surrounding Hades' realm and a flur of black feathers, a slim blonde fighter clad in black armor whizzed like a supersonic missile around Lucifer, fist encased in a light meteor. The Celestial Star of Pride, sporting his casual dark grey tight shirt and fighting gloves instead of his armor, huffed indignantly and leaned his body to dodge a sudden ray lunge to his head. He blocked a succession of whizzing rapid fire attacks with his fists and forearms like a boxer and finally stepped aside to let a dashing kick shoot straight past him before bringing his elbow down in a massive counterblow on her back, smashing Cerah against the sand.

Lucifer lowered his smoking foot. "Get back up, weakling, and catch my pendant, or it's another third a year of training for you. I even left my Surplice back in Giudecca because I thought I'd give you a shot this time. Please tell me you didn't bring me all the way here to bore me."

The short, slim fightress of tempered green eyes of a hard worker, fair skin and shoulder length wavy blonde hair rolled over in the sand in a fit of pain and frustration. Her body burned with the shine of the Light element cosmos aura shyly, the sensation to observers being akin to candlelight in a haunted house that was Lucifer's presence. She tried to look up determinedly but felt only the shadow of a massive dark power dwarfing her.

The fightress coughed and held her own dizzy head as her ears ringed. "N-no, I brought you here so you could kick my ass and call me a bunch of d-demeaning things again after another four months of push ups, o-obviously. A-agh… my h-head!" Sometimes it was hard to believe how much Lucifer would toy with people just to make them feel worse. She looked up at his neck, where a silver chain could be seen sneaking inside his dark grey shirt. Her fingers grasped the sand. "This time I'm snatching that necklace from his neck even if I have to bend myself like a twig!"

His foot rose to stomp her but she rolled her body over again while tossing the grains at his face to escape the Specter's immediate reach before getting back on her feet and assaulting him with another dash. The Pride Star wiped off the sand and raised his guard nonchalantly but, just before she reached him, her feet acted as a break on the sand and she spun her body just as her bright aura burst out in a flare and the image of a screeching crow flashed in the background.

"L-LIGHT STEP!" It suddenly split into a dozen afterimages that twirled around Lucifer like fireflies before suddenly reassembling behind him. The red-eyed Specter followed the movement by turning around, but not fast enough to face Cerah as her afterimages reformed into a single body throwing a fist. "Prismatic Shot - Times O-ONE HUNDRED!" Just as Lucifer's arm was about to block her light-encased blow it dispersed once more into a multitude of colored afterimage rays that went over and under his guard to strike his vulnerable chest. In a loud firework spectacle of one hundred punches hitting repeatedly in the form of blasting lasers, the cumulative energy struck as if a single attack, seemingly stunning the Specter and forcing him a step back.

Her eyes widened mid-movement in elation. "I-I got him?! I touched the string, I know it!" She closed in the distance and felt her heart jump in happiness as her hand reached out for his neck chain.

But the Dark Prince instantly recovered as if no damage at all had been dealt, instead letting out his cosmos aura as a grand manifestation of dark power amidst the sandstorm that sent all her instincts to full alert. Cerah stepped back, bit her lip and saw the darkness engulf the area, making her 7th sense lose track of his cosmos signature.

"D-damn it, whenever he does this… Emission Lens!" her green eyes were filled with energy that highlighted their color. She took a step back and let her technique do its work for a nanosecond, taking in the optical information through a layer of cosmos that correctly converted the illusion Lucifer's dark cloud back to a frequency her eyes could understand.

But all she saw was a shadow sweep by her before something struck Cerah's chin with a palm blow that stunned her completely before kicking her straight in the chest to send the girl crashing through the hot dunes of the Desert Beyond, burying her in the sand.

He walked over to her half-buried trembling body. "Your speed and technique have improved slightly, but your power and senses are still absolutely worthless, aren't they? Also please stop throwing sand in my eyes; I can feel where your cosmos is."

Fighting the urge to puke from the pain in her stomach and feeling blood drip from her mouth, Cerah Héloise's trembling eyes looked up at the Prince to see him undamaged. "W-what?! Oh c-come on! I-I… I hit you with everything I h-had?!"

The Specter folded his arms, accentuating his much greater size and muscle mass. "Trying out your power against me of all people is hardly a fair measure to see how strong or weak you really are, don't you think? Try something smarter if you don't want to just breeze my pendant. But if this is all you can do -" Lucifer's hand reached down to her to deliver the final blow. "I will just finish you off and tell Daese how weak you were in the end."

The sand burst upwards, blinding him again, and Cerah resumed the fight with a savage upward assault of supersonic punches and kicks to push the Specter back. Boasting the speed of light, however, Lucifer didn't even put any effort past the initial surprise of her smokescreen, effortlessly dodging the Corvus' blows while stepping back against the slippery grains of sand.

The chase didn't last long, however, as the Prince rapidly detected another hole in her movements and quickly seized it to kick her side. Cerah screamed and felt her foot fall to the ground, but continued the combo. More punitive blows followed, however, with Lucifer casually slipping in a punch to her kidney, then a finger jab to her elbow, then a sly foot slip to take her off her balance and then, just as she swung her fist, his whole body rotated to dodge and deliver an explosive elbow strike to her face so hard that not only her combo was stopped but her whole weakened body flung over his and fell on its front.

Her cosmos dropped dangerously low and broken parts of her Corvus Cloth began to dematerialize back into the gem. With the last strength of her mind she held on to her focus and prevented her black gauntlets and greaves from turning into speckles so she could stay in the fight. Once again shame and pain filled her heart, feeling helpless against the massively more powerful Specter.

"D-damn it, banging at the wall again!" Covering her bleeding nose with her hand, her whole body trembled as she stood back on her knees, breathing heavily and tears of frustration forming in her green eyes. "I… I d-don't understand! I t-trained so hard to get the Prismatic Shot right!..."

Lucifer touched his own chest, hit earlier by the aforementioned technique. "She can't bring her cosmos combustion past her basic level yet, so she is trying to bypass her power limitations through multiple hitting. It's a shame she's testing it on me, or otherwise she'd be seeing results."

Yet the girl launched herself at him once more. "At least I have to try harder, even if it goes beyond my limits! I need to see if I can do this!" Once again the Corvus tried her luck despite most of her armor being gone and filled Lucifer's sight with a spectacle of incoming light missiles for him to dodge and block. "Prismatic Shot - Times Two Hundred!" Her body burned with bright white cosmos even harder than before and her blows attacked him with twice the ferocity, attempting to overwhelm the Pride Star reflexes and endurance.

The Specter, however, couldn't give a damn and easily repeated his earlier feat of effortlessly maneuvering in backstepping fashion as he nullified each and every curvy blow with faint wrist blocks and body bobs. He even took the time to analyse her progress. "Cerah has learned to combine her moves better. Her Light Step lets her to split her body into moving afterimages within a short area radium without the loss of physical substance, allowing her to perform simultaneous effective attacks from multiple angles. Depending on how she focuses her attacks, she can multiply her damage output well beyond her limits, but it's not like Cerah can multiply her endurance along with it." Then he allowed her attacking speed to horribly degrade over the course of just a few seconds, as if to demonstrate this, before stopping her in her tracks with a chop blow to her stomach, taking care to avoid her unprotected chest but still delivering enough force to put her on her knees. Lucifer folded arms pensively "I could tell her all this and make her feel better about herself… or maybe I'll just cut her down to size again."

She trembled on the ground, grasping the injured spot which felt like it had been struck with an electric shock. "I'd have a b-better shot hitting H-Hades himself, wouldn't I? I wish I understood why I can't at least graze you."

To a vastly experienced warrior like Lucifer the answer was clear as day. "You're out of energy, that's why. Adding the effort of executing Light Step to performing Prismatic Shot is more than enough to escalate the difficulty level. Just as you attack 100 times harder, you burn yourself out 300 times faster." His fist then burned its dark aura until it turned into a sparking ball of lightning, illuminating their faces with a pale violent glare. "If you were fighting at lightspeed without your armor you'd be ash by now. It's time to end this pointless test."

"C-come on, stand back up, if y-you don't make a stand…" she shouted at herself, struggling to stay awake. His red eyes saw her small body emanate a faint vapor of energy which then swole and flared up to a bright flare of white light, like a far off star. "S-sorry, but… If you think I'll just let you s-simply tase me down again, you've g-got another thing c-coming. I've trained t-too hard."

For the first time he let out a satisfied smile. "Oh, an inkling of pride, uh? Don't forget that feeling; it will serve you well." Lucifer's hand opened up so all the energy would focus into a sphere of raging white lightning in his hand and he thrust it straight against her. "LIGHTNING FANG!" The attack hit her in a hammering palm strike, shocked her into a screaming fit and burst into a shower of hair-standing sparks.

She collapsed on the floor, metal armor parts smoking, and upon the shockwave dispersing the gusty winds of the Desert Beyond returned, carrying sand from the horizon.

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Chapter 28

Side Story 1

Arrival of the Gods – Part 2 of 3

{======================\(/\)/======================}

It was snowing in the castle.

"Wait, where you going?!" the small crow cried in the tower.

The big eagle opened the window. "I'm… going to fight. And try to make this world better. They're after us, so don't follow me, okay?" it said, before placing the black gemstone necklace was placed around her neck with its beak. "Don't lose this, it will protect you."

The crow tried to take it off "I don't w-want this! I want to go with you!"

The giant red eyed bat appeared and held the crow down. "Don't worry, I'll keep her safe. She'll pay the price one day, though."

"S-STOP! Let me GO!" cried the crow, struggling "D-Daese, don't leave me here, p-please! N-NO!"

"I'm sorry. You're just too young to understand. This is for us.." the eagle turned around and took to the skies in wing flap. "Goodbye."

The shadow of the bat's wing swallowed the crow. "D-DAESE!"

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Corvus Cerah woke up in a sweaty gasp, breathing heavily with the sensation she just went through another nightmare. A cold, wet towel fell off her forehead and she felt a number of bandages plastered over her cheek, neck and torso. No longer feeling the sand beneath her body, she realised Lucifer had dragged her off the 'Desert Beyond' back to the Underworld and looked over to see him immersed in his journals once again, probably scribbling down another day of disappointments.

She rubbed her eyes. That terrible dream again...

Memories of her spat of a fight returned to her head and a horrible feeling of failure sunk in her. She touched her cheek, arms and temples and confirmed the presence of bandages keeping her wounds close and clean. The frustration of being unable once again to pass the test then crashed down on her and a depressing lump swole in her throat.

"T-Thank you for not leaving me out there this t-time." She tried to loosen the bandages around her side so she could move better, but almost as if Lucifer had predicted she would do this, they had been tied tightly to prevent her from messing it. "I'll do better next time, Lucifer, I p-promise -"

"Calendar says otherwise. There won't be a next time, soon enough I'll have to get Eurydice out." Lucifer cut, eyes unmoved from the reading. "I will have to make do with your current power level."

Crushed by her failure, Cerah sunk her eyes in her hands, feeling like she could cry. "R-right… there's no more time left, then. I f-failed to become a Gold Rank." The thought of the Eagle Paladin getting further and further away from her reach made her eyes swell with tears.

The Specter did not entertain her sobbing, though. He put down his fountain pen and tossed her a set of books from his shelf entitled 'Telescopes and Refraction', "Breathing and Footing" and "The History of Cosmos."

"Here, get these inside your skull. You need to correct your transition from 'Light Step' to 'Prismatic Shot'. Too much energy is wasted when you rearrange the ray angles and then you can't even focus them properly into a powerful strike. The endurance loss is obscene."

She saw the thickness of the books and her head could just shake with the stress of having to memorize it all. "I… but this is so much! I can't -"

Being an avid reader himself, Lucifer took no pity on her. He pointed at her eyes. "If you combine the theory of 'Emission Lens', where you can create a contact lense for processing cosmos as light in your eyes, to your attack steps you should be able to find a way to vastly improve control you have over light rays. Use diagonal reading if you must to just get the gist of the theory and then start practicing."

Cerah literally banged her forehead on the covers, frustrated to the brink of a breakdown. No bookmarks, no breaks, no emotional strength left. "I don't know how much more effort I can bring to this. I wish I did." The last four months alone she felt like she had gone through a whole library and now she loses another test spar and has to learn a whole other new set of theories? For another slight increase in skill? She felt like she could just rip her own hair out.

There was really a great deal of humbling in all of this. One of the first things she learned about Lucifer when Daese first dropped her off was how ridiculously powerful and important the man before her was. Cerah had been punched, kicked, whipped around and insulted more than she could count in her sparring sessions with the Dark Prince and her confidence in herself had been broken by the Specter many times.

And then there was all the training she would have to do while disguised as another mook Skeleton Soldier. If the Specters found out that the Celestial Star of Pride was harboring a Cyrulian refugee, Goddess only knew what kind of attacks she would be subject to. So on top of the brutal lifestyle she would have to endure no meaningful friendships in the land of the dead and eternal night.

Honestly, the prospect of stopping Daese barely got her through the day. Or night. Or however months were measured in a place with no sun.

"How am I still sane, really?" she wondered, the thought of it almost sparking a strange chuckle in herself.

Maybe all of her basic teenage impulses had just been beaten the hell out of her by training, it was hard to tell. In fact, it was hard to say if anything about her upbringing by the Specter's side had been any sort of normal or just a blur of repeated humiliations in sparring, tests, being told not to leave the 4th Circle's premises and trying to figure out what the heck was the matter with the five hundred year old warrior standing next to her.

She decided, however, this was no time to wallow and got off the bed, burning her Light element cosmos into a slight aura. When she first unlocked her energy, Lucifer immediately drilled her into learning how to keep it concealed so, despite being the element of Light, the actual shine of her energy was just a slight layer of white over her skin and armor.

Lucifer stood back and allowed her to test-fire at will.

"This isn't the time to be all depressed, it's time to see if the defeat helped out at all," and with a sudden burst of energy she punched and kicked the air a few times at supersonic speed, letting out weak pale shockwaves as the air was ripped apart, and performed a number of air attacks on an invisible target as far as the enclosure of Lucifer's quarters allowed her to. The red eyed Specter observed an elegant dance of refined punch throwing and leg swinging empowered by the grace of the light element, leaving faint trails of yellow and white as a series of acrobatic attacks were executed without moving outside her initial position.

To finish the demonstration she leaped over the Specter, landed on his flank and punched his dark aura with a warcry, letting her energy clash with his in a violent spark of opposite natures. She saw him unmoved but took no discouragement from it, instead retreating to a more relaxed pose, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

The power she trained so hard to accumulate was burning, letting a vitalizing strength course through her veins, and the soreness of her wounds alleviated just as the frustrations in her mind were let out in an exhale. Upon concentrating really hard, the image of a crow slowly opening its wings overlapped with her body protectively. It felt reassuring, as if the Crow Cloth itself had actually been put on.

And as the circle of exercise was complete, already a slight increment of energy rise compared to before the spar could be felt, perhaps less than one percent, but still something. When she reopened her eyes this triggered a sudden flux of happiness in knowing that, despite all the endless hard work, a potential had been seized within the fighter.

She turned to the Prince, tightening her fist. "Even if I can't fight a Gold Saint, I can pull my weight in a fight now, I know it. Pretty soon I'll be able to make a difference with Daese, too." A confident smile filled her face. "Not bad for just four years of training, right, Prince Lucifer?"

"I was killing Golds with just two."

Her face froze stupidly and the floor seemed to sink beneath her feet. "You asshole!…"

Lucifer looked at her like she was a dumb kid and chuckled maliciously. "Of course if you have a problem with my judgement, you can just walk into Sanctuary whining about wanting to beat Shion to a pulp with nothing to defend yourself with but a light show?"

At that precise moment her instinct was to kick his face through the wall. "I don't know what I expected, really; trying get a training compliment from Lucifer is like asking Hera to give up her purse." Cerah bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. "You talk as if I act like I want to fight the entire Zodiac, though."

Lucifer scoffed. "Do you not? Which part exactly, Héloise, of your intentions do not involve this?"

Cerah looked away angrily. Lucifer calling her by her last name like a drill sergeant always drove her insane. "Well, for starters, my problem isn't with the Gold Saints, it's with the Pope."

Red eyes rolled. "Oh, stop acting naive."

"Okay, I know they're his bodyguards, but…" She felt like ripping up something again. It wasn't like she was unaware what odds she was facing. "If I think about how I have to beat twelve of them to get to the Pope, how am I supposed to believe I can accomplish any of this? That's just not feasible!"

"Yes, it's almost like you're not really keeping your eye on the ball." Lucifer sighed. In reality he wanted Cerah to give up this stupid fantasy of changing Daese's mind by getting rid of the person she hated so much. "What good is it getting someone ready to fight if it's not for me? I should have told Priam to shove it."

"Lucifer, if you didn't believe I could pull this off, why are you willing to entrust Eurydice to me?!" she bit back.

Lucifer blinked, taken aback for the first time, but he acted dismissive to her question, walking away as if she had made an unimportant point.

Her gaze still followed him, knowing she would not get a straight answer but still feeling like she had this stuck in her throat for years. "I'm… having a hard time understanding how on one hand you seem confident that not only I can protect the Nymph, but it's my duty to you, but then…" She shook her head and smiled sadly. "You're not going to answer me, right? It's fine… I'm used to it."

The Daemon stared back somberly, the tone of her voice tightening his heart. It wasn't in his nature to mistreat the opposite gender and it wasn't like he really resented the kid. Not really. Above all people and especially due to his condition as the ageless Dark Prince of Hades, Daemon Lucifer appreciated seeing growth in others, a welcome change to the Specters who directly inherited their powers through the Surplices. Even if he cut the fightress down to size, seeing her reach even this modest level in skill and power in hard work had endeared her to him.

But as of that moment Eurydice's safety was more important to him than anything else.

"I have my own unanswered questions, Cerah, for example what do you care about what's going on outside?" Lucifer countered. "You are not part of Priam's rebellion, your sister made very sure of that, and humans don't concern themselves with suffering and hunger and raping in the world when they have a warm bed and food to sleep in Sanctuary, it's part of why Hades wants them exterminated and tortured to begin with. So why are you so anxious to throw yourself at Sanctuary's jaws?"

"How could I not care, especially when you're helping me get all this strength?!" she confessed, grabbing her own throat as if she felt a noose on it. "Every year I spend here I see more dead people walk through that road and it feels like a hole grows bigger in my stomach. Every year I see Hades coming up with harsher punishments for them and more and more it feels like life has no meaning and there's a guillotine above my neck that I can't see! What do you expect me to feel like, Lucifer?!...That I'm just fine sticking around here?!"

The older, larger warrior lowered his chin and gaze, wordless for the first time.

"People on the outside die and fall in these Prisons by the millions. They roll rocks up the hills for having stepped on flowers. Not even the Specters are safe from them." she continued, pointing at the window. "And at the same time these insane people, Saints, Specters, whatever, go around making everything even worse."

Lucifer waved his hand to invite her to continue. "Yes, and?"

Her green eyes looked away, humid. "And my sister thinks what happened to Cyrulia is more important? ...To the point of leaving me here. It drives me crazy."

The Pride Star scoffed. "...You must have a lot of nerve to make that argument to the leader of all Specters,"

Something about himself must have really warmed him up to the girl over the years, since she had no hesitation in retorting like this. "I don't think who you are ends at that…. I hope."

Lucifer rolled his crimson eyes. "I'm not a softheart like you," he assured. The room got darker suddenly as his energy manifested. "I'm Daemon Lucifer, the Left Arm of Hades, the Celestial Star of Pride, not the Terrestrial Star of Sympathy! The people of the world… don't make me laugh. I have my differences with Hades, yes, but the people on the surface don't deserve or want any help, Héloise. And some of them would do brutal things to you just for showing your vulnerability. Just let them die in the crossfire."

A newfound bravery to face the devil surged in her when her values were put in question. "That's a li-" she saw his eyes suddenly sharpen and in a Pavlovian reaction she eep'ed and rephrased. "I-I mean, it's not accurate!" she worded, a bit self-conscious at how flowery it was but being very well aware that even referring to Lucifer with the word 'lie' was an invitation to a front row face blasting. "Tell me, what is wrong with at least wanting to do some good?"

"Do you even know what exact good you want to do? That's precious coming from someone who can't even keep her haircut straight."

Something snapped her eyes wide and her whole head went red, her jaw dropped and the urge to look at the mirror was fought with all her might. Her fingers frantically touched her head like she felt a bug in it. "W-what?! What's wrong with my h-hair! How could you say that?!"

"How? I'm the Prince of Hades, I say whatever I please."

"I'm t-trying to have a serious conversation!"

He pointed at her golden forehead bangs "I noticed you shortened your hair just a bit cause it kept bothering you with your headpiece last spar, right?" he pointed out, completely ignoring her. "And then you waved your hair, it looks really good with your headpiece's sharp wings. Brings out your eyes and cheeks. Nice work. You look… more like a woman. I like it."

Her head felt like a volcano and her eyes like whirlpools as she touched the strands, thinking back to all the time she spent figuring out how to get her hair to fit elegantly within the Corvus Cloth winged headpiece without cutting it too much. "...Thank you, y-yeah, I figured I would try for a-"

"But you really need to stop light-crafting your own scissors if you want it to keep off those yellow rag edges." The mere twist caused the girl to have a visible breakdown, her face freezing into a red tomato and sinking into her hands. "Getting someone else to cut them for you probably wouldn't hurt, either."

"Y-YOU!..." Her cosmos began burning slightly in vexation alone.

Lucifer smirked smugly. "By the Gods, I can see the Gold Saints shaking in their boots already."

She covered her own mouth to not let the biggest insult in her life come out. "YOU ABUSIVE… I could… rip off your cape and feed it down your throat!"

The Dark Prince walked over to the window where he could see the Underworld. He saw the many Skeleton Soldiers and Specters working around in the Underworld. "If I had a penny…"

"For what? Every girl you've treated like dirt?!"

The spike in language aggression only proved his point further in his mind. "No, for every stupid kid who thought walking through the Zodiac would be a tour. I wish adults would have more sense about it and they don't, so it drives me up the wall to see, after half a millenium, that people still think they can accomplish what Hades hasn't with just their amazing determination." He gritted teeth. "I would laugh at it if it hasn't left me so goddamn sad."

The fightress finally felt her consciousness hammering her head, cooling it down. She had been by Lucifer's side for almost half a decade as of then, doing nothing but getting constantly reinforced with what a special case warrior he was. Sometimes however, the Prince would fall into these bouts of cynicism, like the many cases of failure he had witnessed would rush back to his brain.

And these moments made her question his motives. "Then… why did you accept to take me in?" she asked herself. "Why me of all those people if you think I'll just fail?"

"Put on your disguise. We're going for a walk."

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Struggling to keep up with the Dark Prince in the hard to breathe in Skeleton Soldier helmet, Cerah followed the silver-haired warrior up the rock ledge by the Giudecca Palace from where they could see a number of the Prisons.

She took it off, grabbed the mouth protection and burned her cosmos, light-crafting the piece into a new version with tiny imperceptible orifices she could breathe better through, a trick she learned in her more recent studies. Then she dispersed them ever so slightly so as to make the black colored piece grow softer in tone, obtaining a more pleasant looking design and markings. She smiled happily, feeling always satisfied with new additions to her -

"Put that damn thing back on and come here!" Lucifer pointed at the men in armor working left and right and the roaming corpses littering the offside of the Road of Hades. "What do you see?"

She hesitated, for the answer seemed way too obvious. "Hades' army. And the dead."

"Why don't you put your 'Emission Lenses' on and try that again?" suggested the proud prince, folding his arms like an annoyed teacher.

Though a bit frustrated with his theatrics, Cerah obeyed, encompassing her eyes with the makeshift lenses of cosmos that allowed her to see through illusions. A second observation revealed a number of details not visible to the naked eye, like burning chains around the bodies of the seemingly free undead, the black sludgy cosmos of the Surplices choking unsuspecting Specters by the throat and the shine of the Terrestrial and Celestial Stars shining with strange brightness.

That same shine and black cosmos seemed to be coursing everywhere else, through the road, the mountains, the valleys, the edges of Cocytos and even the Palace of Giudecca itself, whose towers, stairs and wooden gates seemed creepier than ever to her when filled with the deathly energy of the eldest son of Kronos. It all resonated with such synced pulsation, such similar heartbeat, that the disparate spells and entrapments of cosmos all seemed like parts of a single massive living creature that nobody could really detect.

She looked at her own gauntlet, a simple disguise she fabricated with Light-Craft skills, and even it seemed to be caught in this cobweb of death, enwrapped in a layer of coursing invisible constricting strength like a cuff around her wrist.

"I see the power of Hades at work," she guessed. Her shining green eyes turned in particular to the many Specters engulfed by it. "I see a whole army of powerful warriors with His dagger on their hearts. It's like a series of curses… honestly a bit terrifying."

Lucifer snapped his fingers. "This gesture is all it takes… for Hades to instantly annihilate his own forces, including me." He then smiled in mock of his own fate. "I have the most freedom out of all the Specters, having the most power and usefulness to Hades of course, but let's say I have plenty of unseen motivation to use all of it to destroy Sanctuary. Do you think the Zodiac still stands for lack of me trying? And you think you can take on the place that has held him at bay for thousands of years?"

She looked away, fist tightening in frustration. "I understand… but what would you have me do, then? Please… don't just shut me down like always, give me an honest answer." she begged, making an honest effort to keep her frustration discrete. "Daese is fixated on having revenge. She won't even listen to me, her family."

"It won't shock you, but I know Shion, Cerah." Lucifer calling her by the first name robbed her of her fit, surprising a gesture as it was. "He's not the nice old grandpa sitting by the fireplace most people imagine him to be; he's a former warrior of the Lost Canvas War and he led the Saints in the Third Civil War. Forget about the Gold Saints themselves; Shion isdangerous. I know because I fought him. At his prime! I know what he can do and what names he's willing to cross off."

He gave his speech respite to let his point hammer her head, to remind her of the difference between their two powers and what this meant in the context of Lucifer's statement. It was enough to leave her in ashamed silence. He imagined she probably needed some exact figure to fully drive it home.

Lucifer continued. "Sanctuary's foot forces surpass our own by a factor of three. This is because they have Poseidon and their own little traitors to worry about, too. They also have better fortresses and their shock troops use spears instead of harvesting tools." A small cynical chuckle was let out. "And while there are more Specters than Saints, that difference hasn't meant much when the Gold Saints step on the field and wipe out 90% of our army by themselves. It's really only by the virtue of cheating with a barrier that cuts your power to a tenth that the Underworld hasn't been overrun more often. The Lost Canvas defeat was a cakewalk compared to some of the scenarios I've drawn up. Cerah, do I really need to say more? I don't mean to discourage someone who wants to shove a pike up Shion's butt, but the minute you see the Golden Zodiac's stairs alone that little bravado of yours will melt like butter."

Cerah turned off her Emission Lenses and walked away, feeling completely without argument against her foolishness. "Then why do you keep fighting?" she asked, an honest yearning to know in her tone. "If your Holy Wars are so darn hopeless, why did you take Priam's deal?"

He folded arms. "I have bigger problems than Sanctuary to concern myself with."

"...What?! You've just been speaking about how big an issue they are!"

"The arrangement between Priam and I is ultimately a game of power, not an alliance. I have no intention to help him change Sanctuary and he has no intention to help a Specter take it over, either," he explained, calculistic."I'm really just interested in whatever assets he can give me for my own purposes like you; an off-grid expendable to help me smuggle Eurydice out of here," he suggested.

She frowned exasperatedly. "Probably the nicest thing he could say to someone who hasn't beaten him in a fight." Something escaped her, though. "Okay, alright, I get that I can't let this task get over my head… but why the concern for Eurydice, then? Isn't taking her out of here enough to set you at ease?"

With the cards finally on the table, the mood shifted in the Prince, his stern expression shifting to a more comprehensive one. His hand reached inside the collar of his Surplice and took out a picture showing the blonde Nymph smiling.

"Take a guess of how old it is?"

Cerah tried to judge it based on the quality, what she knew about Lucifer's age and the fact it was colored. "Ummm… maybe 1920s or 1930s? It's a photograph, so..."

His head shook. "This was from 1753, taken on her 1000th anniversary." he saw her face widen her green eyes in shock. "Hades' last vessel was an extremely talented painter and his drawings were borderline photographic. Eurydice looks the exact same today."

The revelation of the age made her blink. Eurydice, the Nymph that Lucifer want Cerah to escort, was approximately three times older than the seemingly timeless Specter himself.

Lucifer carefully guarded the picture back inside his Surplice. "As you've so often commented in the past, I'm an old bat, Cerah, so I have a slightly different perspective on life than you do. It can't really be helped; living for centuries upon centuries upon centuries takes its toll."

While not unsympathetic, Cerah sighed in exasperation. She didn't understand what Lucifer was getting on to with this. "Yes, but… what does it matter to my task? You've been training me to fight off the Specters and the Saints, right?"

His eyes narrowed. "No, I've been training you to give your life for her."

Cerah widened eyes and gulped, beads of sweat forming in her face. All she had to do was get the Nymph past Peloponnesia. Was this kind of sternness really warranted? She almost wanted to ask if the Nymph was worth that much to him, if Cerah didn't have the feeling it would warrant a punch to the face, instead.

But as if he read this question on her face, Lucifer elaborated anyway, grabbing his own chin pensively. "Cerah… when you live as long as I am, you see a lot of people around you go away… in a number of ways." he explained, recalling his life and the shadows that have gone by it. "When they die young… you kind of don't register it. Not really. Even if it hurts a lot, you always end up realizing it's a natural part of life. Their end makes sense."

Sensing a strange openness in his voice, Cerah got the feeling she was experienced something off, like a one-in-a-time event, being shared something Lucifer did not partake with anyone else. This was because she had never detected in his voice this particular kind of frankness, always hearing it tempered by a form of snide or else. All of her senses went full alert and she stayed quiet, feeling afraid to sully whatever he was getting to.

"But then… people start dying of old age… asking you with their dying breath why you still look the same as when the two of you were still kids." the Daemon continued. "It's an interesting thought at first, it kinda gives you a sensation of power, but then all of a sudden you can't really reason with yourself anymore, assuming it all will make sense. It doesn't. The naturality of the process has completely escaped you, and everything about what just happened is just wrong. And when the light goes out in their eyes, you find out about a strange new pain you didn't even imagine your heart was capable of before."

She stared curiously. "A… new pain?"

Lucifer looked at the horizon, imagining it. "Yes. Like an abyss. Not in your heart for whatever you felt for that person, but in your soul, like it's always been standing right in front of you and you only noticed it then." he described. He walked around a bit, a bit lost in his own thoughts. "When you see it first, you don't really understand it, cause you've lived a long life and everything seemed normal until then. Pretty soon, though, your perception of people around you starts to change. They feel less like people, even less like objects…"

The analogy made her lose his train of thought. "What could a person possibly seem like below an object?"

His eyes gazed somberly. "Shadows. Dust. Meaningless talking birds that pass right by you like a breeze and just don't tick your counter at all." He saw her gulp. "Yes, Cerah, even family. Even friends. If you live as long as I have, even Daese would be lost in your memories, and when you meet new people that loss changes this experience, too. Nothing remains in your heart about them because your heart just learns not to attach itself."

Once again, she hesitated deeply to ask about it. It felt like sacrilege, like infringing on a sacred knowledge no other human had, not to mention she had never seen Lucifer be so open about a personal pain like this before. So hard was she conditioned to see this man as the hardboiled black-shelled egg that provided her with the instincts and training of a warrior that it all seemed so bizarre that he would happen to have regrets and fears.

"It took me a while to figure it out what was wrong." Lucifer resumed "But it should have been pretty obvious; I was growing apart from my mortality." He then touched the Daemon chestplate that he wore, which was marked by the red painting of a threatening demon head growling at you. "My Daemon Surplice provides me with eternal youth, not immortality, Cerah, so I had forgotten that, lacking the mind of a god, I would experience their longevity through the perspective of a growing creature. A decaying creature. Not in body, which is frozen, but in what makes us human, the capacity to feel and empathize. I was mortal... yet I was not. And this paradox would cast me down a valley of shadows for all eternity."

Things started clicking in her head about his personality and attitude, things she had never gotten an answer for. "Is that… why you don't care about mankind? Or even about the Specters and Hades?" she ventured. "I… how do you stay sane through that, then?"

"Because I was blessed with something unexpected, and this is where I get to your task." revealed Lucifer. "A number of anchors, of lighthouses in the rough seas, a handful of people who, like me, either felt the passage of time with the same perseverance, never ageing, or simply returned in cycles with the same personalities, the same soul, sometimes even the same names, have helped me keep believing that a life with others had meaning." His red eyes then looked down sadly. "They became more than shadows, more than specks of dust. They became people in my life."

It dawned on her. "Eurydice… the bride of Thanatos…she means that much to you? I…"

"When I was a youth and got my Surplice, she was just someone I was attracted to because of her looks, her exoticism and the fact she was my hated mentor's wife. Over the centuries, though, she became something far more valuable..." he explained. "Her dreams, her desires and her fears became important to me, and before I knew it, she had become one of the precious few things that time had not plucked away," he gestured a vicious hand grab.

She thought back on all the indifference she had felt in his words and actions over the years, only matched by his immense strength. Of course he would be this way. How could a person who lived through ages instead of lives be anyway else?

"Ah, ah- how stupid of me, right? I had no idea…" her head lowered shamefully "Is there really no one else?"

"Dark Angel Michael is gone, most of the Specters die every Holy War and Pandora's heart is still chained by the Gods. Sure, Lord Hades remains on his throne, like always, but what bridge do humans really have with Olympians? Everyone else is my enemy, like Shion," he pointed out. "Some people believe that the worth of your life is measured by those who love you. Personally, as the Celestial Star of Pride, I prefer to distance myself from such sappy thoughts. The brutal truth, however, remains that there is little joy in seeing the passage of time and your own growth when everything around you keeps dying."

Her head lowered, humbled, and something changed in her mind about the way she perceived the Specter in front of her. A new weight was added to his presence, like the pain he shared made him a bigger figure, someone she felt as more real. She tried to picture it; living for half a millennium while everything around you had the relative lifespan of a pet. Fighting through two holy wars and being asked by your God to lead the troops in battle, to defend the Underworld.

Even though no sympathy was shared with people that made a living out of torturing the dead and killing the innocent, it didn't seem fair to hold the Dark Prince by the same standard. Most importantly, it suddenly felt like something far more precious was, apparently, being entrusted to her; the life of the nymph, Eurydice, the last anchor in the timeless Specter's life.

Cerah's stomach began to tighten. It felt like a bright, precious light in her hand, a tiny star that could be plucked away with the slightest tremor and that yet she was being asked to carry with her to safety. How could she accept it? How could she do it? The feeling of how weak she was intensified and her makeshift goal of killing the Pope all of a sudden seemed truly and honestly ridiculous.

"Of course I cannot expect you to understand why it matters to me, Cerah. You are still fourteen after all. You haven't even met Eurydice." he admitted. "If you feel like your desire to end the Pope so you can shock Daese's system is more important, I don't really judge you too harshly for it, but… the one person I still value in this world wants to leave, and I can't do more for her than come up with a plan to get her out safely." He then shouted and punched a rock off the cliff, startling her. "I CAN'T… even with all of my strength, do that stupid little thing for her…because I have to stay and fulfill my destiny."

"N-no, I don't mean that... Lucifer…if all of that is true -" she tried to formulate her sentence, but the feeling of her own petty goal being crushed under the weight of her trainer's dream was blurting her words. "I don't understand why… I can't do this! I can't take the responsibility for someone…that's so important to you! What if I screw up? What if I can't protect Eurydice, even if I give my all, my life for her?" Her eyes trembled in shame and began to feel wet. "What if a whole squadron of Gold Saints capture us, or Thanatos himself? You have powerful Specters, like Judge Uriah. W-why did you choose me?!"

He saw the sudden terror in her, realizing what was on her mind, but rather than saying something mean like always to snap her out of it, Daemon Lucifer just placed a hand on her shoulder and calmly looked her in the eye.

"Don't worry… I trust you." he simply muttered, eyes soft. Silence from her. "And I wouldn't pass this on to anyone else who I haven't spent four years preparing for it. I know what you can do. I know it better than you do. It's why I've spent these last four years calling your stupid original plan to kill Shion the most ridiculous thing I ever heard. And even if I spend another four years telling you that you can't get to your sister, I would never lie and say that you can't protect Eurydice. Never."

The impact of this was like a blunt blow, the kind that made you think you lost track of time. Memories of years of living with this force of nature of a Specter combined themselves with the blunt admission of trust in her to utterly overwhelm Cerah's expectations. It wasn't a supernatural sensation or a cosmic one like the many mental messages and trade of energies that two people with burning cosmos could have, yet, to her, who had known Lucifer for so long as the demon of the Underworld, the reliance placed on her felt so strong it struck like a sword to the heart.

Cerah froze. Her heart skipped a beat. The terror in it melted away and a warm sensation filled it up like boiling water. She couldn't even move her fingers and two streams of tears rolled down her cheeks from her green eyes. She nodded determinedly and vowed out loud to see her mission through and Daemon Lucifer then and there knew that the young girl would now truly give her life for her cause.

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Present Time

Germany (Bavaria)

Hades's Earthly Castle Outskirts

{======================\(/\)/======================}

The sun blazed outside the fortress, a rare event in a castle that was usually shrouded by black clouds. The guard in Hades' fortress on earth was light at the time on account of the ceremonies occurring in the Underworld to welcome Thanatos and Hypnos. Corvus and the Nymph made their way through the shadows and crossed the bridge. Cerah carried Eurydice so they could make use of her superhuman speed, burning as little cosmos as possible so as to not raise alerts.

Arriving at the dark forests in the hillslopes that acted as natural buffers to the fortress, Cerah stopped her blitzing movement and gently dropped the Nymph, looking back with a pant at the frying pan they just escaped from.

She looked her over quickly for signs of harm. "Are you okay, Miss Eurydice? That was a bit of a rush to sneak outside through the rampants and the fire blazes, so…"

The nymph waved her hand reassuringly. "I'm perfectly fine, thank you. I didn't even sense the danger."

Cerah sighed in relief. "Thank goodness, alright, I think they didn't spot us either. We made it outside," she chuckled comfortingly. "But the scary part isn't over yet, we still have to get past Peloponnesia, into Sanctuary territory."

She shook her head. "I'm not scared. Lucifer trusted you with me, so I know you can protect me, Cyrulian," she addressed, having figured out her powers from their encounter with Torak. She sensed a change in her mood, though. "Did I say something wrong?"

Cerah rolled back her frustration and reassured her. "Oh, no no no, I know you don't mean anything. Please don't call me Cyrulian, though, I'm just Cerah, seriously," she looked back at the bleak castle, where the Skeleton Soldiers unsuspectedly carried out their bored patrols.

The nymph stood quiet in contemplation. She then felt her own head light and grabbed the forehead. "I… guess I need a moment to adapt to this place."

"Well, I didn't want to sound too proud of ourselves, but we may be the first in a while to be able to brag about breaking out of hell. I wish it set me at ease," she saw Eurydice distanced herself from the castle on her own and her instincts kicked in. "Wait, Miss Eurydice, it's not-..."

"It will be fine, Cerah, the Skeleton Soldiers' cosmos are relaxed. They haven't been alerted of anything," the nymph explained. She touched a tree's trunk. "Besides… I have never walked this earth, I want to feel what's different about it, even if just for a small second."

While she had the initial impulse to refute this, Cerah forgot about it pretty quickly when she realised that she, herself, was once again setting foot on Earth. It had been four years since those green eyes had seen the sun. Looking all around her, she remembered the feeling of the healthy ground beneath her feet and the warmth of the sun rays. How could she forget about it?

It was in this moment of pause that Cerah began noticing the nymph herself, to whom she had barely exchanged a conversation with back in the Asphodel Meadows.

Eurydice was truly an out of the ordinary creature to the eye; not only was she stunningly beautiful with her long hair, the delicate face features, the impeccable skin, small nose and the graceful smile in her thin lips (to the point it made the teenage girl uncomfortable with how unfair it was) but there was something really eye catching about her movements and presence.

She walked through the leaves and grass of the forest with a strange mesmerising grace, as if her sandaled feet had no weight to make noise on the blades and branches. The blowing wind seemed to hit her hair gently as if afraid to mess it up while the falling leaves deposited in her clothes without sticking, as if a delicate aura emanated from the garment. Even when she touched the branch to feel the texture she did so with a gentle approach of the tip of her fingers, barely moving the object yet interacting with it anyway.

The fightress widened her eyes when she realised the reason for it. It hadn't been noticed at the castle cause of all the commotion with Torak and even earlier at the Asphodel Groves the Nymph acted so naturally it went practically unseen. "Miss Eurydice, I didn't notice this before, but…" Cerah's eyes widened. "Miss, is something wrong?"

The Nymph winced and leaned on a tree, feeling her vision blurring. "W-what?! What's wrong with me?!"

Oh, oh, Eurydice, my darling, did you think you could just leave? I don't know how you sneaked from the Underworld, but you're not getting away without a goodbye present.

Cerah stared at her in a panic, sensing something was terribly wrong. "M-miss, seriously, what's wrong?! Tell me how can I help?"

But the Nymph herself did not understand what was going on and let out a sudden shout of pain, grabbing her eyes. "T-Thanatos?!... N-no, it couldn't have been him?!" She stared at the grass blades, seeing them doubling and dancing in blurs. She gasped in fear when a very familiar smile flashed in her very mind, like a transmitted thought. "H-HADES?! H-How?"

The younger girl grabbed her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes, trying to keep the nymph calm. "It's okay, d-don't worry, just tell me what you're feeling!"

"I… my eyes!" Eurydice tried to stay focused on the green-eyed warrior, but she then screamed out loud and closed them. "AGHH, THEY HURT! He's b-burning them!"

Cerah gasped in horror, tears forming in her own orbs as she felt completely helpless to save her protected one despite all her training. She held the struggling Nymph closely, trying to protect her from whatever was attacking her, but Eurydice just kept on wailing in pain.

With a gesture discrete enough for the castle not to detect, she supersped the two of them further away from Hades' domain and gently dropped the Nymph on her feet. Her hands burned with light cosmos and, though she had no idea what to do with it, Cerah held the Nymph so the aura would emanate into her, calming her down.

As soon as she did this, a darkness assaulted her in her mind, causing the girl to yelp in fear, her training being the only thing keeping her hands on the Nymph. Whatever curse was attacking Eurydice was now reacting to Cerah's cosmos, and the young girl saw a wave of shadows run her over, the howls of ghouls amongst the waves.

Eventually, a pair of pale, white eyes opened in the source of the shadows, meeting her green gaze, and Cerah felt paralyzed to her core like an ancient creature of evil was staring right through her soul. The feeling of tentacle-like shadows then started creeping up around her arms and legs, as if the malevolent entity's next victim had been chosen.

But the girl narrowed her eyes in fury instead of fear. "Y-you… you're a curse from Hades, like the ones I saw holding everyone in the Underworld! I won't let you get away with this!" Though terror filled her up, the cosmos of Light burned around her, reforming her aura into a blazing spectacle of upward-flowing rays, making her hair wave up and her muscles tighten. Her fist clenched, her eyes narrowed, her whole body sweated, trembled and felt like turning to pudding from the pale eyes' seemingly endless depth, like two abysses.

The aura around her hand burst, turning it into a large star of fierce light, the image of a crow cried out in the background and her fist moved through the illusion "PRISMATIC SHOT - TIMES ONE HUNDRED!" The punch thrust through and exploded into dozens and dozens of blasting lasers of gold piercing through the darkness, tearing holes straight through the mist like rapid fire and shattering the black realm into collapsing glass.

{======================\(/\)/======================}

The wind blew away all around her with the force of the attack and they found themselves outside the terrifying curse. Cerah saw Eurydice gasp and fall to her knees, so she rushed over to her.

"E-Eurydice, it's okay, just look at me." She grabbed the nymph's face, but the black in her pupils was now the only thing still alive in it. Realising what was going on, the young girl cried silently.

She had already failed Lucifer.

And the last thing Eurydice saw before the entire world faded into black was the heartbroken look on Cerah's face. "Hades…It r-really was him. I g-guess I held on to too bright a hope. In the end, even Lucifer was unable to outwit him."

Ha, ha, ha, ha. Goodbye, Eurydice. You have earned your stay in the surface. I was initially going to take your soul after your eyes, but since you two resisted so bravely, I think I'll just keep your sight for now. Don't be sad; this way you won't get to enjoy any of the sights of Earth, so when you inevitably return to my world, your descent will feel like nothing at all.

The voice faded away and the tension she felt in the atmosphere disappeared, like an invisible spirit decided to depart. Eurydice then felt the shaking hands of her protector on her, distraught at the failure, so the nymph grabbed them tightly.

Cerah couldn't help but stare "My goddess, how could I have failed already?! Lucifer entrusted her to me…" Still, this only steeled her resolve to get them out of there without dallying.

With the grace of someone completely in comfort with her handicap, however, the Nymph smiled reassuringly. "You didn't do this to me, Hades did. I've been around with the Gods' cruelty for a while. I'm just thankful it was him instead of Thanatos. Cosmos and the touch will tell me all I need to know." Eurydice confessed, though the Crow girl was inconsolable. "My husband always had a strenuous relationship with his Dark Prince. He probably thought the chest was smuggling out something sensitive Lucifer didn't want the two of them to see. When Hades got me… I thought something much worse would happen. Luckily you were there to stop the curse or I'd be a dead husk by now."

The Corvus wiped her tears and helped the Nymph up. Of course, if Eurydice assured her of it, all Cerah could do was just keep protecting her. "Yeah, b-but… but now things will be much harder for you."

Eurydice tried to cheer her up. "Ha, ha, hey, I was ready to risk my life to flee my husband, so that's not frightening in the least." Her hands moved around, trying to get a hold of how to master her surroundings. "Hades is a God, an Olympian at that. Toying with others, even those in his army, is well known even amongst humans to be what he does in mythology. It wouldn't surprise me that he wouldn't say anything to Thanatos right away just for the amusement in seeing me crumble in the mortal world or how his own would react to the news."

Cerah nodded with determination "Y-yes, yes, of course…. though would Thanatos really do something worse than Hades if he found out?" She tried to chuckle sympathetically, but what just happened still was too harsh in her heart. "He s-sounds like someone oddly unconcerned with his missing wife's life."

Eurydice lowered her chin musingly. "Or one of his other Nymph lovers." There was a sudden discreet acidness in this that made Cerah gulp. Now the older woman's wish to get away from the Death God made a bit more sense. "Though I suppose this would beat the countless human slaves he would so hypocritically prey on every now and then."

This made Cerah halt in her tracks. "Human slaves? He… he would do that kind of thing?"

Eurydice's mouth let out an 'oh' "... I'm sorry, I… didn't keep in mind this was insensitive. I haven't spent a lot of time spent with humans outside the underworld, especially young ones, so I forgot you wouldn't know. I need to learn to be more aware of myself around humans from now on."

The few memories she had of Cyrulia burning, however, softened the blow by comparison. "Um, it's perfectly fine, really!" she reassured with a nervous smile. "In fact, now I sympathise with you wanting to get away from Thanatos so badly." Rather than dwell upon it, she decided to take a deep breath and assimilate it as a lesson for the future. Lucifer was right, even if she and her sister hated Sanctuary for what they did to their country, there were things more important than their petty revenge.

"I have bigger problems than Sanctuary to concern myself with."

"No, I've been training you to give your life for her."

The blind Nymph sensed a change in her spirit. "Did you have something else in mind to do on the surface?"

Cerah shook her head in humility. "I had… but not anymore. I think that rather than follow through with it, I'll keep my promise to Daemon and see for myself what kind of place Sanctuary is. Maybe there's some other way I can find there to get what I want."

Not knowing the escort Lucifer entrusted her to well enough to understand this, Eurydice instead took one last 'look' at Hades' fortress, sensing the direction it was in through the cosmos."Goodbye Thanatos. I wish I could say I feel sorry, but my love has long died off. At least take solace in the fact you've always taken more pleasure robbing the lives of others than enriching them, cause I won't be there anymore to do this for you."

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Austria - Peloponnesia Fortress

Commander Office

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Ionia loudly smashed his hand on his desk, making everyone in the room shake. "This is a disgrace to us all! A national humiliation OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!" he screamed. "I should pick up this phone and call Lord Capricorn to bring the legions on that blasted castle. Who does that woman think she is?!"

Cassiopeia Cynthia gently tried to point out the obvious. "The sister of Hades, God of the Underworld, so the pet of our archenemy… I don't think a rash attack will put any scratch on their gate, much less teach them a lesson, Commander Ionia."

Ionia pointed at the map where the fortress they stood on could be seen just southeast of Hades' castle. A series of red marks were placed between the two locations that showed the spots that the Bennu and Shaman attacked. "And you would have these STAND?! The fort of Ismara has been burned to the ground!"

If the Amazon didn't know Ionia so well by then and hadn't seen the man try to turn Alexis into a debt slave right in front of her, she would probably be impressed at how personally the tall, hawkish man was taking the tragedy.

"I would have all those deaths not go to waste. Commander, you know as well as I do that attacking that castle is suicidal. There's a barrier around it that cuts everyone's power level to a tenth. We fought two of the Specters at Arcadia and we had so much trouble without any of them being a Gold-Rank and having a field buff like that. It took a Gold Saint to arrive to solve the situation or otherwise goddess knows how many others could have died. I don't see how a punitive campaign could end in anything else but a second tragedy," she argued, much to the visible relief of the fortress soldiers around her.

Ionia waved his finger at her. "I knew you would be like this, Saint Cassiopeia. In fact I knew everyone in this fortification would lack the bravery and devotion to Athena to follow me on this," he then stood proudly, smiled and waved his hand at the door. "Which is why I called for a little help ahead of time."

Everyone turned to the two soldiers opening the door and, kneeling over so he could fit through, none other than Herakles Aguilon himself walked inside the office, standing like a Colossus even in the presence of the abnormally heightened Ionia. Sporting his Silver Cloth of pieces themed after objects of the hero's myth, he seemed fully ready for action.

Her mask nearly fell off. "Aguilon?!"

The giant waved. "Hey, Cynthia. How you doin'? I heard what happened. Too bad about all those villagers."

"I called Saint Aguilon here to obtain his invaluable assistance, knowing none of you useless vandals would support my operation." Ionia banged fist on chest in respect to the enormous veteran. "Saint Aguilon, unlike you all, is a real warrior, a man from the wars. He understands like I do the need to show the Specters that attacking Sanctuary will yield an unforgettable punishment! It's the only way they won't think about doing it again."

The Cassiopeia Amazon, however, would have none of it. "What?! Aguilon, what in Athena's name do you even expect to do? We can't just go storm the heart of the enemy's kingdom and not expect a catastrophe! Please tell me you know better than this!"

The Silver Saint chuckled and shrugged shoulders. "Sorry, Cynthia, but I'm taking Ionia's side on this. He's right that we can't let these attacks go on unpunished. It will send the wrong message to not only the Specters, but also the Black Saints sniffing around for weaknesses in us and even our own people who look to the Saints for protection."

"But not vengeance! Not reckless vendettas!" the poor Cassiopeia couldn't help raising her voice. "This isn't setting things right, it's irresponsible escalation. We have to let the Gold Saints decide the best course for action for now. Have we even notified the Pope of Pandora's response yet?"

The unmovable Commander sent her hopes crashing down. "We have not and we will not until we have more Specter's heads to tribute to the Goddess for these aggressions. My report on my first month in Peloponnesia will be of order and growth, not a humiliating fallback, or my name isn't Ionia!" he then turned to Aguilon, though even he had to look up to meet the eyes on the grey-haired scarred face. "Saint Aguilon, my orders are to commence an immediate assault operation on Hades' territory! Use whatever means at your disposal to make sure that woman regrets this day just as much as we regretted the fall of Arcadia and Ismara!"

Cynthia's fist closed so angrily she felt like she could throw it across Ionia's face right there and then. "You son of a bitch! You don't care about what happened to all those soldiers and villagers, you just want your record clean and get back at Pandora!" in the midst of her boiling hot rage she missed Iolia saluting Aguilon and the giant walking out the door. "AGUILON, WAIT!"

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Herakles Aguilon walked through the fortress' yard, whistling carefreely as countless men in arms around him trained, drilled, had lunch and basically went on with their daily lives in one of Sanctuary's most important outposts.

"SAINT AGUILON, YOU WAIT JUST A GODDESS-GIVEN MINUTE!"

He yelped like a bad dog and turned to face the Cassiopeia, whose mask almost melt its decorative paint away with how angry she looked. "Look, Cynthia, I-"

"YOU BE QUIET AND LISTEN TO ME, cause if you have the gall to walk out that gate like you walked out that office, I will call the entire Amazon village and we'll twist your elephant ears so hard we'll make baskets out of them!"

Everyone in the fort look at them and the Silver Saint's face to go into terror mode. "Alright, alright, let's not get excited, I'm just gonna-"

"Oh no you won't! Usually you go on your little hunting excursions with your Herculean Guard boys and I wouldn't bat an eye, but you didn't see the damage these people caused! These aren't some helpless Black Saints on some remote island base we're dealing with anymore. If Saint Andromeda and Pegasus hadn't been around to help me, the entire Austrian buffer region would have collapsed and we'd be buried to our noses in incinerated bodies. IONIA WOULDN'T EVEN NOTICE IT UNTIL THE STENCH GOT HERE, so don't you DARE take his word on this situation over mine!"

Aguilon blinked, loss at words. "Umm… okay, Cynthia, I'll take a minute to hear you out, but… " he then laughed and pointed hands pleadingly to the outside. "Let's be honest, we both know you're not gonna convince me out of this. I don't get too many chances to conduct attacks on targets as high profile as this. How can I pass off an adventure like that?!"

"Adventure?!..." the Amazon almost blew her mask off as hard as she exhaled. "Aguilon, please tell me you intended to do more than just walk up Hades' doorstep?!"

"As a matter of fact... I did." Aguilon nodded like he was trying to remind her about how he was a vastly more experienced Silver Saint and therefore obviously knew what he was doing. "I'm going to wait for the cover of the dark, pay a quick visit to their fortress, jump over the wall and snap the neck of anyone who isn't more than 10% as strong as me. Was going to steal some of their stuff too since they don't have any flags to burn. I'll be back before the dawn."

"I…" she tried to find words about how outrageous this was. "And you think that isn't gonna spark a new attack?! What if the Gods of Death and Sleep themselves are at that fortress just waiting for someone to do that sort of thing?!"

The Herakles Saint, however, had bad news for her, if his loud laugh was anything to go by. "HA, HA, HA, HA! Cynthia, Thanatos and Hypnos have been locked away for two centuries by now! They're gone! No one has had reason to worry about those two since the freaking Lost Canvas War. I bet I won't even run into a decent Judge."

"This is what's wrong with you assault mission Saints!" she yelled. "You never think about the consequences, do you? So long as someone in charge gives you the papers, you'd blast down a hospital filled with Black Saints in the middle of New York City!"

"Consequences?" Aguilon's tone lowered warningly. "Cynthia…. you know better than anyone what they did. The entire Ismara marque has been burned to cinders and put to the sword and you're telling me about consequences?"

"YES!" she screeched, though letting this single word echo everywhere seemed to be enough for her anger to subside and be replaced with self-aware embarrassment at being the screaming person everyone was looking at. "Aguilon… you know as well as I do how these Civil War veterans are. They're not concerned with casualties and justice. The most important thing to them is passing off to our enemies some weird territorial macho message."

Aguilon, being from the World War generation preceding that of the Civil War warriors, raised his brow. "Okay…"

"Ionia is not gonna stop at this cause, deep down, he knows Hades will just retaliate harder and give him the excuse he needs to be at the center role of some grand combat for Athena. You heard the guy; he hasn't even notified the Pope yet of his visit to the Castle!" she saw the giant rub his chin pensively and felt like she was touching a more convincing point. "If you carry this out, Hades will retaliate and Ionia's gonna report back to the Pope that Hades has attacked us again and without provocation. You couldn't get a worse blunder for peace in your hands if Hitler himself was on the helm. Are you really gonna let Ionia use you?"

Aguilon walked around a bit, silent. He looked up at the high tower of the fortress where Ionia's office was located and spotted the man himself glaring down at them from his window. "Daniel always said the reason he stopped doing missions was because he couldn't take how belligerent everyone in the business was. Ionia is one of Kirin and Akassius' most high-ranked warriors, though. He was recommended to this fortress. I don't like the look on the guy's face either, but it beats just letting what happened go unpunished."

Feeling like she wasn't going to hit a homerun, Cynthia instead pleaded. "Aguilon, please, help me stop this tragedy from being used to turn into a bloodbath. I've seen the looks on the faces of the people in this fortress. They're terrified and think war is going to come soon. There's even a girl who survived the Arcadia massacre who's looking at me every day asking if she'll be okay. No matter what we tell ourselves about how dangerous we Saints are, there's no telling how worse these Specters could be."

"Alright, alright, I get you…. tell you what… " he then whistled so hard everyone around, Cynthia included, winced, and a precise dozen of men packed in silver colored semi-Romanised armor marched right up to him. "Change of plans, Herculeans, you'll be involved in this operation after all. We'll be scouring the area around the fortress and capture anyone we find, demolish their sentries and establish an enclosure perimeter in the valley's entrances. As for the fortress itself we will be avoiding it, understood?!"

"YES, Lord Herakles!" they answered in unison, drumming their fabled Labor shields with spears.

He eyed the much shorter Cassiopeia. "This is all I can do, Cynthia. Even if Ionia is acting naughty the Pope will want something to be done anyway. The old man's not gonna let this incident make him look like he can't look after his own folk."

The blonde woman wasn't satisfied but she had to make due. "I guess I can sleep with that… thank you."

"Hey, no problem. I feel bad enough for you already for being in this spot with that guy. Give my regards to Guardnia if you pay any visit to Andromeda Island and let him know I insist he stops skipping Silver Saint meetings."

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Underworld

Third Prison

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Hypnos and Thanatos walked up the edge of the cliff overlooking the valley of the damned that rolled the rocks up the hills. Between the many repairs already complete, the twin gods saw the craters, the broken walls and the tears in the skies, evidence of a battle occurred two centuries earlier.

"By Hades, so it's true." exclaimed Hypnos, his golden eyes turning to the trio of humans following them closeby. "The Saints really did shatter the Underworld. And this is where the last battle occurred?"

"Yes, my Lords. In this site I fought Libra Dohko and Aries Shion," confirmed the silver-haired, red-eyed Specter, who noticed that Hypnos winced at the mention of Hakurei's student name. "But after a tremendous battle, Libra Dohko, resorting to the powers of his pagan Gods, destroyed the stability of the Prisons through this critical juncture."

"And you did not stop him?" asked Thanatos, clicking his tongue. "Very disappointed, Lucifer, I thought you were more reliable than this. I've mentored a useless clout."

The Daemon had prepared the answer for this, which included the years he spent making sure the Prisons were back to working order just to spite the Death God. But why risk a Tartarus Phobia at such an early stage?

Rhadamanthys seemed to have something to say. "It will be fine, Lord Thanatos. Once I obtain my surplice, I won't allow such disgraces to be repeated."

"Indeed, because the Specter that allows such repetition will be himself erased," assured the God, walking away.

Lucifer smirked when he saw Rhadamanthys regret his boast with a startled irk. "Hmph, see what happens? Don't worry, you'll rein that attitude of yours around me pretty quickly." he then saw the raven-haired girl keep staring at the undead as the rest walked away. "Lady Pandora?"

"So these are the undead… I had no idea they were so many." she commented, trying to look as far as she could see but spotted no end to the damaged Third Prison.

He walked up to her and gazed at the same horizon. "Lord Hades' realm is far vaster than this. We haven't even seen Cocytos yet." he saw her shiver. "Is something wrong? Does this dimension upset you? It's fine because-"

But with this shiver came a wide smile excitement. "Upset me? Absolutely not! I couldn't be happier. My brother, my god is the lord of a realm as vast as this dedicated to judging all souls. He decides the fate of all these sinners!" Daemon Lucifer widened his eyes but her answer continued. "I can't wait to see him, I MUST see him. He must be glorious!"

"He's really just a puppet on strings, but you wouldn't feel any different, would you?" he thought, sad. "Soon. In the meantime, Lady Pandora" he changed topic, and he noticed a strange addition of satisfaction in her smile at being called this "It's important that you get to know this world. I've been told, though, that you handled yourself rather well in the castle with the Saints."

Pandora seemed especially happy to discuss this. "Oh yes, I met one of their ridiculous commanders. He seemed to want reparations for some Specter attacks. Ridiculous, isn't it?"

"Not at all, milady." Lucifer answered straightly. "In fact, I fear you may have committed a mistake."

There was a cold shift in the air that manifested in her smile turning upside down and her purple eyes narrowing offendedly. In truth, Lucifer's remark was a water toe tip. Pandora had always been a domineering type, delighting in subjugating her enemies and seeing the Specters grovel at her feet. This was an attitude inspired by both her position and the degree with which she was hypnotized by Hades.

It seemed clear that the degree was quite strong. "A mistake?... What are you implying? I don't think putting Saints in their place is a mistake!"

Lucifer proudly fluttered his black cape as if to salient his Surplice. "It wouldn't be in the eyes of anyone else, but in the crimson eyes of Daemon Lucifer, commander of His forces, who must make decisions based on-"

"Crimson?" The young woman squinted, as if trying to see through her daltonism. " Your eyes are red? Why?"

Daemon paused, "... right, she can't see colors." he then explained. "Red eyes are the traditional sign of a curse, Lady Pandora. In my case, the curse of the Dark Princes." She looked at him as if to ask elaboration, and Lucifer immediately had to held back that it was a curse much like hers. "The Right and Left Arms of Hades have three tasks to which we are bound by the Lord's spell, in exchange for the honors he has given us."

She seemed intrigued. "Oh, I see, so like a deal with the Devil?" Pandora saw the Gods distancing. "I will forgive your insolence for now… if you explain to me later what exactly those are."

He bowed gently. "Of course, milady." He then turned thoughts to melancholy. "A small price to pay to rouse your interest in anything other than your brother."

A shadow by him then suddenly started moving and took the shape of Nasu Erika, his spy. "Lord Lucifer, the Nymph has made it outside. The others don't suspect a thing."

A weight lifted from his heart. "Good to know, keep shadowing them until they leave the area. And don't let yourself be sensed by Thanatos."

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Two Hours Later

Giudecca Palace

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Gryphon Uriah, leading a small group of loyal Specters welcomed the group of the two gods to the set of large wooden doors, opening it for them. "Come in, Lord Hades awaits you all."

Daemon Lucifer gave him a 'follow us' nod as he passed by while the two gods and the raven-haired girl ignored him entirely. When the young uni-browed English teenager passed, however, he gave Uriah a look over. "You're one of the three Judges?"

Uriah nodded humbly. "Indeed I am, Rhadamanthys."

But the boy was nowhere near as considerate, even scoffing to the insulted shock of the other lower Specters. "You're no Judge, you're a pariah, but it is fine because you won't last long in those shoes."

The men loyal to the Gryphon practically revolted at this. "WHAT?! Take that back, you brat!"

"Who the hell do you think you are?!"

Another stepped forward with a raised fist. "I'll teach you a manner or tw-"

But a furious energy was then unleashed from the boy's body without a second though. Rhadamanthys' golden eyes narrowed and a sudden flare of his dark purple aura emerged around him, sending the temperature dropping and the angry men into a terrified gasp. As if presented with nightmares, terrified thoughts surged to their brains in the presence of an unseen screeching winged beast. Gryphon Uriah himself had to step between Rhadamanthys and his own men before the threat could manifest.

The Judge eyed the young teenager fearlessly, even though the power he felt made all sorts of alarms go off in him. "Lord Hades awaits you, Rhadamanthys." he sternly reminded.

And this proved enough for the future Fury Star to smirk and walk away. "Like I thought, pathetic."

The group finally entered the Palace of Hades and walked through the dimly lit red-carpeted corridors where whispers of the dead could occasionally be heard. Pandora's eyes moved back and forth in fascination rather than fear as if she had finally arrived at her true home after many years away. Rhadamanthys could not but delight in the sight of the magnificent tapestries, statues and halls of his new God. Lord Hades was, indeed, a worthy lord for them all.

Only the two Gods walked as if they had seen this a thousand times before. "It's good to know that at least Giudecca has not been sullied," commented the Death God.

"Actually, Lord Thanatos, the biggest battle took place right in the throne room, we have just sought to repair everything here before we even moved on to work on the Prisons so Lord Hades could be comfortable." The Dark Prince saw the stunned look on the two deities. "Yes, things got that bad right before the end, but we wrapped it all up rather nicely."

Thanatos nodded and hummed in approval. "If things indeed reached such a dire state,I must admit that Daemon did a terrific job. Even so, I can't wait to get the final meeting with Lord Hades dealt with so that I can finally return to Elysium and to Eurydice's embrace..." with this last thought, Thanatos smiled with anticipation. He missed the warm company of the Nymph far too much and couldn't wait to return to Elysium and get reacquainted with her in bed.

Meanwhile, the golden haired God of Sleep was unconsolable. "I do not understand how things could have gotten so out of hand with our absence, not with Lucifer and Michael leading the Army. Thanatos and I trained them specifically to ensure victory." He would rather have this doubt cleared "Daemon...while this is all very fascinating and a relief to know, I must ask...where is DarkAngel?"

Lucifer stopped his march, causing the entire group to come to a halt. Thanatos narrowed his eyes, realizing that Dark Angel was, indeed, strangely absent so far. Pandora and Rhadamanthys raised a curious brow and the expressions of the six Specters led by Gryphon Uriah who had accompanied them seemed to darken a little.

Lucifer's right fist clenched roughly.

"The Celestial Absolute Star... betrayed us." The twin Gods opened their eyes as much as possible in shock as Lucifer continued. "In the Battle of Giudecca Palace, in the midst of the very final battle with Athena, he has attempted to murder our Lord and, as punishment, spent ten days being tortured in the 2th to the 5th Prison, thirty days in the 6th, and, finally, Lord Hades gave me His sword to drive through his heart. His body was then dumped back in the Sixth Prison where it rotted into stardust..."

Thanatos and Hypnos's jaws dropped.

"W-what?" asked Hypnos in disbelief. He, quite simply, could not fathom that a Prince of Darkness had betrayed Hades in any way. They were living weapons, fashioned by Hypnos and Thanatos themselves to be the perfect Gold Saint killers. "Are you serious, Daemon?"

"...Yes. Would I lie to you about this?" Lucifer answered.

"Indeed you wouldn't." Thanatos replied, his look turning from awe into suspicious seriousness. If Michael had the guts to even think about betraying Hades, then the far more arrogant Lucifer was sure to have some agenda of his own. Thanatos made a mental note for himself to keep an eye on Daemon.

"So Lord Hades had Lucifer execute Michael with His sword?" Hypnos pondered to himself. "This means that Michael's soul had been destroyed, right? Lord Hades can transmit through his blade the ability to actually damage it's victims soul directly as it damages them physically," but then Hypnos glanced at Lucifer's back and reconsidered. "But Lord Hades gave Lucifer the sword to use. Have his actions been that grotesque?"

While Hypnos was lost in contemplation, Rhadamanthys had a far more direct take. "Well, if he betrayed Lord Hades, then I guess the guy got what he deserved."

Suddenly, Lucifer's head snapped to the side to deliver Rhadamanthys a vicious squint of blood-red anger, causing the English boy to stagger. Gritting teeth in defiance, Rhadamanthys was about to ask him if he said anything wrong but the guy simply returned his gaze to the hallway and the group resumed their march.

Hypnos's thoughts continued "...Hadesmust intend to recycle Michael's soul and revive him someday, but if so, why the theater? Why let Lucifer believe he has irreparably become the sole Dark Prince?"pondering on this, Hypnos then decided to clear things up "Lucifer...what happened to Dark Angel's soul?"

The tension in the group suddenly skyrocketed with that question, causing Pandora and Rhadamanthys sweat a little in nervousness. After a little of walking silence, Lucifer decided to answer in a rather shook tone:

"Dark Angel's soul has remained in the Underworld, spending thirty days and nights in each Prison before moving on to the next. After the 6th Prison, he would return to the 2nd and so on in an endless cycle...By the time of the execution, his spirit was already broken, but now his very soul gone."

The Sleep God, however, was adamant in his theory. "How can you be so sure?"

Lucifer sighed, demonstrating his pain at reliving this story. "I am not, Lord Hypnos, the Book of the Dead is. Dark Angel's soul disappeared from the Underworld in December 1959. Lord Thanatos, you may confirm this yourself, as the Book belongs to you." Lucifer recited by heart. "I checked it myself after finally clearing the Second Prison of zombies. The most likely cause was gradual soul degradation caused by constant exposure to different Circles of Hell without any chance of spiritual adaptation, then being killed by Lord Hades' sword, followed by the Break of Links in 1919, which caused an extreme instability in the Underworld's Prisons so great that it could have been responsible for a leak that would have severely weakened the strength of countless souls until, sooner or later, they would all...fade away!... As you can guess there's very little to doubt his extermination with."

Hypnos, on the other hand, saw Lucifer's theory as far more revealing of something else. "Lucifer said Michael betrayed us, and Hades has condemned his soul, but I absolutely refuse to believe Lord Hades has terminated such a vital asset so permanently. There must be a trick to this. But Lucifer is sure he's gone from the Book of the Dead. What if the reason why Michael's name is no longer in the Book is...Yes! It makes perfect sense! Michael's soul DID disappear from the Underworld, but it wasn't destroyed or revived!" His eyes widened. "Michael has reincarnated!" Hypnos then snapped back to reality as he sensed that the group resumed its march. He gracefully disguised his surprise and picked up his pace as his thoughts continued: "I can't believe it! Michael is alive! He's out there, somewhere in the human world! But who has he reincarnated as? And what is Lord Hades' overall plan anyway?"

Thanatos eyed him concerningly. "Is something the matter?"

The Sleep God shook his head. "I should keep this from Thanatos. He' might try to attack the new Michael for his treason. After all, maybe Lord Hades had Michael go through a reincarnation on purpose so as to reset his beliefs, thus creating the possibility of converting the new Michael, whoever he might be, back into a loyal servant! It definitely carries its benefits, but is Lord Hades really willing to take the chance of having a rogue Dark Prince in the surface? There is much I need to ask him."

After a while, the group of Specters and Gods finally reached the large door of black metal. Lucifer turned around to face the group.

"Beyond this door lies Lord Hades. I warn you that, though he has a body, he has chosen to have his identity disclosed to no one but Pandora and your Divinities! As such, the Specters, including me, shall be separated from him by a curtain that Hades had installed in his throne room." He then looked at Rhadamanthys, "you stay here!"

"What?" asked the boy, revolted "How come?"

"Regardless if you are chosen or not, you are not a Specter yet! The only humans allowed before Him are Pandora and people wearing Surplices. Come back when you have a set of purple wings hanging from your back. Until then, you are restricted to this hallway!"

Rhadamanthys grunted in anger. He could not believe it! He came all that way and now he wasn't allowed to see Lord Hades? This was unacceptable!

"It seems that Lucifer's attitude towards the Wyvern still runs hot in his blood." Hypnos noticed, smiling "At least this hasn't changed..."

"I'll go on first and announce your arrival." Lucifer then rested a hand on the handle anxiously. "This is it, if I can get these two through the meeting with Hades without them noticing anything strange, Eurydice and Cerah will be home free for now and I'll be void of suspicion." He pushed down the two large handles, making the doors creak as they opened to reveal light illuminating them from the next room.

{======================\(/\)/======================}

"My Lord, I have returned!" declared Daemon Lucifer, banging his fist against his chest and instantly dropped to his knee.

Hades smiled and rested his cheek on fist. His left index finger played with his curly red hair, tying and untying itself over and over with a loose thread. He stood up, made sure all the visual barriers hiding his puppet body were in place and answered. "Send them in."

Lucifer stood up and took a place at the right the throne room stairs to allow the others in. "After an absence of over two centuries, I welcome Thanatos, God of Death, Hypnos, God of Sleep..." with this, the doors opened and the mentioned Gods stepped inside the room, stopping in front of the curtain "...and your Sister, her Highness Lady Pandora!"

With this, Pandora also walked inside, taking a place just a little behind the Twin Gods and courteously bowing at the figure behind the curtains.

"My Lord, I am so happy to meet you!" her wish right then was to look up at her brother directly, but she wouldn't dare to presume such familiarity. She looked for a sign of permission from the other two gods or even the Specter, such was her desire.

The twin brothers saw the curtain and sensed all the barriers and illusions and both instantly deduced their lord's intrigue. "His body must not be ready yet. It's better off if we ourselves pay mind not to question it. Lord Hades must be furiously embarrassed that he's forced to act through a doll." calculated Thanatos. The two Gods nodded at their Lord, though Hypnos made a slightly more pronounced bow.

"Finally…" continued Lucifer "...I announce Gryphon Uriah and his unit of Specters, who have taken upon themselves to prepare a proper reception for the new arrivals in such a short notice."

Gryphon Uriah and the other five False Specters entered the room one-by-one, cautiously and with Gryphon taking the lead. "With your permission Lord Hades, I bring with me my most trusted guard; Behemoth Torak, Minotaurus Guen, Basilisk Maia, Alraune Lemon and Sphinx Neferti."

The five Specters marched inside in perfect aura and donning their impressive Surplices. As Behemoth passed by Uriah, he whispered. "Lord Uriah, something happened in the Castle that I must discuss with you immediately."

Uriah spotted Thanatos turning his attention to them and Lucifer giving him a 'move along' glare. He stood calm and dismissed his servant. "Now is not the time." He turned his face in the curtain's direction without directly gazing at the God. "As a show of force, I have brought my three elite Specters to show you all they are ready to conduct a daring assault on Sanctuary should they try any reprisal over Bennu Yakos' rebellion."

Basilisk Maia, the grey haired, green-eyed tall warrior with impressive winged heavy armor took a bow. "We who shall serve the Underworld salute you, Lords Hypnos and Thanatos, and bring the winds of destruction on your enemies."

Minotaurus Guen, the huge black-haired brute with horned helmet had to kneel completely to be at a humble height. "And we shall crush them under the weight of the Axe you entrusted me with!"

Finally, Alraune Lemon, a man of scarlet hair, blue eyes and shifty demeanor wearing the black armor with large petal back guards, round helmet and tentacles hanging from his segmented shoulder plates, took but a slight head bow and smile, seemingly having nothing to say. "Mmm, so these are the gods of the Specters. Maybe scaring the others into my side will be easier than I thought," he eyed Lucifer greedily. "And that Surplice and post will be mine soon."

Finally, Uriah gestured Sphinx Neferti to show herself. "We have prepared a tune to bring a bit more ambience to the room for your long awaited reunion."

The brown skinned and black eyed Specter of lean, cropped hair stepped forward, proud of herself and hoisting her large harp. "This one is from the repertoire of the 'Balance of Curse'." Her fingers then gracefully danced over the strings, letting out a somber, deep music that echoed ever so gently in the room, as if played from a far off room.

The Gods immediately smiled, feeling the familiar sensation of their hearts being wrapped around in the strings of the Underworld's sadness. The Specters, including Lucifer, also found themselves lost in nostalgia. The music, which started somber enough, spoke of the Underworld's nature right through its longing, lingering string echoes, telling them about their own world.

But not everyone was satisfied.

Just as Sphinx lost herself in concentration in her own music, a harsh thin hand suddenly snapped her instrument from her hand and tossed it to the ground. "How dare you?!"

The Specter gasped. "L-Lady Pandora?!"

The Daemon Specter and the Twin Gods were also surprised. "What do you think you're doing, Pandora?" asked Hypnos.

She pointed her accusatory trident at the female Specter. "We should be asking that of this disgusting player. I could just sense my brother utterly bored by your imperfect notes. Even though he's behind that beautiful curtain, shy to show how disappointed he is in his Sphinx, his sigh sounded louder to me than any of this woman's notes!"

"W-what?!" Neferti then turned to the curtain and saw the shadow of the man behind it turned to the side, as if made upset.

And before she could wonder how Pandora had noticed it so easily, the pale raven-haired womans slapped Sphinx so hard that the sharp snap echoed in the room and tossed Neferti right on her back, trembling. "Do not insult him further by daring to gaze upon his shadow! Play something that truly moves my brother's heart, now!"

Neferti winced and held her harp close. "B-but… Lady Pandora, these are the symphonies of the Underworld!" her eyes widened fearfully. "They are the only songs I've learned here…!"

Pandora smirked and her trident began shining with a thin blood-red aura.

Behemoth Torak gasped. "No, STOP THA-"

The Gryphon Judge Uriah covered the younger Specter's mouth. "Don't affront her or you'll make things worse!" he then tried to reason with the liaison. "L-Lady Pandora… please, Neferti will train harder. I swear!"

"I would rather if you swore she would play a song that didn't displease my brother." Pandora was delighting herself too much on the sheer look of terror on the musician's face as the red sparks in the trident swell and cracked louder. "So I suppose we'll find a better replacement." The tip of her weapon then flared up into a raging ball of lightning, ready to fire on a screaming Sphinx.

But just as the energy was unleashed a dark shadow blitzed right in front of Pandora and spread out its arms.

The Specters gasped. Thanatos and Hypnos squinted. Hades just continued to observe.

Pandora also staggered, but regained her composure and kept her trident pointed straight. "Lucifer? How dare you stand before me? Move aside!" But the silver-haired, Specter would not obey, his red eyes locked with hers sternly. "Did you not hear me?!"

Sphinx Neferti's teared up and her own heart felt like it had stopped, feeling how close she had come to such a brutal death. Lord Lucifer's shadow on her felt like the only thing protecting her from the wrath of an envious Goddess.

"I heard you perfectly, Lady Pandora, I just choose to stay nonetheless." he explained, making his underlings widen their eyes at his affront to the merciless sister of Hades.

And therefore she made her objection very clear. "So you disobey the one you not but a few hours ago claimed to be your Lady, your superior?"

"To protect my men and fulfill my duty as commander of the Specters is not disobedience, milady, if anything it is the most absolute loyalty to you," he declared, surprising her just enough to make her lower the cosmos in her weapon and widen her eyes. Lucifer then lowered his arms and presented himself defenseless. "I will take her punishment."

Once again the Specters gasped. "Lord Lucifer, don't!" screamed Basilisk Maia, who got up and presented himself. "Take me instead!"

Alraune Lemon gritted teeth. "This guy,... showing off as a big shot again. If Lucifer thinks he's getting out on his privileges from this, he's wrong. These gods have no mercy on any of us."

"Be quiet, you rats!" ordered Pandora, who then squinted at the Dark Prince. "What if I just annihilate you, Celestial Pride Star? As the Sister of Hades, I have been given more than enough power to eliminate any of you Specters. Would you still stand there?" she asked, mockingly.

But to her shock, the Daemon Specter merely straightened his pose and fluttered back his cape, doubling down on his determination.

And this truly surprised her, so much that the red shine of her trident on her face masked a sudden flare of warmth to her face. "You… I see, then suffer the wrath of the Gods themselves!" Her trident finally fired its attack, blasting the Specter into a red-colored explosion of sparks that sent him howling like a tortured demon, horrifying every other Specter with a short spectacle of electrical shocking that sent the all-powerful warrior right to his knees.

Neferti gasped loudly, seeing her commander on his hands, smoke fuming from many parts of his armor and holes burned into his black cape. "L-Lord Lucifer!"

"Oh, you survived…" Pandora noted. "And are you still capable of those affrontful claims of yours?"

Lucifer's head trembled as it raised just high enough for his eyes to meet her feet. "Y-yes, Milady. I will obey you… and still protect my army to the end."

This inspiring claim sent shivers down the spines of his loyal Specters, who all turned away shamefully at not being good enough to serve under Lucifer. Only Alraune Lemon scoffed discreetly at this, not falling for the Dark Prince's boasts.

The Sister of Hades, however, was not as impressed. "Even at the cost of your dignity?" and then she stepped right on his shoulder plate with a sadistic smile, the stiletto strategically placed to hurt his exposed neck line, and pressed her weight down until his head was right within distance of licking her other shoe.

The Specters gasped, Neferti widened her eyes in rage instead of fear and the Twin Gods chuckled to themselves with the humiliating sight of the arrogant Daemon forced to let her foot on his body like a punished slave. The collection of reactions just made Pandora's smirk widen.

However, it was not like the Sister of Hades was unaware of what she was doing; just as her foot sank more painfully, she could sense a tremendous, wrathful cosmos like a real chained demon right below her toes. It was a large, electrifying energy that felt like a bear about to lash out, telling her that behind the adamant and apparently red-colored eyes of the Dark Prince were the thoughts of a warrior doing everything he could not to strangle her.

Neferti too felt this menacing aura. "L-Lord Lucifer, don't s-subject yourself to this!"

He just glanced at her over his shoulder menacingly. "G-go practice! And don't return to me until your music would satisfy the angels of Elysium itself!"

"Y-yes! Right away!..." Neferti then ran off the room, passing by an impatient and very confused Rhadamanthys on the way out.

Satisfied, Pandora put her trident aside, let go of Lucifer and stared at the tortured demon in silence, who refused to move from his humble kneeling even though lingering sparks continued to pain him. "This person… I've been told by Thanatos himself that this power would have reduced a Celestial Star to ash. Daemon must know what I am capable of, occupying such a high post in my brother's army." She shook her head. "What a pathetic gesture, choosing to face my wrath just to protect a useless musician. I would call you insolent, Daemon, if not for your bravery."

"L-lady Pandora, please" pleaded Gryphon Uriah, approaching them. "Let me take Lord Daemon out of here."

She took a second to react, still lost in thoughts. "Fine, and take those 'elites' with you as well."

But just as the Judge offered his hand, the Dark Prince slapped it away and stood up on his own. "I c-can walk, Uriah!" he guaranteed, making even the highly powerful Judge step back in fear of reprisal. "A w-wonderful attack, milady. Just as expected, you are already mastering the powers entrusted with you."

She saw a hint of true anger in his voice, but rather than feeling fear, she just smiled, feeling a strange satisfaction at knowing the powerful Specter could do nothing but completely obey her.

"Pandora, come here." Hades suddenly requested, causing Pandora to gasp "I want to see you without any obstacle between us."

And with this her composure melt like butter. "Y-yes! Of course, My Lord!" she obliged, standing up and moving past the thin curtain.

Uriah shook his head. "Lord Lucifer, I don't understand how you can take that sort of humiliation from that woman!... Why?"

Feeling blood drip from his mouth from the cosmos shocks, Lucifer cleaned it off and ignored the lingering pain. "I admire her pride."

Uriah and the other Specters, however, saw no pride, but a sadistic wish to let others know that no one could touch her, very much like one of the Olympians.

Stepping through the curtain, Pandora was treated to the exclusive view of her brother, Lord Hades' appearance. Wearing a black garment reinforced by gold-ornamented plates, belt and greaves, his almost red-haired androgynous beauty, skin even paler than hers and the defenseless, blank look in his eyes all looked so innocent and delicate that one could swear that a simple touch could break his fragile body down. Pandora trembled with nervousness, as she felt that the eyes of her God were piercing through her soul, an emotion that was completely transformed into a warm comfort when Hades offered her a small, weak, smile.

"You are my sister indeed. I missed you so much." he confessed. Hades then noticed that her necklace flashed a little with a faint glow of red, instantly repressing her sudden flow of strong emotions. "Your departure from the Lost Canvas broke my heart...I wish we could talk more, but I have matters to attend to."

"Y-yes, My Lord, I understand!" she answered "I know that I can't have your full attention. The Underworld needs you, and who am I to demand your kindness?" Her face then sank into her hands. "And you were treated to that dull display of music! I cannot believe the Specters gave you such a disappointing tune. When I saw you bored my heart nearly broke in two!"

"It's fine, Pandora. I promise that, as soon as I finish matters with my two divine heralds, I'll have Elysium tea with you, just like in the old days. Would you like that, sister?"

She clasped her hands "Yes, My Lord, I look forward to prepare you some! I know it's your favorite!"

The puppet smiled almost insensibly "Good. But I'm afraid we don't have any ingredients left. If you want, I can have a Nymph bring you some from Elysium."

Pandora smile and shook her head in denial "It's alright, My Lord. There is neither the need nor the wish from my part for you to waste your time and authority with such a menial thing. Your Prince..." she then glanced and waved her pale hand at Lucifer, who still stood straight despite the terrible attack he suffered. "...was so kind as to offer me a whole chest of plants and flowers picked from the Asphodel Meadows as a welcome gift. I know that they are not nearly as delicate and delicious for tea as Elysium's, but..."

The puppet smiled and tilted it's head to look towards Lucifer "He has? A big chest?"

"Yes, My Lord."

"How big?" Hades asked.

Pandora managed to blink twice with confusion. Why would Lord Hades be preoccupied with the size of Lucifer's present? "Umm… I seem to remember to think it was perhaps big enough for me to fit inside."

"Ahh, I see..." the puppet muttered to himself "Pandora...would you take a seat somewhere and wait? I will fulfill my promise to you, dear sister, but I must give Hypnos and Thanatos their proper welcome. It won't be long..."

Pandora trembled as she nodded and moved away from her Lord's sight, sitting on top of one of the steps and placing her hands on her lap humbly. What just happened? She felt a sudden surge of emotions and, then, they all suddenly disappeared. Her heart rate had calmed down too. She felt the necklace Hypnos and Thanatos gave her, feeling a strange warmth in it.

Meanwhile, the Specter Prince forced himself not to break the facade he was playing. Hades was being as deceitfully kind towards Pandora as he always had! He suddenly found himself smiling weakly, with nostalgia, as he remembered the old days, back when he and Michael were still below the 10-years-old frontier of maturity over 5...centuries ago!

He was over...500 years old!

Lucifer rubbed his eyes. H-how the hell...w-was he even sane?

Sensing the two Gods on the move in the room, his senses returned and he found himself shaking a little with the sudden mental stress. "I need to stop having these relapses. What was I even thinking about?" He saw Pandora counting her hours on the throne steps, still lost in thoughts over her sibling. "Right, that time when I thought Hades really loved us all."

That was the first time Lucifer saw Hades talking to Pandora since Michael showed him the light and… he felt so absolutely disgusted with how realistic Hades' care sounded that he felt like he was going to puke!

However, there was something about Hades' reaction when He was told by Pandora of his welcome gift to her that was bugging Lucifer. Did the God of the Underworld suspect something? If so, why wouldn't Hades denounce him? It couldn't be just because of his position. Lucifer sighed, feeling the nervousness taking over him.

Hades looked past the curtains toward the Specters that Uriah brought in. "I thank you for your efforts, even if the music was a bit underwhelming," his velvet voice declared. "I am embarrassed that I cannot think of a proper reward."

Gryphon Uriah, who represented them, answered. "There is no need for a reward, My Lord. You are our God. We live for you. It makes us happy to serve you, whether you acknowledge it or not."

"I see...Even so, I would prefer if you were rewarded. And it shatters me to do so but I must insist that you either leave this room. I wish to converse with my heralds. Lucifer, Pandora, you two may stay, but Lucifer must be blinded first."

Once again, the Specters with the exception of Alraune Lemon gestured concern, but Lucifer ordered them to leave. The God of Sleep's fingers snapped and with a speckle of Cosmos, Lucifer's sense of sight was temporarily removed.

The Gods waited until all the Specters except the Celestial Star of Pride left the room. "Go ahead, My Lord," said Hypnos "You may move past the curtain and grace us with your most direct presence."

Lucifer heard the curtain open up and divine steps walking down the stairs. Hypnos approached the puppet, leaned towards him with a hushed tone, "my Lord, if you don't mind, there is something I would like to discuss with you in private once this meeting ends."

"What is it, Hypnos?" the puppet muttered back. "Can it wait?"

"Yes, it can, My Lord. And it's about what happened to Michael..."

The puppet smiled deviously.

The Death God Thanatos, however, yawned. "Well, Lord Hades, if this is all, please excuse me, but I am quite anxious to return to Elysium to change these clothes. They are filthy with mortal impurities. I also miss the company of my favorite Nymph."

Hades remained stoic, staring at Thanatos, but Hypnos intervened. "You may go, brother. If anything comes up, I'll deal with it as I wish to stay here a little longer to talk with our Lord."

Thanatos smiled. "You are most generous, Hypnos." He then turned towards Hades and bowed, "with your permission, Lord Hades."

Thanatos then walked away, heading towards the room of the Wailing Wall. Lucifer exhaled in relief, feeling a drop of sweat running down his cheek. "Good." Daemon thought "He won't find out about Eurydice until he reaches Elysium. Once there, he'll never think of suspecting me."

Thanatos was about to open the handle of the large door when suddenly, Hades interfered "She's gone..." he muttered.

Thanatos stopped. He then turned around to look at his Lord. "What?"

"Your bride Eurydice is gone...She has left Elysium this morning." Hades repeated.

And the Pride Star's heart nearly jumped out of his chest, widening his blinded eyes in shock! "Hades knew all along?! The bastard is going to rat me OUT!"

"W-what?" Thanatos stuttered "What do you mean, My Lord?"

"She has escaped to the mortal world through the passage opened by your arrival, convoyed by a Cyrulian girl," continued Hades. "She's long left the Castle, out of our reach...soon, Sanctuary will have her."

"B-but..." Thanatos continued to stutter "But it...it doesn't make any sense! W-why would...Why would she leave? And how? I should have felt her cosmos! It doesn't make any sense at all-" When the memories returned to him, the silver eyes widened further.

{======================\(/\)/======================}

"These are Asphodels."

"It wasn't such a matter of how heavy the cargo was, but how delicate."

"The flowers are all drenched with cosmos gained from concentrated stardust. As a result, they emanate a cosmic signature that, when they are so packed together, can be quite obfuscating even long after they were picked."

"How big?"

"Perhaps big enough for me to fit inside."

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Thanatos's eyes widened as much as they could with this sudden realization! Anger then exploded from inside and filled his blood-shot eyes as his hand thrusted at Daemon Lucifer's direction and a massive, invisible force slammed his back against the stone wall, pinning the Specter! Lucifer's whole body shook with the brutal amount of strength Thanatos pushed him, causing his whole skeleton to vibrate.

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Chapter End

{======================\(/\)/======================}

Next Chapter: Side Story 1 – Arrival of the Gods – Chapter 3 of 3

Description: The God of Death confronts Lucifer for betraying him and little seems to stand in his way to wipe the Dark Prince off the map. Meanwhile, Herakles Aguilon carries out his assault on the borderlands of Hades.

Author's Note: The chapter was already finished beta-reading last week, but just as I planned to begin doing the final editing touches and corrections, I was struck with a throat problem and was sick for four whole days. I am still recovering as I write this.

One of the big concerns I had about version 2 was how needlessly complicated it was in some scenes. This chapter contains one of those moments, particularly Hypnos' internal monologue, which was immensely convoluted in V2 to accommodate my older, dumber, less sober plans for the story. I am fairly happy that I managed to condense and rewrite almost everything to create a much better story while also still layered.

This one was still particularly frustrating cause, frankly speaking, I am still trying to find some of these characters in writing. The first four scenes took me two weeks to write and perfect and I gotta thank a lot of people, including Mahogany and Nini for giving an important hand.

Unfortunately the next chapter will be much delayed. Not only is it still in early phase, but I got an important exam phase stuck right in the middle of May. I'll have a break after it that may help me get some stuff done, but being the last chapter of the Side Story it will still require an extra mile to be run even if it's based on already written stuff.

It will also be, however, significantly more action packed, stepping into the realm that is more consistently complimented in LR.

As always, a big thank you to Jenny Devic for beta-reading and a huge shout out to SKD scans, by Hitagi Gahara, which provides you with translations to English of Next Dimension and Saintia Sho, where I contribute to in the former as proofreader (you can see my name in the credits)