Chapter 8: Matters of War

About two hours had passed since the attempt on Hereticus and Vox's lives, it was now the early evening and the sun would set in a few hours. Hereticus was in the meeting room that he and the other overlords had previously met in, he was sitting closer to the head of the table than he had before, Carmilla, Zestial, Rosie and Missi had all arrived, with Seviathan sitting next to Hereticus. They had all agreed to meet here on a short notice, it was of the upmost importance.

"You wanna tell us what this is all about?" Missi asked Hereticus.

"What could be of such importance for thee to summon all of us without delay?" Zestial asked, in between quiet sips of tea.

"The Ars Goetia are planning to attack Pentagram City." Hereticus said, to which Zestial nearly spit out his tea while Rosie and Missi stared at each other with confusion.

"And what evidence does thou have of this?" Zestial asked with surprise in his voice.

"My friend Seviathan is able to look into the memories of people," Hereticus responded while motioning toward Seviathan, "earlier today me and Vox were targeted by the same assassin, we managed to capture him and Seviathan looked into his mind, he was sent by the Ars Goetia."

"They wanna take some of us out to make things easier?" Missi asked, to which Hereticus nodded his head.

"But why attack the pentagram?" Rosie asked, "what could they possibly gain?"

"I think I might have an idea," Seviathan said, offering his insight, "the Ars Goetia have been trying to gain more influence in the Infernal Court, perhaps that has something to do with it."

Hereticus thought silently for a moment, concluding that Seviathan was right. Ever since Alastor had killed the old lords who ruled over Pentagram City nobody was left to take their thrones, instead, a power vacuum had been filled by other overlords. Since they had not fought the old lords themselves, they had no claim to the seats in the Court they had held, Alastor had refused to take them as well, meaning that there were plenty of seats in the Infernal Court that were empty.

"If they manage to take Pentagram City the seats in the court will be theirs," said Zestial.

"Just as so," began Hereticus, his eyes had widened as he realised the opportunity that they now had, "Hell runs on a rule of strength, if we managed to force back the Goetian armies we would have a legitimate claim to the empty seats."

"Are you suggesting that we go to war?" Rosie asked.

"What choice do we have?" asked Hereticus, "they've already made it clear diplomacy isn't on the table." Hereticus turned his attention to Carmilla who was looking at him with her arms crossed, her eyes crossed as Hereticus turned his head to her, "war is upon you now Carmilla, I know you wish to avoid it but it's inevitable now, you must join us."

Carmilla stared at Hereticus for a moment, she was adamant on her opinions, but ultimately, Hereticus was right.

"You're right," she sighed, "I'll supply your armies with weapons, but me and my daughters won't be fighting on the front lines."

"Whatever support you can offer is appreciated, Carmilla," Hereticus said.

"What about the other overlords, what do we do about them? Do we get them to join us?" Missi asked.

"What about that Vox guy?" Seviathan asked, ignorant of the situation regarding the Vees.

"The Vees would rather rule over a pile of rubble than ally with us," Hereticus said, "if I had to guess, I'd say Vox is meeting with the others right now, probably trying to see if they can make a deal with the Goetia."

"We mustn't go to war without a united Pentagram," said Zestial, "it'd be too big of a risk, we would end up fighting both the other overlords and the Goetia."

"You're right," said Hereticus, "we'll need the smaller overlords to join us, and to do that we need to do something bold, something that'll let them know that if they don't join us, they'll be destroyed." Everyone knew what Hereticus would say next, filling them with anxiety and excitement at the same time, "we can kill two, or three, birds with one stone, if we destroy the Vees the other overlords will either kill each other in the ensuing chaos or flock to us like birds."

"A campaign against the Vees would be long and costly," said Carmilla.

"Exactly, we'll need to destroy them in a single attack rather than going to war with them" Hereticus said, "we'll all simultaneously attack Vee tower, our territories surround them, we can kill the Vees in a single night, there's no clear chain of command so if all of the Vees are dead there'll be infighting within the remaining ranks."

The overlords looked at each other, in their eyes they could see they were all in agreement, though none of them were without worry, not even Hereticus, what they were about to do would be risky, but they had little choice.

In another part of the city, a different meeting was taking place. An imposing tower glowed in the evening sky, towering over the other buildings around it. Each circular layer was covered with pink tinted windows, with three neon letter "Vs" proudly displayed on the top. On the top floor, in a circular room with water tanks for walls sat three Overlords at a glass table, each equally distanced from each other. The three Vees were sat in conversation, Vox had asked Velvette and Valentino to come here after the attempt on his life, they had just been informed that the Ars Goetia planned to attack the city.

Valentino took a long puff from his cigarette, pink smoke left his mouth, behind his heart shaped sunglasses his eyes were filled with a sense of opportunity. Velvette wasn't looking at her phone for once, her eyes were darting between each of the other two, she had no idea what they were going to do and waited for either of them to make a suggestion. Vox stared at his own reflection in the glass table before him, he usually had a plan but this time he was at a complete loss, this was such an unexpected turn of events he was unsure what to do.

"What are we gonna do, Vox?" Velvette asked, finally breaking the silence, Vox looked from the table and towards Velvette.

"The alliance the other overlords are making, maybe we could join it for a bit, at least until the invasion's over," he said, but something tightened its grip around Vox's heart, from a long distance away someone wouldn't accept that idea, someone he owed something very precious to.

"Why work with that nursing home when we can work with the Goetia?" Valentino asked with a smile, he took another long drag of his cigarette before speaking again, "sure, they sent an assassin after you but we've got a lot we could offer them, they team up with us and we'll be able to do the job for them, in return we'll get to keep our little piece of Heaven."

The grip on Vox's heart tightened once again, Vox's master wouldn't accept that either, he wouldn't share the city with the Goetia, he wanted all of it.

"No, that won't work," Vox said, "the Goetia will want the whole thing, they're after the seats in the Infernal Court."

"Just making a suggestion," Valentino said, he took another long drag, his eyes had changed from one of ambition to one of distress, "all this talk of invasion's put me in a real bad mood." He clicked his fingers and a short succubus came rushing over, he wanted something to put his mind off his worries, he turned his head over to the succubus and spoke, puffing his pink smoke in her face to make her more agreeable, "you know that blonde chick on floor two, the receptionist?" He asked.

"Yes milord, I know her, the one with the pale skin?" She asked, concern in her voice, but the smoke was having its effect and she was beginning to forget about her worries.

"Yeah, you catch on quick, have her meet me in my bedroom an hour from now," He ordered.

"Of course, milord," the servant said obediently as the smoke took its full effect, she rushed off to go to floor two and get the receptionist, the one with the blonde hair, pale skin and rosy cheeks, the one that reminded Valentino of Lucifer's daughter.

Vox looked away from Valentino in disgust, he knew exactly what he had in store for the poor girl, there had once been times that he'd been in the same bedroom, as the years had gone by the depths of Valentino's soul had become more apparent, Vox now knew Valentino better than when they had first met, he was a cruel and controlling person, and he showed it in the bedroom, leading to their previous relationship coming to an end. Valentino still tried from time to time to pull Vox back in, but he failed each time, no longer did Vox see the sweet-talking charmer he had once known, now he only saw a sadistic monster.

Vox caught his mind wandering again, there was nothing he could do to change Valentino, he'd tried before and it never worked, he needed to focus on the invasion.

"Our best course of action will be to take out the other top overlords," Vox said, "we've got more than half the city in our pocket. If we do things carefully, we can take them out before they even realise what's going on."

"That sounds like a pretty big risk," countered Velvette.

"I know, but it's the best option we have," Vox responded. He could maybe speak with his master, maybe he could pull a few strings and call off the Goetia attack, or maybe give them an army to push them back.

In another part of Hell, in a floating castle far from Pentagram City, another meeting was taking place. Three kings sat at a semicircular table, with another, lesser noble sitting before them on the straight edge of the table. At the left was King Purson the fourth, he was similar in appearance to a dove but with a feathery mane around his neck. In the middle was King Paimon, the last remaining original king of the Ars Goetia other than Asmodeus the Lustful, the others had fallen in Hell's wars with Heaven and the kings to his sides were descendants of the founding Kings. Finally, on the far right was King Beleth the Fifth, his face was that of an eagle and it was full of ambition and desire, but he lacked the wit and skill required to fulfil his wishes. On the straight edge of the table was Andrealphus, a Marquess and General of the Ars Goetia, but his heart called for him to seek higher stations.

"Will the legions we've given you be sufficient?" Asked Paimon, looking directly at Andrealphus with piercing eyes.

"Yes, your highness, the army you've given me will be enough to take the Pentagram, in a couple of months preparations will be complete and then the it will be yours," Andrealphus informed the Kings. Purson leaned back in his chair, a pleased grin on his face, while Beleth smirked with satisfaction.

"You'll be happy to know I've made things easier for you," said Purson proudly.

"You have, your highness?" Andrealphus asked, trying to sound pleased, but whatever Purson had done was probably insignificant or unhelpful, after all he may be a King but he hadn't studied warfare like Andrealphus had.

"Yes," continued Purson, "I sent an assassin after two of the city's most powerful overlords, with them out of the way you'll find things easier."

Old fool! thought Andrealphus, it was Purson who sent the imp after them earlier today,he'd seen the event on the news, they had survived the attack and managed to capture the assassin, it was very likely that they got the low-life to squeal.

"Were they successful?" Paimon asked Purson.

"I assume so," said Purson, his voice sounding like there was not a thought in his head. Paimon groaned, he looked over to Andrealphus, who had been in charge of constantly keeping an eye on the city, he could see in his nephew-in-law's eyes the frustration that he dared not to speak, informing him that the assassination had failed.

"You should've spoken to Andrealphus about this," Paimon said to Purson angrily, though each of the kings were of the same rank there was no doubt that Paimon was easily the wisest and most experienced of the three that sat in that room, meaning he got to chastise the others.

"Well excuse me for making the Marquess' job easier," Purson said with offense in his voice.

"You've only made things worse!" Paimon half shouted with irritation as he stared into Purson's eyes and shot his face closer, to which Purson quickly backed down, his head receded into his mane out of shame. Paimon looked towards Andrealphus, "how will this impact the invasion?" he asked.

Andrealphus sat in silent contemplation for a moment before speaking.

"Hopefully not that much, it's uncertain, the Pentagram might turn to chaos with the news of our invasion, but they may also unite under a single banner."

"Then we've lost the element of surprise?" Paimon asked.

"I'm afraid so."

"Then you must mobilise the troops as soon as possible, once all preparations are met, we must immediately attack," said Paimon.

Paimon contemplated the turn of events, the other Kings were young and naïve, they were barely older than Andrealphus, the only reason they had sat on their thrones was because their fathers and their fathers before them were hellborne, meaning they were bound to the tree of knowledge, and being cut off from it resulted in their eventual death. The other kings were full of want but lacked the necessary skills to fulfil their desires. Andrealphus would've been a much better fit for a King, and Paimon could see in his eyes that he knew it.

The inhabitants of the hotel were all sat silently in the lounge, including Gabriel, the only ones who were missing were Hereticus and Seviathan, who Pentious had reported as needing to discuss private matters with other overlords, and Alastor, who was in his tower, unconcerned with the safety of the other two. They were all anxiously waiting for the pair to arrive, having heard of the attack at Techfest from the news.

The Hotel's front door opened, everyone's heads turned as Hereticus and Seviathan crossed the threshold.

"Is everything alright?" Charlie asked the two as she rushed over, her eyes wide and a worried frown on her face. Hereticus was about to answer, but was met with a barrage of questions by the guests and staff of the hotel, asking if he was okay and if he knew what had happened.

"Everyone!" He said with a loud voice, everyone quickly fell silent as they waited for what he had to say. "Thank you," he said, he took a moment to think through his words carefully, the hotel needed to know of the upcoming attack, "The Pentagram is going to be invaded."

He was unable to get another word out, as soon as he made the statement the entire room burst into shocked and confused shouts, "Hold on!" he shouted, trying to get their attention again, the room went silent once again and he spoke, "the Ars Goetia are planning on attacking the city, it's possible they might go after the Hotel in the attack, so you'll all need to be ready." He turned his head to Seviathan, "do you think that your family could potentially provide aid?"

"No, unfortunately not," Seviathan said as he shook his head, "our families may be enemies but if we were to assist an army that doesn't hold a seat in the court it would trigger a scandal."

The whole room was silent, what were they going to do? Suddenly Pentious peeked up over the crowd.

"Well, if they think they can take over our city, they've got another thing coming!" Pentious said, finger pointed to the ceiling and his chest puffed out, "Egg boys!" he called to attention, his minions stood by his side and saluted him, "full wartime preparations, I want this hotel to become a fortress!"

"Sure thing, boss!" They obediently said before they hurried off without another word.

The group mumbled amongst each other, discussing what they'd need to do, Hereticus couldn't take the noise, he needed time to think, he walked away from the group and made his way to his room, once he was there, he went onto the balcony and leaned against it, looking out to the city. He could see in the distance Vee tower, pink neon lights shone from it, drawing his gaze.

He then looked towards the horizon, where a thin shining circle of fire hung in the air, with a black void in the middle of it. That was Hell's sun that each of the rings orbited, it was very similar in appearance to an eclipse, but no celestial bodies were blocking it, the nothingness in it's centre was just how it was. Ever since Eden had been lost a black spot had appeared in the Sun's centre, getting ominously larger with every year.

His gaze shifted upwards and he looked at a small white spot in the sky, it shone brightly but it wasn't a star, it was Limbo which had been forged to compensate for the loss of Eden, but had been invaded by Heaven as well.

As Hereticus stared into the night sky, a white figure suddenly shot up from below him, she hovered in the air right front of him, flapping her wings.

"Hereticus!" cried Gabriel, he stared right at her, the news of war and her sudden appearance had put him on edge, so he looked her up and down, checking for any signs that she would attack him.

"Are you fully prepared?" She asked, her eyes filled with sincere sympathy

"What does it matter to you?" Hereticus asked, "since when have the troubles of Hell ever been a concern for the Archangels?"

"Hell, matters to me," Gabriel said, patience in her voice.

"Does it?" Hereticus questioned with a hint of suspicion, "it doesn't matter whether or not I win this war, Hell is dying, if you go out into the streets, you'll see people losing their minds as their souls leave their body, in a few short years we'll all be dead anyway," there was a moment of silence before Hereticus spoke again, he squinted his eyes and spoke rhetorically, "and who's fault is that?"

Gabriel was silent for a moment, she wanted to cry and express her regret but knew she shouldn't, she looked to Hereticus and spoke with conviction in her voice, "if I can prove to my father that redemption is possible, he might order Adam to loosen his grip over Eden, then the souls will flow once more and the sickness will end."

"I don't believe you," Hereticus said, brushing everything Gabriel said aside.

"And how do I make you believe me?"

"Defend this Hotel to your last dying breathe, make sure no harm ever comes to its inhabitants, especially Charlie, she is Hell's future. That'll prove to me that what you say is true."

Gabriel extended her right arm straight ahead of her, her hand was balled into a fist and she showed Hereticus the Ring of Justice as she recited her motto in an angelic, the oldest language there was, it was her way of swearing to fulfil a promise.

"I am the Archangel of Justice, the Lord's blade, those who stand against me fall."