Chapter 756: Forces of Hell.
Abbadon, a City located in the Lowest Layer of Hell, specifically in the Demon King's castle.
The most powerful ladies of Hell were gathering in a hall where only them and the Demon King could enter.
“Preparations are complete: Vine declared. "The Hordes of Hell are always prepared to receive the King's commands."
“Internal logistics have been completed. With just one command from the King, billions of Demonic Hordes are ready to do his bidding," Vepar spoke.
"They have conquered the Fields of Hatred, Famine, Destruction, and Fear. The Demons of these fields are all under the control of His Majesty, The Demon King of 'Tyranny'." Lily spoke in a neutral voice.
The Fields mentioned were all places where the most 'powerful' Infernal Demons tended to spawn. These places were completely hostile to the new 'King' as they 'were quite far from the King's area of influence.
Even though the King of Hell ruled over all of Hell, small groups still had yet to join him. The reason for that was simple... Hell was too big.
And those Ancient Demons, who wouldn't even bow to Diablo or Lucifer, wouldn't do the same to Victor. Unfortunately for them, Victor wasn't short-handed like the two previous Demon Kings.
His subordinates, whom he had been training for centuries, were strong and capable, and thanks to them, they were conquering Hell, and more Demons were entering his field of influence every day.
As a Demon King, he rarely needed to meddle in these wars; after all, his Generals were more than enough to deal with most situations, especially Lily, who had the Power of 'Dark Light' a Bloodline that is especially lethal to Demons.
Although Vine was considered The General of 'War', she was not actively participating in Lily's conquest but helped her when necessary. The reason for this was simple: the places Lily attacked were all 'Lesser Hells' where Souls went and Demons were born.
An example of this was The Fields of Hatred. In that place, any Mortals who died with a lot of hatred in their hearts tended to go to that particular Hell, and usually, the Demons that were born from that place were very powerful.
Wrath, the former Deadly Sin, was a perfect example. He was a Demon born in The Fields of Hatred.
Because of these particular characteristics of the places Lily was attacking, she was appointed The General who would take care of these problems. After all, she was responsible for all the Lesser Hells where sinners went.
Lilith retained her position as The 'Mother of Demons' because all the places Demons tended to spawn were slowly being brought under her influence.
Hell had never been as united as it was today. Thanks to the Demon King of Tyranny's influence, all Demons must submit to the Demon King's rule... And for those who didn't, only subjugation awaited them.
Demons, if not killed by Holy Light or a weapon with special properties, cannot truly die. They will simply return to Hell and 'reconstitute' themselves over time. The more powerful the Demon, the longer it would take to reconstitute themselves.
Thanks to this peculiarity, it could be said that the Demon King had a practically immortal force behind him. After all, like the previous Demon King, Victor could 'accelerate' a Demon's resurrection, as long as they were not killed by Holy Light, a weapon with special characteristics, or were absorbed by someone with the same ability as Victor.
The likelihood of Demons facing such an enemy was low. After all, Demons were Beings of Corruption. Few mortals could resist their influence, and it was even more unlikely for them to encounter a Mortal who could 'absorb' them, but it wasn't impossible.
"Good... Thanks to you, we can always fulfill our King's requests" Helena spoke with a small imperceptible smile.
With the Demon King out of Hell, Helena assumed the role of Queen of Demons. She was the one who ruled in his absence, and she was the one who contacted him for reports.
Helena's reason for being chosen? She was the most capable of the group. Did that mean that Vepar or Lily were incompetent? No, far from it. They were very competent and were just as capable of ruling as Helena.
The problem was that... Lily and Vepar tended to give in to their Demonic Natures when they gained too much 'power.
And that was an unacceptable attitude for Victor, which is why he appointed Helena to command everything in his absence. The Gremory woman would never fall to the temptation of 'temporary' power because she knew that this 'power' was not hers but one Victor granted her.
"I wonder who was the fool who upset His Majesty. Do those Beings lack common sense?" Vine commented dismissively.
"... Didn't you read the reports I sent?" Vepar narrowed her eyes at the tall woman.
“Well... Vine scratched her neck a little, "I was in the middle of training the new recruits; I couldn't stop just to read the report."
Vepar's eyes flashed even more dangerously. "Don't make excuses, Vine. It is unbecoming for someone of your position." She spoke in disdain.
“You just didn't read the report because you got too excited, right?"
Vine held Vepar's gaze for a long time until she sighed in defeat:
"Haah... You are correct. When I heard that a war might break out, I quickly prepared myself and came here"
From her perspective, no matter who she would go to war with, as long as Victor ordered her to, she would fight for him, even if it was a 'useless' war.
As Vine was the first Demon that Victor encountered when he arrived in Hell, it could be said that she was the one who was most submissive to him both in body and in mind. After all, she was the only one who 'directly' experienced the cruel hand of the man on his path to becoming the Demon King of Tyranny.
The intensity of Vepar's gazes faded further, and she remarked, "Next time, read the report."
"Mm, I will." Vine nodded, then added, "So? Who was the fool who provoked the Demon King?"
“This time, it was the Werewolves" Lily replied.
"Werewolves?" Vine narrowed her eyes. This information didn't fill her with disdain; after all, she knew very well that there was a creature in that place that could threaten all of Hell.
The Beast of Ragnarok, The Wolf of The 'End' Fenrir.
"Correct" Lily nodded, "Imagine my surprise when the Demon King directly summoned one of my commanders and ordered him to teach 'humility' to a pack of Wolves."
"Which commander are you talking about?" Vine asked.
“Lily's Toy, her favorite" Vepar responded neutrally as she tried not to think about that 'creature'.
Vine's face darkened slightly, but she didn't say much about the 'creature'.
“Fufufu, he was my greatest creation, Even the Demon King highly approved of him." Lily smiled widely with a very noticeable blush on her cheeks.
"..." Despite being Demons, Vepar and Vine thought Lily was more Demonic than them. That thought only further cemented itself when they saw the 'Art' that Lily created with those bastards who went against the Demon King.
She was disturbing even by Demon standards, but without a doubt, she was a great ally to have around... Even though she was very disturbing.
Helena felt satisfied looking at these women, who arguably could be described as the most powerful women in both influence and Power in today's Hell.
It took a long time, but they did it. All of Hell was in his hands. Even those inhospitable places that few Demons tended to go were slowly falling under his influence.
'If it continues at this pace, in less than 400 years, we will be able to explore all of Hell and put it under our command.' It was an insane thing to think. Even with the handiwork of practically billions of Demons at their disposal, it would still take that long to completely 'explore' and 'map' all of Hell.
She could not help but marvel at how big the Hell she was living in was... It was so big it was unnatural.
'Is Hell growing or something?' It always seemed that the more they investigated, the more it felt like there was no end to Hell. Despite not being quite as old as the other women in the room, Helena was sure Hell wasn't this big before.
She had this certainty because of the books Albu and Zahal wrote, the most Ancient Demons in Hell.
Clearly, Hell 'expanded' over time, although its growth was much slower than compared to now.
"Generals, I have a report to give."
The women stopped talking to each other and looked at Aline. Even though Aline was just a 'subordinate' of Vepar and the Head of the Technology Development Department in Abbadon, everyone knew this was her 'status' only on paper.
In the King's eyes, Aline Valefar was undoubtedly someone of the same level of Status as them. Wrong; she might even be more important than everyone in this room. Even Lilith herself was not as important to Victor as she was.
The reason for this was simple; Aline was the Ruler. She was the one who judged and managed all the Souls entering Hell. Although most of the process is done automatically, Aline still had to judge problematic cases directly.
She was so important that she had ten Legions of Demons protecting her, not to mention that she was the only one allowed to have a room closest to the Demon King's quarters in his Castle, a room equipped with all the equipment that Aline could ever want.
The Valefar Clan Bloodline was undoubtedly highly valued and spoiled by the Demon King... Something that the women present here could not help but feel a bit jealous about. Each one of them greatly desired the King's 'attention'.
However, the 'extra attention' was clearly warranted; she was the Ruler after all, but knowing that fact did nothing to quell their jealousy.
"I was scouring Hell for Souls with the Ruler's Authority and found something interesting" Aline touched the table, and an image appeared floating above its surface.
Soon they all see a barren place, with nothing in sight, just a decaying land and a destroyed castle in the distance.
Aline gestured with her hand, and the image shifted to the inside of the castle, specifically into a destroyed room. Soon everyone in the room saw it, a woman with long black hair that was so long its length extended further than the length of her own body and spread completely across the bed.
"... That's Sloth..." Vine spoke in shock.
All were actively looking for the remnants of Diablo's forces, and although they hadn't found important figures like Asmodeus or Agares, practically all other Demons were found and placed under the control of the Demon King.
Zagan himself and Phoenix were the same... In fact, in the case of these two particular Demons, they 'submitted' of their own accord. According to Zagan's own words, Victor was the 'winner'; therefore, he would support him.
It was worth mentioning that none of the women here trusted Zagan, The Merchant. As useful as he was, he was not someone to be trusted... Just like all Demons.
The only difference was that Zagan wasn't under Victor's strict control like the other Demons. They wondered why Victor let Zagan have free rein.
And the only explanation from the Demon King they heard was this.
"Men like them are more useful when free"
It was obvious that Victor had some way of controlling Zagan, but they did not know what it was.
“She did not even change her clothes..." Vine commented incredulously as she looked at Sloth, who wore the same clothes she wore in the war.
Vine also noticed that it had been a while since she cut her hair.
“Ugh, I can smell the stench from here." Lily commented in disgust, “How could she not have the decency to just change her clothes? She has been wearing the same outfit for over 700 years!"
"Sloth does not stink" Vepar spoke in a neutral tone.
“Actually, she doesn't even need to bathe. She could sleep for thousands of years, and no smell or impuritie's would befall her body."
"... What do you mean?" Lily asked.
“The Power of The Sin of Sloth automatically keeps her entire body protected from everything, from impurities to outside attacks"
"She may be sleeping now, but whoever attacks her will meet a very horrible fate."
"..." Lily raised her eyebrow. Not even she knew what the Powers of the Deadly Sins were. She had no idea how Vepar knew that with such certainty.
Lily and Vine looked at Vepar with speechless expressions.
