Chapter 907: A hate that cannot be erased easily.
"...Stop messing around, and let's continue our tour." Victor rolled his eyes at his Heavenly Father's words. 'Rule the sky? Is he kidding? I don't want that. It's too troublesome.'
What Victor found problematic were the angels themselves. Those creatures only respected their creator; therefore, ruling heaven through force like demons was impossible.
Seeing Victor turn around, the Heavenly Father thought. 'But I wasn't joking...'
The changes that Victor caused in hell were very significant, so much so that he could not even recognize this place as hell anymore. The hell that his son Lucifer and Diablo ruled was more primitive than this.
There were no comparisons between the two ancient demon kings and the current one. In fact, it would be an insult to compare them to Victor.
While the other demon kings were content to live in mediocrity, Victor raised the standard of living in all of Hell to the level of a more advanced human civilization.
Seeing such a change, there was no way the Heavenly Father could not be moved; he wanted this for himself, too! He was embarrassed to say this, but as a leader, he was not someone very capable.
He was primarily a creator, an engineer, so to speak, and he left most of the leadership work for his generals to do. But even this authority was limited.
Generals could not do whatever they wanted in heaven, and there were always things they needed to ask their Heavenly Father for. But even if they had the necessary authority, they would not revolutionize like Victor.
The reason Victor revolutionized hell was due to both his mentality as a warrior, and his mentality as a human. Although he later changed to a long-
lived race, his initial race was still a human, and the mentality of a human still existed in him. Because of that, he wasted no time and revolutionized everything to his liking.
"Stop looking at me like I did it all alone because I didn't. Most of the work was done by my demon wives. Without them, this place would still be the same hell as before." Victor spoke.
And he wasn't lying when he said that, if it weren't for Helena's powers, Lily's experience, Aline's creativity and intelligence, as well as Vepar and Vine's dedication, the current hell wouldn't be possible to create.
"But these women wouldn't have had the opportunity to do whatever they wanted if you hadn't paved the way for them, right? After all, hell is not so kind."
Victor was silent at his Heavenly Father's words. He had nothing to counter those words; after all, he was correct. If Victor didn't exist, these women would face many demons who were against the changes, but due to his power and reputation as a tyrant, their progress was very smooth.
It could be said that Victor's very existence served as a buffer for these bolder demons from doing nothing... Although in the beginning, there were still those fools who were still against him... Well, they're just dog food now; no need to remember them.
"Hmm? What is that? Is it a statue of Lilith?" Ariel spoke as she looked toward the center of a square, where she saw a large statue of Lilith.
The Heavenly Father and Ariel looked at Victor for answers, and all Victor said was:
"...Well, she is quite popular as an idol."
"...Idol...?" The Heavenly Father and Ariel seemed to have heard the most absurd thing in their lives in those few seconds.
"Yes. Her main job in hell nowadays is to be an Idol for all the demons. Her popularity might be higher than mine." Victor spoke.
The two celestial beings were silent.
A futuristic hell that seemed to come out of some science fiction book? They could work with that, but... Lilith... That Lilith acting as an idol? What the hell? Did the sky freeze, and they didn't know?
"Here, a show of hers will be on now," Victor spoke as he looked at a screen on the buildings near the square.
The group looked toward the building, and the image began to change. Soon, Lilith appeared, dancing with a group of succubi to a very pop song.
"What in the 7 Heavenly Heavens am I looking at?" Ariel commented in disbelief.
The Heavenly Father did not blame his daughter for this reaction because he was feeling the same thing. He could not see any trace of that heaven-hating demonic woman in the current smiling Lilith.
In some ways, she even looks like Lilith originally did in Eden... A free, spontaneous, and fun woman, much like Eve.' The Heavenly Father thought.
"...Just...Just how did you manage to pull off this feat of changing Lilith?" Ariel asked Victor.
"Well… Debt can change people, but I didn't expect her to end up enjoying this job, too." He laughed lightly.
At first, Victor suggested this as a way for her to earn money to pay off debts and use her popularity for the good of his government, but not even he expected this development.
"But it's okay, isn't it? As long as she's having fun."
Ariel looked at Victor smiling and then looked at Lilith, who seemed to be having fun without a care in the world. Due to Lilith's ambition to destroy heaven, the progenitor of demons often came into conflict with the angels, especially the seraphim of the highest order and the seven virtues.
Ariel herself had clashed with Lilith several times. Seeing someone who could be described as her sworn enemy having fun without a care in the world affected her deeply.
The Seraphim of Generosity began to feel something that she had never felt before in her life... Envy.
The purest and unaltered Envy.
'…It's not fair…!' While she was here working tirelessly, that woman was living a carefree life! It just wasn't fair!
The Heavenly Father broke out in a cold sweat when he saw his general's wings flickering between dark and white.
"Ariel." He spoke harshly.
Hearing his tone, Ariel stiffened and looked at her father.
"Control yourself."
"Y-Yes."
The Heavenly Father looked at Victor with complicated eyes. He knew that this was not his fault but rather a natural reaction to seeing Lilith, a feeling he could understand very well. After all, of everyone present here, Lilith was the most known to these two.
But he couldn't help but want to point out to him not to do that again now the 'it' that he didn't want him to do remained hidden amongst a haze of complicated feelings. He felt like he needed to say something but didn't know what it was.
'How strange...' For someone who always knew what to say, this feeling of doubt was new to him.
Seeing the reaction of the two celestial beings, Victor shook his head internally. This was one of the reasons why he didn't want to deal with the angels either; these beings were so used to repressing their feelings that any 'negative' feeling they felt would be sensed at maximum power.
'Repressing your feelings is never good, regardless of whether you are an angel or not.' Victor thought.
"Father, Father."
"Hmm?" Victor looked at Ophis.
"What is that?" She pointed to a luxurious 10-story building.
"Oh, this is one of the places where we sell our weapons."
"...Why is it so luxurious?"
"As I said before, conflict is one of the entertainments that demons enjoy most, so the weapons market is quite active. Every day, the demons launch a new prototype of a different weapon."
"This is supervised, right...?" Heavenly Father asked.
"Of course, my soldiers personally supervise the most important businesses." Victor's eyes glowed violet with a tinge of pure violence and sadism. "I doubt they would try to do anything illegal in front of me."
The image of the punishment of those who betray the king of hell is quite vivid in the heads of all demons. If they don't want to become a sculpture worthy of being in Lovecraft's books, they better obey.
"...Is that a lightsaber?" Nero narrowed her eyes. She rubbed her eyes for a moment, thinking she was seeing things, but when she looked again, she actually saw a lightsaber!
"Father, that's a lightsaber!"
"Well, yes... Let's say the demons ran out of ideas for new weapons and ended up copying weapons from other franchises." Victor commented. The first time he saw this, he was also surprised; he even tested some weapons and saw that they worked in the same way as in other franchises.
How the demons did this, Victor had no idea, and he was also too lazy to read Aline's report, so he just accepted things as they were. After all, he wasn't causing harm to anyone, and the economy was turning.
And since they are not linked to Earth, it can be said that copyright means nothing to the demons of hell.
"...The Shotgun, and the Doom Slayer's sword too! Are these demons masochists?" Nero asked in disbelief.
"...Masochist?" Ophis turned her head in confusion at this new word.
Metis narrowed her eyes at Nero, who broke out in a cold sweat. She didn't know how to answer these questions.
Unlike Nero, Victor didn't mince words: "Masochism is when-."
"Father! You can't say that to a little girl!" Metis quickly stopped Victor. In her rush, she didn't even notice the way she had called him.
"Metis, my dear. You and the other girls have the same problem; you shouldn't hide the fact that it exists. It will only make her more curious. Therefore, explaining patiently is more appropriate. This way, we can teach what is right and what is wrong."
"I agree with you, Father. But there is a time and place for that. She is still a child!"
"Don't underestimate Ophis. Despite being a child, she is much smarter than many children out there."
"Even if she is smarter, she is still a child!"
While the two dragons countered the argument back and forth, Ophis stared at the two with an intense look. Her curiosity increased several times now seeing Metis and Victor's reaction.
Nero, on the other hand, looked like a sweaty pig waiting to be next to the slaughter. She knew that this curveball hadn't come her way yet, but it definitely would. She was the one who had started this problem, after all.
Fortunately, luck was on Nero's side today because when Ophis turned to her to ask something, the screams of several demons were heard.
"OOOOOOOOOH!"
"Lilith, Lilith!"
"Hmm?" This scream caught the attention of the group, who looked in the direction of the sound. With their supernatural senses, they could see the distance, so even though it was far away, they still saw a huddle of demons looking at a stage in a square dedicated to live shows.
"Oh... Was there a Lilith show today?" Victor spoke in confusion as he took a black Orb out of his pocket and started to check something.
'Hmm, there wasn't a show today, and everything was organized quickly by Helena...' Victor didn't even need to ask Helena's reasons for doing this. His demonic ladies had been watching Victor's interaction with the celestial beings since the moment he arrived in hell. After all, in this place, there were eyes and ears everywhere.
And since they have Tres Rules at their command, it was even easier to watch them all. Therefore, Helena's intention was clear. 'She wants to destabilize Ariel… She sure is a demon.' Victor laughed internally.
With his perfect performance and control of feelings, Victor said: "It looks like a Lilith Show was scheduled for today. Do you want to see it?"
"...I don't think that's a good idea." The Heavenly Father spoke as he looked at his daughter, whose eyes glowed with pure golden power; her senses were clearly focused on the show.
"I see... Well, let's continue our tour. I still have to show you my castle and the towers still." The moment Victor said that.
Fireworks soared into the sky, and Lilith rose from the ground in a large red magic circle and floated across the sky.
She looked stunning, and with the long red dress and a little makeup to enhance her look, she looked like a very hot and, at the same time, noble, demonic lady.
Lilith's appearance drove the demons crazy, and they began to scream even more.
A small red microphone began to materialize near her mouth, and Lilith's voice was heard throughout this district.
Since this was a concert-focused district, no one lived here, so she wouldn't be disturbing the other demons' sleep.
"My dear children... Today will be a new song made exclusively for you."
The demons' shouting stopped, and a red guitar appeared in Lilith's grip. As she raised her hand and lowered it, the sound of the guitar reverberated around the crowd.
Other magic circles appear behind Lilith, and other Succubus appear.
Silence fell until her voice was heard again:
"I hear voices in my head again… Telling me to follow my desire. The desire to kill, to maim, to revenge, the desire to carnage all the pigeons in the silver city."
With the bang of a guitar, the Rock mixed with Heavy Metal show began.
"Ohh, I hear voices in my mind again, voices that say to ascend the throne of heaven and tear the golden face to pieces!"
"Ohhh!"
"Ohhh!"
The demons went wild.
And the Heavenly Father looked at Victor with an expressionless face, the lyrics of the song were clearly a way of expressing her hatred towards angels.
"What? She may have changed, but hatred for her still exists, okay? She just expresses it differently." Victor explained and then added, "At least she's not going to war, right?"
The Heavenly Father did not know how to refute Victor's words. On the one hand, he was correct, but on the other hand, he felt that everything was not that simple.
Seeing Lilith at her show smiling with fun as she sang, and hearing the lyrics to her song. A mixture of fury and envy was felt by Ariel.
Consequently, her countenance began to flicker between black and gold.
'Shit,' The Heavenly Father thought: "Ariel controls yourself!"
"... Yes... I will..." She replied as she stopped blinking between the dark side and the light side, but her eyes were still focused on Lilith.
"Watch the Angels BURN!" Lilith destroyed the guitar on the floor, and the bang reverberated throughout the stage.
Then, the stage burst into literal flames, and a heavy metal instrument began. Lilith's red dress caught fire as well, replaced by a black dominatrix outfit styled to be like a long black cape dress.
The demons' excitement peaked, and their scream could be heard in the distance.
Ariel couldn't hold back any longer, and her face turned permanently black for a few seconds straight.
"This !@$#@$@" Vulgarity that would make a sailor blush with embarrassment began to come out of the mouth of the angel of generosity.
She was 'generous' even when it came to speaking ill of others.
"Victor, let's get out of here now." The Heavenly Father took his daughter and walked away from this place.
"Okay." Despite having said this, Victor did not run like his Heavenly Father, and just flew calmly.
...
"Hahahahahaha! That's right, little pigeon, fall! Fall! Become a fallen angel!" Helena laughed maniacally as she clicked several buttons, and Lilith's show began to be broadcast throughout the city.
"You can run, but you can't hide! Hahahahaha!"
"...Do we need to worry about this?" Aline pointed out.
"It's okay, right? She's not doing anything much. She just put on a show." Vine spoke. In her opinion, her attitude was relatively harmless. After all, she wasn't trying to kill anyone; she was just provoking the angel and trying to make her into a fallen angel.
This was just a normal attitude of demons.
"Yes... A show." Aline looked back at the screens in front of her.
If there was one thing that all succubus had in common, it was their natural hatred for angels, a hatred that was inherited from Lilith. Therefore, Aline could understand Helena's reaction.
'Good thing I'm an ice demon.' Aline thought.
"Anyway, let's finish everything here quickly to return home. We need to be present when the ceremony takes place."
"Okay~" Vine nodded.
