Pride, Serenity, Greed, and Wrath reappeared somewhere away. Pride swept his senses around. After making sure no being was in the vicinity, he waved his hand and a metallic sphere appeared around them. This sphere sealed them from the outside. Nothing would be able to peer through. Even if Lucifer came, he had to use force to find out what was going on inside. Pride would be aware then. Hence, they were safe to speak inside this sphere.
"Do you know where Joy is?" Pride asked Serenity.
Serenity shook her head. "After that incident, she had hidden herself away. I don't know where she is right now, but I believe I can find out. It will take some time, though."
"You do that. We need everyone," Pride said. He then turned to Wrath, "What about Fear?"
"He is still recovering," Wrath answered. "Hope did him in pretty badly… The fact that we are discussing this, so the rumor is true? Hope is no more?"
The three were silent from the question.
"Heh, I never thought I would ever wish for that stiff to still be around," Wrath said. "He just has to check out when he is needed."
"Do you think Fear can help us?" Pride asked.
"I think the proper question is whether he is willing to help us," Wrath answered.
"This is for his own wellbeing. If Lucifer dominates this world, there won't be a place for us," Pride said.
"I think the proper question is whether he is willing to help us," Wrath answered.
"This is for his own wellbeing. If Lucifer dominates this world, there won't be a place for us," Pride said.
"I will go talk to him," Greed said.
"You know where he is?" Pride asked.
"Of course, we used to be pals. The guy has a problem with creativity, so I bet he is still at one of his old hiding holes."
"Do you think you can convince him?" Pride asked. "He was quite pissed at you for not taking his side. Maybe Wrath should go."
"I'm not someone who has the patience of convincing anyone," Wrath said. "He will have a better success chance than me."
"Very well then. Serenity, you go look for Joy. Wrath and I will watch over the underworld forces' movements from afar, making sure Lucifer is keeping his word. We will leave Fear to you, Greed. I hope you don't disappoint.
"No promises, okay," Greed said.
"Do you think it is enough?" Serenity asked. "The six of us against Lucifer."
"It has to," Pride said. "I won't let him take over this world."
"He doesn't have Hope's restrain. If we go up against him, not all of us will make it out," Greed warned. "Are we sure we want to do this? I mean, we can just hide. We might be unable to win but it won't be easy for him to flush us out as well."
"How can you say that?!" Serenity chided.
Greed shrugged. "Hehe. I just want to make sure everyone here is committed. Don't chicken out midway."
"You know I won't," Serenity declared.
"I can't stand those underworld creatures. This upper world is ours! I will do everything to drive them back," Wrath announced.
"We are in this mess because of me," Pride said. "If someone has to sacrifice to defeat Lucifer, I will gladly do it, but I want to make sure we succeed."
"Okay. As long as we are all on the same page," Greed said. "Let's just hope those mortals can last as long as we hope them to."
"Yes, let's… hope," Pride said. He undid the sphere sealing them. The four then disappeared from there.
*
"Are we far enough?" Bowler asked. He was marching with the retreating army. He kept on looking back, making sure none of the devils were chasing them.
"Stop it, you chickenshit! You are making everyone uneasy," The Man reprimanded.
"How can I not be uneasy? You see how helpless we are. We have an army. They were just six!" Bowler exclaimed.
"Don't worry, our leaders will figure something out," The Man said. "Trust in them."
Bowler sighed. He did trust them. He just couldn't help but be worried. Here they were, seemingly so close to their victory. He thought this march was their last march. Once they took out World Maker's headquarters, everyone could go back to peacefully doing all the interesting gaming activities this world had to offer. But no, the situation just had to turn for the worse again. It was as if their struggle could never end. Problems worse than the last just kept on coming up.
He turned to the mobile fortress. "I hope they could bail us out from this mess," he said.
*
Inside the mobile throne room of the mobile fortress, John was having a meeting with the guild leaders and country leaders.
"How fast is the spread of the corrupted mana?" John asked Wilted who was invited to join the meeting.
"At the earliest, it should cover the whole world in four months. At the latest, it will be six months," Wilted answered.
"That's too short a time to build up our forces…," Thelgrun said.
"We don't have that long," John said. "Master will become a God in three months. You saw how those Gods were when they faced Lucifer. From what I see, I don't think they can win against Lucifer. Am I right?"
John was asking Wilted.
Wilted nodded, "Only Hope can win against Lucifer."
"Even if the four work together?" John asked.
"… I can't say for sure. Maybe they can if they cooperate truly well, but the probability is still small," Wilted answered.
"Then we have less than three months to defeat this underworld forces," John said. "Facing only Lucifer is already a stretch for the Gods of the upper world, we can't let them add Master into it. They will be going up against two Gods then."
Everyone was somber after hearing the news.
"I hate to bring more bad news, but you all need to be aware of something," Wilted said.
Everyone turned to her.
"Once the main underworld portal is activated, all the not yet sealed underworld portals will be activated. The sealing domes won't work anymore."
Horatio and Thelgrun's eyes turned wide. "Do you mean…"
"Yes. Currently, the underworld portals in your countries will have demons pouring out of them," Wilted said.
