Chapter 17 Invisibility
Meanwhile, in Hell.
"Has news from Golasia arrived?" The demon's face, half-hidden in the shadows, was only outlined. His deliberately lowered voice created a strange and mysterious atmosphere.
"Yes, Dan—!" The lesser demon, unable to hide his excitement, answered loudly, but then stopped. He looked at the high-level demonic patterns on the other's dark green robe and quickly corrected himself.
"That's right, Your Excellency, new news has arrived."
He respectfully bowed his head and handed over the secret letter.
The high-level demon took the letter and turned to enter a heavily guarded cave, leaving the lesser demon who delivered the message watching his retreating figure with envy.
Because that was a place only demons of King rank and above had the authority to enter. The Demon King Baal and the other demon generals of Agares were inside discussing the war.
"Adan's really lucky," he said shortly after the high-ranking demon left.
"Shh, you should call him Lord Dantalin!" another demon whispered, stopping him.
Daltalin.
The demon initially called Adan by his companions, who was originally clumsy, dull, and somewhat bald, had suddenly become a high-ranking demon.
Since his hair grew back overnight, he had become like a completely different demon, extremely intelligent.
Their recent string of victories was all thanks to Dantalin's advice to Baal and Agares.
Daltalin entered the meeting room and presented the latest intelligence. Baal, who disliked reading documents, glanced at it and tossed it to Agares beside him. He preferred information obtained through personal inquiry. While Agares was looking at the intelligence, Baal asked Dantalin some questions, and after a while, he looked at Agares as he put down the intelligence.
"Was the plan successful?"
"Hmm," Agares's reaction was indifferent, but Baal didn't mind. He was used to Agares's recent sarcastic remarks, after all, they had lost such a treasure.
He would have gone mad too, he thought, when he heard Agares suddenly speak.
"Lucifer went back."
"So what? He's too late now," Baal sneered, waving his arm triumphantly.
"Those despicable long-haired birds, they tricked us, now they finally know what's what!"
Having learned the details from Agares, the demons' resentment towards the angel for infiltrating Hell and stealing the pen was one thing, but their swift response—sending spies to infiltrate the enemy's camp—was quite remarkable.
In this respect, they had always been a clever race.
Baal licked his lips, his deep purple eyes gazing upwards. He had initially thought the gods would intervene quickly, but the gods hadn't made any statement; silence was the best silence.
"We must win this war!"
Baal was brimming with fighting spirit, but Agares wasn't as optimistic.
He was still thinking about the silver-haired angel. He didn't even know the angel's name, but he knew very well that if the angel was indeed the original owner of the golden pen, it meant he might possess even more treasures.
That would be a very troublesome opponent for them, perhaps even more troublesome than Lucifer, but he couldn't think of a solution for the time being.
He could only let Golasado keep an eye on things for now, he thought to himself.
However, the Archangel was very shrewd; things probably wouldn't go as smoothly as before.
Meanwhile, as soon as Lucifer returned to the mortal realm, he was met with the support of the people, who thronged around him as if he were their pillar of strength.
"You're back," Atreides said with a smile. His injuries had mostly healed after several days of recuperation, and Lucifer instinctively thought of himself when he saw him.
Could he be the next Elf King—no, the gods still favored him, and he wouldn't let that favor disappear.
His momentary lapse was fleeting; he quickly reverted to his dutiful Archangel persona.
"What happened? Briefly explain."
Belial remained as languid as ever. Even when Lucifer returned, he didn't rise to greet him, so there was no need to expect him to explain. Upon Lucifer's return, he simply relinquished power, then blurred into nothingness and vanished.
He had likely gone back to his tent to sleep. It was the meticulous Raphael who compiled and reported the events of the past few days.
Even without the magic pen, the war hadn't ceased; in fact, the situation had become increasingly stalemate.
"Although no more great calamities have struck, we've suffered repeated defeats in several battles."
"The demons always seem to seize the initiative, as if they knew our strategy and predicted our actions beforehand."
The Archangel pondered for a moment before asking him.
"Have you investigated?"
"Yes, I have." Without the slightest hesitation, Raphael quickly understood his superior's meaning.
"No demons have infiltrated, and the Elven King has also verified this."
Lucifer didn't question it, but he still decided to personally inspect the entire army.
The two archangels toured the area, and when they reached the stables, they saw Michael bathing and grooming a griffin.
"Your Highness! You're back!" Michael greeted them energetically, rubbing the head of his beloved pet and mount.
"Hmm, when did you get another griffin?" Lucifer looked at the unfamiliar griffin with surprise. It was cuddling with Michael's griffin, all affectionately together.
"You mean this one? It's Missy's boyfriend."
Michael happily rubbed the other griffin's chin, feeding it a piece of the purest light energy. The unfamiliar griffin proved to be a proper 'boyfriend,' carefully carrying the shimmering orb of light and gently feeding it to its 'girlfriend.'
Michael's little griffin, having enjoyed a large meal, rubbed its nose against its good friend contentedly.
"That griffin appeared in the stable five days ago. The guardian angel said it returned with His Highness Michael's griffin. We checked carefully, and there's nothing unusual."
Lucifer merely hummed in response to Raphael's words. He crouched down to observe the dog-headed griffin; its large, round, golden eyes were bright and adorable.
He shook hands with the new griffin, then rewarded it with purer light power. The griffin rubbed against his palm, then fed the orb of light to its 'girlfriend' as well.
"Par! Don't feed Missy anymore! It's so fat it can barely fly!" Michael was touched by the harmonious relationship between his pets, but he still had to intervene. Lucifer chuckled, stood up, clapped his hands, and then asked Raphael beside him.
"Is there anywhere else we haven't checked?"
"The only thing left... is the granary."
"Let's go take a look."
The so-called granary was more like a storage room.
Although angels weren't particularly concerned with their appetites, their diligence still led them to keep the granaries full, and right now, the amount of fruit stored there was clearly insufficient.
"This..." Raphael hesitated, surprised that there would be a problem with the granary. He quickly summoned the guarding angel.
"Who has been here?"
"Only Prince Beelzebub has been in and out." The guarding angel, seeing his superior present, became nervous and quickly stated what he knew.
Upon hearing the name Beelzebub, Lucifer knew what was going on.
"Didn't I say he had to fast for three months?"
"Yes, but Prince Beelzebub said he was just looking, he wouldn't eat..." The angel's voice trailed off.
"Did he leave empty-handed?"
"No, he took a bag with him... I opened it and looked inside; there was only some powder, no food."
"Powder?" Lucifer and Raphael exchanged a knowing glance, both seeing a deeper meaning in each other's eyes.
Then, Lucifer swiftly returned, ordering a thorough search of all the angels' tents. Beelzebub was discovered to have been stealing food despite the fasting order.
To evade detection, he cleverly developed a powdered food unfamiliar to the angels.
It was a completely new food made from dried fresh fruits and vegetables, mixed with spring water, and then roasted over a fire.
"Not bad, you sure know how to eat."
Lucifer sat before the main tent, slowly observing the seraphim below, their foreheads slick with sweat.
"I...I'm hungry...hungry, Your Highness," Beelzebub whimpered, carried over by Samael, like a large, pitiful baby bird.
"Don't frighten him, Your Highness," Gabriel chuckled from his seat.
"Thanks to Beelzebub's powder, we were able to find this cunning demon mixed in with us."
Just then, Belial entered, carrying a slimy, greenish-white creature. His face was cold, his demeanor heavy with sleeplessness. Rarely was anything more important to Belial than sleep: these recent battles he had commanded, which had repeatedly failed.
He tossed the afflicted demon into the tent, not worried it would escape. He refused to believe that with so many ropes binding it, the creature could fly away.
"Golasia, one of the few demons who can remain invisible,"
Lucifer revealed the spy's identity, causing the man to shudder.
"You…how did you recognize me?" he asked softly.
"From the moment you rejected Michael's power of light, you became suspicious."
"Huh? Huh? What?" Michael, the one mentioned, looked bewildered.
Golasia paused for a moment, then sighed.
"Because Light is just too awful." Look how thin he's gotten.
Michael didn't know what had happened until the demon was taken away.
It turned out that his newly found mount, Pal, was actually a demon. Pal possessed the ability to become invisible, usually disguising itself as a griffin. When the angels held meetings, Pal would stealthily listen in and then relay the information to the demons.
"How could this be… my Pal…" Michael was devastated upon learning the truth.
"What about my poor Missy?"
Lucifer felt his hopelessly stupid lieutenant was utterly hopeless.
"Get your act together, Michael."
————
Golasia was captured after tying the intelligence to the raven's leg. Belial cast a wide net to bind him tightly, but the black-feathered raven flew away before the net could be cast.
It silently perched on a treetop not far away, its blood-red eyes watching the demon struggle in its cage, seemingly trying to absorb everything, until the demon, drenched in green sauce, was taken away. Then, it silently spread its wings, its powerful wings sweeping across the earth before disappearing into the abyss in the blink of an eye.
It glided in the howling wind until it saw its master among the thousands of demons. A mournful raven's cry echoed through hell. Agares reached out, letting his beloved pet perch on his arm. He untied the ropes binding its legs but didn't rush to read the contents; instead, he met its eyes.
"Is that so? Is that how it is?"
Baal was waiting for the latest intelligence, but seeing Agares only gazing affectionately at his raven, he became anxious.
"What happened!"
"Golasia has been discovered," Agares said in a tone of 'I knew it would happen,' then he opened the demon's last message and read it carefully.
"What! That damned Lucifer!" Baal cursed, his anger stemming entirely from the disruption of his plans.
"It's not all bad," Agares said, quickly sifting through the intelligence to extract what he needed. He closed the report, a long-absent smile appearing on his face.
"Lucifer returned alone; no one accompanied him."
"So what!"
Baal knew Agares was thinking about that nameless angel again. He'd always thought the angel was crazy. What did the angel's presence or absence prove? The battle would still go on. Agares's cowardice was utterly contemptible.
"Without Golasia's intelligence, what do we do now? Should we even fight?"
"We'll do what we have to do," Agares said, turning away, his mind racing.
"Even without intelligence, after several encounters, we've gained an understanding of their strength and intentions."
"You mean…this battle?" Baal's eyes lit up, and Agares, his dejected demeanor from the past few days vanished, nodded affirmatively.
"We must fight!"
"Alright! I'll go prepare right away." Baal was about to turn around when he saw Agares standing before him.
"You've already fought several battles; let me lead the charge this time," he said.
"You?" Baal looked at him suspiciously.
"Are you up to it?"
"Don't underestimate my legions," Agares smiled faintly, then his expression hardened, coldly gazing into the void of darkness.
"Order the Thirty-Sixth Legion!"
With his command, Baal suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
The previously empty darkness suddenly flickered with specks of red light, near and far, seemingly appearing from nothingness, yet ultimately vanishing.
The warriors, appearing in droves, stood silently amidst the cold, craggy rocks, awaiting Agares' command.
"Ready, destination, mortal realm."
You provide the author, Twilight, with a tale of the arduous journey of building a world within [Hebrew mythology].