Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Trailing behind Eroma for the next few nights, I began to notice a few demons shadowing us. Their footsteps made no sound, and their pore didn't release any sent, but I could feel their presence through the will of the Darkness.

They were Shadow Imps—a little similar to Zax but far weaker in battle prowess and cultivations. Nevertheless, these bastards had this strange ability that stole cultivation with each hit they landed. While it wouldn't affect someone like a royal devil or me, it was a dangerous attribute that showed strength in groups.

"Eroma," I said, trying to catch his attention, but my uncle had seemed far too preoccupied with tracking Grey. He didn't seem to notice.

Shadow slashing several times, blood trickled out of the shadows as I began cutting through bodies while training my spear intent and almighty skill.

Training the best I could without getting too worn out, Eroma and I took note of a small gathering of shadowy figures draped in cloaks. Noticing the infernal writing on their cloak, the hairs upon me reeled in fear as I snatched Eroma, leaping away without a sound before they caught us.

"What?" He said.

"Devils," I responded, "Royal Devils."

"All of them are High Gods, are they not?' I said, knowing Eroma could see through their cloaks with the Eyes of Truth. "They probably belong to the children of the Princes or Kings. We need to proceed with care."

Eroma held his tongue and suddenly smiled, "You can teleport, right?"

"It's not really teleporting, but no, the hell gate here is too powerful; it's disrupting the laws of Darkness. The most I can do is Shadowstep, which is an almighty technique.

"What's the range? Of your shadow step?"

I stared at Eroma and chuckled, "I'll be bate you just worry about not dying; I know you are adept in the art of stealth."

"My nephew is a Monarch of Darkness; if I'm not adapt in stealth, what good am I?" He jeered, and I nodded, patting his shoulders as I shadow-stepped in the middle of the group of Devils.

"Eh," THe group all said, as my wings radiated a powerful spear intent.

"Hello there," I said, as my wings began to burn with the Flames of Hellfire, as well as the Spear of Noctem, I struck using my full power.

"ITS ARSE—"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM~

Erupting in a powerful force to be reckoned with, blood spilled over my cheeks as I cut down three of the Seven before Shadow Stepping away.

"ARSENE!!!!"

Not bothering to care who these fools were, I rushed away, allowing Eroma the chance to go ahead of me, while these seven royal devils gave chase.

All of them were at the beginning stages of High God, which made it easy to bully. Killing them would be a little bit of a challenge, but with everyone using damn blessings nowadays, I'll not try to push my luck.

"Arsene, stop your running! We are faster than you! Even if you can move instantaneously, you can't escape us!"

Rolling my eyes, I took to the skies as the Devils tried to follow, but as they did, I reached deep into myself and Shadow Step about a few hundred Kilometers back to where I left Eroma and fell to my ass with a ghastly pale face.

"FUCK!" I cried. "That was all my Astral Force."

Feeling more drained than when I used Soul Force, I sighed and leaned onto a tree. "It's no wonder people from the Astral Sea can't teach others the Art of Astral Force. If they did, it would only enable a person to strengthen the parameters of any Almighty spell.

Listening to the curses, a ways away, I pushed ahead past the three devils I'd cut down a little earlier. Noticing a set of stairs, I slowly began to climb them, feeling the unease bubbling in the pit of my stomach.

This feeling.

"A Hell Gates, Royal Devils standing guard at the front, and this dark, uneasy feeling. Then there's Moloch." My gaze slid up towards the skies covered in soot, "This reminds me of the stories Devils tell their children."

"The Hells were always assumed to be a place to punish sinners, which was correct, but if Bael was correct, Lucifer had found yet another use, and that was to breed particular types of monsters. Hell Fiends, I believe he called them. They were what Lilith used as inspiration to breed Demons and Devils.

Before Hell could gain an avatar, Lucifer had somehow used its power to create an army designed to kill the Angels after his wings were torn from his body. And he was cast from Heaven.

"They were in the fourth heaven as well?" I whispered, reaching the top of the stars, when my eyes landed upon a strange stone gate, oozing a dark power that turned my stomach.

The stones over the gate were black, but as I looked around, I cursed, noticing Eroma missing. "That stupid fool, he should be able to tell what the hell that gate was."

Sending a message to Lilith of me heading to Hell, I released a long deep breath that burned coming out and approached.

"Ah! Arsene!" A voice I'd heard before resounded as, from the depts of the Hell Gate, two sets of black wings fell into my sight as a Fallen stepped out. Long black hair that fell to his slender shoulders, with intricate runes below his right eye, glowed a scarlet hue.

Studying the somewhat delicate look of Moloch and the two horns piercing up that seemed to diminish his handsomeness somewhat, giving him a demonic glow, I frowned.

"What are you doing here?"

Moloch cheerfully smiled, " Little old me is only doing what needs to be done. Mephisto predicted a battle and asked for my help."

I flinched at his words, " A battle?"

"That's right; you don't know, Zariel and Mephisto are currently battling Belphegor. Hence the reason for these Hell Gates."

A dark realization struck me as I narrowed my eyes, " You opened Hell Gates from the Origin Realm, through the Thirty Three heaven, to release any pent-up energy in the Hells."

"Well, you opened them; we just let it happen." Moloch said, bating his finger back and forth, "It's really because of your brother; that crazy bastard loves bending reality to his will. Not to mention the other two monsters battling. If we don't release some energy, we'll have to hear it from Hells Avatar and Father."

"What does this have to do with my uncle, and why are you using Balforgren Demons?" I snapped, wishing for a clear answer.

The Fallen smiled, stepping to the side to give me a clear view of the Hell Gate, "Step inside, my boy, and all your answers will be there. Just be warned; this gate leads to the Origin Realm."