Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

p Reflecting over my battle with Selor alongside my battle with Belphegor, I slowly began to piece together various schemes to employ in battle. Elements of surprise, using my enemy's physical and mental weaknesses, utilizing my Devil's Heart ability more effectively. Everything that I had would be used in battle with people near the peak. A straight-up fight is a suicide mission for both parties.

Striving to fall deeper into meditation, just outside my home, within the courtyard, I used to train Zanta, the billowing winds of the Abyss caressed my body, passing through my hair with gentle ease soothing the deepest reaches of my soul.

I could feel my injuries slowly mending themselves. And yet the more they closed, the stronger I became.

"Are you ready?"

Opening my eyes towards Mephisto standing across from me, gripping an elegant black spear in his right hand, I could not help but rise to my feet, a little startled.

"You're a spear wielder?"

"Are you ready?" he repeated, far sterner than before. My eyes narrowed, and I nodded, " Then observe, my disciple." He instructed, arching his spear as his feet parted. " For these past hundred years. I've instructed you regarding Intent and Illusion. While most of what you gain came from you, I believe it's time for you to relearn Black Sabbath."

My Soul Flame pulsed with excitement as I recalled Belphegor's insanity when he spoke of such a technique. And yet a part of me remained guarded against this Fallen.

I knew that there was a reason Mephisto was teaching me all this. A goal he was after. But for the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. He seemed to want to enter Arcadia, but I feel that's not his true aim. It's as if he's only setting the stage.

But for what? He would be an enemy of the Forsaken. After all, he was the reason for their expulsion, possibly even the Fel. Mephisto knows this; he knows it all, but yet—

"Focus now," He said, as the laziness in his eyes faded, leaving only a peerless intent. " This technique is what I gleaned during my time as Architect of Heaven. Alongside Lucifer's ambition. Black Sabbath is the ultimate tool of manipulation upon a battlefield. Even your Little Brother has fallen a few times when he's challenged me."

"I-I don't understand."

"Your Devil's Heart, on a fundamental level, peers into the Intent someone holds in their heart. Black Sabbath works the same, except we bend that Intent our will," he explained.

"Sounds the same as what I always do,"

"Maybe, but when you use Devil's Heart, you use your will to change others' hearts; what I'm doing is using their Intent against them. You must understand Arsene; the greatest weapon to anyone is themselves. To manipulate how someone moves, thinks, or believe ensures I win every battle."

To manipulate the flow of an entire battle, to know how someone will move or see how they will act and react simply based on how I will them to move. That's—Dear God, I could effectively stop Lilith from using specific Artes like that bullshit time travel one.

"Father shunned this Arte as it was based on him." he said, startling me, "It would be how mortals would observe a lion and create a technique based on it. I did the same just on the Father of all creation."

A lump formed in my throat as I stared at this monster, speaking as though the act of creating something so unique was nothing to him.

"Now watch, and remember," he said as his spear suddenly moved.

Laws bent under the moonlit night, yet as his spear danced along the infinite stars, they began to shift within the skies, bending to his dark will. Shining, dimming, igniting into supernovas all seemed to happen as Mephisto bent the very Abyss to his will.

I stood there. Unable to remove my eyes from his pitch-black spear, swirling akin to a whirlwind. I could only devour everything I saw, replaying it all back in my soul, over and over as I began to analyze, not just the spear. But instead, the way his Intent flowed, the way he used the laws, the very act in which he manipulated his own qi and soul as if he was nothing more than a puppet to his will.

Mephisto stopped lowering his spear with a brow covered in sweat. His eyes were weary, and his skin slowly turned a ghastly pale as if he was becoming devoid of blood. "Father shunned such a thing due to the innate properties of it stealing away his control. We are all a product of his will, and this technique effectively steals such will. The only reason I'm alive now from stealing the Abyss's will is due to the fact that I am teaching you. Where I not, I would have been struck down without hesitation by the Abyss herself."

"You're trying to get me killed, aren't you? This technique would be useless—"'

"Father will not mind, he'll not be happy, but he'll not act against you. Father rarely involves himself. And when he does, you'll never know it. I don't expect you to master 'my' Black Sabbath. But I do hope you understand its mechanics. And begin to use it effectively in battle. You'll need it."

Addressing the blood trickling from my nose with the robes that clung to me, I stared at the idle Fallen, staring back.

"What is it you're after, Mephisto? Surely this technique can't be free." I said, hoping to gleam something from his stoic expression, and yet the scarlet of his eyes only seemed to deepen into a pooling vortex of mystery.

"My disciple lives, and no matter what you think, you are my only disciple. I've no wife, no child, nothing—only you." He pointed out, taking a few steps toward me, "but if you need a reason, then it will be because I want you in my debt. Yeah, let's go with that." he said, dismissing his spear into a sea of nodes, that vanished into the ether. "As you are now, I suspect that you will not last long against others like Zena. And others will be appearing. Zariel has already taken a disciple. As have one of my brothers, surely you've not forgotten of Grey."

How could I? I've many questions regarding his situation. "I'd never forget."

"See that you don't; he's your enemy now, or a rival at best. Teams are forming, and despite your brother's efforts, we Fallen have been alive since the beginning." He said, releasing a smile that stirred my heart, but he vanished before I could inquire what he meant.