God of Hell - Chapter 46 - And When The Darkness Is At Its Strongest, Avert Your Gaze, For The Light Breather Approaches.. (Patreon)

“He’s here… The Light Breather is here?” Defrid asked again. Surely it must have been some kind of joke, some sick deluded joke told by a thrall who had somehow gotten the will to betray his master.

But Dario would not do that. So that meant their God of Hell truly was in her city once more.

“It’s true my Lady.” Said Piacul, his Fire Imp. He often took the shape of a bearded old man with a cane and a hat atop his head. Today was no different, save from the fact that he held the hat in his head as he bowed apologetically. “He now convenes with their Prophet.”

“I’m sorry my Lady.” Dario bowed his head and fell to his knees. “I should have killed him when I had the chance, it was an error on my part, one that can never be forgiven.”

Defrid leaned down and picked up the insect by the throat. He gasped, choked and kicked his legs but didn’t resist as she squeezed the life out of him. “Yes, yes, you’re right, it is you fucking fault, you snivelling rat!” She snarled at the pig. “But-” She tossed him aside and he didn’t stop flying until his back hit a pillar. “You’re more useful to me alive.”

Dario coughed and laid there for a moment of deserved agony. “Thank you my Lady.” He whispered and disappeared through the door.

That left Defrid alone in her quarters, alone in a city with the Demon Slayer afoot. She hated Mercury, the bastard, the animal, for even making this rebellion possible in the first place, he’d sent hordes of her Knights to die in a meaningless battle, crippling her fighting force and then she had the gull to die at that.

Bastard, bastard, bastard!

She reached into her drawer, pulled out a quill and scroll and wrote a letter requesting aid, She tied it to a corvix and let it go, the bird took to the air and then seemed to fade of existence, like a painting washed out of a canvas.

It would be on its way to the second circle now and would find her allies in time,. That was one of the more amazing things about corvix’s: they, like Sky Slitherers and Face Eaters, were able to travel between circles without the aid of a summoning item.

Defrid found herself wishing that she herself was also burn with that magic-

No!

She would not entertain thoughts of fleeing, the Light Breather was just a man, Dario had fought him and would have killed him had he not been saved.

She knew her request for aid would be ignored, just like the ones she’d sent towards her allies in in Tayalnisyan were also ignored. The Inferno was an Empire perhaps only when it suited those at the depths, but in truth each city, at least to one another, behaved more like individual entities, warring against each other, and coveting the other’s domain.

It was simply the way of things, proper and divine. 

That no one came to her aid meant that they smelled blood in the water and would rather let her city fall to reclaim it as their own than help her keep it from crumbling.

She would not run, no, instead she would use this as an opportunity to prove herself mighty. The Rebellions were fractured, split into several factions, multiple of which clashed against each other even when trying to achieve the same goal. In that, both humans and Demons were similar. Defrid had capitalised on it before, that was why the war was going her way, she would just continue in form, and not be shaken at the arrival of some child.

But just in case…

She made her way through her manor and down to her cellar. There, wrapped in runed chains was a beast unlike any other. Scrawny, like a skeleton wrapped in red and brown skin, tall, like a giant. It had bulging eyes sunken into sockets, lidless eyes and with dilated pupils, they seemed to be perpetually screaming silently.

Only silently however, as it was tantamount that a Hollow’s jaw mouth also be chained up.

Defrid pulled out her dagger and sank it just beneath the ribs of the summoning beast. She cut it open and no blood poured, instead it was like opening an empty wineskin. Defrid reached inside the beast and felt it thrash helpless in its chains as her hand wrapped around its crystal heart.

“Do not worry.” She said soothingly. “Your mother will see daylight soon enough.” With that, she dragged the heart out of the beast and it fell slack within its chains.

The ‘Prophet’ was sat down by her desk, and Nero on the other side, The two shared a silence as a woman poured them both tea. A woman who had a runed shackle tied bolted around her wrist.

The Death Rattle and Selvas stood around the office, tense as compressed springs but letting Nero take the lead.

The first words were spoken only when it was the Prophet and Nero’s allies that were left in the room.

“You do not like me…” The woman observed.

“No, no I do not tend to like slavers actually.” He told her pointedly.

“We’re at war, for the preservation of our people..” The woman stated. “I believe using any advantage we have at our disposal is not only justified but necessary. Thralls are allies that cannot betray us, a one of a kind asset.”

Nero scoffed. “I’m sorry, what role exactly did the thralls under your employ play before this rebellion.”

The woman opened her mouth then shut it.

“Good.” Nero sighed. “Now, you’re going to tell me everything I need to know about the war so I can bring it to an end.”

And so the Prophet began, however stiffly. It seemed the rebellion had been split into various factions, almost all led by wealthy citizens of Dolore like the woman before him.

That, it seemed, was the major problem, as while they did work together against the common interest of Defrid and her men, they were about as hostile towards each other as they were towards the Demon on everything else.

In terms of resource management each faction had quartered off a section of the city to hold as their own, and they viciously fought back any attempt at what they saw as encroachment from any other faction.

Of course the Prophet assured Nero that her faction in particular was the proper one, and the city would be much better if everyone else simply dissolved theirs and gathered around her. The irony was not lost on Nero when she practically hissed at the idea of dissolving hers and joining a rival faction.

“Sounds like your problem is a lack of direction.” He told her. “Most rebellions fail because they lack synergy and can quickly turn into a series of isolated events which, when quashed, fail to strategize” Nero thought aloud, drumming his fingers against the oak wood. “What you’re going to do is-”

“What I’m going to do?” The Prophet frowned, voice pitched into an incredulous tone.

“Yes, what you’re going to do.” Nero told her matter of factly.

She hissed. “Who are you to come in here and tell me what I’m going to do, this isn’t your city, where were you when the rebellion broke out, where were you when its people needed shelter? I was the one who gave it that—” 

“I’m here now.” Nero met her eyes.

“And what does that change?” She asked.

“Everything.” Nero grinned. He was on his feet a moment later.

“Where are you going?” The woman asked, suddenly alarmed.

Nero made his way to the balcony. The garden was crammed with people, more and more flooding through the gates. Murmuring filled the air, coming from men women and  children, it seemed the secret was out, the people of Dolore knew he was here now, and they looked up at him with hopeful eyes.

“There’s so many…” Ember whispered.

There are…

He buried his nerves.

“I know by now you’ve all heard the rumours, and I’m here to tell you that I am… Everything you think I am.” He boomed. “I am Nero, this is Ember, and together we will do whatever is needed of us until all of Dolore is free. And if any Demon gets in our way, I assure you, they will burn.”

The garden erupted into cheers, the ground itself felt like it was going to give in under the storm. Nero instinctively held the railings to balance himself. The sea of sounds coalesced into a single chant.

‘Light Breather.’

‘Light Breather.’

‘Light Breather.’

Nero held his palms out and a ball of bright golden light erupted in both, glimmering in the darkness of Dolore, banishing the gloom of the war and birthing a hope for tomorrow.

“I am your Light Breather, and I’m here to change everything.”