Chapter 8 - The Old Seat and Legacy of the Lucifer (Patreon)

"Codex: Knights of the Netherworld, Various Types and Code of Honor of the Nether Knights

Terra has always had a long history of the Knighthood.

In the traditions of the Deus-Thelos or Abeir-Toril, the Knights are traditionally powerful horse-mounted warriors of the Honor and Code that serve their Lord and fight for their Kingdoms. While the term Knight is usually associated with humankind, many other species or planes have their variations of the Knighthood.

They symbolize respect and honor among warriors. When one becomes a Knight, he or she is given the title Sir or Dame in front of his or her name. An armored knight on his charger with his cape flowing was a long-established icon of the might of the armies.

In the Netherworld, the concept of Knighthood predates that in the Deus-Thelos by many millennia, as Knights were always considered among the Devil Aristocracy. Probably the sole Noble Rank where even Common Devils could rise to without possessing Clan Trait or any special ability...

Only through the sheer military merit and achievements.

Among the Devil Species, the concept of the Knighthood was far more deeply rooted compared to the Demons. However, this was related to the general conception of the Aristocracy and Hierarchy, because among the Devilkind, these concepts were far more prevalent and stronger.

Demons were never ones for a very strict concept of the Aristocracy, especially when one considered the fact that most of their species was centered around Dungeons under the rule of the Overlord, where the concept of Aristocracy wasn't as much needed.

In the Dungeons, Demons had their own hierarchies that were more centered around seniority but primarily around the concept of power. Like the dragons, Demons functioned on the principle that the strongest ruled.

As simple as that. 

Another species that inhabited the Netherworld, which was famous for its Knight culture, were Vampires that migrated from the Deus-Thelos to the Netherworld during the Age of Dusk.

Vampires in the Deus-Thelos were always extremely strict on the concept of Aristocracy, and their Blood Knights and various Knight Orders that they created were famous or infamous, depending on who was asked.

Regardless of origin, all Netherworld Knights follow the Creed of the Nether Knights. It is the Code of Chivalry that every one of them must follow. These commandments of the Nether Knights are an integral part of the Knighthood for all species across the entirety of the Netherworld.

1st Commandment: By the Grace of the Primordial Contract, we serve through the unbreakable Loyalty, Will, Devotion and Conviction

2nd Commandment: Bear true allegiance to the Netherworld our homeland, Stygian Council and Stygian Nether Emperor

3rd Commandment: Work to promote the unity of the Netherworld, Stygian Council and it's species, even at the cost of individual liberty

4th Commandment: Defend the domains of the Netherworld and expand the glory of the Stygian Council too beyond

5th Commandment: Protect the weak and fight for the right

6th Commandment: Always fight the enemies of the Netherworld and destroy Daemons of the Abyss

7th Commandment: Never give up the fight until the foe is defeated

8th Commandment: Never to break faith with a friend or ally

9th Commandment: Honor and valor are reserved for allies; death is judgment for the enemies in battle, where everything is permitted

10th Commandment: Root out and destroy Daemons for they are the Archenemy of the Netherworld, False Gods and Evil Deities, Those Who Corrupt the Arcane and Nature, Worshippers of the Ruin and Abyss and purge the Corrupt, Heretics, Cultists, Mutants and Unclean wherever they may hide.

These are the General Commandments for all Nether Knights in the entire Netherworld, while many of the Knight Orders of the Netherworld also have their own additional commandments or rules that they adhere to.

Within the Netherworld, there are multiple Knight Orders that are spread across various Layers of the Netherworld, though most of them are operating in the 1st Layer of the Netherworld due to the constant threat of the Abyssal Daemons.

Among the Knight Orders of the Netherworld, there are three that stand above every single one in the Netherworld:

The Drakenhof Templars of Red Death - Are the great order of Blood Knights, the greatest among the Vampires, and only the Children of the Night and Blood were allowed to join the Drakenhof Templars. They have an extremely strict code of honor and are famous for seeking the hardest challenges and battles that would allow them to grow even further. On the battlefield, they are considered as bloodthirsty and merciless vampire friends that butcher their enemies without a shred of mercy or hesitation.

Knights of the Walpurgis - This Knight Order, on the other hand, was created by the old Devil Nobility and a few Demon Overlords. They embody the traditional concepts of the proto-Demonic Knighthood, which meant overwhelming force, achieving missions at all costs, and never failing their assignment. Knights of the Walpurgis are attracting many descendants of the Devil Aristocracy or descendants of powerful Demons who want to rise in their social status through their might and military skill.

Knights of the Primordial Contract - Yet among all Knight Orders, there is no one that could be even remotely compared to the Knights of the Primordial Contract. This Knight Order is the most unique among all, because they have only one sole purpose. They are the ultimate guardians of the Primordial Contract, and they answer only to the Stygian Nether Emperor as the holder of the Contract. Their duty is to protect the Primordial Contract and enforce the Covenants of the Primordial Contract at all costs. They have the smallest numbers, and when a person joins the Knights of the Primordial Contract, they are forsaking all material or other possessions and would be in eternal service to the Primordial Contract, with all of their previous affiliations being null and void. In the Netherworld, joining the Knight Order of the Primordial Contract is considered the utmost honor that is given only to a select few."

- Excerpts from the Book: Knighthood of the Forgotten Realms by Archmage Elmister Aumar

***

"Most of them are totally useless... they only knew some bits of information, while the rest is completely useless to us. Most of their high-ups, as it seemed, were killed in the attack on the base, and those members of the Abyssal Satans Cult who knew something about their more secret plans escaped to the Abyss out of all places."

MacDou let Gigai, the Apostle of her father, to interrogate the prisoners and the results were not really much to her liking. Most of the prisoners knew a shit truth to be told, and they didn't know practically anything that could be considered useful.

"That's pretty unfortunate..."

Sirzechs muttered, though this outcome wasn't outside of his expectations. He already predicted that capturing anyone who would know something useful would be a pretty hard thing to do...

Especially if everyone who could and had the courage to do so, would jump straight into the Dimensional Pathway that was leading to the Abyss. The Cultists of the Architect of Fate were known for this behavior, so the Heir of the House Gremory didn't dwell that much on it.

Either way, today was still a staggering achievement because they managed to root out one of the largest Abyss worshipping organizations in the current Netherworld, close an active Dimensional Pathway leading to the Abyss, and they even disposed of enemies like Dark Lord Babolat and Shalba Beelzebub.

So, one way or another, they had a rather good day, and achievements were there.

Sirzechs thought internally, lamenting about the inability to capture any useful source of information about the movements of the Abyssal Cultists and Cultists of the Ruinious Powers across the Draconic Deus.

He was sure that even right now within the Netherworld, there were still some more culsits lurking in the darkness or across the Draconic Deus Segment, and they needed to be killed at all costs.

In the end, the Abyssal Cultists and Worshippers of the Ruinous Powers were enemies of everything that lived. 

"Well then, this probably concluded the entire endeavor in these ends."

Sirzechs said when he noticed that Roygun already wanted to leave this place because there wasn't much to do already. Enemies were killed, the base of the Abyssal Satans Cult was destroyed, and the battlefield was being cleared as they were speaking right now.

Aside from that, there wasn't much to do for them, perhaps just sightseeing.

But neither of them were in any mood to sightsee in the Gehena.

For the obvious reasons.

This entire region where they were located acted as a pseudo-battlefield between the Kyablis Faction of the Supreme Overlord Kyablis and the Horner Faction of the Supreme Overlord Hornet.

Which meant that at any given moment, it could once again become a battlefield between two enraged Supreme Overlords if they were particularly unlucky.

"I agree... the battlefield is already cleaned, and there is no reason for remaining in this place any further."

MacDou agreed with the statement as they all then started packing their things and preparing to leave. Sirzechs togter with his devils from the Stray Devil Hunting Squad to the Devil Domain in the Pandemonium while MacDou was returning to the Delsgade, which was the Dungeon of her father.

"Well, it was a pleasure working with you, Lady Voldigoad."

Sirzechs stood up and gave her the traditional bow common among the Devil Aristocracy, as she just nodded and left through a Magic Circle on her own. Sirzechs and Roygun didn't dwell in this place any longer than was absolutely necessary, and they too decided to leave Gehena as soon as possible.

"Finally, she is gone..."

Roygun Belphegor muttered under her breath as she watched the daughter of the Supreme Overlord of Tyranny leave the place. From the start, Roygun didn't really like the daughter of the Supreme Overlord of Tyranny that much, truth to be told, and she was pretty glad that she was gone.

"Well, at least you managed to hide your disdain for the woman..."

Sirzechs commented because it wasn't hard to notice the hostility behind Roygun's pleasant and sunny expressions. He had known her for a long time already, and he knew exactly how she was masking her feelings, and she was actually pretty good at it.

Most devils were.

"And you don't need to be that jealous of her... we just exchanged pleasantries and spoke about Magic and various aspects of Destruction."

Discussions with someone who was also dealing with the Destruction were always a welcome thing for Sirzechs, because it allowed him to obtain a new view on the usage of the Destruction, which was pretty valuable.

Unfortunately, in the entirety of the Draconic Deus, there weren't that many people who were dealing with the Destruction or using Destruction in any form. While there were a few Primordial Gods like Shiva and Kali, maybe some other old monsters, but that was it.

Aside from them, Sirzechs didn't have any opportunity to exchange notes on the usage of Destruction, which helped him to deepen his own understanding of the Power of Destruction and Magic Rule of Destruction.

One way or another.

Looking at the Heiress of the Belphegor House, he knew that he would need to address the situation at hand, or else it would be problematic in the long run. It wasn't like Serafall was against him having other women; she admitted that she found it hot, and she was also sexually attracted to women.

The only problematic thing was having a proper discussion about the issues between him, Sera, Roygun and Grayfia somewhere where they could have a moment of peace. It would need to be addressed at a later date, but perhaps a sooner date, truth to be told.

As he was about to say something, his Six Eyes noticed something as several parts of the base of Abyssal Satan's Cult started collapsing even more. It was a faint pulse of Magic that was so minuscule that almost everyone would miss it, even some of the Archmages of the Netherworld would miss the pulse of Mana in that place.

It was the Magic Circle... more precisely, it was the teleportation circle that was hidden in that room, and for whatever reason, Shalba didn't utilize the teleportation circle during the siege on the base.

Well, Sirzechs noted that the Magic Circle wasn't finished... or rather it would be more prudent to state that parts of the Magic Circle were missing because it seemed that the teleportation array was damaged during the siege on the base of Abyssal Satans Cult.

Nevertheless, it wasn't anything serious that Sirzechs wasn't able to repair with his mastery over the Spatial Magic and Six Eyes. It took him barely fifteen minutes to compeltely repair the entire array, as he then poured some of his Infernity into the Magic Circle and activated it.

"I am going through..."

Sirzechs suddenly said because he felt that this was rather a big opportunity. Judging from the fact that the entire Magic Circle was hidden, it meant that it was probably Shalba's last resort escape route.

For whatever reason, he didn't utilize this teleportation array, but Sirzechs knew that the location where the teleportation was leading to was somewhere where Shalba considered it safe.

Which meant another opportunity for him.

If he found some den or hidden safehouse of the last Beelzebub, then it would be jackpot.

"Are you daft?! It's dangerous and impossible!"

It was clear that Roygun didn't share his enthusiasm for the matter, which was evident by the enraged expression that she was putting on and by the scolding that she was giving him.

"Sirzechs! Are you even listening?!" You can't just step forwa..."

She suddenly froze in her scolding as he leaned over and kissed her out of nowhere, which promptly shut Roygun up. She quickly melted into their kiss, and while it wasn't the first time that they kissed, it was only their third one. 

Because Serafall was hogging all of Sirzechs's attention and time, there were few opportunities for Sirzechs to spend either with Roygun or Grayfia. That was the reason why both women considered Serafall as the ultimate final boss...

Deep behind that bubbly and cheerful personality and cute appearance was one of hella cunning and dangerous female devils.

They kissed for several minutes, until Roygun opened her eyes and Sirzechs was nowhere to be found, only a small note was there, carrying his Infernity.

'I sensed that the spatial nodes of this Teleportation Magic Circle are connected to somewhere in the Pandemounium, around either Lucifaad or Lucifuge Territory. Please send a message to Grayfia and Lord Lucifuge that I would be popping up somewhere around there.'

Suddenly, cracks in space started forming around Roygun as she read the letter, because she was pretty angry, and her Clan Trait was doing its wonders. For the powerful Devils and Demons... or rather for the powerful beings generally, their emotional state influenced a lot how their power behaved.

If such a person, like Roygun, who was a peak Ultimate-Class Devil, was under extreme emotional duress, then her Demonic Energy and even Clan Trait would go haywire and wreak havoc.

Like right now.

***

Netherworld, 2nd Layer Pandemonium, Lucifaad

Lucifaad was in the center of the former Territory of the House Lucifer, the original Capital of the Devil Species within the Underworld. It was once a grandiose city, an enormous metropolis that was home to tens of millions of Devils.Unfortunately, during the 1st Blood War, the city was largely destroyed, and in the subsequent skirmishes against Daemons, it was mostly abandoned. After the defeat of the Abyssal Incursions, the Ars Goetia decided to entirely abandon the city, because most of the Lucifer Territory was gone, together with the city.Thus, right now, the city was empty, home only to the skeletons of Devils and other beings that fought in the 1st Blood War and occasional mercenaries that were employed during the war. Not even monsters and Demonic Beasts for whatever reason didn't dare to approach this place.In fact, from what Sirzechs heard, the entire place, meaning the entire Lucifer Territory, was considered a cursed one, and nobody really wanted to have anything to do with it.

This place really looked like it was cursed with all of the decay and everything around it, but the remnants of the once glorious civilization still remained.The stone withstood it all, and even though the city was snow-long, destroyed, and abandoned, some of the towering structures and their remains of it were still standing proudly, high in the sky.

Though it wasn't geniue curse, but rather it was the effect of the Ruination that had spread through the Lucifaad and subsequently through the parts of Lucifer's Territory.

'Well, I can be considered rather lucky... There are a few interesting things that I want to obtain, and I have always wanted to explore the old capital of the Devils, Lucifaad. It's rumored that there are former research laboratories of the House Lucifer, albeit they are abandoned right now. Though they should still contain the research and everything that Lucifer was doing there.'

It was the home to the House Lucifer, and he coincidentally would soon have a descendant of the House Lucifer with him.

Aside from that, he wanted to find some vaults of the House of Lucifer or one of the Six Houses of Lucifer that remained intact in that place. When Grayfia arrived, she should be able to open the Vaults of Lucifer.

He was sure that they would have some really nice things and also a lot of treasures and wealth. But the real reason why he was going in there was the knowledge of the House Lucifer, including the legendary Grimoire, the Book of Lucifer, something that Lucifer, previously known as Helel, used to create the Devil Race together with Lilith.

Sirzechs felt that the book was a very powerful artifact, and he wanted to get his hands on it at any cost. From his grandfather, he knew that the Book of Lucifer contained more viable paths for the Higher Devils to become Super Devils and even evolve to the Archdevils.

This was a secret that Lucifer hid in the Book of Lucifer and nobody else knew about it... not even his Satan-Generals or even First Bael, who was then Prime Minister of Hell. 

Nobody.

It was Lucifer's trump card that he was maintaining order and holding trump cards close to his chest.

Lucifaad was full of treasures because it was mostly abandoned in haste, and he managed to find out through his information network that the Six Houses of Lucifer perished sooner than anyone could take their treasures.

Six Houses of Lucifer, also known as Lucifer Six, consisting of the Extra Devil Houses: Lucifuge, Satanachia, Agaliarept, Fleurety, Sargatanas, and Nebiros, once served the House of Lucifer directly.

Because of this, they were often called the Six Houses of Lucifer. While not directly a Royal Bloodline or members of the Satan-General Lineages, they were respected by all because of their direct connection to the House Lucifer.

This was specifically true for the House Lucifuge, which shared blood with the House Lucifer.

During the 1st Blood War, the Six Houses of Lucifer were tasked with carrying out research that was entrusted to them by Lucifer, with their primary task being the development of weapons and the research of experimental advanced Magic.

This was something that he had learned from his contact with Zekram Bael and Mephisto Pheles. It was rather a precious piece of information, and he was rather interested in whatever the Six Houses of Lucifer were researching out there.

Even till now, nobody has really bothered to return to the Ars Goetia

Yhwach knew that it was mainly due to the fact that the research that was carried out within the Lucifaad by the Six Houses of Lucifer was highly dangerous, even for the Devils themselves.

And of course... There was the Melabranche, which was also located in the Lucifaad.

There were really some interesting things hidden within the ruins of the Lucifaad, the prototypes of the Soul Gears on the same level as the Sacred Gear, yet their raw power was many times higher, to the point where they gained sentience and killed anyone who approached them.

In the end, it was one of the better-kept secrets of the Devil Race, and not many people were aware of their existence. Zekram Bael and other old timers who were still alive invested a lot of resources into keeping this secret.

Sirzechs knew that the entire Lucifaad was swarming with the Daemons and Demonic Beasts and Magical Beasts that were in the place in a great numbers. He was very careful about wandering through the Lucifaad.

The city itself served as the capital city for the entire Devil Race for many centuries, and only after the 1st Blood War was the city abandoned after it was largely destroyed during the final siege of Lucifaad by the enormous Daemon Army led by Abyssal Lord Demogorgon.

Nobody really wanted to invest more resources into rebuilding the bunch of ruins, especially not the Ars Goetia, which had more problems than they could handle. All available resources that the Pillar Clans and Extra Devil Clans had were used to develop their territories and cultivate powerful Mages and Warriors.

"Well, Roygun should have delivered the message to the House Lucifuge and if everything is going according to the plan, Grayfia should be on her way here."

Sirzechs muttered as he depended on the fact that the House Lucifuge, whose Territory was next to the Lucifaad, would arrive soon enough. It would be even better if she arrived in her new state, because he knew that she was attempting to reach the High Ultimate-Class.

She was reaching the limits of the Ultimate-Class and was very close to grasping the Magic Rule of Annihilation.

Hopefully, she would be an already High Ultimate-Class being.

*** 

Lucifuge Territory, Devil Domain, 2nd Layer of the Netherworld, Pandemonium

Grayfia Lucifuge was in a very good mood for the past few days. She was spending her past days training because she felt that her Clan Trait was reaching the limits, and she was touching the realms of the Magic Rules.

The Annihilation Clan Trait was the ultimate form of the Anti-Life, and the Magic Rule of the Anti-Life was a highly problematic and very challenging Magic Rule, because it belonged to the category of the more advanced Magic Rules.

The general rule about the Magic Rules was that the more advanced and fundamental the Magic Rules were, the more challenging it was to learn and master them. For the House Lucifuge, they were all focusing on the Magic Rule of Annihilation as the pinnacle of the Anti-Life.

She was training a lot during the past months, and she was learning a lot from her father, who was one of the most proficient users of the Magic Rule of Annihilation. Well, he was also the 1st Lucifuge and was an Overlord-Class devil, so it was only a logical thing.

When Lucifer was still alive, he acted as the right hand of the Supreme Overlord of the Devils and handled a lot of matters for the First Devil. Grayfia was hiíghly talented in the Magic Rule of Annihilation, far more than her younger brother Euclid or basically anyone in the entire Lucifuge Clan.

She was the pride of her father, who often bragged about how powerful his daughter was, because she was very young, even for an Ultimate-Class being, much less being said about a High Ultimate-Class devil.

Something like that was almost unseen before.

Though Grayfia knew that she wasn't alone, because compared to the true monsters like Ajuka and especially Sirezechs, her own talent was a bit short. However, that was only when she was comparing hersefult ot the absolute monsters.

Ajuka Astaroth created the Kankara Formula, the Equation of Military Supremacy.

Kankara Formula allowed Ajuka to manipulate the phenomena that occur in the world by using his Demonic Energy to fill in the calculations of the natural phenomena. By using a specialized Magic Circle, he is capable of affecting the outside world in various ways.

Single-handedly, he created an ability that was stronger than most Clan Traits.

It was pretty frightening when one thought about it.

Or the fact that Sirzechs Gremory was born as an Ultimate-Class Devil, and it took him only fifteen years to learn and understand the Magic Rule of Destruction. It was considered one of the hardest and most complicated Magic Rules to learn.

And it was even the most dangerous Magic Rule to use.

So when she finally reached the High Ultimate-Class, Grayfia was very pleased with herself, because she could be considered among the highest echelons of the entire Devil Domain and even the Netherworld by extension.

Dusk of Gods wiped a lot of high-end powerhouses through the Netherworld, as most of the God-King Class Gods that dwelled in the Netherworld were killed by the Daemons of the Abyss and forces of the Ruination, while Devils lost the majority of their Overlord-Class Devils and their sole Supreme Overlord.

One can say that after the events of the Dusk of Gods and Blood Wars, the Netherworld was incomparable to what it was once in the past. It was rather twisted irony that the continuous Abyssal Incursions actually helped the Devils grow stronger.

They were forced to adapt and fight for their survival... which led to the stronger generations and more powerful combatants.

As she was incorporating more of the Magic Rule of Annihilation into her Clan Trait, she suddenly sensed that someone had activated the emergency communication Magic Circle.

Suddenly, a silhouette of Roygun Belphegor appeared, which was rather weird, because she was supposed to be together with Sirzechs in Gehena and participating with the Demons in hunting down some cult worshipping Abyss or Ruinous Powers.

"We have a slight problem on our end... Sirzechs activated the Teleportation Magic Circle that was pre-prepared within the hidden parts of the Abyssal Satans Cult and got teleported to the Lucifaad somehow."

Roygun then started explaining everything that happened on the Gehena, the attacks and siege of the Abyssal Satans Cult, presence of Shalba Beelzebub, and other things... everything that led to Sirzechs discovering the hidden Teleportation Magic Circle and him activating the already mentioned Magic Circle.

Grayfia listened to everything with her trademark neutral expression, but she understood that teleporting to the Lucifaad was a highly problematic manner. Even High Ultimate-Class devils didn't dare to wander into that place without sufficient preparations.

Ars Goetia designated the Lucifaad and its surroundings as an Omega-Level Forbidden Zone because of the three Champion-level Greater Daemons that possessed Overlord-Class strength.

And this was just this... not including the hordes of Lesser Daemons, Daemonic Beasts, or Magical Creatures that lived in the ruins of the former Devil Race Capital or its metropolitan area.

The Lucifuges, as the Devil Clan that was guarding the frontier territory, were very well aware of the danger in the Lucifaad. Even though it was abandoned for a long time, there were many devils that wanted to recover the Lucifaad.

Either for the matter of prestige, because it was the birthplace of the Devil Race, or for the things that were left in the Lucifaad. Due to that, the House Lucifege had stationed several Legions, and even the Ars Goetia sent there around another ten to fifteen Legions on a permanent basis.

"Alright... I will be heading to the Lucifaad... I managed to reach High Ultimate-Class, and my understanding of the Magic Rule of Annihilation is actually better than anticipated, so I don't really need to fear any of the Champion-level Greater Daemons."

For the members of the House Lucifuge or House Bael, their Clan Traits were the ultimate counters to the Daemons of the Abyss. Mainly because they were extremely destructive and very unique, as they could directly kill the Soul of the Daemon in question.

She then cut the connection between them and went to work straight away.

***

Lucifaad, Former Capital of the Devil Race, Some Time Later

After Sirzechs met with Grayfia, who went ahead of the Lucifuge Legions that were stationed on the Mazeel Line.

This massive line of Fortresses was laid throughout the mountain range on the borders of Lucifuge Territory and the Extended Lucifer Area. After the fall of the Lucifaad, Lucifer swallowed everything in the Lucifer Territory that wasn't tainted by the miasma of the Abyss or Ruin.

What couldn't be saved, was quarantined and separated by the Mazeel Line.

The entire Mazeel Line was split into 10 sections and filled with countless traps, Wards, Bounded Fields, Magic Cannons, and everything that packed any firepower. The Hextech improved a lot of firepower of the Mazeel Line lately and was pivotal in stopping the incursions of the Daemonic Beasts, Magical Creatures and remaining Daemonic Legions to the Devil Domain.

These extremely powerful Hex Cannons placed on the fortress can fire beams equal to the power of High-Class Magicians at incoming intruders automatically. Every few hundred meters, there was a Magic Tower which, together, covered the entire mountain range with a fence and could activate an impregnable Barrier Spell named Crystal Field.

"It's surprisingly quiet here..."

Sirzechs spoke as they walked through the collapsed or collapsing ruins of the Lucifaad.

Even Grayfia nodded to the statement because the place seemed awfully silent, which was rather awkward, but they were under heavy use of stealth Magic.

"Do you know why Lucifaad was built in this precise place?"

He asked as they passed through another wave of ruins that were blocking their path, as the entire city was filled with the echoes of death and decay... It wasn't really the best place around, and if he could have it, Yhwach would leave this place as soon as possible.

For some reason, since they entered the Lucifaad, he had some sort of very bad feeling about this place. He couldn't place it; it wasn't dangerous or anything, but just a very bad feeling...

Seeing that Grayfia wasn't answering, Sirzechs proceeded to explain the situation because he suspected that her father didn't tell her about this secret... if he even knew about it in the first place, because Lucifer was extremely paranoid about this.

"When Helel fell from grace, this was the place where he first fell from the Heavens, and this was also the place where he first created the first Devil..."

Soon enough, everyone realized why this place was so important to the Devils and why Lucifaad was built where it was built. 

Lucifer was very paranoid about someone researching and experimenting with his Bloodline and Genome, so he left several Seals there that prevented anyone from doing much of anything aside from the most rudimentary observation. 

This paranoia was also true for the location of the crucial laboratories and Melabranche.

"So you are saying?"

As he spoke, she suddenly realized the importance of the Lucifaad's location and why it had been built there.

"Yes... This was the place, or rather, underneath this ground, Helel underwent the ritual and became Lucifer and then together with Lilith created the Devil Race... in the underground laboratories of the House Lucifer, the birthplace of the entire Devil Species."

This was something that only a few oldtimers were actually paying attention to the happenings across the various Dimensions, Sub-Dimensions, Divine Realms and everything else within the Draconic Deus.

Zekram Bael, who was already leading his agenda at that place, was investing a lot of resources to uncover the deepest secrets of Lucifer, and he was thus probably the sole person outside of the House Lucifer who was aware of Lucifer's secret.

But he wasn't the only one in the Draconic Deus who was aware of this. There were many in the Draconic Deus who remembered how and where Helel became Lucifer and what followed.

They knew that underneath the Lucifaad, there was a very extensive network of underground pathways and areas that were transformed into an enormous laboratory where Lucifer and Lilith were personally creating new Devils, Clan Traits, and carrying out various experiments.

And at the deepest level were the sealed Melabranche.

The journey to the Royal Palace of the Lucifaad was rather problematic on all fronts. Every possible pathway was covered by the ruins, all roads were covered by ruins, and sometimes the chunks of stone or another type of material were too huge to move physically.

Sirzechs and Grayfia didn't want to use their Magic to destroy the obstacles, because it would attract the attention of the strongest beings that called this wretched place their home, and neither of them wanted to fight with powerful Greater Daemons that were in the ruins of Lucifaad.

What complicated the entire thing was that all bridges that connected the place were also destroyed, so they needed to walk on foot and often walk around the entire place until they reached their destination. The fact that they lacked a map wasn't helping at all, because it was very easy to get lost in this place as everything looked rather similar...

Destroyed.

Fortunately enough, the ruins of the Royal Palace were huge enough to be seen even from a far distance, so it was at least helping them to navigate across the ruins, and they could go in a specific direction in hopes of reaching the Royal Palace.

Fortunately enough, during the few hours that they were advancing through the ruins of the city, aside from some random Demonic Beasts that lived in the city, they didn't encounter a single soul.

Demonic Beasts were rather a common occurrence in the Netherworld; they were animals and beasts that were corrupted by the Demonic Energy or Infernity of the Netherworld, mutating them into their new and stronger forms.

Compared to the more traditional Magical Creatures, the Demonic Beasts were more aggressive and powerful in certain regards, especially in their attacks and eagerness to fight and kill.

They were regarded as bloodthirsty and dangerous overall compared to the more traditional Magical Creatures. A lot of this was actually attributed to the presence of the Demonic Elements in their very own beings because they were influencing them far more than any other sentient species.

But the Demonic Beasts were mostly ignoring them for a large part because neither of them was visible to their senses due to the Ward that they were using to hide their presence, and it was working rather very well even for this usage.

Soon enough, they arrived at the former Royal Palace... or rather what has been left of it, as everything else was destroyed by the passage of time and the war that took place there.

The former Royal Palace of the House Lucifer was a massive, crumbling demonic castle, its jagged spires clawing at the blood-red sky of the Netherworld. The once-mighty fortress was now a ruin, its dark obsidian walls fractured and overgrown with veins of blackened, thorn-covered vines.

Various statues that were once proudly decorating the castle, their twisted faces frozen in eternal agony, were crumbling from their perches, their shattered remains littering the cracked basalt pathways.

A massive main gain that led to the courtyard of the castle, now broken, once adorned with wicked sigils that pulsed with Demonic Energy, everything was covered by rust or was slowly falling apart as its rusted chains rattled eerily in the unnatural wind.

"We are going to the Great Hall... the main entrance to the underground should be somewhere there."

The Great Hall and beyond were in total shambles; its vaulted ceiling collapsed, revealing swirling storm clouds that cast an ominous glow over the skeletal remains of fallen Devil soldiers that once guarded this place against the hordes of Daemons and Cultists of Ruin.

It seemed that nobody really bothered to transport these corpses out, as they were just here, together with many pieces of weapons and armor that were already rusted, though some were in almost perfect condition.

Deep within the ruins of the Great Hall, the Royal Throne of Lucifer was located, or at least what had remained from it. Now it was just a cursed throne of jagged bone and molten metal, sitting upon a raised dais, its surface scorched with infernal runes that flickered weakly, as if whispering forgotten incantations.

"This place is heavily cursed..."

Shadows slithered unnaturally across the walls, remnants of the dark power that once ruled here. The air was thick with the scent of sulfur and decay, and the distant echoes of tormented souls seemed to whisper through the hollow corridors.

"It's a remnant of the 1st Blood War... we don't know who used those curses or if it's the aftermath of the death of many Greater Daemons in the Lucifaad."

"Don't do anything... let it pass... we need to move."

Sirzechs said as he looked at Grayfia, who wanted to summon her Clan Trait of Annihilation to purge the darkness from this place, but he stopped him because it was dangerous. It was also a useless thing to do as it was totally unnecessary, and the only thing that they would achieve was to alert the Daemons about their presence.

Grayfia rather reluctantly nodded because she found this place rather disgusting and she didn't know what Sirzechs wanted to do here. While she understood the importance of the Legacy left behind by the House Lucifer, she would prefer to be at another place entirely.

Certainly not here.

The underground area of the Royal Palace of the Lucifaad was in a pretty similar state to what was above.

The crumbling remains of an ancient palace, once a grand marvel, now reduced to ivy-covered stone pillars and scattered debris, extending out to the underground catacomb complex underneath the Royal Palace.

The entrance to the underground catacombs is hidden in a shadowed corner where the remains of the great hall meet the cracked and broken courtyard. Moss and Demonic Vines cascade down a partially collapsed archway, framing an ancient iron gate that is slightly ajar and rusted with time.

When they opened the iron gate, they needed to do it with extra care because the Demonic Vines were semi-sentient and could act on their instincts. The time in his place, filled with so much corruption and Demonic Energy, had already corrupted these plants so much that they were extremely aggressive and fairly powerful.

Sirzechs predicted that they should be strong enough to kill even High-Class beings if they were caught off guard, which was rather likely due to the camouflaging ability of the Demonic Vines, which were able to pretend that they were just ordinary plants.

Carved into the surrounding stone are faded bas-reliefs depicting scenes of royal processions, the history of the House Lucifer, and various murals depicting Lucifer, Helel, Luciel, and the events that led to the creation of the Devil Race.

Everything that was depicted in the images was one huge testament to the power of the House Lucifer as well as Lucifer's own pride... which, most ironically, in the end, resulted in his own death and fall at the hands of Abyssal Lord Demogorgon.

Such as the irony of life.

Aside from that, they noticed that there were many statues and gargoyles, mostly stupid representations of the various mythological beasts, their expressions now haunting in their erosion. The air here was damp and carried a musty, earthy scent mixed with the faint hint of incense long since extinguished.

Peering inside, stone steps worn smooth by countless feet descend into darkness, the last glimmer of daylight casting elongated shadows on the walls that seem to breathe with stories untold.

Torches mounted along the walls, their metal brackets covered in verdigris, hint at a path that once welcomed the living, but now it was only the remnant of the destruction and long-lost glory of the House Lucifer, where only the brave or the desperate fools would dare to enter.

For Grayfia, it was weird to be here in this place. On the one hand, she understood that this was her partial lineage, a Royal Palace of the House Lucifer. A place that was built by her ancestor during the time of their greatest glory and power.

Not many knew that the House Lucifuge actually shared blood with the House Lucifer.

"Most of the Daemons within the Lucifaad are rather inactive, so we will have some way around them. Now that we are here, I say that we go down there, take the Book of Lucifer and the research notes, and assassinate the Greater Daemons that are in the place."

Sirzechs said as he had some plan in his head, because when he was teleported to the Lucifaad, he immediately decided on two things. The first thing was obtaining the Book of Lucifer and the Legacy of the House Lucifer.

Second was the assassination of several Greater Daemons that were in place. They were pretty famous, because every single one was Champions... one of them was of Khorne, another was of Slaanesh, another was of the Abyssal Lord Demogorgon.

Basically, a very fragile triumvirate where every single faction of the Daemons kept the other one in check. Sirzechs planned to assassinate the Greater Daemon who belonged to the Demogorgon Faction.

Demogorgon, referred to as the Imprisoned One by some followers of Helm, was the Abyssal Lord of several Layers of the Abyss and the Primordial God of Domination and the Draining of Energy, an embodiment of madness and destruction that sought to drag all down into the infinite depths of the Abyss.

Because of this, his power was comparable to more than twenty Primordial Gods... in the Abyss, aside from the Ruinious Powers, he was one of the strongest entities.

"With the death of the Greater Daemons that are keeping the armies of the Lesser Daemons in check, forces of the Ruinious Powers and Abyssal Lords will start clashing against each other, and then we will just stroll in and finish the survivors."

Sirzechs explained his plan to Grayfia as the Heiress of Lucifuge looked at him with her typical neutral expression, but inside, she was actually seriously considering his mad plan.

"You sure that it will work?"

Grayfia was more skeptical about the entire plan, because she knew that it was like cooked on the spot without much thought. 

"It will... It's common knowledge that Forces of Khorne and Slaanesh hate each other, and the only thing that holds those forces on the edge is agreement between three Champions of Blood God, Prince of Pleasure, and Imprisoned One."

Once the Champion of Demororgon died, it would unleash a domino reaction, and everyone would start killing each other. Such was the nature of demons, because they were not the smartest cookies around.

"As you say then..."

Grayfia didn't really have a problem with Sirzechs's problem because even though the Champions among the Greater Daemons were comparable to the Overlord-Class Devils, both of them had Clan Traits that were literal Anti-Thesis against the very own existence of Daemons.

"We are nearing the entrance of the Underground complex beneath the Royal Palace... according to the old man, the catacombs should consist of three layers, and we don't really know how many of them were breached by the Daemons or their followers and what exactly is intact."

The entire underground complex consisted of three layers.

The 1st Layer was the catacombs beneath the Royal Palace, which were built from the natural cavern system that was found in this place. This also seemed to be the reason why Lucifer chose to build his palace on top of this ground. The underground cavern system was extremely huge, to the point where even supernatural beings with their powerful physiques and high stamina would need to spend literal days going from one end to another.

And that wasn't saying anything about going through the entire subterranean area, which would take one even weeks of time. Not to mention, the entire area was like an endless maze that was problematic to navigate due to the countless corridors, empty pathways, and various open areas within the subterranean system.

One could say that this was the perfect place to build an underground research laboratory, including the vaults to house some of the most precious and dangerous things that were being researched there.

The 2nd Layer was a few hundred meters down below their position, and it was the place where the actual laboratories were placed. They were created by expanding on the natural underground cavern system, though it was much smaller than the 1st Layer. It was the Second Layer of this subterranean complex that was their target.

And then, around ten kilometers beneath their current location, was the 3rd Layer, where the Melabranche were sealed in the underground Vaults. The 3rd Layer itself was probably the most protected out of all, and the level of the defenses would put even many Overlord-Class beings to of the shame.

"I can see through everything with the Six Eyes... and we can be considered both lucky and unlucky. The bad thing is, the entire 1st Layer and part of the 2nd Layer are swarming with the Daemons, and I even see several Greater Daemons in that place... not to mention the number of traps in the 3rd Layer is getting ridiculous."

Sirezechs stated that because, with the help of the Six Eyes, he was able to see everything Magical, even if it was deep beyond the ground and many layers of metal and other materials.

Yet there was one severe weakness in the almost perfect grand design of all things.

One could deactivate all of them in an instant as long as they had the Blood of Lucifer, which they had. All of the Wards in there were tied to the lineage of Lucifer, and without it, it was impossible to open or bypass the wards due to their sheer power and the Ancient Magic in that place.

Sirzechs predicted that Grayfia's blood should be theoretically able to unlock the wards. In the end, she bore the direct Lineage of the House Lucifer, because Lucifuges and Lucifers were the very one and the same.

"Even though a large swath of the vaults was empty due to the Dusk of the Gods and 1st Blood Wars, actually a lot of riches remained in there, including many Grimoires, Magic Tomes, Lore Books, various precious resources that barely existed today in the Draconic Deus due to the lack of Mana in the enviroment since the Age of Gods ended on Earth."

Including a lot of things from the different Pantheons and Factions.

"So, how do we fare in terms of strength and numbers?"

Grayfia asked as they entered another corridor of this seemingly endless maze of pathways, rooms, corridors, halls, and ruins under Sirzechs's leadership; he knew the safe path due to the Six Eyes, so he was taking the lead on exploration while they maintained the steady formation and the stealth ward.

"Not great, not terrible."

Sirzechs said as they stopped at the crossroads for a bit before he chose the corridor to which they entered.

"Several Greater Daemons, average ones, and not really a threat of any kind. The most problematic would be the one that is a Champion-level Greater Daemon slumbering on the second floor of the underground area. The number of the Lesser Daemons is of no consequence because now, as a High Ultimate-Class, you can use your Magic Rule to annihilate all of them en masse. Hopefully, that Greater Daemons are not of Tzeench, because we will have to deal with the Dead Man's Switch."

A dead man's switch was a switch that was designed to be activated or deactivated if the human operator becomes incapacitated, such as through death, loss of consciousness, or being bodily removed from control. These switches were usually used as a form of fail-safe, where they stop a machine with no operator from a potentially dangerous action or incapacitate a device as a result of an accident, malfunction, or misuse.

Greater Daemons of Tzeech usually had them... when they were killed, it would activate, and all Lesser Daemons in the vicinity would go absolutely berserk and kill everything in their path.

"So what shall we do next?"

Grayfia asked as they were prepared to enter the underground beneath the Royal Palace and dispel the stealth spells that were cast on them.

"We go in and kill whatever moves... It's pretty unfortunate, but there is a rather strong Anti-Stealth detection ward that is created by the Greater Daemon of Tzeentch, and it's reeking with the Ruination Magic too much... it can't be bypassed or broken."

He explained that the situation with the lair of the Deamons was more problematic than it seemed at first glance. Which, in truth, shouldn't be actually that much surprising, in fact, because if it was the lair of the Lord of Change...

A powerful one, then it was only logical.

"We should be going."

Sirzechs commanded as they entered the stairway behind the iron doors, as they entered the 1st floor of the underground complex.

***

Royal Palace of the House Lucifer, Underground Catacombs, 1st Floor of the Underground Catacombs

The entire first floor was being swarmed by the Lesser Daemons, mostly the Lesser Daemons affiliated with Tzeentch, the Flamers of Change, which was both good new and bad news.

A Flamer, also called the "Pyrodaemons of Tzeentch", a "Fire Daemon", a "Burning Horror",  "Keepers of the True Flame of Change", "Bearers of the True Flame of Change" or "Candelabra Mutationi" were Daemonic Beasts of Tzeentch, the Chaos God of change and intrigue.

Normally, the Lesser Daemons were either standing at the Low-Class or Mid-Class, but sometimes, some species of the Lesser Daemons were more problematic to deal with than the others.

Like the Imps that Sirzechs saw on the 1st floor of the underground catacombs. Imps were one of the most widespread Abyssal Daemons and Demons, as their species existed both in the Abyss and also in Gehenna.

Albeit there were huge differences between them, but that wasn't important right now. 

The important thing right now was the fact that the Imps were always considered as the lowest of the low in any hierarchy. While the Flamers of the Change belonged to the category of more powerful Lesser Daemons and most of them were at the Mid-Class Daemons.

"Are those things I think they are?"

Grayfia immediately recognized the Flamers of the Change, much to her distaste, because she hated this kind of Lesser Daemons. These ones belonged to the cartregory of Abyssal Daemons directly tied to the Powers of the Ruination and were problematic to deal with.

Especially in the greater numbers like right now, because both of them sensed here tens of thousands of Lesser Daemons, while many of them were the Flamers of Change. It seemed that this entire underground complex was the lair of the Champion-level Greater Daemon of Tzeentch.

Which wasn't the best, because Sirzechs planned to kill Demogorgon's Champion. That way, the other two would start killing each other.... but the longer he thought over the situation, the more he realized that it didn't really matter because Daemons were Daemons.

They would start killing each other either way.

"Yes... Flamers... and an entire army of them in fact."

Flamers are amongst the most strange and disturbing of all Tzeentch's Daemons, and their absurd physiologies are more than most mortals can stand. The body of a Flamer was a headless conical torso. It had two long arms, both terminating in fingerless stumps, which are adorned with razor-sharp teeth and flickering tongues, and continuously belching acrid and sulphuric smoke.

In spite of their unnatural, awkward appearance, Flamers were agile creatures. They had no feet, but instead moved by bumping and hopping around, leaping high in the air in a disturbing and gravity-defying fashion.

"Flamers do not spout normal fire, but instead issue forth the raw stuff of Magic and change. This is nothing like the common knowledge dictates, where the laws of nature apply. The effects of the fires of change are as unpredictable as they are devastating, wreaking countless mutations upon their victims in the blink of an eye."

Sirizechs knew that the Flamers of the Change were a result of the unpredictability of their Ruination Concept, which was Change. Thus they were very hard to deal with it, especially when there were countless of them in one place.

"They have here a pretty big lair."

Grayfia noted when Sirzechs told her the approximate number of the Daemons that were on the 1st Floor of the underground catacombs beneath the Lucifer Royal Palace. It seems that the Daemons had a rather stable Dimensional Pathway to the Netherworld, or they were procreating here more and more.

Neither of the two were a good news for them.

"How much of Annihilation can you unleash if you stretch your Magic Rule capacity to the maximum?"

Sirzechs asked because it was rather impossible for him to use the Power of Destruction here to exterminate the Flamers of Change. While he would undoubtedly kill and destroy every single one of them, he would also destroy large parts of the entire catacombs that would then collapse straight on their heads.

So that was a big no-no.

"Probably enough to kill most of them... if you supply me with some of your Infernity, it shouldn't be any problem."

Grayfia pondered over his question for some time before she finally answered, which pleased him pretty much because they could annihilate many, many, many of the Flamers of Change in one move. 

Her Clan Trait and Magic Rule by extension was highly suitable for such a thing like that, because she could kill an enormous number of enemies and not damage any enviroment or destroy anything in the process.

"We should find then a suitable place to cast your Magic."

She nodded as they went through the narrow corridors and avoided places where a large number of the Daemons were congregating. When they encountered any enemy, both of them depended on their physical abilities and martial arts to fight.

Both Sirzechs and Grayfia purposely avoided the usage of Magic or Clan Traits, because it would immediately attract the attention of Daemons. When one was dealing with the Daemons, the most rudimentary procedure was to deal with the minions first through AOE attacks and then focus on the stronger Daemons.

Alternatively, one could target the Commanders among the Daemons and take them out, as the entire Daemon Horde would collapse right away. Though this strategy was not really viable for the Daemons under the command and control of Tzeentch, because they were pretty smart not to be taken out by such a primitive strategy.

It didn't take long for them to find a suitable place for Grayfia to activate her Clan Trait, while Sirzechs prepared for what was to come. Once the Hordes of the Lesser Daemons were annihilated by Grayfia, the Greater Daemons on the 2nd Floor of the catacombs would take note, and the fight would start.

Sirzechs would be fighting the Champion of the Tzeentch, and that one was comparable to the Overlord-Class. Grayfia was far from being strong enough to face such a threat, even when one accounted for her superior Clan Trait that was made for killing the Daemons.

Using the Annihilation Clan Trait was something that always gave Sirzechs or anyone who looked at it a completely creepy feeling because the Annihilation Clan Trait gave anyone one of the worst feelings possible.

It was the Anti-Life

The very anti-thesis of life itself.

Anyone who was alive would feel unwell just by being exposed to the presence of the Annihilation Clan Trait. Sirzechs was too, but not that much, because he was practically used to it because of the experience.

Grayfia Lucifuge was not only the user of the Clan Trait Annihilation, but she also learned and used the Magic Rule of Annihilation. Suddenly, when she was ready, an enormous burst of something that appeared like a white light shot through the entire Floor of the underground catacombs.

It couldn't be felt outright, but acorss the entire catacombs one could hear anguished screams of the Daemons whose very own existence was being annihilated from reality by Grayfian's Clan Trait Annihilation.

Her Clan Trait and Magic Rule was oddly suited for the thing, as many thousands of Lesser Daemons of many species were all destroyed till the last one, with their souls being erased from the very existence of reality.

Now that she had reached the High Ultimate-Class, her usage of the Clan Trait Annihilation was extremely devastating to anything that lived and existed. Like a most deadly poison in existence, it spread across the entire 1st Floor of the underground catacombs, searching for life and killing it.

Annihilating it.

"Good job... I am taking care of the Champion... you kill the other Greater Daemons, there are only two of them or so, and neither should be a problem for you."

They soon enough reached the entrance to the 2nd Floor of the underground catacombs, as there was nothing alive in here anymore. Everything that the Daemons had on this floor of the catacombs were the Lesser Daemons, and the truly powerful Daemons were on the 2nd Floor.

Both Sirzechs and Grayfia were proficient warriors and Battle Mages.

Not every Magician, no matter how powerful they were, was also a Battle Mage.

Being a Battle Mage meant that the Magician was able to use the Magic in combat as easily as breathing the air, and it was natural to them. Sirzechs knew that using Magic in combat was rather problematic because, while it may sound easy, it was far from being easy.

Of course, there were many different factors in that equation, like the type of Magic that one was using or the species one belonged to, because all of these were very important factors.

Still, one needed to have absolute control over his Magic, be very skilled in all stages of the Spell Casting, ranging from the creation of the Spell Matrix to the subsequent Magic Power control and everything in between it.

So, most of the Magicians in the Draconic Deus were like a Cat in a Bag.

Nobody knew how efficient on the battlefield they were unless they started fighting.

If they were poor at combat skills, then killing enemy Magicians wasn't really that problematic because, in some more extreme cases, the Magicians would somehow dispatch themselves if they lost control over their Spells.

The Magician could be extremely skilled in combat, and then escape was their best bet on survival. Powerful Magicians that could fight well were a nightmare to confront, and fighting one was extremely challenging.

"Let's go... if we kill the Greater Daemons of Tzeentch, then the result will be the same, as Blood God's Forces and Daemons of the Demogorgon would clash... also are the Legions of the Lucifuge and the garrison ready to march on the Lucifaad?"

Luckily enough, the entire 2nd Layer of the underground catacombs was rather small and compact, with everything being rationally placed. Sirzechs also told Grayfia to be ready and asked her about the status of the Lucifuge Legions and the armies of the Ars Goetia stationed at the Mazeel Line.

If everything went according to the plan and the Daemons massacred each other to a great degree, then it would allow the troops of the Ars Goetia to march onto the Lucifaad and reconquer the city for the Ars Goetia.

Which would be a huge achievement for the House Lucifuge and Sirztechs, especially because it would gain them tremendous prestige.

Lucifaad was the ancestral seat of the Devil Race.

Many traditionalists would consider it a great boon if they managed to conquer the Lucifaad.