Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

"No more questions, take a seat. It\'s time." He said, eyeing me sternly.

Was the Demon Mother an enemy?

Wait!

Was Zariel helping her? That scheming twat, would love to see me suffer. But that wouldn\'t make sense. He gave me a mission of killing Zantar. But what if he didn\'t have a choice?

AAAAAAAAAHHHH, so confusing.

Approaching the Throne of bael, which didn\'t stand high nor low, I glanced at the patient imp when a realization struck me, " you really like playing with fire, don\'t you. You\'re trying to distort my heart."

He shrugged, " I\'m a devil. That should be expected of me. You can learn a few things. Knowledge is power after all."

I snorted, taking a seat.

"This trial should take about a day or two in the outside world, but there is a time limit on this one. There isn\'t much for me to do in this trial, as it\'s a flip of the coin. You either have Astral Force and live, or you don\'t and die. This process is slow but very painful, rivaling the pain you felt towards the end of your first trial."

A chill danced over my spine, trickling into my heart within the Spear of Noctem. I sucked in a deep breath as sweat slipped down my brow, and I felt myself quiver as the phantom pain rippled through my veins.

"Stop your teasing, devil," I snapped, sending a dark glance towards the smiling imp. "Start the bloody trial."

"It started the moment you sat down. I\'m only letting the Throne get a feel of who you are." He mused, "I like to be thorough; when it comes to the soul, you never know what part of the soul the glimmer of Astral Force resides. Oh, before I forget."

Zax snapped and from the Throne\'s armrest: four metal manacles came into being, caging my two feet and arms, bounding me in place. Fire flared to life within my eyes as I glared at the imp, smiling back, "If I were you, I\'d be searching the core of my soul; the way the soul tempering process works is by tearing down the soul. While there is no significant risk of destroying the Ego and Will, for most people, you will find it very difficult to continue since your actual age is older than this era. This is especially true for your fragmented self created in the lower realms."

Shutting my eyes, I quickly entered the realm of eternal night and stared at the confines of the scarlet black void, slowly being invaded by a web of Fiendish violet light. Anger bubbled within the pit of my stomach as I willed my Soul Flame to materialize.

Eyeing the small thing that was looking back at me, I saw the Fiendish Light etching close to my soul.

The Realm of Eternal Night was a part of my soul, so for this aura to already invade my defense with such ease made me truly understand how weak I was. However, I did not feel any pain like Zax had described. I felt nothing.

Opening my eyes to the imp, a glint of shock caught him by surprise " Is this Throne working?"

"Hmmm," He hummed, tilting his head. " Seems your soul was far stronger than I thought. You truly have come a long way. I\'d give you that. For a fragmented soul to become so strong is beyond anything I have ever seen. I\'d say I might need to change the parameters a bit. Your soul borders those at the peak of this heaven already."

"How is that possible?" I asked, amazed by this.

"Well, I\'m just talking about your core. The Ego and Will are still weak as Hell, but it will seem like something began changing you.\'

Recalling the image of that scarlet nebula, pooling power that made me want to kneel, I understood: It was the Abyss.

"I hadn\'t planned for this," he said, stroking his chin, and looked down to his feet, pondering his next course of action. "I was hoping to save some energy just in case you die, but that doesn\'t seem likely anymore."

"So that leaves us time to talk?" I uttered, hoping that wasn\'t the case.

"Indeed, a shame, as you are quite a dull person in my eyes."

"I eat people. How am I dull?"

"Who the Hell doesn\'t eat people. Do you have any hobbies like painting, singing, or reading?" He asked, already knowing the answer. "See? Your dull."

"We could just sit in awkward silence."

"Gods no. How about another tale of mine? You are the first guess I had to entertain since that mysterious being appeared and died."

"Are you going to continue where you left off?" I asked, a little excited about learning more about my mother\'s mystery. I must say Mother had some God-tier Genes because Zariel and Truck-kun are supposedly past the Zenith of the thirty-three heavens.

"Sure,\' he revealed with a condescending sneer, " For the next seven chaos cycles, I remained wandering the Exalted Wheel. The end. I\'m a ring with limited energy; do you think I have the time just to be tracking your mother? Get that shit out of here."

"You\'re really an asshole; you know that?"

"Have you seen yourself in the mirror? You are one of the most arrogant little shits I\'ve seen in a long time."

"My god, how does Bael deal with you?"

"By sending me in a ring. Was that not obvious? Or have your flames seared away any intelligence you managed to garner?

One, two, three, Arsene. One, two, three.

Do I honestly speak to people like that? That does sound like me, but he lacks my soothing voice. Maybe that\'s why I have this urge to kill this bastard.

"Then what the Hell can you tell me? You always brag about how old you are. Surely, you must know a few secrets."

Zax fell silent for a moment, and his lips mouthed a few words I couldn\'t quite make out, but they were spoken in the language of the Hells.

\'Mother. Grey. Eroma. Yes." were some of the words I could make out, and they startled me.

"What happened?" I coldly asked.

"It\'s been a long time by your standards, Arsene. Instead of wasting time here, why not dive into all that happened. You have a holocube; they work with mental commands; why not ask around. And I may reveal quite a big clue that might save your life. One that not even Asmodeus knows of, one that relates to a particular Traitor. But as devils and demons surround you, I\'m sure you won\'t figure it out."