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The Battle for the Throne

"Asmodel," said Barbatos with a scoff. "I should've known."

"How should you know? You've never talked with all of us before," said Asmodel. "Staying behind the scene is not your only expertise, but I commend the fact that you even know who I am, dear brother."

"I should've been suspicious when they know where to look. But no matter. You and Belial will trouble me no more."

"You and me both," said Belial while baring his claws.

"This should be fun," said Asmodel while standing beside Belial. The goat demon turned and glared at him, during which the winged feline said, "How about a truce?"

"A little too late for that," said Belial. "Should've not annoyed me too much for that."

"I really, really hoped that you're not the stubborn one."

This time, Belial smiled, and said, "Nah, I'm just playing with you. One condition. Backstab me, and I'll make sure Azazel raids your domain."

Asmodel himself also smiled. "You're learning."

"Thanks to you."

They both exchanged looks silently before they walked towards Barbatos, as his army started attacking them. Some of the demons attacking them were burned to crisp by hellfire on Belial's side, while on Asmodel's side, they were stopped on their path before they fell to their knees, unable to get up. Before long, they were forced to face formidable Circle demons. Asmodel kept his normal stance, while Belial bared his claws in preparation for a violent and bloody fight he was expert of. One seconds after, the bloodbath began.

The rest of them could only watch as the two demon princes slaughtered or maimed many of the soldiers attacking them, dumbfounded. They saw firsthand how even the manipulator (Asmodel) was a deadly force of his own, and their powerhouse (Belial) working against his enemies in a temporary truce. What's even more disturbing was the fact that, despite of their differences, they fought in sync, like an invisible bond directed their movement, making them like a duet of dancers dancing among the dead corpse of those they had slain, all the while grinning maniacally. While they were demons, after all, the spectacle was disturbing enough for the rest of the group, especially after they were aware that Belial had started to feel something else other than violence.

The violent spectacle clearly annoyed Barbatos. He had regarded his army as a cannon fodder of sort so that the demons could take over. However, he did miscalculate one thing. He was fighting against two princes teaming up, along with a Third Circle demon dragon and another Infernal, along with two ash mages and his rebellious Vessel. Clearly, the opposition was more or less dominating the fight with their experience and knowledge.

That was when he noticed Ammon flying towards him and started attacking him, which he blocked. Ammon saw the face of the demon bat he engaged and said, "(Who's the poor bastard you take over?)"

"(Do you think I care?)" said Barbatos. "(It's my body now)."

They both started attacking each other, but Barbatos was still the stronger of the two. His darkness was almost limitless, while Ammon's vampiric ice powers were not enough to hurt Barbatos, especially after the dark demon prince could become darkness itself and attack Ammon from all side.

Gehen and Alhen tried their best to subdue, not to kill, as many ash hounds as they could find. They knew the ash hounds were being directed by a wrong belief, and they only hoped that they could return home. Still, it did not help that they were being commanded by true demons, which were Gehen and Alhen's challenge. Even Damos's sharpshooting skills could not penetrate the demon's skins, though his distraction was very useful for Gehen and Alhen to get themselves back in shape and resumed their relentless attacks to this lone demon.

Meanwhile, Zardes and Itresil were not restrained in their fight, though the clearly tried to save as many of their enemies as possible, knowing that Belial and Asmodel could easily wipe them out and cause a population crisis in the Outer Rings and the Ashen Lands. Unlike Gehen and Alhen, the duo killed if it was necessary, and only tried to save others that they could.

The Crossing Gates, however, were the source of the problem. The demons came from within the Circle, and unlike hellhounds and ash hounds, when they die, they simply return to life, albeit not as a commander. Still, the amount of demons in the Circles were too many to count, and they knew that before long, even two princes of the Fifth Circle of Hell would not be able to keep up and be overwhelmed. So, Itresil, Zardes, and Malkar instead focused on shutting down the Gates as per their previous knowledge which activated the second Gate to the surface world they knew. It was surprisingly easy. Just a little push towards one of the demonic creature's statues and the Gate was closed. Sometimes, the closing did not end well, and they even accidentally decapitated a demon by abruptly closing the portal when the demon's head was on the other side.

Ammon kept fighting Barbatos, and slowly but surely, he started to gain more and more experience to keep up. He even managed to take over the darkness and return it towards Barbatos, surprising the dark prince.

"How did you...?" asked the dark lord, surprised.

"Blame yourself for making us able to take on the other's experiences," said Ammon. "Don't you ever think there's a chance that plan might backfire? Never should've given your creation that much power, Barbatos."

"But you clearly cannot use my power well!" said Barbatos as he overwhelmed Ammon with more dark powers, which acted as a distraction as Barbatos slipped into his own shadow and approached Ammon. His attack would've been fatal if Ammon did not act fast enough to stop Barbatos's clawed wings to slash his throat.

"Now, little Vessel. Be nice, and surrender your body to me," said Barbatos as he slowly overwhelmed his opponent with his strength. "Now!"

That was when Asmodel, who managed to reach Ammon, said, "Remember the road of darkness, Ammon. It's my gift for you."

Ammon was thrown away by a raw force as Asmodel changed place with him to engage Barbatos.

"Never seen you this desperate before, dear brother," said Asmodel. "Your plan's falling apart?"

"You'll never know until the end, Asmodel," said Barbatos. "Especially if you're out of the picture!"

Asmodel had anticipated Barbatos's attack, but he underestimated its scope. He barely escaped the jaws of darkness trying to eat him, but it cost him his arm. The creature managed to bit into Asmodel's right arm and tore it off the demon, who winced in pain. It then ate the arm, much to Asmodel's fascination.

"Do we have any rules about cannibalism?" said Asmodel while examining his arm. He did not seem disturbed by it.

"What do you think?" said Barbatos, whose voice had started to become disturbing.

"I think you've stepped the line," said Asmodel. "Clearly, the thought of winning clouded your judgement."

"I always know when I'm winning, Asmodel. It's a long play, one that had always been a good one."

"Good thing you still can brag about it. Still, even for a demon, try not to get into your head. You're not a pride demon, you know."

As Asmodel was talking to Barbatos, Ammon, who pondered about the words Asmodel said to him, then remembered Sideview village, Drundas, and even Qeveriyt, all major settlements he had visited before. He remembered the one feature all these places had, and he had found the connection to what Asmodel said to him.

"Road," said Ammon to himself. "The road to darkness. The Ashen Kingdom once had a road system, and somehow that's the one that will...no way."

Ammon hastily flew towards the nearby combatant, Belial. He then said, "Help me find the kingdom's road. Quick!"

Instead of understanding Ammon, however, Belial was more dumbfounded by the fact that Ammon, who until that point could only speak Hordo, talked with him using Common.

"Did you just...?"

"Just do what I say! I don't know what Asmodel's planning, but knowing him, he just might have made something to turn the tide of battle. We need to find the road system formerly used by the Kingdom."

"Road system? What's that got to do with Barbatos. Or even Asmodel?"

"We are standing on the remains of the hounds, demons, and the buildings that once were the Ashen Kingdom. Even if they are turned to dust, it would not make any sense to turn the road into dust. We need to find the road!"

"How? The Ashen Kingdom is big!" Belial said this while smacking a demon away. "We won't be able to find any specific road!"

"How about a black road, then? Road to darkness. It may not make sense, but it may have something to do with the color of the road itself."

"That might work. Call Gehen or the older hound. They'll know how to shift the ashes away to help you," said Belial. "In the meantime, I'll keep closing the Gates."

Ammon did so, and he reached Gehen and Alhen, who were defending Malkar, who was injured, while Zardes and Itresil helped closing the numerous Gates dotting the ashen wasteland. At this point, he realized that he spoke Common, especially when Alhen asked, "(What the hell are you even saying? I don't understand surface talk!)"

Ammon shook his head and said, "(Sorry. Okay, we need to find traces of the old road system from the Ashen Kingdom, specifically a black road system. Your ash manipulation might help me achieve this quicker)."

"(In the middle of the fight?!)"

"(I'll cover you. Please, this is important!)"

Gehen and Alhen did not understand what Ammon was requesting, but they knew, from his tone, that he was desperate. They quickly focused their efforts to shift through the ashes. But, considering the fact that the ashes were thick and they had no idea on the original surface of the Kingdom, it was a hard time to dig through, especially with enemies trying to kill them and they tried not to add up to the victims that Belial and Asmodel had accumulated.

Ammon made good of his promise to protect them as he experienced a newfound sense of power he 'stole' from Barbatos, including his ability to manipulate Barbatos's lingering darkness to attack his enemies. While his control was not enough to manifest dark creatures like Barbatos did, it was enough to hold his enemies at bay and remotely move the statue of the Crossing Gate to deactivate them. As Gehen and Alhen started to burrow deeper and deeper into the ashes while holding the sides of the ashes with their magic to create a wall.

"(Why are we even doing this?)" said Alhen.

If Alhen could understand what Gehen was trying to say, he would know that the younger and mute ash hound made signs that said, "(Because I can see the truth in what he's trying to say)."

"(I don't understand what you're saying, young hound)," said Alhen. "(But I think I know what you're trying to say. I have always been the sceptic, and I have never tried to trust anyone. Anyone except you lot. Things have become a lot livelier ever since you came to my life. Hey, Gehen. Let's say we have a drink if we survive this. I heard the surface world is a good place to start. What do you say?)"

Gehen, out of habit, made signs, but he knew the ash hound would not understand. Instead, he only made a smile and nodded, before he resumed the digging, this time expending more magic than usual to speed up the dig. Alhen knew that they needed to hurry.

"(Conservation be damned)," said Alhen. "(Let's do this shit)."

They only needed to go down for two more meters before they hit a hard ground, something that even the native ash hounds did not think would be there. It was not even a rock, given the composition, but something artificial. And black.

"(I think we found it. Hey, Ammon! If you can hear me, get down here! We can't teleport without burying this place up once more! Come on!)"

Ammon heard Alhen's call and quickly disengaged from the battlefield after ensuring that Zardes and Itresil could cover him. He flew into the hole the two ash hounds had made five minutes ago and quickly found what they meant.

"(This seems to be it)," he said. "(But I'm not sure)."

"(Make sure of it, then!)"

Ammon knew he needed to hurry, and turned to find Asmodel, who seemed to know what the roads were supposed to do. At this point, Asmodel was already incapacitated by his injuries, and Barbatos had started to become more engaged in the fight and started directly attacking everyone he could think of. Ammon only had a short time before it was too late.

"You told me about the black road," said Ammon. "Tell me what I need to do. This is your idea, so tell me!"

"Those roads...were made by my commission...in case something like this could happen," said Asmodel. Belial was cauterizing his wound with hellfire. "It's my final piece to win this long overdue fight. The Black Road Seal."

"The Black Road Seal?"

"A kingdom-spanning seal in the form of a complex rune within the road itself. It was full of condensed demonic energy that caused the road to turn black, like asphalt. There is a catch, however. It can only be activated by a Fifth Circle demon..."

"Then let me do it," said Belial. "Tell me the incantation."

"Will you please let me finish, brother? Like I said, it can only be activated by a Fifth Circle demon...with the same power as the target you want to seal. That means...you, Ammon."

"But I'm not a full demon. I'm a creation of a true demon!"

"What did you say again, when you challenge Barbatos upon realizing your fate? 'Even a fake can surpass the original' or something like that? Then prove it. Prove that your existence is not merely to be the body of a dark lord. Prove that you can be a dark lord yourself."

"I..."

While he had not thought that Asmodel of all would talk to him about taking his destiny, he nevertheless agreed to this course of action. Asmodel seemed serious in trying to fight Barbatos to the point of working it the dirtiest way possible. In this crucial moment, even Asmodel knew that playing around was not going to help him, so he needed to adapt.

"Just one thing," said Ammon. "Why did you not set the road so that any fifth circle demon, or anyone in particular, can use?"

"Two things. First, you need the same element to bind another element. Second, I can't risk anyone else taking over Barbatos's throne."

"How about you?"

"Shh," said Asmodel, putting his finger on Ammon's snout. Even in his pained state, he still managed his signature smile. "It's not going to be fun if I tell you everything. Don't worry, it's not going to kill us. I'll tell you the incantation, but you still need Belial to help you recite it. It is in Asmodian, and he knows it."

Belial then listened to what Asmodel said and nodded. Before Belial left with Ammon, Asmodel said, "There will be big changes down there, brother. I hope you can see it."

Belial silently nodded as he went with Ammon. After they were out of sight, he turned to see Barbatos now going towards Zardes and Itresil, who were struggling to even land a hit and could only dodge. Asmodel, however, let out a smirk.

"Things will be different from this point on," he said with a wide grin. "And I think it's something that I look forward to. It's going to be interesting...and just as planned."