873 Deal with Diablo?

Yet again, the group were forced to travel through blisteringly hot hallways like Mexican school students in the summer. No one talked, the only sound that could be heard was the faint bubbling of lava underfoot, the cautious steps of the group and the fleshy thuds of Quennie's undead Diagrons.

While she didn't think they'd be able to put up much of a fight against Diablo, they'd surely prove to be enough of a distraction to help them. Her Chaos flames and necromancy probably wasn't going to be all that helpful, so she'd probably have to stick to Miracles... Some Sunlight spears would definitely put more than a dent in Diablo should she manage to hit him.

Mathias himself was still wondering what'd assisted them by freezing the lava, it couldn't be a coincidence and he was started to suspect that Diablo was responsible for it... Though, he'd never heard of the demon being able to use ice magic but perhaps becoming the Prime Evil had given him a few extra abilities?

A wave of heat passes them as they reach an end to the hallway, coming across an absolutely huge room with thousands of eggs and different creatures inhabiting it. Over on the far corner of the room sat a young-looking brown-haired woman... Her eyes were closed but there were large black bags around them, it looked as if she'd not seen a wink of sleep for her whole life.

Mathias's breath halts momentarily before he steps forwards and shouts at her, "L-Leah!?"

Barnock had tried to hold him back but it was unfortunately too late, his voice echoes through the room and has every creature turning their head towards them...

It seems that Leah had also heard them, she opens her eyes and reveals their sickly yellow eyes with black sclera revealed. Black veins began to spread across her face as she opened them... They say the eyes are the window to the soul, and they're not exactly wrong in this instance. Her body seems to be trying to hold itself together, and with every blink the corruption recedes before becoming visible again.

Dark wraps them like a cloak, pooling around her feet as she sits on the throne made of stone. She doesn't smile, no, Diablo sends a malicious and arrogant smirk towards Mathias, the look intent on mocking him for his failure of protecting Leah.

Diablo begins speaking, their voice a mixture of all of the Prime Evils and Leah's combined, "So you've come... That means Adria has failed, troublesome but expected." they state, not giving any indication that he'd ever cared for the witch.

Mathias "Diablo... Return Leah or I swear to whatever higher powers exist, I will kill you!" he shouts, clearly enraged at the Demon for wearing his friend and unrequited loves body like a puppet or a costume.

Diablo begins chuckling, and soon breaks down into ominous laughter, the incongruity with hearing Leah's laugh mixed with the other demon lords almost gives Mathias a headache. His emotions were roiling in response, fear, anger, despair, disgust, and many more sensations wash over him.

Diablo only grins further as he could feel his enemies emotions, as the Prime Evil all of his sibling's abilities to manipulate certain emotions and feelings, such as pain or anguish were granted to him. He could sense the fear in Mathias, and he intended to make full use of it. "Poor, little, Nephalem... Look what the Heavens have done to you, all of this pain... This suffering you have experienced is a result of their war with us."

Tyrael "You speak lies Diablo, both sides are responsible for the Eternal Conflict, do not forget it is you and your brothers who attempted to subvert the mortal world even though our agreement forbid it!"

Diablo ignores Tyrael and continues speaking to Mathias, "Does it not trouble you that the Angels almost voted in favour of annihilating your race? Would paragons of good commit genocide just so a few mortals wouldn't go against them?... If so, are they truly good?"

Mathias shakes his head, "I won't be swayed by you Diablo, like humans, there are immoral angels. I doubt any demon would give up their essence and become mortal like Tyrael had, as far as I'm concerned we'd be better off without any demons."

Diablo snickers in a peculiar manner, "If Tyrael is so wise, why did he not noticed my servant Adria preparing my ressurection? Surely an the Angel of Justice would notice, or even be able to stop little Leah being murdered?"

Mathias grits his teeth, "He should have, but it doesn't change the fact that YOU KILLED HER!" he shouts, the grip on his staff tightening.

Diablo "Are you hoping that Tyrael will be able to revive Leah?" he asks.

Mathias "No, no one has the power to resurrect the dead." he states frostily.

Tyrael "Even if we could, her mind would have been broken by all the Prime Evils influence affecting her at once."

Diablo taps the stone throne with his finger, the feminine digit sounding more like metal against stone than anything else. "What if I said I had the power to revive her?"

Mathias "I'd say you're lying, demon." he spits with as much malice as possible.

Diablo "The Angels might not be able to, but as the Prime Evil, nothing is impossible for me... Reviving little Leah would be easy to do."

...

Mathias "And what would you ask in return?" he asks, the temptation great, but his will to destroy Diablo greater.

Diablo holds out a hand towards him, the palm facing the ceiling, "Become my servant, and I will revive Leah and grant you anything you desire. We will return to Sanctuary and destroy heaven... I will grant you ownership over Sanctuary, you will rule over it with Leah as my vassal." he says, forcing Leah's voice to become more prominent in-order to persuade the mage.