Of two paths, one is revealed. (REWRITTEN)

Hell

Like Olympus, this universe was one with a history dating back to eons ago. Unlike Olympus however, this universe had been ruled solely by the Devil race for millions of years even before it was discovered by the nearby universes.

The universe had many famous galaxy superclusters, like its 'Burning Realms' and the 'Nine Thousand Circles'.

The Hell universe adopted a Monarchy system for its pantheon, called the Devildom, which was ruled by the family of the Hell universe's Master.

The entities of the pantheons held titles of nobles with the main entities holding the titles of the highest-ranked nobles; Dukes and Grand Dukes.

Currently, the King of the Devildom and Master of Hell universe was Cattleya's father; Devil King Diablo Vaughn.

His main residence was situated on Planet Aeturn of the Dorcaster Star system, a three-stared star system located in the Burning Realms Galaxy Supercluster.

The Castle of the Hell Universe's royal family was one that could be considered unnecessarily large. It had an archaic style with eight towers in the directions of each of the cardinal points.

Each of these towers was occupied by a member of the royal family. One for the king, two for the two possible queens, and the remaining five for the princes and princesses.

The Devil King who built this castle was once asked what would happen in the event there were to be more than eight members of the royal family at a time but his reply was quite outrageous.

"That means there's someone who's grown too old to live in his parents' house so he's gotta move out to make space for his younger ones!"

At first, many believed it to be a joke, however after he had his sixth child, he chased the first out of the castle despite that child being the crown prince and first in line for the throne at the time.

He also refused any suggestions to build a larger and more accommodating castle and forbade his descendants from building another main castle for the royal family, despite the fact that they could build thousands on Aeturn alone! Not to talk of other planets.

Such was the unreasonable edict given by the royal family's ancestor, nevertheless, even after millions of years, his descendants still abided by his words.

◇　◇　◇

Cattleya giggled to herself as she remembered the story of her ridiculous ancestor while entering the castle.

The moment she did, all the servants on duty stopped their actions and proceeded to line up before bowing.

"Greetings, Your Highness!"

They all said in unison. Seeing this, Cattleya pouted while replying.

"Geez! Didn't I tell you all to stop being so straight-laced?"

"We do not dare be casual with the princess."

A voice replied as a tall man with short grey hair stepped out from the midst of the servants. He had visible wrinkles on his hollow face, which made him seem gentle in appearance, but his eyes were as sharp as an eagle's. He wore a traditional butler uniform and looked graceful as he slowly stepped towards the still-pouting Cattleya.

"Uncle Bel!"

Cattleya's pout turned into a wide smile upon seeing him. She jumped towards him intending to hug him, however, the man sidestepped to dodge her incoming hug before catching her body midair with ease and placing her back on the ground.

"You are not a child anymore princess, Also I do not think you should be jumping around considering your current condition.

Lastly, my name is Belphegor, not 'Bel'."

His words only elicited a laugh from Cattleya who opened up her arms and replied.

"If you want me to call you that then Gimme a hug. Also, quit being a butler, I can't fathom why a Deadly Sin Devil would decide to be the royal family's butler, even if you are weirdly good at being one."

"I have my reasons, princess."

Cattleya sighed and put her arms down as she thought about the kinds of existences the holders of the seven deadly sins were. She then looked around to realize that the servants were still bowing towards her.

Quickly dismissing them all, she turned back to Belphegor and asked what she originally intended to.

"Where's my dad?"

"The West Tower's fifth lounge."

After Hearing his reply, she attempted to hug him unsuccessfully before making her way to the castle's west tower that belonged to her brother, the current Crown Prince of the Devildom, Creusery Vaughn.

◇　◇　◇

Upon arriving at the West tower, she went up to the fifth lounge and came across the scene of her father and brother engaging in a serious conversation; one which she saw best to interrupt.

"Sup Bro! Sup Dad! Heard you called for me, I don't recall doing anything wrong though."

She placed a hand on her chin and wore a pensive look on her face as she spoke. While she intended to make jokes, her brother was of an opposing opinion. He went straight to the point and asked.

"Don't play dumb, Leya. You know exactly why father called you here. It's about that child you're carrying, that's the one the gods have been buzzing about recently right?"

Seeing as her brother was in no mood for jokes, she sighed and took a seat beside him before replying.

"I wanted it to be a surprise you know? A S.U.R.P.R.I.S.E. The kind where the people who I want to tell do not know anything about it beforehand.

That is why when you found out, I told you to keep it a secret. However, for some reason, you saw it best to tattle on about it."

Just as the two were about to enter an argument, their father finally spoke.

"Quiet both of you."

Devil King Diablo, was a fairly tall handsome man with dull silver hair and dark eyes. He possessed an athletic and muscular build, the kind that would make him the target of affection for a great deal of women.

He ran a hand through his hair as he turned to his daughter who still acted like a child most of the time when she clearly wasn't and asked.

"Since when have you been with child?"

"Twas around spring I realized so ...three and a half, almost four months now."

Seeing the questioning look on his face, she continued.

"I hid it with magic, that's why you never noticed. Added an extra spell to counter your frightening senses, spent about a week on creating that spell you know?

Even still, I had to stay away from home for a while, as you would have eventually seen through it given time. Seriously, that life-sensing ability of yours is truly ridiculous."

Hearing the words his daughter just spoke, Diablo could not help but sigh in exasperation.

'If the Leviathans hear she was able to create such a spell in just a week, they'd go crazy!'

Diablo's life-sensing ability which Cattleya spoke of, was a passive skill he had that let him sense the origin/soul of any being in his vicinity, making any known type of stealth or concealment magic and skills useless before him.

As for the Leviathans, they were a tribe of devils hailed as the best when it came to utilizing all forms of magic. Their leader, Grand Duchess Inglis, also known as the Deadly Sin Devil of Envy and Cattleya's mother, could be considered a prodigy among this tribe of prodigies.

Yet even she was unable to create a type of concealment magic that could fool his senses, hearing that his daughter had used just a week to accomplish what her mother failed to do in years made his head ache.

"Who else knows about this? This is a matter that needs to be kept under wraps, you know? I can't have any fools making attempts on your life."

He asked her this while putting the matter of the concealment magic at the back of his mind. Devil king or not, he was still a father at the end and a doting one at that. He didn't like a situation where his daughter's life was being aimed at.

Unfortunately, while the daughter in question understood her father's worry, she simply chose not to care.

"I just told Mammon and Araman outside, Belphegor seemed to have figured it out somehow and I couldn't care less if the gods did, they can't do a thing to me, for now at least."

She casually delivered a reply that went against the very reason Diablo called for her in the first place.

"What the-! Cattleya! Why in Hell would you want them to find out?

It's not just a single pantheon after you, there are hundreds, thousands, and possibly even more. Even those long-eared bastards who like to live in trees and those short fools who keep claiming neutrality."

The way her father just casually dissed two of the greatest known universal powers made Cattleya unable to hold back her laughter. However, the looks on her father's and brother's faces showed that they were in no mood for such.

Clearing her throat, she decided to explain the reason for her confidence.

"So um, about three weeks ago, my child's father and I made a bet with a large idi-, I mean giant while playing at a casino in Verchester. The idiot lost and could not accept the result so he tried to ambush both of us after we left.

However, before I could counterattack and end his pitiful existence, something shocking happened.

Cattleya suddenly paused and looked at the two men's expressions before continuing with a smile.

"That's all for today, I would see you all next time."

She then tried to stand up from her seat but her brother quickly used his telekinesis and forced her back down before shouting.

"Continue the damn story!"

After taking a good two minutes to laugh at his reaction, she finally continued.

"So, right before I could end him, the heavens decided to send some lightning down to do the job. However this is where things get tricky, idiot or not, he was a mid-tier deity, to be able to take him out in one hit, someone who is at least inferior stage high tier deity is required.

I scanned the area to search for the culprit but I found nothing. That was weird as fuck so i decided to check out his corpse and guess what I found?"

"What?!" Diablo could not help but ask impatiently. Cattleya laughed for a moment before suddenly turning serious.

"Traces of causality.

He was killed off by the law of causality. It made no sense, so my bestie and I spent the next few days trying to think of every possible scenario of why causality acted the moment he intended to take my life and we could not come to a conclusion.

When we took a break, I went off to a random secondary planet that was undergoing a world war, I then disguised myself as a military leader who just got assassinated. Lo and behold, the assassin came back to confirm if the person I just disguised myself as was dead, upon seeing me, he naturally tried to finish the job, only for the space right beside him to crack open.

Chains of causality burst out and pulled him in. He was a mortal so there was no chance of survival. That was what made me realize the law of causality's reason for action.

I confirmed it by provoking a few other beings and the law of causality acted the moment they expressed their intention to kill me.

Despite being an annoying law that everyone hates, the law of causality has one function that many don't really pay attention to.

It makes sure every life fulfils the role they have been given by fate at a certain point in time. My current role at this point is most likely to give birth to this child that has the power to potentially end the gods, so the law is acting to make sure I fulfil that role.

Since I can't do so if I'm dead, it's protecting me."

As she finished speaking, she watched the looks on the two men's faces go from confusion to shock and then to relief as they struggled to process what they just heard.

"So you mean the gods cannot kill you because of the law of causality's protection?"

"Yep."

Cattleya gave a short reply to Creusery's question as she pulled out a drink from her subspace before continuing.

"I reckon greater action would be taken against the gods, the child is directly related to them after all."

"This brings me to the second question that requires an answer. Who is the father? What pantheon is he from? What rank?"

Diablo asked her as he tried to hold back his thoughts of killing the bastard who slept with his daughter. Creusery then suddenly had a look of remembrance on his face as he turned to her and asked.

"Is it perhaps 'that guy'?! The one who's always wearing a hood."

"Yeah, not telling you who he really is though, at least for now."

Although the duo was obviously not satisfied with her reply, they had to settle for that as they could see she had no intention of speaking of the man's identity.

"How did you meet him anyway? I only recall seeing him whenever I went to pick you up from Bracken."

"How eh? Okay, I can tell you that."

Cattleya replied to Creusery's question as she recalled the series of events that led to her meeting the father of the child she was carrying.

  ◇　◇　◇

"Oh, we're finally getting to the part where you met dad."

Arthur spoke as he ordered the chefs to bring in a second serving of food for both him and Layla. 

"Yeah, but that starts off like a thousand years ago."

Cattleya replied as she watched Layla snatch the bottle of red wine from Arthur who was trying to pour some into his glass.

"Tsk..."

He only clicked his tongue as Layla put the wine in her inter-spatial ring and gestured towards Cattleya who carried on with her narration.