Nephilim, Drogath, Malphasia

"How useless."

"Hah! He really lost to some puny humans? I knew we should've sent a stronger one."

""Stronger, stronger~""

It was evident by now that some of the Twelve Demon Generals had started to form their own personalities.

Just like normal kids did when they got older, the generals were no different. The recent incident of Baldurai's defeat seemed to only have served to quicken the process.

By now, three out of the twelve generals were starting to show signs of differing appearances. The three's bodies started to increase in size, a surefire likelihood that their strength was beginning to show itself.

"So, what happened to Baldurai? A Stone Demon wouldn't die that easily." One general said.

"He's alive. Albeit, barely. Some sort of human organization called the Rogue Guild picked up his decaying carcass and are beginning to reconstruct his shattered armor and broken skin." One of the three "growing" generals spoke up.

This general was known as Nephilim. Aside from a few small changes in her body, there wasn't much about her that truly screamed the words "she's one of the twelve!"

In fact, she looked more angel than demon. Her skin was of a pure milky white, and both her eyes remained closed, giving off the impression of a beautiful, kind goddess.

Of course, that couldn't be much farther from the truth. In reality, she was a fallen angel, a being of Divinity who defected to the Demon King's faction "Hellscape."

Traces of her divinity still remained. Two extravagant plumed wings hung loosely on her back, and she leaked both Divinity and Devil Ashra passively.

"What should we do with him, then? A warrior's pride, unlike their bodies, cannot be mended so easily!"

The voice who replied belonged to that of Drogath. With his hulking stature, he towered over the rest of the generals. Sporting a bald haircut and dark, suntan skin, he hunched over the table the generals were seated around and slammed the battleaxe he was carrying through the table.

"Calm yourself, Drogath. Baldurai is of no use to us now. He has forsaken the chance granted to him, and so he shall face the worst punishment: banishment from Hellscape." Nephilim replied.

"Bah! Fine. Let him chase the humans for all I care. Malphasia!" Drogath turned to one of the generals sitting on the far end of the table, who hid behind her veil.

Unlike them, she refused to show off her new appearance. But when called, she stumbled slightly, before readjusting herself to face the other generals.

This was Malphasia, one of the very few generals who specialized in mental magic. Her attire was modest, consisting mainly of a dark skintight bodysuit concealed behind a white lab gown. Her skin was of the same color as Nephilim's, and could barely be told apart from the gown.

She still wore her veil, perhaps due to her innate fear of talking to large crowds.

"R–right. One of my Thralls, a boy named Makarov Zugnav, is in the middle of getting his Lockheart broken by Dignitas Qwerdan and company."

"That human again! Why is it I keep hearing that name?" Drogath angrily slammed his fist on the table.

His bulky physique threatened to break the table itself, but one single glare from Nephilim was enough to keep him on his toes and act how someone of his position was supposed to.

"A–anyway… it's only a matter of time before the Lockheart is broken, but I should be able to send a piece of my consciousness to record them when they manage to pierce through the defenses."

"That would certainly be helpful, Malphie." Nephilim smiled at the introverted general. "Does he have John Ailey with him, by the way? I want to see if he'll be able to contend with my undead army."

"There's… four of them. Two Mentalists, and the rest make up two out of the three humans we have our eyes on. One of the Mentalists looks familiar, though…"

***

"Alright, so we all set?" Dignitas asked the three people beside him.

John had succeeded in persuading Curie to help with the Lockheart breaking. With the added strength from her mixed with Bigsby's, there was a big chance that they would finally be able to start the exorcism process.

"Hello, Uncle Bigsby. It's been a long time." Curie smiled as she greeted her uncle.

"It has, hasn't it? I'm glad my niece has grown up to be a fine woman. Bah, but no dating yet, eh?" He replied, subtly staring at John.

"I can't promise that, hehee."

"Hate to interrupt the touching family reunion, but," Dignitas spoke up. "Makarov's in need of your help, and you can always talk later."

"Much as I hate to admit it, the kid's right. Work with me, Curie. We can break through this brat's Lockheart."

"Yes, please guide me."

Both Curie and Bigsby moved places so that they were standing behind the tied up Makarov. Raising their unfolded palms, they began to emit a constant stream of Mental energy towards his head, where the Lockheart was located.

No less than ten seconds later, sweat began to pour like bullets from Curie's forehead. Based of both their tightly shut eyes, John concluded that the lock-breaking had already begun.

"Is there anything we can do to help? Curie looks like she's having a hard time." John asked Dignitas with a worried expression.

"I don't think so. We'll just have to wait until they bring the Lockheart to reality. By then, we'll have our own work cut out for us."

Whoosh! Mana in the air blew towards the two Mentalists like a vacuum cleaner sucking air. The walls in the bland room they were in seemed to wobble ever so slightly, unable to handle the flow of mana.

By now, Curie was tightly gritting her teeth, while Bigsby had started to sweat. John contemplated doing something to help, but he wasn't sure what he could do.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long. Fwoosh! Like a balloon releasing its air, all the accumulated mana that wasn't used was shot out in one strong blast, knocking back Dignitas and John.

Then, slowly but surely, the scenery around them began to be overtaken by redness. Wherever they looked there were crimson red colors mindlessly assaulting their pupils. The stench of Devil Ashra had started to descend on the environment, giving it a disgusting feel.

But just as quick as it came in, the stench subsided. Instead, it was replaced by a sweet, hypnotic scent that threatened to take control of John and Dignitas' bodies.

The duo acted quickly and wrapped handkerchiefs around their mouths. These lessened the amount of intoxicated air coming in, giving them more time to stay.

The environment had shifted completely in the blink an eye. Dignitas didn't even need to be reminded nor informed by the Log as to where they were now.

A towering castle came into view in front of the duo. Surrounded by walls in all sides, yet seemingly undefended and unguarded. The castle was specifically painted to be alluring to the eyes. The two could feel the various patterns that lined the walls to be especially seductive. They wondered how simple shapes and colors could get them lost in a trance.

"Brr." Shaking their heads clean, the two laid eyes on the castle once again, this time not focusing on one spot for an extended period of time.

"Looks like we've entered into the residence of a rather powerful high ranking demon." Dignitas commented.

The two of them weren't sure as to who it exactly was that planted themselves in Makarov's head, but based off the intense feeling they were getting just from being inside the Lockheart, they were definitely messing with someone way out of their league.

And yet there was no way to exit this place. Not until they purged every single trace of demons with the Severance Style.

"We should hurry, Dignitas. We won't be able to withstand this harsh environment forever. At least the castle will provide us protection from the scent."

While it was basically a death sentence to waltz into the castle unprepared, they had no other choice.

"You're right, let's do this. I just hope we find all the distortions quickly."

The duo simultaneously drew their swords and slowly made their way inside the castle. For the most part, it seemed empty.

The walls that encircled the inner castle were unmanned, and so the entire area exhibited an almost ghostly feeling. There was one reason it was "almost" and not total serenity.

As the duo continued forward, they could feel eyes. Eyes that seemed to stare into oblivion, eyes that gazed into the abyss, and most importantly, eyes that made sure to keep them in their sights.

It made even the first half-minute of walking to the castle door suffocating, and Dignitas wasn't sure if he would be able to stay calm the whole way.

"Help me push this." He told the protagonist.

Inching closer to each other, both John and Dignitas placed their entire weight on the locked wooden castle door. It budged slightly, just enough for them to squeeze through.

The moment they walked through the door, it was as if they had been transported into another world.

"Right… this does feel like Hellscape, so why am I not surprised that it harbors the most disgusting of things?"