A Message for Nabu #300

"It's you..." The woman said, seemingly confused as she alternated between looking at me and scanning the ruined forest around us. "Do I want to know...?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A Lord of Order trapped me here..." I replied with a sigh. "I was trying to find a way out when I found you stuck on the plane's border," I added with a shrug as I looked up and resumed staring at the stars.

"That doesn't sound like something I'd want to know, but I suppose it's too late..." The woman said as she sat on the ground. "How did that come to pass exactly...?" She asked in a curious tone.

"An alien stole the Lord of Order's artifact, which he uses to channel his powers into those he deems worthy..." I calmly replied. "I brought the guy here to weaken him and eventually won," I added, still pissed about the whole affair.

"The Lord of Order was impressed and offered to make me his chosen or whatever," I said, scowling as Nabu's face flashed in my mind. "He refused my refusal, and here I am," I concluded.

"What an ass..." The woman said with an amused expression, prompting me to shrug in agreement. "Luckily for you, good ol' Marzel has a way out for you..." She added as she stood up, ginning like the demoness she was.

"Marzel? I always assumed your name was The Succubus..." I remarked, raising an eyebrow as I turned to her. "And what way could you possibly have when a Lord of Order is trying to keep me here...?" I skeptically asked, looking her up and down.

"That's like saying all humans are called The Human..." Marzel said, rolling her eyes at me. "As for the way out, not even a Lord of Order could sever the connection between the realms of hell and a demon," She added as she opened her palm, summoning a blaze of flames that acted as a one-way mirror to her home.

"Born from its very flames, we are a part of hell just as it is a part of us," Marzel continued as she closed her palm, extinguishing the flames. "Or so the old fogies say..." She concluded with a shrug.

"Ok, what's the catch...?" I immediately asked without bothering to hide my suspicion.

"Don't act coy on me now, human..." Marzel said, crossing his arms as she gave me a bemused look. "It's all your fault that I'm here, and we both know it..." She went on with a scowl.

"Oh? I'm guessing your father didn't welcome you back with open arms, then?" I asked, chuckling as I instantly realized what she was talking about.

The only reason I let her go despite killing her brother was to keep her father busy and give him something to waste his time on instead of going after Nightshade and her brother.

I assumed he wouldn't take the defeat of his two children well, and it seems I guessed right.

"No, he did not. The bastard tried to have me killed," Marzel blankly said as she relaxed her arms. "You wanna know what the catch is? He'll be waiting for us as soon we step foot into Hell," She added with a shrug.

"So I'll have to sit on my ass and stare at the sky for seven more months here or face an archduke of hell then fight my way out of there...?" I said, rubbing my forehead in frustration. "The frying pan and the fire, both options suck," I said with a bitter chuckle, shaking my head.

"But I guess the choice is clear... I'm already dying of boredom..."

...

Several days later

"Was that really necessary...?" Marzel asked, feeling a strange mixture of confusion and amusement as she flew in the air looking down on the three giant words Grayson had spent the past hour carving on the ground.

She barely understood what was going through the young man's head as he spent an entire day scouring the plane for metals, and began building an army of machines, only to carve a ridiculous message on the ground once he finished his work.

"Very..." Grayson replied with a satisfied grin as he flew beside her looking down at the ground. "I had to give Nabu a piece of my mind somehow..." He added with a chuckle.

"Still... Nabu sucks ass-- Couldn't you come up with something better?" Marzel asked as she gave Grayson a once over. "Arn't you supposed to be super smart or something?" She added, crossing her arms.

"What insult could I come up with that a millennia old Lord of Order hasn't heard already?" Grayson argued back. "Sometimes simplicity is the way to go," He added as he retrieved an antique rifle from seemingly nowhere.

"Now, we've wasted enough time..." Grayson said, losing his humorous expression as he loaded a bullet into the rifle's chamber. "Let's get going..." He added, suddenly freezing as the booming voice of Nabu echoed in his head, much to Marzel's confusion as she couldn't hear.

Eventually, he scowled, gritting his teeth as he started moving again. "Get the fuck out of my head, Nabu. Whatever it is you're selling, I'm not buying," He added as he turned to Marzel with an icy look that sent alarms ringing in her head.

Alarmed as she was, Marzel quickly got the hint and gestured with her hand, materializing a flame that instantly turned into a gateway, leading to what seemed to be a ruined city slowly being devoured by scorching fire.

Grayson said nothing as he raised the rifle and flew into the portal, leaving Marzel with no choice but to follow him.

...

Hell

Pandemonia

Etrigan savagely grinned as he watched a horde of lesser fiends march on the castle before him, swarming its walls and slaying the demons trying to defend it.

He was born and raised in Pandemonia before his banishment. It was the home of Hell's high-cast demons and its throne, held by the demon Belial, an archduke of Hell and Etrigan's father.

Though it's been centuries since the rhyming demon stepped foot into his home, he never forgot it, not the resentment he held against his father for banishing him into the body of a mortal.

Once banished, Etrigan returned home, fully intent on killing his father and claiming the throne.

"Belial! Hear my words and shiver!" Etrigan bellowed as he looked into the flaming skies. "Today marks the return of an enemy most bitter!" He added, his thunderous exclaim driving the lesser demons into a frenzy.

"To my blade, your pitiful followers shall fall," The rhyming demon said as he noticed a gigantic purple-skinned humanoid climb the walls and begin slaughtering the lesser fiends invading them.

"And you, too, no longer shall you stand tall!" Etrigan exclaimed as he jumped straight into the walls with one mighty leap, getting the purple demon's attention.

The rhyming demon said nothing as he charged his enemy, instantly cutting the latter's leg with a swipe of his flaming blade before decapitating him.

"Kill them all!!" The rhyming demon concluded, raising his blade high and grinning as he watched the fiends grow even more frenzied, destroying everything in their path toward the castle's throne room.

"Hmm...?" Etrigan intoned, his smile instantly turning into a frown as he felt a familiar presence intruding into Hell. "How interesting..." He added, quickly regaining his grin as he seemed to realize something.

"A young mortal once touched by the abyss, now removed..." Etrigan muttered, rubbing his chin in thought. "Is it courage or foolishness that drives his recklessness? Perhaps he's only behooved?" He added with a chuckle.

"Regardless, the archfiends of hell will not let the mortal's trespass go unreproved..."

...

Hell

The Selvage

Asmodeus was in a good mood, better than he'd ever been for many centuries, despite failing to take over the Nightshade dimension thanks to his incompetent children who lost to a mortal human out of all the lowly creatures out there.

Though his incompetent children failed to execute a plan that took him an eternity to devise, he received something far better; three powerful champions that would do his bidding for eternity, and he stole them from his most bitter enemy to boot.

What's more, his failure of a daughter had decided to return to the Abyss, foolishly assuming he wouldn't sense her return if she appeared in The Selvage, the wasteland separating Hell's provinces.

Now, he only needed to catch her, torment her for an eternity, and call it a day.

Or so he thought.

...

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