89 Giving Advice

- Satan and Death -

Satan had commanded the four-horned and curled-horn demons to return to their territories, making sure to give them a warning not to think of fighting back. Kahvis was checking on allies with Saint while Lucifer made calls to inform others of Satan's new situation. Death had left his hunter form and was waiting for Satan's orders to the demons to finish before speaking with him.

"Ready?" Death asked Satan.

"Calmed down now?" Satan responded.

The expression on Death's face was blank. His tone stayed cold as he spoke.

"Do you value your own life in the slightest?"

"If you're going to kill me just do it already," Satan said. "I don't fear you, you're not good at banter, and nothing you say will change me."

"So be it then," Death conjured his scythe.

Death walked within striking range of Satan and reared his scythe back. He slammed the blade into Satan's side.

"What was it you told Lucifer? Death is a mercy?"

Satan put his hand up to his soldiers not to intervene. He was in serious pain but he knew this was the extent of his punishment.

"Do you want a hand as well?" Satan asked.

Death shook the scythe's blade around in Satan before answering.

"Keep it."

Death pulled his scythe out of Satan's side.

"Consider every favor I owe you paid for,"

'That was the plan,' Satan thought.

"Fine with me," Satan waved Kut'thar over to heal him. "You realize this "unknown's" little resistance has become something much larger now. Something that you'll have to deal with one day."

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it..." Death mumbled as he walked away.

- Lucifer, investigation team -

"Yes. Yes. He is. I hope so." Lucifer was answering Lucius's questions over the echo.

Peter was standing in a circle with the others discussing their trip back to Hell. Elijah was holding an unconscious Lao as the team was informed.

"We'll be leavin' in a day or two. When we do we're goin' straight back to Hell, no stops, no political meetings, nothin'. Am I understood?"

Everyone nodded.

"Death won't be joinin' us on the way back since he has Amaterasu to check up on," Peter sighed. "I have a lot to say to the man before we part ways so I'll be goin' to him after this conversation. If ya have anythin' to ask me before I go, say it now."

The team looked around at each other.

"What are you planning on saying to Death?" Yvere asked.

"A lot," Peter responded. "So much in fact that I'm not sure where I'll start."

The team took that as a bad sign.

"I know you're angry but arguing with him won't make you feel better," Yvere said.

"We won't know that until I do," Peter said. "I respect him, which is why I want to ask him what the fuck he thinks he's doin'."

"Arguing with him won't end well," Sabu added. "Especially with Oliver here."

"I don't give a shit what Oliver thinks," Peter nearly shouted.

"You've seen how Lucifer's arguments with Death can end," Sabu added.

Sabu didn't realize that his response had only further cemented Peter's want to talk with Death. Peter still hadn't told the team what had happened between Death and Lucifer while they were moving to Bolotano.

"Yeah, yeah I've seen..." Peter said.

"Is this really worth it to you?" Elijah asked.

Elijah speaking up surprised the team. Elijah had been staying out of their arguments this entire time thinking it wasn't his place. Fighting against the demons had given him the confidence to make his opinion known.

"Worth it?" Peter questioned.

Elijah gave Lao to Yvere while he spoke. He didn't want to risk dropping him as he spoke.

"I know you respect Lucifer, I know you're mad at Death, but if Lucifer himself is okay with Death, why can't you be?"

The question caused the air to get tense. Peter gave a hard stare to Elijah as he spoke.

"Luce only pretends to be okay with the situation. If he feels like he could or should say somethin', he does. His fight with Death was the result of all the things he has to pretend to be okay with finally breakin' his back."

"Why not speak with Lucifer about it then?" Elijah asked. "What's your best-case scenario? You yell at Death and he apologizes? Would that be worth it to you?"

The other three members of the investigation team agreed with Elijah. None of them wanted to speak up though out of respect for Peter.

'You're lucky you're asleep for this,' Yvere thought.

'How much longer are Lucifer's calls going to take?' Sabu wondered.

'He's not wrong Peter, understand that,' Heinrich worried.

"I believe someone should be held accountable for their actions," Peter grunted. "So my best-case scenario is Death feelin' like shit for the things he's done."

"What if he already does?" Elijah suggested. "Then what? You started a fight for nothing."

"He's right," Lucifer said walking up to Peter.

"Fucks sake," Peter mumbled.

"Which is why we'll both speak with him," Lucifer added.

The team had expected Lucifer to shut down Peter's want to argue completely. They already felt like they shouldn't speak up out of respect but now they weren't sure what to do.

"Don't misunderstand me," Lucifer said. "I have a feeling Peter and my's grievances are similar, so I'm just going to make sure those grievances are stated properly."

Lucifer and Peter walked off before any of the members could say anything. Yvere turned to Elijah.

"Sorry for not helping you,"

"It's fine," Elijah sighed.

- Satan and Kahvis -

Kahvis was speaking with a group of his soldiers when Satan walked up to him.

"Not now," Kahvis said without turning around.

"Too bad," Satan smiled.

"Give me a moment," Kahvis said to the soldiers before walking up to Satan. "What do you want?"

"I want to talk about what you really are," Satan whispered.

Kahvis's eyes went wide. They looked around at the soldiers who were staring at them.

"You're bluffing," Kahvis assumed.

"Am I?" Satan asked.

Satan leaned in and whispered into Kahvis's ear.

"Forgive me, we need to discuss something in private," Kahvis apologized to his soldiers.

Satan and Kahvis went away from everyone else before speaking.

"What do you actually want to talk about?" Kahvis asked.

"I just wanted to make some things clear to you," Satan smiled. "You won this battle because of Death's strength, and Baal's stupidity. Your side's personal merits are almost nothing."

"I had alternative plans if Death wouldn't help me," Kahvis corrected. "Our plan was risky but as you've seen, the outcome was overwhelmingly in our favor."

"My side would have slaughtered yours, no question," Satan frowned. "The amount of weaknesses in your forces is laughable. If either of those fools had any tactical ability they would have challenged you to a battle of attrition."

Kahvis wanted to interrupt but he found this side of Satan interesting, so they didn't respond immediately.

"Baal was a boulder in terms of strength and strategic ability. Whatever fragments of intelligence Moloch has he allocates to discovering new torture methods. Their commanders had some promise but you saw how that ended."

Kahvis decided to speak up after hearing that.

"What would you have done if we lost?"

"That was never a possibility," Satan said. "I said I would slaughter YOUR side. I don't consider Death your side, he was just a temporary ally. Death is one of the great equalizers of war. His magic combined with his image makes him a strategist's ideal soldier, or worst nightmare."

"So you're saying this was Death's victory, not mine?" Kahvis asked.

"As I see it, yes," Satan mocked. "What you've done here will start to shift the world, so I don't want you to burn out prematurely because you mistake Death's strength as your own."

Kahvis felt a growing frustration with Satan. The demon lord had created chaos in their battle and was now acting as some kind of wise general. They tilted their head as they spoke.

"Is that it?"

"No," Satan said. "You're in a complicated situation. You need more allies, stronger allies, but you also need to be more careful about who you allow as an ally."

"I already knew that," Kahvis sighed.

"You think you did," Satan insulted. "This group you've gathered is a fraction of what I assume you want to become. Lessers are easy to convince and control but upper-ranks, AKA the group you'll desperately need to help you, are conniving and arrogant."

Satan's warning was surprising to Kahvis. They would have appreciated the information if it was anything new to them, or if was someone besides Satan saying it. They gave a bored expression.

"I. Know," Kahvis assured. "What could you possibly know about what I'm doing?"

"More than you ever will I'm sure," Satan scowled.

Kahvis didn't respond for a moment. They couldn't understand what Satan had meant by that or why he was even bothering to say all this. They gave up on trying to understand and just spoke.

"Is that it or do you have more to say?"

Satan had far more to say. He had more to warn Kahvis about but decided that maybe he had already said too much. He sighed and answered.

"No, go back to your numbers,"

Satan watched Kahvis as they walked away.

'Those emotions can't exist like that forever. How well will you maintain that composure of yours when you start to lose?'