Chapter 15: Summon The Strength

Why was a Devil Princess, Lucilith, daughter of Devil King Lucifer and Queen of Succubus Lilith, able to be in the mortal world? Back two months before Langress woke up, the Predator faction decided to summon Lucilith to the mortal world so that they could take over the world once and for all, destroying all forces that stood in their way. A circle of blood was drawn and on top was the devil's six-pointed star with a rose symbol in the middle. Next was the need for a representative who was the protector for the princess, Lancerlord was chosen by Baphomet to be that men to greet Lucilith to the world. Lancerlod stood in the blood circle. As he dripped his blood onto the rose, the evil priests chanted the devil's bible, welcoming the princess to bestow blessings and chaos on the world. A bloody arm emerged from the rose and grabbed Lancerlord's hand, he knelt and slowly a devil emerged from the blood rose. Lucilith levitated with her body covered in blood, she looked down at Lancerlord and infused him with her demonic blood. And Lucilith softly said:

"You, will become my protector forever."

Lancerlord spread his new devil wings and replied:

"I will, my lady."

Lancerlord gently kissed Lucilith's hand while the surrounding vampires knelt before the angelic appearance of the Devil Princess. Baphomet made a proposal to Lucilith, creating a Hell Gate, bringing an army of devils to the mortal world to destroy them all. And Lucilith agreed to that deal and the construction of Hell Gate began. And Hell Gate had started to be built, the gate would be very huge, it would be over 230 feet tall, 164 feet wide and 65 feet thick. To build that devil's gate, we also needed other rare and difficult raw materials. But with the Predator faction's endless potential, large military and financial wealth over three thousand years, this was very easy to do. The first thing that was obsidian was still very hot after a volcanic eruption, to keep their heat forever, lava must also be transported and poured around the obsidian. Then they needed Predanium, a metal very deep in the ground, blood red, very strong and impervious to rust, resistant to high temperatures like lava to use as a metal frame for the gate. But the process gradually stalled because too many vampires died during the construction of Hell Gate despite the help of werewolves. Predanium was harder to find to immobilize obsidian and lava, and the time when Hell Gate could open was drawing near. Many Predanium mines were attacked by AVF around the world and seized a lot of minerals to Atlantis Weapon Corporation. With the return of Langress, the construction of Hell Gate became even more difficult as the hundreds of soldiers sent to kill him could not return even one. And to handle all of that, they needed to summon The Strength. The next day after Langress refused Baphomet's offer, in the Sahara Desert, Lancerlord and Lucilith were riding camels and going through the sand dunes to somewhere. Lucilith was like a lady, she sat comfortably with the tea table set floating aside and holding an umbrella. Lancerlord wore sunglasses, he used his right wing to cover the sunlight and looked a bit grumpy as he roamed the hot desert as a servant of Lucilith, he said:

"Hey, when do we get there?"

Lucilith replied:

"Not yet, it should be around noon."

Lancerlord replied dejectedly:

"Fuck, why do I have to follow you everywhere, all the time?"

Lucilith cheerfully said:

"Oh, my protector, have you forgotten that you swore before me?"

Lancerlord replied:

"Gez, it's more like the last word before execution. Anyway, what or who are we looking for?"

Lucilith said:

"A Devil General of the Devil King Belial, Astaroth, the big brother of The Executioner Amon. The only one left in the mortal world who can kill Langress now."

Lancerlord replied with curiosity:

"Astaroth? Who the fuck is he? How could he be in the mortal world when the devils can only be summoned and can't stay here for too long?"

Lucilith sighed and said:

"Can't explain anything to a brain dead guy like you. In legend, in War In Heaven, when Belial was still the ruler of Hell, he sent Astaroth to Heaven to help my father Lucifer destroy God. But in the great battle with the Archangel of Darkness Uriel, Astaroth was defeated and fell from Heaven. He then moved on to attack the first civilization at that time, the Mesopotamian civilization, taking the form of a monster named Pazuzu, which could be thought of as a lion with black wings. Because he underestimated the power of humanity, Astaroth was humiliatingly defeated and sealed forever under an ancient pyramid beneath the heart of the Sahara. But his death sowed a plague on Mesopotamia and its eventual downfall."

Lancerlord looked a little confused because of the information overload, Lucilith had to continue:

"In general, he is very powerful."

Lancerlord replied:

"Understood. Well, can't we find another guy but him?"

Lucilith said:

"Only he is the devil that has survived through history. The rest of them have all been annihilated by the Saints of God. Yes, humans have joined the war against the Devils a long time ago."

Lancerlord replied:

"Fuck him, you already have me. The only one who didn't hesitate to kill Langress immediately."

Lucilith said:

"You, my protector, you are too arrogant and are giving Langress too much time to make him stronger than you. Let the most chaotic take care of him and the Heroic faction forever."

Lancelord only smiled lightly and replied:

"As your wish, my sexy princess."

Lancerlord and Lucilith continued on, then she said softly:

"So tell me. You and Langress, how close were you two?"

Lancerlord replied:

"Why didn't you ask me sooner?"

Lucilith said:

"Just curious, and that's the order."

Lancerlord sighed a little sadly and replied:

"We used to be brothers, the strongest stood by each other in every battle. And then I betrayed, it hurt. And... Sorry, personal reasons."

Lucilith said:

"What a suck story about betrayal between best friends."

Lancerlord replied with a slight gruff:

"Just shut up. Devil like you can't understand our thoughts."

Lucilith said angrily:

"Hey, can you just get rid of the idea that Devils have no emotions and only have lust and cruelty in their heads? Some smart guy has all the emotions when we were Angels."

Lancerlord replied:

"Geez, I can't trust you either, Succubus doesn't understand what emotions are!"

Lucilith said with a little sadness:

"You just don't know anything."

Lancerlord and Lucilith remain silent on their next ways. Later they stopped on a sand dune, Lancerlord said:

"What? We're here already."

Lucilith replied:

"Yeah, he's here."

The two dismounted and Lucilith snapped her fingers to order Lancerlord:

"Lancerlord, destroy this dune."

Lancerlord replied:

"Coming right up."

Langress unleashed his power, he infused his left leg with black thunder and kicked down the dune they were standing on. The dune collapsed as if there was a stone floor below. Lancerlord and Lucilith spread their wings and slowly landed beneath the dunes. Below was a huge temple with a structure from the Mesopotamian period and the biggest feature was a carving of a lion with black wings on its back. The reason the temple wasn't buried by the desert was because Astaroth's power while being sealed was still too strong and he was determined not to be buried. Lancerlord looked at the temple and said:

"How foolish, they were afraid of Astaroth and still built a temple for him to seal him away."

Lucilith replied:

"It was the only way to stop Astaroth at that time. They were afraid of all powers and had to worship them just so they wouldn't destroy them all."

Lancerlord and Lucilith landed on the ground outside the temple. Having just landed, they realized that around them were more than a thousand skeletons of warriors. Lancerlord said with curiosity:

"Skeletons? They're everywhere. Did Astaroth ask for this bloody sacrifice?"

Lucilith replied:

"No, they were simply protecting Astaroth's temple from all that wanted to free him. And they were cursed to never leave here to protect the temple forever."

Suddenly the skeletons started to move and stood up, they took up their shields, swords and armor and surrounded the two of them. Lancerlord drew the Alpha God sword and said:

"Hah, this is shit. Truly the dumbest curse I've ever heard. Anyway...."

Lancerlord activated the Blood Blade mode of Alpha God sword and continued:

"Let me take you to Hell in peace."

Lucilith gently snapped her fingers. And just five minutes later, Lancerlord easily destroyed all the warrior skeletons, he put away his sword and said:

"Shall we go on?"

He raised his hand to the temple as if to show Lucilith the way and she just smiled and replied:

"Shut up, dead brain."

Lancerlord just smiled and said:

"Shut up, horned princess."

Lancerlord and Lucilith went inside the temple together. Lancerlord destroyed the temple gate with a kick and said:

"What the fuck? They just made a stone gate like that?"

Suddenly dozens of arrows in the darkness of the temple flew at Lancerlord. And he took it all and still calmly stood still, Lucilith hid behind him and said cheerfully:

"Hahaha, you think it's that simple? How funny, hahaha."

Lancerlord sighed and removed the arrows from his body. He then sent ultrasonic waves inside the temple to check and said tiredly:

"Fuck this shit. There are dozens of rooms in here. How can we even find him?"

Lucilith casually entered the temple and smiled happily at Lancerlord, she said:

"What? Are you scared?"

Lancerlord smiled lightly and replied:

"No shit."

Lancerlord and Lucilith entered the temple together to find Astaroth's coffin. While walking, Lancerlord said calmly:

"Hey, I said some bad things about you earlier. Sorry."

But Lucilith only replied absently:

"What? What did you say?"

Lancerlord, startled that Lucilith had forgotten what he said, he said gruffly:

"Fuck it. Nothing, and where is that fucker?"

Lancerlord began to destroy the surrounding rooms to find Astaroth in a frustrated mood. Lucilith just smiled devilishly and whispered:

"But there will still be a punishment for you, my dear Lancerlord."

They went on and it took a long time to confront the traps, empty rooms, turn on the hidden levers, the two reached the last room with the gate painted with the lion with black wings. Lancerlord continued to punch the last gate and said:

"If this isn't fucking his room, I'll kill him while he's still in the coffin."

And this time they came to the right place, a giant room paved with gold and in the middle of a lake, on the wall was the symbol of a lion with black wings of Astaroth. Lancerlord and Lucilith walked down the steps to the lake. Lucilith said:

"Looks like we've come to the right place. Lancerlord, dive in and bring me what's underneath."

Lancerlord replied dejectedly:

"Urghh, why always me?"

Lancerlord touched the lake with his hand, but suddenly his hand melted. Lancerlord quickly withdrew his hand and said with surprise:

"Acid? Is his coffin down there? Under Acid?"

Lucilith approached the lake and looked down, she clearly saw Astaroth's coffin below, she said:

"It looks so deep, it would be difficult to pick it up."

Lancerlord replied:

"Well say goodbye, I'm going home."

Lucilith said:

"Wait, something's not right."

Lancerlord replied:

"Yeah, the only thing that's not right is that I wasted my time following you around serving you as a servant. And you just told some bullshit myth about a lion or something and you got it, 16 feet down there. Well fuck him, I'm getting out of here, and don't give me orders from now on, I'm too sick of it!"

Lucilith said:

"What do you mean? Then why did you summon me here in the first place to help you destroy the mortal world?"

Lancerlord replied:

"I was only forced to summon you here because I was the only one strong enough to bring you into this world.

I'm just a guy who lost his choice and is doing everything stupid to survive in this dark world."

Lucilith said angrily:

"I gave you the devil blood of the royal, you should cherish it!"

Lancerlord grumbled:

"I just need it for my power, I want more power."

Lucilith said:

"For what?!"

Lancerlord paused slightly, he replied:

"None of your business. Fuck it."

Lancerlord turned to leave but Lucilith launched a dark hand to catch him, she said:

"You can't leave without my orders!"

Lancerlord replied:

"If I want, I'll go without your fucking orders!"

Lancerlord pushed away the hand of darkness and smashed it against the ceiling. The temple shook violently and shards of gold fell from the ceiling. Lancerlord and Lucilith retreated and when they looked up at the ceiling, they saw a coffin laid on it, facing the lake of acid. Lucilith was a bit surprised, she said:

"So here's another trap. The fool thinks the coffin below will sink and die. While below is just a picture of the actual coffin on the ceiling."

Lancerlord crossed his arms and replied:

"See, the matter is over. Free him and I'll leave."

Lucilith also couldn't stand Lancerlord's harsh attitude, she threw a fireball at Astaroth's coffin. The seal was broken and one of the strongest demon generals was freed. Immediately a surge of power released from the coffin, Lancerlord and Lucilith tried to withstand the terrible power. And slowly Astaroth flew out of the coffin. He looked like a devil with bat wings and a mane like a lion on his back. His body was gray with strong muscles and two dragon-like horns, spikes and claws all over his arms and legs. Astaroth opened his eyes, his eyes black with red pupils. Astaroth landed lightly on the acid lake, it immediately dried up by his power. Astaroth looked at Lucilith and Lancerlord coldly. Lucilith said:

"Welcome back, my love."

Lancerlord was a bit surprised by Lucilith's words. And finally, one of the most powerful devil warriors had returned, to destroy Langress.