Arrogance

Michael's eye twitched.

"Truce? What do you mean by truce? What gave you the delusion that we will ever make peace?" 

Seraphile stared at him. This was his chance, the chance to finally redeem himself for the war his death had brought.

"Brother, just listen to him! He calls for peace." Seraphile pleaded Michael.

His eyes snapped towards him as he said in a low voice.

"Why do you think he is being truthful? What gives you the idea that the main forces of demons are charging straight for the wheel of reincarnation?"

Seraphile gulped and continued. "He is the duke of pride. He won't resort to tricks like that. He will aim to utterly and completely crush us if he wants our demise. I know he is being truthful because his arrogance won't allow it.

Please think about it. This might be our way to end this endless mess."

Michael pondered over his brother's words carefully. He wanted to believe Seraphile's words as much as he did but he just couldn't bring himself to trust Lucifer.

"Tell me… Tell me, what is your intention for wanting a truce?" Michael asked Lucifer as he stared him down with his piercing gaze, making Lucifer chuckle.

"My intention huh… Well, my intention is to conquer the mortal world." He casually says. The tone of the voice, his body language, and the way he delivered the line made it seem as if he was discussing a business idea over a morning coffee.

Seraphile stood numb, his mouth agape. Uriel summoned her flames, Michael buffed every angel in his vicinity, Azrael summoned her scythe, Raphael prepared an arcane spell out of her grimoire, Gabriel engulfed himself with his magic, Raguel stood still and Sariel summoned his guards.

Upon hearing his goal, everyone prepared for a fight.

Lucifer stood unfazed by the upcoming threat but beneath the calm facade, he was cackling like crazy.

'Hahaha, poor fools. So easy to lure in. Oh, how much I want to crush all of you right here and right now. Wipe that serious face of yours and replace it with one of absolute fear and despair as I absolutely dominate the entirety of the divine population, destroy your so-called heaven, and ascend to godhood.

Alas, even I am aware of my limits and my limits tell me my very life is in danger.

But I will see how much I can push them.'

Lucifer carefully glanced at every angel on the front and his sight inevitably landed on Seraphile.

"5 pairs of wings yet on the frontlines. A little bold, don't you think?" He boldly smiled and raised his hand and pointed his towards Seraphile's direction.

In a flash, Uriel and Azreal charged straight at the Duke of Pride and arrived in front of him.

Uriel's sword and Azrael's bony scythe crossed together, forming an X shape.

Hellfire from the judge's sword crossed over to the scythe of the seraph of death, lighting it up as the pale hue of the flames engulfed the blade of the scythe.

Dark hue borrowed from the dark emotions of those who had their souls harvested by the Azrael's scythe also crossed over to Uriel's longsword, creating a dual enhancement for both of them.

Radiant pale fire surrounded by dark hue. An ability consisted of hellfire, a weapon of mass destruction meant to punish the sinful and strengthen the pure, and the emotions of the dead, enhancing the destructive potential of the flames immensely in return for the disappearance of the strengthening aspect of it.

An ability meant purely for retribution, a nigh perfect replica of the ability that a certain human judge would obtain several millennia later.

Its only flaw was that the negative emotions enhancing it were not directed at the victim of this deadly dual strike, but rather at the person who wielded the scythe meaning the enhancing done by the emotions to the flames was minimal.

A combo this deadly would have severely wounded Lucifer no doubt, but the seraphs were not done.

Raphael muttered a spell and a divine glow appeared over the crossed long sword and the bony scythe. It meant that the divine energy condensation in their weapons became much higher and more lethal for demons.

To top it all off, Michael muttered a single word.

"Annihilate."

The order was issued, and the carriers of this order received a boost to accomplish it.

Lucifer felt red lights go off all over his mind.

He was fully prepared to tank through the initial attack to frame the angels later on but this was not what he expected.

'This, this attack can kill me!'

It was too late to dodge or even properly prepare and face it head-on.

To buy himself more time, Lucifer released his highly corrosive miasma and formed it around him to act as a barrier.

He prioritized density the most. He would make his miasma denser and harder to cut through at the expense of its corrosive nature.

His plan worked, to an extent at least. 

The miasma managed to slow down the seraphs, by a pathetically abyssal amount. The divine energy and power behind their strike was no joking matter.

Out of desperation, he formulated a few lines in his head.

"You really don't want me dead! It will be breaking a god's will!" He yelled out.

"Tsk, the gods are in their recovery slumber so don't drag them into this mess you have created." Raphael coldly stated. To her, Lucifer was just like a bug begging for mercy.

"What if I tell you a god is already entangled in this mess?" he shouted.

He took a step back as the blades reached out for his flesh.

"The return of that angel is the proof of that!" 

The murderous charge of the seraph sisters halted as everyone turned to Seraphile.

Seraphile did not like being at the center of attention. It made him think that he did something wrong. He quickly tried to divert the attention of him as he called out for Uriel and Azrael to watch out their backs for potential attacks from Lucifer.

They heeded his warning and diverted their attention back to Lucifer.

"What the hell do you mean by that!" Azrael yelled out and hit him in the neck with the blunt side of her scythe.

"Calm down, how about we put our weapons down and talk like civilized beings?" Lucifer replied back, his usual cocky attitude back now that they are not trying to get his head chopped off.

"What I am saying is that a god revived that angel over there so we can make peace. I am fully aware that my statement is shady at best but what argument do you have that can refute it?

My patron god saw the mess I had created so he took care of it by reviving the angel over there. Your patron god is still probably slumbering at the moment so they took matters into their own hands.

However, since they are not the divine god, the reborn angel wasn't reborn as an angel but something closely emulating one."

His speech rendered the seraphs quiet. Just as he said, the angels had no way to refute his argument.

Lucifer smiled. He knew he had the upper hand now.

"What makes you think that we won't kill you right here and right now?" Sariel said to him, wiping Lucifer's smiles off his face.

"As I said, my goal is to dominate the mortal world but not to be controlled by me, but rather present it as an offering to our patrons as a thank you for this second chance." Lucifer continued without a care in the world.

"My sincere wish is to be the one personally presenting that world to them so I can be the first to be recognized by the two patrons. I don't care whatever that comes after, you can kill me then."

Another grin formed on his face, this one more euphoric, more disturbing, more manic than the last one.

"In fact, the entirety of hell is opening up a gate to Gaia right now."