Chapter 39 - The Lords of Hell

Now while Los and Ellios had gone to the human world to deal with the runaway demon, the other demon lords had returned to their duties. But one might have wondered, what exactly were these duties that these six, now five, had to do?

Well, to get one thing off the rack, the fat demon whose name was Borracks Bolso was the owner of a core manufacturer and processer of various meats ranging from your everyday common Devil chicken breast to those most premium of poultry such as the meat that came from seven-footed cow man which was strange, rare beast that originally lived on the red mountains far away from where the current Kingdom now stood.

But the Bolso family sought after these strange beasts – whom while they were called seven footed, actually stood on four feet while two others were attached to their necks that picked grass from the ground to put in their mouths. The remaining other hand was found at the top of its head and usually it was very muscular since it was used for defending themselves or fighting amongst each other, especially in the case of males where competition for mating arose. And the reason why the creatures were termed cow 'man' was because its face resembled an ugly human male and usually, when threatened, it would stand up on two feet in an attempt to scare away whatever came after them.

But of course, that little survival tactic didn't work against the demons of the Bolso family and a great deal of these beasts were taken in and domesticated for breeding and manufacturing processes – which in the demon world really meant that the creatures would be killed and then placed between these odd, seven foot, tall statues which had horrible faces carved upon them, that scorched flames from their mouths to cook the meat.

That basically summarizes the Bolso family. In essence, they were all fat pigs that lived in luxury due to their wealth and status. And now that Borracks was dead, the title of Head Demon would most likely fall to his younger brother.

But that aside, let us now look at what the other, still living, demon lords were doing.

~

The great blue demon was the person in charge for defense against intruders that came to the capital. His name was Oblion Entoran Ox or as most would call him 'Silver Beard'. In essence, he was the leader of the great demon army but instead of overlooking the Kingdom's security or training soldiers, he would instead spend his time lofting around a certain establishment which he personally placed funds into. This place was called the Dusty Hole, mainly because it was simply a crater in the red sand, some miles North West of the Kingdom of Rose.

Along the sides of the craters, many demons would sit and watch the fights that took place in the center of the giant hole. And more than often, bets of wages would be a common occurrence between the demons that were present. It was in this way did the 'establishment' make money.

"At the right end of the ring, we have the fierce, huge and mighty – Red Skull! A warrior so fierce and terrible that not a single opponent that he's faced has left the ring alive. The skull over his face, as well as the many others that are strung over his broad shoulders, are a testament to this!" An announcer shouted with great enthusiasm using a megaphone, coming from up above in little tower that overlooked the entire crater.

"And at the left side, we have…" the announcer didn't bother to praise the other opponent, his tone became bland and boring as he spoke. "Fred, I believe." Said the demon as he looked at the sheet of paper in his hand.

"Hey!" said Fred as he raised a red fist angrily in the air. "What kind of-"

An axe went through Fred's torso and sliced him in half before he could finish complaining. And at that, the crowd roared with excitement as the huge Red Skull walked around the ring with his hands raised in the air, while he sent mighty war cries to the spectators.

But that all soon stopped as Oblion walked into the crater and all eyes now looked at him. He took a chug at his barrel of alcohol and then wiped his mouth dry. After which, he raised a hand to the air as a belch came from his stomach and then he shouted. "Oi! Ronny, I see you're still doing well here!"

Ronny, or rather Red Skull, shouted back. "Oblion! You're late today! To make up for that, why don't you say us two have a go today?"

"Not a chance, you obnoxious brat!" Oblion shouted as he walked to the side and took a seat at the side of the crater, where two others had actually been sitting but they were forced to scurry away as the huge demon sat down without caring to look what lied under his bum. "Continue on you noisy lot! Don't stop just cuz I'm here!"

And at that, the crowd continued their cheers as Red Skull went on celebrating while he waltzed around the arena.

~

Derianathos walked into the city's biggest business center. There, he entered a huge medieval styled building of red stone, but which was as large and tall as any modern skyscraper. After which, he made his way to forty seventh floor – the second highest floor in the building.

This building was commonly known the Devil's Manor – and Derianthos Leviathan could somewhat be considered a devil himself rather than a chaotic demon that bread malice and chaos. Indeed, Derianthos did not like the ways which the other demon lords handled matters with violence and battles. He'd rather much deal with things in a sophisticated manner where he would shrewdly attempt to trick his opponent in signing a contract with him.

And that was the very main purpose of the Devil's Manor or rather, that was what it once was meant to do. But as it were now, most humans were much too aware of how badly things would end when making a deal with a demon. And as such, they would rather live their little mortal lives, regardless of how troublesome it might have been, until they inevitably died and would be free to go to Heaven. Due to this, what was once a means of increasing the labor population of Hell was now an obsolete process.

Slavery, even here, was no longer common and the society itself had progressed to a point where the souls of humans would not be necessary for things to function. So instead, this old organization was left to deal with less important matters such as managing the world's population of undead and malice beasts, listening to queries from the people, assigning laborers to work posts and whatever else the Overlord wanted them to do, which pretty much included everything that he didn't want to do himself.

As it were now, even Derianathos himself hadn't made a single contract in the last few months. The last request for his help came from an anonymous source in an unknown location. It was a request of power and the wager was the creature's soul but Derianathos was tricked since the monster that made that deal didn't have a soul to begin with. And it was only recently, did the devil realize that it was the very same Malice Beast that attacked the human world which had made that deal with him.

That thought aggravated Derianthos and he slammed his fist to his desk in frustration. He didn't know where that creature was now but if he ever found out, he would make it his duty to end its pathetic life.

But a piece of paper flew from the crowded desk as the devil raised his fist. And he picked up the sheet of paper after a certain symbol caught his attention. The devil's red, bug-like eyes glowed upon seeing what was written there. A request of power had been made. And its client was a human.

Derianthos smiled as he flapped his thin wings to hover into the air as winds blew and scattered pages all across the room. He hadn't felt this way in a long time now. He placed his blood along the contract as he muttered strange words. And then soon enough, a rift opened in front of him and he flew through it with excitement as he went towards his newest client.

~

The Lord Aquaron appeared within a red dessert that blew sandy winds along his face as his long hair danced with the breeze.

He looked to his side as he held his hair and tied it in a bun. What the man saw was more red sand and nothing more.

The former lord then placed a hand under his chin and began to speak to himself. "Now, which way should I go? It's been a while since I was here so I don't really remember the direction but if I am correct, the wind here usually blows from the North West towards the South East. And judging from that mountain range to the North, I suppose that the capital should be to the South."

And at that, the man summoned a wave and washed along the sandy dessert to go towards the Red Kingdom of Rose.