Beyond SSS-Rank After Getting The God System-Chapter 255 - 254 : The Battle Against The King Of Hell Begins.
Tenko double checked himself for knife-wounds, whilst half-glaring at Lillim for using him as a dummy.
"I'm a little ashamed that I had grown too complacent and forgotten to experiment over the years." Lillim twirled the dagger, then told the others to finish their final preparations whilst she gave them to a more fitting master.
Given how she seemed to covet them so suddenly, they wondered if it was always her intent to part with them to some end she didn't wish to discuss.
It was definitely something that made them a little suspicious, but when it came to Lillim it was somehow preferable to have her acting in a way that could be considered a little sketchy, since when she was up to something it meant she wasn't planning that something.
When she returned a short while later, looking a bit too pleased with himself, that perspective faltered slightly but she distracted them by unilaterally announcing the start of their operation to head over to Susanoo's realm and recover Carl by whatever means necessary.
Amaterasu opened the gate to the same place Susanoo had, but when they stepped through, the realm had been rendered unrecognisable.
The clouds were covered by an impenetrable smog of thick black smoke that made even Dracula's realm look welcoming in comparison as almost everything in sight had been reduced to a realm of volcanoes, lava streams and in quantities that left Lugaria looking like a place to cool off.
"I'm going to have to tell my brother his realm is a lost cause, aren't I?" As they all acted like it wasn't a big deal in the slightest, she was actually starting to get a little annoyed, until they explained that he could just patch it up later.
As they said it though, it was clear that might have to wait until after the battle, since the scale of the damage made restoration seem a divinity-costly venture.
"Seriously, Cal really turned this place into a nightmare scape didn't he." Noah chuckled as he tried to find a safe route for him to take, politely refusing when one of the others offered to give him a lift.
As the others patted him on the back and were gone in the blink of an eye, he started unpacking all of the equipment he used on expeditions.
As the others finally arrived to where Carl was, they was greeted with a form wholly unexpected, whilst mostly his human-form it had been polished to perfection with every blemish and imperfection removed and boasted a pair of wings that were identical to those of Samael.
Upon seeing it, Lillim was taken aback. It was without a doubt the form of Hell's grand crown.
Not just his perfect visage, but his posture and the unspoken certainty that he was the pinnacle of all beings, an example of perfection that was beyond reproach and any who did disagree were simply wrong.
"Carl, I'm telling you now, that this won't excuse you getting all high and mighty with us." Klaire said it with a tone of fake anger with a playful underone to try and reach him.
That proved a dire underestimation of the situation, as before anyone could react, his face was covering her face and forcing her into the ground.
"You are a treasure, but worthless in the face of perfection. I suggest you all leave, there is no place for you in this realm." The cold detachment was heartbreaking to hear, making those closest to him wonder if they ever truly understood how much he was hurting inside. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺
Unfortunately though, only the eldest amongst them understood the gravity of the situation. Samael might have eventually become a balanced and noble leader, but the truth of the matter was that he did more than enough to earn his title as the devil when it was first bestowed on him.
The embodiment of hubris, Samael went on to defy god and sire the demon race, but he kept those creatures of orderly evil under control not by diplomacy and governance but by becoming the most conceited tyrant creation had ever known.
When Gilgamesh first fled Earth, he at one point sought asylum in Hell, a request he rescinded upon actually meeting the enemy of God. Even to Gilgamesh, the being Samael was in those days, was one that was entirely unapproachable.
When Lillim first met him, he wasn't a leader she respected or even cared for, in fact the decision to join him is what gave the reasons behind it so much weight.
That was the kind of being they were dealing with, an individual who saw them as nothing more than parasites trying to bathe in his perfection in some meritless attempts to emulate it to any degree.
As Carl returned to where he had been sitting on the floor, everyone stood as statues waiting for Lillim to make a move they could follow without angering him. Something had rendered their undesignated leader unable to move though, there was something she couldn't figure out, something that made this situation even more volatile than it already was.
"My Grandson. Why, might I ask, do you sit on the floor? Would a throne not be more befitting?"
Carl laughed, not from amusement but out of pity for someone he saw as so foolish it was like the punchline of a joke told by God. "I suppose that is how you would see it, but this entire realm is the throne from which I will rule, now either make yourselves useful o-"
Lillim's foot suddenly made for his jaw, before being blocked with such an effortless movement of his hand it seemed more like a choreographed fight from a film than blocking an actual attack.
That was the thing she needed to force herself to accept a truth she was trying to deny. They were facing an exact likeness of the most prideful immortal that ever existed and one that had the power and natural talent for it to not seem undeserved.
Carl sighed, then Lillim ordered the assault to begin.
He either dodged or blocked attacks he gave a modicum of thought without moving from where he rested and those he didn't, he simply allowed to connect in the same way he wouldn't avoid the air around him.
At that point, Nergal broke formation and swung a divinity charged fist down on him that forced him to move for the first time, as it shattered the ground beneath them.
"Nergal, I'd rather not waste my time killing you, could you just take them away before they get hurt?"
"Don't be stupid Carl! You might be vastly more powerful than you were, but you still aren't anywhere near my level! Arrogance and foolishness are different things, so I know you are aware of that."
Carl laughed maniacally as he agreed with the sentiment, but then Lillim grabbed Nergal and ordered an immediate retreat, which barely came in time for them to avoid the eviscerating overflow of power that came as he finished laughing at the joke only he understood.
"You were comparing his power to Samael's maximum, you forgot that he isn't him and hadn't even taken on his true demon-form." As Lillim explained, they looked back to see the volcanic landscape reduced to a single lava lake that spread for miles in every direction.
"This is insane. How did he get so much stronger? At this stage..."
Nergal paused for a second, then asked Lillim to trust him and charged back just to come to a stop a dozen meters from him where he could see Carl's demonic-form in its less aesthetically pleasing state.
His body was massive, similar to the old one but standing almost ten metres tall, the horns now circled his entire head like wearing a crown was a part of him, his four arms had doubled to eight and an equal number of wings splayed out from his back to provide his now silvery skin a contrasting backdrop against the black feathers that covered them.
"...Wow! Maybe I was wrong, congrats. I am curious why you claim this realm as a throne to rule over exactly nothing else though.
I mean Samael, immediately turned around and fought God, but you won't even go and fight him?"
It was obvious from the moment he started what he was trying to do and Klaire quickly whispered a message to Tiamutael, telling him to keep an eye on the situation and send everyone in the wake of Carl's arrival in hell.
"Do you really think you can goad me, Nergal?"
"It shouldn't matter to a perfect being if I did. Honestly, we're no match for you as you are and I'm just trying to give us some breathing room."
Lying was pointless, so Nergal was banking on how Samael used to take any challenge put forward. Win or lose, Carl wouldn't come out of the fight unscathed and if the twist, betrayal or any of the known threats could bring him down then they just needed to swoop in and save him.
Every part of it was risky, but risky was better than the certain doom that awaited him as he was.
"Fine, I suppose I'll let you enjoy your moment of hopeful expectation. I'd prefer you all accepted the new order without wasting my time anyway, so maybe watching me rip apart someone actually worth the effort will make it so."
Carl moved to leave but then he came to a sudden stop and sighed, making Nergal gulp as he assumed Carl changed his mind, but then the soft nervous sound of Raziel's voice came from behind him.
"Dad. I'm only going to say this once. Stop."
"Now you children of mine remain a true marvel, not that I'm surprised since I made you."
"Fine. Do it Mums."
Whatever followed was beyond the physical capabilities of anything that anyone had done previously. Klaire and Kyubi had been infused with all the paradox energy Raziel held, magnifying their powers beyond calculation.
All anyone saw was the aftermath and that was only possible after they were done dealing with physics throwing a tantrum in their wake.
The pair had moved so fast that they left a vacuum in their wake, which sought to fill itself and pulled them all towards it, before they could do much of anything they were immediately hammered by a series of shockwaves which they only came away unscathed from because Klaire and Kyubi threw up a barrier after the vacuum gathered them together.
"How long can you keep this up for little one?"
"I currently hold the paradox energy of seventy-six thousand immortals who spent anywhere between a day and a point before time existed dead. I can keep this up long enough for a planet to naturally form and evolve its own life, I also robbed dad of his senses except for hearing so they could try and reach him."
"And why are you so shy?"
"Because strangers are scary."
Whilst Nergal tried to figure out how the same being just said those two things one after the other, Kyubi and Klaire tried to breakthrough the forced evolutionary instincts.
Raziel's intervention was certainly making it easier to get on his nerves, but it was also proving entirely counter productive to their ultimate goal of getting him back to normal, a fact that was becoming more obvious with every one of his failed attempts to deal with them.
"Lillim, what was it that finally got Samael to calm down? That might be our only hope in the end."
"It was realising he wasn't perfect, but he never told anyone exactly. It's the single most heavily guarded secret he has."
Klaire and Kyubi had heard and just started throwing all his shortcomings at him, it was psychological warfare at its most uncomfortable. It went on far longer than anyone hoped, with Kyubi and Klaire's verbal potshots getting lower and lower with every sentence.
When they ran out of things that they both thought were acceptable to say, they looked at each other nervously, then braced themselves to say things that they weren't.
"Raziel! Give him back his senses, it's not worked, so we'll just have to go back. I guess we know why all this became a problem you kids needed to travel through time to finish. I can't believe we couldn't even pull ourselves together after Ki-ko put herself in a coma."
"I feel more sorry for Sis to be honest, she gave up her body, consciousness everything to make sure Carl saw this through to the end and he gets tricked by a damn spear pretending to be a book with some harsh words from mummy of all things."
Carl was in the midst of another attempt at regaining control of the battle, but ended up moving past them as he heard their words.
"I suppose I can't argue with that, I am wasting their sacrifices, aren't I? What perfect leader wastes the sacrifices of valued allies?..." They were certain those attempts hit the mark, the way he suddenly halted made it obvious, but they were also positive that wasn't the end.
The atmosphere enveloping the silent stillness that followed his words was suffocating, disorienting and maddening.
"...I will make sure they aren't wasted." With those final words, Carl disappeared.
It was still concerning, but not so much. It was subtle, but they were almost certain he gave a slight bow before disappearing. An act of humility that the embodiment of conceit and vanity would never perform to any degree.
Kyubi and Klaire, gave themselves leave to shed a few tears before continuing, knowing that trying to deny how much it hurt to say those things would only be a distraction if they started to doubt it was their only option under the influence of some other beings power in the battle that just got started ahead of schedule.
The first thing they did was return to Raziel and both thank her and apologise, given how reserved and nervous she was, it was undoubtedly upsetting to hear them say those things.
"We're so proud of you though, calling people out when they are wrong, no matter who they are; isn't easy. Your not just strong in a fight Razy, but your strong inside too."
"Please stop, it's embarrassing." The irony wasn't lost on them, but it was such a tender moment no one was willing to ruin it by laughing, though that was in part due to the fact that even Nergal would have been out cold after one of the blows her mums had landed on her dad.
"Okay, Sweetie. Wherever you get Tiamutael to send you though, don't go near Daddy until we say, okay?" Raziel nodded in response, then Tiamutael pulled the members of Team Raziel away, which seemed to include Alysse but may have just been so Alysse could assist with destination selection.
Everyone else was then sent back to Alysse's palace where all those taking part in the assault on Hell had gathered after being notified by Tiamutael to initiate emergency preparations as he'd been asked to in the meeting he had observed whilst Carl was dealing with the Outer-gods.
It was a sight to behold and tremble before, an allegiance no realm or even one of the greater planes had ever seen.
Altered humans in the hundreds of thousands, Elves numbering 120,000 after a couple more gods had been switched from domestic protection to military duties, the tens of thousands of Lillim's daughters and a number on the Carrion-hunters' monitoring slate that was simply obscene.
On top of that, the human variants, every immortal the alliance had, the dragons, the banshee, the vampires and Amaterasu's remaining forces were also taking part.
The combined power of the force they had numbered in the dozens of millions, the power was greater than that which had turned the Earth to a dead rock and wiped out billions of humans.
Even still, it wasn't certain that would be enough. The demons came in many forms, were spread out across a hundred realms, numbered in the billions and regardless of strength they all lived a life that made it so only those who could, survived.
This was an all out war, not some skirmish, when the signal came and Tiamutael teleported everyone across the Infernal Realms, even the Carrion-hunter queens went into the battle to establish nests and on site reinforcements.
Millions died across both sides the instant the battle began, but what they didn't know is that that paled in comparison to the number that had died when Carl decided that Cocytus needed to be dealt with first since that was the only Infernal Realm he actually knew how to get to.
That moment was one of confusion and shock for Cocytus, one severe enough to strike abject terror into him on an instinctual level regardless of the fact that the system should have twisted those reactions out of him.
His realm was the one place his father and king could not go, but the moment Carl arrived in a form identical to his father's and with even greater power, Cocytus became unable to perceive a reality where that being wasn't his who he thought.
Carl tutted and shook a finger.
"Don't you dare go mad on me, you might betray your king and rob me of defeating you myself. I owe you a rematch and require a guide, so you have the honour of being the steed I ride into battle.... Bow and thank me."
"I don't know who you are imposter, but I will feast on your treacherous flesh for this mockery of King Samael!"
Cocytus burst from the icy walls of the cavern, jaws surround his prey and ready to end the insult instantly, but then something struck his side. Previously unmarked scales shattered like glass exploding outward and ripping flesh away with them as bones shatter beneath them.
The single impact rendered Cocytus beaten and unable to continue, flying only half-conscious and out of control down the cavern of eternal, icy prison pillars.
