Moko-chan: Never thought that I would write this but since one of our reviewers, Senaira, suggested it and it sounded like a brilliant idea, why not?

You thought Alsiel was a douchebag? I believe the Malebranches are worse. Hehehe, let's see if I can increase the story rating of this story using this chapter.

(Other fics that I wrote are not connected to this one. So please don't point out that I contradicted myself. The newer the fic, the more factually accurate it is as more novels are published and read. By the way, this is supposed to take place, timeline wise, after the Dragon incident in Motion Sickness)

This might be the last chapter for this story. ..I guess?

Chapter 3: Satan's Army vs Malebranches

"We're going to head to the South."

Satan declared that to his comrades, Camio, Lucifer, Adramelech and Alsiel.

"South? Wait, you can't be serious...You want to challenge the Malebranches?" Camio asked, his eyes widening in bewilderment.

Even Lucifer seemed surprised when Satan said that. Although Adramelech himself had expected it, since Satan had expressed his concerns about the strength of the clan in the south before, he had thought that Satan might have considered a safer course of action. The Malebranches were well known for being a massive clan with powers so strong and influential that even Alsiel did not dare to cross paths with them. Also, Malacoda, who was the leader of that clan, was rumored to be the one closest in power to the Ancient Demon King.

"Not exactly. Well, the plan was to get past them actually."

"Past them? Could you mean…." Alsiel thought back to what he remembered about the Southern region of the Demon world and only a single answer came to mind.

"That's right. Past the Malebranche's massive territory is the "Ancient Capital", Satanasarc, the place where the Ancient Demon King lived. That's our goal." Satan said while jabbing his claw at the South of the map he was using. He seemed to have scribbled the word "Target" at that location with ink.

"I don't think it's possible to just waltz past them like that." Alsiel commented.

"I know...That's my main worry. Their territory is huge and their numbers are vast as well and furthermore...we don't even know what they can do." Satan said, expressing his frustration.

"Why don't we send scouts? Send some flying demons to check them out." Adramelech suggested while glancing at Camio and Lucifer.

Lucifer did not respond to that suggestion. However, Camio shook his head.

"It'll be suicide. Instead of sending small troops that will probably be slaughtered, we might as well…" Camio did not manage to finish his sentence before Satan continued his statement.

"Face them head on?"

"I was about to suggest "find a way to sneak past them" but since we do not know the exact size of their territory, facing them head on seems to be a more logical option." Camio said.

"Yeah. So that's the plan. Brief your troops on the plan and tell them to get prepared. I hope Malacoda will be someone who can be negotiated with but I don't want to get my hopes up." Satan commanded. The other four demons nodded slightly and left to speak to their own troops.

Before Lucifer walked out, Satan called out to him.

"Hey, Lucifer. I need to speak with you for a minute."

Lucifer stopped at the entrance of the tent where they were having their meeting and watched as the other three demons left. Then he turned and asked expressionlessly.

"What is it?"

"Uh...you're not unhappy about me making you a "king", right?" Satan questioned with a forced awkward smile on his face.

Unofficially, Satan had named himself, Camio, Lucifer, Adramelech and Alsiel "kings" to watch over their subordinates.

"Since you gave me such a position, it means that you, Camio, Adramelech, armored bastard and I are of equal rank, why would I be unhappy about that?"

"You still call Alsiel armored bastard…" Satan sighed, slumping his shoulders. Even though the less than harmonious relationship between his comrades was a concern, it was not what he had planned to talk to Lucifer about. Straightening up again and looking straight at Lucifer, Satan continued speaking.

"So what are you unhappy about? Is it about going South, to Satanasarc?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You were frowning since I mentioned the word Satanasarc just now." Satan said. Aside from Camio, Lucifer was the other demon he known since he was just a small child so he was very acute when it came to detecting unusual behavior in him.

"..."

"Is there something about that place that you know about and we don't?"

"...It's too long ago. I don't remember it anymore." Lucifer said simply, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

"Wha...have you been there before?!" Satan asked in astonishment. It would not have been strange. Camio had mentioned that Lucifer was very old, even older than the old bird demon himself. So it might have been possible that he had been to the Ancient Demon Capital.

"Like I said. I don't remember anymore. It's not easy for someone to recall something from centuries ago, or even decades ago." Lucifer said, now sounding irritated.

"Ah...okay." Satan decided to hold back because he could sense the irritation.

"Now can I go?"

"Yeah, go ahead."

"That deal still holds right?" Lucifer suddenly asked.

"What deal?" Satan asked, tilting his head as he tried to understand what Lucifer was talking about.

"If I get bored, I can leave."

"...Yeah….it still holds."

"Alright then…" With a slight nod, Lucifer left the tent. Satan was left alone in the tent. He decided to spend the next few hours thinking of possible strategies against the Malebranches, pushing the conversation he had just now to the back of his mind.

After days of preparation, the troops under Satan, now known as "Satan's Demon Army", travelled to the South with supplies of weapons, medicine, some food and water (fortunately demons did not need much of these), things for shelter as well as supplies for the dragons that were brought along.

"Hahaha, it really looks very grand!" Satan laughed excitedly as he looked down from the dragon he was on at the massive army below him. His troops were mainly made up of Alsiel's Iron Scorpion clan, Adramelech's Ashen Horn clan, warriors from Camio's Pahalo Danino clan and other clanless demons who were recruited earlier by Camio himself. Demons who were not capable of flight either trudged along on the ground or rode dragons while those which could fly flew next to the dragons.

"Satan, don't get distracted. We have already entered the Malebranche territory." Camio warned.

"Yeah. Sure. We've been lucky so far, I thought they would have welcomed us right about…." Satan responded to Camio's comment as he looked straight ahead. The area in front of him was wide open space, just a flat land with no trees or rocks or mountains in sight. Perhaps it would be a smooth journey to Satanasarc?

Then just as he thought that, lightning struck the ground ahead of them.

"Now?!" Satan pulled hard on the reins of the dragon he was on, causing it to stop and hover on the spot.

"Everyone get to the ground now!" Alsiel yelled a command to the flying demons and dragon riders behind him to land. In a well organised formation, they all started circling to the ground with Satan and Alsiel in the lead. As all of them landed safely on the ground, Lucifer and Camio who were guarding from the back made their own landing.

Satan dismounted his dragon and formed the ice sword in his hand. The other troops picked up their weapons and started to space themselves apart in a proper defensive formation in the event of an attack.

"Well, at least that answers one of our questions. The Malabraches know weather magic." Adramelech commented as he made his way to the front of the army where Satan was.

"...how troublesome." Alsiel muttered as he stood next to Adramelech and Satan.

"I don't see anyone…" Lucifer said as he flew a few feet off the ground to check the place from a higher vantage point.

"ARGH!"

"ROAR"

"YARHGH!"

Satan, Adramelech, Alsiel, Lucifer and Camio, who were at the front of the army, turned as they heard various screams of distress from the demons and dragons behind them. They quickly got out of the way as the dragons that Alsiel and Satan dismounted from started trashing.

"Heel! Heel! What's going on here?!" Satan shouted over the commotion.

"Calm yourselves!" Adramelech roared but to no avail.

The other demons continued showing forms of distress, trembling and shaking in fright as though they had seen something truly fearsome.

"Are...those bones?" Lucifer asked. There were things clawing out of the ground. White skeletal things. The bones broke through the soil and grabbed onto each and every one of the terrified troops and startled dragons.

"Necromancy..." Camio gasped. Necromancy was the magic of reanimating the dead. Satan growled furiously as he saw the bones. To him, necromancy was the worst of all magic that could be learnt as it represented disrespect to the deceased.

Now their troops and dragons could not move as they were being tied down by the bones.

As the five demons who were not tied down started to move towards their troops to try to free them, they suddenly heard a hollow voice.

"Welcome, Satan and his army."

Satan turned away from his troops and before him was a figure wearing a tattered dark blue hood and cloak. Red glowing eyes could be seen under the darkness of the hood. They could see a single skeletal tail coming out from under the cloak.

"You must be Malacoda. Wow, I'm flattered that you heard of me." Satan said, forcing a smirk across his face.

"Yes. Satan Jacob. A member of the extinct Black Goat clan, the student to the weak leader of the pathetic Pahalo Danino clan."

"You!" Camio snarled, pulling his sword of of its sheath. Satan held his hand up indicating to Camio to hold back. The demon called Malacoda continued speaking.

"After that, you and Camio recruited various vagrant demons to make up your small numbers. After managing to get the strongest clanless demon, Lucifer, you assimilated the Ashen Horns and Iron Scorpions. Truly astounding." Though the words sounded like praise, it was obvious that Malacoda was making a mockery of what Satan had worked hard in building up.

"Satan!" Lucifer suddenly alerted the horned demon. He turned and looked around only to see that all of them were surrounded by other demons, presumably from the Malebranche clan. Although those demons varied in sizes, they all had gigantic claws, a bony or skeletal look and glowing red eyes.

"When...were they there?" Satan was shocked. There was no way they could have missed out on such a large number of demons while they were travelling over.

"They could have used cloaking magic." Alsiel commented, going into a defensive position.

"Unlike my troops, your troops are just a bunch of patchwork." Malacoda laughed as he said that.

"What are your plans, Malacoda? You don't plan to stand here and mock me right?" Satan asked, pointing his sword in Malacoda's direction.

"No, of course not." From under Malacoda's cloak, a skeletal arm appeared and waved. As though there was fog clearing up, a series of tunnel entrances revealed themselves on the ground in front of Satan and the rest.

"I wish...to challenge you, Satan. As well as your troops."

"What challenge?" Satan asked cautiously. He was trying hard to fight his nervousness. He was racking his brain trying to figure out the Malebranches' abilities.

"These are the entrances to a maze that we have built underground. Select your representatives to go underground, including yourself of course. Each of you will take a different entrance." Malacoda explained. Even though his facial expression could not be seen, it was obvious from the tone of his voice that he was enjoying himself.

"And then?"

"We will see who can bring the other army's leader's head to the end."

"What?!" Adramelech roared in fury.

"This is ridiculous, we will fight!" Alsiel shouted, angry as well.

"No. This is the same as how it was with Satan and you. We stand no chance, that's why that bastard is offering us this option." Lucifer commented, glaring at Malacoda as he said that.

"Although, he's not doing this to reduce the number of casualties...he's doing this for fun." Lucifer continued.

"Ah, yes, that small demon is smart. But no matter what, I am still giving you all a fighting chance." Malacoda clapped his bony hands in a mocking manner.

Satan felt sweat dripping down the side of his face. He had expected it to be challenging but Malacoda's conditions had completely thrown him off.

"How many troops?"

"Up to five. Well, not that you have much people to choose from. Since I locked down the rest. Well, I assume that you five are the commanders since you happily took the frontlines once something went wrong." Malacoda said.

"How about you? How many troops will you send?"

"Well, if you, Satan, enter alone, then I will enter alone. If you want just three of your troops to go in, then I will send three. It's that easy. I like making my games fair."

"He lies." Camio hissed in a low voice.

"I will give you a few minutes to choose. Don't worry, I won't do anything to any of your soldiers unless you lose." Malacoda said before remaining silent, indicating he had given Satan and the rest time to do their planning.

Alsiel looked at the entrance of of one of the tunnels. Although he could not tell the exact dimensions of the inside of the cave, he could tell that it was not very large or wide. In fact, he was having concerns if Adramelech could even fit at all.

"Satan, I do not think Camio or Lucifer should go in there." Alsiel said while turning to look at Satan.

"It's totally enclosed huh? If both your flying abilities are sealed off, then I think…" Satan frowned, frustrated at his limited options.

"Do not worry about that." Camio said sternly.

"Even if we cannot fly, it is not as though we cannot run." The old demon continued.

Lucifer nodded in agreement, his expression grim.

"Besides, that bastard may send in five people, or even ten regardless of how many people you choose. It's best that all of us go in." Lucifer commented, glancing at in the direction where Malacoda was as he said that. It was true, they have no basis that Malacoda will keep to his word.

Satan let out a sigh.

"I hate having to follow another person's rules. But alright...we'll all go in.

"Well, well, I see you want to make the party as lively as possible." Malacoda said as he stood in front of one of the entrances. Next to him were four other demons, each of them standing in front of different entrances to the underground tunnels.

Those were probably the demons that were chosen by Malacoda to play this game. The one closest to Malacoda was a medium sized demon with long sharp claws, a characteristic square jaw and it also had wisps of curly hair growing from its chin. The next one was smaller in size, had a long pointy face that was decorated with two blood red diamond markings over the eye area. Following that demon with ridiculous makeup was a medium sized demon whose face was completely red and its mouth seemed to be fixed into a permanent grin. The last one was large and well built and had the face of a canine. Its jaws were half open revealing threads of drool.

"Enough small talk. Where's the exit?" Satan threw a side glance from where he was standing and he demanded in a threatening tone. Malacoda lifted a skeletal claw and pointed at the far side in front of them.

"Somewhere there! Maybe if you walked in a straight line, you'll get there, eventually." Malacoda chuckled to himself like he just made a joke. The four demons next to him laughed as well.

Satan looked at his comrades. Adramelech will enter the tunnel on his left, followed by Camio and Lucifer. Alsiel was standing at the entrance furthest away from Satan.

"I don't like this. It's obvious they know their way around in there better than we do." Adramelech muttered in a volume that only Satan could hear.

"I know. Keep your guard up. We still don't know the full extent of their abilities." Satan commented after hearing the bull headed demon's words.

"There's no time limit but only one end goal. That is, to take the head of either Satan Jacob or mine to the end. Let's begin tonight's entertainment, shall we?"

With that, Malacoda declared the start of the game and the ten demons stepped into the darkness of the caves.

The first thing that greeted Satan was the warm, rotting stench of corpses. He covered his mouth to stop himself from gagging.

"It's like a million things died in here." Satan scrunched up his forehead and started wondering how Adramelech might cope. Out of all of them, the ones with the keenest sense of smell would be Adramelech and himself.

Satan held his left arm in front of himself and a small red fireball appeared, lighting up a small area in front of him.

"Ugh...still can't see much."

Even with the light, Satan could only see barely an arm's length in front of himself.

The Black Goat clan's people usually lived above ground so they did not have very good vision in the dark as compared to clans that lived in caves such as Adramelech's clan, the Ashen Horns or Alsiel's clan, the Iron Scorpions.

Looking upwards, he could see that the ceiling was perhaps only an arm's length from his head. He probably could jump if he wanted to but things like flight would be near impossible.

With a small sigh, Satan tightened the grip on his ice sword and continued walking forward.

This is ridiculous…

Alsiel frowned as he came to yet another junction.

The smell was horrible, the place was unbearably warm for an underground cave and now he was starting to wonder if he was going to get lost. Alsiel had tried to keep track of which directions he turned but he gave up after about thirteen junctions.

As long as I'm not going in circles.

He decided to take a right this time and he continued walking, hoping that he might encounter one of his comrades.

Just then, Alsiel stopped walking forward as he heard a sound. He pricked up his ears trying to pinpoint the direction of the noise. It was coming from somewhere behind him. Alsiel turned around immediately, his claw in an attacking position. Peering into the darkness, he focused his attention on the incoming being and to his utmost surprise, he came face to face with…

"Satan?"

A familiar horned demon.

Ah, I suppose the different paths we took are linked somehow.

However, despite Alsiel calling out Satan's name in surprise, the other party did not respond.

"?"

Instead, he saw the ice sword coming towards him.

"What?!"

Instinctively, Alsiel backed up and the ice sword missed him.

"Satan?! What are you do….?!" Alsiel shouted, angry and confused by the sudden assault. However, before he finished his sentence, he felt a sharp pain on his arm and his back and the warm sensation of blood seeping through torn skin.

What? That can't be…

Alsiel looked down on the wrist that was supposedly injured and just as he expected, his worst fears were confirmed. Small ice fragments had started to form, pulling his dark shell away from his skin.

It didn't even hit me! How could it….

That was when Alsiel noticed something. A smell.

There was a strange disgusting smell coming from around him and it was getting stronger.

I see...how troublesome.

As though Alsiel had just discovered something, he ignored the pain he was feeling and dashed straight at his own comrade with his claws extended.

"Why is that here?!"

A panicked yell echoed down the narrow tunnels. Fast footsteps beat down on the stony ground as Satan ran back the the direction he had came from in a flustered frenzy.

He turned his head slightly and gave a whimper as he realised that from the increasing volume of the growling, whatever was chasing him was still behind him.

The thing chasing him was an enormous pasty muscular white demon. The only thing breaking the whiteness of its skin were blood red lines on its body. In the centre of its large forehead was a single diagram of a crimson eye.

"Why is the one eyed tattooed demon here?! How the hell did it even fit in here in the first place?!"

The passages of this maze was barely large enough to accommodate the typical average sized tattooed demon. Despite that, the massive beast was dashing through the narrow passageways with great agility.

Oh man, if I run back to the entrance, it's gonna be so dumb!

Satan was sweating profusely, he was gasping for air and his heart was beating so hard, he thought it might burst out of his chest. But running away was going to bring him further away from the goal.

Satan slid to a stop and turned to face the tattooed demon. It was still running towards him.

"I can beat this..I can beat this…" Satan muttered to himself nervously as he kept the grip on the sword. He kept his eyes on the charging white demon.

"Run run run. Run away...it's good to run away."

Who's saying that?!

A soft voice was saying those words, almost like it was singing a song.

"Run run run. Run away little demon."

The voice was getting closer but where was it coming from?. Satan could not afford to look somewhere else. The tattooed demon will reach his blade soon.

Please, just a few more steps...I can do this…

Satan held his breath and his gaze steady.

A loud thundering roar was suddenly heard.

"SATAN!"

I still can't see a damned thing!

Lucifer made an annoyed clicking sound with his tongue as he used his magic to light up a path before him. The magic orbs he made barely illuminated the area around them due to their small size. However, if he made them any larger, he might firstly, attract enemies and secondly, make him feel warmer than he already did.

This is so annoying…Do they really have to make everything so troublesome?

Lucifer continued walking, pausing occasionally to check if there was anyone near him.

Nope, nothing. What if there's no exit and they planned to trap us here forever?

Lucifer had considered just using his heat magic to blast a straight path through but he was worried that if he did such a reckless thing, Malacoda might harm or even kill all their troops. Well, honestly speaking, he was not that concerned about the death of the entire army but he was not keen to give someone a chance to just wipe out Satan's hard work in a snap.

Then, at that moment, Lucifer caught sight of a shadow standing in the darkness.

"?"

Lucifer instinctively backed up when he saw a person in front of him. As the tunnels were still fairly dark, he could not make out the person's features but at least he could tell that the unknown being was not very large, just a head taller than he himself was.

Lucifer's magic orb went closer to the person and the person turned.

It was a man. The man had sharp features, high cheekbones and a face that looked slightly gaunt from fatigue. He looked straight at Lucifer with blood red irises. The man also had messy silver hair tied into a ponytail at the nape of his neck and on his back was….

A pair of large white wings.

"Who….are you?" Lucifer asked. As he said that, his voice was shaking.

The other person walked towards him, speaking in a familiar voice, a nostalgic voice he had not heard in a long time.

"Hey, Lucifer, how are you?" The person's face was finally illuminated by the small purple orb that Lucifer had in front of him to light up the dark passageway.

"How. ..you can't. ..be…" Lucifer stammered. He took another step back and felt the hard wall press against his back.

Now the man's face was only inches from his own.

"It's alright….." The man's voice had become soft and weak.

It was not known when the man's appearance had changed, but right now, half of his face was covered in a dark red substance. His entire left arm and sleeve was missing and all that was left there was a bloody stump. Lucifer could not even tell what the original colour of the man's clothes were anymore because it was completely stained with the same dark red substance. His wings were no longer a bright snowy white but carried a red tinge.

Without thinking, Lucifer's hands went over his nose and mouth and he started breathing very hard. Looking at the man's bloodied body was making him feel sick to the stomach.

No...this happened before!

"Lucifer...run away...don't look back…" The man's voice was right next to his ear now.

"Run away... from what?" Lucifer could not help asking. He had not seen anyone or anything else on the way here. He suspected if there was anything at all, they would probably just be a bunch of corpses based on the unbearable stench he had been breathing in since he entered the labyrinth.

It was then Lucifer noticed another figure behind the man. It was a person who was about Lucifer's size. Judging from that person's figure, that person was probably a woman. Like the man, she also had white wings and clothes that were stained in red. The woman was clutching one side of her face with her hand.

Or what was supposed to be a face at least.

That person had no eyes or nose or mouth or any facial features at all, it was just a blank slate. A small black hole opened at where the mouth was supposed to be and that thing started making pained moaning noises.

"Sa...tan….iel…." The faceless figure moaned. The figure then raised a thin arm and pointed at the winged man.

"Sa...tan...iel….die…." A light started forming in the middle of the woman's palm.

"I'm sorry… just run…it's our fault…" The man continued speaking. His voice was so soft Lucifer could barely hear him.

"You're...going...to die. Fa..." Without thinking, those words came out of Lucifer's mouth.

What am I saying? This isn't real! This can't be real! They can't be here!

Lucifer closed his eyes shut and opened them again but the same two people were still in front of him.

"...new puppet…."

Who's saying that?

The voice came from somewhere near him but even after looking around, there was no one but those two people. The glow from the woman's hand was so bright it was half-blinding him.

"...die, little demon…."

"?"

Lucifer felt something sharp sliding across his neck. However just at the moment he registered the pain,"something" appeared in front of him for a split second. Although it was only a glimpse, he caught sight of two blood red diamond markings above a grotesque smile. But as quickly as he saw it, the same "something" disappeared from his line of sight with a bone crunching slam. At that moment, the two winged people vanished as well.

Lucifer squeezed his eyes shut involuntarily when the deafening thud rang in his ears. When he opened them a little after the sound died down, he saw…

"Alsiel?!"

The clan leader of the Iron Scorpions.

Alsiel was standing less than a metre away from him and he was breathing deeply as though he had just sprinted a fairly significant distance. His right claw was on the wall and under the dim purple light from Lucifer's magic orb, Lucifer could make out a smashed, probably used to spherical object right under the claw. Hanging from the spherical object was a limp body complete with intact limbs. With spherical object being in the centre, a large spray of blood had coated the wall as well as Alsiel's claws.

Alsiel removed his claw from the wall, as he did so, the lifeless blood covered body fell to the floor. The armoured demon stared distastefully at the corpse and shook his hand to get rid of the blood. Then he turned his head and looked at Lucifer for a few seconds before sighing.

"I guess you got hit by an illusion as well."

"... Oh…." Lucifer replied simply. Although it was probably and most logically only an illusion, the terror he felt was real. As the stinging pain on his neck became more noticeable as he calmed down, he placed a hand on his neck and felt something wet. Pulling his hand away from his neck, he looked at his hand and realised that there was blood on it. Lucifer felt a chill run down his spine as he realised how close he came to getting a major artery cut open. Wiping the blood on his coat, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself further.

"Well, tha….anks?" Lucifer was about to do the decent thing of thanking the armored demon from preventing him from getting h8s neck sliced open but before he could get the words out, Alsiel had grabbed his upper arm and was dragging him forward.

"No time to talk. There's other things lurking around." Alsiel said shortly.

"What other…?" Lucifer tried to ask what Alsiel meant and then his answer came quickly. A disgusting and overwhelming stench hit his nose and as he turned around, he realised that there were some things moving behind them.

Behind them were some demons with missing limbs, no even worse, one of them was even missing a head and it was still moving. Those that were legless dragged themselves along the ground with their arms. As they dragged themselves on the rough ground, parts of their rotting flesh got scraped off, revealing yellowish bones that made a rattling sound as they came into contact with the rocky surface.

"I hate necromancy so much…." Lucifer grumbled as he summoned multiple heat orbs between themselves and the moving corpses.

Satan looked down at the fallen demon he just impaled with his ice sword. It was one of the Malebranches, the one with a dog like face. Its tongue had rolled out of its open jaw and it seemed almost comical, in Satan's opinion, for it to be lying in such a ridiculous position.

"Illusions huh? Yeah, that would make sense. There's no way a tattooed demon would conveniently fit easily in here now that I think about it."

Satan scratched his head sheepishly. Then turning to the comrade who had shouted at him, causing the illusion to disappear, Satan asked with a wry smile,

"Are you alright, Adramelech? You seem pretty uncomfortable."

"I AM uncomfortable." The large demon grunted. His back was hunched over because it he stood up straight, his horns would probably hit the ceiling. And he also kept his shoulders squeezed together so that he could move without scraping his skin against the walls.

"Aren't you affected?" Satan asked curiously.

"Hmm. Not really. I saw the cave collapsing but when I realised that nothing was hitting me, I figured that it had to be magic." Adramelech replied while shrugged his shoulders. As he felt them touch the wall again, he let out a groan of annoyance.

"I wonder if those illusions are our worst fears or just a highly memorable memory." Satan tried to think of how the Malebranches were able to attack their mind like that.

"Ah, nevermind. Once we get to Malacoda, we can ask him. We can't afford to dawdle."

There was no time thinking so much about it. It was not as though Satan himself specialised in mind manipulating magic. So with Adramelech following him slowly while grumbling about the size of the place, they continued moving forward.

"I wonder how the rest are doing." Satan wondered out loud.

"I'm sure they're fine. If I find that Malacoda, I'm going to let him have a taste of Longinius for making us go through this." Adramelech said angrily.

"That sounds like a fin….Wait, stop." Satan held his hand up and Adramelech stopped walking. Satan stared and the darkness and listened carefully. In the silence of the tunnels, the only sound that stood out was Adramelech's heavy breathing however he was sure he heard footsteps.

"Is there someone up front?"

"I think so. Oh, you can hear it too, so I guess it's not an illusion." Satan held his sword in front of him.

"It better be someone we know…" Adramelech also tried his best to get his spear at a ready position but he started cursing when he accidentally stood up straight and the back of his head hit the ceiling.

"No point being quiet now." Satan walked forward towards the sound. Adramelech followed behind.

The small fireball that Satan summoned revealed the ones who were causing the noise. Once Satan saw clearly what those things were, he breathed in sharply.

"That...bastard…." Satan bared his fangs and started growling.

Right before the both of them were demons that are of a medium size. Those demons, like Satan, had hooves for feet, black bat-like wings on their back and curled horns upon their head. The clothing that they were wearing were torn and weathered. Underneath those torn clothing, one could see the pale yellow bones and falling flesh. They looked at Satan and Adramelech, their eyes glassy and unfocused.

"They..are from the Black Goat clan…"

"He dares to reanimate my clansmen's bodies?! I am going to kill him!" Satan snarled.

The dead demons have started moving towards them in a rigid manner. As they came nearer to Satan, they raised their arms and started making grabbing motions. It was unlikely that such a thing would cause any harm to Satan but the number of them was large enough to block their way.

Adramelech tried to attack the reanimated corpses but he barely did much as he could not exert any strength in the cramped place.

"Satan!" Adramelech called Satan's name. If his leader was just going to stand there, they were just going to be trapped here, waiting for Malacoda's next attack.

"I know!"

"You have to get rid of them!"

"I KNOW, DAMN IT!" With a furious roar, Satan raised his ice sword and started hitting the corpses before him. He threw body after body against the wall, opening a path for himself but they continued intercepting his moments.

"GWARRHHH!"

Satan raised his claw and the fireball he had summoned earlier grew larger and then, it engulfed all the corpses. As the bodies of his former clan members caught fire, they dropped like puppets that had gotten their strings cut. Soon, only the ashes and bones were left.

"..."

Even though Satan knew that those demons were long dead but as the flames burned, he could almost hear them screaming in anguish. Soon the flames died down and Satan looked down at the bones, gritting his teeth. Moments of silence passed and Adramelech studied the younger demon's expression.

"That's the only thing that could be done." Adramelech finally commented, sounding sympathetic.

"I am going to kill him." Satan repeated, this time, rather than anger, the emotion that could be felt was sadness. The ice sword he was holding in his hand held melted from the high temperature of the flames.

"Then we will have to find him first."

"Yeah."

Satan opened his hand and tried to make another ice sword again. Because of this and the incident with the reanimated corpses of the extinct Black Goat clan, Satan was momentarily distracted and he did not notice something coming close to him.

"Heee…."

The voice came from above Satan's head

"?"

Satan looked up and saw a crimson red face staring down at him. It was the red faced demon from the Malebranche group. It was using its long claws to latch itself to the ceiling of the labyrinth.

"GAH!"

With a mad grin, the demon pounched on Satan, its long claws wrapping around Satan's head.

"Satan!"

Adramelech shouted. He struggled to move his upper body to grab the red faced demon but the tight space interfered with his movements. Satan himself grabbed the body of the demon and tried to pull the demon off from himself. As he did that, he felt the red faced demon's claws digging into this skin, drawing blood.

"Get off me!"

The red faced demon looked at Satan in the face and then it opened its jaws.

"!"

Satan's eyes widened in horror as the jaws closed over his head.

Again?!

Alsiel spun around the umpteenth time to look at the winged demon who was moving slowly behind him. Everytime he heard the footsteps getting worryingly softer, Alsiel would turn, stop, made sure Lucifer caught up and then continue walking again.

"I know you can easily burn those corpses to crisp but this isn't the time to slow down." Alsiel said, arms crossed to express his frustration.

"Sure…" Lucifer muttered in an exhausted manner.

"Are you not used to walking? Or are my strides just too long?"

The other party did not verbally reply to the implied insult. He just glanced at the armored demon and rolled his eyes.

"Don't tell me you are still seeing illusions?" Alsiel asked. He had seen Lucifer stop and start looking in other directions where there was nothing to be seen.

"Just a bit. But they're not as vivid as just now. As long as you keep talking, it'll be fine."

Alsiel continued observing Lucifer. It was not a simple case of being distracted by illusions or having to walk a long distance. In fact, it looked as though Lucifer might drop off to sleep at any moment.

Don't tell me it's exhaustion from losing too much magic?

Alsiel was aware that demons when feel fear, they would lose the magic that was stored within them. As for the stronger demons, the stronger ones would absorb magic from their surroundings. This was why in this world, it became a basic concept that if you can create the most fear, if you were the most tyrannical demon causing everything under you to quaver in terror, you would be the strongest demon.

Although Alsiel could not see the illusion that Lucifer experienced, he had a feeling it was probably something that terrorised Lucifer tremendously.

"Are you losing magic?" Alsiel finally asked, trying to confirm his suspicions.

"Huh….oh right. Probably. But it's not just that…." Lucifer replied.

"?"

"I had to give quite a lot of my magic to Camio for insurance." Lucifer said.

Alsiel looked back in surprise at the unexpected answer and asked,

"Insurance?"

"The Malebranches aren't going to play fair. It's the only way we could come up with to make sure that someone can protect Satan from any surprise attacks." Lucifer explained.

Alsiel was still unsure about what Lucifer meant but he ceased his questioning as a junction appeared before them.

"Haven't saw those for a while…"Alsiel commented.

"...I'll go left, you take the other way." Lucifer said.

"Why?"

"So we can find that damn Malacoda faster and end this stupid thing." As Lucifer said that, he made his way to the left path. However, instead of going right, Alsiel was following him. Lucifer turned around and glared at Alsiel.

"Do you not understand directions?!" Lucifer said in annoyance.

"Yes. I do understand what you mean. But with you in a weakened state like that, you'll probably get killed sooner or later. Sometimes it's better to have an extra pair of eyes." Alsiel replied calmly.

"...Fine…." Lucifer shrugged his shoulders and gave up. He was too tired to argue against that.

Before the jaws of the red faced demon clamped down, Satan caught a glimpse of large black feathers and the next moment, a spray of blood shot out from the red demon. Its grip loosened around Satan's head and it fell on the ground dead. Only then, did Satan realise that the red demon's head was taken off.

"Ca...Camio?"

In front of him was the bird demon who had accompanied him for decades. Camio was holding a dagger in his right claw and in his left, the red demon's head. Camio threw the head on the ground roughly and it rolled a distance before stopping.

"Camio? Wh...where are your clothes?" It was Adramelech who asked.

Camio usually wore some large robes and he almost always had a sword tied to his belt but this time he only had a loin cloth and his only weapon was a small dagger that was barely larger than his own claw.

"Unfortunately, when I shrink, my clothes do not shrink with me." Camio replied.

"Shrink...why do you have to shrink?!" Satan was grateful that Camio's sudden appearance saved him but he was utterly confused by the entire situation.

"I had to shrink so the Malebranches wouldn't notice when snuck out of my own entrance to enter the tunnel you went to. Who knows what the Malebranches would throw at us. It's better if someone kept an eye on you." Camio explained then he lifted his head to look at Adramelech who was still in an uncomfortably hunched position.

"Ah...it's lucky I was here…"

"It's not my fault this place is so small." Adramelech grumbled again.

"But you need magic to get back to normal size right?" Satan understood that Camio probably drained his own magic after entering the cave to shrink to a sufficiently undetectable size. But to get back to a normal size so quickly, he would have required to absorb quite a significant amount of magic.

"Lucifer crystallised his magic for me to use."

"Crystallise...oh right. I didn't think of that." Satan said as though he just realised something.

The crystallisation of magic was something very basic that most demons should be able to do but one could consider it a lost art. Not many had seen the purpose of making magic into a solid form unless they want to use it to make a weapon or to make some form of protective addition, making their magic into a solid form for the purpose of bestowing it to someone else was almost like a foreign concept for most demons who live by the philosophy of "every demon for himself".

"We better get to Malacoda quickly." Camio said. Satan and Adramelech nodded.

"He's unexpectedly hardy."

Right now, a demon with curly wisps of hair on his square chin was stumbling about, dizzy by the sudden assault he received. The poor demon had been following Alsiel and Lucifer, waiting for the right opportunity to attack. However, when he tried to attack Alsiel from behind, he was noticed and promptly received a backhand from the armored demon and followed by a kick in the gut from Lucifer.

"Alright, time to finish him off."

Purple orbs started surrounding the demon.

"Lucifer, wait." Alsiel suddenly said, holding his hand in front of Lucifer.

"What...I'm not in a good mood right now, let me vent a bit."

"Keep him alive, it would be more beneficial for us."

Malacoda stood near the exit of the entire labyrinth, waiting for his comrades to return with the head of the young demon, Satan Jacob. He was confident of his victory since so many have fell for his trap and ended up becoming puppets for him to control.

"It's so much easier getting puppets like this than having to scavenge for them."

Yes, it would be anytime now.

Or so he thought.

"Yo."

A bright red fireball appeared first and behind it were three demons. The young demon from the extinct Black Goat clan, the leader of the weak Pahalo Danino clan and the leader of the Ashen Horns.

"As expected, someone like you would rather stay at the exit rather than playing normally."

Satan spoke with a wide evil grin on his face.

"Ho...how...how…" Malacoda stared at the three demons, completely flabbergasted by the outcome.

"Well, as long as we finished off your comrades, the illusions stopped. Yeah, the corpses were a bit more troublesome but nothing like some fire magic to see them off properly. It did take some time to find this place and I can tell you, I'm very tired right now."

Satan continued speaking while twirling his ice sword in a casual manner.

"So all that's left is to take your head, I suppose?"

Malacoda spun quickly and went straight to the exit but he was stopped by an unknown force. A faint green glow had enveloped him.

"Ah, so this guy really led us the right way."

A young sounding voice was heard.

Malacoda turned his head in the direction of the voice and he saw Alsiel. Next to him was Lucifer and in front the both of them was a demon that was slightly shorter than Alsiel, had long sharp claws and a characteristic square jaw with hairs sprouting out of it.

"Bar...Barbariccia?!"

The demon called Barbariccia started speaking very quickly in terror.

"I'm sorry, Lord Malacoda, they would kill me if I didn't listen to them!"

Malacoda was speechless.

"Oh, Alsiel, Lucifer, glad to see that both of you are alright!" Satan said cheerfully.

"I admit my loss! I admit my loss!" Malacoda said, trying to sound as humble as he could.

"Nope. You stated your conditions for the end game!" With that, Satan grabbed Malacoda's head. Almost in great coordination, Alsiel released his hold on Malacoda and Satan ran out of the exit with his hand still holding onto the bony skull. Malacoda gave an ear piercing screech as he was dragged across the rocky ground before being unceremoniously pinned down by Satan as he came to a stop.

"Lord Malacoda!" Barbariccia let out a cry of terror once he witnessed his leader being treated in such a humiliating manner.

"Shut it, will you?"

Barbariccia immediately kept his mouth tightly closed as purple orbs appeared in front of him again.

As he kept Malacoda pinned down, Satan pointed his ice sword at Malacoda's neck but before he could do anything, the leader of the Malebranches started talking very loudly in a panicked manner.

"Wait, wait. Don't kill me! How about this, I will join your army! I'll let you take command of my entire clan!"

Malacoda tried to make a tempting offer. The Malebranche clan was an extremely huge group. If they served Satan, it would largely boost the power of his army.

"I can take your clan and kill you. You done many things to piss me off, I see no reason in letting you keep your life." Satan snarled in a threatening tone as he thought back of the dead members of his clan that appeared in the maze.

"No, no! I'll serve you as well! I'll pledge my loyalty to you! I'll even release your troops now!"

"..."

Satan looked at Malacoda coldly.

"Satan. Let him off." Someone put a hand on Satan's shoulder.

"Camio…"

"What do you gain from killing him off? Nothing but self satisfaction. However, if he joins us, he may serve to be a useful ally."

"..."

Then Adramelech added on.

"If he tries to betray us, I will finish him off myself."

"... Fine."

Reluctantly, Satan stood up and stepped away from Malacoda. Malacoda got up from the ground quickly and just as he had promised, he freed Satan's troops. Though they were quite far away, Satan could make out the faint shadow of the dragons of his army flying back into the air once Malacoda undid his spell.

"So now Malacoda and his clan are part of our army as well." Satan said as he looked to his four comrades for affirmation. Camio nodded as did Adramelech. Alsiel seemed to eye Malacoda suspiciously for a few seconds but nodded as well. Lucifer just shrugged as though to show that he did not care about the decision that Satan made.

"Thank you for your mercy, Lord Satan! Just give your orders and we, the Malabranches, will follow." Malacoda said and bowed as low as he could.

"Quick to suck up, aren't you?" Satan said disapprovingly. However, he still gave his command.

"Fill the entire maze with wood and straw. I want that place to be burnt down."

"Ah…" Malacoda was about to protest. That labyrinth was one of his well thought out traps to get corpses to use after all. However, a glare from Satan made him decide that it was wiser to follow. He asked Barbaricca to call the other Malebranches to help.

A few hours later, the entire underground structure was burnt. After that, all the entrances and exits were sealed up with stones, soil and dirt. This labyrinth was never used again and served as a burial ground to the demons that were inside.

The army continued their journey to the Ancient Demon capital.

Soon the outline of the fortress built by the Ancient Demon King centuries ago could be seen. In a short while, they would reach Satanasarc. From there the story of a young Demon King ruling the crimson world, invading Ente Isla before being defeated by the Hero and drifting to a foreign world would begin. Of course, that was something than would occur more than two hundred years later.

Moko-chan: Just some explanation on the basis of this story.

The Malebranches were based off the literary work Divine Comedy. So the Malebranche members that appeared are, Malacoda (Evil tail), Barbaricca (curly beard) - survives, threatened by Alsiel and Lucifer, Alichino (harlequin) - Attacked Lucifer, killed by Alsiel, Rubincante (red faced terror) - Attacked Satan, Killed by Camio and Cagnazzo (nasty dog) - killed by Satan.

In HataMaou-verse, the Malabranches were a group of demons that specialise in Necromancy and Illusion magic (Refer to vol 8. Lucifer talks to Chiho about this) Some members of the clan can even control the weather. (done by Libicocco in vol 8.) Only the top members like Malacoda and the chieftains under him use magic. The lower ranked ones stick to physical attacks.

The illusions were actually replays of their most memorable (in some cases, worst) memories.

Well, if you haven't read the vol 15 spoilers/ read vol 15 itself, you might be a bit confused about Lucifer's illusion. Hahaha…..Just go on Gonfier's tumblr and check it out yourself. I also kinda mentioned something related to this in my other fic "If I could turn back time"

In vol 0, Satan never explicitly said that he wanted the Malebranches in his army. He just pointed out that they happened to be on their path to Satanasarc.

For Satan's bad memory, please refer to chapter 2 of my other fanfic "Reason"

Wait...the Black Goat clan have been extinct for decades, why are their corpses still more or less intact…*whistles innocently* preservation...Dry weather...I dunno.

Satan named himself and the other four as "kings" so that their position would be equal. Only after Malacoda joined, do we get the four demon generals with Alsiel taking charge and Satan being King. (This part will be mentioned in Vol 0)

pika318: This must be the longest fic Moko-chan ever written. I loved everything about it. If the notes above still have not answered any of the questions some of you might have about the premise, feel free to drop a review.