Chapter 738: Demons and Devils
"Stop right there, filth born of the Abyss!"
Bael hovered high in the sky, wings beating, unleashing a thunderous roar toward the distant Lord of Blackwater. The twelve angel heads hanging at his waist shrieked in unison.
With his arrival, Avernus's unique oppressive aura poured out, sweeping across the sky and earth.
Even the black clouds formed by the Lord of Blackwater were burned away by hellfire. The pitch-black rain ceased, replaced by infernal flames blanketing the sky. On the ground, the slime creatures and Rot Harbingers spontaneously combusted, reduced to ash amid wretched screams.
Two forces infused with the deepest malice of the multiverse clashed and resisted each other, creating terrifying shockwaves.
Though both radiated wicked divine light, the Lord of Blackwater released chaotic, tangled abyssal darkness—like venomous serpents knotted together—while Bael emitted distinct strands of blood-red light, wicked yet orderly.
Chaos and order: this was the difference between the Tanar'ri demons and the Baatezu devils—and the root of their eternal Blood War.
"Glory to Lord Bael!"
"Praise the Lord of Avernus!"
"Mighty and wise Duke, your strength is unmatched! Those worms from the Abyss are only fit to grovel at your feet!"
"Oh, my supreme lord! Your wisdom could humble the shrewdest mind flayers, your presence makes even the proudest dragons tremble!
Please, allow your most lowly servant to kiss the shadow you cast—that is the greatest honor of a devil's life!"
Upon seeing the Hell Lord arrive, the devils stopped fleeing and cheered, shouting sycophantic, almost nauseating praises to the sky-bound lord.
Immediately after, someone raised a longsword and trident and shouted, "For Avernus! For the mighty Bael! I shall fight the demons to the death!"
"For Avernus!"
"For mighty Bael! Long live the Duke!"
Soon, with the devils shouting at full volume, their cries echoed like a tidal wave across the battlefield.
For devils, assessing the situation and flattering the powerful were essential skills. Those who couldn't read the room had long since died in Hell's endless schemes.
Bael, of course, understood his underlings' hypocrisy. These cowards had just been fleeing for their lives, and now they played the part of martyrs defending Avernus.
But Bael didn't care what they truly thought. He simply surveyed the area with satisfaction and made note of the devil who led the chants—a quick-thinking sycophant, cunning and opportunistic. Worth cultivating.
Bael then raised the Infernal Greatsword in his claw and pointed at the Lord of Blackwater. His voice boomed with power: "This is Baator! A kingdom of order ruled by the Baatezu devils—not your filthy, foul-smelling slum!
You filthy, idiotic mutt—crawl back to the Abyss!" The roar was like thunder, deafening and undeniably commanding.
"So you are Bael?"
The mouth on one of the Lord of Blackwater's tentacles opened and spoke in a voice layered with echoes, as if whispered from the void—chilling to the bone.
Then a deeper, raspier laughter followed: "Kostchtchie was right. Zariel is dead, and her replacement really is a broken failure—a pathetic Deep Inferno Devil, not even in possession of full hell authority.
It's obvious Asmodeus just needed a scapegoat."
Bael was one of the few Hell Lords who clawed his way up from the bottom. Others were fallen celestials or ancient, innately powerful fiends.
Only Bael still belonged to the promotion sequence of Baator's devils—a Baatezu devil to his very core.
And the Lord of Blackwater's words had clearly hit a nerve. Flames of fury burst from Bael's dark eyes.
With wings ablaze, Bael roared to the sky, "Filthy demon—you court death!"
"Hahahaha, worry not, Bael. None of this matters. Soon, Avernus will become part of the Abyss! Sadly, you won't be around to witness it!"
The Lord of Blackwater extended his twisted tentacles toward the devil in the sky. That mountain-sized body kept slithering forward, devouring everything in its path.
Hundreds of tentacles lashed out at blinding speed, cracking the air with sharp sonic booms. With each whip, black water splattered across the sky like rainfall.
"Pathetic hellspawn! I will devour you in the name of the Abyss's great will!"
Facing the slime-covered tentacles, Bael gripped the Infernal Greatsword tightly and slashed horizontally. Hellfire exploded from the blade.
As he struck, all of Avernus seemed to tremble—submitting to the might of its ruler.
"SWISH—"
Space itself tore open!
Hundreds of tentacles were severed in one stroke!
A wound hundreds of meters long appeared in the sky. Molten rock flowed like blood, cascading down like a waterfall, devouring the black water on the ground.
Hellfire climbed the severed tentacles and spread to the Lord of Blackwater's massive body, igniting it. The grotesque fiend howled in pain.
"Ignorant lower lifeform! Before the might of the Abyss, your power is meaningless!"
The Lord of Blackwater spewed a massive, reeking flood of black water. It surged across the ground, threatening to consume all of Avernus as nourishment.
"This is Avernus! Every day, every minute, every second from now on—will be mine!"
Bael's Infernal Greatsword rapidly expanded into a massive blade hundreds of meters long and plunged into the ground.
"BOOM!"
The earth quaked and rumbled. At Bael's command, the crust cracked open. A massive rift, dozens of kilometers long and immeasurably deep, split the wasteland.
"BOOM!"
Columns of magma erupted from the fissure, shooting skyward and merging with the black slime.
In moments, crackling sounds echoed. Black smoke rose in thick waves. The black water boiled!
"Kill that hellspawn!" the Lord of Blackwater's tentacles thrashed in the sky.
At its command, tens of thousands of Rot Harbingers flapped their wings chaotically like a spreading plague cloud, swarming toward the Infernal Devil.
But Bael never fought alone.
"Quick, help Lord Bael! We can't let him face this alone!"
"Defend Avernus to the death!"
The devils wouldn't miss a chance for glory. Officers raised their tridents and led their finest legions into battle against the Rot Harbingers.
In the skies, demon corpses, shattered weapons, and devil bodies rained down. Foul slime dripped from above, corroding the ground.
"Filthy beast, you will witness the wrath of Avernus!" Bael howled. Hell's dark energy surged into his body, forming a blood-red vortex.
Hellfire surrounded him. His body grew rapidly—his blood hardened into flame, magma became flesh, and steel became armor.
He now resembled a towering magma giant, rocky brown skin glowing with lava, wrapped in flame and ash.
The Infernal Devil stood hundreds of meters tall. His massive bat wings blotted the sun, and their flaps summoned sulfur storms from Hell.
At this moment, Bael poured 70% of Avernus's authority into his body. In a way, he was Avernus incarnate.
—Well, some had been stolen by a certain greedy red dragon.
"Praise Bael!"
"Long live Lord Bael!"
"Great Lord, great power!"
The Baatezu devils cheered in unison. Their praise may have been flattery, but a sliver of it was sincere awe.
"BOOM—"
Bael yanked the massive Infernal Greatsword from the ground, beat his wings, and flew at the Lord of Blackwater like a blazing meteor. "Leave my domain—or die here!"
"Lowly creature! Even aided by Avernus's will, you are no match for me!" roared the Lord of Blackwater, unleashing more slime-dripping tentacles.
Its colossal form opened, revealing a fifty-meter-wide maw filled with spiraling fangs. It spat reeking black water at Bael, with dagger-like teeth hidden inside.
But the black water evaporated before contact, burned away by the hellfire around Bael, and the fangs were deflected by dark divine light.
Bael gripped his sword with both hands, raised it high, and stabbed down at the Lord of Blackwater's massive, twisted form.
"SPLURCH—"
The blade pierced through the slime, tore the boil-ridden hide, and plunged deep into the monster's blood-like substance of unknown origin.
Yet Bael showed no joy at wounding his foe. His brow furrowed deeply: "This is..."
The Infernal Greatsword had pierced into a devouring black hole. Countless tiny mouths formed on the flesh, gnawing at Bael's infernal energy.
The Lord of Blackwater laughed, a shrill, grating sound: "Hahaha! Foolish creature! You can never kill me!"
Damn monster!
The Abyss always spawned bizarre, incomprehensible things. After millennia of Blood Wars, Bael was used to them.
Though this one couldn't die, it also couldn't hurt Bael. The corrupt black water only harmed lesser devils, not a Hell Duke.
"SPLASH!"
Without hesitation, Bael pulled out the sword, flashed behind the Lord of Blackwater, and stabbed it into the ground again.
"BOOM—"
Another massive rift tore open beneath the demon.
The Lord of Blackwater extended endless tentacles to bind Bael's wings.
But Bael sliced diagonally through the air. Blood-red swordlight cleaved the sky. Giant tentacles fell, still writhing, with blackened ends.
The demon roared in fury. More tentacles surged, but Bael danced around the "black mountain," slashing nonstop with his Infernal Greatsword like a bloody storm.
The battlefield was blanketed in black smoke. Rotting stench mixed with burning flesh. Black water condensed into clouds, raining down and pitting the ground.
Two overwhelmingly evil forces collided, creating a disaster-level storm. Demons and devils caught within were shredded to bloody fragments. Blood rain fell from the sky.
The Lord of Blackwater shrieked: "Bael! It's useless! Stop resisting! I am undying! Once Avernus's power leaves you, you'll be my food!"
Bael said nothing. Another strike cut off multiple tentacles and carved another deep scar into the ground.
In the distance, Cassius narrowed his eyes at the shadow in the mist, sensing the clash of laws. He rubbed his chin and muttered, "Heh, now this is getting interesting.
Bael probably can't kill that gross intestine-looking freak... so—is he planning to banish it?"
Soon, with rumbling earth, the deep fissures encircled the Lord of Blackwater like an island, imprisoning the Abyssal abomination.
"ROAR—"
Sensing Bael's plan, the Lord of Blackwater squirmed violently, trying to escape the magma ring.
But Bael wasn't about to give it the chance.
The Infernal Devil soared above the monster, sulfur storm swirling, sword raised.
"KRAK-BOOM!"
A bolt of blood-colored lightning ripped through the sky. Terrifying power surged from all sides.
On the ground, lava flowed and formed a massive inverted pentagram hell-circle—over a kilometer wide—that trapped the Lord of Blackwater.
"Ixinix—"
Bael sneered, wings wide. He slowly lowered his Infernal Greatsword, delivering the final verdict: "By the name of the Lord of Avernus—I banish you!"
The Lord of Blackwater roared in panic: "Damn you, lowly creature! No—you can't—"
"BOOM!"
The inverted pentagram flared red. Space distorted and folded. The demon's massive form grew blurry and faint—forced out of this world.
All its resistance and counterattacks now seemed to occur in a parallel dimension, unable to affect the material plane.