"Shut your mouth And go to sleep…"
————————————————————————
A long while after Hell's foreign inhabitants resettled into the spacious catacombs, they sat in complete silence and stillness.
While Asami, Sidra, and the priest used what little spirit energy they had to treat everyone's wounds, all anyone had the energy to do was drown themselves in the constant thoughts of what Aaliyah's assimilation revealed about the workings of Hell's trials.
Especially Kahal, who believed himself to have had the best understanding of Hell's workings and hierarchy. And while his theories about the outcome of assimilation weren't entirely false, there was something he felt as though he should've thought of as a possibility.
And that was the possibility of hell's captives being assimilated into new Hell lords.
The humble priest who was treating Kai and Aria's wounds, gave a look of curiosity over to Kahal. White spirit energy flowed from his hands and into Kai and aria's bodies as he spoke.
"Mister Kahal. I'd like to ask you a question."
Pausing his thoughts, Kahal's scarlet eyes pierced through the shadowed room, waiting for the priest's question with a simple grunt.
"When you explained Hell's inner workings to us, you mentioned that those chosen specifically by the seven hell lords would be assimilated into mindless demons if the assimilation were to complete…"
"…But that new Hell lord from earlier was clearly Miss Aaliyah. And appeared just moments after her assimilation had finished."
Asami and the other supreme generals raised their heads. As if sharing the same thoughts as the humble priest.
He continued:
"If even a small amount of your information about Hell's workings are correct, and we truly only have one week until all assimilations are complete. What do you think is going to happen?"
Everyone suddenly tensed at the priests question, even though it was one they all were thinking after earlier's events.
Each second Kahal took before answering made it seem as though everyone's pounding hearts echoed through the spacious room of the catacomb. Even Kahal seemed to have not wanted to answer his question.
One second passed. Then another, before he finally spoke.
Glancing around the room at his former allies, Kahal's mind drifted back to a time just after the blood war met its end.
***
Not long after the war's end, the world was slowly recovering from the devastation brought about by the tragedies of the war.
Oceans were littered with thousands of corpses, large boats carrying both prisoners, slaves and remaining soldiers of the sorcery military.
On the outskirts of the world's boarder, the supreme generals remained. Placing up barriers which closed off the old earth into its own section of the world.
Once they had finished, the all See'r's closest ally, Kesean, approached the supreme generals with a prophecy.
A prophecy that they would spend the next thousand years preparing for. And his information consisted of the following:
"A second blood war is inevitable."
"Bigger than the first war."
"One in which my own daughter will either be the world's salvation or end, depending on her choices."
But one piece of information stuck out to them.
"A sea of evil's origins will spill into the earth, and show us all the pinnacle of evil."
Those were the few pieces of information the supreme generals had to go on based on the inevitable second blood war.
And throughout the next hundreds of years, the grand elder as well as the remaining supreme generals did everything they could to bring humanity the closest to the winning side of the impending war, to which they still couldn't grasp the true extent of this evil would be.
Raising their armies through breeding camps with the remaining half of the population of their foreigner enemies from the first war, making the use of sorcery more known to the neighboring continents, everything.
But now, in this very moment the prophecy became slightly more clear.
***
Opening his eyes, Kahal took a shaken breath and gave his answer to the humble priest's question.
"I think… I think Azura and Malum may just be trying to mass populate new Hell lords. Ones with intelligence and stronger than the current Hell lords."
The younger sorcerers in the room visibly tensed. None of them knew the true horrors of history's event that shaped the world into what it was today, and now the thought of the world now being in the prelude to that same event but on a much bigger scale, frightened them.
Kahal glanced at them all, especially at Jason who had an especially somber look on his face.
It was Asami who broke the silence.
"After seeing that new hell lord, that part's obvious. And the part about them mass producing new hell lords, I understand that…"
"But what I'm confused on is, how they believe only seven Hell lords would be enough of a threat that surpasses even the foreigners."
To some of them, it sounded as if Asami had been underestimating the threat posed by the idea of seven stronger, more intelligent Hell lords. But it wasn't that.
Surely Azura and Malum would be aware of the supreme generals preparing for a larger scaled battle that they have prior knowledge of, so why make a plan similar to their previous?
Just then, Kahal spoke again.
"They could be relying on malum's tenth circle. One that not even we've seen yet due to his battle against the Queen of creation."
"Or, they could be…"
Suddenly, Aria felt every hair on her body stand. She asked the supreme generals:
"The foreigners… they weren't all wiped out, were they?"
The humble priest shook his head, and Aria continued.
"I think, they're bringing the remaining foreigners to hell in order to assimilate them into Hell lords."
Aria's thought wasn't anything surprising to the supreme generals, though it did strike a sense of confusion and exasperation in them.
The original point of the war was to cull every single foreigner until none was left, however the grand elder decided to keep half of their population alive and remaining in the old earth for whatever he may be plotting.
And now, it seemed as though whatever his plan was, was now going to backfire greatly.
Kahal stared at Aria for a few moments. Recognizing the divine runes along her skin, which resembled spirit king kesean's.
But then, he remembered something else. Earlier he had mentioned to Jason and Selene about his sister, who had been in hiding in behind the barrier that closed off the old earth.
'Watch your back out there… sister'
Kahal rubbed his temples. Feeling his head throbbing from the overwhelming pressure these concerns put onto his already tired mind.
Jason, who had been silent up till this point suddenly stood up.
"If this is all right, then we need to find out how to get my ma out of that cocoon, kill all of the hell lords, and find Selene before they can assimilate her."
Kahal looked to his grandson, and said with a tired voice:
"You're right. With what little time we have, there's no time to waste making plans. Even with how barbaric it is, we need to just kill them all, and find a way out of Hell."
No one argued with Kahal's logic, because they couldn't. While the plan was simple, it was still easier said than done.
After all, they still had to think about all the foreigners residing wherever they may have been in hell, and how to deal with them, which would take time they didn't have.
The most efficient way they could think of to deal with this as quickly as possible, was for the younger sorcerers in the room to deal with the foreigners, while the supreme generals worked together to launch an assault on the hell lords.
That was their plan.
But for now, they had to rest and recover until the red sun left the day sky. And into the night, they would then make their move.
***
After their meeting, the new addition to the army of Hell lords would hand Selene's unconscious form over to nakame.
Her "Sloth" insignia burning brighter as her target was now in her hands.
Shortly after the red sun ascended into the day sky, nakame made her way across the landscape of hell, until she reached a purple gateway, which had chaos energy swirling around it.
They had reached the entrance to hell's third circle.
And the second trial began.
————————————————————————
Continued in chapter 120: Close your eyes
————————————————————————