As if they came from nowhere, suddenly there were a pair of angels behind them. Both looked the same, one male and one female, like twins. Both had long wavy white hair, both had the same height, both had the same pale skin, both had the same body shape. Their wings were big and white feathered and their eyes were bright red.

The male only had the right wing and the female only had the left. The male was wearing a white sleeveless tabard over his naked body, while the female was wearing a black one. On the male’s head he had a gold thin crown, while the female had a silver one.

Avariel shuddered when she saw both of them, the male always on the left and the female on the right. Her hand went to her sword’s handle, but stayed there without drawing it.

"Won’t you ask us?" The angels asked in unison.

"Who are you?" Matthew asked them, not noticing how Avariel was troubled.

"We are the one who rule heresy. The demon of defiance. The first god. We are Belial." Both angels said and unison and bowed at the exactly the same time. A movement so perfectly synchronized that it looked unnatural.

"Belial?" Matthew got surprised and took a step back.

"Do not worry, son of Adam. We mean no harm." Belial said in unison. "And you, daughter of Yahweh, don’t be stupid. Let go of that stick before you hurt yourself."

Avariel let go of her sword and stood still as if she was stunned.

Belial chuckled and pointed to the distance.

"Come with us. There’s much we wish to know." They said to them.

They dared not to disobey the demon. It was very clear that Belial was not a regular demon. Matthew could feel that they were leagues more powerful than Aym or Beleth. Not through any skill he had, but through how his body shook just being in their presence.

Even the way Belial walked seemed unnaturally coordinated. As if there was a mirror between the male and female angel, when the left foot of the male stepped down, the right foot of the female stepped at the same time.

"What brings the four of you to our domain?" Belial asked, both heads turning back and looking at them at the same time.

"We’re taking Nanael and Avariel back to heaven." Ffyr answered, the only one of them who was not weirded out by the visage of the twins.

"So you seek the angel of Dis." Belial chuckled always at the same time both of them. "We understand."

"The angel of Dis?" Matthew asked.

"Justus Dominus in omnibus viis suis: et sanctus in omnibus operibus suis" Nanael said. "Mitzrael. The keeper of the lower hells."

"He’s an archangel that our lord placed in Dis. He holds power to open the way to heaven. He makes sure the Damnata in the upper hells don’t fall here on the lower realms." Avariel explained.

"An useless effort." Belial laughed, looking at Matthew. "Don’t you think, son of Adam?"

"What do you mean?" Matthew asked.

"Well. You are here, aren’t you?" The twins smirked.

Belial brought them to a palace made with the same black stone that surrounded them. Inside there, the putrid smell vanished and allowed the four of them to take a deep breath.

The place was luxurious and illuminated by bright white mana crystals. Red velvet drapes decorated the black stone and gold paintings adorned the walls. But there was still no other form of life there other than Belial themself.

When they reached the dining hall, there was already food and wine for all of them over a huge table made entirely of silver with solid gold chairs.

Belial sat by the head of the table in a large seat that both the twins shared sitting shoulder with shoulder.

"Eat." They said.

Ffyr didn’t hesitate, but the others did. However, they soon indulged.

"Tell us of Earth, son of Adam. It’s been an eon since last we laid our eyes upon it." Belial asked as the male held a cup of wine and the female drank it.

"What you want to know?" Matthew asked.

"Anything. Indulge us with tales of your life." They said while the female fed the male a piece of buttered bread.

Matthew talked about his awakening and his adventures up until he helped Aym defeat Beleth.

"So, Beleth is destroyed." Belial rested their backs on the chair. "Aym is aiming for the post of king? That’s cute."

"You’re not like the others." Matthew commented. "You certainly are way more powerful than Beleth and Aym. You called yourself the first god. What did you mean by that?"

"That was... A very long time ago. We created the first realm. Before the prime. We created the first mortals. I doubt you ever met a son of Belial." They said with a remorseful tone. "This is all that remains." They gestured around talking about Haeresis itself. "The result of our own hubris. Our own heresy." Belial kept silent for a second and finished: "Only darkness and graves remain."

The room went silent after those words for a minute.

"But at least now I have the company of fellow heretics. And the occasional visitors travelling the lands of the damned." Belial broke the silence with a smile.

"What made you bring us here?" Avariel asked rudely, unable to hold her discomfort anymore. "It can’t be that you were just lonely or curious."

"Such impatiency!" Belial laughed. "The righteous fury of angels is always funny. But you’re right, daughter of Yahweh. There is something we want from you."

"I don’t see what we could do for you." Ffyr said, filling her mouth with a piece of a giant bird that looked like a turkey.

"Come with us." Belial said getting up.

They brought them to a huge pyramid structure made of the black stones that made up everything in Haeresis. They could see, from an entrance beneath the pyramid, fire burning deep inside the enormous tomb.

"This is the ziggurat of Anzu." They said, showing them the pyramid. "We want you to retrieve what lays inside."

"Why don’t you do it yourself?" Avariel crossed her arms.

"If we could, we would, daughter of Yahweh. But there are old rules that not even we are powerful enough to defy. Or rather, we are too powerful to ignore." Belial said in a serious tone.

"Who is Anzu?" Matthew asked.

"The storm bird. The one who stole destiny." Belial answered.

"Anzu stole the tablet of destiny that conferred Enki the right to rule over the other gods of the Abzu." Nanael explained. "He was sent here after that."

"The tablet is more than that. It’s a piece of writing of reality itself. The whole foundation of the realm of Abzu." Belial added. "To have stolen it, it was a great sin."

"I’m not familiar with the Abzu." Matthew said.

"You know it as the elemental realm of water." Ffyr explained to him.

"You want us to enter the tomb and take the tablet?" Matthew asked.

"The tablet was already returned to Enki eons ago." Belial said. "We want the bird."

"What are you going to do with it?" Avariel asked cautiously.

"We want to know what was written on the tablet." Belial said. "Anzu is the only one who has read it other than the Abzu gods."

"Have you not given up your hubris?" Nanael asked.

Belial laughed.

"You are smart, daughter of Yahweh. But we have. We only wish to know where we erred."

"Is that really all?" Matthew asked.

"It is." Belial said, seeming sincere.

"I would rather not face a tomb of fire just to get to Dis." Ffyr said when she felt the heat coming from the fire inside the ziggurat.

"We don’t ask this lightly." Belial said. "We offer you something you desire, son of Adam."

"What?" Matthew asked suspiciously.

"Your soul. We can return it to you. The way it was before." Belial said with a smile on both their faces.

"Hold it, Matthew." Avariel said putting herself between the demon king and him. "You do not have the power to fiddle with the souls of mortals." The angel accused them.

"The power or the authority, daughter of Yahweh?" Belial looked her in the eyes. "Look upon our works." They opened their arms showing Haeresis. "Our failure. But yet impressive, wouldn’t you say so? Just because they call us king and not god does not mean we are not powerful enough for that."

Avariel had a look of anger in her face, but held her tongue.

"Can you trust your lord will restore his soul?" Belial seeded doubt. "Isn’t that why you haven’t promised him to restore it? Because you don’t know what Yahweh plans are? If he even wants to restore it?"

"Our lord is good. I believe in his love." Nanael interrupted the demon.

"I’m not questioning his love. I’m questioning his plan." Belial smiled. "The mere fact that this mortal’s soul morphed into a demonic form and he allowed it to happen should show you that his will is not to help the child."

Matthew kept silent trying to process what was being said.

"Tell me, angels of the lord, can you assure this moral that he is going to help him?"

Avariel and Nanael looked at each other, tried to say something, but silenced themselves. They couldn’t give Matthew false hope.