"What do you say, son of Adam?" Belial turned both their faces to Matthew. "You can go back to Earth. Everything that happened inViolentia can stay behind. You won’t need to hold yourself back anymore. You won’t need to keep yourself in check afraid of losing control. You’ll finally be able to relax." The demon’s words were sweet.

Matthew looked at the ziggurat behind him. He then looked at Avariel and Nanael who were now silent. Both the angels knew they couldn’t guarantee that their god would help him. They knew how important it was for Matthew to turn back into human and go back to Earth.

They just looked at him hoping that he wouldn’t accept the demon’s proposal. Nothing good could come from it.

Ffyr touched his shoulder and squeezed it. She could feel his indecisiveness through their connection. Unlike the angels, she didn’t have any prejudice towards demons and making deals with them. But Ffyr didn’t trust Belial.

In her experience there was only one reason a god would make a deal with a mortal. For fun. There was something more behind those honeyed words, she could feel it in her bones.

"You just need to go inside and bring me Anzu." Belial repeated themself making it sound like a simple task.

Matthew took a deep breath and looked at the fire burning inside the ziggurat.

"How will you take the information out of him?" Matthew asked.

"What do you mean?" Belial turned their heads, the male to his left and the female to her right.

"I don’t think anyone would part ways with that information for nothing. What if Anzu denies you?" Matthew asked.

"He won’t." Belial groaned in anger, their faces now frowning.

"Why wouldn’t he?" Matthew looked at both of Belial.

"Because we’ll give him what he wishes." Belial tried to hide their anger with a smile.

"After a soul acquires a physical body in the hells of the heavens, they can’t go back to the prime." Avariel explained, putting herself between Matthew and the demon king. "What do you expect to do for the storm bird? You can’t send him to Elysium."

"Why do you think we can’t do it?" Belial asked, taking a step forward.

"Because the Damnata punish themselves." Nanael said, holding herself for comfort remembering her own suffering.

Belial stomped hard on the ground, opening a huge hole in it.

"Enough!" They screamed. "Son of Adam. We’re giving you the opportunity to escape hell and you squander it for the benefit of a bird that’s been dead longer than your kind has been alive? For the sake of a heretic that almost destroyed a whole realm?" Belial shouted in anger.

"Yes." Matthew said facing the demon king without fear.

"You stupid mortal." They gnarled. "We will show you that folly of your virtue." Belial lifted their hands, the male lifted his right and the female her left.

Matthew drew out his blades. Avariel drew hers as well. Ffyr raised a wind wall. Nanael couldn’t do anything with her Damnata body.

A futile effort. Belial was as powerful as a greater god. They were not only stronger than Matthew and the others, they were a different type of existence altogether.

All four of them were pierced by dozens of spikes made of shadow itself. As if the darkness of that place itself turned on them. Their Vital Shields were no match for the strength of the demon king.

While Ffyr, Avariel and Nanael screamed in pain, Matthew used his Anesthesia skill to numb himself from the pain. They were all hanging midair hanging by the spikes that pierced their bodies, none pierced their vital organs.

"You will obey us." Belial whispered in Matthew’s ears, the male on his left and the female on his right. "You will be saved by us. Do as we tell you."

Matthew then turned into shadow himself, getting freed of his bindings, and immediately turning back into his physical form. In the same movement, Matthew swung his blade coated in unholy fire towards Belial’s male neck.

The sword met its target, but just bounced harmless from it like it had no weight.

Belial then pushed Matthew to the ground making him hit it with his face. The female part of the demon king stepped on his head while the male knelt by his side.

"Where does this defiance come from, son of Adam?" Both said. "Why not accept us? Why can’t you see us as your god?" The demon king ground their teeth.

"Fuck you." Matthew struggled to say as his mouth was being pressed against the ground.

Belial snapped their fingers and another dozen shadow spikes pierced Matthew making him bleed all over the dark stones.

"What does it take? Why can’t you revere us?" The demon king asked.

Matthew turned into shadow again and tried again to harm the demon king with an uppercut using his other sword.

Not even a scratch. He only got a punch on the face that took out a couple of teeth and sent him flying against the ziggurat.

"Why do you resist? You know you can’t harm us. Your defiance makes no sense." Belial said slowly walking towards Matthew. "You ate from our table. You drank from our wine. We showed you the way through darkness. We offered what you wanted. All you needed to do was to obey." The male part of the demon king picked Matthew from the debris of the ziggurat wall he hit by his hair and lifted him up. "Worship us." Both said while the female punched him on the belly.

"Stop it!" Avariel screamed with a burst of holy light as she tore her own skin to get free from the spikes holding her and flew with her sword clad in holy fire towards Belial.

Despite Belial’s mana being the mana of that of demons. Avariel’s holy fire did nothing against them. Her sword shattered when the demon king’s female part held it with her bare hand and twisted it to the side.

In the next movement, Belial sank Avariel’s own blade in her belly, pinning her against the floor.

Then, a fire blade of air hit Belial’s male face coming from Ffyr who just stared at them in anger.

Belial just sighed and let go of Matthew who fell to the floor.

Then they sat on a wide chair they conjured from thin air. They brought their hands to their faces and their elbows to their knees.

"It makes no sense." Belial said with tears falling from their faces. "What do I need to do? Why don’t you love me? Why can’t I be loved?"

"Love is not something you acquire or force out of others." Nanael said through her pain.

Belial just waved one of his male hands and cut Nanael in half in midair making her fall to the ground.

"NANA!" Avariel screamed as her sister groaned on the floor.

"Relax!" Belial said, annoyed by the angel’s shouting. "She can’t die or be destroyed."

Avariel flew towards her sister and with care put her together. Then she healed her.

"You really don’t understand, do you?" Matthew said getting up and healing himself.

Belial looked at him with their faces covered in tears and pouting.

"We’re leaving." Matthew said resolutely.

The demon king just looked at him with anger in one face and sadness in the other.

When Matthew tried to turn away, the male part of the demon grabbed him from behind while the female part rested her hand on Matthew’s chest.

"You will show us." Belial said as the female hand plunged her nails in his skin and pulled out a red mass of energy from him.

"No!" Ffyr shouted.

Matthew’s body became limp on Belial’s male arms. The demon king now had his soul on their hand.

Ffyr felt immense pain as shadow tendrils coiled around the red light that was Matthew’s soul.

The fairy screamed. She could feel the amount of pain Matthew was in and that was unable to scream himself.

"Release him!" Avariel screamed as she was still healing her sister back together.

"Oh lord. Help us." Nanael prayed.

Then Ffyr stopped screaming. The pain went away. The shadow tendrils released Matthew’s soul that was now no longer shining red. It was purple, the human hue of souls.

Belial placed his soul gently back into his body and the redness of his skin faded, turning back to the rosy color from two years ago.

The demon king then laid Matthew softly on the ground who was now unconscious.

"You will show us what we don’t understand." Belial said while creating a blade with gold and silver handle and pitch dark blade.

They put the blade on Matthew’s chest and turned to Ffyr.

"Make him keep this blade with him at all times, or we will come for his soul." The demon king threatened.

With another snap of their fingers, Ffyr was freed from the spikes holding her and all of them were teleported to the front of a huge gate.

Without saying anything else, Beliel turned their backs to them and just walked slowly away. By the sway of their body they could tell. The demon king was utterly defeated.