"Their strength, magic proficiency, and intelligence far, far surpasses that which normal mortals can ever hope to produce, even after centuries of relentless training."

Titania continued, her small voice carrying a weight that seemed too heavy for her petite frame as she sat comfortably straddling my lap.

"Not to mention, they can live as long as 5000 - 8000 years old on average. This is without any magic or special training involved too — just their natural lifespan stretching out across the centuries like an endless river."

Elara and Sakura remained completely quiet, listening with focused attention.

Elara’s arms rested on her knees, her broad shoulders slightly hunched forward as she absorbed every word.

While Sakura held her elegant kiseru pipe motionless between her pink claws, a thin curl of fragrant smoke rising slowly past her sharp amber eyes.

Surprising, actually.

I thought they would be more visibly shocked at the suddenly intellectual Titania speaking with such calm authority.

But both queens simply watched her with steady, serious expressions, their bodies still except for the occasional subtle shift in posture on the plush couch.

Though, the cookie crumbs still clinging to the corners of Titania’s mouth were getting in the way of her knowledgeable aura.

Though, it was giving the whole scene an oddly endearing touch as she spoke from my lap, her silver twin braids swaying lightly with each small movement of her head.

She continued without pause, her delicate butterfly wings giving a faint flutter against my chest.

"But Benjamin, never mistake these beings of nigh-perfection with the true ones; demons were first created by devils. Not by Elyndor. And the way they were made... it was not pretty at all. The process was cruel and twisted, and filled with suffering that still echoes softly through the realm even now: Satanic Baptism."

Ack! She just said a disturbing term just now.

"Uhm... These devils..." I asked slowly, my brows furrowing deeply as I tried to process the sheer scale she was describing, my hands resting lightly on her small waist to keep her steady. "Are they so powerful?"

"You fought with Renard in the Higher Realm, didn’t you?" Titania suddenly questioned me back, tilting her head up at me with wide violet eyes full of curiosity.

Ghk! She was touching on the exact topic I had wanted to avoid all this while.

I scratched my chin shyly, looking away toward the clusters of beautiful hanging flowers swaying gently above us in the luxurious hut.

My fingers brushed over the light stubble there as heat crept up my neck. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"Well... we did fight..." I started, "He asked me to hurt him to send my point across. Though, if I failed to do so in a particular time range, he would force me to do his bidding.... But it actually was just me getting pummeled the whole time, taking hit after hit while trying to land even one solid strike."

"No," Sakura added immediately, her sharp amber eyes locking onto me with genuine intensity and a hint of disbelief as she set her kiseru pipe down on the low central table with a soft clink, "You do not :fight’ Renard, Benjamin. You avoid him at all cost if you value your life. Surviving him is already the shocking part, but you managed to actually hurt him?"

Elara nodded firmly beside her, her powerful frame leaning forward on the couch so that her dark hair fell slightly over one shoulder, her strong hands clasped tightly together.

"By the laws of the cosmos," she said softly, "Renard is invulnerable. He... cannot be hurt in any normal sense. What you did was akin to piercing the sun itself or making the rain bleed... When last did Renard even get hurt in any meaningful way?"

"In his fight with Lucifer, at one of the Celestial Wars," Titania said after taking another small bite from her cookie, the crumbs falling lightly onto her dress as she chewed thoughtfully, her expression turning distant for a moment. "...He bled a huge amount that day, and nearly died even."

Eh?!

Lucifer is that strong?!

"Wait, how powerful is this Lucifer guy again?" I asked them, my voice rising slightly with disbelief as I shifted my weight carefully on the couch, one hand instinctively steadying Titania on my lap. "I’ve fought the nightmare that is Renard and barely held on with every thing I had; maybe the author would make a bonus Chapter about the struggle. But if Lucifer almost killed him once... then..."

Sakura rubbed her temples slowly with two fingers, her pink hair shifting around her face as she exhaled a long, heavy breath, her sharp features clouding over with old memories.

"I participated in the 8th Celestial War," she sighed, "That was where Irina-sama, Elara’s mother, was last seen... I was tasked with holding Lucifer back for just a moment so Irina-sama could do something to end the war in one fell swoop... I quickly agreed, but..."

"What happened?" I asked her gently, watching as her amber eyes dilated visibly, as if she was being pulled back into a haunted memory that still clung to her like a second skin.

"He was... a true devil..." She whispered, her voice dropping low and trembling slightly while her claws tightened around the edge of the plush couch cushion, her posture stiffening. "Due to my numerous arsenal of magical arts and sorcery, I managed to piss him off very much... And I nearly paid for it with my life... Before Irina-sama successfully ended the centuries-long war with her final act."

"Benjamin, you asked how strong the devils were?" Titania looked up at me from my lap, her violet eyes serious and unblinking as she rested her small hands on my chest for balance. "They are not strong at all in the way you might think. They don’t even exist within the sphere of your understanding currently. Renard and Mótsognir are as strong to mortals as a kid trying to defeat a storm with his bare hands... But even they can’t hope to defeat the devils with even the strongest army at his command."

"Then... how have you all been managing to win the Celestial Wars?" I asked her, my voice filled with genuine confusion and growing concern.

Titania began to turn slowly on my lap, shifting her small body until she was straddling me properly, facing me directly with her delicate butterfly wings brushing lightly against my chest.

"Win?" She asked, tilting her head with a small, knowing smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes while her hands rested lightly on my shoulders for balance, her silver braids falling forward.

She continued; "There have been nine Celestial Wars in total; two of which ended in a stalemate, five of which the demons won, and only two of which WE won. We won the third and eighth Celestial War through trickery and clever strategy rather than raw power. But we had help from Namadris’s children for the third one, their intervention tipping the scales at the last moment."

I pondered heavily on this, my mind turning over the numbers and the heavy implications behind them as the warm tea steam continued to rise from the cups on the low table and the hanging flowers swayed gently overhead, their sweet fragrance mixing with the savory scent of the snacks.

Titania concluded, her voice growing even softer yet somehow heavier with old sorrow.

"The devils are only seven in the world. There are millions upon millions in the dark realm of Ꝅ̷ḧ̷å̷’̷ƒ̷ÿ̷r̷, but only seven exist here, ruling over the demons;

"Leviathan... Asmodeous... Mammon... Beelzebub... Belphegor... Amon... and Lucifer. These are the seven deadly sins, the demon lords that rule over the demons in the demon continent. Please, stay alert concerning these beings, Benjamin... They are the reason my Namadris had to die in vain."