Chapter 639: Final Council Meeting

The five Princes stood at their respective paths around the enormous intersection, their expressions growing increasingly unpleasant as the minutes passed.

Each occupied a separate elevated walkway leading towards the central structure, but none could ascend until the final participant arrived. The restriction had been established to ensure that every Prince entered the council chamber together.

Under ordinary circumstances, the arrangement would have been a minor inconvenience. Today, however, the delay was beginning to test their patience.

Their gazes shifted towards the last empty path as the sound of approaching footsteps reached them. A golden palanquin emerged from the distance, carried by several attendants dressed in the colours of Lust. Its polished frame gleamed beneath the strange lights illuminating the Imperial Capital, and the curtains hanging from its sides fluttered gently as it approached the intersection.

The palanquin stopped.

Its door opened, and Damian stepped out in white robes decorated with intricate black fox designs. His long hair fell over his shoulders, and his expression remained perfectly composed as he adjusted his sleeves before beginning his ascent.

He had barely taken a few steps when two familiar voices interrupted him.

"You bastard fox! How dare you keep everyone waiting?!" Kazier roared, baring his fangs.

"What do you think this is? Your palace?!" Belial barked, his serpentine tongue flickering between his teeth.

Damian continued walking as though neither had spoken. He reached the edge of the intersection, placed one hand behind his back, and rested the other against his chest before offering a slight bow.

"I apologise for my late arrival. My residence was attacked last night by the remnants of the Order of Demons, led by Dukes Zepar, Apalus, and Raji. They even stole a sealed artifact from the Demon Lord’s Treasury to deal with me. The battle exhausted me, and I overslept. That is why I failed to arrive on time."

The intersection fell silent.

The five Princes exchanged surprised glances, their earlier irritation giving way to disbelief. Whatever they had expected Damian to say, an assassination attempt involving three Dukes and a stolen artifact from the Demon Lord’s Treasury was certainly not among their predictions.

Lucius watched their reactions carefully.

None of them appeared to have anticipated the revelation. Their surprise was too immediate, their expressions too unguarded. Although he had no way of knowing what schemes each Prince might be pursuing in private, he could at least conclude they had no hand in the assassination plot.

Belial’s frown deepened.

"Zepar did what?"

Before Damian could respond, Aien stepped forward, his usually languid expression replaced by a rare look of disbelief.

"Apalus was a member of the Order of Demons?"

His voice rose slightly at the end, as though he were still struggling to reconcile the revelation with what he knew of the Duke.

Brolly, who had been standing beside him with his enormous arms folded across his chest, turned towards Damian.

"What do you mean Raji was part of them?"

The confusion on his face was genuine. Raji had served under him for thousands of years, and the idea that one of his own Dukes had secretly belonged to a faction devoted to the restoration of demon supremacy was difficult to accept.

Damian sighed and rubbed his forehead, a small frown forming between his brows.

"It seems our subordinates hide a lot of secrets from us, don’t they?"

The revelation was too serious to dismiss as an isolated betrayal. If three Dukes had managed to conceal their allegiance to the Order of Demons while serving directly beneath the Princes, then the problem extended beyond the three individuals who had attacked Damian.

How many others were hiding similar loyalties?

How long had the Order operated within their territories without attracting suspicion?

And how much influence had it accumulated while the Princes remained occupied with their own ambitions?

Sol’s expression hardened as he turned towards Damian.

"What sealed artifact did they use on you?"

Under normal circumstances, Sol would have cared little about an attack on another Prince. But the Demon Lord’s Treasury was another matter.

Its contents were among the most dangerous relics in the Underworld. Each artifact had been preserved for a reason. If the Order of Demons had managed to steal one, then the implications extended far beyond Damian’s personal safety.

Damian shifted his attention towards Sol.

"It was a box containing the last remnants of Majin’s power. Zepar attempted to consume the remnant and control its power, but the process backfired. He was killed by it."

Sol blinked.

Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, "Is he really that foolish?"

For a moment, nobody responded.

Then Belial stepped into the central opening of the intersection, disbelief written across his face.

"Zepar did what?!" His voice echoed across the surrounding platforms.

The atmosphere grew increasingly tense. But before anyone could question Damian further, a voice boomed from above the structure.

"THE FINAL COUNCIL MEETING WILL COMMENCE NOW!"

Astaroth’s announcement reverberated throughout the intersection.

The circular platforms above the Princes began descending towards the lower level.

As soon as the platforms reached the ground, the Princes stepped aboard and were carried upwards into the council chamber.

The enormous doors opened, revealing the familiar arrangement of elevated boxes surrounding the central podium. Each Prince entered his designated enclosure, accompanied by the Dukes and nobles entitled to attend the meeting.

Yet the moment they settled into their seats, the absence of three familiar figures became impossible to ignore.

Zepar, Apalus, and Raji were nowhere to be seen.

Belial turned towards Astaroth, who stood at the centre of the chamber with a tired expression.

"What’s going on? What happened to my Duke?"

Astaroth looked towards him and sighed. He had clearly spent much of the morning dealing with the aftermath of the incident, and the prospect of explaining everything to the assembled Princes did little to improve his mood.

Rather than answering immediately, he raised one hand. The arrays beneath his podium illuminated.

A red light spread across the chamber, projecting three images above the central platform. The bodies of the dead Dukes appeared before the assembled audience, their final states preserved in vivid detail.

Apalus and Raji appeared largely intact, their bodies showing the injuries that had ended their lives. Zepar, however, was another matter entirely.

His corpse resembled a dried husk.

The flesh had shrivelled against his bones, his skin wrinkled and darkened, and his entire body appeared to have been emptied of everything that once sustained it. He looked less like a fallen Duke and more like something that had been left to decay for centuries.

Sol, Kazier, Belial, Aien, and Brolly all frowned at the sight.

They recognised the nature of the damage immediately. This was not the work of an ordinary weapon or a conventional demonic technique. Something had drained Zepar of his vitality and power until nothing remained.

Only the Abyss was known to produce such a result.

Sol chuckled.

"What a stupid Duke. He let his greed get the better of him."

There was no sympathy in his voice. Zepar had attempted to seize power that did not belong to him, and the consequences were now displayed before the entire Council.

Belial, however, remained fixated on the image.

He stared at Zepar’s ruined body, his expression growing increasingly ugly. He had known the Duke for a considerable period, and the idea that Zepar had been plotting something so dangerous beneath his nose was a direct insult to his authority.

How had he failed to notice?

What else had the Duke concealed?

And how many of his other subordinates might be involved in similar schemes?

Belial’s pride could scarcely tolerate the possibility.

"I’ll have to pay more attention to the rascals under me," he growled, slamming his fist against the table before him. "I can see I’ve given them too much freedom!"

Aien and Brolly wore equally unpleasant expressions, though neither spoke. Their own subordinates had been implicated, and they were now forced to consider the possibility that their authority over their territories was not as absolute as they had believed.

Damian, who had remained quiet throughout the exchange, finally spoke.

"I’m more concerned about how easily the Order of Demons managed to hide in plain sight. If three Dukes could conceal their allegiance for so long, there may be others among us whom we haven’t noticed."

The words struck a nerve.

For the first time since the meeting began, all six Princes nodded in agreement.

Their gazes drifted towards the assembled demon nobles, many of whom immediately became uncomfortable beneath the scrutiny of their rulers. Some lowered their heads, while others exchanged wary glances, suddenly aware that their loyalties might soon be questioned.

It was an unusual moment.

The Princes disagreed on almost everything. Yet the revelation that their own subordinates could secretly work against them had united them in suspicion.

Sol leaned back in his seat.

"Just get rid of all the demons in your territory, and you won’t have pro-demon factions. Replace them with members of your own race, and you’ll have loyal men and women ready to follow you to the very end."

His tone was indifferent, as though he were suggesting a simple administrative adjustment.

The chamber grew quiet.

Astaroth frowned, as did the demon nobles gathered behind the Princes. Ordinarily, someone would have challenged Sol’s statement immediately.

But this time nobody spoke.

The uncomfortable truth was that the threat posed by pro-demon factions would always exist as long as demons remained scattered throughout the territories of the Seven Sins.

The only way to guarantee that no pro-demon faction existed would be to eradicate every demon and replace them with races whose loyalties were tied to their respective Princes.

It was a solution that would create a different kind of problem, one that might be even more destructive than the threat it was intended to eliminate.

Yet the logic behind it was difficult to dismiss entirely.

Damian said nothing. He understood the appeal of Sol’s argument, even if he had no intention of blindly following it. Still, the fact that the suggestion had gone unchallenged spoke volumes about the atmosphere in the chamber.

Astaroth’s cold voice shattered their thoughts.

"THIS IS NOT WHY WE ARE HERE."

The assembled Princes turned towards him.

Astaroth’s expression was severe as he surveyed the chamber, clearly unwilling to let the discussion derail the purpose of the final meeting.

"Following our previous discussions, it is time to decide which path the Underworld will follow. Shall we continue the war against the Heavens, or shall we sue for peace and focus our attention on the growing threat of the Dark Continent?"

He gestured towards the tables before the Princes.

A small paddle rested in front of each one, its two faces painted in contrasting colours.

"The white side represents continuing the war against the Heavens. The black side represents ending hostilities with Heaven and directing our resources towards the Dark Continent. You have heard the arguments from both sides. Please make your decision."

The chamber fell into contemplation.

Damian picked up his paddle and turned it over in his hands. He raised his paddle, displaying the white side.

"Well then, I’ll take the initiative."

His voice carried clearly through the chamber.

"I believe the threat posed by Heaven is too great to ignore, especially at a time when we’ve lost so much of our territory to them. We cannot afford to spend our resources fighting a distant enemy while ignoring the one at our doorstep."

Several demon nobles nodded in agreement. One by one, the nobles behind him began raising their paddles, revealing white faces.

Sol followed. He raised his own paddle, the white side facing outward.

"After I take over the Demon Realm and wipe out all demons, the immediate threat won’t be the Totems. It’ll be Heaven." His gaze swept across the chamber. "If I can use you lads to weaken them before I take the throne, that’s a win for me."

Aien rolled his eyes, while Brolly let out a low grunt.

Neither appeared particularly interested in Sol’s grand ambitions, but both raised their paddles to reveal the white side. Their Dukes and attending nobles followed suit, and the number of votes supporting continued war increased rapidly.

Damian observed the growing majority without comment. Only Kazier and Belial remained undecided, along with their supporters.

Kazier stared at the paddle in his hand.

For a moment, he appeared to weigh the consequences of his decision.

Eventually, Kazier raised his paddle. The white side faced outward.

"I cannot have my successors find out that I, Kazier, once begged for peace with Heaven. It would soil my name and legacy!"

Duke Kol and the other nobles behind him immediately followed suit, raising their paddles in support of their Prince.

Belial stared at the remaining paddle in his hand.

The decision had effectively been made before he had even considered his own position. Every other Prince had voted to continue the war, and the overwhelming majority of their subordinates had followed their lead.

He could vote against them, but doing so would accomplish little beyond isolating himself from the rest of the Council.

After several seconds, Belial released a defeated sigh.

"The decision has already been made. We will be fighting against Heaven, then."

He raised his paddle, revealing the white side. The nobles behind him followed, and the last remaining votes joined the majority.

Astaroth surveyed the chamber. Every paddle was raised, every face displayed the same colour.

For a moment, he allowed the sight to settle over the assembled Princes and nobles. The decision had been made, and the consequences could no longer be avoided.

He picked up his own paddle and turned it over, revealing the white side.

"IT HAS BEEN DECIDED!"

His voice thundered through the chamber, shaking the air and silencing every remaining whisper.

"I HEREBY DECLARE THE THIRTY-FIRST GREAT WAR AGAINST THE HEAVENS!"

The arrays beneath the podium blazed with light.

"THIS TIME, THE UNDERWORLD WILL WASH AWAY ITS PREVIOUS WOES AND SOUNDLY DEFEAT THE HEAVENS!"

The declaration echoed through the council chamber, marking the beginning of another great war between the two realms.