Chapter 6: Mr Goblin

  Lucifer and Kane continued their conversation for what felt like hours, neither noticing how swiftly time had passed.

  The quiet was broken when Mephistopheles entered the throne room. He knelt immediately, bowing his head in deference. “My Demon King,” he greeted.

  Lucifer’s gaze swept over him. “What brings you here?”

  “I wish to join the conquest of the human world,” Mephistopheles replied, his voice steady.

  Lucifer raised an eyebrow in surprise at this unexpected turn—but after a moment, he smiled faintly. “Very well. You may join.”

  Not long after, Apollyn arrived, asking the same, and again Lucifer agreed without hesitation.

  Days passed, and finally, the last two Demon Lords appeared: Ammit and Astarte. Lucifer was taken aback. He had heard that Ammit was so deeply afraid of him that she could no longer bear to meet his gaze, let alone share the same room. And yet, here she stood.

  The chamber felt heavier as the two approached, the shadows seeming to stretch in anticipation of what was to come.

  They both stepped into the throne room. Kane moved to Lucifer’s side, standing tall beside the throne.

  Lucifer regarded the two Demon Lords with a calm expression. “Raise your heads,” he commanded.

  Astarte obeyed instantly, her posture steady and unshaken.

  Ammit, however, faltered. Her shoulders trembled, and for a moment she couldn’t move at all. Slowly—almost painfully—she forced herself to lift her head.

  The moment her eyes met Lucifer’s, her breath caught. A flash of memory struck her: the monstrous presence she had once witnessed within Lucifer, the overwhelming terror that had nearly crushed her spirit.

  Her gaze snapped downward again, her face twisting into horror as she stared at the floor.

  “A-Ammit…” Astarte whispered, reaching out as if to steady her.

  Before she could speak further, Lucifer lifted a hand. “Leave her,” he said softly.

  Astarte stepped back.

  Lucifer studied Ammit for a long moment. Inwardly, he understood. I caused this, he thought. Her fear is a wound I carved myself.

  Lucifer asked them why they had come.

  Astarte stepped forward. “We wish to join you in your conquest of the human world.”

  Lucifer nodded, accepting her offer without hesitation.

  Astarte and Ammit bowed and began to turn away.

  “Stop,” Lucifer said.

  Both froze.

  He looked at Astarte. “You may leave.”

  Then his gaze shifted to Ammit. “She stays.”

  Astarte opened her mouth to protest, but the moment Lucifer released even a sliver of his bloodlust, her words died in her throat. She lowered her head, turned around, and left the throne room without another sound.

  “Kane,” Lucifer said, his tone returning to calm, “leave us. I will call for you when you’re needed.”

  Kane bowed and quietly exited, closing the heavy door behind him.

  Now only Lucifer and Ammit remained.

  Ammit stood facing the door, too afraid to turn around. Her hands shook slightly at her sides.

  “Face me,” Lucifer said.

  She swallowed hard, then slowly turned. Step by hesitant step, she walked toward him until she reached the foot of the throne. Unable to stand under the weight of his presence, she sank to her knees.

  Lucifer rose from his throne and approached her.

  He stopped beside her right shoulder, the air around them still and heavy.

  Placing a hand on her shoulder, he leaned down.

  His breath brushed her ear as he whispered—

  …

  Some time passed before the throne room doors opened again. Ammit stepped out quickly, almost stumbling over her own feet. As the doors slid shut behind her, Kane noticed a faint redness across her cheeks—but he dismissed it just as quickly. Whatever had happened inside was between her and Lucifer.

  Kane entered the throne room.

  Lucifer was already seated on his throne in his usual posture—one leg crossed over the other, his elbow resting on the armrest, his fist against his cheek. His eyes tracked Kane’s approach with that calm, unreadable intensity.

  When Kane reached his side, he finally spoke.

  “What happened with Demon Queen Ammit, my lord?”

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  Lucifer’s gaze didn’t shift. “I gave her what she needed to overcome her fear.”

  Nothing in his tone implied anything unusual.

  But in the split second after he spoke, a faint smirk tugged at the corner of Lucifer’s lips—so brief that Kane almost missed it.

  Almost.

  After a quiet moment, Kane cleared his throat softly.

  “My congratulations, my lord,” he said. “Not only for rallying all the Demon Lords to your side—but for the strategy behind it.”

  Lucifer’s eyes shifted toward him, a faint crease of curiosity forming. “My strategy?”

  Kane nodded.

  “You intentionally left the Demon Lords out of your plans during our first attack. You already knew we would succeed without them. Then you brought back the human soldiers and handed them to the Council, fully aware the elders would never keep such news to themselves. Word was bound to spread… and eventually reach the Demon Lords.”

  He continued, voice steady and analytical.

  “And when you defeated the special human—the one now being called an otherworlder—you refused to kill him. You brought him back alive and presented him to the Council as well. The elders’ hatred for otherworlders is no secret. Giving them one so neatly… my lord, it was an ingenious move.”

  Kane bowed his head slightly.

  “You pushed every lever that would make the Demon Lords feel excluded, then stirred their pride and curiosity until they came to you of their own will.”

  “You gave the elders everything they could ever dream of… and more,” Kane continued. “And because the Demon Lords are so closely aligned with the Council, they were inevitably influenced. Once they heard what you’d done, they became convinced that you truly might conquer the human world. And there was no way they would risk missing out on that thrill.”

  Lucifer leaned back slightly, expression unreadable.

  “Kane, all you’ve said was mere coincidence. I did not plan for the Demon Lords to join me, nor did I try to win over the Council. I simply did what I wanted. Nothing more.”

  Kane’s lips curved into a small, knowing smile.

  “My lord… I expected you to say that.”

  He stepped closer to the throne, his tone sharpening just enough to show how confident he was in his reasoning.

  “So allow me to ask you something simple—something that proves the Council and the Demon Lords were

  part of your plan, whether you admit it or not.”

  He paused, watching Lucifer carefully.

  “With all the power you possess… why didn’t you simply kill the humans you brought back? And why spare the otherworlder? Why hand them all to the Council instead of disposing of them yourself?”

  Lucifer didn’t answer.

  The silence between them stretched long enough for Kane to confirm what he suspected. Lucifer had

  planned it all—bringing the humans back alive, handing the otherworlder to the Council, letting rumors spread, and allowing the Demon Lords to draw their own conclusions. Securing their loyalty was cleaner than making enemies of them. After all… if they opposed him, Lucifer would have been forced to kill them all.

  As the thought settled, Lucifer studied Kane from the throne.

  A demon as sharp as this—yet not a Demon Lord.

  But titles weren’t awarded for intelligence alone. Power mattered more than anything, and Kane simply didn’t possess the overwhelming force required.

  Still… Lucifer found that he respected him. Even if only a little.

  He exhaled softly, almost a sigh. Not of frustration—more like acceptance.

  A few days later, Lucifer was summoned to the Council of Elders.

  He stepped into the vast chamber, its obsidian pillars humming with ancient power. The air thinned, heavy with the presence of old magic and older authority. Yet the moment he reached the center, every elder rose from their seats and bent the knee—including the Grand Elder himself.

  They knelt above him, perched on their elevated thrones, but the meaning was unmistakable.

  They had submitted.

  He now held the Demon Lords who commanded countless legions… and the Elders who shaped every law and decree of Hell. All of Hell’s pillars—military and political—had fallen neatly into his grasp.

  Lucifer couldn’t restrain himself any longer. The sinister grin he had been suppressing finally broke free, stretching across his face like a crack in reality.

  So,

  he thought, savoring the moment. I’ve conquered Hell.

  His smile widened, predatory and eager.

  It’s time for the real fun to begin.

  Kane stepped into the throne room, the heavy doors closing behind him with a low thud. The vast chamber was silent. Lucifer sat upon his throne, eyes closed, as if he were merely resting—yet the air trembled around him.

  Kane approached the throne and stopped at Lucifer’s side.

  The moment he did, Lucifer’s eyes opened.

  They glowed a deep, predatory red.

  “My lord,” Kane said, bowing his head slightly. “Everything has been prepared.”

  Lucifer rose one eyebrow, the faintest hint of a smile touching his lips.

  “Good,” he replied, voice calm and resonant. “But before any of that… there’s somewhere I need to go.”

  They left the castle, but this time Lucifer chose not to fly on his own.

  He and Kane mounted the black dragon, and the great beast carried them across the scarred lands of Hell.

  After a long flight, Lucifer finally ordered the dragon to descend.

  They landed beside a massive crater—the place Lucifer had come to see.

  Lucifer stepped down first. He walked to the center of the crater, each footstep echoing faintly in the still air. Kane remained at the edge, watching quietly.

  Lucifer knelt and pressed his hand against the scorched ground.

  He closed his eyes.

  Memories of his arrival surged through him—the agony, the confusion, the violence of the moment he first fell into Hell. The pain hit him all at once, burning through his nerves as if happening again.

  A violent black aura erupted from his body.

  The ground trembled.

  Dust spiraled upward.

  Shattered rocks rose slowly into the air, pulled by the pressure radiating from him.

  Lucifer’s eyes snapped open, now glowing a deep, unbroken red—no pupils, only raw fury and power.

  The air around him grew so heavy that even Kane staggered back a half-step.

  Something had awakened.

  Something buried.

  Something dangerous.

  Eventually the violent aura faded, and Lucifer’s breathing steadied.

  He rose to his feet and brushed the dust from his hand.

  “This,” he said quietly, “is where I landed when I first arrived in Hell as a child.”

  Kane turned toward him, listening.

  “I had no sense of direction back then,” Lucifer continued, pointing south. “So I just started walking… that way. I didn’t know where I was going. I just walked.”

  He took a few steps in that direction, the memories clearly alive in his mind.

  “Along the way,” he said, “I met a goblin. A tiny thing… wearing a tuxedo of all things. It was the oddest sight I had ever seen.” Lucifer gave a small, humorless smile. “But that goblin told me everything—where I was, where I was heading, and where I should

  be heading. Before I could even thank it, it called me ‘special’… and vanished.”

  Lucifer resumed walking south. Kane and the three-headed black dragon followed behind.

  After a short while, a ripple passed through the air.

  A creature materialized out of thin air right in front of them—a goblin, dressed in the same strange tuxedo.

  Before speaking, it scanned the surroundings. Its gaze jumped from the massive black dragon, to Kane… and finally to Lucifer.

  The moment it recognized them, the goblin froze and then immediately bowed its head.

  “Mr. Kane,” the goblin said respectfully, “shouldn’t you be at the Demon King’s castle? I heard a rumor that after ten thousand years, someone finally managed to overcome the power of the Murderous Throne.”

  Kane stared at the creature, puzzled.

  As far as he knew… they had never met.

  “How do you know me?” Kane asked, suspicion tightening his tone.