Probably won't be able to update again until this Saturday. Sorry, I'll be busy.

Four men sat on thrones located on the points of a glowing pentagram in the otherwise pitch-black room. The pentagram sparsely lit the room, their faces were hardly visible in the darkness.

All of them had an otherworldly beauty and had auras that would fill others with a sense of dread and fear. They represented absolute death.

In the north, a man with onyx hair and eyes sat, he was obviously bored. He was picking at his nails as if they were the most interesting thing in this entire world. His appearance could be considered rather mundane and average in comparison to the others there. His name was Belial.

To the east, a man with shining white hair and silver-blue eyes that were filled with rage, his name, Lucifer. Out of all the men there, his appearance was the most calming and attractive, but the anger he didn’t bother hiding ruined that.

In the southern throne, Satan sat, his eyes were a vivid orange while his hair was a fiery red in color, both of them resembled the flame so much, it was hard to believe that they weren’t. There was something about him that made him strangely alluring despite the fact that his level of beauty was lower than Lucifer’s. There was a wry smile on his face as if he found something to be rather funny.

Finally, in the western seat, there was Leviathan. His hair was such a dark blue that it almost appeared to be black, and his eyes were the color of the oceans. From the far-away look in his beautiful eyes, he clearly was off in his own little world.

“So, then, Lucy...” Satan started. “Where has your beloved Laufeia run off to? Not that you can blame her, you’re being such a terrible hubby by ordering her death like that,” he spoke in a flippant voice.

“From what my scouts said, she and her guards are holed up in some previous Dragon Lord, Emperor now ranked Dragon’s castle,” Lucifer responded.

“Ah, I heard about that person! No one knows who they are, they always send that famed necromancer Lilian as their representative,” Belial exclaimed.

“The one that I wanted...” Satan lamented. He remembered the beautiful beastwoman and his desire to take her as his own... it was his first time tasting rejection, it wasn’t a pleasant taste.

Leviathan spoke, “Why don’t you just enter the castle and demand Laufeia to be handed over to you? A mere Dragon rank is nothing for you to be concerned about seeing as you have many Demon Lords and Emperors under your control.”

“As true as that is, I feel as if it’d be too naive and presumptuous of me to assume that I could just storm in. It’s not as if Laufeia would stand still and allow herself to be taken.”

Laufeia herself had strength close to if not equal to that of the Four Princes’. She couldn’t be considered a weak entity by any means, she could take out quite a few of the Demon Lords and Emperors sent to her. Also, considering the fact that Lilian was capable of summoning powerful undead and the one she served was considered to be Dragon rank couldn’t be ignored either.

So, unlike Leviathan who would just throw himself at them without holding back any strength, Lucifer was taking a more cautious approach. Honestly, a part of him didn’t want to see Laufeia die, but at the same time, he was infuriated by the fact she didn’t want revenge for the loss of their son.

Their son’s wife had committed suicide out of grief, and no one knew where Vyne had ended up, but if he heard the news of his father’s death, he’d be saddened, too.

Well, they hadn’t been exactly a close-knit family, so perhaps Vyne wouldn’t be mournful. Actually, that child always brought things to the extreme, Lucifer doubted that he felt any love towards any of them.

They had wanted to make Vyne a warrior, but he changed into something that they hadn’t predicted.

Cold. Calculating. A love for inflicting misery onto others. When Vyne would finally realize his powers in a few hundred years or so, he’d undoubtedly be able to compete with his grandfather. Ah... what a scary child.

Perhaps he could enlist Vyne in the hunting of Laufeia, that boy would probably kill her without a batting an eyelash.

He’d have his minions find Vyne.

“Well, do whatever you want,” Leviathan muttered, bringing back Lucifer’s focus to their conversation. “She’s your wife, anyway.”

“I planned to do just that,” Lucifer said, abruptly standing up. “If that’s all you wanted from me, I’ll be leaving.”

Leviathan thought this entire thing was stupid. It was common knowledge that Lucifer and Laufeia were crazy in love, he already knew that Lucifer wouldn’t be able to carry out the death sentence, so, all this drama was for nothing.

Still, it was fun to watch... and he had no real reason not to help out his friend.

“What a stiff,” Satan muttered as Lucifer made his way out.

“Hmph, acting like that.” Belial snorted, “I give him a few more days of raging. Want to make a bet?”

“Yeah, I’m in,” two voices responded in unison.

...

Laufeia’s hands were trembling. She had expected a lot of things, just not this.

Why!

Why was she standing outside of the doors she had been expecting to protect her. Angrily, she banged on the door, screaming for them to let her in.

The reason why Erebus had denied Laufeia safety was more complicated than she thought. It was something that the Dragon Council had already established a rule for, they would not interfere with the matters of other races unless it brought harm to their world or it was approved by all of the Council.

Plus, he had absolutely no interest in Laufeia.

“Ah, I want to try fighting the Princes, though... to see the extent of their strength. It’s not like I’d kill them, though,” Erebus complained to Triton and Mae.

Yvick had left, saying that there was no longer a need for him to stay. But Triton had stayed behind, mostly because he was lonely at the bottom of his dungeon.

“Why don’t you just allow her sanctuary? It’s not like you’ve ever listened to the Dragon Council’s rules,” Mae remarked. “In fact, the Four Princes will probably keep an issue like this on the down low, so it’s not like they’ll hear about it. As long as you stay quiet, that is.”

“Couldn’t you just challenge one of them to a duel? Not one to the death, but simply a duel. You could at least have some fun with that, it’s not like there’s a rule explicitly stating that you can’t duel the others. You just happen to be allowing Laufeia to stay here, and because you saw this rare opportunity, you decided to challenge them,” Triton added.

“You two... to see that you’re on my side makes me so happy,” Erebus cried out.

Mae and Triton both nodded their heads. “I’ll let her back in!” Mae shouted, jumping up and running out of the room.

“What are you going to do if Vyne finds out?”

“Hmm... it shouldn’t be that big of a problem, he’s already sworn his loyalty to me and no longer to his grandfather and father... ah, wait, his dad’s dead. That was insensitive of me.”

“Why don’t you call him here?”

Erebus did so. Within a matter of moments, Vyne burst through the doors. He kneeled, and bowed his head to Erebus. “You called, my lord?”

“Mm, yeah. Sit, there’s someone coming.”

Vyne was confused, but nonetheless, he obeyed and sat across from his master. Of course, he put as much distance between himself and Triton without saying a word or showing his displeasure.

A short while passed, and the veiled Laufeia and Mae reentered the room. Laufeia who was decked out in complete black truly resembled a woman in mourning and was the picture of grief.

“Grandmother,” Vyne said, surprised that she was there. He was able to recognize her because of her aura, but it had been centuries since he had last seen her. “Why are you here? Where’s grandfather?”

In all of his existence, whenever he saw Laufeia, Lucifer had been there, too. It wasn’t that they were always together, it was just that on the few occasions he saw them, it was formal, therefore, they were there together.

“It’s a long story,” she responded sadly.

Vyne had been the closest to Laufeia out of all them, to her, he felt what could be called a familial bond, though, it was a very weak one. Still, it existed. He didn’t love her. He didn’t hate her.

“Your father, he...” Laufeia’s throat constrained, she found it hard to speak. “He was murdered in a battle with three of the Archangels: Gabriel, Michael, and Uriel. Apparently, they were overseen by a Seraphim.”

“I see, so my father has passed away. What brings you here, exactly?” Vyne asked, his voice remaining even. He barely even blinked at the mention of his father’s death.

“Your mother, she also took her life after hearing about his death.”

“She always had a taste for the dramatics,” Vyne responded.

Laufeia shook her head as if she was reprimanding herself for expecting something from him. “Your grandfather is hunting me down because I am not supporting the avenging of our son.”

“So you have come to Lord Erebus in hopes of him protecting you?”

Laufeia didn’t respond. She was currently taking in information. What she could tell was that Vyne had sworn his loyalty to Erebus? Why else would he call him Lord Erebus, and why else would Vyne be here? Just to ascertain her conjecture, she asked.

“Indeed, I serve Lord Erebus,” Vyne affirmed her question.

She looked down at her gloved hands. “That’s good then, as long as you’re happy.”

Vyne furrowed his brows, he didn’t understand why she was talking about happiness.

He had never thought of serving Lord Erebus to be “happy”... But now that he thought about it, he had a lot of fun here, he had even laughed. This was the only place he’d ever felt emotions outside of the joy he had when bringing pain to others.

Something, at that moment, changed within Vyne. He felt a foreign sensation enter his body, his eyes began to burn.

What was this?

He felt as if his heart was going to burst! What was this unknown feeling? He had never felt anything like it.

His father. That man. He was... gone?

What was Vyne’s father’s name? Vyne never knew. He had never once learned his mother’s or father’s name. No one ever told him. Vyne realized that it was pitiful, the man and woman who had lead to his existence were nothing more than strangers to him.

He wanted to know more about them. He remembered Tear’s anger for the loss of her family. Why couldn’t he have that? Why couldn’t he feel that? Was he jealous? Of that pig?

“If you’ll excuse me,” Vyne said, struggling to keep his voice impassive. He left the room, four pairs of eyes focused on his back.

Silence filled the room. No one knew what to say until...

“Hey, did you just break my subordinate?” Erebus asked, turning to Laufeia.

She touched her heart, her long nails digging into the fabric of her gown. “I don’t know what happened, I didn’t do anything.”

“Uh, yes, you did,” Erebus grumbled. "What if he's broken... where else am I going to get such a high-class toy?"

Laufeia chose to selectively ignore the fact her grandson was being considered a plaything.

“Anyway, I was surprised to see my grandson here. I know that he had established himself as a Demon Lord, then he suddenly disappeared. I assume this is when he was put under your supervision?”

“Mm... something like that,” Erebus responded.

Triton chuckled as he recalled the time when Vyne was a Demon Lord. Ah, what an outspoken child...

He had been so arrogant, but now Vyne had calmed down a little. Emphasis on little.