Evelyn breathed in and pressed the System window in order to start the Trial. She looked up and sighed internally. If she wanted to show off what her Path Quest had given her, she would have to summon… him.

She quietly groaned. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t try anything weird,” she muttered to herself and spread her arms out, her eyes flared up with power. On the ground below her, a pentagram made out of blue flames was drawn in an instant.

“[By Our Contract, I Summon You,]” she chanted and a hand abruptly shot out from within the magic formation. It latched onto the ground and pulled the rest of its body up.

The towering figure of a horned demon with charcoal skin gradually emerged and stood behind his summoner. His mouth formed a grin as he hefted a great hammer. His eyes, which resembled ellipses of lava, narrowed as he looked at the meteor.

“[Hell Evocation – Belial,]” Evelyn called his name and he laughed as he felt his existence being anchored.

“Haha, I shall show you the might of Belial, Priestess! Feast your eyes,” he declared and his talons struck against the ground. In the blink of an eye, he rocketed through the air, his hammer held in one hand; relaxed and parallel to his body.

As he approached the meteor, the flames became tamer as if they were afraid to burn any stronger in his presence.

From below, Rakna watched his ascension curiously. That demonic being was releasing a type of energy that closely reminded him of divinity but simultaneously felt completely different.

“Gods have divinity,” Nyx suddenly commented whilst standing next to him. It was as if she knew what he was thinking about. “We’re not all necessarily holy beings, but divinity is by nature. That is why even Hades himself would have holy energy. Because that is what Gods are. They are not good or evil; they are just holy. What that represents for humans is up to them only.”

Right then, Belial collided with the meteor and what happened next was instantaneous. The whole integrity of the giant rock collapsed without resistance. Every single bit of debris didn’t even get the chance to fall further, and stagnated in the air before being swallowed by the flames that had previously coated the meteorite.

Belial emerged from the flames, surrounded by ashes and the meteor that had been pulverized to microscopic scales, and let himself drop with the force of gravity.

“Then, there’s the opposite,” Nyx continued as Belial landed. “There are demons, but they are not quite equivalent to Gods. The only beings capable of standing on equal but opposite sides to Gods are Devils. They aren’t holy in any shape or form, but you could say they nonetheless have a divine essence. At the end of the day, the main difference between Gods and Devils is the source of their power; the former comes from faith while the latter comes from dread.”

Rakna glanced at the former goddess as the Trial’s barrier was taken down.

“Gods are ideals of grandeur. Devils are ideals of terror,” she said with a sigh. “Some people refer to both of their energies as divinity. But others started using another word for Devils; Infernity. It is what you’re currently sensing from him.”

“Oh? I see that there’s someone knowledgeable about the inner workings of Hell here,” a loud and booming voice echoed, along with the sounds and tremors of footsteps.

Belial was approaching the group, ignoring the flustered Evelyn floating around his head to make him stop. “Hey! I told you not to do anything weird! Why are you still here?! You’re taking way too much mana!” She complained with crocodile tears.

“Haha, it’s fine, Priestess. I’m sure you can keep me around for a few minutes more.”

“That’s not the point!”

The devil eventually stopped walking and looked at Nyx with a smirk. “Hm, are you a divine vessel perhaps?” He mused and crossed his arms. “No, not quite. A fallen goddess? Let’s see… the feeling of darkness and silence around you; night? Then, that would make you…” He seemingly reached a satisfying conclusion and nodded. “I did hear about one of the Elysium Pillars disappearing after their fight with Eternal Night; was that you?”

“You sure know a lot…” Nyx responded with narrowed eyes.

“Hell has eyes everywhere,” he retorted and gave everyone else a cursory glance. “A Dusk Lion, a Nine-Headed Hydra, an Asura, an Ichubyr, a Chaos Witch, a Green Lamia, a Celestial Blaze, and last but not least, a Nine-Tailed Werewolf,” he listed and focused on Rakna. “How special; the causality around you is immensely strong. Is it just because the Kind Demon is related to you?”

Rakna’s eye twitched. “Causality…? And how do you know about my old man?”

Belial snorted and pointed at Evelyn. “Whatever my Priestess knows, I know as well. But even if it wasn’t that way, it’s hard for any dweller of Hell not to know about Eternal Night. For a while, we were quite scared that he would put his sights on us. So, we kept an eye on him, and also looked into him, which includes you among other things.”

“Wait, what is this Hell you’ve been talking about?” Higure inquired with a frown. “The only one I have ever heard about was the place they called an Original Land outside the System. And that was exactly one of the things that Eternal Night is supposedly responsible for destroying.”

“{That’s what I heard as well,}” Fray concurred and Belial was a bit surprised, not having sensed his presence inside Rakna’s soul until now. “{You are seemingly referring to something that even the Kind Demon didn’t bother interfering with.}”

“Hmph, I see the people in this pocket world don’t know about it. What do you children think Hell is?” The devil asked and Evelyn groaned quietly, understanding that the conversation would take a little while, and popped a mana recovery pill.

“The place where the dead go?” Allan casually answered the question and Belial shook his head.

“Wrong. Maybe there are places like that, but they are simply lesser dimensions attached to small Realities or Planes of Existence. They use the name ‘Hell’ out of convenience at best,” he explained and snorted. “No, the Hell I hail from is the true one. It is a Realm. You may not know, but a place that has gained the qualification of ‘Realm’ is considered the height of creation.”

“For instance, the few Realms known to Existence are the Dream Realm, the Nightmare Realm, the Life Realm, the Death Realm, the Quantum Realm, the Chrome Realm, the Prison Realm; popularly known as ‘Kymestuos’ and Eternal Night’s greatest creation; and finally, we have Akasha’s Realm, or Egregore if you prefer, and Hell; also called the Infernal Realm.”

“That… is a bit too much information to handle,” Flavia wryly commented.

Belial snickered. “Well, you probably cannot even fathom how important they are. But would it be easier if I told you that among those, the Life and Death Realms are the reason why Magic Circuits and Worldly Energies, such as mana, exist in the first place?”

“What? Then that would mean…”

“Yes, they’re responsible for almost everything supernatural in Existence,” Belial stated. “Do you understand now how big of a deal Realms are?”

“…” Everyone fell silent as they processed the new information. They thought that they wouldn’t be surprised by revelations like these anymore after joining the System, but the more they learned, the more they realized that the System itself was probably just a small part of the universe.

“Now, I won’t bore you with the details about each Realm,” Belial continued. “In the first place, no one even knows if there aren’t any that haven’t been discovered yet. Even those that stand at the top such as Eternal Night are lost in that regard. But what I can tell you is how Hell was created.”

“It’s not that complicated in actuality,” he added. “Hell is an agglomeration of negative emotions. We devils are born from masses of negativity across Existence. My Infernity is mainly composed of Wrath for instance. But you could say it’s just one of my many ingredients.”

“You act pretty chill for a devil of wrath,” Allan remarked and Belial burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! Is that so? If you see me that way, it’s fine. But just so you know, wrath has many forms and they are not always indiscriminate. Let’s say my aspect of wrath only flares up against beings that have committed very specific sins. Oh, and don’t misunderstand, we have nothing to do with the cardinal sins. Devils can be anything; jealousy, desperation, revenge, hatred, sadness, and even twisted versions of love.”

“{If I may,}” Fray raised his voice. “{If the Realm of Hell exists, does Heaven?}”

“Ah, that,” Belial huffed in amusement. “Of course not. What would it be if it did? An agglomerate of positive emotions? That’s nonsense.”

“Eh? Why?” Evelyn asked curiously as she stood on his shoulder.

“They don’t linger I would assume,” Rakna interjected and the devil grinned.

“Right on the money. That’s the thing about positive people, isn’t it?” He laughed. “They don’t have the grit to fight; they die with a smile on their face. Their emotions scatter without intent. You can only become a devil…” He harrumphed. “If you have the desperation and hatred necessary to claw your way back.”

“Hell is a regulator. If it didn’t exist, the negativity would run rampant and do far more destruction than any devil or demon back home could ever do. That is most likely why Eternal Night decided to leave us alone. Lest he finds a solution, we are the worst Pandorica he could ever open. And it’s not like Hell is much of a threat, despite its name,” Belial shrugged. “The most interaction we get outside the realm is through people like Hell Priests.”

“Which Evelyn became, huh?” Rakna commented.

“Yes, the girl has a satisfactory amount of death causality and abilities for the job,” Belial said. “But it seems we’ve talked too much. I just wanted to chat a bit, but after not being out of Hell in more than a thousand years, I’ve forgotten how annoying it is for us Devils to remain materialized,” he added as he felt the mana provided to him gradually fading.

The succubus on his shoulder gave him a glare as if to say ‘no shit’. Even if she replenished her mana with medicine, the Path Skill that allowed her to summon Belial had a time limit, and it put quite a strain on her magic circuits as well.

Belial was considered a High-Low Rank Devil according to the System’s measuring. If it were to be translated into levels, however, he was well over 900 with incredibly powerful personal skills and energy. Summoning such a being, even if it’s in a weaker state, was a monumental feat.

“Wait, you mentioned ‘causality’ when you saw me as well,” Rakna said. “What did you mean?”

“Oh, that?” Belial cocked his head. “You don’t know? I can feel the wrath inside you though. I think you should be plenty aware of it.”

“Wrath…?” The therian muttered and his eyes widened. There were two prominent elements on his status that had ‘Wrath’ in their description; Ireful Descent and Wrathful Obsidian Blood.

“Well, if you don’t know, let me tell you this. The causality I was talking about is something we use in Hell to describe the creation of negative energy,” the devil explained before pointing at Evelyn with his finger. “This lass has an affinity for it. But you, you simply have it. Get it?”

Nyx seemed to have caught onto something and turned toward Rakna in shock. “That would mean he… that can’t be!” She raised her voice and to everyone who knew how calm she could be, it was rather unsettling.

“That goddess understood it already but I’ll tell you anyway,” Belial continued as his body began to fade. He pointed his finger at Rakna. “You’re generating death causality on your own. I have no idea how, honestly, but you’re doing something that only devils should be able to do. Maybe you’ve been exposed to extreme amounts of lingering negative energy in the past and somehow managed to merge with it without dying.”

Rakna’s face twitched at that. There was only one possible instance in his life that could possibly match that kind of circumstance. ‘Could it be…? That would explain many things,’ he thought with a frown and made a mental note to analyze himself with Crystal Sight later.

“All in all, you have infernity inside you and if you’re not careful, you might turn into a full-fledged Devil,” Belial concluded with a smirk and everyone looked at Rakna in confusion, more than actual concern. None of them had noticed anything weird about him prior to now, and only Nyx seemed to be flustered because of her own knowledge about the subject.

“Well, regardless, Hell would gladly welcome you if that happens,” Belial finished with a laugh and a pentagram appeared under him, opening a gate to bring him back to Hell. “Oh, time’s up. Damn, that was fast. Hey, Priestess, next time, summon me for a proper fight, okay? Punching a big rock is fun and all but it doesn’t make my blood pump.”

“Um… sure?” The phantom sweatdropped.

“Alright, see you on the battlefield,” the devil laughed and was sucked in by the pentagram. As the traces of energy completely died down, Rakna exhaled before anyone commented on what they had just heard.

“I’ll go next. I guess I’ll go see myself if what he said is true,” he declared and dashed to the Trial stone with a burst of Star Flash.