Demonic Devourer's Development

After a moment of stunned silence, God of Rogues floated to me and the pile of God of Monks' dead bodies and carefully landed on a web-free spot. He shook his head and clicked his tongue as he looked at the massacre.

"What a wonder… Is he really gone? Even if you say yes, I'm not sure I will believe you. I've known him for so long…" God of Rogues kept staring with a pensive expression.

I listened intently to his thoughts. My body tensed as I prepared for him to decide to end our cooperation with me now. It would've been a joy on some level. I wanted him dead, after all—this was just too soon.

Instead, he was thinking if killing God of Monks in Hell would help the ecology of the mortal realm, or will the EXP that was released from his body on death never reach it?

I had to blink. This thought was based on a concept that was beyond my understanding. Which was curious, and prompted me to keep a closer watch over God of Rogues, in case he thinks about it again sometime.

"What a glorious fight!" Tremble said. She and other Enforcers gathered their scattered and bent weapons and came up to me, too, throwing hungry glances at the pile of bodies in front of me. "A fucking god!"

"Dig in. You deserved it." I gestured generously and ripped off the first piece.

"I think I will leave you guys to your… thing." God of Rogues averted his eyes. "I will find you later, Devourer."

Later, in this case, was after God of Monks' first body was looted for his beautiful robes, strong enough to be an armour for some exalted demon, and the rest of him was eaten. Enforcers engorged himself on meat and there was still plenty of it left for me, but I felt like the most valuable thing I ate was that spark of conscience I swallowed in my rage.

I wondered how I managed it. Was it because the god's soul was weakened? I had to try it out again, to experiment. Could I do it in the mortal realm as well? I doubted it.

These questions still were a burden in my head when I returned to Dis. The Master of Sin was in his palace again since a few days ago, and when I came in, they were playing a board game with God of Rogues. The two of them seemed to have found likely minded people in each other.

Like most other demons, the Master of Sin showed no particular reverence towards God of Rogues, though I sensed the carefulness with which he studied him for intents, ready to avoid a strike at any moment.

At my arrival, the Master of Sin stood up and bowed. "Congratulations, Devourer! I've already heard the amazing news. It's only a matter of time before the rest of Hell does, too—and then even more people will come to rally under your banner. I do wonder about the possible retributions, though…"

He eyed me, wondering silently if I will shoo him away for secret talks with God of Rogues or let him be. I gestured for him to sit back and found myself an empty chair, too.

"I wonder, too. God of Rogues, with no one knowing where God of Monks went, when do you think his disappearance will be noticed?"

He shrugged. "Depends on your luck. But with all that happened, I doubt I will manage to pick a single one as easily… Though I will do my best." God of Rogues smirked. "But if I were you, Devourer, I'd bring the fight to them. Attack them in the mortal realm, then strike at Heaven when they are weakened."

"If I may speak, this sounds like an unnecessary risk," the Master of Sin spoke up. "It's not like we have not established that the gods will come down to Devourer as soon as he announces himself. It would be much easier to defeat them on our home ground as opposed to theirs."

God of Rogues didn't like that plan because it made it much harder for him to control the flow of that decisive fight and of how many more gods he was leaving for me to kill. Aloud, though, he said, "But they can prepare, too. They still might bring angels with them, or scout the place before going in. It's not really an option to fight on the defensive."

I agreed with the last, but attacking Heaven with all the angels that lived there sounded like a bad idea, too. What to do when you had no idea what to do?

Right—delay. "This is a moot point, isn't it? Either way, the plan is the same for now—make that demon army. If gods attack us while we are at it, then it would be another story, but they don't have a reason to think that God of Monks disappeared in Hell of all places, don't they?"

God of Rogues nodded and stood up. "If that's your decision, it's not the worst one I've seen. And I'd love to chat more, but I've been here for too long already. I'd better return and make sure that no one has a reason to suspect me in this disappearance…"

After he teleported away with an intent to make sure no stray angel saw or remembered him visiting God of Monks, I turned to the Master of Sin with the looted robes in my hand.

"You didn't fight, so no meat was left, but I got this. Will add you some presentability, which will be useful since you are still my organisational man." I grinned, proud of myself for finding organisational people in all the realms. "Now make me this tournament soon, or I will take it away with some of your limbs."

"Thank you, lord, and I will," the Master of Sin walked up to me and bowed regally, accepting his gift. "The first recruits had already come.. Though, as much as you dislike the organisational problems, your assistance would be helpful with a few of them."