The dragon's harem

Chapter 1103: The Great Gate Of The Nine Hells

”Say, about the abyss… You know Iʼm a pseudo-demon lord.” The pseudo-demon lord looked at Arad, and he almost immediately figured out what she wanted. Kali once mentioned it before. ”To become a full-fledged demon lord, you must rule over your own layer of the abyss.”

”Thatʼs one way; the other is to get the goddess to approve of me as one first, Iʼll then have to seek a demon lord to defeat and steal his layer.” She looked at Arad, ”The newly built lower layers are all ruled by far powerful demons that I canʼt compete with.”

”So you want me to see if I can have her approve of you as a demon lord?”

The pseudo-demon lordʼs face brightened, ”I know you wonʼt be working for free. Itʼs not that every day you find someone who could feel the goddessʼs presence, let alone be noticed by her.”

”Are you two done chit-chatting?” The archdevil approached them, ”Wrap it up, my bois got beaten up by him.”

The Pseudo-demon lord glared at her with burning eyes, ”Shove shit up your mouth, hell-spawn!”

The archon approached and took a deep breath. ”They are talking about a goddess, let them be.” Even if angels donʼt get along with demon lords, a demon goddess like Kali was a different matter. She is the heavenʼs leash on the abyss and most angels not just respect her, but admire her power and compassion toward orphans.

The archdevil glared back at the angel, ”Since when did your kind start working with those ugly bastards?”

Angels, devils, and demons didnʼt get along, but were entangled in a thousand-year-old war.

The Devil-demon war in the space between the hells and the abyss was called the Blood War. The Demon-angel war at the abyssʼs frontlines got nicknamed the Cleansing War. And the Angel-devil war was called the Pit War.

Arad looked at the pseudo-demon lord; she was strong, tall, muscular, and had four large arms. Probably a brawler… ”Weʼll talk with Kali… But Iʼve got a suggestion.” Arad looked at her, and she immediately caught up.

Arad said weʼll talk with Kali… meaning he intends on getting her to meet the goddess. Demons in the abyss risk their lives for a chance to see the mother of all demons, let alone the goddess.

”What do you want? As long as I have it, Iʼll pay your price.”

”Itʼs less of a price and more of a job.” He said, and she immediately replied, ”I wonʼt work for anyone. I want to become a demon lord after all.”

”Iʼve got three layers that I rule. I conquered two layers, the ones that Alaric and Sawless owned. The last Kali herself cleared for me. The problem is that managing those will become harder and harder, especially with how violent the demons are.”

”Currently, I want to stay in Sawlessʼs layer, the one in the middle. The upper one might be a decent arena for fights and training, and the lower one now needs new management.” Arad looked at her, ”Iʼm not available all the time to manage any of them… so after you become a demon lord, I want you to rule one of them for me.”

The pseudo-demon lord remained silent, even the archon and archdevil understood what kind of bullshit Arad was spitting. Is he really just giving out a whole layer of the abyss?

”Are you serious? You think Iʼll work as some sort of servant for you?” The pseudo-demon lord glared at him, and Arad smiled, ”No, as long as you arenʼt starting fights with the other layers, youʼll be in full control over it like any other demon lord.”

She looked back at Kali, considering that the goddess herself is staying close, this might be a gamble worth the risk. ”Fine, but Iʼll take the lowest layer. The deeper you go into the abyss, the stronger the natural energy is. If Iʼm to serve someone, Iʼd want the best cut of meat for myself.”

”Youʼve got yourself a deal.” Arad smiled and cracked his neck, ”For now, shall we fight as we first intended?”

”Three against one, itʼs not fair.” The pseudo-demon lord growled, ”It proves nothing of my power. And Iʼm not a fan of allying with angels and devils.”

”We have no reason to fight.” The angel replied… but her face suddenly paled, ”No…I have to fight. Yog sent me an order saying I should ally with you two and fight.”

”I donʼt care what you two think.” The archdevil moved forward, her body burning with hellish flames. ”Iʼm here to wipe the floor with him. With you two helping or not, itʼll make no difference.”

”No… we wonʼt be fighting him all at once. Iʼll go first to test my strength, you two cowards who want to gang on a single man can pick his exhausted remains after Iʼm done with him.” While the three argued, Arad stood to the side, watching them with an amused face.

”You know, three on one really is unfair.” Arad stood and approached them, ”Unfair to you, that is.” When Arad took a single step toward them, they could feel that something was off; his power seemed to be rapidly increasing with each blink of the eye.

The archdevil suddenly pointed a finger at him and fired a spinning drill of fire the size of a carrot at his chest. Such an attack was called the blood wedge of the nine hells. A potent and painful spell used by the devils to crucify sinners on massive grills to torture them. Itʼs supposed to be able to pin anything and anyone down, for the hell is where even the strongest of sinners should be jailed.

Arad remained standing in place, intending to take the seemingly small drill head-on. That was a mistake, as this drill didnʼt work based on normal means; it was designed by a powerful archangel to work based on the worldʼs laws themselves. It doesnʼt matter who the person is, the drill doesnʼt care if they are an immortal god or an ancient demon lord; theyʼll be pinned and dragged by chains to suffer in hell.

The moment the drill hit Aradʼs chest, it started spinning faster and faster. Sparks flew everywhere, and a blinding light illuminated the area. Then, as if realising something on its own, the drill bounced back from Aradʼs chest and shattered.

At that moment, the archdevil wanted to cry and run away… the angel beside her didnʼt seem to understand the gravity of what had just happened. Most angels only know that those drills are powerful tools; only the archdevils and above know of the true nature of their power, as Lucifer kept it as a closely guarded devil secret.

The pseudo-demon lord took the drillʼs spark as a starting bell and lunged at Arad, swinging her two right fists at his face. CLACK! CLACK! The two punches landed on Aradʼs left cheek one after another in the blink of an eye. Not many creatures could deliver a double punch like that. If anyone else besides Arad had been hit, they mightʼve died on the spot.

Arad clenched his right fist and swung a right hook, smacking the pseudo-demon lord in the face so hard that her eyes almost burst from their sockets. Her body jolted and she felt her spine twist, her organs vibrate, and her brain almost turn into a mush.

The shock to her brain was so severe that she could feel her heart stop for a moment, all of her organs failing to respond and piss rushing down between her legs. This was the first time in her life that she tasted such a punch, and she could tell that he wasnʼt putting his back into it.

^Ah…I want to sleep…I feel…so tired…^ For a moment there, she felt so weak, exhausted, and pained that sleep was her only option. Her consciousness slowly slipped into peaceful oblivion… ever so soothed by the darkness of the abyss.

CRACK! Her toes dug into the fresh mud beneath her feet, and her muscles contracted. Her demonic blood violently erupted, fueled by nothing but rage and pure chaotic violence. With a deafening roar, she swung two fists at Aradʼs chest with enough force to shatter the air and send him flying back faster than the eye could see.

Demons are resilient, powerful, and proud. Violence isnʼt their language, but itʼs their life. Death wonʼt get between her and a fight, and so the only path forward was rage, blood rage to fulfill the violence desired by her blood. She was a barbarian Asura Demon and could rage like human barbarians.

Arad did a backflip and landed on his feet, two holes blown into his shirt. With a simple move, he reached up and touched Merlinʼs hat and sent it into his stomach so it wonʼt get damaged. He then grabbed his shirt from one of the holes and ripped it off.

The two red marks of the pseudo-demon lordʼs fists still burned red on his chest. ”Thatʼs more like it. For a moment, I thought that Iʼd better look for another demon.”

At that moment, the archon appeared behind his back, swinging her bright sword. [Divine Cleaver]

The archon was one of Yogʼs angels, and all of them were linked to her powers. They werenʼt just brute brawlers but scholars of magic, and those with achievement could even grasp faint traces of Yogʼs knowledge to empower themselves.

The archon could see Aradʼs shadow, an image of him turning back and punching her divine cleaver away… This was one of the abilities she gained from Yog: the power to see the moves of her opponents before they do them.

Seeing her{An Archon} divine cleaver get punched away was shocking enough…but what made her almost shit herself is that she saw another image of Arad spinning around with a round kick, another one with him pulling her down with gravity magic, another with him exploding into fire, another with his dodging and punching her, another with jumping back and smacking her with his back, and even one where pure darkness exploded from him and swallows her whole.

Her power should allow her to see the targetʼs next move… what she couldnʼt understand is why she sees multiple images of Aradʼs next move… even the gods only have one. But as she thought, her flashing sword was already close to his flesh. Whatever the result is, she has still seen them all and would only need to adapt.

CRACK! Arad suddenly disappeared from her vision, and she felt something heavy smack into her left wings and arm, crushing them. Arad was already behind her back and had swung his right arm at her left side, shattering her right arm and ribs with enough force to send her violently spinning through the air.

The pseudo-demon lord lunged at Arad, blinded by rage, swinging her fist at a speed that would make everyone shudder. Such a deadly charge, not even true demon lords would dare take her head on. But instead of punching Arad, she ended up kissing the sole of his foot as he kicked her in the face, sending her flying back with a broken neck and caved face.

This had given the archdevil enough time to call upon the power of the nine hells. She floated in fire and put her hand together, ”PUNISH THE SINNERS! THIS MORTAL FOOL HAD DARED TO HARM AN ANGEL!”

A massive, 10-kilometer tall bone gate appeared out of nowhere, its massive doors were made of the rotten skeletons of titans and dried leather of humanoids. The smell alone was so foul that it made the girls watching puke.

”Thatʼs…” Matilda held her nose shut, her guts twisting from the horrid smell. Sheʼd rather swim in the sewers and gargle their water than get anywhere near that gate.

”The gate of the hells. Itʼs what appears to cast sinners into eternal damnation.” Kali replied, ”Not even the gods can resist its power.”

The moment the gate started to open and an even fouler stench rushed out, the girls started crying and ran to hide behind Kali. Even when her barriers had quelled the smell, almost all of them started eating the dirt from the ground, trying to clench their throat of what they smelled. The only two who remained fine were Sara, who is a devil, and Eris who once went to the hells and came back.

Obsidian chains emerged from the gate, thousands of them, and they all flew at Arad, wrapping around his body and clipping into his bones. The massive chain rings wrapped around his forearms, the bones passing right through the rings. Each one of his ribs got multiple chains, and so did his legs and neck, one even grabbed into his lower jaw.

The chains slowly pulled him up and into the hells, slowly closing with a loud roar. The archdevil sighed. It was done. None can resist hell itself. But something was already odd, the gate usually disappeared the moment the doors closed to avoid further contamination of the mortal world with hellʼs toxic air.

”POOR DEVIL!” A voice boomed from the hell gate as the eyes of the titan skeletons burned with a flash of red light. ”WHAT AN OUTRAGEOUS THING HAVE YOU CAST INTO ME!”

BANG! BANG! Loud banging could be heard from inside the gate, and suddenly a beam of pure white light burst out with a roar so loud that the devilʼs eyes and ears bled. The gate shattered, and the beam flew into the horizon, exploding into a massive sea of fire that cracked the crust of the world.

The archdevil watched helplessly as Arad walked out of the shattered gate, pulling the chains out of his flesh as if they were mere cactus needles. He stared at her for a second, and in the next second, her vision blurred as he smacked her to the ground with a dropkick.

With his foot still on her head, he growled, ”How am I supposed to face Merlin smelling like hell?” He then washed his whole body with a surge of the void and pulled a small bottle of pine perfume that he had made, and poured it over his head and shoulders.

Speaking of Merlin, her spell was about to be cast. Arad walked away from the archdevil and headed toward her, walking at his own pace.

Kali was sitting in the back with the girls behind her, gasping for their lives. A large smile crossed her face, ^Of course hell canʼt chain its creator down. Two brain injuries were enough to put the demon down. The archdevil did her best, but hell will never chain Arad, and the angel gave up since if Arad canʼt be restrained by hell, what could she do besides get beaten up even more than she already did?^

She looked back, ”You two are fine?” Sara and Eris were standing there trying to help everyone else who had almost died from the smell alone.

”It smells like home.” Sara replied with a smile, ”Warm and cozy.”

Eris looked at her, ”Yeah, as cozy as a rotten rat boiled in piss, eaten by an orb and them vomited back for you to gargle like water.”

”Sinners are boiled in acid there, eaten by devils, sometime shat or puked back for other sinner to eat, and then those sinners are also grilled or boiled. Donʼt worry, hellʼs power makes sure even if they lived there for a thousand years, that they wonʼt ever get used to it.” Sara had a large smile on her face that was somewhat disturbing.

As they talked, a massive pillar of light emerged in the distance, roaring with Merlinʼs magic.