The silver flames drifting throughout the chamber swayed softly through the stillness while ancient eyes remained fixed upon her from above. The weight of the revelation about Marie's hidden child had already unsettled the hall.
And somehow, against all logic, he had already slain a high-ranked beast before openly declaring himself before the entire Nether Realm.
Even the elders seemed uncertain which part of that disaster concerned them most.
Azaelia folded her arms tighter beneath her chest while waiting for the inevitable flood of questions to continue.
Instead...something changed.
At first, the shift felt subtle enough that everyone within the chamber questioned whether they had imagined it.
That's when the air inside the chamber suddenly felt heavier.
The silver flames suspended throughout the Hall flickered unevenly one after another before dimming faintly.
Azaelia's crimson eyes narrowed immediately because the elders noticed it too.
The younger guard with lavender eyes, standing near the massive crystal doors, suddenly lowered herself onto one knee without warning, her body reacting instinctively before her mind even seemed to understand why.
Even Caelum, her superior, followed shortly after.
A pressure spread silently throughout the Hall. It felt controlled, ancient, and absolute.
The obsidian beneath Azaelia's boots trembled faintly while black feathers began drifting soundlessly throughout the chamber.
These feathers didn't come from above. No, these feathers seem to manifest out of thin air. Even manifesting from shadows before dissolving moments later into particles of dormant sin energy.
The elders slowly rose from their thrones, vanishing from their seats as they combusted into flames, and appearing behind Azaelia in a half-circle formation.
All of them were on their knees, hands raised slightly as if in praise and worship. For they all knew what these manifestations of feathers meant.
Azaelia felt her own body tense unwillingly beneath the pressure filling the hall.
That was the terrifying thing about the being appearing before them, because there was only one being within Pride's dominion capable of making the Hall of Reverence feel this small.
Then a voice echoed softly throughout the chamber.
"Well, now..."
Every silver flame bends toward the highest throne platform simultaneously.
"...This was certainly not what I expected to overhear."
Damien's voice spoke, but it seemed to be layered with two others. One that held authority and power and one that sounded deep and demonic. His midnight-black hair turned platinum-blonde at the ends as his golden eyes glowed brighter.
Lucifer was here, and he had possessed Damien's body as a temporary vessel.
Damien's possessed body now sat comfortably upon the highest throne with one leg crossed over the other.
The pressure throughout the Hall deepened instantly. Even the silver flames drifting throughout the chamber dimmed faintly around the presence of the Monarch of Pride.
Most demons lived entire lifetimes without ever standing within the same space as a Monarch. Yet now Lucifer himself sat within the Hall of Reverence as though he had always belonged there.
Azaelia hated how instinctive the pressure to kneel became the moment his golden eyes drifted lazily across the chamber. Not because he forced it.
Because something buried deep within demon blood recognized superiority when standing before it.
Lucifer's, well, more like Damien's, gaze moved slowly throughout the Hall before eventually settling upon Azaelia herself.
"So...Marie entrusted the boy to you."
The atmosphere tightened immediately afterward.
Azaelia kept her expression under control despite the pressure on her chest.
"She appeared nearly dead and disappeared afterward," Azaelia answered carefully. "That's all I know."
Lucifer watched her silently for several moments. Like someone examining an unfamiliar piece that has been unexpectedly placed upon a game board.
Then a faint smile touched the corner of his lips.
"I see."
But Azaelia immediately knew he didn't fully believe her.
Lucifer leaned back comfortably against the throne while one hand rested loosely against the armrest beside him.
The silver flames nearest to him dimmed further, allowing deeper shadows to gather around Damien's figure.
"Well," he murmured thoughtfully. "This certainly complicates matters."
An elder of the highest rank finally lowered his head slightly before speaking.
"My lord...what brings you before the Hall of Reverence?"
Even asking the question seemed dangerous. Some of the other elders' breaths hitched in their throats. Even the one who asked it began to have sweat appear upon his brow. But he knew everyone else was as curious as he was and voiced their thoughts aloud.
Lucifer's golden eyes drifted toward him.
"I originally intended to inform the Nocthyrions that your clan had officially been nominated."
The chamber remained silent.
Confused, even.
The highest elder spoke carefully. Lowering his hands that he once held in worship towards the highest throne. The other elders followed his actions and lowered their arms as well.
A single word said as a question escaped the highest elder's lips.
"Nominated?"
Lucifer's faint smile deepened almost imperceptibly.
"The young heir appears rather determined to entertain the Nether Realm."
A subtle chill crawled down Azaelia's spine hearing Lucifer speak so casually about Alex.
Not because of hostility, but because of the amusement in his voice.
Lucifer continued calmly.
"Several Monarchs have already begun moving pieces throughout their domains behind the scenes." His fingers tapped lightly against the armrest beside him. "It would hardly be fitting for my Dominion to remain absent."
The silver flames swayed softly throughout the Hall.
No one interrupted him.
Lucifer's gaze slowly drifted towards the elders again.
"You are free to prepare the child however you wish."
That immediately sharpened the atmosphere throughout the chamber.
Another elder frowned faintly. A female this time.
She found the courage to speak after seeing the highest elder had received no repercussions.
"My lord," She began, "What exactly is the child? Azaelia mentioned that he carries our lineage... our bloodline. But what of the other?"
The hall fell silent again afterward.
Azaelia's expression tightened almost immediately.
Lucifer noticed.
How could he not?
The Monarch of Pride leaned faintly against the throne. Then softly he laughed. Not loudly. Not mockingly. It was the kind of laugh born from genuine amusement.
"Hmmm..." Lucifer's golden eyes gleamed beneath the pale silver light as he let out a hum. "So this lustful girl neglected to mention that part."
Several elders immediately turned toward Azaelia, causing her jaw to tighten faintly and her heartbeat to pause for the briefest of seconds.
"Tch." Azaelia sucked her teeth. She already knew that Alex's other bloodline would be revealed, but she did not expect the Monarch of Pride to be the one to bring it up.
Lucifer rested his cheek lazily against one hand before continuing.
"The boy carries the bloodline of an Asura within his veins."
Silence.
Shock spread throughout the Hall almost immediately, though beneath it lingered something worse.
Unease.
Another elder unknowingly voiced his thoughts out loud.
"That's...impossible."
Lucifer's faint smile deepened slightly.
"And yet the hound of Wrath still died."
The atmosphere throughout the Hall tightened almost painfully after that.
Several elders stared toward Azaelia now as if seeing her for the first time again.
The same female elder who had asked the question spoke once again.
"But...that bloodline is extinct, my lord."
Lucifer's golden eyes drifted lazily toward the female elder.
"Apparently not."
Azaelia folded her arms tighter beneath her chest. Now the room felt completely different. Before, Alex was merely Marie's hidden child.
Now?
Alex was a living impossibility.
Lucifer slowly rose from the throne afterward.
"The other Monarchs already intend to hunt the boy," Lucifer continued calmly. "Wrath especially."
A faint amusement lingered within his voice.
"Killing him immediately would undoubtedly satisfy several of them."
The pressure throughout the chamber eased slightly as Lucifer stepped down from the throne platform.
"But ending the game now would be rather dull."
A colder feeling settled into Azaelia's chest, hearing those words.
Lucifer wasn't protecting Alex.
He simply didn't want the entertainment to end too soon.
"You may train the boy," Lucifer continued calmly.
"Prepare him however you wish. I decided that the false seraphs will be his protectors. The enemies to the other dominions of sin and their nominees."
His golden eyes shifted briefly toward the elders. Lucifer simply had no desire to see the game end before it became entertaining.
"It has been a very long time since this realm produced something interesting."
The shadows around him deepened slowly afterward.
"And if the others wish to kill the boy so badly..."
A faint amusement touched his voice once more.
"They will simply have to bring another clan to extinction. But I'm sure you all will make me...proud."
Then Lucifer vanished.
Damien's body collapsed down on a single knee breathing hard in haggard breathes. He slowly raised his left hand to his forehead, feeling drained after Lucifer's possession. He had heard everything said through his body and to say Damien wasn't shocked would be an understatement.
The pressure crushing the chamber gradually faded afterward.
Caelum and the female girl with lavender eyes immediately released shaky breaths they'd unknowingly been holding. Even the silver flames floating throughout the Hall slowly straightened once more.
Yet despite Lucifer's disappearance, the atmosphere he left behind somehow felt even heavier.
Azaelia stared at Damien knealt down just ahead of her before quietly releasing a breath herself, because now she understood something deeply unpleasant.
Alex had not merely caught the attention of the Nether Realm.
He had become entertainment for the most dangerous ruler, and the Nocthyrion clan had just been put up as collateral.