No one knew where Asmodeus had gone. After receiving Lucifer's command, he had left Hell, briefly returning to retrieve Mammon along the way, and then vanished without a trace.
Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, over a decade had passed. As the deadline for fulfilling their pact drew near, Lucifer began venturing out more frequently, but each time he returned, his expression grew more inscrutable.
One day, he returned radiating a palpable aura of low pressure. As soon as he entered his chambers, he found Morlock waiting at the door.
"Your Majesty, Lord Asmodeus has returned and is currently waiting in the Hall of All Demons for an audience."
Lucifer's gaze paused momentarily before turning toward the door. Morlock followed, continuing, "The other lords are also present..."
Lucifer wasn't surprised. After Asmodeus's decade-long absence, the wager could no longer be kept secret, nor did he intend to keep it secret. What he hadn't expected was the Hall of All Demons being so lively. Nearly all the Seven Deadly Sins were there, gathered in a circle and murmuring amongst themselves. Not far away stood a raw block of white marble.
*So this is what Asmodeus has brought back this time,* Lucifer thought. His uninhibited stride quickly drew the attention of the assembled demons, who fell silent and parted to form two rows, bowing to the Demon King.
Lucifer walked past them one by one: Leviathan, Behemoth, Lilim, even Cain had come... Just as Lucifer was marveling at Asmodeus's exceptional demonic connections, he saw the protagonist.
Lust wore a wig with blunt bangs, the hair slicked down with oil until it gleamed. Only his ears were visible, and he wore nothing but a white linen skirt...
Lucifer closed his eyes, feeling that Asmodeus's excursion had thoroughly satisfied his ambitions.
"Strange, isn't it, Your Majesty?" Beelzebub poked him, getting gold powder on his hand. "You've turned so dark."
"I told you not to touch me casually. The powder will fall off and cause trouble," Asmodeus dodged.
"You're all greasy. I wouldn't touch you!" Beelzebub snorted and stood beside Samael.
"Your Majesty," Asmodeus said, seeing that no one was bothering him anymore, and finally turned his attention to Lucifer. Fine, elongated eyeliner had been drawn around his eyes, making them appear deeper and more profound. Even his smile took on a more solemn and dignified air.
He bowed slightly. "Seventeen years ago, at your command, I sought someone who could love a stone. I come today to report on my progress."
Lucifer waved away his bow.
"Speak," he said, the single word conveying his urgency.
"I must confess, though I swore unwavering loyalty to you then, I didn't truly believe it myself. This led me down many wrong paths."
Asmodeus began recounting his experiences, starting with how he identified potential candidates. Initially, he didn't take the task too seriously. Though it went against his aesthetic principles—Asmodeus valued mutual affection and despised forced love—as the Demon King of the Second Circle of Hell, seducing a few individuals into loving stones wasn't too difficult.
His first chosen candidate was a young girl. After painstakingly guiding her to develop an interest in the stone, she was arranged to marry a boy she'd grown up with. Asmodeus even attended their wedding and, witnessing the couple's tender affection, had no choice but to abandon the girl.
To steel his resolve, he turned his attention to a single man. Though slightly more challenging than seducing a girl, Asmodeus's cold demeanor and unyielding heart proved remarkably effective against middle-aged men. Yet, just as the man was pouring out his heart to the stone, his house collapsed in a sudden thunderstorm. His family forcibly removed him from this accursed land.
"You can't imagine it. This man, who hadn't found a partner in thirty years, soon met a woman who fell instantly in love with him. Humans immediately cast aside their feelings for the stone and quickly became a couple."
"It's always like this. I'm on the verge of success, but some inexplicable disaster always foils me... sandstorms, tornadoes, and the strangest time was when the stone cracked into four pieces under the sunlight as someone was speaking to it..."
Hearing this, Lucifer's fingers...
He stirred, not questioning Asmodeus's words, for he hadn't been idle himself over the years. As Asmodeus had said, he had encountered even more absurd situations.
He had once suspected Yahweh was behind it, but quickly dismissed the idea.
*Yahweh would never do such a thing,* he believed, trusting Yahweh more than himself.
"But I didn't give up," Asmodeus continued. "I knew this was a new beginning. Born with an innate understanding of Lust, I had always believed love was merely a product of desire, never questioning its origins, only enjoying the convenience and pleasure it brought. After several failures, however, my competitive spirit was ignited."
"Once I unravel this, I will hold it in my palm! Then, whether it's stone or anything else, I can make them fall in love with whatever I choose!"
"And it's all thanks to you! You were the one who first made me seek the power of the source!"
The demons, infected by the lustful atmosphere, applauded and cheered for him, though they didn't fully understand why.
Lucifer watched Asmodeus, who was clearly in a state of heightened excitement, and decided against voicing his inner thoughts. If this mission could elevate Asmodeus's spirit, it wouldn't have been a complete waste, even if he had no idea what Asmodeus was actually thinking.
"So, I sought Mammon's help. We planned to cast a wide net, attempting to redirect human greed into lust. But to our regret, we still failed to achieve the desired outcome."
The master orator sighed, drawing disappointed expressions from the surrounding demons. Lucifer shifted his position, leaning back to continue listening to Asmodeus's account.
"Though that cursed failure vexed me, I ultimately realized it was because human love is too fickle."
"After much deliberation, we resolved to infiltrate human society to find the key."
"So you've found it now?" one of the demons asked.
"Of course!" Asmodeus whistled confidently. "I've now mastered the essence of love!" Immediately, a golden eagle flew in from outside, followed by Mammon, dressed identically to Asmodeus.
"This story begins with the new land Mammon and I discovered during our travels. The people of the earth are constantly expanding their borders, and the birth of new tribes is nothing remarkable to us."
Eagle Horus circled for a moment above the pitch-black inferno before projecting the scenes he had witnessed. As magnificent water waves rippled outward, the full panorama of the continent across the Red Sea unfolded before the Demon Kings.
"But Mammon and I had never encountered anything like this before. We hadn't interfered with the region's faith, yet they abandoned their worship of the Heavenly God."
"They worship themselves. Even the avatars of foreign gods are extensions of their own selves. The Pharaoh has declared himself a Son of God, calmly accepting the worship of his subjects. They vie with each other for the honor of kissing his feet."
"Your Majesty, we no longer need to do anything ourselves," Asmodeus said softly, gazing at Lucifer on his throne. "They have already learned to generate sin on their own."
Lucifer leaned forward, his dark eyes fixed on the King of Egypt who reigned over tens of thousands. His expression remained unreadable, revealing neither joy nor anger.
"This is their current king, young and handsome. His name is Shankara."
"Shankara isn't the biological son of the previous queen. He was bullied relentlessly before his ascension. With a little manipulation, I made him wary of women, driving him to develop a frenzied passion for stone art instead."
"Yet while he loves stone carving, he hasn't truly come to love stone itself."
Lucifer snapped out of his reverie and turned to Asmodeus. "What do you mean by that?"
If Shankara hadn't come to love stone, then Asmodeus's lengthy discourse earlier would have been nothing but hot air.
"He hasn't come to love stone, but he's never loved a person either. Confusing him is easier than confusing an ordinary person. He's like a blank canvas, waiting for us to paint on it."
"You've done this before, haven't you?" Lucifer frowned. Manipulating people's senses with magic was something they had always done.
Asmodeus nodded. "Why are people so fickle?"
"Through countless experiments, I've reached a conclusion: humans can only love 'humans.' Stone is different from people, different from any other creature. It can't reciprocate emotional connection."
"Stable love requires human..."
"When people pour their emotions, time, and value into something, a mere stone can't sustain their feelings, so they abandon it easily..."
Lucifer understood his meaning. Love requires prerequisites and conditions. Magic might temporarily alter people's thoughts, but it was ultimately unstable.
Asmodeus hoped to deepen the bond between humans and stones, a path undoubtedly leading to success. Yet Lucifer's words instead made him consider another aspect.
*Humans can only love humans. Yahweh can only love Yahweh.*
*Is your so-called lack of love rooted in the belief that no one in this world can compare to you?* His furrowed brow eased slightly, a hint of amusement flickering in his crimson eyes. *What an arrogant fool.*
And indeed, he had never seen another being who could rival Yahweh.
"...So Shankara fulfilled the first condition," Asmodeus said. The moment he paused, Lucifer asked how he intended to proceed.
"Give the stones human-like appearances. They don't need to be alive, just possess a sense of purpose. That way, people won't be able to abandon them so easily."
"To give a stone a human appearance?" Lucifer raised an eyebrow. When Yahweh had casually pointed at it back then, the stone certainly hadn't looked human.
"Is there no other way?"
"The power of love is immense. You shouldn't underestimate it," Asmodeus said, shaking his heavy wig with rare dissatisfaction. "Making people love a stone is already excessive. At least we should make it more palatable."
Lucifer then glanced at the beautiful white marble at the temple entrance and roughly understood its purpose.
"So, you believe that its meaning and strength will only come from altering its appearance?"
"Perhaps there are other factors, but sheer beauty always strikes home!" The seasoned lookist was utterly confident. "Please trust me, this time it will absolutely work."
Seeing how thoroughly prepared he seemed, Lucifer said no more. Though he found Asmodeus's views on love somewhat superficial, the demon's recent years of lurking in Egypt and his own initial idea of cultivating a stone-centric aesthetic had unexpectedly converged.
"I only care about the result," Lucifer said generously. "Whether you use magic, curses, or anything else is up to you. Ask for anything you need during this process; the resources of all of Hell are at your disposal."
"Really?!" Asmodeus's face lit up. "My original plan was to give him a stone statue, but the human sculptors' skills are too crude!"
"With your word, we can create a statue more beautiful than all the women in his kingdom!"
Asmodeus immediately ordered Morlock to find Hell's finest demon sculptor. Lilim, who had been watching nearby, eyed the unformed block of stone before her, her hands itching to get to work.
"If a human falls in love with the statue, Yahweh will be mine, right?"
"Please don't mention that name in my ear, dear Lilim," Asmodeus hushed her gently. "Every time that wretched name is spoken, it usually means we're facing failure."
"Asmodeus," Lucifer warned with a sharp glance.
"My apologies, Your Majesty," Lust said to the witch, shrugging. "But at least you have a chance. I have a strong premonition this time will succeed."
"By avoiding all the irresistible forces of the mortal realm, we will create an Eve that humanity cannot resist!"
"Why Eve?" the witch asked, turning her head from her contemplation of the marble. "Princess Lilith is clearly the one most irresistible to mankind."
By the time the sculptor arrived with his tools, the demons were already arguing fiercely over whether humanity was more infatuated with Eve or Lilith.
Asmodeus and Samael argued that Eve was more aesthetically pleasing to humans, while Lilim and Beelzebub insisted that Lilith held the greatest allure. Their debate grew heated.
Until Cain expressionlessly crushed a corner of the marble block. No one dared speak again.
"Enough of this bickering!" Lucifer said with a false smile. "Shall I go to Heaven and ask the Messiah about it?"
After scolding the unruly demons, he turned to Cain, who had once again concealed his aura. The bloodline was notoriously unruly, yet they alone revered their mother.
It was because of Cain that Lucifer ultimately decided to sculpt Lilith.