2. A Long Day in the Underworld

The blood-soaked sun once rose up again, as the harpies and Hades' screeching owls made their morning call to all souls residing in the Underworld. The prince of lust, Asmodeus, was crouching in front of his boiling cauldron and observing the human world as usual, looking satisfied with their activities.

"Why are you sss...sso obssessed with humans? You could've just fed their souls to me instead." Logos the serpent hissed.

"Oh come on, I'm just doing my job, driving humans to give in to their worldly desires. the prince responded with a smug look on his face as he mixed the dissolving illusion with his gnarly fingers.

"Give their ssouls to me instead, master. I'm hungry," the serpent hissed as it wrapped itself on Asmodeus' arm.

"Hush, now don't be greedy, Logos. You have your fair share of souls to devour," Asmodeus hummed as he got up from crouching in front of the cauldron and headed towards the door.

"Hey, hey where are you going? I ssaid I'm hungry sso I want you to feed me."  the serpent declared as he glared at the prince.

"You can help yourself to the souls of people who committed extreme desire. Now be a good boy for me, Logos. I'll be back soon." Asmodeus responded before finally heading out.

The screams of despair of the souls residing in the nine circles of the place that reeks of burning corpses and flames everywhere echoed through the corridors as the prince of lust made his way towards the council.

He arrived to see his brothers Belial, Beelzebub, Mammon  and Leviathan each sitting in opposite directions to each other.

"What's going on? Where are Lucifer and Belphegor?" the young prince asked his older brothers as he sat next to Leviathan.

"I heard that his highness Hades is throwing a hissy fit once again," Belphegor the indolent lazily declared as he casually strolled inside the all, looking tired like the usual.

"The souls residing in the nine circles must be very tired to hear him bawling like a brat,"

"Does he really miss her that bad?" Leviathan commented as he rested his head on the table due to boredom.

"It had only been a while since her highness Persephone went missing," Mammon added.

"Yes, but without her, how are we supposed to win the war and take over the human world?" Belial calmly answered, silencing the rising tension among his brothers. The conversation of the brothers were once again silenced when Lucifer the pride barged in the hall in a rush, as if someone invited him to a game of chase.

"There you are, Lucy our dear brother. We were just waiting for you," Lucifer ignored Belphegor's comment as he closed the door gigantic doors with all his might, before walking back and forth in distress.

"It's a rare sight to see Lucifer the pride, the eldest among us, to be in distress about a certain matter." Beelzebub whispered to his brothers Mammon and Leviathan as they all eyed the hideous warts and worms sticking out of their brother's face; only to be heard by Lucifer.

"Shut your mouths!" He growled, causing the younger demons to bow as if they were tamed.

"What's the matter, Lucy? You're making quite a stir today," Belphegor stated, half-liddedly observing Lucifer.

Lucifer remained his gaze at his brothers while both of his hands were slammed on the table, anticipating what's going to happen next.

"I want my Persephone!! Bring her to me!!" Hades, the rule of the underworld, shooting flames everywhere as his booming voice created large earthquakes that made the harpies hide in their nests.

Even the lowest ranked demons are afraid of their ruler whenever he goes in a fit of rage, he can easily blow off their heads if he wanted to. Lucifer winced in cringe as he took his seat at the end of the table once the ruckus calmed down.

"Persephone, my queen, please come back to me," Lucifer cleared his throat as he tried to ignore the noise from outside the chamber..

The noise resumed once again, now with greater earthquakes and explosions from the lake of fire.

The rumbling ground truly terrified the souls of humans being punished there, as well as the harpies and lower ranked demons.

Belial slouched in his seat in frustration as he massaged his temples, as his other brothers anticipated what's going to happen next.

"Do something about that, Pride. Don't make me shut him up," he muttered  as his blood eyes glared back at his older brother, and points the door of who-knows what Hades was doing right now on the other side. Lucifer then got up from his seat, and walked towards the door.

"Scream and beg, she won't be coming back that way, Hades. Now, shut up and just rule over this filthy place of a landfill." Lucifer growled, while maintaining his composure as his hands gripped the door tightly.

Not even his advisors nor the earls of hell can calm him down whenever he throws a tantrum, only Lucifer the pride can put him back in his place.

"I just want to know something. Tell me, Lucifer, will she ever come back?" Hades asked the prince of pride once he temporarily calms down.

Lucifer pauses for a moment and studied the king of the underworld for a while.

"....That is something that I cannot foretell my lord; however, I assure you that we will find her majesty and bring her back." he declared and bowed in respect to Hades.

For the first time, the god and ruler of the underworld looked up to Lucifer with a pain lurking in his eyes. He must really long for his lover to look at the prince like that.

"Thank you, Lucifer. Don't fail me." he declared, as he bowed to pay his respect to the ruler of the underworld .

With that, Lucifer turned from Hades and returned to the hall where his brothers were.

"Well that was... expected," Mammon commented, the moment Pride walks in with his head hanging low.

"We're going to bring her back." he muttered as he lifts his head, his red eyes glimmering like the eyes of his brothers Lust, Envy, Greed, eyeing each one of them present in the room.

"That would be all. Dismissed," he added and left the chamber without another word to his brothers.

-----***-----

"Bring her to me!!"

Hades' despair can be felt throughout both the underworld and heaven, making angel brothers Uriel and Cassiel both heave a sigh and quietly listened to the raging misfit of the underworld and the human souls begging to be set free.

"Truly, there is never a day in the underworld without them being all worked up," Cassiel commented, his head resting on his hands.

"Are they not allowed to enter heaven, brother?"  Uriel asked as he watched the cloud move, a sign that another day had passed in the human world.

"I have not heard of a human who ascended to heaven after being judged in the purgatory so far.." Cassiel trailed off as he turned away from the cloud.

Before Uriel could speak another word, their conversation was then interrupted when their brother Raphael barged in the room in a rush.

"What are you two doing hanging around here? Come now, some angels were injured from an ambush," he declared as he caught his breath.

The two archangels looked at each other before trailing behind their older brother. They arrived at the council hall to see Gabriel standing beside the throne were the ten superiors sat, as Raphael rushed to an injured angel's side to heal him.

"They're making quite a stir during this time of day, are they not?" Pacifism commented, as he kept her eyes glued to Raphael who was then busy healing the angel in pain.

"Oh please. There never was a day when that place is peaceful," Repose responded, as he fidgeted with the embroidered designs on his seat in boredom.

"Let's cut to the chase. Cassiel, go and call your brother, Michael." Truth declared, as Cassiel immediately flew off to fetch his brother.

"What do you need us for?" Michael asked the ten superiors the moment he entered the hall.

"We can't go any further without a goddess ruling over us all, so that's why we need the five of you to find her and bring her back." Pacifism added as he carefully analyzed the five young archangels standing before them.

"I do not wish to disrespect your excellencies but, why Persephone?" Michael asked as he looks up to the ten superiors who glowed on their seats as if they were the deities who ruled the skies.

"Listen, dearests. Even if Persephone was  taken by the forces of darkness, she is still our goddess, our princess; and I know, we the ten commandments, are accountable why she went missing in the first place." Love explained as she came down from her seat to give the young angels reassurance with her gentle touch.

"We are leaving her to your hands. Please bring her back safely," Purity muttered as she held Gabriel's hand.

"One more thing, you guys. Before you carry on with your mission, there are certain individuals who share the same mission as you, so now I'm going to take you to them." Pacifism enthusiastically declared, resulting for the young angels to be dragged away from the scene despite Truth's protests.

"Right now? Oh.. o-okay.." Cassiel and Uriel said as they looked behind them to see the other commandments waving them goodbye.

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