After Ten Millennia in Hell

Lucis\'s eyes widened in shock.

He had been searching for Satan ever since he came to Earth in secret, and that very prince of the demonic realm was now right in front of him.

"H-Haha."

The tips of Lucis\'s mouth went up.

Satan had finally come out of his cave after having been completely missing since his declaration of war.

Lucis couldn\'t help but laugh in disbelief while exuding an intense bloodlust. He raised his hand, and a pitch-black darkness gathered around it.

"So, you finally crawled out of wherever you were hiding."

[Oh?]

The eyes peering from behind the red mask gleamed. The mask tilted as if to show Satan was entertained.

[You don\'t seem to be afraid.]

"Is there a reason to be?"

[What a funny question.]

Satan\'s chilling laughter flowed out from behind the mask.

A reason to be afraid…? Satan was a prince of Hell, one of the strongest in the vast Nine Hells. There wasn\'t a reason not to fear him.

The value of his title as a prince of Hell was no longer as prestigious as before the princes had been defeated by the demon king, but the princes of Hell still couldn\'t be compared to the average demon.

[Do you not know who I am, brat?]

"I do. I know that you used to be a prince of the demon realm and that you now lead the group known as the Demon Cult in this world."

[So, you don\'t.]

"What?"

[If you truly knew about the princes of Hell, you would not be acting this way before me. Has Lucifer not educated you?]

"Hah, how dare a coward who hid like a little rat after declaring war mention my father\'s name?!"

[A little rat… Does that not also apply to Lucifer?]

The eyes behind the mask narrowed. An intense bloodlust surged from Satan.

[Why has a brat like you come instead of him?]

"My father isn\'t needed to kill the likes of you."

[What a bold brat you are.]

The mask tilted.

[No, maybe you are just stupid.]

"...Let\'s see how long you can keep that leisurely attitude for."

Lucis lowered his body. The darkness wrapping his hand warped, and powerful demonic energy poured out of it.

He looked at Satan calmly.

\'He\'s no big deal,\' Lucis thought.

He could only feel a shallow presence and pressure from Satan. It was completely different from when he was with his father. Lucis felt like his guess of Satan being all talk and no bite had been right.

\'I can do this.\'

Such a thought crossed his mind.

Lucis gulped. Then he lowered his posture and raised his hand. He tensed his muscles, focusing on his legs in preparation to shoot forward.

At that moment…

[Now that I look at you, you do not look like a demon.]

"…"

Flinch. Lucis trembled.

Comments about how he didn\'t seem like a demon, that he was different from a demon, and that they couldn\'t believe he was Lucifer\'s son… Lucis had heard them so many times that he was utterly sick of hearing them.

"Shut up," Lucis growled while glaring at Satan.

Lucis looked more like a human than a demon. It was the result of being half human and half demon.

"That\'s not a demon."

"He\'s nothing but a half-blood."

"Why did Lord Lucifer even have a child with a human?"

"Just look at him. Why does he look so ugly and weak?"

He was half demon and half human, but he\'d been raised along with demons since the day he was born. He\'d learned their values, beliefs, thoughts… and what he looked like to them. By human standards, it was as if a human had a baby with an insect; it was absolutely disgusting.

Lucis cursed himself, his mother, and everyone who disrespected and scorned him. He needed to prove to them that he was the son of the Evil God—that he had Lucifer\'s blood running through his veins.

He\'d come here to prove that.

\'I will kill Satan.\'

Lucis would kill the prince of Hell, who was the object of fear for all demons, with his own hands. There was no better way to prove himself than that.

[...I see. A half-breed of demon and human,] Satan remarked in genuine surprise.

Lucis frowned aggressively. "You say that, but you lost against a human, did you not?"

[…]

"I heard it from Father. The demon king, who defeated all seven princes of the demon realm, used to be a human."

Satan remained silent.

Lucis continued coldly, "In the end, all the princes are nothing but losers who lost to a mere human. Are they not?"

[You sure love talking shit about your dad. Lucifer would cry blood if he heard that, bro.]

"What?"

[Ah, ahem,] Satan coughed awkwardly. Then he returned to his normal manner of speech and continued quietly, [Your father lost against the demon king too.]

"That\'s all in the past. He won\'t lose now," Lucis stated confidently.

[What a fucking hypocrite. You shameless piece of—ah. Fuuu. Fuuu.]

"…" Lucis frowned. "You\'re insane."

[No prince is sane,] Satan said while laughing confidently.

Lucis\'s gaze sharpened. There was no point in talking anymore.

"Enough talk. You talk too much for a prince."

[Oh?]

"If you\'re really a prince…"

Rumble.

A huge amount of demonic energy gathered around Lucis\'s hand. Dozens of black spheres rose around him.

"Prove it with your strength."

[Ha… Hahahahahahahaha!!!] Satan laughed loudly. [Very well. If you desire it so badly, then I will show you…]

Demonic energy spread out like a black curtain, and the red demon mask tilted.

[...Who I am.]

BOOM!

The ground shook.

Satan opened his arms wide.

[Come. Prove your worth. Prove that you deserve to exist.]

Lucis frowned. "I\'m not the one that has to prove anything."

[You talk too much. Bring it.]

"You will be the one who needs to prove yourself, Satan."

[I get it, so bring it.]

Lucis raised his arms, and the black spheres began rotating.

"Rakkisgard! Open your eyes and take a good look!"

[Dude, stop talking and—]

"Right here and now, I, Lucis, will show you!!"

[Hello?]

"I will show you whether the one you serve is nothing but a worthless half-blood or the demon who will succeed Evil God Lucifer!"

[Can you hear me?]

"See it! Feel it! Realize it!"

[Stop. I can\'t keep this act up much longer.]

BOOM!

Lucis stomped on the ground.

Crack. The ground was split.

His waist-long silver hair fluttered as intense energy poured out of him.

Lucis said coldly, "Through this battle, I will prove—"

[Fuck, man. Just come at me already. You\'re making me fucking cringe. It\'s hard for me to set the mood, you know? Why are you making me work so hard, dipshit?]

"…"

[Do you have any idea how much I cringe every time I do this? Do you? Huh? I\'m so ashamed that I kick the bed whenever I think of it while sleeping.]

"What do you—"

[This is that thing, isn\'t it? You were discriminated against because you were born a half-blood, right? Are you in fucking puberty? What the fuck do you keep trying to prove? Why are you doing this to me? You gotta tone it down so that I have something to work with to set the mood, man.]

Satan was twisting his body as if he were in pain.

Lucis frowned after seeing Satan with a totally different attitude. It was like he had a split personality.

"I guess I won\'t be getting through to you with words."

[Yeah, so let\'s just please fight…]

"No need to worry."

Lucis exuded bloodlust.

"Even if you beg for your life, nothing will change."

He stomped on the ground and extended his hand. The black spheres spun fiercely while flying toward Satan.

Satan\'s eyes lit up.

[Fucking finally,] he said in a moved voice.

Satan spread the shroud of darkness covering his body and blocked the black spheres.

"Haap!"

Lucis spread out both arms, and six black wings fluttered. Hundreds of feathers shot out, and the demonic energy feathers poured down like rain.

Crack.

"Wha—?!"

Satan vanished as if he had gone up in smoke. Then, he reappeared right in front of Lucis in the blink of an eye. He grabbed Lucis\'s face and threw him like a baseball.

Tumble—!!

Dust rose from the ground as Lucis was sent flying.

"Cough!"

He quickly got back up.

"Huh?"

Lucis\'s eyes filled with confusion, as when he got up, Satan was already in front of him.

Bash!

Satan dropkicked Lucis\'s face, and black blood spurted from his nose.

"W-Wait," Lucis said, raising his hand to pause the fight.

He didn\'t understand what was going on.

He was fighting against a prince of Hell, but he was still Lucifer\'s son. Despite that, why was there such an overwhelming difference in power between him and Satan?

[Fucking hell, that hits the spot,] Satan said, feeling refreshed.

"God… dammit!!"

Lucis\'s expression crumpled in anger. His silver hair fluttered, and he squeezed out all the demonic energy he could muster.

"Raaaahhhhh!!" Lucis roared.

Giant spheres that were around ten meters in diameter appeared on his hands. The giant balls of demonic energy sucked in everything around them.

"Die!!" he shouted and launched his attack at Satan.

However…

Slash.

A black light cut the spheres, splitting them in two all too easily.

The red mask appeared from behind the dispersing demonic energy. Satan pressed Lucis\'s head down.

"Kurgh!"

Lucis collapsed with his head stuck to the ground. Satan then stepped on his neck.

[Lord Lucis!!]

The demon Rakkisgard came running.

Nevertheless, before he could charge toward Satan, a giant demon appeared next to him and pushed him down.

[Kurgh!]

[How dare you interfere in a sacred battle?] Balrog, the demon who had pushed Rakkisgard down, questioned with a frown.

A black-haired beauty walked out from behind him and rummaged through Rakkisgard\'s pockets.

"Ah, Master Ka—Lord Satan, here is what you\'ve been looking for," she said.

She handed Satan a black crystal orb.

Kang-Woo—no, Satan frowned aggressively while looking at the crystal orb.

[Fuck\'s sake…]

He sighed and raised the crystal orb the black-haired beauty had given him.

[Fuuu,] he took a deep breath to pull himself together.

[I don\'t want to do this anymore…] he mumbled in a tearful voice but ultimately shook his head.

He had no other choice.

\'Haaa, fuck.\'

His head hurt.

His 20/20 hindsight was burning his eyes. It was as if a hairy old man succumbed to money and advertised a game while putting a -nyan at the end of each sentence.

The shame was destroying him.

\'Life is so damn hard.\'

How long did he need to live like that?

Whoom.

Light flowed out of the black crystal orb. He saw the face of a demon through the round mirror-like orb.

The eyes of the demon looking at him through the crystal orb widened.

[You…]

"Ahem," he cleared his throat.

\'First, get into character.\'

Satan spoke in a chilling voice.

[I am death. I am the end. I am the father of all wrath, and I am wrath itself.]

\'Alright. Not bad at all.\'

Only the red mask was visible amid the shroud of darkness.

[I am Satan.]

\'Shiiiiiieet! This is it! This is a prince of Hell! This is Satan!\'

His mouth moved naturally despite the shame he was feeling.