MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

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In a place beyond even the jurisdiction of the primordial concepts of time and space, as it was told, seen, and understood by humans, laid a superior dimension where all the laws and concepts holding reality were twisted beyond recognition of the mortal mind. And in that very place now stood two beings who faced each other blow for blow, causing the already twisted and convoluted laws and concepts to become even more unrecognizable and irrelevant to this higher order dimension.

The mere presence of those two mythical beings was enough to change the very reality they now stood in. Such were the powers of the concept and laws that they wielded with their existence.

The first among the two mythical beings was a pleasant-looking young man with beautiful short golden hair, equally golden eyes, and six magnificent pair of wings made out of a dazzling, ethereal, and holy light that seemed to chase away all vestiges of darkness and malice from one's mind.

The man was a beautiful being in shape, form, and existence, to say the least. His golden eyes seemed to hold millions of stars within its unimaginable depths and the benevolent smile that was ever present on his face could melt the heart of the most hardened men and make them worship him for his presence.

However, the other mythical being that could be seen facing him was the total opposite of the wonderful and holy existence that the man wielded— a grotesque monstrosity beyond any description that one would be able to convey with mere human words alone.

It was a giant of cosmic size. It had four faces and four thousand wings covering all of its immense body, that seemed to be large enough to even cover the entire solar system with no problem whatsoever. His whole body was covered in eyes and tongues whose number could not be discerned. Such was the design of the monstrous being that transcended the concept of description itself.

Sometimes one eye and tongue would randomly disappear and then a new pair would randomly appear the next moment as if they were all following a certain cycle that only they themselves and the being wielding them were aware of. Nobody else could ever hope to discern the difference and the logic behind this abomination's existence. [1]

The two entities faced each other with utter silence. One whose proportion seemingly surpassed everything that the human eyes could perceive and another one who was so small and insignificant before the other that he seemed to be nothing but a speck of dust when compared to the giant of cosmic lengths. Both of them silently nailed down the other party with their divine gazes…

Despite what his size and existence may convey to the onlooker… The young, handsome, and oh-so-tiny man looked at the cosmic giant with a sense of leisure that was hard to describe in words.

"Azrael, my dear brother. How long had it been since the last time we saw each other?"

"Not since you lost and was chased away from the throne, Samael."

The name came from the innumerable mouths of the cosmic entity like a deep rumbling noise with the power to sweep away the entire solar system. Millions upon Millions of voices mixed together and formed a single unity that could affect and distort the reality in its wake.

Indeed. It was hard to imagine but the entity that looked like a monstrosity was in fact the angel, while the small-looking human was in fact the Devil in the flesh…

Samael smiled charmingly after hearing his brother of countless eons speak out his name. The mention of his defeat during the rebellion of Heaven sparked no hard feelings in him apparently, "It has been a long time since anyone called me thus… So much nostalgia in that word…"

He sighed theatrically before finally, "So… Will you stop me? I thought you were neutral when it came to all of this. Even during my rebellion, you did not act for either side. So… Why do so now?"

Death was fair. Death was the only equalizer in a world where no one was truly equal. For the same reason, Azrael was a being of immense fairness and neutrality. As long as no one bothered him or tampered with the laws of Death, he would not act outside of his duty of reaping the life of beings who had reached their end.

"The child of man was blessed in my name."

"Is that so? As direct and succinct as always, huh? I guess the Balance found once again a way to stop me."

He laughed, "But your action is useless. The one I sent below will do the job in my stead."

Samael spoke quietly but squinted when he realized something strange.

When he said those words, he hoped to elicit some form of a reaction from his dear brother of old. But he realized that rather than answering, all the mouths and eyes curled in a certain way and shape that was both eerie and wonderful. It was an unimaginable sight to behold.

Was it laughter? Mockery?

He frowned… It seemed like things would take a turn that he had not quite anticipated. But his frown turned soon into a smile full of anticipation,

"How fun…!"

———

Back on Earth, in the mortal plane, as Adam finally reached the place where all the madness and violence was taking place, he couldn't help but feel disgusted at the sight of a seemingly normal kid devouring a human in such a grotesque fashion. This made Adam once again remember all the repressed memories of what had happened inside of the Park, and he obviously did not really like being reminded of that dark page of his past.

"Tell me, intruder… Will you come and kneel before me? Or will you suffer endless pain before being devoured by thyself?"

Adam only showed him a middle finger to the absurd words more by reflex than anything else and while he regretted his rash action for a slight instant, it changed nothing in the end since he decided to put that devil down anyways.

『 Name: Xezbeth [2]

Affiliation: Lucifer

Alias: The Liar || The Storyteller.

Race: Devil

Age: 300 Million Years (Estimated)

Emotions: Hunger (For your existence) 』

『 Stats

Strength: A (SS)

Speed: B (SS)

Dexterity: B (SS)

Endurance: F (SS)

Prana: A (SS+)

Charm: B

Willpower: A

Luck: E

Overall Combat Capacity: Fluctuating

Remark: Fight fast or leave as soon as you possibly can. The longer you stay here, the lower your chances of winning… 』

Looking at Adam giving him the middle finger, Xezbeth tilted his head in utter confusion, "I do not understand what you mean by that puny human. But I guess you choose to resist me. Furthermore… You dare to inspect me with that sacrilegious technique of yours!? Blasphemous!"

The atmosphere changed abruptly as Xezbeth bellowed out in wrath and anger. His Prana spread all over the atmosphere causing the vegetation to change— crumbling, darkening, rotting, and dying in that particular order and that was not exclusive to the vegetation alone.

This was the power of a true high ranking devil— the very capacity to encroach and change an entire zone by entirely polluting it with its aura of existence.

'Fuck!'

Whooh~!

Adam managed to move away from where he was, fast enough to avoid the rapidly speeding ray of crimson light that had just been fired by the demon toward him.

BOOM~!

A huge explosion broke out as a large patch of the forest behind him was erased by the attack he had just avoided.

"Hahah!! Behold! My magnificent power! Even in such a frail and weak body, I am still unmatched in this plane. Ah, how utterly boring…"

He grinned and looked at Adam with hunger in his eyes, floating quietly under the crimson moon, "Now tell me, puny human? Are you going to fight me? Or will you beg for your life in the unsightly ways of you worthless humans? Choose now, I don't have much time to bother with weaklings!"

All the answer he got was a tree being thrown at him at the speed of the sound.

———

[1]: So this is the true form of Azrael as described by the religious texts. For those who do not know. In the past, angels were not described as winged handsome dudes or girls. In fact, most angels don't even have wings. They were being worthy of being described in some love craft book. This is why when Angel came they say [Be not Afraid]. There are other reasons for that sentence but yeah.

It was around the 4th Century that angels started to be represented with wings and handsome appearances. I guess it's easier to preach about a handsome man or woman protecting you like a guardian angel rather than saying some Lovecraftian being is constantly observing you and protecting you.

[2]: Fiding a Devil who is exclusively related to Lie and Treachery wasn't easy but anyway. Xezbeth In demonology, Xezbeth (alternately Shezbeth) is a demon of lies and legends, who invents untrue tales. Its name in Arabic is "The Liar". That is literally everything that is said about him. No big legion of hell etc but he is directly related to Lucifer.

———

(AN: I apologize for giving the chapter more slowly than I would like. The problem is I have a specific picture in mind for a skill for Adam but I am doing the research to understand what it entails exactly and how it will affect his skillset in the future.)