Lugia was a being who dared to share a god’s memory—no, he was actually part of the Demon Spirit himself, so Lugia could remember the first, thrilling meeting between the Demon Spirit and Lucifer, the tragic angel that had descended to the bottom of the Demon Realm’s abyss after being betrayed by a fellow angel.
“It’s ridiculous. An angel—no, a fallen angel who lost his wings caused the shockwave that shook the entire Demon Realm... I thought all angels were weaklings, but was there an angel as strong as you?” the Demon Spirit exclaimed.
“Get lost,” the fallen angel bluntly replied.
“...What?”
“I told you to get lost,” the fallen angel repeated.
The Demon Spirit was rendered speechless. The fallen angel indeed had great potential, but he already lost most of his power. So what was with his attitude?
“Do you know who I am?” the Demon Spirit asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t care.”
“You don’t care...” the Demon Spirit gaped at him.
In all of the eternity the Demon Spirit had lived, he had never been treated like this. Once he showed up, gods from both Demon and Angel Realm busily avoided making eye contact with him, but... but strangely, the Demon Spirit didn’t dislike how the fallen angel was treating him.
“...Hahaha.” The Demon Spirit chuckled as if he had gone mad and then reached out his hand. “Yeah, it doesn’t matter who I am.”
“What are you doing?”
“I actually want to ask you the same. Look at you. How long are you going to stay in that pit?” The Demon Spirit looked at the fallen angel up and down.
The fallen angel’s wings were ragged; most of the feathers were ripped out along with the skin of his back. They were at the deepest part of the Demon Realm. The contaminated demonic power from the pit was slowly affecting the fallen angel, turning his skin black.
“Take my hand. Don’t you want to get revenge on the people who put you in that state?” the Demon Spirit asked, but he was already half certain. It was clear how heartbroken the fallen angel was after his betrayal. That made the Demon Spirit anticipate that the fallen angel was going to take his hand, but he was dead wrong.
“I don’t need you, so get lost. I want to rest.” Lucifer closed his eyes, flatly rejecting any further conversation.
The Demon Spirit didn’t want to give up now, however. “Then what do you need? You don’t want to die in this nameless pit, do you?”
Lucifer still remained silent, so the Demon Spirit hurriedly added, “I’m telling you that I have the power to make your every wish come true.”
“My... every wish?” Lucifer finally responded, even though he hadn’t even budged when the Demon Spirit mentioned revenge.
“Yes! Anything!” the Demon Spirit excitedly shouted.
Lucifer raised his head and quietly looked up at the gray sky of the Demon Realm. The sky was so gloomy and lacked even a single source of light, but Lucifer watched it for a long time.
“...I do want to meet again,” Lucifer quietly said.
The Demon Spirit’s eyes widened as he felt Lucifer take his hand. He beamed, revealing his white teeth.
The Demon Spirit was finally left alone. He stared expressionlessly at the spot where Lucifer had been for a moment.
“Now then...” the Demon Spirit mumbled, “shall I get moving?”
If Lucifer’s goal wasn’t revenge, that was a problem because it had been the Demon Spirit’s sublime dream for eternity. So he was going to create a situation where Lucifer had to take his revenge. It would be a piece of cake.
There was actually only one reason why Lucifer was abandoned by the angels: he had demon blood. So if the Demon Spirit sent the army of darkness to the Angel Realm after Lucifer...
“The angels will strike first even if Lucifer himself doesn’t want to fight, hehehe,” the Demon Spirit chuckled.
The Demon Spirit came to a decision. To unify the Angel Realm and the Demon Realm, he was going to tear down the Angel Realm and get everything that stopped him from achieving his grand plan.
“I hope you die with the angels, Lucifer. Hehehe.”
* * *
Joshua still had work to do. Although there was a change in his plan due to the unexpected appearance of Heimdall, he reminded himself why he was heading to the Agnus estate in the first place. If Heimdall and his apostles were still there, Joshua was going to sneak in, but it turned out he didn’t need to worry about it. The manor was as eerily empty as it had been.
‘I know there is no head of the family right now, but...’ Joshua thought bitterly.
Just like Joshua’s previous life, the Agnus Family was weakened. The Dark God had disappeared, although people believed he was dead. Due to the War God’s attack, Babel was bedridden for a long time. Nevertheless, Joshua never thought the glorious Agnus Duchy would be laid so low.
‘Heimdall must have planned to use it as a headquarters since no one should be in here.’
Joshua strode confidently toward his destination.
Joshua came to a halt, and his eyes turned cold. He didn’t even need to look closer because his extremely heightened senses were telling him that there were no signs of life around the area except one. But that energy was familiar, and it seemed to be leading Joshua, calling out to him.
“...Lugia,” Joshua mumbled.
He resumed walking.
Joshua walked across the wide garden, passed by the mansion that was bigger than most kingdoms’ palaces. This place was where his new life began and his life as the human Joshua Sanders totally changed.
Joshua finally came to a halt. He looked up ahead at the five-meter-tall boulder which had been believed to be the Agnus’ “guardian stone” for generations.
Without hesitation, Joshua drew up his mana. He didn’t have to go through the trouble of spilling his blood since he was no longer the young Joshua von Agnus.
With a light swing of his hand, the guardian stone exploded, revealing a dark hole. Joshua jumped in right away. Everything had started from the ancient ruins where Lugia had been asleep.
“You became quite aggressive while I was away,” a voice chided as soon as Joshua landed.
From the darkness in front of Joshua, someone walked out. He had been waiting for this moment. The person held the two-pronged red spear, and also carried an unconscious woman over his shoulder. The person looked like an exact replica of Joshua.
“I've been waiting for you, Lucifer—no.” The person beamed, baring his teeth. “My old friend, Joshua Sanders.”