Fullfilling The Primordial Contract (3)

Everybody knew that no matter how much the Greater Gods wanted to intervene and stop him, and no matter how much Mystra and Tyr hated him, there was also one great factor that was influencing their entire station.

Fear...

Fear of death, because even the most stupid God among them was aware that the moment they decided to intervene in the chaos that was taking place within the Baator, it would cost them a lot.

A lot of them would fall, and the result was uncertain.

And Gods were inherent cowards that prized their very own lives above everything else.

***

Phlegethos

The fourth circle was the Hell that most resembled the stereotype of a fiery world of eternal damnation, filled with active volcanoes, rivers of liquid fire, molten rock, ash hills, smoking pits, unbearable heat, all wracked by tremors and earthquakes.

Even the air seemed aflame and thus Phlegethos was considered to be fire-dominant. In the World Axis view, Phlegethos was a cavern several miles below Minauros, where burning lava poured out of fissures in the ceiling.

The city of Abriymoch was the seat of power in this realm, built of hardened magma, obsidian, and crystal in the caldera of an extinct volcano, which provided visitors some protection from the elemental environment found throughout the rest of the Plane.

And as everyone was doing what they were doing, suddenly space cracked all around the Phlegethos, as the entire Fourth Layer of the Baator was under attack of Abaroth Divine Realm as Thultanthar appeared above the skies of the Phlegethos's capital, Abriymoch.

At the moment of the appearance, Thultanthar fired its main weapon systems at the capital of the Phlegethos, which was blocked at the last moment by the Hell Lord of the Phlegethos Samuel.

Unfortunately for the Hell Lord, the power behind the Floating City that was now being powered by the entire Abaroth Divine Realm was too much for one of the Hell Lords to handle, as he crushed into the city.

His crash decimated almost one-third of the city as Leylin instantly teleported in front of the fallen Hell Lord, piercing through his heart with his sword, killing another of the Lords of the Baator at the moment.

He knew that to fulfill the Primordial Contract with the Father of All Devils, he would need to obtain the Bloodline Source of the Archdevil Species and that was in the hands of the first-ever Archdevils that was born in the Baator of the World of Gods.

Asmodeus.

[Beep! Primary Body's Law of Devouring is in action. Comprehension of the Law of Wrath: 100%. Divine Domain condensed: Wrath.] 

He obtained another Law that would be essential to his True Body.

Immediately, the process that took place at the Avernus and Minauros repeated as another Layer of the Baator was assimilated into that of the Abaroth Divine Realm. The rest of the Archdevils were already scrambling because now, they felt true fear. 

At the same time, during which Leylin personally attacked the Fourth Layer of the Baator, the same portals opened around the Fifth Layer of the Baator Stygia that was ruled by the Hag Countess. 

The attack was led by Azlok and Borke, whose power now reached the high ends of the Rank 7, mainly due to the empowerment from the Abaroth Divine Realm.

The Hag Countess wasn't really powerful among the Archdevils that ruled the Baator; she wasn't really combatant but more of a schemer...

However, that was the worst thing right now because she couldn't really protect her territories against the ferocious attacks of the Devils and Devil Hunters that were flooding into the Fith Layer of the Baator.

All of the soldiers were bearing the standard of the Heavenly Serpent Church and that of the Holy Nāgarāja as they were slaughtering the forces of the Hag Countess one by one...

***

9th Layer of the Baator, Nessus

Asmodeus was the Overlord of the Nine Hells of the Baator, holder of the Primordial Contract of the Baator and that of the Bloodline Source of the Archdevil Species. 

After he was severely injured by the Origin Force when he attempted to intervene in Leylin's Apotheosis, he returned back to the Nessus. 

Asmodeus's true form was that of a scaled serpent hundreds of miles long, his acid-black blood, a substance beyond foul, exuding from eons-old wounds. His form's sheer size made it impossible for him to meet and enter into conversations with others, and so he created humanoid-looking avatars.

He never showed himself except through avatars or highly advanced project image spells, both in humanoid forms. An avatar of Asmodeus was handsome, charismatic and captivating on the surface, appearing as a slim, red-skinned humanoid over 4 meters tall with a horned head, glowing red eyes and a perfectly trimmed beard.

He wore red and black clothing valuable enough to cover the annual spending of any nation, but underneath these expensive garments, his body was wracked with bleeding injuries he was seemingly unconcerned by

Asmodeus observed the happenings in the Baator with utter rage, as another Layer of the Baator was merged into the Abaroth Divine Realm when the Stygia fell, and the Hag Countess was killed. 

This was already the fifth and Asmodeus knew that even despite his injuries, he needed to act personally, or else, nothing would remain from his Baator. And by what he saw, Leylin was already advancing on the Sixth Layer of the Baator Malbolge.

As cunning old Archdevil he was, he then activated all of the failsaves to heal himself in record time, using every precious treasure that he gathered so he was combat-ready. 

He was able to heal himself to a great degree and used the power of the Baator, or at least that what was remaining from it, as he then left the Nessus for the Malbolge to ambush the invader to his enemy.

And the moment Asmodeus left the safe premises of the Nessus, he was instantly hit by a beam of some weird energy that shot him down. In a split of a second, the entire space was sealed, as Asmodues realized that he was trapped.

It didn't take long for the old Archdevil to realize that this was all part of the plan and it was a trap.