“-Let your heart guide your actions, let your actions affect your thoughts, and let your thoughts dictate the future.”

  "I sure hope you are," Staxius added with a hint of sarcasm.

  "Please, devil, now isn't the time for jests. My king has personally requested your assistance, please devil, I beg of you."

  "Ezrl," Minerva interjected, "-why the infatuation with the devil's strength? Should it not fall to the king to protect his land and his people."

  "Much can be said and fewer can be done. Such is the way of things. I can promise one thing if you are to help Bohemoth in our time of crisis," he slowed his speech, "-there may also be time for a cease-fire. The Shadows and the Satan need not go to war, for if another force were to invade, you'd stand a lot to lose. Consider my words carefully, Devil, though I suspect you've already taken said possibility into account – the way you test and squirm a level of obedience out of the hopeless is, how should I say-"