Chapter 28: Problematic Truce

[Shota Beelzebub POV]

All of the ghouls were shrieking to show hostility toward the three.

The ghouls use their chains like whips.

He raised his sword and Hans created a barrier to use as their shields.

When the chains got close, they went through the barrier that Hans put up.

With a clap from Hans' hand, the barrier shortens and forcedly pulled all the ghouls.

All of them pulled out another chain, all of the ghouls threw it at them to bind them.

The chains got close to the barrier, the ghouls were shocked that the chains ricochet back to them.

All of the ghouls tried their best to dodge their own chains, but the chains went faster than they could've thought, and duplicated themselves.

Shota smiled happily. "How do you like the power of my centipede?" Throwing his centipede above them, it began to duplicating itself and has already had hundreds of clones.

Shota pointed at the ghouls, and the centipede floated on air and ran to the ghouls as fast as a moving bullet that was shot from a gun.

"So I just have to defend you two from behind right? Then you two. Go show them hell!"

Ifrit and Hans smiled with pride and joy, and both said at the same time. "Let's go!'

They both ran toward the ghouls and began attacking them.

The ghouls shrieked from anger and ran toward them too as a response to show that they're not afraid.

Ifrit and Hans along with the ghouls got close to each other, and a small ball of fire appeared in front of the ghouls that was created by Ifrit.

The ghouls stopped upon seeing this, and when it shone it turned into a net.

All of the ghouls immediately went above to dodge the net from catching them, and when they look above them, Ifrit was there.

Hans went below and created a giant barrier. "And now another one!-"

A chain from an unknown direction flew to Hans and pushed him back.

Hans was shocked from where the chain came from since the ghouls were all distracted from Ifrit and trapped in the barrier.

Shota saw what happened to Hans, so Shota ordered one of his centipedes to go above and check where it came from.

When the centipede found where it came from, it sent a message to Shota from what it saw.

And upon knowing what his centipede saw, Shota was speechless.

It messaged him. (The ghoul that was caught in the butterfly's explosion threw the chain.)

Shota knowing this was confusing since they saw the ghoul die right in front of their eyes, and if it's alive, it could have an amazing healing capability.

Snickering because he was angered and shouted at the two. "Ifrit! Hans! My centipede found the ghoul who was supposed to be dead; alive!"

"What!? Can you do something about the guy Shota?! Ifrit and I are still trapping the ghouls."

"Sure!" Running immediately to where the ghoul is; Shota started summoning more insects.

He finally got close to the ghoul, and Shota saw it fully healed.

It has no traces that it was dead a moment ago.

"I thought Ifrit said that these things die..."

A loud shriek came from it, and it ran aggressively toward Shota.

"I don't want to use one, but I have to!" A butterfly the same as before, came out of thin air and exploded on the ghoul again.

The ghoul went weak from the explosion and died again.

"Now he's dead, better damage him more since it might be pretending."

A giant bee appeared and went to Shota's arm, enveloping it and transformed it into a sword.

He raised the sword, Shota chopped the ghouls to many pieces.

"*Sigh* I hope you can rest in pieces."

Shota ordered the bee to fall back, and so he immediately went back to Ifrit and Hans until...

Clank! A chain that the ghouls use constricted Shota.

Shota almost can't breathe because the way it constricts him is tight.

He endured it as best as he can and looked at where the chain came from.

Seeing who was his attacker made Shota surprised and in denial after seeing who it was. Looking at where it's currently standing, Shota immediately knew that this was the same ghoul that he killed, or was supposed to kill, but right now it's still walking like nothing bad happened to it.

The ghoul was already in perfect shape when Shota saw it, which made Shota more afraid of the way it heals itself.

"It got every piece of its body back?" This can't be... Ifrit and Hans said that heavenly ghouls can die easily from skills.

Turning the tarantula into a dagger, Shota destroyed the chain and ran back to Ifrit and Han, then the ghoul let out another shriek and chased Shota.

When Shota got close to the barrier that Hans set up, he instantly shouted. "The ghouls can revive itself back!"

"What!? Then come here now! I'll open up my barrier to trap it."

Shota entered the barrier, and as the ghoul chase him, it entered the barrier too.

"Ifrit are you done powering up?!"

"Wait! I need a couple more seconds!"

"Then Shota! Just distract the ghouls for now inside the barrier!" Hans was busy being chased by the ghouls so that the ghouls won't distract Ifrit from powering up to kill them.

"Roger that!" Shota stopped moving and ordered one of his insects to make a loud noise.

Bzzt! All of the ghouls heard the loud sound of the insect and saw Shota inside the barrier.

They all let out a loud shriek and ran to Shota immediately.

"Oh, I definitely need to run."

The ghouls have started to throw their chains at Shota who was running in fear of getting caught by them.

"Why are they running faster?! I don't want to get run over by them!"

Clank! A chain hit Shota in the back and almost caught him.

"That hurts!" Shota pulled out something from his pockets and threw it above. "Take this!"

All of the ghouls saw Shota threw something above the Earth, they went closer to it to check what it was, and it was a swarm of hornets.

"How do you like that! Hey Ifrit how long will it take!?" Shota was already getting impatient, especially since he was sacrificing many insects already.

"10 seconds more Shota!"

"Then! *Clap*" When Shota clapped his hand, all of the hornets he released became as big as an adult chihuahua.

All of the hornets became aggressive toward the ghouls and chased them all down.

And when they were all chasing the ghouls, all of the ghouls fought back and started killing them even if they don't have the chance to do so.

Shota took this as a chance to escape the barrier and said to Ifrit. "Ifrit I'm out!"

Ifrit smiled sadistically; he looked at the ghouls excitedly, and created a large fiery boulder, and threw it inside the barrier.

The boulder hit the ground and exploded like an asteroid hitting a surface of a planet. Bang! It exploded inside the barrier, where the ghouls and the hornets were trapped; killing them all in the explosion.

Shota smiled from relief and said. "I can't believe that Ifrit heated up the battle."

Clank!

Looking at where the sound came from, Shota and Hans saw that Ifrit was caught in a chain.

"Where did that come from?!- hah!-" Hans was talking, but was stopped and got caught too by the chain.

Shota instantly turned into a fly and went above to see where it came from.

And when he saw it he was shocked. "There are 50 ghouls behind us... But how didn't my insect saw this?"

Trying to contact the insects he sent to scout the area, he was speechless upon seeing the memories of his insects. "They're all dead..."

Shriek!

Looking behind him, Shota saw a ghoul behind. "This is not good..."

***

[Zadkiel POV]

Zadkiel and Azrael created a portal to the seventh floor to finally start their mission to save the Princess and the Archdukes of Hell.

The two were currently invisible and flying around the entire floor to look for Camael's base.

"Why did we even teleport in the middle of nowhere Zadkiel? You've been to Camael's base before, so why can't we just teleport ourselves there?"

"It's better to go for the outside than the inside since Camael might've controlled the ghouls by now, which would make teleporting inside impossible."

"*Sigh* Then we better hurry then..." Azrael was in a hurry to go to Camael's base, and Zadkiel noticed Azrael being in a hurry, after all this is the first time he saw him like that.

"Azrael, is there a problem? It seems to me that you're in a hurry to go there."

Azrael stopped talking and moving at the same time, which made Zadkiel wonder why.

Asking Azrael. "What's the problem Azrael? Why the sudden stop-"

Azrael raised his hand and he signaled Zadkiel to be quiet for a moment.

"Holy Midnight Blockage." Using a barrier, Azrael put it on themselves.

"Hoy Azrael? Why are you putting a barrier on us?"

"Shh! Look there."

Zadkiel looked at where Azrael pointed and saw about 50 ghouls heading somewhere.

"Where are they heading to?"

"I don't know, so let's follow them quietly."

The two flew behind the ghouls slowly, so that they wouldn't get caught.

When looking at them, Zadkiel noticed that the ghouls were aggressive toward something.

What could they be angry with? Zadkiel asked himself.

Bang!

Looking at the distance, Zadkiel and Azrael saw a giant explosion to where the ghouls were headed to.

When the explosion happened, the ghouls ran very fast to where the explosion came from.

Zadkiel was surprised upon seeing the ghouls faster than them,

they are so fast, that Zadkiel and Azrael were far behind them. Their speed is not normal for a heavenly ghoul which made Zadkiel warier of them.

Just what did Camael do to them? I better find out what's wrong with them quickly.

"We need to catch up to them quickly! Their speed is abnormal for a heavenly ghoul." If the heavenly ghouls are like that, then it could mean that they became more powerful without my knowing.

The ghouls were already far away from Zadkiel and Azrael.

And both of them are doing their best to catch up to them, but no matter what they do, they're still very slow compare to them.

At a distance, Zadkiel noticed one of the ghouls using its chain, so immediately; Zadkiel knows that it attacked or caught something.

When the two got close to the ghouls, they saw them tying up three people.

Zadkiel and Azrael only knew Ifrit and Hans, so they both knew instantly that the other one they caught might be a new General.

"Zadkiel, let's save them."

"Even if you didn't say that, I was already planning to do it."

Azrael patted Zadkiel's shoulder and said to him. "Can you do it yourself Zadkiel? Try to use your skill to control the ghouls since they were yours in the first place."

Zadkiel sighed and flew above, closing his eyes Zadkiel thought to himself. 'May all of you rest.

Opening his eyes and looked at the ghouls, and upon seeing it; Zadkiel saw that the ghouls were still there.'

Why isn't working? Is my control over the ghouls gone? I can't believe this. "Azrael! I can't make them follow my order, I guess we have nothing to do but to kill them."

"Then I'll kill them, don't worry you can leave to me, I know that you don't want to hurt them."

"Thank you, Azrael." Even if Zadkiel can really kill the ghouls, he was still grateful for Azrael for doing the dirty work for him.

Azrael teleported above the ghouls and floated there to say to them. "Die for me!"

Creating hundreds of clones, Zadkiel and his clones summoned a spear made of light for each of them and threw it directly to all of the ghouls.

When the spear of light struck all of the ghouls, they all started to scream in pain and went insane at the same time.

The three who witnessed the scene were all speechless upon seeing Azrael appearing and killing who they thought were his allies.

And right before their own eyes, the three saw the spear of light consume all of the ghouls' pieces by pieces.

Even the chains that they were tied up in has suddenly started to disintegrate when their owners were fully consumed by the spear of lights.

Zadkiel was in pain when he saw all of the ghouls die in tremendous pain because the ghouls didn't only suffer and die once in the past, but they experienced it all again.

And when Zadkiel looked at the last ghoul who wasn't still consumed, he saw tears falling from its eyes.

He knows that they have to do this to successfully finish their mission, but since he revived them to give them a new life, he couldn't bear seeing the former angels lose the life that was given to them.

The heavenly ghouls are weak against light-based magic since if those types of magic make contact with the ghouls, it swallows them like a black hole until there isn't any sign left that the ghoul can revive itself again.

Even if they were injured and exhausted from the battle against the heavenly ghouls, Ifrit and Hans stood up immediately and were preparing for another battle against Azrael.

When Azrael went down to the ground, he saw that Hans' sword was beside him, so he picked it up.

Seeing it, Hans smiled and looked at his back to talk to Shota. "Shota, me and Ifrit are gonna distract Azrael, so you go and find the way to the eighth floor, and find the Prince and the other Archdukes."

"What are you talking about Hans? I'm fighting here with you!"

"Listen to me Shota, Azrael might have allies... So using ourselves as distractions is better than you fighting with us because we might die here, so it's better if you tell the Prince about this."

"Then! That's more reasons why I can't leave you two here!" Shota was being stubborn from listening, after all, he knows that those two have no chance to fight Azrael since they're injured from the last battle. "I can't do that! I won't leave here!"

"Listen Shota, you're still 1500 years of age, and in human age that's 15 years old, so you're still young! You can do anything more with your life than die here right now."

"But!-"

Ifrit disturbed what Shota's suppose to say and said. "Look Shota." Pointing at Azrael, they saw another Archangel came, which they instantly recognize. "It seems like Azrael has Zadkiel with him, so that's a good reason for you to leave."

Shota was in pain since he doesn't want to leave both Ifrit and Hans here, even if he knew that they can rival an Archangel's power, both of them were still injured and exhausted.

So that's why Shota doesn't want to leave them because he doesn't want them to die.

Shota stood up and went beside Hans and said to them angrily. "I don't care if you two hate me for doing this, but both my mind and heart tell me to stay here, so I'm staying right here with you two."

Hans was bewildered and shocked by Shota's answer. "Are you insan-"

"Hans, if he wants to stay he can stay, after all, it's his own body."

Hans was angered, but he knew that he can't fight against Shota's stubbornness this time.

Azrael went closer to the three while he held Hans' sword, and the three were already starting to get ready for Azrael's first move.

And when Azrael came closer to them, the three were surprised that he hasn't started to attack yet.

Seeing the exact scene, the three were anxious from hearing the loud footsteps of Azrael getting closer to them.

Azrael is finally very close to them, he reached the sword to Hans and said to him. "Here, you drop this."

The three were confused about what's happening right now in front of their eyes, and both Ifrit and Shota thought that this could be a trap, so they warned Hans that it could be a trap.

Hans made eye contact with Azrael filled with doubt and what could be joy at the same time, and reached out to his sword and took it from Azrael. "Thank you."

Both Shota and Ifrit let down their guard after Hans took his sword back from Azrael.

Zadkiel came closer too and told them. "It's nice to see you two again, Ifrit; Hans, and it's nice to meet you, the new General of..?"

Shota was hesitant to answer Zadkiel's question, so Hans stepped in and answered it. "He's Shota Beelzebub, the third generation General of Gluttony."

"I see... Then it's nice to meet you, General of Gluttony, I'm the Heavenly General of Loyalty and this is Azrael the Heavenly General of Generosity."

"Enough with the introduction, I want to know why did you two help us?" It's normal for everyone to be confused that an angel helped a devil like them. Even if Azrael gave back Hans' sword, they're still suspicious of them. "Don't tell me that you helped us so that you can fight us?"

"We want to know what's happening in Hell."

"Happening? I'll tell you what's happening, ever since you angels attacked, everything changed!"

Zadkiel was saddened by the anger of Hans, so Azrael stepped in to talk to Hans instead.

Showing the three the picture of Camael, Azrael asked. "We want to know why Azazel is meeting with Camael."

The three looked at the picture and saw the content, and they were confused in why Zadkiel and Azrael didn't know that Camael is with Satanael.

Shota and Hans instantly got what was happening.

Shota whispering to himself. "It's just like what Millie said, not all angels are working with Camael."

"Then I guess I'll tell them." Hans looked back to the two Archangels and let his guard down for a bit. "*Cough* You two didn't know that Camael has been working with Satanael?"

Zadkiel and Azrael looked at each other and both said. "No."

"Satanael, Azazel, Mammon, and Milicas Lucifer betrayed us devils and worked with Camael."

"So just as Uriel thought... Camael was a traitor, then also if Satanael, Azazel, Mammon, and Lucifer are betraying you all, that's the reason why the Princess has been imprisoned." Azrael finally solved what the cause of the Princess and the Archduke's imprisonment. He was a little tense now that he knew what's happening, especially since he hates traitors.

"So you know that Millie and the others have been imprisoned?"

"Of course, since I'm the one who freed the ghouls, so I guess it's my fault, so I'm sorry."

Hearing the apologizing Zadkiel, the three were speechless and confused, so Hans asked him. "Then what are you two doing here?"

"We're here to save the imprisoned devils and stop Camael, but with that we need allies. Right now, only me, Azrael, and Uriel know about this."

Shota went closer to Zadkiel and Azrael. "Then a truce is it? We'll end it after we save Millie and stop Camael."

Both Ifrit and Hans were shocked that Shota called a truce on them without their consultant first, even if they want to stop Shota, it's too late now that he asked.

Zadkiel was happy hearing that and created a paper out of thin air. "This is a contract that we can all sign, in this if we signed it; us two can't kill any devils who signed the paper, the same with you devils also."

Shota smiled and said. "Sure we'll sign it!"

Ifrit tried to stop Shota, but Shota's insect messaged Ifrit and Hans. (Trust in Lord Shota, he has a plan.)

So the two stopped and sighed, and decided to trust Shota.

The Archangels signed the paper and gave it to the three, so Shota took it and signed it with Ifrit and Hans.

Shota saying happily at the same time. "Then, I hope we all can get along!"

Zadkiel smiled with joy; saying to them. "Yes... I hope we can all get along..."