Demonic Devourer's Development

With all these inquiries, God of Rogues had little time to spy on Devourer, and only occasionally checked on his progress in preparations. The idea to gather some cannon fodder was simple, but worthwhile enough, and so was Devourer's idea of traps. God of Rogues was convinced that between the two of them, even if God of Rogues doesn't venture too close to danger, God of Monks has no chances.

It was finally time. God of Rogues arranged the things with Devourer, picked the magic items from his treasury that suited the upcoming fight the best, and paid the stuck-up god another visit.

Just like planned, he was boiling with questions—so much so that when God of Rogues came to the dojo where the monk was resting, he abandoned all decorum and jumped up before God of Rogues could even utter a word.

"Where were you all that time? You didn't respond to my messages, you hid from my scrying spells—and after the news you brought? Don't you know that this isn't the time for acting irresponsibly and for forgetting one's duty? If I wasn't bound to mine, I'd seek you out personally and drag your ragged hide here for the trashing you deserve!"

God of Rogues dodged the puffs of steam that were coming from God of Monks' ears and mouth, grinning all the while. "I had to confirm stuff. Investigate stuff. And we are all entitled to our privacy… but you can calm down now, alright?" He waved a hand in the air dismissively. "I'm done, and I have something to show you. It's about chaos beasts. You wanted an explanation, and in this case, one glance would be worth a thousand words."

God of Monks, still red-faced from anger, furrowed his thick brows. He appeared to be torn between the duty he liked to talk so much about, and the curiosity that God of Rogues fostered in him.

"It will only take a moment." The scoundrel god urged. "We will go in, out, nothing will happen here in that time. Hell, nothing ever happens here anyway! You could leave for a week and everything would be calm like a corpse, if you ask me."

"Fine. A brief excursion won't do harm." God of Monks exhaled through nostrils. "Teleport us."

"With pleasure." God of Rogues said and turned away to hide the victorious grin on his face. To even imagine the face of God of Monks when met with such betrayal was exhilarating.

A few minutes of concentration later, and the veils between worlds parted before the two deities. Space bended and the fresh air of Heaven changed with the stench and smoke of Hell. Heat blasted their skin, and only their divine physique protected them from a heatstroke or even burns.

Around them spanned the rocky plane of Fifth Circle. The heavy shroud of smoke prevented seeing much farther than fifty meters away, except for the distant lights of huge flamerock cubes that broke it from time to time. One such cube, three meters tall, was just a few steps away—the only notable thing to see at the place where God of Rogues teleported them into.

If one depended only on their sight to see the world. But both gods have long transcended that. God of Rogues' excellent hearing told him, from their heartbeats and breathing, about the five creatures lying in wait on the other side of the cube—just like planned.

God of Monks knew the same from his unique sense of life itself. He tensed and threw a glance at God of Rogues.

"And what is there you wanted to show me? For now, I only sense a group of local vermin."

"Well, I have good news for you and bad news. Good news—I found Devourer. Bad news—I'm going to feed you to him, old man!" Before God of Monks could gather himself after the shock of what he said, God of Rogues stabbed him with a long, jagged needle.

Then, without waiting for him to respond, he jumped up and touched the amulet that was hiding on a bracelet under his sleeve. It held a magic that allowed him to fly, no additional spells necessary, with the only drawback of making his movements less precise.

Now, it was a necessary evil, since God of Rogues knew about many webs that were strewn around everywhere around the prepared point he teleported himself and God of Monks at. He could see them—his eyesight was good enough—but thanks to the smoke in the air, it required him to be just a step away.

Devourer and his demons didn't wait for any more signals, either. They jumped from their cover of flamerock all at once. Two demons to the left: one with a scythe, one with a long chain, two demons to the right: one with a sword, one with a spear, and Devourer himself, flying over the cube, armed only with his claws and teeth.

The demons under his charge ran without the grace God of Rogues shown, but nevertheless, not even once did they accidentally tripped over one of the many webs. They created a square around God of Monks, but he didn't pay them more than a fleeting glance.

His eyes weren't even on Devourer—he stared at God of Rogues in disbelief. "I always known you were no good, but I didn't think in my wildest dreams that your will descend so low! Is this how despicable you want to be, God of Rogues? What do you plan to achieve? You think you will not receive punishment for this?"

"What I'm doing? I just think that Heaven is overpopulated with gods… and they have to be culled a little." God of Rogues smirked, but before he could enjoy the turbulent emotions in God of Monks any longer, he was interrupted.

"Hey, hey, egghead, don't look at him—look at me!" Devourer threw a dozen of wind blades at God of Monks. "You shouldn't care for our reasons, because you are going to die, anyway!"