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The outer layers of the Tower of Dis were untouched by the cataclysm fight above. Far below the summit, where Arthur and Neron tore apart the sky itself the lower bastions remained eerily pristine. Vast corridors carved from black volcanic stone spiraled around the tower's circumference. Balconies jutted outward into the abyss, overlooking an ocean of molten fire and screaming winds. Gothic arches stretched high overhead, webbed with crimson sigils.
But beneath the demonic architecture, beneath the ritual wards etched into every surface
There was something watching.
Raven hovered silently through the corridor, her cloak trailing. The violet glow in her eyes flickered faintly as she extended her senses outward, brushing against the unseen currents of magic.
Her brow furrowed.
'Where is it…?'
She slowed midair.
There faint and subtle. Like a hand withdrawing just as you reached for it.
A presence.
Not Neron.
Not one of the lesser lords.
Something older and quieter.
Etrigan's warning echoed in her thoughts.
"A power behind the throne, little witch. One who prefers the dark corners to the crown."
Raven's fingers curled slightly as her aura sharpened around her.
"They're here," she murmured under her breath. "They have to be… No one aids Neron without a personal agenda in mind, especially if they are this powerful.."
Her gaze scanned the towering pillars, the balconies, the spiraling staircases that vanished into gloom.
"It would be dangerous to let our guard down against someone like this…"
A ripple of magic passed behind her.
Subtle.
Raven stopped.
Her body stilled in the air.
She did not turn immediately.
Her jaw tightened.
"…Of course."
Slowly, she rotated midair.
Across the vast balcony, leaning casually against a pillar as if he'd been there the entire time.
Belial.
Tall. Regal. His demonic form refined and cruel in equal measure. Frame adorned in dark ceremonial armor. His horns curved elegantly backward, and his eyes burned witw amusement.
He smiled.
"My sweet sister," he said warmly, voice smooth. "I didn't know you'd be here."
Raven lowered herself to the stone floor, boots touching down softly.
"Hello…"
A pause.
"Brother."
Belial's grin widened, pleased.
"I wondered when you would return home," he continued, pushing himself off the pillar. "Though I admit, I did not expect you to stand at the side of that bastard, a pretender trying to conquer hell itself. Ha. "
His lip curled slightly.
"Or…" he tilted his head thoughtfully, "did you finally accept your blood? Have you come to claim what is yours? The throne of Hell?"
A soft, sinister chuckle left him.
Raven's expression did not change.
But her eyes darkened.
"Don't," she said flatly.
Belial raised an amused brow.
"Don't what?"
"Don't mistake me for one of you."
The temperature around her dropped.
Her cloak lifted slightly as magic began to coil around her like.
"I have never been one of you," she continued, her voice calm and sharp. "I defied Father when I was a child. I defied him when he imprisoned me. I defied him when he tried to turn me into a weapon."
Her gaze hardened.
"Even he knew I was different."
Belial's smile softened slightly.
"And that," he admitted quietly, "I cannot deny."
He stepped closer.
"I never understood what he saw in you. Why you, of all of us, were kept so close. Why you were both his weakness… and his prison, and his eventual doom."
His eyes flickered with something darker.
"But his absence…" Belial spread his arms slightly. "Was convenient."
A subtle shift in tone.
"For us."
Raven's fingers twitched.
Belial sighed theatrically.
"So I take it we cannot… cooperate?" he asked lightly. "No sibling reunion? No shared ambition?"
He gave a faint shrug.
"Shame. Truly. You choose him over us. Over your true home.."
His eyes sharpened.
"Over your own blood."
"And for what? A mortal playing king with shadows?"
The air exploded.
"Silence!"
Raven's magic ignited violently outward, violet energy cracking across the balcony like fractured lightning. The stone beneath her feet split with sharp fractures as gravity distorted around her.
Belial's cape snapped in the magical gust, but he did not move.
Her eyes burned now, bright and furious.
"You have no idea who you are speaking about."
Her voice trembled, not with weakness. with controlled fury.
"He is not like you. He does not hunger for dominion. He does not wish to rule through fear and chains. He does not wish to rule this shithole at all!"
Her magic pulsed.
"He chose to fight Hell itself to protect the living and someone he calls friend. He is someone that stands against beings who would devour worlds, without hesitation, something you cowards.. so-called lords of hell would never even dare attempt."
A flicker of vulnerability passed through her expression.
"And he did it… knowing what it might cost him."
Belial's smile slowly faded.
"Oh my, you got truly corrupted by the mortals… He means that much to you?"
Raven didn't answer immediately.
Her aura stabilized, but it remained vast.
When she spoke again, her voice was quieter.
"He is my choice."
A pause.
"And I will not allow you, or anyone else hiding behind Neron to threaten him!"
Belial's eyes narrowed slightly.
'Ah. So she did sense it.'
He chuckled softly.
"You're sharper than the others, but of course as expected of you dear sister." he admitted.
He turned slightly, glancing toward the tower's interior.
"You are right, sister. Something moves behind the throne."
He looked back at her.
"And it is not me."
Raven's gaze sharpened instantly.
Belial tilted his head, amused.
"You hunt the wrong devil."
The corridor behind him darkened.
Her eyes flicked past Belial.
"You're not the one aiding Neron," she realized.
Belial laughed.
"No. I'm aiding the one 'aiding' Neron."
A beat.
"Only because I am curious how this ends."
Raven's aura ignited again.
"Step aside."
Belial's grin returned, wider this time.
"I think not."
The air between them grew heavy.
Two children of Trigon, two opposite choices.
Raven raised her hand, dark sigils spiraling around her wrist.
Belial's demonic energy flared in response, crimson flames licking up his arms.
The balcony trembled faintly from the war raging far above them.
For a moment, neither moved.
Only the distant roar of collapsing towers echoed from higher levels of Dis.
Raven's eyes sharpened.
"I will not ask this again," she said, her voice colder this time.
"Step. Aside."
The violet in her eyes deepened brightening until they glowed like twin amethysts lit from within.
Belial watched the change with interest.
Then he laughed, a sinister sound that scraped against the walls.
"No," he said softly.
He straightened to his full height, a flare of crimson fire that licked across the pillars and ceiling.
"Consider this… repayment."
His gaze hardened.
"Your lover humiliated me. In front of my fellow partners and in front of creatures who once bent the knee."
His power intensified.
"I will not forget that!"
His lips curled.
"I will kill you, dear sister. And through your death, I will reclaim what was mine, the power of Trigon and.."
Raven's expression did not change.
Belial extended a clawed hand toward her, fingers flexing as if already grasping something intangible.
"Your soul," he continued, voice lowering into something almost reverent, "is unlike ours. Refined and tempered. Denied corruption for so long it has become something rare."
His smile widened, sharp and hungry.
"I shall use it to empower myself."
The crimson flames around him flared higher.
"The others may squabble over the throne for all I care. Let them rot upon it."
His voice rose slightly, conviction seeping through.
"True power does not reside in a chair carved from stone."
His eyes burned brighter.
"I see that now."
Raven watched him.
And then
She smiled. A small almost pitying smile.
"Fool."
Belial's eyes narrowed.
Raven lifted her hand.
Darkness gathered instantly, spiraling into a concentrated sphere of violet energy that glowed with layered incantations. Ancient Azarathian sigils spun within the sphere, interwoven with demonic glyphs she had long since mastered, and surpassed.
"You speak of my power and soul," she said quietly, "as though it is something you can handle."
Her cloak snapped outward as her aura surged.
"You've always mistaken hunger for strength.."
Belial roared and thrust his palm forward.
A torrent of crimson hellfire exploded from him, dense and violent, spiraling like a dragon's breath as it tore across the balcony toward her.
Raven did not move from her place.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"
Her violet sphere expanded instantly into a barrier, the crimson fire colliding against it in a deafening detonation.
The impact cracked the stone beneath her feet, but she held firm.
Belial snarled and launched himself forward through his own flames, wings of fire erupting from his back as he thrust both hands outward.
Crimson spears formed in midair, dozens of them each one etched with binding curses designed to pierce spirit and flesh alike.
Raven's eyes flashed.
The barrier collapsed inward and reformed as a wave.
She thrust her hand forward.
The violet energy surged outward in a sweeping arc, colliding with the incoming spears.
The space between them erupted in an explosion of clashing forces, red and violet tearing at each other like rival storms.
Shockwaves blasted outward, shattering windows along the tower's exterior. Entire sections of balcony flooring crumbled and fell into the abyss below.
Belial burst through the fading smoke, claws extended for her throat.
Raven vanished.
Reappearing behind him in a ripple of shadow.
A concentrated beam of violet magic erupted from her palm at point-blank range.
It struck Belial square in the back, sending him crashing through three pillars before he caught himself midair with a furious beat of flaming wings.
He hovered now, breathing heavier, armor cracked and smoking.
His eyes glowed with rage, and exhilaration.
"Yes," he hissed. "That's it."
Raven floated opposite him, her aura swirling.
"You always held back before," Belial continued. "Even when you were just a child.."
His voice darkened.
"Father noticed."
Raven's jaw tightened.
"I am not his experiment or his grand creation," she said sharply.
"And I am not your stepping stone."
Belial spread his arms wide, crimson energy condensing into twin blades that extended from his forearms like burning scimitars.
"Then come, sister."
Raven's hands ignited with violet flame, dark tendrils weaving around her wrists like living ribbons.
The two forces hung suspended for one breathless second
Then collided.
Red and violet crashed together in a blinding explosion of magic that lit the entire outer tower.
Energy beams tore across the sky, carving molten trenches into the architecture. Shockwaves spiraled outward in expanding rings, shaking the foundations of Dis itself.
Their powers pushed against each other in a raw contest of will, Belial's fueled by ambition and resentment.
Raven's anchored by something far more steadier.
Duty and Love.
Her eyes burned brighter as she forced his blades back inch by inch, violet light overtaking crimson.
Belial gritted his teeth, straining, flames flaring violently as he tried to overpower her.
"You chose weakness!" he shouted over the storm.
Raven's voice cut through, calm and unwavering.
"Ignorant fool..."
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Solo leveling in Westeros.
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access to 3 More Chapters OR 7 More Chapters if you want