Hell's Consort

Newest Chapter for the Highest Tier (April 2022) 

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Princess Sapphire of the Summer Courts

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She doubted that every living creature there could ignore that he was so calm when he should have tried everything to put it off.

Yet, to everyone's astonishment, it didn't seem to hurt him.

Kotari moved closer within hearing distance and said calmly,  "Thank you for leading us here, Merle." He peered at Queen Morgan between his lashes. "I appreciate it."

Merle?

Now, that seemed familiar.

Princess Sapphire had heard that name before from either  Ravin or Sloth.

Did she refer to Queen Morgan as Merle, then?

"I doubt you Faeries could defeat the Dukes that the Archdemon of Lust had sent to help me destroy this Kingdom." He added.

All of them glanced up.

They didn't expect Kotari and the unknown demons with him to destroy the barrier quickly when they could have done it way earlier.

The Autumn Queen, her Cadre, and the Faerie Militia stood there doing nothing except wallowing in collective dread.

At least Xerxes still had the good sense to pull her and hide her behind his back.

Perhaps, Kotari and these Legions had waited for the Autumn Courts to put their guard down.

Princess Sapphire was sure that Kotari had brought high-ranking demons than the ones they had seen and destroyed during the siege.

She remembered the blood-red eyes of the demon who led Luxen's Legion in contrast to these white-eyed devils.

Ravin and Sloth explained that that demon was called a 'President,' and he had a higher rank than the rest of the soldiers with him.

How?

Unless the Archdemon of Lust found a way to turn their ally into a demon?

How could Kotari betray Queen Morgan when he was the Cadre member that had been with her the longest?

Kotari must have prepared for this event a long, long time ago.

Yet, she still had so many questions that couldn't be answered.

"Kotari! Since when have you cavorted with our enemies?" Jora demanded as he pointed the black iron sword in his direction.

Kotari replied with a smirk as the giant owl harpies clung to his forearm.

With every flutter of Kotari's faerie wings, the glamour shattered into pieces and floated into the ethers before he could show his true colors.

The monarch butterfly wings were replaced by the leathery skin of a bat's wing.

Kotari, one of Queen Morgan's Cadre, was a demon all along.

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Queen Morgan of the Autumn Courts

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Queen Morgan recognized Kotari's humanoid form a little bit.

She speculated that he looked like the fallen angel she had seen before.

Beelzebub.

He had played the part of a high-rank demon well with his glowing pale blond hair, strong cheekbones, and a mouth made of pure sin.

Judging from his purple-colored eyes, she realized that the Fallen Angel had turned into a Marquis.

A Marquis might be a rank lower than the Dukes he was with,  but this lower rank was very rare and had a specific purpose.

These were past fallen angels or Archemons from Hell who were destroyed by their fellow Archdemons and thrown into the Forgotten Realms—the eighth and the ninth circles in Hell—that had random portals.

They had turned into the simplest, lowest form of demon—sheer dark energy—that wasn't threatening.

Beelzebub had slowly trained in this Realm to build his rank back up and gather intellect and watched over all the hidden entrances exits from Hell, eating unsuspecting weaker demons than them until they became strong enough.

Beelzebub was one of Lucifer and Satan's cohorts who have hunted her and Uriel while they hid from the Archangels at the same time.

At that point, Archangel Uriel had already transformed into a Fallen Angel when he got her pregnant.

Queen Morgan had suspected that he helped kill Uriel and his son after deciding to side with the Archangels at the last minute even though Uriel had already fallen.

"So the whole time you have been gone to monitor the movements of the remaining demons inside and outside the Kingdom, you were spying on us all along for the enemies' sake?"

"You were my real enemy here from the very beginning, Merle." Queen Morgan clenched her fists. She didn't want to hear that name again, for it reminded the darkest of her past.

Beelzebub scanned her face as if he wanted to see through her glamour.

When their eyes locked, that was when she figured out that he knew all along. "It just found it sad that you couldn't recognize your son when he was right in your face."

She hadn't dwelled much on his last statement because they were too disturbed by the next thing they had witnessed.

It wasn't just the new Legion of new demons that had infiltrated the Autumn Courts after the siege they had suffered last year.

A fright of ghastly dark souls began to rise from the ground.

"How did all these demonic souls manage to enter our territory? I thought—"

"You were successful in driving all of them away during the siege? That the Empress  and the Vampire King had it all under control?"  Beelzebub looked like he was suppressing a wicked grin. "You thought wrong. I have imprisoned their souls to the ground without your knowledge so that I could release them on this fateful day."

So Beelzebjub had hidden all these demons in the guise of doing his job as a member of her Cadre?

Queen Morgan had made such an awful mistake that she didn't think her pride could recover.

She always wondered when Kotari disappeared, but she didn't think any of it since he had a different role in the Cadre compared to Jora and Sylvain.

How could she let the enemy know all their plans?

These new  Archdemon Princes had nothing on me. It's either they were too distracted by other things or they were just plain stupid. Greater power in an Archdemon always comes with tenacity and age. Don't worry. We do have a semblance of a friendship along with your Cadre so I'm not going to kill you myself. I had another matter to attend to. I will see you in Hell, Merle, once I take back my throne as the Archdemon of Gluttony."

Sylvain didn't waste time and aimed his crossbow heavenward,  shooting a flaming arrow in the sky.