Chapter 22
Once Heaven confirmed the travel list, Hell quickly detected who their negotiation partner was.
An "old acquaintance."
There were quite a few demons who held a deep grudge against the Messiah. This Holy Son was God's representative on Earth, blessed and virtually immortal! Michael had used the Messiah as a negotiator more than once, preserving Heaven's fighting force every time. It had gotten to a point where Hell was despairing of ever killing the Messiah.
Just as the demons and fallen angels were rubbing their hands in eager anticipation of a "welcome ceremony" for the angels, they each received orders from their respective superiors.
Among the demons, Baal was the leader.
Baal, in his languid manner, ordered, "Do enjoy yourselves, but take care not to offend Satan's favorites."
Among the fallen angels, when Satan was not around, the rank of Wrath, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, was the highest.
Samael indifferently stated, "You may target the Messiah and other intelligence angels, but not the archangel accompanying them."
When Beelzebub made a face, Samael's words took a turn, aiming at him, "Beelzebub, I know you dislike the archangel, but there is still a vacancy in the Seven Deadly Sins, and His Majesty intends to keep it for him. Do not create an awkward situation for future encounters."
Beelzebub’s face was filled with uncertainty. He was hearing about this for the first time! His Majesty had revealed nothing to him!
"For His Majesty's sake, endure it," Samael softened his tone. "I've learned of Yahweh's character. He's a pure angel, genuinely devoted to His Majesty. He even dared to secretly break out of prison for His Majesty's sake. That courage cannot be underestimated."
"Break out of prison?" Asmodeus exclaimed in surprise.
Samael continued pragmatically, "Yes, His Majesty has met with him in the mortal realm already. The fact that we didn't go straight to war is because His Majesty's feelings have improved unexpectedly, leaving room for Heaven to negotiate. I bet Heaven wasn't aware of this — it was certainly the archangel helping to cover up Yahweh's escape."
Hetty had once set Yahweh up for Samael, with remarkable results.
Regrettably... the result was that Hetty no longer assisted him in such schemes, not even mentioning anything about Gabriel.
Samael spent a while reflecting on the gifted and capable assistant he once had. Afterwards, he began preparing for the negotiation.
"Beelzebub, step aside in this matter, I will take full responsibility."
The Prime Minister of Hell felt gloomy.
Just as he was cursing Yahweh, the angel who had seduced His Majesty, Yahweh and the Messiah arrived at the border, followed by hundreds of second-class intelligence angels. This time, to eliminate any chance for Hell to mock them, Michael had not dispatched a single third-class angel. All were the cream of the crop among intelligence angels, those who had distinguished themselves in the Holy Wars.
The Messiah looked at the faces of these intelligence angels, more or less familiar, and felt an inexplicable confusion in his heart.
All were hate magnets...
Was this really a negotiation and not a declaration of war?
Then he looked at the silver-haired "angel" walking beside him, the Messiah felt relieved. No matter what, Hell couldn't harm them.
Just before entering the gates of Hell,
Yahweh, who had been silent all along, spoke, "Messiah."
The Messiah instinctively stopped, bowing his head slightly, his body expressing more respect than his consciousness would have allowed.
This scene, seen by the intelligent angels following them, was bewildering. Although the Holy Son did not stand on good ground in Hell, his inherent status was undeniable. The divine favor bestowed upon him was immense, there was no scenario where the Holy Son would need to bow to a newborn archangel!
The Holy Son seemed to be lowering his dignity too much!
"Leave the negotiations to you." Yahweh was quite confident in the Messiah, whom he had baptized and reincarnated with his own hands. The Messiah had a restrained temperament and steadfast faith. He would not utter words that should not be said, which was completely in line with the personality Yahweh had carefully cultivated in him. This was an entirely different character compared to the playful Adam of the past.
The Messiah, the Holy Son of Heaven.
He used to have a regular name — Adam.
However, not many creatures in the world still remembered his past identity.
"Yes."
The Messiah answered God's request.
No matter what God asked, he only needed to think about how to accomplish it, not whether he should.
________________________
In the past, negotiations during Holy Wars were held at the first circle of Hell, where darkness was less oppressive, and the entrance was near without revealing Hell's inner secrets. This time Samael, out of respect for Yahweh, moved the location to the fifth circle of Hell, Wrath, his territory. Here, there was an elaborate palace where Satan occasionally held banquets.
Samael specifically wrote to ask permission of Lucifer and successfully borrowed the palace.
Each understood the other's intentions.
Bringing Yahweh to Lucifer's palace was obviously to facilitate a meeting with Lucifer, making whatever planned action a lot easier.
Lucifer took a glance at Samael, who showed no signs of unease; he skillfully made it seem that borrowing the palace would demonstrate the grace of Hell. It seems that not only had Asmodeus made great changes, but Samael had also become more cunning since coming to Hell.
Without any interest in idle chatter with Samael, Lucifer closed his eyes on the throne and said indifferently: "Samael, don't just enjoy the show. When Beelzebub gets too hot-headed, remember to intervene."
Samael laughed and said: "Beelzebub is the Prime Minister of hell, no less powerful than me."
With just a gentle sentence, Lucifer stopped Samael's evasion, "I heard... the shops you opened in Hell this year have made a tidy profit?"
The unspoken implication was - Do you want to pay taxes?
Samael fell silent.
Having been assigned another “fire-extinguishing” task, Samael had some regrets when he walked out of the palace. Why couldn’t Beelzebub behave like Asmodeus? Now he had to keep an eye on Beelzebub constantly, to prevent him from doing anything rash.
Tsk, jealousy.
Samael had barely taken a few steps when a little girl jumped onto his waist and excitedly said: "Samael, I want to play with those angels too!"
Samael gripped the collar of Leviathan, who is the sin of jealousy, and took her away like a disobedient cat.
"Don't use such messy words."
Keeping a lazy Chaos Dragon that loved food was just about as tiresome as raising a daughter to him.
________________________
The Fifth Circle of Hell, Wrath.
The visiting delegation of angels received a warm "welcome" from Hell.
Even the battle-hardened angels couldn't help but look displeased. On their way, they encountered all sorts of nasty tricks. For instance, tiny thorns hidden in the ground which would climb up and stick to the warm skin inside their robes if not careful, beautiful flowers which were in fact intoxicating and all sorts of shy but luminary-eating demons, etc.
This fully let the angels realize that one should not judge a book by its cover!
Damn hell!
The unique and evil plants had no effect on Yahweh. As soon as they touched him, they were burnt to ashes by the extreme light. Seeing Yahweh walk unscathed on hellish land, Messiah was more certain that Yahweh was indeed the God sitting on the throne.
Even he would occasionally fall victim to these tricks, let alone an inexperienced archangel!
However, Messiah didn’t know that Yahweh had already been briefed by Lucifer about these treacherous and filthy plants during their walks in Hell.
The gentle voice of Lucifer echoed in his ears.
Every time he thought about it, a warmth filled Yahweh's heart, making him look forward to meeting Lucifer.
To their surprise, the place they were received in was a castle-style palace. Elegance was everywhere and each item showcased the dignity of the palace’s master. The contrast in treatment surprised the angels who started whispering among themselves. On the other hand, Messiah, who was leading, felt tremendous pressure as he frequently spotted inverted pentagrams and inverted cross decorations in the corners.
This must be Lucifer's palace!
Unexpectedly, Messiah did not meet Lucifer, who is also known as Satan, first in the palace. He ran into Samael instead.
"Welcome to Hell."
Samael stood on a step with a confident air, raised his hand to ignite the fires around the dim palace, making it seem even more magnificent.
He quickly swept his gaze over the angels, inviting his attention to the silver-haired beauty who had enchanted Satan.
Indeed, he was absolutely gorgeous.
The usually cold and rigid face of Samael suddenly bloomed into a smile, and he gently said: "Good evening, Yahweh, I bring you greetings on behalf of His Majesty.” After a short pause, he said something that shocked Messiah, "I remember your health wasn't too good after the miscarriage, so I have arranged for you to eat food devoid of dark energy. Please eat with peace of mind."
This sudden revelation sent shockwaves through the angels.
It also left Messiah stunned.
Miscarriage?
God would have a miscarriage? Was this some kind of joke?!
Yahweh, standard and cold, said, "I didn't have a miscarriage. This is a misunderstanding. Don't make baseless accusations here."
Samael, quick to seize the opportunity, replied, "Perhaps I remembered wrongly."
He made a welcoming gesture, pointing towards the quarters for Yahweh and Messiah, seemingly oblivious to the new world he had opened up for Messiah.
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