Chapter 539: Inarius
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
After hearing what Mephisto said, Roy was speechless and couldn’t help complaining, “Mephisto, is your brain damaged? Since you’ve already seen the scene of Lilith killing the seven demon kings, why do you still want to attack Sanctuary? Have you ever thought that it might be because of your actions against Sanctuary that you will attract Lilith’s revenge?”
“No, no, no, Osiris!” Mephisto shook his finger at Roy. “You might be mistaken about one thing. Lilith isn’t going to take revenge on us because we attacked Sanctuary. In fact, whether we let Sanctuary go or not, Lilith will take revenge on us! Don’t forget that she’s a traitor of the Burning Hells!”
With Mephisto’s reminder, Roy suddenly realized that Lilith was a traitor among the demons.
“Lilith was banished twice…” Mephisto continued. “The last time she returned from the Void, the conflict between her and Hell was already irreconcilable. Not only Hell, but it’s the same for Heaven. Lilith’s hatred is directed at angels and demons at the same time. This is because of her ‘motherhood’. After returning from the Void the first time, she wanted revenge, but she was alone at the time, so she wanted to use the power of her children, the nephalem. But she underestimated ‘human nature’! Her nephalem children resisted their mother as though they were in their rebellious phase, causing her to be banished a second time.”
Roy had nothing to say when he heard this. Even he felt that Lilith was indeed a little tragic. She had resentment toward her family (the Burning Hells) and wanted to take revenge, her children (the nephalem) didn’t support her at all, and she was even beaten up and locked up by her husband (Inarius)…
After experiencing these things, it would be strange if Lilith wasn’t resentful.
Therefore, Mephisto was right. Regardless of whether the Burning Hells attacked Sanctuary or not, Lilith would definitely take revenge on the Burning Hells after she returned. Of course, the High Heavens was originally also within the scope of her revenge. But because of Roy’s interference, she now had one less target for revenge.
Mephisto continued, “My brothers and I know that Lilith will return one day, and we are already mentally prepared for her revenge. And the future scenes I saw were before you descended into this world, Osiris. According to normal development, we might really have fallen into Lilith’s hands. So in order to prevent all of this from happening, I finally thought of a way…”
“Such as introducing me, this… variable?” Roy nodded in understanding.
“Yes, variable!” Mephisto said. “The so-called scenes of the future are actually just a prophecy. In the long river of time, it’s just a ‘possibility’ of the future. There are probabilities that it will happen, and there are also probabilities that it won’t happen, so it’s not inevitable. As long as enough external variables are added, it will lead to changes in the future.”
Roy pondered for a while before looking at Mephisto meaningfully. “Are you so sure that my appearance will change your future fate and not cause the opposite effect?”
“Opposite effect? What do you mean?” Mephisto laughed loudly. “Do you mean that your joining will instead cause us to be killed by Lilith? Impossible. I’m certain that even if Lilith returns this time, she’s already contaminated by the Void. Who knows how serious this contamination is? Perhaps she can rely on her own ability to suppress it. But once she starts a war with the Burning Hells and faces us, she won’t be able to suppress the Void contamination. At that time, she’ll lose her mind and become a Void monster. Everything in the material world will become her enemy. Of course, this includes you, Osiris!
“If you don’t want to be devoured by a Void monster, you can only help us kill her!” Mephisto’s shining demon eyes stared at Roy. “Otherwise, all of us… will die!”
Roy turned his head and looked at Diablo, Baal, and the others. He found that everyone nodded in agreement with Mephisto’s words.
Thus, he stopped talking and just nodded. However, he buried a sentence in his heart: “Then, have you ever thought about what if the Void contamination can be resolved?”
Mephisto and the others couldn’t be blamed for this. It was not that they were short-sighted. In fact, with Mephisto’s long lifespan, this old fellow had seen too many things. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have known about Void corrosion. But compared to a demon like Lilith, who had been working hard to find a solution to Void corrosion, Mephisto’s inertial thinking was that Void corrosion was unsolvable.
Since he didn’t study it, he wouldn’t understand it. Mephisto was confident that after what he said, Roy would definitely stand on their side to deal with Lilith.
The Burning Hells with eight demon kings were unprecedentedly powerful. Even if Lilith returned, she wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble, so he now wanted to forcibly bind Roy and pull him into their chariot.
But he would have never thought that Roy and Lilith had the possibility of naturally joining forces…
Although Roy was still chatting with Mephisto and the others in the Burning Hells, he was already considering the possibility of jumping sides…
Seeing Roy also nodding, Mephisto thought that he agreed with what he said, so he continued proudly, “Of course, considering that Lilith might be hiding some power that we don’t know, there’s no need for all of us to rush to appear in the next invasion of Sanctuary. I have a better candidate here!”
With that, Mephisto stood up from his black throne. With a gentle wave of his hand, he moved a huge cornerstone away. Then Roy saw a cave emitting faint flames on the cliff behind the cornerstone.
Diablo, Baal, and the others knew what Mephisto wanted to do, so they stood up, shrank their bodies, and followed Mephisto into the hidden cave.
Roy naturally followed. As he walked, he observed the situation in the cave and found a long flight of stairs extending straight down, seemingly leading deep underground.
“Mephisto, where are you taking us?” Roy asked.
“The interrogation room! A place to hold important prisoners!” Mephisto replied without looking back. “Don’t worry. You’ll understand when we get there!”
Roy didn’t say anything else and followed the demon kings down. After walking for some time, he finally found dazzling flames in front of him. They had likely arrived.
After he walked down the stairs, his eyes suddenly brightened. What appeared in front of him was an enormous cave. It was an enormous pit, and at the bottom of the pit was boiling hot magma. The scorching air was full of smelly poisonous gas, and in the center of the magma lake, a stone pillar stood.
Although this stone pillar was higher than the magma surface, it was shorter than the place where Roy and the others were currently standing, which was equivalent to a safe area from the magma lake. To the demon kings, this distance was not an obstacle, so they could easily see the scene at the top of the stone pillar.
There was a cluster of crystals growing 360 degrees around it, and these crystals formed a ring around the pillar. In the center of the ring, an angel bound by countless chains was hanging there. This angel’s light wings had long been broken, and his limbs had been cut off. His strength was constantly being extracted by the chains, forcing him to maintain his mortal form. Under the hood was a haggard and hideous face, and the surrounding crystals were reflecting his appearance. His eyelidless eyes were wide open in madness and despair, forcing him to see his face and appearance in these crystals.
Inarius! Roy immediately understood.
Mephisto then confirmed Roy’s guess. “That’s right. The candidate I’m talking about is Inarius. He was once an adviser to the Angiris Council of the High Heavens; the deputy of the Archangel of Justice, Tyrael; the creator of Sanctuary, and now a pathetic abandoned person. I believe that after Lilith returns, she will be happy to see her husband appear in front of her, right?”
Hearing Mephisto’s words, the other six demon kings laughed strangely. Especially when they saw the miserable appearance of Inarius, who could only squirm, their hearts were full of incomparable joy. They had seen this scene thousands of times, but they had not had enough.
Roy didn’t say anything and observed Inarius’s situation. He found that Inarius had actually fallen. It seemed that the long period of imprisonment and torture had obliterated his mind. Roy saw all kinds of negative emotions such as fear, pain, hatred, and so on from him, but he didn’t have his own thoughts. The power emanating from this former Archangel was completely dark, which was already the manifestation of a fallen angel.
In addition, Inarius had another power. Roy could tell after distinguishing it slightly that it was… the power of death!
After thinking about it, he frowned and asked Mephisto, “Malthael?”
Mephisto nodded approvingly. “That’s right! It’s Malthael. To be precise, it’s his divine spark! After the High Heavens eliminated Malthael, the Angel of Death, they didn’t find his soul returning to the Crystal Arch, so they thought that he had completely perished. But they ignored a problem. How could death itself still die? At that time, although Malthael’s body had collapsed, the divine spark representing death remained. The remaining soul was also under the protection of this divine spark. My clone spent some time finding him in a ruin outside Westmarch. Malthael wanted to resurrect, so I made a contract with him. I helped him find a body suitable for him, and he would become a member of our Burning Hells!”
“This body is Inarius’s?” Roy understood. “Inarius’s mind has already been obliterated through endless torture. Malthael’s divine spark and soul can control the movements of this body, and the power of death can fuse very well with the darkness. On the outside, he looks like Inarius, but on the inside, he’s Malthael. Lilith will definitely fall for it if we use him as the vanguard of Hell, right?”
Roy sighed in his heart. These old fellows from Hell are really not easy to deal with. They can use all kinds of schemes and tricks at will. It seems like a catastrophe for Sanctuary is coming.
And Lilith has probably quietly arrived, right? What will she do next?