Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

"Crazy Bastard!" I told myself, glaring at Arsene as the light in his eyes faded.

Suddenly without warning, a whirlwind of Qi pierced the Heavens in a blinding flash of light.

Reacting the best I could, a sigil of protection flared into existence, forming a hexagonal barrier around me as I followed up with a typical Qi barrier. However, as if struck by a battering ram, my already weak body felt as if it was on the verge of collapsing.

"I got you," Ariel said, taking me by the waist. She lept back as two radiant wings bathed in golden transcendent light flared from her back. She soared up with me in her warm embrace as her icy gaze stared at Arsene and then towards the skies.

"They\'re gone… You needn\'t worry about them."

"Lilith… who the hell were they? I counted—"

Covering her mouth less, she gets herself killed. I stared at her with a hopeful gleam: " They are some mischievous bastards, is what they are. Leave them be. And never speak of their existence in the Abyss. If you must, do it outside the Abyss. Just be warned, they wish to be left alone."

"... Are they dangerous."

Unsure how to answer that, I scratched my cheek, glancing at the pillar of light baring the force of a Fell God: "All entities have the ability to be dangerous." I told her, my gaze falling onto her. "But you\'ll probably never see them again. If you do… don\'t treat them like superior beings or gods. Treat them like equals."

"Like Equals?" She repeated.

"Just be yourself, silly. There mischievous themselves, so I\'m sure you\'ll get along with—" Pausing, sensing a disturbance within my Abyss. I frowned, turning towards the Sothern provenance: "Mephisto is here."

"Kyaaa!! Mepho! Summon him!" Ariel squealed, her two eyes shimmering like diamonds.

You\'re weird too. But I wish my son and daughter to have the same relationship as you and Mephisto possess.

Sensing that bastard waving at me from where he materialized, I snorted: At least he knows he can\'t hide. All that enter the Abyss are under my all-seeing eye.

Snapping, teleporting to my side, he glanced in Arsene\'s direction towards the catastrophic energy pooling into the heavens: "My disciple is changing yet again. Anyway, I came for him. He wasn\'t in the Myriad."

Leaning onto Ariel trembling with excitement, I said: "I\'m about to birth two little monsters. He isn\'t going anywhere."

"Afraid we must." Mephisto said, turning to me and smiling: "Hi, Big Sis. How you\'ve been? Has Lilith been treating you well?"

Rugging her cheeks against mine. Ariel childishly laughed: " Yep. I get all the snacks, unlike in Heaven."

\'That\'s because you keep eating pastries before bed."

"I wanted to have sweet dreams!"

"And that there lies the problem." he lamented, somehow entertaining me with this heartwarming conversation.

Ariel did indeed have a massive sweet tooth. When I first learned of it. I almost burst into laughter, especially when she called for a dentist. Who knew gods could get cavities? Or that the sugar higher beings use is like acid.

"Anyway." Mephisto continued. "Metatron came to see me a few hundred years ago. That relentless bastard is still obnoxious. That\'s when I found out the mastermind behind those weak-ass Rankers who attacked Arsene was Metatron."

"Him again," Ariel mentioned.

"Yeah, his existence is getting annoying. I had thought I managed to cut ties with Heaven, but that bastard came to me asking me to return."

"So you needed my hubby. Why?" I directed, sensing a chilling stir in Ariel\'s emotional state.

"Arsene needs to reclaim his title within the Hells, and he needs to find the entrance to Arcadia. And quickly. We don\'t have enough time. Metatron will be sending real monsters after my disciple now. The Abyss is safe, but he\'ll not accomplish anything here."

Metatron again… I\'d love to invade Heaven, but that would put Ariel in a tough spot. And an all-out war will be difficult and time-consuming. The abyssal are sure to have the advantage in bloodlines; however, the Angels have monstrous armaments.

"On another note! Can I feel your tummy!" The mischievous snake asked, staring happily at my pig size stomach.

Gods, I can\'t wait to get this over with. Screw all those bitches that said their pregnancy was a breeze: This is hell.

"You\'re not going to do anything, are you?"

"Like what? They\'re not even born yet. I\'m not that evil that I would intentionally harm an unborn baby. So breathe. And it\'s not like I want to be hunted by the Abyss." he said with a cheeky smile, but that very smile didn\'t quite meet his eyes.

Instincts warning me of the dangers of this man, I suddenly felt an arm on my shoulder. "He\'s just messing with you. Black Sabbath is just manipulating your motherly instincts."

"He can do that?"

"But of course. There is a reason Black Sabith is one of the top three most powerful techniques to exist. But he usually just uses it to mess with people." Said Ariel eyeing Mephisto, who chuckled.

He\'d get along with the progenitors of the Abyss. They have the same energy as Mephisto.

"... So you just like to see me squirm uncomfortably."

\'I\'m chaos incarnate. It\'s my thing, how about this…."

Suddenly feeling all my worries had left me, even some of the pain plaguing my womb, I felt life return to my weary body.

"That\'s so broken… I can\'t even sense it." I yelped in shock, startled by the fact that Mephisto didn\'t even direct his qi or manipulate his soul.

"That\'s because your level of perception is attuned to the Abyss. You need to figure out what dimension my Qi is currently in." He told me, but despite being the Overlord of the Abyss, I couldn\'t tell where it was. Me, who was practically omniscient. I couldn\'t sense the energy.

"That\'s another one of his tricks," Ariel said once again. " Even if you manage to find the energy, it would have already faded. It only takes an instant to activate and fade to nothing. Black Sabbath is the ultimate mind fuck."

Yet another OP technique that brakes the flow of the universe.

Sulking, realizing even with omniscient, I could still be tricked. I took this lesson to heart. In Mephisto\'s presence, just because one is all-knowing doesn\'t mean they can\'t be tricked. I might be omniscient, but that doesn\'t mean my soul can process information fast enough to combat this monster.

"... I\'ll let you touch my stomach… if you tell me how does one defeat you?"

Mehispto\'s smile deepened: "That\'s easy. You make a deal with me. And you hope you can be a hundred steps ahead of me because I\'ll be a thousand steps ahead of you."

My fingers clenched at the level of arrogance. He wasn\'t the strongest; that much was clear. He might be a Fell God, but his energy was weaker than Renru\'s, our weakest general. But he feels so much more dangerous.

"Promise me you\'ll return him. On the day—"

"I promise."

"No, I need you to truly promise me, Mephisto. I will not allow my Sene to miss the birth of his children."

Mephisto stared me in the eye, the laziness in his eyes fading as he cuffed his hand together: " In the Father\'s name, the moment I get Ariel\'s message, I will return Arsene to you. You have my word."