Hell Chapter 3; Angel King and Demon King

Bael, the newly named King Of Demons, reached the top of the mountain with some strain and struggle, but he reached the top all the same. The top of the Mountain of Death, Mt. Mortis, was the Formorti Zenith -- The highest point. This was also where the Angel King, known As Ophiuchus, watched over Hell from on high. This much was a well-known fact after he forcefully took over Hell from Satan, The Devil, and SIN itself. He was rightly called 'Angel King', and was recognized as a God -- A God-King.

This made Bael furiously envious, and after his transformation into the King Of Demons, he was ready to storm the peak of the mountain of the dead. "Oh, Ophiuchus!" Bael called out after reaching the pinnacle of the mount, "The Hell You Stole From SIN Is No Longer Yours, But Ours! So Says Bael, King Of Demons!"

Bael would come to the doorstep of a monstrous palace made of pure crystal, shimmering and shining with iridescent light that was only found at the top of the mountain. It was glorious in appearance and clearly fit for a king and all of his men.

"Bael, I Foresaw Your Arrival. And I Saw That You Retaliated At Me By Creating A New System Under Mine," Ophiuchus said in an angelic tone, his body like that of an otherworldly light and his eyes glowing like stars with which he'd gazed the monstrous demon in the face. "However," Ophiuchus continued, his body flickering in and out, "I Am Not Presently At Your Location Because I Left The Area For My Pumpkin Head To Scour." The eyes narrowed. "Once The Pumpkin Head Is Done With The Zodiac Elements, My Full Form Will Be Realized Here. You Only Have Until Then." The image of Ophiuchus, made of light, would shine brightly and manifest itself as the Fifth Restriction form of the Angel God-King, which was was most ghastly in appearance because of its lack of Eyes and a Voice. The duplicate of Ophiuchus has limited power, but surely there was enough left behind out of the remnants of the energy from his departure from Hell a long while back. "And Even Then, I Can Face You With The Little Traces Of My Energy That Were Remnant When I Departed. I Am More Than A Challenge For You, Demon."

Without wasting any time, Ophiuchus, who now looked like his Fifth Restriction form, which was a ghoulish man in a cape that had no eyes, shot laser beams from the glowing sockets that were a burning crimson. "Eternal Damnation!" bade the Angel God-King's essence, aiming the beams from his eyes at Bael in order to totally burn him away in all of his different manifestations, likely also out of existence.

Bael was simply no match.

But Bael was swift and cunning, just enough so to be able to evade the destructive eye beams of Eternal Damnation and crawl up and around the walls and ceiling in a spiraling fashion. The beam should have dragged itself across the locations that Bael walked and damaged the crystalline palace at the top of the mount.

"You Aren't Even Present?" Bael asked with anticipation, "All The Better! I Thought That You Were Actually Here Watching Over Us. No Wonder I Could Take Over All Of Hell With No Interference." With that made sense of, Bael continued spiral-crawling across the surfaces of the palace and toward the remnants of Ophiuchus, where Bael would then seek to dispel Ophiuchus' energy and remove the image of him from the throne using demonic power.

Ophiuchus outstretched his hand and called for the "Crystal Threads" to shoot out of his fingertips and bind Bael with their power. It was true that Ophiuchus had damaged the palace by shooting out the laser beam from his eyes, but that didn't mean it would fall. The structure was weakened, but it still stood strong, as did Ophiuchus. The 'Crystal Threads' would stretch across the entire palace main hall, ricocheting off of the floor and walls and ceiling in order to create a fine webbing that would trap Bael and keep him from moving.

"Bael, You Know Not What You Do. Even If You Are Able To Take This Throne From My Remnants, You Cannot Rule Over Hell, And I Will Be Back To Destroy You In The Same Fashion As I Tore Down The Original Babylon." This mountain was not the same as it was when Bael was just a sinning Baal living in the shanties down at the base in Purgatorio. It still resembled a pyramid when one looked at it from the top, but it also resembled a rugged mountain, not sleek like a pyramid. "You Are Living Off Of My Perfect System, And To Tamper With That Will Bring Catastrophic Destruction To The Land." Not that the land was anything special, as it was generally always being catastrophically destroyed in some fashion. "Don't You Understand Reason?"

Whether or not Bael was captured by the web of 'Crystal Threads', the webbing would contract upon him at the pull of Ophiuchus' fingers and close in on Bael from all sides like a net.

The web closed in on Bael, but by the time it did, it seemed that Bael was no longer present. Yet, his hoarse voice called out from ambiguity, "Ha! You Should Have Known My Power, Omniscient Ophiuchus! Tell Me, Are You Blind Without Your Eyes?" It was clear that Ophiuchus was several times weaker than what he would be should his actual being be there, so Bael was taking advantage. "Even If You Have Changed The Pyramid To Suit Yourself, I Can Simply Change It To MY Liking Once I Take The Throne! Don't You Know That All Of My Demon Slaves Have Captured All Of Hell? I Have Told You This Already!"

Out of nowhere, Bael would appear beside Ophiuchus, becoming visible again. "My Legions! Attack!" With a great demonic power, Bael raised one of his spider legs and imbued it with the energy, swiping at Ophiuchus' head from behind. Simultaneously, hundreds of thousands of lesser demons came rushing in, summoned by Bael, and infiltrated the main hall and throne room. They occupied the area and stormed Ophiuchus, likely leaving him open to Bael's attack.

It was true that Ophiuchus, without his Eyes, Voice, and Hands Of God was not as powerful as he should have been, and even less so since he was only remnant energy and would expire if too much energy was expelled, but he didn't think that Bael would be too much of an issue. He may have been the proclaimed 'King Of Demons', but Ophiuchus was a God-King, and also rightful King Of Demons just the same as he was King Of Angels. He was King Of Kings, giving him a crown over all other Kings, thus making him the God-King.

Bael did not catch Ophiuchus off guard, for the essence simply dispersed and reconvened elsewhere in the palace when Bael disappeared and reappeared behind him. But, when Ophiuchus was about to retaliate, he saw that the palace was being stormed. "... This Will All Be To Your Undoing, Bael," Ophiuchus warned again, "I Will Take Out Your Legions And You As Well." As little energy as Ophiuchus had presently, it should have been enough to wipe out the several hundreds of thousands of demons and still be able to take care of Bael.

Again, Ophiuchus cried out, "Eternal Damnation!" and a searing hot beam of red energy fueled by his hatred burst from his eyes and swiped across the entire palace region, slicing demons in half and causing them to explode or be burnt out of existence. The palace was sustaining severe damage because of this, but as long as Ophiuchus could hold down the fort, repairs to the castle would be a trivial thing.

Eye beams blazing, Ophiuchus did not stop shooting his laser until every demon was wiped out, and most of the palace of crystal. There was a bright flash of redness and then an explosion, which destroyed the majority of the palace. "Now Even If You Do Come To Rule, What Will You Do With No Castle, O King Of Demons?" Naturally, Ophiuchus jested, knowing he was the true Demon King. But when someone challenged him for his title, he had to defend it. He just hoped he had enough energy after wiping out all of those demons to deal with Bael, who could disappear as he chose. Without the Eyes Of God, Ophiuchus could not see him when he disappeared... But his energy could be sensed, so a disappearing act wouldn't work again.

"See What I Have Done To Your Legions," Ophiuchus said. "Do You Think This Will Not Happen To You?"

Bael skillfully evaded yet another blazing hot beam of destruction by turning invisible, but he noticed that the beams were following him after they destroyed his demon legions. "What?! You Can Sense Me?!" Bael was in trouble now. However...

"Ha! You Must Be Weak Now After Destroying So Many Demons! You Will Not Be Able To Sustain That Form For Much Longer, And You Will Lose Your Place." Bael just had to keep having Ophiuchus waste his energy in order to make the remnant energy of Ophiuchus disappear. So it was time to 'Dodge And Dip', as it was come to be known as. Bael remained invisible, but did not stop moving. He hid behind debris and whatever else he could to keep the lasers off of him.

Ophiuchus knew when he could not pinpoint Bael and simply blast him with the laser beam because his energy was getting low due to the drain that he was going to dissipate soon. He needed to conserve energy.

"Huh," Ophiuchus huffed, halting his beam of pure hatred, "Looks Like I'll Have To Do This The Long Way, Then." With the seventy-two set up, the Demon Lords would be able to be confronted and destroyed in order to restore Ophiuchus' system and thus generating power for the remnant to use to charge itself up. "No Matter. You May Have The Throne For Now." Ophiuchus started to disappear, saying to Bael, "The Throne May Be Yours, But You Will Never Be Able To Defeat Me If I Have To REALLY Come Back Down Here. Just Be Lucky I'm Busy Elsewhere Right Now." The true Ophiuchus was doing something else, which was why the remnant energy from so long ago was active in his place. However, the power of it was limited.

"Have Fun Watching Me Destroy Your Kingdom As Soon As It's Built, Bael," Ophiuchus bade as his presence faded from the Throne Room, having transported itself elsewhere in Hell.

"Yes!" the hoarse-voiced Bael shouted once Ophiuchus departed, "I Have Ascended The Throne!" There the spider-legged monster would crawl over to the place where the royal throne was and rest his giant self, looking around with his three heads.

The palace was totaled.

When Bael realized that Ophiuchus intended to leave the palace in wreckage for Bael, Bael was furious. "Well!" he cried as loud as his hoarse voice could, "It Doesn't Matter What The House Looks Like... As Long As I Have The Throne!"

The problem now was that Bael had no protection, for all of his thousands of demons were taken out rather easily, despite being his top-of-the-line -- other than the seventy-two. "Accursed Ophiuchus... I Cannot Be Defenseless Up Here! They Will Try To Overthrow ME If I Do Not Have Any Protection..."

And so Bael sat.

Alone.

Unable to tell others of his achievement at the risk of his life.

And there he'd keep the Throne.