Death... and me



Abaddon already expected that question. "What else can we do? We will divert our complete attention to the Temporal Path. The Angels are defending the entrance, so we can't do anything while the Divinity Realm experts of the Realm of Gods are also on our backs. This Soul Devil will give us the time necessary to divert our forces and attack the Temporal Path."

Abaddon then took out a piece of red jade. Right after, he poured his Devilish Energy inside. 

*Zuuup...*

In the next moment, a life-like image of Mephisto appeared right in front of everyone in the room. That obviously took the devils aback, with the exception of Abaddon. Still, they waited to see what Mephisto had to say.

"If you are seeing this, it is because Abaddon already got the preparations ready. Don't worry, everyone. This war is not over. If anything, the time for our real plan to be put into practice has just arrived," said Mephisto.

Echidna narrowed her eyes. "Our real plan? How come I don't know anything about it?"

This time, even Abaddon was a little surprised. He wasn't expecting Mephisto to talk about any other plan. "What are you talking about? Isn't it just a simple plan to attack the Temporal Path from both the Realm of Gods and the Underworld sides? We need to set it free if we want to do anything else. At the very least, we have to make the Temporal Path a place that neither race can control. Anything else can wait."

Everyone in the room nodded, even the Space-Time Realm devils. The main priority was to make sure they had a reliable connection between the Underworld and the Realm of Gods. Only like that would they acquire the necessary defenses to keep their territory in the Realm of Gods.

However, Mephisto shook his head. "Do you know why it is so hard to take over the entrance of the Temporal Path in the Underworld?"

Asmodeus was the first one to answer. "Because Rui betrayed us. He has the Underworld Relic in his hands. The Relic can't be used to cause harm to Devils, but Rui can simply not use it at all. If you or any other Elder Devil had the Underworld Relic in their hands, I doubt the Angels would have succeeded in taking over the entrance."

Mephisto nodded with a smile. "That's precisely so... and that's what the Angels think as well. That's why during our next attack, Rui will join forces with us."

"What?!" Everyone felt like they heard a joke. "Rui is on the Angels' side! Why would he help us? He made it clear that his loyalty lies with the Angels."

Mephisto wasn't surprised by their words. "Indeed, that was Rui's plan. All this situation. All the invasion of the Angels. Simply everything was within our calculations. Rui told us about the imminent Angels' invasion, and we let it happen."

Everyone felt like Mephisto was making a fool of them. 

*Bang!*

Echidna couldn't hold her anger and stood up while slamming the table. "What the hell is all of this? How come none of us was told anything? Let the Angels invade? We are in this shit situation because of them, so how could you let it happen if you knew it was coming?"

The expression of the other Elder Devils wasn't any better. "Mephisto, you better give a good explanation."

Mephisto obviously did exactly that. "I know you are all angry, but we couldn't risk letting this plan leak out. You do know why the Angels covet our Underworld so much, right?"

Kanpishi nodded. "The reincarnation path. They can't accept that the souls of their Universe, and especially the Angel Races, have to pass through the reincarnation path in the Underworld. They want to at least have control over it to prevent them from being soiled by us Devils... or so they believe. For me, that is just another excuse to acquire more power."

Mephisto smiled. "That's correct. Rui acquiring the Underworld Relic didn't really matter. They would attack us sooner or later, and the fact he got the Underworld Relic just accelerated their plans. The Angels just so happened to have something similar in the Heavens, so it wasn't like we could attack them, either. To be more precise, we didn't even want to since all the Light Element Related things there were of little use to us."

"Still, we needed to find a way to get rid of the danger that was the Angels. To that cause, we got Rui on our side while he pretended to still have connections with the Angels. After all, the existence of the Light Devil Clan was due to the Angels. The same goes for the Dark Angel Clan in the Heavens since we created them."

"The plan was in motion, and now we have over half of all Archangels inside the Underworld. Tell me, is there a better opportunity than this to get rid of most of their forces?" Mephisto asked before continuing. "However, I will admit. I totally didn't expect the Three Powers of the Realm of Gods to suddenly attack us just as the Angels initiated their attacks. It is hard to tell if the Angels are using the Cultivators or the Cultivators are using the Angels. Nonetheless, it gave us a little more trouble than we expected."

"And that's why you agreed with this plan of mine to give birth to a Living Soul Devil, right?" Abaddon didn't need to think much to connect the dots. 

Mephisto nodded. "Just like you all, I obviously didn't want that all the Living Souls we collected so far to be used in such a way. If the Realm of Gods didn't attack, we could have saved this great fortune for our races, but alas..."

*Bang!*

Suddenly, a devil entered the meeting room in a hurry, taking the Elder Devils by surprise. "Are you looking to die? How dare you barge into this meeting? We told you all that no one was supposed to get in here."

That wasn't the only place it happened. Back in the Underworld, Mephisto had just got a report from one of his subordinates as well. "What?! What the hell did you just say?!"

The devil that entered the meeting in the Realm of Gods also delivered a very similar report. "The angels... the angels are retreating! They are going back to the Angel Realm, all of them!"

Sure enough, exactly the same thing was happening in the Underworld. All the Angels that were protecting the Temporal Path entrance immediately gave up what they were doing and flocked back to the havens. That also included the Archangels!

Abaddon couldn't help but look at Mephisto. "Is this also part of your plan?"

"Like hell it is!" Mephisto was fuming. "Why?! Just why are the Angels retreating right now?!"

Little did Mephisto know, but the twins had a big hand in this sudden development.