As Elliot’s group traveled to Malice’s castle, two men stood on one of the Black Castle’s towers. They stared at the direction of the new presence, grinning.
"They finally made their way here," Bruno said, taking a sip of his coffee. "Good thing you noticed it before me. Malice shouldn’t know about this."
"The queen shall stay inside this castle," Trick said. "But my illusion coild only last long. If they don’t hurry, then she could notice that something is happening outside."
"You don’t have to worry," Bruno muttered, staring directly at Elliot even when he is a mile away. "They don’t have the intent to kill her. I think they want to talk, even."
Trick sighed and waved his hand. A thin mist of yellow light plunged out of his hand. He poured the mist outside of the castle and the mist surrounded the castle before it vanished completely. The man sighed. "Good thing that those Terrans knew what they are doing."
"I don’t think it’s just them," Bruno narrowed his eyes and tsked. He then ran inside the tower, leaving Trick alone.
A few minutes later, Bruno came back and this time, he was dragging a young thin man with him. Trick watched Bruno as the latter pushed the man right at the edge of the tower.
The young man he brought was short and skinny. He wore the standard coat that most Vassals wore but he had his clothes three sizes bigger than him. His skin was more pale than most and he had black bowl cut hair. His skin were also covered with stitches that were two inches in length.
"Woah," Trick immediately pulled the young man. "Bruno, man, what the hell? Viz is on our side. Don’t bully this little kid."
When Bruno turned to look at them, the two Vassals’ eyes widened in shock. Bruno was pale and he was panicking. "T-They..."
Trick held the younger boy’s shoulders and turned their bodies to the direction that Bruno was looking at earlier. "Viz, look at that direction and tell me what you see."
The young boy took one last look at Bruno in worry before he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them, a third eye opened right on his forehead. "Trick, your cloud is too thick. It’s hard for me to just look with this."
"We have to stop the queen from noticing, so of course I had to use all of my powers," Trick said. "Now look."
Viz growled in resistance, but did his best anyway. Two more eyes opened on his forehead. He then raised both of his hands to point his palm in front of him. Two more eyes opened, one in each palm.
Right when Viz activated his skill, he fell back in shock. He shook his head as he trembled in fear. "What are those two doing here? I don’t understand."
"Who?" Trick asked. "Why are you both so scared? It shouldn’t be that scary, right?"
Bruno shook his head and ran inside the castle. Trick growled and kneeled in front of Viz, staring at the young boy in worry. "Come on, what the hell happened? Why do you both look so scared?"
"You don’t understand," Viz gulped. He stood up and looked at the direction again. "They’re with two Behemoths, and not just any Behemoths."
"Behemoths?!" Trick growled. "What are those things doing here? Aren’t they supposed to be underground? Lower? On the lowest region of the Abyss?"
"They’re with Irus the Wrath and Dante the White," Viz said. "Two legendary Behemoths, Trick. If they attack us with your illusion still intact, even the Vassals could not take it."
"We have to alert the allied Vassals," Trick said. "But we don’t have to inform the queen. She doesn’t need more stress."
"What do you suggest?" Viz asked. "That we lie to her majesty? I do not want to commit that treason."
Trick smirked. "The moment you allied with us, you committed treason. We are here to depose the queen of her wicked ways."
"I only agreed because you told me that this is for the better, Trick," Viz raises his voice. "The queen isn’t what she used to be and I would like for that to stop."
"Then you have to trust on on this too," Trick said. "Trust in Bruno."
"If they attack us and the Queen or the Princess dies, I will blame you for the rest of your life," Viz threatened. "I will continue monitoring them. Thicken your fog or the queen will figure it out."
Viz left the tower, leaving Trick shocked. The man pursed his lips and fake wiped a tear on his eye. "The kid is a man now. Who knew that he was capable of scolding?"
"I didn’t know that Viz could raise his voice like that."
Trick was about to cover more mist around the castle when he heard the voice behind him. The man could only gulp as he slowly turned around and see a beautiful woman in front of him.
The man immediately kneeled and looked down. "Princess! May I ask why are you here?"
"Something is happening," the princess spoke gently. She pointed her hand at something, to which Trick took a look at and made him gulp. "Someone is coming to us."
Two maidens came rushing towards the Princess. "Oh, dear princess! Please, do not leave us like that again."
The princess stopped moving after that. She was taken back inside the castle. Trick was left behind alone for the third time, but this time, he had mixed sense of feeling. He was unsure what to do, especially when he just witnessed the princess, who lost her mind, point at the direction of the intruders.
"I have to inform Bruno," Trick said. He hurried to cover more mist around the castle, as thick as he can get, to stop the auras of the Terrans from entering their vicinity. Malice had a sensitive sensation to auras. One short feeling and she will figure it out.
–
Meanwhile, at a gloomy forest, Elliot and his friends made their way to the castle. There was no life in Hell, or at least in the forest that they were on. The only thing that filled the area were dark and dry sadness.
"I don’t believe that this was what hell looked like before," Lance said suddenly. Elliot looked at him in worry.
"What do you mean?" Elliot asked and looked around. "This Hell looks like just like how it was described in books."
"But not to this point," Lance said. "It was dark and barren, but it was never mentioned that Hell was this helpless."
"You are right," Dante spoke. "Look at the trees and watch how they were naturally black or dark colored, the ground is also naturally dark in color."
"What happened?" Elliot asked. "Why did thid happen to this place?"
"Almost twenty years ago when the princess left, Malice was devastated," Dante said. Irus nudged his shoulder, making the man sigh. "Let’s just say that the queen didn’t like that, so she wrecked the entire realm. She has never returned to her original state since."
"Wait, the prunvess of Hell left?" Elliot asked. "What happened?"
"We’re here," Irus interrupted. "The city of Vultu, Hell’s capital."