Chapter : 1921

  Ben Ironwood was leaning against a black pillar with his thick metal arms crossed over his chest. He tapped his foot impatiently on the floor. He looked at the scene with a mix of boredom and mild annoyance.

  "Finally," Ben grumbled. His voice was deep and rough. "You took long enough, Lord Lloyd. I have seen faster pit stops during a firefight. We are wasting time."

  Lloyd rolled his eyes but didn't look back. "I just performed open-heart surgery on a Demon Prince using tree roots, Ben. Give me a minute."

  "It was inefficient," Ben stated flatly. He pushed himself off the pillar and walked closer, his heavy metal steps echoing in the hall. He looked down at Monalisa with a sneer. "And for what? To save a broken piece of hardware? She was petrifying because she is weak. Weakness should be discarded, not fixed."

  Monalisa didn't get angry. She giggled. She floated up from her cushion, drifting through the air like a ghost until she was hovering right in front of Lloyd. She ignored Ben completely, as if he were just a noisy piece of furniture.

  She reached out and ran a long, sharp fingernail down Lloyd’s cheek.

  "Don't listen to the Tin Man, darling," she purred. Her green eyes were glowing with a new, intense light. "He doesn't understand art. And this? This is art."

  She looked at the grey fruit in Lloyd’s hand. Her eyes widened. She could feel the power inside it. It was her power—her sickness, her weight, her burden—all condensed into one small ball.

  "You took it all," she whispered, her voice full of wonder. "You reached inside me, found the bad parts, and just... pulled them out."

  "I cleaned the filter," Lloyd said, his voice dropping into his usual dry, sarcastic tone. He tossed the fruit a few inches into the air and caught it. "Your mana was clogged. It was like engine sludge. I just gave you an oil change."

  "An oil change..." Monalisa tasted the words. She smiled, revealing sharp teeth. "You talk like a mechanic. I like that. I like mechanics. They know how to use their hands."

  She drifted closer, invading his personal space. She wasn't treating him like an enemy General anymore. She wasn't treating him like an equal, either. She was looking at him the way a collector looks at a very rare, very expensive toy that they just bought.

  "You are my favorite toy now, Little Lion," she said softly. "Lucifer wants to break you. Beelzebub wants to eat you. But me? I think I want to keep you on a shelf. I want to take you out and play with you whenever I feel stiff."

  Lloyd stepped back, putting some distance between them. "I'm not a toy, Monalisa. And I'm not a pet. I did this because you saved us from the fly swarm. Now we are even."

  "Even?" Monalisa laughed. It was a dark, sultry sound. "Oh, darling. We are not even."

  She pointed at her chest, right over her heart.

  "You fixed me," she said. "But you know biology, don't you? You know how my condition works. I am the Prince of Sloth. My nature is to be stagnant. My mana wants to stop moving. It wants to turn to stone."

  Lloyd froze. The engineer in his brain started running the calculations. She was right. He had cleaned out the sludge, but he hadn't changed her nature. She was still Sloth.

  "It’s going to come back," Lloyd realized. "The sediment. It will build up again."

  "Exactly," Monalisa whispered. She floated around him, circling him like a shark. "Maybe in a year. Maybe in ten years. But eventually, the stone will come back. My arm will get heavy. My chest will get tight. And I will start to die again."

  She stopped right behind him and leaned her chin on his shoulder. Her breath was cold against his ear.

  "And when that happens... who is going to fix me?" she asked. "The other demons can't do it. The humans can't do it. Only you. Only you and your strange, hungry wooden roots."

  Lloyd looked at Eun-ha. His wife—the Devil Prince Leviathan—was watching them from the dais. She didn't look jealous. She looked like a CEO who had just watched her company stock go up. She gave Lloyd a small, sharp nod.

  She knew. She had known from the start.

  Lloyd looked back at Ben. Ben was shaking his head, looking disgusted.

  Chapter : 1922

  "Great," Ben muttered. "Now she is going to follow us home. Can we just shoot her? It would be faster."

  "No shooting," Lloyd said. He looked at Monalisa. "So, what are you saying? You want a subscription plan?"

  Monalisa giggled again. "I'm saying you can't get rid of me, mechanic. I need you. Biologically. Physically. If you die, I turn into a statue. If you leave forever, I turn into a statue."

  She grabbed his arm—the one that had the Void Wood—and squeezed it.

  "So you have to stay alive," she said, her voice suddenly losing its playful edge and becoming deadly serious. "You have to get strong. You have to win this war. Because if someone breaks you before I get my next treatment... I will be very, very unhappy."

  Lloyd looked at the fruit in his hand. He realized he wasn't just holding a lump of magic energy. He was holding a leash. He had thought he was just doing a good deed, but he had accidentally made one of the strongest monsters in existence dependent on him for survival.

  He put the fruit into his pocket—into his infinite inventory space.

  "Fine," Lloyd said. "If you behave, maybe I'll come back for a check-up."

  "I'll be waiting," Monalisa purred. She floated back to her cushion and lay down, stretching her limbs like a satisfied cat. "Now, run along, Little Lion. Go fight your war. Just don't get scratched."

  Ben pushed himself off the wall. "Finally," he said. He walked over to Lloyd and grabbed his shoulder with a metal hand. "We are leaving. This place is making my sensors glitch. And if I have to listen to her flirt with you for one more minute, I am going to vomit. And I don't even have a stomach."

  "Let's go," Lloyd agreed.

  He walked toward the dais where Eun-ha was waiting. The reunion was over. The mission was done. It was time to go back to the surface.

  ________________________________________

  Lloyd stood before the shimmering portal. On the other side, he could see the familiar stone walls of his secret underground lab back in the North. It looked dusty and safe.

  He turned to Eun-ha. She stood tall and regal in her dress made of shadows and starlight. Her black horns curved elegantly from her head. She didn't look like a monster to him. She looked like the partner he had missed for sixty years.

  "So," Lloyd said. "This is it for now."

  "For now," Eun-ha agreed. Her voice was calm and steady. "You have the intel. You have the upgrades. You have Ben back at full capacity."

  She looked at Ben.

  "Ironwood," she said.

  Ben straightened up. He didn't salute, but he stood with a rigid, military posture. He looked at Eun-ha with genuine respect in his mechanical red eyes. He knew who she was. She wasn't just Lloyd’s wife. In the history books of their old world—Earth—she was "The Architect." She was the scientist who wrote the code that ran the world.

  "Professor," Ben said, nodding his head. It was the highest title he used for anyone other than Lloyd. "Your patch for my soul-circuitry is... adequate. My reaction time has improved by 0.4 seconds. It is acceptable work."

  Eun-ha smiled. She knew Ben’s language. "Adequate" meant "Perfect."

  "Keep him alive, Ben," she said. "He has a bad habit of trying to tank hits with his face."

  "I am aware of his tactical deficiencies," Ben said dryly. "I will endeavor to keep his body intact. Though his brain... that might be beyond repair."

  Lloyd scoffed. "Hey, I'm standing right here."

  "I know," Ben said. "That is the problem."

  Eun-ha reached out and took Lloyd’s hand one last time. Her skin was cold, but her grip was strong.

  "Go, Evan," she said softly. "The Firefly Corporation is moving. The Lucifer Faction is waking up. You have a lot of work to do."

  "I'll come back," Lloyd promised. "I'm going to build that containment suit. I'm going to find a way to bring you to the surface without the pressure killing you. I’m going to get you out of here."

  "I believe you," she said. "Now go. Before I decide to keep you here and lock the door."

  Lloyd squeezed her hand, then let go. He stepped back, moving toward the portal.

  "Ben, move out," Lloyd ordered.

  Ben walked through the portal first. He didn't look back. He just stepped through the shimmering light and vanished, ready to scout the other side.

  Chapter : 1923

  Lloyd paused at the threshold. He looked back at the throne room one last time. He saw Monalisa on her cushion, waving her fingers at him with a sleepy grin. He saw his wife standing on the dais, alone but strong, the Queen of her own dark kingdom.

  He realized how much things had changed. A week ago, he was fighting alone. Now, he had a Super-Soldier with upgraded software, a Devil Prince who was addicted to his healing, and a wife who controlled the logistics of Hell.

  The war wasn't over. It was just getting started. But for the first time, Lloyd felt like he had the cards to win.

  He stepped through the portal.

  The world twisted. The cold air of the Abyss vanished, replaced by the stale, dry air of his workshop. The lights of his lab flickered on.

  Lloyd stood in the center of his workshop. Ben was already scanning the perimeter, checking the windows.

  "Secure," Ben reported. "No intruders. Though you really should clean this place, Lord Lloyd. Dust is bad for precision equipment."

  Lloyd took a deep breath. He reached into his pocket and felt the cold, heavy weight of the Fruit of Sloth. He felt the hum of his new unified power core. He looked at the blueprints for the Aegis Suit scattered on his desk.

  This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Ben," Lloyd said, a cold smile forming on his face.

  "What?" Ben asked, not looking up from his scan.

  "Get the alchemists," Lloyd commanded. "Wake them up. Get Mei Jing. Get everyone."

  "Why?" Ben asked. "It is 3:00 AM."

  "Because we aren't hiding anymore," Lloyd said. He walked over to his desk and slammed his hand down on the Aegis blueprints. "I know how to fix the suit now. I know how to beat Firefly."

  He looked at Ben, his eyes glowing with the blue ring of the Austin bloodline.

  "We're going to build a god, Ben. And then we're going to go to war."

  Ben stopped scanning. He looked at Lloyd. He saw the look in his bro's eyes—the look of the Major General from Earth. The look of a man who was done playing games.

  Ben grinned. It was a sharp, metal grin.

  "Finally," Ben said. "I was getting bored."

  ---------------------

  7 Prince of Hell

  ---------------------

  Everything that starts with Seven in this series:

  In the world of Riverio, the Seven Princes of Hell represent the absolute pinnacle of demonic power. They are divided into two warring ideological factions.

  Here are the other Princes and where they stand:

  The Satan Faction (The Old Guard)

  These are the traditionalists. They follow the "Old Laws" of the Abyss and generally prefer isolation. They are currently being modernized by Eun-ha.

  1. Satan (Prince of Wrath)

  ○  Role: The nominal leader of the Old Guard.

  ○  Status: Sovereign-Level.

  ○  Traits: He is described as "tired" and ancient. He spends most of his time sleeping on a throne made of dragon bones. While he possesses world-ending power, he has no interest in the human realm and represents the stagnant nature of the "Pure" Devil Race.

  2. Leviathan (Prince of Envy) — Song Eun-ha

  ○  Role: The Faction’s "Logistics Manager" and "Architect."

  ○  Traits: Lloyd's Earth wife. She has spent 60 years organizing this faction into a corporate-style power block to prevent the other Princes from destroying the world. She is the "Sovereign of Efficiency."

  3. Asmodeus (Prince of Lust)

  ○  Role: The Hedonist.

  ○  Status: Sovereign-Level.

  ○  Traits: Like Satan, he is disinterested in the war. He is obsessed with his own games and hedonistic pleasures within his territory. He supports the Satan faction simply because they don't bother him or try to change his lifestyle.

  4. Belphagor (Prince of Sloth) — Monalisa(New)

  ○  Role: The "Patient" / The Wildcard.

  ○  Status: Sovereign-Level.

  ○  Traits: She was too sick (petrifying from stagnant mana) to care if it wasn’t for Leviathan. After Lloyd "cured" her using [Void Wood], she became biologically dependent on him for "treatments." She is now a dangerous, obsessive ally who treats Lloyd as her "Favorite Toy."

  ________________________________________

  The Lucifer Faction (The Corporate Raiders)

  These are the primary antagonists. They have allied with the Firefly Corporation from Earth/Interdimensional space and use "Spirit-Tech" implants to invade the human world.

  1. Lucifer (Prince of Pride)

  ○  Role: Leader of the Opposition.

  ○  Status: Sovereign-Level / High-Rank.

  ○  Traits: Arrogant, cruel, and extremely powerful. He is the one who personally attacked the Ferrum estate, neutralized Lloyd's father (Roy), and killed Jasmin. He views humans as livestock and believes magic augmented by technology is the future.

  2. Mammon (Prince of Greed)

  ○  Role: The Weaver of Lies / The Manipulator.

  ○  Status: Sovereign-Level.

  ○  Traits: Often described as genderless. Mammon is the most insidious of the group. He was the secret architect of Lloyd's misery in the first timeline, using illusions and misinformation to turn Rosa and Lloyd against each other. He feeds on greed and the breakdown of trust.

  3. Beelzebub (Prince of Gluttony)

  ○  Role: The Consumer.

  ○  Status: Sovereign-Level.

  ○  Traits: He rules "Gator City" and the Gluttony State. He is rapacious and hungry, wanting to harvest human souls as "batteries" for the Firefly Corporation. He was the "host" for the traitor Rubel before Lloyd and Ben killed him.

  The Absolute Top

  ●  The Great King Satan: While "Satan" is the Prince of Wrath, there is a legendary "Great King" figure (often the same entity but in a higher state of existence) that even the Princes fear. Eun-ha plans to use the "Anubis Protocol" to gain an audience with this entity to find a way to retrieve Jasmin's soul.

  1. The Seventh Circle (The Organization)

  This is the name of the fanatical, religious-military organization that serves the Lucifer Faction. It isn't just a group of monsters; it’s a disciplined cult with a clear hierarchy.

  ●  Apostles of the Seventh Circle: These are high-ranking human or demon commanders who have been granted forbidden power. For example, Captain Graph (Chapter 1089) declared himself an "Apostle of the Seventh Circle" before he transformed into a devil.

  ●  The Mission: Their goal is the "containment" and eventual "harvesting" of Riverio to fuel the Abyss and the Firefly Corporation.

  2. The Seventh Circle (The Faction/Location)

  In the Abyss, the "Seventh Circle" is often used to describe the most aggressive layer of the Underworld—the one ruled by Lucifer and his allies. When characters refer to "The Seventh Circle is moving," they usually mean the Lucifer Faction has launched a coordinated attack.

  3. The Seventh Bell of Sorrow

  This is a specific, high-level Sovereign Authority used by the Prince of Gluttony, Beelzebub (Chapter 1164). It is a conceptual weapon that causes world-shattering erasure when it "chimes." It is considered one of the ultimate powers of the Seventh Circle.

  Chapter : 1924

  The rain was the first thing Airin noticed. It wasn't the soft, warm rain of the capital that smelled of flowers and damp earth. This rain was cold, hard, and it smelled of something sharp—like burning metal and old oil.

  For the last six nights, this dream had come to her. It was always the same, yet every time, it felt more real than her waking life at the Royal Academy.

  In the dream, she wasn't standing on the cobblestones of Bethelham or the dirt roads of her home village. She was standing on a strange, flat surface. It was like black stone, but smoother, stretching out as far as she could see. It had white and yellow lines painted on it, cracked and fading. In the distance, there were noises she couldn't understand—loud booms that shook her chest, and a high-pitched whining sound that made her teeth ache. It sounded like a storm, but a storm made by machines, not nature.

  Airin looked down at her hands. They were her hands, but they looked rougher. There was dirt under her fingernails, and a small, white scar on her thumb that she didn't have in real life. She was wearing clothes that felt heavy and stiff. They weren't the soft robes of a scholar. It was a jacket and trousers made of a thick, rough fabric, colored a dull, brownish-green. Olive. That was the word. Olive green.

  She felt tired in the dream. It was a deep, heavy exhaustion, the kind that settles in your bones after days of walking without sleep. But beneath the tiredness, she felt something else. She felt strong. She felt alert. She felt like she was waiting for something important.

  Then, she saw him.

  He walked out of the grey mist and the rain. He moved differently than the men she knew at the Academy. He didn't strut like the noble boys, and he didn't slouch like the tired workers in the market. He walked with a straight back and a smooth, careful stride. He looked like a man who checked every corner before he turned it.

  He wore the same strange clothes as her. The stiff, olive-green jacket. But on his chest, there were small ribbons of color and shiny metal pins. He didn't carry a sword. He carried a strange, black metal tool slung over his shoulder on a strap.

  As he got closer, Airin’s heart began to beat faster. It wasn't fear. It was the opposite of fear. It was the feeling of coming home after a long, cold winter.

  He was young, maybe twenty-five years old. His face was sharp and serious, but his eyes were kind. He had dark hair cut very short, much shorter than the fashion in the capital. When he looked at her, the hard lines of his face softened. The tiredness around his eyes vanished.

  It was Lloyd Ferrum.

  Or at least, it had his face. But this wasn't the "Professor Ferrum" she knew—the man who taught logistics with a chalkboard and hid behind a mask of politeness. This man was raw. He was dangerous. He looked like he had walked through a fire and come out the other side made of steel. But when he looked at her, that steel melted.

  "You waited," he said. His voice was rough, like he had been shouting over the noise of the storm.

  "I always wait," Airin heard herself say. Her voice sounded different, too. It was deeper, steadier. It was the voice of a woman who had seen too much but hadn't broken.

  He stopped in front of her. The rain dripped from the brim of his cap. He reached out and took her hand. His skin was rough and warm. The heat of his hand seemed to travel up her arm and settle in her chest, chasing away the cold of the strange rain.

  He didn't bow like a noble. He didn't use flowery words. He just squeezed her hand, and in that simple touch, there was a promise of safety so absolute it made her want to cry.

  Then, the dream would fade. The grey world would dissolve into white mist, and the smell of burning metal would be replaced by the smell of old paper and lavender from her dormitory.

  Airin woke up with a gasp. She sat up in her narrow bed in the Academy dorms. Her heart was hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird.