***The Infernal Plane of Lust***

***Amon***

Curse the other!

I struggled and spluttered my way back to the surface while all the muscles in my body burned as if they were made out of infernal fire. The other’s spell had drawn energy right from that Chaos dimension and given me an unimaginable power boost, but not without consequences.

During the spell's duration, I had felt like living a dream. My enemies had been utterly incapable of stopping me as I rushed past them. The memory of the unfortunate fool who had tried to stop me with his body was still stuck in my mind. But now in the aftermath, I felt not much unlike after Ex had taken me through one of his life or death exercises – which often meant breaking every bone in my body.

Worse, my lungs were already burning from the lack of air since the gelatinous mass that was filling the titan’s eyeball was trying its best to get into every orifice of mine. In my short life, I hadn’t encountered many things that could freak me out, but this was definitely one of them!

Though, drowning inside an eyeball was definitely a unique way of dying. Would the Infernum grant me an achievement for it?

Finally, my clawed fingers broke through to the surface and I took a deep breath as I pulled myself up to my shoulders out of the slimy stuff. Without my claws which were able to cut through the leathery surface, I would have been doomed to respawn, because there was no way I could draw on magic right now.

My mana channels felt burned and overstrained. At the very least I would have to wait a few minutes before I could try performing even a small spell.

I blinked and wiped the gelatinous slime out of my face before I took in my surroundings.

The titan had apparently fallen to its knees upon dying. Something had caused it to spill a sea of its guts onto the battlefield. Suddenly I felt a little better about my situation. If I had been given a choice between taking a dive in eyeball jelly and what must have been a tidal wave of guts rushing over me… let’s just say that I would repeat the eyeball experience every time.

That is, right until my attention went to the feet that were standing on the eyeball’s surface right next to me. I inspected the fat belly next, and then my eyes went up to Ostreios’s familiar face.

The Demon Lord was standing horizontally on the eyeball’s surface and gnawing on a white feathered wing while he considered me with a thoughtful expression. His very exotic choice of food was already mostly clean down to the bone, but that didn’t deter the glutton from nibbling off even the smallest piece of meat or sinew. He just plucked away the feathers as he went.

There was also a group of personal guards standing to attention behind him, awaiting their next order in total silence while staring forward with blank expressions.

Next, I noticed the dimensional portal that was spilling forth demons who shook up the battlefield between Khorne and Mekedesh by adding a third party to the mix. Although, it wasn’t as bad as it sounded since Ostreios’s troops clearly had only one motivation: loot. They were their own side in this battle and didn’t care about Lust’s factions or politics. Though, I wondered how Ostreios happened to open a portal right above me.

I smiled and looked ‘up’ at the Demon Lord – at least it was up from my current perspective.

“Hello! So we meet again!” I tried to sound like I wasn’t surprised. “The Infernum is truly a small place. Care to explain how you found me?”

“Indeed… surely you would want to know that,” Ostreios replied cryptically and took another bite from his wing. “Thanks to you, I had a quite humorous excursion through the Heavenly Planes while being hunted by no less than fourteen of their High Lords. We looted a few smaller towns until the Heavenly Host decided to assemble a real army. I am uncertain whether I should be thankful to you, or add it to the list of misdeeds against my person.”

I still had some dark recollections of him beating me to a pulp while I had lost control over myself. Suffice it to say, I had no desire to repeat the experience. Unfortunately, I was in no state to fight, meaning that there was no chance of winning against this man.

“So you had some fun! Definitely a point in my favour then.” I tried to pull myself further out of the eyeball, but the jelly held me tight. Trying to get out without magic only made me look like some fool, so I gave up and thought of something to keep the conversation going. “Oh, yes! How is Sozzudon doing? Did he join you on your adventure?”

Ostreios shrugged, not overly concerned about the other demon’s fate. “Last time I saw him he was trying to save what was left of his collection right until the Plane of Chaos gobbled everything up. But I am sure that he survived somehow. That man is a cockroach, just like you. Though, if you ever meet him again I would suggest you try killing him first. Because he is sure to try killing you the moment you meet.”

He still looked down at me like the mother of all lizard things would look upon a demonling, and I didn’t like it. Not at all.

“I appreciate the compliment!” I replied and kicked my feet, but the jelly beneath me didn’t provide any traction.

Ostreios seemed bemused by this. “You have come a long way from when I last saw you. Fucking up my tournament, then pursuing your roots at the mansion, and now you are slaying titans on Lust’s battlefields? A steep rise to power indeed. I wonder what will be next.”

“Yeah! Even got another evolution out of killing the titan – I think!” At least I thought so. My soul well felt a lot bigger now, but I wasn’t certain whether I had undergone more physical changes. “And it appears that you believe me now that I am not my predecessor? The last time we saw each other, you weren’t exactly inclined to talk it out.”

“That damned recorded projection angered me.” He frowned but conceded the point. “Maybe. I had time to think about it and cool down while I had my fun with the feather-folk.” The Demon Lord raised an eyebrow. “Forgive me, but you look like any measly soldier could kill you right now.”

I sighed and prepared myself. “Okay. You got me. So – just get it over with?”

It looked like Ostreios considered it, but then he looked towards the battlefield. I had no clue whether killing me just for the souls would be worth it to him. He was a Demon Lord and Gluttony's avatar. The man held the position Khorne was striving for since millennia. Maybe I was nothing more than peanuts to him?

“Who are they?” he asked in a bored tone.

I followed his eyes toward the two battling legions who were duking it out while trying their best to adjust to Ostreios’ minions. Surprisingly enough, it looked like Gluttony’s forces were holding their own without too much effort.

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“Khorne’s and Mekedesh’s forces. They are fighting for superiority over Lust,” I explained. “I admit that I don’t know that much about the involved political situation, but it seems like Khorne is aspiring to become Lust’s next avatar.”

As long as it gave me a chance at survival, I was willing to ramble on about my chosen home dimension for days. It wasn’t like I knew anything that was of particular value to Ostreios.

The Demon Lord snorted. “It has been a while since Lust had one, but that whelp becoming Lust’s next avatar? I think not. What about the Ashborns? Did they have nothing to say about the matter? I am sure their old hag isn’t brought to heel so easily.”

It seemed like the Infernum’s network of influential people who knew each other even spanned the planes. Though, Ostreios knowing about Isabella’s family still surprised me. What did a succubus family have to do in order to be known on other plains?

I frowned, uncertain who exactly the old hag was supposed to be, but waved a hand in the general direction of the battle. “The succubi are fighting on Khorne’s side, for now. And I heard people saying that Khorne is seeking a more reliable alliance with them. I am not certain how exactly that’s supposed to go down.”

The Lord of Gluttony rolled his eyes and broke the wing in his hands. Then he suckled the marrow out of the bone. “An alliance with a succubus harem? That poor fool. They will rip him to shreds after they are done playing with him. The only question is whether he gets a good fuck out of it.”

He returned his attention to me, not saying a word.

After a minute of him staring, I couldn’t take it any longer. “Oh, come on! What are you going to do? Kill me? Send me for respawn and be done with it.”

“I already said that I am considering it. Though, it wouldn’t undo what you did to my beloved Baaar. Unfortunately, Gluttony himself wanted you out of his Plain. So, bringing you back likely wouldn’t earn me any favours with him, and I am not stupid enough to piss off a Planar Lord.”

Ostreios used the bone to pry a feather out from between his teeth. “And somehow I no longer feel like hunting you down personally. Taking my personal legion and following you around was a little ill-considered, I admit. Although it had a fortunate outcome. Right now, you are nothing more than a vagabond. Not that it’s a bad way of living for a demon. I even respect such a way of life. But it also means that nothing I can do to you is going to inflict the same level of pain on you as what you did to me. Aside from locking you up in some tomb and throwing away the key.”

I perked up and hoped that he wouldn’t go for incarceration. “Then you will let me go!?” Was he serious? Sending an entire legion after me, and then he lets me go just like that. To be fair, his people seemed loaded with stuff.

“For now,” Ostreios replied with a blank expression. “Make sure to never again show your face in Gluttony. Or else.” He left the remainder of the threat unspoken.

I nodded vehemently in reply, knowing that I would never want to return to my place of birth anyway. “Then, does that mean that you will also retract the bounty on my head?” I asked. “I heard that you announced one.”

He smiled, showing me a set of teeth that were every bit as fearsome as mine. “Certainly not. It will be my way of taking revenge. If you are too weak to survive some headhunters, then it’s your own fault.”

I sighed in relief and nodded. It wasn’t the best outcome, but I couldn’t complain. “Of course. Let’s just say that I deserved that.”

Ostreios nodded and bent down to dip a finger into the titan’s eyeball jelly. Then he gave it a thorough lick and nodded. “Tasty enough, I guess.” Then he turned towards his guards with a wave of a hand. “Signal the legion, lads. We are taking the titan with us. It will feed Baaar for quite some time.”

I blinked in surprise, not understanding. “You are going? Just like that?”

Gluttony’s chosen Avatar sniffed and looked at Lust’s violet sky. In the distance, a huge front of grey clouds was piling up above a distant mountain range and then flowing down its flanks like a waterfall. “The Storm Season is about to begin, and I am not about to be stuck on this Plain for years on end. Gluttony wants me back, I can feel it.”

“I see,” I replied, seeing as I didn’t understand what he was talking about. The man sounded like a lunatic. Either that, or there was some knowledge I lacked.

He looked down on me and smiled while he tilted his head. “You have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. I can see it.”

“Maybe,” I hedged.

“Hahahaha!” Gluttony’s Avatar laughed with evil glee. “You probably thought that Lust is all food and sunshine compared to Gluttony! But you are about to learn better.” He bent down and grabbed me by the collar of my leather armour.

A strong jerk was accompanied by a wet slurp as the eyeball jelly released me, and then I was flung aside like a discarded piece of unwanted trash.

I struggled while I was falling down the titan, but my mana conduits wouldn’t allow me to channel the energy properly. Cursing, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before I took control of the free mana around me. I couldn’t channel properly right now, but it was enough to shape the uncontrolled energies of the environment.

Concentrating, I carefully recreated the other’s spell. Like any good demon I had paid attention, watched, and learned after the first demonstration.

The levitation spell formed without problem and righted my vertical fall, until I was flying away from the titan’s carcass that was now being swarmed by thousands of Ostreios’s minions. Each one was hacking away at the monster, tearing countless little chunks out of it and storing them in dimensional pockets. At the rate at which they were going it wouldn’t take long until nothing more than bones would remain of the creature.

I slowly floated away from the scene, back towards where my people had made their stand. The way back took me five whole minutes during which I blanked out my mind, opting to think about nothing rather than to weigh myself down with theories.

My people were still where I left them, proudly holding our improvised fort. Philomena, Shax, and Jebril were in high spirits and waving at me, but Uphir and Kitia looked downtrodden. From the looks of it, they had taken a dive in the titan’s guts.

“You are alive!” I opened when I lowered myself down to the ground, but the stink of the battlefield made me want to rise back up to lofty heights where the air wasn’t as bad.

“At least that’s one positive thing about this debacle,” Kitia complained while she held a water bottle above her head that was endlessly spilling a clear liquid onto her. It was clearly enchanted to hold much more volume than its actual size and the demoness was misusing it as an improvised shower.

Uphir just sat there, bathing in his misery instead. He looked like he had taken a dive through the worst the titan's intestines had to offer. Even Philomena, his girlfriend, stood at a respectful distance.

“How was it?” I asked.

“You have no idea!” Kitia called out. “That tidal wave of ‘yuck’ came at us and there was nothing we could do!” She pointed at Philomena and Shax. “Those two bastards just abandoned us! They flew away, while the princess here,” she gestured at Jebril, “shielded herself to avoid taking a swim!”

The djinn picked at her jingle as if it needed maintenance – though she looked just a little guilty for taking care of herself first.

“I swallowed some,” Uphir groaned. If I ever saw a red-skinned demon turn green, then this was it.

“So you guys are fine then,” I concluded and let out a sigh of relief.

“What about them?” Philomena pointed at the legion that was picking apart the titan which was already looking like a skinned version of its former self.

“Ostreios’s people.” I held up my hands to stop any questions. “And before you ask, they let me go.”

“Just like that!?” Kitia asked. “We were wondering whether we would need a new leader.”

“Just like that,” I affirmed, though it was assuredly a little more complicated than I understood.

“Anyway,” Jebril inserted herself into the conversation. “You might not have heard it since you were within the sphere of influence of that other legion, but Ebandon called for a retreat. The whole warband is to abandon the field right now and return to Irkos. And we have an order to make an appearance at Ebandon’s headquarters as soon as possible.”

I blinked. “Abandon the field!? But this is the moment to press onwards! Their titan is down and Ostreios’ men are clearly unconcerned with taking sides! Our warband is free to act as it pleases to turn the tide of the battle. We could win this!”

“No, it’s over, at least for this season.” Kitia pointed towards the other legions. “See that? They are separating. The Storm Season is coming, and nobody wants to be caught out in the open. This battle was never about winning or losing anyway. It was just fought to hold the status quo before the season ends.” She shrugged. “This was the last battle of this season. No matter who would have won, there wouldn’t be enough time anyway to press the advantage before the storms begin.”

Right now, I understood literally nothing, but Ostreios was hollering on about the same thing. So I finally decided to just ask, “What, by the Infernum, is this Storm Season?”