At a certain point, the two underlings of Vedvem suddenly changed to a different direction while waving with one of their hands, signaling that they were leaving.

This sudden occurance confused Nedoth, so he asked Vedvem.

"Why are the two going into a different direction?"

Vedvem said without turning around to Nedoth "Because they aren't part of the cult. They will wait in the pub nearby for me."

Nedoth raised one of his eyebrows "They aren't? Why are you their leader then?"

"That's because we know each other a long time now. I joined the cult only recently." answered Vedvem.

"So you are friends?"

"Friends? Heavens, no. They are business partners, nothing more. After the second so called "best friend" betrayed me, I never considered anyone an actual friend anymore."

Nedoth felt a wave of nostalgia hit his mind. He could sympathize with Vedvem perfectly.

In his first four years after his promotion to an imp, he grew quite close to another imp. That imp already received a name. His name was Xynix. Xynix seemed like a perfect buddy that understood his difficulties perfectly.

He truly considered him a wonderful friend. That is until Xynix commited a crime and shamelessly blamed him for that.

He would never forget the weeks of intense torture he needed to endure because of that vermin's betrayal.

After that he never considered others his friends. Of course other devils tried to be his "friends" but the only thing he did was use them. Just as they planned to use him.

"So there isn't any bad blood between us because I killed your underling?"

"You killed a tool of mine, although he was useful, he wasn't that useful. So no, there isn't."

"That's wonderful. Actually, there is something I'm be curious about." said Nedoth.

"Which is?"

"Which archdevil does your cult venerate?"

"Nexasisael, ever heard of him?"

"The Flaming Jester?" asked Nedoth in a suprised tone.

Vedvem was also suprised that Nedoth knew who Nexasisael was. For Nexasisael was a relatively minor figure in the political hellscape of the eight hells. Generally only diabolists or scholars of the diabolical knew of Nexasisael.

"You know him? You are know more than I expected" admitted Vedvem.

"I know quite a lot about hell. Let's just call it a.. hobby of mine. But the Flaming Jester, eh? You don't really look as lively as I imagined a cultist of the Flaming Jester to be."

Vedvem let out an embarrassed laugh "I guess I really don't act like a worshiper of Nexasisael, but it's hopefully alright, since I only joined recently."

"Ah, right. You did mention that. How did you even join the cult? You don't look like much of a sadistic jester to me."

"Yeah I really don't. I came into contact with the cult because of jealousy actually."

"Jealousy?"

"Yes. I was always jealous of mages, and when a cultist of Nexasisael came to me and offered me magical power beyond my understanding, I was almost instantly on board. Admittedly, at first I was hesitant about selling my soul but it was worth it in the end."

Nedoth giggled within his own mind. It was always funny to see how mortals actually thought that selling their immortal souls was a fair deal. As if some petty magical power could ever justify damning one's soul to hell.

"So I take that you learned pyromancy because you sold your soul?"

"Yes and no. The pact I made with that devil granted me magical power but not pyromancy. Only after I became a cultist of Nexasisael, my fellow brothers and sisters taught me pyromancy."

As the two were chatting with each other, they arrived at the cult's base of operations.

It was much more hidden than the various sacrificial altars they went passed.

It was a store for pyromantic knowledge and materials. In the back of the store was a locked door, that Vedvem unlocked.

A huge staircase revealed itself. Only when they went about half way down, voices were able to be heard.

On the walls were prayers written to the Flaming Jester in the infernal language. It was quite impressive how they  found so many different prayers to carve into their walls.

Soon they the both of them arrived at the giant hall.

In the back of the hall was a gigantic stone statue of Nexasisael himself, which suprised even Nedoth.

Although he has seen such impressive statues dedicated to the infernal lords himself once or twice, he never expected it in such a backwater alley. He thought that this would be a place of minor worship, but he was proven completely wrong.

The statue itself was incredibly detailed. The statue was an exact copy of the Flaming Jester, who he in his time as an imp has seen only once, and only very briefly as the Flaming Jester passed by while cackling to himself.

Just like in person, this statue's face couldn't be seen, only a sadistically grinning mask could be seen. He also didn't know how these cultists did it, but the red glowing dots were also present within this statue. The red glowing eyes emanated a red glow from within the carved mask.

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On top of his head, where his hair should be, a hot fire burned.

The statue also accurately depicted his eerie leathery, red bat wings.

For what many didn't know, Nexasisael was a cannibal who delighted in torturing his victims with fire before eating them alive. The faces of these victims then appeared on his wings.

The faces all grinned maniacally but their eyes were watery from tears that always tried to flow out yet couldn't.

Each time that Nexasisael cackled maniacally with sadistic joy, the faces also did it, albeit entirely silently.

Of course the change in expressions in the hundreds of faces wasn't something a statue could ever depict, so the cultists carved grinning faces into the wings.

The statue also had a long, thick reptile like tail. The claws of the statue were also completely stained from all the blood that was poured on them. As a homage of sorts to the fact that the blood on Nexasisael's claws never dried out from the countless victims he loved to torture and maim.

Before the giant statue was a charred altar with shackles on both sides to shackle the victims so that they couldn't ever be able to escape the grizzly, horrible death that awaited all of them.

Of course, the shackles were loose enough so that they could hope until the very end for an escape.

Only when they were set aflame, did they realize that they never had a chance to escape to begin with and that hope was the greatest cruelty of all.

The rest of the hall was relatively simple, although definitely not unimpressive in it's own right.

Forever burning, magically enhanced, special torches were attached to the walls.

Of course, the entire hall's walls were also full of prayers that were carved into them.

Only that here, they looked as if they were on fire.

Soon, a priest of Nexasisael came to the two new arrivals.

His eyes were gentle, though an extreme cunning was clearly hidden inside them. He had black, well-groomed hair, wore a red robe with a grin on it and had a confident attitude.

As the priest looked upon Nedoth, he felt a bit uncomfortable. The boy before him was clearly very, very young. He was still only a child. Still, he trusted his underlings atleast a tiny bit and was sure that the man before him only looked very young and wasn't in reality.

The priest asked: "May I know how old you are?"

Nedoth smirked, having understood the meaning why he asked this question "What, are you seriously squimish about a fifteen year old boy selling his soul? You, without a doubt, watched dozens get sacrificed agonizingly on that altar there and you care about a young boy's safety? How adorable."

Even though the boy before him clearly mocked him, he didn't get angry or anything like that.

The reason why he was feeling so uncomfortable was because he only got into Nexasisael's cult because his son died because a bandit killed him, without his father even being able to do anything.

His son was thirteen, barely younger than this boy here and he was going to simply stand by and allow this boy to sell his soul to such a painful afterlife?

He sold his soul to Nexasisael because he had nowhere to go and wanted to take vengeance on those bandit scum and the mercenaries that simply ran when the bandits attacked them, but this boy?

He still had his entire life before him! He couldn't just allow hi-

His raging thoughts were interrupted by the boy saying "Don't worry, I don't plan on selling my soul. But I am sure we can strike a desirable deal for the both of us."

"Deal? What deal?" The priest regained his composure after a few seconds went by.

"Oh that would depend, wouldn't it? I know what you want and I can give it to you, but can you give me what I desire?"

"And what do you think I desire?" the priest narrowed his eyes.

Nedoth chuckled. "Why, souls of course. You want to be useful to your master right?"

The priest furrowed his eyebrows, not liking where this was going. "And where would you find "souls" exactly?"

A cruel smile that hid his lust for vengeance crept up Nedoth's face, as he knew exactly who he was going to use first.

"Let this be my problem my dear priest. But I promise you that the first juicy soul that I will give you, will be an utter scumbag. A rapist to be exact."

"A rapist?" The priest asked while asking himself whether that boy was the victim of such a crime. This would explain the willingness to come into contact with their cult.

The more the priest thought about this boy before him being a victim of rape, the more he was willing to make this deal that the boy was talking about. If this young boy only brought such bastards, he wouldn't even care how young they were.

After a while, the priest of Nexasisael agreed. He streched out his hand and told the boy his name "My name is Ekhur Jihkut, what is yours?"

"Pleased to meet you Ekhur Jihkut, my humble name is Nedoth."

Ekhur already noticed the polite speech before, was the boy before him a noble? Maybe that's why he didn't tell him his family name?

Atleast that's what he thought at first, but only a couple seconds later, he saw Nedoth's half-elvish ears.

This suprised Ekhur. Was the boy before him from outside the kingdom? Or maybe a former slave that somehow escaped his masters clutches?

Neither made much sense. For being from outside the kingdom, he was too young to be free. Only accomplished thieves or assassins made it into the kingdom's walls without being caught and sold as a slave.

And option two made even less sense. Why would a former slave be able to speak so politely? It didn't make any sense but Ekhur didn't care that much anyway aside from mild curiosity.

"Alright Nedoth. What do you want as a reward for bringing us these souls?" asked Ekhur.

Nedoth sank into deep thoughts. He had a couple of things he needed. The most pressing concern of his was his lack of sufficient magical power. Although he would learn more and more in the academy, who knew what would happen tomorrow? He needed to be as ready as possible to face unforseen difficulties.

On the other hand, he also needed to learn more about this unusual glyph that allowed to fuse souls. Though he was sure that he wouldn't be able to unlock many secrets of this glyph right away, but even a little could help him immensely.

He was sure that this glyph would play a major role in his survival, if he could unlock all the secrets.

He, as a former devil, knew how powerful the resource of souls was. There was a reason why all higher beings were concerned with gaining as many souls as possible.

Without a doubt, any higher being that discovered his soul glyph would do anything within their power to destroy him, he was sure of it.

Beings of good would kill him because of the dreaded potential he held and beings of evil likewise.

Although he didn't know it for sure, his hunch simply yelled at him that this was the case.

He somehow knew that this was something that no being was allowed to possess. If he wasn't careful, he would be killed instantly and most certainly without mercy.

But if he didn't develop this potential, he could die simply because he wasn't powerful enough.

After a long while of thinking, he decided to play it safe for now. "I want information about unusual necromantic glyphs. Glyphs that aren't normally available to common necromancers. The same goes with umbramancy. But the glyph I need the most is some kind of glyph that can uncover the hidden properties of already existing glyphs."

Ekhur and Vedvem both furrowed their eyebrows. "Why do you need a glyph that can uncover hidden properties? Don't you already know them when you make a glyph?"

Nedoth shook his head "You don't need to know that. Just get it for me as my reward."

Ekhur sighed. "I don't even know whether such a glyph exists or not. I never heard about someone even needing such a glyph."

Nedoth didn't expect anything else, if he was to be honest but it was worth a try.

"Then information about unusual necromantic glyphs would be the next priority. What they do, what is needed to make them and so on. But please ask around about the glyph that uncovers the properties of other glyphs, maybe someone already knows of such a glyph, who knows."

"Hm. This can be arranged." said Ekhur.

Nedoth clapped his hands two times before saying "Wonderful. Also, I don't have the keys for even accessing the underground city. Where can I get them?"

"Ah, right. Wait a moment."

Ekhur and Nedoth went upstairs. In the store, he opened a locker and took out a key.

"Here. You know where the secret entrance is, right?"

"I do, I do. I'll see you when I convince that piece of human waste to sell his soul. Goodbye." Nedoth said and turned around and left.