"Don't walk in front of me… I may not follow

Don't walk behind me… I may not lead

Walk beside me… just be my friend"

― Albert Camus

“What does it say?” Mara squinted as a black letter, covered in golden script, dropped from the gateway.

“Let’s see…” Ven scooped the note from the ground, a reply to the one he’d just sent. “He says that, while he’d ‘love’ to join us, nothing can go into a gate, unless it came in from above.” Dan crumpled the thick paper. “A person can descend, and rise, but they cannot climb above their starting position in the labyrinth.”

“Well, I’m not going through there again without a guarantee,” Cain snorted. “That freak almost killed me, and my realm is unstable as it is.” He glanced to the skies, where his aura held the world together. “Send him a taste, then get him to promise us passage back and forth.”

Dan nodded and withdrew a fresh piece of paper, alongside a small vial of black tinted liquid. He scrawled a note and tossed the objects into the portal. Less than a second passed before another black note drifted to the ground. It simply read, ‘deal,’ in Dante’s golden scrawl.

“That’s as good as you’ll get,” The dragon Goddess examined her nails. “Say hello for me.”

“Not coming?” Ven grinned at the lazy dragon. “You’ve been sitting around for a thousand years!”

“And I’ll sit for ten thousand more, before I return to that cursed place,” She shrugged. “There are worse things than Dante in that black abyss.”

“Better than waiting to die,” Ven shrugged as he stepped into the portal. “Hopefully I’ll be back soon with a solution, or else we’ll begin evacuating through the portal.”

It would take forever, and safety was pretty much non-existent on Dante’s side of the gate, but it was a last resort they might need to take. A pop in his ears and the landscape shifted to an ocean of black flame. Dante stood far in the distance, voice barely audible.

“Greetings! Have you brought more of that delicious potion?” The devilish man flickered closer with each word, until he stood a metre away. “It has the most unusual concentration of elements…”

“I have, but It’s expensive,” Ven grinned at the greedy man and withdrew a much larger bottle from his pouch. “In fact, if we reach a good enough deal, there isn’t much of a limit to how much I can get you!”

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“An unlimited supply…” Dante’s fingers twitched, his face a mask. “What is the price for such a thing?” He tossed a runed covered staff toward Ven’s feet. “I can return your curio to begin the negotiations.”

“That’s a good start,” Ven waved the staff away, returned to its place in his pouch. “But I need more than that… are you certain there’s no way to get you to the other side of the gateway?”

“Hmmmm…” Dante tapped his chin. He glanced at the sky and snapped his fingers. “I know you’re watching, oh star of the morning.” The devilish man patted the ground beside him. “Why not come out and join the conversation?”

“Who are you talking…”

A flash of light revealed a sculpture of a man, dressed in a black robe that mimicked an empty night sky. He glided to the ground and settled into their circle, an amused smirk on his face.

“The gates are absolute, only lesser creatures can travel between them without obstruction,” The young man scratched his neck and examined his nails with a critical eye. “But a loophole exists, of a sort!”

“This is my good friend, Lucy,” Dante slapped the man on his shoulder. “He’s been a gracious host, ever since he took over this realm from the last master.”

“Lucy?” Ven squinted. The man was a perfect being from the outside, but his aura tasted a thick oil on the newest arrival’s energy. “Star of the morning, huh…”

“Dante likes to make fun, his nickname is a mockery between friends,” The man smiled. “Most call me the Prince of Lies.”

“Not a reassuring title,” Ven frowned as a lightbulb clicked on in his brain. “Lucifer, the Morningstar, left hand of god…”

“At your service,” Lucifer bowed, eyes black as he focused on the jar in Ven’s hands. “For the right price, anyway.”

“Sure,” Ven tossed the jug to the fallen angel, a smile on his lips. “Now, what’s the loophole?”

“You’ve got two options,” Lucifer snatched the vessel from the air and shoved it into his robes, two fingers raised. “You can let a being possess you, they could ride your body through the gate without issue.”

“Pass,” Ven shook his head. No chance he was letting Dante or the literal Devil hijack his precious body.

“Then the only option is to store the beings within the inner world of an accepted traveller,” Lucifer shrugged. “To contain one as strong as Dante, or myself, the inner world would need to be extremely sturdy, lest the cultivator explode.”

“System,” Dan frowned as he turned his mind inward. “Can I accept others into my inner world yet?”

[The stability of your inner world is governed by my power. I can create a space for visitors, but they will be heavily restricted.]

Dan nodded and returned his attention to the two sinister fellows before him.

“I can provide the inner world, but you’ve both got to make some agreements first,” Ven flicked his wrist and withdrew a long contract. It had been written by Mara and proofread by Cain and Aangor. “These are our terms. The basics are, you promise to work to protect our realm and its people, and in exchange, you can have as much of that potion as you like.”

Both devils poured over the contract, no doubt in search of loopholes. Both finished with a dissatisfied look, but Dante signed without hesitation.

“I don’t care, as long as I get a share of this drink,” He shrugged and sat back. “How about you, Lucy?”

“I can agree,” Lucifer tilted his head. “But I would like an additional condition.”

“And what might that be,” Ven raised an eyebrow.

“Not much,” The Devil smiled. “Just a promise. We both have enemies, you must agree to take them on as rivals of your own, or I won’t agree to stand by your realm's side.”

“Agreed,” Ven reached his hand over to shake. “But remember, you’ll have to directly serve the kingdom for ten thousand years.”

“A blink of time, for a plentiful reward,” Lucifer grasped Ven’s hand. “But you’d better have the supplies to back up your claim.”