Theodore frowned. “Fight? Like a tournament?”

“Sort of, it’s meant to evaluate individual strength.” Asmodeus replied as she hopped onto Lily’s back.

“…Do I really have to come?”

“You must.” Asmodeus’ voice suddenly turned serious along with her expression. “The Hall of Sins is necessary for keeping the demon realm stable since it has been tied to human beliefs. Without a story, this entire world will fall apart.”

Theodore didn’t know what all of it had meant, but he did understand that his negligence could cause devastating damages to Hell. “Okay, it’s on the Winter Solstice, right? I’ll show up, don’t worry.”

“It’s about a week from now, don’t forget.”

“Yes, yes…I still need to get back to my friends first though, can you send me back right now?”

Asmodeus huffed while she smiled in amusement. “You’re worried about them but not me?”

“You’ll be fine.” Theodore’s perturbed tone caused the demon king to laugh out loud.

“I was joking. Anyway, the teleporter is at my main capital. We can use the Pearl Palace’s newly built one to head there first.”

Theo nodded as he relaxed his body, knowing that he would be back at the human world soon, he was still extremely worried about their well-being, especially his father, he was still a newbie Hero and didn’t have a lot of fighting experience outside those few months spent in the Delphi Forest. ‘Gabriel is unpredictable…Who knows what else he’s hiding?’

He decided to ignore those thoughts for now, seeing that there was no use fretting too much about it now that he would be by their side in a moment. Asmodeus commanded the army to move and he followed them back towards the Lake of Rage.

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Theodore watched as Cyrus led Asmodeus’ army back towards Baator’s main capital, since the teleporter wasn’t meant to transport an army, they needed to go back on foot. “I thought Baator was the name of the nine layers of hell.”

Asmodeus, who was still on Lily’s back, giggled when she heard his observance. “Well, I thought you would know that some of the human myths aren’t exactly true? I mean, you guys thought I was a man!”

“Your name sounded manly.”

That earned another laugh from the woman. “An elegant name such as mine? A man’s name?”

“It should be a boy’s name though.” Theodore said jokingly. “Or did you secretly change your gender?”

Asmodeus smiled. “Maybe.”

He didn’t expect that response. “Seriously?”

The demon king didn’t reply and instead ordered Lily to head into the waters.

“What the—“ Theodore sighed before turning around to face Rhys and the army behind him, thinking that he should dismiss them first before following Asmodeus. “You all did well today, thank you for your assistance, you can go back to the barracks or go to your family if you wish.”

The merhumans were quite fierce in battle, they had taken pride in their strength since ancient times and had vowed to only follow those who they acknowledge, it wasn’t a surprise to see that most of them had a cheerful expressions on their faces as they chatted with one other, seemingly unfazed by experiencing the heat of a battle.

Some of them were gravely injured and were being carried and supported by their fellow warriors, though even they weren’t complaining about the pain and even laughed it off, saying that they’d given their opponent an upper hand as pity.

After they hear Theodore dismiss them, their expressions slightly crumble, as if disappointed that they wouldn’t be fighting anymore, seeing this though, he quickly spoke up. “What fun would it be to wipe them out in a single attack? We should humble ourselves for now and wait for those idiots to attack us! That way we have a valid reason to show no mercy to our opponents!”

“Oh, I see.” The demons began muttering among themselves.

“Makes sense, it wouldn’t be fun if we kill them all too quickly.”

“Yeah, if they’re all dead, who are we going to fight?”

Theodore was glad that low rank demons weren’t the brightest.

Rhys was fidgeting with his hands as he stared at Theo, seemingly wanting to say something, eventually, he mustered up the courage to speak. He stuttered slightly since he was still embarrassed about having to call him ‘Sir’ all the time. “Sir…Sir.”

Theodore turned towards the blonde with raised eyebrows. “What?”

Rhys went quiet, but in the end he would continue speaking. “Will you be leaving me here to manage the Pearl Palace?”

Without a second thought, Theodore replied with a nod. “Yes, it’s your new home now so you better get used to it.”

“…Yes sir.”

“Let’s go then.” Theodore turned around before slithering into the lake, quickly catching up with Asmodeus while Rhys slightly struggled to swim towards them.

“Asmodeus…”

“Hm?” She replied back without turning to face him, but judging from her voice, he could tell that she was smiling.

“Did you change your gender or not?”

“Why do you ask? Are you into it or something?” She spoke playfully as they traveled along the newly built road, nicely lit up by street lights fueled by hellfire. It gave them plenty of light to see their surroundings along with the bright Pearl Palace in the distance.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Theodore continued speaking. “I’m just curious.”

Asmodeus laughed before finally turning around. “Well, I was born a woman, but I sometimes change myself into a man.”

He stared quietly at the demon as they continued to swim towards the palace. “So you enjoy tormenting straight women?”

Asmodeus didn’t reply immediately as she was slightly startled by the unexpected question. “That’s weird coming from you—But I guess I do like to make those arrogant girls cry.”

“…I would expect no less from the Demon King of Lechery.”

“Thank you for the compliment.” Asmodeus chuckled as Lily made a stop in front of the Pearl Palace.

True to its name, the building was just as beautiful and shiny as a pearl, the surface of the structure was gleaming a rainbow color under the hellfire lamps around it. It wasn’t a tall building, but it was wide, it has the shape of an infinity symbol which made it look like a piece of art rather than an accomodation. At the stairs leading up to the entrance, multiple banners lined up along the railings, they were green with a golden snake stitched in the middle.

Since Theodore had become the new Pride, they’d gone through the effort of making him his own banner.

Asmodeus slowly got off of Lily’s back, careful not to hurt herself in the process, she seemed to be doing fine though since she has fast regenerative abilities and most of her wounds had already sealed shut. “You know where the teleporter is, right?”

“Of course,” Theodore tilted his head. “Shouldn't you be more worried about your people in that small town?”

Asmodeus pouted as she put her hands on her hip. “I will check on them of course! Do you think I’m that irresponsible of a king?”

Theodore stared at her quietly and she threw her hands in the air, her disbelief expression spoke for itself.

“Hey! Have some faith in me will you!”

That only prompted a shake of his head from Theodore. “Whatever you say, Your Majesty. Just watch over Rhys while I’m gone”

Asmodeus sighed as her hands slipped down. “Okay, fine. Your slave is safe in my hands.”

He slithered towards the entrance of the Pearl Palace, it was a large golden gate with beautiful paintings carved into it and standing by the door were two giant demons guarding the door. As soon as he got close enough, they would each bow at him as the gate opened.

The inside was like a hall, the entire area was lit up by chandeliers supporting bright orange flames that magically floated within where the candles usually were. The pillars along the wall were made out of marble with a golden base and the carpet beneath him was his signature dark green color.

Demon maids and butlers were all over the place as they went around the entire palace doing their jobs and keeping it nice and tidy.

It was truly a place fit for a king.

Though the weirdest thing about the palace was the fact that there was no water inside of it, as if it’d been sucked out completely. ‘As soon as I got through the door…Everything became dry.’

‘The Pearl Palace is powered by a Magic Core…For now Asmodeus is using her magic to fuel it.’ Theodore pondered as he slithered through the hall, making his way deeper into the majestic architecture of the building. ‘I should start learning how to fuel it myself, it would be bad to rely on her all the time.’

The teleporter was way below the surface, it was located underground just two levels above where the Magic Core was at.

The stairs leading downwards were heavily guarded, but being the master of the place, Theodore easily slithered past them until the path became too small for him to go through. After changing into his human form, he continued walking down the stairs until he would eventually arrive at the teleporter.

Four guards were stationed there, two in front of the door and two beside the actual machine. Theodore walked inside the nicely lit up room and took a look around.

The teleporter itself was a circular stone platform, it was slightly raised from the floor with some stairs leading up to it, on its surface were runes and symbols giving the machine its magical properties, the base was connected to thin tubes filled with colorful liquid using metallic pipes, it wasn’t hard for him to tell that they acted like batteries powering the teleporter.

‘I’ve only explored the rooms on the surface, I didn’t expect much but this place is tidy.’ Theodore thought to himself, the room could’ve been mistaken as some sort of laboratory if the teleporter wasn’t the only device inside the room.

He walked onto the device and thought of a destination, in an instant, the runes began to glow a soft green before he was whisked away in a flash of light.

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Arriving on the other side, Cyrus was there to greet him as he materialized on top of another teleporter.

The demon general had a surprised look on his face as his hand reached for his sword, but then he paused as he realized that the ‘human’ was Theodore. “Ah! My apologies, Your Majesty, I couldn’t recognize you in that form.”

Theodore just waved it off. “It’s fine, you didn’t know.”

Cyrus bowed. “Do you wish to go to the human world right now?”

Theodore nodded while he looked around, the room was just around the same size as the one back at the Pearl Palace, it was brightly lit up by magic-powered LED lights, giving it the look of a futuristic garage, beside him was another teleporter which looked almost identical to the one he was currently standing on apart from the fact that it was made of a reddish stone instead of the usual dark grey. “Is this the teleporter?”

“Yes, Your Highness, although it hasn’t been used for a while.”

“Will that be a problem?” Theo asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No, while it hasn’t been activated, it was thoroughly checked and cleaned each time just like the main teleporter.”

Theodore felt more at ease, he wasn’t about to hop onto a device that could potentially tear him apart on the molecular level or explode underneath him when it’s activated. He jumped down before getting onto the red teleporter. “Okay does it work just like a regular teleporter?”

Cyrus shook his head. “It takes a lot of magical energy to directly transport someone across realms, so the energy is instead used to open a gateway instead. However…The power source we use isn’t enough to fuel the device, so Your Majesty will have to supply it with your mana as well.”

Theodore thought it would be a lot more complicated, but luckily it was just some minor issue, Cyrus probably thought he wouldn’t have enough magical energy to power the teleporter judging from his worried tone. “How much mana does this thing consume anyway?”

“I—We don’t use numerical value—Though if I have to say…You need just about the amount to cast ten intermediate spells.“

Theodore almost forgot that people can’t measure their mana with numbers, when he was still a typical mage, he could only guess the amount of energy that he’d use through the feeling of fatigue and light-headedness. “Ah, alright. That shouldn’t be a problem then.”

The average basic spell usually costs around one to a hundred mana points while intermediate spells can use up to two hundred or three hundred points. ‘Three thousand mana points for a portal across dimensions…That’s not too bad.’

“So do I just pour my mana into the machine?” Theo asked, but didn’t wait for a reply and he immediately began releasing his magical energy into the teleporter, causing the symbols on its surface to turn gold.

Soon, a red swirling mist would manifest behind him and would grow larger until it was big enough for him to fit through, the ominous feeling that it gave off felt similar to the one he’d felt from the back hole in the Griffins’ science building. “Is this it?”

Cyrus closed his hanging mouth and nodded, his eyes slightly widened from how he’d effortlessly activated a machine that even high rank demons like him struggled with. “Yes…Yes, Your Majesty.”

After getting the confirmation, Theodore turned around to face the red portal, though before going through, he would speak with a light smile. “Thank you.”

Cyrus was slightly startled but he would smile back. “I am glad to be of service, Your Majesty.”

With that, Theodore walked into the portal.

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A spark appeared in the air before a swirl of red smoke manifested in its place. It wouldn’t take long for a portal to appear and Theodore walked out of it, standing in the middle of an open area inside a forest.

He shifted his head upwards to look at the sky, seeing that it was just about noon, and as he looked around he would notice that he was in a familiar place. “…This is Delphi Forest.”

Turning around, he began to walk towards a nearby tree, and after taking a look at it, he continued walking until he found somewhere that he could recognize.

About five minutes of walking along a river bank, he would arrive next to a cave within a mountain. He peered his head inside, and as expected, there were three people sitting in a circle on a large futon while they occupied themselves with either a book or a phone.

Lawrence’s head turned first and he looked up from a small, leatherbound book, his eyes landed on Theodore and in an instant his expression brightened. “Theodore!”

The man’s exclamation caused all heads to turn towards Theodore. Merlin got up at the same time as Lawrence and dashed to his best friend, crashing directly onto him before wrapping his arms tightly around his body. “Mate, you f*cking lived!”

Theo would’ve definitely suffocated if he didn’t have such high stats. He gave a joking smile. “Merlin, your accent is showing.”

“I don’t f*cking care!” The ginger’s hug grew slightly tighter. “I was so worried! If you didn’t make it then it would’ve meant that I left you to die again!”

“C’mon, you can let me go now.” Theodore sighed as he smiled. “It’s going to take more than a trip to Hell to kill me.”

“What about Rhys?” Eugene spoke with a worried tone. “Didn’t he get sucked into the black hole with you? I saw it briefly.”

“Ah, he’s still alive.”

“Alive?” Lawrence seemed to be looking for a way to get to his son, although Merlin’s friendship was too strong of a barrier for him to pass through. “I thought you said you would kill him?”

Theodore slowly peeled Merlin off of him, which wasn’t that hard of a task. “I changed my mind, that f*cker tried to use a slave collar on me, so I returned the favor by putting it on him instead.”

Eugene bursted out laughing as he put down his phone. “Ha! He totally deserved that! Now he knows what it feels like to be ordered around!”

Merlin’s smile grew wider after hearing about Rhys’ current condition. “If he’s still alive. Can I go give him a punch?”

Theodore nodded. “Of course, I plan on moving all of us since you’re most likely on Gabriel’s hitlist.”

Suddenly, Lawrence went and hugged him tightly, since his father was taller, he was lifted off the ground. “I don’t care where we go, I just don’t want to lose you anymore.”

“Dad…” Theodore looked up at the man and saw a pained expression on his face. He couldn’t help but feel guilty about letting his father feel that way. “Don’t worry, I won’t be going anywhere.”

Lawrence took a moment to reply, he would let go of his son before speaking. “You better keep your words, kid.”

Theo huffed with a light smile. “No way I can break my promise to you, I will even sell my soul just to come back home to you.”

“Anyway,” Lawrence waved as he changed the subject. “You said we would be moving? Do you already have a place in mind?”

Merlin and Eugene exchanged a glance before looking at Theodore, the ginger spoke first. “If you say we’re going to the Ancient Cavern I will snap.”

“Ah, no. The Ancient Cavern is way too dark to be comfortable.” Theodre tilted his head to the side as he thought about the ominous air around the place. “Compared to that, I have a better proposal.”

Merlin seemed intrigued, maybe for once, his best friend would suggest a reasonable place for hiding. “I am curious, do tell.”

But it seemed that Theodore had a knack for ruining the ginger’s hopes and dreams since the next sentence that he said caused Merlin’s expression to turn from positive to horrified in seconds.

“Let’s move to Hell.”