Devil Economics: War Serves Currency

Father Morlu walked in with an easy expression. Salomon’s words could not shake his faith in the slightest.

He had no intention of preaching, because he believed Salomon would find his own faith someday. That was beyond doubt. Yet the prophecy he had brought left the Arcanist deeply troubled. "Father didn’t dream of anyone else." Salomon held a wisp of silvery smoke. To help him better understand the prophetic dream, Father Morlu had agreed to let Salomon cast his spell. "He only saw me facing Marduk alone," he said. "No one else."

"If you take that dream as the whole truth, then you’re being stupid." Bayonetta spoke carelessly. "We’ll definitely be there. I’d say you should go to No-Door Bar and find a dream interpreter. That priest doesn’t look like he ever studied dream interpretation."

"Maybe that’s exactly how it will happen. It’s possible." Salomon frowned, picked up the soda the Artificial Human had poured, and took a sip to moisten his dry throat.

"That madman Marduk craves the Seventh Throne. Whether I want to sit on it or not, He’ll want to kill me. Every Hell Lord longs to sit on it. Nearly all of them are my enemies, including Mephisto. But according to the records, Hell Lords have sat on the Seventh Throne before, only to be thrown off soon afterward without exception, because devils never stop fighting among themselves. If this happens, it must be because that old devil pulled some strings. At the very least, without Mephisto egging Him on, Marduk would never think of coming to the Prime Material Plane to deal with me. The Sorcerer Supreme is here, after all. He’s truly a lunatic. I think Mephisto likes that idiot quite a bit."

"The demons support you, Salomon," Jeanne said. "Your Seventy-Two Pillars of Demons, Queen Sheba. As far as I know, Madame Butterfly and Styx Lady are fighting Lilith tooth and nail right now. I heard Madame Butterfly even jumped down to Lilith’s layer of the Abyss."

"If I wanted to start a Blood War between the Abyss and Hell, then that’s exactly what I’d do. Besides, Father Morlu said Johnny Blaze is heading to the Lower Planes as well. The seal suppressing the Spirit of Vengeance is collapsing far faster than he expected. In other words, the Lower Planes haven’t been peaceful lately. All it would take is one spark for the entire place to beat each other’s brains out."

"Ha! Do you think demons and devils have never gone to war? Darling, the truce between demons and devils over the past several thousand years is the abnormality. Billions of years ago, the two races had fought endlessly from the moment they were born. The ceasefire only came after King Solomon was born. Now that Phoenix has come to your side, it means this war is about to begin again. Whether you want it or not, this is the collective will of the Abyss and Hell. Queen Sheba thinks so, and so do the devils—especially the devils. Devil society as a whole doesn’t want the souls in their hands to keep inflating away. That would turn them into paupers and allow the demons to keep building their power. Perhaps Mephisto saw this opportunity. That’s why He wants to first deplete the currency held by the other Hell Lords and raise His own value."

Leaning against the sofa, Bayonetta drank wine as she explained the situation in the Lower Planes to Salomon. "I know you’re worried about the loyalty of the Seventy-Two Pillars of Demons. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be studying mechanisms. But Phoenix’s appearance is a good start. Didn’t the sloth demon king named Belial renew His contract with you as well? That ancient contract still holds power. Enochian isn’t a language you can casually speak while joking around in a tavern."

Salomon could not understand why the Witches were so enthusiastic about him taking the throne. Whether it was the position of Lord of Humanity or the Seventh Throne, the Witches hoped he could at least sit on one of them—especially the Seventh Throne, which fascinated them.

But if the Arcanist had his say, he was still somewhat resistant to all this. After all, there was nothing in Hell. He would not be able to buy newly released games there, attend concerts by cute school idols, or even read Agent Romanoff fanfiction. Yes, such things really existed. Once Quake appeared, Black Widow x Quake would become a popular pairing.

"I think Phoenix would answer the summons even without a contract." The Arcanist recalled that clingy gold-and-crimson bird. Phoenix liked burrowing into his arms like a cat. But Phoenix was too loyal and could not represent the intentions of the other demon gods. "The first demon god, Baal, is one both the Umbra Witch and I can summon, right?" Salomon asked. "When you summoned Baal, did that lord ever say anything?"

"It only reveals one form before a Witch. Do you think a toad can talk?" The first demon god Baal had three heads—human, cat, and frog—and a spider’s body. When summoned, it generally revealed only one appearance. The Baal summoned by the Witches took the form of a frog. But as far as Salomon knew, Baal had far more than three forms. Its frog form might have been because it wanted to half-ass things in battle, which made the Arcanist worry about Baal’s attitude toward that ancient contract.

"You need to develop the self-awareness of a ruler, darling. Though you’re still underage, you’re no longer a little boy." Bayonetta gave him a playful wink. "I’m the one most qualified to say that, aren’t I?"

You can’t stay a child forever, darling. Sooner or later, you’ll have to abandon things like video games and school idols. The Witch took a sip of red wine. You’re destined to shoulder responsibility. Rather than the responsibility you were born with, I’d rather you shoulder the responsibility given to you by the Sorcerer Supreme. Poor little thing, the Sorcerer Supreme explained it to us, and Athena did too.

Salomon blushed.

The Sorcerer Supreme paced back and forth before the Golden Ark of the Covenant, looking somewhat indecisive. It was an exceptionally rare sight. The Sorcerer Supreme seldom hesitated, and Balthazar was the only one who had seen The Venerable One like this. He sat off to one side, silently staring at the teacup on the table.

Without a doubt, having Salomon reignite the Blood War in the Lower Planes had also been the Sorcerer Supreme’s plan. She had calculated this from the moment she adopted Salomon—if the Lower Planes were too occupied to concern themselves with the Prime Material Plane, it would greatly ease the pressure Strange would face after taking office.

But The Venerable One had no intention of letting her finest disciple die in this conflict.

Thus, the Ark of the Covenant Salomon had retrieved from Queen Sheba became the Sorcerer Supreme’s subject of study. To ensure Salomon’s safety, she intended to burn incense to open the Ark and take out what was inside for use. Aaron’s Budding Staff had the power to resurrect a specific person. Without question, Salomon was someone who could receive that resurrection.

Before this, The Venerable One had tried many methods of dispelling curses in an attempt to break the seal on the Ark. However, this was not like opening Salomon’s refrigerator. The seal formed by the spread wings of the two cherub statues atop the Ark was of an extremely high order. Even the Sorcerer Supreme could not completely unravel the magic within.

Balthazar knew the legends surrounding the Ark. Not even his teacher could open it, so he had no intention of speaking and drawing The Venerable One’s attention, only for her to take her frustration out on him. He knew the Sorcerer Supreme’s nature well. The spell Merlin had placed on him merely extended his life; touching this thing would still kill him.

In Balthazar’s opinion, the fact that the Sorcerer Supreme had not yet taken out a screwdriver and pried open the Ark was already showing God plenty of respect. After her curse-breaking attempts failed, he watched her bring out all sorts of items to continue trying. Among the things he recognized were the Sacred Sword and Sacred Spear. But no matter how The Venerable One hacked at it, the Ark would not open, and the room filled with clanging noise. In a rage, the Sorcerer Supreme opened a portal and left for a while. When she returned, she was holding a Golden Spear and a hammer.

That was Gungnir. The Sorcerer Supreme had gone to Asgard to borrow a weapon. She used Gungnir as a crowbar, trying to pry open the Ark.

Worthy of The King. Her temper had not changed at all.

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