Multiple Schemes

Carrigan was not human. No one would have considered the thing before Salomon human. He had not come back to life; the wound carved by the Artificial Human still remained on Carrigan’s body. Some sticky substance had glued his severed halves together. Every time Carrigan moved, the wound tore open a little, only to be stuck back together by that substance. He was still dead—a pale corpse reeking of decay. Clearly, his master had granted him some kind of supernatural power.

When he emerged from the dark forest, the tall conifer trunks around him began to slowly rot, as though they had lost all vitality in an instant. By the light of the flames burning on the wing, Salomon saw everything clearly. This was a trap, he thought. Mephisto’s trap. Lilith’s appearance, the Airbus’s crash site—all of it. The devil had used divination to predict Salomon’s and the boy’s location. Perhaps the old devil had anticipated the Witch’s arrival long ago, which was why he had used Salomon as bait to lure Lilith here, relying on Lilith’s power to hold back the Witch—Mephisto had indeed succeeded. Lilith’s arrival had left Bayonetta and Jeanne with almost no time to spare. Summoning Madame Butterfly and the Styx Lady required an enormous amount of magic power, leaving them with no strength to help Salomon deal with Mephisto’s scheme.

"You should hand that boy over to me, kid." Carrigan ignored the Arcanist’s sharp gaze. His voice was hollow and monotonous, tinged with phlegm, as though some slime lingered stubbornly in his throat. With every word he spoke, the foul mucus around his wound bubbled. "And if possible, I want the girl beside you too. I remember she killed me, didn’t she?"

Salomon despised that smug tone, and Carrigan was not his target—his master was. Therefore, the Arcanist did not spare the dead man another glance or a reply. He stopped the Artificial Human from acting, drew the wand at his waist instead, and pointed it at Carrigan. With a roar, flames erupted and swallowed the self-satisfied Carrigan whole. Rotten trees snapped and shattered under the impact. Damp splinters ignited in midair, scattering as specks of firelight. Thick smoke rose through the woods. The wound on that putrid body caught fire first; a rush of air burst from it and ignited. His wrinkled pale skin then flared brightly, as though soaked in grease. Carrigan burned from the inside out, becoming a twisted human torch. Though he felt no pain, the Arcanist gave him no extra time. He used his wand again, adding a dark crimson light source to the black forest.

"This isn’t enough, Mephisto." Salomon’s voice remained remarkably clear despite the Airbus’s incessant shrieking alarms. Facing the empty, pitch-black forest, he said, "One undead creature isn’t enough for you to take that boy."

As if they had heard Salomon’s words, rustling footsteps surged in from all directions. The Artificial Human informed her master of what lay in the shadows of the forest. Salomon nodded and returned his wand to his waist. At that moment, the two demons in the sky were still fighting without pause. From the Prime Material Plane to the shallow Ether Plane separated from reality by a thin membrane—the Infernal Realm—their battle showed no sign of stopping. Perhaps because of the magical turbulence spilling from Lilith’s spellcasting, or perhaps because the gales stirred up by Madame Butterfly’s supersonic fists kept crashing the storm clouds together, torrential rain came pouring down mercilessly after several muffled peals of thunder.

What was the Sorcerer Supreme’s plan? Salomon had no idea, but he trusted the Venerable One. That trust allowed him to stand fearlessly on the aircraft’s deck and watch the enemies draw closer. The rain extinguished the flames burning from the engines. The pungent smell of ozone and scorched electronic components drifted into Salomon’s nostrils with searing white smoke. Rainwater dripped from his hair, slipped down his collar, and ran along his back. The icy rain was slowly draining away his heat.

Then Nick Fury witnessed a breathtaking display of magic.

A wall of fire encircled the clearing where the Airbus sat, cutting it off from the enemies outside. Rainwater evaporated into white vapor. Rather than dispersing, the vapor condensed at Salomon’s gesture and spread outward. Scalding steam coursed through the dense forest. The spell was not over. The vapor around the Airbus grew thicker and heavier. A bolt of lightning shot precisely from the Arcanist’s fingertips into the swirling steam, and then a chain of explosions erupted—Salomon ionized the steam and detonated it with the fire wall spell, wiping out every enemy that had approached. After expanding outward, the hot air rapidly contracted, sweeping the remaining white vapor back toward the Airbus and completely concealing Salomon and the aircraft.

Then the remaining flames spread on their own without interference, gathering into a humanoid shape. A white-haired old man in a suit emerged from the fire, leaning on a cane. "Salomon." The old man’s voice came with the sizzling of flames being extinguished by rain. In an intimate tone, he said, "You should know what I want. I only want that child. That costs you nothing, doesn’t it?"

The Arcanist stepped out of the mist onto the muddy ground, with the Artificial Human following closely behind him. "You are an avatar, my dear Mephisto. You have no right to decide what the real Mephisto thinks," he said. "And it’s not as if I don’t understand your intentions. If you think I’ll hand that boy over to you, then you’re a fool."

"Belial is not the only one who wants your soul. Both devils and demons can see your value. As you saw, the demon Lilith also covets you." The devil pointed toward the flashes in the sky. "Though I am only an avatar, once I gain power, I can help you fight the true body in Hell. When that happens, Hell’s authority will belong to me. I will become the true Mephisto, and I can make a contract with you. I only want that boy, while you can complete your mission of opposing Hell. It is a deal in which neither side loses."

Salomon’s eyes flickered. This avatar seemed unaware that Mephisto’s true body had made a contract with the Sorcerer Supreme. Lilith’s intervention also appeared to have been this avatar’s doing. To avoid his true body’s influence, the avatar had deliberately stayed away from the devil’s forces. He must have contacted Lilith through the Southern Cross Cult, which was why the Arcanist had encountered that cultist priestess. Yet Salomon did not believe a single word about seizing Hell’s authority to fight Hell. The vision was far too beautiful. Such words coming from a devil were no different from poisoned honey. Only a fool would savor the sweetness on his tongue while forgetting the danger within.

Not everything the avatar said was a lie. Both demons and devils wanted his soul. The avatar had allied itself with demons, so it would be effortless for Mephisto’s true body to ally with the lords of Hell. Besides, Mephisto’s true body would never place its hopes of resolving this incident on the Arcanist. Joining forces with other Hell Lords to obtain greater benefits was practically instinctive for Mephisto’s true body.

Yet Salomon had not seen Hell’s forces make an appearance so far, which meant Mephisto’s true body had not acted yet. That thought made Salomon more vigilant. Devils were cunning. Perhaps Mephisto’s true body had already set its plan in motion, and Salomon simply had not noticed it.

The battle in the sky gradually stalled, then fell silent. Madame Butterfly possessed the temperament of a true demon. Her excessively fervent desire for battle seemed to convince Lilith that there was no point in continuing to tangle with Madame Butterfly on the Prime Material Plane, where neither of them had any real power. Only after returning to the lower planes could Lilith truly contend with Madame Butterfly. Thus, she seized an opportunity to widen the distance between them and returned to her own plane, while Madame Butterfly chased after her without a second thought—neither side lacked reinforcements. Lilith had bred countless monsters of many different kinds, and no one knew whom she had bred them with. Madame Butterfly, meanwhile, had the aid of several female demons. The Styx Lady would also bring the souls of dead Witches into battle. An abyssal war across different planes was about to begin.

Fervent demons cared nothing for strategy or calculating gains and losses. A glorious, satisfying fight was more entertaining than anything else.

This was unrest in the lower planes caused by Salomon, though he did not know it yet. In his eyes, Lilith and Madame Butterfly’s battle had ended. Lilith had left the Prime Material Plane, and the Witch was now free to help him deal with matters here. So he raised an eyebrow at Mephisto’s avatar, signaling that the devil’s calculations had failed.

However, the devil’s avatar merely tilted his head and smiled, seemingly mocking the young man’s carelessness.

"You should look more carefully, Salomon," he said. "This body may possess no power, but I have far more servants than you imagine. I will always be the winner."

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