Ember Dragon

"Oh? What you mean is..." Although Cassius knew that he could not hide it from the Lord of the Nine Hells, he still pretended to be ignorant and asked in a pretentious manner.

Asmodeus was not annoyed. He just picked up the bottle again and poured himself a glass of wine slowly.

He shook his glass, his tone slightly mocking: “Haha, just three days ago, Koschechi united several Abyss Lords and took advantage of Zariel’s death to lead the Abyss Army to attack Avernus.

Bayer is so anxious that he is like an ant on the hot pot. He has come to me to make trouble. As an old guy, I have to step in to solve the problem. "

Cassius chuckled and changed the subject, “With Bayer’s strength and means, he should be able to repel the Abyss Army and save Avernus for you.

In my opinion, he is much more reliable than that lunatic Zariel. In fact, I am helping you, so I should let more capable subordinates take over."

"Without the complete authority of Hell, Bayer will only be defeated step by step under the attack of the Abyss Legion."

Asmodeus stared at Cassius, tapping the table rhythmically with his fingers, and then said straight to the point: "Hand over the 30% of the authority of Avernus.

Of course, if you disagree, I also have my own way to take it back, but the process may be humiliating." His words revealed unquestionable confidence.

At this moment, the eyes of both sides met, time and space froze, and a terrifying majesty was revealed.

After hearing Asmodeus' calm words, Cassius' heart trembled.

For some reason, he had a vague feeling that this old guy would really do what he said and snatch the power of Avernus from him.

In this "not so decent" process, Cassius might even lose his life! The risk was so great that even he didn't dare to take the risk.

After all, he is the Lord of the Nine Hells, a mysterious existence who has lived from the beginning of the universe to the present. Even the gods dare not underestimate him. His background and strength far exceed that of Cassius now.

Did he really have to hand over the authority of Avernus that he had obtained with great difficulty and submit to the Lord of the Nine Hells before him?

Faced with this stalemate, Cassius managed to maintain his composure and once again showed a polite smile, "Sir Asmodeus, are you interested in making a deal with me?"

"Oh? What deal?"

Asmodeus swirled his glass, immediately interested.

Cassius was secretly delighted.

Sure enough, no devil could resist the temptation of a deal, not even the Lord of the Nine Hells.

"I can keep this 30% of Avernus' authority on behalf of my dear ally. As long as he needs it, I will immediately go to Hell to assist him, so that he can have the power of the Lord of Hell."

Asmodeus smiled and shook his head, "Trade comes at a price, my friend. Please give me a reason that convinces me.

You must know that everything in Hell belongs to me. Even the Lord of Hell only has the right to use these powers. If that is the case, why should I let an outsider gain the power of Hell? "

Cassius replied hastily: "Of course, I will also pay a corresponding price. I will send a large number of expeditionary forces to participate in the bloody battle, and the Imperial Expeditionary Force will achieve more fruitful results than Zariel."

Asmodeus put down his glass, crossed his arms, and looked at Cassius with a scrutinizing look. "That's not a good enough reason for me."

Cassius seemed to have expected this, and continued, “The Empire can reach a deep cooperation with Hell, and dedicate the souls of all enemies who died on the battlefield to Hell.

You should be well aware that the Empire's conquest will never stop with the Kingdom of Thrace, and as the war progresses, the souls in Hell will become more and more filled.

Besides," Cassius grinned, apologized to his cheap ally in his heart, and then replied without any scruples: "Don't you think Bayer is not loyal enough?

If you let me control 30% of the power of Hell, I can effectively check and balance him. Even if Bayer has the intention of rebellion in the future, it will not cause any waves.

I am different from him. My roots are in the material plane. I cannot participate in the political games of Hell. Even if I control 30% of the power of Hell, I cannot pose any threat to you."

Asmodeus laughed dryly and said jokingly, "I have to say, this reason is quite tempting. My friend, do you really not consider becoming a devil in hell?"

"Being a devil is not as profitable as being a capitalist, and I am honest and upright." Cassius answered without hesitation.

"Hahahaha!" Asmodeus let out the devil's unique evil laugh and drank the remaining wine in the glass.

"Casius, I agree to your deal, but it's not because of those patchwork reasons, but because of you."

"I?"

Cassius was slightly surprised, and even had some strange thoughts in his mind.

Could it be that the Lord of the Nine Hells also has special hobbies similar to that old vampire?

"As you Imperials would say, I'm investing in the future."

Asmodeus raised his hand, pointed his index finger at Cassius, and said meaningfully: "You should know that in the long years, I have seen countless special guys, three or four of whom were dragons.

They are like the heroes in the stories, either possessing extremely high talents, or obtaining powerful artifacts, or having luck that even I envy.”

He sighed and said, "It's a pity that none of them can touch the reality of the world. After all, they are still crickets trapped in a box."

Finally, Asmodeus stared at the red dragon that had transformed into a human form, his pupils shrank into two dark cracks, flashing the blood color of hell. "And you, my friend, I am very interested in your future."

Cassius nodded politely, "It is truly my honor to be appreciated by the Lord of the Nine Hells."

Asmodeus stood up and said, "Well, it's a pleasure to work with you, Cassius. We will meet again."

Before he finished speaking, sulfurous smoke filled the tavern.

Under Cassius's gaze, the middle-aged man in front of him grew taller, his skin gradually turned red, goat-like horns grew on his forehead, and his black suit changed into a gorgeous black and red robe.

Suddenly, Cassius felt a terrifying pressure descending on his heart, and the screams of countless souls appeared in his ears.

This is the posture of the oldest devil - Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine Hells!
Finally, along with the surging hellfire, the Lord of the Nine Hells disappeared out of thin air, and the pressure of hell also dissipated completely.

After Asmodeus disappeared, amazing changes took place in the tavern where time stood still.

The demonized human's horns retracted back to his forehead, the yellow liquid on Martin's crotch flowed back, the wound on the tiefling's head healed, and the scattered glass fragments condensed into a wine bottle and returned to the ogre's hand.
Except for Cassius, everything in the tavern began to move in reverse, just like a video being rewound.

Time goes back and at some point returns to normal.

"Little red-skinned bastard, Monk is going to crush you!"

"Wow!"

The ogre swung the bottle and smashed it hard on the tiefling's head, and the bottle shattered with a crisp sound.

"You damn coward, poor bastard! I'm going to teach you a lesson!" The group of Conquest Party members cursed and surrounded Martin.

The tavern returned to its former bustle, people were either drinking and having fun or fighting, and no one noticed anything unusual.

No one knew that a terrible devil had come to the tavern and used them as toys. Only Cassius was still staring at the place where Asmodeus disappeared, his face gloomy, and deep fear in his light golden eyes.

"Just a projection can make me feel my life is threatened. He can also control time and distort reality at will. What a terrifying guy.

He looked at his system panel, on which the information just displayed was still visible.

[Warning! You are in contact with a dangerous person.]
[Confirmed identity: [Lord of the Nine Hells - Asmodeus]]
[Challenge level: ? ? ? ]
"At least now, I hope I never run into him again."

Looking at the system panel full of question marks, Cassius was still frightened and sighed sincerely.

Before formulating the plan to kill Zariel, Cassius asked Medoras to collect a lot of information about Hell - including that of Asmodeus.

However, this Lord of the Nine Hells is so mysterious and ancient that most of the records related to him are unfounded speculations or even just myths passed down orally.

There are many different opinions and endless debates among hell scholars about the origins of Asmodeus, and many people have even lost their souls for this - after all, collecting information about hell is indeed a very risky thing.

Some say that He is the first angel created by the gods, some say that He is a giant snake coiled in the depths of Nessus, and some say that He is the embodiment of the evil will of the universe.
The lifespan of mortals is insignificant in front of Asmodeus, and their souls are extremely fragile.

Over the long years and the changing of eras, records about Asmodeus have long been buried in the dust of history, and even the gods may not know about it.

But one thing is beyond doubt—the Lord of the Nine Hells is extremely powerful, and is far beyond the reach of Cassius at the moment.

Cassius walked out of the tavern, silently crossed the space, and came to the square of Blackstone Castle.

A grand celebration was being held here, with a huge crowd and a lot of noise. Almost everyone was cheering for the victory of the empire and the fall of the Thracian Kingdom.

"Long live the Empire!"

"Long live His Majesty Cassius!"

Such cheers were heard everywhere, and some people excitedly sang "The Conquest of the South".

Even the children were smiling happily. They sang nursery rhymes praising the imperial soldiers, waved branches, and vied with each other to play the role of the powerful and handsome dragon knight.

"I want to be the Chilin Conqueror, and you get to be the devil!"

"No, I'm a Dragonsworn Paladin!"

The people of the empire did not know that the emperor they admired was standing among the crowd, thinking carefully.

“The scope of the empire is still too small. It is currently limited to those important cities. We must build boundary markers as soon as possible to include the entire empire.

Otherwise, a being of Asmodeus's level could easily enter the empire. This time, we don't know if he is a friend or foe. If an enemy comes next time, we can't say what will happen."

Thinking of what had just happened, Cassius was still a little scared.

After all, the Burning Empire is his most important asset, the ladder he prepared for becoming a god, and the foundation for his foothold in this world.

Thinking of this, Cassius raised his hand and looked towards the center of the square with his golden eyes. The power of laws in his body overflowed and appeared underground.

"boom--"

The ground shook, tiles broke, and dust filled the square.

"what is that?"

"Earthquake, earthquake! The ground is cracking!"

"Is there an invasion by foreign enemies?"

"Everyone - keep order, don't panic or crowd, our security team will protect you!"

The people in Blackrock Castle were in a panic. Tiefling guards with rifles quickly came over, and the security team riding on wyverns also flew towards the square.

Under the gaze of the people of the empire, a boundary marker slowly rose from the ground, reaching a height of twenty meters.

At the top of the boundary marker is the imperial emblem with vertical pupils and flames, below which is a relief of Emperor Burning Cinders killing an angel, with a line of clear large characters engraved in the middle.

[Empire Boundary Monument: Blackstone Fort]

Within the scope of the boundary marker, all citizens can feel an exceptional sense of security.

There are also streams of warm currents flowing in, healing minor ailments in people's bodies and making them more energetic.

"This, this is simply a miracle!"

"Look, on that stone tablet is a relief of the emperor defeating an angel, and also the imperial emblem!"

"I see. This must be another favor from His Majesty Cassius! This stone tablet is the symbol of His Majesty!"

"Praise the great red dragon! Praise His Majesty Cassius!"

They could not perceive that this boundary monument was constantly emitting the power of laws, and the empire's territory was expanding rapidly.

Within a day, the entire Blackstone Castle will completely become Cassius's territory.

Although Blackrock Castle is not a big city, there are still many players in it, but most of them are newbies who come here to work.

Suddenly, a player pointed at the boundary stone and said in surprise: "Look, there is a system prompt on that stone tablet!"

"This is the new resurrection point and teleportation point!"

"Great! I was just worried about the inconvenient transportation in Blackstone Castle. Now I can teleport directly to the frontline battlefield!"

During this time, Cassius went to several nearby cities and built eleven boundary markers.

For a time, the functions of these imperial boundary monuments caused a sensation on the player forums, and players praised them highly.

"The dog planner finally found his conscience!"

"That's great! Last time I died on the battlefield of August, I didn't bring a quick resurrection scroll, so I walked thousands of kilometers to get back!"

With this multifunctional resurrection point, they no longer have to worry about the long journey and can travel more recklessly!
New players also have more choices. They can choose their birthplace according to their preferences and no longer have to crowd into big cities such as Istalia and Northwind Castle.

The players were very happy and asked the planner to add a few more such boundary markers.

However, at this time, Cassius was preparing to go to Avernus to meet his temporary ally. (End of this chapter)