Ember Dragon

In the fierce turbulence storm, the devils trembled and dared not breathe. They all knew that Bayer had a bad temper recently.

Cassius, however, remained calm and said casually, "Why, Lord Bayer, is this how you welcome your allies?

Is this Avernus's unique way of entertaining guests?"

"Of course, Your Majesty, Cassius, your strength has become even stronger."

Bayer was so angry that he was shaking all over, but he still suppressed his anger, nodded reluctantly, and said some nice words against his will.

At this moment, Bayer felt as if he had eaten a thousand flies.

The lord of hell knew that even though the greedy red dragon had shamelessly seized his authority, he still had to rely on the other party's help in this bloody battle - and this was probably the reason why the red dragon was so unscrupulous.

Cassius also knew that he had the upper hand over Bayer and was bound by the contract. No matter how angry the other party was, he could not just turn against him.

Bayer had a gloomy face, stretched out his huge and ferocious claws, and made a "please" gesture: "Please follow me, Your Majesty Cassius.

We are still in the middle of a bloody battle here, it is too noisy, and there is also the risk of intelligence being eavesdropped on. Let's go to the palace to discuss this in detail."

"it is good."

Cassius's body glowed faintly, and in a moment he transformed into a tall half-dragon man in armor, following Bayer to the inner circle of the bronze fortress.

The palace was filled with magma and pungent white smoke. In the center of the palace was a throne made of demon skulls and swords.

This palace was originally built by Bayer, but was taken away by Zariel during the last coup in Avernus. Now, after hundreds of years, it has returned to Bayer's hands.

Bayer sat on the throne of hell, crossed his arms, and looked at the red dragon that had transformed into a human form with a gloomy face.

Cassius looked calm as usual. He raised his hand and the chair made of solidified lava rose up to the same height as Bayer. He sat on it neatly and looked into Bayer's eyes.

The air was filled with smoke and became stagnant again.

Bayer was the first to break the silence and whispered, "Your Majesty Cassius, I'm sorry to say that you have violated our contract."

Cassius pointed to the ground and said, "This contract was signed under the witness of the Styx. If I really violated the terms of the contract as you said, the will of the Styx would have taken my soul away long ago.

But why is it still not responding?" He smiled and continued, "Also, Mr. Bayer, I can't hear what you want to say."

“Don’t play dumb here, Cassius!” Bayer’s eyes were filled with blazing hellfire. He slammed the armrests of the throne and roared angrily, “The authority of Avernus! Where is the authority left by that bitch Zariel? I feel that power. It must be in your hands!!”

Cassius then clapped his hands, showing an expression of sudden enlightenment: "Ah, so this is what you mean."

Bayer said in a stern voice: "Cassius, return the remaining authority of Avernus to me, and we can continue to cooperate."

"Of course I am willing to cooperate with you, but..." Cassius shook his head, stared at Bayer, and sneered: "That is my spoils of war. What reason do you have for me to hand over this authority?"

Bayer was so angry that his voice was hoarse: "Of course it's the contract! You promised me that you would do your best to help me become the Lord of Avernus!
But now, I don't even have complete authority! How can I become the real lord here? "

Under Bayer's anger, magma surged, fire splashed, and the majestic pressure spread, and the entire bronze fortress seemed to tremble.

"This is not in our contract." Cassius said lightly with a cold look in his eyes: "I wrote at the time that I would fully assist you in killing Zariel. I never said that I would let you obtain the complete authority of Avernus."

"You are more like a devil than I am." Bayer gritted his teeth and almost squeezed out these words from his throat.

"Thank you for the compliment."

Bayer stared at Cassius with sinister eyes. He was extremely angry and had a lot of thoughts in his mind, but he couldn't do anything to the other party.

The other party did not violate the contract, and he might not be able to defeat him in a fight. How should he take back what rightfully belongs to him?

At that time, Cassius had already contacted many lords of Hell, while Bayer was just a duke living in seclusion in a corner of Avernus. The opportunity was fleeting, and he had no right to propose conditions, so he had to passively accept the treaty offered by the Empire.

Bayer originally thought that as long as Zariel died, with his strength and experience, it would be a sure thing for him to take the position of Lord of Avernus.

But he never expected that Zariel would hold back before his death, leaving 30% of Avernus' power to the Burning Emperor.

Wait, there is another way. There is a being in hell who is more greedy, more stingy, and more powerful than this red dragon.

Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine Hells.

Bayer had a lot of resentment in his heart towards the being who had driven him down from the position of Lord of Hell, but the flame of resentment was suppressed by an even stronger fear.

He is so ancient and mysterious that even though eras have changed and gods have fallen, Asmodeus still firmly holds the position of the Lord of the Nine Hells, and no one can shake him.

Even the most powerful seventh lord, Mephistopheles, did not dare to challenge head-on and could only covet the supreme position in secret.

Thinking of this, Bayer grinned fiercely and threatened in a low voice: "Everything in Hell belongs to the Lord of the Nine Hells, Cassius, you should understand this.

As a creature in the material world, you have seized the authority of hell. Aren't you afraid of the punishment from the One who sent you down? Return the authority to me. What does not belong to you will never belong to you."

Cassius smiled as expected, revealing a rather playful smile: "Yes, everything in Hell belongs to the great Lord of the Nine Hells. I almost forgot to tell you that not long ago, Lord Asmodeus went to the material world to meet me.

We had a great conversation and even made an unexpected deal."

When he mentioned the word "deal", Cassius deliberately emphasized his tone, fearing that Bayer would not be able to hear his hidden meaning.

"what?"

Bayer's expression changed drastically, his brows furrowed and his body leaned forward.

Bayer figured it out almost instantly. The Lord of the Nine Hells did not trust him, doubted his loyalty, and wanted to check and balance him through Cassius's intervention!
The stone he moved ended up hitting his own foot!
Cassius looked at the devil and continued, "Sir Bayer, as an ally, I am happy to govern hell with you, and Sir Asmodeus is also happy to see this happen.

Don't worry, as long as I am here, you will be able to use the full power of Hell, just like the real Lord of Avernus."

Bayer's fists suddenly clenched, veins bulging, and he laughed in anger, "Okay, okay, Cassius, thank you so much, you are worthy of being my ally, and you even took me into account."

Cassius stood up from the lava throne and said calmly, "Bail, instead of thinking about how to take back what does not belong to you, you should think more about how to win this bloody battle. You were deposed last time because of the bloody battle. If you let the demons capture Avernus, you may not even be able to be the nominal lord of hell."

"you--"

Bayer was so furious that he could hardly control himself, but he also knew that Cassius was right. If Avernus fell, the punishment from the Lord of the Nine Hells would be something he could not bear.

So Bayer had no choice but to swallow his anger.

Cassius smiled and said, "Bail, don't you see clearly? As your ally, I am helping you with your worries!
Although I am temporarily in charge of Avernus' authority, I am not a creature from Hell and cannot threaten your position at all. I can also help you improve your strength. This is clearly a win-win situation."

The Wormtongue's ability combined with his exaggerated Charm of 40 made even Bayer vaguely convinced by him.

Indeed, although this greedy red dragon occupied the power of Avernus, he could never become the lord of Hell - because he was just an outsider.

Unlike the Abyss, which is filled with evil gods and chaos, under the control of the Lord of the Nine Hells, although there are many gods - such as Tiamat who lives in Baator, none of them can obtain the authority of hell and sit on the position of the Lord of the Nine Hells.

But Bayer's heart was still filled with hatred. He had been planning for hundreds of years but still could not obtain complete power. One can imagine how he felt.

Share worries?

Stop talking nonsense, this is clearly your excessive greed!

"boom!"

"Hold the line!"

"Kill them all! For the great Mother Abyss!"

Outside the bronze fortress, the screams and roars of demons mixed with the war cries of devils, making it extremely noisy. The war was becoming more and more intense.

Relying on advanced defense weapons, tight organization and home advantage, the devils established more than a dozen defense lines outside the fortress. Under the skilled command of the officers, the hell soldiers moved back and forth, coordinating almost perfectly, almost slaughtering the demons.

Countless arrows and fireballs poured down and fired in turns. The devils holding the iron spears of hell were closely arranged like a wall, killing the unorganized demons and forcing them to retreat step by step. The corpses piled up into a mountain.

In just a few minutes, tens of thousands of demons died, and even their corpses were burned, emitting foul-smelling black smoke.

Compared to demons, the devil army is like a real army. They are natural war artists, and the demons on the opposite side are at best a group of crazy beasts.

But unfortunately, faced with dozens or even hundreds of demons outnumbering them, even the most elite devil army felt extremely powerless and was overwhelmed by the demonic tide in an instant.

When dragged into the melee, the devils completely lost their chance and could only be eaten by demons like locusts. Cassius even saw with his own eyes a Pit Hell Fiend being besieged by thousands of demons and eventually torn into pieces.

Soon, the outermost line of defense was breached, and almost all the devils came out in full force, using all means and risking their lives to defend the bronze fortress.

This was not because the demons were loyal to Bayer and willing to die for him, but because they knew that once the demons occupied Avernus, all of them would die.

"The situation on the battlefield is getting more serious. Avernus is in imminent danger."

Cassius turned around, looked into the distance, and reminded calmly: "Bail, tell me about the current situation.

We remain solid allies, and the abyss is our common enemy, and today we must put aside our differences and join forces to meet the enemy."

Bayer sneered at the so-called "solid allies", but he also knew the importance of resisting the invasion of the Abyss, so he said in a deep voice: "This bloody battle was jointly launched by three ambitious Abyss Lords, namely, 'Lord of Wrath' Koschechi, 'Lord of Hunting' Mastifah, and 'Lord of Black Water' Ishiniks.

As far as I know, these three Abyss Lords have summoned nearly 20 million demons, rushing into Hell frantically, wanting to raze my Avernus to the ground." Bayer deliberately emphasized the word "my".

But Cassius's focus was not here. He frowned and asked, "Twenty million?"

To this day, including the newly occupied areas, the total population of the Burning Empire has barely reached 30 million, and these Abyss Lords can actually send out an army of 20 million!

Bayer sneered and said, “Casius, thanks to you, I was unable to close the Abyss Portal as soon as I discovered it. The number of demons is of course huge.

However, during the endless years of bloody wars, such large-scale invasions had occurred at least hundreds of times, if not thousands of times. It was not a rare occurrence. The abyss demons were like the yellow sand in the desert, endless.

If it weren't for the fact that sending demons to hell consumes the power of chaos, the group of Abyss Lords would probably bring more than a billion demons and submerge the entire Avernus in a demonic tide."

Cassius thought of the three million demons that invaded the Burning Empire, and he understood. He then asked, "What are the origins of these three Abyss Lords?"

Bayer replied: "Koschechi, Lord of Wrath, lord of the twenty-third layer of the Iron Ice Field, is also the most powerful of the three Abyss Lords. He is known as the King of Frost Giants and has the legacy of the Giant God System. He is a quasi-divine existence.

As for Mastifah and Ishiniks, I don't know where their territories are. After all, the Abyss is endless, and even the Lord of the Nine Hells cannot know everything."

There are only nine lords of hell, and almost every one of them is a powerful person who has emerged from fierce competition and countless conspiracies and calculations.

There are indeed hundreds or even thousands of Abyss Lords. Although they were also promoted through brutal fighting, each level of the Abyss is different, and the strength of the Abyss Lords also varies.

Powerful Abyss Lords such as Demogorgon and Orcus are comparable to gods, while the weakest Abyss Lord can even be killed by mortals.

"The Frost Giants are my old rivals."

Cassius stared at Bayer and said, “I will help you stop Koschechi, and I will leave the remaining two unknown Abyss Lords to you.

In addition, I will bring at least three million Starfall troops to Hell, most of whom are professionals, but I have one condition. "

Bayer looked gloomy and coldly stared at Cassius, but still said: "Oh, the greed of dragons is always endless. Tell me, what are your other conditions?"

Cassius smiled and pointed to the map of Purgatory on the wall, and said, “No, it’s a colony, to be more precise, it’s a concession.

The Empire needs a concession in Avernus with administrative autonomy, extraterritoriality, and free teleportation rights, otherwise we won't be able to transport so many troops to Hell."

"Okay, I hope you can keep your word this time."

Looking at the overwhelming demon army coming from afar, Bayer gritted his teeth even more tightly. (End of this chapter)