Hell’s Consort

Newest Tier for Highest Chapter (July 2021)

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The Archdemon of Gluttony

Prince Ravin from the 1st Circle of Hell

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It was dark, cold and humid in this enclosed chamber with no windows.

The only entrance and exit to this secret garden was the trapdoor.

Sloth brought forth the orbs floating around them as their only light source while they see each other move about. 

Ravin could see that the Sloth grew luminescent mushrooms of blue, yellow and green, appearing a bit strange and poisonous, in this hidden chamber of his.

Sloth sprinkled something he didn't recognize on top of the mushrooms planted in those large boxes in front of him.

It appeared that his Archdemon of Sloth was too busy to engrossed with his new project.

Ravin could only assume that his brother was propagating mushroom seeds… spores…or whatever they call it for whichever purpose he had in mind.

A hundred hardbound books were piled up on the sturdy table next to him while Sloth, who wore long scarlet robes, had his back turned. 

Without making a sound, Ravin playfully sneaked behind him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "What are those mushrooms for, Sloth?"

Sloth's reaction was delayed for one and a split second.

  He let out a short gasp, clutching his chest in surprise. "You scared me."

Shaking his head, Ravin grinned at him in both mockery and amusement. "You did notice that your reaction was late?"

"You didn't make any noise," Sloth muttered as he returned the almost invisible powder he had sprinkled over his mushrooms on a small dish.

Ravin could barely see them despite the crystal skull radiating bright gold to provide illumination for reading books. "I was too engrossed with studying the new type of mushrooms that I have."

"Why? What's the purpose of breeding them?" Ravin shrugged as he brought his attention back to the mushrooms. "I heard from our fellow brothers that you have an affinity for them but not to this extent."

"It's a secret. You don't have to pretend that you are interested." The Archdemon of Sloth clasped his forearm to divert his attention from it, but Ravin insisted, stubborn Archdemon that he was, and swatted his hand away.

"I am interested." Ravin advanced towards Sloth's boxes and paused a few feet from it to observe it from afar just in case these seemingly harmless fungi might attack him out of nowhere.

It was better to be prepared.

Compost made of sawdust, grain, straw and wood chips surrounded the plant-like forms on the large rectangular boxes instead of soil for their nourishment. 

"I know you would rather sleep most of your waking life, so this is an odd sight for me." He added further.

"I can't reveal much to you. I don't want to talk too much or else I would get tired from working. If you have no other things to say other than judge me in my own Castle, then you can leave." Sloth said as he acquired a book on top of the pile, opening and closing it as if he was anxious about Ravin's presence for some reason. 

What was so important with these magic mushrooms?

Ravin inclined his head as he settled his hands on his knees and bent over to get a closer look. "If I eat it, would it increase my power?"

"Don't eat it. I did not grow these things for Archdemons." Sloth's deep, confident voice sounded a bit unstable when he warned him. "It's just a recreation of mine that I want to cultivate."

"I doubt that."

"It was sporadic to find you up and about, working hard and doing all these things, instead of finding you every time sleeping on your bedchamber." Ravin drawled.

"I hate small talks." Sloth interrupted him quickly.

The Archdemon of Sloth always talked slow, but he seemed to be in a hurry at the moment as if hellfire had been lit under his ass.

Sloth plucked the largest mushroom and held it close to him.

Ravin stood and stretched his legs before he returned his gaze towards the blue fungi in his hand.

Well, Ravin should stop wasting time, as well.

"I'm returning, Rere." 

"Why?" It was Sloth's turn to raise an eyebrow at him. "Wait. I just noticed my sister-in-law isn't here. She was always here to accompany you in Hell everywhere." 

He looked around the basement, expecting his Amare to show herself all of a sudden, but nothing happened.

Then, he gave him a confused, blank stare. "She had no other place to go when she couldn't come back to the Archdemon of Lust. Their mating bond was already broken."

Ravin's eyes widened in surprise before he switched into an icy demeanour.  "So, you know about it. All this time, I thought you didn't care about anything at all. Have you acquired a particular taste at my Amare at the Obsidian Lake, Sloth?" 

"No. Never. Unless if you desired to let her go." Sloth averted his gaze. "Lune is welcome in my home if she wanted to." She admitted rather bluntly. "I like her."

"There was no point when my Amare was already gone." 

"Gone?"

"She escaped Satan's dungeons." He confessed.

"That is impossible."

"I thought so too." Ravin exhaled a breath, and it came out as a hiss. "Not unless someone helped her. Goddess Hecate must have helped her." He clenched and unclenched his fists. "I also had a gut feeling that she already figured out how to create a portal at that point." 

Staring at him in shock, Sloth slammed the book he was holding with a heavy thud on the table. "When did this happen?"

"I just found out the other day when I couldn't find her after visiting her prison cell like I always do. Uncle and the Grand Torturer didn't even bother to inform me about the news. They just went on about their days like nothing happened, thinking she would be back."

Sloth's gaze quickly shifted to the whelp who slept soundly inside the straw basket on his back. "So you are returning the whelp I have given her?" 

"There was really no point in raising it when my Amare couldn't see my efforts being a good father and this mischievous whelp had done magic on me for some reason—-"

Suddenly, a magic circle glowed purple beneath their feet.