580 Spirit of Phlegethos Quest
“Inanna? Aren’t you Ishtar?” Cain asked linking her name to one of the forgotten goddesses.
“It is but a mere name, Inanna, the spirit of Phlegethos, the eternal flames, or the fake Kossuth (The god of fire). People have given me a lot of names, Inanna is what I prefer to use.” The spirit replied.
Cain smiled waving his hand in the flames. “I do have fire immunity through magic. You don’t have to protect me.”
“No way, I’m protecting myself from you. Don’t start throwing boulders here, it will hurt a lot.” Inanna pouted, with a slightly scared smile.
“Said the fire causing suffering for millions of sinners. Why should I listen to you? I need to farm Exp, havoc is the only thing happening.” Cain replied getting his magic ready, it was time to blast some devils.
“Stop! Stop! Please, I will give a share of Exp from the sinners I kill!” Inanna cried.
“I can make more Exp faster by killing devils, you’re offer is worse than me going alone,” Cain replied. He won’t sit here for a month. “Even if you give me Exp forever, I will one day reach level 100 hundred and then it will be the end.”
“What a greedy one, how about a contract?” Inanna replied with a passive face.
“What contract?”
“The layer holds the Diabolical Court of justice, where devils are judged. There is a case that has never been solved. I want you to fix it, as it’s driving me mad.” Inanna said taking the form of a walking burst of flames.
“What is the situation, and more importantly, how much will you pay?” Cain asked flicking his fingers, some of Mammon’s personality seeping out.
“Phlegethos is an infinite layer of rampaging flames, do me this job and I will dedicate a 10000 feet radius circle to you. Bounding it to a weapon.” Inanna smiled.
“Explain more…” Cain immediately conjured a table and chairs from stones and sat on it. Inanna sat in front of him.
“Let’s say you bound it to a sword, Call my name, and layer’s flames will get transported to the mortal plane. Covering a 10000 feet radius of hell fire that can never be put out. Of course, you can control what to burn and what not, condense the flames into the blade or let it explode.” Inanna said resting her face on her hands.
“And the problem at hand?”
“Phlegethos was ruled jointly by a father-daughter duo, Fierna (Daughter), and Belial (Father). A partnership that was allowed by Asmodeus as an exception to the typical rule that each layer should only have one ruler. Now that Asmodeus is absent in his imprisonment, Fierna is trying to overthrow her father and take the throne.”
“Asmodeus is imprisoned? Really?” Cain stared at her, he thought that was only a scheme.
“I don’t know about that, but he didn’t make contact for over a year. The rumor that a blond-haired devil woman managed to beat the hell out of him, chaining him under Nessus (the ninth layer). But I do have a hunch that it’s just a façade to test the devil lord’s loyalty.” Inanna tapped her burning finger on the table.
“Now to my point, Asmodeus entrusted the rule to both of them. If Fierna managed to overthrow her father, Asmodeus will be pissed and will trample this layer, which will hurt me.” She sighed.
“So, what do you want me to do?” Cain asked with a puzzled face, what could he do to solve a father-daughter quarrel.
“I want you to go to the Diabolical Court of justice where Fierna is trying to overthrow her father with law, subterfuge, assassination, and lies. Be intimidating and beat some sense into her. It will be better to pretend to be a judge sent by Asmodeus. I don’t care how you do it, as long as both she and her father survive.”
“So you want me to beat her till she gives up?”
“Exactly.”
Cain stood stretching his arms, “Where is the Diabolical Court of justice?”
Inanna pointed in that direction and clapped her hands together. “I will pay upfront, give me a weapon to bind the power.”
Cain smiled and handed her his steel staff which was made by Mary, it will not be easy to tinker with.
Inanna held the staff in her hands for a moment. Her eyes almost closed and she then handed it back to him. “I finished, try it. Just hold it and call my name.”
Cain held the staff in his hand, it seemed normal. “Inanna!”
The staff glowed brightly, immediately morphing into a long blade. BAM! CRACK! A massive burst of flames erupted from the blade, far stronger than any spell he had ever witnessed.
“This is, a bit much isn’t it?” Cain smiled, struggling to tame the wild flames. “My flames are hot, the more you condense them, the hotter they get. You have 10000 square feet of this layer spewing from the tip, it’s hotter than anything magic can make you.”
“I see, I have to keep it as a secret weapon in that case.”
“When you control those flames, call my name Spirit of Phlegethos. And from those flames, this layer’s sinners and devils shall be temporarily transported to the mortal realm. You will also be able to use the blade as a gate to this layer. Also, you should be receiving Exp from the sinners.”
When Cain checked, he was indeed passively earning a decent amount.
“I understand, then I will be going to get that woman.” With a smile, Cain turned the blade off and turned it back into a staff.
“Take care, and make sure they are alive.”
Cain flew through the burning sky with a big smile on his face. ‘Gray, I want your eyes and horns.’
Cain grew two devil horns and his eyes turned black, some demonic feature just so they take him seriously. He could immediately see it, across the sea of liquid flames, a burning castle stood. He could see some devils flying around like flies. That was the court where evil beings are judged.
Cain headed there immediately, the more the approached, the hotter it got but lucky his magic was just fine. To be clear, even if Inanna stopped the flames from touching him, he was still standing in the middle of an oven, slowly getting cooked in indirect heat like a fine steak.
In the court courtyard, a pit fiend who was standing as a gate guard felt something off. “A huge sense of distress, anxiety as if a storm was coming.” He walked a bit ahead and stared across the crimson sea of flames.
A black dot was approaching them at a massive speed, he gulped down. This means trouble.
Inside the courtroom, a dispute was taking place. Fierna claimed that her father Belial is using his power to shift the laws of hell, pulling multiple cases of devils being demoted or promoted without a valid reason, countless bribes, and crimes committed in the city of Abriymoch (The mount of leaping flames).
Belial claimed that all of those things were registered as acts under the ruler of the fourth layer, which is both he and Fierna. This means if they were true, both of them are liable equally.
The complicated dispute was take a long while until… BAM! The door busted open.