The Master of Avernus

Somewhere within the Bronze Citadel, amid distorted space and shimmering light, four players and two devils materialized out of thin air. Their hearts pounded and they gasped for breath, their faces flushed with the relief of surviving a catastrophe. Uriel and Dick, as lesser devils, found it utterly unbelievable. They had actually escaped right from under the nose of a pit fiend! That was one of Zariel's legion commanders, an entity capable of conquering a miniature Material Plane all on his own! Anyezhilang clutched his chest. Even though, as a vampire, he had no need to breathe, he still habitually panted, "Phew... phew... Boss, that was too close..." European Emperor gazed at the plumes of fire and smoke soaring into the distant sky. Feeling the violent spatial tremors, he couldn't help but exclaim, "Holy crap, as expected of those lunatics from the Machine Cult. That power was absurd—it almost swallowed us whole!" Langlibaitiao, however, asked a bit nervously, "Brother Zhankuang, did you get an experience notification?" Tiansheng Zhankuang remained in his Rage state. His entire body was flushed red, steam billowing off him in waves, yet he still retained his wits: "N-No... That guy... isn't dead yet!" "What?" Everyone looked up in unison. There, beating his tattered, ragged wings, the pit fiend burst through the thick smoke and appeared in midair over the Bronze Citadel. Battered and disheveled, his features twisted in fury, roaring flames blazed in his eyes. He whipped his head toward them and bellowed madly, "Mortals! You seek death!" The pit fiend's terrifying aura swept over them like a tsunami, weighing down on the heart of every nearby devil. Frozen in terror, Uriel panicked. "We're finished! He... he spotted us!" "We're dead meat, dead meat! Let me out, quick!" shouted the imp trapped in the cage. Yet Langlibaitiao pulled on his aura-concealing cloak and stood his ground, murmuring under his breath, "No, wait. It's not over yet. The treasure I went through hell to steal from the Machine Cult... isn't so simple." "Legion Commander!" "Who is it?! What reckless fool dares invade the Bronze Citadel?!" Dozens of armored devils wielding steel pitchforks took to the air, beating their broad bat-like wings as they flew toward Valerius's volcanic manor. But right at that moment, the spatial collapse behind them reached its critical point. Suddenly, all color was stripped from the world, leaving only pure, utter darkness. At the center of the explosion, a profound vortex opened, unleashing an immense gravitational pull. Everything around it—shattered sculptures, fractured rock, the mangled remains of devils—was brutally dragged toward the center of the vortex by that terrifying gravity. The devil soldiers charging at the fore crumpled like tin foil in an invisible giant hand, and their infernal-iron armor splintered into fragments under the titanic pull. At this sight, Valerius beat his wings frantically, trying to tear free from the force, yet he was pinned like a beast bound by countless ropes, unable to budge. "No—!" "I am a mighty pit fiend! A confidant of Lady Zariel! You cannot kill me—!!" Ultimately, the pit fiend's roar drowned in the screech of tearing space-time, his massive, hulking frame ripped into elementary particles by the temporal-spatial storm. Watching the world-shattering cataclysm, Tiansheng Zhankuang marveled at the terrifying power of the bomb and said in a low voice, "He's... really dead. A prompt popped up on my panel." [You have slain Pit Fiend - Valerius (Challenge Rating: 16). Gained 150,000 XP] Langlibaitiao rubbed his hands in excitement. "Holy shit! That's a hell legion commander! One hundred and fifty thousand XP, twenty-five thousand gold coins—we really struck it rich!" Anyezhilang did not relax in the slightest. Instead, he looked up at the sky, looking worried. "Wh-What is that?" The entire firmament groaned under unbearable strain. The clouds were torn apart by some colossal power into a crimson fissure, like the sliced-open belly of a deity, spilling cascades of boiling lava. "Look at the sky!" Dick's voice trembled. The crimson fluid did not fall to the ground. Instead, it erupted with violent hellfire, congealing in the air into a colossal phantom silhouette. —It was a fallen angel. She had pitch-black wings, eyes burning with inextinguishable fury, and a halo of sulfur and ash swirling around her. Her face, streaked with tears of blood, radiated an aura of madness and distortion. She extended her right hand, and countless burning chains burst forth from subterranean fissures, sealing off the entire area. Amid wretched wails, that boundless soul energy began repairing the fractured space. Lord of Avernus - Zariel (Challenge Rating: ???) Langlibaitiao looked up, new information flashing before his eyes. He stood dazed on the spot, murmuring, "Looks like we... might've gone a bit too far this time." Tiansheng Zhankuang gazed at the terrifying figure and marveled, "Is this the final boss of the Avernus dungeon? How thrilling would it be to fight her head-on!" European Emperor also sighed, "We're doomed now... If only I had this kind of luck when opening loot boxes." Dick and Uriel had long since dropped to their knees, trembling all over, completely overwhelmed by infernal instinct. "Lord of the Nine Hells... it really is Lady Zariel..." Throughout the Bronze Citadel, the other devils were likewise filled with awe and dread. Langlibaitiao whispered under his breath, "Do you think... is it possible she hasn't noticed us yet?" "Kneel—" Zariel's whisper detonated directly within their skulls. Under the crushing weight of the laws of Hell, the two devils did not hesitate for a second, prostrating flat against the ground without the faintest thought of resistance. —For lesser devils like them, even laying eyes upon an Archduke of the Hells was an immense privilege. Meanwhile, dense rows of text refreshed across the four players' panels, making cold sweat break out on their brows. [You are affected by Blasphemy. You will make a Will saving throw; if you fail, you will be dominated.] [Lord of Avernus - Zariel is attempting to search your soul and memories.] [Warning! Affected by the laws of Hell, you will be bound to Baator, with a chance to gain the permanent effect: Fallen Contract.] The four players' expressions warped instantly into grim grimaces—if they were trapped in Hell permanently, it wouldn't be worth the price at all. "Run!" Langlibaitiao made a split-second call. Whipping his cloak around, he bolted at top speed. Even as he fled, he didn't forget to snatch up the imp's cage, carrying him along in their escape. European Emperor and Anyezhilang followed close on his heels, and even Tiansheng Zhankuang, still in his Rage, roared as he smashed through the walls in their path, having learned when to run. "Die—" Yet countless infernal chains erupted from below. A giant hand woven of hellfire stretched across the sky, bearing down with dreadful pressure, closing in on them by the second to sweep them all up at once. Seeing this, Langlibaitiao shouted at the top of his lungs, "Lord, aid us!" The hexagram magic circles on the players' chests flared brilliantly, their bodies completely enveloped in a dense surge of soul energy. Accompanied by flickering flashes of fire, within moments they turned into clumps of ash, scattering with the wind. High in the sky, Zariel's phantom silhouette looked upon the drifting ashes. The fallen angel's brow furrowed, boundless malice and hatred welling from the depths of her blazing pupils. "Bel, that vile traitor! If not for me preparing the ritual and having no time to spare, he would have had his soul tortured into oblivion long ago..." Suddenly, Zariel's fury flared even hotter. "No! It's not just him—it's also that Cinder Emperor! That damned red dragon!" The fallen angel snapped her black wings and swept her hellfire-infused greatsword, tearing an ugly, hundreds-of-meters-long wound across the crimson sky. —And shattering the golden vertical slit-pupil hidden within the void of the sky. "To think I was discovered." A deep, resonant voice echoed from the void. Zariel pointed her blade to the sky and snarled fiercely, "Red dragon, this is a blatant provocation! This is Avernus! Do you wish to make an enemy of the entire Nine Hells—to declare war on the great Lord Asmodeus?!" "Zariel, do you truly represent all of the Nine Hells? I imagine... the other Archdukes would be delighted to see Avernus change hands once more." A flame of an entirely different nature flared high in the heavens, coalescing into an enormous, majestic dragon head. Its golden slit-pupils were unfathomably deep, exuding a subtle dragon fear. The oppressive presence made countless infernal dragons shiver and tremble, letting out muffled whimpers. "Meddling in the Material Plane and conspiring with the Kingdom of Thrace makes you an enemy of mine! An enemy of the Cinder Empire!" "Red dragon, the day will come when your so-called empire plunges into Hell! Your people will wail in hellfire, reduced to fuel for the Blood War, and your lands will become our soul pastures!" "Then let us wait and see—whether you slay me first, or I overthrow you first!" The red dragon gave a mocking laugh, and the draconic head dissolved into a sky full of drifting embers, vanishing into the air. At that moment, several pit fiends beat their massive, broad wings, flying in from various quarters of the Bronze Citadel. Their collective aura was enough to chill any lesser devil to the bone. —They were the twenty-seven legion commanders serving under Zariel, the generals waging her war across Avernus. Dropping to one knee or bowing their heads, they displayed utmost deference. Before Zariel, these cruel and tyrannical pit fiends were like obedient hounds. Alix stepped forward and said in a heavy voice, "My Lady, it was my negligence in defense that allowed those wretched maggots to slip through..." Zariel's tone was grim and chilling. "Tighten security even further! This is an opportunity that comes only once in a millennium—under no circumstances will I allow the vermin hiding in the gutters to sabotage my plans!" She gazed across the boundless, scorched wasteland, her eyes gleaming with manic obsession. "Once every mortal of the Material Plane is fed into the forge as fuel, my legions will crush the Abyss and bring an end to this Blood War! "Thrace's City of Sunrise... is where it all begins!" Before the words had even settled, Zariel's form abruptly exploded, turning into clouds of hellfire that blotted out the sky. It turned out this had merely been an avatar of the mad fallen angel. At that very moment, Zariel's true body resided at the center of the Bronze Citadel, plotting to plunge the City of Sunrise, the region of Thrace—and even the entire continent of Fei'anso—down into Hell. ... Cinder Empire. Dragonblood Mountain. "It seems the intelligence Bel provided wasn't wrong... Zariel really is an utter war lunatic." Cassius watched the magical imagery recorded by the Cataclysmic Dragon Eye and clicked his tongue. "The other Archdukes don't want to exhaust their strength in the Blood War, devoting all their energy to political machinations and soul reaping instead. "Zariel, on the other hand, commits her entire military might to the battlefields of the Blood War, refusing to care whom she offends in the process, even using mortal souls as fuel for her war machine. Completely insane." Cassius also recalled his previous conversation with Bel. In truth, thousands of years ago, Bel had secretly allied with several Archdukes to overthrow Zariel, imprisoning her in the Bronze Citadel and torturing her day and night. Yet as the first layer of the Nine Hells, Avernus sat on the front lines of the Blood War, constantly facing the demonic threat, and Bel's passive avoidance of conflict had incurred Asmodeus's displeasure. Thus, under the decree of the Lord of the Nine Hells, Zariel was reinstated as the master of Avernus, commanding the devil legions to slaughter the demons. Thinking of this, the red dragon slowly rose to his feet, spreading his immense wings as his gaze grew grave. Trump's projection appeared before him. "Master, shall we continue sending the Starfallen to Hell? The teleportation costs are considerable, and half of the Starfallen are killed by devils the moment they touch down..." "Continue. Not only continue, but expand the scale. Mobilize more players to head for the Bronze Citadel, and strive to infiltrate every corner of it." Cassius's tone was resolute. "Under no circumstances can Zariel be allowed to complete her ritual. The empire cannot afford to lose the City of Sunrise, let alone the entire region of Thrace." In reality, Langlibaitiao and his group's reckless rampage in Avernus had been backed by Cassius all along. Just like that miniature spatial collapse bomb capable of killing a pit fiend—Cassius had destroyed a small material demiplane, using fragments of that plane as materials, and ordered the members of the Machine Cult to forge it. And Langlibaitiao's "theft" of the bomb had naturally been orchestrated by Cassius himself, specifically to let them raise a massive ruckus in Hell. Once detonated inside the Bronze Citadel, the bomb would destabilize the antimagic field and tear spatial rifts of various sizes throughout the area, creating the perfect opportunity for players to teleport straight into the Citadel's inner rings. With that matter settled, Trump picked up pen and paper and continued, "Then when shall we officially declare war on the Kingdom of Thrace?" Cassius pondered for a moment, exhaling a plume of white, sulfurous smoke, before answering without hesitation, "Seven days from now. See to the mobilization preparations—the real war is about to begin!" "Yes, Master." Trump's voice brimmed with excitement and agitation. After all, in a sense, the enemy they were about to face was none other than the once-mighty Holy Fadlan Empire. This might well be an evenly matched war.