854 Ereshkigal

Alice opened her eyes, and the last thing she remembered was Silver blasting her with an ice spell and taking her staff. "Where am I?" She gasped, sitting up and looking around.

"Calm down," Sofia said, sitting at her side reading a book. "You've been out for a while. You need to relax,"

"Sofia? You look younger?" Alice stared at her. The last time she saw Sofia she looked like a shriveled old woman in her late nineties, but now she looked as young as her early forties.

"It's can from this world," Sofia replied, "He made me younger, defeated death, and fed Selena to full health,"

"Cain is here?" She looked around, "Where is he?"

"Here?" She looked at her with a wry smile, "I said you need to rest. He will come to visit you soon. For now, he has something else to deal with."

"What is it? Or should I say who?"

"He calls her Beelzebub, that haughty woman riding the golden throne across the city. Do you know her?"

"Beelzebub, lady of the dead." Alice replied, "When people die, she sends flies and bugs to eat their corpses underground and cleanse the world. She's also the one responsible for bug-transmitted diseases, death curses, and eternal sleep. A powerful devil."

"From Cain's words," Sofia looked at Alice, "Beelzebub isn't a devil, but a fallen angel, an Archon."

"What?" Alice stood from the bed, barely able to stand on her own, "I know she isn't a devil. She's far more dangerous than you think. We need to help him."

"He already released Astaroth. You don't need to worry about him," Sofia pushed Alice to sit back on the bed, "He asked me to make sure you get enough rest."

"You don't understand," Alice glared at her, "Like Lucifer who changed his name, she did the same."

"She's still an archon," Sofia sighed, "Cain would convince her to help."

"No, she isn't. Beelzebub is a divinity, a goddess. She's Ereshkigal, the attendant of the dead."

"And Cain is the overgod. Going from an archon to god shouldn't pose a threat to him."

****

Cain stood in front of Beelzebub's mansion, "Can I enter?" He asked the two pit fiends guarding the gate.

"The lady is waiting for you," The pit fiends replied, opening the large iron gate.

Cain walked inside, treading through the garden of graves and dead trees.

He finally reached her front door, pushing it open.

A long dark hallway extended infinity ahead of him as candles slowly illuminated it. He looked back. The door had disappeared.

"An infinite loop?" Cain started walking, seeing a faint light in the distance. "And that's the light at the end of the tunnel, or should I say hallway." He stopped walking.

"Beelzebub. How about you stop playing games? I came all the way here to meet you." He called, but no one responded.

Cain turned to the side, looking at the wall. "I would die if I kept walking toward the light, or that should be the case if I didn't already beat death." He extended his hand to the wall, grabbing something in his palm.

"But, there should be a path to avoid it, and here it is," A doorknob appeared in his palm followed by a gold-decorated golden door.

He turned the doorknob and opened the door, walking inside the room.

Beelzebub sat naked on a couch in the middle of the room, staring at him with one leg on the other, "Get out,"

"No," Cain replied.

"I'm naked. Don't you have any shame?"

"No,"

She sighed, "You're a real pain to deal with,"

"I don't care. I already told you to wear something," He approached her, conjuring a couch similar to hers and sitting.

"I don't care what you have to offer. I'm not fighting Nyar," She said. A table appeared between them, and she rested her legs on it.

"Whether you win or lose, my work will never change," She sighed, "Could you leave me alone?"

"Ereshkigal," Cain said with a smile, "You're the one guiding people who were claimed by death to the afterlife, whether that is heaven or hell."

"If you know, then why ask me to join the fight?" She glared at him, "Do you know that if I was to die, all deaths would become permanent? Their souls would just fade into the world and be lost forever."

"I know that," Cain smiled, "I also know you can't fight a cat. You're no stronger than a regular human,"

"Then why are you here?"

"I do need you to help Lucifer and Astaroth, but not by fighting," He smiled, "I want you to link everyone in the mortal world to my heaven. That's going to become a slaughterhouse, and I don't think we can evacuate in time."

"You already dealt with death, so you think I can do this?" She stared at him with a smile on her face, "Do you know how much work that is? I won't be done in a thousand years,"

"As you are now, that's true," Cain nodded, "But we can change that, can't we?"

Ereshkigal looked to the side, "No, we can't,"

"Don't worry, it won't hurt," Cain giggled, "It's been thousands of years, and you lost all of your divinity. Being able to carry your work in this state is impressive, but with me here, we can fix that, can't we?" historical

"I know what you want, and I'm not bowing to you," She growled, "You may be the new over god, and you might have enough divine authority to give me back my divinity, but aren't you rushing things out?"

"You're right. I'm rushing things out because we don't have time to waste." Cain looked at her, "Are you in or not?"

Ereshkigal rested her head on her hands, thinking about it. "You know I can't just answer, right?"

"But I need you to make a decision." Cain stared at her, "Or, I will make it for you."

"Let's make a deal then," Ereshkigal glared at him, "I need freedom, rule over the path to the afterlife, the portfolio of bugs, and the personal domain of death."

"The rule over the path to the afterlife and the bug portfolio aren't hard to grant. But I don't know about freedom." Cain looked at her.

"I'm not going to cause trouble. I just don't want other gods abusing me since I'm weak," She stared at him, "And what about my domain?"

Cain thought about it, "Let's talk about your domain first. Would you be satisfied with one in the abyss?"

Ereshkigal thought about it for a second, "As long as there are no demons."

"Demons won't be able to enter your domain," He replied.

"Then I don't mind if it's an enclosed space." She smiled, "So, how about my freedom?"

Cain looked at her, "Listen to this. How about I make your dominion absolute in your domain?"

"What?" She stared at him, confused.

"Inside your domain, everyone would lose their powers, gods, demons, devils everyone beside me." He smiled, "Of course, this won't affect the abominations since I don't rule over them,"

"So I'm safe from harm from everyone except you?" She stared at him.

"You can't have everything. I'm the overgod. I need a way to keep everyone in check." He looked at her with a smile.

She looked around the room, "Judging by how your magic already covered the place, I'm afraid you're the last one I want to be able to control me."

Cain giggled, "You're the one who filled the place with seduction curses and magic," He looked at her, and she started sweating, "You were trying to seduce me. That's why you tried to stay naked whenever I'm watching."

"I don't know what you're talking about?" She looked away.

"No, you know," He sighed, "I'm merely blocking your magic, that's all," He pointed at her, "You should have at least worn something,"

"I do what I want in my house," She glared at him.

"That doesn't include trying to seduce the overgod, does it?" Cain looked a her.

"Can't I try my cards? It's not that I can beat you any other way," She sighed.

"No one under my rule can beat me," Cain looked at her with a passive face, "Devils, demons, humans, or the gods. I'm the over god now. Even if you all were to band together, you won't as much harm me."

"I know," She growled, "Let's skip the subject..."

Cain smiled, "But abominations can. They don't fall under my rule. The god's rule also can't bind them. They are a natural danger to our ecosystem, and what I want is for everyone to band together to eliminate that threat."

"Beating them won't bring AO back," She said, "But, you're saying it's worth a try?"

"It's either we sit and lose everything, or try our best for a chance of victory." He smiled, "Even if we didn't bring AO back, I would remain the overgod,"

She stared at him in silence, "I would prefer if the new overgod didn't hold a grudge against me for not participating in the war."