Blood Warlock: Succubus Partner in the Apocalypse

"Are you sure?" Luciah asked, taking this moment of silence Lucifer was taking to think about his next words or perhaps to pull memories from his memory that had been gathering mountains of dust for all these years.

"Every era is destined to come to an end someday just like excessive prosperity is a sign of imminent downfall." Lucifer sighed. An expression that none of the Commanders present had ever seen on his face flashed for a moment as he said slowly, "No one in this room is a fool, not even Hellscar. I think you have all realized that in the last few decades, there have been big things happening one after the other."

Hellscar grimaced but said nothing. As for the rest, they simply nodded silently as it was just as Lucifer had just said.

The number of clashes between members of opposing factions only grew to the point that over the last 50 years, the number of Higher Existences that fell normally occurred over 1000 years. More importantly, many stellar constellations seemed in a state of agitation since the last two decades and a great number of previously insignificant worlds were beginning to evolve one after the other at speeds never seen before.

"I've been thinking about it for a while now but this all seems as if the universe itself is getting ready for some sort of final battle." Valiant said with a thoughtful expression on her face, "The number of precious resources rose tremendously recently. Even minerals, food, and other types of resources above Rank 5 began to grow rapidly one after another."

"That's how it is," Lucifer nodded and a glint of melancholy flashed in his green eyes as he said softly, "Each era is destined to come to an end after an indefinite amount of time of stagnation, thus giving way to a new and, perhaps, more prosperous era compared to the previous one."

A few seconds later, he continued, "We all know that in the past there existed beings like the Heavenly Wolf Sirius or the Goddess of Reincarnation... Existences mightier than me or any of the other seven. And yet, not all of them crossed the Abyssal Rift in search of answers... Many of them died here, in this universe. Since even those who were stronger than us were eventually killed by someone what right do we have to assume that no one will ever take us down or that we will live forever?"

To date, there were three wars that were recorded as Great Wars. In each of these Three Great Wars against the Golden Domain, the universe always managed to repel the invading waves that seemed to have no end after years of war and bloodshed during which all the powers of those different eras united for the first time to fight against a superior enemy.

Despite successfully defending their home, however, the price the universe had to pay in each of those three battles was, to say the least, immeasurable. With most of its powerhouses dead and few defenders still standing that would not live much longer due to fatal wounds, the vitality of the universe suffered to the point where only the existences below the Fifth Order that did not have the qualifications to know any of this could continue to grow and develop.

"This thing I am going to tell you now is nothing but a theory that was passed down from generation to generation... Or so it used to be until recently since Fire Sorrow discovered something amazing by sheer coincidence of fate." Lucifer took a deep breath and said slowly, "According to history, our ancestors were once part of the Golden Domain as were our lands and our seas. Because we had no way of knowing the purpose of the Soul Record or the Golden Domain, those who reached a certain scale of power eventually ventured beyond the Abyssal Rift in search of answers just like Sirius and others did throughout different eras... It's a pity that so far none of them ever returned."

Lucifer could see the expressions of disbelief and shock on the faces of his subordinates/friends. Yet, he had to continue. "I think not a few among us ever thought that the Soul Record could be a sentient, intelligent living being. Well if you still think that way then let me tell you that you are not wrong."

"What?!" Hellscar and Crow jumped straight out of their seats when they heard what Lucifer said.

Valiant's pupils contracted fiercely and even the ever-indifferent Luciah showed some reaction as her body trembled slightly.

Lucifer nodded with a serious expression on his face: "When Fire Sorrow healed that young Emperor back in that Forsaken World she was hit by the Soul Punishment sent by the Soul Record and yet she was not harmed at all. After those events concluded, Fire Sorrow told me what really happened... she was not only not harmed by the Soul Record but the latter even openly and directly asked her motives for doing what she did."

Valiant sucked in a breath of cold air. She had been present as well as the others when the purple lightning covered Fire Sorrow's figure and had always had a doubt as to why nothing bad happened. However, she never expected the answer to her doubt to be something as crazy and big as this.

Once this news got out the entire universe would tremble; particularly those proud beings who saw themselves as true Gods without equals!

Lucifer took a pause of several minutes and only spoke again once he noticed that his Commanders had finished assimilating the information he had just given them.

"This is where the theory I told you about earlier comes in." A strange light shone in Lucifer's eyes as he said word by word: "According to the thinking of those who participated in the First Great War, the reason the Golden Domain keeps attacking us even though we never did anything against them is because they are probably looking for someone or something."

"And that something or someone is the Soul Record..." Luciah muttered before taking a deep breath and saying, "To be honest, even I'm shocked. I thought you were going to start straight in on that matter but I wasn't expecting this."

Lucifer nodded and continued, "Now that you know this we can go back to Lilith as what I just told you is necessary for you to understand the severity of the matter."

"This was all nothing more than the snack before the real dish?" Valiant smiled bitterly and shook her head, "Just... Who is the Bloody Succubus really?"

"You all must have heard stories of the Barbarian King, yes?" Lucifer suddenly asked.

"Yes..." Valiant replied and the others nodded despite not understanding the meaning of his question.

"The Barbarian King was known as the enemy of all magic and was born before the era of the Second Great War. The few old books left from back then say that the Barbarian King fell from the sky during the end of the Second Great War, but that's all a lie that me and a few others concocted to hide some troublesome things." Lucifer revealed.

"What?"

"The Barbarian King didn't die in the Second Great War?"

"How is this possible?"

Except for Luciah, the other three looked at their Leader in shock.

"The worst of all the Great Wars was the first of them, and yet only 10% of life in the universe perished." Lucifer grew serious and his eyes flashed with a hint of dread as he said softly, "But in the Second Great War, 40% of the life in the entire cosmos perished before the Golden Domain was forced to retreat. Were it not for the arrival of an extremely terrifying new enemy I fear neither you nor I would be talking as our ancestors would not have survived the slaughter."

Everyone felt a shiver run down their spines and through their souls.

40%? 40% of life under the stars died at that time?

Valiant's face was pale as a sheet as she muttered to herself, "How is this possible... The worst of all Great Wars, the first, was called the Armageddon War because 10% of life was killed... And yet the Second Great War was even worse than that? 40%..."

Crow shuddered and his lip squirmed several times uncontrollably. Suddenly, he noticed that something was not right and quickly pointed out, "But how is this possible? It is said that the Barbarian King was even more powerful than the Heavenly Wolf... How could the Golden Domain slaughter even Lower Existences to such an extent with him present?"

"That's the problem." Luciah sighed and took her brother's place as she said, "The Barbarian King couldn't participate in the Second Great War because someone killed him a few years before the Abyssal Rift expanded."

"Impossible!" Hellscar stood up abruptly and shouted in shock, "The Barbarian King was a warrior immune to all magic and his physical body was unmatched! How could someone like that in the peak of the Eighth Order even be killed by anyone other than those bastards of the Golden Domain!"

Even though he said this, Hellscar knew that Luciah had no reason to lie. Besides, none of those present were stupid or else they wouldn't be where they were.

Alternate dimensions, Golden Domain retreating because of the arrival of a new terrifying enemy, the Barbarian King dying at the hands of an unknown enemy before the Abyssal Rift opened... They all did the math and managed to figure out what was going on.

"This enemy that killed the Barbarian King was not from our dimension but came from an alternate dimension." Lucifer continued with a cold expression on his face, "According to the few records that were left from back then, the enemy of the Barbarian King was only a Seventh Order Higher Existence but still killed him. The details of this enemy were not revealed until several million years later, after the Soul Record personally went into action to expel this enemy back to his dimension."

Crow gritted his teeth and asked with clenched fists, "So... This dimension Your Majesty is talking about is the original place Lilith came from?"

"Yeah," Lucifer didn't hide it and continued, "Before the Third Great War, a fierce battle occurred between our dimension and Lilith's dimension. Although the warriors of our dimension eventually won and practically destroyed the other dimension leaving only a few lives, the price they paid was not small... Had it not been for the Golden Domain attacking with less force than usual during the Third Great War our universe would have ended as our vitality was too damaged after fighting the other dimension."

"W-Wait a moment please!" Valiant suddenly stood up and her eyes flashed with disbelief as she said, "The Barbarian King could handle an unknown type of energy that for some reason none of the powerhouses of that time could find... Could it be that in fact the Barbarian King discovered this alternate dimension and it was there that he obtained his power?"

"As expected." Lucifer chuckled and nodded after praising her, "We believe that too but we have no way of checking it out."

"Then, about Lilith?" Crow quickly asked.

Lucifer glanced at him with a strange expression and wanted to advise this Commander of his to drop his one-sided love for Lilith as it was hopeless. Crow didn't see Lilith's eyes back then, but Lucifer saw the way she was looking at Bai Zemin after all.

Even so, he continued: "The problem is that Lilith is someone from that alternate dimension who was once extremely strong and had its own power system just like us. Although she has nothing to do with the war back then just like us, this is just a personal theory but... since they had their own power system, who can guarantee they don't have their own Soul Record? What if the alternate dimension Lilith came from was also being attacked by the Golden Domain? How could they defend themselves after our dimension wiped out almost all of their forces?"

"So, they fear that Lilith might...?" Hellscar didn't finish his words but everyone understood what he meant.

Lucifer nodded, "That's why it's so problematic..."

Crow, Valiant, and Hellscar exchanged glances. They all saw the helplessness in each other's eyes after understanding the whole story in question as they were really in a difficult situation.

"Fight." Luciah suddenly stood up and said calmly, "Regardless of where the Bloody Succubus came from, she is part of us. If she dares to betray us or even think about it I will personally behead her with my spear, but in the meantime, she is still a pillar of the Demonic Aemy who we must protect."

"Hahahaha!" Lucifer burst out laughing and the whole room trembled, "My dear little sister, it's been how many years since the last time you were this irrational? But I like you better like this!"

Lucifer's eyes flashed coldly as the smile on his face slowly disappeared.

"Let them come... The end of our era is near and many are destined to fall from the sky. Since peace is not possible then let's see which destiny is strong enough to survive!"