After Ten Millennia in Hell

"L-Lord Satan!!!" a man dressed in a black robe called out as he ran further into the cave.

Inside, a huge black sphere, which was about thirty meters in diameter, shook. The darkness that protruded from the sphere moved, and a red demon mask appeared at the end of it.

[What is it?]

"Y-You see…" the priest mumbled, his gaze wavering.

He took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Our signal… was hijacked."

[What?]

The darkness shook. It seemed that Satan couldn't understand what the priest was saying.

'The signal was hijacked? What does that mean?'

"The Mirror of Darkness that Apostle Julia is using is currently connected with someone else."

[Wait, then why has Julia not immediately contacted me?]

Satan still couldn't understand what was going on.

If the signal had been hijacked and the Mirror of Darkness had connected with someone else, there was no way Julia wouldn't have noticed. She would've tried to contact him another way or destroyed the Mirror of Darkness.

"Well…"

The priest wasn't sure how he was supposed to explain it. Ultimately, he gave up and simply informed Satan of what had happened.

"Someone claiming to be Satan… has appeared and is speaking as you."

[That… That bastard again??] Satan asked, about to go crazy from rage.

Satan had an impersonator. He couldn't understand what kind of resentment his impersonator had toward him, but his impersonator always claimed to be Satan while causing all sorts of trouble.

Satan felt like he would lose his mind from the rage if he thought about all the plans that his impersonator had screwed up.

[Even Julia was deceived by him?]

"Yes. The impersonator is saying something very similar to what we had planned, so not even Sister Julia seems to know what is going on."

[He's saying something similar to what was planned…?]

"Yes, the plan to frame Guardians as the culprits of Ludwig's corruption. He is carrying out that plan very similarly… No, to be honest, he is carrying it out much better than what we had planned to do."

[…]

There was a short silence, and Satan's eyes quivered.

'That is impossible.'

He had a rough idea of who his impersonator was.

Satan didn't want to admit it, but he could only think of one being who could do something like this. And there was absolutely no way that man would help him.

'He is a monster.'

That man was the nightmare of Hell—a tyrant who had appeared in Hell out of the blue after the forces of each of the seven princes of Hell had been established and unchanged for a very long time. No other demon had as much desire as him.

Satan trembled when he recalled the man's desires and obsessions, which bordered on madness, as well as the thousand-year war.

[Get the signal back,] Satan quickly said.

"Th-That is impossible. Lord Kalgia's priests are already doing their best to get it back, but the magic pattern is far too complicated for us to decipher it and get the signal back." The priest gulped. "The only thing we can do at the moment is to get back a portion of the signal and watch the call live…"

[Guh. Do at least that, then.]

"Yes, my lord!"

The priest manipulated the crystal in front of Satan.

They saw Raphael, Julia Vilkova, the angels, and…

[What…?]

Satan's eyes widened in shock when his gaze landed on a certain human in the video. He was horrified to see the young man, who had a piercing gaze.

[Why is the demon king… Wait, then who is…]

Satan fell into chaos as he recalled the countless Authorities of the demon king.

[I-It must be…!]

He started to tremble.

Satan assumed his worst possible theory had to be right.

[Authority of Cloning…]

Satan's gaze sank. The gears in his mind turned extremely quickly.

[Find him.]

"Pardon…?"

[The Authority of Cloning cannot be maintained over long distances. He is surely staging this story with his clone somewhere near the angels' fortress.]

Satan had suffered from that tactic a few times. He shook with rage.

[I will not be fooled again.]

He thought it was a good opportunity. He wasn't sure why the demon king was impersonating him, but…

'It ends now.'

Satan would expose the demon king's scheme for all to see. If he were lucky, he might be able to turn Raphael's attention away from him and toward the demon king instead.

'I will take off his mask of mischief with my own hands.'

Satan would then destroy everything that the demon king had cultivated here on Earth. He would serve vengeance on the demon king, living up to his nickname, Prince of Revenge.

[Mobilize as many forces as possible!! Find where the signal is being hijacked from! Kill his clone!]

Clones created with the Authority of Cloning weren't very strong. As long as this clone was found, it could be killed very easily.

'It is your turn to suffer this time.'

Satan's yellow eyes shone while glaring at the demon king in the video.

* * *

"…"

There was a heavy silence.

Raphael slowly asked, "Why should I believe you?"

[…]

Satan didn't answer.

After maintaining the silence for a while, he said, [You are free to do as you like, Raphael. As long as I have the Demonic Sea, you and I are destined to kill each other. However…]

He let out a chilling laugh, turned his head, and looked to where Kang-Woo was standing.

[I do not take kindly to the fact that small fry like them dare to use my name under their mask of hypocrisy.]

"Satan…" Kang-Woo uttered while glowering at Satan. Then he turned to Raphael. "Lord Raphael, please do not believe what this wicked demon is say—"

"Quiet, human."

"So, you do doubt us." Kang-Woo sighed after seeing Raphael's reaction. "Very well. Like Satan said, you can investigate the Hall of Protection while using his demonic energy as reference."

"Are you confident?"

"We know why you suspect us as well as how much you cared for Ludwig. However, we are innocent. Ludwig was corrupted due to Satan's scheme."

"…"

Raphael fell silent again, his feelings of doubt evident on his face. He was stuck between the words of Satan and Guardians. Frankly, he couldn't believe either of them.

"Ludwig…"

He called the name of his apostle—a human who had put more faith in the light than anyone else. Ludwig had possessed incredible talent, an indomitable will, and strong beliefs. He had been a very important apostle to Raphael.

There weren't many humans capable of abandoning their family and friends for the sake of the light. Losing such a loyal apostle was painful, even for Raphael.

'At the very least, I shall avenge you with my own hands,' Raphael vowed.

He looked at Kang-Woo, Kim Si-Hun, and Satan with sharp eyes.

'Who…?'

Who was lying? Raphael's mind was in jumbles.

'There is only one way to find out.'

Raphael got up.

"I will investigate the truth by finding traces of your demonic energy."

[Good choice.]

Raphael walked away slowly.

Julia raised both hands while smiling slyly. A demonic crystal that Satan had prepared appeared in her hands.

Si-Hun's expression hardened when he saw it.

"Hyung-nim… Will this really be okay? If Satan did something in the Hall of Protection, we're…" Si-Hun said worriedly.

He was sure that Guardians hadn't corrupted Ludwig because every single core member had been present when they received Ludwig's call. However, seeing that Satan was so confident in trying to mess with them, Si-Hun couldn't help but think that he had some sort of plan.

"This is all because I wasn't able to save…" Si-Hun mumbled, blaming himself for this crisis.

If he had subdued the corrupted Ludwig instead of killing him, they wouldn't have been subject to such unfair suspicions.

'If we end up falling for another one of Satan's schemes…' Si-Hun thought.

He felt like he would never be able to stop blaming himself.

"Don't worry, Si-Hun," Kang-Woo replied firmly. He bit his lip as he grabbed Si-Hun's shoulder. "No matter how hard they try to conceal the truth with lies…"

How much of the sun could a person cover with the palm of their hands? Wasn't the burning light visible precisely because it was dark?

"The truth will never die," Kang-Woo concluded.

It would keep burning bright.

* * *

[...What in the world?] Satan mumbled in confusion while watching the call. [Just why?]

He'd never corrupted Ludwig. Moreover, no Demon Cultist had even laid a hand on Ludwig, so the culprit was most definitely the demon king.

Then…

'Why…?'

How could the demon king be so confident?

If the angels were to use the demonic crystal that contained Satan's demonic energy, they should be able to figure out that there weren't traces of his demonic energy inside the Hall of Protection. In that case, Guardians would be framed as the culprits and executed by Raphael's own hands like Satan wanted.

'There is no way he does not know that.'

Satan's mind was in jumbles. He couldn't help but feel uneasy.

[Hurry up and find his clone!!] he quickly exclaimed.

They had to stop the demon king before he did something.

"Um, L-Lord Satan…"

[Now!!]

"You see…"

The priest was trembling.

[...What is it?]

"W-We've just received a report. They've figured out where the magic was being manipulated from."

[Then subdue the clone and take back the signal. Quick.]

"Well…"

The priest's face was pale, and he was shaking even harder now. He couldn't wrap his mind around what was going on.

"Th-They weren't able to find a clone."

[Then he must be calling from somewhere else.] Satan's expression crumpled in frustration. [It matters not.]

It was too bad that they hadn't been able to locate the clone, but this was good enough for the moment. The demon king was using some sort of medium to intercept the transmission magic and was using it himself.

[Destroy that area and cut the connection to the Mirror of Darkness.]

They could solve the problem by physically destroying the physical medium. In other words, since they couldn't stop the hacking through the software, they just had to destroy the hardware that was doing it.

It didn't matter what advanced magic device was being used. If they destroyed it, it wouldn't be able to function anymore.

"W-Well…" the priest continued confusedly, "Th-There is no connected signal at all."

[...What? What does that mean?]

"That footage coming out of the Mirror of Darkness is…"

Gulp.

"Pre-recorded."