Chapter 526: Sepphirothy gets scared
Sepphirothy walked slowly through the Forest, completely lost, her bare feet sinking into the damp moss that covered the ground. The air there had always smelled of burnt incense mixed with rust, an aroma that confused the senses and made it impossible to discern where life ended and illusion began.
With each step, the trees seemed to move, twisted trunks that looked more like the columns of a desecrated temple. She sighed deeply, exasperated, her golden eyes half-closed, tired of her own stubbornness.
“Why am I still doing this…?” she murmured to herself, almost in a whisper. “Why am I still chasing him…? I should have gone and solved my problems.
Your son, Vergil.
The name echoed in her mind like a blade scraping against metal. He was an irritating, irresponsible force that always seemed to spin out of control, always defying logic. She had so many things to resolve, so many obligations, so many revenges to prepare. And yet, her feet guided her to the same path: his shadow.
A twig snapped under her weight, and she stopped, looking around. The silence of the forest was unnatural, yet at the same time, it pulsed like a living heart.
“I should be somewhere else.” Her tone was bitter now, almost a sigh. “I should be rebuilding this shithole, reorganizing the underworld, paving the way for us to change the administration of this place.”
Sepphirothy closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. The air was heavy, thick with illusions, but nothing could cover the truth burning in her soul.
“My pact with the heavens is over,” she said, as if she needed to affirm it aloud to herself. “May they rot on their thrones of light. They were never my allies… they never accepted me. They always used me.”
She raised her hand, studying her long, black nails, reflecting the dim light of the forest. The symbol on her wrist—a scar shaped like a broken star—seemed to throb, reminding her of the pact that had once imprisoned her under divine will. A pact that was now broken.
A cold smile played on her lips.
“It’s time to start over,” she murmured, lowering her hand. “To tear Amon from his throne and reclaim what was always mine: absolute dominion over the underworld.”
The mere mention of that name made the air vibrate. Amon, the ruling archon, the Strongest Demon. He had feasted on power that wasn’t his, maintaining the balance of darkness only to serve his own whims. A parasite in the heart of hell. But of course, she wouldn’t tell anyone what she knew, so she was doing everything in the shadows, and only she knew what she was doing.
Sepphirothy felt her blood boil in her veins. Just the thought of reclaiming the throne made her smile.
“But first…” she sighed, her voice softening for a moment, revealing a rare trace of vulnerability. “First… I need to find her.”
The name didn’t leave her lips, but it echoed in her mind. Her mother.
The one who had descended into the darkest depths of the demonic abyss and never returned. The figure who was at once mystery, absence, and destiny.
The Progenitor of all demons. Lilith.
Sepphirothy walked a few steps, dodging a tree whose trunk seemed to pulse like living flesh, and her eyes lost themselves in the darkness beyond.
“It’s time to find you,” she murmured, almost as if the forest were a mute witness to her promise. “In the abyss… where even the stars dare not shine.”
The wind blew suddenly, cold and harsh, as if something had awakened. Sepphirothy stopped, her senses heightened.
Something had changed.
The air trembled. The forest, which had always been an impossible-to-decipher labyrinth, where even the most powerful became lost in illusions, now seemed to be unraveling. The veil of mirages, the ancient matrices that confused travelers, was being torn apart. As if a much greater presence had decided to impose its own order on the chaos.
Sepphirothy’s eyes widened in surprise.
“This… isn’t normal.”
The ground vibrated beneath her feet, and a wave of energy ripped through the air like suppressed thunder. She gasped, her chest rising and falling rapidly. It was a demonic aura… but not just any aura.
It wasn’t just large. It was colossal. Overwhelming.
So intense that it seemed to force her soul back, crushing the space around her and making it difficult to breathe.
For an instant, Sepphirothy felt small—and she couldn’t remember the last time that had happened.
“What… power is this…?” she whispered, her hands trembling despite her firm stance.
The energy continued to build, like a volcano about to erupt. The trees began to snap, falling like twigs, unable to withstand the pressure coming from a single point in the forest. The matrix of confusion, the arcane network that kept this place perpetually distorted, crumbled like glass under the weight of the surging presence.
And then she felt it.
She recognized the signature.
That specific vibration, pulsing with arrogance, with royalty, with terrible glory.
Sepphirothy’s eyes widened, her heart pounding in her chest.
“…No,” she murmured, her voice nearly cracking. “It can’t be…”
But the more the energy grew, the more impossible it was to deny.
The air turned golden, burning at the edges of her vision. The currents of power shattered what remained of the forest’s illusions, revealing the stark, unveiled world. And in the background, a distant laugh echoed, like thunder piercing dimensions.
Sepphirothy pressed a hand to her chest, clutching the fabric to her skin, trying to hold herself steady.
“It can’t be… after all this time…”
She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath, but the words escaped before she could stop them.
“Golden…?” Yes… it’s Naberius’s aura.
The name came out like a breath, a call and a memory all at once.
Silence.
And then, another wave of energy swept through the forest, confirming what she didn’t want to believe, but could no longer deny. Naberius was back.
Sepphirothy’s eyes flew open, and she could only let out a gigantic demonic laugh that made everything around her tremble.
“HAHAHAHAHA”
Naberius wasn’t just a name. She wasn’t just an ancient demon. She was a force that had single-handedly shaped demonic armies, and she was probably the one to blame for Lucifer’s loss to the Heavens… After all…
Neberius was the most powerful demonic general, after the named demons.