Chapter 287: Chapter 286: A Meeting
Palace of Galiath – Third Layer of Hell
The palace of Galiath stood like a corpse in stone, ribs of obsidian spiking toward the endless crimson sky, its walls pulsing faintly as though breathing.
The halls hummed with the faint resonance of trapped voices, the cries of vessels that had broken under the hive mind’s possession.
The air reeked of burned iron and stale blood, heavy enough that even demons coughed when they lingered too long.
In the throne room, black fire swayed in sconces that gave no warmth. Their light flickered as though uncertain if they wanted to reveal what hid in the corners.
And on the throne — not Galiath’s, not by right — lounged a woman draped in darkness. She crossed one leg over the other, fingers tapping idly against the carved obsidian armrest. Her voice slipped out like a knife hidden in silk.
"So..." she purred. "...what was he like? The new demon king of Titus?"
Her words curled in the air, daring, mocking. The throne didn’t belong to her, but she sat on it as though it had always been hers, as though Galiath had already lost.
The incubus before her twitched. His vessel — male, broad-shouldered, scarred — cracked its neck with a sickening snap. Black veins throbbed across his face, pulsing in rhythm with a heart that wasn’t his.
The voice that came out of him was rough, hoarse, a clumsy attempt at mimicry.
"He is... different."
The words scraped like gravel, trying and failing to sound like Atlas.
The lady leaned forward, shadowed lips curling. "Hmmm... different, you say? Coming from you, that carries weight. If you of all parasites call him different, then perhaps he is more than that." Her eyes gleamed in the dark. "What did he say about our... eventual meeting?"
The incubus’s head jerked, twitching. His mouth opened, closed. A stutter of sound.
"He... he... he..."
Then came the cracking. Crack. Crack. His neck spasmed, the bones groaning as if his skull wanted to twist itself free.
The body convulsed, collapsed to the stone floor, writhing like a fish gasping in ash. From its mouth spilled black ichor, thicker than blood, reeking of burnt oil. The stench clawed at the room.
The woman wrinkled her nose and sighed. "...Still can’t find a good vessel? Tell me, Galiath — how in the Abyss did you ever become a demon king?"
Her mockery cut deeper than steel.
Step. Step. Step.
Soft footsteps echoed. From the shadows, another body emerged. Smaller. Feminine. Pale legs, delicate frame, silver hair catching the faint firelight. Yellow eyes gleamed, unnervingly sharp, eerily familiar.
The vessel smiled. Its voice, smoother now, lilted with a young woman’s cadence.
"How do I look now?" Galiath asked through her lips.
The woman on the throne threw her head back and laughed. A low, velvety sound that dripped amusement and poison. "Hahahaha... Oh, you’re daring. If she finds out you made a clone body of hers, she’ll cut your throat and wear it as jewelry."
The vessel smirked, tilting its head. "Let her try. She’s weak now. Very Very weak."
"...Right now?" The throne-woman’s eyes narrowed. "She is here again? The slayer?" Her surprise flickered into something sharper. "Two tidings in one night. Not bad."
Galiath’s clone crossed her arms, silver hair shifting like liquid moonlight. "Indeed. My contract with her is unfinished. She still owes me her womb... to bear my seed, to forge a vessel strong enough to endure me."
The words dripped venom, obscene and cold.
"But."
The woman’s fingers froze against the armrest. "But?"
"But..." A sly smile curved across the vessel’s lips. "That may no longer be necessary. If the new king of Titus wills it — he is mortal, a mortal king — then perhaps I should seek his seed instead." Galiath voiced, placing her hand on her stomach.
For a moment, silence. Then laughter. Wild, hysterical, echoing against the vaulted chamber. The throne-woman laughed until her body shook, until shadows writhed around her like serpents.
"Hahahaha... oh, Galiath, you lunatic. For that, I wish you the best of luck. Truly." She wiped a tear of black ichor from her eye, still chuckling. "So. He is coming, then? To the meeting?"
The vessel’s lips twitched. "He didn’t say anything. Just asked me to fuck off." Galiath’s tone softened, feminine, delicate — then twisted, poisoned with spite. "So, let me return the courtesy to you. fuck off from my throne ... you dick-fucking whore....."
The air crackled. The woman’s laughter died mid-breath, turning into a sneer. The throne groaned beneath her, black fire bending inward.
"...Make me."
Her voice was venom dipped in honey. Purple light crawled up her arms, tendrils of lightning hissing against her skin. Her whole body gnawed at the edges, haloed in wrath.
"I am daughter of the Sky Empress," she whispered, each word a blade. Her eyes glowed with unearthly fury. "Do you dare?"
The chamber stilled.
The black fires dimmed.
Even the palace itself seemed to hold its breath.
For a heartbeat, Galiath said nothing. Her vessel’s delicate fingers brushed the hem of its silver dress, almost absent, almost girlish. But her eyes — those stolen yellow eyes — glimmered with something deeper. Something that wasn’t fear, but hunger.
This throne isn’t just stone. It’s dominion. Authority. To sit upon it is to drink the marrow of my hive. To steal what is mine is to invite dissolution.
She stepped forward, the sound of bare feet slapping faintly against the cold obsidian floor. Her smile spread wider, too wide, skin stretching unnaturally.
"Daughter of the Sky Empress..." she murmured, tasting the title like spoiled wine. "Do you know what happens to daughters
in my hive?"The throne-woman’s purple aura flared, spilling across the room like an open wound. The walls groaned. The fires hissed. Shadows clawed away as if fleeing.
"Try me," she whispered.
Clap! Clap!
"Ladies... ladies, please," a male voice rumbled, deep as stone grinding against stone, carrying both mirth and warning. "Don’t start a war just because you fancy chairs and flesh and what not..."
The sound filled the chamber before the figure even emerged.
Then he stepped into the half-light.
Mighty horns curved from his brow, sweeping backward like a mane — not the frail jutting antlers of lesser beasts, but vast, ridged structures, heavy enough to break mountains.
They arched along the sides of his skull until they seemed to vanish into the thickness of his neck, fanning outward like the crest of a crown. From a distance it looked as though his head bore a mane of living bone, a lion’s mane carved from fire-hardened ivory.
And his face — unmistakable. A lion’s face, yes, but no ordinary lion. Not the gilded kings sung of in mortal hymns, not the golden beast of sunlit savannas.
His was the face of a red lion: hide the color of dried blood, mane stained darker still, as though flames had once licked his skin and refused to leave. His fangs were long, his eyes ember-crimson, forever smoldering with restrained appetite.
The rest of him towered like a siege engine made flesh. A giant, armored from neck to toe, his chest broad enough to blot the black fire behind him.
Four arms hung from his frame — two at rest upon the pommels of weapons strapped to his waist, the other two folded across his armored chest, plates etched with old runes that shifted like worms beneath the metal. Each gauntlet looked heavy enough to crush a knight in its grip.
The throne room itself seemed to hush. Even the quivering shadows bent a little at his presence.
"...We are here," he said, his voice reverberating like a drumbeat, "to discuss peace. To speak of what is coming, of the one we may yet call messiah." His gaze shifted slowly, deliberately, first to the silver-haired vessel that housed Galiath, then to the dark-lipped daughter of the Sky Empress sprawled across the throne. "The future of Hell is not in the chair you sit on tonight. It is in what we all decide tomorrow."
The echo of his words rolled through the chamber, a weight that pressed down harder than any aura.
Then he paused. His red mane of horns tilted back slightly, catching the faint torchlight. His nostrils flared. When he spoke again, his tone carried something else — almost reverence.
"...And we have a guest among us."
He gestured behind him. His gauntlet, massive and scarred, moved with surprising gentleness as he beckoned.
From the shadows at his back stepped an elder. The figure was draped in the veils of the Fourth Layer — robes of shale-gray that dragged across the floor, their hems soaked black with ash.
The lion lowered his head slightly, four arms shifting across his armored bulk in something close to respect.
"...An elder from the Fourth Layer."