Narcissus had taken Layla's immortal body, the others looked at him, and indifferently he spoke.
"We can't leave her body here, even if it disappears after a few hours if the Dark God comes... I feel it would be better not to imagine what kind of humiliation the goddess might suffer"
"Yes, yes, our sweet and beautiful Narcissus cannot let a little beauty be hurt,"
Cyclamen said with some mockery, but internally, he agreed with Narcissus' attitude, not that he cared about the goddess Layla, but he felt it would be better not to lose nothing for the God of Darkness again.
"Did any of his spies find out anything about our Lord?" Gerbera asked using the power of "Ether" which was to turn materials into "nothing" to destroy the currents of darkness and any signs of battle left behind.
"We haven't discovered anything relevant yet, but I found where my manticore baby is," Cineraria said, a little happier. His manticore had gone out on an adventure but disappeared months later.
So much had happened that he hadn't had time to look for his baby.
"As usual, Emperor Pride's followers wasting their time on trivia" Cyclamen said scornfully. Being Emperor Avarice's Paladin he was always very acid and bitter when addressing others, unlike the Paladin Amarilis who was always calm and kind, being a follower of Emperor Envy was even a behavior out of line with most of that emperor's followers.
"Cyclamen, you can claim whatever it is, it won't end my joy of finding my baby again"
"Your baby might not want to come back with you," Cyclamen said with a wicked laugh.
The two paladins began to fight, which was summarily ignored by the others in the group, as it was quite common for Cyclamen and Cineraria to fight over any triviality.
"Lisianthus, are you going to report to Emperor Wrath about Kronos and Rufus?" Anthurium asked, seeing the Paladin silently looking where the time portal disappeared.
"All of us should alert their respective masters, although we feel it would be better not to get involved with the Titans, it is undeniable that we need them to return to finish off the invaders," Lisianto said with some regret.
"Let's go back, I want to join the battalion that goes to the Celestials, it's been a long time since I saw my old friend Azarphy. I think I even got stronger than him" Gerbera said excitedly. As a follower of Emperor Gormandize, he was a foodie, completely passionate about the food of many species.
Despite Azarphy hating demons and despising humans, Gerbera managed to earn this archangel of war's respect only for his knowledge of food. The two shared the same hobby and pleasure.
The two battles were watered with powers flying around and incomprehensible conversations about food from the various dimensions that Gerbera tasted.
"You should spend more time in Hell and travel less, Azarphy was banished by the Celestials 1000 years ago," Anthurium said, patting Gerbera's shoulder lightly as if consoling his friend.
"That…just him?"
"Strangely, many archangels were banished during this time..."
"That explains why the Celestials lost against the invaders," Lisianto said emphatically.
The group agreed with the words of the colleague, taking out the strongest and smartest warriors, how could they resist against the mighty invaders?
"Where was Azarphy sent?"
"He is in the human dimension"
"Once he who despises humans, the God of Light was quite cruel" Gerbera was surprised that Azarphy had been among humans in silence for 1000 years.
"You already know, whatever the God of Light says to Azarphy is the law. So, he hasn't disobeyed the God of Light until now" Amarilis said as if it was a kind of compliment while also seeming to mock the archangel once the strongest of the species.
"So, I'm going to visit my friend... The food of the human dimension... I will taste everything!" Gerbera said getting excited again. He was a strange warrior, he didn't really like to fight, but he loved talking about food, walks, and, of course, eating.
"It's been 1000 years, where are you going to look for him?"
"That…anywhere with good food?" Gerbera said a little foolishly.
"Then the invaders can destroy us, and you won't have found Azarphy in the human dimension," Amarilis said indifferently, but you couldn't tell that the paladin was mocking Gerbera for having no plan just to have fun among humans.
"At least I'll have eaten well for all this time," Gerbera said with some pride, getting a contemptuous look from Amarilis and Lisianto, but he brushed his colleagues' gazes away while remaining positive.
He was a rare... very rare demon with great positivity.
Which could be considered very eccentric and sometimes silly.
"In short, will you let go of the most crucial battle to keep invaders away to go eat and play in the human dimension, while the whole world can be enslaved if we lose?"
Cyclamen said when he was finally done pissing off Emperor Pride's paladin Cineraria. Now he wanted to fight with Gerbera just because he was too happy, and it made him disgusted.
His words were heavy and intended to make Gerbera feel ashamed... Of course, this did nothing for Emperor Gluttony's paladin, who replied in the affirmative and with great satisfaction.
"Yes, I always say to myself, it doesn't matter if the world ends I have to have eaten as much delicious food as I can to have no regrets when it is obliterated," Gerbera said with such emotion and pride that he almost cried with his own words... If demons cried, of course.
Cyclamen: (...)
Is it too much to ask for everyone to worry about the invaders?! We can die or worse be enslaved, you know, right?
"Enough talk. Let's go back now" Narcissus said, opening the portal to hell on the floor.
They served different emperors with different views and concepts of different power, so of course, when they met they ended up arguing, despite everything they had a strange camaraderie, perhaps because they were unique to each emperor or were renamed after being chosen by the emperors.
Of course, they had very divergent points of view, Gerbera innately of the one he follows was a "gormandize" that nothing else mattered if he had "good food" ahead of him. Unlike Lisianthus, paladin of Wrath, who liked fights and in particular with those who cursed during the fight, unlike Cineraria of the Emperor of Pride, who liked fights with proud people and who fought with elegance, when enemies lost and his pride was hurt, Cineraria's pleasure was too great.
Anthurium and Narcissus disliked confrontations, they preferred to be behind scenes strategies, of course, Narcissus was an adept practitioner of sex with no specific preference for gender or sexuality, or intensity, even the species can be different, but he was strangely a faithful partner for as long as the relationship lasted.
The Lusty Emperor was sometimes disturbed that his most trusted man was so faithful in relationships, while he felt very confident in passing orders to Narcissus that he would never betray him.
Indeed, a conflicting feeling, between wanting his subordinate to follow the beliefs of his phalanx more strictly and still wanting his character to remain faithful and trustworthy.
Anthurium was quieter and liked to sleep and play better. He was the youngest of the infernal paladins, as Zariel became the Emperor of Sloth for a time, but was deposed and imprisoned by Satan and the God of Light, the new Emperor of Sloth was the one who raised Anthurium to be a paladin.
He refused several times... Being a paladin was a lot of work, but after insisting and making countless promises of not many rules to Anthurium, he accepted to be the paladin for the newly appointed sloth emperor.
On the other hand, Cyclamens had a long way to go to be a paladin, as Emperor Avarice had the sport of making his talented subordinates fight each other and become increasingly selfish to the point of trying to destroy each other.
A very painful life, but Cyclamen who had the most ambition and liked to hate others for no reason fit perfectly as a paladin, with the emperor's "blessings" avarice became strong enough for all others who wanted to overthrow they could only fight for lower positions.
Amarilis, on the other hand, was of a very vindictive personality and definitely a dangerous choice for such a heavy-duty office, representing the will of one of the Emperors of Hell. However, for the Envy Emperor who was not afraid of provoking others more or having more enemies, he only looked at Amarilis seeing the powers apparently stronger than the paladins of his "colleagues" Emperors (except for Anthurium which had not yet become a paladin at that time), he did not hesitate to have Amarilis as his paladin.
Yes, the word here is to have, unlike the other paladins who had the chokers around their necks proud of the emperors they represented, Amarilis was forced to put on the choker that would be a way for Emperor Envy to control him.
"Do we have to go now?" Amarilis asked with some internal bitterness. He most hated having to go back and report to Emperor Envy, who mocked him and "played" with him as he pleased.
"I'm not going back now, I'll leave a message for my lord... He'll be happy if I say I'll bring good food from the human dimension" Gerbera said happily and ready to say goodbye to his colleagues, he wouldn't go back to hell only to be dragged into battle without good food.
"I will accompany you," Amarilis said, suddenly surprising the other paladins. Generally, Gerbera and Anthurio were a couple who lived out having fun in their spare time, while Narcissus and Cineraria were good colleagues who liked to play games of intelligence, elegance, and proud sexual partners.
"I do not want!" Gerbera said directly and moving away from Amarilis, he was going to have fun and this paladin was always making fun of him.
He wasn't such a fool, okay?
"I'm going anyway," Amarilis said shamelessly, which left the other paladins surprised with such boldness.