Meanwhile, in the collapsing Red Cloud Paradise, Heruka and his Nagarajas faced the demon race's number one, beaten back by Ba'al Agan with horrific ease. The Heavenly Demon showed no mercy, executing the Red God's children and most beloved creations while his legion plundered the ruins of the once radiant paradise.
They are demons after all.
As for Heruka, forced to split his powers between delaying his paradise's inevitable collapse and fighting the only entity outside the Triumvirate to have survived a battle with peak-form Vritra, the Red God despaired...each hurried breath that he took bringing him closer to the end of his precious fantasy.
So, this is what Mithras felt back in those days? No...Mithras loved the people but never really cared about the Astral Paradise. Not just him, but of all entities capable of weaving a plane-size paradise, only Heruka loves his creation. The others didn't care or stopped caring a very long time ago.
But he, who loved his paradise so much he gave up on freedom to maintain its beauty, now became the first of the brood to witness its ending:
Poetic. Even as he came to terms with defeat, the Red God couldn't help...but find his fate mesmerizing and poetic.
"Justice works in mysterious ways. But know that once you dedicate yourself to injustice, Justice will end your quest. For the only thing in this universe that the Lord despises for sure and fights to the bitter end...is injustice.
Your first victim will likely not get to make you pay. But as you indulge in processes of injustices, have no doubt that the Lord will make you pay your due. And their justice will come striking from a place you never saw coming.
So, Heruka, there is no need to be afraid. This is not your time of death," Ba'al Agan declared while sneering at Heruka from above. The Heavenly Demon never loses his composure. His poise is not indicative of anything. Yet, on this precise occasion, Ba'al Agan's confidence gave Heruka visions of his own demise.
Confidence. He was getting visions from another man's confidence? When did he reach such lows?
"Utu says it best, emotions will drive even sages insane. I...am forgetting myself.
Precious as it might be, this is just a world at the end of the day. Destroy it if you must. I won't need a millennium to make a brighter one rise again," Heruka's tone softened as his words trailed off. His eyes stretched, and his frame expanded.
His appearance morphing into that of a wrathful devil with a complete set of fangs, horns, claws and talons that all shimmered in the same gold and scarlet flames.
The verbal exchange ended. Heruka now returned to what he knew best, swinging at Ba'al Agan with murderous rage!
Heruka's swing collided with Ba'al Agan's Dark Glory, the Heavenly Demon's Crest shining with dark-purple rays as he caught Heruka's halberd with his bare hand.
"A mentally ill deviant, Heruka. That is all you are...and will ever be." Ba'al Agan declared, his words laced in a mysterious but smothering Authority that Heruka had only felt from three others before.
But as Heruka's thoughts buzzed, two figures appeared from nowhere, flanking Ba'al Agan with tyrannical bursts of Divine Power!
The Heavenly Demon didn't retreat, sending all three flying back with his Dark Glory.
"Ahriman. Ananta. Good. All three traitors assembled! The trial begins at last. There is nothing in this world that I despise more than disloyalty.
A lot of you people are going to suffer today. I was afraid I'd have to fetch you from all corners of the globe. Thankfully you're feeling suicidal.
My son-in-law has too many enemies. I can't stand it. It wasn't easy for my daughter to find a man who'd make her go crazy for love. So for my golden girl's happiness...I will clean the Higher Planes...of Mithras' enemies today!" Ba'al Agan made an astonishing pledge—unwittingly hitting the newcomer with a spell of confusion.
"Alone? Ba'al Agan, the cockiness is unmatched. But you overestimate yourself." A gargantuan ebony dragon with a black star hovering above their heads, said.
At their left, an emerald dragoness that glowered at the Heavenly Demon with an odd mix of awe and contempt.
"Who said he was alone?" But as Ba'al Agan was about to take on the challenge of a lifetime, an armored goddess ambled onto the scene. Her golden eyes burning with flames so bright that they threatened to melt all across creation.
"Ahriman, Heruka, Ananta. You three played me for a fool. Good. Time to make amends.
On this day I will use your corpses to let the whole of creation remember...that the Throne of War only has one owner.
And her name...is Bhaira!"