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The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Klokinator on 2025-12-10 17:55:15+00:00.
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(Part 001)
January 29th, 2021. Base of Mount Sinai, 4PM.
It had taken the demon six hours following their rapid assault on Saint Catherine's Monastery. They had wiped out the defenders, but hadn't bothered chasing any stragglers. A few humans escaping meant nothing to them when their true goal was so close at hand.
Emperor Satan arrived around 2PM and spent a couple hours organizing the preliminary forces for their intended strike into the heart of Sinai. In order to fortify their position, the demons had surrounded the mountain with multiple structures built by Burrowers and reinforced with high level magic. As it just so happened, they had several Fairy allies who were capable of setting up formations to reinforce these otherwise unremarkable stone structures.
Tens of the mini citadels surrounded Mount Sinai, and each one had a Warper or two inside, holding open portals elsewhere on Earth, usually in the vicinity of one of the major Hells. In this way, reinforcements could arrive within moments, and more and more demons were already making their way to the battlefield.
Angels flew high in the sky. Demons didn't usually have wings, and only a few had the gift of flight, so the angels had a huge defensive advantage by controlling the skies. Unfortunately, the angels lacked in champions capable of fighting at the levels of Dukes and Emperors. Purebloods were few and far between, and most Lazarites could only measure up to Barons at best. It was the few living Archangels who were capable of outfighting the demons, and they were badly outnumbered.
In total, only four Archangels still walked the world of the living. They were Raphael, Camael, Gabriel, and Uzziel. Gabriel wore Michael's ring, but aside from these four, there were no others still among the living. Brother Samael had fallen long ago, prior to the War in Heaven, and Sister Uriel had her soul stolen by the demons. As for the two long-dead ancient archangels, Muriel and Cassiel, they were not worth speaking about. They were so distant in memory that none of the demons knew of them, save for Satan, who secretly concealed Samael's soul within himself...
Thus, with only four champions at their disposal, the angels seemed not to be in a good position. However, the demon leaders knew the situation would be far from a cakewalk.
At the base of the mountain, four demon leaders gathered together to discuss the coming battle. Among them were Satan, Diablo, Lucifer, and Auger.
"We're not able to open any portals inside Heaven." Diablo said, as he walked over and clapped his hand on Satan's shoulder. "We've been trying for hours, but Heaven's dimension has been fortified and rearranged. We can't get a mental lock on any of the ancient monuments."
"Cheh. I never thought we would. It was worth a try, though." Satan said, as he rubbed his chin and looked up at the mountain. "Looks like the only way inside is through Heaven's Gate."
Diablo scratched his head. "I do not understand. Why don't the angels simply close the gate and retreat inside?"
"Hehehe. Our enemies ain't just worried about saving their hides." Satan said knowingly. "Think of the message this would send to the human leaders observing the situation. Standing firm and defending against our attacks signals their bravery and willingness to stand up to us. But cowering inside the mountain and closing themselves off would indicate weakness. What do you think would happen to the Vatican's prestige if the angels acted like a bunch of scared lil' babies?"
"Their entire religious infrastructure would collapse." Auger said, throwing his hat into the discussion. "The angels need humans to pray to them, and the human governments only tacitly support the angels because they fear their wrath. But if the angels bunker up inside of Heaven, they will simply hand us an easy win."
Lucifer filed her long razor sharp nails. "Even if the angels disable Heaven's Gate, they can still open portals outside of Heaven. You place too much faith in them trying to maintain an appearance of bravery."
"It ain't just about appearances, sweet-cheeks." Satan laughed cruelly. "Hahaha, Mount Sinai is symbolic! If they turn off the gate, we'll take over the mountain and never let them reopen it! They'll suffer a humiliation 10,000 lifetimes couldn't wash away! Doesn't matter if they make a new Heaven's Gate elsewhere on Earth, because once we roll up on that one, they'll have to disable it too, and the next one, and the next one. Everyone'll know the Archangels are just a bunch of paper tigers!"
"So they must fight." Diablo said, nodding slowly. "Good. We need them to fight if we hope to achieve our strategic objectives. Speaking of which..."
Diablo turned a slow, withering gaze toward the Devil.
"...isn't it about time you told us what this is really all about?"
Auger and Lucifer both glanced at Diablo in surprise. He wasn't usually the type to care about this sort of stuff. But since he had asked, and since they were both dying to know, they immediately fixated their gazes on Satan, crossed their arms, and waited for his reply.
"Haha! Alright, I'll tell ya!" Satan said. "Now's a good time to spill the beans anyway, Deebs!"
He leaned in and lowered his voice.
"We're gonna take down the Lazarus Tower. Without it, everything the angels hold dear will collapse."
The other Emperors looked at Satan in surprise.
"That is a bold move." Lucifer said approvingly, before her face turned ugly. "But there's no chance of success! I hear the Lazarus Tower is positioned right in the heart of Hrothgar's Hall! There are multiple Titans living right next to it. Any assault force will get crushed into meat paste, even if we send Bael himself!"
"If our goal was to destroy the Lazarus Tower, it would indeed be pretty much impossible." Satan conceded. "But good thing that's not the plan. I intend to steal back Valac's Lantern and retake the power of the Lazarites for ourselves!"
Auger's eyes widened. "You want to steal the lantern? That is even more impossible. Satan, are you really risking all our lives over such a risky gamble?!"
"Again, your lives ain't at risk, unless you rush in like a bunch'a morons." Satan said, waving his hand flippantly. "That's why we got mooks to do the dirty work. Even if we lose ten million Grunts during this assault, so what? Sing 'em a eulogy and move on. We're just gonna hafta' make sure none of our big guys get knocked off by the Archangels, the Titans, or..."
"The Heroes." Auger said, his face contorting into a grimace.
Lucifer's ears perked up. She smiled like a witch, then put on an innocent expression.
"Did you say Heroes? Oh that reminds me, my dear sweet precious little Ose just brought me back some intriguing news. It must have slipped my mind!"
"News?" Satan asked. "What news?"
Lucifer moaned as she slowly cracked her back and stretched her legs, taking an annoyingly long time to reply while she forced the others to hang on her every word.
"Oh dear, it seems... you boys didn't hear? If only you had a brilliant, smart, beautiful daughter like me, you might already know. Ah, but where are my manners? I suppose I can tell you."
Her smile disappeared.
"The Hero named Cat Mask is more frightening than we may know. He has the ability to rewind time. It seems he has done so countless times, and he may even know our entire plan going forward, as well as how to counter us."
"WHAT?!" Satan roared, staggering backward in alarm. "Why didn't you tell us sooner?! This is awful news!!"
Lucifer shrugged. "I only learned a couple of hours ago. It seems Ose had a run-in with Cat Mask, and he defeated her handily. Thanks to her cunning wit, she managed to extract several important secrets from his lips before she beat a cunning escape. That's how we now know this entire plan could be a trap! The angels may have already been forewarned of Satan's plan by Cat Mask!"
A moment of silence followed. Auger frowned.
"Something isn't adding up. If Cat Mask can rewind time, then how could Ose possibly have escaped on her own? Especially if he could easily defeat her. If I were him, I would have killed her to prevent my secret from spreading."
"No, that's not right." Diablo interjected. "Because if you could rewind time, then even if your secret got out, you'd just rewind later and undo it."
"GENTLEMEN!" Satan shouted, interrupting their thoughts. "Can we skip the yapping and focus on the fact we have an enemy who can rewind time? I think this mig...
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