After the portal sealed shut the pressure crushing the battlefield began lifting.
The giant eye shrank, collapsing inward until only a much smaller floating eye remained above the ruined Blessed Land. The Behemoth dissolved into molten ash. The remaining eyes vanished from the sky one after another.
The silence afterward felt unnatural.
Then Crowley appeared beside Ethan.
Not the cosmic horror from before. A floating black eye surrounded by cracks of dark energy — smaller, closer, and somehow worse at this range.
The second he materialized, he started screaming directly into Ethan's face.
"Did you lose your fucking brain somewhere?!" Crowley shouted furiously. "What kind of deranged lunatic creates an unstable holy-darkness reaction inside another demon's territory?!"
Ethan blinked once.
Crowley wasn't finished.
"The fuck is wrong with you?!" the Duke continued, his voice echoing across the ruined landscape.
"You barge into Hell, start fighting high-ranking demons, reshape my domain with holy energy, nearly erase all of my territory, and somehow I'm the one cleaning up the mess!"
Dark energy sparked violently around the floating eye.
"I didn't even invade your world!" Crowley snapped. "I was peacefully ruling my domain when those two braindead idiots decided to throw you down here!"
Ethan slowly rubbed the back of his neck.
"In my defense—"
"No!" Crowley cut him off immediately.
"No defense! None! Do you understand how much infernal energy it takes to stabilize a collapsing hell sector after some vampire hybrid starts mixing divine power with corruption like a child experimenting with explosives?!"
The eye twitched violently from pure irritation.
"You're not a mortal," Crowley muttered bitterly. "You're a fucking natural disaster pretending to be a person."
"I mean," Ethan said while looking at the floating eye beside him, "you did try to kill me first."
Crowley immediately snapped back.
"Who the fuck wouldn't?!" he shouted. "A random cockroach falls into my domain radiating holy energy, and you expect a welcoming committee?!"
Ethan opened his mouth to argue.
Then stopped.
Because unfortunately, Crowley had a point.
He had technically dropped into another being's territory.
"…Fair enough," Ethan admitted reluctantly.
Crowley let out an irritated sound that vaguely resembled demonic grumbling.
"Exactly."
Ethan folded his arms afterward.
"Still," he muttered, "this entire mess started because of Valak and Baphomet." His eyes narrowed slightly. "So eventually I'm killing both of them."
Crowley went quiet for a moment.
Not because he doubted Ethan.
That was the concerning part.
After what he had just witnessed, Crowley absolutely believed this lunatic was capable of hunting down high-ranking demons out of sheer spite.
"You can't permanently kill them in the mortal world," Crowley said finally.
Ethan looked toward him immediately.
"What?"
The floating eye drifted slightly through the air as Crowley continued.
"High-ranking demons don't descend physically," he explained. "Most of them project spiritual vessels or temporary incarnations into mortal realms." His tone remained irritated, though calmer now.
"Destroying those bodies means nothing except losing manifested power temporarily."
"They just return to Hell afterward," Crowley added. "Annoyed, injured perhaps, but alive."
Ethan stared at him.
"So when I beat Baphomet into the ground…"
"You destroyed an expendable vessel."
"And Valak?"
"Same principle."
Ethan's expression slowly darkened.
Crowley noticed immediately.
"…You're telling me I've been fighting remote-controlled demon bodies this entire time?"
Crowley looked at him like the answer should've been obvious.
"They're Dukes and Marquis-ranked entities," he said flatly. "Did you honestly think beings ruling sections of Hell casually walked into the mortal world in person?"
Ethan was silent for several seconds.
Then he cursed under his breath.
Because now he really wanted to wipe them out properly.
"But," Crowley said slowly, his tone shifting slightly, "if you truly want to kill them…"
The floating eye narrowed.
"…I can show you where their real bodies are."
Ethan immediately looked at him suspiciously.
Crowley, meanwhile, sounded far too pleased with himself.
There had always been rivalry between high-ranking demons. Hell wasn't built on loyalty. It was built on fear, territory, and waiting for someone stronger to make a mistake.
Open war between Dukes and Marquis-ranked entities was rare for one simple reason—
the moment two powerful demons weakened each other, every other predator in Hell started circling.
Backstabbing was practically a cultural tradition.
Which made Ethan useful.
Very useful.
From Crowley's perspective, Valak and Baphomet had caused this disaster in the first place. They were the ones foolish enough to throw an unstable monster into Hell and accidentally drag Crowley into the mess afterward.
So letting Ethan loose on them solved multiple problems at once.
If Ethan killed them, Crowley benefited.
If Ethan died trying, Crowley still benefited.
Either way, someone else suffered for once.
It was efficient.
Ethan looked at the floating eye carefully.
"You're smiling," he said slowly.
"I am not."
"You absolutely are."
Crowley ignored that accusation completely.
"Think about it rationally," he continued. "You want revenge. I want those idiots punished for destabilizing my territory." His tone became smoother afterward. "Our interests align beautifully."
Ethan stared at him for several seconds.
Honestly this was the most demonic conversation he'd had so far.
***
A/N: And on Patreon, The Boys arc started.
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