Zagreus snickered when he heard that.
The octopus looked at him and then sighed. It turned to Naless Death, and continued.
"That was the idea behind it, at least. Unfortunately, a lot of things happened, and the project was a huge failure."
"That it was," Zagreus said. "I don't know what happened to the previous Devil, but right now, that Womb of Devil is on my ho planet, and well, let's say, it's being used for sothing entirely different that for what it was build."
Zagreus chuckled, recalling the cube back at his ho.
"It's at your ho planet?"
"Yeah, it was called Pandora's Box first. But right now, they call it Akashic Record."
Before Naless Death could say anything, Zagreus waved his hand.
"Don't ask how or why it's na changed to Pandora's Box then to Akashic Record. It's a long story, and too exhausting to talk about."
Naless Death nodded.
He was already surprised Zagreus had give him information about his background, which he normally didn't do.
During the past years, Zagreus and Naless Death might have been working together, but both of them kept their past and background hidden.
They only revealed so of their abilities to each other, and even that was because they needed to know each other's powers in order to fight together.
Naless Death turned to the octopus.
"How do you guys know so much? I was under the impression you ca here from your Shadow Trial, so this should be the first ti you visited this place."
The octopus turned to Zagreus instead of answering Naless Death.
Zagreus nodded at the eldritch octopus before he moved deeper into the forge.
Having received the permission, the octopus spoke to Naless Death,
"Let introduce myself again. I am Ekravion, the Demon of Tomorrow. As with all Demons, I've lived a long life.
"Perhaps, it would be better to say that I'm one of the oldest entities along with Witches, and other Demons, and as is with all old entities, I've seen quite a lot of things.
"Once in the past, my previous contractor had t dwarves and it why I know about them," Ekravion explained.
Naless Death nodded.
He had a feeling that the octopus was not normal but to think it was a demon. This was beyond surprising.
'Hmm? I don't know what a demon is, so why did I think they are sothing special?'
Seeing Naless Death's frown, Ekravion called out to him,
"Is there a problem?"
"What is a Demon?" Naless Death suddenly asked.
"Oh," Ekravion said, realizing he had yet to explain what Demons and Witches were. "Demons are weapons created by the Creator to bring end to the Universe, while the Witches are the pillars who support the Universe."
"…?"
"You must be thinking isn't a Devil supposed to bring an end? Well, to answer you, a Devil was a artificial creation while we are natural phenonon manifested by the Creator.
"As for why I'm not acting like so evil being who wants to bring destruction…"
Ekravion chuckled.
"All Demons have sentience. While we do have the potential to destroy the universe, it is sothing that benefits no one, neither us, nor another living being. It is why none of the demons are evil masterminds who want to bring destruction. Not anymore at least."
Naless Death noticed Ekravion had used 'not anymore' in his sentence.
Before he could question what that ant, the demon floated back to Zagreus.
"Co, we should get you healed first. We can talk about past later."
Naless Death nodded and followed after it.
They stopped before Zagreus.
"Before we start, let's go over our deal first," Zagreus said. "I will help you heal your Consciousness. In exchange, when Berserker cos to fight you, you would let capture and interrogate him. After that, you can fight him or kill him or do whatever you want with him."
"Okay, but you need to explain the details about your Shadow Trial to . I can't trust you unless I know that your Trial isn't related to fucking over."
"I'm not gay." Zagreus raised his hands.
Naless Death gave him a deadpan stare, as if saying you know that was not what I ant.
"Alright, alright," Zagreus chuckled. "But seriously, how would you even know if I'm lying? I could just make sothing up, and feed you whatever version of the story you want to hear."
"I have my ways."
Naless Death didn't elaborate.
During their ti traveling, he had picked up enough from Zagreus' mannerisms, tone, and Intent to gauge when he was speaking the truth.
His ability to read Intent and find out if others were lying wasn't flawless, but it worked well enough to tell him when sothing felt off.
"Suit yourself." Zagreus shrugged.
He turned toward the chamber ahead and motioned for Naless Death to follow.
"This way."
They entered a large circular room.
It was darker than the others, and quieter.
The walls curved inward slightly, almost like a bowl, and the ceiling was high and out of sight.
At the center, a statue stood on a raised stone platform.
It had once been a plant—Naless Death could tell from the shape of its stem and petals—but now it had solidified into a stone-like state, almost fossilized.
Thin green cracks ran through the statue, glowing softly in the dim chamber.
From its petals, a fla burned.
It wasn't orange or red. It had hints of green, violet, and pale white, and it gave off no smoke.
Zagreus walked up beside him and pointed.
"That's what you need. Place your hand in the fla. Then ask to be healed."
Naless Death stared at the fire in silence.
He looked over the plant statue. Whatever it had once been, it must have been powerful when it was alive.
The energy it gave off was familiar and comforting for so reason. In the whole High Forge, it was the only thing that didn't made his emotions surge negatively, and instead gave off a soothing feeling.
Naless Death frowned.
Was this a trap?
After all, the brightest plant were often poisonous.
It didn't bode well that sothing felt familiar and comforting to him in a place he was visiting the first ti.
"Is it a trap?" he asked Zagreus.
"I don't need trap to handle your weak ass," Zagreus answered.
Naless Death ignored his phrasing.
During the ti they traveled together, there had been plenty of monts when Naless Death had deliberately slowed down, dropped his guard, or let his attention drift just to see how Zagreus would react.
And Zagreus never made a move. Not once.
Whatever his motives were, he wasn't trying to capture or kill him.
Naless Death stepped forward.
The heat from the fla seed to be calling out to him.
As he raised his hand, he paused briefly, one last mont of hesitation, then pushed his palm gently into the fire.
The mont his skin touched it, sothing moved.
A presence erged from the fla.
Then a voice spoke. It's tone was soft, and hesitant, like it was searching for recognition.
"…Ne…o? Is… that… you?"
Naless Death swiftly pulled his hand back.
He stared at the fla in surprise.
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