Nergal rarely lost the advantage for long. Within an hour, his skilled, disciplined agents had seized key strategic points in Dis. His men were soon marching on the Royal Palace. Louis-Gaston and Tammuz had proven to be poor allies. It was time to remove them both and rule directly.
"Will Beelzebub become the new Devil once we win?" Gemyem asked Nergal as they watched the secret police squads begin their lightning assault on the Royal Palace.
"No, he won't," Nergal answered. "He says that being dead is more convenient to him at this stage of his plans. He has ordered me to take up the kingship myself."
"No matter," Gemyem said with a dismissive wave. "All that matters is that I get my Senate seat back. Oh, and I'd also rather enjoy being presented with Louis-Gaston's shameful head as a gift from the new Devil."
"I'll see what I can do," Nergal chuckled.
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The secret police commando squads were brutal and efficient. The palace's defenders were butchered by the dozen. Lamashtu herself had joined the defenders and had killed many of Nergal's agents with her spells and her claws, but even she was driven back in the end. The agents of Nergal swarmed through the palace, securing key government offices, taking special care to establish control over the royal study, the throne room, and the dungeon where the comatose bodies of Lucifer and Lilith were being kept.
Nergal grinned triumphantly as he strolled through the main entrance of HIS palace, Laz at his side. It was done. Nergal Deathfire was the Devil now!
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Lamashtu ran into the wine cellar, where the rest of the senior leadership was bunkering. She wore her true face; Tammuz had explained everything to Louis-Gaston. True to Tammuz's word, Eligos and Aym had been instrumental in winning the revolutionary firebrand over to her side; it was hard to disbelieve Hell's two most honorable senators. The plan had been to use Tammuz as a transitional leader as the Bill of Rights got off the ground and then restore Lucifer to power after word of Nergal's treason could be spread to the general public. Unfortunately, the new coup had spoiled that plan.
Lamashtu joined King Tammuz Morningstar, Senate President Louis-Gaston de Saint-Georges, Senator Eligos Swordsight, and Senator Aym Flamewit. All looked grim and defeated. "That's it," sighed Lamashtu. "We've lost Dis. I'm the last surviving defender."
"Then what now?" asked Eligos. "Charge out and go out in a blaze of glory?"
"Eligos, this is hardly the time to be knightly," groaned Aym. "I know that was your style back when you were a general, but you need to think more like a senator. This mess calls for us to be cunning, not valiant."
"Aym's right, we can still win this," said Louis-Gaston. "The Ninth Circle may belong to Nergal, but other parts may still be in the hands of the pro-freedom party. We can flee there and form a government-in-exile."
"I was keeping an eye to the news during the coup," said Aym. "There was a report that said that Nocticula Morningstar was just reinstated as Archduchess of the Eighth Circle."
"Really?" said Louis-Gaston. "What happened?"
"The report said that Alecto Morningstar and Baal Stormblade came out of hiding and deposed Valefar, our Archducal appointee, and restored Nocticula Morningstar, Lucifer's choice for Archduchess, to the Palace of Vermin."
"That means the Eighth Circle is guaranteed to be in anti-Nergal hands!" Lamashtu cheered. "We can go to Nocticula, Alecto, and Baal for help!"
"But will they be happy to see me?" Louis-Gaston wondered ruefully. "I did kill three of their siblings and one of their cousins during the revolution, after all."
"I'll explain everything to them when we get there," Lamashtu said as she opened the portal. "Nergal's lies and manipulations are responsible for all the innocent deaths, not you." That said, Lamashtu slipped through her portal to the Palace of Vermin. The others followed with slight apprehension.
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Nergal sighed contentedly as he sat on the royal throne, his wife Laz seated beside him as Queen Consort. He was genuinely beginning to feel like the King of Hell. So much for some moronic "Bill of Rights!" Did Lamashtu, Tammuz, and Louis-Gaston think this was the United States or something? This was HELL, where birth and blood both meant something... and Nergal would make sure it always would.
Four of Nergal's generals marched up to the throne, dragging a barely conscious demoness in with them. "Your Infernal Majesty!" said one of them. "We found a rogue Morningstar trying to escape into the skies. We brought her down with cold iron arrows."
Nergal inspected the unconscious demon. She almost looked like an angel. Her pure white skin was mottled and veined like fine marble, and four black-feathered wings grew from her shoulder blades. Her hair had been dyed green and styled into a mohawk, which Nergal thought clashed horribly with the copious gold and silver jewelry that served the demoness as the closest thing her nude body had to clothes. Mohawk aside, Nergal recognized this demoness. This was Astaroth Morningstar, Lucifer's sister!
"She put up quite a fight, even after she crashed," said a general.
"Well, I'll see to it that she never puts up a fight ever again," Nergal cackled. He drew a cold iron sword and advanced on Astaroth's unconscious body. With two precise swings of the blade, Nergal chopped off Astaroth's hands. He watched the blood spill, noting its unusual gold color. Astaroth's fabled beauty extended even to her blood. Nergal then turned Astaroth's body and sliced off all four of her wings. Last of all, he chopped off both of her feet.
"Perfect!" Nergal grinned. "No fighting, no magic, no flying, no running. She'll make a fine prisoner."
As the guards hauled Astaroth off to the dungeon, she began to regain consciousness. She wince as she realized that she was both back in captivity and in pain. A feeling of horror then washed through her as she realized that her hands, feet, and wings were gone! Feeling helpless, she grimly wondered if she would ever see Atargatis again.