Our first meal in hell was certainly delicious. Lilith had good cooks and the local monsters had a unique flavour. I was looking forward to more delicacies in the future. It would also sell well in the mortal realm, I suspected.

Other than trade there was a possibility for tourism, maybe. Hell itself was not a place for the weak but Lilith's city should be reasonably safe. Maybe she could build a resort of some kind. Of course, demons might be very interested in visiting our lands. I should probably task someone, like Iris, to keep them in line.

The day after the ritual we had a big strategy meeting.

"I have begun to construct additional defences and ordered my forces to conduct some exercises." Lilith announced.

"Is someone planning an attack?" I asked.

"Probably. The older lords want this portal, I am sure. Once they learn it exists and stays open they will come for it. Some with diplomacy, some with an army. They will negotiate among themselves first, likely thinking I am no threat to them." Lilith smirked.

"You are now on their level?" Lucy asked.

Lilith nodded. "I still need to adjust to the new power but I can reach the third aura stage now. Once they find out about that it will change their approach."

"What about Belphestus? Did he have allies?" I asked.

"He certainly had associates. I am not sure if he turned my succubi himself, I assume someone helped him with that. But it is likely that he suppressed the news of the gate activation, hoping to benefit himself." Lilith said. "My own spy network is not as good as it should be. I lost some succubi to Beira's experiments and some of my agents are still missing. I have also focused heavily on the mortal realm and neglected hell a bit."

"How quickly will the ancient lords do something? Also, who should we be concerned about?" I asked.

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"There is Pazuzu, he is a plague demon. He can spread incredibly potent diseases and poisons. Some of them can take over mortals and transform them into his minions. He has some interest in spreading to the mortal plane. Due to his nature he does not have many alliances though." Lilith explained.

"Then there is Abaddon. He is physically rather strong with some lightning magic to back it up. He also has a rather large army of demons. His goal is to become the king of hell. He has several minor demon lords who follow him. He also thinks of himself as quite civilized." Lilith chuckled.

"Not so civilised is Levathius." Lilith grimaced. "He is more of a monster. Rather big with a lot of brute force and insane regeneration. Ashmedai might be working with him. His forces are a lot of monstrous looking demons. He would simply like to smash the mortal plane and probably eat everything there."

"Next we have Ashema. She is a bit unhinged and can be rather cruel. She has powerful shadow magic and rather skilled assassins. She would like to enslave the mortal realm. Be careful around her." Lilith warned.

"Then there is Focalor. He is a bit similar to Abaddon but less politically savvy. He is rather proud of his legions. He is a good strategist and has a lot of fire magic. He enjoys war, a lot. He might make a deal with Abaddon if he thinks it allows him to conquer new lands."

"Between you, me and Lucy we can easily crush any of them." I pointed out.

Lilith nodded. "A single one of them, sure. But we have a problem if they find allies. Or if one weakens us first. Or if we are all split up when they attack. Or if they recruit help from other planes, like the fey,..."

I guess she had a point. "Ok. So they could convince someone like Chione to help them, maybe. They could also have some minor lords with them. Are there any potential alliances between them, other than Abaddon and Focalor?"

"Well, it depends. They might work with each other to take us down and then backstab each other afterwards. Or they could manipulate each other into attacking, to soften us up. It would be good if we could find more backing ourselves." Lilith suggested.

"Any ideas? Anyone you would like to work with?" I asked.

"Hm. There is Meluza. She is a snake demon."

"Snake demon?" I asked.

"She has the upper body of a humanoid woman and the lower body of a snake. Also, her hair are snakes. Her powers are earth based and she likes to petrify people. She can also poison them. She is rather reasonable as far as demon lords go. She is in the second aura stage but at the lower end." Lilith explained.

"You know me by now. Do you think she is suitable, considering my morals?" I wondered.

"She can be a bit moody but she does not kill without reason. She treats her subjects fairly and I think she could be persuaded to behave." Lilith replied.

Well, it couldn't hurt to have a chat with this lady. Also, I was curious about snake hair. "Sure, invite her and we will have a talk. How soon do you think an attack could happen? Would it be a problem if I travelled to Iron Rock?"

"We would certainly need a way to communicate. But I do not expect any major moves in the next weeks, or months. They are ancient immortals, they tend to not rush things. A few minor lords might try their luck but I can deal with them." Lilith replied.

That was good news. Maybe we could even finish the train before things escalated. I wondered how far they had come with a prototype. I could not wait to find out.

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