Back at Lilith's place I called for a war counsel, I mean a chat with my advisors. I started by explaining our adventure and the rift we had encountered.

"Interesting. The demons you have described point towards Pazuzu, but he is not the kind of demon lord who would simply attack like that. It could have been an experiment to see if he can infect you, or your allies with something. But he is usually not that careless against peers." Lilith explained. "I find it more likely that someone used him to gather intel on you. Ashema perhaps?"

"Used him, how? Could she manipulate Pazuzu?" Iris inquired.

"Either that, or she could have stolen his demons, or disguised some other demons to look like his minions." Lilith clarified.

"How do you steal someone's demons?" I wondered.

"They seemed rather mindless, considering your description. Low level demons driven by instinct without proper intelligence. Possibly failed experiments, Pazuzu spends a lot of time infecting things. You could likely gather a bunch of them and drop them through a portal on someone." Lilith explained. "Alternatively someone could have messed with Pazuzu, like diverting his spell. Maybe he had a different target for his portal. Or he was fed wrong information."

"Who can use portals? How do they work?" I asked.

"Portal magic is rather tricky and very few creatures have an affinity for it. It can be done with rituals, like our hell portal. Ideally you have someone on both ends to get the targeting right." Lilith said.

"Well, a portal like ours requires a huge amount of energy. Are they just going for mass sacrifice for something like that?" Additionally I had an ancient gate, an artefact., and a divine gem. Of course, an ancient artefact was forged by someone. There was no reason to assume such a feat could not be reproduced today. And power could come from sacrifice.

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"A lot of demon lords see mass sacrifice more acceptable than I do." Lilith commented. "However, remember that a lot of demons have magic they can use to power a spell."

"And a true portal mage will have an easier time." Meluza added. "Ashmedai does have one, I believe."

"Ah yes, maybe we should just visit him first. He has been annoying us for a while." I mused.

"You want to march towards Ashmedai? He is probably in league with Levathius. And both of them are not too bright. I doubt they would come up with a plan to frame Pazuzu. Of course, Abaddon might have tried to recruit Ashmedai. I think Abaddon is getting more active in his pursuit to become the king of hell. He would certainly be capable of framing someone." Lilith said.

"King of hell? Is there such a thing?" Kira asked.

Lilith shook her head. "No. But Abaddon wants to become the first."

"So, if we attack Ashmedai he might receive help from an ancient and meanwhile we are keeping ourselves open to an attack from a different ancient. And if we are successful we increase the chance of other ancients working together against us, because we are seen as a bigger threat." Iris warned.

"Ashmedai started it. No one can blame us for crushing him." I said.

"Hm. It is true that we have been in conflict with him for a while. His cult has interfered with you and attacked you. Striking him would be seen as justified in the eyes of the other demon lords. However, they might be wary of you killing him, especially if you turned him into a snack. And you are an archfey, not a demon. They might see your presence more like an invasion from the fairy realm." Lilith pointed out.

"But you are a demon lord. What if you led the charge?" I asked.

"It certainly helps that you have elevated me, however they will still see me more like your pawn. It is hard to predict their reaction. The whole situation is new and moving way too fast for ancient beings." Lilith said.

"There is one other thing…" Meluza said, sounding hesitant.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I have mentioned before that Pazuzu has an interest in me and my territory. It is possible that Pazuzu meant this as a warning, so you would not ally with me." Meluza said.

"It's not like I care about that. Lilith said you are a decent demon lord and if she welcomes you in our group I am fine with that. If Pazuzu has a problem with it he can become a snack." I stated.

"You are still welcome here Meluza. Do not worry, we stand by our allies." Lilith assured her.

"There is still the problem of leaving ourselves open if we march on a demon lord." Iris pointed out.

"Hm. We do have quite a few powerful people though. But I am hesitant to leave Haruka undefended. Especially since her tree is here." I said.

"How far away is Ashmedai's territory? Can we get a portal set up ourselves? As long as we can react I think we are fine. We are quite powerful." Lucy said.

"That is a great idea!" I agreed. "How do we get a portal mage though?"

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