Episode-959
Chapter : 1917
"So how do I talk to him?" Lloyd asked. "If he's the OS, there has to be a terminal. There has to be a command line."
"There is," Eun-ha said. "But no one has used it for centuries. The last human to access it... was the man whose journals you read."
Lloyd’s eyes widened. "Anubis."
"Yes," Eun-ha said. "Anubis came here. He didn't just sneak in like you did. He walked through the front door. He demanded an audience. And he walked out with his daughter’s soul."
"So it is possible," Lloyd said, a fierce grin breaking onto his face.
"Possible?" Ben grunted. "Lord Lloyd, just because one genius did something impossible five hundred years ago doesn't mean it’s a repeatable experiment. We are soldiers, not miracle workers."
"We are whatever we need to be, Ben," Lloyd said. He turned to Eun-ha. "How did he do it? How did Anubis get the audience?"
Eun-ha walked back to her throne. She sat down, her expression serious. She looked less like a wife now and more like the guardian of forbidden knowledge.
"He initiated a specific sequence of events," she said. "A challenge issued to the Great King. It is called the Anubis Protocol."
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The term "Anubis Protocol" hung in the air, sounding less like a magical ritual and more like a military operation. Lloyd liked that. Protocols were things he could understand. Protocols were step-by-step instructions.
"Tell me," Lloyd said. He pulled a small notebook from his pocket—a habit from his Earth days that he never broke—and clicked a pen.
"You really are a nerd," Monalisa giggled from her cushion. "Going to take notes, darling? Are you going to write down the cheat codes to Hell?"
"If that’s what it takes," Lloyd muttered, ignoring her. He looked at Eun-ha. "What are the steps?"
Eun-ha leaned forward on her throne. "The Anubis Protocol isn't a spell you cast. It’s a series of feats. To get the attention of the Great King, you have to prove that you are worthy of bending the laws of life and death. You have to prove you are an anomaly."
She held up one clawed finger.
"First," she said. "You must possess a 'Key of the Void.' A physical object that can anchor a soul in transit. Anubis used his Golem Heart. You... you might have something similar."
Lloyd nodded. "I have the Golem Heart. And I have the Spirit Jasmin—the construct I built. She has the resonance. She’s the empty vessel waiting for the data."
"That is acceptable," Eun-ha said. She held up a second finger.
"Second. You must hold the 'Authority of Three Crowns.' In the Abyss, the number three represents stability. To demand a soul, you must show that you command power from three distinct sources."
Lloyd frowned. "Three sources? I have my Steel Blood. I have the Austin Eye."
"And you have the Spirits," Ben pointed out, his voice bored but helpful. "Iffrit. Fang Fairy. Those are external sources. That might count."
"It’s deeper than that," Eun-ha warned. "It means political authority too. Anubis was a master of Alchemy, a Lord of his people, and a binder of Spirits. You need to be a King in your own right, Evan. You need to walk into that meeting not as a beggar, but as an equal."
Lloyd thought about his current situation. He was the secret ruler of the North’s economy. He was the Commander of the Wraiths. He was the husband of a Devil Prince.
"I’m working on the King part," Lloyd said dryly. "I’m currently juggling three fiancées and a duchy. Does that count?"
"It’s a start," Eun-ha said with a small smile. Then, she raised a third finger. The smile vanished.
"Third. And this is the hardest part. You must offer a trade."
"A trade?" Lloyd asked.
"The Law of Equivalent Exchange," Eun-ha said. "To take a soul out of the Abyss, you must put something of equal value back in. You cannot just take Jasmin and leave. You have to pay the debt."
"What did Anubis pay?" Lloyd asked.
"We don't know," Eun-ha admitted. "The records are blank. Whatever he gave the Great King... it was personal. It was something he couldn't replace."
Lloyd went silent. A trade. What did he have that was worth a soul? His own life? His power?
"I’ll figure it out," Lloyd said firmly. "I’ll find something the Great King wants. Maybe I can offer him a better Wi-Fi signal. If he’s anything like you, he probably appreciates efficiency."
Chapter : 1918
Ben snorted. "You are going to try and bribe God with tech support? That is... incredibly on-brand for you, Lord Lloyd."
"It worked on me," Eun-ha pointed out.
"So," Lloyd summarized, looking at his notes. "I need the vessel. I need to consolidate my power base to prove I’m a big shot. And I need a bribe. That’s the Anubis Protocol."
"There is one more condition," Eun-ha said. "You cannot do this while the war is going on. The Great King does not grant audiences during times of chaos. The noise of the conflict between the factions drowns out individual requests. As long as Lucifer and Firefly are trying to tear the world apart, the Great King will be silent. He will be in 'War Mode.'"
Lloyd closed his notebook with a snap. "So, we have to win the war first. We have to crush Lucifer. We have to kick Firefly off the planet. Then, and only then, can I save Jasmin."
"Efficiency," Ben rumbled, pushing himself off the pillar. "We have to kill all the bad guys anyway. Now we just have an extra reason to do it faster."
Lloyd looked at Ben. The big cyborg was right. The goals aligned perfectly. Saving the world and saving his friend required the exact same steps: destroy the enemy.
"Okay," Lloyd said. "That’s the roadmap."
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The air in the crystal hall was cold and still, a sharp contrast to the fiery chaos they had just escaped. The swirling portal that Leviathan—Lloyd’s wife, Eun-ha—had opened was still shimmering faintly, a doorway between the safe zone of the Envy territory and the dangerous wildlands of the Abyss.
Lloyd Ferrum stood in the center of the room, checking the seals on his Aegis armor. He looked tired. It wasn’t the tiredness of needing sleep; it was the deep, bone-weary exhaustion of a man who had been fighting wars for too many lifetimes.
Ben Ironwood stood a few feet away, leaning against a black pillar. His massive metal arms were crossed over his chest. He looked bored. If he was impressed by their narrow escape from two Devil Princes, he certainly didn’t show it. He looked like a man waiting for a bus, not a warrior standing in the heart of Hell.
"We need to move, Lord Lloyd," Ben rumbled. His voice was deep and rough, like stones grinding together. "The structural integrity of this safe zone is adequate, but Beelzebub is not known for his patience. He will be tearing the borders apart looking for us."
Ben glanced at Eun-ha, who was standing on the dais near her throne. He didn't bow this time, but he nodded his head slightly—a small sign of respect from one apex predator to another.
" The Professor is correct," Ben continued. "Our tactical advantage is gone. We killed Rubel, but we made a lot of noise doing it. Staying here is inefficient. We should retreat to the human realm and regroup."
Eun-ha walked down the steps. Her dress, made of woven shadows and starlight, rustled softly against the stone floor. She looked at Lloyd with dark, serious eyes. The warmth of their reunion was packed away for now; she was in "CEO Mode."
"Ben is right, Evan," she said, using Lloyd’s name from their life on Earth. "You have become a beacon. By killing Rubel and humiliating Beelzebub, you have painted a giant target on your back. Every bounty hunter, every mercenary, and every ambitious demon in the Lucifer Faction is going to be hunting for the 'Human who killed a Sovereign.'"
She pointed a sharp, black-clawed finger toward the spatial rift.
"You need to leave. Now. Go back to the surface. Fortify your position. Build your army. If you stay here, you force me to defend you, and that weakens my hold on this territory. I can’t fight a war on two fronts."
Lloyd nodded slowly. He understood the logic. It was sound military strategy. Hit the target, cause damage, and vanish before the enemy can counter-attack.
"I know," Lloyd said, his voice flat. "We’re leaving. But not yet."
Ben let out a loud, annoyed sigh. "Lord Lloyd. Do not let your emotions cloud the mission parameters. We accomplished the objective. The traitor Rubel is dead. We have the intel. Lingering here is just asking for trouble."
"I'm not lingering for fun, Ben," Lloyd snapped. He turned his head and looked toward the corner of the room.
There, lying on a floating cushion of shadow, was Monalisa Belphagor, the Prince of Sloth.
She looked terrible.