At the very end, they came to a simple conclusion.
"I have no idea where this thing could possibly be," Lucas didn't hide his lack of understanding. One where Asta felt let down by himself for reaching the same results.
"I'll go and ask father, give me a moment."
Wishing him good luck, Asta left Lucas and Bell alone, who despite being awake with them for days on end, was still upbeat. "You look so bright again. Did you receive another letter from your stalker?"
"He's my pen pal! And no, well, yes, I did receive a reply, but that's not why I'm happy. Well, it is, but it's not just that. The Young Master used to be so down all the time. He was so prideful and arrogant, but look at him now! He's starting to come out of his shell!"
All smiles, it was extremely infectious, making Lucas crack up as well. Without Asta, Lucas went through his own thought process. He truly believed there was no way to win without making some kind of sacrifice.
This time, the hurdle was even larger than before. Luckily, there were things that played in their favor. While Alastor was academically smart, he didn't know everything. He just knew what was recorded, meaning they still stood a chance if they interpreted it faster.
Getting off the couch, Lucas stared out a window with a strange look. Without a shred of remorse, Lucas thought of a single idea that might give them a ticket to victory.
As the days passed, Asta had scrounged up every piece of intel about the artifact the first Demon God supposedly used. There were a few references to it, but nothing about its use or location was ever mentioned.
"We're looking for a needle in a haystack," Asta said with a slightly defeated tone, but Lucas quickly corrected him. "That's not true, if it were a single haystack that would be doable. We have an entire world to look through."
"Doesn't exactly improve my morale all that much."
"I just don't want you to have unrealistic ideas about the mission," Lucas grinned to himself, clearly enjoying his little banter with Asta.
"Either way, we're going to have to start moving or else we'll just let Alastor win."
"Then let's go to that temple."
Asta was confused, the temple had little ties to the Progenitor Demon God, it was for someone else entirely. "That temple was made for the God of Darkness, a different God."
"I'm aware of that, but would a God that ruled over an entire planet be happy with a different deity settling down and changing the beliefs of his servants?", it was a ridiculous idea backed by nothing except a tiny flimsy piece of speculation. Sadly, it was also more than what they currently had.
Taking a moment to think, Asta went through all the different records they read in his mind. After having hundreds upon hundreds of pages flash before his eyes, he suddenly snapped his fingers.
"They were friends."
Lucas frowned, as he had read all the same records and had a different conclusion. "I wouldn't say they were friends, more like colleagues."
"According to one of the tomes, they met each other young in life and lived together for dozens if not hundreds of thousands of years. Classifying that as just colleagues is disingenuous."
It was clear that Lucas didn't fully agree with his suggestions, but semantics didn't matter here.
"Doesn't matter, in the end, I hope we can find some kind of clue there. Frankly, I'm grasping at straws."
"Better than open air," Asta got ready to leave in an instant. They had absolutely no clue or direction so standing around speculating only wasted their precious time. Moving with Bell in tow, they hurried to reach the infamous temple.
The pitch-black structure stood tall in front of them. Standing there, they didn't have a single clue about what to do next. Inspecting the pyramid-like temple, they searched for a similar text that was written down at the entrance.
Lucas instantly went to the top of the pyramid and moved down, block per block, he hoped for some kind of symbol or text, yet nothing came up. After a day of searching, Lucas had nothing to give. Of course, he suggested it as a Hail Mary, no way it would always work out perfectly.
Reaching the bottom, he looked for Asta by simply spreading his willpower far and wide. Catching Asta and Bell, who upon realizing Lucas was looking at her through the mind quickly covered her body, Lucas almost rolled his eyes. One had to truly focus on a person to gather all their little details, something Lucas cared little for until he suddenly froze as he saw someone else besides Bell and Asta in his mind.
A man was leisurely walking towards the temple, unbothered by Lucas' socially unacceptable behavior. Shrinking his willpower, he rushed to meet the man. Dressed in a loose black robe, the tall slender man had a face similar to his body. Stretched downward, his flesh seemed to hang loose as it dangled from his cheeks.
Upon closer inspection, the man had no hair on his head, not even eyebrows or lashes, nothing.
"Who are you?", Lucas felt no magical response from checking him, meaning he posed little to no threat.
The man seemed to have trouble opening his eyelids, revealing gray eyes. "Greetings, visitors, to the Shrine of Repentance. If you believe to have sinned, I implore you to enter the shrine and face your past. Call me as you wish, for my name has long been forgotten."
As the man slowly spoke with a certain calm, Lucas found it strange he addressed him as if he wasn't alone despite his companions only arriving a moment later.
Staring at the strange man, Lucas felt nothing but intrigue. The temple was located on practically dead land due to the black magic forced in the ground and environment.
The man seemed to be a normal human despite his age, yet that's what stood out the most. "A human priest serving a long forgotten god on a planet dominated by demons and undead. Mind explaining what you're even doing here?"
The man smacked his lips slightly, needing the saliva to soften them up. His gray eyes hadn't moved, making Lucas believe he was blind, since he didn't even react to Asta landing next to him. "I am the caretaker here."
Due to the man's slow speech, Asta interrupted him. "Caretaker of what? Nothing lives here."
The man almost had a surprised look on his face as another voice was present before he slowly shook his head, making his elongated face sway slightly. "I need to make sure the temple keeps working. And without my fellow caretakers, the words at the entrance need to be cleaned or else people might get lost inside."
Lucas couldn't imagine going in there without any kind of magical powers, but perhaps it was because of them that made the trials harder. Since he stopped thinking as a normal human being, he lost touch with simplicity.
"So you go into the temple?"
"Every week, yes."
"Then why didn't we see you when we were inside it for a few months?"
Reaching inside his robe, he pulled out a strange amulet that hung around his neck. "I feed the beasts inside the labyrinth, I don't have permission to enter the sanctuary."
Lucas let Asta question the man further as he was absorbed in thought.
'Sanctuary?'
'The hell is this old bag of bones on about?'
'Well, I guess if you know how to get out, and re-enter it, you can theoretically stay there forever in a world where it's always spring and never rains.'
'That just sounds like an artificial hellscape. It might prolong your happiness, but you'll just go insane from the unchanging nature.'
'You think so? I don't think I would mind it as much.'
'Cause you're half an idiot.'
'That's only because you're the other half.'
Seeing the endless questions and answers between Asta and the shrine priest didn't go anywhere, Lucas intervened. "Excuse me sir, you know a lot about the God of Darkness, correct? Did you know he was colleagues with the Progenitor Demon God?"
Asta stared at him in disbelief after hearing his question. The older man provided a very soft smile, but potent enough to change his entire appearance.
"You misunderstand, good sir. They were friends."
Lucas didn't dare look to the side to face Asta because he didn't have to use his willpower to envision his massive smirk. "Then do you know anything about an artifact the Demon God used? Something to use Demonic Powers?"
The priest took a moment to collect his thoughts before moving his head from side to side. "I haven't heard anything about such an artifact. All I can tell you is that the Demon God did not care for worship, choosing to believe one's power is more important."
"I can tell," Lucas said with a straight face.
"He did not have temples or shrines, but he did have a home. Perhaps you would find something there."
Lucas didn't know anything about the Demon God's home, not even the tiniest detail. Checking up with Asta, who also shook his head, Lucas knew to question him further.
"And do you know where this home was?"
"No," the man didn't even bother to think it through, instantly shooting them down, but not leaving them completely clueless. "The Demon God built his home on the place he first saw on Sabaoth."
Standing next to the large temple that almost buzzed with the pure darkness brilliance, Lucas felt a question rise to the top.
"You mean to say the Demon God came from somewhere else?"
"Of course. It's widely known that the Demon God came from Aurora, he was born there and conquered this planet after some centuries."
Hearing the old man speak so grandly about a being from ancient times, Lucas didn't know whether to trust him at his word or to use a bath of salt with each word. Asta rolled his eyes since he read all the records from his own father's library and nothing like that was mentioned. The old human in front of him probably couldn't accept that beings lived on different planets and had to link it to his own familiar ground.
Lucas, on the other hand, was used to reading extremely biased works from when he was young. Under Marie he was taught about the Order of Nature, a lesser known belief, then the Order of Light came up and many others mixed in as well. This made Lucas realize none of them were real and knew to take nothing at face value.
"Can I ask, do you know the Progenitor Demon God's name? It's not mentioned anywhere."
"Astaroph, he didn't have a second name, I believe."
Lucas and Asta stood in complete silence as they stared at the man. He was completely oblivious to their shock as he waited for some kind of response that kept being delayed.
Even Bell, who was just a bystander suddenly covered her mouth. Asta quickly denied any kind of possibility, "That's not true. You just think that because the temple is located in the Duke's Astaroph's lands."
"Hohoho, young boy, I know not even where I step, let alone who owns the patch of grass that is my bed. The ruler of these lands have changed plenty of times, yet what we were taught was that Astaroph was the very first Demon God. If you choose not to believe my words, I can only lament your choice, but I do not force anyone to walk the path I have treated."
The old man had a light smile on his face, being able to talk to someone after so long filled him with energy long forgotten.
Ready to continue the conversation, one side ended up quiet, making the man a bit uncertain. "Excuse me, if you are still present, might I ask what your experience was in the temple? You see, I don't often have visitors."
Lucas saw no reason to entertain the man, he needed his answers, and after that he had to move. "Where did Astaroph first arrive on Sabaoth?"
Hearing no applicable answer, the man dowsed his enthusiasm and continued, "I do not know that, sir. Not much is mentioned about that particular detail. I suggest looking for a place with many people, perhaps a capital or something similar."
"Thank you, we'll be going now."
"Good luck on your journey fellow believers. May the Dark shine your way."
Flying away, they silently left the old man to tend to his temple. The priest made his way to the entrance before cleaning up the words carefully carved into the stones before getting on his knees and praying.
"Oh Great One, we await your awakening to end our suffering. Let your True Heir be born and rule over all. Let the Darkness consume, let the Darkness thrive, let the Darkness shine."
---
Alastor was having a great time lately. After beating Agares, everyone seemed to be in love with him. All the nobles started to support him from every side since he had both the brains and the brawn to stand up to external threats.
Treated as the victor of a still ongoing competition, many started to doubt if Astaroph stood any chance at all. To make sure the upcoming Duke would favor them, they showered him in attention and gifts.
With the entire Duke's territory at his fingertips, Alastor had been taking it easy, since he knew he would win in the end. He hadn't spend any time searching for where the artifact was stored or scoured the libraries to find something of relevance.
For his two companions, they were from the same high society he liked to dabble with. One was a tall demon that had a strong build and long blond wavy hair. Despite being a demon, the man focused a lot on his appearance, cleaning his horns whenever he got a chance.
The other was a cute girl that had a constant neutral expression. Alastor cared little for how she looked or acted, for her abilities were all that mattered. In fact, the three of them could be considered one of the more powerful groups out there.
Alastor had reached Rank 4 after some time, making him already an extremely rare existence on Sabaoth. The others were Rank 3, and not easily bested. The tall man moved his hair out of the way before putting away the cloth he used to polish his horns which reached for the sky.
Letting his chin rest on the palm of his hand, he stared at the small table between him and Alastor. On it, a small chessboard was placed on it with the pieces scattered on different places. He had never won once against Alastor, but still wanted to keep trying, believing he would eventually succeed.
Taking one of the pieces, he moved it a single space forward. "Alastor, when will we act?", it was a pleasant voice, one not worried or excited, almost neutral yet still stable. "Morior, I've already told you, have I not?"
Alastor wasted no time to make a move himself on the chessboard, instantly breaking down the plans Morior had with a single move.
Kinetsu, the girl on the side, watched them intently, "I heard Astaroph is starting to research geographical history. They seem to have a lead, sir."
"Kinetsu, you're too worried. Have I ever lost anything?"
She shook her head softly, agreeing with him.
"Well, I suppose it can't hurt to to initiate the plan. Morior, you can send that letter now. And don't worry, after she's taken away, it will all end for them. Checkmate Morior."
Alastor had a grin on his face as he won his little game of chess with Morior. The man failed again, but knew he had gotten better since he survived a single turn longer.
"I'll get to it."