Temptation and Fall

"Why? Why?! Ahli, why did you betray me, betray your own faith, and yield to the temptation of devils? Have you forgotten the bond between the four of us?"

Eruien had long since lost his former high spirits. Covered in wounds, he knelt on the ground and stared fixedly at the priestess, his eyes filled with humiliation, rage, confusion, and the heartbreak of being betrayed by the girl he loved.

Yesterday, after the priestess had used holy water bought from Slicked-back Hair to heal Eruien's injuries, the Sacred Eternal Sun Squad had continued its journey toward the Druid Herb Garden.

But Eruien had begun to feel that something was increasingly wrong with his body. He often suffered from blurred consciousness and hallucinations as though he had fallen into purgatory.

He suspected there was something wrong with the holy water.

He always had nightmares when he slept. In those dreams, angels would often transform into seductive female fiends capable of satisfying every desire a man could have, endlessly tempting him.

Eruien found that his willpower was growing weaker and weaker, and it was becoming harder and harder to resist the temptation to slide completely into hell and surrender to desire.

Finally, after arriving at the Druid Herb Garden, Eruien looked at the priestess's moist, soft red lips, the tiefling girl's delicate body wrapped in leather armor, and the female drow's long, shapely legs...

With a thunderous crash, the reason and morality in his mind shattered completely. The sinful fruit born of desire and indulgence burst from its shell and grew at a furious pace.

With a roar, he lunged at the tiefling girl closest to him...

When Eruien regained consciousness, he discovered that he had been bound by magic and had completely lost control of his body.

By then, the entire Druid Herb Garden had been occupied by devils. Those adventurers who had once clashed with him had also been captured by the devils.

Yet the priestess Ahli was able to command the devils.

He suddenly understood. There had been nothing wrong with the holy water Slicked-back Hair had sold to the priestess.

The real problem had been the priestess herself.

Eruien had thought that the tiefling girl he had grown up with would save him. Instead, she merely strolled over to the priestess and knelt in greeting beside her, like a subject before her sovereign.

Eruien felt that he might have gone mad.

The two girls who had once schemed against each other at his side for his affection actually had this kind of relationship?

Only then did he realize that a vast conspiracy had been woven around him.

The priestess raised a hand, signaling for the two cambions to stop beating Eruien.

She looked Eruien over as if examining a toy, then giggled. "You said I yielded to the temptation of devils? You're wrong, little cutie. I am a devil!"

With that, she removed her chainmail glove. Hellfire immediately rose from beneath her feet, engulfing her entire delicate body.

Lavender skin, two pairs of bat wings, four sharp horns growing from her head, and a highly revealing formal gown. Between her round buttocks, a tail swayed back and forth.

When the flames faded, the once pure and lovely priestess had become a bewitching, sinister cambion.

At that moment, a pitch-black raven stood atop a tree branch, relaying this shocking scene to its master.

This raven was Miss Wuke's familiar, named Quack.

A mage and their familiar shared a telepathic link, allowing them to share sight, hearing, and the familiar's special senses.

Through Quack's senses, Marvin and Wuke saw everything unfolding below with perfect clarity and heard every word.

"It seems that the cambion called Ahli is the leader of all the devils in the Blue Creek Valley region. But what is her goal?" Miss Wuke said.

"Keep listening, and we should learn the answer. Miss Ahli has toyed with poor Mister Hero for so long, and now that she has finally succeeded, she'll definitely have to explain her entire plan before she's satisfied.

"I understand the mindset of these villains very well," Marvin said.

He had long realized that there was something very wrong with that priestess.

Now that she had revealed her true form, he was not surprised.

A cambion had disguised herself as a human, deliberately lurked at Mister Hero's side, and tempted him into corruption...

Marvin's urge to watch the drama unfold was already impossible to suppress.

In any case, those captured by the devils were not in immediate danger, so there was no need to act at once.

Thus, the two continued using the raven as their eyes and ears, watching this drama of betrayal and conspiracy unfold.

After Ahli revealed her true form, Eruien stared at her in stunned silence for a long time before finally asking, "Why? Why would a fiend lurk at my side?"

"Because you are the most promising young man of this generation of the Shining Blade Family, the rising star of the Hellrider Legion. I carefully considered my options before deciding to make you my toy.

"That bitch Mizora managed to capture the son of the Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate and make him her toy. Of course I can't let her outdo me. Otherwise, how could I earn Grand Duke Zariel's favor?"

"Zariel?" Upon hearing that name, Marvin nearly blurted something out before hurriedly shutting his mouth.

When mortals spoke the name of a greater devil, there was a real chance that the greater devil would sense it.

There were two common kinds of fiends in Faerûn.

One was the chaotic evil demon, which dwelled in the Abyss and was devoted to spreading destruction and death across the entire realm.

The other was the lawful evil devil.

Though devils were evil, they followed rules. They were devoted to tempting mortals into signing all manner of contracts, ultimately harvesting their souls.

The Nine Hells where devils lived had nine layers, also known as the Nine Hells. Zariel, whom Ahli had mentioned, was the archdevil who ruled Avernus, the first layer of hell.

It was said that Zariel had once been an angel. When she led an army into hell, she was unfortunately defeated and persuaded to surrender by Asmodeus, lord of the Nine Hells, falling into devilhood.

Now, Zariel was Asmodeus's most militarily gifted general, responsible for leading the devil armies in the eternal Blood War against demons.

But judging from the information Ahli had revealed, Zariel was not focused solely on the Blood War. She was also deeply interested in affairs of the Material Plane.

She had sent Ahli and another cambion named Mizora to the cities of Elturel and Baldur's Gate respectively, corrupting two young people of considerable importance.

There had to be some larger scheme behind it.

Just as Marvin pondered the archdevil's conspiracy, the "hero's suffering drama" below continued.

If Ahli's betrayal had merely left Eruien in pain and anguish, then the tiefling girl's betrayal was something he simply could not understand.

"Kallista, why have you joined the devils? Didn't we grow up together? Didn't you always want me to marry you?"

The tiefling girl gave a cold laugh. "Why? Because Elturel hates tieflings! Back then, our fathers joined the Hellrider Legion together. They fought side by side, as close as brothers.

"My father earned ten times the merit your father did, and in the end, he even died saving your father during the retreat. But what happened afterward?

"Not only was he not posthumously knighted or granted the honor he deserved, he was made to bear all responsibility for the defeat, his reputation utterly ruined! Why? Because he was a tiefling!

"Because the religious fanatics in the city believed that tieflings carried the blood of hell and could never be trusted!

"After my father died, the Shining Blade Family took care of my mother and me. But that condescending charity only disgusted me!

"Let me tell you something. When I used holy water to clean your wounds, I secretly mixed in a drug that stirred lust. Your desires ran out of control, causing your mind to collapse. I deserve some credit for that. This is the Shining Blade Family's retribution."

"Well said, my little sweetheart~" Ahli gently wrapped an arm around the tiefling girl's waist. "Elturel is a city of hypocrites and false believers. Whether it is their vaunted knightly legion or the entire city itself, sooner or later, they will all fall into hell!"

Looking at Eruien's bitter expression, the bewitching cambion delivered the final blow.

"Poor boy, the three girls around you—your childhood sweetheart has always been plotting revenge against your family; the innocent little priestess is actually a fiend disguised as me; and even that drow you met by chance never liked you. She was merely playing along and using you to escape the harassment of others."

Eruien looked blankly toward the captured drow not far away.

She did not deny it. She merely turned her head aside.

Eruien's will completely collapsed.