My Wives are Beautiful Demons

Chapter 835: Wife reunion.

The meeting room of the Palace of Sparda had never been small, but that day it seemed to be tested to its limit by the absurd number of women gathered around the main table. Vergil stood at the head, wearing the expression of someone who would rather be facing an army than leading that conversation. Seated before him were Sepphirothy, Lilith, Katharina, Ada, Roxanne, Stella, Sapphire, Viviane, Alice, Medusa, Morgana, Paimon, Alexa, Aphrodite, Seris, Vany, Rize, Neberius, and Selene. The initial silence was not exactly solemn; it was the kind of silence that appeared when everyone knew the meeting involved a crisis too large to become gossip immediately, but small enough for someone to do so later.

Katharina looked to one side, then the other, mentally counting the people in the room. "I just want to put on record that this has stopped being a meeting and become an assembly of wives, mothers, demons, goddesses, witches, and public threats."

"Shut up before your mother decides to turn this into training," Ada said, without looking at her.

Katharina immediately straightened her posture, casting a quick glance toward Sapphire. The Demon Queen sat with her arms crossed, far too serious, still carrying that renewed presence that made even casual comments feel risky. She said nothing, but she did not need to. Katharina received the message and went quiet, though her expression remained deeply wronged.

Vergil placed his hands on the table and looked at Aphrodite. "Explain what happened."

Aphrodite sat with tranquil elegance, but her face had lost the light humor she normally used to tease the others. Persephone’s presence in her flower shop still irritated her, and Hades’s offer made the situation difficult to ignore. She took a deep breath, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and began recounting everything from the beginning, without exaggerating her tone and without turning the story into Olympian drama. She spoke of Persephone’s arrival, the aggression inside the flower shop, Vergil’s intervention, the demand for an apology, Hades’s proposal, and the main point: Tartarus had been sealed by the Greek god of the Underworld himself to prevent something from escaping.

As she spoke, the expressions around the table gradually changed. Morgana became more attentive when Aphrodite mentioned artificial bridges to the Mortal World. Paimon narrowed her eyes upon hearing about simultaneous attempts in multiple Underworlds. Medusa, who until then had seemed merely bored, went still when Hades and Thanatos were mentioned as trapped inside their own domain. Viviane rested her chin on one hand, absorbing every detail like someone already beginning to assemble theories. Lilith remained quiet, but her fingers slowly closed over the arm of her chair when Aphrodite mentioned that the pattern might be connected to the same organization that had manipulated the Sins.

Aphrodite continued until she ended with the proposal made by Persephone. "Hades offers the Helm of Darkness if Vergil helps. Not as an ornament, not as a diplomatic symbol. His Divine Weapon would be both payment and tool to cross regions where others would be observed or rejected. Persephone called it a practical alliance between threatened domains. No friendship with Olympus, no submission. Only cooperation to destroy the invaders."

The room fell silent when she finished.

Sepphirothy was the first to speak. She sat with calm posture, her eyes lowered for a few seconds, as if part of that conclusion had already been organized inside her even before the meeting. "I imagined something like this could happen," she said, lifting her gaze to Vergil. "After the attempt involving the Sins and the Horsemen, it became clear there was external coordination. But I did not think it was serious enough to reach Tartarus, Helheim, and Naraka at the same time."

"If they are targeting several afterlife systems at the same time, this is not an ordinary invasion," Paimon said. "It is collapse engineering."

"Or they are searching for a specific breaking point," Viviane added. "They attack everything, observe where the system yields first, and concentrate force afterward."

Sapphire looked at Vergil. "What is the plan?"

Vergil did not answer immediately. Instead, he turned his eyes directly to Seris, who sat more relaxed than everyone else, as if she had been waiting precisely for that moment. "Can you check with your witches whether this information is true?"

Seris smiled.

It was not the smile of someone offended by the question. It was the smile of someone who had been waiting for an excuse to show that her information network was more useful than any formal council. She snapped her fingers, and a small magic circle opened above her palm. From it fell an old black telephone, polished, completely out of place in that demonic room and, at the same time, absurdly natural in her hands.

Katharina blinked. "Is that a telephone?"

"It is a magical telephone," Seris answered, as if that explained everything.

Ada looked at the object. "Why does it look like something from a telephone exchange in the forties?"

"Because aesthetics matter."

Seris dialed a number with the ease of someone who did that often. The phone rang once. Twice. On the third ring, someone answered on the other side, and Seris’s expression immediately became brighter. "My love, it is me. Yes, yes, I know I disappeared, but you also did not tell me Helheim turned into a supermarket line on sale day, so we are even."

The entire room fell silent.

Seris tilted her head, listening. "Aham. Valkyries were injured? How many? Wow, how horrible. And Hela is pretending everything is under control, of course. She always does that. No, I did not speak badly, I told the truth. And Tartarus? Really sealed? Hades and Thanatos inside? Seriously? Girl, I knew Persephone had the face of someone who has not slept in three days, but that is excellent. I mean, terrible, but excellent for confirmation."

Morgana brought one hand to her face, trying to hide her laughter.

Seris continued, now walking two fingers over the table as if she were strolling during the call. "And Naraka? They tried to tamper with the cycles? Ah, they diverted souls too? How bold. No, no, I will not say you told me. Of course not. I am a tomb. A very beautiful tomb. Yes, if I find out who is behind it, I will tell you, but only after selling the information to someone rich first. Kidding. Maybe."

Vergil closed his eyes for an instant.

Seris was still listening attentively. "I understand. I understand. So it is all true, and there is even more the pantheons are trying to hide because no one wants to admit they got tripped inside their own hell. Perfect. You are a jewel. Kisses, old witch."

She hung up.

There was a brief silence.

Seris raised her face, smiling as if she had just returned from afternoon tea. "Everything is true."

Selene murmured, without raising her voice much, "She called that gossiping mage."

Alice nodded immediately. "Definitely. Only she would call the collapse of Helheim a supermarket line."

Seris pointed at the two of them without losing her smile. "That gossiping mage has better information than half the oracles that ever existed."

"That is concerning," Neberius said.

"It is efficient," Seris answered.

Vergil released a heavy sigh, pulled out a chair, and dropped into it with a lack of ceremony that made his level of patience clear. Then he placed one foot on the table, completely ignoring the disapproving look of some of those present. The posture did not suit a king, commander, or entity carrying far too many Authorities inside his body. It suited someone who had heard "Tartarus sealed" and decided the universe was asking too much.

"I am accepting ideas," he said. "I am not at all in the mood to go into sealed Tartarus. If entering and leaving is impossible, then I am not in the mood to get trapped."

Katharina slowly raised a hand. "Initial idea: do not enter."

Sapphire looked at her. "That is not an idea."

"It is a defensive strategy."

"It is cowardice with a pretty name."

"I prefer to call it family preservation."

Aphrodite crossed her arms, looking at Vergil. "Persephone said there is an outer edge where she can open passage for a short time. Perhaps the seal is not absolute at every point."

"If Hades is trapped inside his own domain, then any controlled opening must be unstable," Morgana said. "Entering through a weak edge could mean falling directly into an area the seal cannot map."

Paimon nodded. "And if the organization tried to break dimensions, they probably left devices, anchors, or marks inside Tartarus. Entering without knowing where they are would be idiocy."

Vergil looked at her. "Then we agree it is a terrible idea."

"I said entering without knowing where they are is idiocy," Paimon replied. "I did not say we are not going in."

"Wonderful," Vergil muttered. "There is always an irritating difference."

Viviane intertwined her fingers on the table. "The first thing is not to treat Tartarus as a place. It is prison, domain, concept, and divine structure all at once. If it was sealed by Hades, then the exit does not depend only on opening a stronger portal. It depends on understanding the conditions of the seal."

Lilith, still sounding a little tired but much firmer than in recent days, looked at Vergil. "You are not going alone."

"I did not say I would."

"You were thinking it."

"Thinking is not deciding."

"With you, it is usually the stage right before doing something stupid."

Several women nodded at the same time, which made Vergil look around with obvious displeasure.

Roxanne rested her elbows on the table. "I agree with Lilith. If the place can imprison Hades and Thanatos, sending you alone is stupid even by our standards, which are already criminally low."

Ada raised a finger. "I would like to add that after the last time someone went to solve something alone in the Abyss, we came back with dead Sins, traumatized Horsemen, and a worldwide political crisis."

Vergil looked at her. "It worked."

"It worked in a way that gave everyone a headache."

Aphrodite touched his arm over the table. "The question is not whether you can survive. The question is whether the exit will still exist after you enter."

Seris spun the magical telephone between her fingers, thoughtful. "We can try to map the outer edge first. Witches are good with boundaries, passages, contracts, and things powerful men think they can solve by hitting."

Sapphire tilted her head. "Can you map Tartarus?"

"Not all of Tartarus. But I can set up a reading network at the edges where Persephone can still open passage. If there are cracks, external anchors, or dimensional interference, perhaps my witches can find them."

Medusa spoke for the first time, her voice low and cold. "And if the problem is using the creatures imprisoned in Tartarus as a defensive layer? Entering would mean fighting everything Hades kept buried."

Neberius took a deep breath. "Then we need to know whether the objective is rescuing Hades, destroying the invaders, or preventing the seal from breaking. Those three things may require opposite strategies."

Silence returned for a few seconds.

Vergil slowly took his foot off the table, more attentive now. "Good observation."

Neberius seemed surprised to receive the acknowledgment, but maintained her posture. "If Hades’s seal is preventing a rupture, freeing him before removing the cause may make everything worse. Perhaps he is trapped because leaving would mean letting something out with him."

Sepphirothy nodded. "Then the first step is not entering. It is communication."

"With Hades?" Katharina asked.

"With Hades, Thanatos, or anything on the inside that still responds to their authority," Sepphirothy said. "If Persephone can open an edge, we can try to send a message, a spiritual probe, or a familiar fragment."

Alice looked at Vergil. "Itharine?"

Vergil was silent for an instant.

Sapphire answered before him. "No."

Alice blinked. "I only asked."

Sapphire kept her expression firm. "Itharine is tied to his Authority of Death. If Tartarus is being attacked by something that interferes with domains of death, sending a part so closely linked to him may be exactly what they want."

Paimon smiled from the corner of her mouth. "The Queen came back smart."

Sapphire looked at her. "I always was."

Katharina whispered to Ada, "And modest."

Ada whispered back, "Do you want to go back to training?"

Katharina went quiet.

Morgana placed one hand on the table. "We can create an intermediary. A disposable magical construction with enough energy to cross the edge, but without a direct link to Vergil. It would carry a message and try to return with an answer before disintegrating."

Seris agreed. "I can help with that. A witch to build the shell, a goddess to sign the passage authorization, and someone with death authority to make the message recognized."

Aphrodite looked at Vergil. "Persephone can provide the authorization."

"If she cooperates," Vergil said.

"She will cooperate," Aphrodite replied. "She has no choice."

Rize, who until then had been watching quietly, leaned slightly forward. "And if the organization is already waiting for that? If they attacked so many Underworlds, they must know that eventually someone would try communication between domains."

"Then the message needs to look like something else," Viviane said. "Not a letter. Not a request for a meeting. A natural flow. Something Tartarus would recognize as part of its own functioning."

Lilith looked at her. "A soul?"

The room became a little colder.

Viviane did not seem bothered. "Not a real soul. An imitation. An empty core with a condemnation signature, carrying the message hidden inside the judgment itself. If Tartarus still receives or processes anything internally, that could pass through the defenses."

Vergil grew thoughtful. "That is grotesque."

"But intelligent," Sepphirothy said.

"I did not say it was not."

Aphrodite rested her chin on her hand, thinking. "Would Hades recognize something like that?"

"Thanatos probably would," Sepphirothy answered. "If he is still conscious."

"And if he is not?" Stella asked, quiet until then.

Vergil looked at her.

Stella held his gaze calmly. "We are assuming Hades and Thanatos are trapped, but functional. If they were injured or if they are occupied containing something, perhaps the message will never return. We need a time limit. If there is no response, we do not keep insisting the same way."

Sapphire nodded. "I agree. No poking an unstable seal just because the first attempt failed."

Vergil passed a hand over his face. "So the suggested plan is: confirm the edges with Seris, use Persephone to open a short passage, send a false soul carrying a message to Hades or Thanatos, wait for a response within a time limit, and only then decide whether we enter."

"Yes," Ada said. "It seems responsible. Strange, coming from this family."

Katharina raised her hand. "I would like to suggest that if at some point the word ’we enter’ becomes reality, I can stay outside protecting the rear."

Sapphire looked at her.

Katharina lowered her hand. "Or I can train more spear. That is also an option."

Roxanne laughed.

Vergil leaned back in the chair, finally seeming less irritated with the existence of the meeting. "Very well. Seris, organize your witches. Morgana and Viviane, help with the structure of the false soul. Aphrodite, speak with Persephone. I want to know exactly how long she can keep that edge open and what conditions Hades placed on the seal."

Aphrodite nodded. "I will speak with her."

"No fighting," Vergil said.

Aphrodite smiled. "No impossible promises."

Vergil looked at Sepphirothy and Lilith. "You two try to remember anything about ancient organizations that interfered with multiple domains of death. Names, cults, seals, anything."

Sepphirothy nodded. Lilith too, though her expression showed that rummaging through certain memories would not be pleasant.

"Sapphire," Vergil continued.

She raised her eyes to him.

"You stay with me in analyzing the entry routes."

Katharina widened her eyes. "And me?"

Sapphire turned to her daughter with a small and terrible smile. "You train."

Katharina sank into her chair as if she had just received a death sentence. "I knew it."

Ada patted her shoulder. "Look on the bright side. If Tartarus opens, perhaps your foundation will be correct."

"I hate when you try to comfort me."

Vergil observed the crowded table, the overlapping discussions, and the absurd number of people involved in his life. In another time, a meeting like that would have seemed impossible to him. Now, it was just another night in Sparda. A multidimensional crisis, a goddess of love negotiating with Persephone, a witch using a magical telephone to gossip with informants, a demon queen training her daughter as if the world depended on the angle of her foot, and him sitting at the center of it all trying not to let himself get trapped in Tartarus.

He sighed.

"Great," he said. "For the first time, an idea that does not begin with me entering a hole without knowing if there is an exit."

Seris smiled. "We are evolving as a family."

Sapphire looked at Katharina. "Some more slowly than others."

Katharina raised both hands. "I was quiet!"

"Keep it that way."

The meeting continued with new discussions, but now there was direction. Not a complete solution, not yet, but a first step that did not depend on Vergil simply crossing a forbidden border and killing everything on the other side until he found a door. For that family, that was almost strategic maturity.

Almost.