Now it was the so-called king's turn to retaliate. "Give Me the Theorpart, boy, and you shall have ten thousand of my fiercest demons at your beck and call!"

"What?! How dare-"

Iuz's angry words were cut short by Graz'zt. "I am now King!" the great ebon demon thundered. "I dare anything! A dozen layers of the Abyss bow to My will, and a dozen more are tributary. Orcus cowers from Me! Mandrillagon hides rather than face Me on the battlefield! Still, Prince Lugush remains uncommitted, Eblitis and Marduk stall, and Var-Az-Hloo and his lickspittle dogs Chidun, Zomar, and Yuibiri war upon Us. Should Bulumuz and Azazel happen to make cause with them, Our advance will be checked. Then the fat sheep-head Orcus and the freakish Mandrillagon will crawl forth once more to claim power here and there…" Graz'zt paused, smiled at the cambion he had sired, and then said, Thus, dear son, your father does properly demand that you give filial obedience to Him so that He may shed His glory upon His offspring thereafter. Give Me the Theorpart!"

Drawing himself up to his own considerable height, Iuz rebutted the statements just made by the newly proclaimed king. "Know you, Graz'zt, that I am now Emperor of the Flanaess! True, some petty kingdoms still need to be subjugated, but the north is Mine, the west is under siege, and the heartlands will soon fall under the might of My hand. Despite such sweeping victories, the Theorpart must remain with Me. Aerdy is marshaling legions of devils, while the Scarlet Scum hides Hierarchs and recruits enemies of Iuz and the Abyss as well." Pointing an accusing finger at the huge, six-fingered demon who was his progenitor, the cambion demanded, "You will detail forces to Me, so that My conquest of Oerth can be completed in the face of My… Our enemies!"

"Bah! You blither weakling words," Graz'zt shot back with a sneer stretching his handsome, if demoniac, face. "You will give Me the Theorpart as I have ordered you to do. As a faithful vassal, dear Iuz, My son, I will furnish you with horde upon horde of My demons as soon as all of the Abyss bows to My might!"