It is not the gods' business to "get involved" in wars for mortals.

Hmm, the outcome of the first battle between Ashah and Urgash is that Ashah's created world suffered severe damage, she expended colossal forces that she cannot recover for centuries, Sar-Ilam perished, who, as I understand, was her lover (and after whose death Ashah's tears appeared) - and what is the result? They built a fence with holes, through which all demons can roam, except for Urgash himself, as soon as Ashah's vigilance over them weakens (during lunar eclipses)? And Urgash himself only temporarily weakened after the battle and has already regained his strength for a new attack - as soon as Sigrif finds a way to free him. And destroying Sigrif and preventing Urgash from breaking free (and it is not at all certain that Ashah will defeat him in a new battle) - are these minor wars of mortals? No, a constant watch by all the dragon children around Urgash's prison is needed - like the ancient Greek Hecatoncheires tirelessly guarding Tartarus with the Titans cast down from Olympus and imprisoned there.

The physical shell is not as important as the spiritual one; it can be reborn.

It can be reborn - the question is, into what? Remember the headache the archangels had in the sixth part, trying to resurrect Michael first - and even then, there was a scene where he, while inhabiting the body of a volunteer, struggles with the soul that originally resided there. And with their common mother, it was a complete failure. And in the Devil's realm, where can one find suitable bodies for the freed souls? It's easy with Biara - they caught the nearest succubus and shoved her in. :D And the rest? Speaking metaphorically, you dropped a heavy weight on a computer - the computer is shattered, but the computer's soul - the hard drive with all the information - you saved. And if this was (conditionally) the control computer for a lathe, would you put its hard drive (soul) into a vacuum cleaner (the nearest demon from the Devil's realm)? Necromancy is quite a complex engineering undertaking - to assemble a body, and even then, if you want to get a standard Frankenstein....:smile30: And a complete resurrection in the smallest details is already an art, a unique product.

And his soul is cursed. It cannot be restored.

What does it mean to be cursed? He served Elrath - a dragon of light, Ashah's son. After being resurrected by Markel, he became a direct servant - albeit unwillingly - of one of Ashah's aspects. If they had turned him to serve Urgash, he would definitely have been cursed by Ashah and her children. But this is the same as serving one of the bishops, and then switching to serve the Pope directly - it's the same organization. If he had run away to some mullah, then yes, he would be excommunicated (from Ashana). And even if he is cursed - what was his (soul) cursed with? The fact that it was forcibly shoved back into the prison of a half-rotten body? Urgash is cursed in the same way - forcibly shoved into a prison (and it was built by guest workers, judging by how leaky it turned out). After being released from the Devil's prison, all souls were in equal conditions - but for some reason, everyone except Nicholas got normal bodies, and he was shoved back into a half-rotten carcass.