The demon kings are now independent once again. The shared mind had stopped working many years ago.
It created a significant problem.
Without a shared mind, the many incarnations started to betray the main body!
There are 8 demon kings of Pride, all independent without a shared mind!
Can Pride tolerate sharing the glory with others?
As it turned out, the answer was a resounding no!
Almost immediately, they all started fighting!
A great battle started and terrorized hell!
Fortunately for mages, the hell barrier protected them from the fighting.
After centuries of war, every part of hell is now the territory of a demon king, all very hostile to each other.
But, with the influence of pure energy, the younger generation of demons are all peaceful; the fights are among higher-ranked demons who still use dark elements.
The technique of meditating with pure energy was introduced many years ago, but higher-ranking demons had a hard time transitioning. Today, the overwhelming majority of those demons are still using dark elements.
After all, it will take a long time for the dark element to disappear completely.
Young demons who use pure energy are strangely broad-minded and peace-seekers. Most of them look more like angels than demons. The name 'demon' may not be suitable for them anymore.
...
Amidst all this, some demon kings started thinking about the demon king of sloth.
They all knew such a demon existed, but nobody had even seen him/her.
They were curious.
Hell turned upside down, heaven split off, the world was about to end in a few million years, longevity decreased, and still, the demon king of sloth didn't care.
They searched but couldn't find him/her.
Does such a demon really exist, or is it just a legend?
They gave up after looking for him/her for a few centuries.
...
Adrian was a young demon with a pair of tiny, transparent, and beautiful wings, green pupils, long brown hair, and a simple green set of clothes.
He was a rank 0 demon who meditated with pure energy.
After the mage world annexed hell, slavery was abolished; newborn demons were no longer slaves by birth.
Young demons were kind. They created small sanctuaries within the territories of demon kings to help homeless demons, many of whom were at rank 0, their homes destroyed in the endless battles of higher-ranked demons.
The reaction of demons to pure energy was remarkable.
Humans who use pure energy become emotionless, but demons react differently, becoming kind and benevolent.
Adrian left his small house and headed to the town hall meeting. It is the place where important matters are debated.
After a while, he reached the town hall and entered.
Many demons were already there, waiting for the representatives to arrive.
The city was divided into 10 districts, with demons from each district choosing one representative and the whole city choosing one, for a total of 11 representatives.
Everyone was allowed to vote.
Some demons were small, only a few centimeters when they reached adulthood, while others were huge, many meters tall. Some were strong, reaching rank 3, and some were weak, only rank 0, yet every vote mattered the same. Nobody had any objection to this.
The point of representatives is to make decisions that guarantee their survival. Is the life of a rank 3 demon more valuable than the life of a rank 0 demon?
Everybody thought the answer was no! Every life matters the same. Combined with the fact that demons can grow without any food, only by consuming pure energy, this created a peaceful and harmonious atmosphere in a land previously known as hell.
Soon, a few demons of all shapes appeared.
Nobody bowed, nobody stood up. Being a representative was not a big deal. Sure, it had power, but it didn't make them better than other demons.
The representative elected at large by the vote of the whole city cleared her throat and said loudly, "I declare this meeting official."
A few people came forward and started reporting.
"More than 5,000 homeless demons are coming from the territory of Envy #2. Most of them are rank 0 demons, and there are many injured," said a demon with two pairs of transparent wings.
One of the representatives proposed a bill for a vote. "I propose a bill that requires the defense unit to go and bring them here," said the representative, who had 10 eyes and was 3 meters tall.
Demons' body shape has remarkable diversity. One can find any look that they can think of.
With an 11-0 vote, it passed.
Everyone in the room, including Adrian, clapped.
Helping fellow demons is a duty!
Another demon, with one pair of wings and the face of a horse, came forward and reported, "A fight is going on in the neighboring city of Cold Hill. It might reach here."
Everyone began to panic.
Among young demons, the highest rank is 3, so if a fight happens, they can't survive!
Everyone began to talk.
"Quiet," said the chairwoman.
"We are careful, so don't worry! This city is located in the middle of two great mountains; we are protected from the aftermath of wars!" she said.
Everyone began to relax. But as if wanting to refute the chairwoman, the ground began to shake.
Everyone looked out of the window and felt terrified.
"It's rank 4 demons! Run!" shouted the chairwoman, and she herself started running toward the danger to distract them, paving the way for others to escape.
Adrian gritted his teeth. He wanted to help, but with his rank 0 strength, he was not even a paper in front of rank 4 demons. So, he ran.
After running for a few days, he reached the barrier.
It was a transparent wall with a red hue surrounding hell.
It was the barrier that separated the mage world from the outside. Adrian had no idea what was beyond it, but he had no plans to find out.
"Boom!" a loud explosion occurred. Many demons were instantly killed in that explosion.
"Boom!" Another explosion came much closer.
Seeing no other choice, Adrian ran toward the barrier. He had recently heard rumors that it was possible to cross it. He didn't believe it, but now, it was his only hope.
To his surprise, he managed to cross it successfully.
After a moment, a rank 4 demon arrived and tried to cross, but it was like he had hit a wall;
He gritted his teeth and returned.
Adrian knew he was only a burden to others, so he didn't even try to go and save them. He just sat and waited for others to arrive.
...
Lava territory was the land of Duke Wright.
It bordered hell.
Fortunately for them, the barrier stopped all demons from entering. However, some low-level demons recently managed to break through the barrier somehow.
Duke Wright, a powerful rank 2 mage, immediately requested reinforcements from other nobels.
Other nobles would also be affected if Lava territory became overrun with demons. Even though there are many mages, it's undoubtedly better to kill them before they can spread out.
Everyone had heard of the terrifying demons, so they all sent reinforcements. For this reason, the border was full of troops, ready to kill any demon trying to cross.
Duke Wright looked at the pill container he found a few minutes ago.
"So, you are... a god?" Duke asked doubtfully.
"No, I'm just a pill container who can create pills out of nowhere," answered Rachel.
Duke frowned and said, "What do you want from me?"
"I want you to stop killing the demons from the border," she said.
She knew that the young demons were countless times kinder and more benevolent than most humans in the mage world.
She planned to slowly integrate the demons with the rest of the population. Being this separated slows the progress of researching complete laws.
"Impossible! The demons will kill everyone, slaughtering children and women, destroying cities..." Rachel interrupted him.
"Hey, why are you placing women and children in the same sentence, like they are the same? Sexist!" she pretended to be offended.
In her last life, she was a woman.
As for what she is now, she sees herself as a woman, even though, technically, she is genderless.
Still, she saw far worse, 'being offended' was to take the initiative in the coming discussions.
She continued, "As for destroying cities, no, they are unlike what you've heard. Trust me," she said.
"What? First, Women and children are both helpless in the face of danger; that's why I single those two groups out. Second, you came out of nowhere and expect me to trust you?" asked the Duke with confusion.
"First, in the face of demons as they were in the past, men, women, and children make no difference; everyone is in danger. Second, saying women are helpless doesn't make it any less sexist. Third, no, I don't expect you to trust me, but I can give you benefits if you do as I told you," she said.
She spoke angrily, as if severely offended.
She created a rank 1 pill and gave it to Duke Wright.
"A rank 1 pill? I don't need it!" he said.
"I can give rank 2 pills as well, one every day," she proposed.
Duke closed his eyes.
He was tempted!
Rank 2 pills can significantly speed up his meditation.
He is already old, so he will die of old age without resources.
But righteousness took the better part of him!
If he allowed demons to enter, many women and children would be killed.
He cannot allow it to happen! Sure, he might lose out on many pills, but he can't live with himself if he causes the death of innocent women and children.
"No, the answer is no!" he said firmly.
"Sigh," Rachel said. She can do everything personally but prefers to do things indirectly. The duke forced her this time.
She informed Rachel #1.
Rachel #1 used the complete law of ship.
The complete law of ship is best for transferring people and things from one place to another. However, it can be used to accomplish many other things.
Everyone is moving through time and space, therefore being "shipped" through time and space. The complete law of ship can stop their movement through time and space, effectively freezing them in their place.
Using this analogy, a simple law of ship can affect almost everything. Of course, some things are not in line with the concept of being "shipped," like creation.
Molecules move through space and time, taking shapes of specific creatures; therefore, they are effectively "shipped" in a particular form. Thus, the complete law of ship can create living creatures. As is apparent, this is a stretch and far from the true purpose of the complete law of ship.
It can work, but the consumption is much higher because it's not in line with the true function of the complete law of ship.
Rachel used the complete law and locked everyone in space.
Everyone in the whole country stopped moving but only confined in space. They could still see around.
Adrian and many demons came, saw humans freezing in their place, and started helping them.
The humans were terrified! They thought that demons were about to eat them.
But after a few days, they realized the demons were helping them get food, stay warm, etc.
They remained frozen for a month but remained alive due to the demons helping them.
Then, the space block was removed.
Everyone didn't even think about killing demons anymore. As such, Lava Valley became the first place where demons and humans began to coexist.