As the nameless demon approached the center of the first layer of the Nine Hells, far away in the sixth layer, a whole another debacle was going on.
Amon, the Patriarch of the Obelisk family, subordinate to Belphegor, the Devil of Sloth, sighed as he looked at his thousands of adopted 'children'.
'Failures, all of them.'
With all the resources of the family, along with the greatest teachers, they were still...unsatisfactory.
Due to Belphegor's Slothful nature, Amon was left to handle all of his Lord's tasks, as well as managing his territory.
While demon's felt no sense of loyalty, they obeyed whoever was stronger than them.
To Amon, none was stronger than Belphegor, and thus, he remained obedient to her.
'Perhaps I should check on the first layer's suns. Why is the quality of new demons diminishing so much?'
"Come."
With but a word, his servants gathered in the room he was in, quickly bowing in front of him wordlessly.
He randomly chose one and said, "You. Head to the first layer and ensure the quality of the False Sun is being maintained."
The demon bowed his head lower, before disappearing in a swirl of shadow.
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Back in the first layer, the nameless demon felt his heart beat faster as it reveled in Joy once more.
He had reached the center of the first layer.
Coincidentally, it was time for the false sun to rise.
He watched from afar, as immense amounts of concentrated demonic essence was pumped into a spherical tool, by a group of demons which was obviously too advanced to be of this layer.
He observed the crest on their backs, which was just a simple line, looking as if the person who drew it fell asleep while doing so.
'Belphegor.'
He recalled everything he could about this enigmatic figure from Jace's memory fragments.
'Lord of Sloth, one of the Seven Devils of the Nine Hells.'
'It took the help of an entire alliance of Gods, along with help from the main character's team to take her down in the original story.'
'This is good news.'
Obtaining a strong backer would be quite beneficial in his long term goal.
Of course, he would betray her, but only after she had served her purpose.
Just as he was about to ask the workers of Belphegor to open the Hell Gate for him, a service which they do in exchange for a limb, the workers in front of fell to the floor without their heads.
A man dressed as a butler walked out of the building where the sun arose from, the only sign of his demonic origin being a thin, barbed tail.
The stronger a demon gets, the more they change to mimic humanity.
Or rather, humanity was made partly in their image.
Although he could not feel any demonic essence from the butler, he knew from the novel, as well as the trembling of his still growing soul.
This demon was strong.
Evidently, other demons did not understand such details, their instincts leading them to believe this was prey.
With a step from the butler, all the demons rushing his way exploded, dissolving into demonic essence to nourish this damned world.
The butler turned his head to one demon and spoke, "How strange."
The nameless demon had knelt, instead of rushing forward with the other demons at the 'prey'.
"Raise your head."
The nameless demon raised his head slowly, finding the butler right in front of him, having moved without a sound.
"Intriguing. To already begin developing a soul at such a young age, and having wisdom beyond your kin."
The wizened voice rang out.
"Yes, the Patriarch shall certainly be pleased."
The nameless demon did not resist as he felt thick tendrils of demonic essence grip him and lift him into the air.
'He solidified his demonic essence.'
Just this feat alone required more demonic essence than the snake demon had in total.
The butler walked into the now empty building, the only structures remaining inside were the False Sun's vault and the Hell Gate.
The butler raised his hand, and the rising False Sun fell down, the energy within it emptying in seconds.
The butler thought to himself, 'These miscreants thought they could get away with stealing shares of the Patriarch's demonic essence. How laughable.'
He looked behind him, at the young demon floating mid-air, staring at him unblinkingly.
He turned to the Hell Gate and activated it.
As the nameless demon watched, the giant Gates swung open ominously, as energy gathered within it.
As the energy reached critical levels, a tearing sound could be heard, as the fabric of space was ripped open.
The butler walked in calmly, bringing the nameless demon with him, as he headed to report to his master.
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"I see." Amon replied calmly.
It was as expected.
Demons had no loyalty, after all.
Everything must be achieved by strength, opression, and fear.
Amon shifted his eyes to the floating imp behind the butler, immediately sensing the budding soul within him.
"A soul at the infancy stage?" He asked, a hint of incredulity in his voice.
The butler replied, "Yes, Milord. It also exhibits greater intelligence and wisdom than it's kin."
Amon looked at the little imp and spoke, "You. Do you understand what we speak of?"
The butler made to speak, "Perhaps it is a bit hast-"
With a wave of Amon's hand, the butler's jaw disappeared.
He calmly regenerated it, and kept it shut.
The nameless demon looked at the being in front of him, and slowly nodded.
Amon smiled widely, an eerie and unsettling smile that felt vile.
"The Lake of Samsara is truly fair~"
'A thousand failures is acceptable, in exchange for a genius like this!'
Amon said, "You, serve me, and I will assist your growth under the banner of Belphegor of Sloth."
Simply speaking the name in the land soaked in her power, led to an extremely slight tremor in the building they were in.
The nameless demon nodded once more.
'Belphegor, get!'