Abyss, 11650th Layer

In a vast land, enclosed by a sea of pure red and black color, countless eggs of all sizes were gathered in clusters.

In one of those countless eggs, a being opened its eyes.

"Ah, where am I?" it questioned subconsciously.

What met its vision was pure black. After a while, seeing nothing change, it tried to move its hands and feet.

But it found itself unable to move, as though trapped inside a box.

"Am I kidnapped? I remember the last moment—going home after a party," it mused. Yet, contrary to what a normal human might feel, like fear or anxiety, it felt calm and composed.

"What should I do next?" it wondered.

Soon, an answer came. Its instincts urged it to escape the enclosed space quickly, and the impatience grew.

Following its instincts, it used its hands and head to slam against the top of the space.

*Dang*

The sound of hitting something hard echoed.

Unwilling to give up, it persisted, slamming again and again. Finally, after many attempts, the sound changed.

*Crack crack*

At the sound, its instincts surged. A rush of adrenaline flowed through it, driving it to keep striking the spot where the noise had come from.

After a few more strikes, a tiny bit of light pierced the dark space.

Finally, with a forceful headbutt, the area could no longer withstand the impact and cracked open.

From outside, the egg's top split open as a small creature slowly crawled out.

The creature was roughly the size of a small child, about 1.2 meters tall. It was entirely grey and black in color, with small, curved horns on either side of its forehead and yellow, reptilian-like pupils. A small tail, tipped with a sharp, blade-like point, extended from its lower back.

As it emerged from the enclosed space, it surveyed its surroundings, only to find the scene vastly different from what it had expected.

The area around it was crowded with eggs of all sizes and colors, scattered across the barren ground.

The soil was a deep, reddish hue, interspersed with jagged rocks. Above, the sky was a dark, crimson shade, dominated by a massive black sun that cast an eerie light over everything.

Not far from where it stood, a beach-like stretch of land met the sea, where the red and black waters lapped at the shore.

It stood frozen for a moment, stunned by its surroundings. Then, feeling something unusual with its body, it quickly looked down. To its surprise, it no longer resembled its previous human form; it had become something entirely different.

Recalling the novels it had read, it mused,'Is this some kind of reincarnation or something?'

Before it could think any further, a primal hunger overtook its body. Scanning its surroundings, it quickly detected a tantalizing scent coming from the eggshell it had emerged from.

Without hesitation, it tore off a large piece and bit into it with its sharp jagged teeth.

The eggshell, unlike the hardness it had faced when breaking free, now felt like crispy cookies, quickly melting away as it dissolved in its mouth.

Before long, it had consumed every last piece of the shell.

After devouring the eggshell, the hunger inside it faded. Suddenly, a flood of information surged into its mind.

"Diablo Noctis Malthael... Jllelja," it muttered.

According to the information he received, he was a newly hatched demon, born in the very center of evil, the Abyss. The name he had just learned was his full identity, a symbol of his birth in the Abyss. Yet, it also served as a restriction. If anyone were to learn his full name, they could gain complete control over him.

"Diablo, huh," he muttered, testing his new name.

After quickly sorting through the memory he had received, Diablo looked around and realized he was the only one to have emerged from the eggshells.

The memory revealed that newly hatched demons from the Abyss usually emerge at the same time, only to start killing and devouring each other. The lucky ones among them, after consuming enough of the others, were promoted to low-level demons.

But it seemed he had emerged ahead of the others, and not by a small margin.

He could only attribute this to his rebirth, with no other explanation coming to mind.

Next, he shifted his attention to a nearby egg. Although he had been lucky to hatch before anyone else, he understood that if he didn't grow stronger quickly, he would soon become someone else's prey in this place.

Approaching the egg, he picked up a large stone from the ground and began striking the top of the shell.

After a few hits, a cracking sound echoed, and the eggshell split open.

Inside, another demon lay motionless, its face resembling a bird and its body that of a lizard. Its eyes remained closed, seemingly unaware of its surroundings.

Sensing something, the creature began to stir, its eyes slowly opening—just in time to see the stone come crashing down toward its head.

*Splash*

The stone struck with a sickening sound, tearing through the bird-like head of the demon. Black blood splattered across the ground and Diablo's face, mixed with fragments of flesh and brain.

After killing the demon, Diablo felt nothing—no remorse, no disgust. Only a cold calmness and complete indifference.

It was a stark contrast to his previous life, where he had never even killed a chicken with his own hands. Yet here he was, ending a life without hesitation or emotion, as if it were second nature.

But he understood that this was the inherent nature of demons. Without a moral compass, they were perfectly suited for survival in the harsh and unforgiving reality of the Abyss.

Diablo glanced at the lifeless demon, a wave of disgust washing over him at the thought of eating it.

While his transformation into a demon had shifted his morals, remnants of his humanity still lingered. No matter how much he tried to embrace his new nature, the idea of consuming something this hideous felt utterly repulsive.