Crash! Crash!
Boom! Boom!
Evil power surged as hellfire erupted in massive plumes, dark-red lava painting the entire sky a crimson hue.
The entire
The boiling flames and devilish power surged so violently that the entire steel city seemed to come alive in an instant. The temperature of the walls and floor spiked in a heartbeat, even manifesting an orange-red glow with a slightly translucent sheen, as though the steel were on the verge of melting. Other unlucky devils caught at the edge of this wave of power were turned into human-shaped torches that collapsed to the ground, wailing in agony.
The primordial force of Hell boiled, welcoming its new master.
"Hsss…"
A terrifying phantom of a colossal serpent streaked across the sky before quickly vanishing behind curtains of smoke.
This was the transfer of Hell's authority — it signified that Reilin had now fully assumed Beilu Sebabu's dominion, becoming the new Hell Lord!
"The entire Dis Plane is now my divine kingdom!"
Sensing the surging power he could mobilize at will, excitement flickered in Reilin's eyes.
"Though I am only a demigod, here I can wield the power of a Seventh-Rank Rule
Each Hell Lord corresponded to a different layer of Hell.
Within their designated plane, a Hell Lord could even project power that surpassed that of gods, suppressing invaders through a domain that mimicked a divine kingdom.
For Reilin, even if a mighty divine power were to invade right now, within the Dis layer of Hell, they would suffer a devastating defeat!
"A pity… this is only one layer of Hell after all. Its connection to me isn't as tight as a true divine kingdom, nor can it accommodate the souls of my believers…"
Reilin had no desire for all his followers to fall into Hell after death and become lemures or something similar.
"Still… after pulling this off, my existence has most likely been laid bare before every Hell Lord…"
He gazed toward the depths below with a half-smile, his piercing gaze seeming to bore through countless layers of Hell, reaching all the way into the depths of Nessus.
High atop the massive devil fortress,
"The authority of Hell has been transferred… A new lord has been born. But it doesn't seem to be a devil!"
Asmodeus's face wore its eternal expression of gentle composure, making it utterly impossible to guess his true thoughts.
"Damn it! While we were busy competing, some outsider swooped in and snatched it from under our noses! They'll be laughing at us for ten thousand years… I'm going to kill him—before he fully masters the authority!"
Samael's body erupted with flames of fury. With a deafening roar, he surged straight upward toward the sky above Hell.
"Hold on! None of us may leave until the pact is fulfilled!"
Asmodeus smiled and waved a hand. The power of the pact instantly barred Samael's path.
"What's going on? Wasn't this pact supposed to end the moment Dis gained a master?"
Samael stared at the chains of the pact wrapped around him. His expression was ghastly—he had already begun to sense, in a hazy way, that he had walked right into Asmodeus's scheme.
"Asmodeus! You owe us an explanation for this!"
"Tsk tsk! Everything is decided by the pact. We all agreed to the terms beforehand, didn't we?"
Asmodeus calmly tapped his finger against the black cover of the Book of the Pact in his hands, producing a dull, hollow sound.
"Let's take a look…"
Rustle, rustle! Under Asmodeus's control, the enormous pact document flipped through its pages, quickly arriving at the most recently signed one.
"The terms of the pact state that until Hell has returned to peace, we must all remain here. No Hell Lord is to intervene—we are to sit and watch how events unfold…"
Asmodeus pointed with a sharp, clawed nail at the text on the pact. A burst of emerald-green flame immediately rose from the words, forming a projection in midair, as though he wanted the other devils to see more clearly.
"Our stated objective is Hell—which is to say, as long as any other layer remains in chaos, this pact remains in full effect…"
Asmodeus grinned darkly, meeting the fire in the other devils' eyes without the slightest flinch.
"So your aim wasn't only Dis. It included Avernus as well—the very first layer?"
Mammon, the Lord of Greed, tightened his grip on the barbed spear in his hand, yet did not strike immediately. After all, as a Lawful devil—even one of archdevil rank—the habit of abiding by contracts was seared deeply into the very fabric of its soul.
What was more, should it ever violate that principle, it would be forsaken by the infernal forces themselves, losing a portion of its power for good.
"As I've always said—let us wait and see!"
Asmodeus's face wore the same mild, genial smile. His words carried a deeper meaning.
……
The first layer of Hell—Avernus.
Vast armies of devils had assembled. Under the command of a scar-faced, slightly gaunt pit fiend, they had already seized roughly one-third of the territory, with the Bronze Citadel at their core.
What remained were only the terrifyingly hazardous zones and the divine realms of two true deities.
Standing outside the divine realm of
A sahuagin priest stepped forward, its expression solemn. Behind it stood ranks of petitioners and hero-spirits, poised and ready for battle.
"As per the agreement! This shall serve as our new boundary!"
the priest declared gravely.
"Of course. Our lord Asmodeus is grateful for Sekolah's aid, and extends our goodwill and blessings in return!"
the pit fiend said courteously.
"Do not forget the promises you made before. The items stipulated in the pact—deliver them to the divine realm at once!"
the priest added as a final reminder before departing.
"Finally settled…"
Gazing at the newly partitioned map, the pit fiend let out a lazy sigh and ordered a succubus to bring him a cup of deep crimson wine.
"One-third of Avernus! That should be enough to satisfy my lord…"
The pit fiend murmured to himself, "If the Master's plans all come to fruition, we devils of Nessus will rule the entirety of
However, at that very moment, news of the cataclysm in the Dis Plane arrived—its powerful shockwaves affecting the entirety of Hell.
The first layer, Avernus, bore the greatest brunt of the impact. The shift in authority, combined with the exultant surge of Hell's primordial force, caused the pit fiend's expression to change drastically. The glass slipped from his grasp and shattered on the floor with a crisp sound.
"The devils of the second layer have failed… Those wretched, witless fools—I should have demoted them all to lemures from the start… No! Slugs!!!"
After his outburst subsided, the pit fiend could only grimly order the retreat.
Before departing, he cast his gaze toward the deeper layers of Hell, his eyes filled with undisguised adoration and reverence. "Even if the Dis Plane has fallen into chaos, the Young Mistress's front is surely fine… My lord will still hold the advantage!"
……
The Sixth Layer of Hell—Malbolge.
It was an endless slope of rock, with cascading waterfalls of boulders everywhere—raging torrents carrying immense kinetic force, capable of crushing any obstacle in their path.
The clouds overhead were shaped like scales, constantly churning and roiling.
Under such hostile conditions, even devils could only take shelter in copper-plated castles, and even those were frequently destroyed by rockslides.
Rumor had it that beneath the hellish layers of rock lay fathomless caverns, where ancient creatures of Baator made their homes—perhaps even powerful devils from a bygone age.
Unfortunately, not a single devil sent to investigate by this layer's ruler—the hag countess, a powerful extraplanar night hag—had ever returned from the depths of those caves.
And the hag countess's castle was nothing less than a massive core of lava the size of a mountain.
But at this moment, a rebellion—one all too common among devils—was unfolding here.
Beneath the harsh demands of their superiors, the subordinate devils strained every nerve to complete their tasks while frantically searching for any flaw in their masters.
The moment a superior's weakness or a loophole in a contract was discovered, rebellion would erupt.
However, given the status of the Eight Lords of Hell, the hag countess was rarely challenged. In the past, no devil had ever been foolish enough to defy the authority of a Hell lord.
But today, an exception had arrived.
The dust-caked palace doors were forced open, and a throng of armored devils surged in, escorting a stunningly beautiful succubus. She fixed her gaze upon the decayed and malevolent night hag upon her throne, her eyes gleaming with undisguised intent.
"Countess! Your reign ends today!"
This succubus possessed unbelievable power and beauty, and from her emanated at every moment a fatal allure that left the surrounding devils with glazed, intoxication in their eyes.
Yet now she hurled the severed head of a pit fiend before the throne, her expression haughty and cold.
"Oh ho ho... So it's
Watching her trusted lieutenants betray her and her guard captain executed should have been an utterly dire situation, yet not a trace of change flickered across the night hag countess's face.
She gazed at Glasya before her with amusement, extending her withered fingers, her voice raspy and shrill: "Did you truly think you could overthrow my rule with this bunch of wastes? And furthermore... Hell is not the Abyss! Without the rules' permission, you cannot possibly claim my authority!"