Devourer

“So mind telling me what you are doing here?” I asked as I looked down at Janus.

“I assume Beelzebub wants me to be your minion. Treachery is a tricky place to navigate as I am sure you are aware.” Janus grumbled in response.

“Huh, so what do you have in mind?” I asked.

“Well, seeing as I’m stuck here, I might as well give you a basic rundown on what goes on here,” Janus said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out this glowing red metal ore.

I watched as he unceremoniously dumped it on the floor, and I did a quick scan of the ore. It was as I expected to be Infernis ore. It's tougher than Mithril and overall just a better metal. The ether concentration in the Searing Hells is much higher than Terra's. That means whatever metals get formed here are far more ether-rich.

However, this comes with some drawbacks, mainly because Infernis is an inherently unstable material. How unstable? Well Infernis mines were plentiful, especially near the ether ley lines. Only problem being that the Infernis ore was also rather explosive.

This means it requires special techniques to stabilise it into an alloy called Black Steel. It is far superior to mithril but harder to enchant and forge. Most of the Infernis mines are in Treachery and have what is known as a Nexus Gate. This type of gate grants access to all the rings simultaneously as long as you have an artefact that acts as a key. This ensures each member of the seven rings can come and go as they please, but a member of a different ring cannot use the Nexus gate to slip into another ring.

All of this means that Treachery is a crucial part of the Searing Hells industrial framework and all the rings have eyes on this place. This was one of the reasons why I skipped past Treachery and headed straight to Limbo.

I didn’t want to be caught here until I was ready. Now that my Hell Hive was mostly formed and combat-ready, I could more easily figure things out here.

As for the Nexus Gate, there are currently two in Treachery. The first being in the core city and the second being on the Plains of Conflict. The plains were, in essence, the battleground of the Blood War. The plains contain the most active Infernis mines, essentially making it perpetually contested ground.

This also means that there have been mandated lulls in the conflict since giant no-holds-barred wars over explosive minerals are expensive in terms of men and materials. But luckily for me, they are just starting to reopen the Plains of Conflict. A new Blood War is on and if I play my cards right, I can essentially swipe most of the Infernis in hell and win a few allies at one go, which was far more preferable than skulking through the Rings of Hell. Although I would have to do skulking regardless, the Blood War should at least speed things up.

“So basically the first thing you need to know is that no one wants to be here. Treachery has the largest population of any layer of hell. Half the population are the condemned and other half are from the denizens of the other rings. Which means, secrets don’t last long here.” Janus said putting particular emphasis on those last words.

“Which means we need to figure out who are our friends and who are our enemies.” Janus said.

“We have friends?” Rosa asked.

“Of course not. This is hell.” the Crowfather replied calmly.

“Ok, people who don’t want to kill us in the near future.” Janus added.

“Tall order.” Serchax commented.

“Indeed.” the Crowfather muttered in response.

“Not as tall as you think. For instance Beelzebub did give us him.” Alastor said.

“And Satan gave us you.” I added and Alastor’s brow twitched slightly at the scoff from Serchax.

“So at the very least we can count Beelzebub and Satan on our side.” I said.

“Lord Mammon as well, Lord Satan said…” Alastor began.

“Satan said Mammon knows of your schemeing. He did not say he knew about me.” I replied. The demons thrived on technicalities I had no idea if it was actually a ruse and I see little reason for this deception but better safe than sorry.

My king, hostile contacts approaching…

Huh, that’s quick.

“Who are they?” I asked into the hive mind.

Unclear

Adhaya replied through the hive mind and I turned to face the direction of the approaching group. From what the hive is telling me there’s one powerful demon and at least twenty more following behind. What the hell is this? Some kind of probing attack? The fact that they found me so quickly was concerning. It seems the Daemon Princes don’t play around, they must have agents everywhere.

I suppose when you play as dangerous a game as politics in the Searing Hells, you become quite good at scheming.

“Stall them, send some soldiers, let’s see how they do.” I said, Adhaya is designed to be able to detect aggression and from the way they were moving I agreed. They were moving in a combat formation, they were spaced out to avoid large area attacks, they had spell casters spread along neat intervals and their equipment were varied but allocated with intent. They were hunters, and I have a feeling they were looking for me.

“What is it?” Serchax asked.

“We are being hunted.” I said as I sent out the command for my soldiers to probe them.

“Tch, of course. If Beezlebub knew you were coming then others would too. There are few secrets in the Searing Hells.” Janus growled.

“It could just be a little game by one of the Daemon Princes. Unless we interrogate them we will have no idea what they want.” the Crowfather added.

“Provided they can even answer.” Rosa said dryly.

“I suppose you would know all about fully controlled minions.” Alastor replied at Rosa.

“It comes with the territory.” Rosa said with a shrug.

“Vampiric thralls are about close to absolute slaves as you get, the magic is based on demonic contracts afterall.” Rosa said.

My king, my forces have contacted the group

Hmmm, I shift part of my focus to the hive mind and I watch through an observer’s eyes as the fight unfolds.

The small group was prepared. As the swarm of hive soldiers surged forward from all directions, the group quickly formed a defensive line, their weapons ready. My soldiers were fast and ferocious, but the group's experience showed in their coordinated strikes and swift movements. Blades met claws with a clash of steel, arrows found their marks, and though the horde was relentless, the group held firm. Each member methodically cutting down the beasts as they came. The swarm fell steadily under the group's practised hands, their numbers dwindling with each passing minute. They barely had to use any magic, instead practised movements, good positioning and excellent overwatch from the archers carried the day.

The group's strategy was sound, their teamwork seamless. A few of them took hits a claw grazing an arm, a bite narrowly avoided, but they pressed on. The group stood over their fallen foes, breathing heavily but intact. While the battle had been hard-fought, it was clear from the outset that they had control.

Hmm not bad, these guys were good. They remind me of a mercenary company. They were probably disgraced soldiers from one of the Rings. They did quite well against the scouts.

All right this might be a good chance for me to throw Adhaya’s hive against something actually dangerous.

Adhaya keep going

I watched as the group paused when they felt the ground start to tremble. The red soil beneath them started to shift as Adhaya unleashed her soldiers of the line. The previous group were light scouts designed to gather intelligence or hunt other scouts. Their combat ability was only suited to culling weak foes or drawing fire away from the more valuable units.

The group paused, glancing uneasily at one another. As the ground quivered and a deep rumble filled the air, they realised something was wrong. From the ground, the second wave erupted with terrifying speed, kicking up clouds of crimson sand.

These soldiers were larger, more coordinated, and more vicious, their bodies gleaming under the harsh sun. The ground seemed to tremble beneath the sheer number of them. In the open desolate field, there was no cover at all. The group braced themselves, forming a tight circle, weapons at the ready.

These soldiers were designed to be able to go toe to toe with entire battle formations in the middle of the blood war.

The red sands soon turned darker with blood, as the battle quickly became a desperate struggle. Each strike had to count, every move calculated as my relentless hive pressed harder, threatening to overwhelm them with sheer numbers and brute force. These demons were getting fast lessons in why the Hives were so dangerous and why they managed to stand uncontested as the preferred sword of the Firstborn. The hives served for hundreds of thousands years. The terror they inspired was legendary. Even today, many of the boogie men bore a resemblance to the worst creatures in the old hives.

It's time to remind these ones, of what their new world tried so hard bury.

The sand practically exploded from underneath them, their bodies went flying into the air as my new heavy assault unit emerged. Its body was covered in thick, gleaming red scales, each one reflecting the harsh sunlight like polished armor. The creature moved with unsettling precision on six insectoid legs, jointed and spiked, digging into the red sands with each step. Its sheer size was monstrous, standing three times the height of a man, with a long, segmented body that coiled like a serpent’s but moved with the unsettling grace of an insect.

Instead of arms, it had two massive blades protruding from its sides, gleaming like black obsidian, each sharpened to a deadly edge and with their monomolecular edge they can carve metal like a cake. These blade-arms swung with terrifying speed, leaving arcs of dust in their wake. It’s mouth was gaping maw filled with rows of curved, serrated fangs, each one designed to tear through flesh and bone with ease. The mouth seemed to twist and writhe, hungry and relentless, as if the creature could already taste its prey. Its black, beady eyes glinted with a cruel intelligence.

Meet the Hell Fiend, an adapted design from one of Malegaros’s theoretical designs if there ever was to be a hell invasion. The demons were scrambling now, one of the warriors with a shield rushed forward to try to distract the Fiend. Instead the Fiend’s blades flashed, the black obsidian blade went right through the shield, the arm and the body behind it. The two pieces of the demon went tumbling into the sands.

A ball of fire struck the back of the Fiend, it’s armour cracked under the strike but before the other mages could strike the rest of the soldiers pounced tying them down. The lead demon charged the Fiend, sword raised. It was quite impressive to watch honestly as the demon dodged every swing from the Fiend and slowly began to push it back.

The rest of the hive soldiers slowly started thinning out and at last the mages got their shit together and fired a barrage the at Fiend. The Fiend’s armour buckled and with one last rage filled slash that bisected another demon warrior, it crashed to the ground.

Armour that could withstand magical barrages were simply too expensive for standard units. I only ever gave these defensive investments to brood mothers and the most elite of my soldiers. The Fiends were basically large brawlers, they were not exactly cheap to make but they weren’t considered expensive either.

The fight ended with a third of the demons dead and half of them were wounded. Their mages were mostly fine but their front line has been butchered. Well that was an alright performance, these demons were strong and we still managed to do enough damage with a small attack like this to send them reeling.

Looks like they were about to turn back, which would be a real shame. I mean I really want to chat with their leader.

Adhaya I want the leader, kill the rest

As you command

I watched as the ground below the group just collapsed from under them. There were shouts of alarm as they fell. From what the Hive reported, some of them managed to use flight magic but of course, Adhaya didn’t exactly leave that big hole empty. There were screams and struggling, a fire ball went off inside the hole in a “you’ll never take me alive!” type act of defiance. But in the end the hole was covered and the hive ate well.

A short while later I looked down as one of my hive workers spat out the demon leader from it’s holding stomach. The demon gasped for air as he looked up and scowled at the sight before him. He growled, then slumped, before finally lowering his head.

“Come on don’t give up so easily.” I said with a grin.

“He has good cause to give up.” the Crowfather said.

“If his contract says he is to defeat you and he accepted. Then this is one-way trip for him. He cannot cease the pursuit. Even if he were to escape he would have no choice but to attack you again. Which means you have no choice but to kill him.” Alastor added.

“Hmm, maybe I’ll let you walk. Just tell me who sent you. I get bored easily, so I don’t mind letting you go so you can try again.” I said as my grin widened. As I said this I leaned forward to loom over him. I was banking on the ancient's reputation for being arrogant, but I also crossed my fingers behind my back…

The demon chewed his lip as he pondered the question. Most likely trying to find a way to reply without violating his contract. Honestly, I am interested in the information but it is good to see that my Hive held up well against this group. If I really wanted them dead immediately, this group will be dead before they even realise they are under attack.

“The lord of the nearest ring sends his regards.” the demon said suddenly and that caught me by surprise.

So it was Lord of Wrath Satan, who was also supposedly on my side. Interesing, perhaps this game runs deeper than I thought. Or perhaps its another donation to my hive. These demons were worth alot, or maybe this was even an effort to defang potential resistance against me when my presence becomes more well known.

Well either way, there is no way I can find out now. I doubt they gave this one much information.

“All right, you’re free to go.” I said as I leaned back giving him some space. The demon looked at me warily for a moment before getting to his feet. He took a step back, and then another, and another, before long he was running back towards the city.

Well I did keep my fingers crossed so I sent a simple command into the hive mind.

Kill him

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