The Imp Plaza

Noah gingerly made his way down from the corridors to the workshop's lower level, where imps scurried chaotically across the plaza. With shrill, jarring noises, they created a cacophony that grated on his nerves. Greater demons soared through the sky, snatching up imps at random and hurling them into distant furnaces. Noah had to navigate this colossal square, avoiding the notice of the flying greater demons. If spotted, he'd be tossed into the furnace too.

He crouched low, blending in with the imps that were his size, as they collided and shoved each other relentlessly. Most lacked any clear purpose. Some tried to find an exit, only to be shoved back by the larger demons blockading the way, consigning them to run endlessly within the square, venting their energy and occasionally brawling with one another.

Noah had to be careful not to draw the attention of these imps. As he pondered his next move, he spotted a peculiar imp that, unlike the others, wasn't running or bumping aimlessly around the plaza. It simply sat on the ground, its hands cradling its head, gazing fixedly forward.

The odd behavior caught Noah's attention. He approached the imp and squatted down beside it.

"Why aren't you capering around like the other imps?" Noah inquired.

"Quack." The imp turned its head, staring at him with bulging eyes.

Apparently, it was an imp that had yet to evolve the ability to converse. With no way to communicate, Noah merely observed the surroundings. A particularly savage imp caught his eye, brandishing the limb of a fallen comrade like a club, recklessly attacking other imps, forcing them to flee. Those too slow or in its way were ruthlessly kicked aside.

This vicious imp also noticed Noah and his motionless neighbor, charging at them with a raised arm as a weapon.

Noah swiftly dodged aside, but the neighboring imp was struck down and lay motionless, staring upwards at the armory's stone slabs.

"Cackle!" The savage imp targeted Noah next. With no hesitation, Noah grabbed the imp's limb-turned-weapon, seizing it and then delivering a forceful punch directly to the imp's face.

The fight felt like child's play, reminiscent of his brawling days in the village, awakening forgotten muscle memories. He pounced, straddling the imp and raining down punches until it was silenced, its soul drifting out and consumed by Gladius.

Noah consumed the ferocious imp, feeling his body contour enlarge significantly. That was the way—violence, victory, becoming stronger.

He looked around at the overwhelming chaos. Imps emerged in droves from an underground passage, fighting among themselves. If they grew large enough, they stood a chance to be taken by the greater demons for training. If unlucky, they were thrown into the furnace. The majority, however, perished in the brawls, falling at the hands of their kin.

"The war's raging outside, isn't it?" Noah heard distant rumbling and explosions.

"Yes, it's the constant grand battles of the demon lords, not a moment's peace," Gladius confirmed.

"So you're all constantly fighting each other? No peace ever?" Noah found it odd, assuming that demons hid in Hell, sharpening their blades, preparing to invade the mortal realm. He hadn't expected that they were constantly slaughtering one another.

"The fighting keeps us thirsty, teaching every imp the sweet taste of victory, and strengthening all demons' resolve to kill, ensuring that all my kin know how to devour souls. This way, when the Gate Demon opens the door to another world, we ensure a flawless victory."

"The Gate Demon..." Noah recognized this demon lord, responsible for opening Hell's path of invasion.

"I can sense the countdown to the next invasion from here. Less than a century remains, and if the mortal realm responds, that time may even shorten. The invasion targets your world. The moment the Gate Demon succeeds in opening the door, it will be too clear. Billions of greater imps, little imps, lower-ranking demons, and high-ranking demon lords are all ready for the greatest conquest—greedy, ferocious, eager, yearning to devour the beautiful myriad of life. You think you're powerful, but you stand no chance against Hell. We're not even on the same level," Gladius described ruthlessly.

"Quite impressive, even though you inhabit a body like an imp's, you have such grand words," Noah said, looking down at his short arms and legs. Though he'd grown a bit, he remained minuscule.

"Tch, it's your efficiency in collecting souls that's too low. Bring in the new souls faster."

After some thought, Noah went to help up the imp he had knocked down earlier. It regained balance but continued to sit idly, not joining the tumult around it.

"Look, this imp seems so peaceful."

"This breed is alien in Hell, lacking the craving for souls, doomed to remain insignificant and achieve nothing. We despise the weak and even more so those without ambition. Does it deserve to sit here idly? It should be fighting fiercely! Becoming stronger! Giving its lord an advantage in wars!"

"If all imps were as peaceful as it, demons wouldn't invade other worlds."

"It was born in the wrong place, Noah. Go, eat it, take its soul."

Noah stared at the dazed imp for a long time, then looked around the armory, spotting two or three other imps displaying similarly passive behavior. They were unlikely to survive, their non-resistance making them easy targets for their violent brethren.

"It looks like an opportunity, a possibility for demons to become peaceful."

A Hell brimming with peaceful imps would no longer invade anywhere. The thought struck Noah as a chance he had caught.

"Don't start looking for bridges to peace like a pusillanimous creature."

"What?"

"You humans should fight demons tooth and nail, wringing your brains, exerting all effort until your species vanishes and your world is ground into the Gap. Here the strong crush the weak, and hatred and violence are endless. Don't ever think your world and Hell can find a peaceful coexistence, where humans and demons eventually reconcile their hatred, where demons find a way to live without consuming souls, and everyone lives together in peace... or because a third party emerges outside of humans and demons, uniting us against an extra-dimensional threat... Stop dreaming—draw your blades! Open its shell, devour its soul!" Gladius roared.

"..." Noah glanced at his claws. Gladius had reconstituted the demonic matter, turning it into a sharp knife.

Hunt the demons.

He approached the strange imp, which still looked at him harmlessly. As a Demon Hunter, Noah plunged the blade of his transformed arm into it, drawing it back out, the soul streaming from the wound, becoming fodder for Gladius. Noah consumed the imp's shell, using it as sustenance to bolster his demonic body.

Becoming more familiar with this breed, Noah rushed toward the smelting platform at the other end of the workshop, his thoughts running wild. This was a terrifying race, with countless soul fragments of unknown origin drifting in, becoming demon imps. Under the control of powerful demon lords, the imps engaged in constant battles, evolving and growing stronger. Their ultimate goal was conquest, to invade other vibrant worlds, plunder numerous souls, and thereby sustain their own existence.

The more powerful the demon, the more it cost them to cross worlds. That's why it was usually the mid-to-low-level demons that slipped into our world by trickery. Our task was to hunt them, stop them from harming the populace, and on the other hand, find a way to prevent the grand invasions organized by these high-ranking demon lords.

Such tasks were beyond me now. Once back in the real world, I would need to gather more hands, collect more intelligence.

"Cackle!" A flying greater demon swooped down, disrupting Noah's train of thought.

"To death with you!" Noah brandished his blade, and the demon, a coward at heart, hurriedly fled in panic.

He bullied the smaller imps along the way, leveraging his increased height, size, and sharper weaponry to slaughter the unfortunate creatures he passed. Many fell, their demonic essence and souls absorbed.

By the time Noah reached the vicinity of the smelting platform, he wasn't far from the form of the greater demons, his body becoming more agile, gradually resembling a human.

The flame demon craftsman placed the newly forged Charred Ring onto a nearby rock, slowly forming a golden arc of light with its flaming fist, seemingly preparing to forge another.

Noah hid beside a stone pillar, watching for an opportune moment.

"Go fool it," Gladius incited. "Just say a demon lord called Magma of Kakut sent you to fetch the Charred Ring."

"Who's that?"

"I made it up; there's bound to be a flame demon with that name."

"Too risky."

"No one knows Hell better than me. Just tell it that, and it's guaranteed to hand over the Charred Ring to you."

"But isn't distribution supposed to be managed by the demon lords?"

"What? You fool, utter chaos is its own kind of order. We forge millions of such treasures daily. If we had to manage distribution, research, and deliver to the right demons, wouldn't that be too much trouble? Everyone just looks at the allocation, never a mishap, an invisible hand at work."

"I'll believe your trickery." Noah watched warily. After all, Gladius was a high-ranking demon lord of Hell. His words should be reliable.

Emerging from hiding, he approached the flame demon forging the ring. Its body was submerged in fire, the heat wave overwhelming as it drew close to Noah.

"What ugly creature is this, get lost," it scolded.

"Magma of Kakut..." Noah began to speak when suddenly the palace shook violently.

A rupture occurred somewhere, a thunderous collapse resonating. Noah looked at the source of the sound, and the attention of all the greater and lesser demons within the armory was drawn to the noise. After a brief silence, the floor of the armory burst, rocks plummeting and killing countless imps. A gaseous giant hand made of flame parted the rift, and a terrifying head peered through, taking notice of Noah's location.

"Gladius!" It was the Flame Demon guarding the spawning pool! Had it tracked him down so quickly? Its maw opened wide, and a tremendous column of fire roared down upon Noah.

Noah had no choice but to lunge for the Charred Ring.