Adam had heard and seen the growing horde in the distance.
His initial assumption that Kaelgor had simply fetched more cannon fodder, evaporated. The showcase of various demon armies showed that whatever was occurring was vastly different to his preconceived notions..
The strategic positioning, the variety of forces, and now Kaelgor himself approaching alone.
And almost… secretly at that.
The pieces clicked together in Adam's mind with devilish intuition. Something had changed. The rules of the game had been rewritten without him knowing.
A slow, intrigued smirk replaced the frustrated lust on his face.
'The girls could wait! This… this was interesting.'
He turned to Agri and Blair, who were watching him with curious, hungry eyes. They had felt his overwhelming lust moments ago, so they were expecting to join him.
"Head up," He commanded, his voice calm, devoid of the urgency or lust they might have expected, "Wait above, I will join you shortly."
Their expressions flickered with disappointment and confusion, but they obeyed without question, walking away towards the nexus's peak with quiet speculations about their master's sudden distraction.
Their honed gazes sent a passing glance towards the shadowy brute in the distance; each with their own thoughts swirling within their minds.
Kaelgor's precise control made his devil aura disappear into the smoldering night. To the girls, he appeared to be a berserker messenger of sorts.
Adam didn't activate the attack rune, nor make any precautionary measures. He simply turned and began walking towards the barrier, his gait relaxed, almost leisurely.
With the faintest hint of reluctance, he turned from the peaks stair path, and went down the platform; his figure drawing the stunned, fearful glances of his demons, who couldn't understand why their lord was walking alone towards the edge of the barrier.
'Is he going to incite another war?'
Several demons, including Roh, had seen the chaotic, yet silent torrent of power that belonged to demon forces that started to surround them. Adam's presence and the shimmering barrier were the only things that kept them from running away fearfully.
Adam passed the shoddy walls and escaped the crude lights that lit the demon's rough abodes. His figure melding into the darkness, just like the figure he was walking towards.
Adam stopped just inside the shimmering wall, mirroring Kaelgor's position on the other side. He looked the peak devil up and down, taking in the imposing, armored form.
No fear, yet no carelessness as well; Kamir's scheming assault had left a reminder in Adam's mind.
Do not underestimate your enemy.
"Lord Kaelgor," Adam said, his tone laced with mocking civility, "To what do I owe the pleasure of this… clandestine visit? Have you come to admire the architecture? Or perhaps you've finally learned to knock?" His expression was one of fearless curiosity.
He wanted to see what this new, strangely passive strategy was all about. Why was the lion suddenly trying to sneak up to the gate?
Kaelgor stood immobile, a statue of abyssal steel and dormant, raging power.
He let Adam's taunts hang in the air, the mocking words seeming to dissipate against the humming barrier without effect. His silence was a weight, more imposing than any retort.
He peered into this young devil, gleaming more from his gaze than what words could do. His experienced eyes burned with cold scrutiny; Adam was merely one of many that he has encountered.
A century of life, pillaging, and conquering had let Kaelgor come to understand many different characters.
Arrogant, cunning, rash, lustful, but most of all, ecstatic.
It wasn't something he hasn't seen; especially in new devils.
The feeling, the privilege of becoming a powerful being, was enough to make any, if not most, devils ecstatic at their new found life.
'Nothing special… maybe just lucky?' Kaelgor concluded.
Adam's talent was there, but it wasn't anything out of norm; as he had seen other devils reach such speeds too.
Talent in the beginning was something entirely determined on whether or not the newborn went to a rage or not; as focusing on their new life and path to power was what let them grow faster.
Still, Adam had the benefits of being a blank slate, while also not going into a rage; making his start smooth. It was only the nexus that truly set him apart from other devils. What let him develop on his own in this battle scarred land.
'Alas, what is done is done. The nexus was truly a blessing for this whelp.'
When Kaelgor finally spoke, his voice was a low rumble, devoid of its previous aggression, replaced by a strange, almost weary resonance.
"I spent three years maturing here," Kaelgor began, his burning gaze fixed on Adam, but seeming to look through him, into a past.
"Growing. Learning. Surviving my share of ordeals. Then a devil, stronger than I was at the time, found me. He told me I was to be 'recruited'," He spat the word in distaste, "A nice word for forced servitude... Lord Gorael's law. To be recruited from the first Layer, you must be at the peak. And then you serve for fifty years in this nursery, before you are allowed to truly advance; to leave."
He paused, the memory a bitter taste.
"I have served one hundred years. A century! A blink for a devil, an eternity for a warrior trapped in a realm where every challenge is beneath him. You may not have discovered it yet, but the lesser devil realm is an introduction. A tutorial. It should take three, five years. Faster for others: like you. Then you move on to the Awakened Realm, where the true challenges, and the real power awaits... but not for you."
Adam's gaze hardened at his blatant threat.
His eyes focused back on Adam with terrifying intensity.
"Your destiny is to move onto the 2nd layer of hell, into Lord Gorael's territory, without you nexus, and without your 'army'. To be tracked until the day you are caught, skinned, and tortured fro eternity!" Kaelgor's voice was low and threatening.
Adam winced internally, knowing some basics on how to move on from the 1st layer.
Basically, once reaching the peak of the lesser devil realm, and after pushing past that barrier to advance, the devil would be rejected by the 1st layer and be sent directly below to the 2nd layer that is parallel to the 1st layer. Meaning, Adam would indeed land in Lord Gorael's territory.
His current plans all hinged on the dimensional portal working, then getting enough resources to speed up his advancement in the awakened realm; striving to become a Greater Devil as fast as possible.
Or, he could enter Lyra's old realm, then look for another portal back to hell; hoping that it leads to a territory not under Arch Devil Gorael.
"Luckily, you… are an anomaly," Kaelgor said as he sighed at the newborns luck, "The power you wield, that nexus, carved with the remnants of Gorael's own power, breaks ancient rules. Such a weapon does not belong here, as it may attract dangerous attention. Attention you will never escape, unless you do as told."
Adam listened, his smirk gone, replaced by a cold, analytical focus. This was not the rage-filled enemy from before.
This was something else.
"I want to use you," Kaelgor stated, the bluntness of it shocking the air between them.
"I want you to activate the nexus. Not at full power. Just enough to seize the undivided attention of the other two peak-tier devils who have now surrounded your basin."
Adam's eyes narrowed.
"Surrounded?" He'd seen the armies, but the confirmation that they were led by equals to Kaelgor shifted the scenario significantly.
"Why would I do that?" Adam's voice was flat.
Kaelgor didn't hesitate.
He raised a gauntleted hand, and a complex, searingly bright rune of pure information, a psychic data-stream of immense complexity, flared between his fingers before shooting across the barrier as an offering.
Adam had sensed no malice.
With a quick thought, a minuscule opening in the barrier was allowed; just enough for the bema of pure information to slam into Adam's willing mind.
The surge of knowledge hit Adam with a strong and sudden sense of vertigo, almost making him lose his balance. Yet, he wasn't mad, instead he was shocked and thrilled!
The Grand Teleportation Magic!
The knowledge to move an entire nexus point or even more!
"Because," Kaelgor said, as Adam staggered slightly under the influx of arcane knowledge, "While they are distracted by your light show… I will be taking my nine recruited devils, my berserker demons, every ingot of abyssal steel I can loot from the mines, and any other resource not nailed down, and I will be leaving this accursed layer for good."
He leaned forward, his voice dropping to an urgent, conspiratorial whisper that vibrated through the barrier.
"And you should use that," He tapped the barrier as if he were tapping at the knowledge now burning in Adam's mind, "To do the same, and as soon as possible. That beacon you hold will not go unnoticed forever. Right now, Gorael wants it contained. But soon, others will sense it. Ancient Arch Devils. Or worse… Devil Kings. You cannot hide from them and your only choice will be to run."
Adam stood frozen, not from fear, but from the staggering audacity of the plan.
Kaelgor wasn't here to fight.
He was here to propose the most dangerous, mutually beneficial alliance imaginable. He was handing Adam the keys to his own escape and asking for a diversion in return. The sheer, selfish, brilliant cunning of it was something Adam could only admire.
A slow, wide, and utterly genuine smile spread across his face.
The game had just become infinitely more interesting.