"We were right!"
They thought, their minds racing in unison as they gazed past Adam, past his group of readied fiends, and up at the peak of the nexus.
There, churning and overbearing, was the demonic mana that had been gathering as a dark, swirling storm of power that pulsed with barely contained fury.
It was the attack rune, Adam's ultimate weapon, a force that could annihilate them in an instant.
Their decision to surrender, to show peace instead of aggression, had been the correct one.
The only thing they didn't understand was that the attack rune's power was indiscriminate; threatening not only to the trio, but also to Adam and his group.
Going back to their first encounter, when Adam had rejected them, when Nyx had failed to seduce the newborn devil with her demonic charm, they had still harbored the desire to obtain the nexus.
It was a treasure beyond measure for their status; a source of power that could elevate the lowliest of devils to greatness.
They had not given up on their ambition; they had simply adapted their approach.
So, after much contemplation, and by the wisdom of Borog, the brute whose slow, deliberate thinking and experience with underground cities from his past life, they had come up with a new strategy.
They would go underground!
It was a simple, yet elegant plan.
They would go beyond the basin's edge, far from where Adam could spot them, finding a secluded spot, and then dig in deep and slow.
They would inch their way towards Adam, burrowing beneath his barrier, bypassing his defenses entirely.
At the rate they were going in, it would take less than a half a month, probably even less, to get past Adam's barrier and launch a surprise attack.
It was a patient, meticulous operation; one that required silence and stealth. But they had been willing to wait.
The prize was worth the effort.
Yet, there had been a sudden event during their operation.
They had noticed a commotion before, had seen from their hidden vantage point that Adam had defeated Saphira, a crimson-skinned deviless who had tried to assassinate him, and, more importantly, had reached the high-tier realm!
At that time, hesitation had already formed in their minds.
Adam held the power of the nexus, a weapon commonly known to be able to attack and defend, along with powering all types of various runes and arrays.
Now that it was being wielded by a high-tier devil, it was only natural that they were wary. The gap between them had narrowed, and the odds had shifted.
Still, they had hope in numbers.
After some deliberation, they still carried on with their plan, their slow, painstaking crawl beneath the dirt.
They had been surprised and happy when they finally noticed that they had passed the nexus's barrier threshold.
The barrier, it seemed, did not extend underground, or if it did, not deep enough.
They had crossed the line, had infiltrated the inner sanctum of Adam's domain without triggering his notice.
But because they had only crossed the barrier's line, they still couldn't act.
Not if they wanted to give Adam time to gather his forces and utilize the nexus to its best capabilities.
So they sought to inch nearer to the center of the nexus, towards Adam himself.
They would launch an attack right at his feet, a sudden, devastating strike that would leave him no time to react!
At least, that was the plan.
Everything changed the moment Adam completed the dimensional portal.
Although Adam had put up the defense barrier to one hundred percent to stop the anomalous energy from escaping outside, since the trio had breached the barrier, they had felt the overwhelming and potent demonic energy.
It had washed over them like a physical force, a demonic wave of power so pure, so intense, that it had made their very souls tremble.
Being experienced devils, having lived over a year in hell's landscape, they knew instinctively that such power was not permitted in this layer.
It was forbidden, restricted; a violation of the fundamental laws that governed their existence.
Then, almost in the same instant, the barrier had flared to a state they didn't know was possible, as a solid, impenetrable wall of absolute darkness that devoured light and sound.
The sight of it had sent a chill down their spines; inducing a cold, primal fear that they had not felt in a long time.
Then, finally, the law fragment had appeared on Kaelgor.
The radiant light, the surge of power, and the unmistakable aura of a shard of laws.
It had been the final straw.
Adding all of these events together, the trio felt their confidence get instantly deflated.
There was a war on the outside, a conflict that was even now drawing the attention of every devil and demon in the region.
And soon, there would be a war on the inside.
Although the devils were preoccupied with the law fragment, that didn't mean that they didn't notice the barrier's weird behavior.
They were surely to come back and investigate.
Because of that, the three discussed quickly and came to a conclusion.
They sought to abandon their plans of sneak attacking, no longer hiding their presence as they quickly shot to the surface, allowing Adam and the others to hear their approach.
They had come with the plan to instantly show that they meant no harm, to avoid being on the receiving end of the nexus's unknown power.
It was a gamble, a desperate attempt to survive the chaos that was engulfing them, while obtaining something else.
And they were right!
They felt that if they had tried to probe Adam, to test his strength or make a move against him, he would have instantly used the attack rune on them.
The power gathering at the peak of the nexus revealed his intentions as clear as day.
They had made the right choice.
They were happy that they had agreed beforehand to not give Adam the time to use the nexus, stating that they meant peace immediately instead.
It was a decision that just might have saved their lives in the end.
The fragment was something deemed unobtainable.
At least for now.