The Devil Lords felt as though they had fallen into a living nightmare.
They had been prepared to sacrifice everything. The Third Layer of Hell itself could be reduced to a ruin if that was the price required. Nearly every low-tier Devil had already been burned away as fuel—fed into rituals, formations, and infernal engines meant to empower their defenses and traps. It was an enormous sacrifice, one that had cost them countless resources accumulated over eons.
But it had been worth it.
Or so they believed.
Their plan had been simple in concept, if brutal in execution: cripple the Six Sun Alliance before it could gain momentum. Destroy their Legends and Sages. Severely wound their Sovereigns. Force the situation into such dire straits that the White Death would be compelled to intervene.
Only then would they have a chance—only then would a Paragon of the Ninth Layer come to fight by their side.
Yet now, as the dust of the first detonations settled, reality mocked them.
