Shouts and painful cries cut through the air.
As Liora left the block surrounding the mansion, the smell of blood and silent despair assaulted her senses.
Hissing and predatory swallowing sounds reached her ears, as if an apex predator had somehow infiltrated a flock of sheep.
Clearly, another powerful Devil was nearby.
And unlike Liora, whose sole purpose was to kill cleanly and efficiently, they seemed to revel in the slaughter.
Gliding through the shadows, she reached the source of the loud noise—a Serpent Devil surrounded by dozens of others.
These Devils cooperated, working together to launch various attacks toward the Serpent Devil.
But their efforts ultimately proved meaningless.
Their blows struck the Serpent Devil's green scales and bounced off, failing to leave even the slightest trace behind.
A high-pitched hiss escaped the Serpent Devil's mouth as it flicked its tail and pounced on the attackers.
A gaping maw opened wide, and it completely enveloped one of the Devils besieging it before swallowing it whole.
The Devil struggled to break free, causing the body of the Serpent Devil to swell unnaturally, but before long, its struggles ceased.
Watching the Serpent Devil's ruthless, violent attacks, even Liora felt a little surprised.
So far, nearly every Devil she had come into contact with had been quite rational, making her almost forget the true nature of Young Devils.
Cruel, gluttonous, and driven by instinct—these were the words that most accurately described them.
The moment her gaze landed on it, Liora sensed the Devil Contract she had previously signed activate, letting her know that this serpent must have been a participant in the inn's Devil gathering.
Since they had both signed the contract, it meant that neither of them could do anything to the other.
Knowing that there was nothing she could do to eliminate it and that staying here would only waste her time, Liora didn't linger.
She turned to leave.
However, the Serpent Devil wasn't as rational or calculating as her.
As she turned away, its cold, inhumane eyes flashed with a deep scarlet color, filled with hunger and viciousness.
To Liora's surprise, it completely disregarded the Devil Contract's binding power and chose to pounce on her.
Opening its mouth wide, it flashed across the street and arrived before her, lowering its head as if trying to swallow her whole.
Although Liora was leaving, she hadn't let her guard down. This, coupled with her Void Instinct, allowed her to instantly sense the threat and shift her body.
Raising her left arm, she brought it before her chest, ready to parry the incoming blow.
With a screech, the Serpent Devil's attack came, its mouth wrapping around her arm like it was ready to devour it.
However, to the Serpent Devil's shock, it discovered that it could not close its mouth no matter how hard it tried.
Moreover, its sharp fangs traced against Liora's exoskeleton-like armor, creating flying sparks and breaking in the process.
A flicker of intelligence flashed in its hazy eyes, and it seemed to sense something amiss. The thought of retreating arose.
Unfortunately for it, Liora wasn't planning to let it go.
With her free hand, she grabbed the serpent's head, squeezed it tightly, and hurled it away.
Its body slammed into the ground like a meteor, rolling and carving deep craters along its way. It only came to an abrupt stop upon crashing into a nearby building.
Liora's shadow rippled, and she was ready to use Shadow Assimilation when her movements paused.
In her senses, a vast, ancient, and chaotic Will descended, making her freeze.
Thankfully, the Will's actual target was not her but the Serpent Devil.
"Hiss!", Liora saw the Serpent Devil lift its head in despair and hiss toward the sky before its body started writhing.
Its flesh squirmed as if it possessed a mind of its own, and tumors began spreading across its body, making it look like a grotesque balloon that was on the verge of bursting.
Only a moment later, a thunderous explosion sounded, and the Serpent Devil's body exploded like a firework, splattering blood and flesh all over the place.
Liora's eyes shrank as she watched this scene unfold.
"This is the Will of the Demon World. It must have noticed that the Serpent Devil violated the terms of the Devil Contract and brought down its punishment.", she thought.
Her gaze swept the area, and she keenly noticed that the Serpent Devil's soul was nowhere to be found.
She knew why that was.
"The Demon World's punishment is not as simple as mere death. If one violates their oath, not only will they be eliminated, but their souls will be brought to its deepest depths to undergo indefinite torture."
Compared to death, this torture was countless times crueler and more terrifying. After all, sometimes death was but a relief.
Thinking of this and recalling the stirring she had felt during the signing of the Devil Contract, Liora's resolve to pretend that nothing happened only deepened.
She didn't want her body to end up as a puddle on the ground while her soul underwent torture for eternity.
Even if the chances of that happening were slim.
--
Liora's encounter was but a glimpse of the carnage taking place within the City of Embers.
With the City Lord leaving and the fragile balance broken, the powerful Devils took action to wipe out the weaker Devils.
Among them, quite a few lost their rationality, indulging in their instinct to slaughter and devour.
However, such Devils were soon punished by the Demon World, leaving only the rational ones remaining.
These, as if they had communicated beforehand, consciously avoided each other, each selecting a hunting area and slowly expanding its range.
--
"Is this the final one?"
Standing amid a pile of corpses, Liora stared at what remained of a Devil in her hand and muttered.
Unknowingly, she had lost track of time, mechanically killing those who dared to attack her and collecting their souls.
Still, she had not lost herself in this massacre.
No matter how intense the fight became or how many she killed, part of her mind always paid attention to what was happening outside the city, where the two ranked Devils were battling.
The fluctuation of the two auras, as well as the dwindling demonic energy, told her that the battle was nearing its end.
Sure enough, not long after that thought arose, Liora sensed that one of the two ranked Devils had chosen to flee while the other one chased after them.
Perhaps it was a coincidence, but the fleeing ranked Devil's trajectory happened to pass straight through the City of Embers—or what little remained of it.