Devils were not born; they were forged.
Not by creation, but by transformation.
They were the grotesque, beautiful products of extreme negative emotions, thoughts, or actions. A physical manifestation of sin and evil, the ever-present, insidious force woven into the vast and boundless existence, a force of nature within the infinite universes itself.
The other half of goodness and light.
Devils were the conceptual made real, forged with the purest, densest negative emotions, and then structured by an inherent, evil order.
They were the dark reflection of a flawed reality.
Demons, in contrast, were formed in a more physical, often chaotic state.
Some were said to be pure souls, once pure at least, corrupted into fallen beings. Others were born directly from two existing demons; a vile and common reproduction of their kind.
Devils themselves, through potent dark rituals or intense contamination, were also capable of transforming other life forms into demons, bending their very essence to hell's preferences, and in extension, their will.
Or, perhaps in the most unsettling way, hell itself, in its boundless, churning depths, could simply form demons from the very environment; a spontaneous, seemingly magical generation of malice made physical.
Hell's dirt could split and bloom a demon as if it were a seed planted, or a volcanic eruption from hell's many volcanoes could shoot out molten rocks that, when fused with hell's miasma and negative energy, would 'birth' a demon.
A demon's existence was fueled by an unbridled wickedness, an unruly, primal desire for sin and carnage, a ravenous bloodlust, and an insatiable thirst for power that formed the very core of their being.
It was a demon's way of life.
This was the fundamental truth Adam now understood: Devils represented evil order, the guiding, disciplining light. While demons were the embodiment of evil chaos, like an unruly storm waiting to be tamed by the only thing more powerful than nature itself: devils.
Like a dark key, devils were also innately capable of unlocking latent powers within the chaotic bodies of demons. They were also most well known for bending the very will of weaker demons to their own.
Forced or willing subjugation had little difference in their mind.
This vast surge of demonic knowledge, a complicated inheritance, had flooded Adam's mind upon his rebirth, allowing him to easily comprehend his new life and his new demonic reality.
The concept of becoming a devil didn't feel strange or unexpected, but as if it were always meant to be. It felt like a destiny he had been unknowingly and painfully groomed for.
Parts held truth in the statement.
He now knew devils were masters at manipulating the negative energy that permeated the entire universe, and wielded the dark arts that were an inherent, deeply ingrained knowledge of every devil born. Regardless if they were reborn or born of parent devils.
Demons, in their base, instinctual way, recognized this hierarchy.
They saw devils as potential leaders who could satisfy their deep-seated desires, offering them paths to grow stronger, and to indulge their wicked urges. But their chaotic, unruly nature also held a dark caveat: a devil, if weaker than them, represented a delectable, nutrient-rich soul.
A feast of pure power.
All new devils, without exception, were born on the 1st layer of hell: a realm where the weakest of demons existed, yet paradoxically, a place capable of birthing the most powerful beings in hell's hierarchy.
The universes apex predators.
'Hell is like a womb,' Adam pondered, a flicker of something akin to confusion in his nascent demonic mind.
It was a strange thought, a fleeting human metaphor in a place utterly devoid of humanity.
Even with the torrent of information obtained, there were still many secrets, layers of understanding that eluded even some of the oldest, most powerful demons and devils in hell.
Hell was studied by many, yet fully grasped by none…
At least none that were willing to divulge such information.
Adam tensed his muscles instinctively; a feeling that he had long forgotten.
He was a newborn, a lesser realm devil, yet within moments, he was already capable of feats that no normal human could ever reach, let alone comprehend.
A towering, centaur-like demon stood before him, its four thick horse legs planted wide, and muscled torso adorned with a crude breastplate of bone. A sudden surge of restlessness seemed to grow in its heart.
Its bloodshot eyes, like a hundred other sets of eyes from the surrounding, were fixed on Adam, waiting, anticipating.
Adam felt the raw, dark energy that saturated hell, a tangible force, and with an instinctive ease that defied his lack of experience, he began to manipulate it.
His body blurred, as memories of a once immobile prison faded.
He moved with a speed that startled even the seasoned, older demons, and appearing in a flash directly before the centaur-like demon.
His hand lashed out, not with a clumsy human fist of his past life, but with a whip of crackling black light that trailed behind his arm, infused with the newly understood demonic energy and mana.
It tore through the air with a faint hissing shriek.
The centaur-demon, caught entirely off guard, had no time to react.
The attack was too fast!
The whip of dark energy sliced cleanly through its massive torso. There was no messy spray of blood and gore, but instead a horrifying precision cut, akin to a surgeons scalpel.
The demon's upper half slid slowly, sickeningly, from its lower half, before both parts crashed to the ground with a wet, heavy thud.
The surrounding demons, their hunger momentarily forgotten, looked on in a collective, growling disappointment. Their expectations of a struggling, vulnerable newborn, ripe for the taking, had been shattered in an instant.
They realized now that the new devil before them had successfully inherited his new devil bloodline without issue.
Not a single spark of care registered in their cruel minds for the demon that now lay bisected; its demise was merely a missed opportunity.
Sometimes, newborn devils would fail to properly grasp their newfound powers, making them an easy, unexpected burst of power for the demon lucky enough to devour their nascent soul.
Adam, clearly, was not one of those.
Adam ignored everything else, his attention fixed on the fresh, black blood that now stained his hands.
But unlike the ingrained fear and disgust that would have gripped his human self, he now held no aversion. Instead, a deep, unsettling pleasure bloomed in his chest. A physical, almost addictive, satisfaction from the kill.
Every aspect of his being was elevated beyond what mortals could ever conceive!
His sight, now capable of perceiving the flow of dark energy. His strength, which can effortlessly cleaved a creature of hell. His speed, a blur of motion. Alongside the profound power and instinctive knowledge of using demonic magic…
It was intoxicating!
The hoofed demon that lay slain before him, he now knew, was a full-grown lesser rank demon; a being capable of tearing through steel with its claws and running faster than sports cars.
As Adam was understanding his amazing new power, from the cooling corpse, a thick, pulsating black mass slowly separated, shimmering faintly in the dim red light of hell.
Instinctively, Adam knew.
It was its soul, the very essence of these higher beings and, for demon kin, or fiends, a very potent source of energy.
A currency for power: a soul!