Adam, with a subconscious thought, waved his hand.
The demon's soul, like a hazy shadow, was forcefully sucked back towards his arm, pulled into his being and stored away within his mental domain. His actions were guided by fluid, perfect instincts.
Adam ignored the soul he had just obtained, despite the slight craving within him. He knew it was a resource and he instinctively knew how to utilize it, but it wasn't his immediate priority.
Adam crouched down, his new senses delighted in the unfamiliar sensation of the rough, black and red, thick hide that had covered the massive demon.
"A knife would just bounce off," he murmured, his new voice a low, resonant baritone, still unaccustomed to speech, but still sounding perfect, "I don't even think a gun could do any damage to this hide." He was genuinely amazed.
Appreciating the raw prowess of his new 'kin', Adam effortlessly lifted a section of the dead body. Then, with another casual wave of his hand, he channeled demonic magic.
Black energy gathered into the perfect filleting knife in his slender hand.
With a gentle swipe, the power ripped the skin cleanly off the demon's body, leaving a bloody, steaming carcass and thick black blood splattered across the parched ground. The air, already heavy with the miasma of hell, now carried the metallic tang of fresh demonic blood.
A few braver demons, sensing the new devil's power and intent, and lack of berserk bloodlust, began to cautiously walk forward, their massive postures lowered in clear, unmistakable submission.
Adam knew the reason.
Demons could be summoned to other realms and worlds by cultists, satanic worshippers, or even other high-level demons. Yet, the most common, and most desirable, method for them to reach other dimensions was by following a devil through a portal specifically made by that devil.
Demons, in all of their chaotic nature and glory, instinctively sought order and leadership from devils, for devils possessed the means to satisfy their deepest urges for conquest and destruction.
Most demons had the appearance of massive bipedal beings with bulging muscles, their forms built for brute force. Some bore single horns, others had impressive double ram horns, or even full-body bone armor, naturally grown from their flesh.
Their appearances varied wildly: some sported multiple arms, tails of various dimensions, or even grotesque double heads. Their skin came in every imaginable shade: blue, red, pitch black, or even sickly green.
Despite their diverse forms, they all shared one thing in common: an evil black miasma radiated off of their bodies like hot steam.
This was hell's miasma, a demon's unsophisticated yet potent means of attack. Its insidious properties included the swift contamination of the body, mind, and soul. It was capable of driving unfortunate mortals into irreversible insanity, profound depravity, or even utter mental retardation.
Adam, now fully dressed in his new identity, grabbed a long strip of the freshly flayed demon leather. He casually wiped off a thick slab of leftover meat and blood clinging to it, then proceeded to wrap it around his waist, forming a crude, barbaric skirt.
It was his first piece of clothing, taken from his first kill.
Although not embarrassed by his nakedness, Adam still preferred to keep his appearance dignified; unlike most naked demons that stood before them.
Even then, most of the demon vulnerabilities were covered by their bodies natural armor; it was a retractable body part in some cases, like a piece of hard bone armor.
A particularly tall demon, its black and red skin stretched taut over exaggerated muscles and its massive mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth, lumbered towards Adam before kneeling down, its massive head bowed.
If Adam's nascent strength, as a newly born lesser-rank devil, placed him at the very beginning of his unknown journey, then the demon before him would almost be considered his equal in pure physical capability.
At least, that was what Adam could tell.
His red demonic eyes, now accustomed to the infernal light, gleamed with a faint black mist as he was able to instinctively gauge a demon's raw strength with a mere glance. This was another innate gift of his devil heritage.
A strict hierarchy was clearly set in place in hell: devils were the natural leaders and nobility, the strategic minds within the chaotic realm, while demons were the cannon fodder, the brutish warriors destined to conquer realms at their master's commands.
With a devil's innate grasp of dark magic and their superior physical bodies, their rule was never questioned, even if they were fewer in number compared to the endless demon hordes.
A strange, deep sound rumbled from the kneeling demon's throat, but Adam was able to understand it perfectly, for it was hell's language; a language that was directly input into one's mind as a psychic, universal communication.
It was a language that could be translated seamlessly within the minds of those it entered, allowing hell's kin, or as many across the endless dimensions called them, fiends, to converse with any sentient being across the cosmos.
"Lead us to conquest." It was a simple, yet direct and powerful request, laced with primal hunger.
Fiends could kill others of their own kind to absorb their souls, gaining power that way. But nothing, absolutely nothing, could beat the pure souls of true life forms from other realms. The purer the better.
Because of this, devils had long ago devised complex magical arts to create portals to other realms, painstakingly linking an astral coordinate with the realm they had found.
But therein lay the perpetual problem: one must first find a realm coordinate to another world or dimension.
Devils could always try the trial and error method of randomly searching throughout the vast dimensional planes, sending a demon through, and then grimly seeing if they could come back in one piece or if they were shredded by torrential astral storms.
Higher rank devils could meditate and search for prayers, finding a pitiful being that was willing to sign a contract with the devil.
Of course, there was also the soul link…
Aside from finding a coordinate, there was also the matter of finding enough resources and manpower to build a stable base and place a dimensional gate within the newly discovered world.
There were plenty of raw materials in the endless rings of hell, and finding and subjugating enough demons was certainly possible for a devil.
But most areas in the lower rings of hell had long been dominated and ruled by other, more powerful devils, and their territories were fiercely guarded.