"Well, looks like I've got myself one hell of a cellmate," the demon said, observing the entity within his mind.
The incarnation of Satan's will didn't react to Doma's words and continued its attempt to taint his mind, specifically targeting the emotional aspect.
But the entity encountered a problem in its approach.
The mental world of the ice demon was far from ordinary, according to the fragmented knowledge of the creature.
The concept of emotion seemed unstable in this place, as if someone had tried to force the idea of the word "emotion" into a realm devoid of foundations.
The result was akin to someone trying to fit a puzzle piece onto a board, except the piece was the wrong size. Yet, the final picture vaguely resembled the expected image.
In short, it was a crude attempt to mimic a human mind. But Jay's mind hadn't been able to produce a result comparable to Doma's against Shinobu Kocho.
The outcome was this abyss.
If a creature from the manga *Death Mage* were to see Doma's mind, it would liken it to the unique skill: Grotesque Mind.
The Grotesque Mind skill is a power belonging to Vandalieu Zakkart, the protagonist of Death Mage.
This skill is deeply frowned upon by the natives of the Lambda world for several reasons.
First, it can only be possessed by abnormal individuals, such as evil gods or people who have endured numerous traumas in their lives.
The second reason might seem trivial, but it's the most terrifying.
Those who possess the unique Grotesque Mind skill don't perceive things like everyone else.
If murder is considered abnormal for a civilized human, a bearer of this skill wouldn't hesitate to kill if they deemed their opponent bothersome.
Not out of fear for their own life, but to eliminate a problem.
'This mind… i-it has immense potential for destruction and evil, 'the will of the primordial being thought to itself.
But reality was cruel to it.
It was incapable of sustaining the notion of pleasure in destruction within this environment.
The only way it stood a chance of corrupting this strange mind it had infiltrated lay with one individual:
Doma.
It needed a genuine positive emotion from him, and then… the wildfire could ignite.
Satan wanted to corrupt that light within this darkness.
"What? You're counting on me to feel an emotion? Haha, sorry, Mr. Satan, but nothing lasts here," Doma said, observing the glimmers of light floating around him.
Doma was partly lying to Satan's will.
It was true that no emotion lingered long in the Abyss of his mind.
Even his love for Kikyo had faded.
Yet, there was one thing resilient enough to remain intact in this godforsaken place: the memory of every person Doma had ever met.
Within each sphere containing a memory, a fragment of an individual taken by time endured.
'Muzan kept me apart from my wives for a long time because of their demon identity, time took my followers and friends, but…'
Doma was not… he had never been alone.
Why?
Because all the followers of The Eternal Paradise Faith would forever be with him.
As if in response to this thought, Taiga appeared at his side, followed by Mori, Yuruzu's servant, old Hiro from the festival who nodded in satisfaction while watching Nakime on his back, and many others.
All of them resided in Doma's warped mind.
"I-impossible… l-light and darkness… exist in all things… in every being!" the creature declared in a distorted voice.
Doma looked at the primordial will with an expression of pity before shaking his head in disappointment.
"You're Satan, aren't you? You should know there's always an exception or anomaly in creation," he said, referring to Satan's act of rebellion in Hebrew religions.
Satan.
His name literally means: the adversary, the accuser, the opposer.
In Hebrew legend, the Creator shaped the world in seven days through His word and deemed everything good, according to the Book of Genesis.
Yet, an anomaly emerged.
This being managed to corrupt the Creator's masterpiece and taint creation by introducing the very notion of sin into the world.
That was why Satan's will reacted so violently to Doma's words.
The demon before him had dared to claim they were alike—that they were similar.
A blasphemy for an entity born from the primordial void, far above all pseudo-gods and mortals in Valhalla.
"Y… You… H-how dare you?! You cannot claim to understand me! You are not… like me!!"
The being abandoned by the light roared in indignation and raised its clawed hand toward Doma, but the latter stepped forward, accompanied by the deceased members of The Eternal Paradise Faith.
There was no fear, no surge of bravery, no hatred toward the grotesque beast… just the indifference of a demon cursed by fate.
A demon defying that same fate, which he deemed unjust.
"I, too, am an anomaly, since I have no intention of playing by the rules set by some stranger who doesn't play the game," he declared before touching the dark aura emitted by the incarnation of Satan's will in Beelzebub's blood.
Time seemed to stop at that moment.
All the light in Doma's gray world rose and bound the creature before hurling it into the Abyss.
"Sigh… even that wasn't enough?"
Doma unconsciously furrowed his brow as he stared into the void before him.
He hadn't been able to erase Satan's will from his mind, only contain it thanks to the peculiar apathy of his being.
He had merely blocked the influence of that ancient, shadowy will.
Like a broken faucet, the will of the primordial god never ceased pouring destructive emotions into his mind.
Sooner or later, it would taint this place, just as it had tainted Creation and the mind of the demon-god Beelzebub.
Doma reckoned he now needed to find outlets until the moment he no longer needed Beelzebub's blood in his veins… or until he finally resolved this issue.
"In the meantime, guess I'm Mob Psycho 100 haha." Unfortunately, his brief moment of amusement faded quickly due to Satan and the sound of a notification.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations… You have attracted over +999 patrons during your first live stream.]
[The content of your confrontation against a fragment of a primordial god's will is currently going viral on MEDIA.]
[You have a pending quest…]
[Quest from the God of Stories: Loki]
[Difficulty: A+ (therefore difficult)]
[Description: The Marvel God of Stories disapproves of his pantheon's portrayal in this scenario.
He needs your help to sow chaos and anarchy in this timeline.
After all, you've convinced him of your skills in manipulation and cunning.]
[Objective: The more chaos you create, the more you'll satisfy Loki and increase your chances of success.]
[Secondary Objective (Optional): Punish the false Loki in some way or another.]
[Failure: Loki is dissatisfied.]
[Reward: A temporal wish that can alter an event of your choice in your world, or a portal to the Earth timeline of your choice.]
"Wait a minute… The live stream triggered automatically when I accepted the quest?!" he said aloud.
Back then, he hadn't thought about that detail.
Yet, it was highly relevant, as the quest panel's information often referred to live streams and system points.
After this realization, Doma began to sweat.
He slowly turned his gaze to the group chat's notification icon:
[+999 additions to your content collection.]
[+54 unread messages in the group chat.]
[+9999 views on your content.]
At that moment, the defiant demon knew he was doomed in the group chat and felt temporarily embarrassed about the awkward scenes with Zeus, Thrud, and Hermes.
'Damn Kirei… He could've warned me about such an important detail… If only the group chat's AI didn't require points…'
Even though he grumbled internally, the damage was already done.
The group chat members now knew just how cunning and manipulative he was.
Worse still, Doma suspected some members had hidden this information to better gauge the newcomer.
'I get it now. That's why Balalaika hasn't completed any quests yet, even though she's cunning enough to handle simple romance-themed ones,'he concluded mentally.
The woman had simply been gathering more information without revealing her strengths and weaknesses to the other group chat members.
Doma had been played by her and Kirei, but the ice demon quickly regained his composure and analyzed the options before him.
'No… I still have an edge over them. They must think I'm a demon manipulating fate,'he told himself after calming down.
These work partners hadn't just benefited from their deceitful tactics; they'd also received false information.
"System… I accept Loki's quest."
Doma's voice echoed in the gray world after he made his decision.
Now, the blood demon art: Vanity's Paradise was no longer an option to take control of the group chat.
Doma was alone and surrounded by few "friendly allies," but… since when had he ever needed others?
From the ice demon's perspective, it had always been the other way around, and he had no intention of changing that.
His greatest weapon had always been his words, not his powers.
Doma planned to keep lying until he was proven right!
'I broke free from Muzan, so Kirei will just be another step,'he thought as he opened the group chat's notification window.
[Ryomen Sukuna: … honestly, you're one twisted guy.]
[Balalaika: If you come within a meter of me, I'll blow another hole in your ass with my revolver.]
[Kuvira: After Mr. Kirei, we've got yet another mentally deranged man *sigh*.]
[The Void: … Don't ever come near my wife, or I'll kill you.]
[I've got a good dog at home: Damn, and Kirei and I are the crazy ones here? Huh… Kuvira hehe.]
[Kenta: Note to self: Don't let you into my world.]
[Doma: Y-you're another me?! ~]
[Laios: What do Beelzebub and Satan taste like?]