The sound of Orion’s footsteps echoed through the grand hall of an ancient castle. Blood dripped slowly from his scaled fingertips, splattering between the corpses strewn across the floor. He wore a tailored tailcoat, a delicate golden monocle perched on one side. The air reeked of death, the stillness broken only by the sight of demonic bodies lying in pools of their own blood.


    “Impossible… You shouldn’t be this strong!”


    The last three surviving demons shrieked in despair and terror, their eyes wide with disbelief. They were all lesser demons—just like Orion—yet he had slaughtered them with ease. Panicked footsteps thudded as they scrambled desperately toward the castle’s exit.


    Orion chuckled, his voice laced with amusement. “Let’s see… who shall be the last one?”


    His shadow writhed to life, stretching unnaturally as it pursued the fleeing demons. The slowest of them suddenly stumbled as the darkness beneath his feet deepened, transforming into a bottomless abyss. Two inky hands slithered out, seizing his ankles.


    “No—NO! Spare me! PLEASE—!” The demon’s hoarse screams were cut short as the shadow swallowed him whole. A sickening crunch echoed, followed by silence.


    Driven to madness by fear, one of the remaining demons lashed out. His soul energy surged, summoning countless diamond-shaped blades hidden within his body. The daggers hovered midair, wreathed in dark energy, before hurtling toward his companion with a shrill whistle.


    The other demon reacted too late. His eyes wild, he flung out his hands, conjuring spectral chains that coiled through the air in a desperate defense. The glowing blue links deflected most of the blades—but one split mid-flight, piercing his shoulder.


    The hooked-chain demon howled as the dark energy corroded his flesh, sizzling like acid. He glared at his betrayer, voice trembling. “You’d kill me to save yourself? Is this how demons survive?”


    The blade-wielder’s eyes burned with desperation. “Betrayal? No. We’re demons. This is survival.” With a flick of his wrist, another volley of blades pinned the chain demon to the ground, impaling his limbs.


    “You fear death?” the chained demon screeched. “Well, so do I!”


    The remaining demon sprinted for the exit, howling, “Nobody wants to die—but someone has to!”


    Behind him, the wet crunching resumed. He didn’t dare look back.


    Suddenly—light. The exit loomed ahead, the crimson glow beyond beckoning him to freedom.


    Then the corridor plunged into darkness.


    Shadows surged past him, pooling on the ceiling until they coalesced into a figure hanging upside-down—Orion.


    Their eyes met.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    With a genteel push of his monocle, Orion smirked, his handsome features twisting with dark mirth.


    “Why…?” The demon collapsed, trembling. “Do you not fear our master’s wrath?”


    Orion descended gracefully, plucking a handkerchief from his breast pocket to wipe the black blood from his fingers. “No particular reason. It’s just… fun.”


    Folding the cloth neatly, he tucked it away before slipping on black gloves. His voice dripped with amusement. “And if he seeks revenge? Well, that’ll be even more entertaining. So I’ll let you live. I do wonder what he’ll say when he sees what’s become of his domain.”


    With a single beat of his wings, Orion dissolved into shadow, vanishing into the blood-red sky.


    The lone survivor stared blankly after him, too stunned to move.


    “Not a bad haul,” Orion mused as he soared through the air, idly twisting the black ring on his left index finger. Intricate crimson patterns flickered across its surface like embers.


    Within the ring’s pocket dimension lay his spoils—piles of spirit crystals, grimoires, enchanted artifacts, rare materials, and rows of weapons and armor.


    His thoughts drifted to the past three months in the Abyss.


    The Endless Abyss was vast, borderless. Its strongest demons ruled sprawling cities where dark commerce thrived—slave markets, spirit crystal banks, all under the iron order of the Abyss’s overlords.


    Beyond the cities lay the wilds, where warlords carved out territories around spirit crystal veins, fortifying castles and amassing private armies. Lesser demons and wandering tribes fought endlessly, preying on the weak and enslaving interlopers.


    The castle he’d just “visited” belonged to Valac, a mid-tier demon. The hierarchy was rigid: from fledglings to lesser demons, then mid-tier, greater demons, lords, and finally, the Dukes.


    Valac was small fry—a petty warlord who led raids on weaker creatures to sustain his power.


    Orion had infiltrated his ranks, bided his time, and slaughtered the garrison the moment Valac left on a hunt.


    This ring held treasures plundered from many such castles. Playing the role of a lesser demon was the perfect disguise, and his overwhelming strength ensured each raid ended the same way.


    As he flew, Orion’s gaze swept across the monotonous crimson wasteland.


    “How dull,” he muttered. “Still no signal from the beacon.”


    His tone was breezy, devoid of guilt. If anything, he seemed bored—fingers tracing his ring, already anticipating the next prey.


    A razor-sharp killing intent erupted behind Orion.


    He tilted his head slightly—just as expected, Valac was charging toward him, wings flaring with barely contained fury. The demon lord’s eyes burned like molten iron, sharp and unhinged.


    Valac’s grotesque frame loomed massive, muscles coiled beneath thick plates of bone. His crimson hide was etched with tri-colored sigils, pulsing across his limbs and chest—a visible manifestation of his power.


    "Orion!" Valac’s voice trembled with rage. "You dare betray me? Defile my domain?" His chest heaved, murderous intent leaking like steam.


    Orion arched a brow, lips curling into a lazy smirk. "Betrayal? That implies I owed you loyalty to begin with."


    His tone was breezy, as if Valac’s wrath were nothing more than an amusing interlude.


    The demon lord’s face twisted further, veins bulging. "Insolent maggot! You’ll pay for this!"


    Blue runes ignited across his body. In a blur, Valac vanished—reappearing as a translucent streak, closing the distance faster than sight could follow.


    Orion’s shadow stretched unnaturally, splitting into eight inky doppelg?ngers. The clones lunged, claws gleaming, eyes hollow and cold.


    Yet Valac weaved through them like light on water, untouched.


    "This is your defense?" He laughed, talons flashing toward Orion’s throat. "Pathetic!"


    At the last second—Orion’s form rippled.


    His body dissolved into shadow just as Valac struck. The demon lord’s claws shredded through empty darkness—only for the bisected silhouette to lash forward, coiling around his arm like a serpent.


    Then, the trap sprang.


    Buried Abyssal Touch seeds detonated in unison. A shockwave of soul-rending force erupted from all sides, crashing into Valac.


    The demon lord snarled. Amber sigils flared as his body hardened to stone, weathering the blast. The ground cratered beneath him—yet he stood unscathed.


    "This was your scheme?" Valac sneered, crimson runes now alight. His hands morphed into jagged talons, dripping annihilation. "Die!"


    He lunged again—but Orion was already dancing between shadows, swapping places with clones mid-evasion.


    Dark tendrils erupted from Valac’s own shadow, grasping at his legs. He shredded them with a swipe, but the distraction cost him. The shadow army converged, encircling him completely.


    Valac roared, muscles swelling as he shattered the clones—only for new ones to slither from the wreckage, harrying his blind spots.


    A bestial scream tore from his throat. Scarlet runes blazed as power condensed into his fist.


    He slammed it into the earth.


    The ground splintered.


    Cracks spiderwebbed outward, the earth itself boiling as a shockwave atomized the remaining shadows into dust.


    "Adequate performance for a mid-tier," Orion mused, hovering calmly above the devastation. Below, Valac burned like a hellfire incarnate.


    With a dismissive flick of his wrist, Orion snapped his fingers.


    Click.


    His body dissolved into the wind, reforming a league away in a wisp of darkness. His voice trailed back, laced with mocking melody:


    "Until next time, Shell-Head. Do bring a grander spectacle~"