The news of the Demon Emperor's death moved fast.
It started from the demons who had been standing outside the palace when the emperor's roar shook the ground. They had felt that aura collapse mid scream, felt it die before it could fully rise, and none of them had an explanation for it. Word passed from one to the next in hurried voices, spreading down from the 100th floor through every channel demons used when something went wrong at the top.
The Demon Emperor was dead.
The First Born was dead.
By the time the news reached the lower demon floors, it had already grown into something larger than the facts. Demons gathered in groups and spoke in low tones, some refusing to believe it and others looking like the ground had been pulled from under them. The emperor had ruled for longer than most of them had been alive. Now he was gone, and nobody knew what was holding anything up.
