A unsettling whimper rolled out from the depths of the Fallen Land…
"Nnnaaaa… rroaaar…" A sound that seemed to drag claws across the minds of every corrupted demon gathered outside.
The Blackened ones as if struck by the same revelation, their scarlet eyes brightened with understanding.
Mephisto had spoken.
His plan was brutal in its simplicity, the Fallen Land's malignant aura had grown swollen, strong enough now to merge these Blackened demons into a singular, unstoppable force.
An army bred only for slaughter.
If Mephisto wished to crown himself the sole master of the abyss, the path was obvious, anyone who dared resist him had to die. Every demon who refused submission would become fuel for his rise.
At the command, the Blackened demons erupted into howling roars, scattering in every direction. Their first mission was clear, return to the Fallen Land's domain and exterminate all who refused to kneel.
The more they killed, the more the abyss would boil with frenzy… and the easier Mephisto's eventual rule would become.
When the last of the corrupted legions vanished into the wasteland, the eerie whimpering from the depths slowly quieted. But the hate burning in Mephisto's eyes only grew hotter.
With power came memory.
With memory came hatred.
And all that hatred pointed toward one man, the one who had pushed him down this path, who had helped twist him into the vessel of this vile abyssal force.
In his command, hidden beneath layers of rage, was one special order,if anything not native to the abyss appears… report immediately.
Mephisto intended to kill Soren with his own hands.
✦••┈┈••✦••┈┈••✦
Meanwhile, far away, Soren and the succubus Great Elder sped toward the Fallen Land. Guided by her knowledge of the abyss, they didn't bother flying openly.
Soren gripped the elder's arm and cast short-range teleportation spells again and again, adjusting their direction between jumps to stay on target.
By pure luck or perhaps some unseen protection, these rapid teleports kept them clear of every single Blackened demon horde roaming the deadlands.
But nothing shielded them from what they eventually saw.
"Catastrophe…" The Great Elder stopped short.
The ground ahead was carpeted with corpses, mangled and half-devoured remains of every kind of abyssal race. Some had been slain instantly by the Blackened demons, others had been torn apart only after death.
Hardly a single complete body was left, and the deeper they went, the worse it became.
The dead stretched so far that they blanketed the entire land like a grotesque sea. Soren had never witnessed anything like this.
Nothing in his battles, not even the horrors he'd seen in other dimensions, prepared him for this level of carnage. His stomach tightened, but his resolve didn't waver.
The Fallen Land had to be purified, no matter the cost.
And every sign pointed to Mephisto being at the center of it all.
As they moved, an aura pressed against Soren's senses… violent, hungry to erase everything it touched. A force so mighty and hateful that even Dormammu would have treated it with caution.
The Great Elder gestured ahead just as they landed from another teleport. "Be careful. This… this is where the Fallen Land begins."
"…" Even she stopped in stunned disbelief.
The Fallen Land, normally a vast stretch of corrupted territory, had shrunk drastically. Yet every inch of ground around it was split with dark, jagged cracks.
It was the mark of a region that had been utterly drained of life. A place that was already dead.
"This area used to lie well within the boundaries of the Fallen Land," the Great Elder voice tightened as she studied the collapsed terrain. "But… something has changed."
"The Fallen Land has shrunk drastically. We'll have to walk from here, no more teleportation."
The closer they came, the heavier the oppressive pull of the abyss's origin became. And layered atop that was the pulsing corruption of the extremely evil aura. For a native of the abyss, the pressure was lethal.
If Soren hadn't been shielding her with spatial energy, she would already have collapsed.
Seeing her trembling slightly, Soren spoke softly. "You've already done enough. Go back."
"From here on, I'll go alone. If Mephisto truly lies at the heart of this… I'll end him."
The Great Elder's face went pale. Even if she followed him inside, she would be powerless to help. She knew it… she hated it.
But she also knew Soren was right.
She bowed her head. "Soren… the future of the abyss rests with you now. Please… do everything you can."
Gone was her usual ethereal allure. In that moment she looked vulnerable, almost painfully sincere. It stirred something warm in Soren's chest.
He gave her a faint smile and flicked his fingers, opening a shimmering portal behind her.
"Don't worry, a promise is a promise. I won't break it."
The Great Elder bit her lip, nodded reluctantly, and stepped through the portal.
The gateway snapped shut and the air grew cold.
Without her presence to distract him, Soren felt the raw weight of the abyss's origin pressing down. The suppression wasn't personal, Plane against outsider. Existence against an intruder.
Even with his strength, it dug under his skin like needles.
Still, he pushed forward.
He didn't mask his presence and didn't bother trying to hide, didn't try to sneak. If this was truly Mephisto, then he wanted Soren to come.
And Soren wanted him to know exactly who was walking straight into the Fallen Land without fear.
Wind roared against him as he accelerated, hurtling toward the corrupted center.
Deep within the Fallen Land, in the heart of darkness, a pair of eyes snapped open.
Warped with a hatred that had been mutating alongside the corruption inside him.
The extremely evil aura surged violently, boiling around Mephisto's body. He had sensed them the moment Soren and the Great Elder stepped into the perimeter… now he felt Soren alone.
"Soren…" His voice was a jagged whisper through the Fallen Land.
"Excellent. I didn't need to hunt you after all. You actually came to throw your life away."
Darkness pulsed, forming waves of crackling energy around him. "When I tear you apart, I'll lead the abyssal army to Earth… and burn it to ashes."
The ground trembled.
A massive surge of the Fallen Land's power rushed toward Mephisto, drawn to him like starving beasts to a corpse.
He devoured it greedily, and his body swallowed the corruption, his form distorting beneath a thick shroud of malice.
Wrapped in raw, corrosive origin-energy, Mephisto rose.
SOREN!