'Can you press on the demon realms.' Felix ordered the commander.
"Is it possible to know more about those realms?" Commander Nethareal narrowed his eyes, "How big are they, who leads them, and why are there seven?"
"You guys really know nothing?"
This time the Luminaris were truly taken back as they thought that they had come from at least a different demon realm and lost their way here...But now, they had absolutely no clue and it didn't seem like Commander Nethareal was going to tell them before they ask his questions.
"Well, we really don't know that much about all of the seven demons' realms. Such information is in possession of the Luminari's royal family and its government. All we know is the general knowledge about our demon realm." Jakrka shook his head.
'I guess information is treated as a resource here.' Felix thought to himself.
With the absence of UVR and a united alliance, it was understandable that the commoners would have a minimum understanding of their universe.
'Even the information in their possession can be false or misleading, so it's best to question everything we hear until we get confirmation from the royal family.’
"All we know is that the seventh demon realm is being owned by a royal demon called Prince Beelzebub and that his territory is the smallest out of all seven realms." Jakrka shared.
"Who is this Prince Beelezubub? How strong is he?"
"We never interacted with him or his people since our planet has been invaded by a rogue demon race called the Netherlings...Although we are in his demon realm, those demons do not answer to him. So, we really don't know anything about him but his infamous name." The Luminari elder Hognora anwsered this one with an honest tone.
"Is that so?" Commander Nethareal asked his leaders telepathically, "What do you think?"
"There isn't any sign of dishonesty displaced." Queen Allura said, "We should take their word for it."
"Move on." Felix approved of it as well.
"Tell us more about those Netherlings and how can they be living in a royal demon's territory and not be subjected to his rulership? Is there no strict hierarchy?"
"They are demons, they have no loyalty to anyone but themselves."
"So how do they trust each other?"
"With something called a Demon contract or a Soul contract. This contract can be taken between only a higher demon in rank than the other. It can never work between two demons of the same rank."
"This demon contract is extremely strict and most lesser demons get forced to sign it and swear allegiance to a higher demon only after they realize that their odds of surviving by themselves are too slim."
"For example, Prince Beelzebub and the other six princes have the highest number of demon contracts attached to them, probably in billions if not more. Those contracted lesser demons can be considered literal slaves to them. They could do whatever they want to them without any repercussion...Even kill them."
"Why are they so stupid to sign such an eternal death sentence?" Commander Nethareal frowned.
It just didn't make sense to him that selfish and disloyal demons would hand over their freedom like this to another being.
"When compared to the alternative, it's much better." Jakrka shook his head, "Lesser demons are just normal people like us being demonized after long exposures to potent evil energy. When they get demonized and have their minds and even their bodies changed, they still keep one thing in their control...Rationality."
"Unfortunately, the only method to not lose their rationality and intelligence is to keep feeding on the purities of the universe. Otherwise, they will turn into animalistic demons following the same desire as the evil energy...Utter corruption of anything pure."
'In other words, rational demons are actually still fighting off evil energy even when they already became demons!"
Felix was really startled by this Intel.
It was like even demons didn't have immunity to their own evil energy and were still under its constant corruption.
If they allowed it to do as it pleased, they would get too corrupted to even have a single thought in their mind.
They would be left with an empty shell, seeing nothing but pure corruption.
"I can't believe there can be such a potent and fearsome energy in the universe." Queen Allura uttered, "If even demons are fighting it, we will really suffer a great deal in our conquest against it."
The inner circle leaders could already imagine having their own people demonized and turned against them.
They wouldn't be able to stop attacking them even if they wanted since stopping meant losing their rationality.
"It's like a deadly plague that has absolutely no cure." Emperor Lokhil said with a solemn tone, "Are you guys still sure about conquering this portion of the universe? If only one demon or even a bit of evil energy managed to sneak past the wormhole and we didn't contain the spread, we lose all of our territories to the corruption as well."
Just like most zombie apocalypses, they start with one or two and end up conquering the world and leaving entire civilizations in ruins.
The inner leaders knew that if they underestimated the dangers of evil energy, their fate wouldn't be any different than Luminaris and other races.
“So, I guess the contracts are made so the less fortunate demons get taken care of higher ones by offering them free ‘food’.” Commander Nethareal said.
"Exactly." Jakrka nodded.
'Ask him about what he means by purities?’ Felix ordered.
pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ Commander Nethareal relayed the question as it was.
"Purities are a bit of a vague concept for even us. Some even call it pure energy and it exists to keep evil energy in check and balance the odds. Because evil energy is much more spread out and potent, this kind of pure energy gets devoured by it easily and corrupts whatever living thing it was attached to."
"We were told by the Luminaris' loyal family that all lifeforms whether intelligent or not have a different level of purity.
It can be a tree, a flower, an animal, an intelligent person, or even elemental energies in some cases. When they lose their purities, they don't really die out but just turn into a corrupted version...In this case, we call it getting demonized."
'So what was within those demonic statues was pure energy and when it was released at once, it was so potent, it devoured evil energy in the surroundings...No wonder those areas seemed more alive after each demonic statue we destroyed.' Felix reasoned after connecting the dots.
Felix might not still understand what purities really meant, but it was obvious whatever opposite of evil and corruption.
This meant good men who do great deeds and always help the less fortunate must carry with them a much higher level of pure energy than other people.
Another example was children who were born pure and without many evil thoughts.
This made Felix realize that children must be considered a delicacy for those demons.
The fact that the saved Luminaris from the underground had not a single child amidst them made him even more certain.
'See if it's possible for him to speak about what happened to their city and children.' Felix ordered with a deep frown.
knowing that he wasn't going to like the answer.
As expected. The moment Commander Nethareal brought out this matter, the Luminaris' expressions turned as pale as a piece of white cloth.
Fear, anger, anguish, hatred, and various other negative emotions were seen displayed in each color of their rainbow-like eyes..This question did more than struck a nerve.
"Can..Can we..talk about this another time." Jakrka closed his eyes shut while tightening his fists on his lap, "I am not ready..."
'Grand Supreme, orders??'
'Accept their wish. they aren't going anywhere.’ Felix ordered with a deep sigh, 'Give them a short break and ask them more about their race in general and the Netherlings.'
Felix still had no clue how exactly demons eat purities from their targets, but he could already forsee that it wasn't going to be gentle...
