The Chaos District was not just a place where demons lived. It was a living and breathing machine that Vane had built from the ground up. In the early days of his rebirth he had found a sector of Hell that was so broken and so violent that even the other Overlords stayed away. They called it the Dead Zone. Vane saw it differently. He saw a place where the rules of the world had already failed which meant he was free to write his own.
Vane walked through the central plaza and felt the vibration of the city beneath his boots. The ground here was made of a mixture of black stone and copper wiring. It pulsed with a soft violet light that matched the tattoos on his skin. This was his greatest secret. He had laced the entire district with a network of energy conductors. Every time a demon got into a fight or an explosion went off the energy was not wasted. It was collected by the streets themselves and fed back into Vane's own power supply.
Beside him walked Razor. The demon was tall and lean with skin like gray slate and eyes that glowed like embers. He carried two long blades on his back and moved with the silence of a ghost. Razor was a man of very few words but his loyalty was absolute. He had seen Vane take a city of ruins and turn it into a fortress. He had seen Vane feed the hungry and crush the cruel. To Razor Vane was not just a boss. He was a god of the New World.
The North Sector is stable Boss Razor reported in his gravelly voice. The scavengers tried to pick at the scrap metal from the latest building collapse but I reminded them who owns the dirt. They will not be back to bother the workers.
Vane looked up at the leaning clocktower. It was a massive structure of iron and gears that rose hundreds of feet into the red sky. It did not track time. It tracked the stability of the realm. If the gears turned fast it meant the chaos was rising. If they stopped it meant the district was in danger of becoming stagnant. Vane lived for the middle ground. He wanted the world to be wild enough to be free but structured enough to be safe.
The people here do not want peace Razor Vane said as they passed a group of demons working on a high rise building. They are sinners. They are filled with anger and greed and regret. If you give them a park they will burn it down. But if you give them a purpose they will follow you. I give them a world where they can be monsters as long as they are useful monsters.
Vane stopped at a street vendor who was selling roasted meats that smelled of sulfur and spice. The vendor looked up and his three eyes widened in terror. He began to shake so hard he nearly dropped his tongs. Vane was a kind ruler compared to Vox or Alastor but he was still a Morningstar. His presence felt like a heavy weight in the air. It felt like a storm that was waiting to break.
Keep the change Vane said as he dropped a heavy gold coin on the counter. And fix the neon sign on your stall. It is flickering out of rhythm. It ruins the pattern of the street.
The vendor nodded so fast he almost fell over. Vane kept walking but his mind drifted back to the palace he had left behind. He remembered sitting at long dinner tables where no one spoke. He remembered his father Lucifer looking at him with eyes that saw only a disappointment. Lucifer wanted a son who would lead armies with fire and blood. He did not understand a son who wanted to lead with logic and wires.
He remembered Charlie the most. She was always so bright. She would try to hold his hand when the shadows in the palace got too dark. She would tell him stories about a world where everyone was happy. Vane had loved her for it but he had also known she was wrong. Hell was not a place for happiness. It was a place for survival. He had left to prove that he could survive on his own terms. He had left to build a place where he was the King and no one could ever call him a disgrace again.