Wherever he walked, a path of devastation was left in his wake.
Edmond took it upon himself to empty out the entirety of his new life's residence and reach the apex.
Still, consuming the weak inhabitants did little to increase his overall strength.
'I need to find more cities that the demons hide themselves in.'
'Yeah! We will devour them all! Everything in the way must die for the sake of power!'
Smack!
Edmond was constantly hitting himself in the head due to the voice plaguing his mind.
'Get it together! We have to do this for Evangeline! Once I'm done with this place I will find my way to her. I have to!'
His feelings always dictated his actions and at this point, he only desired the strength needed to escape this hell and reclaim his spot next to his beloved.
"Oh, my Evangeline. My sweet, sweet Evangeline. Lord knows where you were separated from me."
It was funny the thought that a higher being could hold so much over his puny self.
'Exactly my point! We must have the strength even a god can't ignore to find purchase with the one above!'
"The strength of a god... above...," Edmond looked up once more and felt a new surge of discomfort flow through his body.
This time, he felt the voice was helping him find some sort of semblance of the reality he was in.
He could feel it faintly; there was no doubt in his mind that he could find Evangeline somewhere above the rocky ceiling.
The feeling originated from the depths of his soul.
He was beginning to trust his instincts more with the capabilities of his new body and with that, the feeling of desire blossomed the more he grew.
He knew she was out there waiting for him, and he knew that it would take something more than he was currently to reach her.
The only problem was the lack of stronger demons in the area.
'Maybe I should have looked for a map in the city before I left.'
His past decisions could not be undone and going back just to look for something he was not even certain would be there was what led him to continue on foot just as he was.
He was teeming with energy despite travelling for what he could sense was days on end.
In the end, it was weeks before he found the next civilization only this time, he was unaware that news of a newly born highborn that was running rampant had spread thanks to his previous actions.
As soon as he neared the city, the entirety of the city was alarmed that a two-horned imp with peculiar markings on his body made his way towards them.
'Lucky me; the whole place is giving me a warm welcome.'
'Just eat! Eat until there's nothing left!'
For once, he had intended to follow the words of the voice with no hesitation; he would rather forsake his sanity than mingle with demons while he had a reason to grow stronger.
By the time he refocused on the matter at hand, the forces behind the city had gathered and were waiting for his next move.
"You are not allowed here! Leave or we will be forced to act!"
Edmond could tell based on the lack of horns growing from their heads that the opposition were withholding their strongest forces.
"I won't waste my time with this. Get your strongest or...," Edmond started, but did not see the point in talking with those weaker than him.
"Y'know what. I'll just find them myself!"
His eyes glowed a golden yellow sheen— a stark contrast from the dark reds and oranges that existed in this hell.
Wherever his gaze went, the demons were shaken to their core; none of them could move an inch.
When he saw the results, Edmond waved his hand before him and a wave of flames came out to envelope the still demons.
Once their bodies were dissolved into the pure demonic essence, Edmond walked forwards into the city while absorbing it all.
Inside the city, the rest of the demons were scrambling to avoid the incoming threat.
With no choice but to confront the danger, the leaders of the city came out of hiding.
There was a group of demons all with a tiny horn sprouting from each of their foreheads.
'Seems like this city has more equality amongst their higher ups.'
Edmond made a quick examination before deciding that there would not be any difficulty in taking them out.
"I've heard you use flames to take out other demons. I'd like to see them for myself!"
The demon in the center of the group was the only one to speak before manifesting a flame in his palm that seemed much weaker than his purgatory flame.
Nevertheless, the demon shot the flame towards Edmond while the rest of the demons started charging at him.
Needless to say, the flame merely landed on his body with no reaction whatsoever and that only incited Edmond to act.
He decided to face the demons before him without the purgatory flames as he felt the desire to tear into his prey first.
So, as the first demon came up to him with oversized palms that threatened to flatten Edmond, he in turn clawed at him with his dirty nails.
Squelch!
Edmond's superior body shredded the other demon's hand with relative ease, and it continued down his arm until eventually cleaving the opposing demon apart at the chest.
With one down, the demons were a bit startled at the gruesome fate of their companion, but they continued with little fear.
One of the demons' muscles bulged as he grew closer and another demon's fingers stretched longer trying to ensnare Edmond.
Firstly, Edmond grabbed the muscular demon's arm and squeezed it until even the bones broke.
Secondly, with his other hand, he grabbed the elongated fingers of the other demon and wrapped them around his arm, pulling the demon closer before taking a huge bite of their neck.
While the first demon was reeling back in pain, Edmond took on the rest of the demons without fail.
As for the fire wielding demon, he cowered in fear after witnessing not only his own fire yielding no effect, but the entirety of the demon troops failing to even damage Edmond in the slightest.
"What are you?! A newborn demon should not possess such strength even with the downfall of a demon city!"
"How should I know? I'm just another demon in this god forsaken hell."
And with that, he stomped the frightened demon's head in.