Theef took it upon himself to take a bite out of some the corpses as the crew readied themselves to leave.
The rest of the crew figured they had time to study the bodies of the imps and lesser demons and familiarized themselves with the residents of this side of the Hallowed Plane.
"These guys taste foul," Theef commented in between bites, "And I'm barely getting anything out of them."
Klein was busy dissecting a lesser demon while Null just tore through whichever were closest apart and siphoning the remnant demonic energy from them.
'I can feel a similarity between this energy and Rage. What do you think Ego?'
With nothing else to do besides feel the Emotions and mess around with his newfound spirit materials, such as the crystallized spirit water.
They were capable of conjuring nigh infinite amounts of spirit water as their connection to the Cosmic Structure and Null's body allowed them to siphon spirit energy inside their body which naturally generated more spirit water as a result.
'It's a violent energy for sure,' Ego replicated the demonic energy and showed the Creator who still happened to be there idling by with Ego.
'The demons found here are much like those on our plane, yet different in ways. Pure demonic energy fills them unlike those I've seen.'
'There are demons in the Mortal Plane? I thought you might have found your way along other planes unlike It,' Null remembered hearing the stories of the Creator's life.
The Creator elucidated, 'Consider the Mortal Plane a mixture of all specialized planes such as this Hallowed Plane we find ourselves in now. The only difference between specialized planes is that there are limits to the growth and origins of each race that is born in the Mortal Plane.'
Null's perspective was widened thanks to the explanation, but he had yet to travel nearly a fraction as much as the Creator, so he could only rely on the experiences he had in the present to judge the information he was given.
'So back to the demonic energy. How come these demons are different from those in the Mortal Plane?'
'They are the real deal, much like how there is plant-based products instead of real meat. This demonic energy that they have inside of them is a special trait like how Ego is a natural spirit water source.'
'I guess that makes sense,' the more he learnt, the better Null could access the situation.
'That's all I can say about the matter. You are more than capable of figuring out the rest by yourself,' the Creator returned to his spirit liquor like it was his reason for living.
"Are you guys done with your nitpicky ways of examination? I'm ready to go," Theef pestered.
"Be patient. It's not like you've got anything important to do," Null rebuked.
"Be that as it may, I could be practicing with my new Transcendent treasures or taking more so that-,"
"So that you can be more useful to helping me," Null finished his sentence and continued, "So, how about it? You feel like helping me out and divulging the results of your consumption?"
"Yeah. I'm not seeing anything noteworthy from simple dissections," Klein gave his take.
Theef had no choice but to acquiesce, "I'm feeling close to nothing, only an urge to consume. There's no feeling like a new form I'm able to take."
'Hmm. Looks like there's not much to go off just based on these lowly hell spawn.'
"I think it's time we head towards the teach," Null turned to the direction the vortex was pointing towards.
"Let's get to it then," Theef licked the blood off of his face.
And so, the crew headed in the direction of Edmond along with the demons that had him in their sight.
---
'Come on! Come on! The delectable essence of these fools is ours for the taking!'
With the voice echoing inside his head, Edmond was certain of what he was looking at.
In the distance was yet another city of grand stature, only this time there were preparations made just for him.
"The highborn has been sighted! Warn the guardian before he takes us on!"
The demon in the watchtower at the edge of the city immediately instructed his underlings and took it upon himself to join the frontal assault team.
'Hahaha! What a futile attempt! Hurry up and burn it to the ground!'
'This damn infuriating voice! I'll do whatever I damn well please, so shut the hell up!'
'And what is it that you want to do, huh? There's only one thing to do!'
Edmond was almost lulled by the words of the ethereal voice that played directly on his thoughts and emotions.
'I can only grow stronger and reach the place of my love,' his eyes that always shone when he brought up Evangeline were burning brightly, 'So, yeah. I guess I will raze this hell to the ground and consume everything I can.'
---
Null's group traveled through the hellscape at a quick pace once they focused on speed.
Barter's Ruler relied on his golden flying carpet which he carried Theef and Z'oelo on.
Klein powered his steps with his forte, air mofei, and fire mofei for an extra boost.
Naturally, Null propulsed himself with the purple energy and was leading them towards... a burning city.
Screams could be heard from in the distance and a pillar of dangerous flames erupted at one point causing the crew to grow weary.
"What do you make of the situation," Barter's Ruler spoke after a period of silence.
"It looks like someone, or something is besieging this city! We should check it out in case the teach is in danger," Null immediately made the call.
Once they entered through the melted gates, all that was seen was ruin.
The denizens of the city were hiding and running away from a single person in the midst of a fight with a single horned demon.
Well, fight was not exactly right as the single horned demon was trying his best to dodge the purgatory flames while shooting out poisonous gas from his mouth.
It was not working out well as the flames blew away the gas without fail and reduced his efforts to nothing.
It only took another moment before the demon was blasted by a plume of flames and absorbed by the highborn imp with two imposing horns growing from his head.
"It's him," was the only thing Null could say.
Sensing the presence of other beings, Edmond turned to see Null and the rest.
Upon first glance, he felt an urge deep within him to take out the obvious outsiders, but he managed to suppress it after realizing the severity of the circumstances.
'Outsiders. How the hell did they manage to reach here?'
'Who cares? Just consume them like you did the others!'
He could not follow the voice's instructions at the moment because just then the child in the multicolored blanket said something that Edmond thought he would never hear in this life.
"Is that you, Mr. Zolial?"