The dragon's harem

The Maharaja, the dreadful queen of the Rakshasa, was both feared and respected by everyone on the layer. A mind-bogglingly massive jaguar of titanic proportions. Her maw is large enough to swallow the heavens, and her claws plow the ancient lands of the layer.

Death doesn’t work the same here as everywhere else. He traps souls and resurrects everyone in it, sinners and devils alike. Maharaja hunts in this layer, feeding on the ancient sinner gods and daemons. If Kayden was known as the God-Slayer, then she is known as the God-Eater.

All devils in the ninth layer know about her and her power. Devils who carry Asmodeus’ blood aren’t rare. They are respected, but not treated much differently. But this was the first time someone came carrying Mahraraja’s fangs, that dreadful hunter. The devils immediately understood what this meant. Those four women are under her protection.

The devils’ red faces paled and drained of blood as they guided Sara and her party into the city, the capital of hell, Holy Devil.

The devils then let the girls head into the city uninterrupted and sent a message to the Temple of Treachery and informed them of their arrival.

Devils worshipped Asmodeus in the Temple of Treachery, and countless priests and priestesses trained there. Sara is one of them, albeit her entrance was a bit peculiar. Her rank isn’t that high; she can be called a lower priestess at best, but she still managed to get that rank despite her father being a human.

That’s how her entrance was peculiar. Sara was supposed to die there. But in the end, her mother managed to pull some strings and got a signed pardon from Asmodeus. She looked at the girls, warning them that they shouldn’t expect the warmest of welcomes, but at least they’ll get help.

But despite Sara’s worries, the other three were busy observing the city of hell, their faces pale and terrified. This place didn’t look like any human city. It was harrowing.

At what looked like a street stall built of black stones, a naked woman was being cut piece by piece, alive and slowly grilled to feed a long line of bored, starving devils. Mortals of all races were treated like cattle here, but the devil made a point of making them suffer before killing them.

Wherever they looked, they heard someone screaming, begging for mercy as they were either slowly killed, tortured, or worse.

At another corner of the street, they saw a large, gaunt man being dragged around with a chain on his neck like a dog by a devil in what looked like a suit. The girls threw glances at Sara. That man was the first mortal they saw here with clothes on. She immediately explained that he must be a warlock, a mortal who signed a contract with a devil, and ended up here.

That man might not suffer like the sinners, but he is still at the mercy of the devil holding the contract. Sara explained the difference. It is akin to a cow sentenced to slaughter and a house pet.

Mortals would try to put the cattle out of their misery faster and treat their pets with love and care. Devils are the opposite since this is hell, where mortals come to suffer. But just as mortals sometimes don’t follow that rule and make their pets suffer, devils are also prone to showing kindness to their slaves. But it is rare.

Many devils approached them in the city as well, far more than the few who checked on the outside of it. This time, some were asking if Sara is willing to sell one of them, and some even came trying to pick a fight since they didn’t like seeing Lunara’s face. Devils and demons are at war, and a demon like Lunara isn’t welcome here.

Gamond noted that the heat of the layer is so oppressive that it can suppress her cold magic. Even if she started using temperature magic to absorb the heat and store it, she’ll be full in minutes.

The devils were all too powerful. Lunara didn’t look so happy about her chances here. While the abyss had many layers, each with a demon lord and countless armies of powerful demons, the devils also had as much military power. Almost every devil they saw in this city was as powerful as a pseudo-demon-lord, the guards at the gate were all at a Demon Lord level of power, and inside the city, Lunara had counted over fifty devils that could defeat her.

What was horrifying is that most of the powerful devils of the city live in the inner circle, and there are nine circles here. They are in the circle where the weakest of the devils live. They still didn’t see any of the really powerful devils. Those are the devils of the ninth layer, the jailers of the gods.

After a while of them walking through the ghastly city, Matilda asked a question. “What did those sinners commit to end up here?”

Sara looked back at her and then turned to a pale blond woman who was in a steel cave, looking at them from the side of the street with a terrified face.

Sara approached the cage and then looked at the door beside it. The girls followed her in silence as she knocked. Soon, a devil walked out and looked at them. “What do you need, priestess?”

“A simple favor.” Her eyes shifted to the blond woman, “Will you let her live in peace for a day if she answered one of my questions?”

The devil looked at Sara, then at the girls behind her. He then sighed, “Fine, ask her whatever you want. But…” He walked inside and then came with a lantern. “If you fill this out for me for free. A favor for a favor.”

Sara touched the lantern, and it burned with divine magic. The devil’s face contorted into a grin, and he kicked the cage, “Heard them, answer and you’ll have a peaceful day.”

The woman flinched and started shaking uncontrollably in terror. Sara looked down and asked with a terrifying smile, “Simple question, what did you do to end up here? You don’t look like that bad of a sinner based on your smell.”

The woman remained silent for a while and then cried out, realizing that she might be late answering.

“I… I…was the queen of a small kingdom. I led the army to kill and conquer neighboring kingdoms for resources and land. I managed to expand the kingdom by a lot, but…” She looked at the cage with a sad face, “I ended up here after I died. Everyone that my army killed, plundered, and violated under my order was my sin.”

Sara stood, “Millions of dead souls on her neck, tens of thousands of suffering souls as well.” She looked at the girl, “And she is one of the better sinners around.”

“Who counts them?” Matilda asked, “The gods?”

Sara shook her head, “Death counts them. She was there collecting the souls of the men her soldiers killed.”

The woman looked at the devil, who still stood at the door, and he waved his hand, “Aren’t you a lucky one? Got yourself a day of rest.” He grabbed the cage and dragged her inside. For some reason, the woman grew pale, and she started screaming, begging Sara to tell him to let her go.

The girls looked at Sara with pale faces. She turned to them with a somber face. It was then that a loud bell rang, “The day is over.”

As Sara walked away, they followed her in silence, hearing the woman’s wails inside the house.