Portal

Staring at the panel in front of him, a look of interest appears on Caeruleum's face.

From Cuniculus's reaction, it can be inferred that a new layer isn't something that simply happens every other day.

But this brings the question, why? Caeruleum finds it hard to believe that this is merely a coincidence,

although he hasn't encountered a lot of demons, from the select few he's seen, it's quite obvious that the stronger they are, the more cunning and calculative they become.

And for something on the magnitude of generating an entire layer, the only beings Caeruleum thinks have the qualifications to perform such feats… are obviously the demon kings.

---

As Caeruleum continues to mentally rant in order to quell his immense boredom, at an immeasurable distance away, A massive, red, and mirror-like portal constantly fluctuates as it attempts to stabilize itself.

The portal, standing at a height of 10 kilometers, is surrounded by an army of several billion demons.

Each demon has their own unique physical features, some are tall, some are short, quite a few possess flight capabilities, represented by their intricately crafted wings, while the others roam on the ground, their heavy footsteps etching dents onto the rocky terrain.

Despite their differences, the demons all have one thing in common, the cruel and bloodthirsty look in their eyes, each emanating an intense hunger for conquer and destruction.

A few meters away from the portal is a small boulder around 2 meters and diameter, sitting on said boulder is a hooded demon, although the hood obscures the face of the demon, the bobbing of the head, followed by the constant snoring in such a tense and Solemn environment filled with madness and bloodthirst, tells tails about the one beneath the hood.

As time continues to pass, second by second, minute by minute, the scene remains relatively constant, including the rhythmic echoes of the beating heart of the abyss. The only change being the decrease in the fluctuation of the portal, and the hooded Demon's constant shift and positioning in attempts to make himself more comfortable.

Nine hours later, the constant heartbeats suddenly stop, bringing the abyss to a brief period of silence. Then, without any warning,

Badump, Badump, Badump, Badump, Badump…

55 consecutive heartbeats echo at fast intervals.

At the final beat, the portal finally stabilizes bringing an end to the chaotic aura

The hooded demon slowly opens his eyes and lets out a tired yawn.

Tilting his head, the demon shifts his gaze and stares at the spectacle before him.

He then clicks his tongue, marveling at the beautiful sight before him. The portal previously red, now constantly illuminates with a myriad of colors while swirling and swishing, displaying irregular patterns like a viscous fluid.

Standing up on top of the rock, the demon takes a step forward, but instead of falling to the ground, his foot remains plastered in mid-air, taking another few steps, he now stands, hovering merely a foot away from the portal

"The time has come…

Let us bring this brand new land before me under our control." He begins to speak. His slightly monotone voice exhibiting suppressed excitement.

"It's time to Conquer!"

Flaring his aura, the pressure of a lord-level demon sweeps through the land, encompassing millions of miles.

"GLORY TO DEMON KING APATHY!!!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH"

Defending cheers encompass the surroundings.

With a whoosh, the hooded demon enters the portal, followed by 1 then 2 then 3... eventually, billions of demons pass through.

Just as the last demon was about to enter the portal...

Swish

With the sound of cutting through the air, the final demon gets split vertically in half. A chasm spanning several miles is left in its wake.

Behind where the demon was standing, an ugly-looking, brown, insectoid demon suddenly appeared.

The demon has a height of 3 meters with white and blue spots on its exoskeleton, the claws of the demon, previously in the shape of an ax, turn into several scythe-shaped weapons.

Stepping over the bisected demon the insectoid silently enters the portal.

As the insectoid enters, billions of spacial fluctuations appear in the surroundings.

Out from the turbulent space are countless demons.

Together, they form an army of a size larger than that of the previous.

Then with what seems to be impatience, they all rush into the portal with Immense speed.

As more and more demons rush forward, the sky changes color and the terrain starts to melt from their terrifying velocity.

After the final demon enters, the land, previously agitated by the constant rapid movement, begins to settle, allowing one to clearly see the scenery below.

The terrain, previously rocky and uneven, decorated with dark green and grey rocks, is now filled with streams of flowing magma, all gushing in the direction of the portal.

Then suddenly, the scene descends into a subtle quietness, even the sound of the flowing magma becomes silent as if someone placed the world on mute.

Crack, Swoosh

Somewhere in the sky, another spatial fluctuation appears.

Out from the space is Demon King Iratus.

Behind him, Naramil walks out with both arms crossed, head held up high, and his eyes scanning the surroundings with constant disdain.

Iratus, with a look of impatience, releases all of his aura.

Rumble, rumble

The entire 54th layer begins to tremble.

Even Demons light years away, suddenly prostrate themselves on the ground, their eyes filled with immense fear.

Crunch,

Trees, pebbles, boulders, all objects within a 300-mile radius slowly begin to float in the air.

crack, crack, crack,

The points where the previous billion spatial turbulence occurred suddenly cracked, causing countless passages leading to the chaotic void to open.

Ghostly howls resonates throughout.

Badump

Even the abyss, suddenly skips a beat at the sudden pressure.

With a ruthless and savage glint in his eye, Demon King Iratus jumps down and lands right before the passage.

Boom, everything within a 30-mile radius suddenly turns to dust at the effect of the jump, with the only thing that remains unaffected being the portal up ahead and Naramil, still disdainfully looking around.

Demon king Iratus, now standing in mid-air, his location, representing where the ground was previously, now replaced by a gaping hole with unknown depths, jumps into the portal without an ounce of hesitation.

"Hmph, Savage brute," still floating in the air, Naramil mutters in disdain.

Naramil then elegantly floats down, and then, like everyone else, he casually enters the portal.