The second of the Nine Hells was named Dis. Green clouds covered this circle's sky, and powerful lightning cursed through them. The earth had endless rivers of lava that covered the entire layer.
The most impressive thing about the second circle of Baator was the fact that, despite having a size comparable to a High World, it was once covered in its entirety by one single city.
The legendary Iron City of Dis was one of the two cores of Baator, along with Nessus, the home of Asmodeus.
The Iron Duke, A powerful Rank 9 Archdevil, controlled the city. It was thanks to his might and cunningness that the Iron City of Dis rose to prominence.
In the entire universe, the Iron City was believed to be an eternal bastion of the devils that no one could ever destroy due to its impregnable defense.
However, even the most fantastic city of Baator could not resist the Nightmare of Dis. The Incarnation of Death and Destruction butchering the Archdevils and then swallowing the origin of Dis destroyed the Iron City.
After millions of years and countless sacrifices, the Archdevils have managed to restore Dis' origin and reconstructed the Iron City. Nonetheless, the size of the city was half of the one in its prime.
The outer layers were abandoned and considered a lawless zone. Devils killed each other regularly in those places. They did it to rob people or to consume their flesh to strengthen their bloodline.
Two devil armies were fighting in one of those lawless zones. The tactics on each of the troops were impressive, and it was clear they had done this many times.
A Rank 4 Devil led each army. They would only begin their fight once a victor emerged between the lesser devils' troops.
Both leaders frowned as they felt a fluctuation in space. They looked at the sky, trying to find the newcomer.
That was the last thing the Rank 4 Devils did before an invisible force hit them and their armies. The duo fell unconscious, and every single lesser devil died instantly.
Zatiel saw with a smile how his Soul Eradicator had killed everyone in a single swoop and even more when he realized how little Mind Force the spell needed.
The Neo-Demon could have also killed the Rank 4 Devils, but they were more useful alive. Zatiel's Mind Force invaded their brain, and in less than ten seconds, he learned everything about them.
He shook his head when he realized that neither had a direct connection with a Devil Lord.
'Well, it is reasonable. These two Rank 4 Devils are both at the First Origin Cycle, after all.' The Neo-Demon gathered their belongings before opening his mouth and devouring all the dead lesser devils along with one of the Rank 4 Devils.
After that, he used the True Soul of the last devil to create a Doppelganger Fiend Rune.
Zatiel did it very fast and did not care if there were instabilities in the rune since it would only be temporary. His soul force will be equal to the one of the True Soul with which he made the rune, and it would bring him many problems if he displayed his full battle power with a weak Rank 4 Devil's soul force.
The moment he engraved the Animax Soul Rune in his True Soul, bones covered his wings, and an evil aura emanated from his entire being.
Zatiel began to fly after he finished his transformation. After two days of traveling, he saw a city surrounded by an unbelievable high wall covered with endless runic formations.
Although he could fly above the wall, it was forbidden to enter the Iron City that way.
The Neo-Demon headed to one of the many entrances and waited in line. Luckily, the devils were moving fast. They just had to pay the entrance tax.
Zatiel was behind a fifty meter tall Rank 4 Stone Golem. The moment the devil reached the entrance, two Peak Rank 4 Ice Devils received him.
The Stone Golem showed the guards a medallion revealing the Devil Lord he served.
One of the Ice Devil examined the medallion, and once he made sure it was real, he spoke.
"Twenty soul coins."
Soul coins were the currency used by high ranking devils. They were made with the souls of the mortals that arrived in Baator and Origin Power.
The Stone Golem nodded and handed twenty blue coins to an Ice Devil before entering the city.
It was the Neo-Demon's turn next. He walked to the guard before taking twenty soul coins from his space ring.
The Ice Devils looked at each other once they saw Zatiel did not show any medallion and felt that his soul force was at the First Origin Cycle.
"For new residents, the price is ten thousand soul coins." There was a wicked smile in the Ice Devil when he spoke those words.
Zatiel's eyes narrowed when he heard that. Ten thousand soul coins were enough to buy a Rank 6 Artifact, and there was no way a Rank 4 Devil could have so much.
The Neo-Demon did have that amount with him. After all, he had killed many Devil and Demon Lords, but the problems would only grow if he showed his wealth.
It was clear to him they were trying to trick him. If they were in Abyss, Zatiel would have killed them, but this was Baator, a lawful plane, so he needed to play by its rules. Not to mention he felt several consciousnesses belonging to Devil Lords surveying the wall.
"Ten thousand soul coins are the price needed to buy a property in the Iron City. I only want to enter it."
Coldness appeared in the eyes of the Ice Devils when they heard the words of the Neo-Demon. They wanted to scare Zatiel away with that immense sum, but it was clear they were facing a smart opponent.
The devils could not go against the rules of their position. That wordplay they did before was a way to trick the newcomers who did not know the Iron City's rules, but the Ice Devils were not defeated yet.
"Hmph, we were given the authority by a Devil Lord to inspect all the belongings of any newcomer who behaves suspiciously. You enter that category since you have never been to the Iron City before, and yet you know the price of a residence." There were many ways the person in front of him could have obtained that information, and the Ice Devil knew it, but he just needed to find an excuse to pressure his opponent into giving in.
Zatiel may have lived his life as a demon, but his cunningness was so great that he once made the Nine Hells tremble. He could defeat this Ice Devil in a game of wits and obtain his entrance to the city, but a new plan appeared in his mind.
He immediately backed up and adopted a defensive stance once the Ice Devil mentioned examining his belongings.
Zatiel showed a trace of killing intent in his eyes before flying away and vanishing into the mountains in the distance.
When the Ice Devils saw the Neo-Demon's behavior, they smiled, and less than ten minutes after Zatiel left, one of them chased after him.
Everybody who saw the Ice Devil understood his goal, but no one bothered with him.
It was typical for the city guards to chase away and then rob the newcomers. Of course, most of the profits went for the Devil Lords.
The Peak Rank 4 Ice Devil returned in less than an hour, and there were some minor injuries on his body.
He first went to the top of the city's walls and bowed to a Devil Lord lying there before offering a space ring.
"I suppose you only took ten percent of what was inside, right?" The Devil Lord had the form of a giant poison worm, and his voice carried an ominous feeling.
"Of course, my Lord." The Ice Devil responded with fear and did not dare to look at the worm directly.
The Devil Lord inspected the space ring and allowed the devil to leave.
The moment the Ice Devil returned to his post, his comrade spoke to him.
"It seems that the weak devil gave you a fight."
"Hmph. I was able to kill that garbage in two moves."
