Behind him, the dissipating dark energy left behind a thin layer of ash on the ground, like a fall of black snow.
At the passage between Hell and Purgatory.
Wu Heng stood at the entrance, facing a sea of demons.
Those demons were defeated remnants fleeing from various war zones. Some were still wounded, some were missing arms or legs, and some did not even have weapons. They crowded together, staring fearfully at the man standing at the passage entrance.
Wu Heng looked at them and spoke. His voice was not loud, but every word reached the ears of every demon clearly.
"Two choices."
"First, surrender. Submit to the Demon Hunter Guild, accept supervision, follow human rules, and you may live."
"Second, enter Purgatory from here and never come back."
The demons exchanged glances.
Some wavered. A low-ranking demon stepped out from the crowd, knelt on the ground, and pressed its head to the earth.
"I... I surrender."
Wu Heng glanced at it.
"Stand to the left."
The demon rose and walked to the left.
Then another stepped out, followed by another, and another.
But most of the demons did not move.
They looked at the rift leading to Purgatory, at the dark crimson sky within that churned eternally. Purgatory—the place even more terrifying than Hell, a place that even demons dared not enter lightly.
But at least there were no demon hunters there.
The first demon rushed into the Purgatory Rift, followed by the second, the third, the tenth, the hundredth.
Like a frightened flock of sheep, they surged toward the rift and vanished into the dark crimson light.
Wu Heng stood there and watched them flee.
Only after the last demon disappeared into the rift did he raise his hand.
"Isaac. Michelle."
Two replies came through the communicator.