It had taken Fengo considerable effort to turn the mages of Sia Tower into what they were today.
Devils had, in fact, always preferred mages with highly concentrated souls.
But mages were also the greatest factor behind their failures.
After all, greater soul power meant a somewhat firmer will.
Even if they had already fallen into a trap, they might suddenly come to their senses at any moment.
Moreover, unlike mortals who clung to life and feared death, hesitantly following the devils even when they knew they had been deceived, mages would drag a devil down with them for some inexplicable reason.
Of course, before that, they would do everything possible to redeem their souls from the devils... only when all else failed would they resort to mutual destruction.
Logically, mages of the evil alignment had little objection to following devils in committing evil. But once they sensed that their souls would no longer belong to them, the resistance they unleashed could be particularly terrifying.
The greatest nuisance was that the devils never knew what might suddenly ignite these mages' rebellious spirit.
They had clearly already gone with the flow... as long as they lived long enough, they could put off thinking about where their souls would go after death.
Even Asmodeus occasionally slipped up when dealing with these mages who went mad for no discernible reason... the Lord of Hell rarely confronted powerful opponents head-on, and generally withdrew very quickly.
Thus, the few times he had suffered unexpected misfortune had all resulted from a backlash while attempting to control certain archmages.
After all, whether devils or combat angels, they were normal beings who understood and observed order. Unless absolutely necessary, they would not violate their own order.
Mages, however... even those who had always belonged to the lawful alignment