The Bottomless Abyss was an endless succession of layers and countless transformations, a realm that reflected all ugliness, Evil, and chaos.
It was a paradise of sin and a kingdom of chaos. Slaughter was commonplace, while betrayal and treachery took turns onstage like actors in a play.
But even the most chaotic place had order. Demons, notorious for their chaotic nature, still followed the law of the strong preying on the weak and submitted to the rule of the Demon Lords.
The Amoeba Sea, the 222nd layer of the Abyss, was no exception. Its ruler, the Demon Lord Jubilex, had once been a Slime, a creature at the very bottom of the monster hierarchy.
Slimes were known as the weakest monsters. Even when they fell into the Abyss and became Corrupting Slimes, they remained the weakest.
A Succubus, weak by demon standards, could take down a dozen Corrupting Slimes of the same level with a single whip. Higher-level Corrupting Slimes were little more than targets for demons looking to defeat monsters above their level.
Anyone who had yet to pull off that feat could simply go beat up a Corrupting Slime. That was a guaranteed way to claim victory over a higher-level opponent.
But once a Corrupting Slime gained the Bottomless Abyss's recognition and ascended to become a Demon Lord, everything changed. Even Flame Demons and Demon Dragons, reputed to be the strongest of the Abyss's demons, could not defeat a Demon Lord empowered by an entire layer of the Abyss within the Amoeba Sea.
Any powerful demon that was not a Demon Lord had to obey his will and abide by his rules upon entering the Amoeba Sea. One such rule forbade high-ranking demons from entering unless they paid Jubilex a toll.
A pure, delectable soul.
To demons, souls