The sight food brought a moment of calm to Adam, a brief pause in the relentless pace of his new life.
He hadn't had a proper meal since his awakening.
No, he hasn't had a properly for long before that!
Those years, unable to move, talk, or see, his life was maintained by machines and fluid nutrients pumped into his body. The taste of food had long been forgotten.
The scent was a strange mix of rich, gamey fat and a faint whiff of blood.
Roh explained that it had been cooked in a nearby 'hot spot,' an area where natural, geothermal heat rose from the ground. A common way food was cooked, without having the aroma escape the ground where the food was buried.
This was a natural phenomenon of the unique, brutal nature of hell; a world where the flora and fauna were as much a part of the ecosystem as the fiends themselves.
A way of life unique to its inhabitants.
Adam wrapped the meat and grunted his thanks before waving off Roh.
This little act of delivering food was his way of probing his lord's current emotions after all that had transpired, and to see whether or not Adam was mad at him for not stopping Blair and Agri's fight.
Although Adam was dismissive of him, Roh felt that it was one of the best outcomes.
Roh's robust and tall body quickly bowed as he backed away, a faint relief washing over him as his lord seemed calm at the moment.
The trio were left alone once again.
The bickering slowly faded away, the girls growing bored of each other, and the night grew darker. Only the sound of meticulous carving could be heard.
As the second night fell, a distant storm, a wall of crackling demonic energy and fire, appeared on the horizon.
The thundering disrupted the peace and quiet that had formed.
Blair, momentarily distracted, looked towards the raging storm, "It's a tempest, my lord."
It stretched for thousands of miles, a spectacle of destructive power that moved in parallel to the basin, a reminder that hell's environment was deadly and unforgiving.
Adam stood with a hint of serenity in the hellish landscape, the backdrop a faint flickering torch that Blair had lit to illuminate her work. Her natural talent with flames made it easy for her to do so.
"It won't pass here, finish up your work." Adam replied, not looking away from the storm.
He felt a strange fondness for the current world he lived in, a sense of ease he had never known before.
'This is my home,' Adam thought before smirking and going back to work.
A place where he belonged.
Such storms were common, and although beautiful and pleasing to look at, could cause mass destruction to unprepared forces. Adam could only hope that the defensive rune could withstand such a power if it were to come his way one day.
The night was pitch black, and a faint layer of sweat had covered the three workers, but he had finally finished the attack rune.
With its completion, a major point of his stress was finally gone, for now.
Heaving a deep sigh of relief, he casually laid down on top of a stack of the stone slabs that Agri had cut, forming a surprisingly sturdy, makeshift bed.
Agri eyes gleamed, her ever opportunist attitude saw a chance.
She scrambled down the obelisk and swiftly returned with several thick, leathery demonic hides and furs, quickly fashioning a better mattress for him.
Her purpose obvious; to make Adam favor her more.
With his stress now temporarily alleviated and his body weary from the day's work, Adam finally allowed himself to indulge in rest. He ordered Blair to sit on the bed with him and feed him, a simple command that caused Agri a great deal of envy.
'I'm the one who made your bed!' Agri thought in annoyance, but didn't dare to say a thing.
The demonic hound meat was surprisingly delicious; bloody, rich, and savory. With an exotic taste and filled with demonic mana that would drive a mortal to madness, but satiated Adam's devilish hunger perfectly. Well, mostly anything in hell was a source of demonic contamination for normal mortals.
As Adam ate, he pulled the ecstatic and surprised Blair closer, a satisfied look on his face.
"You have done well, Blair," he said, his voice soft and low, sending shivers down her spine, "While your actions were foolish, your strength and talent has proved its worth."
Blair purred in satisfaction while Agri could only bite her lips in silence.
Adam knew what he was doing. He was reinforcing Blair's superiority and usefulness, something that fueled her pride.
He glanced at Agri, who was on the verge of tears, her body shaking with a helpless, frustrated, indignant rage. He had given her a powerful motivating factor to become strong and useful; she would need to prove her worth if she wanted to be in his favor.
He then, without a hint of shame, removed the hide skirt he had been wearing since his awakening, revealing his toned and sculpted body.
Though "undeveloped" by devil standards, his height of over 2 meters and his muscular physique were that of a greek god. His red demonic eyes were especially captivating towards the demon ladies.
The faint bone outlines forming on the sides of his temples were the first sign of his devil bloodline becoming thicker and more refined.
It was a sign that he was nearing the middle tier lesser devil rank.
It was the constant use of demonic mana to create runes that honed his magical control. The swift understanding of hell's eyes and aura deepened his bloodline's potential. His constant toying nature, generating various negative emotions in his demonic followers, the anger and helplessness in Kaelgor, and even the great frustration and anger that he had caused in Gorael…
For a devil, generating these emotions in others was also a form of gaining strength; a source of demonic power, a source of corruption.
The hide was casually thrown to the side.
Seeing his exaggeratedly large flaccid 'object,' both Blair's and Agri's had fervent longing and salivating expressions. Alas, they were swiftly doused with cold water as Adam simply stated his sleepiness and unwillingness to do anything at the moment.
Internally, Adam smirked as he saw the blatantly horny expressions on their faces.
The urge to 'reward' them then and there flashed in his mind, but he wanted them to yearn for it, to work towards his favor. Still, he felt that he should satisfy his desires a bit more once he felt more energized.
Although initially disappointed, an hint of happiness washed over them when Adam called them into his bed. They were quick to release their natural armor, revealing their full glory and beauty, before pressing onto his body 'for warmth'.
Finally and peacefully drifted into sleep for the first time since his awakening.
Blair and Agri were on his either side, their nude bodies pressing tightly into the content Adam. Their purrs were seductive and filled with quiet longing, but as their gazes passed multiple times, fierce hate filled every inch of their expressions.
Unwillingly, with a belly full of lust and anger, they fell into slumber.