‘Now then, where shall I go . . . ’

‘ . . . ‘

‘Right . . . the portion of inherited memories I received did not include the geography of Hell.’

Jason looked around, straining his eyes to find any sort of indicator of anything, really. Nothing. All around him, was a desolate wasteland of grey and black rocks, with twisted stone spires occasionally jutting out, as well as what seemed like lava pools here and there. Other than the lava pools, was only the dim red light coming from somewhere above the mist that made up the sky, or ceiling of Hell.

‘It seems that, I am lost.’

Jason sighed. It would appear that he would have to wander around and find some semblance of civilization, if there were any in Hell. He had a faint inkling that Hell had a strict social hierarchy, but any details eluded him. He would have to quickly find more prey to consume, to unlock more inherited memories.

For now, other than finding prey, his goal was to find civilization or shelter. While his memories informed him that devils did not need much sustenance, they still required occasional rest, and food. He would also need a place to discover and train his own abilities. His performance in the fight earlier was pathetic.

With nothing else to consider, he then glanced at the corpse of the devil he slew. It smelled absolutely horrible, and it was only with his extraordinary will that he suppressed his nausea and approached it. He was no stranger to death, of course, but this was a completely different scenario than dead humans.

He felt a sensation of hunger.

‘Oh, no way. I cannot possibly be thinking of eating that thing. How am I even hungry, anyways? I am made of mist, how can I eat? How did I even eat that brain earlier? Another thing to investigate later . . .’

Reluctantly, he stepped closer and observed the devil. It mainly had a canine form, but was not quite a canine. While it had canine legs, claws and a canine head, some parts of it seemed humanoid. Its chest, the shape of its arms. He would liken it to the common media portrayal of a werewolf, but replacing the fur with red skin and some leathery wings at the back.

He then examined its claws. Earlier, it had managed to scratch him with those claws, despite his body being made of mist. After a bit of messing around, he managed to rip out the claws.

‘Ugh.’ The claws were yellowed and dirty. It was indeed in the shape of a canine claw, long and slightly curved. Much sharper than a canine’s, though. It would likely come in handy. Now, for a bag of some sort to keep items with him. He glanced at the devil’s skin.

After attempting, somewhat successfully, to skin the devil, he finally managed to come up with a couple square pieces of skin that were still slightly bloody and stank. He dissected the rest of the devil and ended up with a few pieces of raw meat, and a couple of bones he managed not to ruin or puncture.

The anatomy of the devil was quite interesting. Other than the tough muscle that composed most of its body and meat, it did not appear to have too many organs. He was no expert, but he did have some knowledge of biology that he used to torment his prey in the past. There were the usual organs expected of a living creature, but he also found a tiny crystal, in the devil’s heart, that he could only assume was a devil core.

He managed to force down half of the raw pieces of meat, curiously observing the strange new mouth he had, opening up vertically on his face and adorned with needle-like teeth. It seems that he was quite the monstrosity.

He then folded a piece of skin into a knapsack, put the rest of the bones, claws, meat and the core, and tied it to the longest bone he had.

Jason chuckled. With nothing but a knapsack, he looked like a hillbilly heading out into the city. So much for a grand first start.

And with that, he started to cross the grey plains.

While walking, he kept his new soul-sense up. He hadn’t had the time to really feel it out earlier, but he was testing it out now. It felt strange, honestly. From the soul sense, he could not detect anything other than souls, so just from the soul sense alone, it felt like an empty space, with only his soul a fuzzy beacon in the darkness of his soul sense. He practiced keeping up his new sense while walking, which was a bit tricky at first, but thankfully his devil instincts aided him greatly. It was like suddenly knowing how to juggle, or ride a bicycle. It was difficult to do before you knew how, but once you knew, it was very simple.

After getting the hang of his soul sense, he then practiced condensing his fingers into solid claws. He would need to be able to shift his fingers into claws at will to be useful in battle.

Jason sighed in annoyance at what felt like the hundredth time he failed, as his smoky fingers refused to turn into those claws he used earlier. His instincts helped, but they only told him what he was supposed to feel, and it was like groping blindly in the dark for a light switch, lost and confused.

He looked around again at the surroundings. He was no expert in judging time, but it must have been a few hours, at least. Yet the landscape hadn’t changed at all. The distant rock pillar he had been using as a landmark was just a tiny bit closer, but that was it.

While he was glancing around, he was absentmindedly attempting to form his claws again, when he finally managed to do it!

“Oh! Haha, I finally managed to pull it off! About time.” He remarked happily. He was absorbed in his own success when he noticed a disturbance in his soul sense.

Immediately, he went on high alert, dropping low to prepare for any attacks. Yet, none came. Sweeping the surroundings for the disturbance he felt, he suddenly noticed a soul, hidden behind a cluster of rocks.

‘What?! How did it get so close? It’s well past the edge of my senses, meaning that it had somehow remained undetected . . This isn’t good.’

Focusing on the soul he felt, indeed, his worst fears were true. The soul he sensed felt faint, but not because it was weak or small. Rather, the ‘aura’ of the soul that he perceived as a sort of fuzzy, unclear presence was hidden, suppressed. This was not good. It meant that his soul sense was not infallible, and one could hide their own soul from the senses of others.

He narrowed his eyes. He straightened up, walking towards his original path, pretending nothing was wrong. He slowed down his steps, and he glanced at a rock on the ground beside his feet.

Bursting into movement, he dropped his knapsack, picked up the rock, and threw it at where he felt the soul was. A figure shot out from the cluster, throwing up a spray of rocks and dust, obscuring his vision. He was shifting his claws when a massive clawed palm burst out of the cloud of dust, slamming into his arms that he barely managed to put up.

*BANG!*