Most of the army didn’t get involved with the actual claiming of the city, and our unit was no exception. Only the lieutenant general, his aides, and his highest ranking officers ventured into the city ahead of us. Plus Glaustro, who was obviously thrilled to be invited.

Not too long after, the old familiar spatial anomalies swept over the tree. Their effects on the city were… interesting.

The soft green of all the buildings and the tree itself was now tainted red and black, with the soft inner glow transformed from a radiant white to a sickly purple. It looked like the bark around the city structures was reacting poorly to the Abyssal mana, slowly rotting away. In reality, the only thing that changed was the color, but the shift was striking nonetheless.

Thankfully, most of the tree wasn’t affected by the change. The trunk that stretched beyond the highest reaches of the city was still a verdant green. The tree’s many branches and beautiful silver leaves all looked the same as when I first saw them.

I didn’t know whether they would remain this way or eventually succumb to Abyssal corruption, but I privately hoped for the former. The tree was such a striking monument to nature that I didn’t want it to change.

The good part about the claiming was that it allowed us, finally, to climb up into the city.

The experience was everything I had been hoping it would be. Despite the altered colors, just strolling past all the homes and shops carved into the tree made me feel giddy. For a moment, I felt sucked into some kind of fairy tale where I got to explore a secret realm of the elves.

The wide smile on my face did not pass without notice. Both Mia and Bronwynn kept shooting me confused looks, but I chose to wave them off rather than explain myself.

I was so immersed in the wonder of it all that I lost track of how high we were climbing. It felt like I blinked, and suddenly found myself staring down at the ground from a greater height than I had ever experienced outside of an airplane. My boosted physical condition and unending stamina had let me forge onwards without pausing to think if I should.

And I was only halfway up the tree.

“Why did you stop?” Mia’s question came suddenly. I whirled around to find both her and Bronwynn watching me with that same mild confusion. “Weren’t we going somewhere?”

“Ah… I mean, not… really?” I blushed at her increased scrutiny and narrowed eyes. “I got carried away, okay? This city is interesting! I don’t really know where I was headed, just kind of… exploring.”

“So, what you’re saying, kid, is that you rushed off like a headless fly and led us on a merry chase, and you didn’t even have a plan in mind?” Bronwynn’s voice didn’t sound dangerous, exactly, but the disappointment in it was lethal to my fragile heart.

“Yes?” I squeaked, blushing harder.

It was hard to differentiate between my normal embarrassment and the part of my emotions constantly heightened by the Abyss, but I managed to tamp down both to what I thought were acceptable levels.

The older demon just sighed, shook his head, and took over the lead position in our little procession. I followed him silently. He, at least, probably had some sort of plan.

As we walked, I tried to look more closely at my surroundings instead of just admiring everything I saw.

The result was not encouraging.

Neither the locals nor the jinn we saw were in chains and slave collars. Not yet. But the former were staring around blankly, expecting someone to tell them what to do, and the latter were cringing away from every demon that passed. Considering the crowds of demons out and about in the newly claimed city, the jinn were cringing a lot.

The dichotomy was interesting to witness, but it also cemented in my mind the fact that there was something wrong with the locals. They looked so tame, so accepting of their defeat, that I couldn’t associate them with the fierce warriors whose blood still flecked my clothing.

That thought made me cast a cleansing spell on myself. I repeated the cantrip on Bronwynn and Mia, who responded only with some noises of appreciation. My tendency to throw the spell around was so well known that it didn’t merit more of a reaction.

Bronwynn ended up leading us directly to a small tavern. I had no idea how he always managed to track down an eatery or watering hole within moments of entering a new city, but it was definitely a thing.

Entering the tavern was one odd experience, let me tell you.

I thought I was used to claimed cities by now. Demon vendors from the Abyss signed up for temporary licenses to operate on invasion worlds. In the cities I had visited on Berlis, every local building had been entirely replaced by demonic establishments. Each shop, restaurant, and hotel was completely unique, making the claimed cities a disjointed mosaic of demonic architecture.

On Lagyel, this total transformation just didn’t happen.

The buildings of the treetop city hadn’t changed at all. Their architecture was uniform, perfectly fitted to the whimsical tree-setting. I couldn’t see any of the bizarre demonic shops I was familiar with.

Looking back, I realized this had been the case in every city I visited on Lagyel. Even in the ‘capital of the legion’, all the local buildings were intact. Maybe I had been too distracted to notice before, or maybe this tree-city was so distinct that it forced me to pay attention. Regardless, it was clear that the demonic claim just didn’t seem to have the same impact on Lagyel as it did on Berlis.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The only question was why?

Then we stepped inside the tavern, and I forgot about everything else.

From the outside, the tavern was just another Lagyel-style building carved into the tree’s bark. Inside, though, it was one hundred percent a demon establishment.

This is where the demonic claim took effect.

The brick-and-mortar style building had a bar on one side, several tables around the edges, and a low ceiling. The air was warm and hazy. The tavern’s primary feature was a sunken floor section that dominated most of the room’s center. Several demonic patrons were already lounging there, all smoking some kind of long, thin pipe.

“You didn’t take us into a drug den, right?” I mumbled, keeping my voice quiet so the other patrons or the owner wouldn’t overhear. Bronwynn’s answer was a menacing chuckle, which didn’t do anything to reassure me. “Right? Bronwynn?”

He still didn’t say anything, opting instead to stroll up to the bar and whisper with the proprietor. Then he motioned towards one of the tables against the wall, where the floor was the regular height.

Surprisingly, as we followed Bronwynn to the table he’d pointed out, I could barely smell any of the smoke from the sunken floor section. The fumes of whatever opiates they were indulging in seemed unusually thick, pooling around the demons’ feet and lingering there like a heavy mist. Said ‘mist’ sparkled enchantingly and even briefly took on the shapes of exotic animals.

I blinked in wonder. The spectacle was almost interesting enough to make me want to try out the pipes.

Almost.

My mind was enough of a mess without adding demon-strength chemicals into the mix, thank you very much. I would probably die on the spot anyway if I dared to try them. After all, I didn’t have the constitution of a demon.

Not yet.

“What is this place?” Mia asked, her gaze sweeping over the other patrons. It lingered on the smoking demons with something close to distaste.

“I happen to know the owner, so I’ve visited a lot. You can get some excellent food and drinks here. I wanted to treat you two to something nice after that battle.”

“That’s not an answer to my question,” the cat girl pointed out, eyes narrowed dangerously at the friendly demon.

He chuckled, clearly unconcerned, but gave in anyway.

“Officially? It’s a tavern. Unofficially, it is a drug den. You can find just about every variety of mind-altering substances strong enough to affect demons here. But I don’t recommend you try them, before or after you finish your ascension. They are not permanently harmful, and they are not addictive per say, but base demonic nature makes us very prone to picking up bad habits.”

I dared another glance at the demons in the sunken floor sections, taking in the expressions of ecstasy and absolute peace on their faces. They seemed entirely unaware of the world around them. For some reason, I couldn’t help but shudder.

There was something deeply uncomfortable about the sight, but I couldn’t figure out what.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think drugs appeal to me,” I mumbled. Then I tilted my head at Bronwynn as a thought crossed my mind. “Why is this place not an official drug den, though? I mean, demons aren’t exactly expected to be models of morality and all that.”

“What else?” The older demon huffed, then offered me a sly smile. “Taxes. You wouldn’t believe how heavily the ‘powers that be’ tax some of the more… lucrative goods. Besides, some of the stuff you can get here is actually illegal. Some of it makes demons go berserk if they take too much, and that’s always trouble. And some of it can even kill powerful demons. Death is an intended effect for certain drugs, actually.”

“Wait, don’t tell me demons are prone to committing suicide?” I couldn’t keep the disbelief out of my voice. Of all the races out there, demons definitely didn’t seem like the type to choose suicide as the best way to end their suffering.

Violently taking their anger and misery out on others? That, I could imagine. Suicide? Not so much.

To my surprise, Bronwynn laughed loudly. “Hayden, where are we right now?”

I scrunched up my face at him in disapproval before answering. “Lagyel. No clue about this city’s name, though.”

“Exactly. We’re not in the Abyss. Death is costly, sure, but it’s not final. You won’t catch any demon using that stuff in the Abyss itself, which is why this particular tavern is never located there. The owner keeps hopping between invasion worlds. Legion demons are his best customers, after all. They just need to be careful not to get caught. If they do, the legion won’t cover their resurrection costs.”

“The legion covers those? Since when?” I managed to keep the indignation out of my voice, but only just. No one paid me back for the money I spent to resurrect after my ‘execution by Mercutio.’ Not that I paid a ton, but still.

“Since always. You just need to be an official member, which you now are, and you also need to not get caught dying for a stupid reason. Like, say, drug use. That’s why so many of them,” he nodded towards the demons in the sunken floor section, “are here right now. When people start resurrecting from this last battle, they’ll just get counted as losses from it.”

“That’s… weird. And wasteful.” Mia eyed the smoking demons like she wanted to finish them off herself. I had to agree with her.

Bronwynn, on the other hand, looked unbothered. “Most of them are content exactly where they are. They earn enough souls to get by and indulge in whatever they want to. None of them are trying to advance, and none of them are hoping to make it into officer ranks. So, dying early in an invasion doesn’t make much difference to them.”

Looking at the demons from the corner of my eye again, I found that I hated the sight of them. It wasn’t because of disapproval or dislike or anything like that.

It was because I had to wonder if I would end up just like them.

Eternity was a hell of a long time. How long had they kept fighting, striving, and hoping before indifference set in? For all I knew, they could be tens of thousands of years old. If it was even possible to hang onto one’s hopes and dreams for that long, I imagined it wouldn’t be easy.

Even with the heightened emotions of a demon, did there come a day when nothing could stir their hearts anymore? When suffering faded, pain became background noise, and all positive emotions were nothing but fond memories?

Considering such a fate, it wasn’t all that difficult to understand why someone would reach for anything that could provoke passion again, even if it resulted in a guaranteed trip back to the Abyss.

Perhaps this was, ultimately, a proof of demonic doggedness. Any one of those demons could just choose to end their lives. But instead, they sought ever-escalating stimulants in an attempt to experience something, even for a moment.

Was that why they didn’t hesitate to die? I couldn’t imagine anyone coming face-to-face with the enormity of the Abyss and not feeling a thing. Maybe that moment was the final thing making existence worth it for them.

More importantly, what would happen if that, too, failed to be enough someday?

Despite the sweltering confines of the tavern, I shivered. I was barely aware when our food and drinks arrived, and afterwards, I had no memory of what they were.

The only thing I could taste was the bitter tang of trepidation.