I didn’t strip down in xianxia hero fashion to cultivate myself against the rigors of the sand. I wish I could say it was because I had no intention of striving for the heavens, being halfway into hell already. Unfortunately, the main reason was my lack of desire to be nude in public. Again.

Thankfully, our suffering didn’t last long. It turned out our entry into Lagyel was meant as both a minor test and a warning to all invading demons. When we stepped through the portal, we couldn’t see anything beyond a desolate expanse of endless sand stretching to the horizon. But all we had to do was turn around to spot civilization a short distance away.

The sight of my first local city was… odd. There were buildings, obviously, but they were both few and very short. I counted only six domes, rising barely two stories above the surface level of the sand.

At least they were all painted in fantastical colors. Reds, blues, and greens spilled over the domes in stunning fractal patterns. The hues were so vivid that they captured and kept the attention of any observer. Even demons didn’t seem immune. There was something about the colors that called to me on a spiritual level, appealing to a base level of my consciousness.

It didn’t take me long to puzzle out why. The buildings were a beacon within the desert. In an environment where it was difficult to see very far, they stood out like a sore thumb. The vibrant domes told everyone in the vicinity exactly where safety could be found and where civilization persisted.

This must have been invaluable for the inhabitants of this desert wasteland, but in a time of invasion, it was an obvious weakness. If all their settlements were like that, I had little doubt the demons could easily zero in on them. And once discovered, I didn’t think the locals could hold out for very long.

Thanks to my enhanced ‘fifty percent ascension’ eyesight, I got a solid view of the city’s interior as we approached. My first impression was disappointment. I couldn’t make out a single street, shop, or stall. All I could see were the colorful domes, which had no doors or windows, and some sparkling construct in the middle. Of course, I understood that lively commerce was impossible in the middle of a sandstorm, but this didn’t explain the lack of any amenities.

“This way.”

Glaustro’s voice echoed in our heads as we reached the city. He led us towards the closest dome, walked right up to it, and knocked on the seamless exterior. We stood there for several tense seconds. The wind picked up, sending ever more sand to literally grate on us, before something finally changed.

The dome emitted a low-pitched whine, and then a whole section of it slid back and to the side, revealing an entrance. Glaustro motioned with his hand for us to follow, and we eagerly complied.

I must admit, the first moment of the wind and sand dying away was… a relief. I hadn’t noticed how much the constant whine of the wind was getting to me, and the absence of pain was a truly wondrous thing.

We were in some sort of long, cramped tunnel. I guessed this was the wall of the dome, which had to be thick to protect the interior from the sand. From up ahead, a voice echoed oddly, drawing my eyes to a pink-skinned demon standing by the tunnel’s other end.

“Welcome, sergeant.” The demon bowed. “I’m relieved to see you. We haven’t had more trouble with the locals, but reinforcements are always welcome.”

“You realize that we cannot stay here, correct?” Glaustro crossed his arms instead of accepting the greeting. “We have our orders, and they are definitely not to act as guards.”

The demon chuckled as he rose from his bow, but he didn’t contradict Glaustro. “Of course. We only hope for your support while you are here. I hope we won’t need it, but it is a relief nonetheless.”

“Hmm. I was told you have arranged our lodgings for the duration of our stay? And that the local quartermaster will be able to assist us with our supplies?”

“Correct. We have a decent flow of goods moving to and from the Abyss, so you won’t find our hospitality lacking. As for lodgings, we have you set up in barracks number four. They have been reserved for you and your troops alone.”

Glaustro nodded and relaxed fractionally, which told me the posturing was done with. For now, of course.

He motioned carelessly at the demon. “Very well, lead the way.”

Without another word, the pink-skinned demon turned and vanished through the tunnel’s other end. As we followed him through into a wide-open space, I looked up and caught my breath.

The interior of the dome was like a honeycomb. Walkways wound around the interior wall and stretched across the open space. The walls were lined with nooks, used for shops and living quarters in a dizzying array of styles and colors. The locals seemed set on decorating everything as vibrantly as possible, and the inside of their domes followed the same vivid pattern as the outside. The colors glowed in the light of torches and gems embedded into the walls, warmly illuminating the hive-like interior.

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What really shocked me, however, was the presence of said locals. There were crowds of them milling around the inside of the dome. Some ran the many shops and stalls, some were serving or following demons, and a notable few just… stood there, staring blankly straight ahead.

This last category was the most fancily dressed, draped in silks so colorful and abundant that they were practically drowning. Occasionally, a demon would approach one of these silk-clad locals. As soon as the demon addressed them, it was like they came alive from some dormant state. They wouldn’t speak, but they turned immediately and led the demon who had engaged them through the confusing maze of the dome’s interior.

The locals were also definitely not human.

Oh, they had the general humanoid shape, and they didn’t possess extra limbs or eyes or ears. But their skin was notably alien. They looked like they were clad in a tough exoskeleton of rock or some kind of mineral.

I could immediately tell there was a whole culture built around their appearance. Some, the most shoddily dressed of the locals, looked to have skin made of common rock or other base materials. Those who were better off had more delicately textured skin. They glittered in a way that reminded me of watching sunlight play across sand. Finally, those richly dressed few who seemed dazed out of their minds had actual crystalline skin, sparkling in the glow of torchlight and reflective gems.

I couldn’t stop myself from staring.

I had expected to find myself surrounded by a predominantly non-human mortal race eventually. Still, I was finding the experience difficult. The locals of Lagyel were just different enough to trigger my dysphoria, while simultaneously so familiar that spotting their differences was a shock every single time.

But that wasn’t the only problem at play here.

“How come they’re just… walking around, free?” The question just slipped out. I wasn’t even sure who I was asking.

“Startling, isn’t it?” It was the demon who greeted us that answered me, his skin color throwing me off all on its own with its similarity to Bronwynn’s. “No collars, no force required, yet we have a perfectly obliging populace to support our invasion!”

“How?” As she tended to do around strangers, Mia defaulted to short sentences.

“Well, simply put, this isn’t unusual for them,” our demonic guide replied, making me blink in confusion. “How much do you know about Lagyel?”

“Not nearly enough, for a world that has given us so much trouble,” Glaustro rumbled, looking distinctly displeased. “I understand there are jinn involved?”

“That is correct, and I must apologize if your briefing was… insufficient. We are doing our best to prevent information leakage, but it is an uphill battle when dealing with a race like that. To put things simply, mortals on Lagyel are used to serving a higher power.”

“The jinn are not uncommon here then, I take it?”

And didn’t Glaustro sound profoundly unhappy asking that particular question…

The pink-skinned demon nodded. “Yes, they are. The ancestors of modern Lagyel mortals were reckless in their dealings with the jinn. They made requests without any consideration for the future, even wishing for lasting peace and prosperity. This eventually put them into such deep karmic debt that the jinn took over the world as its overseers.”

“Careless,” was Glaustro’s profound response, leaving me even more confused.

Hayden’s training gave me nothing useful about this situation. Oh, he had vaguely heard about jinn during his studies, but he learned no details about them. In fact, I thought the memories from my own past life might be more useful than Hayden’s, if I could just get some a bit of clarifying information.

But before I could question our guide further, we reached a spiral staircase set into the floor and started descending deeper into the ground. I was a little reluctant to do so, especially as we passed through several yards of solid stone, but then my worries were blown away.

The stairs didn’t lead to a cramped underground chamber or dank cave.

Instead, they opened up onto a sprawling sandstone city bathed in light.

The sunshine was streaming through a massive glass dome high overhead. This was the crystalline structure I had seen amidst the colorful domes above ground. I could spot five more entrances into the ‘underground’ city from the other five domes, but they were a fair distance away.

The city was a beautiful sight, sparkling and glittering like the skin of the locals. No two buildings were the same, and they all bore beautiful engravings, elaborate paint, or cloth tastefully attached to facades. Most importantly, the entire area was pleasantly cool, and I could feel the life-giving moisture in the air beading on my skin.

The cause of these pleasant sensations was easy enough to spot: right in the middle of the city was a massive oasis. Plant life flourished there wildly. Water gushed from the small lake, stretching in all directions through meticulously maintained canals. The whole city was a testament to what could be achieved when designing a settlement around natural features instead of insisting on rigid guidelines.

It was as inspiring as it was saddening.

Inspiring, because I didn’t think I would come across another world that employed a similar philosophy any time soon. Saddening, because the original inhabitants of the city had been cast out to live in the domes above. The city was full of demons, walking, lounging in outdoor seating areas, or hawking their wares from so many stalls that some streets were almost impassable.

Images of what had happened to Berlis flashed through my mind, and I fought down a wave of bitterness.

I really need to stop feeling sorry for every culture whose death I contribute to.

Then I spotted the signature black obelisk near the city’s heart, and the dome of the Absorption Station close by. It was the latter that set my heart pounding inside my chest.

After all, knowing I was an active participant in the death of an entire world clarified exactly how far I was willing to go for personal gain. At that point, any feelings of regret or doubt felt more disingenuous than anything.

As beautiful as the city was, and as excited as I felt to be facing action soon, I could remember Glaustro’s promise well enough. With our arrival on Lagyel, it was time for him to follow the general’s orders and give Mia and me more information on ascension.

If he verified my suspicions and confirmed that maxing it out was worth it, then I was going to do so as soon as possible. I had little doubt I would receive more warnings about the process, but I had already made my stance clear to the general. To back away would potentially be seen as an insult, so even without considering my own desire for power, it wasn’t a valid option.

I glanced at Mia, just to check how she was reacting. The cat girl looked composed, but I knew her well enough at that point to catch the hints. The tip of her tail was slashing wildly through the air, giving away her own nerves.

Neither of us was willing to wait much longer.