As the memories flowed into his mind, he suddenly saw himself in a dark space. There, knowledge was inserted into his mind. All of a sudden, he simply knew things.

He was a shape-shifter, a species of devil that could alter its body shape. The purpose of this was mainly to deceive. Shape-shifting devils turned into various forms in order to lure mortal prey. They might shift into the form of a young girl, to lure an old man who missed his own daughter. A lustful man would be tempted by a beautiful woman, and women would be entranced by handsome, dashing men.

Of course, they would not seduce mortals. It was below them to lower themselves for mortals, even to hunt. No, they shifted to lower the guards of mortals. Naturally, most mortals would be absolutely horrified and would flee at the sight of any devil. And while some would enjoy shifting to terrifying forms to do so, most prefer to shift to the forms of the mortals, in order to integrate with the mortal societies. From there, they would hide among the midst of the mortals, consuming them in secret, until too few mortals were left to resist, or they could not stay in the mortal realm no longer.

And this was another important piece of information. Devils could not stay in the mortal realm for long, as the world itself would repulse the presence of devils. Apparently, Hell itself was a higher-order realm than the mortal realm, and the aura of Hell that devils possessed could not be contained in lower realms. Simply put, it was like trying to pour a gallon of water in a small cup, their presence could not be accommodated in the world.

Thus, devils would have to form contracts with native mortals. Forming contracts would allow devils to bind themselves to natives, and thus be able to stay in the mortal realm.

Third, was about souls, and consuming them. Devils had powerful souls that allowed them to wield various powerful abilities, and they could consume the souls of others to strengthen their own. Various souls had varying amounts of soul energy, and could increase varying levels of power according to the state of the soul. A soul filled with pure, negative emotion could strengthen a devil better than one without. Thus, most devils would induce fear, panic and other negative emotions in their prey before consuming them.

Devils are among the top-level races in Reality, along with demons, angels, and other ancient races. They are extremely adaptable and diverse, with thousands of subspecies of devils, including his own. And one property that top-level races possessed is the ability to consume supernatural items to strengthen themselves, especially ones that synergized with them.

The brain he consumed synergized with him, as it had similar shape-shifting properties. It managed to unlock his inherited memories, although he sensed that there was still more to unlock. No matter, he would unlock them as he grew stronger.

As he was reading his memories in the dark space, the surroundings suddenly shifted. All of a sudden, he was floating in the sky above a massive battlefield.

Some part of him knew that he was simply experiencing a memory, yet he could not help but be absolutely awed at the grand scale of the battle.

Below him, around him, and above him, titanic beings that far outmatched him fought to the death. He was not truly in the air, but in space, watching a battle spanning entire stars. A gigantic humanoid demon with dozens of arms, the size of a moon and ablaze in dark-purple flames, roared in hatred, as a being so bright, he could not look directly at it, plunged its sword in its chest. The devil stumbled and fell on the surface of a planet, crushing millions of demons, devils and angels beneath his massive body.

A pitch-black sword, darker than the darkest abyss, cleaved the glowing being, absorbing its light and revealing its body. It was another humanoid, with bright golden skin and hundreds of wings and eyes covering its body. A word came into his mind. ‘Seraphim.’

The sword tore the seraphim in two, and a truly enormous being appeared. In the battle, there were millions of beings battling, but there were generally three types. There were an infinite amount of small beings, around his size, battling on planets. Then, large, hulking forms the size of buildings and skyscrapers slew the smaller beings by the hundreds. Yet they themselves faced hundreds of attacks and died by the dozens. Then, massive beings like the many-armed devil and the seraphim were the size of moons and battled in space.

Yet, this being was larger still. It stood at the height of a planet, its body simply a mass of pitch-black flesh, writhing and transforming parts of its body into various weapons to slay nearby angels. Various body parts littered the surface of its flesh, huge eyes, arms, and legs sticking out of the black mass. As Jason stared at it, suddenly, one of its massive eyes glanced at him.

Instantly, his mind was struck with pain and terror, and the memory shattered. The last thing he saw was that eye, a black sclera with a pinpoint white iris at the center, gazing at him.

He panted heavily, hands and legs kneeling on the blasted, grey rock, as that last image was seared into his mind. More knowledge, gained from the gaze of that being, poured into his mind.

That being was his ancestor, the progenitor of all shape-shifting devils. Belial, the Deceiver with Many Forms. His own race was , a race of devil with bodies made of mist, with the ability to shape their mist to whatever form they desired. He would be able to strengthen his own racial abilities and gain new ones by devouring other shapeshifters.

Jason sighed. He got up, and started to think of his future plans. The inherited memories he gained, and the knowledge from being gazed at his ancestor, was a lot to take in.

Summarizing what he now knew, he had to consume souls to strengthen himself. Inducing negative emotions in his prey would maximize the soul power he would gain, and finding suitable prey would grow his own racial abilities. Eventually, he would have to find a way to the mortal realm, but his inherited memories were incomplete.

[. Cost: 100 Essence]

Jason chuckled at that.

“Heh. Well, it seems that I have to …”

He grinned, his mouth revealing itself from his mist body, stretching wide and revealing his razor-sharp teeth.

“ … Devour them all.”

Unbeknownst to him, his four black and red eyes, turned white, similar to Belial’s.