They continued to go down the path before arriving at the next room.
The evil advisers who used their forked-tongues for counsel serving their own ends. They stood ablaze.
Find the way out of the room. Talk to the advisers.
"Looks like it's another puzzle room." Aelita said.
"Hmm… I'm sure like the other ones, this one has a sort of trick to it, too." David said.
"Well, let's see what it is then." Eddy said as he pushed open the doors, revealing a room that was more modern than the others: nozzles lined the walls, each spewing flames, and the door leading out being barred by a metal sheet. Meanwhile, several people stood around the room, their skin charred.
"Those must be the advisors." Hope said. "I guess we talk to them if we want to figure out how to get through this room."
"Alright." Ichiro said. "Advisers, what do we need to do to get to the exit on the other side of this room?"
"Oh, that's easy. See that nozzle right there?" one of the damned said, pointing to a nozzle next to the entrance. "All you have to do is turn it to the left."
"Huh, well that sounds…" ZS said.
"Hold it." David said. "Something seems a little off about that direction."
"Yes, I agree. It sounds too simple." Cheetah said.
"Good point." Mark said. "This is the section for evil counselors, after all."
"Hmm… I wonder…" Nesma pondered.
"Well...this is all too easy." Naofumi said as he approached the nozzle. However...he turned right instead of left.
"Hey, you were supposed to…" the advisor started as flames emerged from the left.
"Bingo. I knew it was too simple." David said.
"You can't fool us. I've played puzzles like this before. Instead of blindly following...all we need to do is the opposite of what you tell us." Naofumi said.
"Reverse-psychology." David said as he played off an explosion when he lifted a finger from his forehead.
"Pound it." Simon said as they fist bumped. "This will be easy."
"Damnare prophetas! Too smart for your own good!" the advisor raged.
"Hey, what's next?" Eddy asked.
"There's a number pad on the left wall. The code is 999."
"Oh, so go to the right wall and type in 666. Thanks!" Eddy smirked.
"You make these things so obvious." David said as he punched in 666.
"Kind of a fitting code number for this place." Simon said.
"GAH! Why can't I stop lying?!" the prophet yelled at the ceiling as the door slid open and the group walked through.
"Exit stage left. Er… I mean, right. Man, now you guys are making ME do it." David said.
"It is quite addictive." Bloodless said.
"Well, that was probably the easiest challenge by far." SE said.
"Don't let your guard down. Usually when there's a task this easy… It's followed by something rather nightmarishly difficult." Cheetah said.
"Yeah, and we're heading to the ninth section, run by this Discordiae demon." Mark said. "They've probably set up something hella hard for us, if they're not waiting there themselves."
"Huh, I wonder if Discordiae is something like Bael." Al said.
"I doubt it." Emo said. "Bael was a Demon Lord, and this Discordiae is a Demon King. Kings are weaker than lords, but are more powerful the further down they reside. Since this is the second to last circle, I'd say he's… about upper middle to lower top in terms of power."
"Still, they must be stopped." Miriam said as the group continued downward and stopped before another door. "Someone is waiting for us."
They held their heads and innards, the chaos that they caused in life, cast upon them in death.
Defeat the Hacker
"Hacker, huh? Wonder what his story is." Sachiko said.
"Don't know. Let's find out." Ethox said as he opened the door, to reveal a dimly lit room that was industrial and dirty in design.
The room was circular in shape, with a demon holding a giant blade stood, his slumped back turned to the group as a tied up person was carried on a conveyor belt in front of him.
"*sigh*" the demon exhaled as he hefted the giant blade and removed the head. "Next." they said in a bored, defeated tone.
"Oh, that kind of hacker." Sachiko said.
"Trust me, Sachiko. The irony is not lost." Crusadermon said.
The demon lifted his head and turned around to face the group, his expression as dull as his tone. "Oh, it's you guys. Welcome to the eternal punishment of sowers of discord, blah, blah, blah."
"Um, you sure this is our guy? He already looks dead." Rayleigh asked.
"Nah, I'm the Hacker." the demon sighed. "Call me Jack, you'll be the first to do so… or don't, I don't care."
"Yep. This is our guy, Rayleigh." David said.
"So, you're here to fight me, then head on down to take down the big bad demon king, claim whatever prize, then head back up. The good guys win again, and all that jazz, and everything goes back to normal… everything." Jack the Hacker sighed.
"You sound like it's a bad thing for us to win." CP said.
"Nah, not that, it's the fact that it really doesn't matter. Not here." J-Hack said. "There's always going to be more villains for you to fight, and when they lose and die, they get sent down here to be tortured for eternity. It's boring, and what's more, it's flawed."
"Of course it's flawed. That's the basis of society, after all." David said. "There's always going to be corruption no matter where we go, and the sad part is that all the common man do is just stand around and take it."
"Not just that, this whole system of hell is flawed." the demon said. "Sure, a lot of the people down here are bad eggs, and I like taking down bad eggs and all, but some of the damned actually find a revelation down here and actually grow a conscience. We could clear some room by letting them go to Purgatory, but do we? No! We just torture people 24/7, and at least a quarter of them don't even deserve it. It's a flawed system, and I'm stuck in it, just like everyone else."
"Then if that's such a big problem for you, then you should be the one to change it." David said.
"You kidding? I'd have to be a Demon Lord to do that, and my boss is the one in the running." J-Hack said. "Once you beat them, they'll just nominate another Demon King to ascend. All that's gonna change is the name of the boss I work for. Bah, why am I even telling you this? You're Demon Hunters, all you care to know about us is how to kill us."
"...You're right. There was a time where I was once like that." David said. "But… recent events have been forcing me to question that very perspective."
"...the hell are you talking about?" J-Hack asked, his tone now curious.
"This girl here is Nezuko." David said motioning to the girl in question. "She was forced to be a demon against her will. But despite her position as a demon, her brother and his companions have still accepted her as one of their own. But… in their world, I saw a sight that rocked my very perception of a Demon Hunter to its very core. It was the higher-ups of the Demon Slayer Corps...prompting to execute her."
"Because she was a demon. It's their job." J-Hack stated. "So… why is she alive?"
"Because… No matter how tempting it was...she refused to devour human flesh." David said. "I had to open a wound in my very arm in front of the council just to confirm this fact… Human flesh was supposed to be a delicacy to demons, but not to her. No matter how tempting my blood smelled, she refused to devour my arm."
"I can sympathize with her." Arnice said.
"The point is that we can empathise with what you're feeling, that there's no escape from all this… and we understand." Mark said. "We don't know how we can help, but we will. That's a promise."
J-Hack was silent for a moment before he walked over to a nearby wall-hook and picked up a key. "Use this to unlock the exit." he said, throwing the keys to David. "You need to understand: all Discordiae cares about is their own gratification. They play things up for fun, they kill for fun, they torture for fun. If they become a Demon Lord… it won't help the Demon Universe, it'll only make things worse. So, no matter what… you gotta wipe them from existence!"
"You have our word." Miriam said.
"You got it. No way we're letting a scumbag like him run free." David said.
The group unlocked the door and marched out, leaving J-Hack alone.
"Don't ever forget that lesson… us demons can have souls too." J-Hack said in the darkness.