Beneath the surface existed an inferno of molten lava and ash. A realm of pure chaos and extraordinary heat, lay the Underworld.
No mere mortal could endure such harsh conditions. Except them.
Demons. Creatures of immense power. Their strength can easily shatter stone, their wounds closed in mere moments, the heat of the Underworld? Almost like it didn't exist.
But the one thing that really separated humans and demons?
Magic.
Humans would stand no chance against any race this powerful. After all, how do you fight magic when you yourself do not posses it?
Now, you might be wondering as to why if such a powerful species existed, why did humans dominate the earth?
They had everything the humans didn't, except freedom.
Known as the wall, or as Dusty preferred it, the "stupid, motherfucking, idiotic, annoying, ass cage." As you can see, he felt very strongly about it.
This stupid FUCKING cage that trapped Dusty in the Underworld.
"What's the point of having everything if you can't use it?" was essentially his thought process.
In the Underworld, there existed classes of demons. They represented not just social status, but power.
Weaklings - Barely any better than a human, typically have lower class jobs and are ridiculed.
Lesser Demons - Significantly stronger than humans and can easily destroy stone. Mostly consists of commoners and middle class workers.
Greater Demons - Upper-Middle class or Lower Nobility demons. Capable of destroying multiple large buildings.
Archdemons - Able to destroy multiple cities and are high-nobility.
Demon King - Capable of destroying the entirety of humanity by themselves. Only one can exist at a certain time.
Dusty was the successor to the current Demon King, Volnos.
Except, what was there to do for a lazy ass person like Dusty? He simply wanted to watch humans enjoy their freedom. He wasn't exactly too happy about being the successor. I mean, who would want the responsibility of overseeing a kingdom with no future? They couldn't expand their nation and could only survive due to not having to eat.
So, what was there for a Demonic Prince to do when he was bored, uninterested in the responsibilities, and didn't care about any of the endless power that came with the title?
The answer, as always, was the crystal.
The crystal was a magical artifact that existed since ancient times. It allowed the demons to peer into the vast human world. To dusty, it was his only form of entertainment. Every demon possessed a fragment of the crystal. It was sort of like a phone? He didn't exactly know exactly what phones were but could understand the general idea. This was because the crystal only reflected images, not sound.
To use the crystal, a demon merely had to channel a small amount of their mana, it would glow blue, and poof!— A random scene from the human world materialized in the crystal. It was like a mirror, but one that reflected not the demon, but a glimpse into the human life.
Dusty stared at the crystal and slowly imbued his mana into it. He slowly closed his eyes, calmed his breathing, and felt a small warmth flow from his hands to the crystal.
[Human World]
A frail looking boy was walking down a hallway.
Looking exhausted, he slowly opened the door and found his seat.
A similarly, uncomfortable chair.
As Dusty sat down, he grumbled, "So fucking uncomfortable"
He grimaced at how little space there was to rest his head. After all, he had spent all night playing games! His new favorite MMO just has a wonderful upda-
Slap!
Three of your typical average high-school bullies, all on the football team, stole lunch money, and of course targeted the weak.
Dusty had always been bullied. After all, he was skinny, weak, and was well off. A perfect target to steal from and beat up.
"Where's our cash!? I thought I told you to bring it today. I wanted to get some snacks from the convenience store!" The tallest one, Carson practically yelled at Dusty. It was almost like he didn't have anything better to do rather than fucking bully Dusty.
Dusty fixed his gaze on Carson's face, trying his best not to glare.
"Ah... I'm so sorry! I must have left it at home." Dusty said so sarcastically that he had to hold back his laugh.
Then came the first punch.
Dusty immediately got knocked out of his seat, as would anyone his size.
He thought to himself, "I wish I didn't have to get bullied every day"
At the same time, by perhaps a miracle, in the Underworld, somebody had a wish.
"I wish I could be a human"
Suddenly, the crystal glowed white. It typically glowed blue when showing the human world. Dusty immediately dropped it, surprised by the sudden flash of light. And then it grew. It got brighter. And brighter. It illuminated the entire room and in a sudden flash.
Poof.
Dusty the demon was gone.
[Human World]
Dusty found himself falling out a chair. His face hurt. It was burning and stinging with pain. He looked up to find three people standing over him.
Then the beating happened. The three suddenly started kicking him and yelling.
It infuriated Dusty to be so weak. After all, he had lived his life as the successor to the Demon King! He had powerful magic, super strength, everything humans didn't!
Of course, the freedom he had imagined was not this.
Once again, he was oppressed.
Unlike the previous Dusty, this one might have also been lazy, but he knew how to fight.
He grabbed the legs of one the people kicking and pulled them down.
Being in a weak body, he couldn't do much damage but started repeatedly punching the one he had pulled to the ground. Carson. His face was bloody and Dusty was relentless. The other two stopped kicking. They were in shock.
Dusty, the loser, the weakling who never fought back, was winning? Against Carson?
This continued until another white flash of light engulfed the whole room.
Dusty quickly stopped, realizing what it meant and attempted to get out of the room.
Too late.
The white glow grew larger, and larger, and larger.
The entire class, except for the teacher who was late, disappeared.