The devil came tearing into Adam's laboratory in a panic. "Master, we're in trouble..."
Adam didn't even turn his head; a burst of psychokinesis pasted the devil against the wall. "Shut up. Whatever it is, it can wait until my experiment is done."
The third-generation virus was less an evolved version of the previous generation than a self-destruct routine Adam had inserted into it.
The nature of the virus already fixed the ceiling the infected could reach: at best, the equal of an ordinary Mage apprentice. That ceiling could not be broken no matter how many other individuals a single individual devoured, so once Adam released his hold on the virus, they were bound to devour one another ever more savagely until they destroyed themselves.
This was the scene that greeted the devil.