Rey looked left and then right. He knew going right would lead him back to the rock with Unokir's claw marks, which was littered with Rank 1 demons. They were as useless to him as chainmail lingerie armor, though Kassandra would look hot in it. He might as well kick toddlers into outer space and would probably gain the same experience, maybe more, since Hell loved cruelty.

  So, he turned left, where he knew he would find stronger demons, but he couldn't go too far. He had no healing items, which was annoying. He wished he had learned how to make some healing potions last time.

  He made his way towards the forest, ducked under the bloody, slashed-up arm of a crooked, demonic tree, and entered the forest. It was boring as all Hell at first, as he found no demon, not even a fleck of movement for a long while, but he tarried on.

  Then, out of sheer boredom and spite, he started stabbing the dead and decayed limbs sticking out of the trees, which were supposed to be the branches.

  "Take that!" He thrust his scythe into a dead hand, and when he pulled back, the hand came back with a sickening crunch, or it would've been sickening if he hadn't seen all sorts of horrors that could've driven anyone insane.

  He wagged the hand on the end of his scythe's blade. "What? No stat points."

  "A-Are they supposed to?" asked a quivering voice behind Rey.

  Rey turned with a wide smile. "My brother from another mother. Give me a high-five." He held up the dead hand toward Ajay, but he just cringed away. "Oh, don't leave me hanging like that."

  "I'm okay," Ajay said. "Were you serious about what you said back at the castle?"

  "Every single word."

  He nodded solemnly. "I see…then can you help me get stronger?"

  "Of course," cried Rey. "If I can find a demon to kill. It's great that you're here. I'll help you get stronger in more ways than one."

  "Huh?" Ajay frowned.

  "We need to work on your confidence, my man," he replied. "How else are you going to woo the Calzone of seduction?"

  "The what?"

  "The mafia's most wanted for breaking hearts?" Rey went on. "The spiciest pizza in hell."

  "I-I—What are you talking about?"

  "You know, the last pasta. Too hot for Tuscany. The spicy meatball of Sicily. The—"

  "How did you know she's from Sicily?" Ajay interrupted.

  "Ah, but how did you know she was from Sicily?" Rey gave him a sly smile and elbowed his side lightly. "We're getting to know each other that closely, eh?"

  "What? It's not like that? I just—"

  "You don't have to hide anything from me? I know the future, remember?"

  "I'm going to go now." Ajay turned to leave.

  Rey gripped his arm, pulled him back, and put an arm over his shoulder. "Oh no, you're not. My man, I see the way you look at her. I'm sure even our Biker friend, who would miss a truck heading his way, has not missed your lovesick eyes."

  Ajay's brow furrowed. "It's that obvious?"

  "More than that. But the good thing is you've come to the best person for help—me!" Rey said. "I'll help you muddle the blood of your ancestors with an olive-skinned Sicilian."

  Ajay looked at him for a long while. "I don't know whether to take you seriously or just return to the castle."

  "You have a confidence problem, my Samosa Scholar, and confidence I have in abundance."

  "Along with madness, it seems," Ajay muttered.

  "See this!" Rey clapped his chest. "This is what I'm talking about. You need to show this in front of your woman and also try to avoid sacrificing yourself; that too will put an early end to your relationship."

  "Wait, I sacrifice myself for her?" Is that how I die?" Ajay asked.

  Rey just shrugged in response. "Who knows. It's not like I can see the future. But all this talk about death is just wasted air. We've got lots of demons to kill and lots of ranks to gain." Rey pointed to his left with his scythe. "I think we should go this way,"

  Thankfully, Ajay didn't question his decision and simply followed. It wasn't like Rey knew which direction the demons lay, but he didn't need to. The demons were usually attracted to humans, like a moth to a flame.

  Demons craved what they didn't have—a soul. They had an almost undeniable desire to kill humans and eat their souls. It was as if they had an internal radar that alerted them to the presence of any living humans. Rey knew this because he had felt the same tug when he had turned into a demon. Many times, he felt drawn to humans who had survived the year-long purge on Earth.

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  They walked quietly for a little while, and the first demon found them. Both of them stopped in their tracks when they realized who this demon was.

  "Is that…" Ajay's voice trailed off.

  Rey nodded.

  The demon that had found them was none other than Latoria.

  Her nails had extended into long, sharp claws. Grey fur grew along her arm. Jagged horns grew out of her neck where the Wargoth had bitten her and ended her life. Her eyes had turned completely black with a grey ring around her irises. She had become a hybrid version of the Wargoth who had killed her.

  This was another fucked up thing about Hell. If you were unsuccessful in regaining your soul, it turned you into a mindless, hybrid form of the thing that killed you. The longer she lived, the more deformed she would get until there was nothing left of the woman she once was.

  Almost all the monstrosities that were currently hunting all the humans on Earth were once humans themselves, who had failed to regain their souls in Hell. In essence, it was humans hunting humans. However, they were from another planet, as Earth wasn't the only planet that had a monopoly on humans.

  She bared her jagged fangs at them and growled.

  "Ajay, I'm going to let you do the honors," Rey said.

  "W-What?" Ajay stared at him incredulously. "But that's Latoria."

  "No, she's gone," Rey replied. "She was gone the moment the demons devoured her soul. That thing before us is nothing more than a demon who wears her face. Now, raise your hand and fry us a Jamaican delicacy."

  He stepped back, placed a hand on Ajay's back, and pushed him forward lightly, who wanted to do anything but move forward.

  "You're doing her a mercy," Rey said. "This way, she doesn't have to feed on any other poor soul or rotting demon meat to survive."

  He was happy that Ajay was too preoccupied with the thought of frying Latoria that he didn't point out that they, too, would have to survive by eating demon meat, though most likely not rotten.

  Ajay's grip tightened on his sword as he raised his other hand toward demon Latoria. She frothed at the mouth and growled in a haunting manner. Then dashed towards them.

  "You've done this before, Ajay," Rey said. "Just shoot a fireball. Don't think. Just call your Mana, or that creature that was once Latoria, will make a Happy Meal out of you."

  Latoria raced towards them and was within half a dozen yards. Rey feared he would have to step in.

  "Now!" He yelled in a last-ditch effort.

  Ajay closed his eyes and turned his head to the side as a veritable flamethrower shot out of his hand, dousing Latoria's demonic form in flames. She shrieked and howled as she burned. It didn't take her long to fall to her knees. She tried crawling to them, even as her whole form was being charred black.

  Ajay didn't stop until the demon was unmoving. The Jamaican demon's body burned, throwing dancing shadows on the trees. Talent Support looked at his hand and then back at Latoria's burning form.

  "I'm sorry," he whispered as a tear fell from his eye.

  "If you hadn't killed her, she would've killed you," Rey said assuringly.

  "This is hell," Ajay said.

  "Yes, it is."

  "No, I just had to kill a person. This is my personal Hell."

  "It is that, too, but this is also a shared hell for all of us, and second, you killed a demon. A demon who would've loved to rip open your belly and make a garland of your intestines." He patted his shoulder. "It's okay, you'll come around. I doubt it'll be the only human-turned-demon you'll kill. Pretty soon, you'll be a walking, talking funeral home."

  Rey wasn't joking about it, either. He had put down almost all of the people in their group who had lost their minds and turned into demons like Latoria and Phil, when Phil betrayed them to Unokir.

  "How can you say that so easily?" Ajay said.

  "Because it just gets easier from here. Trust me, I know."

  Ajay backed up a step from Rey. "Are you a murdering psychopath?"

  Rey barked a laugh. "Not yet."

  It'll take the death of a certain someone to drive me over the edge. And I'm going to prevent that death with everything I have.

  "Now, let's go find more demons, preferably higher than our ranks, so that we can rank up properly."

  Rey slapped his back and moved on. Ajay waited for a few moments before he followed along. They walked along silently. Rey kept an eye on his surroundings. He didn't want to get too far from the castle, as he wanted to be able to make a quick escape in case they ran into a strong demon.

  The only problem was that they hadn't run into any demon save for the Jamaican Cougar. It was getting annoying. Either Unokir had returned to take back his territory, or all the demons had gone to the Kingdom of Night for vacation. He highly doubted it was the latter.

  "I think we should head back," Rey said. "I'm having a bad feeling—"

  That is when he saw her. An enticing beauty like none other. She had long, lustrous raven locks and slightly tanned skin that was just a shade lighter than Ajay's. She had dimples like Kassandra's, perhaps even better than hers, and Rey would die before he would say that out loud.

  The best part about her—she was topless.

  "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Rey asked, grinning.

  "I think so," Ajay replied, eyes fixed on the woman. "She might need some help."

  "Oh, she most definitely does."

  Without another word, they moved towards the beautiful, helpless, and topless woman, who chuckled and ran lightly behind a tree. Rey almost activated Gravitational Attraction and pulled himself to that tree, but why waste Mana, especially when he had so little of it.

  Rey and Ajay were racing to see who could reach the woman first. Her laugh was the most melodious sound in the world. They reached the tree, but she wasn't there. They looked around, and Rey found her giggling and standing in the mouth of a cave.

  Rey frowned at first; the cave wasn't on a hillside or going into the ground. It just stood by itself—a rock about a dozen feet long and about equally as wide, with an opening in the middle.

  He shrugged. The opening may lead into the ground.

  The woman giggled and motioned them towards her with a twirl of her fingers. She might as well have the Gravity element herself, as Rey practically flew towards her. She vanished into the darkness of the cave, but that didn't slow Rey's pace or Ajay's, who was right there with him. They reached the cave together, and even Rey didn't think about the dangers of following a naked woman into a cave in Hell.

  "Hey, pretty woman, we're here," Ajay said.

  Rey slapped his forehead. "Real smooth, lover boy. I will tell Filomena about this if you don't let me help her first."

  Ajay drew a sharp breath but said nothing, and his expression was hard to see in the dim light.

  They were in a tunnel that was only wide enough for one person. Something told Rey to move back and leave, but as soon as he stopped, the woman called.

  "Oh, don't stop now," she called in the loveliest voice. "I'm just past this tunnel."

  That settled it then. Rey moved fast, and the tunnel wasn't long. A few moments later, they exited the tunnel, and Rey's eyes widened, and a huge grin spread on his face.

  "Yes!" He cried, flinging his arms upwards. "We're in a dungeon!"