Even though Rey had said that they needed to put down Unokir, he wasn't so sure about his chances of success. Looking around the room, he didn't look so confident. Ajay was still cradling his arm, while Filomena was favoring her good leg. Sergei was awake, but still lying in a ball on the ground. Aside from Jerry and Rey, everyone was injured. Doctor Bahar had healed them up as best as she could, but were they up for this fight, he couldn't tell.

  The fear was evident on their faces, and rightly so. Unokir had played this very smartly. He had hammered them down with his demons, knowing he would swoop in and pick them off easily. He had thwarted each attempt to escape him. All things considered, it was not looking good for any of them.

  Not to mention, this room wasn't the ideal battleground. The well sat dead center of the room, and the room wasn't wide enough for so many of them to fight a bulky demon like Unokir, once he transformed into his gorilla-doggy form.

  Rey tried to think about what had happened in the past, and it wasn't remotely like this. Unokir hadn't cornered them like this at all. He had chased them around the castle, destroying as much of it as he could, but now they were cornered in the worst possible room. If they jumped into the well, then there would be no coming out until someone threw them a rope.

  Unokir stood there watching them all with a wide smile. Then he transformed. One moment, he stood there in his suited human self, and the next, he was a ten-foot hulking hybrid gorilla-dog.

  Jerry, who was the closest to him, backed away slowly, but he still caught the monster's gaze. Jerry turned to metal, which was a smart move, since he held Unokir's full attention now.

  "What is your name?" Unokir asked.

  "J-Jerry," he stammered.

  "I assume it is you who's been making these wonderful steel barriers?" Unokir asked.

  Jerry gulped as he gave a nod. If his metal self could sweat, he would be drenched in it. So far, Jerry had shown considerable restraint and composure by not running away, screaming his head off in an especially high-pitched scream.

  "Would you do me a favor, Jerry?" Unokir asked. "Would you create one last barrier. I wouldn't want any other demon getting in the middle of our fun."

  Jerry looked at Rey.

  "Oh no, don't look to him," the demon said. "He's no longer in charge. I am. Create a barrier…Now!"

  Jerry shook at the tone of his voice, as did a few others. Rey didn't know how to proceed. One wrong move could mean the death of any or all of them.

  Jerry placed a trembling hand on the wall, and liquid steel flowed out from under it to cover the door. A few moments later, it had covered the whole thing, and the door was shut, sealing their fate, locking them in.

  "Good boy," Unokir patted Jerry's head with its monstrous hand. "I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You can rest now."

  Then he clenched his fist and crushed Jerry's head like a melon. Some of the others cried out, namely the doctor, and someone else gasped loudly or called out his name while Rey was far away.

  So, fate has finally caught up to you.

  Jerry was supposed to have died long ago. He had never meant to live through all the battles he had. Rey had begun to hope that maybe he had changed his destiny. That maybe fate had forgotten to come for him. That his death could be avoided. If Jerry could outlive his death, then perhaps Rey could do the same for Kassandra.

  I was wrong.

  Rey glared at Unokir with such hatred that he hadn't felt for anyone save for perhaps Zalathar.

  "There, there, don't cry," Unokir said patronizingly. "You will see him soon enough for one last time. But don't worry, I won't eat his soul right away. I'll let you all join him first, then I'll have a feast like no other. Why do you think I made him lock us in here? So, we wouldn't be disturbed by any pesky demons."

  Rey laughed. "We're not locked in here with you. You're locked here in with me, and I'll be damned if I lose anyone else."

  "Oh, I'm so scared," Unokir pretended to shiver. "The thing about making such threats is that you need to be able to back those up with action. How are you going to stop me from, say, devouring this sweet girl?" He motioned to Kassandra.

  Rey had heard enough. He thrust his scythe forward and instead of activating Gravity's Kiss, he activated Gravitational Repulsion and sent him flying, and pinned him against the wall.

  "Now!" He yelled.

  Thankfully, he didn't need to spell it out for everyone. Ajay and Filomena shot a column of flames and a bolt of lightning, respectively. Kassandra picked up her bow and fired a moonlight-tipped arrow at him.

  The combination of the three hit him with such force that his screams shook the very walls. Rey let go of Repulsion, but wasn't done with him. He activated Gravity's Kiss, and the smoking, burnt form of the massive demon flew towards Rey. He shot a quick Repulsion blast from his feet and jumped into the air, and with an overhead swing, embedded his weapon into Unokir's shoulder as he landed on him.

  "Is this action enough?" Rey hissed into the mutt's ear.

  But Unokir wasn't so easily taken down. He shook Rey off violently and tried to chomp down on him, but Rey narrowly avoided him. Unokir's hair stood on end again.

  "Take cover!" Rey yelled as he rushed to Kassandra's side.

  Unokir shot his hair, and once more, Rey deflected them with Repulsion. He looked at Kassandra, who watched him with wide eyes, but thankfully, she was okay. He quickly scanned the room, and everything was not okay.

  Ajay, Filomena, and Bahar had taken cover behind the well and so were safe, but the same could not be said about Sergei. He had been crawling to safety thanks to his injuries, but unfortunately, he never made it. His entire left side was riddled with the demon's sharp fur. Thankfully, all the sharp hairs had avoided his head, but his arm and leg looked bad.

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  He screamed as pain riddled his body. He was wide awake, looked about wildly until his eyes rested on the massive demon in the room.

  Unokir had found his next victim. He charged the injured man. Ajay chucked fireballs, while Filomena, who must've been out of Mana, hurled what looked to be Jerry's spear at him, but she missed.

  Kassandra didn't.

  She shot an arrow laced with moonlight directly into Unokir's left eye. The demon crashed to the ground, mewling in pain. Unfortunately, he was too big to explode like most of her victims did, but it still hurt like hell. As he tried to get the arrow out of his eyes with his overly long claws, Rey rushed to the hurt bodybuilder.

  "Sergei, are you alive?" Rey asked.

  "Alive," Sergei huffed. He was clearly in pain. Sweat perspired on his forehead, and his clothes were turning red.

  Rey didn't dare dislodge the hairs stuck to his arm and leg. Thankfully, that's where the majority of them had hit. If he took out the hairs, then they would rip open his wounds, and he would bleed to death before he could even walk ten paces.

  The doctor came running to them and fell to her knees beside Rey. He didn't need to ask for her diagnosis; her eyes spoke enough. She didn't even have the heart to speak, as she stared wide-eyed at Sergei's wounds. Rey didn't even want to think about losing another person today.

  Jerry's soul rose out of his body, and that made the demon stop resisting. He looked at Jerry like he was a meal to be savored, and that just pissed Rey off.

  "Doctor, take him to the corner and do what you can for him," Rey said. "I have a dog to put down."

  "O-Okay," Bahar's voice trembled.

  Rey gave his friend a nod. "You better not die."

  His quiet friend just returned the nod.

  Rey charged Unokir with his scythe held tightly in his hands. The demon saw him coming and, instead of going for Jerry, he smirked and lunged towards Kassandra.

  Rey reacted instinctively. He shot his claws away with a Gravitational Repulsion wave while at the same time activating Gravitational Attraction. Unokir was rocked off his feet once again and dragged towards Rey. He locked eyes with Ajay and gave him a nod.

  Ajay thrust his hand out and shot him with a massive column of flames, which fizzled out as abruptly as it started.

  Unokir laughed, even despite the pain the fire must've caused him. He slowly rolled off his back and stood on all fours, laughing all the while.

  "What will you do now, Rey?" Unokir asked. "Your friends are out of Mana, and soon you will too."

  "Mana isn't everything," Rey replied, but his words sounded hollow even to him. There was no way they could beat him like this. With their two heavy hitters out of Mana, their chances of victory had just plummeted to zero.

  He quickly checked his Mana.

  [Mana: 69/240]

  Noice. He couldn't help himself.

  Then suddenly, there was a loud bang, as if someone had struck a gong, followed by a crunching sound. Then it happened again. Rey flipped his head around to see a miracle of sheer willpower.

  Sergei was on his feet and punching away at the steel barrier with his good arm. Each hit bent the steel barrier further and further. Until, finally, he broke through. The steel barrier went flying and crashed against the opposite wall.

  Then something happened that Rey couldn't imagine in a hundred playthroughs.

  "Here, poochie," Jerry's soul said. "By God, you have a face even a mother couldn't love. Is that why you started to shape shift?"

  Unokir growled and dashed for him.

  Jerry smirked at Rey and motioned to the opening that Sergei had created. Rey couldn't believe it. Jerry was sacrificing himself so that the others could make it out of this death trap of a room.

  The others got moving immediately, while Rey lingered a moment longer and saluted Jerry's soul before Unokir fell on him.

  The others were already out of the opening by the time Rey got there and noticed another thing that rocked his soul more than the deaths of Maria and Jerry combined.

  "No!" Rey shouted, but he was too late.

  Sergei slammed his bloody hand on the third door. There was an unlatching sound as if a lock had unclicked, and the final door swung open at the cost of Sergei's imprisonment.

  Rey walked towards the others like a broken man. He had tried to prevent this fate from happening with all his might, and he had failed once again. In the end, the only people leaving this castle were the same people who had left it last time. Sergei would remain behind to be devoured by this demon once more.

  Rey felt numb, and his vision blurred from the tears; he didn't even realize that they had materialized. They dripped from his eyes as he went to his smiling friend.

  "Why?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

  "You friend. Sergei do anything for friends." He smiled, putting a hand on Rey's shoulder.

  It took everything Rey had to stay standing. This proved a theory that had been building in the back of his mind. A theory he was scared to voice. It looked like somethings were fixed. No matter how much he tried to fight, the end result would be the same.

  Phil had to return as a demon, and that was what had happened. A demon had to let Unokir in, and that was what had happened. Sergei had to sacrifice himself to let them escape, and that was what had happened.

  Unokir bashed through the wall, raining stones down on himself. The whole castle shook as if teetering on the brink of collapse. Given all the damage he had done to the castle already. Rey wasn't sure how long the place could stay standing.

  "Oh, you opened up another door to hide behind," Unokir chortled. "But don't worry, you can't hide behind it for long."

  "Who says I'm hiding?" Rey said. "Everyone, inside."

  "But Rey—" Kassandra began.

  "Just go. Get everything ready for our departure. I'll be along shortly."

  Rey turned to Unokir and could hardly stop himself from charging the demon.

  Sergei placed a hand on Rei's shoulder. "You go. I hold him."

  "No, Sergei. This time, you rest, and I'll take care of him."

  Rei had had enough of him. He used Gravitational Activation on Unokir's feet, causing them to be attracted to the opposite wall. But that was not all he did. He used Attraction once more, this time on the demon's hands, and attracted them to the wall behind Rey. So, there he was floating between two spots, suspended in the air.

  Rey ran for Unokir, full tilt. The demon tried to slash at him. Rey tried to duck under but slipped on the bloody ground and would've been cut to ribbons if Sergei hadn't jumped in between and punched Unokir's hand away.

  Rey used Attraction and flew towards the floating Unokir. His eyes widened as Rey landed on his chest. He raised his scythe high into the air and slashed his neck. Warm, black blood spewed out and washed over Rey, but he didn't stop. Like an axe, he brought his scythe down again and again until Unokir's severed head fell to the ground.

  [+3 Dexterity]

  [+2 Magic Power]

  [+1 Magic Affinity]

  [+1 Strength]

  [+1 Willpower]

  [You killed Unokir (Exiled) – E+6]

  [You have gained one rank. You are now at E-Tier Rank 4.]

  [You gain 1 Talent Point, 1 Free Stat Point, and +1 to all Stats.]

  Rey stopped his skills, and he and Unokir's body landed on the ground with a thud that thrummed through the castle. The walls shook, and stones and dust rained down on them. It was as if an earthquake were shaking the very earth. Any second, the ceiling would come crashing down on them.

  Rey had to get out of here, but not before he finished one final task. He rolled off Unokir's bulky corpse and dribbled to Sergei, who had collapsed by the claw, which he had held back. Rey really could not have killed Unokir without him.

  Rey dropped to a knee before Sergei.

  "You go…" Sergei huffed. "I stay. Clean up for you."

  "I do not know if this will free you, but I would like to give you a final chance to be free of this place and this battered body. Would you trust me, one last time…brother?"

  Sergei huffed and said nothing for a long moment.

  Kassandra poked her head out of the door. "Rey! Let's go."

  He ignored her and held his hand out to Sergei.

  Sergei clasped his hand. "I trust you…bratan."

  "Thank you and… I'm sorry." He stabbed Sergei in the neck with his dagger. "This was the only way."