Rey was rather happy with how things turned out. He finally managed to get his revenge on this cumstain of a demon and wiped him off the face of Hell. Though Gloria certainly didn't like how things turned out. She was looking at the dead demon's corpse as if Rey had just signed her death warrant, which he probably had.

  In my defense, the demon started it by wearing that face.

  "Everything okay, Glo?" Rey asked.

  "Do you have any idea what you did?" She practically shrieked. "He was one of the higher-ranking members of the Black Hand."

  Rey raised an eyebrow. "And just because of that, he gets to touch you like that."

  "This is not Earth. We don't have rights and liberties. Might makes right here, and if I didn't have any problem with that, then who are you to become this knight in shining armor?"

  Rey grinned. "But I am a knight in shining armor. Relax, Gloria, as long as you're with me, you have nothing to worry about...probably. Honestly, depends on the day of the week. I'm great on the weekends. Unless this is a Monday, then I'm sorry, we're shit out of luck."

  "Ay, Dios mío! Everything is not a joke. Can you be serious for one fucking second?"

  "I'm always serious. Though people never think I am. As long as you're with me, no hand is touching you, no matter what color it is."

  Her expression softened a little, and with that, he turned to the smith, who couldn't give a rat's ass about any of this. He had picked up his hammer again and was banging away on what looked like a sword but could be anything from a sickle to a pickaxe.

  "So, Neriath, as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted. I need my scythe fixed."

  He dropped his hammer and extended a calloused hand. "Let me see it."

  Rey placed his scythe in the smith's hand, and even after working out for the past two weeks, Rey was still a teenager at best compared to this musclebound Jimmy. It made him miss Sergei.

  I wonder if he went off on his own adventures or if he stayed with the others. And if he did, he better have kept his demonic urges under control.

  That was one thing he could never be sure of, as Sergei never made it out of the castle last time. So, this was another new variable that Rey had thrown into the mix. But if he had stayed with them, then he could be an asset in the fight against the Baaghrors. If they end up facing them, which they shouldn't because he wasn't there to lead them to that blasted grove by the river.

  "Hmm, you fucked it so hard that I'm surprised it hasn't fallen apart already," Neriath stated, pulling Rey out of his thoughts.

  "I know, but in my defense, I had nothing to fix it with, and I've been in more than a few battles recently. Can you fix it?"

  "Is the sky dark as shit?" he responded.

  Rey looked up tentatively and saw the dark 'sky' with rivulets of lava. "Looks like it."

  "Of course, I can fix it, boy. Damn, you humans are dullards."

  That gave Rey a pause. He squinted at the old smith as his hand lingered towards his dagger. "It's best we keep that between us, eh, Gramps?"

  "Whatever. I charge extra for humans." He said. "For not trying to eat them."

  Rey rolled his eyes. "Whatever. As long as you can fix it, and I'll throw in a silver coin if you can show me how to fix it myself on the road."

  He looked up at that. "Don't bullshit me."

  "Firstly, I'm not a bull, so I can't give you the shit of a bull," Rey smiled, as he reached into his pocket, pulled out a silver coin, and flipped it his way.

  Neriath caught it and smelled it to ensure it was genuine. His eyes didn't pop open fully, but more in a half-surprised way.

  "I like to pay in advance when I know the work will be worth it. How long till my scythe is back to being brand new?"

  The smith quickly pocketed the silver coin, keeping an eye on both sides of the street to ensure no one saw the money he had just received. It was a good thing as well. If people started finding out he had so much cash on hand, then every street thug would be knocking on his door asking for protection money.

  "Come back in two days."

  "It's going to take you that long?" Rey asked. "I could fuck all the sucubusses in town in that time and still have enough time to spare for dessert?"

  "Good. Do that then, for all I care. I'm going to have to set in a new blade. This one has gone to shit, and I see you have a Runic skill embedded into the shaft. That makes it a little difficult. Two days, if not more."

  Rey sighed. "Fine." He turned to the still fretting mamacita and offered her his arm. "So, my sizzling jalape?o in demon form, let's go do some sightseeing?"

  She hesitantly looked at him, not wanting to take his arm, and for perfect reason too.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  "I don't know if I should, you've been in the city not all of five minutes and killed two of my gang members," she said.

  "If I keep that up, I'll rid the city of the Black Hand by nightfall or dawn or whatever time of day it is in this blasted place."

  Why couldn't Hell have a day-night cycle? Talk about fucking with linguistics and a person's internal clock.

  She gave him a stern look. "That's not helping."

  "I'm just joking." He shook his head lightly. Totally not joking.

  She once again looked at his arm apprehensively. "You're still human. Aren't you worried that I might try to eat you? You've masked your human smell quite well, but it's still there?"

  Rey shrugged. "I can handle myself, and if you do try to do to me what Phil did to you, I won't hesitate to rip your head off like Bikrur." Then he leaned in. "You are Black Hand, after all."

  She gulped and took a half step back.

  Rey burst out laughing. "I'm kidding." He took her hand and put it through his arm. "I would never do that to you. I'll just stab you in the neck."

  She gave him a look and then started chuckling, though he was serious this time.

  "What do you want to see?" She asked.

  "I heard someone talking that there is a monument to Zalathar in the middle of the city, where people can pray to him, and sometimes he answers personally."

  "W-What?" She almost pulled away again. "But the Black Hand's hideout is right next to it."

  "Then pretend. I'm a mark." He produced two silver coins from his purse. He was sharing them as if they were candy. "For your company."

  "Why are you making it sound like I'm a succubus?"

  "I didn't mean it like that, and you know it."

  She chuckled. "Okay, let's go. It's this way."

  They walked past the garbage mound that was the resting place of Bikrur. Even the garbage heap was offended by his addition. Some demons had already started crowding around his corpse, no doubt to take a pound of flesh. Canibalism was very popular in Hell. Though Bikrur was all lean, Rey was sure the first ones could definitely get some good cuts off him.

  He was so surprised by how easy it was to fall back into his demon life, even though he wasn't a demon yet. And if the demons found that fact about him, then it would be another story altogether. He might have to butcher this whole town on his way out.

  "Say, you never told me," Gloria said, once they turned the street. "What happened to others? Are they here with you? Or waiting outside the walls. Also, did that Unokir ever show up?"

  "Oh, I've got a lot of things to tell you."

  So, Rey began the tale of their adventures after she left. Everything, from Ajay getting pregnant by the Nestoriel to the battle with Segei, to Tia's betrayal, which didn't come as a surprise to Gloria. Then came the deaths, and they saddened her. Jerry and Sergei were one thing, but she was close with Maria. She did not take the news that the religious woman now lived as a mindless denizen of the dead forest, well. She had tears in her eyes.

  "Maria never wanted any of this," Gloria said. "Never belonged here. She was no fighter. Zalathar must've picked her, just to torture her for his sick amusement."

  She was right. Zalathar had never admitted it outright, but he had dropped enough hints over the years that led Rey to believe that was the case. Of course, he dropped those after Rey had turned into a demon so that he wouldn't care as much. And he hadn't at that time.

  "You're probably right," he said, playing the fool.

  "So, you left them," she finally said.

  Rey nodded. "I couldn't see them die all over again. No matter what I did, the future unfolded the same way. Only the five people that I saw making it out of the castle alive did. Everyone else perished. I had to kill Sergei myself to give him a chance at living as a demon. They should be together and can take care of themselves."

  Or so he hoped.

  Finally, they arrived at the town square, and right in the middle of it stood a large statue of a man, posed in a superhero stance. The statue was constructed from pieces of scrap metal, broken plates, and patched together with what appeared to be cement. The face, if it could be called a face, didn't have anything in the right place. Exactly, what he would expect a demon Michaelangelo to create. In a way, it was the perfect stature of the Chaos Sovereign, as every time Rey met him, he looked something different.

  Seeing that statue, Rey had the strong urge to pee on it.

  "What the fuck is that?" Rey barked a laugh. "That thing is as far from a statue as I am from winning World's Most Normal Person award."

  Gloria shrugged. "Demons around here practically treat it like a shrine."

  "A shrine. I wouldn't let my dog piss on it. Who created this thing? I need to file a complaint to HR for having to look upon this grotesque monstrosity."

  "Rey, stop," Gloria urged, pulling him away.

  "I know the Chaos Sovereign's face is hard to pin down, but they Frankensteined together whatever filth they could find and boom, modern art at its finest."

  She tightened her grip on his arm. "Seriously, stop. People are watching."

  They truly were, and one big one was even stomping over to them. He had the face of a shark. A literal shark. He was basically King Shark from the Suicide Squad. Rey couldn't hold back his laughter at the walking-talking copyright infringement.

  [Demon (Exiled) – E+5]

  "What's so funny?"

  "Your face. This statue. This whole town. But mostly your face."

  Shark man raised his fist as he growled, ready to swing at Rey.

  "Now, before you swing at me, just know that I'm stronger than you," Rey warned him.

  "Like Hell you are."

  Then he showed that he truly did have the brain of a fish and swung his fist. Rey caught it with ease. There was a loud clap as their hands collided. The shark man's eyes widened. Shocked that his bulk didn't give him the advantage.

  Gloria sidled up to him. "Rey, before you do anything, just remember, The Black Hand's hideout is right over there." She pointed to a squat building, which was no more than a shack. In fact, it was a rickety shack that looked as though it would topple over at any minute. He figured, if they were going to make a lair, they could've made it in a better place.

  "Oh, I have a solution for that." He turned to the shark demon. "Your copyright infringement days are over."

  With one smooth motion, he yanked out his dagger and stabbed the shark three times in the chest and once more in the eye to finish him off.

  [+1 Willpower]

  [You killed a Demon (Exiled) – E+5]

  The demons hollered and cried in excitement as Shark Man toppled to the ground. They fell upon him like a pack of blood thirsty hounds that had just found meat after several days of hunger. Rey had always wondered why they even made cities in the first place, but the answer came to him when he'd undergone the transformation himself. It was to find easy kills like this. Murder was happening on every street corner, so there was always easy food to go around. Of course, the risk was that you could be served on the menu—high risk, yummy reward.

  "What's all this racket?" Shouted a slimy, yet gruff voice.

  Sort of like what a typical villain would sound like. Rey was sure he had heard this voice before, but it was so long ago that he had almost forgotten it. Now, he remembered. And Rey was not even happy about killing a rank 5 demon anymore.

  Gloria gripped his arm. "We've got to go."

  "But—"

  "No buts." She pulled him along. "We've got to run. Now!"

  Rey totally wanted to wait to make an introduction, but he followed after Gloria. Besides, he had had his fill of killing demons this morning, afternoon, or evening. He would resume the killing spree in a few hours.