Rey waited for Filomena to explode into tears, crying out—Why did it happen to my Sexy Samosa. What am I going to do in life? All the spice from my world is gone.

  And just more variety of the same, but no, the Sicilian stayed impassive. It made Rey wonder if she was indeed from a mafia family. She had once mentioned that her family ruled the city with an iron grip, but Rey had dismissed that as a joke. Now, he wasn't so sure.

  "You're serious?" Kassandra asked.

  "Of course," Rey replied.

  She gave him a look that said something along the lines of him being an idiot or that he was exceptionally bright, knowing all the answers to her troubles. He couldn't decide which one, so he assumed it was the latter. After all, it would be a dumbass that wouldn't tell them that they should be chasing the demon that intended to make Ajay a mommy.

  Thankfully, Kassandra took that part on.

  "Then what are we waiting for?" She snapped. "Let's go."

  There was one thing that Rey was sure he should be telling them, but he couldn't remember what it was. So, he decided to stay quiet for now.

  I'm sure it'll come to me.

  They ran after the demon—and the floppy, unconscious plot device. The trail was easy to spot, but everything was easy to follow through the dead woods. Too bad Ajay was out cold; otherwise, they could have followed his screams.

  A demon sprang into their path and was blasted to bits by the enraged potential mobster before Rey could even Identify it. The thing was a demon from Hell, not a person transformed into a demon. He always liked killing these things, but the ones that turned into mindless demons weren't so bad either. It was just that now, he had all these feelings to consider, when before it didn't matter if they were once human or not.

  Stupid moral code.

  They were gaining on the demon, and Rey could even make out its vague form, dashing through the trees, which slowed it down some, and gave them enough time to catch up, even with the random demons jumping from behind the trees.

  A demon jumped in Rey's path, and he tried to slash it in half with his scythe, only for that demon to sidestep Rey's swing.

  [Demon (Exiled) - ?]

  Rey had a feeling that this demon was a little stronger than anticipated. So, he let the girls continue the chase. Kassi turned towards him. He waved her off.

  "Keep going," He called. "I'll handle this one."

  It would have been so easy if he could have just used his Gravity skills. He wanted to, but he also knew that he needed to conserve his Mana or risk going into whatever was coming, with magic. He didn't know what it was, but he knew it would be something dangerous. Everything always was in Hell, because why could something be easy for once?

  After all, he couldn't be blamed; he hadn't fought these things in a few years. Mostly, the demons just ran from him when they saw him coming.

  This one, however, was not smart enough to know when to run and when to stay and fight.

  Rey swung his scythe in a circular motion, making use of his Dexterity and Scythe Mastery skill. The two worked in tandem and cut the demon to size in less than a minute.

  [+1 Dexterity]

  [You have killed a Demon (Exiled) - E+2]

  Rey took off after the girls, and it didn't take him long to catch up to them. They had it covered mostly. He prayed for any demon that tried to challenge the angry Filomena.

  She fought so fast and ferociously that Rey couldn't help but gawk. But then Kassandra grunted, and his attention was drawn to her.

  It looked like the strain of pulling back on the string on her bow was getting to her, and she wasn't as healed as she looked.

  Rey gritted his teeth, tightened the grip on his scythe, and rushed for her. The demon she was fighting looked like a mutated platypus. It was holding what looked like a crooked pickaxe. It swung its axe at Kassandra, who ducked the blow and jumped back, trying to create some distance between them. But the Platypus kept up the assault.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Rey closed the distance between them and activated Gravitational Attraction on Kassandra. And just in time as well, because the demon smashed his pickaxe into the spot where she was standing.

  She flew from her spot on the ground and straight into Rey's arms.

  There was an awkward moment where they looked into each other's eyes for a second too long. Finally, Rey motioned towards the demon.

  "Your kill awaits, my lady."

  "Y-Yes."

  She drew her bow, the arrowhead lit up like a shining beacon, and she let it fly. The arrow whistled as it flew through the air, leaving behind a white streak, and hit the demon right in the throat.

  It gurgled on its dark blood before it dropped to the ground.

  "Thanks, Rey," Kassandra said. "I was a goner if you hadn't saved me back there."

  "It's not like I would let anything happen to you again."

  She frowned. "Again?"

  "I mean…You know, the last time you got hurt because of me, so I meant that I wouldn't let anything happen to you this time. In that sense. Nothing else."

  Phew, good save, Rey. Pat yourself on the back.

  From where Rey stood, it looked like it had worked, but who knew what Kassandra was thinking? She was always thinking two steps ahead and reading into things that weren't there, like Rey no longer had feelings for her.

  No, sir, not at all.

  Filomena cried out. Rey snatched his eyes away from Kassandra and looked towards the sound. Filomena had just taken a cut on her arm. Rey almost used his skill again, but turned out he didn't need to. What followed was the usual ear-shattering thunder, followed by a blinding bolt that lit up the world.

  Rey put his hands on his ears, as did Kassandra, but the lightning mage was unaffected, as if it were nothing but a fart in the wind.

  They ran to Filomena, who was getting up off the ground. Kassandra helped her up and examined her wound.

  "It doesn't look too deep," she said. "Though we should still bind it, before you lose too much blood."

  "There's no time," Filomena snapped. "That demon is running away with Ajay."

  "Yes, and you'll be helping no one if you drop dead from blood loss," Rey countered. "And I don't want to drag your corpse back or you turn into a demon and then I'm seriously fucked, as I'll be short two people in one day or night or whatever fucking time of day it is."

  Filomena glared at him. "You just care about achieving your own goals."

  "Yes, of course, I do," Rey replied. "My skin is on the line, and I don't know about you, but I like my skin on my body. I don't want to add to the Gill family coat that Zalathar has been showing off."

  And he was quite serious about that. There weren't many relatives that Rey cared about, save for his grandmother, but since they were still his blood, Zalathar had just made the list bigger—the list of people that Rey had to avenge. Everyone save for Uncle Reyan. That fuck deserved to be skinned twice, and then unmanned, before being churned to bits in Tibras's grinder.

  Cool it, Demon Rey. He reminded himself. His thoughts were turning super dark, super fast. He needed to save this darkness for one person alone.

  "We're wasting time here," Kassandra stepped in. "Rey, you follow the demon, and I'll patch up Filomena. We'll catch up to you soon."

  Rey gave her a two-finger salute. “Aye, aye, general.”

  Then he ran off behind the pregnant demon and the soon-to-be pregnant Ajay. The trail was easy enough to follow. Following the tracks left behind by the Nestoriel was like following the tracks left behind by a tank. The stupid fucking thing had even toppled trees in its haste to get away.

  Rey knew most of the forest and just about where everything was, but this demon was leading them away from it. There was only one place that was close enough that it could be taking them to, and he prayed that it wasn't what he was thinking.

  The girls caught up to him soon enough. Filomena's arm was bandaged up nicely. Though the strip of cloth that Kassandra had used was already turning scarlet. But, as she had said, it wouldn't be a big concern, yet. Their biggest concern was still their kidnapped damsel, who was about to be in a lot of distress.

  After a few more minutes of pursuit, their quarry led them to exactly where Rey didn't want to go. The Nestoriel had gone to its lair in the rocky cliffs that bordered the northern parts of the Kingdom of Night.

  It was too soon to be anywhere even close to that place.

  The demon's track showed that it had gone inside the cave. From the outside, it looked like a regular, dark, and demon-infested cave, but it was anything but that.

  Filomena moved for the cave all gung-ho, determined to save her future boyfriend.

  Rey gripped her good arm and stopped her. "Please stop."

  "Stop?" She jerked her arm free of his grip. "Why? The demon is just inside there. You said we had minutes to save him, and now that we're so close, you want to stop."

  "Oh no, I'm not saying—Stop, don't go into the dangerous and demon-infested cave. I'm saying—Stop and let's listen to Rey because he might know something about this cave."

  That gave her pause.

  "Have you had a glimpse of the future?" Kassi asked.

  "Not exactly," he replied.

  Since this had never happened last time, he didn't know what would happen to them, and that made him incredibly nervous. In a place eerily similar to this, Ajay had lost his leg, but then again, that was not supposed to happen for a few months. If he lost his leg now, he might not survive Unokir, and that would be a blow to Rey's assignment. But he couldn't worry about what-ifs. He didn't know what the future held for them, but he did know something about demon lairs.

  "Then why are we stopping here?" Filomena practically shrieked.

  "To enjoy the calm before the storm," Rey said with a grin. "This here is a demon lair. They are kind of like dungeons, though they don't pop up anywhere like dungeons do. A demon lair is like a mini-dungeon, and it belongs to a specific demon. There are many kinds of demons in the lair, but also the rest of the family of our kidnapper. So, the reason I've stopped you is to warn you of what is to come. In other words, this is Hell's Ovipositor Palace—part dungeon, part maternity ward, and all trauma."

  "This is a nest of those demons?"

  "Yes…"

  "Good." Then, without another word, Filomena stepped into the dark mouth of the cave.

  Kassandra nodded to him and followed their friend, with Rey right behind them.

  Just as the great oracle Rey had predicted, they were immediately set upon by a swarm of demons.