Rey had enough Mana for two more magical attacks, and he was about to waste one of them. Though if it saved Filomena's life, then it was worth it. He raised a hand towards the demon, but then it turned its back towards him.

  Oh, you spawn of a syphilitic succubus.

  He was about to use Gravitational Attraction on its back, but if he did, then Filomena would most likely be dragged along with it, which could thrust the female demon's ovipositor even further down, giving her a nasty and unwanted deepthroat.

  Time was running out. Kassandra looked to him, clearly exasperated, not knowing what to do. Well, she had only one arrow remaining, and with those nasty wounds in her abdomen, there wasn't much she could do.

  He looked at her. "One of us will distract the egg-laying cockroach while the other takes the killing blow. I will distract her since you have one measly arrow remaining. Don't miss."

  She nodded and set the arrow in her bow.

  With that, he used Attraction on the roof directly above the demon, increasing the gravity for himself. He shot towards the ceiling, and once he was directly above the loving pair that were intertwined tighter than a lover's embrace, he let go of the skill. He spun in the air, like a buzzsaw, and with his deathly sharp scythe, cut off the tentacle that was about to shove an egg down the Italian hottie's throat.

  The demon shrieked as dark blood washed Filomena's face. It let go of the girl, as it staggered back, and she dropped to the ground. She ripped the remaining appendage out of her throat, gagging and vomiting a bile-like liquid. The thing had almost shoved an egg down her throat. If Rey were even a second too late, she too would've accompanied her future lover in becoming the proud foster mama of a cockroach demon.

  Speaking of the future lover, he looked at his fiery friend, who still lay motionless, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. But for now, Rey considered it a good thing, especially since his belly hadn't started wriggling, which meant the eggs were still fine.

  "Oh, I'm going to kill this thing," Filomena said. Then gave Rey a nod of thanks. "I owe you one."

  Rey patted her back. "Don't worry, you help me kill this thing and we'll call it even, because I'm all out of Mana. Well, just about, but if I used Mana now, I might as well go take a nap beside our mutual friend who looks a little too cozy over there."

  She spared a look towards Ajay, and the look she gave him was the same one she'd given him when he lay dying in the past, or well, the last time, Rey had done this—the exact same look. Ajay was bleeding out as the Luthrol had ripped out his stomach, and they had no healer or healing potions on hand to heal him.

  Rey knew what was coming next. Filomena looked at the Nestoriel so viciously that if he were in the demon's place, he would've been backing up slowly out of the room. Not surprisingly, this was also how she had stared down the Luthrol, as she dashed off to meet her end.

  It was like someone had slowed down time. Rey stood rooted to the spot, as he got the feeling that this was it. Their end was here. That instead of a Luthrol, it would be a Nestoriel that kills them both.

  It's too soon. It's too fucking soon.

  They weren't supposed to die for months. They lived somewhat happily, or as happy as one can be, being hunted by demons, for at least six months, give or take a few weeks. Ajay hadn't even lost his leg yet. But his belly had taken a considerable blow or would take a considerable blow when it burst open, thanks to the demon babies inside him.

  Kassandra waited with her bow in hand, looking for Rey to make an opening. Filomena was about to charge towards her death. It was happening exactly as it had last time. It was the four of them who went into the fight, and only two made it out. They couldn't even wait around to see if Ajay and Filomena recovered their souls, as the demons that came for them were too strong.

  If any one of them died now, no one would be making it out of these caves. The tunnels would be so choked full of demons that Kassandra and he would be served on the menu right along with the star-crossed lovers.

  I'll become a two-bit whore like a succubus with a single tit before I let any one of us die so soon.

  "Filomena, stay back and try to wake up Ajay," he said.

  The girl's eyes were locked on the Nestoriel, and he could practically see a murder PowerPoint presentation flash behind her eyes.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  He stepped in front of her, putting his back to the demon. He knew it was contrary to his declaration just now, but he needed to get this enraged woman out of the fight before she ended up dooming them all.

  He put a hand on her shoulder. "Ajay needs you." That seemed to get to her, as she looked at Ajay teary-eyed. "He needs to wake up. Slap him, promise to flash him if he wakes up, or actually flash him. You know what, don't do that; he would probably pass out again. Point is, get him to wake up, so we can start working on getting those eggs out of him."

  "How will we do that?" She asked, a little too frantically.

  "I don't know, but one problem at a time," he replied. "I'll take care of the demon, and you take care of Ajay. Can you do that?"

  She nodded, gave one last hateful look to the demon, and ran for her future boyfriend, if they made it out of this cave.

  "Good." Then he turned to the Nestoriel, who was rushing towards him. "I've had enough of you shoving your dirty dick down my friend's throats, you dickless cockroach."

  Rey did the most badass thing he could do at that moment—he ran. After all, he had to get the demon away from his friends. That was priority number one. The second priority was to position himself and the demon in such a way that Kassandra had a nice, clean shot.

  He stopped once his back was to Kassandra, for now came the hard part.

  He pulled out his dagger and waited for the Nestoriel to come for him. The sudden shift took the demon aback, but it was too angry to care.

  Rey didn't have a particular strategy other than to fight until an opening presented itself. That was how he fought most fights. If the others knew that, they would tell him to take his leadership and kindly escort it directly into his rectum. Since none of them could read his thoughts, he figured he was good.

  The Nestoriel gnashed its spiky teeth, as if it couldn't wait to take a bite out of Rey. He had been bitten by a bunch of ants once, and that was not nice; he figured this would be worse.

  He swung his scythe in an arc when the demon was within range, leaving a nice scratch on its carapace, but it didn't draw any blood. Then Rey used his Scythe Mastery skill to his utmost ability and went to town on the demon. But no matter what he did, how he hacked or slashed at the demon, his attacks were thwarted, mainly by the demon's claws.

  [+1 Dexterity]

  The Nestoriel's tail lashed out, and Rey jumped aside from two of them, but the third caught him in the shoulder, and he was almost dragged to the ground. But thanks to his trusty dagger and some furious stabbing on his part, he was spared a lot of hurt. Of course, this meant he had just made the angry demon even angrier, but that was all part of his not-so-well-thought-out plan.

  With a quick glance back, Kassandra showed that she was ready, but her target was anything but. It shrieked and came for him again, and this time, Rey took a gamble. He pulled his arm back and hurled the dagger at the demon's egg sack. He didn't think it would actually kill the thing or even pierce the sack, but the dagger was stronger than it looked.

  It pierced the sack and went in almost to the hilt. The Nestoriel gave a shriek that might as well have been—'my babies!'.

  Rey wished he had so many things on hand—chief among them was more Mana. But fate, it seemed, was never going to be on his side.

  He drew a deep breath and got ready for a world of hurt. He dashed for the demon, holding out his scythe horizontally. Then, he activated Gravitational Attraction, making the cave wall pull on his scythe.

  He shot forward, slamming into the Nestoriel and taking it along for the ride. It took everything he had to move the scythe from the demon's chest to its neck, before they slammed into the wall, and slam they did.

  He had hoped the force would be enough to take off its head, but he was being too optimistic. The demon's head stayed attached. It shrieked and squirmed, trying to get free, but Rey held it firmly in place.

  "Now!" He roared.

  He saw a silvery light wash the cave's walls for a moment before the cockroach's head burst into pieces. Rey got a face wash of a lot of the goodies.

  The demon's body slumped to the ground, right when his Mana ran out. Gravity righted for his scythe, and a skull-splitting headache attacked Rey.

  [+1 Magic Affinity]

  He cried out, clutching his head. He dropped to his knees beside the still-squirming demon.

  "Rey!" Kassandra cried out, but before she could get to him, one of the demon's tails hit him in the chest and sent him flying.

  It was a testament that the pain from the hit, his rolling on the ground, which scratched his back even more, and reopened his wounds, was still less painful than the migraine attacking his head.

  By the fucking Sovereigns, do I hate Mana Fatigue.

  "Rey, are you okay?" Kassandra asked.

  "No, I'm dying."

  She tilted her head. "Seriously?"

  "No, not seriously. I'm going through Mana Fatigue, which means I have no Mana, so my body is trying to skull fuck me for pushing it too hard."

  "But your wounds—"

  "I'll be fine in a little bit."

  "Rey, Kassandra," Filomena called in a shaky voice. "He's not waking up."

  Her voice was tinged with fear. She looked to be on the verge of breaking down in tears. Rey's first response would have gotten him canceled, so he kept his mouth shut. Instead, he motioned to Kassandra.

  "Go, I'll be fine. But don't you dare flash Ajay."

  She reddened. "W-What?"

  "Just go."

  Kassi left him there, and he was okay with that. He rested his pounding head on the cave wall, and he took slow, deep breaths, hoping to calm his head down. It felt like the Nestoriel had laid some eggs in his skull, and they were cracking open at a furious rate.

  Kassandra had no luck at all, either, and thankfully, she didn't offer to flash him. If she had, he would have had to kill Ajay himself.

  "Rey, he's not waking up," Kassandra said. "And-and his belly is…"

  Rey looked over to where his friend lay, and to say things were not good was to say that explosive diarrhea was mildly inconvenient.

  Ajay's stomach was breakdancing like it owed somebody money.