Takezo waited until Hell Anne's wolves disappeared in the distance.

  He moved out of the hiding spot, peeling away from the shadows with the fluid grace of having done this too many times.

  He wondered whether this was the last time he saw Peter. In the moment Takezo noticed Anne approaching, he forgot Peter had no way to hide. A fatal mistake, which clenched Takezo’s insides. What a ginormous fuckup.

  But now, he could do nothing more than to continue their mission and hope to find Peter in the process.

  Anne took Peter to the ship, anyway.

  Takezo hurried now, using his demonic strength and stamina to run.

  The dome underneath Kallisto’s ship came into view. He ran to it from the side. Sure, some flying demons or sentries would notice him, but would reach the target, and then hide if he needed to.

  The shadow demon arts weren’t something he talked about, but he used them all the time. Those weren’t from the System, but the first skills he learned after he became conscious as a demon in Hell.

  He reached the dome and simply walked in through the door. He almost bumped into three demons, two man-like ones and a dog.

  In the instant they stared at each other, Takezo stepped into the iai stance and drew his sword. His blade cleaved the air and cut the nearest man in two. He followed through, shifting the stance, stabbing the dog demon in the eye.

  His blade passed through its skull with ease.

  The third demon barely started to shout before Takezo made the next step, and with a slight spin, drew the sword from the dog and severed the demon in two at the waist. He stabbed him in the head before the top part fell, for good measure.

  Takezo slashed the blood off his sword and returned it to its sheath.

  With a faint smile, he pulled on his power. Through the shadow demon arts, he diminished his presence. For as long as he didn’t move anything, he wouldn’t be noticed.

  He delved into the dome. The corridor walls pulsed with that nauseating rhythm, organic and wrong, like being inside something's throat.

  The architecture had logic to it, it must have, he just didn’t see it. So, he wandered around for a moment before he found the elevator. On the way, he met three patrols, none of which noticed him.

  The elevator he found seemed to be the freight one. Two massive demons were currently loading what looked like steel boxes, likely supplies for the ship. He slipped in by the side and hid on top of boxes.

  Since his arts were demonic arts made to be used against other demons, they worked perfectly.

  After they finished loading the elevator, it went up. Takezo sat on top of the boxes, moderately eager to see Kallisto’s ship from the inside.

  He had only ever heard rumors of it.

  And those were mainly of two kinds.

  One was that Kallisto had some of the meanest torture chambers in the Void.

  And the other one was that she had one of the greatest harems, topped only by her strap on collection, rumored to be the greatest in existence.

  Ironically enough, those were the logical places to search for Peter. Not the collection, as she would take him to one of the other two places for that.

  Torture chambers were far the likeliest place, as Anne could had taken him there straight. Plus, he would be just fine in the harem, not so much in the torture chambers.

  Those would be in the bottom part of the ship, so that the released suffering permeated through the ship.

  Why did suffering spread upwards?

  He hadn’t the faintest idea. He didn’t even know if it was true because there wasn’t any way to measure it.

  But every demon in Hell thought that. Every succubus knew to build her torture chambers straight under her bedroom. It was common knowledge, so torture chambers were always built underneath the living quarters.

  He walked straight through the hallways. Even when he met someone, they couldn’t detect him.

  The problem came when he saw a door ahead. No one stood guard, but there was no way to hide his presence when opening a door.

  Unfortunate.

  He readied his strength and opened the door.

  No one stood on the other side.

  Takezo passed through, concealing himself with the shadow demon arts.

  The first screams hit his ears. Nostalgia washed over his mind. There wasn’t much screaming in Hell, as no one wanted to share. But his first lover in there was a succubus that had a thing for screaming. Not her own, obviously, so she made sure the souls she tortured screamed before she and Takezo went to bed.

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  The path opened into the torture chambers, which resembled a surgical theater. People, or whatever was left of them, were spread across a framework of hooks and wires, their anatomy reorganized into an expression of artistic suffering. A demoness in what looked like a robe stitched from human skin worked on the tortured with thin, needle-like tools.

  The victim screamed again whenever they regained consciousness, but the sound lacked the quality of fresh victims.

  With the flesh seamstress working on old bodies, it was unlikely that Peter had been brought here. She would have been all over him.

  The deeper chambers didn’t reveal much, mostly more old bodies. Kallisto was short for humans to torture. He also saw no bodies that didn’t look Japanese, so she hadn’t managed to expand beyond the country’s borders yet.

  Good.

  Her being stuck brought opportunities and no harm.

  The paths branched, and Takezo followed the air current that didn't smell like rendered flesh. It led up, the angle steep, the hallway turning into a spiral.

  Lights shone ahead, different from the hellish red that permeated everything in the torture chambers. Softer, silvery light illuminated an ornate door.

  He approached the next gate carefully.

  Another door, another moment, he had to drop his concealment.

  He took a deep breath, readied every muscle in his body, and pushed against the door. It opened. He slipped through and cloaked himself once more.

  The contrast nearly made him laugh.

  Where the torture chambers had been industrial suffering, this was decadent pleasure. Silk cushions in colors that shouldn't exist. Fountains flowing with what definitely wasn't water. And bodies, dozens of them, succubi and incubi, other demons, humans, elves, angels, slimes, various animal and human hybrids, all rested here on sofas and beds.

  A thick cloud of mist filled the air, likely drugs that kept the residents calm. He stopped breathing, as if that would do anything about almost surely skin-based poison, and walked through.

  If Peter had been brought here, he would be at the entrance, which would be at the other end, as the logical order was to not introduce the harem slaves to the torture chamber at first.

  No one noticed him, and he threaded carefully to not step on a random catboy’s tail. He paused when he passed to the next major hall.

  A succubus that looked a lot like Elshiko rested alone on a large couch. She looked even prettier here, arranged in skimpy clothes, her goat-like horns long, not hobbled, and her eyes more European.

  Must have been a coincidence.

  Takezo crossed the chamber, slipped by the pools, avoiding getting splashed by the catboys playing in the water, and reached the end door.

  A ghost shimmered into visibility next to him. It looked like a pretty woman in a freely flowing yukata. She scanned the area where he stood with an inquisitive gaze.

  He didn’t move.

  The ghost flew closer, and he dodged by bending his body. That was close.

  When the ghost passed, he walked to the door. He couldn’t see the ghost now, as it had vanished in the hall.

  Well, fuck. Peter wasn’t here, so Takezo couldn’t linger. He opened the door and slipped through, but he did hear a giggle behind him.

  Damn it.

  He closed the door behind himself. Another hallway. He felt heat from the right-hand side, and also saw a large black steel portal there.

  Those had to be Kallisto’s chambers, as this area matched being above the torture chambers and being straight next to the entrance to the harem.

  Takezo rushed to the door and pressed against it. The gate slid open.

  He entered, walking into Kallisto’s private chambers.

  A surreal room opened before him.

  A massive fire raged across the large hall. By the fire’s side stood a kitchen, equipped with Earth-standard appliances, just black.

  The right-hand side of the room had a dining table and a large bath.

  On the room’s other side, two beds awaited. A massive bed made of black steel, like the rest of the furniture, with curtains that looked as if made of a thin fabric of flowing lava. Near stood a second bed, made of white wood, with curtains fashioned to look like clouds.

  Each bed had a set of wardrobes nearby, fashioned in matching colors.

  The ceiling itself was painted with the image of a night sky, with Heaven’s Gate depicted in the center.

  Bingo.

  Takezo took a quick walk around the room to see if there wasn’t anyone in. Nobody. In the kitchen, he checked the knifes. One looked really nice, out of polished steal that looked almost unearthly.

  He took it, and strapped it to the inner pocket of his suit’s jacket.

  Takezo returned to the entrance, drew his phone, turned on the camera, and started recording. “I’m now in Kallisto’s private quarters within her ship,” he said for the record, and spun the camera to show himself on the video.

  He walked through the room, recording everything. The obvious object of interest was the white bed and wardrobes.

  He chose the wardrobes first. Opening them to reveal sets of Earthly clothing, a standard mixture of suits, t-shirts, jeans, and other clothing, all feminine in cut and style. On one shelf, he found a small collection of crosses and a copy of the bible, the standard edition the American branch of the Church issued, just with twelve smaller crosses encircling the main cross on the cover.

  He recorded all of it.

  Then, he walked to the bed, or more precisely, to the nightstand next to it.

  He opened its top drawer, and next to a bunch of lotions and creams, he saw a framed picture.

  The picture displayed three people: Lucifer, in his usual suit, a redhead woman he had never seen, and a teenage, blonde, tanned girl.

  “That looks like Lillith.” He focused the camera on the picture, which he soon returned to the drawer.

  He turned the recording to himself and then stopped it.

  Takezo returned to the phone to his pocket, heading for the exit.

  The door opened before he reached it.

  A demon walked through. Handsome, tall, with short brown hair and massive horns, dressed in a perfect suit, with a greatsword strapped to his back, the demon entered the room, blocking the door.

  The ghost girl floated next to him, grinning. “I told you we’ve got an intruder.”

  Takezo froze in place, focusing all his strength on cloaking himself. He knew this demon. Siegfried, Kallisto’s right hand. This wasn’t an average demon.

  Siegfried turned towards Takezo and drew the greatsword from his back. “Do you think I cannot see you?”

  It would have been nice. Takezo bolted forward, bending into the iai stance, and drew his blade with a hypersonic boom. The sword hit Siegfried in the side.

  But the blade bounced off the high demon’s shields, sparks flying.

  The ghost girl burst into laughter.

  As Takezo started the spin for the follow-up slash, drawing the black lightning into his blade, Siegfried kicked Takezo.

  The heavy boot dug into Takezo’s ribs, interrupting his movement, lifting him off his feet, knocking him away.

  Takezo spun mid-air, but before he even landed, Siegfried was at him, swinging down the heavy blade.

  Takezo raised his sword to block, bracing the blade with both hands.

  Siegfried’s sword shattered Takezo’s blade, hit him between the neck and the shoulder, shattered his shields, crushed his collarbone, and slammed him to the ground.

  Takezo shouted in pain, alive only thanks to Siegfried softening the blow at the last second.

  Siegfried stepped in, grabbed Takezo’s head with his left hand, and slammed his knee into Takezo’s face. The first hit broke Takezo’s nose and teeth. The second knee strike knocked him out.