It was when they arrived at the slaves’ section that Augrun was able to gauge the degree of this world’s dark side. The slaves weren’t just the Beastfolks or Demi-humans. There were also monsters, humanoid and non-humanoid, but they were thrown into the same confines regardless. Some were treated with all the care in the world while some were simply left to rot in their cages or confines. Some were barely alive. Some had wounds that were festering to the point that the germs were eating them inside out. Those that were treated well were sex slaves and they were dressed so ostentatiously without their shameful parts covered, male and female alike. There was even a corner where the clients could test these slaves out and quite an assortment of sounds were coming out from that corner. Augrun could almost swear that the women were competing with each other on how loud they could cry out.

“And humans pride themselves to be civilised and sophisticated,” Sera muttered. “How I wish to just tear this whole place down, Your Highness.”

“Why didn’t you?” Augrun asked.

“Because it won’t change a thing. Humans are tenacious and stubborn. As long as there are people who desire it, there will be a market for it, just different places with different management. Sometimes… I really wish we don’t require humans to thrive.”

“We could just take over the world, then.”

“That would be possible if it wasn’t for the other Supreme Demons. Right now, there’s a truce between all four Demon Sovereigns. If one tries to step up and claim the world for themselves, a war ensues and it will be no farce this time.”

“I suppose that’s just how it is… Quite exasperating, won’t you agree, Sera?”

“Not with you by my side, Your Highness.”

Augrun chuckled. He took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Oh, Sera… I have half a mind to take you to somewhere secluded and fuck you until you beg for mercy.”

“I would very much like that, Your Highness.”

Suddenly, a huge tremor spread across the whole marketplace. Though it was only for a second, strangely enough, no one appeared to be too bothered by the abrupt tremor. They uttered their surprise and shock and went back to their business the next following moment.

“What the hell was that?” Augrun asked.

“It’s most likely from the fighting pits, Your Highness,” Sera said and led the way.

They came to a section where there were vast pits strewn about the ground. The pits were deeper than two storeys and runes were inscribed on the walls. Cages were put on top of the pits to prevent the fighters from getting out and the humans from accidentally falling in. Within these pits, monsters, humanoid or non-humanoid, were fighting each other while the humans were cheering and making bets from outside the pits. Augrun couldn’t see those monsters properly unless he approached the pits and bent forward. But once in a while, he would see gushes of blood flying out from the pit.

“How nostalgic,” Augrun muttered.

“How so, Your Highness?”

“It reminds me of a certain place in my former world. It looks very similar to this place with the only difference being that humans are the ones inside the pits.”

“The ones watching and cheering are also human themselves?”

“You know it, Sera. Only humans are capable of being this deplorable. Anyway, what’s the victory condition of these fights?”

“To the death or one of the two fighters surrenders.”

“To the death, it is, then.”

Just then, another tremor swept through the place and it was stronger than before. One of the lanterns even fell from the ceiling but no one was hurt, unfortunately. Augrun wondered how hilarious it would be if something caught fire from the broken lantern and turned this whole hell house into an inferno. The tremor seemed to have shaken some of the fighters in the pits as most of the fights had stopped. Needless to say, a lot of the audience was starting to get worried about their own safety.

Not even a minute passed, another tremor swept through the marketplace. Everyone was losing their bearings from the constant intense shaking, Sera included, but Augrun kept his balance and helped Sera keep hers. 

“Thank you, Your Highness,” she said while wrapped in his arms.

“Where is this tremor coming from?”

“The grand pit just in front. It’s where the grand fight is, hence the name. The stakes are higher too, of course.”

With careful strides, Augrun walked over to the grand pit with Sera leaning in his arms as more tremors swept through the place. The grand pit was five times larger than the other pits. The cage on top was also larger and the steel bars were significantly thicker and seemed to be made of stronger steel. But even so, he saw some of the bars were bent and cracked.

Within the grand pit, there was an Orc around eight feet tall and just as burly as its height was. The Orc only had no armour or weapons. It only had a loincloth that was barely hiding its bulge. Its opponent was a woman but not just any woman. She wasn’t as tall or burly as the Orc but she was taller than most men and her muscles complemented her shapely figure well. Her skin was slightly darker than the Demon Queen’s. Her hair was of a very dark shade of black and her eyes were like a pair of gold jewels. She had a single curved horn protruding from the right side of her forehead. If she wasn’t in a pit that was reserved for enslaved monsters or people, Augrun would never have thought she was a slave with a robust and beautiful appearance like that. Much like the Orc, she was also wearing only the bare amount of fabric to hide her shameful parts.

Beautiful, Augrun thought. And she was more than that. She was strong too. There was a huge scar across her belly. It was old but it was evident that she received some heavy injury in the past but she was still going on strong in spite of that. She was the one who was causing all those tremors. She dodged the Orc’s flurry of punches and kicks. She countered with only one single hit that landed every time she attacked. That single hit would send the Orc flying into the wall, causing a tremor. The Orc was durable but not untiring. He was slowing down long before the woman was and it resulted in him getting hit more and more by the woman. The woman wasn’t just strong. She was a tad sadistic too as she was holding back her hits just enough to not hurt the Orc too much. The grin she had on her face sent shivers down Augrun’s spine.

“You’re staring very hard at her, Your Highness,” Sera remarked.

“So is everyone else, Sera. This is a very intense fight.”

“Yes, it is, but you’re staring at her, not watching the fight.”

Augrun chuckled. “Who is she?”

“Her name is Iora. She’s an Ogre.”

Augrun rummaged through his mind for information about Ogres but none of it pertained to a female Ogre’s beauty. “She’s very very very very beautiful for an Ogre. Or are all female Ogres this beautiful?”

“She’s indeed a rare one. She’s a Pure Ogre, untainted by the feral wildness that turned most of the Ogres nowadays into mindless monsters with warped appearances.”

“Who’s her master?”

“You intend to buy her, Your Highness?”

Augrun nodded. “Don’t worry. She’s not replacing you.”

“I know she isn’t, Your Highness,” Sera said, caressing her belly. “She has no master, only an owner, a slave merchant. She’s for sale, fortunately for you, Your Highness.”

“Lucky me,” Augrun hummed. “How much is she?”

“A hundred gold, Your Highness.”

“Is that a lot?”

“It is, Your Highness, but not for us. That’s a very small sum compared to the Queen’s wealth, not even a single per cent.”

“Hah, good to know.”

And another tremor shook the whole place.

“Well well well, if it isn’t Miss Sera,” an obnoxious sound voice drifted from the right. The voice belonged to a young man that was the nigh epitome of being too full of oneself, wearing an atrocious feather hat with a gaudy cape donned over his shoulders. “It’s been a long time.”

“It’s only a month at best, Baxter,” Sera spat without giving him so much as a glance.

“It’s Lord Baxter to you, Miss Sera. And what a surprise, a different man is accompanying you today. Should I expect a different man the next time we meet?”

Sera’s anger flared but she had the sense to keep it hidden, but not for long if Baxter kept antagonising her.

Augrun was still holding Sera’s hand and he gave a gentle squeeze to calm her down.

And Sera did calm down. Once she had reined in her breaths, she glanced at Baxter with a forged smile. “I could say the same to you, Baxter. You’re wearing a different perfume. Either you enjoy the indulgences of women or your wife isn’t enough for you, or both.”

“Lord. It’s Lord Baxter to you.”

“Maybe you are but you’re no lord of mine, Baxter.”

“You fucking b—”

“Hold your tongue now, boy,” Augrun warned, stepping in front of Sera. “If you call her that word, you will be the lord of the dead without a tongue.”

Baxter grimaced. “You dare threaten me? And you call me a boy? Do you know who I am?”

Augrun rolled his eyes. “What’s next? You’re going to say something like my father will hear of this if I hit you in the face?”

“If you know I am, you won’t have the guts to say all this to me.” He beckoned two large men in military suits over to him. “You’re about to rue your words, you ignorant fool. Men, crush his arms.”

As soon as the two large men moved, a Shadow Fang appeared between them. The large men and Baxter both gasped and stumbled backwards. The Shadow Fang then turned its gaze to them.

The others were gradually noticing the commotion due to the appearance of a Shadow Fang.

“You’re protecting that ignorant fool?” Baxter asked as he pointed at Augrun.

The Shadow Fang nodded.

“Preposterous. Why would you do that? Do you know I am?”

The Shadow Fang nodded again.

“And you would still protect him?”

It nodded again.

Baxter snorted with a chuckle. “Fine.” he stepped back, gesturing for his men to back down. “Whoever asked you to protect this ignorant fool, he will regret it too.” With that tenuous threat, Baxter turned around and took his leave into the crowd.

And the Shadow Fang was gone before Augrun could even utter his gratitude.

“That was very convenient,” Augrun remarked.

“The Shadow Fangs are also the unsung peace-keepers of the underworld. This is the least they should be doing. Impressive as they are, they are not better than the Queen’s own secret enforcers.”

Augrun wrecked his brain for any knowledge of the supposed Queen’s secret enforcers but there was none. “I didn’t know she had secret enforcers.” But of course, she would have them, Augrun reckoned. All rulers and governing bodies did in his old life. It became a necessity for one to survive in a ruling position.

“There’s a lot that you do not know, Your Highness, but please do not mistake them as secrets. The Queen isn’t trying to hide anything from you.”

“I know, Sera. I know. I know she’s well aware of how much she’s already pampering me. I am the Prince and I can’t be her heir if all my meals are spoon-fed.”

“I’m glad you understand, Your Highness.”

Another tremor hit but this time, it was strong, the strongest. And that wasn’t all there was to this tremor. A short moment later, someone was shouting, “The runes are broken!” 

And the whole marketplace erupted into screams as everyone rushed towards the exits.

“Runes? What runes?” Augrun asked, calmly.

Sera’s expression was grave. “The runes that kept the slaves from climbing out of the pits and escaping.”

A bell resounded immediately after Sera’s explanation.

“That sounds very worrying,” Augrun muttered.

“Say, shouldn’t they a Slave Crest somewhere on them that prevents them from being defiant?”

“Yes, they should have one, Your Highness.”

“Hmm,” Augrun murmured.

“The Slave Crests! It’s gone!! They’re gone!!” someone shouted, conveniently so. 

From the grand pit, the Orc and the woman escaped the pit with a single jump. Augrun understood it then. The woman wasn’t being sadistic. She was pulling her punches to make sure she didn’t punch hard enough to hurt the Orc too much while destroying the runes by cracking the walls using the tremor. And the pair weren't the only ones that escaped the pits. The tremor had broken the runes of a few other pits too.

“Your Highness, we should be running too,” Sera said.

“What will become of the slaves who escaped?”

“If they are captured, they will be made an example, killed or worse.”

Augrun gazed at the Ogre woman who was looking around with a very intense gaze. “The same applies to Iora?”

“The punishment is indiscriminate, ironically.”

“So she’ll be ruined if gets recaptured… I can’t have that now, can I? She’s mine,” Augrun declared. 

Augrun looked towards the slaves that had broken free and escaped from the pits. Many guards came pouring into the marketplace. They were trying to push the slaves back while the customers are escaping. There were members of the staff uttering incantations that were supposed to trigger the slave crest on the slaves but nothing appeared to be happening. And those staff members and guards were walloped by the freed slaves without having any means of defence. The slaves were strong and ferocious, and most of all merciless. They killed all those that weren’t slaves. They weren’t just escaping. Some of them were seizing this chance to unleash their pent-up anger and rage upon their tormentors.

“Iora, we should be escaping,” Augrun heard a voice say. “We can exact our vengeance another day. If the Brutes arrive, this will all be for nothing.”

“If you want to run, then run, Goru. I’m going to kill all those who strayed behind at the very least. I have waited for this day long enough. I’m not going to let this chance slip by… They will pay for all the torment they instilled on us.”

Augrun turned to those voices and found Iora, the female Ogre, coincidentally staring at him with eyes filled with an unbridled rage. She roared out her fury and charged straight at him.

“Your Highness, get behind me!” Sera moved in front of Augrun.

Three Shadow Fangs appeared in the path of Iora’s charge, weapons brandished. However, Iora swiftly dodged their fatal strikes and slashes and countered with her own blows that dispatched all three of the Shadow Fangs with ease. She didn’t even have a weapon. Her fists were more than enough. She had only landed a single punch but that punch was capable of rupturing all of the Shadow Fangs’ organs. After she was done with the Shadow Fangs, she continued to charge at Augrun.

“She’s strong, Your Highness. We should leave,” Sera said.

“She is strong but if she was the one I fought at the rite, then I would have completed the rite in seconds.” Augrun patted Sera on the head and moved in front of her. “Just keep the disguise on, Sera. I can handle her, seeing as how I’ll be handling her from here on out anyway.”

The female Ogre lunged when she deemed herself to be in range. “Die, you vile fiends,” she growled as she swung her fist. There was absolutely no trace of mercy in her eyes, only an unbridled rage.

If he was still Damien the hitman, he would have snuck away along with the rest of the crowd and tried his best to not get involved with anything. But he was no longer Damien. He was Augrun, the Demon Prince. He sneered with a chuckle and met the Ogre’s lunge head-on.

Iora widened her eyes at the confidence written all over the face of her supposed victim and tormentor. Her instincts were blaring like an air-raid siren, telling her to not become an enemy of the person in front of her. However, her long-suppressed rage overtook her and she pressed on with her assault.

Augrun snorted and caught the Ogre’s thrown fist by her wrist, completely stopping her punch. Iora realised the gap between their strength at that moment but it was already too late to be feeling any regret. She roared and threw another punch but that punch was also easily stopped and caught by Augrun’s hand. 

Iora’s eyes widened further. “What are you?” she asked.

“Your new master,” Augrun replied calmly with a smile. “Your near-future husband too.”

Iora’s face twisted into a grimace. “Like hell you are!” she snarled and swung her arms, bringing Augrun along. She intended to slam him into the walls and the ground but Augrun found his footing and reversed their momentum. Now, he was swinging Iora instead and he tossed her across the spectator’s seats.

Augrun laughed, not at Iora, but at himself. “I’m really just as scummy as these people. I really have gazed at the abyss long enough…”

“You said something, Your Highness?” Sera asked as she trotted up to his side.

“Nothing, Sera. Just some past mulling. Anyway, what of the other slaves?”

“Most of the slaves have been subdued. Only a few escaped.”

Augrun looked over to the other slaves. The Brutes had arrived and the slaves were either captured or killed. The Orc, Goru, was nowhere to be seen among the subdued slaves. “Impressive. Rapid response and efficiently competent. And they are called Brutes. What’s with the ironies?”

“Your Highness, she’s getting back up.”

“Oh, is she?” Augrun turned his gaze back to Iora, who was rising to her feet with the rage in her eyes burning stronger than ever.

“Your Highness, you should know that I have seen this Ogre fight. I have seen her tenacity. She has even managed to survive impalement.”

“I can see that,” Augrun said, eyeing the scar across Iora’s belly. 

“She’s not attacking,” Sera observed.

“Of course, she’s not. Our strengths are worlds apart and she knows that.” Augrun took a step forward.

 And Iora flinched and took a step back instinctively. Even her gaze was trembling.

“See, she’s afraid.”

Sera broke into a proud smile. “Of course, she would be, Your Highness.”

“What are you?” Iora asked as she slowly backed away from Augrun.

Augrun let out a condescending chuckle. “I have already answered that question of yours, Iora.”

“You—”

“Your Highness!” a voice called out to Augrun from behind. In an instant, Brutes flooded into the area and surrounded Iora, along with a few Shadow Fangs.

“Alvon,” Augrun muttered dryly in response.

Alvon came running up to the two. He was breathless when he reached them. “Are you unharmed, Your Highness?” he asked. The fear and urgency in his voice and gaze were astoundingly intense. No doubt he was fully aware of the consequences should any harm befall on the Demon Prince.

“I am fine, Alvon. Don’t fret. As if anything here can truly harm me.” That was no arrogance or overconfidence. It was a fact. That was just how absurdly powerful Augrun was, a Supreme Demon and the Demon Prince.

“This is truly unbecoming, Your Highness. A thousand apologies.” Alvon was kneeling and he was bowing very deeply. “Two incidents in a day and these two incidents have affected you directly. No amount of words of apology could ever be enough. This filthy Ogre will be made an example of and—”

As if triggered by Alvon’s words, Iora started her rampage again. The Brutes tried to subdue her but they were easily swatted aside like flies and crushed under her feet like ants. She received a few slashes from the Brutes but none of those oversized swords left even a scratch on her skin. She was pulverising the Brutes without much difficulty.

“Your Highness, you should leave,” Alvon said. “I’m ashamed to say that the amount of Brutes here cannot hold her back for long.”

“They don’t need to, Alvon. Tell them to stand down.”

“Y-your Highness?”

“His Highness has ordered you to order them to stand down, Mister Alvon,” Sera uttered. “Don’t make the Prince repeat himself.”

“Of course. At once, Your Highness.” Alvon did not utter a single command. He merely made a few gestures and the Brutes were backing away even though they weren’t glancing at Alvon.

Once the Brutes had cleared up, Augrun approached the baffled Iora. “I’ll be taking her with me, Alvon. She’ll do fine as compensation for all the troubles I have encountered. That won’t be a problem, will it, Alvon?”

“Of course not, Your Highness. But how would you—”

Before he finished his inquiry, Augrun took Sera’s hand and threw a chain, conjured from magic, at Iora that wrapped around her like it was alive.

“What in the name—” Iora tried struggling but the chain didn’t even budge.

“Farewell, everyone,” Augrun bade.

Dark mist appeared around Augrun, Sera, and Iora. In the next moment, the mist swallowed the three of them and they were gone when the mist dispersed.