“We have some unfinished business you and I,” Pyra said, cracking her neck as she turned to face the demon.

“Yes. Your pussy must be aching to receive my demonic cock,” the demon replied.

“I actually had a great fuck yesterday, so I’ll pass.”

Crazy, wonderful woman.

“Even better. I love driving it into you human girls dry,” Gdol-Zayin grinned. “Happens more often than you think."

“You’re gonna keep talking up there or are you gonna get down here and fight me?”

“No, no, no. This isn’t how this works,” the demon shook his head, planting the spear tip of his weapon into the ground. “You are going to sit and wait until your spell ends, and then we will be going down there to rape, butcher and enslave you puny humans. Not necessarily in that order.”

The demons around us laughed and howled.

“Of course, I’m not heartless. If you surrender, I promise that only you, Knight Captain Pyra, will be made my cock-sleeve, while everyone else will receive a quick and clean death.”

“You know, Mr… what was your name again?” Pyra asked.

“Gdol-Zayin. But you may call me master. Now get on your knees and beg.”

“I kept thinking of a way we could get you to leave whatever hole you were hiding,” the Knight Captain continued, ignoring the demon completely.

“You are surrounded by demons. Not even your big mouth could save you from this position, unless it can swallow the entirety of my cock, which I’m eager to try."

“Ladies and gentlemen, we’re surrounded by demon filth,” Pyra said in a serious tone. “Demons to our left, demons to our right, demons in front of us and demons behind us.” She paused as her serious expression turned into a hungry smile. “Which means our search is over. Pick a cardinal direction, and start killing some motherfucking, filthy demons!”

The first to move was the Knight Captain herself, in a blur of red hair she crashed right into the spot where Gdol-Zayin stood.

The rest of the adventurers followed her example, leaping, climbing and opening fire in every direction.

The demons were caught completely by surprise, higher level adventurers like Urabus cleaving through them with ruthless efficiency.

Their commander had long since gone out of sight, the only signs of him were the ground shaking where the Knight Captain tried to hit him.

And meanwhile in the pit, was me. Completely and utterly useless in a war of swords.

I justified it to myself by reasoning I had to stick with Violetta, but as men and women and demons bled around me, I couldn’t help but feel a little powerless.

And if Aphrodite thought this would somehow weaken my spirit. She had another thing coming.

“Do you know any combat abilities?” I asked Violetta as she was treating the wounds of one of the more badly hurt adventurers. The work at least seemed to help distract and un-nervous her.

“No. I focused on crafting. Though…” she paused and hesitantly lifted her dress to reveal her shins. “I have these for emergencies.”

Two revolvers similar to the one used by Pyra before were strapped to each of her legs.

“Oh, I see.” This girl just kept on surprising me. “Can I have one of those?”

“Uh. Alright.” She unstrapped one and handed it to me.

I never fired a gun before in my old life, but I was going to.

My first ever target would be a man sized demon creeping on the edge of the pit.

I aimed, and fired.

I missed.

The kickback on the revolver was so strong it nearly knocked it out of my hand.

The startled demon tripped on some loose rocks and fell right down into the pit, screaming as the blessed aura seared his skin.

But he wasn’t dead. And was very angry. And coming towards us.

Surprisingly, I found that years of keeping calm when talking to women so attractive most would barely be able to utter a word, translated into actual combat. I braced my revolver arm with the other, carefully took aim, and fired.

The demon fell down dead right at our feet.

Urabus, who was over the top looked to see everything was fine, gave me a thumbs up and proceeded to continue hacking our enemies to pieces.

It only took a short while for me to realize this was the first time I’ve ever killed a sentient being.

But clearly the reality of a battlefield would not allow me to linger on it.

The massive frame of Gdol-Zayin crashed through the blessed aura field and into the rubble, followed almost immediately by the crazy redhead herself.

The aura seemed to hurt the large demon, but not nearly as much as it did the lesser ones.

“So, any last words before I rip your dick off with my bare hands and hang it in the guild hall as a trophy?” the Knight Captain taunted her defeated foe.

Around the pit more and more adventurers were returning, having dealt with the enemies and broken the siege we were in, some looking better for wear than the others.

But victory was ours.

And yet the demon laughed.

“You lose,” he declared.

Words rang through the air.

Cast: Darkness.

It was… pitch black. Or purple? It wasn’t a mist, and yet it almost felt like one.

Everything that wasn’t two meters away from me completely vanished.

“You thought you were the only ones with reinforcements? I received four black mages from my superior, to set the ground for his arrival!”

The feeling of Pyra’s fist smashing into the rubble was unmistakable.

“You can’t hit what you can’t see, can you?” the demon laughed from a different direction. “While I can smell your cunt so badly in heat from anywhere.” He switched places again.

It sounded… close.

The massive figure of Gdol-Zayin suddenly appeared right behind Violetta and me. He grinned madly as he extended an arm to grab the terrified master engineer. And paused.

“You,” he growled at me. “I will deal with you later.”

His hand continued towards Violetta when suddenly the morning-star tipped hair of Pyra came smashing straight into his chest.

“What a coincidence. I can smell demon filth like you a mile away as well.”

The demon laughed as he disappeared into the darkness. “Do you really know what is waiting for you in the dark?”

“Ugh, you just made the whole godsdamn area one big hole for you to hide in!” Pyra growled. “Come here and get your dick ripped off like a man!”

A burst of demonic flame that looked all too familiar came from behind the Knight Captain, only to be deflected with a blessed punch.

“What’s your superior gonna think about your cowardice?” Pyra taunted him.

“You think a demon prince cares how the job is done? He should be arriving any minute now. You should ask him,” the demon laughed from seemingly everywhere in the darkness.

Pyra sighed. “Fuck. We don’t have time for this.” She turned to me and Violetta. “You have to get to the portal and close it now.”

“Just the two of us?” I asked.

“No,” she replied. “Urabus!”

The large man materialized out of the darkness and into our sight.

“Take the rest of your guys and make sure Violetta gets to that damn gate no matter what, understood? I’ll take care of this little bitch. The injured should stay here for now.”

The big Mohawk topped man gave her a somber nod.

“I can help,” Isabella, who was nearby, said. A sudden beacon of light appeared and revealed everything within around ten meters.

“Holy light. Excellent. Take her with you to light the path. We have to close the gate now,” Pyra instructed.

A blur of darkness zoomed into our little haven of light, only to be punched out by an equally fast blur of golden shining fist.

“Go already!”

With those words, that crazy, wonderful woman disappeared into the darkness in pursuit of her foe.

And we had to run. Run to clear the rapids and reach the river, from where we could reliably find the waterfall where the gate was spotted, gathering adventurers as we went.

By the time we reached the river, we had a group made up of most of the original bodyguards.

“I think he threw most of what he had left at us back there,” Urabus said as we stopped to rest and assess the situation.

Not that we had much time to do so, as Pyra’s urging words were still fresh on our minds.

A demon prince coming through the gate?

“What’s a demon prince?” I asked.

“Someone you really don’t want to meet right now,” Urabus replied.

“How are we supposed to even touch something that high level?” asked one of the bodyguards.

“The dark mages channeling this darkness spell are also still here somewhere,” added one of the female adventurers.

Clearly the lack of any demons attacking us was not enough to lessen everyone’s anxiety.

“Calm down,” Urabus said. “If the demon prince was here, we’d already be dead.” The big man knelt towards the water and put his sword into the stream to wash off the black blood. “We take five, and then we press on. It shouldn’t be too far now.”

Violetta sat down on a rock to look at the water.

I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I heard her muttering to herself.

“You can do this… You can do this…”

Her hand trembled as it went over the pistols attached to her legs.

“You are the most fascinating nerd I have ever met,” I said, coming up next to her.

“A… what?”

“Oh. Right. What’s a word you use to tease very smart people?”

“Useless Inters,” she said, frowning. “Because they typically max out intelligence.”

“And have you?” I asked, crunching down to her level.

She gave me a narrow eyed look. “I want you to leave.”

“I’m joking,” I said, raising my hands in surrender. “Have you never been teased by friends?”

“I, uh, no, I mean, yes, that’s just an insult, we’re friends?” she fumbled through every single word as our proximity made her quite nervous and blushing. She even scooched a little farther away from me on the rock.

At least she looked better. Change her emotions, not her mind. One of many a useful life lesson.

“So this demon prince, is he the child of the demon king?” I asked.

“No. I mean, yes. Of sorts. The five demon princes are also known as the demon king’s fingers, and they are second only to him in rank. Do you really know nothing of the war?”

“Almost nothing really. Never even seen a demon until that first attack on the town.”

She looked at me for a moment like one would look at a hobo telling you he has evidence the world is run by lizardmen, studying my face.

“You’re a very strange man,” she concluded.

“Thank you. So are you,” I laughed, pointing to the guns still visible under her flowery dress.

She sighed and pulled her legs under her dress completely. She then put a hand down the front of her dress and between her breasts and handed me something.

It was a hand grenade. Pin and all. If not for the medieval looking embellishments, I’d have assumed it was taken directly from earth.

“So that demons can’t take you alive.”

“T-thank you,” I said, smiling an idiotic, childish smile, wondering how much of her cleavage was made up of explosives.

The sound of cracking branches brought everyone’s hands to their weapons.

“Oh, thank the gods we found you first,” said a familiar female voice.

“Deputy Commander,” Urabus nodded as Luciana approached, followed by half a dozen female guards and adventurers I recognized from my trial as members of the RFF. “Good to see you made it.” He looked through the new arrivals. “Are you all that remains of the left flank?”

“Sadly, yes. Demons ambushed us almost all the way.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” the musclebound gorilla of a man said somberly.

“More importantly,” Luciana said. “Is Violetta safe?”

“Not a scratch,” Urabus said, looking back to us by the river. “Together with you guys, we’ll get her to the gate in no time.”

“That’s our goal,” Luciana confirmed. “Are you ready to move?”

“You heard the lady,” Urabus said, metaphorically picking everyone up. “It’s time to end this threat for good!”

Our small party quickly picked up and joined the remains of the left flank.

“Follow me,” Luciana said as she turned to walk into the darkness.

“Wait, but the gate is up the river,” Urabus said.

“The direct route is guarded by a bunch of high level demons. Another sergeant possibly. We have to go around, they’re actively looking for Violetta,” Luciana replied. “Come on. We don’t have time.”

Violetta’s hand wrapped around mine.

“After her? How do the demons even know about her?!” Urabus exclaimed. “Do they know she’s the only one capable of closing the gate?!”

“Yes. Somebody told them our entire godsdamn plan. There’s a traitor. If you ask me it’s one of those misogynists on the right flank.” She spat on the ground. “But we don’t have time for this. We have to move. Gdol-Zayin is looking for her!”

The hand holding mine tightened.

“Pyra stayed behind to take care of Gdol-Zayin,” Urabus said. “She instructed us to rush to the gate as fast as we can.”

“And the time she’s buying you, you louts are wasting standing here while Zereg-Atsum is almost here!”

Violetta’s hand tightened even more.

“Who?” Urabus asked.

“The demon prince you idiot! If he gets here, everyone will die!” Luciana replied.

I never put any points into perception. But my life as a seducer demanded that I be observant, about everything.

“How do you know the demon prince’s name?” I asked.

Luciana paused for a moment as she looked at me.

“We interrogated one of the demons. He spilled a lot of information,” she said.

Now it was time for Urabus to tense. “Demons aren’t allowed to use their superior’s full demon name,” he said. “A demon would refer to him as Lord Atsum.”

The deputy commander laughed. “You’d be surprised what a demon is willing to spill when you’ve got it by the short and curlies.”

But Urabus remained as he was, and Violetta’s hand clasped mine as hard as ever, while the girl herself moved behind me.

Luciana looked at us with growing anger. “Are you fucking kidding me? A demon prince is on top of us! We. Do not. Have. Time. For this.”

“The river is the shortest way,” Urabus said.

The deputy commander stepped up to the man two heads taller than her. “Are you disobeying my orders?!”

“I only take orders from the captain, deputy,” Urabus said, looking down at her.

Luciana’s face went read and fist clenched.

The big man’s hand was on his sword.

I could feel Violetta hold her breath behind me.

“Fine,” Luciana said, raising her hands up in surrender. “You want to kill us all? Fine! Go ahead!” She gestured him to lead the way up the river. “Fucking freelancers.”

Urabus turned to us and opened his mouth.

And then a black hand with razor sharp claws burst through his abdomen.

The stunned adventurer gasped and coughed as he fell to his knees and slid down to the ground.

Behind him stood Luciana, her arm black as a demon’s, and her eyes as red as one’s too.

“It could have been so much cleaner,” she said, flicking her hand to shake away the blood.

The guards and RFF members behind the deputy captain had the same eyes now, all glowing red. And several more materialized out of the darkness.

“Kill them, leave the girls unless they resist,” Luciana commanded.

In a blink, the area became a battlefield.

Though to call it a battle would be a bit much.

It was a slaughter.

The outnumbered and stunned personal guard was quickly cut to pieces as the half demon, half human Luciana and her cohorts tore into them like wild animals.

Soon, the only ones left were me, Violetta and Isabella, still providing the only source of visibility, our backs to the river.

I felt like I knew the answer, but I had to ask it regardless.

“Why?”

“Why?!” Luciana hissed. “Because we’re tired of being looked down upon!” She was growing angrier with every word. “Objectified, forced into support classes, constantly ogled, sexist armor designs, and most of all, every one of you cock-holding motherfuckers thinking your assistance merits sexual rewards!!” With every bit of anger, it seemed a bit of her humanity was being replaced with a demonic blackness that soon covered her completely from the neck down. “And if your trial proved anything,” she hissed at me in particular. “It’s that we won’t get our way without giving your whole kind a collective kick to the dick!”

“You swore to protect the people of Ratia,” Violetta protested from behind me.

“Fuck the people of Ratia,” Luciana spat. “You know, there’s no sexism in the demon army. All that matters is how strong you are, nothing more, nothing less. There is a female demon princess, while there are zero female heads in the high republican council of Dargos!”

Feminazis with demon powers. Well, I did always know I’d probably be killed by a woman.

“With the power given to us by lord Zereg-Atsum, we will castrate every single one of you!”

They closed in around us.

I could feel Violetta behind me pull another grenade from her cleavage.

“And we’ll start with you!”

A black hand launched straight towards my chest. Ironically the same spot I was pierced by a crossbow bolt.

I closed my eyes.

When I opened them again a moment later, someone stood before me.

And it wasn’t Luciana.

It was a man.

Sword and shield in hand, he blocked the thrust meant to kill me.

Sonofabitch!

“Shinsuke! You magnificent bastard!” I cried out of joy.

“It’s Grundevard,” he corrected, shoving the demonic deputy captain back.

More and more figures leapt through or over the waters of the river.

The CELL-inners!