Matthew woke up looking at a wooden ceiling. It’s been so long since he last saw anything built with wood. The scent on the air that invaded his nose was far from pleasant, but still much better than the smell of sulfur from Violentia and the smell of rotten and burned meat from Haeresis.

It was a thick smell that resembled kitchen gas from Earth.

He got up from the bed, sitting to the side, and looked around. It was a small bedroom made entirely of wood. The bed was of linen and softened with straws. Yellow crystals lighted the dark room.

Matthew then walked to a closed window and opened it. Outside he saw a city made of stone and wood buildings. The ground was muddy and dark with wood pathways that the plethora of creatures walked on.

There he saw cambions, imps, erinyeses, succubi, and other types of demons sharing the roads with all forms of spirits and even angels.

"You’re awake." Ffyr said after opening the door and seeing him looking outside.

"What happened? Where are we?" Matthew asked his familiar.

"We’re on Dis. The biggest city in all the hells." The fairy explained. "A place where all those who travel the realms converge."

"This is Ira. The fifth hell." Avariel added getting inside after Ffyr and throwing an apple to Matthew. "Let’s take a walk."

Ira was a huge swamp land crossed by the river Styx. There those who were wrathful in life met their damnation. Not killers or murderers, but those who harbored hatred inside themselves.

From the walls of the city, Matthew could see many Damnata fighting each other in the waters of the swamp and the river.

"I understand the ones fighting on the surface. But what about those in the bottom?" Matthew asked, pointing to a group he could see under the still waters of a bog.

"Wrath is not always acted upon." Nanael explained while Avariel helped her walk, not yet fully healed from Belial’s wound.

"It doesn’t matter if you act on wrath or not. It weighs your soul down regardless." Avariel said, taking a deep breath and looking at the blue sky and the sun that was much more yellow than the one in Earth.

"Not the best air, but beats what we’ve been through." Ffyr commented, also taking a deep breath.

"Did Belial let us go?" Matthew asked, finally.

The three women looked at each other. None of them wanted to tell him what happened, but he needed to know.

"Belial... They restored your soul." Ffyr was the one who said it.

"What?" Matthew was surprised.

"They said they wanted to understand why you denied them." Avariel explained. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

"They gave you this." Ffyr took out the dark blade wrapped on a blanket. "They said to keep this always at your side or they’d come for you."

Matthew held the sword that fitted perfectly on his hand. Even under the sun, the blade didn’t shine at all. It was as if it swallowed all the light around it.

"I don’t understand." Matthew said while purifying himself and making sure he no longer had a demonic soul. "Why did they do this?"

"It’s a curse." Ffyr said to herself.

"What do you mean?" Matthew asked.

"They will be watching you. Always for now on." Ffyr bit her lip in fear. "I’m scared of what they’ll do in the future." She added.

"I’m sorry. We couldn’t do anything." Avariel said with a sad tone.

Matthew looked at the sky, looked around. He took a deep breath.

"It’s ok. At least I’ll be able to return to Earth now." He had a smile on his face while he stored the dark blade in his Inventory.

"You’re sure about that?" Nanael asked him.

"I am. It won’t do any good worrying about it now. Let’s get away from here. Where’s that angel that can take you to Elysium?" Matthew asked, looking around.

"Mitzrael. He’s an archangel." Nanael corrected Matthew.

"Where is he?" He asked.

"We’re looking for him." Avariel said. "Before you woke up."

"Then let’s keep looking. Can’t be that hard to find an archangel in hell." Matthew said nonchalantly.

They decided to separate. They left Nanael in the inn they were shortly before and each of the others roamed the city asking for the archangel.

After half a day, the sun came down and a huge yellow moon appeared in the sky.

Matthew spent the whole time talking to the demons and other creatures in the street. None knew about Mitzrael’s whereabouts. Everyone knew he lived in Dis, but none could tell where.

It was as if he was just a legend there. Not even the angels that he met knew anything about Mitzrael.

Matthew stopped at a bar and sat down drinking some ale. He used some of the thousands of crystals he had in his inventory. Spoils of his years in hell.

That’s when a curvy woman sat by his side. She had pale red skin, and very long black hair. Her eyes shined red and two small bat wings came out from the small of her back. From her head sprouted two very small white horns.

She wore only a very small black skirt, long black boots and a very short black jacket with long sleeves that only covered her torso up to her breasts leaving her midriff exposed.

"Hey there, handsome." She said, touching his shoulder lightly. "Rare to find a human in these streets."

"Yeah. A lot happened." He said dismissively.

"So... You’re here for fun?" The succubus asked.

"No. Just trying to find someone." Matthew sighed and turned to her. "You know Mitzrael?"

"You want to go back home?" The succubus said, feigning pity on him. "Why so soon? We just met."

"I’m sorry. But I’m not interested." Matthew said, smiling at himself. It was much easier now to resist the allure of those demons. He felt extremely light and his thoughts rushed to the memories he had of Faralynn.

"Are you sure, big guy?" The succubus passed her arms around his shoulders. "I can be a lot of fun."

"I’m sure." Matthew said, lightly pushing her away.

"Ah..." The succubus pouted trying to look cute.

At this time Matthew hears a shout behind him.

"Hey! What are you doing with my woman?" A cambion was fuming from the other side of the bar.

"Oh oh..." The succubus said playfully. "Sorry about that." She said, chuckling to herself.

Matthew tried to raise his hands and justify himself to the cambion, but the demon darted through the bar directly at him and punched Matthew hard on the face making him fall to the ground in pain.

It hurt much more than he expected. The cambion was also much faster than he thought he would be. Before Matthew could get on his feet, he took a kick on the belly that took the breath out of him.

It is then that Matthew realized. Without his demonic soul, he no longer had demonic mana inside of him. He was only at half the strength he was in the last 2 years. He could no longer hold himself against a demon president. He could barely face cambion in that state.

When the cambion tried to kick him again, Matthew used his Reckless Agility to increase his speed and roll away from the demon attacking him.

"I’m going to kill you for laying your hands on my woman." The cambion said, producing a trident from thin air.

Matthew took out his sword and Aym’s dagger, leaving Belial’s dark blade hidden, because he was not sure he should use it.

While Matthew traded blows with the cambion, the succubus jumped up and down with a big smile on her face and clapping like a cheerleader.

The metal on metal sounds ringed over the bar and away into the city. The patrons around all turned to watch the fight and cheer. It seemed like a common occurrence in that city.

"Is everything all right there?" Ffyr asked him telepathically.

"Almost. Just getting used to fighting without demonic power." Matthew answered while dodging a stab.

At that moment, a whisky bottle fell from a table and, before it could reach the ground, Matthew kicked it, sending it flying towards the cambion’s head. The bottle shattered on the demon’s face causing small cuts on him.

That made the crowd cheer loudly and soon bets started to get shouted throughout the bar. Most of them on the cambion.

When both the fighters gave a pause to take a quick breath, Matthew smiled again. There was no overwhelming anger. No rush to kill. He could simply focus on the battle. He didn’t need to be aggressive.

Matthew assumed a defensive stance, one that Firynn hammered in his routine time and time again.

The cambion flapped his wings and charged with his trident up front.

Matthew dodged to the side, stabbed at the demon’s wings making him fall to the ground and, with a continuous move, stabbed at the ground piercing the demon’s heart.

The bar cheered. Other fights erupted after bets were disputed. But Matthew just looked down on the dead cambion. He smiled again. Not because he felt any pleasure in killing the demon, but because he didn’t.

The blood on his skin didn’t send thrills down his spine anymore. He didn’t feel good, or excited. He just felt tired.

Then he looked back at the succubus who started it all. She screeched in fear.

"Wait, wait, wait!" She pleaded before he could do anything.

Matthew had no ill intentions towards her, but the norm in hell was to take vengeance and therefore she assumed that was what he was going to do.

"I can’t find Mitzrael for you!" The succubus said making herself look smaller by coiling over herself.