That night, when it seemed everyone in the apartment had settled into sleep, Rayleigh was standing quietly in Ishtar’s room.

He had just tucked her into bed, pulling the blanket up to her shoulders with careful hands.

For a moment, he simply watched her sleep peacefully. He reached down and moved a strand of hair away from her face, tucking it gently behind her ear, and smiling a little.

Then his nose twitched, and his expression changed in an instant.

His eyes narrowed, and he turned his head in the direction of the entrance.

That scent. Demons!

"Shit," he whispered under his breath.

He moved quickly, leaning down to shake Ishtar’s shoulder. "Wake up."

Her eyes fluttered open, with confusion clouding her face. "Ray?"

Yeah, she called him that too.

"There are demons here," he said in a low, yet urgent voice.

Her eyes went wide with fear and her breathing quickened.

"Listen to me," Rayleigh said, gripping her shoulder to steady her. "Find the old man in his room. He’ll take you through the back path. Go. Now."

She nodded, scrambling out of bed and hurrying toward the door. Then she stopped turned, "what about you? Come with us"

"I’ll be right behind you" he said with a reassuring smile, which made her nod before she moved out completely.

Rayleigh then grabbed his katana from the corner near the doorway and headed out of the room, making his way down the corridor and out of the building.

Standing just outside the building were two figures.

They had no horns visible, which meant they were half-demons. In the demon continent, these types were referred to as Taints because of their human genes.

These two however, were also bounty hunters.

Rayleigh drew out, and said nothing but stare at them.

The woman, Zurin, balanced the head of a large axe on her shoulder. She glanced down at the markings on her arm, then lifted her gaze toward the building. "She’s in that house."

"Yeah," the man beside her, Xylo, said. He nodded toward Rayleigh. "But look at that human standing guard."

Zurin turned her head toward the princess with a puzzled expression. "Why is a human protecting a demon?"

"I can tell he’s strong too," Xylo added in a calm tone.

Zurin grinned, lifting the axe off her shoulder and letting it rest at her side. "Oh, please."

Then single horn sprouted from the side of her head.

Xylo smiled too, shaking his head as his own horn emerged from the opposite side of his skull.

The markings on their arms were specific trackers tied to the Carrion Seal. Ethan’s Vol Stassis spell had placed the seal in a suspended state, which froze its activity as well.

That meant the tracking spells on their arms couldn’t pinpoint Ishtar’s exact location, though they could still sense her general presence within a certain range.

This limitation was why Zurin and Xylo had been searching through random nearby cities across the continent, trying to narrow down her position.

But when the seal’s activity resumed, the tracking markers on their arms responded immediately and could now trace Ishtar’s exact location once more.

Which led them driving through a seven-hour journey from the city of Bellcairn to this place.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

They both began walking closer, but then Rayleigh raised the hand holding his katana toward them, in warning stance.

They both stopped, with the amused Zurin raising both hands in a mocking gesture of surrender

"You’re both far from home, and walking in the wrong direction to it." Rayleigh said

Xylo tilted his head, speaking rather calmly. "Listen, friend. Perhaps you’ve been deceived by the girl’s tricks, but she’s a demon. And her owners want her back. This doesn’t have to be violent. Simply let us take the girl."

The trick he was referring to was Ishtar’s Glamor trait, which allowed her to hide certain features on her body, including her skin color and horns.

A few questions ran through Rayleigh’s mind. How had they been able to find Ishtar? How had they tracked them all the way to this place?

But as his eyes moved between the two of them, and as the level of stench oozing from them hit his senses, he could tell that even for Taints, these two were strong.

"Just how many had died to these two?" he wondered.

Then he spoke. "If you turn back now, I’ll forget I passed on the opportunity to rid the world of you creatures."

Almost at the same time, Rayleigh took a stance, retracting his blade slightly to fit the posture.

Xylo smiled. "You say that, yet harbor one who is more demon than us both."

The demon lifted his palms, and a magic circle glowed briefly over them as masks began to materialize in the air around him, each one bearing a different expression.

"I guess this means enough talk?" Zurin said with a grin that revealed clawed teeth. Her muscles bulged, and black veins stretched across her body, covering her arms, her torso, even her face.

Xylo nodded, and that was all the confirmation she needed.

In the next instant, Zurin dashed forward, excitedly, raising her axe.

Rayleigh met her head-on, angling his katana to strike.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The demon already had her axe swinging downwards, hoping to catch him in one clean cut, but Rayleigh stopped, and sidestepped while already leaving a diagonal slash that cut deep into her torso.

She grunted for a second, before her widening grin returned as the wound began to knit itself back together.

Knowing he had the edge in speed, Rayleigh pressed forward, swinging his katana in a series of rapid cuts that were precisely aimed at vital points; throat, joints, arteries.

But Zurin’s increased muscle mass absorbed most of the impact, and the slashes that got through healed almost immediately. She was a Berserker Demon, the demon continent’s equivalent of a Guardian-class Awakened.

Zurin staggered but laughed. "You’re fast, I’ll give you that."

Rayleigh had already stepped back after his first set of attacks. He played it slow for now because he didn’t went to get caught off guard by the other taint.

Then suddenly, his arm burned.

A searing pain spread across his forearm, and when he looked down, redness had already bloomed across his skin, blistering as though it had been exposed to open flame.