Point-of-View: Kiyana Waller

———————————————————————————

"Looks like they’re coming back," Frowned Kechik, as a breach opened up.

"This is bad, there are Demons this time, and their numbers are much greater than before," Added Osiris grimly.

"I think the one over there is a Demon of Sin, we’re gonna have our work cut out for us. Let’s stick close to each other, that’s probably our best bet," Suggested Richard warily.

"We are going to die, aren’t we?" Sighed Elise in response.

"Try being at least a little more optimistic than that," Smiled Leonardo wryly.

"Just so you guys know, if it looks like we’re all gonna die, I won’t hesitate to run away," Serafine informed us.

"Hm...I’ll take care of these humans. All of you can go subjugate the other people in this area," Remarked the Demon of Sin, as he began approaching us.

Huh? They’re not going to attack us all at once? That’s a relief, but the situation is still dire...this Demon of Sin, his Aura is incredible, it might even be a bit more intense than the previous Demons of Sin I’ve encountered.

He had messy medium length purple hair that was a bit wavy, sleepy silver eyes, and he was a bit on the short and thin side. He had droopy horns on either side of head that kinda looked like dog ears, bat-like black wings and a long tail that was flaccid and slumped.

He was wearing a puffy, oversized white coat and baggy blue trousers, and had an eye mask hanging around his neck.

"We sure seem to be being taken lightly, aren’t we?" Mused Mike dryly.

"Can’t be helped, just look at that Aura, we’re kinda outclassed here," Added Maeve with a grimace.

"Yeah, you are. If you just surrender, I will kill you quickly and painlessly. It will be less trouble and effort for me too, that way," Said the Demon, a lethargic look on his face, before suggesting, "Oh, maybe you could all line up and let me kill you one by one, that should be the fastest and most effective way to do this."

"You cocky bastard, don’t underestimate us!" Snapped Kechik, zipping towards the Demon at top speed by using both Reflex Shock and Accelerate at his maximum output, closing in on the Demon in an instant as he formed a blade of water charged with lightning in his right hand.

As he slashed at the Demon’s head, he easily ducked under the swing of the water blade and then reached out and touched the side of Kechik’s neck, before uttering...

"Now, sleep."

Kechik suddenly lost consciousness and collapsed onto the ground, right before the Demon stomped on his head and crushed it like a watermelon, blood bursting out as chunks of his brain and skull fragments flew out and splattered the ground.

"No way...," Trailed off Carmen in horror.

Kechik is the fastest of the Category 0s, and that Demon evaded him without so much as batting an eye. Even if that wasn’t the most sophisticated attack, the ease at which the Demon dodged and countered was frightening...

"Oh, how rude of me, I should introduce myself...I am the Demon Sin of Sloth, Belphegor. I dislike violence, so I will end this quickly...so, there is no need for any of you to exert any unnecessary effort," Sighed the Demon, before adding, "Now, then...Somnambulist."

A barrier suddenly formed around the area, appearing around us and him in the shape of a large dome, and-...huh? What the...? What’s...what’s going on?

I feel so...lazy and drowsy, like all my motivation and drive is being sapped away. My shoulders feel heavy, I feel tired...I want to sleep, to just close my eyes and drift off...

———————————————————————————

Point-of-View: Aurora Pretorius

———————————————————————————

Damn it, this hurts...my right wrist is badly broken, and so is my left leg. And this place, it’s seriously giving me the creeps. I’m literally in Hell right now, aren’t I? Ow...my wrist is seriously aching right now, throbbing with immense pain.

My leg’s not any better, it’s starting to swell up badly. I gritted my teeth as I wrapped shadowy streaks around the broken spots to keep them from jarring, along with a shadowy mass under my left foot to soften my steps.

The only way for me to actually heal is to die and resurrect, but I can’t afford to waste my extra lives. It really hurts, but I can bear it, and I can still fight. Speaking of which, I need to get back to the living world as quickly as possible.

But...how do I do that? I have no idea where I am, let alone which way I have to go to find the bridge between Hell and the living world. But I won’t accomplish anything by just standing around here.

Oh, I know, I’ll just ask for directions. I’m seeing some of the residents of this place appearing around me, eyeing me curiously and warily.

"Hey, you over there!" I called out to a Devil, who backed away in response as I began approaching him.

"What is a human doing here!? Who are you!?" He snapped defensively.

"Now, don’t be like that, I just want to ask you some questions. I’ll just get straight to the point...tell me where the bridge between Hell and the living world is, and I won’t hurt you," I remarked, cutting right to the chase.

"I do not take orders from you, human!" Snapped the Devil, as he leapt at me, before swiftly collapsing onto the ground as I unleashed my Aura.

"Well? Wanna try that again?" I responded with a raised eyebrow.

"D-damn, you...!"

Hm, since the Demons and Devils that are currently in Hell aren’t actually involved in the ongoing invasion, I had been apprehensive about hurting them unprovoked, but...I have absolutely no time to waste.

Looks like the other Devils and Demons I spotted have left...tch, the air here is heavy and stifling, it’s messing with my senses a bit, especially my sense of smell.

"Now, then...I can keep breaking and chipping away at you until you tell me what I want to know. Or I can keep doing that until I decide to kill you if it looks like you aren’t gonna talk...either way, it’s no loss for me. So, what’s it gonna be? The sooner you talk, the less pain you’ll have to endure. Better make up your mind quickly," I smiled ominously.

"I will not tell you a damn th-...arghhh!" He cried in pain, as I wrapped a shadowy streak around his arm and tore it off with a violent twist.

"Come on, I know you can regenerate damage like that without any trouble. Grow it back so that I can rip it off again," I stated icily.

"Y-you do not scare me-....aghhhhh!" He exclaimed, as I tore off his other arm.

His Aura isn’t much more immense than a human’s, guess it makes sense that not every denizen of Hell is super powerful and stuff. This should make it easier to torture and extract information out of him.

"Well, it’s fine if you prevent your regeneration from working. You’ve still got two legs, two wings, a tail, plenty of teeth...I can also peel off your skin and carve up your flesh, I’ve got plenty of options to inflict pain on you, all I have to do is take my pick. Oh, or do you want to choose instead?" I offered, as I pierced my shadowy streaks into the stumps of his arms, eliciting sharp gasps of pain from him as he trembled and writhed in agony.

"S...stop. Please, stop! O-okay, I...I get it, I will answer your questions!" He yelled in despair, before I stepped back and retracted my streaks.

"Now, that’s a lot better. Tell me...where’s the bridge between the living world and Hell? Answer that, and you’re free to go," I remarked, as he regenerated the arms I’d torn off.

"It’s...it’s over in that dir-...," He began as he started to raise his hand to point, right before a massive Negative Blast came shooting this way.

I quickly sprang back to avoid it, but it struck the Devil, the sheer force of it crushing his body and killing him as his core ruptured, his body turning to ash with a horrified look on his face.

"You would dare betray, Lord Satan? Death is a mercy for the likes of you," Scoffed the Demon that killed him, as I looked around to see dozens of Demons and Devils all around me.

Damn it, I think this place is affecting my senses more than I thought, normally it’d be impossible for this many to sneak up on me. Still though, this could work out...

"Well, that was terrible timing. I was so close to getting the information I wanted...oh, well, it’s fine. There sure are a lot of you...I’m sure I can get that information from one of you. I should warn you...if you get in my way, you will die. That much, I can assure you," I remarked icily, as I unleashed my Dark Cheetah form...

_____________________________________________

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter! Don’t forget to vote, and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate any and all feedback and criticism!

Also, check out my Instagram account @aimdaqs for posts relating to this book.

Join the Discord server, I plan to tease upcoming Chapters and future story arcs here, and you can also discuss or ask me any questions about the story and characters. Use the invite link to join:

https://discord.gg/sRbx9VbTVP