Rey watched the roaring flames erupt from the windows and set the whole place ablaze. Then there were the screams and screeches of the demons who were being burned alive, and he couldn't help but smile. It brought back some fond memories that, in hindsight, would and should curdle anyone with a soul like it was doing to his friends.

  [You killed a Demon (Exiled) – E+6]

  [You killed a Demon (Exiled) – E+5]

  [You killed a Demon (Exiled) – E+7]

  [You killed a Demon (Exiled) – E+6]

  [You killed a Demon (Exiled) – E+4]

  [You killed a Demon (Exiled) – E+3]

  [+1 Magic Affinity]

  [You killed a Demon (Exiled) – E+7]

  Would they see me differently after this?

  Nah. Demon Rey replied. This is just good-natured fun.

  Rey found himself agreeing with his demon side, and that hardly ever happened. As happy as he was with his efforts. His friends were equally unhappy with them. There was a part of him that understood why they would think so, but they hadn't been in Hell as long as he had. They hadn't seen the things he had. The depravity of this place. If they had, they would happily burn this whole place to the ground.

  "Well, what are we waiting around here for, looking mighty incriminating?" Rey said. "Let's make a run for it, actually, let's just slowly back away from it."

  They said nothing as they followed him. A crowd had started to gather, and Rey kept throwing a disappointed look back and shaking his head. Some demons asked him what happened. He replied with a solemn shake of his head, saying he didn't know.

  Once they were a block away, or what constituted a block, he stopped, or more like he was forced to stop. Someone gripped the back of his cape and pulled him back, making him come to a forcible stop via chokehold. It was Filomena.

  Rey raised his hands. "Sorry, officer, I wasn't drinking and driving."

  "Shut the fuck up. It's no time for your stupid jokes. What the fuck was that back there? You burnt all those demons alive?"

  "Yes, and?"

  "Didn't you hear their screams?" she raged. Even Ajay was perplexed by his girl's anger, and he rightly did not want to come between them.

  "I feel like I've said this a hundred times already. They were demons. De...mons. Not people but beings without souls that would have no qualms in doing unspeakable things to you if they could. Didn't you see what they were doing to their own kind? Now imagine what they would do to you."

  "He is right," Aearbon said. "These are beings of utter malevolence. In my time here, I've seen all manners of depravity. Whatever you're feeling towards them, it's wrong. They will feel nothing for you as they rip you apart after they've thoroughly violated you."

  "Fine," Kassi said. "They do not feel anything for us, or they are nothing but evil beings, but that doesn't mean we need to turn into them."

  That struck home with Rey. But I did turn into one of them, Kassi.

  He didn't have the heart to tell them that. That he knew what it was like being on the other side, and Aearbon was right, but he found himself agreeing with her as well. He wasn't a demon yet, but to execute his plan, he needed to think and act like one. That it could only be possible if he acted like them to terrify them enough for his plan to come to fruition.

  "How is what I did back there any different than what Ajay did to the Sniffer at the bridge?" Rey asked. They looked at him, but they had no response for him. "Before all this started, I asked that you all follow my words to the letter, and you agreed."

  "But that was before we knew that you were asking us to kill demons by burning them alive." Filomena shot back.

  "That's why I'm not asking you to do it. I'm asking him." He pointed at Ajay.

  Ajay glanced at Filomena. "Fil, they are only demons. You know what they are capable of."

  Rey looked to Kassi, but her face was an unreadable mask. If he knew her and he knew her, her emotions were warring with logic. Her heart told her it was wrong to hurt anyone in such a capacity, but she also knew that they hadn't come to the city to play nice with its populace. In the end, she didn't look at Rey or anyone else.

  Filomena looked away, disgusted. "If you two do this. You'll be nothing but demons yourselves."

  "I can live with that," Rey said. "As they say, when in Hell, do as the demons do. Besides, I'm not asking him to burn demons alive. If they get burnt alive as a side effect, then all the better, but I'm sure they'll have all the chance to escape."

  She frowned. "What are you planning to do?"

  "Nothing major. We're just going to burn this entire neighborhood to ashes." There was stunned silence. "Trust me, I would do it myself, but I don't have the right tool for the job."

  Ajay's hand lit up. "I'll be your tool."

  Rey grinned. "And here I thought I would have to spit and polish my tool first."

  "What?" Ajay frowned.

  Only Kassi snorted, getting the joke. At least, she wasn't staring at him intently, trying to wonder if he was secretly a demon. She could still be doing that, and he knew he would need to answer her questions sooner or later.

  "Just chuck your fiery balls in every building that we come across," Rey said. "And make them extra hot, I want smoke coming out of every single home in this neighborhood. Let these disgusting demons think Hell had rage quit on them."

  Ajay's hand lit up with fire, and he tossed two fireballs into one building. What was probably a demon's lovely, dank home. They didn't have time to wait around, and thankfully, Ajay knew that. His hands lit up again, and he chucked two more fireballs in the opposite building. And on and on they went, with Ajay chucking fireballs. Rey and the others cut down any demon that tried to get in their way, which weren't many. With all the chaos they had sown with the fires, most were trying to stay one step ahead of the flames.

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  By the time they reached the main street, every single house on both sides of the street was burning. Demons were doing their best to put it out, but since these people didn't have fire hydrants, it made things a little harder.

  Rey gave Ajay a high-five. "Man, you're a certifiable pyromaniac."

  "I must agree," Kassi said.

  They looked to Filomena, who snorted as she shook her head. "Ajay is a pyromaniac."

  "In this case, I would take it as a compliment," Rey said. "Well, folks, let's go this way. We have more houses to burn."

  Rey saw some guards running towards the fire. He couldn't help himself, so he stuck his foot out and tripped one of them.

  "Oops, sorry," He said. He could've let them pass, but he couldn't let them put out the fire so easily. It needed more time to burn and take more houses along with it.

  "Who the fuck do you think you are?" The guard snapped from the ground after he spat out mud.

  "I'm Rey. I am just your friendly neighborhood demon. There are lots of fires that way." He hooked a thumb behind him. "We turned the place into a roaring bonfire and ran like it was trying to eat us."

  The guard's eyes widened. "You—"

  That was all the poor demon could get out before Rey jammed a dagger in his throat. Dark blood came gurgling out as Rey ripped out his throat. The demon fell dead on the ground.

  [You killed a Demon (Exiled) – E+7]

  One of the guard's friends must've noticed he was missing, so he turned around, and his eyes widened. He shouted to his fellows or tried to, but his head burst apart when he found Kassi's arrow in it.

  "Good one, babe," Rey called out. "Now, let's get out of here and commit arson in another neighborhood down."

  They had just turned the corner when they found themselves face-to-face with a group of seven demons. Rey used Identify on one of them and was pleasantly surprised to find that most were Rank 7, with a couple Rank 8s. They all looked quite different from each other. Some had animalistic faces, while one had a face that was half morphed to a demonic duck with sharp fangs, so in essence, a goose. Those cobra chickens were no joke. They were the assholes of the north. Rey had his fair share of encounters with them growing up, and it mostly involved him screaming and doing some life-saving cardio.

  "Hello friends, are you by any chance the fire brigade?" Rey asked.

  "No, we're the executioners," said the Cobra Chicken, who happened to be Rank 8. "More precisely, we're your executioners."

  "No, my dear Cobra Chicken, we're yours."

  He could've dropped them on the ground right then and there, but then where was the fun in that? After all, they had been training for so long. It was time to see how effective that training had been.

  Rey slashed at his foe with his scythe. The demon was fast enough that he jumped back in time, but just barely. Rey's scythe left a nice, long scratch on his bare chest. A thin streak of black blood leaked from it. Then all hell broke loose as the two groups attacked each other. Aearbon took on the other Rank 8 demon, which had two down-turned horns sticking out of its head. Aearbon had the size advantage and pretty much every other advantage Rey could think of.

  Kassi took on this sleek demon that looked like an eel had grown hands and legs. Ajay and Filomena fought back-to-back as they took on the three remaining.

  Rey was confident in his friends' abilities that he didn't need to worry about them. The only thing he was concerned about was concluding this fight quickly. If it dragged on, they would draw unwanted attention. The last thing they needed was a spotlight while they were still in the 'burning everything down' phase.

  As it turned out, the Cobra Chicken was not without tricks. He licked his duck-billed lips, and damn, Rey had pegged him right as a goose, because just like those fucking things, this demon too had teeth on its tongue. Yes, geese had teeth on their tongues.

  Then Cobra Chicken flicked his tongue at him. It extended several feet and wrapped itself around Rey's scythe. Rey struggled against it as he tried to pull back, but the Rank 8 demon's tongue was no joke. His scythe's shaft creaked, and the wood wouldn't hold for much longer. Before that happened, Rey drew his dagger and cut off the demon's tongue.

  Cobra chicken screamed a shrill scream as he pulled his tongue back. Blood leaked from his mouth as he snapped his bill shut.

  "Well, my friend, if you will tongue things that ought not be tongued, then this will be the result," Rey said. "But don't worry, your pain will end shortly."

  "Not before I end your life, human."

  Rey almost forgot what he had called him because, despite his cut tongue, the demon spoke perfectly. "Wait, how can you speak properly? Well, you do have a long tongue, so I suppose losing a few feet doesn't make that much of a difference. Also, did you call me human? Are you a Sniffer by any chance?"

  "Took you that long, huh. Boy, are you a dumb one."

  "That is correct. I am slow in some things but in others rather fast, like skinning cobra chickens."

  "Okay, seriously, what the fuck is a cobra chicken?" Ajay called as he shot a column of flames into a demon's midsection.

  Rey grinned. "Wouldn't you want to know?"

  Cobra chicken went full banshee on him and raced for him. Rey waited a moment to make sure none of his friends were close. They weren't. So, he created a Gravity Orb with fifty percent gravity right in the demon's path, and he barrelled into it with all the fury of a Cobra chicken. The orb immediately took him for a spin.

  "What the hell is this?" the Sniffer cried.

  "This is my new speciality. I can wash clothes with it and wring them out dry. Here, let me show you."

  He flung the orb to the side, creating more distance between it and his friends. By then, the orb had collected lots of dust and pebbles that were peppering the demon. Rey expanded the gravity orb to its maximum diameter of ten feet. The Sniffer spun faster and faster as he fell into the orb. That was when the screams really began.

  The other demons stopped fighting as they saw their boss, or what Rey figured was their boss, getting crushed like a soda can. Rey relinquished the orb when his friends were actively pushing against it, and their prey had started to float away from them.

  [+1 Magic Power]

  [You killed a Demon (Exiled) – E+8]

  The crushed body of the Cobra Chicken dropped to the ground, along with all the blood painting the street black. Now, if his friends had any right to be horrified by his actions, he figured it was this, but to each their own.

  "Well, what are you staring at me for? Kill those fucks, but leave one alive to spread the word."

  Rey hummed a tune as he walked toward the coward of the group who was quietly slinking away. He activated Attraction and dragged him towards Rey. The demon broke his claws on the hard ground, trying to save himself, but failed miserably.

  "Oh, please don't kill me," he begged when he realized he was coming towards Rey. “No, no, no.”

  Rey gripped him by the throat and gently set him on the ground. "Relax, I'm not going to do anything to you…"

  He slowly got his breathing under control. "R-Really?"

  "Save for take one of your arms." With one quick slash, he cut off the demon's arm, making him scream loud enough that Rey had to plug his ears. After a moment, when the screaming slowed to whimpers, he unplugged his ears and continued. "Are you done? I guess you're done. If you don't want more body parts dismembered, then I want you to go around town and tell your Sniffer buddies that Rey is in town to kill them all. Can you do that for me?"

  He nodded vigorously. "Y-Yes. I can definitely do that for you."

  "Are you sure, because I can just kill you and pick one of your friends for the job?"

  "No-No, I'll do it. I'll tell them all that Rey is here for them."

  "Not for them. To kill them," Rey corrected him. "The wording needs to be exact."

  "Yes, of course."

  Rey put an arm over his shoulder, making him flinch. "You'll see, we'll laugh about this whole…misunderstanding one day. Now, run!"

  He raced off, clutching his arm, throwing fearful looks in Rey's direction, as if he was coming for him. The others had finished with their dancing partners by then.

  "Are you sure that was wise?" Kassi asked.

  "Kassi, my dear, the whole point of this trip is to get stronger, and if we can have the meat brought to the butcher, then this thing will go even faster. Now, who's up for more righteous cleansing of this city?" Rey laughed.

  Only Demon Rey laughed along with him because he was reveling in this mayhem far too much.