Strolling down the marble laden path of the lush haven, Drifter felt no fear of repercussion or punishment for daring to enter the sacred grounds.

  “The Garden of Eden, huh?” Drifter thought to himself, curious. “Is this really the sanctuary told of in biblical times, or is this all just a coincidence? There’s no way I’d just randomly stumble across it, is there?”

  His progress into the garden was halted by the demon mother, clutching at his sleeve.

  “Please, I’m begging you.” Pad shivered in fear. “We must leave this place.”

  “Why?” Drifter responded. “It doesn’t look anything special. I mean, sure it’s pretty, but it’s just another fancy garden outside a big castle.”

  “This garden is the personal paradise of the Demon King. A place where he and his elite followers gather to bask in its radiant light. A place of meditation, celebration and bliss.”

  “So?”

  “It is not a place for commoners to just waltz into without permission, lest you incur the wrath of those who worked their entire lives, yearning to be accepted by the elites, surviving deadly battles to prove their superiority over the commoners.

  Acceptance into Eden is considered the highest honour of any demon.”

  “Well, there’s no one here now.”

  “YOU DON’T KNOW THAT!”

  Pad’s anxiety accelerated, she absolutely needed to convince Drifter this place was not to be trespassed in with such carelessness.

  “When I was young, I too, foolishly stepped foot into the garden, but I was caught and nearly executed for my crime. If it weren’t for my father begging the elites and taking the punishment in my stead, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

  “You keep calling this place sacred, like it’s some holy ground, but your story just sounds like a bunch of rich arseholes trying to keep the peasants out of their private paradise. What makes the garden itself so special?”

  Pad was so consumed by the fear from her traumatic memories, she failed to mention the most important aspect of the garden.

  “It is the only place in the entire demon world with natural light.”

  She pointed to the ceiling. Stretching across every corner of the world was an all encompassing void. A black barrier, robbing the residents of their sky. An oppressive reminder of their inescapable prison.

  “While the rest of the demon world is cursed by this infinite void, Eden is the exception. Lucifer's light broke through the darkness, giving us hope that one day, demonkind could venture beyond the boundaries imposed upon us and explore what lies beyond this wasteland.”

  “Even if you do somehow leave, there’s no guarantee anything good will come from it. It could just lead to more empty wasteland, or worse.”

  “But if we've been given the opportunity to one day bring light to this barren world and discover brighter pastures, then it is a risk we would gladly take.

  That is why, for as long as Eden has existed, the King’s of this land only granted access to those they considered elite.”

  “Does this light lead to the human world?”

  “No… not even Lucifer knows what lies beyond the light. We've all given up on it. The human world is our new bastion of hope now.”

  “You gave up on paradise, so now you’re trying to steal it from humanity instead. That’s pathetic…”

  “I… I never wanted to steal from anyone… I just want to raise my child in a healthy environment. This world has been decaying since the day I was born, but now it’s uninhabitable…”

  “I wouldn’t call the human world a healthy environment, but I suppose it’s better than this dump. Let’s just keep moving…”

  Deeper into the garden, past the fountains and marble pillars stood a tremendously tall tree. It towered over everything in the haven, providing shade from the intense light, bearing fruit from its countless branches.

  “Wait!” Pad asked.

  “What now? If you need to piss there’s a fountain over there.”

  “N-no! We must be weary of the flaming sword!”

  “What the fuck are you whining about now?”

  “The flaming sword, which faces every which way, attacking from all directions, to punish those who approach the Tree of Life without consent from the King.”

  Drifter had enough of the woman’s ramblings and marched toward the tree, ignoring her pleas. He got close enough to reach out and touch it with his bare hands, resulting in… nothing.

  Nothing happened. It was just a tree.

  “See!” Drifter called. “No divine retribution here!”

  Pad hurried to join him.

  “I don’t understand… I know I saw it when I was little. Embedded in the tree, burning with pure white flames…”

  Drifter was intrigued by Pad’s tale. She seemed so certain there must have been some truth behind it. Looking up at the colossal plant, he quickly discovered an interesting detail.

  “Was it in that hole there?” He pointed.

  “Yes. That must be- what are you doing!?”

  “What does it look like!?”

  Already clinging to the bark, Drifter was scaling the trunk of the sacred tree.

  “Are you insane!? You can’t just climb the Tree of life!”

  “Says who!?”

  “The King!”

  “I don’t see a king around here! Besides, I gotta check something!”

  Eventually reaching the imprint on the bark of the tree, Drifter confirmed it was in the shape of a sword. He unsheathed CORE and placed it in the indentation. The moment the flaming sword was mentioned, he had to confirm his suspicions. He placed CORE in the indentation, but it didn't fit. It was too small.

  “Damn…” He muttered. “Worth a shot.”

  He immediately jumped back down.

  “But, if that’s not the flaming sword of Eden, then what have we been protecting all this time?” Pad asked.

  “Beats me. This is the Legendary Demon Sword, CORE… that’s all I got…”

  “They say that, but other than its power, nothing is known about it, not even its origin. Even stranger, how did a human end up wielding it? When did it appear in the human world? And how? Drifter, where did you even find this?”

  “Wow, that’s a lot of questions I can’t be fucked to answer.”

  “After the heartache you've put me through, I at least deserve to know this much.”

  “Thought you’d use that as a bloody excuse.”

  She gave Drifter her determined glare again. Pad wasn’t going to back down no matter how many times he tried to wave her off.

  “Fine… but I don’t owe you shit after this, you got that?”

  “Thank you.”

  Drifter tossed his sword high into the air as he began his tale. “My memory’s kinda fucked up, but this I still remember. It must have been at least five years ago…

  It was a clear, sunny day, which was pretty rare for England, but other than that, there was nothing out of the ordinary. I was just walking home, minding my own business, the streets were completely clear, when suddenly…”

  On cue, CORE dropped between them, lodging itself into the ground, perfectly upright.

  “This thing fell right out of the sky.”

  “It just fell?”

  “Yep, scared the shit out of me. If I had been walking just a little faster, I’d be dead. I looked up to see where it came from, but saw nothing, other than the same blue sky.

  Naturally, I inspected the sword and pulled it out of the ground. That’s when I felt it. A rush of sheer overwhelming power flowing through my body. I was filled with an otherworldly energy, beyond my wildest imagination. I felt unstoppable, invincible and… fucking terrified. I threw that shit away immediately.”

  “You threw the Legendary Demon Sword away!? Why!?”

  “I didn’t need it. I wasn’t interested in having that kind of power. It was a responsibility I just wasn’t prepared for, so I tossed it. But, as I was leaving a thought crossed my mind:

  ‘What would happen if someone else picked it up? What if that someone else was some kind of crazy sociopath? Could I really live with myself knowing I let a power like that fall into the wrong hands, just because I was too scared to wield it?’

  I couldn’t let that happen, so I went back and took the sword home with me. I promised myself to never use it, to keep it a secret from the world, that way my life and the lives of others wouldn’t be destroyed by it. That idea lasted about ten minutes before a huge monster showed up and I was forced to use it.

  Disposing of that demon was only the beginning. No matter how hard I tried, more and more of those fuckers kept showing up to take back the sword.

  They’d try every trick in the book to lure me out, so eventually I just left home. That way, the only person who was in any danger was me. Of course, they just retaliated by taking the entire country hostage instead.

  To think, after all these years, I'd finally tell my story to a demon of all people…”

  Pad started to understand the source of the sadness in Drifter’s eyes.

  “I had no idea. All this time, I assumed the wielder of that sword was blessed with powers so great, they would never have to worry about anything ever again, but, that’s only because the wielder inevitably loses everything that had any meaning to them in the first place…

  If Chain really did succeed in taking that sword, would he lose me and Key, too?”

  “Without question.”

  “Thank you, for sharing your story. Reliving that harrowing experience must have been quite taxing.”

  “Honestly, it was more irritating…”

  “Fascinating!” A voice called, followed by the scraping and clanging of rusted chains. “But, that’s not the full story, is it?”

  “Hey, Locke! You actually showed up. So, what cryptic bullshit are you gonna drop before running away, this time?”

  Locke stood atop a hill , behind him a stairway leading up a rocky spire.

  “Aren’t you going to continue, Drifter? Surely there must be more.”

  “There really isn’t.”

  “Oh? Not even about Nahas?”

  Drifter’s fist clenched, angered at the mere mention of the name.

  “Did that strike a nerve?”

  “What the hell do you know?”

  “Enough to know that the fruit from the tree you’re standing under was his favourite.”

  “I DON’T CARE ABOUT HIS DAMN FRUIT!” Drifter’s cry echoed throughout the garden.

  “They say consuming the fruit from this tree will grant you great power. Evidenced by the fact that all those who have eaten from it, all became powerful elites.”

  “What’s your point!?”

  “Perhaps you should give it a test. See for yourself if the rumours are true.”

  “You can’t do that!” Pad interjected. “We’ve broken enough laws already, you cannot eat the sacred fruit!”

  “Or what?” Drifter countered.

  “Or… I don’t know… I just have a really bad feeling…”

  “You always have a bad feeling.”

  Drifter kicked the tree, knocking loose several apples. As they plummeted to the ground, he held his hand out to catch one.

  The forbidden fruit was in his grasp. Whether eating it would grant him new powers or forever curse him, there was only one way to find out.

  He took a bite from the succulent, juicy, fruit, chewed for a moment to really savour it and swallowed. His face was bitter with disappointment as he callously dropped the apple in the dirt.

  “Thought so…”

  “That’s… you can’t just toss the sacred fruit aside like that!” Pad decried in shock. “Have you no respect!?”

  “There’s nothing sacred about it. It’s just an apple.”

  “Just an apple? I… don’t understand…”

  “We’ve got plenty of these things in the human world. Besides, I hate apples. I prefer strawberries.”

  “Does that mean, there are trees just like this in the human world, too?”

  “Tons of them. All over the world. I mean, where do you guys even get your oxygen?”

  “The luxuries of the demon world are nothing but common essentials to humans…”

  Pad was shook over the revelation. She had spent her entire life living in her dusty canyon home, dreaming of a chance to join the elites in their sacred paradise, but instead feasted on whatever lesser demons her family could hunt, completely unaware that there was a world that made the beauty of Eden look trivial.

  Suddenly the decay of her homeland was beginning to make sense. She didn’t want to believe it, but Pad suspected that the people ruling over this land weren’t the spiritual and just leaders they made themselves out to be.

  It wasn’t just selfishness and violence, but apathetic neglect that led this world to its ruin, never to reach its full potential under the elite's rule. She fell to her knees in utter shock.

  “Hey, careful!” Drifter called. “You’ve got a baby, remember?”

  “It was all a lie?”

  “Um… Pad?”

  She laughed to herself.

  “Of course… Those monsters humiliated my father and executed him, not as divine punishment, but for their own amusement. Now that I think about it, I’ve never even seen the Demon King. We all assumed he was too important to make an appearance, but in truth, he never cared for us at all…”

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  After coming to terms with the truth, Pad felt liberated, she was no longer scared and rose to her feet.

  “You! The one in chains! Tell me! Who was the Demon King!? Did he even exist, or was he a lie, too!?”

  Locke answered, without hesitation. “He exists. In fact, he is the most vile, gluttonous and dangerous creature to have ever existed. I’m sure Drifter is already familiar with him.”

  “That piece of shit was the Demon King?”

  “Indeed. The current king of the demon world is Nahas.”

  “So, you lured me all the way out here, just to tell me that?”

  “Don’t be foolish. Drifter, I need your sword.”

  “Oh, right. That…”

  “Meet me at the castle gates.”

  “Fine, but after I’m done beating the hell out of you, you better tell me everything you know about Nahas!”

  “If you can…”

  “GOOD FUCKING LORD, WHAT HAPPENED!?” Dale screamed from the horrific sight he and his comrades had discovered.

  An entire street laid to waste, with sliced corpses piled up on the roads, along with collapsed signs, foliage, lamp posts and a river of blood circling a roundabout. All topped off with a creature in the center, equipped with twenty foot long, razor sharp, meaty appendages, that simply slipped off their arms like gloves. The creature turned around, revealing their face.

  “Catherine?” Dale questioned.

  Her appearance had radically changed. Her skin was a crimson brown, her eyes were blood red, her fangs protruded just past her lips, her hair was frazzled and her tail was lashing at the ground.

  She was completely consumed by her demonic nature. With a single flick of her arm, Catherine tossed something straight at Dale. Still overcome with confusion, he barely reacted. Thankfully, the Bigger Bastard’s arm blocked the sharp piece of debris, aimed at his face.

  “W-what?” He muttered.

  The large demon pulled out the sharp tree bark, lodged in his mighty arm.

  “Pay attention. That thing is on a completely different level to the fodder we faced earlier.”

  “They’re all dead…” He muttered again. “I turned my head for, like, ten minutes and the demons we spared are all dead!?”

  “Calm down.” Stolz replied. “Those creatures have always been scum. Your mercy was wasted on them.”

  “Dammit!” Dale punched at the ground. “Why don’t they ever learn!? When someone spares your life, you just leave!”

  “Stand strong! Here she comes!” Stolz cried.

  Catherine walked through the flowing river of death, anxious to break her new toys.

  “Let me take charge.” The Bigger Bastard requested. “She won’t get past me.”

  She accepted the challenge and scooped up a pile of viscera from the bloody pool, forging it into a large, meaty fist. Catherine dashed at full speed, leaping and appearing before the large demon’s face in seconds.

  He was completely unprepared for such blindingly fast movement and ate the giant fist to the face, sending him flying, clear across the motorway, crashing into the bridge, miles away. Catherine landed in front of the group, pleased with her display of strength.

  “Spinal! Tap! Go help him!” Dale ordered.

  “But, we’ll have a higher chance of winning if we all stick together!” Spinal argued.

  “No! You’re the only one who has someone waiting for you to come back! And she’s gonna be real pissed off if I let anything happen to you!” Spinal understood and reluctantly retreated, along with Tap. “You stay back too, Amanda!”

  “No way! I’m gonna-”

  Catherine suddenly charged at Amanda, with Dale just barely able to block her off, raising his arms to defend himself, she grabbed onto them, squeezing them viciously.

  “You need to stay back, she’ll kill you before you even get a shot in!”

  Having just nearly died from Catherine a second time, Amanda decided this was a good time to not get stubborn and backed off.

  Catherine’s tenacity was unyielding. Dale repeatedly kneed her in the gut to throw her off, but the pain didn’t seem to bother her. She kept a tight grip on his arms as they started to crack under the pressure. Receiving great pleasure from watching Dale struggle, slowly giving in to the pain.

  However, just when she thought she’d won, Dale threw his arms apart, throwing hers open as well and with her face exposed, he went straight for a headbutt, smashing his forehead into her face. The brutal blow finally knocked her back.

  “What the fuck is wrong with you, Catherine!? Why are you doing this!?”

  His pleas went unanswered. Catherine turned her fists into long sharp blades shoving one towards Dale, but this time, he was ready. He dodged to the side with such speed he left an afterimage, temporarily fooling the mad demon.

  In that brief moment, Dale swiped his blade, cutting off the meat spike, rendering it useless. She tried using her second hand, but Dale slipped past that one too, cutting it off just as easily.

  In an instant, Dale appeared beside Catherine, triggering her defensive instincts. She swung her stubby rods at Dale but once again, he demonstrated how slow she was and ducked underneath them, rising back up with a counter uppercut.

  Despite his effortless mobility, he was still lacking in raw power, as Catherine’s face felt hard as rock. His counterattack only reeling her back slightly. It was no wonder his head throbbed so intensely from the headbutt. Realising she was at a disadvantage, Catherine retreated to her crumbled sanctuary, protected by her ring of blood.

  “Alright, let’s keep piling on the pressure!” Dale was ready to keep fighting, but Stolz halted him.

  “Stop! She’s doing something.”

  “What? How can you tell?”

  “The sky is darkening.”

  Suddenly, the clouds turned black, with crimson linings, painting the entire area in a dark red hue.

  “Only an incredibly powerful demon can affect the atmosphere like this.”

  “Really? I’ve never seen this before…”

  “Then you’d best brace yourself.”

  The river of blood boiled in anticipation. The others watched on, unable to ascertain what she was attempting to do. Then, a large, demonic hand rose from underneath a car swimming in the blood, and tossed it at the trio.

  Dumbfounded by what he just saw, Dale once again gawked at the sight, only for a missile to meet the car halfway, blowing it to pieces before reaching its target.

  “Hey! I thought you were supposed to be the fast one!?” Amanda chided.

  “Where in the shitting hell did that hand come from!?” Dale questioned.

  “The blood I assume.” Stolz answered.

  “But, how!? How are we supposed to get close to her with that thing roaming the waters!?”

  “If you've lost your composure, then I'll take my turn now.”

  “Hang on, hornhead! What makes you think you can get through that death moat?”

  “My swords are far more powerful than your toothpick. I’ll force my way through and then, once she’s sufficiently distracted, you two follow after me.”

  “Fine, just don’t get killed.”

  “HA! Perish the thought!”

  The lumbering armoured warrior leapt straight into the river of blood. With his mighty zweihanders at his front and back, he slowly edged his way towards his target.

  The scarlet plasma was shallow, going only up to his knees, but it was riddled with chopped, decaying body parts which seemed to have softened into a mushy state, from the blood. The revolting state of the corpses didn’t faze Stolz, he simply kept pushing through.

  Just then, another meat claw burst out of the blood and swiped down at the caped warrior, but with one massive swing of his blade he cleaved the hand in two and simply walked around it. The cut pieces melted back into the blood.

  This was only the first act of Catherine’s assault. Three more hands rose from the moat, and stretched their fingers at Stolz, firing them like arrows. He reacted accordingly and sliced them all before they hit.

  Confident he disarmed them, he continued on, but the moment the chopped fingers fell into the blood, they shot out again, like sharp tendrils. Stolz leant back, the piercing appendages just barely scraping the front of his helmet.

  “Sneaky devil!”

  He stomped the fingers, before they could attack again, but the three hands from earlier had already regrown their claws and fired again. Stolz predicted she’d go all out and fire them all at once, so he went on the offensive.

  Using his zweihanders, he vaulted himself over the extended claws, crashing down behind the towering hands and quickly got to work.

  Swinging his enormous blades, he hacked off all three hands in one swing, but just to be safe, he continued hacking away at them until they were in tiny pieces.

  Then, he placed the handles of his two swords together, holding them like the hands of a clock and spun them in his hand like propellers.

  Using the wind of his propeller blades he blew the pieces away before they could launch any sort of counterattack. One final hand lunged at him from behind, but he quickly grabbed his swords and spiralled towards it, cleaving the meat to shreds.

  “Child’s play.”

  With the final obstacle conquered, he finally reached the shore of Catherine’s sanctuary. Bushes were stained with blood, trees were felled and in the epicentre of it all was Catherine, eagerly awaiting her next challenger.

  “Look at you…” Stolz commented. “You’ve grown into a true demon, thirsty for battle, like I’m your scheduled entertainment.”

  Catherine lunged at Stolz, who blocked her with his swords. Just like with Dale, she refused to let go and held onto them tight, regardless if the blades pierced her skin, locking them in place.

  “You’re completely consumed by your powers. A rush you’ve denied yourself all these years and you wasted no time capitalising on them. You can’t even speak anymore. There’s no time for idle chit chat, when your blood is screaming for violence.

  But, you can’t rely solely on those demonic instincts forever. If you can’t learn to control your power, then you’ll die before you reach your full potential and that would truly be a shame.”

  With a burst of black energy, Stolz blew Catherine off of him as he prepared to face her with his full might. He crossed his blades over his head and readied himself.

  “I will put you down here and now! Let the might of a true demon warrior wake you from this nightmare!

  May the souls of the fallen lend me their undying valour! May their hopes and despair, their forgotten dreams and empty screams invigorate my spirit!”

  Stolz surrounded himself with a black aura, crackling wildly as he prepared… nothing.

  His aura dissipated and his power remained still. Watching from a distance, even Dale could tell something was wrong.

  “Um… what happened?”

  “Why’s he just standing there?” Amanda criticised.

  “I don’t know, last he did that pose he got a big power up.”

  Even Stolz was baffled.

  “I do not understand… Hundreds of demons fell here, why can’t I absorb their spirit?”

  A smug smirk slowly crossed Catherine’s face, she couldn’t contain herself, building from a self-satisfied chuckle to mocking, wild laughter, she was ecstatic. Suddenly, large meat hands rose from the river of blood, covering all sides, preventing Stolz from escaping. That’s when he realised.

  “Impossible… these large fists, her claws and spikes. They weren’t just extensions of her body… they were molded from the corpses of the fallen… I can’t absorb their power, because she’s already stolen it for herself…”

  “Die!”

  A corpse fist burst from the ground, beneath Stolz’ feet. For the first time, he was genuinely caught off-guard.

  “It burrowed underground!?”

  It flung him into the air, where he was left in a perfect pummelling position. The large hands surrounding the bloody sanctuary flew towards him and rapidly beat him senseless in a crimson flurry.

  The impact violently shook his body around as his armour was bent out of shape. If the relentless assault didn’t stop soon, he was dead. Catherine enjoyed watching her corpse fists brutally demolish her opponent. It was pure bliss. Until a rocket suddenly blew up in her face, knocking her down and releasing Stolz from his beating.

  “Holy shit! Are you okay!?” Dale entered the sanctuary, aiding Stolz.

  “What are you doing, you fool!?” Stolz yelled. “She’s at too much of an advantage here! You have to retreat!”

  “Don’t worry about me, I’ve got cover. Let’s get you out of here.”

  As Dale made his escape, Amanda fired a storm of bullets in Catherine’s face, keeping her pinned down.

  “Stay right there, ya crazy bitch!”

  Unable to carry his massive weight, Dale dragged Stolz to safety. Even if it was through a river of blood and viscera. It wasn’t a pleasant experience, but with backup from Amanda, he successfully got the armoured knight out of harm’s way.

  “So, what’s the plan now?” Amanda asked.

  “I don’t know… it sucks, but we - CAR!”

  The two ducked as a small vehicle soared past them, exploding in the distance.

  “Shit… oh, right. I think we might have to wait for Drifter.”

  “He’s been gone a while now. How do you know if he’s even coming back?”

  “Why wouldn’t he?”

  “Are you dense!? You heard what he said! He’s only interested in Locke!”

  “But, what do we do?”

  “We’ll just have to sort this out ourselves. Otherwise, who knows what damage that lunatic will cause to herself or others if we don’t stop her now.”

  Dale let out a pained snicker.

  “What are you laughing at?”

  “It’s funny… I keep trying to act like the hero, but I never realised how much I relied on Drifter to do the heavy lifting for me. And now that I have the chance to prove myself, the people I spared all died and now… I don’t know what to do…”

  “To be honest… I don’t know what I’m doing either…” Amanda said as she took a sniper shot at Catherine, preventing her from tossing another car. “I’m just fighting because I need to. Because no one else can.”

  “Maybe that’s all the justification you need. A true hero fights because he needs to!”

  “Wait! You’re not just gonna run in there, are you!? Who knows what other moves she’s got up her sleeve!”

  “Fuck it! I’m going in anyway! I don’t care what she’s got, I’ll always be faster than her!”

  Dale sprinted off at max speed, with Amanda sighing to herself.

  “I guess I’ll cover for ya.”

  Emerging from the river of blood, the giant corpse hands materialised, but by the time they were ready, Dale had already passed them and infiltrated Catherine’s sanctuary.

  “Too slow, Catherine. Finished with your temper tantrum yet?”

  In response, a shadow suddenly appeared over Dale as a car crashed on top of him. Luckily, he dodged to the side at the last second, even luckier, it didn’t explode in his face.

  “I’m assuming that’s a no?”

  “Go die.” Catherine choked.

  “Hey, fuck you! No, I mean… look, I don’t want to hurt you, but I can’t let you fall deeper into whatever the hell all this is! Killing those demons was one thing, but I’m not going to let you hurt innocent people! I’m stopping you right here, before anything like that can happen!”

  Catherine cared little for Dale’s words and raised her hand in preparation to absorb more dead cells. A gunshot suddenly rang out, nailing the demon in the eye.

  “Now, Dale!” Amanda called.

  Dale rushed in while Catherine was still recoiling and dealt a blow to her stomach, hoping to inflict some kind of damage. She stood firm, even with one eye shot out, she still had the energy to punch back into Dale’s face and send him flying into the crashed car.

  She took her hand off her eye, already fully healed. Not even Amanda’s guns were strong enough to fight against Catherine’s demonic regeneration.

  With Dale now the one recoiling, it was Catherine’s turn, but the moment she moved, another gunshot rang out, piercing her leg. Not even demonic regeneration made her immune to the stinging sensation of a bullet.

  Catherine had enough of Amanda’s meddling and threw up a large wall of dead cells in front of her sanctuary, preventing further intervention.

  “That bitch!” Amanda gasped.

  More dead cells gathered from behind, merging onto her arms and forming massive claws. Her sharp fingers extended towards Dale, but even though he was dazed he still managed to duck under them and shred them with his arm blade.

  “I ain’t dead yet.” He taunted. “Wait, what smells like gasoline?”

  Catherine wasn’t aiming for Dale’s head, but the fuel tank of the car, now leaking petrol. A single spark was all she needed.

  “N-no… you wouldn’t…”

  With a swipe of her massive claw she cleaved through the car, severing the electrics, creating sparks that ignited the petrol, as the vehicle burst into a raging inferno.

  Dale’s body was consumed by the flames. Catherine cackled to herself, amused once again by the futility of her opponent’s struggle, but her laughter was cut short when she realised, despite being literally on fire, Dale was still standing.

  “Wh-why aren't you dead!?”

  “Because a true hero never dies!”

  Still burning intensely, Dale rushed Catherine and slammed his fiery fist into her face. Catherine was so dumbfounded by Dale’s indignation she didn’t even try to defend herself. Dale suddenly latched onto the she-demon.

  “You wanna know what else is highly flammable? Corpses!”

  Her claws, forged from the bodies of the dead, burst into flame which quickly travelled throughout her body. No amount of healing powers could numb the pain of her searing flesh. She screeched in agony as Dale prepared his final assault.

  With the last of his strength and his lightning speed, he pummelled the living hell out of Catherine. He didn’t care that his own skin was burning or if he would even survive for much longer, he was entirely focused on causing as much physical pain as possible.

  Catherine’s body already had trouble fending off the fire, she could do naught but take every one of Dale’s blows head on. Finally putting an end to the onslaught, Dale laid a smackdown that smashed Catherine into the dirt.

  “That should… cool you off…”

  Satisfied with his efforts, Dale’s flames petered out and he fell unconscious. The flames scarring Catherine soon burnt out and she sloppily hoisted herself up.

  Her skin was peeling, her clothes were ash, if it wasn’t for her hair miraculously surviving, she’d be completely exposed. Still, Catherine was in a far weaker and pitiful state than she ever hoped to be in.

  However, even after her beating, her demonic hatred was still burning. She took one look at Dale’s unmoving body and took the opportunity to end him. Until a white bullet shot straight through her shoulder.

  “That’s enough, Catherine.” Amanda called, standing just off to the demon’s side. “The fight’s over.”

  Catherine refused to give in. Amanda was just a normal human, even in her weakened state she could still destroy her. She roared, but was silenced by another bullet in her opposite shoulder. Her body could no longer withstand the projectiles from a measly handgun.

  “You got two choices. Either you give up and snap out of this, or I put more bullets through ya.”

  “Choices?”

  Tears started welling up in Catherine’s eyes. Her human personality slipping through the cracks of her demonic facade.

  “I had… no choices… Demons took my family… Humans robbed me of my freedom… Nothing I do… can change that… I’m a monster… Loathed by humanity… and outcasted by demons… I hate all of them.”

  “You’re just like us. You have no idea what you’re doing anymore. Completely aimless.”

  “You don’t understand… you’re still accepted… by friends and family… I have nothing! You’re nothing like me!”

  Catherine tried, again, to lash out at Amanda, but she was too quick on the trigger, with a couple more shots to her chest, keeping her at bay.

  “Listen to me, you damn idiot! My family’s gone too and the only surviving member was turned into a nightmarish abomination! Don’t, for even a second, suggest that’s somehow better than whatever you went through! This isn’t a competition!”

  Unable to fight Amanda head on, Catherine used her last resort, and tried to use Dale’s life as a bargaining chip, but Amanda, already steaming, refused to fall into her desperate ploy. She fired a shot through Catherine’s hand, causing her to back off from Dale.

  “Don’t you lay a goddamn finger on that boy’s head, or I swear I’ll put a bullet between those pretty red eyes of yours! I already executed my own sister and I won’t hesitate to do the same to you!”

  Her entire body was screaming in agony, but Catherine’s demonic pride was far too strong. With a final roar she attempted to jump at Amanda, but was swiftly brought down by a single bullet through the skull.

  This time, she fell to the ground, motionless. Amanda shivered at what she had done, but didn’t waste too much time thinking about it. She picked up Dale’s body and took her leave.

  “Hey… what happened…?” Dale asked, just barely regaining consciousness in Amanda’s arms.

  “Nothing. It’s over.”