Sadly, I didn’t have time to take these poor souls aside and clarify their situation, guide them to Thaena’s Land of Peace, offer them advice. I didn’t have time to explain they could die twice, the second death more permanent than the first. The demons would use those deaths to gain what they wanted most in the whole world.

Namely, the whole world.

Oh yes, the demons had come to Mereina. They would start a Hellmarch here if they could, would puppet these dead across Jorat slaughtering village after town after city until they had gathered enough souls to call a demon prince’s attention.

And then the killing would never stop.

The demons had arrived to ravage the souls of the dead.

I had come looking for more challenging prey.

I wasted no time. Sword drawn, I laughed as my first swing took a demon’s head from his shoulders and—blocking a hellhound’s lunge with my shield—I stepped to the side. I began the slaughter, letting my hate and my rage fill me with a fire-like warmth. The first demon’s blood was black, the second a glowing purple; there were no rules for how a demon’s gore might appear.

I was impaling a demon tiger’s jaw with my sword when I heard a shout. I looked up in time to see a massive hammer smash into my face, throwing me backward.

Awake, such a blow would have slain me, but the rules are different when one’s existence is metaphorical.

I slammed my hand down into the ground for leverage and pushed myself upward. A massive skinless demon stood before me, muscles glistening red between white divisions of connective tissue and yellow fat.

He was still missing his lower jaw, though.

“Kasmodeus?” I spat blood to the side. “You recovered quicker than I thought you would, given how easily you died the first time.”

The muscles of his cheekbones pulled. A grin, or as close as he could manage.

**OTHER DEMONS WILL SCREAM AND HIDE THEIR FACES WHEN THEY SEE WHAT I DO TO YOU.**

I laughed. “Plan you, then, to save a few drowning puppies? Make soup for an old sick mare?” I smiled. “Roses. You shouldn’t have.”

His eyes glowed. **DIE, WHORE!** He swung his maul, letting momentum send it crashing down.

I barely dodged it. He was more powerful than before, but then again, he’d stolen at least a few poor souls who’d died too close to those damn stakes. Who knew how many souls he’d taken from dire sacrifices burned at previous tournaments?