With Kassi's help, Rey managed to keep up with the others, while his head did its best to rip his skull open. It was like his brain wanted to rage quit out of his head. He could hardly see where he was going. There was no one behind them, so he couldn't figure out what the rush was. The other were running as if Death himself was coming after them.

  "Why the fuck are we running?" Rey barked. "And drawing all this attention to ourselves."

  That made them see some sense, and they slowed down to a leisurely walk after they turned into an alleyway. There weren't many demons around, and the ones that were lazing about were mostly zoned out from all the drugs they had snorted.

  Aearbon was right behind the Sniffer, who, for some reason, hadn't betrayed them yet. Rey would've loved to stop and question him about it, but he didn't have the brainpower to deduce the workings of a demon's brain.

  I fucking hate when you do this. Demon Rey snapped. And you do this more than last time.

  He wasn't wrong. He had fallen into Mana Fatigue maybe once before he left Purgatory last time. One time was more than enough for him. But this time, it was his third or fourth time. He loved his gravity powers, but these skills chugged Mana like it was free refills.

  Rey stumbled because his vision was hazy and he totally missed a demon's leg. Thankfully, Kassi saved him from kissing the ground. He assumed she'd issued an unspoken exclusive smooching license—valid for her lips only. It wasn't like he wasn't getting better, but he never had to run for his life the last few times he fell into Mana Fatigue.

  "Thanks, beautiful." Rey smiled.

  "Watch your step, babe. We're not in the clear yet."

  "We're never in the clear," Ajay added. The guy was still clearly miffed about Filomena almost dying.

  Rey had made some mistakes, but they had lived through two major fights: the first was mostly luck, and the second was because of a premonition. It was like the universe had made his lie come true. As it turned out, his bullshit came with a Create Premonition button. He didn't know where the fuck that premonition had come from, but somehow it had. Then there were those bones. He was sure that they were his and his friends'. That was another mystery that was fucking his skull like a jackhammer.

  If they had died in the future, then how had their bones landed in the past? Also, how had Aearbon's skull been the key to unlock the premonition? Also, why did he have the premonition in the first place? He was sure this was the tenth time he had asked himself the same questions, and the worst part was that he couldn't even confer with his friends thanks to the Cucklord of Purgatoristan watching them.

  Noidet led them through back streets, which was good because they had already raised more than a few eyebrows carrying the guard captain. And he was sure that by now, the news that a Tigerman was part of Rey's crew must have spread throughout the city. So tongues would be wagging from the now craterous ruins to the palace.

  "Shit!" Noidet cursed as he came to an abrupt stop.

  "What is it?" Aearbon asked.

  "They're auctioning off slaves down this way."

  "Great." Rey rolled his eyes. "You definitely brought us to a superb location."

  "How was I supposed to know"? Noidet practically snapped.

  Rey coughed, and the Sniffer shat his pants.

  "I-I didn't mean any disrespect," Noidet stammered. "My hideout is just across the street. If I had known that they would be doing this, I would've never brought you this way. I swear it on my life."

  Rey had to use his mind, which wasn't working that well anyway, but Kassi proved once again why she was the smartest among this group.

  "Aearbon, drop the captain, and go invisible. Cross the street and wait for us. Noidet and Ajay can carry the captain in between them and pretend he had too much to drink if someone asks, but before that, we should strip him of his uniform."

  "And burn it," Rey added. He couldn't let her have all the fun. He earned some raised eyebrows at that. "Don't worry, there are enough dumpster fires burning in this place."

  They shared a glance and nodded. So, they did just that. Stripped him of his leather armor, and Ajay lit up nicely. With that, Aearbon went invisible and moved across the street. If anyone were paying attention, they would see a shadow moving across the street, but Rey figured they would be paying more attention to the naked beauties being auctioned off. Rey, himself, couldn't help but stare. Some had horns, tails, or both, along with other standard demonic appendages.

  From the corner of his eye, he saw Kassi glaring at him. He turned and smiled. "Everything's good. No one's saw anything."

  "It seems you've seen plenty enough," she replied.

  Rey chuckled nervously. "I think we should be moving along."

  He tried to take her arm for support, but she moved off. "You seem good enough now."

  Ajay sighed. "What did you do now?"

  "Nothing."

  He shook his head, took the guard captain's arm, put it over his shoulder, and Noidet did the same. Together they walked across the street with Rey bringing up the rear all by his lonesome. They drew some eyeballs thanks to the captain's unconscious form, but the demons didn't give them more than a passing glance.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  Noidet led the way once again, and Aearbon stayed invisible, but he was right behind Rey. He could tell that much from his heavy breathing. They moved through some more side streets and finally arrived at what was Noidet's hideout.

  He unlocked the door with an iron key from his pocket, which had somehow stayed in his pocket throughout all the fighting. The door creaked open to a dark, dank room that smelled like they had been fermenting rotten eggs. Everyone save for Aearbon recoiled from the stench. Rey drew a deep breath of the stale air outside and followed everyone in.

  Noidet and Ajay dropped the captain in the corner while the others did their best to get acclimatized with the room. Thankfully, Rey's Mana had regenerated a little bit, so it didn't feel like his head was about to explode. There was still a headache, but it was manageable.

  Noidet lit a torch and placed it in a sconce. It was a sizeable room with a table with five chairs in the center. There were two beds in the corner and a ladder that led to the second floor. Rey couldn't see what was up there as it was all dark. The wall opposite the beds had a door that led to another room.

  "Now, that was a close call," Rey exclaimed.

  "Your vision couldn't have come at a better time," Filomena exclaimed.

  Ajay scoffed. "Of course, if it had come earlier than—"

  "Then we would've been caught outside by the demons and killed off completely," Kassi replied. "Or we would've wasted too long trying to find a way past the demons that were going to ambush us, that Filomena might have sustained even more damage."

  Why did I have that premonition in the first place is the question I want answered. Rey almost blurted out.

  "Will you two just cut it out"? Filomena said, getting between the two of them. "Just thank God that we made it out of there alive."

  "Or you know, me," Rey stated. "If I didn't have that premonition when I did, we would've been overwhelmed and our souls devoured."

  He spared a glance towards Aearbon and motioned to the second floor. The Tigerman got the idea and went up the ladder to check out the second floor. There was no way Rey was going to trust a demon, no matter how hard he had fought beside them.

  "What's in there?" Rey pointed to the room opposite the beds.

  "A storage room," Noidet said. "This was the hideout of my gang that you…"

  "That we slaughtered. Got it," Rey said. "Say, do you have somewhere quiet and secure where I can have a soulful chat with the captain"?

  Noidet frowned. "What do you mean?"

  "I thought it should be obvious to a demon. I'm talking about some good old-fashioned torture."

  That perked up everyone's ears. They all turned towards Rey as he had just declared that he wanted to drop a nuke on their heads. He could see why they were surprised, but someone had to get their hands dirty. After all, how else were they supposed to get the information out of the demon?

  "What?" Rey asked.

  Kassi stepped forward. "You're going to torture him?"

  "Yep. Don't worry, I won't hurt him a lot." With that, he was done having this conversation; he turned to Noidet. "So, got any room that can contain his screams?"

  "You can take him upstairs," Noidet replied.

  At that time, Aearbon jumped down with the deftness of a cat. By all accounts, he should've shaken up the ground with his bulk, but he didn't even disturb the dust on the ground.

  "Okay, bring some rope and a rag to stuff his mouth with," Rey said to Noidet.

  Rey was about to head towards the unconscious demon, but Kassi stopped him by gripping his arm. He sighed inwardly. Oh, here it comes.

  "Rey, tell me you're not serious about torturing him," she said.

  "I'm always serious, babe. You know that. Besides, it's just a itty bitty torture. He won't even feel it much. Besides, he's just a demon. He probably deserves it and will most definitely enjoy it."

  "How can you be so casual about torturing someone, whether they be a demon or not?" She practically shouted. "Also, what do you want from him. What could he possibly know that it is so important that you are willing to go through that?"

  "He's a captain. He's going to have a lot of information, like how many guards the prince has in the city and where they are stationed. How much information do they have on us? Where are they planning on ambushing us next? Trust me, if there were any other way of doing this, I would. But this needs to be done, so we don't end up in a fight like last time and the time before that. Someone tell me this makes sense to you."

  Noidet raised his hand. "Makes sense to me."

  "You stay out of it," Kassi snapped, and the Sniffer slowly lowered his hand. "Rey, I never thought you would lower yourself so much to torture someone."

  "Kassi, I hate to admit it, but he's right," Ajay said. "We need that information."

  Rey motioned to him. "Thank you. Kass—"

  He was interrupted because Aearbon roared and jumped on the captain, who had miraculously come awake and was about to pounce on them, were it not for Aearbon. The Tigerman tusseled with the guard captain for a few moments. They exchanged some blows, but the Tigerman, thanks to Rey's training, was much stronger than his Rank, smacking the demon back into the corner. His head smashed against the wall, where it left a nice bloody splotch.

  The demon was about to jump at them again, but Rey used Attraction on the demon and made him attracted towards the wall. His back smashed against the wall, and no matter how much the demon tried to fight it, there was just no fighting gravity.

  Rey pulled out his dagger and tapped it against his thigh as he made his way towards the demon. "So, Captain, I just have a few questions for you and then I'll let you go on your merry way."

  "Fuck you, human," the captain snapped. "I heard what you want from me, and I'll only say this much. The prince knows of you. Knows what you are and why you're here."

  Rey raised an eyebrow. "Oh, what does he think I'm here to do?"

  "You're here to kill him and take his throne," the demon snapped. "This city will never surrender to a human. Never. We will fight to the very last man before we let a human walk in and take control of this city."

  Rey looked to his friends and laughed. "We're only here to kill your prince. Other than that, it really doesn't matter to me, whatever the fuck happens to this city. Anyway, let's move on to my next question. How many forces remain and how and when they're coming for us."

  The captain laughed. It started slow, but soon it became loud and ravenous, as if the demon had gone insane. Finally, he stopped and bore his yellow eyes into Rey.

  "Oh, you have no idea what is coming for you. With my death, you will sign off on your deaths. The prince will unleash the four Terrors. You will have nowhere to hide. That is all I will ever say to you."

  He thrust his hand into his mouth and ripped out his own tongue, and tossed it at Rey's feet. Dark blood poured from his mouth, and the demon laughed as he slowly died.

  Rey turned to Kassi. "See, I didn't even have to torture him."

  But she didn't seem happy. If anything, she was still miffed at Rey. He knew that it would take a while for her to come around. For him to make her understand that this was Hell and this was how things got done here.

  "I wonder what he meant by his last statement," Aearbon stated.

  "You should run," Noidet croaked. "If he meant the Four Terrors, then you should run from this city and never come back."

  "The four Terrorrs?" Rey frowned. "I've never heard of them before."

  "Because they are only unleashed when all other measures to bring down a foe have been exhausted."