Riley cuts through alleyways and hops over fences, speeding over to the office on the brochure as fast as possible.

"Clair. Do you really believe that girl's managed to hold on for that long? If something happened, I don't think I could bring myself to tell a kid about his dead sister." Riley says to Clair.

Clair scoffs. "But you're okay with making him pay for your meal?"

"They're two incredibly different things."

"One of them is telling the honest truth, and the other is forcing a child who just asked you to save his potentially dying sister to pay for a large pizza and chips."

"Large pizza and poutine."

Riley comes to an abrupt halt, almost launching Clair off of his shoulder.

"We're here."

He admires the intricate design of the building, being rather well made despite its simple purpose of paperwork and absolute depression

Riley's hand manages to barely touch the doorknob before he hears a loud scream coming from inside the building as well as objects getting knocked around. He breaks down the door without any further thought and runs through the reception area, and up the stairs.

And up the stairs.

And up the stairs.

And surprisingly, only four flights of stairs until he sees somebody get bashed through the wall and land right in front of him.

"Either we've found exactly who we're looking for, or we've found something far worse." Riley says, entering the office room through the newly minted hole in the wall.

Thankfully, it was partially the former. And unfortunately, plenty of the latter. There's a young lady standing in the middle of the room, that's for sure. And she definitely resembles the boy that asked for help. But that's about where the pleasantries end. Her face was filled with unnatural malice and covered in blood, a far stretch to say she'd be some sort of loving older sister who's only transgression is stealing her brother's chocolates.

She stood there, holding an older man by the neck and slamming him into the floor as if he reminded her of a bug on the pavement. It's no doubt that's what he'd end up as without much intervention.

"Clair." Riley whispered to his fluffy shoulder-hogging ally. "Do we stop her? It's not like we're here to save them, and it looks like she's doing just fine."

Clair rubs his eyes and looks directly at Riley. "I think we have to bring her back anyways. If we came back empty handed, that'd be dishonorable."

Riley loudly sighs at the suggestion and wields his blade with a half-hearted stance. He steps slowly forwards, hoping not to startle her.

The girl drops the obviously deceased older man with little resistance on his part. She's wearing a comfortable button up shirt and dress pants with a thin open jacket, which are all covered in blood from her recent executions.

Her face is completely deadpan as she approaches. Weaponless, yet absolutely not unarmed.

"Clair, there is absolutely no way I'm making it out of here alive if I stay here any longer. I'm leaving right now before my organs still remain in my chest." Riley says while quickly shuffling towards the hole in the wall.

"This is an opportunity for growth Riley, you can't waste it!" Clair says while hitting Riley's head, making squeaky noises as he lands his punches.

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"I will absolutely fucking die if I take one more step towards that lady. Did you see her turn that man into a pile of wet meat?"

"You're different! You're a high-ranking demon!"

"I almost got my ass beat by a group of thugs."

"...Fair point."

Clair looks defeated, and opts to just let Riley walk through the open wall without putting up any resistance.

As Riley steps down the stairs and leaves the building, he takes his time to question if he could really do anything in that situation. He wasn't strong enough, and he didn't really have to do anything anyways. She looked safe enough, even without his intervention. He felt horrible. And yet, it felt as if a weight had been lifted off of his shoulder.

"I'm sorry we couldn't bring her back Clair, but we can at least tell the boy she's safe. Is that good enough for you?"

No response.

Riley looks around the area, but Clair is nowhere to be seen. He dashes back up the stairs and sprints back into the room to see the young lady holding the creature by the throat.

"Ah, aren't you a bite-sized little cutie? Definitely not big enough to eat, but too rowdy to keep around. I suppose I'll just have fun killing you then~." She remarks. This definitely wasn't normal behavior. Not by any human standards, at least.

"She's been possessed by a demon! You've gotta take her out before she kills you too!" Clair says with what little breath he can muster up.

Riley's heart is beating in his chest faster than he's ever felt before. He'd die here if he even tried to take her down. But if he turned around and left, he'd never be able to truly live again. It was a stupid decision for him to make, but he chose it regardless. He grips his blade as if he'd die if he ever let go. Without any more hesitation on his part, he rushes forward and stabs the girl in the stomach. Blood pours from the wound as she laughs uncontrollably.

"What, you think you're going to kill me with some pitiful artifact that's barely matured past being a bit of a sharp stick, compared to my incredible strength?" The possessed lady yells at him.

Riley pulls the blade away and backpedals a decent distance, watching the girl's injuries miraculously disappear.

"I can fix her no matter how much you pitifully stab at me. And if you manage to kill her? I'll just find another body. Over and over, until someone worth their salt steps up and kills me. You, however, are not one of those people. You're nothing but a pitiful mockery of true warriors. Swinging around a stick as if you were a little boy lost in your fantasy. I'm very much willing to step up and show you how kind reality is to those with power, and unkind to those who lack it."

Riley continues slashing at her, cutting far into her body while it simply repairs itself over and over. He pulls back and thrusts his blade towards the lady's head, and she stops it by letting it go through her hand instead.

"I'm doing you a favor. If you hurt this lady's brain, you'll kill her and leave me behind. Your weapon's not advanced enough to do anything more than injure me at the cost of her life. I'd say that's far more than a fair trade for me if I wished to do so. But it'd just be so boring to let her die without whittling you down a little bit, wouldn't you say?"

The possessed lady begins to become a bit more serious, deflecting Riley's oncoming attacks with decent effort. If she went all out, he'd absolutely be dead. But she believes that it's more fun to play with her food and leave just before it's too late. A bad habit, but one that she's been able to keep up for a while with her strength.

Riley's blade starts cutting shallower as his breath speeds up and his exhaustion begins to overcome him.

He falls to the ground, blade falling to his side. He can't continue fighting a losing battle like this. The lady leans over him, laughing at his pitiful state.

"You've given up? I guess you weren't the hero you were looking to be."

The ground cracks, and the man's left hand glows through his bandage, bleeding profusely as he rushes forward with the last of his strength to grab her face. She tries to step backwards, but her body doesn't move.

"I used to have a fully functional arm, and I used to love playing instruments no matter how bad I was at it. I used to play games with my friends, and run around in playgrounds with happiness in my eyes. I thought what I did was a curse, that I was forced to be a weapon in a turf war between two demons. I couldn't believe that what I did was of my own volition and born from the strength I had in myself all along. I put all my hatred onto an abstract concept that ended up describing myself perfectly."

The demon screams, as if it was being burnt alive, stabbed, and drowned all at once.

"I was blind. I just wanted to go back to how I was living before. Even up until now, I've just been thinking of all this as if it was some sort of game or elaborate lie."

Riley's arm begins to slowly turn to dust as the demon's screaming subsides and the lady falls to the floor.

He falls onto face, nearing unconsciousness. All he can hear before he passes out is the voice of Clair yelling at him to wake up, and the feeling of the carpeted floor covered in blood below him.