“Tell us how many there are,” I said for the thirtieth time.

The balaam, perched comfortably atop the roof of a rusting factory, once again ignored my request.

I let out a long, agonised groan. “Then tell us why you’re being so stubborn.”

Ignored again.

Unable to take it anymore, a wail ripped from Volce’s throat. He thrust a finger at Toll. “You stupid, bird brained, waste of fire! You wouldn’t even have that rabdos if the human hadn’t picked it out for you. At least be grateful.”

In the distance, pressed up against the wall, was a tower similar to the Junction Towers, coloured pristine white that shimmered in the sunlight, directing Participants towards it. Though the exit tower was tall, between the buildings of ruined city and the forest beyond, it was near impossible to spot from a distance, especially with the inner wall blocking view of it from certain angles. Toll had been scouting out the exit from on high, using the rabdos that I’d suggested they take from Rin’s unfortunate party. The rabdos appeared like a bronze looking glass, except that the larger of the two lenses refracted light like a diamond.

Spelunky, Class 3. When supplied with a bit of ash through the viewing lens, it can view whatever it is that the user desires and nothing else.

Presently, Toll was watching the party that guarded the exit, through a dozen city blocks. At least, that’s what I assumed they were doing, as they weren’t telling me anything.

Seated with her back to the steel factory wall, Enzi let out sigh. “Please, Algier, just ask a question.”

“Yes, ask questions,” Toll added. A golden eye rolled around in the balaam’s bird-like head and they stared down at us without moving their head. “All of you ask questions. I find it completely idiotic that you are all refusing to utilise the talents of a balaam. What sort of a party spends more time competing with each other than with their enemies?”

Volce raised a hand. “A suicide party.”

Toll stared at the deuce, blinked once, then rolled their eye back to the looking glass.

Markus clapped his hands twice and it caught our attention. We turned to see him seated on a rusted, steel-legged chair which, given all the swagger he portrayed, it may have been a throne to him. “Alright, my suicidal companions. The balaam makes an excellent point. We should use demonocracy to decide who asks the question.”

“Oh, fuck off,” I groaned. I stood from my seat—an old tyre that had popped off a nearby truck and had since deflated—and stretched out my aching muscles. Walking all day and dealing with the party’s crap had really tired me out. I shot Markus a stern look. “You’re going to make me answer all the questions. All of you are going to lay onto me.”

The haures shrugged. “But the more precise our answers are, the more accurate our plan will be. Most questions will be better asked by a human.”

“No, only some of them need to be asked by a human,” I said. “The rest can be asked by anyone. What you’re trying to do is work with Toll to screw over the human again.”

“I am not participating,” the balaam spoke. “I have had enough of these games. Do as you wish. Just hurry it up.”

I raised my hand. “Let’s make things fair by giving people extra votes based upon how many questions they’ve asked.”

“Good idea,” Enzi said.

“Yup, definitely,” Volce agreed.

“Fine,” Markus sighed. “Since we already know there are twenty-eight people guarding the exit, the next question we need to ask is, who is their leader?”

I’ll spare you the details: it was twenty-three votes for me, one for Markus. I was the one.

Toll tilted their head to the side. “Their leader is Holt Argo Roth.”

The three demons let out a collective, “Oh,” followed by, “bugger,” “dear,” and, “fuck!” As for me, I was speechless.

Holt is a name that every human knows. During the Invasion, he led one of the largest forces from Hell though a gate near Akita, Japan. Within a week, nothing remained of the island nation.

Every city had been razed. Every historical artifact and document was destroyed. Everything that could be set on fire, was. The number of people that escaped was in the hundreds of thousands; everyone else, the memories and culture they shared, was snuffed out of existence like a moth to flame.

While other Invasion forces were working to pressure world governments into surrender, an entire nation was obliterated under his orders. This went against the will of the Council of Ones, of which he was a member at the time. Apparently, Lucifer himself interfered to prevent Holt from moving the army to China. That’s never been confirmed, however, since no demon has actually seen Lucifer in thousands of years.

What is confirmed are three facts. One, Japan was so completely ruined that the demons didn’t even bother making it a Desolation, an outpost of sorts where the forsaken realm’s flames burn just as freely as in Hell. Two, some humans showed up to repel Holt’s army wielding magic unlike any that has been seen before, by both humans and demons. Three, Holt’s actions were so deplored that he was given two more names and removed from the Council of Ones.

Since then, he had gone missing. Some people assumed he was walking the barren wastes of Japan, brooding and waiting for his chance to strike again. Others assumed he had fled back to Hell where the Marquises had no jurisdiction. Some even think that he was caught by the Council of Ones and erased in secret, but I’d always thought that a demon so terrifying was probably indestructible. The fact that he’d been exiled rather than executed was testament to that. The reality was that he’d been caught and thrown into the Culling. And that he was waiting for us at the exit to the Ring of Betrayal.

My heart was thumping in my chest. It wasn’t like me to get so anxious over the mentioning of a demon. After the estray fight, I doubt I’d ever feel fear again. But this was Holt. This was the bane of humanity. If all of humanity’s combined sins could be added together, they still wouldn’t come close to this asshole’s.

Years ago, I’d made a promise to myself to stop getting angry all the time. I used to get into fights over everything. With the SOHINORA kids just like me, with the demon nuns who raised me, with law enforcement, with everyone. Over time, I learned to strip away my anger, along with basically every other emotion a human could feel. If I hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have been in the Culling. Not because I’d have not killed Alastair but because I’d have been dead long before I had the chance. It wasn’t like me to get angry anymore.

But given that it was Holt, I think I had the right to be a little pissed.

“Next question,” I said. My knuckles went white as my grip tightened around Möbius. A spot on my chest felt uncomfortable and I pressed at it with my other hand, only to find my mother’s locket. I nestled it gently between my fingers. “Toll, what rabdoses does Holt have?”

Volce’s cocked an eyebrow. “Er, Algier, we’re supposed to vote on who asks.”

“Toll!” I bellowed.

The balaam responded without hesitation. “Infinigull. Aegis.” They turned to face me with one eye. I was already holding my breath after hearing the first two names, but the coldness in Toll’s golden eyes put me right on edge. “Heartbreak Filament,” they said pointedly.

“Oh—”

“Bugger.”

“Dear.”

“Fuck!”

Their reactions were off by an order of magnitude, in the lesser direction.

Infinigull, Class 5. It’s a spear that will seek out its target from outrageous distances and strike with terrifying precision. The verdict isn’t out on whether it’s Aware or not, but given that it just seems to know exactly who and where the target is, it’s not that unbelievable that it would be conscious.

What made matters even worse was that it was one of few Class 5 rabdoses in the Culling. What is a Class 5, you ask? Of the three combat Classes, 4 to 6, they can be summarised as thus: Class 6 is more effective against demons, Class 4 has no specialisation, and Class 5 rabdoses are designed to slaughter humans. There are few of these because the Culling is intended for erasing demons, but some Class 5 rabdoses find their way in for reasons that are not fully explained.

Then there’s Aegis, Class 4. Usually appearing as a sash or poncho that can be wrapped around the wearer, it creates a near impenetrable shield a distance from its user. Of course, there’s no such thing as a perfect rabdos, so it has a flaw—you can walk through Aegis’s protective barrier as it only repels attacks that would harm the wearer.

However, that basically eliminated half of our arsenal. If we wanted to strike Holt, we’d need to get close, but in doing so we’d be in the crosshairs of Infinigull. Obviously, the better choice was to run, but if Holt drew out Heartbreak Filament, we wouldn’t be doing that either. Though I’m not completely sure how it works, Heartbreak Filament puts everyone touched by its light into a mad frenzy. If that hit us, we wouldn’t be running from anything. We’d be trying to tear each other’s limbs from their sockets.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Volce floated up between the middle of us and tore at his straight grey hair. “So he’s got a spear that doesn’t miss, nigh indestructible armour, and he can make everyone on the battlefield fight against each other like raging humans during breeding season with Heartbreak Filament. This is bullshit!” I tried not to make a statement about Volce’s thoughts on human reproduction.

“It seems that way,” Enzi sighed. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. “He’s going to run through the battlefield while we’re all fighting and pick us off one at a time.”

“Oh, it’s far more brutal than that,” Toll said. They passed their gaze over each of us in turn before attending to their looking glass again.

Markus let out a sigh. “I suppose this is a job for a one name. I can’t expect a bunch of lesser demons and a measly human to do my job now.”

I cocked an eyebrow at him. “Oh, so Monk and Penny must have some more tricks up their sleeves.”

“Cuffs, actually,” Markus corrected me. “They do, but not only that. I’ve accumulated a lot of rabdoses. I’m sure I can find one that’ll blow the whole problem over in an instant.”

“You’re sure,” I repeated. “That’s a lot of confidence for a demon. But since you can’t lie, that means you already have a solution to this problem.”

Markus winked at me. I stared back at him deadpan, then turned to Toll. “Hey, what’s Markus’ plan for dealing with Heartbreak Filament?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you,” the balaam replied without so much as glancing my way.

“Then you’d better not charge me for that question.”

“Obviously not.”

Of course, even when a question wasn’t answered, so long as you had enough information, that silence may as well have been a siren. There were three possibilities here as to why Toll couldn’t answer. The first was that Markus had a specific rabdos.

Grave Whisperer, Class 3-S. It’s a piece of jewellery that prevents any kind of divination from being performed on its wearers. The short of it is that it lets you keep your secrets.

That’s what is officially stated about it—the speculations on its actual power are another matter entirely. One of those speculations, one which I’m ninety-nine percent sure is correct, is that it blocks out interference from other demons’ powers. This is based upon an event in the eight-second Culling, when an iuda managed to break the petrification effect of another rabdos, Gorgonite, without using a rabdos of their own.

Nothing has ever been confirmed about how this had occurred, but if Grave Whisperer could block other demons’ powers, it makes a lot more sense than just protecting secrets. However, there were implications here. For example, if it could block other demons’ powers, could it also erase the conditions of a deal? Those sorts of questions are the fuel of nightmares.

The second possibility was that Markus may have had a combination of other rabdoses on him that could prevent Toll from answering. Unless I was forgetting something, which was highly unlikely since my memory concerning Cullings was near-photographic, it meant that Markus had outside knowledge of such rabdoses and was already employing that knowledge. That wasn’t too outlandish, given he had already demonstrated that he knew secrets about Monk and Penny.

The third and most daunting possibility was that Markus had some other plan and Toll wasn’t telling. What could the reason for that be? The balaam was in on it. But even if that was the case, there was little I could do about it.

“Regardless, this changes everything,” I said. For now, I’d pushed any hopeless thoughts aside since they weren’t helping me. “The original plan was to gather as many allies as we could and attack at midday tomorrow, using the demons we find as cannon fodder so that we could slip through.”

“Or just use them to whittle down the group guarding the exit,” Markus clarified. “Then come in afterwards and clean up.”

This had been discussed over the course of the day and both methods were generally agreed upon as the safest option for us. After all, Markus had no obligation to join these groups in the attack—he’d revealed that much to us when discussing the contract he’d had those other demons sign. In fact, there had been three other groups sign the same contract since then. Ordering them to attack without us was entirely possible according to the terms laid out.

“Now, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” I made eye contact with each member of the group, offering grim determination. “Unless we find some really powerful demons or rabdoses amongst them, we won’t even be putting a dent in Holt’s armour. Furthermore, with more bodies in the way, there’s less chance of Heartbreak Filament striking one of us.”

“Wait wait wait,” Volce cried. “You can’t be suggesting we fight with them. We’ll get caught up in the chaos. Screw that! Here’s a better idea: we can wait for Silica to roll up with her army and break through during that chaos. Or better yet, we could get Algier’s human friend to show up and blast Holt in the face.”

“Not going to work against Infinigull,” I said. “That spear will give them a hard time no matter how strong they are. However, I doubt either of them will go down so easy, so they’d make a good distraction. You know what? I like the idea. I’m pretty impressed, Volce. You’re not so stupid today.”

In truth, I’d wanted to get their help from the beginning. This was a good pretence. The issue was that I had no way to get in contact with them since we’d skipped our way to the other side of the Ring. Not that I ever really had a way to contact them to begin with. Even those messages I had been passing to Berlin had reached her partly by a fluke. She’d been watching me since our first encounter and I’d been making liberal use of Volce’s luck. It was a perfect storm of coincidences and nothing else. Now? I had no idea. I’d have needed help to reach out them.

“Hey, I’m never stupid!” the deuce complained.

“Amazing!” I gasped. “A demon just told a lie.”

Markus waved a hand. “Enough, idiots. This plan of yours is terrible. Both Berlin and Silica are just as likely to attack our party as they are to attack Holt.”

I narrowed my eyes at Markus. “And if our contracted ‘allies’ are struck by Heartbreak Filament, will they be able to attack us?”

“They will,” Toll answered.

I hadn’t intended to ask the question. More so, I was trying to prod Markus to reveal the limitations of his powers. However, I wasn’t too upset at hearing the answer. I guess if Toll had said no, I’d have been pissed at myself. I grinned smugly at Markus. However, the haures maintained a completely blank expression.

There was a long silence which was broken by Enzi standing and brushing off her dress. “I’m sorry, Algier,” Enzi said. “I’m also opposed to receiving their help. Silica does not seem like the sort of demon we should be tempting fate with, and from what I know of Berlin…” she trailed off and her face went blank for a moment before returning to a state of concern and shame. “I don’t think she’ll help us. I’m sorry.”

I didn’t expect Enzi, of all the demons, to betray me, but there we were. And her reasoning was suspicious. No, that’s not quite right. Enzi was able to betray me just as easily as the others, I had to remind myself. She did nearly suffocate me to death a couple hours ago. I kept quiet about that all, however. At that moment, I was too pissed off with her to respond.

“I suppose I ought to pitch in as well, no?” said Toll. “I will have to agree with Markus. Having them there will only complicate matters. Furthermore, I believe this plan to disperse the attacks of Heartbreak Filament is a foolish one.

“You are all operating under the delusion that Heartbreak Filament needs to strike its targets individually. That is because you have only seen it do as such during the Culling. However, this terrible rabdos has not been operating at anywhere near its maximum. I will clear that mistake up now. I will give you this answer free of charge.”

The balaam slid down the factory roof and perched along the easing. Their golden eyes glowed like embers. “It was not the demons that slaughtered the population of Japan. No, it was the humans.”

My face scrunched up. “What are you—”

“Do not waste a question, Algier!” Toll snapped at me. Their eyes burned so hot that for a moment I could have sworn they turned blue. But it was only a moment, or maybe my imagination. After, Toll was back to their usual mysterious demeanour.

I was taken aback by this. Toll’s behaviour was completely uncharacteristic. What had happened to all that talk of asking a balaam questions? Either way, I wasn’t going to interrupt them again. If they wanted to share a secret for free, then I was all ears.

“Firstly, I must clear up an incorrect fact that the administrators of this tournament have made no effort to correct: Hearbreak Filament is not a standard rabdos. Rather, it is Aware. It grows stronger and wilder in the face of betrayal.

“When the Invasion began, Holt led the charge rather than give orders from behind, as was his way. He struck immediately with Heartbreak Filament and the affected humans began to slaughter each other without mercy. Whatever frustrations and disagreements they’d bottled up over their few short years of existence were ignited like oil in a cylinder. And thus, Heartbreak Filament fed upon the carnage.

“Holt marched through streets and fields alike without care, and where he went, blood and inhuman screams resounded. The people had their enemy before them, but did they fight them? No. Rather, they tore each other to shreds. It was only once they were done with their slaughter that they turned to the demons. By then, it was too late. They were already weak from their fight and the demons ran through them with ease. And with each dead neighbour, with each child beaten to death by their mother, Heartbreak Filament became excited.

“It was then that it’s true, monstrous power was revealed.” Toll’s grip on Briary went so tight that the wood creaked under the pressure. Their eyes burned so bright that they almost hurt to look at. “On the second day, light shone from the sky above and engulfed the city of Tokyo. It took only an hour for the population to whittle itself down to nothing, and another four hours for the demons to clean up the rest.”

The balaam’s eyes dulled back into that mysterious, subtle glow. They climbed back up to the peak of the roof and resumed their scouting.

We all remained silent in this time. I was rendered speechless by this information. It was one thing to read about it in history books, but to hear it be told from a demon? No, not just being told by a demon—I’d never heard this version of the story before. Toll wasn’t lying. That I had to keep reminding myself whenever I reflexively denied their words. When I accepted this version of events as fact, it was like embers came alight at my core, burning my whole body; each word that Toll had spoken had stoked the flames.

I wanted to break Holt. I wanted him to suffer. But I knew that was impossible.

The balaam continued, “After the third day, some unknown individuals wielding magic that had never been seen before arrived in Japan. They were too late to stop the carnage, but after a week of battle they did manage to stop Holt. I have no idea how they avoided the effect of Heartbreak Filament, and I am yet to have the skill necessary to divine such an answer.”

Enzi took a deep breath, as if to show she’d made a decision. “It appears we only have one way to fight against Heartbreak Filament. We must attack Holt as one. All of us. If we give Heartbreak Filament time to gain its strength”— she eyed Markus sideways. “This is the Ring of Betrayal. If betrayal feeds Heartbreak Filament, then rather than fight against the inevitable, we should act within those confines.”

“Right,” said Volce, his voice deeper and more grave than usual. “Charging Holt as one looks like the best plan. Even with two legendary rabdoses and this Heartbreak Filament, he can’t stop us all.”

“No!” Toll said. We all turned to them. “Avoid Holt at all costs. Break through to the exit. Ignore him. And if things get truly disastrous…” the balaam eyed us again and, for a brief moment, their eyes twinkled blood red. “Leave Holt to me.”

That heat that was burning from the centre of me suddenly went ice cold. I don’t think it was the balaam’s words itself that struck me. No, it was the way they spoke them. They weren’t cold and level like their usual speech. Even when Toll had expressed anger, it was still reserved and detached. This was unlike Enzi’s plastic emoting which, when you really dug into it, was the perfect emulation of some hopeless, desperate girl in a romance film. And it was unlike the exaggerated shouting that Volce put on.

No matter how those demons spoke, I never really felt their emotions. They never resonated inside of me. Hell, very little made me feel these days. Films had lost their wonder from when I was a teenager, books were just words on a page, and music was nothing but a good way to block out distractions.

That day, when Toll had spoken those words, I felt their fury.

And I wanted nothing more than to crush Holt, even if it killed me.

I was jolted from my stunned state when Markus clapped his hands and got out attention. “Alright. The next question we need to ask is as follows.”