The giant city of Brimstone was utterly silent, full of empty streets and unoccupied houses. The spiky wooden sign in front of the smithy that the soldier had gotten his first sword from was swinging gently, the faintest of breezes pushing it, coming from who knew where. A crooked red tower shook unsteadily without the weight of anyone occupying it, and a frozen fireplace in an empty office held its place unmovingly, a single clock ticking quietly.

A tear in space opened up, and a demon fell through. His once-neat suit was burning at the edges, and his glasses were blackened and singed. Coughing hoarsely, he dragged himself to the neat wooden desk and threw a drawer open. Pulling a large bottle of chunky red liquid out of it, he popped the cork off and chugged the whole thing down as if it were nectar from heaven.

Tossing the bottle aside, he panted heavily, waiting as his wounds closed and the worst of the burns faded away. Trembling, he wiped his mouth away and placed his palms on the desk, his chest heaving.

What in the name of Satan himself had that been!? He'd known that the Doom Guy possessed immense strength and speed, but he'd never dreamed that he could have any weapons that allowed him to do that.

In all honesty, Geller'rekt was terrified. He'd already been tense, an emergency on standby in the form of a hastily created scroll, and the moment he'd seen the slightest spark of uncertainty on Torin's face he'd used it. And not a second too soon, either - he'd been literally launched through the portal when the explosion had hit.

He'd seen the whole fight from a distant vantage point, and his disbelief had mounted as he had witnessed not only the death of every other demon in Brimstone but even Torin himself. It terrified him.

From there, he'd gone to his lovely little office, and that was where he'd retrieved a healing potion.

Pulling himself into his comfy crimson chair, he collapsed into its cushy depths, pulling a hand across his face.

This was a disaster. No, this was a catastrophe. This human - and Geller'rekt had been having doubts about the verity of that fact, after what he'd seen - could kill demons. Permanently, from what he could tell - none of the others were coming back, and the crystalline orb seated on his desk detected no familiar rise in mana signatures.

He should have contacted Envy the moment he'd heard about the Doom Guy, not try to let it solve itself. He had thought this human was like the other ones. He'd thought that it would want to go to the Overworld, not stay here and murder everything that moved!

Pulling a separate drawer open, he removed a tall bottle of a rich crimson liquid. Not bothering to find a glass, he flicked the cork off and drank heavily.

Slamming the bottle on the desk, he summoned a piece of paper and a quill, hands trembling as he began scratching out an urgent message. He couldn't believe that it had come to this, and especially couldn't believe that he was sending a letter to the King of Hell himself.

Your Majesty,

We need help now! There is a human here who can permanently kill demons, and all of Brimstone is empty from his work! I suspect his next objective will be to kill Envy. While I once would have thought that it would have been impossible to kill her, I firmly believe that this human might do so.

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I beg your assistance in this scenario, milord. Even Torin has fallen to this human's might.

Signing it with a flourishing signature, Geller'rekt raised it to the air and cast a spell, hoping that it would arrive in time.

For the moment, he just needed to get to a different city. Brimstone was no longer safe for anything, much less demons, and his work would be appreciated elsewhere.

He only put his chair, his fireplace, and his beloved wall clock in his inventory, and used .

He never saw Brimstone again.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The soldier was going after Envy.

The huge elegant building half a mile away was colossal, enormous statues of an armored woman at the eight corners of the massive dome in the center. With several twisting spires jutting up from the sides, it was an overall rather intimidating appearance, and the soldier was excited.

Moving her shield over her shoulder, Aliss stared wide-eyed at the construction. "That's... that's Envy's home. I don't think - Doom, do you know just how dangerous Envy is? She's not one of the Sins for no reason. I mean, sure, she's technically the weakest, but that still ranks her above at least two hundred million demons."

The soldier grunted in response, switching out his blood-spattered shotgun for the shining chaingun. Blinking, he suddenly remembered that he hadn't yet checked on the new Perks for passing level 150, and reached for the blue boards and 's attention.

Nothing happened.

Frowning, the soldier held a hand out and focused solely on the helpful Perk, but still nothing happened.

What was going on?

"Why, hello there!"

All three of them (four if you counted Isabelle) whipped around to see a demon standing before them. He was tall, a little over nine feet, and his brown horns spiraled neatly over his head. An ornate golden crown with glaring red eyes instead of gemstones decorated his head, underneath which a pair of amused golden eyes sparkled. He wore an excellently fitted black suit, a crimson undershirt and pants ruffled casually at the ends despite his backward-facing knees and cloven hooves.

The soldier didn't hesitate. He was already holding a chaingun, all he had to do was open fire. Raising it to level it at the demon's head, he pulled the trigger.

Once again, nothing happened, and the demon chuckled in a voice like velvet. "Don't bother. I've set up a mana disruption field, none of your abilities will work here."

That was... a little disturbing, but the soldier launched himself forward, throwing a thunderous punch. The air around it screamed as the force built, an impending wall of death approaching the demon's head at an unbelievable speed.

The demon caught the punch.

Aliss sucked in a breath, pulling her shield around to her arm. "That's - Doom, that's-"

The demon smiled, a line of triangular teeth making themselves seen. "Satan, yes. My friends call me Lucifer, and most call me the Devil, but you may call me Satan."

The soldier struggled to remove his fist from the Devil's iron grip, but couldn't move at all. He might as well have had a mountain sitting on his arm. Raising his other hand, he struck forward in an attempt to grab the demon's head, and that arm was caught too.

Standing back, Satan's arms detached, floating midair and still holding onto the soldier's grip. A flawless pair of arms replaced them without any noticeable difference, and he began talking in an amused tone. "You know, you interest me quite a bit. Truly, you do. Why do you despise demons so much? Why do you enjoy slaying them? What exactly is a young woman doing down here?"

The soldier inadvertently glanced at Aliss. She was incredibly pale, the blood having drained from her face, and the soldier's eyes narrowed. Why was she in Hell?

Satan shrugged. "Ah, well. I'm not one to mess with your fun. I'm curious to see if you'll actually eradicate every demon in Hell, if I'm honest. Either way, I'd like to hold onto Envy a little longer."

He waved pleasantly at them both. "Bye."

And they were in a calm, grassy meadow, the sun shining far above them in a blue sky dotted with puffy white clouds.