This wasn’t my first rodeo. Not that it was a rodeo, of course. It was a fight to the death tournament, which I was only loosely experienced with. The killing, sure - had done that plenty of times. As for the dying part… well, I’d come close. But I was a winner, and dead set on continuing that streak.

I watched a small mouth began to extend out of the pigman’s throat. Like a tentacle, with a set of sharp gnashers on the end. Despite the peril and amount of disgust I should be feeling in this situation, I was reasonably calm. It wasn’t even an effect of the mucus; I was partially sure.

[Are you going to do something, Eric?]

In truth, I was wasting a few seconds here and there. If the demons saw me as a dead man walking in the grips of this parasite, then they’d turn their focus elsewhere. Made things less embarrassing when I died, perhaps. Stopped them ganging up on me for a handful of seconds, at least.

The struggle was mostly my inability to think of a good one-liner.

Nope, nothing. The extended mouth darted out at me, intending to strike my face. Only, it missed as I activated my dodge. Power rocketed through me and my arm sprung free from its containment - dislocating and then relocating through the journey. I grabbed the tentacle and pulled.

The surrounding grip released as it panicked, and I twisted and turned away. With a yank, the appendage split and burst from the pigman's mouth, the controlled hands going up to cover the open maw. Too late now, it had angered me. My dagger was still in their arm.

Red energy crackled around me and down to the sword I held as I swapped it to my right hand. activated and my obsidian mask pooled over my face. They’d gone and done it now.

I darted forward, too quick for the pigman to react as it still thrashed in pain. As an arm came down to defend, I lopped it off. The imbued blade sparking with demonic power as it cut through him like butter. Follow-up went toward the other arm, damaged now and Pearl’s Salvation in my left hand. Went for the head next and it was all over.

With a flourish of the blade, I stepped back and allowed the screeching corpse to topple over. I lifted the sword to impale the creature through the back of the head to be sure, but was interrupted.

A flash of purple light beside me as the wizard demon used a short-range teleport to get close to me. He was already bloodied and missing an eye. As I moved, he reached out and touched my arm.

Vertigo and a sickening feeling washed over me before I stumbled across the ground. I turned to slash out at him, but he wasn’t there. Instead - pain, as something sharp tore into my shoulder.

I turned and spun to the follow-up, crossing my blades as best I could as the pain thrummed through me.

The assailing demon looked like an ox. Confusion on both our faces as I looked up above us.

//You’ve been shifted to pit six. Might only be temporary.

I was half expecting him to add that I should be wary. Regardless of any ruling against this kind of thing, I was now under the shadow of the spiked mace my new opponent had raised against me. All demons must die.

My dodge activated, burning away some of my energy as I slid to the side of his heavy swing. His weapon struck the ground with a crunch, leaving him open. Upswing with my sword caught him along the ribcage, but my footing wasn’t strong enough to power through with anything more. He lifted his weapon and tensed as if to charge at me, right before another wave of vertigo struck.

By instinct, instead of trying to weather the motion, I spun wildly with both weapons out. Dangerous to put myself in such a precarious position, but the wizard knew what he was doing. Expecting his wobbly prey to come back at a disadvantage, he instead caught the wild edge of my sword across his face.

He stepped back in surprise to clutch at it, another eye blinded. Behind him, the huge hamster-demon grabbed him and lifted him into the air with no issue. With a twist between her thick hands, a grinding crunch came from his spine. She then brought him down on her knee, practically folding the robed demon in half.

[Pass.]

Might have to lose a hand to get rid of her.

Tuppa came up beside me, panting and covered in gashes. His knuckle dusters were thick with gore and the unmistakable smell of dead fishman. “Such a shame I still live, Eric.”

“The day is young, friend. You were clearly meant for more.”

More suffering, perhaps. It wasn’t up to me to judge his penance. He was a demon after all. He had accepted his destiny, and I was here to witness it.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Rhino, hamster, and thick devil were all still standing. The rest were bleeding pulps on the floor. Oh, no - the devil was just gored by the rhino demon.

Shaking the corpse to the floor, he turned to the dark-furred hamster woman. Instead of engaging in high stakes combat, however, they just nodded toward each other and turned their gaze to us.

“Two on two, boss. What a way to go out.” Tuppa's grin widened.

“No.” Cold energy swirled throughout me. “You’re coming to the Greater Pit with me.”

Placing my hand against his shoulder, I pushed some of my demonic energy out and into him. Wounds closed up, and he looked rather surprised. I was too, to some degree. It felt natural, though, just passing on my energy to perform the same function I used within me.

[Now you are unbalanced, Eric.]

‘It’s hard to be, this deep in the bowels of Hell.’

I opened up my soul to the evil that surrounded me. A similar process to when I funneled Wight’s Domain through me. The area was saturated with demonic power, I just had to let it in. Dangerous, sure, but I liked my odds.

“Always wanted to taste a human,” the rhino licked his bloodied lips.

“I wanna fuck him and then eat him,” the hamster agreed.

Damn. Still couldn’t think of any one-liners, I really was off my game knowing that I was being watched. Both the stands here, and those at home.

//Pearl is keen to advise neither of those things come to pass.

I grunted. “Follow my lead, Tuppa.”

“Eric.” He nodded.

The rhino ran for us first, just as expected. I ran straight at him too, with the croc-demon just behind.

No impalement today. Well, not in this particular instance - I probably shouldn’t rule it out for the rest of the day. Just before he went to strike me, I slid across the floor, aided by my dodge. Right between his stout legs, leaving Tuppa to swing in with an unexpected right hook.

I bounced up back to my feet just in time to clock a punch from the hamster woman. Painful, but nothing I couldn’t heal over in seconds. Didn’t need to waste all my energy on dodging, just in case. She was fast, already upon me before I was fully recovered. Now I burned a dodge as she tried to grab hold of me. As I leaned away from her large hand, I stabbed it through with my blade.

She growled in pain but just kicked out at me, not really flinching from the inflicted wound. I stumbled away once more, but flourished my weapons to deter her from lunging again.

[You might actually have to take this seriously.]

I paled at the thought. Melee only combat seemed the best way to humble me—especially against the large brute types—but simply on a power to power scale, I was a few rungs higher than these Lowers demons. Even without my gun. That was a good idea - perhaps Pearl and I could start sparring sessions to learn some more useful melee skills. Learning by surviving, and my aged and rusty fencing lessons, would only get me so far.

A wide left hook came for me next. I ducked and slid towards her, planting the sword straight down through her foot and into the ground. Right hand came down to pluck the offending weapon out, but I pivoted to strike the extended arm with my own left jab, full power. Not as damaging as any of my real powers, but I was becoming proficient in moving my internal powers around.

It was enough to keep her at bay, and in fact, had numbed her arm. Not lax, but I could see it struggle to respond. It was all I needed to get the advantage. A blur as I lashed out with my left hand, the dagger biting through her dense fur and drawing blood before she could recover and push me back.

But I was unstoppable now.

With in full effect, I was an annoying wasp to the thick skinned demon. Dodged and slashed away at her, stepped away when she tried to grab at me. Darted back in with a hammer blow or deft stab when she tried to pull the sword from her foot. Her movement reduced to almost zero, and my superior speed was tiring her out. She bled from dozens of wounds - some deeper than others.

Eventually, it became too much, and with one sloppy movement, it was over. Left her neck exposed. Beneath her round face, Pearl’s Salvation found a place to rest, straight through the windpipe of the demon.

I took a few steps back, not realizing how tiring the battle was on me. Although regeneration of my demonic energy was no issue down here, surrounded by so much sin, it was slower to bring the divine side back up. Every dodge threatened to put me off balance unless I managed things carefully.

Turning into a demon would probably be a bad show for David, for one.

[Tuppa requires assistance.]

My feet took me in his direction before my eyes even clocked what was going on. I felt sweaty now, but it was just from the heat rather than corruption. For now, at least.

The croco-demon was in bad shape, nursing a gash through most of his torso. Suit torn and bloodied. That said, the rhino didn’t look too good himself. This side of him, his eye was swollen shut, and he looked twice as tired as I felt. Movements sluggish, I would have said he was done for if it weren’t for the amount of blood on his horn and hands that clearly wasn’t his own.

Still, since he couldn’t see me…

His ears picked me up too late as I careened into the side of him, unsettling his next attempt at a charge. Dagger wedged into his flank, I surprised both of us in knocking him away to the side. He was heavy, so the amount of force I had been able to gather in that short sprint was unexpected. As he stumbled on unstable footing, he turned to me to defend against my next attack.

More the fool him, for as soon as his attention switched to me, Tuppa dived. His long mouth snapped onto the rhino’s leg, sharp teeth digging in through the tough skin of the demon. With a twist, he tore through flesh as he rolled on the ground, and the assailant dropped down to one knee.

That was all I needed.

I ran, hopped with one foot on his bent leg to leap into the air above him. Dagger spun in my hand, using Wight’s energy as my foot lashed out to push the pointed horn away from me.

With crackling red energy, I brought the blade down as I fell upon him, driving it into his skull just above the puffy eye. Straight into his brain. Dead.

We fell into a pile of pain and exhausted limbs. I clambered up and held Tuppa to his feet. A spark of excitement radiated in his cold eyes, and he grinned despite his injuries.

I turned to see the vulture-demon watching over up on one side.

“We are progressing together,” I announced.

“Very well. Rest while the rest of the pits finish up. Just be aware… only one may survive the Greater Pits.”

Although I nodded, I wasn’t willing to accept that as the truth.

Perhaps I could burn this whole place to the ground instead.