The grand foyer’s walls were decorated with large paintings of historical demonic battles and replicas of weapons used by demons of importance. Though not in control, Rodrigo was relieved to see Raquel and Adena were sitting on a bench by the great hall’s exit.

Adena noticed Resent first, rising as he strode toward them. “By the lack of a smirk on your face, I’m guessing things didn’t go to your liking.”

“A minor setback. To some degree, it was expected. Despite that, my fellow demons should depart your world soon.”

“Don’t you want to wait and find out who they pick?” Rodrigo asked.

“No need. It will be Barbatos. He lacks the others’ hunger for power and has survived for over two millennia. No small feat for any demon, much less one in his position. Possibly barring Cresil, the high lords respect him most of all. No matter, he shall not keep me from my crown long.”

“Rodrigo, Jezebeth’s alive!” Raquel shouted.

Rodrigo took control and Resent didn’t try to stop him. The right arm made from the nebulae dissipated, and Raquel cringed at the sight. “What are you talking about?”

“She was in the arena, running the prison there, I guess. I wanted to tell you earlier, but...” Raquel glanced at Adena.

“Why would you keep this from me?” Rodrigo asked her.

“What good would knowing have done you? If you killed Jezebeth, she just would have jumped into a new body, likely Raquel’s, to torment you further. Besides, it was best you focused all that hate and rage on Misery.”

Rodrigo was a bit pissed with Adena for taking the decision out of his hands, but he could see the logic in it. If she had waited eight years for her vengeance, he could at least wait until he had a solid plan for his. And while Misery managed to die finding some sense of satisfaction, he would see to it Jezebeth did not.

Deciding he had avoided the question long enough, Rodrigo asked, “How’s Jett?”

A flash of guilt crossed Raquel’s face as she refused to meet his stare. “He stayed on the other side to buy us some time while we ran for the portal. We wanted him to go back to the—” Suddenly her head shot back up and she blurted, “Oh, yeah, Leila’s alive, too! Adena closed the knife wound, so we could get her to a hospital.” Rodrigo despised himself for the knee-jerk reaction of wishing it was Carlito who had survived.

Adena sighed. “I didn’t want to get your hopes up. She was alive when we left her, but there was internal bleeding, and the prognosis wasn’t optimistic. Beyond the surgery itself, the demons were leaving the hospital alone. Can you guess why?”

Rodrigo was about to snap at her that he didn’t feel like playing twenty questions, but he reached the bleak realization in seconds. Even when he’d still been in his world, most people had wised up and gotten indoors. Rather than chase down the strays wandering the streets or going door to door, the demons were letting people think the hospital and other places likely to draw a crowd were safe zones. Actually, they were corralling them like livestock. When they finally decided they had enough victims packed into a building like sardines, some of the easiest killing sprees since the start of the invasion would begin.

Rodrigo handed Adena Misery’s sword and rushed for the doors, pushing one with all his might using his left arm. It was no good. Even with both arms, he doubted he’d be able to make it budge. The two guards on either side snickered.

“Open. The. Door,” Rodrigo ordered, biting off each word.

“Why? Is it too much for the little half-breed to—”

The tip of Rodrigo’s blade crafted from the nebulae was at the diavolik’s throat. It took all his restraint not to decapitate the demon. The climax of their meeting with the high lords had left him sick to his stomach. Even if being underestimated had been humanity’s salvation, the way Cresil and Resent talked about humans, like they were mere insects to be crushed underfoot, made him want to start culling the demon population to improve their chances. But if he began killing anyone that insulted or offended him, he’d soon be drowning in a river of blood.

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“I am not the one for this right now,” Rodrigo said, forcing calm into his voice. “Either do your damn job and open the door or I cut you and your pal down along with it.”

They hesitated, perhaps considering whether it was worth it to take this any further. Then the one with the blade to his throat drew back, and straining himself, pushed open the left door.

“Smart move,” Rodrigo muttered as he walked out, with Raquel and Adena behind him.

He only stopped when he reached the iron gate leading onto the long bridge-like stretch of road. The narrow path ahead was surrounded by a sea of reddish water that plumes of steam were rising from, and seeing it, he thought the water’s color and heat could be the inspiration for the lakes of fire commonly associated with Hell. He turned to glance up at the castle. It was a circular building constructed of coal-black stone that stood several hundred feet high. Immense towers and battlements loomed higher still. Its purpose was simple. To inspire terror and despair in anyone who dared assault it.

“What’s the fastest way back from here?” Rodrigo asked.

“We’ll need to take a carriage,” Adena said.

It didn’t take long to find a carriage in the courtyard with a pair of Dreadhounds waiting for passengers. Of course, these carriages weren’t the size of the horse-drawn ones in his world. Like everything in Hell, they were built big, closer to a trailer. With his brain on autopilot, Rodrigo nearly lost his other arm when he reached for the door and one of the hounds snapped at it.

“You have to pay them first,” Adena explained.

“What? What are they gonna buy, chew toys?” The hounds growled at that, seeming to be barely resisting the urge to attack, and Rodrigo half-wanted them to give him the excuse.

“Just because they’re incapable of speech doesn’t mean they’re less intelligent than the average demon.” Adena dug into her coat pocket, pulling out a small brown pouch with gold leaf symbols on it. The clink of coins could be heard from within. “Ose’s way of making amends.”

Rodrigo wasn’t sure what that meant, and didn’t want to know right now. His shit list was long enough.

Adena fished out two red, hexagonal-shaped coins. She dropped the change into one of the small pouches each hound had around its neck. “Take us to the nearest portal to the human world.”

“Could’ve used a warning on the etiquette of getting a taxi around here,” Rodrigo said as he climbed into the carriage.

“While it was amusing as always to see you make a fool of yourself, I rarely had use for carriages and when I did, there was no charge. Still, you were fortunate to find some accepting trigites. In our world, currency is an inconvenient fallback for bartering.”

“Raquel, how’s...that?” Rodrigo asked, pointing at his own throat. Sitting next to a dozing Adena on the bench seat across from him, she had wrapped the black cloth he gave her around the wound. No blood was seeping through, but knowing it was his doing made it seem much more severe.

Raquel waved a hand dismissively. “Doesn’t even hurt. What about your arm?”

Rodrigo had to glance down at where his right arm used to be to remind himself it was gone. “Hasn’t sunk in yet.”

The hounds were masterful at steering, barely ever needing to stop or slow their pace to avoid obstacles and other carriages. Their powerful hind legs and keen senses permitted them to pull the carriage across the broad roads at a speed faster than the average car. Because of that, Rodrigo only got glimpses of the city bustling with various demons, many of whom didn’t fit in with any of the races he knew.

Then there were the humans, running errands or struggling to carry things. The less compliant ones had demons pulling them along by heavy-looking chains around their necks. As much as it ate at Rodrigo to see, there was nothing to be done while Resent didn’t have the crown. No doubt it was a terrible practice that needed to be brought to an end, but at least these people were alive, and that was more than could be said for many.

The carriage made it to their destination in around an hour. Once Rodrigo and the others got out, the hounds headed back toward Dreadmus.

The isolated building that housed the portal had a steady stream of demons emerging from it. With none of those returning being aware of who he and his group were, Rodrigo anticipated problems. However, the demons must have felt discouraged by being forced back so soon because all he got were a few nasty looks and what came off as smack talk in Demonic.

After going down some stairs and through a long tunnel, they reached an empty room with a faintly glowing symbol on the ground, identical to the one from the throne room. Rodrigo wasn’t totally sure how it worked, but Raquel and Adena approached it, so he followed them.

As soon as his boot made contact with it, he was whisked away, and into the middle of a snow-covered street. The sun was setting. He must have been in Hell for nearly an entire day. Unlike him, the girls looked disoriented, like they were just waking up.

Now that Rodrigo took in their surroundings, they were at the Spiral. The tower was standing tall above them and the fence was practically obliterated. In the journal, Strife mentioned a tower being directly above the portal Miriam had fallen through, and Resent had even brought up a portal being near Rodrigo’s home, yet only now did he make the connection. It was the place he had felt drawn to since childhood. Aptly named by those he once dismissed as conspiracy theorists, his home away from home was a gateway to Hell.