The building was mostly empty on the first four floors, but once they reached the fifth, they started to realize that Armon DeCroce was far more dangerous than the bounty on his head suggested. It also justified Jacques’ pick.

While the rest of the floors suggested an open office space for a company in the past, complete with cordless computers and other electronic items one would expect to find in the ancient ruins of an office, the fifth floor was completely transformed and not for the better.

It was transformed into hell.

It was as if they were stepping into a different dimension entirely. The floor was illuminated by a soft light reflecting the red or crimson wall and floor. They were concerned that it was a wall of flesh and blood, but to their relief, it wasn’t, though dried blood splatters were still everywhere, and there was mutilated flesh all around them.

Altars with chains, an empty basin with suggestion of blood, and magic circles drawn in blood were found everywhere. The centerpiece, however, were where the bodies of a dozen or so nude women tied to several poles in the middle of the room, right over trenches that flowed into a much bigger basin on the other side of the room. All of them showed no signs of external trauma, but it was clear that some of them died due to blood loss, based on the dried blood on their otherwise spotless body.

They were clearly a part of some sort of sacrificial ritual. There was no reason to shave all hair off their body unless they were being prepared for something. Not only that, DeCroce did not target just one race; all of the kidnapped women were a mix of humans, elves, and several beast races, including a Vulpin. It was hard to distinguish her from a Loup with all the fur gone. Only a fellow canine race could easy tell.

“Guess this is Taira, then,” said Jacques,, identifying the only Vulpin among them. He sighed, lowered his head, and said, “What a shame.”

Jacques’s ears perked when he heard someone shuffling about. Everyone heard it, too, and readied whatever weapons they had with them.

A beast, clearly not native of the area and clearly not a mutated monster, growled and walked towards them with aggression clear in its intent. There was no way to explain what the beast resembled as there weren’t anything to compare; its head was full of eyes and mouth that seem to split its head apart whenever it was opened. Its body resembled a cat, more specifically a lion due to the muscle mass. Its tail was lizard-like and covered in hard scales.

“So, this is what DeCroce’s been trying to do,” remarked Jacques, rifle drawn. “Well, Raine, I think we’re out of luck on this one.”

“Out of…what do you mean?”

“Demon summoning is a dangerous magic that can easily go wrong. If it went wrong, it’s off to whatever hellish dimension he summoned that demon from. No body, no reward. We can kill him before it goes wrong, but the reward’s not gonna cut it.”

“Did you know about this?"

   "I thought it's obvious enough."

   "Not for me, it isn't."

The kid heard more noises coming from above. His eyes quickly saw several robed figures showing themselves from the balcony. He pointed this out to the two bounty hunters, who could barely see them until a fire wall that trapped the two on the floor illuminated the balcony enough for them to see them.

At least a group of robed cultists stared at the three intently while chanting something they couldn’t understand. The demonic monster kept looking at them with a deep growl until someone shouted something and the monster charged at them.

Raine stood in front of the two and used his sword to slice the demon. That attack hurt the demon, but it did not slice the demon in two as he thought. He did divert the demon’s path from causing more damage to the women. He did not want them to be further violated after whatever ordeal they had been through.

“I’ll handle the beast!” shouted Raine. “Get up there and find DeCroce!”

The kid nodded and proceeded to start climbing from a nearby wall ornament that looked like a ladder. Both Jacques and Raine were further impressed by this, though they already knew Fa’ars were naturally good climbers. What surprised them, however, was when he pulled something from his satchel towards the unsuspecting cultists moments before it exploded and blew some of them off the balcony, distracting the monster with some scared cultists who become the target for the hungry many-eyed monster, giving Raine a chance to attack it and scoring another hit. Unfortunately, it was a superficial wound. Even when the leonine body seemed unprotected, it was tougher than any flesh Raine’s sword had ever cut. Granted, his sword was not something that was made out of high-quality steel. Only the magic enchanting it gave it the sharpness it needed, along with another, more situational enchantment.

Nevertheless, their attention was focused on the Fa’ar kid, who now gained the attention of the cultists after what he did. The kid prepared another grenade and threw it just as a rifle shot was heard. Jacques shot several of them, distracting the cultists long enough for the grenade to explode, this time throwing them back to the wall and maiming some of them, giving the kid a place to jump to. He landed safely on the platform, but then had to content with the remaining cultists, who drew weapons towards the young Fa’ar. He was understandably surprised, evident by the squeaking sound he made. He couldn’t have dealt with all of them, not without his now used-up grenades. He could make one on the spot, but only if he found the right scraps to use.

Thus, his only option was to run. When he realized that he couldn’t run back, he ran through the cultists, using his small, nimble body and his four-legged run to stay low and kept himself away from the cultist’s attacks. He got through and continued deeper into the sixth floor, which was less gory, but still full of cult-related objects and more cultists to fend off. Good thing he wasn’t going to be alone for long.

Jacques managed to climb the stairs after risking himself by jumping through the wall of flame. He was fortunate that he was wearing a leather coat, giving him a non-magical protection of sorts. Without delay, the Loup ran up the stairs and joined the Fa’ar kid, tackling one of the unfortunate cultists and throwing him to the floor below. Without delay, Jacques threw away his rifle and pulled both revolvers, charging them with mana before he pulled the trigger. A bullet shot out of each revolver and hit two to three cultists at once, piercing them through their hearts.

The Fa’ar kid, who looked back when he heard the shot, was amazed by how Jacques easily shot five cultists with just two shots. He had seen the Loup in action before, but this was the first time he saw how proficient he was with both magic and firearms. It was a deadly combination, something that the Fa’ar had never seen before or even dreamed of doing.

He snapped out of his astonishment when Jacques approached him and said, “C’mon, kid. Raine’s not gonna last forever.“

The kid noticed that Jacques started calling Raine by his first name instead of ‘Windegarde’. He also realized that Jacques also called him 'kid'. He would've made a remark about this while also telling Jacques's his name if he still had his voice. Instead, he nodded and followed Jacques, rushing deeper into the building until they finally found the core of the ritual: an altar with the body of a woman and a man standing in front of her.

Unfortunately, both of them realized that whatever ritual the man did was already done. The man turned around to face the two interlopers. His face was caked in blood from eating the heart of the unfortunate woman. The red lighting made it clear who he was.

“Shit,” swore Jacques. “Just how desperate is he?”

DeCroce could no longer say anything except letting out a guttural scream as his body was engulfed in flame. Jacques prepared himself, but then noticed the Fa’ar kid looking at the infernal spectacle in front of him, wide-eyed and clearly frozen by fear. This was something he had never seen before. In fact, this was something Jacques had not seen before. Whatever ritual the mad human finished would spell the end for them and possibly the populated wasteland region. While Jacques could not care less about most of them, he did not wish to live in a desolate, lifeless region.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

   But despite all this, Jacques still had time to be concerned with the Fa'ar kid. Despite his reservation towards the rat person, the fact that the kid was terrified moved him.

“Get the hell out of here, kid,” said Jacques. “This isn’t a place for Fa’ars to be.”

Jacques never thought he would be concerned for a Fa’ar’s well-being. He knew the rat person would be far too vulnerable to anything magic-related and he couldn’t stay, especially when their fight involved dangerous level of demonic magic.

But the kid, instead of running, stayed in place and looked at the Loup’s eyes. For the first time since he knew the kid, his black, featureless eyes were determined, even though he looked like he was shivering and ready to dash away at a moment's notice. Still, Jacques had been amazed by the kid’s tenacity and usefulness ever since they entered the building. He did not look like the malnourished, abused slave from three days ago. It was as if he had always been like this before his slavery almost broke him.

With a smile, Jacques said, “Well, do whatever you like. Just don’t blame me if things get rough. Also, if you have any more ideas, now's the time for it."

The Fa’ar kid nodded just as the fire revealed something else. Armon DeCroce was now engulfed in flames, but they did not hurt him in the slightest. He commanded the flame, but in a level a pyromancer would not be able to reach without risking himself. DeCroce’s skin cracked like dry soil, with fire blaze seeping out of the cracks. He was no longer human. The blood ritual was complete.

“At last!” He declared. “The power of hell is now mine!”

Jacques pulled out his rifle and shoot the inferno man, only to find his bullets melting before they even made contact with DeCroce, or whatever he had become. DeCroce, too, was not the kind of man who would taunt his enemies; without even hesitating, he formed a fireball on his right hand and hurled it towards Jacques, who rolled away to safety. The kid found cover but was separated from Jacques as a result.

On the floor below, Raine managed to defeat the hellish monster and the cultists thrown down there by the Fa’ar’s kid explosion. He was untouched, albeit exhausted for dodging and cutting the monster until its head rolled off. The cultists were not a problem, not when they did not know the secret of his sword’s enchantment.

Raine was fortunate that he learned about Counter spell, a unique and seldom used class of magic that could counter anything that was created from pure magic. It was not used that often because mages would find that counter spells worked to their detriment. It was intended to be used as an enchantment in weapons or any objects that wasn’t intended for spellcasting, or used as a conduit for spells like a lot of swords do. The only way to circumvent this situation was to selectively enchant the weapon. Thus, Raine could not use Counter spells while maintaining the sharpening enchantment on his sword, unless, of course, if he wielded two swords, which was not his specialty and was not the case presently.

Nevertheless, the cultists were caught unaware by this, causing their spells to return to them and kill them instead. It was like batting balls that happened to be on fire, something Raine was good with. He also had no time dealing with them one at a time; the increasing heat and the bright light from the floor above indicated that something dangerous was happening, and Raine needed to help his new friends.

Ignoring many of the injured cultists, Raine rushed upstairs and found a wall of fire. Thankfully, it was pure magic, meaning that Raine could literally cut through the wall and hopefully send some of them back to the caster, which it did. He was quickly shocked by the thing he sent the fire back to.

“What the hell’s that?!” he exclaimed, pointing at the fire wraith that was once Armon DeCroce. In fact, Raine quickly realized who he was and said, “Is that DeCroce?!”

“Always late to the party, Raine,” said Jacques. “Maybe you can counter whatever magic he’s using. Didn’t you say the bigger they are, the harder they fall?”

“But never on this scale!”

“Then try!”

Raine groaned, feeling that Jacques was asking too much from him. This was their first job as partners and they already had to deal with a dangerous summoner who somehow managed to turned himself into a fire wraith or whatever he called himself.

Good thing it was still pure magic. Raine always knew the weakness of his counter spell was when there was no magic involved. Since DeCroce did not expect anyone with the knowledge of a counter spell to be his enemy, Raine surprised and shocked the dangerous man when the cat-eared human swung his sword, intending to cut him. It did not cut him, but the fire he was controlling became wild before turning on him, burning him alive. His blood-curdling scream echoed through the room, causing unease for everyone who heard it. Then, the fire burned out almost as quickly as it was started, leaving behind a charred husk in the middle of a burned-out room, which minutes ago was full of cult-related imageries.

A weak moan came from the charred husk. Armon DeCroce was somehow still alive after being burned alive by fire hotter than anything a pyromancer could conjure. Leaving him to suffer, especially after what he did to the twelve women downstairs, would not be a problem for them. He deserved it.

But Jacques preferred to tie up loose ends. He looked at Raine, who had earlier reprimanded him for killing the distraction without so much of a hesitation. The human, after witnessing what DeCroce was capable of, simply said, “Better not give him a chance to fuck things up again. Do it, Jacques.”

“Gladly.”

Jacques pulled the hammer of his revolver, turning the barrel towards one loaded with conventional bullets. DeCroce glared at him and, if he could still talk, he would spew out insults and angry rant for ruining his life experiment. But instead, when he saw Jacques, he let out a pained “You…” that came out like a whisper, moments before Jacques pulled the trigger. A loud bang was heard.

Armon DeCroce was no more.

The Loup put his revolver back and, with a sigh, said, “So much for the prize money. With his body burned beyond recognition, I doubt they’d even consider it genuine."

“Or, we can round up the cultists and get the poor women down,” said Raine. “The least we could do was to return their bodies to their families. I do not wish to see them like this.”

“We can’t take everything,” said Jacques. “It’s sad, but…we’d just have to cremate them. It’s the least we could do to give them a proper send-off.”

Raine sighed and said, “I’ll start the pyre. You round up all the surviving cultists.”

“Fine. Anyway, did you see the kid? We were separated when DeCroce attacked us.”

The Fa’ar kid, however, managed to escape and climbed down the second floor to the main floor where the bound up women were. He, too, felt sorry for them, knowing that they suffered a fate similar to him, but much more degrading and possibly even torturous. He suffered a great deal during the most recent five years of his life, suffering abuse that traumatized him immensely. He could only imagine what the women experienced before their deaths, and he could sympathize.

   The least he could do for them was to save their dignity, something his new acquaintances were already preparing to do.

Just as he struggled to remove them from the pole, his ear caught a faint noise. The kid thought it was just his imagination, but when he heard it again, he decided to concentrate on the noise.

To his surprise, it was the faint noise of a heartbeat, followed by a labored breathing. Someone among the pile was still alive. Someone or more.

The kid quickly take them off the pole and tried to call his friends. He tried to shout, but all he could get out was a faint ‘hey…’ that sounded like a whisper. The kid knew it was useless, so he focused on acting instead of calling his friends.

They, however, noticed him and approached him. The kid was surprised when Raine put one of his hands on his shoulder and said, “Guess you got the right idea, kid. We’re just trying to—”

The kid tried to tell him something, even making gestures to try to get his point across. Unfortunately, his gestures were too random, confusing Raine and Jacques as to what the kid was trying to tell them. Knowing that it was a waste of time, he pulled Raine’s hand and, without hesitation, put it on top of one of the women's chest, causing him to reel back in surprise and embarrassment.

“Hey!” he said. “There is no excuse for that, kid! Give them the peace they need!”

But the Fa’ar shook his head and, knowing that Raine misinterpreted his point completely, put his own hands onto his chest, then pointed towards one of the women. He pointed towards the furless Vulpin, the one where he identified the heartbeat from. Raine did not understand what the kid meant, but then the kid took the initiative and flicked on the fennec Vulpin’s ears. He flicked them a couple of times before they started flicking by reflex, alerting Raine.

“Oh my god,” he said. “She’s still alive.”

He dropped his reservations and shook the shaved Vulpin’s body. “Hey! Taira, wake up!” He exclaimed. “Come on, girl, wake up!”

The Vulpin let out a groan before she slowly opened her eyes. Raine became elated. So did the kid. She was, however, confused.

“Wuh…where…am I?” she asked. She then looked down and tried covering her body, before she said, “W-wait! My fur! Who the—”

“Taira Gusara?” asked Raine. “I’m Raine Windegarde. I know there’s a lot to take in right now, but we’re coming to save you. But first things first, let me be clear that this isn’t me.”

Taira considered blaming Raine for her embarrassing situation, but she was so weak and lethargic she couldn’t say anything. So, with a defeated sigh, she said, “At least…find something for me to wear, will you? It’s cold….”

Raine immediately took a nearby rag to cover her. She wanted to protest, but she knew she shouldn’t complain when she was being rescued. Still, her attention quickly turned towards the rest of the women, who the Fa’ar kid had taken down and check if they were still alive or not. The Fa’ar, with a disappointed sigh, shook his head.

“Guess you’re the lucky one,” said Raine. “They haven’t got a chance to draw your blood, from the look of it."

“Am I?” said Taira weakly. “I…don’t even know how long I’ve been gone.”

“Let’s focus on getting you out of this dreadful place. Oh and…I’m not sure what’s your stance on Fa’ars, but…he’s the one that saved you. We were just going to…”

Raine couldn’t finish his words as the fennec Vulpin, who was only as tall as the Fa’ar, approached him. She looked at the rat person for a while, causing the kid to turn away, feeling that she might not want to be indebted to a rat. Instead, she embraced him, surprising the kid and Raine.

“Thank you,” she said, repeating her words. The kid wasn’t sure what to expect or do. All he could do, however, was to hug her back, comforting her while feeling elated that he could save her.

Armon DeCroce was no longer a threat to society. While they were too late to save everyone else, they could at least save one, and that’s good enough for the kid, Raine, and Jacques.