“Ah,” he said, voice rough but casual, “you’re all too kind. I’m just… looking for something to eat, actually.”For half a heartbeat, there was silence.Not the dangerous kind.The curious kind.Then laughter bubbled up again—some surprised, some mocking, some edged with interest.“Something to eat?” one demon repeated, head tilting sideways as if reassessing him. “That’s new.”Another barked a laugh. “Didn’t take you for the hungry type, Vephar.”A third smirked, barbed tail flicking lazily. “Maybe he finally got bored of screaming.”A few of them chuckled at that, comfortable in the assumption. Comfortable in cruelty.Then the tallest demon stepped forward.He was broader than the rest, horns curving backward like a ram’s, thick and ridged with age. His scales were darker—almost black—etched with faint sigils that pulsed when he moved. Not decorative. Functional. Binding marks of rank and authority.His presence changed the courtyard.The lesser demons shifted unconsciously, giving

“Ah,” he said, voice rough but casual, “you’re all too kind. I’m just… looking for something to eat, actually.”For half a heartbeat, there was silence.Not the dangerous kind.The curious kind.Then laughter bubbled up again—some surprised, some mocking, some edged with interest.“Something to eat?” one demon repeated, head tilting sideways as if reassessing him. “That’s new.”Another barked a laugh. “Didn’t take you for the hungry type, Vephar.”A third smirked, barbed tail flicking lazily. “Maybe he finally got bored of screaming.”A few of them chuckled at that, comfortable in the assumption. Comfortable in cruelty.Then the tallest demon stepped forward.He was broader than the rest, horns curving backward like a ram’s, thick and ridged with age. His scales were darker—almost black—etched with faint sigils that pulsed when he moved. Not decorative. Functional. Binding marks of rank and authority.His presence changed the courtyard.The lesser demons shifted unconsciously, giving

Another step. Still nothing. One demon shifted slightly and let out a loud, rattling snore, the sound scraping through the hall like a saw dragged over stone. Ethan froze. Every muscle locked. Every instinct screamed. His heart jumped hard enough that he felt it in his throat. For a split second, he was certain the demon would wake—eyes snapping open, alarm shouted, blades drawn. But the demon only rolled onto his side, drool pooling beneath his mouth, snore deepening into something almost comical. Ethan didn’t move. Didn’t breathe. He counted silently. One. Two. Three. Nothing. The demon didn’t wake. Ethan let out a slow, careful breath through his nose, the mask cooling it before it escaped. So this is how they guard the Gate, he thought. Drunk and careless. The realization settled in his chest like ice. He walked deeper into the hall, each step measured. Boots crunched softly over broken glass and ceramic, the sound too loud in the quiet. He adjusted his weight,

Ethan’s voice dropped lower, a rasp that seemed to settle into the shadows themselves. “Your kind,” he said, “you don’t just kill them. You… unmake them.” He crouched slightly, eyes narrowing. His fingers twitched, itching with that borrowed, latent power. They bind their own with chains of thought and sinew. Not the kind that hold the body—no, the kind that hold the mind. They carve into memory, twist it, pull it apart until loyalty becomes screaming terror, until affection becomes rage you cannot swallow. And then, when they’ve seen all they can break, when every fragment of their identity has been shredded… they kill them. Slowly. Watching. Tasting fear until it curdles into nothing. Ethan’s hand drifted over Vephar’s chest, brushing against the burned, fused armor, tracing the jagged lines of the wounds that had once been inflicted on others, once inflicted by him. “You thought humans were toys. Weak, pliable, easy to destroy.” His voice was quieter now, deliberate, the words

One of the demons reached out and seized the standing succubus by the arm, claws digging into her flesh as he yanked her forward. She cried out, wings flaring instinctively before collapsing again.“Stop,” she gasped. “You’ll draw a patrol.”The demon leaned in close, his breath hot and foul against her face, yellowed teeth bared in a grin.“Let them come.”The demons didn’t stop.If anything, they grew bolder the longer no one intervened.One stepped forward and drove the haft of his club into the stone beside the kneeling succubus’s head. The crack echoed down the road. Shards of black rock sprayed across her hands.She flinched despite herself.“Ha. Look at that,” he said, baring yellowed teeth. “Can’t even keep still. Wings or no wings, they all shake the same.”Another demon snorted and leaned in close, crouching so his shadow swallowed her whole. “They think being pretty buys mercy,” he said. “That’s always the mistake.”Behind them, a third demon paced in a slow circle, boots