The trio followed the demon across the scorched wasteland while the burning sky above them crackled occasionally with distant red lightning.
The demon walked several steps ahead now, though it kept glancing nervously over its shoulder every few seconds as if fully expecting Ethan to change his mind and cut it in half anyway.
"You know," Ethan said after a while, "I've been wondering something."
The demon looked immediately concerned. "That sentence never ends well for me."
"The other demons I encountered before this weren't exactly conversational," Ethan continued. "Most of them just screamed, attacked things, or tried to eat someone." He looked at the creature curiously. "So why can you actually talk like a functioning person?"
The demon looked mildly offended.
"Is intelligence suddenly illegal?" it muttered. "Some of us prefer surviving."
Then it pointed vaguely toward the endless wasteland around them.
"In Hell, you either learn how to avoid stronger things…" the demon said carefully, "…or you become food."
Wednesday's gaze shifted slightly.
"So demons kill each other constantly?" she asked.
The creature gave a dry laugh.
"Kill?" it repeated. "That's the polite version."
Its expression darkened slightly afterward.
"Demons eat each other here," it explained. "The strong consume the weak. That's how this place works." It gestured toward the distant burning horizon. "Maybe your world has laws and morality and all those comforting illusions. Hell doesn't."
Morticia listened quietly while the demon continued.
"If a demon is weak, eventually something stronger tears it apart and devours whatever power remains." The creature shrugged uneasily. "Survival here depends on strength, intelligence, or luck." Then it glanced nervously toward Ethan. "Preferably all three."
"So how long have you been surviving down here?" Ethan asked while walking beside the demon. "I didn't expect Hell to be this cannibalistic."
The demon glanced back once before answering.
"Six hundred years."
Ethan went quiet for a second after hearing that.
"…Wow."
Now the constant survival instincts made a lot more sense.
Anyone surviving six centuries in a place like this had probably mastered the art of running, hiding, and begging at the correct moments.
Wednesday, meanwhile, looked completely unsurprised.
"Fear tends to improve life expectancy," she said calmly.
Ethan looked back toward the demon again.
"Do you know demons named Valak and Baphomet?"
The creature nearly stumbled mid-step.
"The fuck did you just say?" it asked sharply while turning around fully now.
Its nervous expression had changed immediately.
"One of them is the Marquis of Serpents," the demon said carefully. "And the other is a Duke tied to dark magic and possession." Even speaking about them seemed to make it uncomfortable.
"Those aren't minor demons. They're the kind stronger demons avoid provoking."
"Well," Ethan replied casually, "that explains a few things."
The demon stared at him.
Ethan's expression darkened slightly afterward.
"They're also the ones responsible for throwing me into Hell," he said. "So eventually I'm going to beat both of them to death."
The demon looked genuinely horrified hearing that.
It had initially assumed Ethan was dangerous in the way disasters were dangerous.
Now it was beginning to suspect he might also be insane.
Those names carried weight even in Hell itself. Lesser demons disappeared for merely speaking against beings like that too loudly.
And this lunatic was calmly talking about hunting them down personally.
Before the demon could say anything else—
the sky changed.
The crimson clouds above them suddenly darkened.
Then something massive moved behind them.
A gigantic pupil slowly opened across the heavens themselves, enormous enough to eclipse the burning sky as it stared downward directly at Ethan.
The pressure that descended afterward was overwhelming.
The demon froze instantly.
Its entire body began trembling.
"T-that…" it stammered while staring upward in terror, "…that's Crowley…" Its voice nearly broke afterward. "One of the Dukes…"
"Hmm."
Ethan looked up at the enormous eye staring down from the sky without moving an inch.
Then the Gloves of Saint Marcus appeared around his hands again.
He slammed both fists together.
The impact released a burst of holy light strong enough to shake the air around them while silver markings spread across his arms. His hair slowly shifted color beneath the glow, strands turning pale silver as the pressure radiating from him intensified rapidly.
A circular barrier formed around Wednesday, Morticia, Thing, and the demon moments later, layers of crimson energy weaving together into a protective dome.
"Well," Ethan said calmly while stepping away from the barrier, "this is probably going to become ugly."
The demon stared at him like he had lost his mind.
"Wait—are you insane?" it shouted. "That thing is one of the Dukes of Hell!" The creature pointed upward at the massive eye in the sky with visible panic. "We should be running!"
Wednesday didn't even look concerned.
"Well," she said evenly, "I trust Ethan."
The demon looked at her in disbelief.
"Most of the time," Wednesday continued, "he's holding back. Once he stops doing that, things become structurally unfortunate for everyone nearby."
Morticia's eyes remained fixed on Ethan as the pressure around him continued climbing.
The scorched earth beneath his feet began cracking apart slowly.
Blood started flowing outward like mist, spreading across the wasteland while the sky itself shifted color overhead. The crimson clouds darkened further before a massive blood-red moon slowly emerged behind him.
Then a halo appeared above Ethan's head.
His eyes began glowing brightly while his fangs extended fully.
The demon inside the barrier stared at him in complete horror now.
It suddenly understood why Valak and Baphomet had chosen to throw this monster into Hell instead of fighting him directly.
"Yeah," Ethan said while looking up at the massive eye watching him from the heavens, "I think it's about time I killed one of these Dukes."
The blood mist around him exploded outward violently.
"They're getting really annoying."
***
A/N: And on Patreon, The Boys arc started.
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