Sada crawled underneath the massive slab of iron above her head as Mezu began to head back toward the bodies of Ali and Donato, scraping them out of the waters to feast on the fresh carcasses.

To Sada, their deaths were pointless. Just like so many of the people she had seen die needlessly in this swamp. Everyone could have survived this trial, given they were smart enough. While she formulated her thoughts of vengeance, two others swam around in her mind for the timebeing.

The very creatures responsible for so much pointless death were at the top of her list. Gozu and Mezu.

—These ugly bastards have put me through so much shit today. They deserve a little suffering of their own.

Underneath the cleaver-shaped slab embedded in the wall was the broken dismembered leg of some poor soul who came close to victory, but not close enough. With about seven inches between the metal above her head and the bloody water below, there was barely enough space to work but this would have to do.

Luckily for her, the sword shielded her work from Gozu’s ever-present gaze while Mezu was too busy eating to notice.

Sada took the severed leg in her hands, noticing the splintered fibula piercing the flesh. Sada proceeded to grab the fibula sticking out and pushing it underneath the thick bog to dampen the sound, pried it upwards. The movement split the muscle and tendons of the leg apart as she wrenched the bone out. Feeling a soft snap, she broke the fibula off from the leg and cast the limb aside.

Mezu hadn’t heard, still preoccupied with his feast on the bearded Ali.

With the sharp splint of bone in her hand, she crawled through the swamp with her eyes peering out above the liquid. Making her way out from underneath the blade, Gozu finally managed to wrestle the sword free from the wall. The demon dragged it away, scraping up the blood and entrails of the swamp as he moved it close to his side where it belonged.

By this point, Sada was traveling to the left of Gozu’s body; glancing up to see the ox-headed demon sitting atop a pile of filth that nearly rendered her nose numb. His flesh was black and purple from the lack of movement and was riddled with oozing sores and scabs. Not to mention, he stunk. Badly.

Finding the sight and scent of the red muck more preferable, she kept her gaze focused on that instead. It wasn’t long until at last, she was nearly behind Gozu. The final chain to freedom was finally in her sight. The faint glint of rusted metal links never looked so appealing to the girl in her life.

Standing into a crouched position, she snuck closer to the chain until at last, it was within her grasp.

—I’ve made it! It’s over!

She reached out to take ahold of her trophy, but paused at the last second. The bone still weighed heavy in her hand. The words of the girl on fire weighed heavy on her mind.

She couldn’t let herself forget.

Sada turned to look at the festering back of the oblivious Gozu. Rolls of fat and blubber rippled downwards like melting ice cream. Peering down at the sharpened point of the fibula in her hand, her grip on it intensified.

She took ahold of it with both hands, wielding it like a spear and aimed.

“Try not to make too much noise,” she said aloud.

With a quick and fluid thrust, Sada pierced Gozu’s back with the bone; driving it directly into his spinal column.

Almost immediately, Gozu let out an ear-piercing scream of non-intelligible squeals that were akin to a machine gun firing in an echoing cave.

Sada smiled and without hesitation, grabbed ahold of the one-hundredth chain.

Within a split second, she felt a tug and began rising quickly through the air. Up and over Gozu’s howling head, she watched her plan come into fruition.

Mezu’s head darted toward the direction of the screams as Gozu tried desperately to figure out the source of his pain and sudden paralysis. Mezu, drunk with bloodlust and thinking only of attacking his one elusive target, began to sprint mindlessly toward the direction of the screams.

Brandishing his black razor-sharp claws, Mezu struck at the source of the pained cries. His claws torn through Gozu’s stomach as blue intestines and black blood began to spill out into the swamp. Steam rose from the exposed stomach cavity of the demon as Gozu let out one final gurgle as his head slumped to the side.

As Sada rose higher and higher above the quarry, she saw as Mezu paused and pawed at the lifeless body of Gozu; realizing his mistake too late. Mezu let loose a pained and furious howl into the air as the fiend bound around the swamp in a rage, slashing aimlessly at anything possibly left alive in the deadly swamp.

Sada smiled; a sense of peace and fulfillment washed over her as a bright light enveloped her body and sight.

                                    ❇ ❇ ❇

 Darkness was all she saw next. Sada didn’t know how much time had passed, only that her eyes seemed to be closed.

—Was I asleep? Please god, let this just all be a dream…

Sada willed herself to open her eyes, hoping to find herself staring up at the white ceiling in her room at home, just as the light of the morning sun crept through her blinds.

—I can remember home… My room… My mother and…

Something else? Whatever, it didn’t matter now. She just wanted some breakfast right now, as she could feel her stomach growling.

Opening up her eyes, Sada saw clouds. Black clouds, illuminated by soft flashes of lighting in a purple sky.

This was real. She wasn’t home, she was never going home. The realization made her want to cry, but she tried to push it away and force herself to get off the ground.

—Wait… Ground… Hard ground?!

Sada found herself to be on solid ground with not a drop of blood or liquid in sight. The surface was soft and squishy with a pleasant warmth to it, yet ashen white like the snow. It almost felt like human skin.

Looking down at herself, Sada saw she was still naked. However, her body was entirely void of blood. It was dry and clean, as if she had just showered. Even her vermilion hair was smooth and untainted. A thick lavender fog permeated the area, clouding Sada’s vision of what lay ahead in the distance.

“What the hell is going on with this place…” she said, her mouth dry inside.

“You’re telling me…” answered a familiar feminine voice.

Sada paused and stood up to see Natsukawa next to her, sitting on the ground and rubbing her eyes. She could finally see the features of the girl who helped her and the others. Her hair was shoulder-length and blacker than the clouds above. Once her hand moved away, she could clearly see Natsukawa’s piercing emerald-green eyes looking into hers. It was a bizarre feeling, to say the least. Yet, not in a way Sada had known before. 

Once Natsukawa saw it was Sada, she immediately leapt up joyfully and embraced Sada, spinning her around.

“Oh my God, you survived! I was so worried you wouldn’t make it!”

Natsukawa grabbed her tightly and for a moment, all the negative feelings Sada had before in the swamp vanished. The warmth of the girl’s body against her own was… pleasant, in an unfamiliar way. A hot wave arched downward through her core and she smiled breifly. Then it dawned on her.

—Her gigantic tits... are pressing... against me...

She felt her face grow hot as she pushed herself away.

“L-Let's not do that again, got it?? Especially not when we're n-naked, w-what's wrong with you?!” Sada stammered in a confused rush of words.

Natsukawa chuckled and crossed her arms, pushing her chest up more to try and catch Sada’s eyes.

“Whaaaaat, never hugged a naked girrrrrl before, Sada~?” she teased.

Suddenly a male voice next to Sada murmured something to them.

“Shit… what’s with all the racket? I’m trying to sleep!” the grumpy man said.

Sada looked around her as several other people stirred and began to awaken, catching her off guard.

The more she peered out, the more people she saw. Dozens at least spanning around her. There were more people in the distance to her right than her left. It was almost as if they were split into groups.

“You know these people, Sada?” Natsukawa asked, taking a more defensive stance now as people around their group began to stand up with them.

Scanning their faces, she didn’t recognize anyone she saw in the swamp before.

“No…”

Without warning, a scream rang out in the distance as the fog around the sea of white flesh began to dissipate.

Sada could see that the ivory surface stretched out into the horizon, seemingly indefinitely with large distortions in the horizon. Not only that, but behind the survivors were large moving shadows. Not the type of silhouettes that could ever belong to a human.

The shadows of varying sizes and forms chuckled darkly as some cackled monstrously, prompting more unrest from the others in the groups ahead.

“The Reprobates have awakened!” one shadow shouted from behind, prompting Sada to turn and face its direction, only to see a demonic face dissolve into the thinning fog.

Natsukawa and a few of the other people in their group stood their ground too.

“What the hell do you want from us?!” one person shouted.

“Let me go home, I beg of ye!” shouted another.

As more human pleas littered the environment, more unearthly laughter and chanting joined in.

“The long awaited time approaches, brethren!” another demon shouted with a crackled voice. “We shall witness absolution!”

As more fog dissolved, Sada’s pupils shrank. She heard a cacophony of cheers and hollow laughter from behind them. What appeared before her eyes were deformed towering pillars and mountains of flesh that held swarms of millions upon millions of shadowy fiends watching and jeering.

Large and twisted bodies of various demons and monsters that seemed to be more horrific than either Gozu or Mezu had been were guarding each group of humans. It was more likely the monsters were placed there to keep them from escaping instead of mere protection.

The one Sada spotted guarding their group resembled the bloated corpse of an adult man with the cracked head of an infant.

“D-Dear God in heaven!!” one of the ladies in their group said in horror.

The infant demon looked up at the black skies and gurgled happily as the chanting and laughter from millions of demons in the stands quieted.

Sada looked around, prepared for a hopeless fight. Without warning, unearthly horns rang out throughout the skies as every human in sight immediately clutched their ears.

Forcing herself to look up as hundreds of demonic horns joined in from seemingly nowhere, Sada saw the skies themselves part in an unholy manner.

“Arise and hail! Hail the coming arrival of the holy Qliphah of Olam Tzalmavet!” a tall demon shouted as the landscape behind them erupted into apocalyptic chants.

Sada’s heart wavered as she realized the coming truth. She was about to be introduced to whatever malevolent force had put them here, stolen them from their homes and lives.

The time of arrival had come at last.