The shadowy figure turned around to face Lainey. And once Ulrich got a good look at the guy from behind the doorway, he was exactly like she described him. At least seven and a half feet tall. Light purple skin, slightly lighter than the demons. Neon green eyes staring Lainey down with a cocky smirk. Wearing what looked to be a simple leather outfit.

“Hey, we have guests!” He announced to the demons. “Actually, you look familiar.” He said to Lainey, kneeling down to meet her eyes. For all the bravado she was putting on, her exposed eye had nothing but terror dwelling within it. “We meet somewhere?”

“I escaped your portal.” Lainey replied calmly.

The demon looked at her blankly for a quick moment. “Oh, hey! You survived my attack! Good job, kid! Actually, you want to work for me?”

“What, no!” Lainey yelled back, showing her guitar to him. “We’re here to kill you!”

“Oh, more people?” He asked with a hard laugh. “Well, time for you to come out!”

“Good day.” Vivian said calmly as she revealed herself alongside Ulrich and Gene.

“Yes, good day.” The demon replied with a slightly confused look on his face. “Sorry, do we know each other?”

“You may know a relative of mine, depending on your age.”

“Ah, got it.” The demon nodded. “So, I heard you’ve been sent to kill me.”

Gene took a shaky step forward away from Ulrich, pointing his sword between his eyes.

“I am the leader of this group.” He explained calmly, hoping the cold sweat he was in wasn’t showing. “I am here to ask once. Stop the demons. Stop everything. Go back to where you came from and leave the people of our world alone.”

“You want me to stop the demons?” The demon leader asked.

“Yes. Whatever it is you want, the leaders of our world are willing to negotiate.” Gene nodded, putting his sword back in its holster.

“Hmm, tell you what.” The demon leader replied with a stroke of his chin. “If I get to keep all the people in my world, I’ll stop. I can’t tell you what I’m planning, but if I’m efficient, I won’t need any more people.”

Gene looked towards Vivian, then back towards the demon. He took a deep sigh and looked at the ground, and then looked him in the eye once more.

“If you promise to stop the invasions here, you can keep everyone you need. And should your plans need more people, the leaders of our world should hopefully provide a solution.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Lainey screamed back at him. “Like hell we’re just giving everybody up! I’ll kill this asshole myself if I have to!”

The demon leader burst into laughter towards the sky.

“Oh, I just knew you guys wouldn’t be able to agree!” He yelled out with excitement. “But truth be told, I wasn’t planning on just stopping now. I’m not gonna stop until every human is within the portals!”

Gene once again took out his sword and thrust it into the demon leaders chest. When he pulled it out, the edge of the sword was painted a deep crimson.

The demon looked at Gene, then towards Vivian. Once again, he burst into laughter.

“Oh, how he’s fallen! Isn’t that right, Vivian?”

Ulrich shot a look at Vivian. “Wait, you know this guy?”

“He knows my bloodline.” Vivian responded without so much as a glance. “I am a descendant of the first Vivian from five hundred years ago.”

“So lemme ask, miss descendant.” The demon inquired. “Is my name known to you? Or is it one of those forgotten by history kind of things?”

“The latter.” Vivian replied.

“Well, miss Vivian. Seems you’re getting reunited with your ancestors quicker than you hope! And you can tell em Komo sent you!”

Gene swung his sword at him, and Komo grabbed the sword without so much as flinching and threw him against the wall. Vivian coated her fingers on both hands in small icicles, aiming to shoot the ones from her left hands into his eyes. He ducked underneath them, only to be met with several ice shards pierced into his stomach. He recoiled in pain, and Vivian jumped up while encasing her foot in ice and delivering a swift kick to his head. He yelled out in pain and took a s few steps back.

“You Vivian’s never seem to give up, do you?” Komo yelled out. “It’s just like your grandmother and that brat back then!”

Vivian got more aggressive at this, coating her arms in ice and throwing punches into his stomach. While Komo flinched at this, he could bear it, and a single punch into Vivian’s stomach instantly sent her flying off the building, being barely picked up by Lainey. She was expecting her demon to pop out and support her, yet it didn’t. She had to put all the weight into her legs just to avoid falling off the building.

Ulrich rushed in, dropping all the heat from his left hand into his glove. Komo turned around and flashed him a wicked grin. He rushed towards Ulrich and slammed his gigantic fist down on him. Ulrich yelled out in pain and Komo picked him up and threw him against the wall and slammed his body on it. Ulrich was left on the ground as he slowly went over to Lainey and Vivian.

But slowly, Ulrich got up. He was hurt, but it probably wouldn’t be a problem for Vivian to fix. No broken bones, anyway.

That’s when it hit him. He wasn’t trying to kill them. He was just toying with them. He wanted to yell out that detail, but if he did then Komo might be fighting for real.

But the energy was still in his hand. So hot, it was kind of burning him. He watched as Komo slowly approached Lainey, who was desperately shaking her guitar to get her demon out. He ran over just as Komo was about to charge at Lainey. But just as he got behind him, the sensation in his legs just seemed to…leave him. And right as he was about to attack, his legs quit on him. He tripped, and the heat was gone.

Then he opened his eyes, and the screaming hit his ears.

Komo had a visible burn mark on his right leg. One which burned through the leather. He struggled to get up for a few seconds. He forced himself back up, swiping away the icicles Vivian shot at him and not even noticing Lainey’s stabs to his back with a pocket knife. He turned towards Ulrich, his eyes flaring with genuine anger.

“So those gloves are still kicking around, are they?” He grunted while cracking his knuckles. “You see, I’ve been told to take any of these I come across. So, sorry it had to come to this.”

“You were told?” Gene yelled out. “Who told you?”

“The boss, kid.”

Ulrich stepped back.

Lainey looked like her heart just exploded.

Gene’s eyes widened in distress.

Vivian looked both disgusted and mortified.

Komo stood in place for a few seconds, arching his head back towards the portal when he realized what he said.

“Alright, alright.” He said calmly. “I’m not in charge. It’s someone else. However, she’s a busy person, so I can’t give any of you the chance to meet her.”

He charged like a wild bull into Gene, who desperately tried blocking the attack with his sword. A quick swipe from Komo knocked the sword out of his hands. He grabbed and threw him into the ground and began stomping him. But unlike Ulrich, various cracking noises could be heard. Vivian immediately ran over to Gene, pushing her ice encased shoulder upwards to block his attacks. And when he started striking her, she cased her hands in ice and started blocking the onslaught.

“Ulrich?” Gene yelled between stomps to his back.

Ulrich tried standing up. This was his chance to win. To get rid of Gene and prove once and for all that he wasn’t the chosen one. That he couldn’t do it.

Wait, no! He almost threw up in his mouth for even thinking that. The demon had to go, and Gene had to live. End of. He struggled to get up but was eventually back on his feet. Lacking balance, but it was something. His right arm filled with energy seemingly by itself. He walked over to Komo’s back, coiling his hand back and throwing a punch.

It was quite possibly the biggest explosion he ever made. And the scream was the loudest he ever heard.

Vivian looked over at Ulrich, before throwing up next to Komo’s body.

“Are you okay?” Ulrich asked. His arms were lacking any sort of feeling, and the chill was beginning to crawl over his body.

“I’ll be fine once I get some water.” Vivian muttered. “Look, the portal is still open. You able to fight?”

“No.” Ulrich shook his head in shame.

“Alright. Are you able to run?”

Ulrich meekly nodded.

“Okay. I’m gonna need you to do something for me. I need you to run to the outskirts of this town. The new girl just arrived. I need you to show her where to go. Will you be able to survive?”

Ulrich silently nodded and made his way towards the door. It took all the strength in his arms just to open it, and he started running out of the apartment blocks and into the streets. He ran towards the entrance of town, desperately trying to avoid any demons he saw. As hard as he tried, he was panting and trying desperately not to fall over. So several demons found him and began giving chase. He couldn’t find Dominic or Bartholomew anywhere. He eventually saw Bartholomew’s car and tried to give one final sprint towards it. But as he started, a demon leapt onto his back and dug it’s claw into his back. He fell to the ground, curling up in a foetal position in hopes they won’t strike anything vital.

But the thought crept into his mind…is this it? He shut his eyes and braced for the final hit, hoping the rest would make it. Wishing he could be there when Lainey and Gene won. And that…he wasn’t such a dick. That he could apologise for the journey he set out on essentially out of spite. But he couldn’t do any of that, so he waited.

And then the weight surrounding him disappeared.

“Still alive down there?”

Ulrich looked up to see a woman standing over him, wearing what looked to be a light blue sundress. Anything else, he couldn’t make out. His vision was too hazy.

“Yes.” Ulrich croaked.

“You with somebody named Vivian?” She asked in a calm voice.

“Yes.” Ulrich croaked again. “She’s at the tall building.”

“Alright, thanks.”

She picked him up and carried him over to Bartholomew’s car. Bartholomew was in the front and Dominic was in the back. Both of them looked absolutely destroyed, with even Ulrich’s unclear vision being able to make out just how bloodstained Dominic was. The girl placed Ulrich quietly next to Dominic.

“You guys can last half an hour, right?” She asked.

“We’ll manage.” Dominic wheezed.

“Alright, cool.” She nodded, running into the town.

Once she left, Ulrich turned to Dominic.

"How'd you do?"

"Better than Bart, anyway." Dominic responded, while bleeding from his mouth. "So what now?"

"We wait." Bart interrupted wearily. "Nothing else is possible."