The soldier wanted to kill something.

It wasn't that there was any specific thing annoying him. Yeah, the fact that the relatively weak knights following him kept trying to nudge him with their weapons as if he was a prisoner was annoying, but not murder-worthy. Finding out that Aliss was the daughter to the admittedly fun-to-fight Champion or whatever he'd called himself was frustrating - it meant that she'd been holding out on him. What sort of new ways to slaughter enemies did she know that she hadn't told him?

But once again, it wasn't anger-inducing enough that he'd want to kill her, or her dad. No, the twofold reason behind his hands clenching and unclenching uncontrollably, a nonexistent trigger practically underneath his fingers, was very simple and very noticeable.

The first reason was easy. He hadn't killed any demons in at least... what, twelve hours? Maybe a day? Time was a bit odd as far as he could tell, but the point was that there were demons in Hell that were still in possession of their lives, and he disliked the thought of that immensely.

The second reason went by the name of Yamada.

Through some unknowable train of thought, Yamada thought that the soldier was a 'Hero' and so therefore was spiritually related to the loudmouthed idiot. He was walking alongside the soldier with a spring in his step, constantly talking about his friends (all of which seemed to be female, for some reason) and all of his former battles. The only thing keeping the soldier from either knocking him out or tossing him over the nearest mountain (or both) was the knowledge that it wouldn't solve anything.

"...And that's how I defeated the Great Firelord of the Eastern Steppes using nothing but a tarnished spoon and my underwear! Really, it was an obvious plan if you think about it."

The soldier paused for a moment, and the knights following them stumbled over themselves trying not to actually hit him with their spears. Turning, the soldier put a hand on Yamada's shoulder, and the young man brightened considerably. "Ah, you feel the same gentle embers of companionship as I! I was certain that you would one day come to be aware of them."

Once again, the soldier wasn't actually listening to the drivel. Clearing his throat, the soldier leveled his unseen gaze at Yamada and grated out, "Shut up."

The words made the grass under their feet turn gray and shrivel, a small radius of dead grass spreading out from the soldier. Yamada deflated noticeably, and then tried, "I was only trying to-"

The soldier increased the strength of his grip exponentially, and Yamada yelped loudly. Slowly pulling him closer until the soldier's visor was mere inches from Yamada's face, the soldier ground out through gritted teeth, "SHUT. UP."

The circle of dead grass expanded rapidly, stretching out and widening as the words reverberated through the air. The area underneath the soldier's feet ignited and turned to ash over a period of about half a second, and gravity itself seemed to briefly intensify as he glared at the hapless young man in front of him.

Raising his hands in surrender, Yamada whispered, "Okay."

Satisfied, the soldier turned and began to continue towards the gigantic wall and the city behind it, wondering if perhaps there were demons in the city that he could kill.

Although he didn't notice it, there were two singed and simmering bootprints where he'd been standing.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Now the soldier really wanted to kill something.

There had been a small checkpoint at the wall as opposed to the giant gates he'd been expecting. There, with the knights following him, he'd been stopped by a fat little official, who then tried to confiscate the soldier's armor. The soldier had almost laughed at the suggestion, at least before realizing the four-and-a-half foot man was serious.

Galbaer or whatever his name was had adamantly insisted that the soldier was clear to enter, armor or not, and the official had grudgingly backed down. Then Eld and Isabelle (Isabeld?) had come over, and the official had gone apoplectic with red-faced, blustering anger, insisting that hellhounds or Orthrus or whatever she was were not allowed in the city.

At this point, the soldier was seriously considering just knocking the wall down and walking past the checkpoint.

Shaking his head, Galbaer walked over to the soldier with a sigh. "Good lord, Doom. You wouldn't believe how stubborn these checkpoint officials can be. Well, I got everything cleared up, and you're good to go in, dog and all."

Still extremely frustrated, the soldier walked past him towards the gate, sending a heated glare in the official's direction. Somehow, the fat little man didn't back down, sticking his nose in the air and pulling his greasy black hair out of his eyes.

Eld gave him a giant lick on the face as she passed, and her furiously wagging tail almost knocked him over. Following close behind with a heavy air of trepidation, the knights kept their weapons up and aimed at the soldier, with Galbaer and Aliss holding the rear of the group.

There was a short, dark tunnel leading through the wall, and it gave the soldier a much more accurate perspective on just how thick the wall truly was. No wonder the giant reptile had been unable to breach it.

Ahead of him, rapidly growing as he approached, was a square of white light. Walking on through it, the soldier squinted at the city before him.

Small buildings and storefronts lined the cobbled road in front of him, streetlamps placed evenly near the wide sidewalks. People and... half-people? Not demons for sure, but there were quite a lot of people with animalistic features, such as tails or tufted ears poking above their hair.

Built in concentric rings increasing in height as they went to the center, the houses and shops began to get bigger and fancier the higher they were, and at the center of the rings and highest of all was a castle. It was made from enormous blocks of sparkling white stone, yellow and navy banners waving proudly from the parapets and towers. A steady stream of people went in and out of the castle, barely visible from this far away.

Aliss walked up next to him, smiling at the city. "Wow. I forgot how amazing this place looks."

Galbaer put a gauntleted hand on her shoulder, grinning. "Yeah, it's a pretty darn good place to live. What do you think, Doom?"

Looking over at the soldier, they both paused. His hands were slowly clenching into fists, and a gentle layer of smoke was beginning to rise from his armor. Glancing at each other worriedly, they looked back at him, and Aliss asked tentatively, "Doom? Is everything all right?"

The soldier was furious.

Where were all the demons!?