After checking once more around for the missing demon, the girl went over to the man that had walked in. He was wearing a cloak with hood over his head to protect him from the rain that seemed to have settled down. Despite his body behind covered you could clearly see how huge his body was. When the girl got closer to him, she was almost only a quarter of his body. She wanted to yell at him for the incident earlier but when she saw him up close “May I help you, sir?” she asked him with a frightened voice.

“Hmm, I’d love some food, three rounds of the best meat you got as well as some ale.” he told her as he took his hood off and started to search himself for something.

The girl went back behind the counter and told the man that was cleaning the mugs behind the counter to get the food ready. While he was at it, she filled up one mug with ale and brought it over to the man so he would have something to drink until the food was ready. The huge man paid up right away despite the girl insisting that he can pay when he leaves.

Around ten minutes had passed until the bartender got the food ready. The waitress came and picked up and grabbed another mug of ale for the man. She placed the two plates and mug on the table and the man immediately started to eat with his hands, like a beast he cleared a good chunk of meat from a bone as if he hadn’t have any food in days.

Just as she turned around to leave and the door was slammed open again, this time the lights didn’t go out and everyone besides the man that was eating turned to see what was happening this time. A soldier had kicked it open, soon after him and four more rushed inside the tavern with swords drawn. They searched the place with their eyes and when noticing the huge man sitting at the table all covered up they walked towards him “Wait...” the waitress tried to stop them but all five of the had already surrounded the man.

Without any warning they flipped the table to the side, some of the food ending up on the cloaked man’s face while the ale spilled on his pants, he lifted his head towards the soldier that did it and looked at him with a murderous glare. The soldier showed signs of backing down in feat but in that moment the one sitting behind him tried to cut his head but the man quickly lowered his head, the rest of the soldiers had joined in as well. He kicked the chair, making one of the soldiers fall hard with his head against the floor while dodging two that were coming from opposing sides, both of the soldiers ending stabbed by each other.

From the remaining two one charged at him head one while the last one was running towards the door, he easily moved to the left side, while also punching the soldier in the stomach that he started to spit everything that he had in his gut. The sword he had in had started to slip from his hand but the cloaked man grabbed it and threw it at the one that was running, piercing the soldiers leg just as he got out through the door. He started to yell and scream, asking for help.

The cloaked man started to walk towards the door to catch the one that remained, but as soon as he walked out he saw that the whole place was completely surrounded. A few dozen soldiers with weapons drawn were waiting for him to come out. He looked at them with a disappointed face, shaking his head “So this is how I’m repaid. You try to get rid of me like some useless animal.” his voice was deep and clear giving out some kind of pressure, while talking he reached out behind his back with both hands and just as he grabbed that handles of whatever weapon he had, a shout came from afar.

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!” he was screaming while charging in at full speed with sword ready to strike. The soldier quickly moved out of his path as he passed by them in a flash, in just a blink of an eye the cloaked man pulled out two short swords, which looked like daggers while he held them, and blocked the attack coming from the general. When Pallas clashed with the man he got a closer look at him, his face was shocked and in an instant lowered his weapon “You got to be kidding me!” he sheathed his swords without making any other comment.

He was holding his head with one hand almost as if he had a headache then turned around at the soldiers that had gathered behind him “ARE YOU FUCKING STUPID OR JUST IMBECILES!?” and started shouting once more. “Can you not distinguish a human from a demon!?” he punched one of the nearby soldiers in the stomach making him fall on his knees “Look at him!” he pointed towards the man, which placed a hand on Pallas’s shoulder, making him stop “You mentioned a demon. Is that true?” the stranger asked the general with a serious face.

Pallas looked at him and noded his head then turned around towards the soldiers “Clean up this mess and pay up for the damage!” after which he pulled the stranger along to the side so they won’t be bothered. “Yes, a demon was seen earlier today in the main market, he killed forty-seven men along with the commander of the guards. We got some info that he might be lurking around here.” he started to explain to him everything he knew about the demon.

Meanwhile the demon was walking down the streets. Night had finally come, which made the whole place seemed deserted. It was a nice moon lit night, despite the clouds that earlier were pouring with rain, not the sky was clear and gave a charm to the place, but also a certain terror. Rarely would you see some light coming from one of the shops, just the taverns and brothels were bolstering with life. On the streets no soul could be seen, only the wind that was gently blowing, the smell of rain was still lingering in the air and the barks of some distant dogs was all it could be heard for a while.

When the demon managed to get on road to the auction house he heard the loud footsteps of soldiers that were making the ground vibrate, too many to count all of them marching in his direction. He took in a breath of air and pondered for a moment, in a flash remembering the incident from earlier that day he decided to hide between the buildings and avoid them. He crawled into a deep alley and climb up a buildings wall like a spider sitting near the edge of the roof as he waited for them to pass. He paid close attention at the hooves and massive feet of the ogres and minotaurs, each one carrying a weapon fitting for their size as well as wearing plated armor.

The demon waited a little more after they passed, until he could not longer hear their steps just in case they decided to come back the same way. Only after that he dropped down and resumed his walk. After a few turns left and right on the narrows streets he found the place, a large round square like place right in front of an imposing building. Two large doors were blocking the way, they were also guarded by two minotaur, one ogre and one human.

He completely ignored the four, he was too focused on the building itself or more like what was waiting inside. He walked right up to the doors before getting stopped by the guards which only noticed him when he tried to open them.

“What do you think you are doing? Its closed at this hour, come back tomorrow.” the human soldiers told him, the other three drew their weapons and encircled him. “Get lost already, we ain’t got time for you!” the ogre shouted at him while swinging his huge mace through the air.

The demon caught his mace by its head and crushed it in his hands “Clear my way!” his voice was like a whisper, chilling to the bone and filled with killing intent.

The minotaur that was sitting behind him swinged his axe to cut him in half, but the demon’s tail wrapped itself around the minotaurs hands stopping the axe only a plam distance from his head. The ogres didn’t stand by either, both of them rushing at him from both sides, the demon’s hands extended by a few centimeters, just enough to grab the ogres by their neck and lift them up. The human was looking at him with a dumbfounded face, just what in the world was happening here.

He bashed the skulls of the ogres one against the other and threw them one by one through the large metal doors. First one bending the door while the second making it crumble down. Lastly the kicked the minotaur who was standing behind him, sending rolling on the ground. The human tried to rush inside and give the alarm but the demon grabbed him by his leg with his tail, pulling him back at the entrance “GET THE CAPTAIN!” the human shouted at the minotaur which was quite a distance away from the entrance, he quickly got up and sprinted away. Behind him the screams and screeches of pain could be heard for a few moments, they were made by the human as he was chopped to pieces.

“Hmm.” he seemed to be in thought, he was scratching his chin for a few moments “Very well, I had just finished my delivery in this town and was about to head out after eating a meal, but I shall give you a hand with this matter.”

Pallas made a delighted face when he heard that, it was almost as if he was about to hug him “That would be a great honor Vadesh, to get to work with my former comrade again.” he wide smile grew on his face which vanished just as quickly when he saw from behind of his friend a large group of ogres and minotaurs coming their way, all of them armed. They stopped just a little distance from the human soldiers

One of the minotaurs walked towards Pallas, he was wearing plated armor, in his head a huge double edged axe. He thrust the axe into the ground and rested upon its handle “What is the meaning of this? Why are there human soldiers here!?” he snorted with an arrogant and loud voice.

“I’m general Pa...” his words was cut short by minotaur.

“I did not ask for you name human!” he shouted into Pallas’s face, some of his saliva ending on his face as well “Your rank means nothing in this place, even if you are a king, when you step in here you are just a regular person!” he was clearly annoyed by the fact that human soldiers stepped into his territory.

Pallas was thrown aback by how this place worked, normally nobody would go against him and in this situation was even more frustrating for him since the minotaur standing in front of him was a hindrance that he couldn’t avoid. “Listen here. I don’t care if you are in command of this place, but as long as a demon is running lose in this town.” he his chest with his fist “I will be giving the orders here, not you.”

The minotaur looked at him with a serious face and straighten up, all of a sudden he burst into a loud laugh “You here that boys? This human thinks he gets to order us around.” he plucked his axe from the ground and took one step closer to Pallas “Listen her mister her of the war of Dusk. I give the orders here and if you don’t like it go talk to your king, all nine of them and while you are at it drop by the elfs and dwarfs also.” the minotaur snorted.

Pallas was about to say something but from behind the hoard of ogres and minotaurs someone was shouting “Help, we need help at the auction house!” the minotaur that got away from the demon’s attack managed to catch up to the captain of the guards. It was quite a distance and he was also wounded, but still did his best and as soon as he reached the captain he fell on the ground from exhaustion.

Both the minotaur captain and Pallas with his friend moved closer to him so they could hear what happened. The captain was holding his head “Get someone to treat him now!” he shouted at the his men, in an instant two of them came to patch him up.

The wounded minotaur tried to talked while catching his breath “The auction house… its been attacked… a demon killed the other three… and broke inside.” he was exhausted beyond belief, he could barely even talk and each pause was about two full mouth of air for just a couple of words.

“You did well soldier, now rest up, we shall go and deal with this problem.” just as the captain got up and Pallas began shouting at the wounded minotaur “Speak up, how did the demon look? Did he use any weapons?” in that moment the minotaur captain grabbed him by his arm and lifted him up “Listen up you human fool, this soldier is mine to order around. I don’t care if you push your soldiers to death but I don’t!” he let him go after taking him away from the soldier.

“Listen up, the auction house has been attacked, all soldiers are to march there.” he rallied his men and as he was about to go out he turned his head towards Pallas “If you are that eager to fight a demon you can follow, but I give the orders!” he was being wary, he wouldn’t dare refuse help from someone as strong as him, but he would also keep his authority.

Of course Pallas had no reason to refuse, since he saw himself what the demon was capable of, he knew the captain would let him be in charge after a few clashes with him. He got the few soldiers he had around ready while also leaving a few behind for when his troops would arrive.