Janice continued to run with Adi behind her. She pulled him into a nearby room and began to look for something to barricade the door. “Everything is going to be okay,” she said. It was more to reassure herself rather than Adi. “There has to be some sort of back entrance or something we can sneak out of.”

Adi watched her pace about the room. He leaned against the wall as he thought to himself. Finally, he came up with a decision. “You should go.”

“I’m not leaving you,” she replied firmly.

“The harmonizer is here. If…” Adi gripped his arms more tightly about himself. “Duke nearly killed his girlfriend because he took control of her. If he’s here to kill me, he’s going to use you to do it.”

He was still haunted by the image of the inugami wrapped about Enid’s body. Adi didn’t understand how he was able to see it, or why it didn’t try to possess him again, but he did know that a few bullets weren’t going to stop it. Escape was one option, but he didn’t like the idea of who end up might dying because he was the target.

“There’s no way that he should’ve known you were here. Even if he did, he’d be crazy to go after you now!”

“I don’t think I was the intended target,” muttered Adi. “One of the victims was a demon. I think he made this place his base, and the harmonizer going to use the demons here to tear it apart.”

Janice looked down at the ground. She began to shuffle back and forth nervously. “Uhh… Adi?”

“Yes, Janice?”

“Look, I’m… I-I’m sorry… I’m sorry for a lot of things.”

“Yeah… Me too.”

Adi continued to lean against a wall as Janice let herself out. This seemed to be a bedroom. Considering what he had seen people do to each other in the bar, he really didn’t want to touch or sit on anything in here. He found himself squinting at a suspicious box sitting half opened at the base of the bed, wondering if he should open it or spare himself of any loss of sanity.

He could hear screaming echoing down the halls. A part of him wanted to do something, but he knew a gun would be useless. In order to distract himself, he began to walk over. Before he reached the box, something dark in the corner caught his eye. There was a headless mannequin wearing a long, black gown. It was as if he had blinked, and it was suddenly there, as though it had appeared from nothing.

Something about it unnerved him. He took a step back as it began to head towards him. It was no headless mannequin, rather a body whose neck had become dried out and withered. She hastened towards him as he backed away. Her satin gloves found his hand, wrapped around it, and gave him a firm handshake.

She didn’t seem to have any harmful intent. This creature was just another random thing that had come to haunt him. “Because of course she is,” muttered Adi under his breath.

And of course, the headless ghoul didn’t have anything to say to him. Adi didn’t even want to think about why someone would keep a headless woman in their room. The box he had nearly gone through was now all the more suspicious in nature.

“You wouldn’t happen to know the way out of here, would you?” The ghoul’s head stump began to wag up and down, indicating that she did. “I have a friend named Duke. We need to get him and get out of here before it’s too late.”

Duke was still in the bar. He was staying a few steps behind Kenelm as the fae had run to the edge of the pit. The fae was glaring at Janice’s intrusion and the fact that Adi had just shot up his favorite werewolf.

“I have the feeling that that boy of yours was not one of your kind,” said Kenelm with a snarl.

Duke ignored him as he glanced up at the television. Enid was still rolling about in agony. “Something is off.”

“Bullets will have no effect on our precious little pet,” muttered Kenelm. “However, I doubt they will have so little effect on you. We will just have to take our time in testing out exactly what weaknesses you have.”

Enid continued to roll about. She began to howl and claw at her body in an attempt to get something off of her. Duke immediately began to walk towards the bar. He gestured for the bartender to get closer and lowered his voice.

“I wish to stress that you were always my favorite here, Millicent.”

“Aww... Thanksh, hun.”

“With that in mind, I will warn you that I believe a fight may be starting soon. You should seek cover.” Behind him, Enid had clawed her way out the side of the pit. She leaped onto a nearby mithryn and began to stab at their face. “Seek cover immediately and do not come out.”

Kenelm began to shout at Enid. “Get off of him this instant!” He walked over to kick the werewolf, only to have his arm caught by Duke. “Unhand me!”

Ignoring that request, Duke dragged the fae man to a table and kicked it over. He then ducked down behind it. “Who was Enid meeting with today?”

“As if I would tell you a thing, you treacherous worm!”

Kenelm shuddered as a roar echoed across the walls of the room. One of the demons had let out the scream as his skin began to blister and bubble. Scales popped out of his skin, and his throat expanded out like a frog’s. His neck glowed red for a moment before he blasted a fireball across the room. Others chose to fight back, or at least, they were all pouncing upon each other, and some others had begun to flee.

“There is chaos brewing,” said Duke. “Who did Enid meet with?”

“She said she was meeting with a former employer,” said Kenelm in a low voice. He attempted to make himself smaller against the side of the table.

“About what?” Duke leaned in closer, but Kenelm shrugged. “Do you know anything?”

“Why would I ask about her affairs as long as she is doing the job I pay her?”

There was a point to be had there. Not once did Kenelm ever ask Duke about where he went or what he was doing. Duke was merely an object of interest for him to keep around. Though judging by the chaos that had broken out around them, it was safe to assume that the harmonizer was present, and he must have used Enid as his way in.

“Then I suppose all there is left to do is to kill you and make my escape,” whispered Duke.

“Wha-”

Duke grasped Kenelm firmly about the neck and yanked him in for a kiss. He began to draw out as much energy as quickly as he could. This man was an investor in death. If not for his meddling, Duke would still be alive. He’d still have Suni. Why should the harmonizer be the only one to get his revenge this day?

He let out a growl as someone violently ripped him free of Kenelm. Janice slashed at his chest with her clawed hand, tearing through flesh and bone alike. Sap poured freely from Duke’s gaping wound, and tendrils flailed about in an attempt to seal the injury.

“What are you doing?!” Duke grasped at his chest as he took several steps back.

Blood was dripping from Janice’s mouth. An absurd amount of it had leaked out, as though her insides had been liquefied. Her body moved around with odd tics and jerks, as though she were being puppeted about. Several of the demons were moving about in such a manner, due to Seo flexing his influence on so many of them at once.

She slashed at him again, and Duke responded by picking up a nearby chair and swinging it at her with all of his might. It thudded against her head, and she fell like a dead weight to the floor. Duke glanced between her and Kenelm before letting out a hiss through his teeth.

Adi was more important. He glanced around for any sign of Seo or Sable. Seeing neither, he began to move as quickly as possible towards the backrooms. His body was cracking and snapping with every motion, and it didn’t help that others were also attempting to head in the same direction.

The lot of them were bowled over as a table was hurled in their direction. Duke clambered over someone to protect them from a stool being thrown, then attempted to stand up. He had to tilt his head to the side to avoid a sword being thrust forward, but it caught part of his cheek and neck.

Great. They had gotten into the pit’s weapon supply.

“A mage has taken control of the firstborn!” Duke raised his voice against the cries of panic. “Defend yourselves my brethren! Mithryn! Retreat to the inner hallways! Barricade yourselves within until the firstborn have regained their senses!”

He lingered as the others ran behind them, fighting when he could. A barstool became his favored weapon, being able to catch up other weapons within the legs and twist them away. Upon hearing the doors slam behind him, Duke turned around just in time to hear those that had escaped began to barricade the door.

That was fine. He’ll just… Die here, or something. Duke grimaced at the thought. Not that death was unusual for him in this case, but there was no hallowed ground for him to be buried in. No hallowed ground meant no healing, and he didn’t feel all that right going to the other side without knowing that Kenelm was dead first.

Duke sluggishly dodged between the fighting demons as he made his way back to Kenelm. Where was he? Did he manage to gain consciousness long enough to crawl away? “Kenelm!” Duke kicked at the knocked over table. “Kenelm! Where are you?!”

Did it have to be now? He had been planning on killing Kenelm but was waiting for DH to act first. The opportunity had slipped so easily through his fingers. Of course, it had though. Dead men had no right to meddle with the world of the living, even if it was to avenge themselves.

He looked up and saw the headless woman in black. The was an odd sort of serenity about her, even though the walls and floor of the room about them had become stained with blood and fire. She held out her hand, waiting for Duke to take it.

“I may need more support than that.” Without vengeance to fuel his strength, Duke felt weakened. Even standing was a chore.

The headless woman eased herself under his arm and began to guide Duke to behind the bar. They went through the storage room door, to where Millie and Adi were waiting. Millie didn’t hesitate to start looking about the shelves. She retrieved a bottle of videheart elixir and began to splash it against Duke’s wounds as the headless woman set him down.

“This is why you’re my favorite,” muttered Duke. Millie merely smiled and continued to apply elixir.

“Once you can stand, we’re getting out of here,” said Adi.

Duke shook his head. “This will be your last chance to go after Seo. You need to find him before others find out what happened here and start a manhunt.”

“And then what am I supposed to do?”

“... You can figure it out,” muttered Duke.

Adi let out a sigh. “Did you see Janice out there?” Duke debating answering him truthfully before shaking his head. “Alright… Do you have any idea how I’m going to find Seo?”

“I read once of a barghest who was capable of shapeshifting,” said Duke.

“And he’s become delusional.” Adi tossed his hands in the air. “I’ll figure it out myself then!”

Duke let out a quiet laugh. “There isn’t a need to disguise yourself, Sable. We do not hate you. There is nothing wrong with running away with your former master because you are still working hard to save him.” He looked up at the headless woman. “But you must be made aware of the cost of madness.

Humanity takes pity on those who commit crimes due to insanity or passion, but vengeance is a parasite. It burrows in and refused to let go, no matter how many lives their host takes. That is the toll of madness. There are times where we must punish the victim, despite the system being the one who had failed them.”

The headless woman’s visage shuddered. She shifted into Sable and began to lick at Duke’s hand. Duke closed his eyes and shook his head. “We truly aren’t mad at you.”

“Yeah, Sable. It’s fine,” added Adi. Sable let out a whine as he reached down to scratch behind her ears. “Are you going to be okay here, Duke?”

“I will be fine as long as I have Millie. Because she is the best.”

“That I am,” replied Millie. Though she didn’t look all that confident in his chances.

“Cool. Yeah, okay…” Adi nodded to himself several times over. “Come on, Sable. Let’s go talk to your master.”

After had left, Millie leaned in closer to Duke. “I didn’t want to shay it, but I don’t believe the elisher is doing much.”

“It’s better if he doesn’t know the truth behind my condition,” whispered Duke. “He needs to concentrate on what needs to be done and not be influenced by how his friends or loved ones have been treated.” He looked up at Millie. “Will it be alright if I rested for a little while.”

Millie nodded. “Of courshe, Duke. Take as long ash you need.”

❅❅❅

After most of the mithryn had escaped, the fighting had devolved to the demons tearing each other apart. A man wearing a masquerade mask and a hoodie was standing up on a table. His arms waved about as he danced, puppeteering those around him to kill.

Adi looked around in an attempt to find the inugami. She was huddled in the corner, somehow wounded. Even as Adi approached her master, she didn’t feel compelled to go near them. Rather, she retreated further in and began to lick at her wounds.

“Are you done?” Adi looked up at Seo.

“Hardly,” replied the mage. He swung his arm in front of himself, and the dragon demon bit down on the throat of a gnarled and bloody creature.

“I think you’re done,” said Adi. He stuffed his hands into his pockets and held his ground, waiting patiently for the mage to react.

Seo frowned down at him and Sable before he swiped both of his hands downwards. All of the demons within the room collapsed to the ground at once. “What do you want?”

“Look, uhh…” Adi realized that as badly as he wanted to talk to this man, he had never put any thought into what he was going to say. “... I was lucky enough to have someone there for me when I was introduced to this world. It wasn’t as kind to you, and believe me, I understand, but… Yeah. Let’s go outside to talk.”

He stared for a moment longer before responding. “... Talk about what?”

“I don’t know. Stuff and stuff… Let’s just get out of here, okay? This place is a real mood killer.”

They went upstairs and to the field where a pumpkin patch had been harvested last season. Adi asked Seo about himself, and he unloaded everything. His name was Albert Seo, and he was an develop engineer for a green energy company. There was his parents and three children living at his house since his wife had died a few years ago of cancer, and his sister often came over to help with the kids.

One day, he came home to find his father murdered. Neither his sister or mother would answer their phones, and he was about to call the police when a monster attacked him. He succeeded in fighting it off, but couldn’t find any evidence to where his family had gone. It took months for him to put the pieces together, and it was far too late to save any of them by that point.

The only choice was vengeance. He discovered he had sway over the demons, and the rest could be taken care of by an inugami. All he had to do was to make sure they all paid their dues. The prices owed to those who had died. Every single one of them were guilty in their own right.

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” said Seo. “Their… Police or whatever those monsters call their officers will be after me soon.”

“It’s DH,” replied Adi.

“Again, it doesn’t matter. I doubt they have any sort of judicial system. Execution is the only thing that awaits me.”

Adi began to laugh at the thought, much to Albert’s surprise. “They don’t… Yeah, they don’t do that.” He looked over to the smoke trail that was seeping up from the farmhouse. “DH is a bunch of poachers. They see people with skills they like, and it doesn’t matter to them if they’re monsters or murderers. They make use of them.”

Albert didn’t say anything. He began to look at the ground, where the dried up vines were.

“I don’t know if you’ll be a prisoner they pull out in a time of need or an agent, but you’re going to be asked to kill. Sure, you’ll be fighting to prevent the stuff that happened to you and your family, but you’re going to spend the rest of your life fighting.”

“And if I refuse?”

The two stared at each other for a time. There was pain in Albert’s face. It had been a part of him for so long that it had been deeply etched within his features. Hearing the news about DH had somehow worsened it. Despite Albert’s inner torment, all Adi could do was shrug at the question.

“I don’t know. I don’t think they care either way.” He pulled out his gun from where he had it tucked into the waist of his pants. “Here. After the mess you made, I’m pretty sure that they’ll be here soon. There won’t be a lot of time to think about it.” He then kneeled down next to Sable and scratched behind her ears. “Go ahead and stay here, alright? Come find me again afterwards. I promise that I’ll be there to take care of you.”

Adi then walked away, not caring either way if Albert chose that moment to shoot him in the back. He needed to get Duke and drive out of here. Those wounds didn’t look too good, and it’ll be faster for him to drive him back to Verlsa. That is if she had woken up by now. She probably was awake by now… He frowned at the thought. Yeah, yeah, she was probably fine.

As he was walking back, he noticed Suni near the parked cars. She was attempting to force the door to one open. Adi didn’t think too much of it. Just a mithryn or something that was trying to escape the disaster.

“Over here!” He froze when she pointed a gun at him. “I’m trying to help you!”

Suni gestured for someone Adi couldn’t see to stay low to the ground. She then kept her gun drawn and pointed to the ground as she approached Adi. “What is it?”

Adi walked over to Janice’s car and gave three quick tugs to the trunk. This was the magic way to get it open. “You wanted out of here, right?” He pulled open the side panel and pulled out the spare keys. “Here. I can figure out how to get it back later, but it’s probably better that you get out of here first.”

She put away the gun and took the keys away from him. “Thank you… What’s your name?”

“Adi. What’s yours?”

“... Suni. Thank you again. I’ll have the car dropped off here again tomorrow.”

“No worries.” Adi let out a sigh as he heard a gunshot ring out in the distance. He clenched his teeth and forced himself to smile, even as his throat began to hurt from him trying to hold back the tears. “Just… Get out of here safely.”

Adi then waved her off began to make his way back to the farmhouse so he could see how Duke was doing. Life was a daze now. He was simply going through the motions until the day ended, and he hoped that the world would somehow be sane again tomorrow. Everything should have calmed down, but instead, he was greeted by the sight of people running in and out of glowing portals.

“The fuck..?”

“Adi!” Verlsa ran up to him. Her face was already stained with tears. “Oh god, you’re okay!”

“I’m fi-” He doubled over as Verlsa punched him in the stomach. “The fu-fuck you doing, you psychopath!”

“Why didn’t you answer your phone at all?!”

“I was busy and left it in my car!” He gagged as she kicked him in the stomach. “St-stop that!” Once more was the air knocked out of him, this time by Verlsa wrapping him up with a tight hug. “I’m getting mixed signals…”

“I’m… I’m just glad you’re okay, you absolute fuckwit!”

Adi patted her back. He thought about everything that had happened, and about how he had given Albert the means to kill himself. Now a man he had sworn to save was lying dead in a field. A guilt washed over him as he began to selfishly worry about himself. He knew about this world now. There wasn’t a way to erase it all and go back to being a normal human now.

“Yeah… Of course, I’m fine. I am okay.”