Rain hissed on the pavement. The scent of burning flesh and ozone danced in the air.
The Queen stood at the shattered entrance of the brothel, her soaked crimson gown clinging to her infernal frame. Half of her glamour had burned away, revealing scales etched with demonic sigils, pulsating like veins of magma.
In one hand, she held Pinky by the neck—her feet dangling, gasping for breath. Her other hand twitched with violent tremors. Steam rose from her skin where salt still sizzled and scorched.
Her eyes—no longer human—burned like two black suns.
"You…" her voice was not a whisper—it was thunder.
"You have destroyed seventy years of work. Seventy years of crafting this empire from blood, lust, and obedience!"
Her glare snapped toward Danny and Samuel, who stood frozen under the rain, their clothes drenched, hands clenched in helpless rage.
"My family—my sisters—you've banished them. My farm of flesh, my legacy... ruined."
She stepped forward, dragging Pinky with her like a broken doll.
"You think you're the righteous ones? You Hell Enforcers think you're saving lives?"
She spat on the ground. The droplet sizzled into smoke.
"YOU'RE THE EVIL."
Samuel tensed, his fingers hovering near his bracelet.
Danny's breathing turned ragged. "Let her go."
The Queen smiled—a jagged, venomous grin. "Oh, I will. After I make her soul watch me carve yours apart. You want Hell? I am Hell."
She raised Pinky higher.
Pinky's eyes rolled back. Her body twitched. Every breath she took now was agony.
Samuel panicked. "Hell Order, initiate emergency scan! Find a weakness!"
"Warning: Entity operating beyond standard parameters. Weakness not currently detectable. Recommendation: Stall or escape."
Danny's mind raced. "We can't fight her—not like this."
The Queen froze mid-charge.
The rain hissed louder around them. Salt steam curled up from her body like incense in a cursed temple.
Samuel stepped forward slowly, arms raised. His voice cracked, but his eyes were steady.
"Don't do anything stupid, Queen."
His boots splashed in the growing puddle between them.
"Let her go. She's innocent. She's not part of this. She got caught in the crossfire."
The Queen's eyes narrowed, lips twitching. Her claws gripped Pinky's throat tighter—just enough to make her wheeze.
"You want me, right?" Samuel said, his voice firmer now.
"Then take me."
He stopped just short of the waterline. Right at the edge of the salt slick.
"Let her go… and I'll come willingly. No tricks. No escape."
Pinky's eyes widened, shaking her head faintly. "N-No…" she croaked.
Danny's whole body tensed like a loaded spring. "Sam—what the hell are you doing?!"
Samuel didn't look back. His gaze was locked with the Queen's.
The demoness tilted her head, studying him.
"…So noble," she hissed. "So human."
She let out a slow, mocking laugh. "You think I care about her soul? She's just a snack. But you…"
She licked the blood from her lips.
"You're the main course."
Pinky took a deep breath. Her terrified expression shifted into something… calm.
Just before Pinky reached behind her back, the Queen's expression flickered—something uneasy crossing her molten eyes. She could feel it. Something was wrong. But rage drowned reason.
"You dare look at me like that?" she spat, glaring at Samuel. "You think you understand sacrifice? You've never felt what it means to build a kingdom of obedience from the ashes of betrayal!"
Her hand trembled, not from fear, but fury so intense it was splintering her bones from within. Smoke poured from her arms like volcanic ash, and yet she still held Pinky up like a trophy of defiance.
"I tore empires apart to make this place!" she shrieked. "Turned virgins into predators. Turned sinners into worshippers. This was my temple—my Eden of sin! And you—"
Her rant was cut short.
Pinky's fingers were already moving behind her.
Her grip found the cold, dented aluminum tucked in the back of her waistband. The one she always kept—her "emergency fan girl energy."
She smiled through the pain.
"I'm not a trophy," she whispered.
Then she cracked the can open and unleashed holy hell.
"Samuel… Danny… you two are the best thing that ever happened in my life," she said with a faint smile. "You still owe me an autograph."
HISSSS!
A can hissed open—Himalayan Salt Energy Drink.
She poured it directly onto the Queen's face.
The demoness shrieked, staggering back. Smoke and steam erupted from her skin.
With a crack like thunder, the Queen's fingers snapped Pinky's neck.
"NO!" Samuel and Danny both screamed.
But there was no more time for mourning.
The Queen turned—but she was already melting.
Danny's blade ignited with fury. He roared and lunged forward. Samuel followed, his hands glowing with infernal sigils.
The battle was brutal.
The Queen fought back with everything she had, casting waves of flame and shadow. But she was weakened.
Danny hacked at her limbs. Her glamours fell apart. Samuel locked her in a Sin Binding Circle, pinning her in place. She shrieked, tried to teleport—but it was too late.
"HELL'S ORDER—BANISHMENT PROTOCOL!" Samuel shouted.
Hell's Gate ripped open beneath her.
Danny slashed again and again as her rooted demonic body began to decay and dissolve, until her screams were swallowed by the gate.
She was gone.
Samuel rushed to Pinky, dropping to his knees. "MEDIC! SHE NEEDS HELP!"
Police and paramedics finally pushed through the smoke.
Danny turned, breathing heavily. All around them, other demons writhed in the salted rain.
He didn't hesitate.
He walked over to the nearest creature—a half-dead, mummified husk—and drove his blade down.
Over. And over.
"You like playing human, huh?!" he shouted. "Here's a real taste of hell!"
After a while, the cops in vicinity regained their composure. Officers screamed at Danny to stop, but he didn't.
The crowd watched in horror.
Danny finally dropped his blade, panting.
Two officers tackled him to the ground.
"YOU'RE UNDER ARREST! HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK!"
"Get off me! They're DEMONS!" Danny roared.
Samuel heard the commotion. But he didn't rise.
The medic checking Pinky looked up.
"…She's gone."
Samuel's heart cracked.
His eyes turned bloodshot.
He stood slowly.
The world seemed to fade. People. Sirens. Screams.
None of it mattered.
"Hell Order…" Samuel whispered. "Banishing Protocol: Citywide Sweep."
All across the rain-soaked courtyard, the air went still.
And then—
It happened.
The towering Hell's Gate above the scene pulsed once—deep and ancient like the heartbeat of the underworld. No sound. No lightshow. Just an invisible force rippling through reality like gravity had reversed.
The demons felt it.
Those in human skin.
Those writhing in the puddles.
Those who thought they'd escaped by blending into the crowd.
They screamed.
Not aloud—but in soul-wrenching, silent agony as their true forms were ripped apart from within.
One by one, they dropped like puppets with strings cut.
More than twenty "humans" collapsed instantly, their eyes rolling back, bodies convulsing. Some began to rot on the spot—their flesh shriveling, peeling, revealing the mummified truth beneath their glamour.
To the normal humans watching?
Nothing.
No flash. No fire. Just the sudden, unexplained horror of people collapsing all around them and some of them rotting like some kind of virus infection in a zombie movie. People screamed and began running in all directions, pushing past the barricades.
Danny, pinned to the ground by officers, turned his head in disbelief.
"Sam…?" he whispered.
Samuel stood at the center, hand still raised—his body trembling.
And then, like a puppet cut from heaven this time—he collapsed, face-first into the blood-and-salt-stained pavement.
"MEDIC!" someone shouted.
But the world around them was already unraveling.
Among the crowd, James—eyes wide, camera shaking—kept filming. His hands were trembling, but he couldn't stop. He wouldn't. Every moment seared into his memory. Every frame burned into his soul.
He wasn't just witnessing a scoop anymore.
He was watching history fall apart.
"I got it all…" he muttered to his partner beside him, voice numb. "Every single frame…"
And then—
High above, on the rooftop of the opposite building…
A shadow stood beneath the flickering neon.
Cheeky.
Her soaked silhouette trembled—not in fear, but fury.
Her eyes burned with vengeance.
Her jaw clenched as she watched Samuel collapse, and Danny restrained. Her body still sizzled from the salt damage earlier, blisters hissing across her flesh—but her hatred numbed the pain.
She didn't scream.
She didn't growl.
She just whispered…
"You think this is over?"
To be continued…