We've been travelling across this dead land for a good twelve hours now. Dusk Shine had to be placed onto the cart once he got too exhausted to walk anymore.

Applejack is surprising herself with every step she takes, which along with Scarlet, they crack the rocky terrain under their hooves, this could be by how strong their legs are as they take a step, or they weigh a lot more now due to the increased muscle mass.

The trip so far has been quiet with no gryphons or predators in sight, even my shadow wraiths have spotted nothing ahead.

"Alright! We'll set up camp here for the night," I tell everyone getting sighs and groans from sore muscles.

The lesser demons get to work on setting up camp while I order the thestrals and harpies to scout the area from above to see if anything worthwhile is in the area. They take off except for Rainbow Dash who after an intense glare from me takes off after the others.

Applejack, Scarlet, and Pinkie Pie get to work cooking dinner while the incupony and succupony with us are cuddling and staring at each other with lust and love in their eyes. Those two have gotten very close to each other during our trip due to their feeding off of each other and I wouldn't be surprised if they started a family together once this is all over.

Once fed and everything cleaned up, we turn in for the night where a couple of lycans take the first watch along with my shadow wraiths to alert them of any danger.

I lay in my tent with Desire and Twilight beside me who are already asleep. I stare at the ceiling of the tent with thoughts of home, my wife Slitherana, my kids, and how the nation is doing with my sudden disappearance. Has another demonlord taken advantage and attacked? With these worries plaguing my mind, I fall asleep.

---

---

I open my eyes and yawn as I get up out of my bed in Felfire. Desire and Slitherana are cuddled up to me with my scaly wife's long tail coiled around my legs and her nose pressed into the crook of my neck.

I take a deep breath and sigh in content, I have a happy family and life in Tartarus is progressing well, my six children are still in school and learning from us as well. I have now got three other towns under my banner and a total of around three thousand and seven-hundred demons. Even Felfire has tripled in size and population since I arrived.

I'm broken out of my good mood as Geneine, now looking old with her feathers starting to turn grey, bursts into the room with a panicked expression on her face.

"My lord! Stonescale is under attack by an archdemon! The messenger is badly injured but told me the town was breached before he came here!" she tells me and I snarl in anger.

'What is an archdemon doing all the way out here!?' I think to myself and rudely shove Desire off me and pull Slitherana's tail from my legs.

They both yelp as they're rudely awoken but say nothing from the expression of anger on my face.

"Get a unit of the elite demons ready! Once I'm suited up, I'll go on ahead to Stonescale while you send the others there!" I order Geneine while putting on some trousers and a shirt, She quickly nodded and leaves.

"Damien? What'sss going on?" Slitherana asks me with worry.

"Stonescale is under attack by an archdemon and has already been breached," I tell her and start putting my dark grey fel steel half-plate armour on. I first put on my boots which go up to my knees, followed by the chest plate and pauldrons which has my mark on them both. Then I strap on both gauntlets and then put on my helmet which has a plate guarding my mouth and nose but giving me plenty of vision still.

I adjust the armour until I'm comfortable and grab my musket rifle with fifty shells for it. It's been modified to where I can push the under barrel forward to open up the chamber where the shell goes like a double barrel shotgun. I do so and check for any damage, still one-hundred percent functional. I pull the chamber back and strap it to its holster on my back.

My goblins are still experimenting with a revolver chamber and proper metal casing bullets to go with it, but finding the right metal for the casing is proving difficult as fel iron or even fel steel crack or warp from the pressure, in turn, damaging the chamber as well.

Once armed and armoured, I make my way to the door where Desire has also gotten into her armour.

"What are you doing?" I ask her with a raised brow.

"I'm coming with you! I'm not going to sit here while our sister-in-law is fighting for her life!" she tells me and equips her own rifle. She's wearing her own half-plate armour like mine but lighter.

Slitherana looks like she's about to have a panic attack which Desire notices.

She sighs and puts her gun down. "I'll calm her down. Get going already and kill whoever is responsible," she tells me and hugs her now crying wife.

I frown and quickly run out our room with Thanatos in hand and into the town where a large force of four hundred demons are gathered in fel steel or leather armour with guns and an assortment of melee weapons.

"All of you! Make your way to Stonescale NOW!" I order them before looking at Geneine. "Brief them quickly and get them going!" I tell her and then take to the air.

I slip into the Shadow Realm and without wind resistance slowing me now, I rocket off towards Stonescale.

---

I arrive to a grim and despairing sight, the town is completely devastated.

The castle is little more than rubble now and the homes and buildings around it are torn up, burning, or demolished. Ash and bloodied clothing litters the street of dead demons. I even spot the suit of Gilthina, Adderine's secretary covered in ash and blood.

I spend an hour searching for survivors and Adderine. I spot what looks like a dress Arachne made for Adderine and I quickly move to lift the stone wall from the castle on top of it. After I toss it aside, I go wide eyed as the dress is filled with ash, along with a demonite spear where the heart would be.

Tears flow down my eyes as I spot the necklace I gave Adderine for her birthday barely glinting in the ash. I then see a trail and follow it out of the town which leads off in the direction the Capital of Tartarus is in.

I snarl in rage as my grip tightens on my weapon. 'When I find the ones responsible, there will be no mercy or forgiveness, I will not stop until I have taken every one of their souls!' I say to myself and I can feel Thanatos pulse with anger of his own.

For four days I follow the trail, eating any wildlife I come across and sleeping very little along the way. I arrive and see a large city just bordering on the Blasted Wastes. This one bearing the banner of Val'Hades.

'Master. I can infuse you with a large quantity of souls, this should be more than enough for you to level this city by yourself with ease,' Thanatos informs me with malice laced in his tone.

"Do it..." I mutter, my eyes never leaving the City.

A large pulse flows through Thanatos and into me, my eyes widen and dilate from the sudden influx of power and my demonic form takes hold. But it doesn't stop there, my body is consumed in darkfire and a second pair of horns grow on the sides of my head like a ram's. A third pair of shadow wings grow under the second and my teeth grow longer and my eyes are pure blood red.

I feel like I can barely control myself as rage and anger fuel my actions and thoughts.

'Kill them... KILL THEM ALL!' I keep repeating before roaring out loudly, shaking the very ground beneath me.

I raise all six wings up and flap them down as hard as I could. The force sends me soaring into the city where I impact a tall ten story building, going right through it and setting where I went through ablaze with darkfire while the building collapses.

I go through two more buildings before crashing into the street where demons all scream and scatter. I pull myself out of the deep crater I made and twitch madly as I look around quickly, taking in all the sights and demons around me. I lock onto a deamon who looks like an ogre and launch myself at him.

Once I reach him, he tries to swing at me and I backhand his fel iron club out of his grip. He's surprised by this but I don't allow him to recover. I leap up and grasp his short black hair with my left hand which starts to burn him, I then hold my scythe to the right side of his neck.

"WHERE ARE THEY! WHERE ARE THE ONES RESPONSIBLE FOR STONESCALE'S DESTRUCTION!" I yell at him in a heavily distorted and deep tone as I start digging the blade into his neck.

He yelps and tries to pull me off, only to burn his hand when it makes contact with my body.

"I-I don't know!" he yells in fear as my eyes bore into his.

"THEN I HAVE NO USE FOR YOU!" I reply and decapitate his head and take his soul.

I see another ogre who starts to run while demons around me are screaming in fear and panic. Again I raise my wings and launch myself at him.

With a heavy thud, I impact his back sending him tumbling into a building. I jump in, ignoring the lesser demons crushed under his large body. I hop up onto his back and pull his head back.

"What about you!? Do you know who attacked Stonescale!?" I demand of him.

"I-It was U-U-Utaan!" he tells me fearfully and struggles to get up as my darkfire covered boots start burning into his back.

"And where is he!?" I tell him and pull his head back hard, making him yelp.

"AAARRGGH!" he screams as I unintentionally rip his head off.

I growl in anger and impale his heart, taking his soul. I step out of the now burning building and look around.

'If I can't find him... I'LL MAKE HIM COME TO ME!' I think to myself and take to the air.

I hold both hands out and start conjuring multiple darkfire dragons and send them one after the other like a machine gun into the city.

"UTAAAAAAAAN!" I roar out loudly over the city as buildings start exploding on impact from the dragons. They then catch on fire which quickly spreads, melting the metal and scorching the stone structures. Demons everywhere run for their lives as they get set alight and reduced to ash in the streets.

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" A deep two toned male voice echoes throughout the city.

I look to the south and spot a large two headed black wyvern with dark grey underbelly scales. Each head has four horns and razor sharp teeth that can be seen over his scaled lips on both of his long muzzles. He has no arms or forelegs but three clawed hands on the elbow joints of his large webbed wings.

I instantly lock onto him as he has the strongest power I can feel here, which is pathetic to the current power I feel coursing through my veins. With a roar of rage, I dive at him before he could respond and with my scythe, I slice his left wing off near the joint connecting to his torso. I ain't letting him take to the air.

"AARGH! You little insect! What is the meaning of this insubordination!" he yells at me struggling to get up on his remaining wing.

I growl out lowly and glare at him. "You just destroyed my sister-in-law's town, killing her and everyone in it..." I reply coldly and start walking towards him.

Demons try to get in my way and attack, but their weapons can't cut me and they melt from contact with my darkfire. I can still feel Thanatos pouring more soul energy into me to keep this power flowing, but I can feel he's running low on souls now. But I'm taking the souls of the ones attacking me which Thanatos just burns to fuel my power.

Utaan's eyes widen and he snarls at me. "Impossible... that naga bitch said a demonlord would avenge her... There have been no demonlords in the Blasted Wastes for millennia! What are you doing here!" he demands with a confused frown which I ignore.

"You don't need to know that, I'm going to kill you and destroy this city for what you have done," I reply calmly before lunging at him again.

His left head lunges at me with his maw wide open to bite me. I flap my wings stopping just in front of his head, my eyes burn brighter and moving faster than I've ever done before, I swing my scythe and slice off his lower jaw.

The head gurgles out a roar of pain as his tongue flops out and dangles limply while the other breathes in and exhales a large plume of hellfire at me, bright orange and hot flames, though not as deadly as darkfire.

I slip into the Shadow Realm and go behind him. I exit and quickly cut off both his legs and his tail, making him collapse to the ground unable to move now.

He roars out again and his right head whips back to bite me, I jump to the side and with a flick of my arm, sever his head off.

The left head gurgles up more blood and flails as he seems to lose some cognitive function, but I don't let up as I start carving off chunks of flesh from his body to make him suffer, making the left head flail some more.

"Shtooopfh, spaaaregh... eeee," he says in a tone that sounds like he's having trouble forming the words in his head.

"You didn't spare Adderine or my demons! YOU'LL RECEIVE NO MERCY FROM ME!" I scream at him in rage as I cut open his back and start pulling out organs until only his heart and lungs remain.

He's twitching on the ground but still barely alive. I move to his remaining head and quickly slice it off before plunging my scythe into his heart, stealing his soul and turning his body to ash, though his skulls have remained behind.

I ignore his corpse for now and fly back up and do as I said, I burn his soul to power my assault where larger darkfire dragons bombard the city, demolishing the buildings until nothing is left standing, just like they did to Stonescale. Demons try to flee the city, only to be blown to pieces as my dragons detonate on them.

After what feels like hours and muffled voices calling to me, I feel someone hug me from behind. I look down to see two red arms wrapped around my torso which are slowly getting burnt. I hear a female hiss behind me in pain but then start to speak up.

"Damien... It's me... please stop, you've won. You don't need to stay angry anymore..." she tells me in a pained tone and I recognise her voice.

"Desire?" I ask feeling her nod into my neck as we slowly descend to the ground. I then feel another person hug me from my right side and hear the sizzling of flesh again. I look to them and see Slitherana with tears in her eyes but holding me tightly.

My eyes widen and my body reverts back into my human form. I quickly turn around and see the burns on their right cheeks, arms, and chests.

"Hey," Desire says weakly with a pained smile before letting go and falling to the ground.

I gasp and catch her before she hit the rubble below. I quickly pour what energy I have left into her and Slitherana as I kiss Desire deeply to help her heal faster.

After a few minutes, I feel drained, but they're both healed. I collapse next to them and they weakly hug me as tears flow down my face.

"I'm sorry," I tell them. "I couldn't save her..."

"We know... we found her remains..." Desire tells me making me cry for the first time in many years.

---

We and the elite force they brought with them bury the demons remains in Stonescale. Desire, Slitherana, and I stand in front of the damaged tombstone of Medusa and her husband. We buried Adderine's ashes next to her mother and put up a temporary tombstone until we can have a proper one made.

The trip back to Felfire was a sombre and silent one as we all mourned the loss of our sister and the town.

---

---

I open my eyes and notice my eyes and cheeks are wet. I look to the right and see Desire looking at me with worry.

"That dream again?" she asks with a sad tone knowingly.

I just nodded and slowly get up. "Come on. The sooner we get to the gate the better," I reply and head out of the tent.

Next Chapter: Chapter 39: The gate to Tartarus Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 3 Minutes