For a mont after Damien spoke, the forest held its breath.
The valley had gone unnaturally still.
Three demons stood across the clearing, their bodies tense, claws extended, eyes locked onto the human standing calmly before them.
They had expected panic.
Maybe an attempt to escape.
Instead they found a boy who looked… almost bored. He looked like he's found new toys to play with. Except... They were the toys.
The blade-backed demon chuckled first.
"So this is the human they warned us about?"
The scaled demon cracked its neck.
"You walked into your own grave."
The tracker demon simply smiled, its nostrils flaring as it studied Damien more carefully.
But Damien didn't move.
Didn't even shift his stance.
Instead, he sighed quietly and rolled his shoulders as though the entire situation was mildly inconvenient.
Then he raised one hand.
"Fenrir."
The white wolf stepped forward.
Its massive fra descended from the rock ledge with silent power, claws landing softly against the earth.
Red eyes locked onto the demons.
The blade-backed demon grinned wider.
"Sending a pet first?"
Damien ignored him.
"Cerbe."
Behind him, the three-headed hellhound rose.
Black flas licked along its fur as it stepped forward beside Fenrir, each head watching a different demon.
The scaled demon's grin faded slightly.
Two high-grade summons.
Interesting.
But still manageable.
Damien stretched his neck once.
Then he glanced down at the silver sli beside him.
"Luton."
The sli bounced happily.
But Damien's tone sharpened slightly.
"New order for you."
Luton stilled.
"Don't devour."
The sli tilted slightly.
Damien pointed toward the demons.
"Store one."
Fenrir's ears twitched.
Cerbe's middle head laughed.
The demons blinked.
Store?
The blade-backed demon frowned.
"What nonsense—"
Then Damien finally moved.
Not forward.
Back.
He stepped away from the battlefield entirely.
Then he sat down on a fallen stone beside the riverbank.
One leg crossed casually over the other.
"Begin."
For half a second, othing happened.
And then in the next half, all hell broke loose.
Fenrir was the first one to move.
The wolf exploded forward like a furious lightning, white fur blurring across the clearing with terrifying speed.
The blade-backed demon reacted instantly, claws slicing outward to intercept the charge.
But Fenrir was faster.
The wolf twisted mid-lunge and slamd into the demon's chest with crushing force.
The impact shattered the ground beneath them.
The demon skidded backward nearly twenty ters, claws tearing deep trenches into the soil.
"Fast—!"
Before it could finish the sentence, Fenrir was already on it again.
Claws.
Fangs.
Pure predatory violence.
At the sa mont, Cerbe attacked.
The three-headed hellhound lunged toward the scaled demon, black flas bursting from its jaws.
The demon raised its arms just in ti as a torrent of infernal fire slamd into it.
BOOM.
The explosion lit the valley.
The scaled demon roared in anger, leaping through the flas and striking at Cerbe with razor-sharp claws.
One of Cerbe's heads caught the strike with its teeth.
Another head tore into the demon's shoulder.
The third unleashed another burst of black fire point-blank.
The forest shook with their collision.
The tracker demon, however, did not rush into the fight.
It stepped back instead.
Watching.
Calculating.
Its eyes flicked toward Damien sitting casually by the river.
Sothing about this felt wrong.
Why wasn't the human fighting?
Why was he letting his beasts, sothing moved beside it.
The tracker turned.
And saw red.
Luton.
The sli bounced gently toward it.
The demon stared.
"…What?"
The sli did nothing.
Just bounced closer.
The tracker frowned.
Then it laughed.
"You think a sli can—"
Luton suddenly expanded.
Its body stretched outward like an overinflated balloon, surrounding the demon's legs instantly.
The tracker's smile vanished.
"What—"
It tried to jump.
Too late.
Luton surged upward.
The sli wrapped around the demon's torso in a flash.
The tracker demon roared, claws tearing into the sli's surface.
But Luton only rippled.
The demon's claws sank into the gelatinous body but failed to escape.
"Get off—!"
It unleashed a burst of demonic energy.
The ground beneath them cracked.
But Luton simply tightened.
Damien watched calmly from his seat.
"Rember," he said lazily.
"Store it."
The sli pulsed once.
The tracker demon's eyes widened.
It suddenly felt sothing strange.
Space.
Pressure.
Like being pulled into a collapsing void.
"WAIT—"
With a wet ripple, the demon vanished.
Gone.
Stored inside Luton's universal space.
The sli shrank back to normal size and bounced happily.
Mission complete.
anwhile, Fenrir had completely overwheld its opponent.
The blade-backed demon swung desperately, its claws flashing through the air.
But Fenrir moved like a storm.
The wolf's jaws clamped down on the demon's shoulder.
CRACK.
Bone shattered.
The demon scread as Fenrir ripped the arm clean off.
Before the creature could recover, Fenrir crushed its throat.
The demon's body went limp instantly.
The wolf devoured the core seconds later.
Cerbe's battle ended even more brutally.
The scaled demon fought well.
Very well.
It managed to wound one of Cerbe's heads and even shattered part of the hellhound's armor-like fur.
But Cerbe was relentless.
The middle head caught the demon's leg.
The left head tore into its neck.
The third unleashed a massive blast of hellfire directly into its chest.
The explosion turned the surrounding trees black with soot.
When the flas faded, only charred remains remained.
Cerbe devoured it greedily.
The entire fight had lasted less than two minutes.
Silence returned to the valley.
Fenrir walked back calmly, blood dripping from its jaws.
Cerbe shook ash from its fur.
Luton bounced happily beside them.
Damien stretched his arms lazily.
"Well done."
He stood and approached the sli.
"So."
He tapped Luton lightly.
"Let's take a look."
The sli swelled and then sothing fell out.
Plop!
The tracker demon dropped helplessly on the floor with it's limbs still held by Luton. It was trapped but still alive.
Its eyes burned with fury.
Damien smiled coldly.
"Perfect."
He crouched down slightly.
"I have questions."
The demon snarled.
"Go to hell."
Damien's smile widened.
"Eventually, I'll have to reach there to destroy your kind completely, won't I?"
He stood and looked toward Fenrir and Cerbe.
"But first…" His eyes returned to the trapped demon. "…we're going to talk."
The night around the valley grew darker.
And sowhere far away... Two demon captains were still waiting for reports that would never arrive.
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