My fingers traced the rough cavern wall as I walked, the heat already pricking at my skin. The air tasted like ash and burnt metal, thick enough to choke on. Every few steps, I dragged the edge of a sharp rock against the stone, leaving a jagged mark. No way in hell was I getting lost down here.
Not that I even know where "here" is.
The deeper I went, the worse it got. The walls throbbed like a living thing, veins of molten gold pulsing under the rock. Sweat dripped down my neck, evaporating before it could even reach my collarbone. My throat was sandpaper. My head pounded.
How long have I been walking?
Time blurred. The marks on the walls kept me sane—proof I wasn't just going in circles. But then, just as my legs started shaking from exhaustion, I saw it.
Light.
Not the dull, hellish glow of the cavern. Real, flickering light—firelight.
I picked up the pace, my pulse hammering in my ears. The tunnel widened, the ceiling arching higher until suddenly—
Oh. Oh no.
Holy shit.
A city.
No—a hellscape.
A massive chasm stretched before me, its depths lost in swirling smoke and embers. Towers of blackened bone and obsidian rose from the abyss, connected by swaying bridges of rusted chains. The air shimmered with heat, carrying the scent of charred flesh and something sweetly rotten.
And the things moving through it—
Winged demons circled the spires, their laughter like shattering glass. Hulking figures with cracked, burning skin lumbered across the bridges. Below, lithe, horned women—succubi—lounged by rivers of lava as if it were a day at the beach.
A hand clamped down on my shoulder.
I whirled—
And froze.
The woman standing behind me was unmistakably an oni—tall, slender, with two curved horns rising from her forehead, their tips blackened like scorched bone. Her white hair cascaded down her back, a few strands lazily covering one of her slitted, amber eyes. Scars marked her—across her left horn, under her right eye, trailing down her arms.
She wore a cropped black-and-yellow hoodie with "Akumi" stitched on the sleeve, fingerless gloves, and shaggy pants that showed off fishnet leggings beneath. A guard's insignia was pinned to her collar.
Her lips curled into a smirk.
"Lost, little mortal?" she purred.
I opened my mouth—
THWACK.
Pain exploded at the base of my skull. The world tilted. Darkness swallowed me whole.
Cold.
That was the first thing I noticed when consciousness returned. Cold stone against my cheek. The biting weight of metal around my wrists.
I groaned, blinking against the dim torchlight. Bars. I was in a cell.
"Oi! He's awake!" a voice chirped.
A demon girl with violet skin and curling horns peered through the bars, then turned and shouted down the hallway, "Captain! The intruder's up!"
Heavy footsteps echoed against stone.
Then she appeared—the horned woman from before.
She stood on the other side of the bars, arms crossed, one clawed finger tapping impatiently against her bicep. Two armored demons flanked her, their spears glinting in the torchlight.
With a lazy flick of her wrist, she gestured. One of the guards stepped forward, keys jangling as they unlocked the cell.
The door creaked open.
She strode in, her boots clicking against the stone. The guards remained at the entrance, weapons at the ready.
Crouching in front of me, she tilted her head, those slitted amber eyes boring into mine. Up close, I could see the faint scars around them, the way her pupils narrowed like a cat's.
"Well, well," she murmured, her voice dripping with amusement. "Let's have a little chat about why you thought sneaking into my territory was a good idea."
Her grin was all sharp edges and sharper teeth.
Yeah. I'm dead.
The oni woman's fingers twitched, her claws glinting in the dim torchlight. Then, with a sudden, violent motion, she clenched her fist
A torrent of molten magma erupted from her palm like a burst pipe, cascading down in a thick, glowing stream. The liquid fire splashed against the stone floor with a hiss, bubbling and churning as it pooled between us. The heat hit me like a physical wall, forcing me to squint against the orange glare.
Then—
The magma twisted.
It writhed upward like a living thing, spiraling around itself as it hardened mid-air. The glow faded from white-hot to burning red, then to dull iron-black as the liquid metal solidified into something monstrous—
A kanabō.
Not just any club, but a brutal, spiked weapon nearly twice her height. The iron still smoked from its sudden creation, the spikes along its length gleaming like fangs.
She caught it effortlessly in one hand, the sheer weight of it making the ground tremble when she let the tip drop.
She hefted the weapon effortlessly, letting the weight rest against her shoulder. The spikes cast jagged shadows across the cell walls.
"Let's try this again," she said, her voice deceptively light. "How did a surface rat like you end up in my prison?"
"I told you," I croaked, my throat dry. "I didn't come here on purpose. I was—"
"Running?" she interrupted, tilting her head. Her slitted pupils narrowed. "From what?"
"Last chance," she said, her voice low. "Tell me why you're really here."
The heat radiating off the weapon made the air in the cell unbearable. I could feel my skin reddening just from proximity.
"I—I don't know," I choked out. "I was thrown here! A portal—my friend—"
"Friend?" she interrupted, her slitted eyes narrowing. "What friend?"
I hesitated.
Her grip on the kanabō tightened.
"Blue," she suddenly spat, her nose wrinkling in disgust. "I can smell it on you. That damn, tainted blue."
I blinked. "What?"
She stepped closer, looming over me, the heat from her weapon making the sweat on my skin evaporate instantly.
"You reek of them," she snarled. "Those winged bastards who think they own the realms."
I frowned. "Like who?"
She released me with a scoff, turning toward the cell door. The guards immediately straightened as she passed them.
"We'll keep you here until I decide what to do with you," she said over her shoulder. Then she paused in the doorway, her horns silhouetted against the torchlight.
"That blue on you," she muttered, almost to herself. "It makes me sick. Reminds me of those damn angels."
Before I could respond, she was gone, the heavy door slamming shut behind her.
The guards' laughter echoed down the hall.
I slumped against the wall, the chains clinking.
Blue? Angels?
I looked down at myself—and froze.
The silence of the prison was absolute—until it wasn't.
"Heya~"
A voice. Light, melodic, dripping with playful mischief.
My head snapped up.
Across the dim corridor, in the opposite cell, a figure stood with her hands pressed against the bars. Pink hair tumbled in wild pigtails, streaked with white. Bat-like wings twitched behind her head, and her eyes—purple, with diamond-shaped pupils—gleamed in the torchlight.
I staggered to my feet, chains clanking as I lurched toward the cell entrance. The iron cuffs bit into my wrists, stopping me just short of the bars.
But it didn't matter.
I could see her clearly now.
The leotard. The spiked tail. That smirk.
My breath caught.
That's—