"The demon rulers are immortal?" Xiandre asked.
"That's what he said to me at least," Amelia responded.
"But that doesn't seem right. Earlier, I remembered the demon ruler of Greed said the Sloth ruler was killed by the first person who ever rose out of here," Xiandre replied.
"Maybe one of them is lying," Amelia suggested.
"Yeah, it's either one of them is lying... or that first person who rose out of here is more powerful than we're expecting," Xiandre exclaimed.
Xiandre and Amelia glanced at the massive red flaming door before them.
"One of our allies has fallen," Amelia exclaimed.
"Yeah, I found their bodies earlier," Xiandre responded.
"Bodies? Two are already dead? But I thought only one of them died, just like what the demon ruler said," Amelia exclaimed.
"There were two people, both hurt equally bad. One died, but the other survived. To end the other one's suffering, I had to take his life," Xiandre said calmly.
"I see, so he was on the verge of death anyway," Amelia confirmed.
"Yeah. It was Enman and Heart," Xiandre added.
"Yes, I killed my best friend... For I am... I am still a killer, just like before. I never changed, hehe." Xiandre smirked and glanced at Amelia dead in the eyes in silence.
Amelia's eyes filled with worry as she breathed heavily and replied, "You're not human anymore, Xiandre... Your skin is pale."
Xiandre answered silently, pulling out his golden sword and glancing at it.
"This was the sword that took Enman's life," Xiandre exclaimed.
Xiandre then swung it across the door, breaking it open in one slash.
Amelia gulped as she watched Xiandre.
"Amelia... let's get out of this place together, and take the ruthless students' teeth and feed it to them," Xiandre exclaimed, offering his hand to her.
"I see... So this is how you want it to go..." Amelia muttered under her breath, looking down.
As she looked up, she saw Xiandre's wide smile—his teeth sharp and white, his skin pale yet alive and warm.
Amelia took Xiandre's hand and smiled with him.
"Feeling like a villain, aren't you?" Xiandre exclaimed.
"Maybe a little," Amelia replied.
Xiandre closed his eyes and kissed Amelia on the lips. Amelia was shocked by the kiss but closed her eyes and kissed him back. Their tongues intertwined as they kissed aggressively.
"Mmm… chuuu~ haaah…" Xiandre's breath melted into Amelia as they continued, "… slrp… nghh…" their tongues tangled and their saliva dripped from their mouths, "… mmm~ chuuuuu… slrrrp…" Amelia let out a soft moan as their lips pressed tighter… "nnh~"
As their lips finally separated, a saliva string formed between their mouths.
Xiandre then held Amelia's hand tightly as the two ran through the hallway behind the massive door.
Back in the town of Grimore, it was already late at night. A girl with yellow hair walked across the road; the road was nearly empty.
She walked inside a bar and sat down at one of the seats in the counter.
The girl wore a black cloak, hiding her face in the shadow of her hood.
"Can I get a bottle of Sunigone?" she ordered.
"Sorry, but aren't you too young for this?" the bartender questioned.
"I'm an adult. I'm just short," she replied calmly, yet serious and intimidating.
Her tone was calm, but the aura behind it was scary. She placed a single gold coin on the table, changing the bartender's mind immediately.
The girl waited for her bottle and glanced around the bar. She noticed there were two other people inside.
They were both drinking heavily and were very muscular. Both seemed strong and powerful.
One of them had a large battle axe behind him, and the other had a very expensive wand beside him.
The bartender returned and gave the girl her bottle. She opened it and noticed it was made out of silver.
"I gave you a premium one for the overpay," the bartender said.
The girl took a sip of her wine but remained expressionless despite the premium price.
"Everyone, I'm closing in five minutes," the bartender exclaimed.
The bartender then returned to the back of the shop, preparing to leave.
The blonde little girl got off her chair and approached the two men who were drinking.
She stopped just behind the guy with the battle axe, standing behind him unnoticed. The other man noticed her behind his friend and was about to say something but went silent.
"Huh?!? What's the matter, dude?!" the guy questioned.
"B—Behind you," he whispered.
Before the guy with the battle axe could fully turn his head, the blonde-haired girl smashed him with the silver bottle she was holding.
It broke the guy's skull, killing him instantly. The girl then threw the silver bottle at the other guy's face, breaking it as it penetrated through.
Both died in an instant, unable to fight back.
The girl then pulled the silver bottle out of the man's face.
Her face was splattered with blood as she calmly wiped it off with her cloak and drank the remaining wine from the bottle.
She walked toward the bathroom and washed her hands and face in the sink.
She glanced at the mirror. Looking at herself, she looked miserable. Her face was totally expressionless. She showed the face of someone who hadn't experienced emotions since the moment she was alive.
She put her fingers on her cheek, forcing herself to smile. But even then, she still looked miserable.
"I'm never going to feel what sympathy feels like," the girl said.
As she exited the bathroom, she saw the bartender on the floor in shock, unable to process what he had just witnessed.
The first man's brain was exposed, and the other's face was completely destroyed, making him literally unidentifiable.
His eyes were on the table, and their blood was splattered everywhere.
The girl glanced at the trembling bartender, but she remained cold. She slowly approached the door and left the bar as if nothing had happened.
Then someone called her from behind.
"You! Are you the infamous Black Hood?!" the person shouted.
Black Hood—the blonde little girl—looked back and glanced at the girl who had called her.
The girl was none other than Alisa, and she was holding a holy sword with several more floating beside her.
"You're not really a nice person, are you?" Alisa asked.
Black Hood remained cold and silent as she pulled out a knife from behind her black cloak.
She glared into Alisa's eyes—calm, cold, and unreadable.
"The princess herself warned me about your presence. She told me all of the crimes you've committed… and that you need to be taken care of," Alisa said firmly.
Black Hood approached slowly, sensing something was off. She wasn't alone.
Still calm and expressionless, she continued to close the distance between her and Alisa.
Alisa began to tremble. Black Hood's presence alone was overwhelming—her aura dark and void of sympathy.
Then, as Alisa blinked, Black Hood vanished from in front of her. Behind her, Black Hood was already engaged in combat, fighting five of her comrades with just a knife, moving at inhuman speed.
Alisa felt her knees give out, but Louie caught her in time and began running back to the castle with her in his arms.
"W-What's going on?!" Alisa asked, before coughing up blood.
"Alisa, you're heavily wounded!" Louie exclaimed.
Alisa looked down at her body and saw a massive wound slashed from her chest across her waist.
"We're no match for her. The others are fighting to buy us time, but by now… they must already be dead," Louie said, tears welling in his eyes.
"That girl… she's no exception. She's the devil herself," he cried out.
Alisa felt herself fading, and with one final heavy breath, she lost consciousness from her wounds.
Meanwhile, Black Hood ripped the heads off the five students who had tried to stop her.
She remained cold and expressionless, even amid the brutal carnage.
She sighed, knelt by one of the corpses, took a severed limb, and bit into it.
"It tastes horrible…" she thought, chewing for a moment before spitting the meat out.
She stood up and began to walk away.
"Those people came from another world… I wonder if they'll actually manage to kill the Eldritch God of Profanity this time," she pondered silently.
Back in Hell…
Xiandre and Amelia arrived on a floor covered in meat and blood.
"Everything in here is dead. The walls are made of flesh… this means we just arrived at the Floor of Gluttony," Xiandre observed.
"Yeah… I hope this place finally leads to the Pride floor," Amelia replied.
"If we somehow find a way to skip the remaining floors and escape this place, that would be fantastic," Xiandre said.
"Aren't the remaining floors Envy, Lust, and Pride?" Amelia asked.
"Indeed. Since we're currently in Gluttony, we might as well finish it quickly," Xiandre answered.
With that, the two sprinted through the path of Gluttony. Each step made a slapping sound as the floor and walls were completely made of flesh.
Then, the voices of the demons began—growling stomachs, relentless chewing.
A creature holding a giant meat leg appeared in front of them, forcing them to stop.
"Hungry," the demon muttered repeatedly.
Xiandre noticed more and more emerging from the shadows, echoing the same word: "Hungry, hungry, hungry..."
Then, without warning, bones shot up from the fleshy ground, impaling the demons and pinning them in place.
Xiandre snapped his fingers, and the meat floor devoured them completely.
The path was cleared in an instant, allowing them to continue their sprint.
"Xiandre, I have a question," Amelia said as they ran.
"What is it?" he replied.
"What happened to your skin?"
"I died," Xiandre answered bluntly.
"I see… so you're like an undead now?" Amelia asked, calm and accepting.
"Yeah. But you said earlier you died trying to climb the wall that separated us. That means we're both undead," Xiandre replied.
"Yeah. At least I still breathe, hihi," Amelia smirked.
"That's fine. What matters is that I'm still moving," Xiandre said.
"It's okay… I still love you just the way you are," Amelia smiled with a smug look, jumping up to kiss Xiandre on the cheek as they continued running.
Then, a monstrous growl echoed across the entire floor. The fleshy walls cracked, and blood splattered out as a shadowy figure stepped into their path—blocking the door to the next level.
This demon's body was pitch black, covered in mouths—ten in total. Mouths on his palms, legs, chest… all filled with sharp, golden teeth. He had no eyes or nose, only a body of darkness bound by chains around his neck.
"Looks like the two of you aren't a joke after all," the demon said.
"You must be the ruler of this floor, aren't you?" Xiandre asked.
"Yes, indeed. I am Beelzebub. And to be completely honest, I'm the second strongest ruler of the seven—just below Lucifer," Beelzebub answered.
"It doesn't matter to us. We've already taken care of the Greed and Wrath rulers. The rest of you are just exceptions we haven't met yet," Amelia said.
"Oh, please. I have no intention of fighting you two. I'm only here to congratulate you for making it this far," Beelzebub said.
"You're letting us go without a fight?" Xiandre asked.
"Indeed."
"And why is that? Wouldn't that be… pathetic?" Xiandre questioned.
"I'm not like Lucifer. When I sense someone stronger than me, I avoid the fight. Why fight a battle you can't win, right?" Beelzebub remarked with a smirk.
"I see. Thank you," Xiandre replied.
Amelia summoned a Death Blaster and blasted through the door ahead, creating a massive hole. She and Xiandre ran through it without hesitation.
"Seriously… can't they just read the chant that opens the door anymore?" Beelzebub sighed.
The two arrived at a cold, suffocating floor. The atmosphere was tight, and the oxygen level was dangerously low. Statues of men were scattered everywhere, their features twisted in pain or longing. The entire place was lit by eerie green flames.
They sprinted through the Path of Envy, where darkness blanketed everything. The only source of light came from the flickering green torches lining the walls — but even their glow couldn't fully reveal the room's size or shape.
"X–Xiandre… I can't breathe..." Amelia gasped.
"This must be the Room of Envy," Xiandre said, his tone calm but focused.
Without hesitation, he lifted Amelia into his arms as she struggled to breathe. Her breaths grew weaker — she was slowly suffocating.
"Looks like breathing has turned against you, hehe," Xiandre teased with a faint smirk.
"It's not fair… Not needing to breathe like an undead really does have its perks," Amelia replied weakly.
"I guess," Xiandre answered simply, carrying her deeper into the floor.
Then, the demons of this floor appeared. Xiandre scanned the area and spotted them — decaying creatures whose bodies were melting, oozing with green liquid. Their flesh barely clung to their bones.
The demons opened their mouths and spat acid at them.
Xiandre evaded the attack with ease, still holding Amelia in his arms.
"Looks like we've got company," he said, unfazed.
He paused for a moment, then leaned down and kissed Amelia, giving her a quick breath — temporary CPR to keep her conscious.
Several more slime-like demons lunged toward him.
"Configuration Procedure… System!" Xiandre chanted.
A glowing window system appeared above him, flat like a platform. Xiandre leapt onto it, hovering midair.
The slime demons tried to leap up after him, but he spoke again:
"I control this window system — to enlarge its size!"
The glowing screen widened rapidly, slamming down and crushing the demons beneath it.
"I control the air — to create flames below me!" he chanted again.
A burst of fire erupted beneath him, scorching the slime demons into ash.
Now floating above the ground, Xiandre continued to fly, manipulating the air to carry him forward.
"X–Xiandre, what's going on…?" Amelia murmured, catching her breath.
Xiandre chuckled at her dazed expression.
"What are you laughing at…?" she pouted.
"You looked so cute just now," he said with a grin.
"Uwaa, me? Cute!? Well, um… of course I'm cute! And remember — I'm all yours now, hihi," Amelia exclaimed with a flustered smile.
Xiandre continued flying through the air when suddenly, a demon holding a giant spear charged at him.
Xiandre dove back to the ground to dodge and glanced toward the attacker.
"Looks like you finally showed up," he said calmly. Just behind him was the door to the next floor.
"Did Beelzebub let you through?!" the demon demanded, summoning his spear back to his hand.
"Looks like he did. That means you already know — you're no match for me," Xiandre replied confidently.