Chapter 53 - A Liberated Body & A Torn Soul

"Have you calmed down..." The demoness asked coldly, not having separated her gaze from Vera for the entire hour that the woman had cried.

"..." Vera's eyes were already lifeless, she couldn't get any worse.

"I can tell you about the blade..." The demoness insisted.

"Why haven't you killed me and swallowed my soul yet..." Vera asked, for an entire hour she just cried in front of a demoness, if Valentine and Fayette were here, they'd slap her for such a massive flaw.

But they're not... she's alone.

"The previous Rose Thorn saved my life once... thousands of years ago... long before I came to this circle." 

"..." Vera finally crawled and leaned on the wall to the opposite side of the demoness, hugging her knees and listening with the blade still in her hand.

"The Rose Thorn is an extremely powerful demon... it's passed by generations in the form of a bloody dagger, the Rose Eagle Thorn... it's a picky short sword with delightful embroidery and design, one that would make anyone that's unaware of its origin covet it madly... sadly or fortunately... not everyone can wield it, only those chosen by it can... as for what the qualifications are to do so, no one knows... I wouldn't have stolen it from you even if I wanted... it's highly likely that it would kill me upon doing that." The demoness explained, shamelessly spreading her legs and exposing herself to Vera, who didn't seem to care.

"I don't know if it was the previous generation before you... but it was a demoness called Zamira Trovskaya, I was in the circle of limbo at that time... being hunted and then she saved me... we demons from the same circle tend to be more... compassionate... with one other outside of our respective circles... she didn't say much, just saved me, we fucked once and she departed." 

"..."

'How anti-climatic...' Vera thought.

"I didn't know that it could choose humans as well, that's why I said that you must be at least a bronze... only remarkable demons could possibly gain its attention... Zamira was a Demon Marquise... I wonder what happened to her and how the dagger ended up here... a pity, she's likely dead now, I liked her... that's why I want to cooperate with you... in a way... you're her inheritor, even if you're a human... what is your name?"

"Vera Sidorov..."

"I'm Sasha..."

"What did you come to the circle of anger to do?" If she's going to work together with this demoness, she needs information, behaviour, flaws...

"To search for power... and I also wanted to leave the life of a slut..." The demoness answered while scratching her head in a rogue manner.

"It doesn't seem to be working." Vera cleaned her eyes and uttered with self-mockery.

"What can I say? he was an Onyx soul... it's not something I can easily let go of... I have a business in the city, he was my prey, I seduced him but it didn't work... he wasn't a newbie here... so I tailed him and he happened to come into the alleyways at that time of the night, tough luck..." The demoness snorted, even then she doesn't regret it.

"Why are you so adamant in getting the souls?" Perhaps right now it's the best moment to get information, she seems rather honest.

"You're clearly new here, huh... I thought you were protectors but I was mistaken... we demons become stronger after devouring souls... not only that, but we need to devour souls to survive... that food that you see in the stores for demons? other than being tasty, it doesn't do shit... in order to survive we demons need to devour souls on a daily basis, or at least... vitality..."

"I see..." 

"But it's not only that... in order to increase our ranks and strength, we need stronger souls... for example, if I were to devour your soul, supposing you are a bronze... I would jump straight into the 'Demon Soldier' rank"

"..."

"By swallowing that bastard's vitality before eventually taking his crystal... I stepped forward ahead in my journey... I have been stuck like this for thousands of years, and after swallowing hundreds of Onyx souls, I think I need just twenty more before I can step up my rank."

"... so much?" 

"Yes... we demons have great longevity... theoretically, we never die of old age... the oldest demons... the earls and duchesses, have millions of years... but the older demons are, the higher their rank usually is."

"How old are you?"

"Three thousand-ish... you?"

"Twenty-ish..."

"That shit doesn't work with me, just say your real age!"

"Uhg... okay, thirty-ish..." 

"I see, so... you loved that human, the one that well... is no longer here..." afraid that her head would roll, the Demoness Sasha was careful with her words.

"Yes... with my life... I don't want to talk about them... we have been standing here for too long... let's go." The Russian lady stood up, ready to tackle the issue and erase the phantoms in her mind.

"Then let's go..."

**

**

She doesn't know how long has it been ever since she separated from Fayette and Valentine, then began her journey with Sasha.

They had fought together, evaded the creature, eaten humans and demons... she could feel herself getting stronger but she still can't cut through those vines.

The Rose Eagle Thorn kept quiet... it seems as long as she keeps devouring, it will be content.

They moved through an intersection that had no mist, the pair had rested for a few minutes and Sasha is now wearing some decent rags after being scolded on by Vera.

The latter seems to be doing better recently, strokes of sorrow still attack her whenever she tries to sleep, nightmares... but otherwise, she's doing better than the start where she would just cry disconsolately at the most random of moments.

"Are you ready, Vera...?" Sasha stood up and took a knife she had gotten from some of the humans they killed... they're trash but it's something.

"Who goes first, Sasha?" 

"... whoever you want to... I'm not scared." The demoness smirked and played with the knife as her purple skin glistened with blood.

"Is that so? then you go first..." The Russian beauty rolled her eyes and awaited the next movement.

However, as they came through the intersection... something was different from the dozens of times they had already done this... there was no creature, no vines... no wails of despair.

Just a common corridor.

"..."

"..."

The two of them regarded one another and that's when... a shine of light came from the skies, hitting their faces.

!!!

The two instinctively looked up above... and Vera's eyes moistened yet again as that agonizing pain came back to her heart like a thunderbolt amidst the storm.

Two shining moons lightened up the otherwise dark and misty alleyway.

They ran, no... Sasha ran while she staggered through the corridor, and there it was.

...

Bustling crowds of demons walking amidst the main street, speaking to one another as if it was the most leisure thing in the world.

While her heart broke into tiny pieces and she cried yet again.

Because she's out of that accursed alleyway, finally... but she's by herself. they're still inside.

Like it had happened a hundred times, her knees gave away and she fell on the ground, feeling terrible, feeling dead.

Sasha sighed and knelt down beside her, patting her back.

It might sound ridiculous but in her three-thousands years of life... she has never seen anyone in hell... suffer so much without any physical pain being inflicted on them.

Vera's soul is like a cracked crystal that's being constantly poked with a needle at the edges, opening the crack slightly at every poke, ever so slowly... ever so painfully.

She's torn.

"Stand up, let's go... cover yourself, we're going to my pub." She helped Vera to stand up even as the latter didn't want to as they walked.

Vera had told her how they were hunted and forced to enter the alleyways, in this world time doesn't exist... whether a day or a million years had taken place outside... there is no way to know, heck, there is even a possibility they're in the past!

That's how hell works, to disorient and fill the already fallen and lost souls... with even more despair as they wander astray, through its star-crossed confines.

Therefore, there is the possibility that she's still being hunted.

**

**

With a lifeless Vera in her arms, Sasha arrived at her pub on the west side of the city.

A pub that she ran with many other demonesses that she employed, she has had this business for several centuries with souls that she got from the other circles.

"Sasha, you're back! who is that?" A red-skinned demoness with a tight suit and a bikini top asked in surprise, she had a single horn coming from the side of her head, curling up in a weird shape.

"Andrea... how long have I not been here?" That was the purple-skinned demoness' first question when she met her employee.

"Ah? a week, we were wondering if you lost yourself... Maze even tried to take over the pub but we stopped her, tehe~"

"Is that so? as expected of that bitch, I'll deal with her myself... I'll be in my room." She hurriedly tried to draw the covered Vera in her room.

"You didn't answer... who is that? a prey?" The red-skinned demoness regarded the covered Vera with a threatening glint, if she went as far as to bring her here... that means this woman is likely an onyx.

"Yes... a prey... stop asking questions and go to work!" 

"... Yes."