Matthew ran to his room to grab his weapons. His armor was being repaired after the damage it took from both the Bashmu and from Enkidu. He wasn't even sure if the leather workers could salvage it.

Even though, Matthew had to go outside. He had to go…

His hand hovered over his door handle. He was shaking. Imps again. He could hear, see and even smell again. Everything he blocked. The horrors that only came to him when he was in desperation. Why it had to be imps?

"Hurry!" He heard Ffyr supplicate telepathically.

Matthew looked to his bed. He wanted to hide. He didn't want to face demons again. Everything but demons.

Then his phone rang. The caller ID showed it was Faralynn. It rang for a while before turning off. Matthew couldn't move. He couldn't bring himself to move.

"I'm level 35 and I'm scared of some imps." Matthew laughed at himself, but still couldn't move.

"MATT! Hurry!" Ffyr screamed in his mind sensing his internal battle through their connection.

"I… I can't." Matthew said to her trembling.

"I can't fight them. Your parents are here. Your sister is here. They're going to die if you don't move your ass." Ffyr said with anger in her voice.

Matthew didn't answer. He went forward after hearing those words, but froze again when he got to the stairs.

"Matt!" Ffyr screamed again. "I know it's scary for you. But you're not that kid anymore. You are a very powerful adventurer. You need to come. Your family is in danger!"

Matthew sat down on the stairs shaking. He kept imagining what would happen to his family if he didn't go right now. But at the same time, he kept seeing the horrors he witnessed. Every part of his rational mind told him he should just go. But still he was trembling.

Matthew dragged himself to the front door. His hand was resting on the handle, but he couldn't open it. His phone rang again. He didn't even look who it was. He was frozen in place just breathing heavily as if he just ran a marathon.

"We're hiding, but there are imps everywhere." Ffyr told him. "It's only a matter of time now, Matt. Please. Come to us."

Matthew opened the door. He hesitated, but took a step outside and looked around. Everything looked the same. He was searching for the imp he saw earlier, but at the same time he was hopping not to find it.

Then Matthew looked at the sky. Towards the city center. A huge red gate was open in the sky and a horde of imps were flying out of it and spreading all through the city.

Matthew started to hyperventilate. It was there. Hell was back and this time it was pouring in the city instead of dragging things out.

He removed his eye patch. The pressure of the strings on his head made him feel like it was suffocating him. He pulled his shirt collar as if it was pressing his neck. He started to feel weak and dizzy. Matthew was going to faint.

It's then that he saw it again. An imp came to the street. It was carrying the body of a small dog in its hand. The demon dragged the body behind it leaving a streak of blood on the floor coming form the neighbors backyard.

Matthew knew that dog. It was called Juju. It was the sole companion of the old lady that lived next door, Mrs Xiaoling. He looked to the neighbor's house. The windows were covered in blood.

He didn't need to see what the imp did in there. He already saw it enough. He knew already.

Matthew looked at the imp that, upon noticing him flew with a smile towards him. It tried to claw Matthew, but his claws stopped on his Vital Shield. Too weak to pierce his new 56 points in Vitality.

In one single movement, Matthew drew his sword and decapitated the imp sending its foul blood all over the street.

Matthew's left eye was shinning bright red. His fear cost the life of Mrs Xiaoling and her dog. It might've costed him the lives of his family.

Matthew turned to the direction of the mall his family was in. It was just a couple of blocks away. Not a very big one, but it had a cinema and few good brand stores that Sarah loved to shop in.

He ran at full speed using his Reckless Agility at full power to ramp up his agility to 172 and allowing him to run incredibly fast.

Matthew was still not used to his Sense Others skill, therefore he couldn't precisely tell where the imps were on the places he passed by, but the ones he did find he killed without mercy.

The Demonic Mana stirring in him making him even faster made him arrive at the mall in less than 2 minutes.

The scene in the mall wasn't as bad as Matthew thought it would be. He expected to see blood everywhere and the dead scattered all over the mall. What he found was 3 adventurers and a cop holding about 10 imps back by shooting guns at them.

The imps, hiding behind concrete pillars threw their fireballs at the defenders that were hiding in a room that lead to a staff area. Since the rest of the mall was empty, Matthew knew after concentrating on his Sense Others skill, he assumed his family was inside that room as the rest of the civilians.

Matthew shot 10 times as soon as he assessed the situation and killed 10 imps. His bullets were now extremely deadly with all the skills he had and how high his status were.

After making sure there were no other demon hiding, Matthew called the adventurers and the cop out.

"It's safe now." He said holstering his gun and closing his left eye to not scare the others.

"Thank you very much." The cop said introducing himself as an Officer.

"You saved us!" One adventurer said with wide eyes imagining how powerful Matthew was.

"My family was supposed to be here." Matthew informed them. "Are all the civilians inside?"

"The ones who could. Others ran elsewhere. I believe most left the building." The cop answered.

After those words, Matthew saw Sarah and Ffyr coming out of the room together with a few other curious civilians.

"You came." Ffyr smiled at him. "I knew you could."

Matthew had his left eye closed still, hiding that he was using the demonic mana.

"Where's mom and dad?" He asked somber.

"They're inside." Sarah said pointing at the room.

"We should go home." Matthew said. Or perhaps even farther."

"Why?" Sarah asked.

"There's a huge red portal over the city center. Demons are coming out of it." Matthew explained.

That's when his mother and father ran towards him. His mother holds him fast.

"Thank you my baby!" She said with a smile.

Matthew's thoughts ran wild with ill actions he could take right now. A part of him imagined how funny it would be if he killed his mother right now. However, the demonic mana was the only thing giving him enough emotional strength to not break down after seeing them imps and the portal to hell.

He pushed his mother away as gently as he could making her look at him confused.

"Let's hurry home." He said avid to return home to hide and don't have to use his demonic mana.

"Shouldn't we go somewhere safer?" Matthew's father asked. "Like a military base?"

"Protocol is to evacuate to the nearest evacuation center." The cop said looking at his phone. "The one closest to here is this school."

"That's my school. Mom works there." Sarah said looking at the cop's phone.

"We should all go there and wait the army to mobilize." The cop said. "Can I count on you to help get the civilians there safely?" He asked turning to Matthew.

Matthew bit his own tongue to hold the series of insults he wanted to throw the cop. He should purify himself, but he was too scared what would happen if he wasn't empowered with the demonic energy. Would he freeze again?

"Sure." Matthew said reluctantly.

While the cop gathered the civilians and passed onto them the plans, Ffyr came to Matthew and asked through telepathy so that no one else could hear.

"Why are you using the demon mana? Shouldn't you purify yourself before you do something horrible?"

"I can't." Matthew said appearing to be in pain, but he was just concentrating really hard to not give in to his bad feelings and wants.

"Why?" Ffyr asked flying close to his face and analyzing it.

"I'm scared. The mana makes the fear go away." Matthew explained in few words.

Ffyr touched his face with a sad expression on her face.

"It's that bad?" She asked in a concerned tone.

"I couldn't even walk outside." Matthew said.

"Thank you for coming, nonetheless. You saved us. These adventurers aren't very strong. Level 5 at most. The cop isn't even awakened." Ffyr said. "If you didn't come, I believe the imps would have killed us all."

"I know. Sorry if I didn't come here sooner." Matthew said closing both his eyes after thinking some horrible thing to do to Ffyr.

Ffyr shook her head.

"Take your time. I know better than anyone what you're feeling. It's ok."

He really hoped he could just hide when they all got to the school. But looking up to the sky and seeing all those demons flying around… He knew he'd have to fight them again.

Even under the effects of the demonic mana, that thought made him shiver.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.