The demons simply ignored the retreating squad. They had no desire to lose the spectacle in front of them by chasing a few fleeing humans. A wife of a Demon King was on her knees in front of a human pleading for her life. It was too much fun for them.

Matthew laughed at himself too. He didn't want to give in to such feelings, but now, at that moment, he was having too much fun being cheered by a whole stadium.

The Mayor gave up fighting. Not only Matthew proved stronger than her, he also proved to be way more resourceful. She had no fight left. All she could do was to clench her teeth and hope that that kid would be more merciful than the demons around them.

The crowd finally reached a consensus after a while when the fights around the arena subsided.

"Take off her arm! Take off her arm!" They cheered loudly.

Matthew grabbed the Mayor's arm and pulled sideways. Then he lifted his sword deliberately moving slowly to create suspense. When the crowd started to scream for him to hurry up, he only slowed down.

"You big tease!" A female Cambion screamed from the crowd seductively taking a loud laughter form those who heard her.

Matthew also laughed at that.

He then lifted his sword again and the stadium went silent in antecipation.

The sword came down fast while the audience held their breath.

But it stopped just shy of the Mayor's skin.

There was Douglas shrouded in red mana with both eyes shinning red. He was holding the blade of Matthew's sword as if it wasn't sharp at all.

"It was fun child. But I can't let you harm her." Douglas said in a voice that wasn't his.

"Took you long enough, Beleth." Matthew said looking at Douglas' body. "How long have you been possessing his body?" He asked.

"On and off? Since his birth." Beleth laughed through Douglas' body.

When Matthew relaxed the pressure on the blade, the Demon King released his grip on the sword allowing Matthew to take a couple steps back from the pair.

Beleth helped the Mayor up and she held him tight giving him a kiss. That took a lot of cheers from the crowd.

Matthew cringed seeing mother and son kissing like that. But it was nothing he hadn't seen worse on those pictures Vanessa found.

It was Beleth all the time. He would posses Douglas' body and have his fun on Earth. The Mayor gave the demon her own son and in return he helped her grow both in riches and in power. The Howling Spear was just the mean to empower the Mayor. Even the Mayor's strength was given to her by Beleth.

"I didn't think Conquest would stoop so low." Matthew laughed.

Beleth laughed with Matthew.

"Those are not your words, are they, child?" The Demon King said.

"No. He told me to tell them to you." Matthew said.

"Who?" Beleth asked taking a step forward trying to intimidate Matthew.

"The owner of the hell you passed through with your forces without asking." Matthew smiled pointing up.

"Aym?!" Beleth roared.

Aym was only a Duke, but was not weaker than Beleth as he was the ruler of the 7th hell, Violentia. And he was angry at the Demon King that marched through his lands without permission.

Aym telepathically offered Matthew a deal. The life of his friends for his help into punishing Beleth for his transgressions against the Duke. He told Matthew to make a show. He instructed the demons in the stadium to watch the fight without interfering. And now Aym had Beleth inside a human vessel without his physical body.

Beleth's plan was to use enough human souls to conjure the power to bring his body to Earth bypassing the protections the gods of the Prime Realm put up to shield the greater demons from invading.

When the Mayor saw herself under investigation with no way to avoid jail, she agreed to help Beleth by sacrificing a lot of people to open the gate to Violentia, that, for the nature of the hells, was the easier pathway to Earth.

Aym laid in waiting allowing Beleth to go through his plan waiting for an opportunity to take revenge against the king for ignoring his right of control of the 7th hell. When the Mayor appeared to Matthew, Aym knew that Beleth wouldn't allow her to die. After all, she was his favorite plaything for the past 30 years.

Now that Beleth's spirit was possessing Douglas, his body was defenseless in Violentia.

"Can you return to your body before Aym reaches you?" Matthew asked with a smile.

Douglas' body seemed to explode when it was covered in fire. Two large pair of bat wings sprouted from his back. His face was contorted with anger.

"You measly mortal! When I'm done with Aym, I'm going after your family." He screamed.

Beleth flapped his wings and tried to fly in the direction of the gate, but Matthew held his foot and pulled him back to the ground slamming him against the floor.

"You think you can fly there faster than Aym can reach you? I won't let you go." Matthew snarled at the demon king.

"Let go of me!" Beleth said hitting Matthew with a powerful fireball at point blank.

Even with that, Matthew didn't let go. Instead he charged with his sword hitting Beleth with such strength that the blade bent.

All that did was to take a few drops of blood from the Demon King's cheek.

"Insolent fool!" Beleth screamed again holding Matthew's head and igniting it on fire.

With Heal and Anesthesia, Matthew could still hold on to the Demon King.

"Let go!" Beleth screamed in anger.

And that's when the sounds of jets boomed through the sky. The first explosions came without a warning. Half the stadium was hit by missiles and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The demons on the stand took flight to face the incoming air force, but the barrage of bullets and missiles were too much.

Only two jets were hit and taken down by Balor's laser beams. The rest of them were engulfed by the explosions of the hundreds of bombs that were carpeted onto the stadium.

The last thing Matthew saw was a missile landing next to them and incinerating the Mayor body into tiny specs of dust.

Matthew believed to be dead, but saw himself being lifted upwards. His hands still holding onto Beleth that fled the onslaught by flying upwards in full force carrying Matthew with him.

He was now back at Violentia. The gate that led to Earth was also hovering in the sky of the 7th hell.

Beleth flew at the direction of a castle that was under siege by a horde of demons. He threw another fireball at Matthew ordering him to let go of him. This time, Matthew couldn't hang on. The explosion made him release his grip from the Demon King's grip.

When Matthew was close to hit the ground, Ffyr came out of the necklace and used her wind magic to cushion his fall.

"What now, Matt?" Ffyr asked him.

"We should go back to Earth." He said looking at the portal. "Let's hope Aym at least manages to close the gate."

"What if he doesn't?" Ffyr asked.

"What do you mean?" Matthew asked.

"You didn't made the deal to close the gate. You made it to save Lynn and the others." Ffyr explained. "What if Aym just takes control of the invasion?"

"And what you want me to do?" Matthew asked looking at the castle under siege where Balors from inside shot laser against Balors on the outside that shot back at them.

"You can make sure the gate closes." Ffyr said.

"I can't fight a Demon King on my own. Nor Aym." Matthew said.

"You just need to close the gate." Ffyr said. "Gates need mana to exist. They either come from natural pathways like the gate for dungeons or are maintained by someone."

"You think it's not Beleth who is keeping the gate open?" Matthew asked her.

"No. Else he couldn't possess that man and maintain the gate open." Ffyr explained.

"And he would likely be in the castle." Matthew finished her thought for her.

"Right." Ffyr said. "I know you don't want to be back here. But…"

"I know. We need to finish this." Matthew said. "Otherwise we'll be putting Sarah, mom, dad, Lynn and all the others at risk."

Ffyr just nodded at him.

Matthew hesitated a moment. Being back in hell, feeling the heat, smelling the rot, brought him back to the worst point of his life. The place that brought him nightmares. The place he never managed to fully escape from.

He breathed heavily. He gathered his strength. He tossed away his bent sword. He reloaded his gun. He turned to Ffyr with resolute eyes.

"Let's go. Fly me there."

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