"You. Have. Sharp. Sense." The demon chuckled, sizing Jet up.

As he spoke, another demon—the host party's commanding demon, appeared next to him, speaking a few words in their own tongue with a harsh, accusatory tone.

The first demon laughed, "He. Say. You're. His. Property," he said to Jet and Jamie.

Jet frowned, looking at the hostile stare the other demon gave them.

He was also of a large build, even for demons. With a long scar that went down from his face, all the way to his chest. He looked to be somewhat powerful from first glance… though not as powerful as the visiting party's commanding demon.

"Most definitely not." Jamie replied in Jet's stead with a scowl. "We're not his property."

They knew they were in a terrible situation at the moment, but from the looks of things, siding with the visiting demon might be the safer choice, even with the fact that he was wearing a human uniform—the Ryvelin Family's uniform…

They knew the implications of what that meant… but still…

The demon turned, shrugged and responded to the scarred-faced demon in a playful tone, further irking him.

They stared at each other fiercely, the scarred demon looking like he was ready to start a fight… but he eventually let up, giving his subordinates who were watching in the distance below, a signal.

He turned with a low growl, walking down the black hill just as his subordinates moved back into the settlement, bringing out the two humans they had in custody– Mark and Janet.

Both Jet and Jamie's eyes widened at the sight of Janet. She looked like she had been to the gates of hell and back. With hollow eyes devoid of any will to continue living.

She barely even reacted as Mark, beside her, yelled her name repeatedly.

What had they done to her…?

The thought crossed both Jet and Jamie's minds, and an inkling of an idea began to form in their heads… though they shut the thought down immediately it came…

The commander of the Ryvelin uniformed demons let out a low, menacing growl full of anger as he noticed Janet's state.

He barked out a harsh query to the retreating scarred demon, and they went into an intense bout of consonant heavy yells.

Though neither Jet nor Jamie could understand their words, they could clearly see that the commanding demon in Ryvelin uniform was very displeased with Janet's state.

They could now infer that the only reason Mark and Janet had been kept alive was because of this demon.

There had probably been an arrangement in place, and the Ryvelin uniformed demons were here to claim the humans. Alive… and well.

The "well" part was now what seemed to be the point of disagreement. The demons in this settlement had violated this term.

Janet was not "well" at all.

The tense situation escalated even more, threatening to devolve into a full blown fight, with each party's subordinates getting riled up.

But again, the scarred demon de-escalated the tense situation.

He chose to concede a loss on the price to be paid according to the agreement, and everything was settled.

Both parties sent their representatives to finalize the details, and the exchange was made successfully.

Jet and Jamie were carried along with Mark and Janet, much to the discontent of the demons in the settlement.

They felt they could have gotten more if they'd pushed for claiming the rights to them, being that they had been found on their lands.

But they knew that would be pushing it.

If a full blown altercation were to occur, and they could even somehow wipe out the Ryvelin uniformed party, what awaited their settlement was certain annihilation.

They had heard the rumors of a new leader deep in their lands. The leader of these uniformed demons.

They had heard rumors that she was not a demon like them. But that she was powerful. Extremely powerful.

She had defeated Jargalkan, the previous ruler of the Spires of Moloch — One of the greatest settlements in the entire abyssal lands of Tartarus — within the blink of an eye.

She had extended her reach to the closest settlements surrounding Moloch, bringing them into her fold.

The signature black uniform, patterned with grey at the shoulders and a weird looking crest on the chest with an image of an animal they'd never seen, differentiated her subordinates apart from other demons.

Thankfully, the scarred demon was a long distance away from the reach of her power…

But still, he didn't want to do anything that would draw her attention. And that was why he conceded at the end.

In fact he'd have conceded right from the get-go, but his subordinates had been watching.

He couldn't show any sign of weakness, so he simply put up a show of being firm to prevent them from having any ideas about his position.

The other two humans — Jet and Jamie…?

He couldn't care less about them. He was just glad he was able to come out of this with some gain at all.

His only issue now was the human girl…

One night, in a bout of drunkenness, he had defiled her. And only when he woke the next morning did he realise how terrible the depth of the act he'd committed was…

The implications of it.

Everyone knew that the new leader of Moloch — Grand Commander Regina, was very particular about finding humans.

There had been rumors that she had singlehandedly wiped out three different demon settlements that had found some humans and killed them in spite.

In fact, it wasn't a rumor. She had really wiped out three demon settlements in one day. And everyone knew those settlements had found humans and killed them openly.

What wasn't known was if there was more to the matter than that…

Since then, every settlement had promptly reported any sighting of humans in their territories, and a team of Ryvelin uniformed would be dispatched to claim them, along with a fitting reward.

As the scarred demon watched their party disappear into the distance along with the four humans, he glanced slightly to the side and caught the gleaming look still in the eyes of some of his subordinates.

Even his second in command was having the same look in his eyes.

Greed.

They were going to act on it for sure.

They were going to try pushing for more some way or the other...

But he wasn't going to be there…

The scarred demon made up his mind right there and then to run away immediately night fell.

He'd escape with the gifts he'd just gotten and build himself another settlement somewhere else.

These guys here were destined for certain destruction… and there was no saving them.

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A/N: This chapter's special thanks goes to Hypermechanic for the Golden Ticket. Hope you keep enjoying!

Cheers

Astrl