On the one hand, Praxius loved the smell of bacon; unlike the humans, he and... probably his granddaughter as well... could safely enjoy a bit of demonic pork without much problem. The creature was actively burning already, and if he waited til the right time to put it out, perhaps even laid some dry wood in the proper spots, he''d have a delicious meal; they could camp here, check the bodies for anything useful, and the others could eat their rations while he showed the girl how best to prepare demon-pig.


    On the other... the damned priestess had managed to get herself knocked out. And without a healing potion, likely would have died from blood loss; the things were cheap, but it was terrible to rely on them; far too easy to break, or get knocked out and have no recourse.


    He glanced down at the girl, still unconscious, but seeming well enough.. and then at Terra. "Sweetheart. Come on over. Time to have the most delicious thing I''ve encountered in this world."


    His granddaughter had been circling the area; making sure none of the demons were still alive; and stopped when she reached him, blinking. "That... you''re going to -eat- that thing?"


    A low chuckle. "Here''s the thing. Somewhere down the line, some demon beastie bred a pig. Lord knows those monsters aren''t too picky. And while the babes are part-demon, they''re mostly pig... and delicious. Unfortunately, they stay pretty close to the original species, or they wouldn''t be such a problem. But... while ordinary humans can get sick eating them... folks like you? No problems at all. Did your mother never cook any for you?"


    "...She can talk to animals. She doesn''t eat much meat at all, much less demon. Why is them staying close to the original bad? Wouldn''t it be worse if they were more demon than pig?"


    Praxius pulled a short, sharp, knife, and started carefully carving the pig; it would go bad too quickly for them to be able to make more than two or three meals out of it, which was unfortunate... one of those little boxes that kept food cold would be handy about now. "Whatever you are, power has to come from somewhere. A demon-pig isn''t gonna be that much stronger than a normal pig... unless he goes out killing, destroying, eating, sucking up magic from wherever. Unless it grows up in a high-magic area, it can''t get too powerful just by being what it is. Its gotta work for it. Like..."


    He ignored Derek''s rocking back and forth, gripping his unconscious girlfriend, as he slowly sliced some of the meat into thin strips. "My people. Kytons. Hell is a high-magic place, and many of our natural abilities... our faces, the way we heal, our control of chains.... we need to grow up in a high-magic place to develop them properly. If one of us were born here, in the mortal realm... our growth would be stunted. If we were lucky, we''d end up, eventually, reaching our full strength, after years of work, fighting, killing. If we were unlucky, our bodies would develop our magic, at the cost of our flesh... and we''d just end up dead. Same thing for all but the weakest varieties of demons, devils, and angels; if they''re actually born here, they''re pretty much screwed. Its why you only see hybrids, even after an invasion, and why the demons are always so... well. Amorous."


    His granddaughter was focusing more on him than the cutting. He sighed; and took a strip of the meat, laying it out on part of the pig that was still burning. "You really need to try this. I promise the effort is worth it."


    "....Is that why my mom exists? And me, and my siblings? Helping make an army to fight the demons by making part-devil kids?"


    A slow shake of the head. "No. I..." He glanced at the duo, Kylie finally having recovered enough to start embracing the boy holding her.


    "I loved her. The number of things I would break a contract for, a true, proper agreement, before I met her, were zero. I''d sooner die. After I met her, and the others... I don''t know why. Just something about her. Even worse, she was too good for me. When she did pass, she went into the city of light, for her eternal reward. The only way I ever get to talk to her is to get some angel to pass along messages, and they mostly would prefer to try to kill me."


    She absently started helping with the bacon; steadfastly ignoring the drama behind them as well. "...I thought Hell was a bad place. People went there to be punished. Why would you want her to go there?"


    He shrugged. "Well, yes. I wouldn''t want her stuck in hell, unless I could somehow make her one of my people. No... there''s realms for the good, and the bad, but most people don''t go there. They go to a sort of... middle ground. An endless, timeless place, where most of the dead spend eternity. Its extremely difficult to do anything to anyone there... or for anyone there to do much of anything at all. Most of it is trapped in thousands of time-loops, repeating events over and over for eternity; not good, not bad, just.... there."


    He looked down at the knife. "...I wouldn''t have minded being stuck in a time-loop, if it was with her."


    He shook himself. "Anyway! That''s about that. Try a piece."


    After she took her first bite of the bacon, she made an odd, scrunched face... before eagerly chewing down the rest. She licked her lips. "...Okay. Yeah, that was amazing. Show me how you did that."


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    ***


    Derek squeezed Kylie tightly against his chest. "...I know you''re stronger than I am. It just... feels wrong that you''re the one standing in front, getting hurt, while I''m behind you, working on spells.. it feels like I''m not really doing enough."


    Kylie gave a low sigh, relaxing against him as she looked at the duo eating the pig, and the whole battlefield; dead demon-pigs scattered in every direction. "You know what I see, when I look out there? You stunned the big one. Maybe saved my life. And killed more of the little ones than anyone else. You don''t feel like you''re doing enough because you''re comparing yourself to a centuries-old devil instead of other people our age. Your summons, your spells...." She shifted, and sat beside Derek after a bit of struggle.


    "Give it time. Your brilliance, your research... they''ll carry you far, if you keep working at it. And I''ll be right there beside you."


    Derek gave a brief nod. "Well. If it makes you feel any better, you''ve reached the fourth level. Not enough to use third-circle magic yet, but getting close. So did I." He glanced at Terra. "The tiefling girl actually was there before the fight, I think, but I didn''t notice when it happened. Must have been sometime after... or during... the fight with that fungus thing."


    Kylie studied the girl for a moment. "That chain was impressive enough. Using a boat anchor as a weapon, combining a spell with it like that so she can wield something too big for her normally, and shrinking it down when it isn''t in use... an interesting approach. I wonder.. my weapon of faith lets me call up a copy of the weapon I''m using, to attack with. Could I take some massive, oversized weapon like that and take one swing, casting the spell... and then switch to something more reasonable?"


    Derek laughed. "Almost died and thinking about possibilities? I take it this didn''t discourage you?"


    Kylie reached down, and pulled up her robe; and the chainmail beneath, showing a hole, with traces of blood down it. "It encouraged me to get better armor before I fight something bigger than me again."


    She glanced around at the others. "Well. Do we mind camping here tonight? We don''t want to leave the corpses behind, get the local scavengers sick on demon-flesh, and it''ll take quite some time to make sure all this is burned.


    Praxius glanced back at her. "Not at all. It would also let me scout around a bit; make sure there aren''t any left; hopefully this lady here is the only one, and we got all of her young, but if not... we may need to do some hunting."


    ***


    The massive fire lit up the clearing as the sun began to set; and smelled just wonderful. Kylie was a bit jealous that she couldn''t eat any of if, but the devil warned her it was ''bad'' for humans, without being too clear about why.


    She studied the map of the area, and the stack of bounty notices they had collected.


    "So. We can turn in the head of the demon-boar for a reward over in Rockdale, and then move on. The next town over.. hells, all these ''dale'' names are annoying... ''Valdale'' listed a bounty months ago for some creatures defacing the shrine of the light. And the cart the demon-boar upended and ate the occupants of, that was from Valdale; we should let them know about the people they lost."


    Praxius glanced at Kylie, who was currently holding the map, as he hefted the massive demon-boar head onto the cart. "Isn''t Valdale closer? Why don''t we go there first, track down the beasties, and we can head to Rockdale later."


    Kylie glanced at the head; drained of blood and wrapped in a cloth that was used for carrying a pile of fruit earlier, it was massive. "That thing''s gonna start rotting. Do we want to have it with us stinking up the cart for days? Oh yeah. Did you find any other demons?"


    The devil shook his head, glancing out into the growing darkness. "Not at all. Nothing that smells like demon. A faint hit of almost-angel, oddly enough; perhaps a half-breed came through, or a Paladin. Odd, if so; I''d think such would kill the demons itself."


    She gave a short nod, and glanced at Derek. It had been days since the two had last had any privacy; and they likely wouldn''t again until they reached town. And this time, they''d get separate rooms. "Then lets get as much sleep as we can, and head for Rockdale at first light. They aren''t too far away; if we don''t linger in Rockdale for too long, we can collect the reward, get some sleep, and investigate their ''mystery'' the next day. I''ll take the first watch... it may have been involuntary, but I took a nap earlier, not sure if I can get to sleep just yet if I tried."


    The devil stepped up to the girl. "Unconsciousness and sleep are not the same thing. Lie down. I can go days without sleep without a problem. I''ll take the watch tonight."


    Kylie started to object... but stopped. She had no idea if he was telling the truth, or trying to spare her; or if devils really needed to sleep at all. But.. he might be a murderous bastard, but oddly enough, he was also trustworthy. Such a strange blend.  She walked over to Derek, and the two curled up beside a nearby tree; they could get some sleep. Head off to collect yet another reward in the morning.


    ***


    Praxius stared at the sprinting figure, approaching down the path in the dead of night. He was carrying a lantern, and looked to be in a panic as he kept running, looking behind himself as if he were being chased; but the devil saw nothing behind him. Not a bandit, or anything of the sort, and undoubtedly could see the fire from the still-burning pile of demon-pigs.


    He took out a few of his chains from the various bags around his hip, laid them out on the ground in the figure''s path; enough that, if the figure weren''t who he appeared, just some random townsfolk in old, ragged clothes, he could be snatched up and trapped in a moment.


    And then he simply stepped into the man''s path, raising a hand. "You. Halt! Explain yourself."


    The man didn''t even notice the chains as he focused on the armored figure in front of him. "Oh, thank the goddess! A hero! We need your help, please! Valdale''s been overrun! Every day they come in and murder people on the streets! Its only been safe to go out at night for a week, and there''s more every day! I''m the third one to run for help, but the others must not have made it!"


    Praxius blinked. Something that only attacked during the day? That was... odd. "You said ''they''. What exactly are we talking about?"


    "Oh, zombies, sir! Or some sort of undead! Walking around, plain as day!"


    He blinked again... and turned to the camp. If they came at dawn, best be there beforehand, be waiting for them. But... Zombies? That went into hiding at night? This... didn''t make any sense.