We ran throughout the city of demon civilization as explosions in the distance rumbled throughout the city. We finally made it to the back of the castle wall, sewer pipes and ladders dotting the walls. We finally arrived at the castle gate, running under the large iron bars. 

My two companions froze in their tracks as soon as they entered "They've already been closed..." Emma choked, her teeth gritting, the three enormous gates closed tight, barring our way in.

"Let's go back and find another route." Ray spoke nervously and fast, whipping back around to the entrance as his eyes flicked across his surroundings.

"Wait-!!" I stopped him in his tracks, pointing to a small window lay several feet above the gate. "What about up there-!" I watched as my companions calculated, scanning through their memory for the blueprints of the castle they'd spent their spare time studying.

Emma turned to me and nodded, her eyes lighting up in determination. "You can make it!" 

I blinked. "Me?? You should go-" I stuttered out in surprise. 

"No. You first." Emma insisted stubbornly, standing her ground. 

"E-Ehhhh?!" I exclaimed, but accepted after a moment of thought, nodding my head. "Alright... but you better hurry after!" 

Ray knelt down by the base of the window and clasped his hands together, preparing to boost me up.

 I cringed as my eyes trailed the distance between the ground, Ray's hands, and the window up above. "Drop me and I'll kill you." 

Ray irked, his eyebrow twitching. "Hurry your *ss up! We don't got time for this!" He yelled angrily. 

"Oh, shaddup!" I retorted, then ran full speed towards the ravenhead in response, swallowing my stomach so I wouldn't choke on it. I stepped onto his clasped hands and he pushed me into the air, using a combonation of my leg strength and the power of his yeet to send me flying into the air. 

"HOLY F*CKING SH*TTTT!!" I screamed, grasping onto the window sill and pulling myself up, gasping for air, sputtering on the bottom of it as I poked my head out. "Jesus christ!! I went above the damn thing!!" 

"INCOMINGGG!!!" Emma yelled as Ray boosted her up into the sky immediately following me. I scrambled out of the way as she gripped onto the edge of the ledge and pulled herself in. "You help Ray up!" She exclaimed, pushing past me in the narrow space, nearly kicking me as she climbed past me. "I'll go on ahead!" 

I nodded quickly. "Okay!" I agreed, although my eyes rolled while i released a sigh. 'Thinking about shipping Ray and I in this situation... I'm not sure whether to be upset or impressed.' I leaned out the window and reached my hand down as Ray approached. He jumped into the air and I extended my arms reach the ravenhead, just barely managing to grab hold of his hand. 

I then hauled his *ss into the small concrete window, albeit a vent for the massive demons, grunting as I pulled him until he could grasp the ledge with his other hand, pulling himself in the rest of the way. 

"Jesuschristwhathaveyoubeeneating-" I exhaled in a single breath while Ray finally succeeded in climbing into the vent after a long struggle. 

"Same as you. And a little more help would've been nice." He scoffed, shooting me a death glare. "Anyhow, we gotta go." 

"Yeah, yeah." I murmured before moving quickly through the vent, catching up with Emma as she succeeded in kicking open the grate, leading us to infiltrate the demon castle at last.

She hopped down and began running, and I followed quickly after her, Ray climbing down from the window in a similar passion, dashing after us without another word.

We ran through countless hallways, our breaths loud and desperate, my lungs rattling in my chest. I cringed as we ran past countless demon bodies littering the hallways, their blood coating the once likely impressive castle a deep crimson, a disturbing sight, unbefitting of Norman's once-innocent smile. 

"There-!!" Ray exclaimed, breaking me out of my thoughts as he pointed towards the doors we were looking for. My heart dropped to my feet in anticipation, and I chased after my two friends, ending up a few paces ahead of them due to my faster pace. 

I slammed the door open, puffing large breaths from my cheeks. "Norman-!!" Emma exclaimed happily, until she saw the horrified sight of massacred demons upon demons, littering the floor like leaves on the ground in autumn. 

"Emma...Ray...Y/N..." Norman spoke, his back towards us as he spoke, his cloak pulled well over his head, even as he turned around. "I'm glad, though. You all made it back unharmed." Emma and Ray recoiled in shock at the sight of the room and the face of their best friend, a guilty but satisfied smile on his face. "It's a shame, though. You made it a little too late." 

"All of them..." Ray murmured, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the room. 

"-Have been killed." Norman finished for him, a sly smile on his face. "They killed each other." His voice rang throughout the room, despite having no real volume. "They're all dead now. The queen, the nobles, the Giran clan. All of them." 

Emma's eyes crinkled before she shouted in response. "Norman... Y/N forged a promise...! Everybody can escape to the human world!" She smiled worriedly and in relief all together. "You don't need to fight anymore... So hey, starting now, let's stop with the 'extinction!'" 

"It's already too late. It's impossible now, Emma." Norman continued smiling as he spoke, head casted downward as if he was undeserving of looking her in the eye. "The monarchy has collapsed. That monarchy that lasted for thousands of years... Governance for the demons is impossible now. Peace is impossible for them. Iverk was the last one. And I killed him myself." Norman's eyes flicked back to me as if wondering why I was so quiet, and I raised my eyebrows and crossed my arms in warning. 

He didn't seem to get the message, though, as he continued speaking without a care, a disturbing but amused and proud expression on his face, as he spread his hand out in front of him. "We've put a lethal pressure on the demon society of this world. A fissure that they can't look back from. The only thing left to do now... is shatter it. All of the demons will die out. There's just one more push until their extinction. We can't go back now. We have no choice but to wipe them out." His eyes narrowed and his expression turned angry and threatening. "Don't get in the way-"

"Norman..." I spoke at last, cutting in front of Emma, no longer able to hold myself back. "You..." I murmured quietly, my eyes filling with sudden emotion. "You... yOU LITTLE GENOCIDAL *SSHOLE!" -albeit it wasn't the emotion anyone was expecting. 

"Ehh?!" Vincent and Cislo exclaimed in shock, both Ray and Emma staring in surprise as well.  'Y/N's... going to go on a rampage again...'  

'Sorry, Norman. Not even the swear jar can help you now.' 

(FYI, I haven't updated for the past few days because I've been doing nothing but writing drafts... currently I have the drafts for 6 chapters- well, 5 now, done- although a few of them are pretty short- done, so once I get out of my chapter writing streak, I'll probably be mass-publishing them the same day, so there may not be any updates for another day or two, although this was a pretty short chapter.

See you then, and I hope you enjoyed!!)