The second Neo said goodbye to Nyx, a nagging discomfort settled in his chest. He pushed it aside as he ascended higher into the clouds hoping to spot Tunrida. While Nyx had been begging for an army to save a Hel scout, Neo used her earnestness to cover his more important plans. 

Spies fed false information to Tunrida that all they cared about was Emry, hopefully making her careless with her demon army. The tactic seemed to have worked based on the size they spotted on the approach. 

High above the cloudline, he spotted his heart atop the snow demons back sailing over the wall. He hoped she would understand his secret keeping. It wasn't as if he had plans to take over Hel, but Tunrida's insolence had become far too much to look over. She needed to die.

A cloaked figure walked from turret to turret at the back of the castle structure. Not nearly as intricate as his own home, but well fortified and structurally sound. With a squint, he made out her pinched face, and a malicious grin split his face.

Deciding on an aerial assault, he ascended higher until he would only look like a speck to her eye and hovered directly above her quick-moving body. A hideous screech sounded from above just before he dived towards her head to cleave her in two. Neo looked up to see talons stretching out for his wings, about to tear them from his back. 

"Vekai!" Pulling his wings tight around his torso, he let himself drop out of the creature's reach, trying to discern what it could be, but the sudden falling snow obscured his vision. He twisted against a sudden storm gust, searching for Tunrida again. Her retreating form appeared closer to the active fighting. 

Huh? She's going to fight her own battles this time. The thought got knocked from his head as the screeching beast returned, its clawed foot managing to grasp the very end of his wing. He hissed, cursing when he realised what it what.

"A harpy?" He shouted in his mother tongue, trying to steady their descent. The Harpy used her wings as a parachute, slowing them significantly as he questioned her. "Why aren't you in Tartarus?"

"She captured me and forced my hand, my king," the Harpy screeched, tilting her chin up to reveal a pronged collar with a small incendiary device. "I betray her; she burns me."

Neo noted genuine distress in her treason, but he had a job to do. "Forgive me," he said, drawing his sharp forefathers up and slicing across her throat. The Harpy's eyes bulged, her talons retracting as she reached up to stop her head from toppling off. It wouldn't kill her, but it would hinder her long enough for her new keeper to be killed. 

Spinning, Neo shouted when he spotted the rapidly approaching ground and slammed his wings down. His landing sent shocks up his legs and ribs. Any ordinary man would have shattered his bones entirely, but he shook off the discomfort in seconds, sprinting towards Tunrida's last location. He scented her path and followed, trying not to recoil from her thick, pungent odour. 

Many, many years ago, he found the strawberry scent somewhat intriguing, but after Nyx, it sickened him.

Her trail continued down a flight of stairs and into a bloodstained courtyard where dozens of Demons lay dead. In the centre, she spun her razor-sharp whip. Its barbs rear-facing and designed to latch and rip the flesh off the bone. 

He tucked his wings away and pulled a handful of throwing knives from his belt. Before he got a chance to throw them or even have her spot him, pain gripped his side. Eyes widening in recognition, he spun and searched for her mind. Come on, Nyx. Think of me.

A wisp of thought struck him; his name and Maezes. 

Thirty feet. 

East. 

He sprinted for her knowing who must have found her. The filthy, lying abomination he should never have put his faith in. Running back up the stairs, Neo jumped from roof to roof to arrive quicker, spying Nyx tearing a long dagger from her side and coughing blood.

The snow demon she called Moja spotted him quickly and bared her teeth. From his limited knowledge of their body language, he assumed she was telling him to hurry up. 

He darted along the slippery tile, using his hands to grip the nearest walls as he heard her exclamation of disgust.

"Ew."

Even in times of near death, her lack of tact always warmed him.

In the seconds it took for him to find a good vantage, a scream ripped from Nyx's lips, along with a blood-drenched karambit whizzing through the air.

It landed in flesh with a sickening thud, and Nyx's jaw dropped open. "No fuckīng way."

Shrieks of agony filled the space as the curved blade dug deeper into its victim as it was enchanted to do.

At first, pride swirled in his belly as he slid from the roof and dropped behind her, followed by nausea-inducing dread.

Micah lay trembling on the frozen ground, blood spewing from his lips as the knife weaselled deeper.

 Maeze strutted forward with a gargantuan sword in her hand and buried it in his throat, slicing his head clean off. She glanced at Nyx, praying she landed the final blow in time, but Neo knew she was too late. Nyx hunched over, a scream tearing from the depths of her soul as the curse triggered. 

Knowing Maeze's presence would only frenzy her, Neo gestured for her to run. She looked at Neo with wide eyes knowing his fate was in danger too.

"Go!" he growled before darting over to Nyx and grabbing her shoulders.

"Get back!" her pained groans, signalling her fight against her nature. He wondered briefly if his brother tried to fight against it or if his father's teachings made him lean into it.

Now her need to create balance again would force her hand. She wasn't nearly as strong as him, but her drive to kill another of the demon variety would be relentless.

"Nyx."

She spun, steel eyes blown, iris' tinged in red. "I said get back, Demon!" Then, lunging for him, she froze before making contact and grabbed her second Karambit knife, turning it on herself and plunging towards her stomach.

"No!" Neo grabbed her wrist and shook violently, but the weapon didn't budge from her grip.

"Kill me," she begged, still aiming the knife at her belly. "I don't want to hurt y-" More screams shot from her mouth as she folded in on herself. Neo's grip held her arm to the side, and he looked around before dragging her through a doorway.

"Master!" Dhyra hissed from the rooftop above them. "Tunrida's cornered. Maezikeen and Sekjh captured her weapon.

Nyx shot upright, eyes bloodred, twitching as her gaze shot jerkily from Neo to Dhrya. Then, shivering, she pulled her arm free from Neo and stormed past him.

Neo scowled and stared at Dhrya. "We need to get her further away from the Demons, not closer. Vekaiae oaj."

"Apologies, Master," the Demon whispered as Neo followed behind his Nephalem, not even gracing them with a response.

"Where is she?" Nyx screamed, spinning to curse at Neo. Her hair electrified and floated as if she were underwater, her red eyes piercing Neo's heart.

"Through there," he said, gesturing to a doorway blocked by fighting. She gritted her teeth and painfully turned away from him before barging through the crowd, uncaring of the chaos in her way.

"Clear a path!" He thundered, still trailing behind her. If anyone dared interfere, he would slaughter them.

The fighting continued, but a large gap appeared between him and Tunrida, which Nyx continued storming through, keeping her eyes locked straight ahead. Tunrida stood proud despite the sword pinching her neck from behind. Maezikeen kept her focus lasered on the Demon. 

As Nyx passed, wary eyes followed her, and the killing ebbed. Soon when she stood right before Tunrida, the crowd recoiled from her malicious aura, and the only sound that reached Neo's ears was her laboured breathing.

Tunrida sneered down at the small Nephalem, her wrists held on either side by Maeze's most trusted generals.

Nyx jerked like a puppet on a string, staring up at the Demon with her head tilted at an unnatural angle. Neo swallowed, burying his nerves deep down where not even the oldest Hellhound could smell it.

"What do you think you're gonna do, Ajovo slut?"

Before the final word escaped Tunrida's mouth, Nyx swung her armed fist in a blindingly fast arc, her blood-drenched blade finding a worthy home.