In Hell, deep in Sirius' library, the demon recorded the last negative energy that was delivered. It was constantly declining, and for a few months, it was below average. He frowned. This wasn't good. He closed the book and returned it among countless others.

His bandaged arm twitched. Even now after all the time it wasn't fully healed. Sirius never thought the damage Ashyss caused would be so severe. He greatly underestimated the danger, however, he succeeded in his task, so this was just a minor annoyance.

"Checking the books, I see," said an eerie voice.

The librarian turned around, seeing crystalline hedgehog levitated behind him. The demon bowed.

"Lord Mephiles, what brings you to this shabby place?"

"You are my trusted companion," Mephiles noted. "I want to share with you the fruit long research brought us. It shall bring us back to our rightful place."

Sirius straightened and glanced on two big figures that entered. Their heads were rather small compared to their broad bodies with big muscles. Big spikes grew from their backs, and huge clawed hands held hourglasses his race used for gathering negative energy and souls.

"Are these the result of Dr. Finitevus' research I had a chance to hear about?"

"Yes, I call them Black Arms." Lord Mephiles was pleased he didn't need to explain it to the details. "They are perfect living weapons. They fulfill any command without fail. No emotion or sensation of pain can hinder them. All of them are mind-linked, so no matter in how big group an individual will be, there won't be any problems. All of their operations will be highly synchronized."

More of these big creatures brought in front of Sirius dozens and dozens of full hourglasses. One of them was freshly smeared with blood.

"This is just a small example of their abilities. There was a lot of failures before their form was perfected, equipping them with the best means of defense and offense." Mephiles' lime eyes sparked with sadistic pleasure.

"In the past years we have run a few small tests, but in the future, they will allow us to reach our ultimate goal much sooner."

A hint of happiness resonated in Sirius' voice. "That's wonderful news, my Lord. I have noticed the amount of gathered energy dropped below an average, but I was still helpless in doing anything." He bowed. "The awakening of our Creator will finally happen."

"I agree. He was asleep for far too long. The Upper World needs to learn the lesson to never oppose us." He clenched his right fist. "We shall claim what is rightfully ours."

"The never-ending night for our kin," Sirius solemnly noted.

"Yes, the never-ending nightmare for the fools," the crystalline hedgehog smirked and slightly giggled. With these words Mephiles left, leaving the Black Arms behind to store the gathered energy.

Sirius watched his lord go, and a hint of disdain sparked in his eyes. "Yes, the nightmare," he murmured before he left to record the new energy.

Meanwhile, Amy was on the roof of the house where a tragedy occurred. She watched the dark sky, still hours to the sunrise but this city never slept. Her hand was caressing slowly waking up Steelar.

The demoness murmured from her sleep, slightly moving her head. She gradually realized her quills were patted, and she opened her yellow eyes.

"How do you feel?" Amy silently asked her.

After an awkward second, Steelar jolted up, grabbing her neck. There was nothing around it, so she checked the rest of her body. However, nothing changed on her.

Tears rolled down of her cheeks, crying, "Am I that pathetic you can't use me as a tool?" Her balled fists were wiping the streams of tears.

Amy shook her head. "You are not a tool. I don't want to bound you."

"Is it because you have already one demon?"

"No, with Eclipse it was an accident. I had no idea I'm a demon tamer." Amy slightly shook her head.

"Then why?" Steelar bit her lip frustrated.

"I believe we can be friends without it."

The demoness only winked at her calm answer. "Fri... ends?"

The lass nodded. "Yes, at least I'm hoping for it."

"But we hunt your kind!" the other barked.

The concept of friends was foreign for many demons. Only the weakest formed groups and they rarely lasted for a long time.

"I know, but still you and Eclipse are kind."

The demoness couldn't stop her hand from scratching her quills. This was such a dumb answer.

"I know it sounds strange, but take us." She gently smiled, looking in front of herself, far above the roofs. "We wage wars against each other, we steal from others, and many of us don't hesitate to betray for their own gain. Yet so many of us are nice too."

She leaned her head backward, letting her quills hang down. "I was almost killed by an employee of my father, yet I never thought about hating more than this person." Her blue eyes fell on Steelar. "I guess the same goes for your kind, each of you is different."

The demoness watched her confused. How could talk with a mortal feel so natural? Maybe not all of them were so bad.

"Can I ask you something?"

Steelar nodded.

"Are there other demons in this city?"

The demoness looked into her eyes. All she saw was honesty. Amy wasn't trying to hurt her or anything. She was genuinely curious.

"Not any I'm aware of," she answered after a short pondering. "Most demons don't stay too long at one place to not alert our enemies. I always kept my distance from other since they could steal--" Her eye widened in shock. "The hourglass! Were there a big hourglass in the living room?"

"N-No, I haven't seen any."

Steelar stood up and looked around, finally noticing they were actually on the roof.

"Those bastards! They even took our hard work!" She hugged her body, digging her claws into her arms. "Damn!" She thudded on the roof.

"I'm sorry, we have killed a few of them, but neither was holding an object." Amy's ear twitched as she heard closing steps. Silver and Eclipse entered the roof.

The psychic cleared his throat. "We have checked a wider area, but nothing interesting appeared." He adjusted his glove, finding a stain. He slightly sighed. "It seems we have either killed all of them, or the rest of the group is no longer here."

Steelar spurted on her limbs, dashing away. Silver quickly caught her but allowed her to have a certain degree of freedom.

"Where do you think you are going?" the silver hedgehog inquired.

"I did what you wanted! So let me go!" She waved with her limbs, trying to break free.

"We promised not to kill you, not to set you free," he reminded her. "As far as I'm concerned, you are still an enemy."

Steelar hissed his way, clenching her fists in anger. She should have run earlier.

"Silver." Amy rose to her feet, watching him. There was a slight frown on her face.

"She can live in a comfy cell until The Order decides her next fate," he argued. "She was more than willing to become your slave, right, Steelar?"

Silver looked at the demoness as her eyes filled with despair. She didn't realize she shouted her name. Her claws grabbed the bandage around her chest. If she would get bound to another mortal, she would have to bear with it. New tears appeared in her eyes.

Eclipse gulped, understanding what was happening in her head. She lost her family, home, gathered energy, and freedom. He looked at Amy who was arguing with Silver, but he didn't pay their words attention, but it seemed the psychic was winning this argument.

"No, you have to let her go!" the demon barked before he could think.

All of them looked at him, and the psychic asked, "And why so?"

"Gimme a sec!" he snapped, turning around.

Silver's mouth twitched. Like seriously? Eclipse stopped him without knowing why! However, he decided to wait and see what that fidgeting demon would think up.

'Dang! Dang!' cursed Eclipse in his mind, fully feeling the gaze of amber eyes on his back. 'Think of something!' He bit his thumb, scratching on his neck when he touched his collar.

"She is unbound!" he barked, pivoting.

"Start making a sense!" Silver barked back. This was the most random answer he had ever heard.

Eclipse gestured toward Steelar. "She is free! She can move from Hell and back!"

Silver lifted his right eyebrow, looking hardly impressed.

"Black Arms are attacking demons too, right?"

The psychic nodded, there was no denying in that.

"Steelar can gather some information for us!" He quickly covered his mouth, whispering sorry toward the demoness. She slightly waved her hand, dismissing this matter.

"Eclipse's right!" Amy strongly tucked on Silver's sleeve, dragging his lifted hand down. That in return tossed a bit with Steelar. "She can ask other demons if they saw them!"

"Well," he freed his sleeve, "it's true such an Intel would be priceless." He frowned at the demoness. "However, there is no guarantee she would ever gather it. Not to mention, how could we trust her?"

Silver was pessimistic in this matter. Eclipse would do the job because of the collar but she? He expected from her to either hide in some deep hole or to give them false information. And if she would be clever, she could arrange a trap to devour them.

"Would you do that for us?" Amy ignored Silver's remarks, turning toward Steelar. "We may be able to find what happened to your hourglass too. The chances are slim, but we may be able to save many lives."

Silver examined Steelar's face. She was confused, and from her twitchy movements, it seemed she was taken aback by this offer. He wondered what her answer would be. Definitely, the positive one or she might surprise him by declining.