Author's note:

It's coming down to the end folks… kind of scary. I might actually finish this story before a year passes ^_^ This one is a long one… don't quite know how it happened since I was struggling with it due to the dreaded Writer's Block…

Another Duck - thanks again for the pre-read

Lian - it was very amusing to watch you read through this. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Flameraven - you're not the only one to ask who Ryoga ends up with but I will answer you as I answered AD… Ryoga will get his heart's desire.

Emperor Zhang - Flayers are my targets of choice… I still think they got off easy in this story.

May and Gohan - Thanks for the notes. Here's the next one. Enjoy ^_^

***

Act 5, Quest 4 : Betrayal of Harrogath

A light snow had fallen again and from the towers that surrounded the city, it looked like a rolling plain of snow dunes. In a matter of hours, a city of tents had sprung up in front of the walls of Harrogath. The thousands of soldiers milled about, anxious for the coming battle, leaving tiny imprints in the snow until well-worn paths zigzagged between the tents.

Ranma stepped off the ramparts and headed back towards the center of the town where the rest of his group was sitting. Their job, it appeared, was done. With the Army of Light here, they had the choice of melding into the army as foot soldiers, or waiting it out here in Harrogath.

So far, no one really liked either of those options.

"Oi, Ranma," Ryoga called out, as he fell into step with the other boy. "Can you get the rest of the group? Akari says she has something to say."

"Sure," Ranma said, watching the lost boy nod and run back towards the healer's hut. Ranma thought about Ukyo's words.

"I think Ryoga didn't get lost at all. I think he ran away. And I think Akari was part of the reason."

He had been acting differently since they got Akari back but… he just couldn't understand why Ryoga would run away from home over a girl.

"Ne, Ranma?"

Ranma blinked and turned to find Akane staring at him. "What?"

"You just looked like you were lost in thought," she said.

He shook his head, looking at the rest of the group. Shampoo and Ukyo was sitting by the fire, poking it with stick. Genma was holding a mug and drinking from it. "Ryoga said to go see Akari."

"Did he say why?" Ukyo asked but Ranma could only offer her a shrug.

A few minutes later, they were assembled around Akari's bed with Kasumi slowly walking around, straightening things up.

"I would have said something sooner but," Akari started, trailing off as she looked out the window. "I guess I know it's my fault in some ways. Gosunkugi… I let him get away with it."

"Get away with what?" Akane asked.

Akari paused and took in a deep breath. The door to her room opened and Tofu walked in, moving towards the bed to check on her. He suddenly caught wind of Kasumi's humming and his eyeglasses promptly fogged up.

"We were all so distraught after the first defeat," Akari said sadly. "I guess I was willing to listen to anything. Gosunkugi said that we should just give in to the demon army, that they would spare the rest of us. And I know it didn't make any sense… but I listened and I almost agreed."

Akane and Ukyo leaned forward, intent on the rest of the story. Ranma, in the meantime was being wrapped in bandages again by a dazed Tofu.

"What did he want?" Ryoga asked.

"The most treasured possession of my family, the Ancient Relic," she said and Ryoga slowly leaned away as he realized what it meant.

"The Ancient what?" Akane asked.

"It's an artifact," Akari said, "which allows the bearer to pass to our most hallowed place, the summit of Mt. Arreat."

"What's there?" Ukyo asked.

"There are stories," Akari sighed, "but no one has ever made it to verify them. It is said that at the peak is a stone of such immense power, it will change the world forever. It is guarded by three Guardians and the relic… it should let whoever possess it get by them without a fight."

"Well that can't be… WOULD YOU CUT THAT OUT?"

The group turned to Ranma, finding him in a half mummy state, fuming at Tofu.

"Ah, ah, sorry Akane-chan," he said, quickly moving away from Ranma and to a bedpost.

Akari watched him with confusion before shaking her head. "We must retrieve the relic before Gosunkugi hands it over to the demon lord." She tried to stand up but luckily Akane had managed to get Kasumi out of the room.

Suddenly Tofu snapped out of his delirium and pushed her back into the bed. "You are not going anywhere," he said firmly.

"But…"

"Just stay here Akari," Ryoga said. "Let us deal with it."

Akari turned to the rest of the group. "I can't ask the rest of you…"

"Is all right," Shampoo said with a firm nod. "No have thing to do anyway."

"She's right," Ukyo said with a smile.

"Leave it us," Akane added, with a thumbs up.

"Yeah, we'll get back your relic," Ranma said. "Right pops?" But of course, by then, Genma had used the cold liquid in his mug to transform into a panda. "POP!" Ranma called out.

"Forget him," Akane said walking over and giving him a push with her foot. "We can do this ourselves… uh… how do we get to Gosunkugi?"

"I can still feel the relic… it's somewhere nearby," Akari said softly. She closed her eyes and a hush fell over the room. A deep red glow starts to form around the bed and snaked upwards into Akari's open hands. It grew into a ball, twisting and swirling until her eyes snapped open. The ball moved forward and stretched out into an oval, becoming a portal.

"Go now!" she said. "I can't hold it for much longer."

And without another word, the group stumbled through the portal.

* * *

"I have a bad feeling about this."

Ranma looked over at Ukyo with a face that said all he needed to without uttering a word. Well, duh.

"This is really creepy," Akane whispered, clutching her arms together tightly.

And creepy was the word. Billowing smoke poured over the steps like a gray carpet. Dead vines twirled around decaying stone columns that were dotted with straw dolls hammered into them.

The group slowly unsheathed their weapons. Ranma looked at them and made a few motions before the group split in two. They rounded either side and slowly sought to out ambush the ambush.

Akane and Shampoo slowly walked behind Ranma, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. They slowly came around the side of the building when Ranma stopped short, causing a minor pile up behind him.

He shushed them as the two girls tried to regain their composure. Pointing he motioned to the swirling fog and motioned low to the ground. Slowly, the trio slid forward, preparing for the impending…

"NOW!"

There was a flash of lightning, an arc of fire and a blast of cold air. As soon as the assorted elements had wafted away, Shampoo, Akane and Ukyo found themselves staring at a rather humorous image.

Poor Ryoga had managed to walk right into Akane's fireball while Ranma had stepped right into Ukyo's lightning trap. As if being fried was enough, Shampoo's newly learned Freezing had managed to freeze them in place.

"Eeew…" Shampoo said poking the two her bow.

"Anyone else have a feeling that once they melt, we are royally screwed?" Ukyo asked.

"We didn't do it on purpose," Akane said, with her on her hips. "With all the smoke, how were we supposed to…"

"Akane give Shampoo fireball," Shampoo said holding up an arrow.

"Oh sure," Akane said, getting the idea. The arrow caught fire and Shampoo held it next to the boys, letting the ice melt. Akane's attention was suddenly diverted. "Wait, I think I see a sign on the door."

Ukyo meanwhile was doing some quick math in her head and suddenly realized. "Actually, that might no be such a good…"

Too late. A female Ranma and a pissed off pig stumbled around.

"Oh… what happened? Where am I?" Ranma-chan said, rolling about and eventually landing an armored foot on the little black pig.

"P-chan!" Akane cried suddenly coming back to the group. "How did you get here? And where's Ryoga?" There was a collective mental slap to the forehead as the group realized that for whatever reason, Akane was never going to make the connection between pig and boy.

"He's scouting around," Ukyo said quickly, as Akane picked up P-chan and held her to her chest. Ranma-chan glowered and looked ready to kill the little black piglet.

"What sign say?" Shampoo asked quickly, trying to stop the impending brawl before it started.

"I couldn't make it out," Akane said, pointing to the sign carved into the wall.

"Let me see," Ukyo said walking up quickly and studying the lettering. "Hmmm… I think I can make out some of it… Level One, Hall of Anguish."

"Hall of WHAT?" Shampoo cried. "That no sound good."

"Shh… listen…" Ukyo said, moving to the open door. "Do you hear that?"

The fighting stopped for a moment and the group slowly lined up behind her, arching their ear down into the dark passageway below them. There were faint words floating up from below. So concentrated were they on what was being said below, no one realized the small horde of demons approaching them from behind.

"I think I hear someone crying," Akane said.

"No, is singing," Shampoo added.

"It sounds like…" Ukyo started.

"Uh… guys…" Ranma-chan said. "Anyway else feel it got really warm in here suddenly?"

Very slowly, the quartet of girls turned away from the door. The demons behind them yelled a battle cry. The girls screamed in surprise. Ranma-chan took a step backwards and fell into Ukyo who fell into Shampoo who pushed into Akane and sent her off the top step. With a little yelp, she stretched forward and grabbed onto Shampoo and who grabbed onto Ukyo and well you get the idea.

Needless to say, the four girls and one pig came tumbling down the steps and into the afore mentioned Hall of Anguish. The sounds were louder now and the group clinched together, looking around for any sign of danger.

A specter floated down from the ceiling, examining the little group. "You dare enter the Halls of Anguish? No man may pass here lest he has experienced true anguish."

The quartet looked at each other. "Okay…" Ranma-chan said, shifting in the loose armor. "Anguish… let's see…"

"Well, I had to leave my home to travel around the world with a egotistical idiot and his father," Akane started, "and then my hometown was…"

"Oi!" Ranma-chan protested. "Now hold on a damn minute. What the hell do you mean egotistical idiot? You want anguish, try being engaged to her!"

"WHAT??"

"This is not anguish," the specter said. "Just stubbornness." It turned to Shampoo.

The purple haired girl frowned. "Shampoo kicked out of tribe because try to help man who die saving her. Found man in Hell but was possessed by demon and Shampoo can not help."

The specter paused. "Good, if you ignore the complete lack of grammar. Tragic but… there is no anguish in your eyes, just determination," the specter said turning to Ukyo.

"Well, my mother set things up so I would become an assassin and took me away from my father, who later died alone."

"That is anguish for him then," the specter said as it eyed the group. "Well then, you cannot pass and will die here." The group drew its weapons and prepared for a fight but suddenly a little black ball pushed its way through.

Ryoga looked up at the specter who had fixed two ghostly eyes on him. And then he began to relate his own story. How he had run away from home and then because of a bad sense of direction had not been able to return until now. How in his travels he had been cursed to turn into a pig when cold water was dumped on him. How he had fallen in love with one girl but she never saw him as anything more than a pet. And how if she knew her pet and her friend were one in the same, she'd hate him forever. He told about the endless wandering, the journey home and finding out everything he knew had been destroyed by the demon army. His friends were missing and his parents were dead. His whole life was anguish.

It was a moving story, one that would have made stone gargoyles cry. Well, at least one that would forced the specter to let them pass. The only problem was, Ryoga was still in pig mode. Which meant his eloquent story had come out in a series of oinks and grunts.

"Come again?" the specter said as soon as he was done.

The realization that he couldn't speak suddenly hit Ryoga and the little pig wailed, adding more anguish to his aura. The specter balked and fell back, feeling the aura growing again until it finally started to burn away at the ghost. The specter screamed in pain and vanished into the air. There was a bit of silence as the four girls resheathed their weapons.

"Man," Ranma-chan said, "that should feel good, winning without a fight… only it doesn't"

"Poor P-chan, what happened to you?" Akane said, sweeping the little pig in her arms. "I'm never going to let you wander away again."

And a second later, the little pig was swept up and crushed in a deep hug from Akane. Ranma-chan looked over with a frown that steadily deepened. That little…

Well, Ranma-chan had every right to be upset… or jealous. After all, Ryoga was currently being pressed into the bosom of her fiancée. And if she hadn't known any better, Ranma-chan could have sworn he was smiling, somewhere beneath the growing puddle of blood.

"Anguish my foot," she said to herself.

* * *

"Level Two, Halls of Pain… of for the love of… WHO NAMED THESE?" Ukyo said, smashing the sign with her fist.

"So what happens now?" Ranma-chan said looking around.

"Hello, I am the specter of pain," a ghost said appearing from the ceiling.

"Well, that's real original," Ranma-chan snapped, pulling out her sword. "So now we got to tell you about how we feel pain."

"No," the specter said floating to the ground and materializing into a solid form. "You must show me how much pain you can create."

Silence.

"Ah…" the specter said. "Is there a…"

"Wait," Ukyo said, holding up her hands. "Let me get this straight, you want us to beat you up?"

"Right," the specter said.

The four girls looked at each other and smiled devilishly as they pulled out their weapons.

"You know," the specter said, "I believe I see a flaw in my master's design…"

The girls yelled and took off running. The specter finally decided his master was crazy and took off, running down the hall. Ukyo was out in the front, preparing a wide range of traps to hurtle in the specter's direction. Shampoo was nocking the first of many arrows and Ranma-chan was pulling out her sword and shifting it around before she felt comfortable with it.

Akane came to a stop and realized she could just cast her spells from here without having to do all this running. She let P-chan down and brought up her wand, ready to cast Hydra to chase down the idiotic ghost.

But just as the last word of the spell was about to leave her lips, a cold hand swept across her mouth and clamped it shut. She struggled for a moment before she succumbed to the darkness.

P-chan squealed in anger and clamped onto Akane's shoe attempting to stop her from being dragged away. But a foot lashed out and kicked the pig away, knocking him into a wall.

Several hallways down, the remaining three girls were having fun pounding the specter into the ground.

"YOU PASS! YOU PASS!" it cried before finally evaporating into air.

"Man," Ranma-chan said, "if only every fight went that well." She paused and looked around. "Oi… where's Akane?"

The other two girls looked around. "Maybe Akane no keep up," Shampoo offered.

"Probably," Ranma-chan said unhappily heading back to where they had first met the ghost. "She can never keep up."

As they rounded the last corner, annoyance turned to concern. P-chan was just standing up and trying to shake off being hit into the wall. Ranma-chan got there first, picking up the little pig and shaking it.

"Where's Akane?" she cried, making the piglet only more dizzy with all the shaking.

"Ran-chan," Ukyo said, putting a hand on her shoulder, "let Ryoga catch his breath." Ranma-chan stopped and a few seconds later, P-chan finally regained some semblance of calm.

That was quickly shattered as the little piglet began squirming in Ranma-chan's grip, desperately trying to get away.

"What happened to Akane?" Ranma-chan demanded, holding the piglet down. Ryoga tried to explain but all that came out where grunt and oinks again.

"RANMA!"

The group looked up at the far off cry. "Akane," Ranma-chan said, promptly dropping Ryoga and heading off towards the source of the cry.

The rest of the group quickly followed, trying to trace the occasional cry of help back to its source. It eventually led them to another set of stairs. After the first few steps, the staircase plunged into darkness.

"Is there a sign?" Ranma-chan asked. "We need to know so we're prepared for whatever's down there."

Ukyo nodded at him, already reading the sign. She traced her fingers over it a couple of time, confusion falling over her face.

"What?" Shampoo asked, looking over the assassin's shoulder.

"It says, Level Three, Halls of Vaught," Ukyo replied.

"What the hell is a Vaught?" Ranma-chan asked.

"I have no idea…"

"Is big monster? Stupid ghost?" Shampoo asked.

"I said I have no idea!" Ukyo said.

"RANMA!"

"Forget this," Ranma-chan said, hearing Akane's cry again. "We'll just deal with this Vaught thing when it shows up."

* * *

By the time the small group had reached the main chamber in the Halls of Vaught they had come to two conclusions. One was that there was no Vaught here, at least none had challenged their actions. Second was that for some reason, this hall above all the dungeons they had visited, had the prettiest paintings on the walls.

Not that they were taking in the scenery too much. Akane's cries had stopped the moment they got to the end of the stairs and without her voice to lead them, they were running through most of the hallways trying to find where she was.

The large chamber in the center of the Halls of Vaught was just a beautiful as the rest of the dungeon. Hieroglyphics dotted the wall, telling an epic story of a war between the gods and the demons. Red velvet hung from the ceilings and a large dais with cryptic symbols was in the middle of the room. And there, strapped to a chair was Akane, her head sunk forward. Ranma-chan ran up first.

"Akane are you…"

She pulled back quickly, seeing the look on Akane's face. Her eyes were hollow, her cheekbones pushed out of the skin. Her garb hung loosely around her body. It looked like someone had sucked the life out of her.

"A… Akane?" Ranma-chan asked slowly.

The figure in the chair smiled. "Ah, Ranma, my love, how I have waited for…"

"RANMA, you BAKA! That's not me!" came a voice from somewhere in the room.

Ranma-chan blinked and looked at the figure in the chair. "Well, hell, I didn't need you tell me that," she said.

"How did you figure it out?" the faux-Akane said. "Was it my looks?"

"No," Ranma-chan replied, pulling out his sword, "it was the drivel you just spouted. Akane doesn't ever say things like that. She's too much of a tomboy."

"I HEARD THAT!"

"Now give her back," Ranma-chan said.

But the figure in the chair leapt up and landed on a chandelier on the ceiling. "Too late! You see, I have learned your weakness and now you shall learn what happens when you fight with GOSUNKUGI!" the figure cried, pulling off the Akane costume. He reached forward and pulled a rope, hanging next to him.

"Your weakness is…COLD WATER!" A large splash echoed through the room as Gosunkugi pulled the rope.

Ranma-chan sputtered as she got drenched to the bone. "You IDIOT! I was already a girl."

Gosunkugi frowned from the chandelier. "That's strange… I thought you would melt or scream in pain or something…"

"Get down here and I'll give you some screams of pain!"

But before Ranma-chan could move, Ukyo had stepped forward and covered her eyes. "Ran-chan, just stay there a second and don't…"

"What the hell! Ukyo let me go!" Ranma-chan said, turning out of her grip and facing her. Ranma-chan stopped, her skin turned pale and she started to shake. "Ca…ca…ca…"

"I told you not to look," Ukyo said, throwing up her hands and causing some of the cold water to hit Ranma-chan. Not that the redhead noticed. She was too concerned with the sudden appearance of neko-Shampoo.

"Ca…ca… ca…CAT!!!"

Ranma-chan took off, running to the end of the room and knocking down one of the velvet draperies as she did. Akane appeared for a second before getting covering with the falling red fabric.

Akane's reappearance sent the rest of the group running towards her. Of course, Ranma-chan only saw the cat running towards her and therefore panicked some more, clawing at the stone wall to try to escape.

"Thanks," Akane said, as Ukyo undid the binding. "At least someone here is useful," she said casting a glance over at Ranma-chan. The other girl had stopped moving though and Akane's brow furrowed with worry. "Ra…"

Ranma-chan took off, meowing in anger as it headed straight for Gosunkugi, who was unsuccessfully trying to find a way down off the ceiling. The movement back and forth was like a cat toy so it was no wonder that Ranma-chan seemed intent on taking it down. Gosunkugi got one good look at the nekophobia induced Ranma-chan heading straight towards him before the attack started.

The rest of the group cringed, watching as Ranma-chan attacked.

"That's going to hurt," Akane said, cringing.

"Oooh… hope he didn't plan on having kids anytime soon," Ukyo cringed, turning away.

"Meow."

"Oink."

"Ah… as much as I don't like this guy," Ukyo said, "maybe we should stop Ran-chan before he does too much damage."

Akane nodded and headed towards the cat fight. "Ranma! Stop that right…" Akane balked suddenly seeing the blur of red heading right for her. A second later she was on her back on the ground, a very content Ranma-chan asleep and purring on her chest. She blushed profusely before realizing everyone was looking at her. Her eyebrow twitched a few times as her fist curled.

"Hang on a sec, Akane," Ukyo called, seeing the familiar playing out in her head. Walking over, Ukyo looked down at the mess that was once Gosunkugi and pulled him up, casting a town portal. Neko-Shampoo and P-chan went through first.

"Okay, go ahead!" Ukyo yelled stepping through the portal.

"HENTAI!"

* * *

Gosunkugi hung upside down in the middle of town, still completely dazed from his fight and unable to fight off the town children who had taken to poking him with sticks. Kasumi had shoed them off eventually and pulled the poor guy down, chastising the rest of the group for picking on him.

"So the relic wasn't on him," Genma said, drinking in some of the beer.

"Nope," Ranma replied.

"I will tell the Generals about this," Genma replied standing up and walking towards the gate and out to the tent city.

Ranma frowned and held up the cloth bag filled with snow to his forehead. Stupid Akane, he thought. Always so damn violent.

"Here." Ranma blinked and looked up, suddenly seeing the girl of his thoughts standing next to him. "It's soup."

He took it from her and eyed it suspiciously. "Did you cook it?"

Akane's eyebrow twitched once but she managed to stay calm. "Kasumi made it," she said. "She said it would help with your headache."

Ranma nodded and started to drink it. Akane reached forward with a stick and began to poke the fire casually, her eyes transfixed on the flames. Looking over, Ranma couldn't help but shake the feeling that she was a bit sad.

"Is everything… okay?" he started.

She looked into the fire and blinked a few times. She paused and tried to find the right words. "What do you think happens now?" she asked.

Ranma put the bowl down and looked into the fire with her. "I don't know. I guess we join the main army and fight with them. Unless you want to stay here… it should be safe…"

Akane shook her head. "No, I don't think any of us could stay behind. It's just… we've been fighting together for so long, I don't know what it'll be like if we weren't all together."

"It'll be…"

"I'm scared," she said suddenly. "It's silly right? I'm a master level Sorceress. I've been facing all these horrible monsters and now I've finally decided to be scared."

"It's not silly."

"Are you scared, Ranma?"

He paused, his face moving through a series of emotions. "Sure," he said. "This is going to be a hard fight, you know."

Akane shook her head and turned away. "I wasn't really scared of the fight," she said. "I was more scared of… well…" Her head sank low and she smiled slightly. "It's stupid, forget it."

"No, wait, what was it?"

She stood up and brushed herself off, a nervous motion as she tried to find the courage to say what she wanted. "I'm scared of losing them… of losing you."

"Akane! Ranma!"

Ranma blinked, trying to taking in her words and the urgency of the cries from across the town.

"Akane…" Ranma started

"The demon army is attacking!!" Ukyo said finally reaching them, Shampoo and Ryoga right behind her. "You can see the dust cloud from all over the mountain."

"Already?" Akane said.

"Is very bad," Shampoo said. "Army of Light ready to fight but… seems like no end to demon horde."

"Then we have to go," Akane said firmly.

"No… wait…" Ranma said.

"What is it?" Ukyo asked, watching him.

Ranma tried, he tried to think of a way to keep them here, so that they weren't separated. Akane was right. He was scared too but… he was out of options.

"Boy!" Genma called, running towards them. "We need to move now."

"Where do they need us?" Ukyo asked, clenching her fist.

"At the summit of Mt. Arreat," Genma replied.

"But the demon…"

Genma shook his head. "We won't make a difference. And right now… it doesn't look to good anyway for those that have to stay to fight. The Generals seem to think that there is something to this story. We need to get to the summit right away and try to stop the demons from getting whatever is there."

A reprieve, Ranma thought with some relief. But…

"Let's go," Genma said, pushing them along. "There a tunnel that leads into the mountain. We need to…"

"But Akari…" Ryoga started.

"She's with the Generals right now. The Barbarians are under her command after all."

"Kasumi and my father…" Akane said.

"They're at the front as well. Everyone is going there, except us."

The group froze and looked at Genma. He paused for a moment and studied their faces. He had forgotten how young they actually were. And now, he was asking them to run away, to leave their friends and family behind to certain death.

"We'll come back," Genma said, trying to find the right words. "As soon as we're done, we'll come back and everyone will still be here. All right?"

The group paused before nodding slightly. They knew it was a lie but… it was a nice lie. And so they chose to believe it. Running to the back of town was like fighting against the current. The remaining inhabitants of Harrogarth were spilling out into the streets, dressed for battle and running towards the melee.

And then suddenly, they were there. The large door opened as Genma approached it. He stole one last glance towards town before running inside.

Ukyo paused, gripping the doorframe for a moment before she stepped through. Her mother was there, one of the Generals but… but she shouldn't care about her, right? Not after all the hurtful things she had done. Still… still, there was an ache in her chest as she stepped inside.

Shampoo was next, watching the girl in front of her pause and realizing that she was not the only one who was afraid of this next step. The rest of the town might run to the front but Shampoo knew of one person who wasn't going to be moving from his spot. The only solace she could take was that if the demons overran them all, he'd probably be spared. Stupid Mousse, make Shampoo worry at time like this… So she followed after Ukyo quickly.

Akane was next and she found herself rooted at the entrance. She hadn't even gotten to say good-bye… or wish them luck. What if she never got to see them again? The fear suddenly started to fade away as she felt something warm take her hand. Looking up, she saw Ranma attempting to stay aloof but failing miserable. After a sigh he looked at her and nodded. He was scared too but… they would fight, they would fight together.

Ryoga watched the two of them step in together and realized he was the last one. He looked one more time at Harrogath, trying to take in the familiar curves and corners of the town. It would still be here, he thought to himself firmly. It would still be here when he got back.

Taking the door in his hand, he swung the heavy door shut behind him, the loud boom echoing through the empty streets but quickly dying at the gates under the roar of the demon army.