A noxious gas choked Jimmy back to consciousness. As he sat up, swatting the purple fumes away, he instantly forgot the pain that wracked his body as he looked futilely for his companions.

"Chloe? Nymk?"

He didn't expect an answer as he forced himself onto his feet as he retrieved his weapons. How long was he out? A few seconds, a few minutes, hours?

The blood was still fresh on his wounds, so the latter was ruled out, also the fact that he was alive was a strong indicator of the former. He was in enemy territory, his foes, especially the Succubus, had plenty of time to double back and finish him off if he was out for a significant period of time. Besides him being alive, this strange purple mist that was enveloping him wasn't present before. It was burning his throat but not his skin. Thankfully it didn't fill the entire passage, though it did shoot up from the ground randomly, and had a wet sticky slimy sensation to it. It definitely had a lower planar scent to it, but it was something that Jimmy was unfamiliar with. His closest approximation was that someone pierced a great festering wound to let the puss drain out; a disgusting analogy, but appropriate thought Jimmy as he waded through the foul miasma.

"Chloe? Nymk? Baroness?" he shouted again. It was bad form to give up his position like this, but given the maze like quality of these tunnels, the obscuring mists, and his momentarily lack of consciousness, alerting his enemies was the last of his worries. He needed to find his friends, and he was armed. That was good enough for him.

Well armed wasn't completely accurate. He recovered his rapier, main gauche, and some of his knives and daggers, but his crossbow was broken beyond any field repair he could administer. Despite being nicknamed 'the Blade' , he was really a crossbowman at heart, just like his master. He's dispatched more than a few demons with his specialized bolts from ambush or better yet from a safe distance. Regardless, he would worry about that later as he forged ahead ( or was it behind) into the tunnels, in search of his companions.

As Jimmy orientated himself, he found himself faced with a daunting task. Though he had been unconscious and had taken quite a tumble, the passages were not as he remembered. His memory could have been faulty, but he was fairly certain that the passages were moving about, though thankfully not at any great speed. He did not have a knack for special relationship, but even he could tell it was some sort of maze, and a shifting one at that. The worst kind. He had to deal with some demonic minotaurs from Baphomet before, but they had at least a static maze, not one that appeared to slowly change its passages.

Stumbling the best he can through the maze, Jimmy's exploration was stopped when he was confronted by one of the strangest creatures he had ever encountered. As a demon hunter, Jimmy had encountered lower planar monsters the size of castles, skeletal monsters that dripped acid, sentient blobs that could reform themselves, and even half lobster half squid abominations. The creature in front of him was definitely weirder than all of them.

At first he thought it was two creatures, very bony and misshapen, but upon closer inspection he was shocked to find it was but one, with interlocking ribcages and one big misshaped femur. It almost looked like it would be in pain save that it radiated…no it practically oozed an aura of menace as it scoured through the tunnels. Jimmy wasn't sure what type of demon it was but assumed it was some type of minor Asura.

Thankfully despite having two noses, four ears, and four eyes , this odd creature had not noticed Jimmy as it scoured the tunnels. It had pretty dull senses. Jimmy guessed it was looking for intruders, most likely himself, and decided to help the creature out.

A quick dash, followed by a slashed across its ribcage and a jabbed through one of its eyes should have ended the creature's life, especially since the rapier and dagger were both cold iron and blessed against evil. Sadly Jimmy misjudged this monster's toughness, as he barely managed to avoid its swinging claws with a backflip. It was almost comical as the creature screeched at him with one of its head still quivering in its death throes as it lunged towards Jimmy.

Jimmy quickly drew two daggers with one hand and let loose at the screeching creature as his other hand began a furious defence with his rapier. One blade flew past the creature's good neck. It looked like it only grazed the monster, but Jimmy was rewarded with a spray of black blood. The other dagger sank into one of the creature's chest. Jimmy had a good throwing arm but the blade should have deflected off the demon's ribcage, but thankfully the enchantments of his blade broke through its defenses and found their mark.

Jimmy saw his chance and closed in with rapier in hand as he drew his main gauche. The twin bodied monstrosity, was stumbling and lashing out madly but Jimmy easily ducked one swing, and parried another with his main gauche. Breaking through its defenses, Jimmy punched the dagger still embedded into one of its chests with his hilt. The monster's remaining eyes bulged, before it roared in frustration as it flung itself at him in a final desperate attack.

Jimmy was ready and braced himself for its assault. He would either dive to his side after it committed, or attempt to fend it off with his rapier, hoping his speed and strength was enough to overpower his gravely wounded foe.

That however proved unnecessary as a spear pierced through one of the monster's throat from behind. The creature gurgled a bit, before finally falling limp as it slid past the weapon.

"Are you alright?" asked a familiar but haunting voice. Jimmy didn't even need to look, he knew that voice. It taunted him in his dreams, his nightmares, and every time his mind wandered during the day.

"Wait...Jimmy…I can't believe it….is that you?" asked Sammy as she stood tall and majestic in the corridor in her too tight leather armor.

Dark hair, tall build, lean physique, flawless cinnamon skin, and large brown almond eyes held Jimmy's attention as she strode towards him with outstretched hand. She had always been the love of his life, despite how many lies he told himself, and he still loved her. more than anything in this world. "Are you alright? Let me heal…."

Jimmy threw his main gauche and caught Sammy by surprise. It wasn't balanced for throwing as his other blades were as it turned blade over hilt, but it did the trick and struck the spear woman in the shoulder.

"Jimmy! What are you doing? It's me! " cried Sammy in hurt shock as she barely blocked the lightning fast rapier with the haft of her spear.

Jimmy waited before jumping over the sweep to the legs, that Sammy liked to do. The imitation was perfect, nearly too perfect, he thought as he landed hard with a knee to her chest, sending the spear woman unceremoniously down on her behind.

"Jimmy stop! You don't know what you are doing!" pleaded Sammy as she scrambled up. She began to chant some sort of spell, but Jimmy quickly silenced it with a hard boot to her jaw. He almost smiled as she was sent sprawling again with a spray of blood from her mouth.

"Do you take me for a fool!" shouted Jimmy, his anger flaring. "How dare you take her face! I've fought enough Succubus in my time to know they can skim one's thoughts and take the forms of those they love. To better charm your victims, or make them stumble or combat, or whatever vile perversion you wish to do with them. It's all very tricky and even enticing, but it won't work on me!"

"No, it's not what you think," pleaded Sammy with a sob, her head bowed as blood dripped from her mouth. "I'm not a demon. I would never hurt you. What did I ever do to hurt you?"

Jimmy almost took the bait as his last encounter with Sammy played in his head. Almost…..

"Very convincing, except Sammy isn't in Grom. She's halfway around the world, playing high priestess and dutiful wife. There is no possible way she could be under coffin island right now."

Sammy continued to sob, holding her mouth, but soon her weeping turned to a chuckle.

Jimmy felt a rush of air, and barely managed to dodge a hooked halberd from behind. Jimmy easily spun around to face the new threat. He only caught a glance, but quickly averted his eyes when he realized he faced a Nabassu, a dangerous bat winged demon with a lurching stance and long dangerous claws. It had a deadly gaze as well, but Jimmy wasn't foolish enough to meet its eyes directly, instead concentrating on its arms. It was slower than the intertwined demon, and Jimmy easily managed to deflect its long claws before twisting his rapier blade and severing several of the demon's fingers.

The Nabassu screeched in pain even as it stretched out its head in an attempt to bite Jimmy with its sharpened teeth. Before Jimmy could stab the relatively slow moving demon in the face, he felt razor sharp claws rake across his back, before entwining around his chest, as Sammy bit her teeth into his shoulder.

Jimmy gritted his teeth. He was in a bad spot. A succubus behind him and an angry Nabassu infront of him.

It wasn't anything he couldn't handle though.

He coolly brought his legs up and together and kicked the bat demon backwards with his legs, before tucking and rolling forward, both dislodging and tossing Sammy forward.

"That's a move I learned from Sir Jose," he said before charging the prone pair.

Instead of closing the distance to finish off his foe, Jimmy stumbled suddenly weakened, suddenly drained, and almost fell to the ground. He caught himself as he doubled over, glancing at his bloodied shoulder and thought it looked much worse than it felt. He struggled to stand, barely managing to balance himself on the cave wall.

Sammy licked her lips and smiled broadly. "I might be hurt, but so are you now," she cooed before motioning the Nabassu forward. The bat demon growled as it circled behind Jimmy from the opposite wall, and soon the Blade found himself flanked.

"I can make your death painful or pleasurable," said Sammy as her leather armour vanished, revealing a maddeningly flawless body. " I can only read your surface thoughts, but I know you both love and hate this woman. "

"I don't hate her," said Jimmy defiantly, ignoring her taunts. The attack would be swift, regardless of what Sammy was promising. The banter was all an attempt to draw his attention before the Nabassu pounced on his back. His only chance was to take that creature out fast before turning his attention back to Sammy, which was difficult enough considering he could not meet the creature's eyes directly.

"Of course you don't hate her," purred Sammy. "But, she hurt you, am I right? She hurt you…oh…so…bad….."

Jimmy was captivated by her lips, her hips, and her deep brown eyes, but not distracted enough to ignore the Nabassu moving at his back. He spun himself ready to strike, but curiously the Nabassu had stopped dead in its tracks, or at least the clawed feet he was looking at stopped moving. Black ichor ran down its side before Jimmy dared a glanced upwards. He was shocked to see the armored Hoplite from earlier had rescued him, impaling the monster from the back.

Jimmy spun to face Sammy, but the Succubus was gone. The cowardly creature no doubt saw that the tide had turned and beat a hasty retreat.

While the Hoplite and her Marilith companion had soundly trounced Jimmy and Chloe earlier, he was pretty sure they were involved in some type of demon civil war right now. She was as likely to slay him as the Succubus was, but he hoped that the enemy of his enemy was his friend, or at least someone that wouldn't kill him. Perhaps she would take him prisoner.

Regardless, Jimmy leaned against the wall, his wounds, the purple gas, and the Succubus' bite finally taking their toll. All he could manage was to hold his rapier defiantly in his hand.

"So now what," he asked the Hoplite. Friend or foe, he was ready for whatever came next.

"Are you alright?"

Then the Hoplite stopped and simply stared at Jimmy in confusion, before finally planting her spear and taking off her helmet.

"Jimmy? Is that you?" asked Sammy in her familiar but haunting voice.