LC Presents: Helluva Dad Chapter 18: Reunion at the Harvest Moon, a Disney + Helluva Boss Crossover fanfic

You do so much of these but it's something I often do to acknowledge and hold memorials to, so here they are:

Gene Hackman, his wife Betsy Arakawa, and Carl Dean.

We'll miss the first Lex Luthor, and the man who inspired Dolly's song "Jolene".

And now, on to the story.

Chapter 18: Reunion at the Harvest Moon Festival

It was morning in the Wrath Ring. But this was not just any other day in Wrath. This was a day that only came once every year.

It was the day of the Harvest Moon Festival.

Over at Angerton, Moxxie was finishing placing his things in bags and then putting those bags on the back of a hellhorse. Standing next to him were the assembled trio of Mayor Dirk, Momo, and Wesley.

"Thanks for providing me with this horse, Mayor Dirk," Moxxie said as he turned to thank the mayor, nodding at him gratefully.

"Why, it's the least I could do for you, especially since your car was totaled by those Demon Apes," Dirk replied. "Hopefully it didn't cost you something."

"I'm sure I'll make it up to that rental company eventually, I'll just add that to the list of debts that I owe," Moxxie noted with a sigh. As he adjusted the saddle on his horse, he thought back to how he owed Stu for the weapons he gave to Angerton. That was something he knew would come back to haunt him someday. But he would deal with it when he needed to.

"Regardless, we do wish you well on your travels, Moxxie," Dirk said.

"Yes, thank you for staying as long as you did to help out this town," Momo added with a smile. "We'll be missing you."

Moxxie looked over at Momo and smiled back, their eyes meeting. "Yeah, me too," he admitted.

"Do you really have to leave?" asked Wesley, who looked up at Moxxie with a sad expression. He didn't look like he was ready to see Moxxie go. "You should stay here, Mox. I mean, you could be our marshal. You could help protect this town full-time."

"Wesley…" Moxxie said while looking down.

"Wesley… does bring up a good point," Momo admitted, betraying her own desire to have Moxxie stay, even if it wasn't as obvious as Wesley's. "There will always be a place for you here in Angerton, Mox."

"And you could certainly be a marshal here, or whatever other position you'd like to take," Dirk considered. "I doubt anyone in town would be against the appointment. We could probably do it right now and make it official."

"Wait, really?" Moxxie asked him.

"I'm the mayor, aren't I?" Dirk pointed out. "I could set you up with the gig, including your own place."

Moxie was silent for a moment, considering the offer. It was good. He knew that he could stay here. He could live here.

"Angerton could be your home if you wish it to be," Momo said, voicing Moxxie's own thoughts as she walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, getting him to look up at her. "I wouldn't mind having you around here," she told him, her tone… hopeful.

And Moxxie did find himself seriously being tempted by the offer. He looked around at the rebuilt town and at the kind faces of Wesley, Dirk, and Momo. He couldn't deny that he did feel an attachment to this place after helping to defend it and then repair it. He couldn't deny that he felt an attachment to the demons who lived here either. And if he stayed here, Moxxie knew that he could build a life for himself. A life surrounded by demons who cared about him. He could even have that life with Momo, continue their relationship and see where it led them. Perhaps it led to a future together.

And yet…

"As tempting as that is… and believe me, it is very tempting, I do have obligations to fulfill elsewhere," Moxxie admitted with a sigh, wondering if he would end up regretting these words. "It's the day of the Harvest Moon Festival, and I have demons waiting for me. I've stayed about as long as I can for this town, even after Striker left to get his son and Chase left to chase that monster. If things were different, I think I would stay here in Angerton and maybe someday I will come back… but for now I have a duty and my loyalties."

There was a moment of silence and in that silence, Moxxie decided that he had made the right call. As much as he would love to stay here, he couldn't just abandon Blitz and Loona. He had a responsibility to them and it was a responsibility he had been neglecting. But that didn't mean that he couldn't come back here someday, take the town up on its offer.

"We can respect that," Momo eventually said with a nod, though still clearly disappointed that Moxxie couldn't stay.

"Yeah," Wesley replied. He also looked sad and disappointed, but at the same time he understood Moxxie's decision.

"I will admit, I'm sad that you can't stay, my boy," Dirk said with a sniff. "But we understand. A demon has his obligations and we can't keep holding you here away from the ones who are expecting you back."

Moxxie smiled at them. "Thank you," he said, grateful. "I promise that I won't forget any of you. And I won't forget your offer either. Maybe, when things are better for me, I'll be able to stay."

He then walked over to Wesley, who briefly looked away. "Wesley, I want you to know that it's thanks to you that Angerton won't have to worry about those Demon Apes ever again."

"What?" Wesley asked in surprise. "Come on, Moxxie, you know that ain't true. You're the one who led the defense."

"And who brought me here in the first place?" Moxxie pointed out. "Who insisted that I stay, even when I tried to leave when I was told that the situation was hopeless? Who believed that I could do it, that I could be the hero this town needed? Who had the courage to stand up to the Demon Apes in the first place?"

Wesley managed to look up at Moxxie, a smile on his lips. "Me," he admitted. "It was me."

"That's right," Moxxie said while rustling Wesley's hair a bit. "And I think that if you play your cards right, you could be this town's marshal."

"Wait, you really think so?" Wesley asked, taken aback by this.

"I mean, someone has to help take care of things while I'm gone," Moxxie pointed out. "And I can think of nobody better. This town is gonna need someone like you, someone who refused to give up even when the situation looked dire. Murdock tried to break your spirit, but instead you sought me out and brought me here to help you take back your down. I think someone with a resolve as unbreakable as yours is going to be a big help in protecting this town from future threats. I think you made your parents proud, Wesley. And I think you're going to keep making them proud."

Wesley smiled and then he moved in to give Moxxie a hug. "Thanks, Mox," he said with a huge smile. "That… means a lot to me."

"I know, kid," Moxxie replied with a smile while hugging Wesley back. After the hug, he let go of Wesley and turned to address Dirk. "Mayor Dirk, it was an honor to meet you and to help you defend your town, sir. I hope that you'll continue to help out this town."

"My boy, after everything we've been through, I want to do the most good that I can do to this town," Dirk declared as he patted Moxxie's shoulder. "I had just about given up before I met you." He looked down, regret etched across his face. "Actually, I had given up. I told you to leave us to die."

"It's okay, sir," Moxxie tried to say, but Dirk just shook his head.

"No, it's not," Dirk said. "Before you showed up, I was letting this town down. I want to do better. I need to do better." He then looked up at Moxxie, his face earnest. "From now on, I am going to make sure no one will take advantage of us like the Demon Apes did."

Moxxie smiled. "Now that's what I like to hear."

"And I expect my successor will do the same when the time I retire comes," Mayor Dirk said. "Angerton will be stronger than it was before."

Moxxie gave him a nod before turning to Momo. He fell silent and found himself struggling to find the right words. It was… strange. They had not really known each other that long. But they had helped to defend this town together. They had helped to rebuild this town together. And they had… shared moments together. She was perhaps the biggest reason why he was tempted to stay and he found it hard even now to put that in words.

"Momo…" he said as the two looked each other in the eyes. "I think I might miss you the most," he blurted out, making him blush hard. "I-I mean, well-"

"Moxxie," Momo said as she placed her hand under his chin and lifted it up so he was looking at her, then she bent down to give him a kiss. The two shut their eyes for a moment, savoring the kiss before Moxxie felt Momo pull away. He opened his eyes and saw her standing over him. "Thank you for everything," she said with a smile, hiding her own disappointment.

Moxxie smiled back. "I'll try to come back here someday," he promised once again.

"And we'll be here waiting for you," Momo declared.

The two of them shared a look, both of them hoping deep down that they would see each other again. But they both understood why they had to say goodbye, at least for now. They both had their loyalties. They both had their people and their responsibilities to their people. It was one of the reasons they had connected.

And now it was the reason they had to part ways.

"Don't be a stranger, son," Dirk advised Moxxie. "And be careful on your journey."

"We'll miss you, Mox," Wesley added.

Nearby, watching Moxxie as he was about to leave, was Cain standing in the shade of a building. Moxxie didn't see him, but Cain was watching the imp while giving a small smile to himself.

Having finished his goodbyes, Moxxie climbed up onto his horse, sitting on the saddle. "Goodbye, all!" he shouted, bidding farewell, not just to the trio, but to all of Angerton.

"Goodbye, Moxxie!" the three shouted as Moxxie rode off on his horse, riding into the early morning light. While Wesley, Dirk, and Momo waved, Cain watched him leave before walking away, hands in his pocket.

Cain had to give the small imp some credit though. He had really left his mark on the town. Moxxie had come into this town as a stranger.

And he was leaving the town as a legend.

Meanwhile, in a different part of the Wrath Ring, Loona was sound asleep in her bed. Eventually, she groaned and started to wake up from her sleep.

"Ah… crap, what time is it?" Loona asked as she rubbed her eyes before looking at the clock, her eyes widening when she saw the time. "Aw shit, I overslept!"

She jumped out of bed, quickly putting on her jean shorts and a t-shirt. Once she finished getting dressed, she rushed out of her room and ran downstairs.

"Sorry Carrie, I must've overslept!" Loona called out as she made it to the first floor. "I hope I didn't miss too many… chores today…"

Loona paused when she came into the kitchen… and found Carrie, Blitz, and Amaroq all seated around the table, having already set up breakfast.

"Good morning, Loony!" Blitz greeted as he held up a plate for her. "Made you a plate of some flapjacks and sausages!"

"Breakfast… wait, what about the morning chores?" Loona asked.

"Don't you worry, sug. Ev'rything's already taken care of this mornin'," Carrie revealed.

"Yeah, we decided to let you sleep in," Amaroq mentioned. "But don't worry, I already helped do all of the morning chores with Carrie."

This surprised Loona as she walked over to the table. "Really? You did that for me?"

"Yeah, it was the least I could do," Amaroq replied with a smile. "You know, for everything you've done for me since we got here. I just thought I would do something nice for you."

"It was her idea," Carrie confirmed.

"Oh," Loona said, blinking in surprise. "Wow, that's really nice of you, Amaroq. Although what's the occasion?"

"Did you forget, Loony?" Blitz asked her. "This is going to be our last day here in Wrath."

"Last day… oh man, that's right!" Loona realized, suddenly remembering. "Today is the day of the Harvest Moon Festival!"

"Righty-o, Loonerino," Blitz declared. "Stolas will be here for us to meet up with to discuss our next move." He turned to Carrie. "And then we'll be out of your hair for good, Carrie. Thanks for letting us with you."

"Ah, don't mention it," Carrie said with a humble smile. "I should probably thank Kajedo for sending you folks my way. It was nice to have the extra hands around the farm, y'know?"

"I still can't believe today is the day," Loona admitted, having sat down to eat. "It was starting to feel like we were never going to leave."

"Thank Satan that's not the case," Blitz said before turning to Carrie. "I mean, no offense, but I don't want to spend the rest of my days living in Wrath."

"None taken," Carrie said with a shrug. "But I am going to miss you city folks. You didn't do too bad here, all things considered."

"Um, can I ask a question?" Amaroq asked, raising her hand.

"What is it?" Loona asked.

"Well, I keep hearing about the Harvest Moon Festival, but I don't think anyone has actually explained what it is to me," Amaroq pointed out.

"Oh, it's a traditional and annual festival where all of the farmers of Wrath celebrate their bountiful harvest. There's games, music, food, all forms of entertainment, a ceremony by Prince stolas, and not to mention the annual Pain Games," Carrie brought up.

"Pain Games?" Amaroq asked.

"One of the roughest, toughest, and brutal events for Wrathians, a chance for them to compete with each other and prove that they are the strongest demon in Wrath," Carrie explained. "It can get pretty violent, but it's always fun. Probably my favorite part of the Festival. Me and my family have watched the Games a bunch of times and I have even participated in the Pain Games myself. I do plan on just watchin' this year's Pain Games though."

"Wow… I'd like to watch the Pain Games!" Amaroq replied, standing up in her chair as her tail wagged in excitement. "Can I go see the Pain Games with Carrie?"

"Oh no, we can't watch the Pain Games, hon," Blitz said, quickly shutting down the idea.

"Aw, why not?" Amaroq asked.

"Because it's still too risky to go out there in the open, especially with so many imps around, one of them could be an influencer or cameraman recording the event," Blitz explained. "The best thing to do is to just wait here to meet with Stolas after the event."

"Aw man…" Amaroq said, looking down in disappointment.

Loona, while eating, was reminded about how she wanted to go see the Harvest Moon Festival with her dad when she first came to Wrath. As she looked at Amaroq's pouting face of disappointment, it reminded her of herself when she didn't get to go see the Pain Games.

"Honestly… I think it'd be okay to go," Loona suggested while eating, prompting Blitz and Amaroq to turn to her in surprise.

"Really?" Amaroq asked, getting excited again.

"Now Loona, you know we can't go-" Blitz interjected, but Loona interrupted.

"I just think that going to the Harvest Moon Festival and seeing the Pain Games would be an easier way to meet up with Stolas instead of just waiting around here for him to come to us," Loona argued. "That way, we'll be close to Stolas when he does his business. And I doubt anyone would want to try anything with him around. Plus, we've gone out into public several times without there being any trouble. It would also just be… fun. Like you said, this is our last day in Wrath. Why not make it a memorable one?"

Blitz was quiet for a moment, thinking over it. Originally, his plan was just to wait here for Stolas to come to them. But maybe going to Stolas instead would be easier and… like Loona said, it would be fun. He looked up at the two girls, seeing Amaroq's hopeful eyes and Loona's small smile, which eventually won him over.

"Well, I guess you have a point," Blitz admitted. "You girls do deserve to have some fun, so maybe it wouldn't hurt to go down to the festival and check things out. With all the imps there, we would probably just blend in with the crowd anyway though we should still be careful…"

"Yes!" Amaroq cheered, raising her paws in the air. "We're going to see the Festival and watch the Pain Games!"

"Oh, yer all gonna love it," Carrie replied with a grin.

"Thanks for agreeing to this, dad," Loona thanked Blitz, smiling as she saw Amaroq jumping up and down in her seat.

"It's no problem," Blitz said dismissively. "I mean, you are right. I was probably just letting my paranoia get the better of me, worrying that someone was out to get us…"

Meanwhile, in another part of Wrath, the owner of a motel was at the front desk when he noticed one of his residents starting to head out.

"Oh, it's you," the owner said, recognizing the resident. "You uh, heading out somewhere, partner?"

The resident stopped and slowly turned toward the motel owner. "Oh, it's just that… well, I've been hearing a lot about this festival that is going on today and I decided that I would go check it out for myself…"

"Ah, you must mean the Harvest Moon Festival," the owner replied with a sigh. "Have you heard about the annual Pain Games? They can be brutal."

"Really? That doesn't sound too uncommon in this Ring."

The owner chuckled. "Yeah, but those Games are still deadly. They usually result in at least one funeral. But I'm not surprised you're heading out to check the Festival. It is probably one of the most popular events in the Ring. They not only attract demons from all over Wrath, they even attract demons from the other Rings, who come down just to see it."

"Other Rings, eh?" asked the guest of the motel… Alexei, who formed a smile. "That's what I was hoping for…"

Meanwhile, in another town, Moxxie brought his horse to a stop.

"Alright, let's take a break and get you some water to drink, boy," Moxxie told the hellhorse as he led him over to a nearby water trough. While the horse began to drink, Moxxie disembarked and patted the animal on the side. "Now I'm going inside to ask for some directions, but I'll be right back."

As Moxxie went inside a nearby store, the hellhorse continued his drink, ignoring the hellborn civilians that were out in the streets.

Nothing was out of ordinary… until a large shadow flew over the town.

"Was that a bird?" an old imp asked after seeing the shadow. He looked up and his eyes widened in horror upon seeing what was flying over the town. "HOLY SHIT!"

Everyone else looked up and similarly reacted in fear when they saw what was circling the town from the sky. They quickly evacuated the street, running into the closest buildings and locking themselves in as they prayed that they would be spared.

Moxxie's horse looked up from its water, sensing the change in atmosphere. It became uneasy before it looked up… and began to panic, neighing loudly. It started to move, but then something flew down at the horse, faster than the horse could react…

SLASH!

The horse's head was sent flying in the air before landing on the ground. The headless body began to spray blood from the neck as the body collapsed, the blood staining the sand…

Inside the convenience store, Moxxie was receiving some directions from the cashier.

"So you'll need to go west, then east through the canyons, and if ya take route 99 that'll get you into Ragetown," the cashier told him, pointing at a map for Moxxie.

"Gee, thanks," Moxxie replied to the cashier.

Suddenly, the door to the store was thrown open. Everyone turned to see a large silhouette filling the doorframe while casting a shadow over the room and everyone in it, including Moxxie. The figure strode inside the store while looking around, causing the patrons to look away in fear whenever those landed on them.

Moxxie began to turn around as a pair of deadly eyes fell upon him. Moxxie's own eyes widened in surprise when he got a good look at the figure before him…

The figure appeared to be a young female demon. She was vaguely humanoid, but her skin was a sickly green color and covered with stretch marks and scars. Her eyes were like two black voids, her pupils glowing a golden yellow while her teeth was more like a shark's. She had razor-sharp claws on her hands and feet, a small pair of dragon horns, and long wings like a bat. In place of hair, she had a nest of poisonous snakes.

The sight of her alone terrified Moxxie, especially the way she was looking at him, and he immediately realized that whoever this woman was, she had come here looking for him.

'This isn't good,' Moxxie thought while the cashier ducked down behind the counter out of sight. Moxxie kept his eyes on the demon woman, who had stopped moving and was standing across the store from him. 'I don't know why she's looking at me that way, but I have no time for trouble right now…'

The two had a silent standoff, Moxxie's hand moving for his gun. He carefully watched the demon woman, refusing to take his eyes off her for even a second while she looked at him with a mostly indifferent look. Their eyes remained locked as Moxxie reached for his gun…

And in a single quick movement, Moxxie pulled out his gun, drawing first. He pulled the trigger while aiming the gun at the green demon, firing several bullets at her.

However, the demon woman just casually held up her claws, deflecting the bullets with them.

The other imps inside the store quickly ducked down or went for cover, though a few of them still ended up getting shot by the ricochet. "Ahh!/Me leg/My eye!"

Moxxie stared at the woman in disbelief, shocked that she had managed to deflect his bullets with just her bare claws. And then after a moment…

…the demon woman smiled.

"Now it's my turn," she said while smirking before she dashed towards Moxxie, who still had his gun up as he fired once more…

Meanwhile, in a different part of the Wrath Ring, the group consisting of Blitz, Loona, Amaroq, and Carrie had arrived in Ragetown, the town closest to Carrie's farm and the town where the Harvest Moon Festival was taking place. By now the Festival was in full swing and what a sight to behold it was.

The group looked around in awe at the festival, which gave them a similar feeling to when they went to the circus. Just like the circus, there were lots of tents, booths, and stands set up, with many of them being run either by local businesses or outside businesses hoping to swindle a few Wrathians into signing up for something they would never actually use or be able to pay off. There was also plenty of food, games, and other activities.

"Get your corn on a stick! Have yourself a corn on a stick!" someone shouted.

"Come and get your face painted!" an artist shouted while another painted an imp child's face, making them look like a zombie. "Come look like you've been bludgeoned by a demon shark!"

"Come and have a sip of one of Dr. Mantis's miracle elixirs!" shouted a short, plump imp with his horns curved to the side. He was dressed as a doctor. "If ya got the bug, you'll need this elixir to chase those little virus critters out!"

"I don't think I've seen most of these businesses around these parts of town before," Loona commented.

"That's because most of these businesses aren't local," Carrie explained. "A lot of them come from outside town or out of the Ring." She shook her head as she noticed a stand advertising beachfront property from Envy. "Every year you see more of these vultures from Greed, Envy, or even Pride."

"Demons come from all over to see the Festival, right?" Blitz asked as he looked around, shooting glances at the different demons that were around.

"Yep," Carrie confirmed. "Although the entire Ring celebrates the Festival, this is the Festival that gets the most attention, since it's the one that yer Goetia friend attends. Those who can't travel here have their own localized Festivals, though obviously much smaller and not as publicized as this one."

Something that Blitz and Loona both noticed but didn't comment on was the absence of any other Hellhounds. It was just Loona and Amaroq and Loona quickly got the feeling, based on the occasional dirty look, that she wasn't entirely welcome at this celebration being mainly attended by imps. Fortunately, Amaroq didn't seem to notice, since she was too excited.

"Look at all the games here!" Amaroq shouted as she pointed to some of the games, including an apple bobbing game where it looked like one kid was in the process of drowning the other and a mechanical bull. Amaroq's eyes widened in delight. "Is that a mechanical bull?"

"Oh yeah, I remember riding these when I was a bar crawler," Blitz said, noticing one imp riding on the mechanical bull until it bucked that imp off, making him crash into a stand. Blitz visibly winced. "Yup, I remember almost busting my head while riding those things."

"Say, isn't that the Petey guy that Kajedo knows?" Amaroq asked as he pointed to Petey, who had his own booth… filled with coffins.

"Come and get your discount on these fine coffins today!" Petey declared while holding a cane, using it to point at his coffins. "Are you about to enter the Pain Games or know someone about to enter the Pain Games and want to start planning the funeral now? Reserve a coffin!"

"Hey, Petey," Carrie greeted as they approached the local undertaker.

"Ah, Carrie, I see you finally left the farm," he declared while tipping his hat to her. "I don't think I've seen you since the funeral."

"Hey, I leave the house plenty of times, just ask yer nephew," Carrie defended herself. "Where is Hurston, by the way? Is he around?"

"Aw yes, I think my nephew is somewhere around the Festival with his friends," Petey recalled. "Are you also going to wrestle and tussle at the Pain Games this year, Carrie?"

"Nah, I'm just here to watch this year," Carrie said.

"Good," Petey said with a nod. "I would hate to bury you so soon."

"Um, so how is business?" Carrie asked, though Loona noticed that she looked visibly uncomfortable.

"Booming," Petey said with a twisted smile. "And I imagine it will be even better after the Pain Games." He glanced at Loona, Blitz, and Amaroq. "Perhaps your friends would be interested in purchasing coffins. I have a small one just the right size for the little one…"

"Um, that won't be necessary," Loona said, quickly stepping in before he continued. "You probably don't recognize us, but we have seen you before. Or at least me and Amaroq have."

"Oh, I never forget a body," Petey said, still smiling. "You were with Kajedo. Hurston also mentioned you. Loona, right?" He then turned to Blitz. "I don't think I've seen you before…"

"Um, the name is Blitz. Blitz as in… Blitz Ballroom, yeah!" Blitz replied, nodding quickly as he tried to hide his true identity, since he definitely did not trust this creepy hunchbacked imp who had child-sized coffins. "You, uh, don't use the Internet much, do you?"

"Not at all, we don't get very good wifi around here. Everything's cable," Petey said.

As soon as they were able to, the group left Petey to continue selling his coffins, all of them feeling a little worse off than they had been feeling before.

"I don't think I like that guy," Amaroq quietly admitted.

"That makes two of us," Blitz said as he looked back at Petey, wondering if he was the type that would kill other demons just so he could have a body to bury.

"Honestly, Petey isn't too bad," Carrie admitted. "Just make sure you don't have any valuables on you when he buries your body."

"Um, say dad," Loona said to Blitz, changing the subject. "How about me and Carrie go look for some of our friends while you and Amaroq stay with each other and check out the rest of the Festival together?"

Blitz paused, hesitating for a brief moment before he decided to trust Loona, especially since she would have Carrie with her.

"Well, I guess that would be okay to leave you with Carrie," Blitz said as he reached for Amaroq's paw, Amaroq looking up at him when she felt his hand grasp her paw. "Come on, Amaroq, let's leave these two behind and explore the Festival on our own."

"Wait, really?" Amaroq asked, looking back at Loona and Carrie as Blitz led her away. "What about them?"

"Trust me, you don't want to stick with them," Blitz told Amaroq. "They're just going to do boring teenager stuff like gossiping and texting. They're just going to slow us down."

"Oh, okay!" Amaroq shouted, her tail wagging. "Do you think we'll get to see the Pain Games while we're here?" she asked as she walked along with Blitz.

"Uh… maybe," Blitz replied.

Seeing the two walk off into the crowd, Carrie turned to Loona. "Are you sure we can trust those two to stay out of trouble?"

"Hmm… probably not," Loona admitted. "But hopefully, it will only be a little trouble."

Meanwhile, we cut back to Moxxie who is in… more than a little trouble.

"Crumbs…" Moxxie groaned when he saw the decapitated body of his horse. But he didn't stop. He could not afford to stop. He could only keep running.

Moxxie was not in great shape. He had a black eye, with some blood coming from a cut on his lip. He held onto his bruised shoulder while the rest of his body was covered in scratches that caused some bleeding that left a trail behind him. His tail kept swiping the dirt behind him to try to cover his tracks, but he couldn't do anything about the blood drops. His clothes had some tears in it, exposing some of his new bruises, and was panting heavily. He was also unarmed.

He had barely managed to get away from that crazy demon woman, but he knew that she wasn't that far behind him. If anything, he suspected that she let him get away because she enjoyed the chase. Because right now, he felt like prey.

He ran through the town, frantically looking around for somewhere to hide, somewhere he could go, all the while keeping up his guard as best as he could. But everywhere he looked, he saw locked doors and closed windows. Nobody was willing to help him… and he honestly couldn't blame them.

He spotted an alleyway between two buildings and he ran for it… only to come to a screeching halt when he saw the demon woman appear at the end of the alley, cutting him off.

"Found you…" she said in a sing-sang tone before she jumped towards him and swiped at him with her claws.

Moxxie backed away as he ducked down underneath her claws, feeling them slice through the air above his head… right before feeling a knee kick to the stomach. He was sent into some nearby trash cans, crashing into them. A dazed Moxxie looked up to see her just standing there with a mocking smirk, moving toward him while dragging her claws against the side of a building, leaving scratch marks. Very quickly, he reached for a nearby trash can lid and threw it at her, forcing her to catch the lid before it hit her. After she threw the lib aside, she saw him fleeing from the alleyway.

"Crumbs, crumbs, crumbs, crumbs!" Moxxie exclaimed as he tried to run as best as he could, even with his bleeding ankle. He then saw a shadow fall over her and he turned back, looking up to see the demon woman swooping down on him with her claws out. He managed to dodge the attack, rolling to the side as the demon landed on the ground where he had been moments before. She stood up and looked at her empty claws as if disappointed that she didn't have Moxxie's head in them.

"What… what do you want from me?!" Moxxie exclaimed, breathing hard.

"It isn't what I want from you," she said as she moved toward Moxxie, faster than he was prepared for. He managed to avoid her claws, but they still tore at his suit, drawing some blood.

"Yowch!" he cried out, too distracted by the pain to ignore her next punch. She then grabbed him by the collar, held him up in the air, and then threw him back to the ground, hard. Moxxie's body hit the ground so hard that he bounced up, allowing the demon woman to spin-kick him, sending Moxxie flying some more. Once he landed, he coughed up vile and blood from the attack.

The demon woman slowly stalked toward her prey, though this gave Moxxie some time to think about his next action. Feigning weakness, he waited until she was close enough, then he grabbed a handful of sand and threw it in her eyes, blinding her. While she hissed in pain, he wrapped his tail around one of her legs and pulled, making her trip.

"Yah!" she yelped as she fell to the ground, having not expected Moxxie to have any fight left in him. However, Moxxie knew that she wouldn't be down for more than a few seconds, so he got up and ran.

While Moxxie ran, he kept thinking about what kind of a situation he had got himself in. One moment, he was on his way to meet up with his boss, the next he was being chased by this demon he had never seen before. And the big question on his mind was… why?

He looked back and saw that the demon woman was up and she was… limping?

"Come… back here…" she called out while she limped after him.

'She's limping,' Moxxie thought to himself, though he was a bit confused at first since he didn't make her fall that hard. But he knew he should take whatever luck he could get. Perhaps he would be able to get out of this yet and-

"Look above you."

Moxxie slowly turned his head up to see the demon woman hovering just above his head. The first thing he noticed was that her leg was fine. She had been faking it, probably just to give him a false sense of hope. The second thing he noticed… was that she was smiling. It wasn't a cruel smile. It was a peaceful one… and somehow that made her look even more terrifying.

Seconds later, Moxxie was flying once again. When he landed, he rolled around the ground. But he was given no time to recover, since the demon woman was on him again as she grabbed him by the tail. Using his tail, she began to swing him into the ground like a ragdoll, slamming him hard. She then let go of his tail and pounced on him, Moxxie seeing her raise her fists up as she began to pummel him.

"You really thought you could injure me? Ha!" she mocked while beating Moxxie down. "That's the problem about you imps. When given too much freedom, you begin to get ideas. You start to step out of line. You think you're special? No, you're just a slave."

And that made her stop. The demon woman paused as she looked down at Moxxie's pummeled face, at his bruised and beaten body. She stopped… and took a moment to calm herself down. After all, there were those more deserving of her anger than him. Moxxie was just an imp. And she didn't want him dead.

Once she managed to calm herself down, the demon woman checked to see if Moxxie was still alive. Fortunately, he was still breathing. He was even still conscious, with his least swollen eye still looking at her.

"Good, you're alive," she said, her tone more neutral as she stood up, picking up Moxxie's body and placing it over her shoulder. "Can't have you dead since the boss wants you alive and in one piece… for now…"

It was the last thing Moxxie heard before passing out as his attacker flew up in the air while carrying him away.

Back at the Harvest Moon Festival, Carrie and Loona were walking together through the Festival, looking around at the various business tents and attractions around them.

"Liking the sights so far?" Carrie asked Loona.

"Yeah," Loona replied, looking at the families eating together and the kids chasing each other around with lassos and toy pistols. It just felt so… lively. "I remember when I first heard about the Harvest Moon Festival, back when I was a kid. Me and my dad were on vacation in the Wrath Ring, but we weren't going to be in Wrath when the Festival was being held. Still, I've always wanted to check this out, and I'm glad that I finally got the opportunity to." She smiled and turned to Carrie. "You grew up with this, right?"

"Yeah," Carrie replied with a smile. "I remember first coming here and having the same reaction as lil' Amaroq when I was around her age. My parents and granny used to bring me and my brother here. My daddy and mama even used to compete in the Pain Games."

"I think you mentioned that earlier," Loona said.

"Same as my granny," Carrie replied with a hint of pride in her voice. "It was a family tradition. Me and my brother used to compete in the Junior Pain Games and when we were old enough we would compete against one another to win the real Pain Games. As you can imagine, I've always been good with the rope slinging and mud wrestling, while my brother, Jaq, would usually dominate the obstacle course and the tug of war."

"Did you ever win?" Loona asked.

"Nah," Carrie said, shaking her head. "I came close a few times, but I never won. Nobody in my family has ever won the Pain Games, but that isn't the only reason we came to the Festival. My folks used to run their own stand here, sellin' goods from our farm."

Loona looked over at Carrie, her tone cautious. "Would you mind… if I asked you to tell me more about your family?" she asked.

"I don't mind," Carrie responded as she looked up to reminisce about her family "My family… they were the greatest demons in the Wrath Ring. My folks were tough and strong… but they were earnest, hard-working, and honorable. They taught me what it meant to be Wrathian. My granny was very brass and stubborn to be a fault… but she wasn't afraid to love her family. In fact, she and Ember's grams were friends back in the day."

"Really?" Loona asked, remembering meeting Granny Magma.

"Yeah, they were close friends," Carrie explained. "My grandmother had been running the family farm her entire life, all the way up until her death. I hope I'm doing her proud, keeping it in good condition, since that farm was everything to her. And she also made sure that it was everything to her son. My daddy, Toshua, and my mama, Holly, were both honest, brave, and strong-willed. I try to remember the lessons they taught me and my brother, how they taught me not just to be hard-working and honest… but charitable as well." She turned to Loona. "Have ya heard about how I've met Kajedo?"

"Yeah," Loona confirmed. "She told me how you saved her."

"Yeah, that's how it happened," Carrie said with a nod. "After I saved her from some bigoted imps, I brought her to my home and my folks let her spend the night with us before they brought her back to her folks. They let her into our home, just like how I let you, Blitz, and Amaroq into mine. Because my parents taught me that we all live in the same Hell, and that means helping out each other. Because the Wrath Ring may be harsh and unkind at times, but that shouldn't make us harsh and unkind to others."

Loona smiled at that. "Your parents were wise demons, Carrie."

"Thanks, and they sure were," Carrie said with a smile. "Every day, I try to live my life by the lessons they taught me." She chuckled. "I just remembered this one time when I tried to go about things in a dishonest way to make the work go quicker and to get out of work."

"Really?" Loona asked in surprise. In the time she had spent with Carrie, she could never imagine her doing something like that.

"Yeah, it started when me and my brother were competin' on who'd run the farm best. This was back before my younger sister, Gloom, was born. I had big ideas on how to run the farm, especially when it came to a rich customer who wanted to buy some crops from us, but our granny refused since she knew we couldn't make the order in the time he requested. I was young then, and I wanted to prove a point to my brother, but man… it landed me in a lot of trouble. I had to say our granny was in the hospital to cover up my lie about the orders while my brother had to cover for me, all the while waiting to make the accursed 'I told you so'. Long story short, it resulted in me having to pretend to be a scrub, having may brother pose as our granny, and I just kept digging a deeper and deeper hole until eventually I had to confess to everyone." She shook her head. "I'm probably not doing the story justice, but it was a huge mess." She then looked over at Loona, noticing her shocked look. "We all learned a valuable lesson about being honest and making deals you can't keep."

"Wow, that… sounds crazy," Loona commented.

"It was and I got a good scolding outta that," Carrie admitted. "So did my brother, who shared the blame for going along with my lies. But I learned my lesson. The thing with lies is that they don't stop with just one. They pile on each other," she said while looking down. "My brother… he was a demon of few words. He only spoke when he needed to, unlike Kajedo who sometimes doesn't know when to stop talking."

Loona couldn't help but snort a little.

"But my brother… you always knew what he was about without him needing to say anything. And he was always a good listener."

"And what about your sister?" Loona asked her. "What was she like before…?"

"Gloom… she was still very young before she passed," Carrie said with a sigh. "But she was a sweetheart. There were so many things I wanted to do with her as her older sister. But… I never got the chance for that." She looked down at the ground. "I sometimes wonder what she would have grown up to be like. If she were alive, would she be a little like Amaroq? I will never have the chance to know…"

Meanwhile, the duo Amaroq and Blitz were having their own fun at the festival. Currently, they were having their faces painted.

"Alright, you're all done!" declared the face painter, who held up a handheld mirror to show them their newly painted faces. "What do you think?"

"Wow… I got butterfly eyes!" Amaroq declared, seeing that her face was painted with butterfly wings around her eyes.

"Check me out, kiddo," Blitz said as she looked to see him having zebra stripes on his face. "A zebra is also a type of horse."

"I thought they're related to the mules?" the face-painter pointed out.

After that, the two moved to another booth where an artist was drawing caricatures. Blitz and Amaroq allowed the artist to do sketches of them. Like with getting their faces painted, easily the biggest challenge for the pair was sitting still long enough for the artist to finish capturing their likenesses.

"Alright, this is about… done!" the artist declared before he showed Blitz and Amaroq his finished piece. Blitz and Amaroq found themselves looking at versions of themselves with exaggerated facial features, Amaroq's being the most detailed. They were both dressed like grave robbers carrying loot from the graves they've robbed.

"Wow, I look good!" Amaroq shouted.

"You really captured our features," Blitz told the artist. "Thanks for the pics."

"No, thank you," the artist replied with a smile. "…but it's still ten souls each."

A bit later, Blitz and Amaroq were walking together, both of them eating some corn on the stick when they were spotted by someone who recognized one of them.

"Blitz!" Zuzo shouted as he walked towards them. "What a nice surprise! And nice face paint!"

Blitz turned to Zuzo and smiled. "Zuzo, great to see you too," he told his co-worker. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to promote the circus," Zuzo said. "Doing some knife tricks to attract some folks for the next show."

"You know him, Mr. Blitz?" Amaroq asked him.

"Yeah, he was at the circus," Blitz pointed out. "Don't you remember?"

"I saw you and Loona talking to him after the show," Amaroq recalled. "But I don't think I saw his part of the show."

"Oh yeah, you were backstage during that act," Blitz realized before he made the introductions. "Amaroq, this is Zuzo. We go way back. Zuzo, this is Amaroq."

"Nice to meet another one of Blitz's daughters," Zuzo replied with a smile.

Blitz tried to correct him. "Oh, well, actually-"

"So what kind of stuff do you do at the circus, Mr. Zuzo?" Amaroq asked him.

"I'm a professional knife thrower," Zuzo declared. "During the show you were at, Blitz took the role of my assistant for my act and I strapped him to a table while I threw knives at him." He grinned. "Remember, Blitz?"

"How could I forget?" Blitz asked in a low voice, muttering.

"Say what?!" Amaroq asked, her jaw dropping. "Oh man, I missed that when me and Damian snuck out." She lowered her head in disappointment, but she lifted it up as she looked at Zuzo. "Say… you think you can throw a knife at him for me?"

Blitz looked shocked while Zuzo chuckled in amusement. "I like this one, Blitz."

"So you can?" Amaroq asked in excitement, her tail wagging.

"Oh hell no!" Blitz declared, immediately shutting down the idea. "I'm not going through that again!"

"Aw, that's too bad. I could've used an audience volunteer," Zuzo said.

"Oh, I'm sure there's sap around here you can sucker like you suckered me," Blitz said before he gave Zuzo a smile. "But it was still nice seeing you again, Zuzo."

"You too, Blitz," Zuzo said with a nod. "And it was nice meeting you, Amaroq."

"You too, Zuzo!" Amaroq replied as Blitz led her away before she could ask Zuzo to throw sharp objects at him again.

Once they were a safe distance away from Zuzo, Blitz turned to Amaroq. "So, um, how are you enjoying the festival so far, Amaroq?"

"So far it's been great!" Amaroq replied with a smile. "It reminds me a lot of the circus though, with all of the stands, the games, and the food."

"Yeah," Blitz said as he looked around. "I guess it is kinda like the circus."

As he said that, Blitz realized that he was wearing face paint for the first time since… well, probably for the first time since he quit his job at Loo Loo Land. After that day, he had sworn that he would never wear face paint or be a clown again…

"You take me to the coolest things," Amaroq said, breaking Blitz out of his thoughts. "My parents never took me to anything like this. We just stayed inside…"

Blitz looked down at Amaroq in surprise. "Huh, you know, I don't think you've ever mentioned your parents before," he pointed out.

Looking back, Blitz realized that he really didn't know anything about Amaroq's life before he and Loona saved her, outside of Amaroq having spent some time in a shelter after she had been living on the streets for a while. He hadn't really thought about her parents, he just assumed that they had to have been dead. And since this was Hell, they could have been killed by any number of things.

He realized that it was kinda strange that he knew very little about Amaroq's past, but then again he had never asked and she had never volunteered that information. It was not that different from the unsaid agreement between him and Loona. If she didn't want to talk about it, they didn't talk about it. And there was plenty that Loona never wanted to talk about.

Realizing that this was the first time she had ever mentioned her parents while with Blitz or Loona, Amaroq looked down. "Yeah… I guess I probably haven't before…"

"Do you… want to talk about it?" Blitz asked, slightly awkwardly. He wasn't sure why he was asking, because he didn't know how good he would be at it. Loona never talked to him about her past or about her family. Both of those were subjects she didn't want to elaborate on and Blitz respected that, especially given his own reluctance to talk about his past. He and Loona both understood that about each other, so they never pushed it.

"I… don't think I do," Amaroq admitted and Blitz actually felt relieved that she had said that, because if she had wanted to talk about her family, Blitz knew that he would have no idea what he was doing.

"Yeah, I get ya, kid," Blitz said while holding her hand. "Come on, let's go see what else there is to find around here."

Amaroq silently nodded while she walked with Blitz around the festival. Like Blitz, she was grateful that she didn't have to talk to him about her parents. It was easier to not think about them anyway…

Meanwhile, Loona and Carrie were still looking around the Festival… but they weren't alone for much longer.

"Loony! Carrie!" Kajedo shouted, bouncing up in the air while waving her arms around. She quickly rushed over to the two, wrapping her arms around her friends in a tight embrace. "So glad to see my besties here!"

"Hey, Kajey," Loona said, smiling as Kajedo hugged her.

"How are you folks doing?" Carrie asked once Kajedo let them both go.

"Oh, they're doing super!" Kajedo declared before she began talking very quickly. "I asked them if they wanted to come to the festival too, but you know how they are. They're all about their work and not really big on festivals or parties. Fortunately Bob decided to help me out by taking my shift so that I could come all the way here to celebrate the Festival with you guys! And I am so excited because this is Loonas first Harvest Moon Festival and I get to share it with her!" she explained before she finally stopped to breathe, taking a deep breath.

"Um… who's Bob?" Carrie asked, having somehow managed to keep up with everything that Kajedo had just said.

"The Hellhound drifter that we came across when Kajey brought me, Blitz, and Amaroq to Barkersfield," Loona explained, not even phased by how quickly Kajedo had spoken. "Kajey brought him over to her family's place to get something to eat and they actually let him stay with them as long as he agreed to help work around the quarry."

"Yeah, it was pretty nice of them to do," Kajedo replied with a smile. "But what do you think of the Harvest Moon Festival so far, Loona?"

"I think it is pretty cool," Loona admitted. "Of course, so far me and Carrie haven't done much besides look around. But I imagine that the Pain Games are fun to watch and that the ceremony Stolas does is pretty cool."

"It's alright," Carrie said with a shrug. "Although it is just the same thing year after year, right down to that condescending attitude towards us 'commoners'."

"Pup-pup!"

Behind them, the three heard the sound of a baby girl's cry as Loona felt her tail being hugged. They turned around and saw a young, toddler imp girl with short black horns with white lines, black long pigtails that reached to the ground, and a gray shirt with blue overalls. There were white stripes on her tail along with a white tip on her heart-shaped tip.

Loona awkwardly looked down at the girl. "Um… whose kid is this?" she asked, not sure what to do with the kid hugging her tail.

"Aww, isn't that cute!" Kajedo squeed, waving down at the young girl. "Hi! How are you?"

"Abby! There you are." Walking up to get her daughter was a tall imp woman who was about a few inches taller than Loona and Carrie. She had long, wavy black hair with the tip of them faded to white. Her horns were angular and she had a white ring on her right side of her face, along with some white stripes around her arm and tail with the tip being white, and two black stripes on her tail. She wore a black top with maroon pants, black boots, and a blue belt.

"Oh, is this yours, miss?" Loona asked while the young imp toddler, Abby, was still hugging Loona's tail.

"Um, yes. Um, Abby, let go of her tail, please," the tall mother replied as she quickly bent down and picked up her daughter, pulling her away from Loona. "Now Abby, you shouldn't have run away from your mommies like that," she said before glancing at Loona and Kajedo.

It was a small thing. Most wouldn't even pick up on it. But Loona did. That nervous look, that fear, when she saw the two Hellhounds. Unlike her daughter, who continued to stare in awe at the two Hellhounds even after being lifted up, the mother looked… worried. As if she worried about what might have happened to her daughter if she hadn't come by in time.

"Um… come on, Abby, let's go back to mama," she told her daughter as she walked away with her, Abby continuing to look at Loona and Kajedo in awe while her mother carried her over to another imp woman, one shorter and closer in height to Moxxie while wearing a pair of square glasses and having her black hair tied up in a neat bun. Abby and her mother joined this other imp woman… and then all three of them were gone, having vanished into the crowd.

And while the mother had at least been hiding to hide her nervousness around Loona and Kajedo, it had not gone unnoticed by the trio.

"You guys saw that, right?" Loona asked, her voice low.

"Yeah," Carrie replied with a nod and a saddened expression. "That kid was just staring up in awe at you, Loona, her mama however…"

"She was nervous around us," Kajedo admitted, not even trying to dismiss it or downplay it. Instead, she was honest about what had just happened, her own tone sad. "Scared of us. Well, she was scared of me and Loona specifically… even if we meant no harm."

"Yeah, it's pretty messed up," Loona said while looking down and crossing her arms over her chest. She suddenly felt sad, angry, and… tired, all at the same time. It was nothing new to her, of course. Parents being scared to have their children near the big scary Hellhound, even back when she had still been a kid and Blitz tried to give her a normal life by sending her to school in Greed. A lot of parents did not feel comfortable having their kids around Loona. Not all of them, but enough of them. She was used to these reactions… but that didn't make them any less messed up. "But there's really nothing we can do about it," she told her friends. "Imps like that will always exist, but we shouldn't let it get to us."

Kajedo looked over at Loona… and she gave a nod. "You're right, Loony," she said, perking up. "We have no time today to be sad, especially when I should be leading you two to the rest of the gang!" Kajedo shouted, wrapping her arms around Loona and Carrie. "Come on! We're off to see Ember, the Wrather Ember and our friends!" she sang as she led the two away, making Loona and Carrie skip along with her.

Eventually, they spotted Ember along with the other Wrath teens, waiting for them. "Ember!" Kajedo called out, drawing their attention. "I brought along Loony and Carrie!"

"Loona, Carrie, glad to see you two could make it," Ember commented with a smile as she saw Kajedo bringing them over.

"Well, there's no way I was going to miss something like this," Loona replied. "I am glad to see you guys again though."

"You too, Loona," Hurston said. "And I just can't wait to watch this year's Pain Games!"

"Too bad Max couldn't be here though," Zumi said.

"She would love this," Carrie admitted with a nod, thinking about Max. "Maybe you could film the Pain Games and send some of the footage to her?"

"Are you really asking me like I hadn't already planned on doing that?" Zumi asked, shocked by Carrie's lack of faith in her.

"So this is my first ever Pain Games," Loona mentioned. "So hopefully you can help me follow it when it starts."

"Don't worry, we got you covered," Ember reassured her. "Just know that you should be cheering for my granny, who is getting prepared for these Games as we speak." She then turned to the rest of her friends. "And we're all gonna cheer her on, right guys?"

"Yeah! For Granny Magma!" Chat and Shawn declared as the friends began to chant "Magma! Magma! Magma!"

Loona smiled and began getting into the chant as well before she noticed that there was one missing in the group. "Say, where's Pax? I don't see him around."

"Oh, well, we haven't seen him that much since that incident at the Menace mansion," Shawn said while rubbing the back of his woolly head. "To tell you the truth, I'm still shaken up being possessed."

"Yeah, I think that night shook Pax as well," Chat mentioned. "I mean, I guess he was more traumatized from that night than he's willing to admit."

Loona sighed, feeling bad for Pax. "Well, I hope that he's doing okay…"

Meanwhile, Blitz and Amaroq continued to explore the festival, having received some free gifts from different booths.

"Wow, who knew they were giving away so much free stuff!" Amaroq declared while carrying a tote bag filled with company pens, coasters, cups, and other free swag. She wore cheap-looking sunglasses with a company logo on them.

"Always take the free shit, kid," Blitz replied with a smile while wearing sunglasses as well. He then paused, and lifted up his sunglasses. "Striker?"

Sure enough, Striker and Douglas were nearby, the father and son checking out a nearby booth.

"Hey, its Douglas," Amaroq said, spotting them as well. "I didn't get to say goodbye to him, since his dad picked him up while we were visiting Kajedo's family…"

Blitz looked down at Amaroq, then up at Striker and Douglas. "Well… how about we go say hello then?" he suggested.

Moments later, the two were walking over to Striker and Douglas.

"Howdy, Striker!" Blitz called out.

Striker turned and reacted in surprise when he saw Blitz and Amaroq. "Blitz! Fancy meeting you here!" he exclaimed.

"Hey, Douglas," Amaroq said, smiling and waving at Striker's son. "Good to see you again."

"Uh, yeah," Douglas said, surprised to see Amaroq. "You too."

"We didn't get the chance to see you when you picked your son up," Blitz explained while Amaroq and Douglas were catching up with each other. "Amaroq didn't even get to say goodbye before you were both gone."

"Terribly sorry about that," Striker said. "I didn't know when you were coming back and I was eager to bring Douglas back home."

"So… are you here to see the Pain Games?" Blitz asked. "Or are you here for the free stuff?"

Striker glanced at all of the free stuff that Blitz and Amaroq were carrying and he smirked. "Nah, I've brought Douglas to see the Pain Games," he mentioned. "Of course, if I was a bit younger, I would be competing in the Games myself."

"Yeah, me too," Blitz admitted. "But watching a bunch of chucklefucks beat the shit out of each other should still be fun, right?"

Striker nodded. "I also would like to thank you, Blitz, for watching over my son while I was helping out Moxxie back at Angerton. According to Douglas, you did a good job."

"Hey, it's no problem, Striker. I am glad that you and Moxxie survived that ordeal," Blitz said. "Speaking of, have you heard anything from Moxxie? The plan was for him to be here by now…"

Meanwhile, at a different part of the Festival, Moxxie's family from his mother's side were also there, having driven across Wrath to attend.

"Look at all the games!" Jam pointed out while looking around at some of the festival games.

"And the entertainment!" Jazz shouted while pointing to a guitarist playing his instrument in his booth.

"Not to mention the food!" Jive shouted while pointing at the food stand.

"Yes, they're really bringing their all for this year's Harvest," Margentina said as she walked with her husband, who had Rosalina strapped around him. Also with them were Abuelito, Abuela, and Rubella. "Each year it feels like they are trying to do more and more."

"Probably because they want more sponsors," Rubella said as she looked around, noticing that there were definitely a lot more stands for promoting different companies than there were last year. "Ugh, is this Wrath or Greed?"

"Maybe I should've set up my dance booth here," Margentina considered.

"Why not do your performance here, hun?" Machete suggested.

"Hmm, not a bad suggestion, my handsome-bar hubby," Margentina replied with a smile.

"Ugh, please not in public," Rubella complained.

"Hmm, you know, I thought Moxxie would be around here," Abuelito said while looking around.

"You're right, I thought he said that he'd be here at the festival," Abuela replied while looking around as well. "Where could Moxxie be…?"

Moxxie, bruised and battered, was being dragged by his tail by the demon woman who had attacked him. She had brought him somewhere very dark. That was the first thing he realized as he slowly started to wake up. As his vision began to come back to him, he looked around his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was. The darkness was the first thing he noticed. The second thing… were the many, many pairs of eyes looking at him. He then felt his tail being released, though he still couldn't move because of his weakened state. His vision started to get better, however, and through the dim glow of nearby lava he was able to tell where he was.

He was in some kind of cavern and it was filled with many, many Demon Apes. And they were all leering at him with sickening grins while making snickering and jeering noises. At the sight of all these apes, Moxxie felt incredibly exposed, like he was a roasted hellpig being served up on a platter. But then he noticed that this cavern wasn't just filled with Demon Apes. No, there were other kinds of demons here as well; many reptilian demons, including some drakes, but there were also a few imps, some Wrathian succubi and incubi, a handful of hellcats, and some hyena Hellhounds who were snickering and laughing at Moxxie.

It was an entire army of Hellborns.

'What… what is this?' he thought to himself before he started to hear a deep, booming voice… singing.

"Dangerous… this Jack of Hearts…"

All the demons in the cavern fell silent as they all looked to a figure sitting in the shadows. Moxxie managed to lift his head enough so that saw a large figure, bigger than any of the other demons, sitting on a throne in the dark, a pair of four, glowing warm orange-yellow eyes standing out in the darkness. The demon woman who brought Moxxie in went to stand next to him as the large figure continued to sing.

"With his kiss… the riot starts!"

Everyone remained silent as they watched the figure stand up from his throne, his huge wings spreading out behind him as he continued to sing. "All my children came here poor, clamoring for bed and board. Now what do they clamor for? Freedom? Freedom!"

The figure waved his arms at the demons before him as he began to step into the light…

"Have I made myself their Lord, just to fall upon the sword? Of some pauper's mind of chord… who will lead them?"

Now fully in the light, Moxxie's eyes widened upon seeing the full appearance of the large demon before him. He was a titanic and muscular draconian demon with two pairs of striped-horns that were different in appearance. One of the pairs were longer and were two shades of mauve, while the other pair were shorter and were black-and-white, similar to that of a male imp, though they were positioned in a way that made them resemble a pitchfork. His skin appeared to be different shades of red with claw-like fingers, darker-red markings, and warm orange-yellow lava-like stripes covering his wings, neck, and left arm, while on his right the stripes were dark red. He also sported black spikes coming out of his back, all the way down to his large, demonic tail, which had a spearhead-shaped point at the end. His choice of clothing resembled traditional western-style clothing, which complimented his resemblance to a strongman. He wore a mauve tank top under a black torn vest with tassels, red lapels, and golden fasteners shaped like barbell weights, black leather trousers with a belt that has a golden skull buckle, and black cowboy ankle boots.

His army of demons started to cheer at his appearance, raising their fists up for their leader. Moxxie's pupils began to shrink as he noticed how much bigger than Murdock or even Snorgat this demon was…

"Who lays all of our best laid plans?" the demon sang while moving one of his hands to his chest and raising another. "Who makes work for idle hands~?"

The Demon Apes, drakes, and the hyena Hellhounds all cheered for him as the large demon sat back down in his throne, the winged demon woman going to stand by his side. He nodded to her in acknowledgement. "You did well bringing him here alive, just like I wanted… Tilphousia."

"I did as you wished, Marcus," the demon woman named Tilphousia responded while bowing before him.

"You did," Marcus said. "Now then, go and find the others who fought alongside this… imp, and bring them here as well."

"Yes, my liege," Tilphousia responded before her wings spread out and she took off, flying out of the cavern to complete her task, to find the others who fought alongside Moxxie, leaving him to face Marcus.

Marcus then turned his full attention to Moxxie, glaring down at him with a look that made Moxxie think of his own father.

"Look at him," Marcus told all of his minions. "Look at the imp who killed Murdock while I still had use for him!"

The Demon Apes all booed at Moxxie when they heard this.

"You're dead meat, imp!" one of them cried out.

Moxxie gulped at this. Unfortunately, because of the beating he had been given at the claws of Tilphousia, he was still too weak to speak. But he could still hear all the demons wanting him to be given the death sentence…

"I say we hang him!" cried out one imp.

"I say we pull his limbs out and eat his heart!" a Demon Ape suggested.

"Liquefy him!" one reptilian demon screamed while foaming from the mouth.

"Alright, enough," Marcus said as he tried to calm down his army. "I SAID BE QUIET!"

His authoritative dark voice caused the nearby torches to flicker, silencing the demons.

"Now, I wouldn't have brought this imp here if we were going to just kill him," Marcus pointed out. "No, I want him alive so that he can tell us everything he knows about those who fought with him… and those he is working for," he said, leaning forward in his seat while intertwining his fingers. "Because I refuse to believe that you," he said as he pointed directly to Moxxie. "A mere imp, a stranger, organized all of this by himself. That you getting in the way of my plans for Wrath was just an accident. After all, Murdock had a master." He smiled to himself as he said this. "So who is your master, imp? Hmm? Perhaps one of my siblings? Was it Elira? Bella-Rouse? No, she would've killed Murdock herself… Jakk? No, couldn't have been him… how about Hannibal then? Or Attila… I know for a fact that Damian is no chessmaster…"

Those names were… familiar to Moxxie. They were names that he had learned when he was young. The name of… the Spawn of Satan…

And that meant…

'Oh shit,' he thought, his eyes widening at the realization.

Noticing Moxxie's realization, Marcus smiled. "I see that you've begun to realize just how truly out of depth you are, son," he chuckled, his demon followers chuckling with him. "You better hope that your presence in Angerton wasn't just an unlucky accident, because if you aren't working for anyone… then I don't have any reason to keep you alive…"

Unfortunately, Moxxie knew that there was no way he could explain himself to one of the Spawn of Satan.

"Of course, we were probably going to eventually kill you anyway," Marcus said with a shrug, before forming another smile. "But you can help us determine how much fun we're going to have with you first…"

Several demons came up to grab Moxxie. They consisted of a Demon Ape, one of the hyena Hellhounds, and an imp. They laughed sadistically while panic began to set in for Moxxie.…

And as Marcus watched Moxxie getting dragged away, he started to sing again.

"Every coward seems courageous in the safety of the crowd," he sang while believing that Moxxie was only brave with only his allies backing him. "Bravery can be contagious, when the band is playing loud. Nothing makes a man so bold, as a woman's smile, and a hand to hold…"

But with Moxxie alone, Marcus believed that he could be broken. Broken enough to give up the rest of his allies…

"But all alone, his blood runs thin…" Marcus sang, the cavern around him going silent as his voice became a whisper. "And then doubt comes… doubt comes in…"

Meanwhile, back at the Harvest Moon Festival, two sisters were walking side-by-side.

"Ooh, this is great!" Millie declared excitedly. She was looking around at the festival like a kid in a candy store. This was, after all, the first Harvest Moon Festival she had attended since she had started riding with Cain and the other Knights. "Although as much as I love the Festival, I can't wait for the Pain Games!"

"They're my favorite part of the Festival too," Sallie May agreed with a smile. "All the wrestling…"

"The tussling…" Millie brought up. "And especially…"

"Beatin' the other competitors to near death!" Millie and Sallie May shouted at the same time before the two cackled together. "Hahahahahaha!"

"So are you thinking of entering the Pain Games this year?" Millie asked her sister once they finished laughing.

"Hmm, that depends," Sallie May considered.

"Depends on what?" Millie asked.

"If you're entering them or not," Sallie May told her.

"Why is that?" Millie asked. "Would you be unable to compete if I was yer opponent?"

Sallie May scoffed at this. "As if I would go easy on you," she told Millie. "But if you were competing, I would bet on you winning and try to make some nice souls. So are you going to enter the Pain Games this year?"

"Thinking about it," Millie admitted. "I thought it would be a good chance to make the family proud, after I've been gone for so long…" She gave a sigh as she looked around at the Festival, noticing some imp kids running around with their corn on a stick, their parents chasing after them. "Being here is just so… nostalgic, you know, Sal?"

"I hear that," Sallie May replied. "But this is really nice. Having you back in town just in time for the Festival and the Pain Games. It has been too long."

"Yer right," Millie said with a nod before looking down with a frown. She gave another sigh, this time out of guilt. "Sal… I just wanna say that I'm sorry for not having to spend enough time with y'all lately, because of how long I've been away."

"Hey, it's alright, Mills," Sallie reassured her while patting Millie's shoulder. "I'm just glad that you're at least here this time."

Millie smiled. "Yeah," she replied.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't that farmer's daughter…"

Millie froze when she heard a familiar voice that sent an unpleasant creeping feeling up her spine. She and Sallie May turned around to see a trio of imps walking over to them. Unfortunately, it was a trio that Millie recognized.

This was the trio of former Knights of Hell: Scorch, Gnat, and Brutas. Brutas now only had one horn, the other having been shot off by Cain. Scorch was now blind in the left eye thanks to Cain and Gnat… well, his mustache was longer and he was still bald.

"You three…" Millie said as she narrowed her gaze at the trio, who shot their own glares right back at her.

"Why if it ain't that bitch that Cain keeps around," Gnat told with a gruff voice.

"Millie, Millie, what a surprise to see you here again," Scorch said as he walked up to her while holding his belt and giving a fake smile. "So how are the rest of the Knights… unless you got kicked out too, since I always thought that a farm girl like you had no business being in the Knights of Hell."

"Shut your mama-sucking teeth, Scorch!" Millie snarled at him. "Besides, the Knights ain't here at the moment…"

"Oh? What about Cain?" Scorch asked as he looked around.

"I mean he's not here either, idiot," Millie told him.

Brutas gave a chuckle, causing Scorch to give him a glare. Brutas immediately fell silent and Scorch looked back at Millie, taking notice of Sallie May. "And who might this be?"

"None of yer business!" Millie shouted at him, Sallie May glancing between Millie and the trio of disgraced imp Knights.

Seeing this look, Scorch realized something. "Are you, perhaps, here with your family?" he asked, causing Millie to look at him in anger. "Oh… now I gotcha. They're here, aren't they? Tell me, how is your daddy doing…"

Millie immediately lunged at Scorch, grabbing him by his collar, prompting Gnat to reach for his revolver, but Millie sent him a glare. "Pull your dick-pistol out, and I will bite his dick chin off like a sausage!" she shouted while baring her fangs, getting Gnat to stand down. She then looked back at Scorch, whose one good eye betrayed his fear. "I wouldn't be runnin' yer mouth like that Scorch, since you should remember what happened the last time you messed with me…" She gave a smile at seeing him intimidated by her. "Maybe I should slash your other eye…"

Scorch was sweating at Millie's threat before she pushed him back to his two cronies. He quickly tried to shake off his embarrassment. "Yeah, well… this isn't like last time, farm girl. I'm a better and stronger demon than before, strong enough to enter the Pain Games!" he declared. "Are you thinkin' of joinin'?"

"I'm considering it," Millie confirmed.

"Well, I hope to see you there, then! So I can show you what a real imp can do!" Scorch taunted. "Come on, you two," he told Gnat and Brutas, who followed Scorch as they walked away.

Once they were gone, Sallie May looked down at her sister, who was still visibly angry. "You alright, Mills?"

"I'm fine, sis," Millie said through gritted teeth.

"Those three… were they with Knights of Hell that shot pa?" Sallie May asked her.

Millie looked down, her hands curling into fists. "Yes, they are," she confirmed. "But they're not part of the Knights anymore. Cain kicked them out long ago because they refused to fall in line. But rather than be killed by him, they fled with their tails between their legs."

"Really?" Sallie May asked with a smile and a chuckle. "Boy, those three are chumps."

Millie couldn't help but smile as well. "Yeah, they were chumps then, and they're still chumps now," she replied.

"Y'know, we could probably just kill them now and hide the bodies," Sallie May suggested.

"Yeah, I know," Millie admitted before having a thought. "But… I think it would be more satisfying to humiliate them during the Pain Games."

And that was just the extra motivation that Millie needed to enter the Pain Games…

Meanwhile, Loona, Kajedo, and the rest of their friends were over at the mechanical bull, where they were watching Carrie riding on it.

"Yeah-hoo!" Carrie shouted while managing to stay on the mechanical bull as it shook around intensively, trying to buck her off.

"Come on, Carrie! Pass that record!" Kajedo shouted.

"Yeah, you ride that bull, girl!" Ember cheered along with the other teens.

"You got this, Carrie!" Zumi cheered as well while recording it all on her phone. "Say Loona, you should also try out the bull while we're here."

"Oh, nonono, I am not getting on that thing," Loona said, shaking her head.

"Why? Afraid of falling off?" Hurston teased.

"Nah, I just have a hatred of robots in general," Loona admitted. "Like, I have a history of bad experiences with them."

"Don't worry, nobody is going to force you to do anything you don't want to," Kajedo assured Loona as they continued to watch Carrie on the mechanical bull.

"But if you did get on it, I bet you would at least last longer than Hurston here," Ember added.

"Hey! I can, like, last just as long as Carrie," Hurston declared. "In fact, after she's finished, I'll be up next!"

After Carrie had finished riding the bull, Hurston went up next, Ember giving a smirk as she saw Hurston climb up onto the bull. The bull then began to shake around Hurston, who tried to hold onto the mechanical bull… only for it to launch him off within seconds.

"YAAAH!" Hurston shouted as he crashed out of the ring, making his friends visibly wince.

"Well, that's going in the record books, but for all the wrong reasons," Chat commented. "Shawn, wanna try to pass Carrie's record?"

"I'll do it for you guys!" Shawn declared as he went to get up on the mechanical bull.

"Shawn! Shawn! Shawn!" the teens cheered as they saw Shawn riding on the mechanical bull… only for him to be shot off of its back.

"BAAAAAAAH!" he screamed as he crashed into a pile of hay.

Chat went up to the bull next, climbing onto it.

"With my catlike reflexes, there's no way I get to-GAAH!" Chat shouted as he was flung off the bull, being sent into a barrel.

Up next was Ember, who took the bull for a ride. Unlike the boys, she actually managed to last for a while, staying on the bucking bull as the teens cheered for her.

"Woo! Go Ember!" Kajedo cheered. "Ride that bull!"

"You sure you don't want to give it a try, Loona?" Carrie asked her.

"Nah, I'm good," Loona said as they watched. "Looks like Ember's close to your record."

But as she said this, the bull began to shake faster, Ember holding onto it for as long as she could… only to be flipped over the bull and towards the haystack

"YAH!" she cried out as she ended up inside the haystack. Once she stuck her head out of the haystack, she spit out a few hay straws that had gotten in her mouth. "How long did I last?"

"Not longer than me," Carrie told a disappointed Ember before Kajedo jumped onto the bull.

"My turn! My turn!" Kajedo shouted as she hopped onto the bull, riding it as it bounced back and forth. "Haha, it's like riding those coin operated rides! But more intense!" she declared as she held onto the bull for as long as she could… but then it decided to shake more violently and eventually she was sent flying. "WEEEE!" she cried while soaring in the direction of the gang.

Specifically, she ended up crashing on top of Loona. Everyone turned and looked down as Kajedo was now face down on top of Loona, who looked up to her in surprise. Loona blushed at how close Kajedo's face was to her own.

"Hehehe, that was fun!" Kajedo declared as she bounced back up. "You alright, Loony?"

"Yeah, that didn't hurt much," Loona replied, hiding her blush as the two got up from the ground. "But are you alright, Kajedo?"

"Well, nothing can bring this ol' gal down," Kajedo declared. "But you should definitely try the bull out!"

"What?" Loona asked in surprise. "But I just said-"

"Loony, you've fought robotic clowns, evil cultist ghosts, and you won the Death Race, I'm pretty sure you can handle a mechanical bull." Kajedo pointed out.

"Yeah, come on," Ember said as she patted Loona's back. "The worst you'll experience is a few bumps." As she said this, she motioned her hips to bump against Loona's.

"Y-Yeah, I don't know about that…" Loona said, but her friends kept insisting.

"Come on! Give in to peer pressure!" Hurston declared. "Loona, Loona, Loona."

"Loona! Loona! Loona!" the rest of the gang cheered, trying to encourage her to go for it.

Eventually, Loona sighed, giving in. "Fine! But just once, alright?"

She walked over to the mechanical bull and climbed onto it.

Once she got on and saddled up, the operator turned on the knob for settings on their control panel. Loona tightly gripped the bull as its eyes glowed, steam came out of its nostrils… and it began to to shake.

"Whoa… alright, keep it steady," Loona said as she held onto the bull as it tried to shake her off. So far, things weren't been too bad. Of course, that was only before Loona began to experience some more violent shakes…

The mechanical bull started to spin around very quickly, causing Loona to hang on. "Whooaa-!" she cried out as she hung onto the bull as it not only spun, but shook as well. It kept spinning as Loona was struggling to keep her grip.

"Whoo! Go Loona!" Kajedo cheered while Zumi kept filming.

"Max is totally gonna love this," Zumi commented.

"She's gonna do it, she might last longer than you, Carrie!" Ember shouted.

"We'll just have to see about that," Carrie said while tilting her hat.

The bull shook violently, causing Loona to jump up and down while clinging to the bull. She winced and cried out in pain as she landed on her butt, but the bull gave her no time to recover as it continued to shake her around. "Gaaah!" she shouted as she began to feel her fingers slipping while the bull kept on spinning and shaking around violently, jerking back and forth in the process and causing Loona to be jerked back and forth as well.

"I… don't… think… I… can…!" Loona cried out as the shaking around caused her to fly around on the mechanical bull… until eventually she had to let go. "AAAAAH!"

Loona was launched off from the bull, hitting a haystack in the ring with the mechanical bull.

Her friends winced at this, Kajedo looking at Loona worriedly. "Loony! You alright over there?"

Loona got up and brushed herself off. "Honestly, I'm just glad that's over with," she said with a sigh of relief…

…before the mechanical bull slowly turned to Loona, its eyes now glowing red as suddenly, to everyone's surprise, the mechanical bull started to sprout robotic spider-legs from its side and use them to lift itself off its platform!

"WHY WOULD ANYONE BUILD SPIDER-LEGS IN THE BULL?!" Loona cried out in shock, her eyes bulging out.

"Whoa, didn't see that coming," Kajedo commented, just as surprised as her friends.

The bull let out a roar as it began to chase Loona around the ring. "Shit!" Loona shouted as she ran around the ring. She tried to get out of the ring, but the bull moved in front of her, cutting her off, and Loona found herself face to face with the bull.

Before Loona could turn and run, the bull's head hooked the back of her shirt with one of its horns, launching her up in the air "Gah!" she shouted as the bulls body began to spin around, Loona being spun around as well in a white and gray spinning swirl. While this was going on, the operator was trying to burn the bull off, but the bull wasn't responding to his commands.

"Whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa!" Loona shouted as she was spun around and then tossed in the air and back down like pizza dough. "This is going to hurt…"

Loona was in a daze from all the spinning, her eyes now swirling. The bull stopped spinning, huffed steam, and then tossed her on the ground. The bull then lifted one of its mechanical legs… and stomped on her tail, causing everyone to wince.

"Gaah!" Loona cried out before she angrily kicked the bull by the face. "Let me go, you mechanical choice cut!" she shouted, making the mechanical bull mad as it lifted Loona up in the air… and then threw her out of the ring. "YAAAAAAAHH!"

The Wrathian teens looked up to see Loona being thrown in the air.

"Where do you think she's going to land?" Chat asked.

"Probably in the barrels," Kajedo suggested.

"Or that water dunk tank," Hurston proposed.

"No, no, that stack of hay is placed right over there," Ember said as she pointed to a nearby stack of hay as Loona flew… past the haystack, instead planting face-first on a wooden post, causing them all to wince. "Oooh…"

"That's gotta hurt," Shawn winced as Carrie ran over to her.

"Come on, let's see if she's okay," Carrie said as they all rushed over to check on Loona.

Loona groaned as she slid from the post, landing on the ground. Still dazed, she looked to see that all the teens were around her, looking down at her.

"Loony! You alright? How many paws I'm holding up?" Kajedo asked frantically.

Loona just groaned. "I think… I'm okay," she said as Carrie and Ember helped her up. "Fuck, this is why I hate robots…"

"You sure put up quite the fight, though," Carrie pointed out.

"I really want to know who built that thing… and kick them in the balls," Loona said while rubbing her head.

"That was still pretty sick though," Ember commented, trying to help Loona feel a bit better about her getting wiped out like that.

"Totally! Hey Zumi, got it all on film?" Hurston asked her.

"You know it," Zumi replied as she held up her phone, causing Loona to let out another groan.

"Loony!"

Loona turned to see Blitz and Amaroq coming over to her and her Wrathian friends.

"You alright, Loona?" Blitz asked, looking worried. "We saw you riding that mechanical bull."

"I'm good, dad, just sore," Loona assured him. "You… saw all of that?"

"Of course we did," Blitz replied.

"Especially the part where it grew spider-legs and started chasing you around," Amaroq added.

"Yeah, I still don't get why that would be a feature if it's just a mechanical bull ride," Loona muttered as she adjusted her back. She then noticed the face paint on both Blitz's face and Amaroq's. "You two look like you have been busy."

"Uh, yeah," Blitz said, looking down at Amaroq. "We've been having fun. We even ran into Striker and Douglas."

"You haven't seen Moxxie yet?" Loona asked.

"No, we haven't," Blitz admitted, briefly looking concerned before brushing it off. "But I'm sure he's just been delayed. I was thinking we should start heading over to the stage, get out seats now before things get too crazy."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," Loona agreed as Kajedo lit up.

"Ooh, can we join you guys?" Kajedo asked them. "We're going to be heading over there anyway to watch the show."

"Sure, you, Carrie and… the rest of your friends can join us," Blitz said as he looked at all of the Wrathian teens.

"At least I'll be taking it easy," Loona said as she walked with Blitz, Amaroq, Carrie, Kajedo, and the rest as they began to head towards the stage. She then grumbled to herself "I just hope that being tossed around by that bull is the worst thing that will happen to me today…"

Unknown to Loona, a pair of glowing eyes was watching her from the shadows of one of the stands. The pair of glowing eyes chuckled at Loona's misfortune, then whispered to itself.

"Looonnnaaa..."

Meanwhile, at the outskirts of the Festival, Alexei was looking around. He was wearing sunglasses, a black poncho over his white button shirt, and black pants with a black belt. As he walked around, he did get the occasional look from one of the locals. Some of the local imps looked at him in confusion, others gave him dirty looks. The hellhound didn't let this get to him, though. He had a job to do, and that job… was to locate his targets.

"Great, what is another mutt like you doing here?"

Alexei turned and noticed a pair of imps coming over to confront him. He sighed and attempted to walk away, but the two imps ended up getting in his way.

"Look, I'm not here to cause any trouble," Alexei told them. "Now if you just-"

"Whoa, whoa, there, don't you know you're not welcome here?" the bigoted imp told him. "Not sure what you're doing away from the quarry, but hounds like you don't belong in this here festival."

"Yeah! You shouldn't have come here without an imp with ya, bitch!" the imp told him off before spitting on Alexei's poncho, causing him and his friend to laugh.

Alexei didn't look amused by this. Instead, he looked down at his poncho and sighed… in relief, glad to finally have an excuse to cut loose. "Now you've done it…"

"What are you-"

The imp that spat on his shirt was suddenly punched in the face, launching him to the ground.

"Hey!" the other bigoted imp shouted, staring at his friend in shock before turning to Alexei. "Why you-"

But before that imp could finish talking, Alexei grabbed him by the face and lifted him off the ground, the imp's feet dangling in the air. Alexei then picked up the other imp by the collar, looked around to see if anyone was paying attention to him, and then dragged the two imps away from the festival to avoid being spotted. Fortunately for him, most of the nearby imps were too distracted by the festival to notice what Alexei was doing.

"I've known imps like you all of my life, and do you know what happens to them?" Alexei asked the two imps, who struggled against his grip. "When they meet me…"

"What does that have to do it-YAA!" one of the imps shouted as was thrown to the ground before Alexei stomped on his crotch area hard. "GAAAAH! Oh…"

While that imp winced, Alexei threw the other imp into a trash can and then stomped on his leg, a nasty snapping sound indicating the breaking of his bones.

"FUCK!" he cried out before Alexei punched him in the face. He then dragged the other imp, who was still wincing from getting his crouch crushed, over to him and began his beating.

Although the imps screamed and hollered, nobody was coming to help them. And they couldn't escape either, since one of the first things that Alexei did was break their legs to ensure they couldn't leave, not even giving them a chance to crawl away. He didn't just want to beat them, after all. He wanted to draw out their suffering, making it as humiliating and as painful as possible. Especially when he brought out his claws…

"AAAAH!" the imps cried out as Alexei dragged his claws across their faces, leaving claw marks that oozed black blood. Then for good measure, he grabbed each of their arms, twisting them until he heard them break with a satisfying snap. The imps were still conscious at this point, even if they had resorted to pathetic whimpers. Alexei was making sure that what he was doing was far from painless. And he did it guilt-free. After all, who was going to care about a couple of bigots?

After he was just about finished with them. Alexei grabbed the two imps and then bashed their heads together, giving them concussions. He then dumped the two bodies into piles of trash, sending them glares. He didn't even bother killing them, since he wanted them to remember this for the rest of their lives.

"Pathetic," Alexei commented, looking down at them. "And I thought you Wrathian imps were supposed to be tough." He shook his head. "You imps really are the lowest of Hell's hierarchy. Sure, everyone may look down on Hellhounds, but we're still stronger than you toadies…"

Alexei looked down at the beaten imps one more time before he walked away from the spot, heading back toward the festival and leaving the broken bigots behind…

Sometime later, Blitz, Loona, and Amaroq had joined the crowd that were in front of the main stage, which had some armed security guards around it. Blitz, Loona, and Amaroq weren't the only ones here either. Kajedo, Carrie, Ember, and the other Wrathian teens were also near them, while in a different part of the audience the little imp toddler Abby was with her moms, Striker was with Douglas, Moxxie's family were together, and Millie was with her family.

"Stolas should be coming onto that stage to begin the ceremony," Blitz mentioned. "Though I wonder what's taking him so long…"

"You think he's bringing Octavia here with him?" Amaroq asked.

"I don't think so," Loona replied. "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't allow Octavia to come down here for another visit anyway, especially if it involves something called the Pain Games…"

"Welcome, I say, welcome all to this year's Annual Wrath Ring Harvest Moon Festival!"

Loona turned back to the stage and noticed Wally Wackford, who she recognized from the Death Race, up on the stage while carrying his mic. "Now, to first kick things off I have some very special entertainment to present to y'all!"

"Special entertainment?" Blitz asked while covering Amaroq's eyes. "Um, there are children present here!"

"I say, I say give it up for our special guest who has decided to make us her first stop on her new concert tour," Wally declared as a pink smoke cloud floated into view, followed by a larger screen rising up from the stage. "Give it up for her lustiness, the beautiful succubi with the voice of a siren who will get your blood flowing!" He stepped off the stage as someone walked through the pink smoke. "I am proud to introduce you to… Ms. Verosika… Mayday!"

"Verosika?!" Blitz and Loona both exclaimed in surprise when they saw the smoke clear away, revealing Verosika in full view. Amaroq managed to peek from behind Blitz's hand to see who was up on stage.

"Hello, Wrath!" Verosika declared while wearing a short black leotard with white flashing tassels around her bustier, the bottoms of her leotard, and black and white boots. Her bustier had white X and O on each and she also sported a white, sparkling cowgirl hat. "Who's up to get wild and crazy?" she asked while the audience hollered.

"YEAAAH! VEROSIKA!" Kajedo shouted as she and Zumi jumped up in excitement, shrieking while Ember, Carrie, and the guys winced from their screams.

"What is she doing here?" Blitz asked, still shocked to see his ex up on stage.

"Time to throw up your hats, cause this goes to all you Wrathians who worked hard for this year's harvest!" Verosika declared while holding up a mic. She walked along the stage, swaying her hips as she began to sing. "Ripped jeans- hanging by the back door, James Dean- I know what you came for, meet me underneath the chandelier…"

The crowd watched Verosika sing as well as strut around while bobbing their heads to the song.

"Hey you," she sang as she pointed to the crowd. "Lookin' like a wild one. Nice boots, think I got the same ones. You're cute, maybe we could split some beers." She gave a wink, which entranced the crowd.

Popping up on stage were the members of her posse. Ace and Josh were shirtless and wore only cowboy hats, pants and boots while Milky and Kiki wore black bikini tops and short-shorts with cowgirl boots and hats. They danced along with Verosika during their performance.

"Hey cowboy! With that look in your eyes, need a lipstick stain on your whiskey ice," she sang as she danced along with her posse, doing the 'riding the horse' motion of their dance. "Hey cowboy! Whatcha doing tonight? Know a place downtown with a vacant sign~! Giddy up cowboy, if you're down to ride~!"

"You can keep your boots on if you like~!" she sang as she gave another wink to the audience, getting them to holler.

"We love you, Verosika!" Kajedo shouted while holding a sign up.

"Where did she get that sign from?" Loona whispered in confusion while glancing at her friend before turning her eyes back to the stage.

"Burt's bees, coconut chapstick, wet tee contest on the back deck," she continued to sing while Kiki handed her a bottle of water to pour herself all over her chest, the water dripping down to her legs while her skin glistened and shone. "Got me howling at the full moon, love the way you look at me." She brushed her hair while strutting around, Josh turning on the fans that blew her hair, letting it wave freely. "Blow me like a tumbleweed, hold me down and wrangle me. Tie me up and set me free, oh~!"

She crouched down, lying on the floor as Ace and Josh came over to pick her up, raise her up, and twirl her around in the air.

"Hey cowboy!" the crowd hollered along. "With that look in your eyes, need a lipstick stain on your whiskey ice. Hey cowboy! Whatcha doing tonight? Know a place downtown with a vacant sign~! Giddy up cowboy, if you're down to ride~!"

Verosika managed to stand up while being held by Ace and Josh, her feet balancing on their hands before she jumped down and landed back at the stage. "You can keep your boots on if you like~!"

"You can keep your boots on, baby. I'm a woman, not a lady," she sang as she did a kick to the left, then a kick to the right. "You can keep your boots on, baby. I'm a woman, not a lady…"

"You can take me into your arms, when the dawn breaks, I'll be long gone," she sang as she tapped her finger underneath Ace's chin and caressed Kiki's hair as the two danced along with her. "Riding off into the sunset, you were just a good time, boy…"

"You can take me into your arms, when the dawn breaks, I'll be long gone," Milky and Josh sang in a reprise.

"Riding off into the sunset, you were never my guy~!" Verosika sang while holding her hat to her chest.

Blitz, while listening to the song, narrowed his gaze at that.

"Hey cowboy! With that look in your eyes, need a lipstick stain on your whiskey ice. Hey cowboy! Whatcha doing tonight? Know a place downtown with a vacant sign~! Giddy up cowboy, if you're down to ride~!"

Verosika continued to sing and dance, getting the crowd to holler and whistle at her performance as she sang the final verse.

"You can keep your boots on if you like~! You can keep your boots on, baby. I'm a woman, not a lady," she sang as she clapped her hands together, her posse and the crowd clapping along. "You can keep your boots on, baby. I'm a woman, not a lady..."

The crowd cheered as the performance ended, everyone as Verosika and her posse gave a bow. A few imps even threw their hats toward the stage.

"Wow! Isn't Verosika great, guys?!" Kajedo cried out, looking and sounding absolutely giddy from the performance.

"I'll admit, she ain't a shabby performer herself," Carrie said with a smile. "Now I see why Maxxie loves her so much…"

"She's a beaut alright," Ember commented with a smile.

"Yeah, but I bet you could be just as good on stage as you are at the Snakeskin," Hurston encouraged her.

"Maybe…" Ember said while wondering if she would ever be able to make it as big as Verosika Mayday…

"Wow, so that's this Verosika I've heard about…" Amaroq commented to Blitz and Loona.

"You've never heard her music before?" Loona asked her.

"I heard of her, but I've never listened to any of her songs before," Amaroq replied.

"Well, she's not a very age-appropriate singer for you, kiddo," Blitz told her. "She's pretty much like the new 'Madonna' or that Brittney chick."

"Wait, didn't Loona mention you dated someone named Verosika?" Amaroq asked him before her eyes widened. "No way, you did?!"

"Shh, not in front of the crowd, kid," Blitz shushed as Verosika and her posse were seen leaving the stage.

"I say, I say ain't she a beaut, folks?" Wally asked as he got back on stage, the crowd roaring in agreement. "Now that we've been given the appetizers, it's time to bring out our main guest. You know him, he comes here every year… presenting the one, the only…"

A flash of light and smoke appeared behind Wally, who jumped a little out of fright. As the smoke dispersed, a figure walked over to take the mic from Wally. It was… none other than Prince Stolas, making a quite dramatic entrance.

"Greetings, Imps of the Wrath Ring!" Stolas declared as he held up the mic from Wally, who stepped aside.

The cheering crowd, however, immediately started to quiet when they saw Stolas. Instead, many of the Wrathians were instead glaring up at Stolas on stage, which Loona immediately took notice of. It reminded her of Carrie's reaction to meeting Stolas. He was not popular here.

And she wasn't the only one who noticed. As Stolas looked out at the crowd, he seemed to realize, perhaps for the first time, that the locals here were not happy to see him. He remembered Carrie's reaction to him and when he noticed similar reactions in the crowd… he faltered.

"M-my, what a crowd, there are even more of you than there was the last time I was here," Stolas commented, attempting to cover as he chuckled awkwardly. "For all those new faces, let me welcome to the Harvest Moon Festival, where we celebrate the bountiful spoils of your labor that continue to feed the citizens of Hell. I will also be kicking off the start of the Pain Games that will challenge toughest imps for their skills and dominance!"

"Okay, after his speech would be a good chance to sneak backstage to meet up with him," Loona whispered to Blitz while Stolas continued to speak.

"Yeah, we'll have to walk around the stage while being discreet," Blitz said.

"Can I come along with you guys?"

The two turned to Kajedo, who was standing between Loona and Amaroq. "Sorry, but since Verosika is here, Tex has to be with her, right? They would be backstage too and I just have to see him. In fact, this could be a reunion for all of us, right?"

"Is she coming with us?" Amaroq asked.

"I guess it'd be okay, right, dad?" Loona asked, making Blitz sigh.

"Fine, she can tag along," Blitz said before he saw Kajedo about to cheer. "But try to be quiet so we don't attract any attention, okay?"

"Is this quiet enough?" Kajedo asked, her voice becoming a whisper.

Blitz just let out another sigh as the four walked out of the crowd and began to head backstage to meet up with Stolas, as well as Tex and Verosika…

Meanwhile, Wally was getting himself ready to announce the Pain Games when he heard someone speaking to him.

"Pardon me, sir."

Wally turned and saw Alexei standing there, the Hellhound surprising the imp. "Can I help you?"

"I hope you don't mind, but I'm here as a representative for my benefactor from Pride, someone who would like to sponsor the Pain Games. From what I understand, you can submit prizes for the Pain Games, is that correct?"

"Oh yes, that is true," Wally replied to the Hellhound. "In fact, the prizes are about to be shown off to encourage last minute entries."

"I was hoping that would be the case," Alexei said with a smile. "Because you go out there to show off the prizes, I would like to donate something…"

Meanwhile, Blitz, Loona, Amaroq, and Kajedo had managed to make their way back backstage, the extra security that Verosika had brought with her letting them pass. Apparently, they were expected. And soon enough, they found who they were looking for.

"Texy!" Kajedo cheered, seeing Tex with Verosika. She immediately went over to hug her boyfriend. "I've missed you, big guy!"

"Heh, I miss you too, Kajey," Tex replied while hugging her back. He then spotted Loona and smiled at her. "Hey Loona, been a while."

"Hey, Tex," Loona greeted before she walked over to Verosika, going to hug her. "And Rosi, man, is it good to see you again!" she declared.

"You too, Loona!" Verosika shouted as she hugged her back. "I have actually been kinda worried about you lately."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Loona said as they let go of each other. "But man, I had no idea that you and Tex were going to be here."

Meanwhile, Kajedo had gotten one look at Verosika, her eyes widening when she saw the pop star up close, making her frozen in place.

"Uh, Kajey?" Tex asked, poking his girlfriend. But Kajedo didn't move.

"Oh yeah, me and Tex wanted to surprise you," Verosika explained. "I'm actually going on a new concert tour around the Rings of Hell (minus Gluttony), and I wanted to start here because it would be the perfect opportunity to get to see you again."

"Well, you did surprise us," Blitz said as he cleared his throat, drawing Verosika's attention to him. "Never thought I would see you in Wrath. Ever."

"Well, I am trying to broaden my appeal… and it was an excuse to see Loona," Verosika said. "Nice face paint, by the way. I didn't know you were rejoining the circus." She smirked at this, causing Blitz to growl a little while she looked around. "Hey, where's that employee of yours?"

"Moxxie? I think he's running late or something," Blitz said.

While the two adults were talking, Loona turned to Tex while Kajedo remained frozen in place and speechless. "So how's the new job, Tex?"

"It's easily the best job I've ever had," Tex replied with a smile. "But yeah, it has been pretty great so far. Mostly I have just been accompanying her to public events, protecting her from the creeps and overzealous fans."

"Has she been treating you well?" Loona asked.

"Yeah, she actually has," Tex admitted.

"Good," Loona said. "Cause you're one of the nicest hounds I know and I don't want you to be taken advantage of or exploited."

"Well, thanks for watching out for me," Tex said with a smile. "And thanks again for helping set me up with this job."

"It was the least I could do for you, Tex," Loona replied with a smile. "Did you tell your family about the new job, by the way?"

"Yeah, I did, and they couldn't believe it," Tex said with a chuckle. "Neither did my friends. You're… actually kind of a legend now."

"Wait, seriously?" Loona asked in surprise.

"Believe it… Driver-X," Tex said, causing Loona to groan.

"Oh yeah, that thing…" Loona said, shaking her head. "Kajedo told you, didn't she?"

"Hey, I think it's pretty cool," Tex told her. "And when you're back up in Pride, I know a lot of hounds who are hoping to meet you. I could introduce you to them, if you would like."

Loona was surprised by this, but she smiled. "Um, yeah," she said. "I think I would like that."

"So are you also as famous as Verosika Mayday?" Amaroq spoke up, getting Tex and Verosika to finally take notice of the hellpup.

"Um, who is this?" Verosika asked, surprised by the kid.

"Is she with you, Loona?" Tex asked her.

"Oh, this is Amaroq!" Kajedo shouted, snapping back to reality as she introduced the hellpup while patting Amaroq's head. "Amaroq, meet my boyfriend, Tex."

"'Sup," Tex said, smiling down at Amaroq.

Kajedo then turned to Verosika. "And oh my gosh it's Verosika! OMS, this is like… oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I'm… still in shock…!"

"Um, you must be Kajedo," Verosika said, taking note of the Hellhound. "Tex has told me a lot about you, including how you have been helping out Loona while she's been here. I want to thank you for that."

Kajedo almost fainted, looking like she was on cloud nine. "Y-You're welcome, Ms. Mayday…"

"Whelp, I think you broke her," Blitz commented as Verosika turned back to him.

"I do have to say that I'm surprised that you've taken in another kid, Blitz," Verosika replied, gesturing to Amaroq.

"Oh, well… it's a bit more complicated than that," Blitz replied while rubbing the back of his head.

Verosika nodded and then turned to Tex. "Tex, now that you've reunited with Loona and Kajedo, have some free time with them. The rest of my security team will help protect me from any potential threats here, so you're good for the rest of the day."

"Really?" Tex asked in surprise. "Wow, thanks, Sika."

"Yippie! That means we get to hang together!" Kajedo shouted as she bounced over to Tex, wrapping her arms around him and Loona in a hug.

"Oh, and I should also direct you guys to where Stolas is," Verosika said to Blitz, Loona, and Amaroq. "He asked me to bring you three to him at the back when I saw you."

"Great, lead the way," Blitz said.

Seeing Verosika walking away, Loona managed to break out of the hug and turn to Kajedo and Tex. "I should probably go see the Prince," she explained to them. "But I promise that I will hang out with you two later, okay? We have some catching up to do."

"Works for me!" Kajedo shouted while placing her hands on Tex. She giggled and gave a sly smile as Tex returned her grin. "That just gives me and Tex some alone time…"

Verosika led Blitz, Loona, and Amaroq further backstage, passing by members of the posse who were either mingling… or making out with some of the other imp staff (Milky having managed to find a lucky lady). Eventually, they found Stolas at the catering table trying out some of the food there talking with someone. Stolas then spotted Verosika coming over with the trio, causing him to perk up.

"Ah, Blitzy! Loona!" Stolas enthusiastically greeted them. "Thank you, Ms. Mayday, for bringing them here."

"No problem, Mr. Prince," Verosika replied. "I'll leave you with them." She turned and started to walk away, but then stopped and looked at Loona. "Hey, Loony, can I see you later? There is something I want to talk to you about."

"Oh," Loona said in surprise, wondering what Verosika could be referring to. "Sure. Maybe after the Festival, before you leave?"

Verosika smiled. "Yeah, that sounds good," she said before walking off.

"Blitzy, what is that you have all over your face?" Stolas asked while looking down at Blitz.

"This?" Blitz asked, pointing to the zebra stripes on his face. "I got my face painted with Amaroq, see?" He gestured to Amaroq, who looked up at Stolas and smiled.

"Hi, Stolas!" Amaroq greeted.

"Ah, Amaroq," Stolas said, his tone chipper. "We were hoping to see you today."

"We?" Blitz asked in confusion before he finally noticed who Stolas had been talking to before they came over. "Say… don't I know you…?"

"We met recently," said the blue-furred demon. "It's Styx."

"Styx?" Loona asked, her eyes widening as she looked at the General Major. "Wait, if you're here…" Before she could finish that though, a familiar red-furred jackal popped up behind her. "Gah!"

"Surprise!" Damian shouted before he turned to Amaroq. "Hey, Amaroq!"

"Damian!" Amaroq shouted, overjoyed to see Damian again. She ran over to him and the two embraced. "Just when I thought this day couldn't get any better! It is so good to see you again!"

"I know!" Damian replied, just as happy to see her.

Loona smiled as she watched Damian and Amaroq reunite. "I assume you had something to do with this," she told Stolas, who smiled.

"Guilty as charged," the Prince confessed. "Me and General Major Styx talked it over the phone and we decided that, since I was going to be in Wrath for the Harvest Moon Festival and I would be meeting with you all, he and Tentadora could bring Damian over here so that he could see Amaroq again."

"I just thought that the young prince would like to see his friend again," Styx explained, hiding his own smile as he watched Damian and Amaroq reuniting.

"But it's not just me and Styx that came here," Damian said before turning to call out to someone. "Hey Jack! Come over here and meet Amaroq and her fam!"

Everyone turned to see Tentadora coming over with someone else. When Blitz saw Tentadora, his eyes widened.

"Who is that?" he whispered to Loona.

"Tentadora," Loona whispered back. "Damian's robot nanny. Apparently built by Asmodeus himself. I don't know who the kid is though…"

The kid with Tentadora was an anthropomorphic jackal like Damian, except his fur was brown instead of red. Noticeably, he was missing a few patches of fur around his head. He wore simply a t-shirt and shorts. He looked to be about two years older than Amaroq and Damian.

"Oh, Damian, this must be-gyaah!" the kid cried out as he suddenly tripped on a chord that was running across the ground, causing him to fall with a painful thud. "Ow…"

"Is he okay?" Loona asked as Tentadora helped him up.

"I'm alright, I'm alright," the kid said as he stood up, brushed himself off, and cleared his throat. "Hi, my name is Jack-" Suddenly, he got hit in the head by a light bulb that fell out from one of the spotlights overhead "Ow! Where did that lightbulb come from…"

Jack looked up, only to see the entire spotlight coming loose and falling down. He cried out and everyone looked up to see the falling spotlight. They all cleared out of the way as the spotlight crashed down onto the catering table, sending all of the food flying up in the air… and landing on Jack, who groaned.

"Woah…" Amaroq said. "That was awesome!"

"Here, let me help clean you up," Tentadora volunteered as she began wiping all of the food off of Jack, who sighed in resignation.

"Thank you, Tentadora," he said.

"Okay, seriously, are you okay?" Loona asked him in concern.

"I'm good, thanks," Jack said, rubbing his head before finally introducing him. "Hi. I'm Jackson Wells, Damian's cousin."

"My cousin's here's a total jinx, basically," Damian explained.

"I'm not that unlucky…" Jack said.

"Wait, cousin?" Loona asked while looking at Jack. "From which side of the family?"

"His mom's," Jack explained.

"You see, young master Damian had some family visiting Hell at the time, and while Queen Narissa is spending some time with her sister, Master Damian wanted Jackson to come with us to the Festival," Styx explained.

"I want to introduce Jack to my new friends," Damian said happily.

"Surprised to see you made friends…" Jack said, earning a nudge from Damian. He smiled a little before he turned to Loona and Amaroq. "Um, nice to meet you all, by the way. Um, I guess you're Amaroq," he said as he pointed to Amaroq before turning to Loona. "And you must be Loona."

"Nice to meet you," Loona said, waving to him. "So where exactly are you and mom from?"

"Oh, we are from the Living World," Jack explained. "A place called Safe Ha-"

"How often do you get into accidents with that bad luck?" Amaroq asked him.

"Um… depends…" Jack said with a mutter. "But at least I got good health…"

While Loona and Amaroq mingled with Jack and Damian, Blitz turned to whisper to Stolas. "So now that we're all here, when do we discuss our next move?"

"Are we all here?" Stolas asked. "Your employee seems to be missing…"

"Yeah, Moxxie is running late," Blitz admitted.

"Even if he was here, we would probably have to wait until after the Harvest Moon Festival, Blitzy," Stolas explained. "Because right now, I have to get back on stage."

"Really?" Blitz asked with a sigh.

"Those are the duties of a Goetia," Stolas said with a sad nod. "There are some drawbacks to being a Goetia, believe it or not."

"Oh please," Blitz said, rolling his eyes. "All you have to do is go up on the stage, say a few words, and read from that fancy book of yours."

"There is a bit more to it than that," Stolas said in a defensive tone. "But don't fret, we can talk after the Festival is over and I have completed my obligatory duties. Until then you can enjoy the rest of the Festival and little Amaroq can enjoy some quality time with her little friend," Stolas pointed out while they turned to the kids. "So for now, let the kids enjoy themselves."

Blitz gave a nod, understanding that the kids could use some fun. "Yeah, I guess it can wait," he said before he called out to them. "Hey, kids! We better get back to the audience."

"Can Damian and Jack come with us?" Amaroq asked.

"Sure," Blitz said. "The more, the merrier, right?"

They were about to turn to leave, but then Loona noticed Tentadora and decided to stop her. "Um, maybe you should stay here," she suggested.

"Oh, why is that?" Tentadora asked.

"It is just that… you draw a lot of attention," Loona pointed out. "Don't worry, me and Styx will watch over Damian for you. It will be fine."

"Hmm, okay," Tentadora decided. "But I do want to make one thing clear." Her eyes turned red. "If anything happens to Damian under your watch, I will hold you accountable. Understand?"

Loona gulped, sweating a bit. "Understood," she said.

"Excellent," Tentadora said, her eyes turning back to normal. "You can go now."

Loona nodded nervously and ran off to catch up with the others, Tentadora waving after them. "Have fun!" she shouted.

'I really hate robots,' Loona thought to herself.

A few minutes later, Stolas was back on stage while Blitz, Amaroq, and Loona had rejoined the audience, bringing Damian, Jack, and Styx with them. Kajedo was nowhere in sight, having gone off to catch up with Tex, though Loona had a good idea of what that entailed.

"Man, such a big crowd here for the Festival," Damian commented while looking around.

"Have you ever been to this Festival before, Dame?" Jack asked his cousin.

"Nope," Damian admitted. "First time."

"Yeah, this is my first time here as well," Amaroq commented. "And Loona's as well."

"Guess this makes this a first experience for all of us," Loona replied with a smile before they turned their attention to Stolas on stage as he was giving a speech about the value of the labor of the Imps of Wrath…

…and throughout the whole thing, Carrie was resisting the urge to scoff or roll her eyes at Stolas's clearly rehearsed speech. It was always the same thing every year. As if Stolas ever thought about folks like her outside of that one time of the year. As if someone like her actually mattered to a blue-blooded royal like him who was flaunting his wealth with his fancy clothes. Most royals didn't think twice about the Hellborns whose hard labor produced the food that went into their mouths. Most of them would never even set foot in Wrath.

As she thought about this, she noticed Striker and Douglas coming over to her out of the corner of her eye. Surprised, she turned to them.

"Striker?" she asked him.

"Pardon me, Ms. Carrie, I was just wonderin' if you'd kindly watch over Douglas for me again," Striker requested. "There's some things that I need to do, so I hope you don't mind keeping an eye on him for a little bit."

"Well shoot, I don't mind at all, Striker," she assured him before she looked down at Douglas. "Hey there, champ. Glad to see me again?"

"Yeah, nice to see you again, Ms. Carrie," Douglas responded.

"I'll be back for you by the end of the Festival, Douglas." Striker said as he gave a glance at Stolas, who was still talking.

"And now for what you have all been waiting for! The Pain Games!"

Striker gave the Prince a dirty look before he slipped away into the crowd.

"Of course, some of you might participate not just for the chance to prove your dominance and your skills, but also for the prizes!" Stolas shouted before handing the mic to Wally. "Mr. Wackford, if you will."

"Thank you, your majesty," Wally replied. "To entice any last minute entries before the Games start proper, may I present to you all the submitted prizes for the games this year! All of these prizes were submitted by our various sponsors!"

As he said this, some imps began to bring out the various prizes, showing them off to the audience as Wally listed them off.

"We got some barrels from the Barrel Factory, stylish cowgirl boots from Ms. Mayday's fashion collection, some coupon books submitted by Lord Dangorus, Flex Flawless's prize bobble-head collection, a few Dr. Toboggan Mantis's miracle elixirs…"

"Oh geez," Blitz said, rolling his eyes with disinterest as Wally continued to list off the prizes. "Barrels? Coupon books? What sap would be enticed by those?"

Loona chuckled. "I mean, maybe the boots," she admitted. "But even then…"

Blitz nodded. "Definitely not worth trying to get yourself to get killed over…"

"And lastly, submitted by the Vazbro Toys Company, is the incredibly rare My Little War-Ponies line-up!" Wally declared as he showed off a row of boxes containing toys of candy-colored ponies in camo gear. "These toys were never released to the general public and some toy collectors pay thousands of souls just for one of them!"

Blitz's eyes widened when he heard about this and he stared longingly at the collection of ponies. He noticed that while some of them were in camo gear, others were dressed in military outfits from various historical conflicts like the Revolutionary War or the Civil War. And as he stared at them… he knew that he had to have them.

Loona noticed the way that her dad was eyeing the ponies and she immediately realized what he was thinking.

"Dad, no," Loona said, shaking her head. "No, no, no, you said it yourself, they're not worth trying to get yourself killed over-"

"And we have our competitors!" Wally announced.

Loona groaned as she saw Blitz standing up on stage with dozens of other imps and demons.

"I was hoping I would see you here," Granny Magma told Blitz with a smile.

"I'm here to take home those ponies," Blitz declared, his tone determined.

Amongst the other participating demons were Millie, Prick Mustang, Scorch, Gnat, Brutas, Patricia, and Park.

"I have a good feeling about the outcome of these Games," Prick said with a smile as he looked into the crowd at his sidekick, Guttly, and winked at him.

Guttly gave a thumbs up and a wink back before he snuck off to the obstacle courses with a snicker…

Millie looked over at Scorch with a glare. When he glared back at her, she let out a snarl. She couldn't wait to take him on and win the games…

"Say, isn't that Blitz?" Park asked as he pointed at Blitz, who noticed the two.

"Oh yeah, hi Blitz," Patricia said as she and Park waved to him, both of them smiling.

"Great, those two," Blitz said while waving back. He also noticed Stolas looking at him with a bit of apprehension and he shrugged.

"U-um," Stolas said as he tried to find his words. "Anyway, now that all of the demons who will be competing in the Pain Games are here, I would like to wish good luck to you all!"

Back in the crowd, Loona let out another groan of annoyance while shaking her head.

"So much for being discreet," she muttered to herself.

"I'm sure he'll be fine," Amaroq said. "I mean, what's the harm in participating?"

However, unknown to them, in a different part of the crowd, Alexei had spotted Blitz amongst the other participants. He formed a smile, having finally found his target.

"Gotcha," he said under his breath while sipping his drink as Stolas finished talking.

"Now let the Pain Games begin!"

But as the Pain Games prepared to be kicked off, something was happening outside of Ragetown that threatened to interrupt the Festival.

A good distance from Ragetown, Chase the Hellhound was following a trail of large footprints. He had been tracking the Terafrost for sometime, following the creature by finding its footprint or the occasional victim it left in its wake. But now the footprints of the Terafrost had actually seemed to shift and were heading in a new direction… the direction of Ragetown.

"That's odd," Chase commented while looking at the tracks, wondering what could have caused the beast to suddenly change its behavior like this. "Up until now, this Terafrost has avoided civilization. Just… what could be there in that town that could be compelling the beast to head towards it?"

Was it something in Ragetown? Or perhaps it was someone in Ragetown…

Whatever reason that the Terafrost had for heading toward a town where the festival was being held, Chase knew that he had to stop it. Or else many lives would end up being lost…

Back in Angerton, the town was having its own small-scale Harvest Moon Festival in celebration. A few food stands and games had been set up, which was meant to help boost the town's morale and return them to a feeling of normalcy after the battle with Murdock and the repairing of the town.

"Come on!" Mayor Dirk declared while sitting over a dunk tank. "Who's gonna try to dunk the old mayor?"

However, not everyone was outside celebrating. Inside Mazzie's house, Cain was watching the Pain Games being broadcasted on television, though the image wasn't great. He, along with Mazzie and Mim, were all seated on the couch, enjoying the games together.

"Hey, I think I recognize her," Mazzie pointed out, seeing Millie on the stage on the TV.

"Oh, hey," Cain said. "That's Millie."

"Oh yeah, she's one of the Knights!" Mim cheered. "We should cheer for her to win!"

Cain smiled. "Of course, Millie could probably dominate this competition with her hands tied behind her back."

"Do you know that from experience, Alex?" Mazzie asked him.

Cain nodded. "She is one of the roughest and toughest demons I've ever met, so she's certainly got the gumption for it," he said before he recognized some other figures up on the stage, causing his gaze to narrow. "Great, those three…"

"Is there something wrong?" Mazzie asked, turning to Cain.

"You see those three?" Cain asked, pointing to the trio of Scorch, Brutas, and Gnat. "They used to be Knights of Hell. They rode with… the previous leader of the Knights. They didn't stick around long after I took over." He sighed. "I hope Millie kicks their butts."

"Yeah, go Millie!" Mim cheered at the TV in excitement… until the screen suddenly went black. "Hey, what happened to the TV?"

"That's weird," Mazzie said in confusion. "I thought we had finally gotten that old thing working properly."

"I'll go check it out," Cain said as he got up from the couch and walked over to the television. "It might not be the TV," he suggested. "It could be the fuse-"

Suddenly, the wall behind the TV was ripped away right in front of him, shocking Cain and making him jump back. "Shit!" he shouted before turning to Mazzie. "Maz, Mim, get down!"

"Oh my Satan!" Mazzie shouted as she brought Mim close to her, both of them climbing behind the couch and using it as a shield.

"So… you're Cain?"

Hearing a female voice, Cain turned around and saw someone standing in the newly created hole in the wall. His gaze narrowed.

Stepping into the home was… Tilphousia, who smiled at Cain. "Nice to meet you."

Alright, author's notes.

This chapter is setting up everything in place fo rthe finale of the Wrath Ring arc. All of the pieces are set, all the characters are where they need to be. This is just… the calm before the storm.

Moxxie's b-plot wasn't something that we have originally planned on. The original idea was for there only to be the scene where he's leaving Angerton… and then he doesn't show up until after the Harvest Moon Festival, since he's not supposed to see Millie yet. But we realized that it might not be satisfying for him to somehow miss all of the action just because he was late, so we decided to give a reason for him being late by having him captured by Marcus.

Marcus, aka the Canon Satan, is the other reason we decided to have this b-plot, because we decided that we wanted to have Marcus to be more directly involved with these last few chapters of the Wrath Ring arc rather than merely existing as a sequel hook for another arc down the road. As for his name, he is actually a reference to the Mr. Satan from Dragonball, since Mr. Satan's real name is Mark.

We'd like to credit Faroe_King for his OCs: Abigale, Tazer, Avril and Tilphousia. The first three are from Newest Pup in the Family, and Tilphousia is from Loona Goetia. When we were figuring out who should captuer Moxxie, we went through several ideas, including a pair of drake siblings and a trio of Hellhound hyenas. But then we ultimately went with Tilphousia, because we thought it was the most interesting idea… and because it would surprise Faroe_King. He already knew that Abigale and her moms were going to get a cameo at some point during the Wrath Ring arc, but he had no idea that Tilphousia was going to appear this early in the fic.

Jack, Damian's cousin, is another character from Zoophobia. Probably one of the more well-known Zoophobia characters, thanks to the short Vivzie did about the character.

As for how Alexei knew about Blitz's pony obsession, well he did some research into him, which we saw with him going to Blitz's dad. He knew that he could exploit Blitz's pony obsession to lure him out into the open.

Carrie's story about how she used to be dishonest is inspired from the Friendship is Magic episode "Where the Apple Lies" which had Applejack explains to Applebloom how she used to lie and why Big Mac is a pony of a few words. Which looking back, is an honest, hilarious episode.

As for musical references, Marcus sings excerpts from "His Kiss the Riot" from Hadestown, which is fitting considering his voice actor is the Patrick Page. As for Verosika's song, it's "Hey Cowboy" by Devon Cole, which we think fits her pretty well.

Review Section:

Cooki15xd: There is a good chance of that.

Matteso585: 1) Well, it's a reminder to readers since, well, the Wrath Arc has been going on for almost a year now. 2) Twister making a forcefield is just an example of how many residence of Pride would find ways to avoid Extermination. Sure, an Exorcist only kills those who are outside, but not many would take a chance if they decided to break in to kill them. 3) An opportunity of what? It's not like Shere Khan's business would interests Loona in any way.

Crash X Fusion: Nice that we have a wiki page.

Shuffollower: Not that I know of, but Buck can provide the answer:

"As far as I know, no, the OCs from Shadows Over Hell aren't based on any existing characters. As for their actual connections to Tex, Andy is Tex's girlfriend in Shadows Over Hell, since that fic was written before the reveal that Tex's girlfriend was Bee (just like how Kajedo was created before that reveal). Andy and Tex sleeping together is a nod to that relationship from the original fan fic. Tex's relationships with the other characters in Shadows Over Hell are pretty much the same as they are here. Castor, Pollux, Stormy, and Polly were all Tex's friends. And Rufus was someone that Tex worked for and had been working for since he was a teenager."

Next time, the Pain Games...