So I decided to write a little side chapter between Parts 4 and 5. It's pretty short and rather lacking in sexual content, but I don't think it's without merit. *wink wink*

Side Story: Burn, Baby, Burn

"This is Helena, reporting in. I'm requesting backup." Words echoed throughout the desolate realm, temporarily filling the air with a sound that wasn't the crackling of flames. The blonde female that had uttered them was no stranger to Demon lairs, having been recently promoted to Huntsman after 2 years of above-average service, but something about this one in particular felt off to her.

The outside of the former laboratory looked like the average abandoned building, covered with graffiti and littered with garbage left by delinquents, but the moment Helena had climbed through a sizable hole in the side of the building it was as if she had been transported to another dimension. There was no trace of the seedy complex she had seen on the outside, the ruin instead replaced by a cave that seemed to go on as far as the eye could see in either direction. Flames perpetually scorched the walls and the ceiling of the place, providing the only natural light and painting the entire realm dark orange.

Normally a Major Demon's lair wouldn't involve a reconstruction of this magnitude, more of a remodeling, so the drastic change sent alarm bells ringing all over the blonde Huntsman's mind, yet she could find no way to escape and her communications seemed to be cut off. "Damn...I should've brought something to tether me to the real world..." Helena looked around briefly and reinforced her barrier to ensure she wouldn't be discovered as she set her Basic Hunter Supply Pack on the ground and began rifling through it.

"Field rations, healing salves, mana salves...ah!" A triumphant noise escaped her mouth as she pulled out some cooling spray and, figuring it would be useful against the Demon she would be fighting, began shaking it. Her free hand tugged open the collar of her kevlar bodysuit to allow the coolant access to her body and sprayed it inside, shivering involuntarily as the cold material began spreading over her body.

About a minute passed before her form was sufficiently coated in the stuff, at which point she cast away the mostly spent can and took another look around. Perhaps it was just her imagination, but it seemed like the fire encircling her had grown more fierce...yes, on further inspection, it definitely had. The woman's hand quickly fell to the gun on her hip while her eyes carefully scanned the surrounding environment. At the same time she let out a cautious pulse from her barrier, aiming to triangulate the position of the prey she had traveled to this forsaken place for in the first place. It was definitely nearby...

In fact, it was right behind her.

Overcoming her naturally shocked reaction to the revelation, Helena leaped forward and drew her pistol from its holster, athletically corkscrewing in midair to orient her body towards the enemy entity before landing in a crouch and training her sights on her target.

The Demon before her was tall, lanky, suited, and quite confidently poised. One white-gloved hand rested upon a generic black cane while the other rested upon the creature's well-dressed hip. Dress shoes kept his feet from coming in contact with the ground (presuming it had feet...or hands, for that matter), and it even had a monocle...although that monocle was floating about inside the fiery ball that made up the Demon's head.

Helena clenched her teeth as she expanded her barrier...or tried to, anyway, only to realize that it was already gone. "My apologies for neglecting you until now, dearest guest...I was a tad preoccupied with meaningless trifles." Rather than any sort of actual sound, Helena's bounty seemed to project his voice directly into the woman's mind. The feeling was distinctly unsettling to her, but she had more pressing concerns than her comfort.

"Rogal the Flame Lord, I've come to end you!" Despite how determinedly she shouted her words, they didn't sound particularly convincing even to her.

"Rogal? Is that what your organization has deigned to dub me?" Something similar to a chuckle came from the fiery sphere perched atop the suit jacket's collar. "Perhaps 'tis for the best that you have some moniker to refer to me by, even if it lies far from the truth...and I must say, being called 'the Flame Lord' is quite-"

A sudden bullet to the abdomen cut off the Demon's statement, fiery light glinting off the icy shot embedded in his stomach a moment before the magical construct exploded outward in a watery torrent. At first the wet explosion seemed to be affecting Rogal quite negatively, smoke and steam flowing freely from any open areas that they could, but it quickly became apparent from the utter lack of an actual reaction that the move hadn't injured the Demon.

The blonde cursed loudly and moved to reload her weapon, only to have it shot out of her hands by a particularly forceful fire bolt. "You know, mortal, 'tis generally considered quite rude to interrupt a being while they are speaking." Before she could even look up her instincts had brought her arms up to defend her uncovered head, just in time to prevent her unprotected face from being scorched right off. A wave of blazing heat washed over the Huntsman's entire form, lasting a mere instant yet burning away her heat-resistant bodysuit (and quite a bit of her hair) and leaving her clad in naught but the makeshift coolant armor, which crumbled away a moment later thanks to the lack of clothing to hold it together. Helena was suddenly struck by how hot the air around her had grown, the inferno coating the walls having reached new heights from the presence of their overlord.

Realizing that Rogal had begun moving towards her, Helena fired off a magical ball out of sheer desperation...only to have the monster before her swat it away nonchalantly. Her attack's sheer ineffectiveness caused the last vestige of hope to flee the woman's nude form, her knees buckling as Rogal grew closer and closer. Eventually, he stopped about a foot in front of her. "An admirable effort, mortal, but not nearly enough." A gloved hand groped at Helena's left breast, the heat coursing through the fabric searing her mammary within seconds with a loud sizzle and burning it black a few seconds later.

She tried to scream out in pain from the nigh-instant cooking of her sizable tit, but her mouth was quickly covered by the Demon's other hand. "Please do not make such unpleasant noises, mortal. The shrillness you humans tend to acquire upon feeling notable pain is quite off-putting to the...ah." Rogal pulled his hand away from Helena's face far too late to prevent its transformation into a burnt husk. Giving off what amounted to a sigh, the creature hoisted up the slain Hunter's body and tossed it onto one of the fiery walls nearby, allowing the roaring flames to engulf her.

"How disappointing. Why must all my guests be so unwilling to engage in conversation?" Another 'sigh' escaped Rogal as he shook his ball of a head and turned away, heading back towards the main portion of his lair where his steadily-expanding collection was.

End of Side Story: Burn, Baby, Burn