I turned around, but I was surprised that the demons had not crowded over me, tearing me to pieces… too many mistakes had been made before, and I should have paid, but surprisingly, the demons had held back.
Overhead, a second foghorn blew, and the clouds in the red sky rippled: I don't know the meaning of beauty, but there was something beautiful about the red sky and the horned demon overhead, with four burning eyes grinning down at me.
This was the demon that drove me to madness in the last loop, and it was a good thing that I had no more ego or soul to burn.
I looked away from the demon and focused on the immediate danger before me.
For a single breath, maybe two, the surviving chitin demons pulled back to the bowl's eastern lip.
I blinked as I counted. One thousand and sixty-seven of the demons had crested the ridge, and I had killed seven in close combat.
