[The gates of Hell yawn wide, and its children march forth.]

  [The Apocalypse begins]

  "No…you have got to be fucking kidding me!" Rey snapped.

  "Language," Grandmother said sternly.

  His heart hammered in his chest. This was exactly how it had started last time. Either he had been sent back in time or had a very long, very detailed premonition of what was coming.

  Did that explosion send me back in time? Rey pondered. But how is that possible?

  After all he had seen, anything was possible. He could call forth all of nature's storms from his hands. However, in all his travels through Hell, he had never seen or heard anyone mention they could use time magic. Even the Sovereigns, the S-Tier demons, couldn't play around with time. Even with Forever Shards, Zalathar couldn't hope to do time magic, and he was the second strongest demon in Hell.

  Then how am I back?

  He didn't have time to ponder the answer to his questions. He quickly grabbed his grandmother's hand. "We have to go."

  "Reyan, are you seeing this too?" She asked, eyes unfocused, meaning she hadn't dispersed the notifications.

  "Yes, but we don't have time to waste on this." He pulled her along and was about to head out the door when the next message appeared.

  [Earth's time is over. Your world has been given over to Hell. Everything you know, everything you love, ends today. Judgment hour is at hand. The worthy will have a place among the strong, and the weak will be nothing but nourishment. Those of you who survive a year will be initiated into the armies of Hell, but before that, the children of Hell will test you. The final dusk descends, and with it, your world burns. The apocalypse is nigh.]

  Rey quickly dismissed the notification and rushed towards the kitchen while everyone stood dazed, staring at the message. He ran in and swiped as many knives as he could from the kitchen.

  A chef called after him, but he was running out of the kitchen by then. He found his grandmother in the same place he had left her, looking around for him. Last time, they had met their end here. Demons had swarmed this place and slaughtered everyone in the restaurant. He had to get out and get somewhere safe.

  "Grandma, this way."

  He pulled her along, rushed to the door, and was about to open it when it swung inwards, nearly smacking him in the face. A man barrelled into Rey, and they would've stumbled into the ground if not for all the fighting experience drilled into Rey.

  "Get back," the man cried frantically. "D-Demons are outside."

  "I know," Rey stated calmly. "Now, get out of my way."

  "Are you mad?" He put his back to the door, and there was a loud thud as if someone had smacked against it.

  "Please let me in!" cried a woman's voice.

  "Let her in," said one of the servers.

  "No," the wild-eyed man said. "It's a demon. It can mimic voices. Th-That's…" He teared up. "That's my wife's voice. It started using her voice after it a-ate her."

  "You've got to be joking," replied an older man with gray hair but quite bulky for his age.

  Please tell me it's not a Shrieker.

  "Say, before it ate your missus, did it have long sabretooth-like fangs sticking out from its mouth, had three claws on each hand, and walked on four legs?"

  The man frowned. "Y-Yes. How did you know?"

  Rey sighed. "Fuck me sideways and call me Maya's third nut."

  "Reyan!" Grandmother scolded.

  "Sorry, Grandma, the last few years have given me quite the potty mouth." He motioned for her to get back. "Just move back, but stay away from the windows. Servers, if you want to stay alive, pull the shutters down. Now."

  Of course, they didn't listen. They all stayed put while the Shrieker banged on the door and begged to be let in.

  Rey sighed and pulled out the biggest knife he had stolen. With the knife, he motioned for the man to step aside, and thankfully he complied.

  He opened the door slowly, and on the other side was a blonde woman with bloody clothing. Her face was clawed, and blood leaked out from her wounds. The woman badly needed medical attention.

  "Is this your wife?" Rey asked the man.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  "Carla? But I saw you get attacked—"

  That was all the confirmation Rey needed. Carla turned toward her husband, and Rey stabbed her in the neck. She gasped, and everyone was stunned. With a grunt, Rey thrust forward and ripped the knife out of the front of her throat.

  Then Carla began to shriek as she convulsed and sprayed blood everywhere. Her fingers fused into claws. Before the Shrieker did anything else, Rey stabbed her in the eye and then three times in the chest. Finally, the demon crumpled to the ground just as her fangs were beginning to protrude from her mouth.

  "You killed her…" said a server who must've been no more than twenty years old.

  "Did you not see the demon changing shape before your eyes?" Rey asked as if she were an idiot, which she was because she had tears in her eyes for something that would've loved to digest her. “If you all want to live, then close the shutters and be very quiet," Rey said. "Very quiet or these things–" he kicked the half-morphed Carla. "Will love to tear your innards and drink your juices. Got all that? For your sake, I hope you did. "

  He gripped his grandmother's arm. "Grandma, let's go."

  She was so horrified by how casually Rey had killed the woman that she flinched when he touched her. He could see it in her eyes. He was getting restless, but he couldn't lose her a second time. He wouldn't. No matter what.

  Even if I have to kill every single demon that Zalathar sends with my bare hands, I will save her.

  He placed the bloody knife on the table and wiped his hands clean on his clothes.

  "Grandma, we need to go. If we stay here, I'm sure we'll die. Those messages about Earth being given to Hell were not a joke." He motioned to the Shrieker. "This is only the beginning. There is a horde of demons coming our way. We need to get out of here and get somewhere safe. Please."

  Grandma opened her mouth to say something, but the old, bulky dude cut her off.

  "How do you know a horde of demons is coming here?" He asked.

  Because I've seen it. Was what Rey wanted to snap, but didn't want to risk being seen as a madman.

  "Because the message said so," Rey said. "The more of us bunched up together, the faster they'll pick us off, and we're not equipped to fight back." He quickly swiped the knife back from the table. "If I were you, I would head home and hide in your basement and pray the demons don't find you, but they will. Most of you won't survive the month. I doubt less than one percent of the world population will even survive the year because the ruler of Hell is a dick and won't give you the System unless you prove yourself worthy. Anyways, if you do survive a year, you're still fucked. With that, Adieu." He gave them a two-finger salute and turned towards the door.

  "Reyan, what are you talking about?" his grandmother was more than concerned.

  "Grandma," he held her arms and looked her in the eyes. "Please listen, it's hard to explain. I'm not exactly sure what happened to me, but I do know we need to leave and get as far away from here as possible."

  Before they could take another step, the windows shattered, and such monsters jumped into the restaurant that one couldn't even dream them up in nightmares. One had three legs and a bone axe for his fourth limb, which struck straight out of his back. Another had no feet and just walked on sharpened bone spears that came out of his legs. The less that could be said about their faces, the better. It was like someone had stripped the skin of a dog and charred the muscles underneath, then mashed it with various animals.

  As if on habit, Rey used Identify, but realized he didn't have the skill anymore. Then nearly smacked his head as he realized he didn't have the skill or any skill. None of them did; not until they made it to Hell. That was one place he wasn't keen on returning any time soon.

  Besides, he didn't need the Identify skill to know these were the many mindless minor demons of Hell. People who had lost their souls and never regained them. Hell had its fun way of telling people what they were without their souls.

  Rey had come very close to joining their ranks early on in his trek through Hell, but not this time. He didn't know which power had sent him back, but things would be different this time. This time, he wouldn't become a demon. This time, he wouldn't lose his grandmother. This time, he would not go to Hell.

  "Grandma, stay right behind me," Rey said, gripping her arm tightly. She held onto him while staring wide-eyed at the monsters.

  The demons growled, people screamed, and made a mad dash towards the door. He knew they would never make it. He pulled his grandmother aside towards the kitchen as the main door exploded, and a big bull-headed, minotaur-like demon burst through, shattering the decorative wooden door to splinters.

  As the restaurant became a feast for the demons, Rey led his grandmother towards the kitchen only to find flames erupting from within. The sprinklers went off, raining water on them, making the floor slippery with more than just blood. He turned around, and just in time, as a demon leaped at them and would have bitten the back of his head if he hadn't moved.

  His hand flashed, and he stabbed the demon in the brain through its bulbous yellow eye. The demon twitched a few times before it crumpled to the ground.

  Rey winced internally at the missed experience, but he couldn't think about that now.

  He bent down to yank his blade out, but that was a mistake. The minotaur charged, and Rey no longer had his reflexes or skills. That was when he made his second mistake. He thrust his hand out, hoping to fry the demon with a Lightning Bolt. It did nothing but waste precious seconds.

  Monsters got out of the charging bull-headed demon's way, and he trampled people under his hooves, but that didn't slow it down. Rey pushed his grandmother out of the way a second too late. The demon skewered her in the stomach with his left horn.

  "No!" Rey screamed. He slashed with unbridled rage, chopping with a butcher’s cleaver over and over, nearly cutting off the monster's head. It fell dead before it could even mount a counterattack.

  "R-Reyan," Grandma's voice quivered like it had that day. She looked strangely, just like she had last time. Though it was a different demon who bored a hole through her guts.

  "G-Grandma..." Rey's vision got blurry from the tears. "No, no, no. Not again. Please, not again. No, please, no. I can't lose you again."

  She caressed his cheek with a bloody hand. "I love you, son…"

  Her hand fell, and she was gone…again.

  Despite vowing to protect her, he had lost her a second time. Just like that. He hugged her and rocked back and forth as he wept. He had been given a second chance and squandered it because he wanted to clean his blade. He cursed himself again and again as he sobbed.

  The woman who had raised him as a mother after his parents perished in a car accident was gone again. Why did I have to take that job so far away from her? Why didn't I leave the moment I got back? Why? Why?

  He'd lost her even faster this time. It was different than last time, and yet the wound inflicted on her was eerily similar. It was almost like some power was working against him. Working to ensure she never lived.

  Something slashed at his back, and the pain didn't even register as rage bubbled up inside him. He knew exactly which power had condemned his grandmother to die. Which power ensured that she didn't live.

  The monster behind him snarled and leaped for him. He didn't even turn as he swung his arm and embedded the kitchen knife in the side of its neck. He ripped out the knife and turned to face the demons…

  And let his rage explode.