Hell was never quiet, but this—this was different.

For the first time in hours, the Doom Slayer paused. Not because he was tired—he never tired—but because he realized something was wrong. You were supposed to be right behind him. Just a few minutes ago, he’d glanced back and seen you navigating the cracked platforms, following his hand signals the way you’d practiced.

But now?

Nothing. No footsteps. No breath. No presence.

The air shifted with that awful, heavy stillness he recognized instantly: Hell had taken something it shouldn’t have.

His grip tightened on his weapon until the metal creaked. The faint echo of demons chittering somewhere in the maze-like caverns only fueled the fire already burning in his chest. Worry wasn’t something he liked to acknowledge, but it surged up anyway—sharp, cold, unavoidable.

You were gone.

Without hesitation, he stormed deeper into the labyrinth. Every demon in his path was knocked aside like they were made of paper. Not destroyed in a spectacle—there was no time for theatrics—just forcefully removed, pushed out of the way with urgent brutality.

He wasn’t here to fight. He was here to find you.

At every crossroads, he scanned the ground. Broken stone. Scorch marks. A dropped piece of gear. His movements were fierce but purposeful, his mind running through every possible way Hell might hide a human.

Then he spotted it—a piece of fabric caught on jagged rock. Yours.

His heart hit like a hammer.

He took it gently, surprisingly so for someone built of pure fury. That small fragment was enough. Enough confirmation that you’d passed through here. Enough to light a fresh, white-hot anger that made the torches lining the cavern walls flicker.

He continued onward, pushing faster with each step.

Demons began to avoid him entirely, sensing the storm boiling off him. Hell itself seemed to recoil, shifting and twisting, trying—and failing—to reroute his path. The Slayer didn’t slow. He didn’t hesitate. He didn’t doubt.

You were out there somewhere, surrounded by things that wanted to use fear against you.

They had made a colossal mistake.

Because now he wasn’t just fighting Hell.

He was coming for you.

And nothing, absolutely nothing in this realm, could stop him.