The ground around her is mostly scoured clean. Assorted unpleasant liquids are still leaking toward them from further away, but evaporating as the bright light shines on them. Closer, she can see sharply delineated shadows angling out where people are between the other light source and the darkness. The insides of the shadows are much less clear than the edges. Almost three-dimensional. Or actually three-dimensional. The shadow is dark all the way through, but at different densities. Ink blots reminiscent of an eye, a hand, a lot of mouths, and some ink blots.

The shadow launches something upward, and pieces of tunnel fall. Not very aimed, but one glances off the side of Sadde's head.

Then the replacement flare goes off, and it's too bright to see.

But her eye's gotten swollen by the hit, damnit—she'll worry about that later—if the demon doesn't want to negotiate they can continue to fight.

"I will not surrender" it lisps, but there's less and less it's throwing at them.

And they still have more flares and more light and just how much more demon even is there?

Eventually it falls silent. Shortly after that they stumble their way into a far wall. When the next flare sputters out its holder doesn't replace it and risks looking around.

"It's gone. We'll have to mop up the pieces, but I think this was the part that was controlling it.
Demon! If you can hear me, there is still a surrender we would accept!"

No answer. He's almost disappointed.

"...seriously? This is it? It's dead?"

"Or playing it.
Pieces upstairs might be inactive or just unled, or I could just be wrong."

Well they can look around and explore some more.

Everything between here and the hole is clean. Dirty, but only in a dirt sense. It's just a dark basement tunnel. When they get back up it's the thicker kind of darkness they're more used to.

Okay and can they kill that?

They can kill its contents. As they move through the factory, they often pass disconnected flesh and limbs lying motionless. Those can be vaporized with floodlights. Other pieces of the demon are still active, rearranging themselves but not combining with each other or forming any new structures more complex than claws. Those seem to have enough capacity for strategy that they can retreat.

Yeah if they can't communicate she doesn't think they should be alive at all, lest the thing can regenerate from them.

The active pieces don't respond to offers of quarter. Maybe that means can't. Eventually they've made a pretty good sweep of the entire area. Not enough lights to light it all at once, so they probably can't be sure of having exterminated everything.

Actually, they can be sure they didn't. A pair of diabolists managed to snare an amoebalike blob with a beaklike mouth, saying they're definitely coming out of this with something to show for it. They keep the blob both contained and shaded, just in case there's a use for it later.

Other than that, there's no sign of the demon. The factory looks like an ordinary abandoned factory, except for the hole and a lot more drawing around the entrance than most doors need.

...Sadde thinks it's an absurdly terrible idea to bring a piece of demon with them, it's probably going to rain down bad karma on their heads.

Bad karma goes with the territory. Competent diabolists can manage the risks. But fine; Sam can wash her hands of this if she wants. In which case if she wants something deleted from existence later, ask someone else.

She is absolutely washing her hands of this and will absolutely not go to them for anything that will be erased out of existence. And for the spirits' sake she is also being very clear about how she just killed a demon and it wasn't even to use it or its parts so really the karma balance should tip in her favour.

If the spirits have an opinion anywhere between "yes, that!" and "no, we're almost sure you offered it a deal" they don't say so.

Eventually the factory is as demon-free as they can verify. Success? Success.

She should talk to Diana. But she's probably just gotten a bunch of bad karma.

...she's going to be getting a bunch of bad karma for a long time, though. If this relationship can't survive that... well. Better to find that sooner than later. She calls her.

Diana picks up her phone on the second ring. "This is you? Oh thank God. You're set, then?"

"Yeah, all done. You alright?"

"Yeah. Okay, I'm moving now." Pause.

"He knows! Or it's blocked for some other reason, I'm going to run and teleport once I'm out. Whatever you've got, this better work!"

"—what are you talking about? Who knows what? What's blocked?"

There's a pause, and sounds of Diana out of breath. 

"The Lord, was today not-"

"What? No, I'd have told—is that what you thought I was hunting today, I'd have been so much more obvious if it had—how can I help—"

"...it's not–

I got Doug and made it out, can you meet me at the workshop if I get there now?"