In response to my question, the balaam’s pointy ears flicked up and they fixed me with a wide-eyed stare. A moment later, their ears drooped back and they hunched their shoulders again. They turned to Rin seeking permission to answer, and the haures replied with a curt nod.

“I am Septo Stasi Ten Tensor So,” they answered in a gravelly voice, barely loud enough for me to hear.

Markus’ face was contorted in disgust. No doubt he was eager to say something idiotic and interrupt my plans, so I moved on without hesitation.

I offered the balaam a comforting smile. “A five name. You were lucky to stay on Earth. Most high name demons were sent back to Hell to reduce overpopulation following the Invasion.”

Earth is prime real estate for demons. Though the depths of Hell are theoretically infinite—theoretically being the key word, here, since space nobody really knows exactly how big Hell is—demons prefer it here on Earth. They’ve never quite explained why, and I never understood why. A demon’s form slowly recovers in the flames of Hell, so staying on Earth was like running on batteries, whereas in Hell, they were plugged in and recharging all the time.

Septo glanced at me for a split second before fixing their gaze on a spot far off to the side. Their grip on Rin’s laptop, which he was holding while the haures negotiated a second deal, tightened.

“Well, I hope your curiosity has been sated, Algier,” Rin said. “Now regarding your other party members—”

“Okay, Rin,” Markus cut her off. “What in Lucifer’s name did you do to that balaam?” I almost thanked Markus for picking up on my cue. I admit, for all the insults I hurled his way, Markus was brilliant.

Rin flicked her head around so that the colourful tips of her black hair sprayed out. She considered the balaam. “Nothing. That’s just how we found them.” Septo’s ears flickered under her gaze and they skulked back a little.

Markus clicked his tongue. “I know you’re a demon, but I am having a hard time believing that any demon can be so… simpering. Quick question, Septo. What is your hound? To be an eternal bottom?”

Septo’s eyes bulged at Markus then tore their gaze down. In one motion they tossed Rin’s laptop aside, collapsed to the earth, and prostrated before Markus. They spoke in a blistering, breathless ramble. “Septo is but a humble demon. Septo answers questions like a good balaam. But Septo cannot answer that one. Too difficult. Too perturbed. Bad question. Bad-er answer.”

“Markus, will you stop teasing our balaam?” Rin said, picking up her laptop so that she now held two. It was undamaged since it was, after all, just a part of her form, but even so she gave it a blow to clean it off. She then placed it down on one of the logs that her party had laid out in the clearing as a makeshift wall. “I really don’t want to deal with this again. Last time Septo started prostrating it took us three hours to convince them to get up.”

“Oh, come now,” Markus said. “You must have teased them a fair bit yourself. How does a balaam even become like this?”

“I don’t know,” Rin said shortly. “They came up to us on the first day and asked to join our party.”

Sighing, I put Markus’ tablet down, rose from the log I’d used as a seat, and hopped over it onto Rin’s side. “Don’t let a demon do a human’s job,” I muttered before gliding right past Rin and kneeling before Septo.

Upon sensing my presence, the balaam pressed themselves harder to the earth. Their whole form was trembling.

You might assume here that this demon felt fear, but that’s not quite right. Demons don’t process emotions, because they have no biological functions with which to do so. Many scholars believe that a demon’s corporeal form is nothing but a vehicle for their sigil.

But what is a sigil? It’s a collection of pure, manifested will, ordered and codified into a language that nobody can speak. Any expression of emotion is nothing but a set of rules output and expressed by its corporeal form, defined by its sigil, and input from its interface with the universe. In other words, it’s a programmed reaction. At least, that’s what it ought to be.

For obvious reasons, it makes no sense for a demon to feel emotions in ways that are outright debilitating, such as what Septo was doing right now. So if Septo was expressing emotions like a human, it meant there was something wrong with their sigil.

Who better to tame a strangely behaving creature than a human? Sure, the demons may have tamed us, but we are only one species. When demonkind went about moulding us into their hierarchy, their efforts could be concentrated on us alone. Humans, on the other hand, never fixate on a single species; when we ruled the world, we tamed everything.

Keeping Möbius tucked behind my back to appear less threatening, I rested a hand on the trembling balaam’s shoulder. Septo froze immediately upon being touched, just like a scruffed cat. I leaned in and spoke in a soothing voice.

“How about I ask you some easier questions? Would that make you feel better?”

The balaam’s ears flickered as they considered my words. After a few seconds they gave an answer. “Septo cannot answer this question. Septo is a demon and Septo feels only what Septo is allowed to feel.”

“Then how about this: will Septo tremble less if they answer more questions?”

Their ears flicked up and stayed there. “Septo will.”

It was progress. Even if their sigil was damaged, Septo was a balaam after all. “Does Septo want to look at me?”

Slowly, they raised their head off the ground. Two large yellow eyes met my own. Unlike Toll’s, these eyes were filled to the brim with emotion: fear, confusion, concern, intrigue, trepidation, and so many more that it was impossible to parse what they were feeling at any given moment. Once our eyes met, Septo quickly looked away.

“Septo is too ashamed,” the balaam croaked.

“Septo has nothing to be ashamed of,” I said, resting a hand on their shoulder.

The balaam’s eyes flicked to my hand on their shoulder then back to me. Honestly, I couldn’t help but pity the poor thing, though the rational part of my mind kept reminding me that this was a demon, not a stray pup, no matter how much they acted like one.

“Huh. I’ll have to remember that one,” Rin said. “Now, did you want to ask our balaam some questions, Algier?”

Markus piped up. “Of course. We have a number of questions that we would like answered. So how about we add a new clause into the contract: each question asked will retrospectively reduce our costs once the contract is signed.”

“Oh, Markus, you’re so blatant with your swindling.” Rin held up five colourfully tipped fingers. “Five questions, all unrelated to my party. I’ll shave one hundred points off the price since you get answers out of it as well.”

She was hiding some details, but nothing that couldn’t be deduced. Firstly, offering to cut our costs was overly generous. Rin could have just as easily assumed that we needed answers from a balaam and struck a separate deal. However, being a human, Septo’s answers to my questions would be more accurate. If Rin was offering so much, it was possible that Septo’s answers to a demon’s questions were too cryptic to be interpreted properly. That wasn’t uncommon in higher name balaams. However, that was not the point here.

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“That won’t work,” I said. Rin’s back stiffed and she looked at me sideways. “We have a balaam in our party. I don’t need to ask Septo any questions.” I smiled gently at the balaam. “I just, you know, feel bad for them.”

Septo’s whole body sank in on itself, then the balaam threw themselves flat against the ground again. “Septo is humbled by the human’s kindness. Septo is but a dog that will obey the human’s word.”

“Oh, no you fucking won’t,” Rin snapped. Septo’s quivering came to a sudden halt and their ears pressed flat against their scalp.

“For once we are in agreement,” Markus added. The one name fixed me with a harsh stare, eyes flashing a deep crimson. “Did you forget where you are, human? This is the Culling. Pity will only get you eliminated.”

I hunched over the balaam as though protecting them and whipped around to scowl at Markus. “Can you not be a piece of shit for five minutes? Can’t you tell they’re suffering?”

The one name waved the tablet around in frustration. “Fine. Do whatever you want. Not my problem. Rin, I’ll take the deal.” Notably, Markus had never said that my act was bad for business.

“I only want three questions,” I said.

Rin shook her head. “The deal is for five.”

Markus saw blood and pressed. “Hold on. You’re not trying to swindle us here? How accurate are the balaam’s answers?”

“What do you take me for?” Rin snapped.

“A demon trying to avoid answering a question.”

Rin’s nails drummed along the flat of her laptop. After a few moments she said, “Fine. Three questions. One hundred points off. The balaam gets to ask three in return, of my choosing.”

“Send it through,” Markus said.

Without waiting for their work to be done, I pushed Septo up so that they were sitting on their shins. The demon wouldn’t look at me, but that was fine.

“Septo,” I spoke softly. “How many members are in your party?”

Rin shouted, “No, that doesn’t count. Septo, don’t—”

“Fifty-two,” the balaam said. Their gaze was now fixed squarely on me and their ears were perked up in newfound determination.

Rin pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a long sigh. “Great. And it was a shit one too because they already knew the answer and decided, frustratingly, not to keep it a secret. Just ask your next questions.”

Sure enough, a popup appeared in my vision without invitation, informing me that I owed Septo a mundane question, the least significant of the four types.

Septo may not have realised it, but they had just revealed something enormous. When we’d approached the Junction Tower, I had counted nine demons, including Rin. Adding Septo and the unseen iuda hidden in the Tower made it eleven. Since I doubted Rin would leave two high value targets without decent protection, I assumed there were, at most, a couple more demons inside the Tower, bringing the minimum number of demons in this party to twelve.

Given that the exit was the highest priority, I had no doubt they would put even more demons there. This meant one of two things. One, they did not possess all the Junctions, or two, they did not control the exit.

“Septo,” I said. “What’s the most dangerous rabdos that you’ve recognised so far in the Culling?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Rin said. She whirled around to Markus. “Is he always so insufferable?”

“Actually, I’d argue he’s less insufferable than usual today,” Markus replied, smirking.

Septo replied, “Heartbreak Filament.” Another mundane answer, on account of the need for Septo to have seen and recognised it.

Heartbreak Filament is a problematic rabdos. It’s Class 6 and about as flashy as they come. When activated, a light beams down from the sky onto any targets the user points to. All of those shone by the light will feel an immediate compulsion to fight each other, so long as they’re illuminated.

I peeked over my shoulder at Rin, who looked rather surprised. “Does that count?”

Her features softened. “Yes. Two more.”

Sure, I got a low quality answer out of Septo but, given her reaction, it seemed to work out for Rin as well. I’d initially intended for the question to identify a rabdos held by Rin’s party, hence the requirement for Septo to recognise it. My assumption was that a demon would be more likely to recognise a rabdos that they’d seen in action, hence it was unlikely they’d recognise one held by a party they’d never interacted with. Furthermore, Rin had revealed that Septo had joined them on the first day, and Rin would have hidden them away during negotiations, so it was even more unlikely that the balaam recognised a rabdos outside of this party. Clearly, that wasn’t the case.

The Culling has a limited set of each type of rabdos. For example, there are only nine glove rabdoses available for Participants to slaughter each other with remorselessly. Since the administrators change their appearance between each Culling, they aren’t immediately identified.

However, the moment Markus’ gloves lit something up, it would have been obvious that his rabdos could only be Monk and Penny, as opposed to any other non-glove rabdos that produced fire.

“Septo,” I said.

The balaam perked right up. Their attention was fixed firmly on me and their eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets.

“How many demons are in the party guarding the exit to the Ring of Betrayal?”

“Twenty-eight.” An inquisitive answer.

That was not good. A small party guarding the hottest point on the Ring of Betrayal could only mean one thing: they were strong.

Rin called out, “Septo, ask the following question in response: ‘How many allies do you have?’”

Septo glanced nervously at Rin, their ears flicked right back. There was a long pause as their eyes kept darting between myself and Rin.

“Septo!” Rin growled. “Ask the question.”

“Er,” Septo stuttered. “Septo—Septo may need more questions.”

“That was an inquisitive question, wasn’t it?” Rin asked.

“It was,” I said.

“Shut it, human. Unlike your ally here,” she said, tipping her head in Markus’ direction, “I don’t trust anything that comes out of your mouth. And I trust little of what he says already!”

Septo lowered his gaze then nodded fervently. “It was inquisitive. It was inquisitive!”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Ah, well, the problem is, er…” Septo dropped to the floor and started wailing. “Septo is a terrible balaam. Septo is weak. Septo has trouble asking questions. Please forgive. Please don’t hate.”

With a long sigh, Rin buried her head in her hand. “Fine. Ask the next question, Algier.”

I stifled a grin. Septo was a sneaky demon. Everything they’d said was true, but though it might have slipped by a demon, those statements were all unrelated to each other. Septo was a terrible balaam, because they weren’t assertive. Septo was weak, but that mattered more when cashing in many lower ranked questions for higher ones and defining the upper limit of their abilities. Septo had trouble asking questions, because Septo didn’t want to.

“Last question,” I said. “Where is the exit?”

The answer came immediately. “Eighty-seven degrees, thirty-two minutes.”

On the opposite end of the Ring as we were now. Just great. We’d definitely need to teleport there, though unless it was nearby, I would have teleported regardless. Tomorrow was the last day of the Ring of Betrayal before the exit closed and it was already noon.

Rin watched with her eyes narrowed for a moment then stiffened her back. “Now, Septo.”

I couldn’t see the balaam’s face, but I was certain they would have looked like they were in pain. Without raising their head from the ground, Septo grovelled their question into the earth. “Please, please, please tell me. How many allies do you have?”

The moment those words left Septo’s mouth, I felt something tugging deep inside. All reason I’d had not to answer the question seemed pointless and, sincerely, I wanted to help out the poor balaam.

Then again, the word “ally” was pretty nebulous and I had no issue stretching its meaning.

“Five,” I said. “Three of which are one names.”

Okay, so that was not as obvious a lie as it would seem. Firstly, I did had five allies, not four. Aside from the usual group of idiots that I was stuck with, Silica was also helping me. That made her an ally. I would have liked to add Berlin to make six, but calling her an ally felt a little too dishonest.

Secondly, saying there were three one names was almost a bold faced lie. Almost, because I considered the naming system to be bullshit to begin with. Markus was a one name for sure, but Silica was way stronger than him despite being a three name. Volce had also demonstrated power comparable to a one name, under the right circumstances. So yes, I had three one name equivalent allies.

However, under normal circumstances, I should not have been able to give that answer. If it were Toll, I would have had to clarify that they were one name equivalents and not members of the Council of Ones. Toll of course, would have cashed in both inquisitive questions. Septo only cashed in one.

It was in the final moments after giving the first part of that answer that I could feel Septo’s compulsion fleeing me. I had spat out the crap about one names while it was still tugging at me, so that…

“Septo, did he tell the truth?” Rin asked in a tight voice.

“Yes,” Septo replied.

…so that my lie by omission was indistinguishable from the truth.

You now owe the following [Questions]:

Septo: 4 mundane (was 0), 1 inquisitive (was 0).

I patted Septo on the shoulder, stood, spun on my heels, and approached Rin. The tall haures, made taller by the fact she wore heeled shoes despite the mud, stared down at me. The stiff expression on her face was probably the closest a demon would get to discomfort.

“So about that price,” I began.