“Well,” Elrith said with Raea’s hands still holding his head in place. “Do you know what they’re pursuing us with?” They were leaving the residential area and entering a park that was used as a training ground for the General Jones’ army’s outdoor survival drills. The number of residents they passed wasn’t small, but Elrith didn’t seem to care. He had the spider rush at full speed, occasionally jumping over terrified children.

“Stupid long goats,” Palan said and snorted.

“A what?” Elrith asked.

“Horses,” Raea said. “He calls horses goats.” She smiled when she recalled Palan’s first reactions to seeing a horse. It wasn’t that long ago, but it seemed like a long time had passed since then.

“Should I take care of them?” Palan asked as he sat up. He glanced at Raea. “You never let me taste one.”

“Can we refrain from killing?” Elrith asked. “When I say we, I mean all of us.” He seemed to have come to the realization that the party he was currently in was filled with murderers, except for Cleo. Then again, he wasn’t sure if the cute little lizardman was a murderer or not, but he wouldn’t be surprised if she was.

“Why should we do that?” Palan asked. “They’ll just bring more problems if we keep them alive.”

“For now, they only want to capture us,” Elrith said and took in a deep breath. He couldn’t believe he had to explain this to Palan. “If we kill the angels who are following us, we’ll be provoking a larger power that will hunt us down. Maybe they’ll even give orders to kill on sight.”

“That sounds scary,” Sally said and pursed her lips.

“Aren’t you an archangel?” Cleo asked. “What do you have to be afraid of? Aren’t you supposed to be the larger power? We have two archangels and a Palan!”

Elrith furrowed his brow. “But—“

“There are no buts,” Cleo said. “We’re the strongest force out here according to you two.”

“Even archangels can be taken down if there’s enough people stopping them,” Elrith said. “If we run out of mana, we’re no different from anyone else. And the council members may personally make their move if Raea and I begin causing destruction here. I have a feeling more archangels will be sent here to aid Michael and General Jones, especially if Michael reported my desertion.” He wanted to turn his head to look at Palan, but Raea still insisted on holding his head steady. “So can we not bring about more trouble for ourselves than we have to?”

“So you’re saying,” Palan said as he rubbed his chin and carefully chose his words, “if I kill these people, archangels will come?”

“Well, either I or Raea would have to make our presence known,” Elrith said. “Just killing them would leave things unsolved.”

“I see,” Palan said. “If you and Raea fought an archangel, who would win?”

“It depends on who comes,” Elrith said with a furrowed brow. “But we should be able to deal with some of the council’s archangels. It’d exhaust us greatly, and it’d be a hard-fought battle, but I think we’d survive. I don’t want to take the chance though.” He paused. “I’ll dig us a hole in the ground, and we can wait them out.”

“He’s gone,” Cleo said.

“What?” Elrith asked, trying to turn his head. His neck nearly cracked because Raea refused to budge. He remembered the days when Raea was a child and he could lift twenty of her. Now, he was weaker than that child who finally grew up. “What do you mean gone?”

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Raea turned her head and saw Palan climbing up a tree. The spider jammed its feet into the ground, bringing itself to a sudden stop. The passengers were nearly thrown off, but Elrith caught them with chains of patience. Raea finally released his head, and he turned around to see Palan crouching on a branch. “What the hell is he doing?” Elrith asked. “Did he not hear a single word I said?” The spider starting running backwards towards Palan.

“I think it’s because of what you said,” Sally mumbled. “Did you forget that Palan wants to eat archangels?”

“Your demon is ridiculous, Ray,” Elrith said to Raea. “Don’t you want to bring him to the capital? We should be traveling in a low-key manner. You think the council will let him use their portal if he kills some of them?” Fifty white chains popped out of Elrith’s back as the spider positioned itself beneath Palan. The chains flew towards Palan, but he avoided them by jumping to another tree like a squirrel.

“What are you doing?” Palan shouted at Elrith. “I’ll eat you in your sleep if you ruin this.”

“What am I doing?” Elrith shouted back. “What are you doing!?” He turned his head towards Raea. “Don’t tell me you’re going to side with him. Tell him to get down here so we can escape peacefully.”

Raea furrowed her brow and pursed her lips. Elrith’s face darkened. “Ray,” he said. “I know you trust him and all, but he knows nothing about our society. He doesn’t understand the consequences of his actions. It’s not him being stupid—he just hasn’t been in Div’Nya for that long. He’s inexperienced.”

“Oh boy,” Cleo said before Raea could speak. “Question the prideful fellow’s ability, why don’t you? That’s a surefire way to get him to cooperate.” The orange lizardman’s eyes rolled as she crossed her arms over her chest. Elrith snorted and sent his chains after Palan again.

Palan’s eyes narrowed and Raea let out a gasp as she fell to her knees. Palan’s arms and tail started to glow with a silver light. He used the glowing appendages to block the chains of patience, smacking them away from his body. Elrith’s eyes widened. “Is that greed!?” he asked as his gaze landed on Raea who seemed to be suffering. The chains of patience vanished as he knelt beside his sister. He bit his lower lip and opened his mouth to speak.

“We caught up!” a voice shouted before Elrith could say anything. “I knew there was something suspicious about you!” The speaker was the golden-robed angel who wanted his leader to identify Elrith.

“Stay back!” Elrith shouted, but it was too late. Palan dropped down from above with his hands outstretched. He fell on top of the golden-robed angel, and split him in half along with his horse. Palan stood up and looked at his hands, ignoring the flesh strewn about him and the screams coming from the remaining angels. He licked his lips as his heart started to race.

“So this is the strength of an archangel’s greed,” Palan said and raised his head. “Incredible.” He dashed forwards towards the stunned angels and reached for the mounted leader’s chest. His hand pierced through the angel’s horse’s head like a hot knife through butter and continued with no resistance. His fingers entered the angel’s robes, breaking apart the chainmail he wore underneath. The angel’s face blanched as his mouth opened. He coughed up a mouthful of blood as Palan retracted his hand, pulling out the leader’s heart.

“R-retreat!” one of the golden-robed angels shouted as he tugged on his horse’s reins.

Palan calmly placed the heart into his mouth and swallowed as he watched them leave. Before the remaining guardians were out of earshot, Palan shouted, “General Elrith sends his regards.” The silver glow around his arms and tail disappeared, and Raea sat up in Elrith’s embrace. Her eyes were slightly unfocused as she looked around.

“Raea,” Elrith said, his tone serious. “What level is your contract with Palan?” His stomach churned as he stared into his sister’s eyes. The slaughter didn’t concern him as much as the answer to this question. He continued. “It’s extremely rare for demons to have more than one sin, and that level of greed is abnormal for a greater demon. He had to have gotten it from you, meaning your contract is at least level four.”

Raea hesitated.

“I deserve to know, Ray,” Elrith said. “I want to help you. I really do.”

Raea stared into her brother’s slightly watery eyes and took in a deep breath. “Seven,” she said, maintaining eye contact. “It’s level seven.”

Elrith inhaled as he fell back onto his butt. His jaw clenched as he closed his eyes and remained motionless. “Elly?” Raea asked.

Elrith exhaled and opened his eyes. “Okay,” he said. “Seven. Seven’s a good number. Nothing’s wrong with seven. Seven is just one more than six, which is just one more than five, which is just one more than four. It’s just a number—an abstraction.”

“Is he okay?” Sally asked and tilted her head. Palan climbed the spider, holding onto two horse and angel corpses which he handed to Cleo.

“If I knew something like that would break him, I would’ve told him much earlier,” Palan said as he licked the blood off of his fingers.