Dan knew Lilith wasn’t in her true form. She had taken on a form mortal men found irresistible.
This form was young and had perfect and radiant olive-colored skin. Her eyes were an endless gray with specs of green and blue within. Her plump lips were naturally red, and her face was far more impossibly beautiful than even that of the angel Aphariel.
Lilith was scantily clad, and much of her curvy and ravishing body was on display. Her long, strangely red hair covered her chest, and she was nearly fully lying on a couch.
Dan could smell her from where he stood. She smelled of spiced sensuality. She smelled of promise. He forced himself not to breathe deeply or take in too much of her scent.
She raised her guileless eyes to look at Dan. She looked so innocently vulnerable that it nearly broke his heart.
“Oh! Hello, sir,” she nervously said. “Where did you come from? I thought I was alone. Sorry, but I’m not dressed decently.”
Dan decided to play along for a bit. He wanted to feel again, and the feeling of desire Lilith caused within him was strong and not unwanted.
“I don’t reckon I know. I just woke up here,” replied Dan.
Lilith rose to sit on the couch. Her lips parted as she sat forward to study him with eyes filled with naivety.
“You awoke here? With me? I’ve never been alone with a man before. My name’s Tamim. What’s yours?”
Lilith was so sweetly earnest as she spoke, Dan almost believed her words. “Dan,” he told her.
“Dan.” Lilith spoke the word breathily, as more of a question. “What a beautiful name.”
Lilith’s lips parted as she showed her perfectly white teeth and bewitching smile. “Dan. I like it very much. I recently awoke here myself. Do you know where we are? Or why we’re here? Together?”
“Naw. Not a clue, ma’am. How about you?”
Lilith’s eyes became sad, and her smile withered away. “I don’t. I’ve been praying a hero would come save me. Have my prayers been answered? There’s no way out of this room I can find. I’ve looked everywhere. Will you help me search again, Dan?”
“Sure.”
The smile returned to her impossibly beautiful face and her eyes sparkled with joy. “Wonderful! Come sit beside me so I can tell you of some strange clues I’ve found.”
Lilith moved over on the couch and patted the spot next to her.
Dan asked, “You really want me to sit so close to you?”
Lilith smiled even more brightly and said, “Of course. I won’t bite. Promise. Come, sit beside me so I can speak to you more easily. I’ve found many strange clues I need to tell you of. One just may be the key to our escape and freedom.”
The first time Dan had met Lilith, he came very close to succumbing to her seductions. She was tempting. Far too tempting.
The only thing that saved him was that he hated himself more than he desired her. His daughter would never look down from Heaven and see him enjoy himself. Not after he failed her so badly.
When he killed Marisol, he considered it justice for Amanda, not a reward for himself. He never planned on killing his ex-father-in-law. Dan was supposed to be dead by then.
He figured it was justice for his father and the farm, but his mind wasn’t right at the time. His father wouldn’t have wanted him to do anything like that.
He knew he had to be careful with that, when his mind got muddled and he saw doing wrong things as doing the right thing.
He never had an issue with that before Amanda died. Only after stewing for so long in all his failures, in all his self-loathing and regret, had it become a problem. His mind changed during that time. And changed for the worse.
He still didn’t regret killing Marisol in the least bit. He wished he was a good enough person that he did. If he could do it over again, he’d still kill her.
Despite all the crocodile tears Marisol had shed, he knew she was happy Amanda died. It made her life better. He couldn’t abide that – the event that destroyed his life improving Marisol’s own. Dan had had to make her pay.
Lilith was tempting, but he wasn’t going to let his desire for a pretty girl ruin his life again.
And if he wanted to have Lilith, she’d require his fealty and his soul, and those weren’t up for sale.
It was important that Xotl owed Dan a favor, just as it was important Xotl believed Dan didn’t know or understand the Veil rules.
Wherever Lilith had taken him, Xotl couldn’t watch, so Dan wouldn’t attack her. He knew he’d never be able to hurt her, but she wasn’t allowed to hurt him either. He wished she would. From how he understood it, Earth would automatically win the Game if she did.
There was a big hierarchy to the creatures of Hell. The demon techs Dan had gotten most of his information from were on the very bottom of it and didn’t know much.
Asmodon was a demon, and he was nothing like the techs. He was a true monster. He looked nothing like the Asmodite techs or his namesake, Asmodeus of the high pantheon.
For all the time Dan had spent in the Game, he knew very little of his enemies.
He did know Lilith was evil. She was his enemy. He’d kill her if he could. And kill her with no compunction.
Still, the lessons his father instilled in him weren’t so easy to let go of. Being purposefully mean to a woman wasn’t something he felt comfortable doing. At least not while Lilith was being nice to him.
But he had felt enough already. He wouldn’t allow himself to be rewarded any longer.
“I know you’re Lilith,” said Dan. “I ain’t fixing to swear to you or any of your kind. I’d appreciate it if you let me leave.”
Lilith lowered her head, and her body began to rack with sobs. It took a few seconds for Dan to realize she was laughing and not crying. She grew to a great height as strange wings unfurled from behind her back and she stood on birdlike feet, laughing as she transformed.
Her face completely changed. She was still impossibly beautiful and desirable, just in a different and more mature way completely devoid of innocence.
Reality stretched and Lilith’s face elongated and snapped into place inches from Dan’s own. His body froze. He couldn’t move a muscle as Lilith placed a hand on each side of his head.
In his mind, she said, “How are so many memories blocked? Who did this?”
He tried stilling his mind and thinking of nothing. “Was it…ah, a mark. Kharahel?”
Dan pushed back and attempted to remove Lilith’s presence. He could feel her taking from his mind. “No. He isn’t nearly powerful enough for this.”
Removing Lilith’s presence was impossible. Whatever she was doing was well beyond his ability to control. He attempted to still and empty his mind again and began meditating. He still could hear her voice, but it was distant and unclear.
Dan didn’t know how much time passed. He was roused from his meditations by reality stretching again. Once it snapped back into place, Lilith was back in her original spot some distance away.
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“This is your last chance, Daniel Branigan,” said Lilith as she smiled beautifully. “Swear to me now. Such a little thing, to swear to me. In exchange, you’ll learn the true meaning of euphoria.”
“Naw. I appreciate the offer though. I’d just like to leave, please.”
Lilith laughed seductively. “Why so determined to make your eternity in Hell so terrible? Swear your soul to me and your afterlife will be filled with pleasure and depravity. We’ll orgy and feast on every desire. Come, bend the knee, receive what delectations I offer. Relish in walking the primrose path by my side. Deny yourself such ecstasy no longer.”
“Naw,” said Dan. “I got different plans.”
“Yes, an eternity of being tortured and tormented in Hell. A horrible plan. It doesn’t have to be so, Daniel Branigan.”
“Sorry, ma’am, but I just want to leave and get on with it. Please.”
“To what end,” asked Lilith. “Your fate will still be Hell. No matter what you do, the outcome will be the same. I don’t understand. Why do this to yourself?”
“Same as I told Leonard.”
“And that was?”
“Don’t matter none, ma’am. I ain’t no traitor.”
Lilith stopped smiling before saying, “You’re a great fool, Daniel Branigan. You deny yourself such exaltation, a euphoric afterlife by my side, for senseless reasons, and change nothing by doing so. You’re only a traitor to your own fate. If it’s power you want, swear to me and receive such profane strength as to rule this Game.”
“Naw. I ain’t fixing to rule it, just win it.”
A sad look went on Lilith’s face, which looked strange since it still somehow promised untold pleasure. She said, “You can’t win. You must know that, right? You will lose and burn in Hell when this Game is lost.”
“I ain’t got no reason to believe you or yours,” said Dan. “Even if what you saying is true, I’m still trying.”
“This is your last chance, Daniel Branigan. You will not receive another offer of patronage. If you leave as you came, your fate will be etched in stone. You will know only great suffering.”
“That’s fine. You have yourself a good day, ma’am.”
Dan wondered why Lilith always tried to convince him with words after reading his mind. She had to know he wouldn’t quit. But he didn’t know how the mind reading worked either.
Lilith began laughing again. She continued to laugh as she spun around and sunk through the floor.
Dan’s vision warbled as the room he was kept in deteriorated to nothing, and he was back outside the castle near the tree with the lynched corpses.
“Hey, fatso,” said Xotl. “I don’t sense a mark. Refusing Lilith’s patronage was not smart. Please tell me that you foolishly attacked her as you did Leonard.”
“Yes, ma’am, I did,” replied Dan.
“I’m a male Kobalite! I’m a male! It is clear for all to see,” passionately exclaimed the demon. “Gaze upon these girthy tentacles! Girthy male tentacles, you stupid idiot!”
The demon pointed one of those tentacles at some lumpy part of his strange form and said, “See! Ever seen a dumb Asmodite broad with a genital like this one here? No, you never have, because they don’t have this one! Nor do they have this kind right here. Now look at this genital right there! Just look at it! Only male Kobalites have this! I am a male Kobalite! It’s so easy to tell!”
“If you say so, ma’am.”
With spittle flying out of his mouth, Xotl angrily spouted, “Look at my coloring, you fool! No female Kobalite has this mix of coloring. This royal gray and this majestic shade of…brownish. Majestic brown. Female Kobalites are much smaller of frame than my own massive form and possess about half the tentacles males do. And theirs are much daintier. Do you not see my grand and manly physique, idiot?”
Dan thought Xotl looked somewhat like a far more dangerous and evil looking Meatwad from ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force,’ or maybe like Krang from the old ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ cartoon, except he was a lot larger and had a lot more tentacles. His wide mouth was filled with fangs, and his coloring was a sickly gray and beige.
Dan said, “You sure you ain’t a female Asmodite? You look just like one of them. Exactly like one, if truth be told.”
“Yes! I am certain! I’ve told you this many times! How are you this stupid? I am a male Kobalite! It’s so easy to tell!”
“If you say so. Now, how can I help you today, ma’am?”
“In the name of Balberith, Beelzebub, and Moloch, I curse you a thousand times. May your teeny-tiny chest-penis be stomped on viciously. May your other genitals along with your urinator and defecator wither and fall off. May everyone you care about die slowly and painfully.”
Dan said, “Well, since you ain’t got nothing important to say, you have yourself a good day, ma’am,” as he began walking away.
“Wait! Are you not going to attack me?”
Dan turned back. “It doesn’t seem to do nothing. Attacking you. Same as when I attacked Leonard and Lilith. Y’all are just too powerful. It’s just a waste of mana.”
Xotl’s tentacles shuddered. He said, “Maybe you’re not as fully stupid as your face indicates you to be. Just kidding. You definitely are. You can’t even tell a male Kobalite apart from a dumb Asmodite broad.”
“If there’s nothing else,” said Dan as he turned away again.
“Wait! There is. I’m guessing you know exactly what the requirements are to enter the sixth area.”
The requirement was a 3-Star Soul. Or Class. It worked out to the same thing basically.
To complete more Trials, the most helpful thing Dan could do now would be to acquire the last Trait token. It dropped from a boss within the Trial of Suffering in the sixth area.
Everything in that area, from spawns on entrance to the bosses, would be at least level 91 for him. That was out of his league at his current level.
But that wasn’t the main reason that area was off limits for now. If he tried entering the sixth area, he’d have to fight and kill another participant.
He didn’t want that. He just hoped that no one was close to entering the sixth area before he got things set up. If any of the strongest humans attempted to enter, chances were that Dan would be selected to fight them.
Once stuck in that ring, there was no getting out of that fight. There was a time limit, and both fighters would be killed if one failed to kill the other in time. Every participant of the Game had to watch that fight too.
The last time, Dan was in a Trial when that fight initiated, and he, his party, and all the creatures froze. Then his whole vision was replaced with a small arena.
In the arena was a man everyone had heard of, Maksim Igorovich Zamotin. He went on to be one of the shining beacons of humanity.
Maksim was facing off against a good friend of his Dan couldn’t remember the name of. Neither man had wanted to fight the other. Maksim’s friend had ended up taking his own life to save Maksim from doing the deed.
Dan couldn’t understand the words the two friends spoke, but it was clear what was happening. Watching Maksim cry and plead with his friend not to do it was heart wrenching.
That was one of the reasons Dan had to set things up in all the areas. He needed to get the necessary information out there and prevent anyone from entering the sixth area for as long as possible, especially the best fighters that could help against Asmodon.
There was at least one traitor working with the demons already. The traitors were always strong since they received so much help. When he was ready, he hoped that he’d face the strongest traitor in the ring. He wouldn’t mind killing a traitor at all. He could kill them all day and never feel a pang of guilt.
As a reply to Xotl’s question, Dan asked, “How’d I know anything about that, ma’am?”
The demon’s mouth seemed to smile. “Oh, I have a feeling you know the exact requirements. We know you found all the secrets of the Game within Carnegie Hall. Or maybe you’re a time traveler. And again, I don’t know how this is still an issue for you, but I’m a male!”
Xotl mentioning Carnegie Hall was a surprise. He hadn’t expected the demon to take that comment seriously.
The last time, Dan spent years and years being harassed by this demon but knew him only as Ace. After Xotl was executed, the new tech assigned to Dan told him the demon’s real name.
But Xotl was usually good with Earth references. Dan grew up in the middle of nowhere and even he knew the old joke about Carnegie Hall and practice.
Sometimes, the demon techs seemed kind of decent or relatable, but they weren’t. They were evil through and through.
Still, evil or not, Dan didn’t like making fun of or being mean to anyone. It just wasn’t in his nature.
There were a couple great ways to get under Xotl’s skin. When mistaking him for one of the female Asmodites he hated so much stopped working, there was plenty left. Talking badly about his side’s high pantheon or the movie ‘Over the Top’ worked well, as did telling him only girls smoked crack.
Dan didn’t like being purposefully mean, but it had to be done to Xotl to maneuver things to where they needed to be.
Xotl asked, “Guess what?”
Before Dan could guess anything, the demon said, “Someone’s minutes away from entering the sixth area. Someone that could beat you into a steaming pile of sissy. But will you be the one selected to fight? There’s another Branigan on my team, and his face looks similarly as stupid as your own. Maybe a mistake happens. Maybe I get confused.”
Dan’s heart beat faster. The demons would do that. Kill Nick just to hurt Dan. But this could also be a trap.
It’s probably a trap, he thought. But he couldn’t be certain. He couldn’t lose his brother again. He wouldn’t.
Trap or not, he had no choice. Nick wouldn’t last a second against anyone that already had a 3-Star Class able to handle the infernal spawns in the Crucible.
As Dan took off running, he heard Xotl laughing behind him.
In the fourth area, with Ashen Ruin’s help, he took care of all the waiting boneguards in record time.
His improved Health Attribute showed its worth as he wasn’t close to being out of breath when he reached the entrance to the fifth area.
He took a moment to focus. He activated Molten Armor and prepared in every way he could. Even if it wasn’t a trap, he assumed he’d have to fight a few infernals. He was sure there’d be at least a few extras waiting for him.
Once he entered, he saw that he was correct. There were about twenty of them. And not just infernals. It was a trap.
He recognized eight of the nine humans standing past the creatures. Maksim Zamotin, Xie Xu, Amir Hamid, Sven Sturm, Ian Kilby, Graciano Tibuado, Blessing Gumede, and Moo Singmawin.
These were all the strongest people Earth had to offer. Jun Huang was the only one missing from their ranks. These were the best of humanity. Paragons of might, virtue, and duty.
All eight of these people had led Earth’s forces right up until the bitter end.
One major reason why Dan had never quit last time was these folk arrayed in front of him. They had done so much for humanity. Each one sacrificed so much, bled so much, and fought so hard. He couldn’t dishonor their memory and sacrifice by quitting. Not when they never had.
But Hell had managed to turn them all. They were all traitors now. The best Earth had to offer last time were all traitors this time.
If they weren’t traitors, all the infernals they had spawned would be attacking them. As if in synchronization, every infernal moved at the same moment to attack Dan.
His heart sank and filled with despair.