“Oh, shit,” said Xotl.

He knew he’d be better off if Dan lived and made it to the old and rich world of the second phase, but if it meant Dan being murdered, Xotl wouldn’t mind returning to Hell so much.

The prude stood, went to her usual moping spot, sat, and began to mope again.

“Your name, mortal,” demanded Duke Agares, “I’ll have it before I slay you. And you did defeat the champion. Your name should be honored for such a deed.”

Dan didn’t reply for so long that even Xotl began to feel uncomfortable. Finally, he said, “It’s Dan. Go right ahead and interfere. Your side loses. No second phase. We automatically win.”

Duke Agares removed his helm, revealing a very old and very mortal looking head. To Xotl, the Duke looked like a half-melted candle with wavy gray hair and a handlebar mustache. “My side? I can count all those on my side with two fingers. There’s me and there’s my sweet little Nin here.”

The snake, upon hearing its name, flicked its tongue out as it looked at Duke Agares. The Duke smiled and rubbed the snake’s head. “Asmodon was as a son to me, but his true master was the same as my own. I assume Dan is a hypocorism for Daniel. Daniel Branigan, the same that blew up this Game’s administration center?”

“Yeah, I done it,” replied Dan.

“I would’ve laughed at that bit of mischief if I was not the sponsor of this phase of the Game. Tell me, Dan, where would such records of these events be found? Are we being recorded? And if we are, why would I care? You’ve left me with nothing but vengeance.”

Dan stood silently, his eyes watching Duke Agares carefully.

“I’ll be reborn to the seventh layer,” said the Duke. “My climb won’t be so terrible next time. With Asmodon dead, I am without a squire. Be a dear and help me out of this armor, would you?”

Dan’s brows furrowed in confusion. “What?”

“I said be a dear and help me out of this armor, would you? This fight is already unfair enough for you. I am not without honor. Do you wield a weapon? I neither see nor sense one of note about.”

Dan’s brows furrowed more. “Huh? I don’t…I use…I create my own weapons.”

“Are you okay, dear boy? You do know what is happening, correct? I will remove my armor. Since you have no weapon of note, I will forgo my lance. Come now, I’m a Duke, not a magician, help me get this armor off.”

Dan warily approached the Duke, blood dripping from the arm Asmodon had chewed on. The snake hissed. “Ignore her. Nin won’t strike unless ordered to do so. Don’t be foolish and attack before we both agree to. I’m making this as fair as I possibly can.”

As Dan continued to approach, he asked, “Why?”

The Duke laughed and said, “Because I want to kill you, so I will. I don’t have to be an uncouth lout about it. I wish I could address your injuries, but I cannot, and our time together is limited.

“Once you are dead, I must face my master. My debts are insurmountable. Since blood cannot be taken from a stone, it will be taken from my hide. Quickly now. See the straps? Well, unstrap them. Yes, just as such. Now do it to the others I’d struggle to reach. I knew you had it in you, dear boy.”

As Dan continued to help remove the armor, the Duke sighed loudly. “This feels so freeing. Not just being removed of this armor, but of all my responsibilities and worries. It will be over soon. For the both of us.”

Once completely free of the armor, the Duke removed some type of padded jacket he wore under it, revealing a body covered in scales. His hands looked like proper demon claws, as did his bare feet.

A cloak appeared in the claw of the arm the snake was now coiled around. “This cloak is named Tenebrae Dominus. I took it from the corpse of Asag after I and some friends killed him. My sweet Nin got the killing blow. She bit that foul creature right in the liver. This is back when I was your…no, the tier below your own. Pontiff, the tier of my sweet Asmodon. I haven’t worn this in a very, very long time.”

The Duke draped the cape over his shoulders and clasped it before clicking together two parts that went under each arm. “Well, how do I look?”

Again, there was way too long of a pause before Dan said, “Fine.”

“Good.” The snake disappeared and the Duke held his claws out to the side. His talons grew out to a ridiculous length, over two times longer than the length of his forearms.

“Are you ready to die, Daniel Branigan, destroyer of administrative centers?”

Dan took a few steps back and said, “Yeah.”

“That’s it? No begging and pleading for your life? Not even a passing attempt to grovel at my feet?”

“Naw. I’d rather just get to it.”

Xotl noticed the talons on the Duke’s feet had also grown very long as the strange being laughed heartily.

“I like you, Dan. Since you were kind enough to help me out of my armor without trying to backstab me, and since you’re already so injured and low on mana, I’ll try to make this fight even more fair.

“What do you say to no mana usage or invocations? You can keep that transformation and your other passives going. I’ll do the same. And I’ll keep my little Nin stored away for the duration of the fight. Deal?”

Dan’s eyes shifted as he thought about it. “Can I use my summon?”

“You could, but I’d use my sweet Nin then. You saw the least of her forms. For fairness’ sake, I’d suggest you don’t.”

After another moment of consideration, Dan said, “Deal.”

“Swear to it.”

“You first.”

A coin appeared in the Duke’s claw. He muttered something before breaking it. “If you also swear the same, I swear on my immortal soul not to employ Aquila Ferox, my lance. Nor shall I use mana in any active manner in our fight other than for my transformation, passives, and items. And I’ll keep my sweet little Nin stored away for the duration too.”

“I swear the same,” replied Dan,

Agares stated, “You must say the words as I did.”

“I swear on my immortal soul not to use mana in no active manner in our fight other than for the…for my transformation, passives, and items. I won’t call my summons and I ain’t got no physical weapon to use.”

The Duke smiled. “Good. Feel that? We are bound by our oath. Any questions before you die?”

“Yeah.” Without hesitation, Dan asked, “Is you a demon or a devil?”

“Neither. There’s far more in Hell than demons and devils, dear boy.”

Xotl was really glad Dan asked that. He was wondering too. The Duke’s body looked a little demonic, but his head was pure mortal. He wished the Duke would just say what he was, or that Dan followed up and asked.

“Any further questions?”

“Naw,” replied Dan.

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The Duke smiled and said, “Let us begin then.”

Dan flashed forward and the Duke danced out of the way of a punch as four of his talons removed four Beads of Interception.

The view Xotl had out of Dan’s eyes showed the world as Dan saw it, at the speed he processed it. For the first time since entering Dan’s soul, Xotl had a hard time seeing someone move. While moving, Agares was a blur.

Dan threw another punch, and four more of his beads were removed. Then another and four more. And so on, until no beads were left.

After the next punch, Agares left four slices on Dan’s arm.

The Duke didn’t try to avoid Dan’s next two blows, and took them both while smiling, though the blows rocked the Duke’s head and looked as if they hurt.

Dan wound his arm back and threw a hook Agares spun away from, this time leaving four gouges on Dan’s thigh.

“You’re doing much better than I assumed you would,” taunted the Duke as he continued to deftly avoid all of Dan’s strikes. “I felt those punches acutely. All your Stats are great for your rank. It seems you have decent grades for Speed and Reaction too.

“Not many would keep the Adroitness Crown Orbment slotted as a Grand Pontiff, but I agree with your choice. It’s not much, but 24 points beyond the cap for the three most important Stats will always be of use.”

Agares stood and let Dan get two more hits in before leaving four more slices on Dan’s body. One of those hits made blood trickle out of the Duke’s nose.

The Duke sidestepped the next punch and wiped his nose on his arm. “I’m very old. I’ve had a long time to acquire treasures and work on my Stats. I maxed out Speed first, then Reaction. More recently, Agility. Do you know what the Stat point cap is at max grade?”

Dan didn’t answer. He rushed forward and threw a kick the Duke easily slid away from.

So far, the only hits that landed were the ones the Duke had allowed to. Since the last hit caused a nosebleed, Xotl doubted the Duke would allow any further blows to land.

When too long had passed without Dan replying, Agares answered his own question. “It’s 1,400 points. At SSUR++, 100 points in a Stat increases it by four times the intrinsic value. I’m naturally quite fast. I’m 56 times faster than that now. Still, you’re doing much better than I assumed you would.”

Dan went in with a front kick and received four more talon slices.

Dan kept trying to land a hit, and the Duke kept flowing away and leaving more gouges on his opponent.

“My philosophy has always been that Speed and Reaction are paramount, both king and queen,” said the Duke. “Of what use are Strength and Durability when only those you allow to touch you, can touch you? None whatsoever.”

Even with the nonstop barrage of punches and kicks, Dan wasn’t even breathing heavily. Xotl was very impressed by how far his stamina had progressed since that first day.

And on the fight went. Dan got more and more sliced up, but slowly. He never got frustrated or quit. He just kept going, always swinging, always trying. Futilely.

Then Xotl heard a large commotion. Both Duke Agares and Dan looked towards it.

Thousands of participants were entering the Boss area. There could only be one instance of the last area, so there were no limits to how many participants could enter, and more and more kept streaming in.

Xotl was very surprised to see, leading the charge, in the very front, Nick, his glaive held high as he sprinted forward, a determined look on his face as he screamed out a furious war cry. He thought Nick still hated Dan.

Xotl recognized a lot of the participants, but he didn’t see Dotty or Becky. He was pretty certain Dotty was the only participant with a 6-Star Soul that hadn’t died along with all the others. All the best participants with 5-Star souls had already died too.

So, these were the weak and pathetic losers coming to the rescue. They sucked, but there were a lot of them, and they just kept streaming in by the thousands.

The prude had said if enough demons of his layer swarmed an angel, they could do enough damage to injure or take that angel out of the fight.

If so, then the same could hold true here. Xotl kind of hoped it was true, that the participants swarmed and defeated Agares. He badly wanted Dan to die, but he wanted to know what kind of loot a bigwig like a Game sponsor dropped even more. Maybe the prude would let him sneak out and steal some of it.

Duke Agares smiled widely. “What a treat! Rarely does one of my rank get a chance to kill so many mortals at once.”

The Duke’s body fully transformed into some sort of magnificent and ferocious man-beast. His cloak darkened until all of the Duke was covered in shadow.

“Stay put. I’ll be back shortly,” stated Duke Agares as he melted into a small puddle of shadow on the ground.

Xotl lost sight of the shadow as Dan grunted out in pain and looked around. Xotl saw that one of the tendons attaching Dan’s calf to his heel had been cut through.

Dan’s vision went back to the ground in front of him and watched a shadow blaze towards the army.

“Go back! Go back,” shouted Dan over and over. He continued that shout as he hopped forward as quickly as he could.

When the puddle of shadow reached the army, Duke Agares grew out of it and started slashing into the participants with all his claws as he spun and jumped around in a mad dance of slaughter.

The army tried to fight back at first. The Duke was just too fast. He laid into the mortals with gusto.

As if they all came to a sudden and unspoken agreement, the crowd stopped trying to attack Agares and started running from him in horror as he cut down multiple participants with each slice of the long and sharp talons on his hands and feet.

Some participants began creating portals or recalling away.

The flow of participants into the area slowed and reversed as they rushed back to the Crucible in a full-blown panic. The Duke was slaughtering them by the score as they fled.

Dan held his hand out, trying to get off invocations as he hopped forward yelling like a mad man. It was no use. The oath was as binding to Dan as it was to the Duke.

By the time Dan reached the first participants that had been killed, very few that were still alive remained. But some were, and a few got heals off on him.

Dan stood at his brother’s slashed-up corpse. Since Nick was leading the charge, he was the first mortal Duke Agares had killed.

A good number of participants had given up trying to exit, and most of those that remained were gathering around Dan or headed his way.

A shadow on the ground was chasing them. One hand with very long and sharp claws stuck out of the shadow slicing up participants as it passed. Dan screamed out as he limped his way as quickly as he could to intercept Agares.

But it was easy for the Duke to avoid Dan. The remaining participants were fleeing in all directions.

Most of the participants with the Fly Orbment had flown away, and some with stealth had also taken off. Xotl only saw a few make it into Trials. With those Trials now closed, the other participants rushed for the open ones as they fled from Duke Agares.

Dan couldn’t help them. There was no way he could help. He limped back to his brother’s corpse and waited silently.

When Duke Agares finished his slaughter, he returned to Dan and stood beside him. His cloak stopped emanating shadow and the Duke went from full beast form back to the semi form he started the fight in.

“That was a lot of fun,” said Duke Agares. He looked down at the corpse Dan was looking at and asked, “This one has some significance to you? A friend?”

“He was my brother. I failed him. I failed everyone today. Everyone that was counting on me.”

“As did I,” replied the Duke. “My whole household. I mentioned before that Asmodon was as a son to me. Now we’re even.”

Dan dove at the Duke.

Xotl couldn’t see where, but he knew Dan received new slices as the Duke lazily sidestepped and Dan grunted out in pain.

Dan got back to his feet. He didn’t attack. He just stood there, head bowed in defeat and despair, looking at his brother’s corpse.

A solid minute went by before the Duke asked, “Don’t tell me you’re quitting already.”

Another minute went by without reply. Dan just looked down at his brother.

“Fine, though I’m disappointed you’re opting for such an anticlimactic end. I thank you for the fight, and I salute you, Daniel Branigan,” said the Duke as he sauntered over and half-heartedly and indolently stuck the talons of his right claw into Dan’s stomach.

Have fun in Hell, you fat prick, thought Xotl. Before that thought was even finished, Dan’s arm snaked out and wrapped around Agares’ own in a strange way.

The Duke yelled out in pain as Dan’s coiled arm applied pressure to his elbow.

Agares shoved the talons of his left hand into Dan’s chest. It looked like he was trying to rip the talons downward, but Dan grabbed that wrist.

Slowly, and with great effort, Dan forced the talons free and twisted that claw around. He held that hand steadily as he continued to apply pressure to his opponent’s left elbow with the arm coiled around it.

The Duke tried kicking up and slicing Dan’s legs with the talons of his feet. Xotl wasn’t able to see if he was successful or not, but while he was on one leg, Dan pushed forward and bowled him over.

On the way down to the ground, Agares fully transformed back into the full man-beast form. Even in that mighty form, Agares struggled and failed to pull himself free as his opponent sat on his chest while maintaining control of both arms.

Shadow covered the Duke. He tried entering the ground, but it didn’t work. His mouth bit the air futilely as Dan kept his distance by controlling both arms.

For long minutes, Dan bled on his opponent and grunted in effort applying pressure to the elbow.

Then Xotl heard a large snap as the elbow broke and the Duke bellowed out in terrible pain. Dan released the broken limb. With both of his own arms now available, Dan took his time wrapping his right arm around his opponent’s left.

Pressure was applied to that new elbow as Dan grunted in effort and continued to bleed all over his opponent. A minute later, Xotl heard another loud snap.

Dan placed his left elbow on the Duke’s throat, keeping the biting maw at bay. And, like a hammer, Dan’s free hand began to pound into his opponent’s face over and over.

It took a long while, but at some point, Agares stopped trying to bite at Dan so enthusiastically. Then he stopped trying to bite at all. He just whimpered. Then the shadow covering him went away.

Dan stopped punching. Both hands wrapped around the Duke’s throat and squeezed. Minutes later, Agares lost his bestial form, and his battered face looked semi-peaceful.

Dan kept going until the neck was malformed and a sickening snap could be heard.

Breathing heavily, sweating, his blood dripping down onto his defeated opponent still, Dan said, “You should’ve focused more on Strength and Durability, you stupid son of a bitch.”

Dan fell off the corpse and collapsed onto the ground. Most of Xotl’s view was now taken up by Nick’s lifeless face.

“Did you just see this crazy shit, angel,” asked Xotl. “This fat prick just killed Duke Agares.”