The demon snake slithers toward Michael with its massive body. It quickly surrounds Michael. To the demon snake’s surprise, Michael seems unfazed.

Moving around, the snake continues to study Michael.

“You were lucky and unlucky enough to enter the spirit realm without any big shots noticing you… But I, Matreyu, will slave mark you instead. You should feel honored human. You’re the first human to be marked by the Great Matreyu. Once I mark you, I’ll gain enough power to become a high demon!”

Michael doesn’t respond, causing Matreyu’s monstrous face to contort in a horrid frown.

“Do you not understand the great honor you’re receiving now human??”

The demon snake’s body seems to shudder in anger. Its teeth become more prominent as rage starts to overtake its body.

Easily angered. Is that a common demon trait?

Michael continues to observe the monstrous snake in front of him. Since he had no real way to escape, Michael could only watch.

Is it preparing to lunge at me, or is it just angry?

Before the snake can do anything, Michael finally speaks.

“I have to ask. Does a slave mark provide anything to a human?”

The snake demon was surprised by Michael’s first words but this was quickly replaced by uproarious laughter.

“Are you stupid?”

It laughs again, its entire body shaking at the effort.

“It has the word slave in it! Of course, you have no benefits, you fool! Tsk, are all humans as stupid as you? It’s a wonder that I haven’t marked anyone yet.”

Michael internally frowns.

Yeah, if I have any plans of escaping this place, a slave mark isn’t included in it.

The snake loses its mirth and glares at Michael.

“Enough. You have amused me well enough but now, I will present you a contract. You will accept or I will devour your soul.”

Michael inconspicuously searched for any possible means of escape in this unfamiliar and alien environment, but he found himself unable to locate anything useful. Sensing Michael's hesitation and defiance, Matreyu hissed and began to constrict his body, gradually encroaching on the space around Michael.

Internally groaning, Michael fumed at the fact that he couldn’t make use of his strength from Teremarae. But before he could do anything about that, the snake quickly constricts him.

“No words human?? At the very least, verbalize your defiance! If not that, at least show me how you scream in terror!”

Unfortunately for the snake, Michael was very aware of the meaning of silence. He was not going to give him the satisfaction of begging.

Seeing no way out, Michael got uncharacteristically angry.

GODDESS! IF I DIE HERE! I SWEAR YOU! I’LL HAUNT YOU! I’LL MAKE SURE EVELYN BECOMES SO STRONG SHE CAN PUNCH YOU!

The snake’s scales start to glow with a sickly green hue. Michael’s shadowy body starts to burn, causing him to gasp in pain but he quickly finds that no sound is coming out of his mouth. For a moment, he is terrified of the idea of becoming mute, even in the afterlife but he sees a reddish color glowing from the snake’s eyes. Michael knew that the snake was responsible for his silent torture.

A white smoke seems to emanate from Michael’s body. The snake sees this and its mouth waters, revealing rows of dagger-like teeth. Michael grits his non-existent teeth as he watches the large snake approach the white smoke. It seemed to savor the imaginary scent it was giving out.

“You know mortal, I’ve yet to mark any humans in my grand life but I have devoured many souls. While this act barely provides power, human souls are the most delectable food for us, demons. And I’ve never smelled a soul as delicious or as tantalizing as yours. I only wanted to torture you for a short period of time to force a mark but I’ve changed my mind. I will savor this taste. You shall be the most delicious meal I will ever taste.”

Impulsive and short-sighted.

Michael internally insults Matreyu as the giant snake’s maw approaches one of the thick white smokes.

Matreyu then bites the thick white smoke, causing Michael incredible pain but as the snake tries to rip off the smoke, it finds that it’s far tougher than expected. It pulls away a bit and its teeth seem to grow in length. A baleful fire appears and surrounds Matreyu’s sharp teeth.

Then it sinks itself into the tough smoke. The smoke seems to hiss, releasing a loud scream, only to be subdued by Matreyu’s powers.

Matreyu’s face suddenly twists in pleasure while Michael silently grits his teeth in pain.

Then something changes.

Matreyu’s face suddenly contorts in immense pain. It pulls away from the white smoke and finds that its teeth were melted and gums were bleeding. It feels an invasive force enter its body, devouring its essence. It screams but its own spell prevents its own sounds of terror. In a desperate plea to call for help, it cancels the silencing power only for it to stay active.

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WHAT?? WHAT’S HAPPENING??

Matreyu’s thoughts were loud but not loud enough to silence the sound of all his power, gained through centuries of bitter work, getting burned and flushed down the drain.

It turns to Michael and finds that the white smoke has flooded the entire area but despite its gaseous form, it didn’t exit the building. Matreyu wills his power to dominate this white smoke, only for him to powerlessly flail around. Desperate, it tries to crush Michael instead but it finds that even its body is no longer under its control.

WHAT IS THIS!!!

The invasive force rapidly expanded within Matreyu, obliterating the core components that the snake had meticulously crafted over hundreds of years, all within a matter of seconds.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

In a desperate effort, the snake turns toward Michael and pleads for its life. But once again, Michael’s shadowy form gave nothing except silence.

Matreyu screeches in pain as the smoke seems to continue to devour him, burning his body into nothing. In seconds, the great Draco-sized snake was reduced to nothing and the white smoke receded back into Michael’s body.

Once the white smoke returns to Michael’s body, he falls to the ground and starts to cough. He mimicked the act of retching, but as a shadowy form, there was nothing to expel. Once he’s done, Michael groans.

Can’t I get a break? Please?

Panting, Michael pushes himself to stand. After a quick survey of the area, Michael couldn’t find any trace of the giant snake, Matreyu, anywhere, as if it was erased from existence.

Once the immediate danger was gone, the first thing that registered in Michael’s mind was the sound of a loud commotion outside the building. He goes out of where he entered and finds that the gate, while locked, is already full of demons and other humans wanting to go in. The humans were timidly waiting while the demons were angrily shouting.

It wasn’t long before this malevolent horde would start bashing the gates.

Turning to the streets, Michael sees multiple roads, one of them leading to an elevated area. Remembering Hanz’s words, he knew better than to try his luck at the common areas. He then follows a road that leads to an area that seems less than admirable.

The slums huh?

As he ventured deeper into the slums, Michael observed a diminishing presence of demons and an increasing number of humans.

But Michael’s presence wasn’t unnoticed. Unlike the humans in Babylon, Michael had a shadowy body. Demon and human alike watched Michael as he went deeper into the slums.

Eventually, Michael had to stop moving and start asking. When he glanced backward, he noticed the gate in the distance, now appearing incredibly minuscule due to the considerable distance he had traveled. He then looks around for anyone to talk to.

Michael saw a variety of individuals here. Ignoring the few demons that prowled the slums, he saw a dispirited young man wearing rags aimlessly walking toward an unclear destination, a lady with empty eyes clothed with a beautiful red dress approaching men with some modicum of wealth, a malnourished child that slept in a corner in a fetal position, and many more miserable people.

Shaking his head with an accompanying sigh, Michael approaches the lady with empty eyes.

Despite his shadowy body, it seems that the woman was used to terrifying appearances..

“Excuse me.”

The lady doesn’t respond.

Michael observes the lady.

She’s breathing so she’s still alive.

Raising his voice, Michael calls the girl again.

“Excuse me, miss?”

That seems to startle the lady. Some life returns to her eyes and she sees Michael. That small amount of life is quickly replaced by a tinge of fear as it sees the shadowy creature in front of her. But she’s used to this life. She takes a deep breath and recovers some of her work bravado.

Using an alluring voice, the woman sells herself to Michael.

“Hello there handso- Tall, dark, and mysterious.” She winks at him. “So, how can I help you tonight?”

Michael nods. If this was two lifetimes ago, he would have panicked or felt cautious against the lady but after dying twice, he didn’t feel scared, only tired.

And Evelyn kinda ruined my standards for beauty.

“Can I ask a few questions?”

This seems to trigger the lady.

“I-I told you people, I don’t know where Jules went.”

Michael tilts his head to show his confusion.

“Sorry, what?”

The woman calms down and takes another deep breath.

“Sorry. I… Anyway, how can I help you?”

Michael nods.

“I’m new here. Is there a place where I can rest?”

The woman raises an eyebrow.

“Wait, you’re human?”

Michael nods again.

The lady looks Michael up and down.

“You… you don’t have a body?”

“Yeah. I’m still trying to figure that out.”

The lady nods.

“I-uh… okay… I don’t know what’s going on with you but I don’t want any trouble. I’ve spent a lot of time getting where I am and I’m not going to risk it all because of something like this. Please leave me alone sir.”

Michael looks around for other nearby people to ask but finds that most of them are either listless or are doing something else that he doesn’t want to include himself in. He could go deeper into the slums but Michael felt that wasn’t smart to do, especially with his normal human strength.

“Miss, I just want to find a place where I can rest. Please.”

The woman doesn’t respond, watching Michael. Seeing how adamant Michael is about this, she purses her lips.

“I… who’s your owner?”

The slave mark again?

Remembering Hanz’s words, Michael gives out a name.

“Slaved by Pelorraw, servant of Trast, who is a servant of Crimiel”

The woman’s expression tells Michael that she recognizes the names.

“Oh, you’re a commercial slave?”

Michael nods, not really aware of the terminology.

“So, what’s your job?”

Once again, Michael steals from Hanz.

“Collector.”

The lady frowns.

“I see… I’m sorry that’s a horrible job. The demons here are terrifying to deal with but it’s even worse outside. The outside is lawless. Here, at the very least, there are laws that can give us some protection… I… My name is Kayla. I’m sorry for being a bit mean-spirited. This place kind of does that to you.”

“I’m sorry.”

Kayla gives herself a depreciating smile.

“Don’t apologize. It’s not your fault… It’s all mine. I was a sinful person and I was sent to hell because of it.”

Michael was confused by that but he could feel the exhaustion of the past events mounting up and he pushed it toward the back of his mind.

“I can’t say much about your past life Kayla but it would be very helpful to me right now if you could direct me to a place I can rest in.”

Kayla nods.

“Well, how much Mam do you have?”

This time, Micael couldn’t pull knowledge from Hanz.

“Mam?”

Kayla nods, expecting this.

“Yeah, no one told you how things work here, huh? Bastards, those demons are. Anyway, Mam is the currency here. It’s very valuable and rarely paid out. Demons use it the most while humans mostly barter. For some reason, demons don’t like to give Mam to anyone, especially humans. Says that we can’t use them anyway.”

Kayla shrugs.

“Do you have anything on you? Scratch that. You’re a shadow thingy so you probably don’t have… why are you a shadow thing anyway?”

Michael sighs.

“I don’t know. I just know that I’m exhausted.”

Kayla nods.

“Well, I can’t really give you anything without anything in return right?”

“Yeah, that wouldn’t be fair… Can I owe you instead?”

Kayla tries to hold back a laugh but she can’t help but let loose a bit.

“Sorry, that won’t work for you.”

Seeing Michael’s lack of response, Kayla controls herself and continues.

“I meant… there’s no guarantee that the favor you owe me will actually come back to me, right?”

Michael sighs, nodding. He understood Kayla’s point. Forcing it would be bad for him. But before Michael could thank her and leave, Kayla suggested another option.

“I… I don’t have the luxury of giving out favors to new people but I know someone who could.”

Sensing more incoming contrivances, Michael internally groans but he pushes it back again.

I’ll be fine. Let’s just get this over with.

“Oh? Can you introduce me to them?”

Kayla nods.

“Follow me then.”

Michael groans again.