A new day began in the city of Raind. In the main base of the syndicate known as Underworld, Thanatos was ordering the files and reports from his subordinates. After a party a couple of days ago, the syndicate was doing pretty well, according to the informants from Raind and the base in the Capital.

Paperwork was, without question, the most unglamorous part of being the boss of an organization. In his previous life, Thanatos had a little bit of experience with handling boring and bureaucratic documents, but the scale of a syndicate was much larger than the work he had previously dealt with. If he was a regular person like in his past life, he would probably never leave his office because it would take all this time to deal with the information.

Now his brain was much faster in dealing with the unexpected. He also had Adel as his second in command, who knew how to manage a syndicate successfully. It had also been some months since he founded Underworld, so the reports had become familiar. It took Thanatos only a few hours to read and plan accordingly.

The situation in the Great Forest was fine. The tribes were collecting and sending ingredients for potions. They had also not suffered any attacks except from a few beasts, nothing out of the ordinary. The base in the Capital was working fine, and the business was slowly expanding into other cities. The army was still trying to discover them, but they didn’t seem to have made any progress. The attack by the Red Dragon was repelled, and the executioner became Thanatos' puppet. All things considered, Thanatos felt optimistic about the future.

If things keep going this well, I may be able to go to the Nation of Los. Lia was going to the Capital in a few weeks and he could trust Adel, Eric, and Neo to handle Underworld on his absence. Thanatos took a moment to think about his current life.

In about four months, he gained more than in the twenty years of his previous life. He touched the black book that Zek gave him. The power to do what I want. It was thanks to Zek that Thanatos had this chance in a second life, but what does he wanted to do really? The plan to be the leader of a syndicate was born from a whim in the moment, just as a way to make money and gain resources, but he didn’t want to become the number one syndicate or anything like that.

The reason that moved Thanatos right now was the people surrounding him. His feelings for Lia opened a world previously unknown to him. He wanted to stay by her side for the rest of his life. The same could be said for everyone else. Helping Adel in his dream, seeing how strong Eric could become, learning more about spirits and shamanism from Neo, even just hearing Castess complaining about silly things like money expenses and unreasonable requests made him happy.

In truth, Thanatos wanted to be around them. That was his main goal. It was an insignificant wish, childish even, but he couldn’t deny it. The power to do what I want means the power to protect those I care about no matter who tries to harm them. The memories from his previous battles crossed his mind, from assassins to syndicate members, passing through mercenaries and a half troll. This world was full of people who didn’t care about anyone else. They simply moved towards their objective, no matter how many innocents had to be sacrificed.

Thanatos smiled. After all, he was one of those people. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill to help those close to him. Underworld is more than just a syndicate; it's a place for my friends and anyone else who wants to work for me. Thanatos left his office. This was a big world. There were probably a lot of people he wanted to have at his side across the land. Making a name for himself was the fastest way to bring them all together.

He got inside the carriage, and Castess took him to an antique store in the city. As part of his plan to visit the Nation of Los he was going to arrive at Ennis's house with a carriage full of objects and pretend to be an eccentric noble. He already had the deed to the property and a false certificate of nobility. Along with the information in other documents, he was sure to pass any inspection in the house in case of suspicion.

Castess had talked with the owner of the antique store to buy a bunch of objects and keep their silence for a few gold coins. The only thing left was for Thanatos to inspect the objects. After opening the door, they were greeted by a man in a luxurious suit.

"Ah, welcome, welcome. You must be Mister Castess and his master, Lord Edward."

"Uh, is Mr. Swang not here? We agreed he was going to be present for the purchase." Castess asked.

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"Ah, yes, Mr. Swang had to leave for an urgent business matter, but he directed me to arrange all the objects so you can buy everything you need. I’m sure he mentioned that he had an assistant. That’s me, Eliot, at your service." He bowed with a tinge of awkwardness. He was nervous about being in charge.

"Yes, he did mention you. Sorry for the rudeness. Please take us to the back shop."

"Don’t mind, don’t mind. Please follow me and buy to your heart's content. Mister Swang was eager for this purchase."

They followed the man into a big room full of antiques, mirrors, clocks, a wide variety of furniture, and some jewels. It felt like travelling into the house of an old noble. They looked through the place for objects of interest. Thanatos pointed out things that caught his attention, and Castess wrote them down into a list. After a while, Castess asked Eliot to go grab a painting hanging on the wall to look at it closely. He made sure Eliot was far enough away before he spoke.

"I'm probably wrong since you haven't noticed anything wrong, but I have a bad feeling."

Thanatos didn’t know what he was talking about. "What do you mean? What part feels wrong about this?" His senses didn’t perceive anything out of the ordinary. There were no strange sounds, and the room had only the smell of old antiquities.

"I don’t know. It feels strange. Mr. Swang should be here. I don’t sense that guy is lying, but I still feel like he’s hiding something." They looked at Eliot, who was at the top of a small set of stairs, grabbing the painting.

"You think he’s pretending to be the assistant?" Thanatos made sure to keep his hostility hidden. He pretended to pay attention to the necklace he was inspecting. "Stay close to me. If you have doubts, we'd better clarify them quickly." Castess nodded and continued to write things on the list. It was such a smooth exchange that a normal person wouldn’t have noticed it.

Eliot came down and brought them the painting in his hands. "Thank you for waiting, Mr. Castess and Mr. Edward. Here is the painting. It is a classic from the foundation of the Republic, a very valuable piece of history."

"Mister Eliot, do you happen to know about this collar?" Thanatos asked, trying to make him nervous or cause him to slip off in case he was acting.

"Ah, you have a good eye. That necklace has a sapphire from the Kingdom. It was a gift for a family of nobles in the south of the Republic who dealt with horses. Sadly, the Pentoss family was destroyed in the war against the evil Necromancer over thirty years ago.

The way Eliot spoke was confident and clear; the guy clearly knew the history of the antiques in the store. There was no way an impostor would have had so much knowledge. Castess couldn’t find any discrepancy in the information he gave. Maybe his feelings were wrong...

"I hope you found everything you were looking for… but this is the end." Eliot's demeanor changed completely. "You must pay for your transgressions against The Hand, Thanatos."

Eliot disappeared and, in his place, a shining light covered everything around them. The flames extended in all directions. The only thing Thanatos could do in that single moment was protect Castess from the explosion...

BBBBOOOOOOOMMMMM... The room exploded, the furniture scattered all around as the plates and jewelry broke with the impact. The floor was missing several tables for support. When the explosion happened, it gave out, revealing the floor underground.

The room was mostly empty, but as the smoke settled down, it revealed that Thanatos was still protecting Castess in a hug.

"Are you okay?" He asked, ignoring the burns in his back. Thanatos's entire back took the brunt of the explosion. He had to do it to protect Castess.

"I-I’m fine, but you-" He barely spoke as Eliot appeared from the smoke, brandishing a green dagger.

The attack was quick and decisive he aimed at Thanatos' neck. Like a mirage in the desert, Thanatos disappeared before the dagger could reach him, leaving Eliot dumbfounded. What speed. He didn’t look back.

He tried to retreat as he saw Thanatos moving closer, trying to grab him. I can’t let him catch me! He jumped away, but Thanatos grabbed him by the foot. That wasn’t his maximum speed before?

With a single hand, Thanatos held onto the foot of Eliot and was about to smash him against the floor. Eliot threw a dagger into the air and disappeared, but at the same time, Thanatos felt another presence moving from the shadows.

"UGH!" He got away just in time as the sword touched his neck, a cut that almost beheaded him. A woman with purple hair and eyes was standing right at his side, trying to kill him. Thanatos tried to attack with his claws, but the woman retreated with an elegant jump.

Castess was astonished by the sequence of events happening in front of him. In just a few seconds, he was saved by the explosion, and Thanatos fought with two people. He tried to move, but was too scared to draw attention to himself.

"Agatha! I told you to not reveal yourself too soon. I was managing fine on my own." The man made an annoyed expression as he looked at the woman on his side.

"Fine on your own? You almost got crushed against the floor. If you are going to die, then I need to use your death as a distraction."

"Oh, please, you saw me teleport away. You’re just desperate to take the credit and tell Master you were the one who killed him." He sighed and shook his head in disappointment.

"Shut up, Jakov. I can’t read your mind. How am I supposed to know you had time to send your dagger before your face was stamped on the ground?"

"Hey, you bastards are from the Hand, right? I remember a little asshole who jumped just like you. If you come looking for vengeance, fine by me!" Thanatos cracked his knuckles.

Against two assassins from The Hand, he wasn’t going to back down.