I stepped out of the portal and into a back-alley covered in Styx’s eternal night. The few stray demons that hung out in the alleyway quickly vacated it upon my grisly arrival. Senior Brother’s bisected and torn body was cradled in my arms like a bounty from the butcher shop.

“Get in, now,” a familiar voice ordered from behind me as a door swung open.

“It’s been some time, Gölge,” I greeted the shadowy demon that welcomed me inside. “Have you been well?”

“I was much better before you dragged your mess all over my street,” Gölge replied tersely.

“The orders didn’t mention anything about discretion,” I said with a shrug.

“A mistake that I will be sure to rectify in the future.”

Gölge led me down a set of stairs and deep into the bowels of Desire. Puffs of steam exited from gaps in the piping overhead and the temperature lowered significantly.

The stairs terminated in a tight hallway. On either side of the hallway were heavy metal doors without handles. Faint sounds could be heard inside of some of them. I could see Gölge turn his head slightly towards me as we passed by. It seemed that their regular contractors were the type that asked more questions than were good for them. While curious, I had no interest in falling into expectation.

No matter, I’d learn soon enough.

“How long since you killed him?” Gölge nodded towards the mess in my hands.

“Few minutes. Less than ten. But, it’s putting itself back together.”

The flesh in my hands squirmed and writhed as the death timer quickly was working its way towards zero. The upper and lower half, which I tried to keep as separate as possible, like magnets, were turning around inside my grasp with a supernatural force that I could not contain.

“Let’s make this quick. We won’t be able to kill him again.”

Gölge reached a door to his right. With a flourish of his hands, a large metal ball fell from the sky into his hands. Like molded clay, he pressed the metal into the smooth surface of the door. With massaging fingers, the metal gently reformed into something that resembled a door knob.

Gölge twisted the metal and the door swung open with a heavy creak. The shadow gestured for me to proceed.

Inside, I found the resting place of my prey. I stepped into a barren metal room. In the center was a pillory made of black Sin-got. The restraints were open and ready to receive their next victim.

Wordlessly, I placed the regenerating body of Senior Brother into the restraints. His neck, his wrists, his ankles; nothing remained that he could use as a weapon to break free from his prison.

I stepped away and gave him one final look. The nail that I punched through his skull had magically reformed and his unconscious face was covered by a charm that sewed itself into place. There was a part of me that felt displeasure towards such a mundane end to a proud fighter. But, unless the client had enough money to keep him here, he’d be free soon enough.

“All done?” Gölge asked impatiently.

“Yes.”

I turned my back to Senior Brother and emerged from the chamber. Gölge slammed the door and recalled the metal, leaving only the smooth surface behind.

“Good. I’ll take you to Charles,” the shadow informed.

We walked away from the chambers and back towards the stairs. As my feet pressed against the steps, I thought I could hear Senior Brother’s muffled howling at his Master. No doubt how he could be abandoned, how his devotion was not received with love.

I wondered whether or not Master would bother to answer him.

Gölge led me up the stairs and through the main rooms of Desire. We headed down a different set of stairs towards a door covered in runes flanked by the same strong looking demons. Though, this time, they didn’t feel nearly as strong as they did the first time.

But, they didn’t oppose my presence. They stepped aside, the door spinning open to reveal the familiar sights and scents of Charles’ room. Gölge did not follow me in and the doors closed behind me.

This time, he had a guest. A long-necked dragon of the Eastern variety. We looked at each other with an expression of mild recognition. Though, his face seemed irritated that his conversation was interrupted by my presence.

“Ah, Ishmael,” Charles greeted. “I am glad that you made it. Five years is an impressive time to complete such a daunting task. I knew that you could do it.”

“You don’t need to blow smoke up my ass, Charles,” I dismissed impatiently. “All you need to do is pay me like we always used to do.”

Charles chuckled in the face of my crass statements like a father who finds his teenager’s rebellion adorable. It was a demeanor purpose built to make most people that were on the opposite end of it feel as small and insignificant as possible.

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“Sir Charles, could this not wait until after our meeting?” Yóulóng said with a scowl. “I find all of this to be highly disrespectful.”

Charles’ amiable demeanor slipped for a moment. His face turned stoic and his eyes possessed an uneasy glow. I could hear the dragon swallow, the old emperor from the realm below was not accustomed to being the one without the advantage in the power dynamic.

But, fortunately for him, he must have been rich enough as Charles’ demeanor returned to one of kindness.

“Apologies, Yóulóng. Ishmael, would you mind giving me another moment with my client?”

“I don’t need to be in your way. If you just send me my XP, I’ll be on my way.”

“Oh, but, in case you forgot, I mentioned I would give you something else to sweeten the deal. I have brought you something excellent and I would love to see the look on your face when you receive it. Would you be so kind as to humor me this once?”

“Fine,” I replied with a cross of my arms. “Pretend I’m not even here.”

“But-“

“I will assure Ishmael’s very highly sought after ability of discretion,” Charles said, interrupting the dragon’s attempt to protest. “There was no better person in my employ that I would trust a secret with than our friend over there. Please, let us finish our business.”

“Fine, let’s continue from where we left off,” Yóulóng consented. He tried to proceed with the conversation as though I didn’t exist. It proved to be too difficult for the emperor as I could feel his attention turn my way.

“Excellent,” Charles said with a grin.

He moved his hands subtly. A metal stand sprung from the ground next to me. A bottle of the same amber liquid left on my comatose body rested at the top of the stand. With nothing else to do, I popped the top and took a swig.

“I believe that you wished for passage to the higher rungs?” Charles asked.

“I want some guarantee of protection when I get there,” Yóulóng corrected. “I want an estate to stay on for myself, my most loyal vassals, and my remaining servants.”

“How large is your party?”

“No more than fifty.”

“No more than fifty,” Charles repeated with a chuckle. He puffed his cigar a few times, allowing the room to be polluted with the scent of his tobacco. “I know of someone on the fourth rung with a little room for you to live out your fantasies on. Though, I must warn you, the price won’t be less than a million XP per person.”

“A million per person?!” The dragon shouted with a mix of shock and revulsion.

“Quite affordable, I know,” Charles nodded. “Of course, that does not include the cost to bring you and all your chosen vassals up to Level 50 or whatever fees the fourth rung may impose on you.”

Yóulóng rose violently from his seat. A glass tumbled from his liquor stand and shattered onto the carpet. Rumbling rage and indignation passed through him.

“You intend to rob me blind!”

Yet, despite the outburst, nothing happened in response to it. The glass remained broken on the floor. The door did not open and the muscle on the outside didn’t pour in to support their employer. Charles himself was entirely disinterested in the performance he was shown.

“Robbery?” Charles asked with a laugh. “No, dear emperor, this is simply business. I am not the one that caused your subjects to rebel. I am not the force that made your previous backer disinterested in you. I am not the one that imposed on you the standards of living that you demand. Not only are you disinterested in residing here on the third rung, you request to take up room on the fourth. What is it that you think those demons want? It’s XP. Now, either you are going to provide it, or you are not. What is it that you want?”

Deflated, the dragon returned to his seat. The alcohol stand rose back into position. The old glass disappeared to be replace with a new glass.

“I suppose I can make do with twenty five.”

“Excellent,” Charles nodded. “I will make contact and negotiate terms. In the meantime, you are free to use the facilities I had arranged for you here. One of my people will contact you when I am ready.”

“Thank you,” Yóulóng said with a reluctant bow.

The dragon brushed by me and I could hear the mechanisms of the door open and close behind me. After a loud thud, it was just Charles and myself left in the room. I moved to take the now unoccupied seat and my alcohol followed me.

“Let me begin by providing you with the XP that I promised,” Charles said.

With a flash of red light, the rest of my promised million XP filled my coffers to be hungrily eaten by my [Hoard] and need for more levels. I smiled at the spike in stats that the XP immediately turned into.

“How was it?” Charles asked.

“How was what?”

“The kill. Was the fight the kind that you were looking for?”

“It was good. The target had more issues than I was expecting, but at least he had some fight in the final moments. Don’t tell me that you gave me that mission out of the kindness of your heart?”

“Of course not,” Charles refuted. “I just knew that it was the kind of job that wouldn’t be completed by any person you could pick up on the street. It had to be someone so in love with fighting that it would motivate them to complete it. Though, I don’t deny that I expected you to be appreciative of my eye in matching personnel with work.”

“You haven’t changed.”

“Thank you. I find that you’re very much the same person as you were when you were a human. But, we both know that neither of us care about that. How about I show you your reward? I must say, it was more work than I thought it would be to locate it and bring it here. But, I think that it will all be worth it in just a moment.”

“What is it?” I asked curiously.

Charles clapped his hands together and I heard the doors open again. Gölge walked back into the room. In his hands was a writhing slug-like creature. He plopped the creature on the ground and disappeared into the shadows.

“What the fuck is that?”

“Go on,” Charles encouraged. “Take a good look at it.”

I stood up and made my way to the beast at the center of the room. It was about the size of my torso; an ugly color of sickly yellow and brown like an overripe banana. When I got close to it, it recoiled away from me with a strange whimper.

I was sickened by the strange thing. But, for some bizarre reason, I was fascinated by an inexplicable feeling that I had felt this aura before, somewhere deep within my memories. I needed to find out what it was, to uncover the mystery of why Charles looked so fucking pleased with himself.

My nails went underneath the underbelly of the slug beast. It wriggled and fought against me, further increasing this child-like feeling of interest. I flipped over the slimy-fleshed beast to see a human face that winced and screeched in response to seeing me.

“Well, do you know what it is now?” Charles asked with perverse interest. He leaned all the way forward in his seat to stare intently at me.

The recognition hit me like a speeding car. A great smile crossed my face and my eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. The more it felt fear towards me, the more excited that I felt. It knew me too. I hadn’t thought about this moment since the day I arrived here, but it was more perfect than I could ever imagine. I had never seen him so small, so pathetic. But, it was exactly what he was the entire time.

“Hello, dad.”