Killa stepped forward and threw her arms out. “Hold up. No. You said you would explain things, not pressgang us into whatever cult you have going on.”

Dagiel, still completely covered in his plate metal armor, let his wings droop. “And I will, but the status quo changed far quicker than I anticipated.” He sighed. “Alright. Firstly, Niaka, thank you. You may leave. Stay here for a couple of days if you need to.”

The cat woman grabbed her staff and left with nothing more than a whispered, “Thank you.”

Dagiel then leaned on the arm of his chair and waved his hand. “Let’s start with the basics of this floor. The sphinx has only one task to reach the next floor. Win ten matches while in the arena. After you win those ten matches, you’re free to leave. Tulm’i chose to never leave, killing anyone who even came close to winning ten matches. It’s how he got so high level. With whatever class he had, I doubt he’d ever leave.”

Shadara, finally standing up straight again, spoke up. “My class gives me extra stat points per kill, regardless of their level compared to me. He probably got something similar if he wasn’t stupid.”

I nodded. “Trust me, he wasn’t that stupid. He said his class was a gladiator, and it kept him from dying so long as people could see him in the arena. It’s a very situational, yet very powerful ability on this floor.”

“You having darkness magic is incredibly lucky then,” Dagiel said without hiding the admiration in his voice. “But back on topic, there are rules when you enter the arena. Only one person is allowed to win. Any number of people can join in, but only one can be the victor. Before, there have been fights that have lasted days as people kept jumping in before a final victor was declared.”

He pushed himself out of his chair. “Surrender is an option, but only if it’s accepted. If you surrender, you forfeit half of your shards to the sphinx, and you lose a victory to your tally. Anyone can challenge anyone for a special one-on-one deathmatch. Refusing is an option, but again, you forfeit half your shards and lose three victories to your tally. If you challenge someone and they deny it, you still gain a victory towards your tally.”

“Can you build a deficit of victories?” Killa asked.

“Yes,” Dagiel answered with a solemn tone.”People want their kills to count towards their progression to the next floor, so outside of the arena, you’re generally safe.”

I crossed my arms. “Are there no team battles where the three of us can earn victories together?”

The armored man shook his head. “Afraid not. Unless you can convince the sphinx to implement them, everything is battle royal. This floor is the smallest by far, as there are no extra areas beyond the colosseum city. And in the city, there are only four dungeons. So unless you work with a faction, you’re not going to get much stronger.” He turned to me. “Not that you need it.”

Shadara scowled. “Let me guess, you’re one of those ‘factions’ and you want us to join. Why? What makes you better than the other three?”

Dagiel gave a short, slight bow. “Very astute. You’re correct on both accounts. To answer your first question, I will answer your second. I believe in fair fights and allowing everyone to make it through this floor. Others will use less-than-honest methods to secure victories for their faction. Rigging fights isn’t easy, but possible. It’s been done many times, and there are technically no rules against it.”

Shadara’s tail flicked behind her. “And you want us to trust your word? You won’t even show us your face, and we had to learn your name from someone else.”

He reached up and slowly removed his helmet. Short, wavy, sandy-blond hair popped out of his helmet first. His features were fairly childish for a six-foot man. Clean-shaven, a slightly round head, and a small nose. He looked mostly human, with the exception of his chalky white skin and glowing, dull green eyes. He looks kind of cute in a way.

Dagiel held the helmet between his waist and wrist. “Better? Being a fallen angel attracts too much attention for my liking. After several attempts on my life, I’ve grown overly cautious. Providing such an opening for my enemies is asking for something bad to happen. And that leads me to the real reason for asking for your help.”

He pointed to me. “You killed Tulm’i. He wasn’t affiliated with anyone, and now that he’s gone, there’s a power vacuum. That means only one thing.”

Killa pinched the bridge of her nose. “Complete chaos. Or at least, some version of a four-way guild war. But I thought you said they wouldn’t attack people in the streets.”

Dagiel nodded. “I did. The other faction leaders will send people who are indebted to them to deal with the strongest members of the other factions. Everything will be held in the arena, but it will be a bloodbath.”

I scratched my head. “But what am I supposed to do about that? Just stay out of it. Stay here in your secret little hole and wait it out. Let them fight it out and handle it when everything is over.”

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The fallen angel clicked his tongue before letting out a heavy sigh. “If it were only that easy. The moment I don’t join in, the other three factions will stop fighting and destroy us because they don’t want to be backstabed. After this faction is reduced to nothing, then they’ll go back to killing each other.”

I groaned. “It still doesn’t make sense. How do I change the situation?”

Dagiel grinned. “By doing the same thing Tulm’i did. He went and killed all the leaders of the four factions and their second-in-commands. Each of the factions then had to quietly reassemble their forces. I only took over because I wanted to de-escalate things. As you can tell from what I’ve told you, that hasn’t gone over well.”

“Because I killed him, you believe I can take his place. That’s not why I’m here.” I waved to Shadara and Killa. “We just want to progress past this floor. That’s it. All this politics just makes things more troublesome. Why can’t people just let things go?”

“People are greedy,” Dagiel answered nonchalantly. “You obviously will be recompensed, so long as you request something in my power to grant.”

I pursed my lips. Well, he said he’s the leader of a faction that has a dungeon. Killa and Shadara need levels to catch up with me. “Give us unlimited access to your dungeon, and you have a deal.”

Dagiel blinked slowly. “That’s it? Okay, deal.”

“Wait.” Shadara stepped between us and held out her arms. “You’re agreeing to this? We can get more out of this.”

"Like, what?”

The panther woman shrugged. “I don’t know. Better equipment, supplies, stuff like that.”

Dagiel cleared his throat. “We can help with supplies. But equipment—you’ll have to deal with the golems.”

“Not the merchants or craftsmen?” Shadara asked.

“The largest problem with crafting equipment is materials, and the golems hold a monopoly on them. “Dagiel waved to the doors we entered through. “If you’ll follow me, I can take you to one of our storage rooms.”

Killa leaned up to my ear. “Are you sure this is the guy we want to work with? I can’t help but think he’s hiding something while appealing directly to your bleeding heart.”

I leaned back and whispered. “You might be right. But you two need levels. He’s already offering a dungeon we can use. I don’t think he was completely lying.”

Shadara followed Dagiel out, but I noticed she had an ear turned towards us. We followed them but kept our distance.

“I believe you,” Killa said, keeping her voice low. “We should take advantage and investigate these other factions before committing to anything. He may be just as bad as them.”

“What do you suggest then?” I asked.

Killa scrunched her face. “Nothing. This isn’t our fight. But if he’s genuine, then we can come up with a plan of action. Everything about this feels rushed, and I don’t like it.”

I nodded as I walked. “Unfortunately, this is about supply and demand. We have a need, and they have the supply. If we talk to the other faction leaders, they may say the same thing Dagiel is saying. Let’s make use of things while we can. If we indeed are being used, then let’s use them first.”

Killa chuckled. “I never thought I’d hear you say something like that.”

Those words did come out a little too easily. But I’m done letting others take advantage of me. This place really brings out the worst in people. I used to think I was different, but I’m not. People are more alike than they realize.

We followed the fallen angel to a room full of ropes, tents, and other camping gear. There were several large barrels. Dagiel opened three of the barrels. One held a green liquid, one blue, and one red liquid.

He waved to them. “We have potions, and anything else you would need for a several-day delve into the Pawed Palace. Take anything you need—within reason, please.”

I looked at the barrel of meal potion liquid. “We’re taking this entire barrel.”

What little color from Dagiel’s face drained. “Seriously? It can stay here. You can keep coming back for it. It’s fine.”

I shook my head. “No, we’re going to fill a few bottles up, and I’m going to drink the rest of it.”

His face twisted even more. “Do you really need to eat? I’ve never met a golem who needed to eat.”

I’m not a golem; I wanted to snap. “My body isn’t like most or any golem’s. Tulmi’s attacks used up a lot of my energy.” He left me with only half a day’s reserve. “If you want me to kill the other leaders, I need the energy to do so. My regeneration uses a lot.”

Dagiel tilted his head. “You don’t have to worry about them. With how quick you killed Tulm’i, they will be trivial by comparison.”

I crossed my arms. “Did you know that it took hiding Tulm’i’s body to kill him?” He stared at me, unblinking. “It was because of the new classes added to the system. I got lucky. I don’t know what other trick those people have up their sleeves. So don’t sound so surprised when I want to take things more cautiously.”

Shadara flattened her ears. “You want our help? We’ll do this our way.”

Dagiel ground his teeth. “Okay, but I had a plan to get them to fight you in the arena.”

I lowered my arms. “We might still use it, but I’m still not taking chances with my life.”

The fallen angel seemed to be mulling something around in his head. “Will you be going to the dungeon today, or do you want to wait for tomorrow? I only ask that we eliminate the other leaders as quickly as possible. Right now, any plans they’re enacting will be fragile.”

Killa tapped her chin. “Something still bothers me. Do you know where their hideouts are?”

He stared at Killa with a deadpan expression. “Of course. They know where we are too. The whole reason you had to go through the sewer was so we can verify everyone before allowing them to enter or not.”

Shadara swallowed hard. “What if we weren’t allowed?”

I would’ve collapsed the tunnel on your heads.” The practiced ease with which he answered sent a shiver down my spine. “While the golems maintain order in the streets and keep fights to the arena, such accidents aren’t going to earn their attention. The other factions have similar such fail-safes.”

“We'll go to the dungeon today,” I said before Killa could ask another question. “Once I’m sure my companions are comfortably leveled, we’ll come back and see what I can do about the other factions. Is that good enough for you?”

He nodded. “I can consent to that. Not that I have much say in the matter. You should still worry about preparing yourselves. The Pawed Palace is still very dangerous. I’ll send someone to take you to the entrance in a little while. I’ve got work to do.”

He closed the door behind himself as he left. With a collective nod, we began packing up supplies. Something is really wrong with him.