While Typhon’s group was contemplating the necessity of brown pants, Aaron’s group was finally shown to the location of Baal.

It wasn’t as one would expect… during the walk, Arthur had explained to Solomon what Baal represented to Chained, namely the killer of the first Hunter, almost a legend to them for how he was unknown, did that, and then disappeared.

Solomon didn’t quite get how amazing that was until it was mentioned that the first Hunter killed seven Chained in one sitting, alone, as a ‘normal’ human.

She was quick to admit that Baal might be interesting.

The other Chained in this small group might be a threat actually; they might have been capable of defeating Echidna if they worked together…

But they probably couldn’t, and they probably just relied on their abilities to mess with other people.

As for Baal’s home… it was plain. It was unnaturally plain for the home of the killer of the First Hunter, and Aaron just looked to the other Chained, and pointed at the house to be certain.

The nod from every single Chained confirmed their thoughts as the door opened.

“Oh, it seems those punks did as I asked.” Aaron turned to the door and paused… Everyone paused, taking in the form of Baal.

The man, to put it simply, made Mino and Cerberus feel a bit threatened by his size and stature.

Mino and Cerberus were both just a bit over two metres tall, huge and muscled, they had a presence to them that threatened others.

Baal had that same presence, but he was notably a bit shorter than them, probably being around one point nine or so metres… but he was just as, if not more muscled than them, not to the point where it became grotesque, but one could tell that Baal’s body was practically sculpted to be that of a warrior.

The man had tanned skin similar to bronze, and was wearing a tank top shirt that stretched over his frame, and baggy cargo pants and sneakers.

His eyes were bright blue, signifying his status as a Cybernetic Chained, and his arms had streaks of silver cutting through them, and his hands were entirely metallic.

He also possessed a short cut beard, covering his jaw and his hair was cut so short he was almost bald, and he wore a trucker hat as he gave a ‘come hither’ motion with one of his hands.

“Come on in, I got some Coca-Cola made a while ago with this recipe I bought a year ago.” Aaron blinked, pausing at the appearance of Baal… and then he smiled.

This was someone Aaron might get along with, given the man’s smile and happy-go-lucky act.

“Oh, and you guys… go do something else, I’ll be busy talking with Odysseus here. We have some serious discussions to do.” The Ars Goetia Chained nodded and were quick to scamper off.

Baal was a jolly guy from what they could see, but they could also see that he was strong. It was a similar presence to Typhon when he got serious, or…

Aaron looked at Baal as he turned and walked into the building, allowing Aaron to see that the muscles on the man’s back was slightly glowing blue and Aaron nodded.

Baal had a similar presence to Gilgamesh. It was different, in that Gilgamesh made others feel like they were worthless in her eyes unless they interested her, but with Baal, it felt as if he was only being jolly because he had no fears.

He did not fear you, and so he could joke around with anyone.

Aaron walked in, Solomon walking with him, quiet at the appearance of Baal as she considered the information she knew of the Chained.

The interior was just as plain as the exterior, one would think a grandpa lived here with his tastes in furniture and decoration… then again; Baal was an Original Chained and was over fifty years old at minimum.

The man looked to just be entering his thirties though.

“Here you go, the recipe was difficult to follow in this place, but it was fun to try.” Baal said, walking in with a few plastic bottles of the black beverage and handing them out to anyone who wanted some.

The triplets were quick to accept with grins on their faces as they whispered about how awesome Baal was.

Mino and Cerberus just looked at each other and nodded before accepting, taking a few sips in appreciation as Baal handed the last two to Solomon and Aaron.

“Sorry to mention this only now, but those are spiked with a mild poison. It won’t do anything but make you feel nauseous given that you’re all Chained, just thought I’d let you know.” Baal’s words cut into the contemplative mood and Aaron thought he might need to reconsider his opinion on Baal.

“I didn’t put it in there out of malice, I don’t hate any of you, and I have an antidote right here. It takes a while to kick in, but the poison won’t kill you either so let’s just talk.” Baal said, holding out a container.

“So, why would you poison us?” Aaron asked, taking another sip of his Coca-Cola to the confusion of his friends…

It tasted good, even with whatever Baal put in there. And if he was already poisoned, ingesting more wouldn’t bother him at this point.

“Just a precaution really... I don’t really know you all beyond rumours and I want to get to know you while I have the advantage. Sorry, but despite rumours of my strength, I’m really just someone who likes having a lot of advantages.” Aaron could relate, some rumours were saying he tossed Nemea around without a single injury when he was bleeding a ton.

She looked like she won, if it weren’t for her dislocated bones.

“It’s understandable, you’re alone against us, and you don’t know what we can do, so we can’t really blame you for it. I actually think you and I might get along.” Aaron admitted and Baal smiled.

“That makes me glad Odysseus. So I have to ask, is your real name really Aaron Hassan?” he asked, and Aaron’s small smile dropped slightly at the mention of his name.

“Yes, it is. Why, does it mean something to you?” Baal’s smile and nod revealed something interesting.

“Yes, you see, my family worked with yours on a big project, about, oh, fifty five, fifty seven years ago?” Aaron blanked out for a moment as his eyes widened.

“Wait, you’re a descendant of one of the Council members? Who… it wouldn’t be one of the country leaders, as their descendants were not to know of this place, and you aren’t related to me… no, the doctor?” Aaron asked, quickly puzzling it out as Baal nodded.

“Correct. I can’t remember my name or surname, but like you, I am a person who is meant to hold a seat on the Council.” Baal sat there with a thin smile on his face as Aaron looked at him.

“…So I’m not the first. I knew Gilgamesh got into an argument with your... probably father. Yeah, she got in an argument with him, but I didn’t know she did what she did to me… She turned you into a Chained. You are a Krauss.” Aaron explained as Baal’s eyes widened.

“A Krauss… is that my surname? It seems fitting… I don’t really look Russian though.” His admittance was not wrong, while his accent was close to a mangling of Australian and Russian, his appearance made him look like he came from Hawaii given his physique and the fact that his arms possessed tattoos not counting the silvery streaks through his arms.

“Who knows, but Doctor Marko Krauss is the only Council Seat that could possibly belong to you.” Aaron admitted and Baal nodded, leaning back into his huge chair…

It was an oddly fitting image. He appeared like some mighty God sitting on his throne.

If the throne was light pink and had flowery patterns on it, sure.

“I can accept that… so like me, you were framed to come into Tartarus without committing a crime?” Baal asked as Aaron nodded, and Baal handed him the container which held the antidote.

“Just a sip would do. I’ll get you all some untainted drinks.” Baal got up, and moved away as each one of them took a sip of the ‘antidote’… and then Aaron began to laugh.

“What’s so funny Odysseus?” Solomon asked as Aaron pointed to the ‘antidote’.

“It’s a placebo. He didn’t poison us; he just made us think so.” Aaron’s words got annoyed looks from everyone but the Hydra triplets.

“Damn… that’s a good one.” Ein said as he looked at the plastic bottle of cool-drink, looking to his sister and brother who nodded in agreement.

“That prank was good, except we should change it to laxatives…” Zwei offered before Drei piped in.

“Or, or we could play Russian roulette with it, make one bottle with laxatives really in it, and the others clean. And we don’t mention it until after?” Drei offered and they nodded.

Everyone including Aaron ignored the strange fist-bump handshakes they began to do after that moment. Everyone ignored because they didn’t want to deal with stupidity and Aaron because it was a family thing… even if he wanted to join in.

Baal walked in as they finished and he nodded with an impressed look on his face.

“Nice hand-shake you three have. Anyway, here are unopened cans of other drinks. Better option in my opinion.” They agreed that it was harder to poison unopened cans of drink.

There was a way, and Aaron recalled actually using it before, but no one else needed to know that.

They each had their own as Baal smiled at Aaron.

“It’s nice to meet someone similar I guess… though I am missing some information that a Seat Holder would normally have, but I do know that all ‘Ascended’ are meant to have monster names aren’t they?” Baal asked with a raised eyebrow as Aaron and he began to trade information.

Baal explained some information about Chained which no longer existed, such as the Sins and which Chained were ‘Originals’.

“And my fight against Hunter, and yes, that was his name, is greatly exaggerated… I mean yeah, I killed him, it wasn’t too hard for me only because of my ability as a living stun gun so…” Baal looking awkward about being praised was something that Aaron would always consider funny he felt.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“But you did kill him? Sorry if I’m wrong, but you don’t feel like someone who has much to do with murder.” Aaron admitted and Baal nodded.

“You’re right. I don’t like killing… but I also don’t think it’s exactly wrong. That’s a case-by-case situation right there.” Baal said, and Aaron paused, leaning forward, his expression becoming serious as he listened.

The members of the Key understood why Aaron was so interested… he disliked murder, and tried not to as best as he could, but still he ended up killing or ordering the death of more than ten people since he had entered Tartarus.

It was a pin-drop in the amount of people in Tartarus, and many had murdered more, but Aaron kept trying to keep everyone alive… it was an existential problem to the man.

“If I can get away with it, I’d kill no one. But that’s impossible where there is conflict. Conflict causes pain, and enough pain causes death.” Baal’s statement was weighed heavily by Aaron, and Baal, seeing his focus, kept explaining until hopefully Aaron would get his answer.

“Like those stooges outside, they realize they can’t beat me so they follow me, I don’t need to kill them… Hunter, on the other hand, kept hounding me down even when I didn’t want to fight, and he killed two of my friends, leaving their child an orphan.” Baal said, looking seriously at Aaron.

“Hunter was after me because I was trying to protect their child, and so I killed him in defence of her. I won’t lie; a good reason why I killed him was revenge.” Baal’s words were intensive to the psyche of Aaron, who felt a smidge of disappointment.

“And that’s fine. Despite my abilities, I am human, and humans feel. We can’t control what we feel. I felt anger at that man, and he wanted to hurt someone important to me, so I killed him. I killed him in defence of someone else… was I wrong, Aaron?” Baal asked the person sitting in front of him as Aaron looked to his own hands.

“I have no right to say you’re wrong… I’ve killed in revenge as well, so I guess it’s even worse? The person I wanted to protect died before I could do anything, and then I killed everyone involved in her death.” Solomon looked to Aaron with a smidgen of fear in her eyes…

He said that way too easily for it to even be considered an emotional thing for him.

It was said with the same tone might use for the sentence: I killed a fly buzzing around my head.

This reminded her that the Hassan family, for all that they prided themselves as ‘lock-pickers’ and ‘locksmiths’ were also ‘bodyguards’ and ‘assassins’.

And Aaron was the last of the latter.

“I don’t see issue with that Aaron. You killed, certainly… and it was for your own closure. Maybe others would consider it wrong, and they probably would, but… do those that matter care?” Baal asked and Aaron’s eyes widened in realization before he chuckled, lacing his fingers as he bowed his head in thought.

“People who care don’t matter, and people who matter don’t care. You read Seuss?” Aaron asked with a smile, getting a similar one from Baal.

“Of course I do, he had a few good ones didn’t he?” Baal and Aaron were about to go into discussion on some of those childish books before Solomon cleared her throat, drawing the attention of Baal to her.

“Ah, sorry about that… I haven’t really been talking to the rest of you, have I? That’s my mistake, my mistake.” Baal apologised quickly getting some nods from the other Chained in the room… but Solomon wanted to be heard.

“My name is Solomon. Like Aaron explained, I am a Lord… Lord of the Ars Goetia, which you are among.” Baal’s jolly look disappeared as he stared at Solomon, his face blank as he looked at the person who just inadvertently threatened him.

“Is that so? And what do you want then? To control me, bring me to heel? If so, I’m afraid you won’t live very long.” Baal’s statement was simple.

If she tried any funny business involving controlling him, she would be killed by him. Maybe not immediately, she could completely subvert his will to hurt her after all…

But at some point, he would cause her death, and she shook her head, denying the accusation.

Only then did she notice that Aaron was also looking at her with that same look, and allowed her to realize that even if she took control of Baal…

Between Baal and her, he would rather pick Baal, regardless of how necessary she was to his plans.

No doubt he’d do something such as crippling her and forcing her to complete his plan before killing her then.

She dodged a metaphorical bullet, when the two relaxed as she continued.

“I did not mean to imply that. I just wished to know if you would be willing to work with Odysseus and myself…” Solomon then had to explain what they knew of Tartarus, and that they were planning to escape while Baal leaned back, listening and waiting for her to finish her explanation.

“Oh so that’s what you’re doing Aaron! Yeah, I just wanted to meet you because of your surname, but I also wanted to check what you were doing in Tartarus… so you’re planning the world’s largest jail break?” Baal’s question got a nod from Aaron and a frown from Baal at seeing his agreement.

“Have you thought this through though? Pardon the alliteration, but destroying Tartarus would result in more than a few million people who actually deserve to be in this place running free.” Baal’s warning was, sad as it is, true.

“I am aware of this… but consider this? If you live in a circle… you can’t see beyond it, and you have lived your entire life in this circle, you know everything about this circle, and you are happy with it…” Baal caught his meaning and raised an eyebrow as he chuckled.

“Would they want to leave that circle… it’s an interesting question. What you mean to say is that many people in Tartarus wouldn’t want to leave because Tartarus is all that they know?” Baal asked as Aaron nodded.

“Exactly, sure, those who recently came in here, or those like you who remember the outside might want to leave, but for the couple million born in this place?” Aaron looked to the window.

“Would they leave? Given freedom that they do not know of, would they want it? If you have tasted freedom, you would crave it, but if you have never known it, how would you want it?” Aaron’s words struck a chord with the triplets, who were born in the prison…

Sure, they wanted to follow their Big Boss everywhere he went, he changed them from a massive cannibalistic monster into themselves again, or at least as close as possible.

They were happy with him… but they didn’t quite understand what he wanted, only that they would help him gain it.

“It’s like asking a person in a jungle if they would want to live in a penthouse. They don’t know what that is, why would they want that?” Solomon’s words gave another example and they all sat quietly in contemplation of the facts they had found…

Even if Tartarus was destroyed… would the inhabitants leave?

There would be people… but many wouldn’t, and that was a fact.

“Plus, depending on how many people want to leave, we would be capable of policing them ourselves. Keep them out of trouble so to speak.” Aaron’s words got the interest of Baal and Solomon, who both leaned into listen.

“What I’m saying, is that outside this prison, many things we do would constitute as illegal, and people in this prison wouldn’t know that… but we teach them to not do it, and if they must, to do it in a manner they wouldn’t be caught.” Aaron’s statement got wide eyes from Solomon.

“You plan on creating organized crime of that large a scale? It should be impossible… but…” Solomon reconsidered her first statement as he thought about the Areas of the prison…

Weren’t they already ‘organized’? Sure, there was competition, but they knew what they did, and they knew who else did the same thing.

“While I have a personal hatred for Area four and five, I don’t really care about the others, and we could let them roam free… wouldn’t all those criminals tossed in here and those born to them be a brilliant distraction for us Chained to run around freely?” Aaron’s smirk was both scary and contagious as Baal reached a massive hand across the table.

“Aaron, you interest me. Solomon, I’ll work for you, follow and all that stuff, but if you betray this guy, I’ll be reconsidering my position.” Baal said with a pointed look to Solomon who nodded, understanding the terms as Baal shook hands with Aaron.

Who promptly pulled his hand back with a wince as Baal chuckled, showing his metallic palm as a buzz of electricity came from it.

“My palms are natural joy-buzzers. I love my power.” Baal joked, and the triplets were laughing even as Baal instead extended his hand for a fist-bump, something more neutral for Aaron to deal with as Aaron laughed along.

“Oh yeah, some of our members are meeting with Jormungand and Behemoth right now.” Aaron said as he and Baal stood, getting a look from the big man.

“That’s not good is it? From what you told me… Chained are all part of certain myths and a Lord can control all Chained from the same area as they are.” Baal’s statement got a raised eyebrow from Solomon, but some worry from Aaron.

“And well, Jormungand would be a Norse monster, so he’d be controlled by Beowulf who you tell me isn’t fit to be coming near us…” Baal said as they walked out, and in the distance, one could see the Melbourne Cricket Grounds.

“But Behemoth, he’s a Biblical beast, like Leviathan. And there is no Biblical Lord in Tartarus obviously, but… isn’t there someone who thinks they are a god in this place?” Baal’s words got a curse from Aaron.

“Shit… Gilgamesh, Behemoth is a Chained she can control, just like Leviathan most likely… which would explain why we haven’t seen him while we were causing trouble in other Areas, she probably got to him already.” Aaron’s complaints got worse as a massive crash was heard in the distance as they saw a massive serpent get knocked through the stadium wall, followed closely by a beast that looked like a cross between a body builder, a lion, and a rhino.

The latter looked terrifying by the way, especially with how it stood on two legs, tail moving behind it rhythmically as it roared at the serpent.

“Jormungand and Behemoth! Shit, my warning came a bit late!” Baal cursed as he whistled, and almost as quickly the ten Chained that obeyed him appeared.

“All of you go evacuate as many people as you can, tell them Behemoth’s gone crazy because of a mind-controlling Chained!” Baal explained as they looked to Solomon with fear.

“Not her you idiots, now run off!” his booming voice got the job done as the ten diverse Chained ran off, circling the fight between Behemoth and Jormungand rather than get close enough to get hurt.

“As for us, we need to get there as fast as we can, let’s take my cars, I got a few of them!” he said, reaching into one of the many pockets on his cargo pants as he tossed one key to Aaron and another to Cerberus.

In the garage of the plain house were three cars…

The three were a Jeep, a 458 Italia and a Mustang Boss 429.

“…Which one can I drive?” Aaron asked, ignoring the ‘Kaijuu’ fight in the distance as Baal gave him a look of ‘are you stupid’

“The big guys in the Jeep, you get the Ferrari. Touch my Mustang and die.” Baal’s warning was fair, Aaron felt, even as he wished to touch the legendary vehicle.

He was the same with his GT-R, even if he didn’t drive it currently, he loved that vehicle.

“Say, is this the part in the movie where we somehow bring down that giant beast?” Aaron asked as he got near the Ferrari, waiting for the Jeep to pull out first before he could leave.

“Probably not, I mean, I’m no slouch, but I get stronger the smaller my opponent is, less space for my sparks to travel. Maybe your friend can help.” Aaron looked to his side…

He had almost forgotten that Empusa was with them… right, she was actually his defence against Baal, but she was quiet the whole time…

That was probably because Typhon wasn’t around and Aaron was getting deep into his discussion with Baal.

“Yeah, now that you mention it… but let’s go, I don’t feel comfortable leaving certain people near that fight.” Aaron said, getting into the Ferrari with relish, Solomon ending up sitting passenger to Baal while Empusa sat next to Aaron.

She was the only one other than Mino who was used to his driving style involving fast cars, so it was expected… she instinctively clung to the ‘oh shit’ handle next to her once she remembered that Aaron was a member of the cult of drifting.

They took off, and yeah… Empusa felt she was correct in her decision to hold the ‘oh shit’ handle.

They took off, and very quickly overtook the Jeep with Cerberus driving, and in their rear-view mirror Empusa could see that Baal was somehow staying in their vision, despite driving a car that, while good, was feasibly slower than the Ferrari.

Ferrari still had some of the fastest cars in the world today, even if the Bolt was the fastest one.

They drove, making sure to not get near the fight between Jormungand and Behemoth, noticing that the fight there wasn’t as simple as it looked, given that a figure with ‘floating’ blades could be seen, clearly Echidna was fighting while helping Jormungand…

If it was just Echidna without Typhon who was a better match for a big monster brawl fighting, then…

Typhon was busy, probably fighting Gilgamesh, and that got Aaron to accelerate even more than he had been, knowing that Gilgamesh wasn’t someone that could be beaten unless drastic measures were taken.

Her ability was unfair after all…

Arriving at the cricket grounds, they drove in through a clear gap, seeing Lu Bu, wearing a suit of armour facing Sphinx and Nemea at the same time while those two got assistance from Medusa.

On the other side was- oh no.

Jaeger was there. And he was wearing armour just a step down from what Lu Bu was wearing, and holding a gun firing at Typhon who was using his Nano-bots as shields.

And then there was another person, judging by the blood surrounding him, he was Leviathan… Leviathan was humanoid, and Aaron cursed the fact that Leviathan had the bad boy look down pat.

Aaron still showed hints of being of Arabic descent, and well… it didn’t lend itself to that particular look for Aaron, despite him liking it.

But ignoring that, Leviathan was facing Charon and Manticore, Leviathan cursing Manticore and Charon both… oh yeah; Leviathan had met both of them before…

But it was the final fighting group that worried Aaron the most, because Cyclops was clearly edging away from her.

Gilgamesh…

Gilgamesh, the ‘King of Heroes’ had stepped onto the field, and she was facing the weakest member of the Key.

Aaron had to keep her from moving any closer to the man and Aaron hoped to do this by knocking her over as he drove head on to meet Gilgamesh…

Who turned around and simply looked at the car and scoffed as she waved her arm and suddenly…

There was light… and then the car split into two, and Empusa jumped out of her side of the car while stretching an arm out for Aaron as the car was totalled, leaving the two to roll to a stop near Cyclops.

“Ah… little Aaron… it’s nice to see you again, though clearly you are not as happy as I am.” Gilgamesh stated as she gestured to what was happening around her, and Aaron stood shakily realizing that he had almost died.

“Gilgamesh, why are you here?” Aaron shouted out, and Gilgamesh just shook her head at his question.

“Isn’t it obvious Aaron? I am beginning to collect the Ascended under my command, and that giant beast outside happens to be one of my soldiers.” She stated and Aaron clenched his fists, feeling his own Nano-bots respond to his call.

He would need to do everything he could to survive this encounter.