“So… why did you do that?” Empusa voiced as Aaron smiled, calmly walking into the ‘labyrinth’ with confidence, even as he turned to look at her while walking.

“Why did I do what exactly?” Aaron asked, and Empusa glared at him, a scary thing when her eyes glinted and narrowed like snake/cat eyes, and he raised his hands defensively.

“Why did you give Typhon a fake map?” Empusa wasn’t blind, though Typhon seemed to have been focused elsewhere and missed the false information given to him by his trusted ‘comrade’ Aaron.

“You know Baltasar Gracián wrote a book called the Art of Worldly Wisdom. One of the things stated in there, was that a wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends. I am enacting that clause.” Aaron said easily, before he noted a wire and pointed to it, Empusa stepping over it easily…

Unlike Aaron and Empusa, Typhon was hyper-observant in an off-hand kind of way; he’d probably dodge most traps without noticing them as long as he wasn’t under pressure.

“And how exactly is lying to your right hand man, friend, and only partner in this entire prison, doing what that guy mentioned?” Empusa asked with anger clearly in her voice.

“…Empusa, we’ve had this discussion. You care for Typhon, and he’s the only reason you actually listen to what I say at any time, though you’d usually say no to what I ask. I am about ninety per cent sure you’d ignore any ‘orders’ I’d give you now.” One could hear the sarcasm in his voice when he said the word orders, though Empusa was still glaring at him.

“That being said, Typhon might win against the Minotaur without my help. Though from what you mentioned of him, I don’t think Typhon can defeat him, at least, not how he’d normally win anyway.” Aaron added, and Empusa saw a man running towards them with a knife, fake bull horns on a hat he wore, as Aaron stepped back, making Empusa frown as she grabbed the attacker’s arm and tossed him.

She was a Chained too, despite her lower strength compared to Typhon, and after tossing the guy she looked to Aaron who continued walking as if nothing happened.

“Yes, the Minotaur is invulnerable, so Typhon can’t win normally.” Empusa claimed, and Aaron smirked, looking at Empusa as if looking at a child that didn’t know that the question she answered so confidently was a trick question.

“Yes, about that invulnerability, that sounds like nonsense.” Aaron stated easily, making Empusa look at him, and if she weren’t already angry, she’d be a bit more at his belief that her words were false.

“It isn’t nonsense when I was forced to fly away from him when I fought him.” and that was her source of experience, hence why she was annoyed at his words for her.

“Yes, we established that, the issue is that nothing is invulnerable in this world, not even the world itself, as proven by nuclear weapons and global warming, even if the second problem is slowly being solved.” Aaron mentioned absently and Empusa barely registered the strangeness of his second statement, but that could wait for later.

“Then how do you explain how I couldn’t even hurt him in my dragon form?” Empusa asked, and Aaron smirked at the Chained, ignoring that people were attacking them, causing Empusa to step forward and beat up and break bones of the people attacking. He spoke without worry at what was happening, knowing he had a good assistant, one who knew his true nature, much as he disliked it.

“Well, there’s an explanation, and I believe I can find it, so long as I witness him fighting. The problem is that I’ll die in this maze if he tries to attack Typhon with me in the vicinity. So I’m going to need to change the playing field.” Aaron said with a smirk, even as Empusa glared at the suddenly smug look on his face as he spoke on…

Absently, Empusa noted that his smug look was scary.

“See, this maze, I have an issue with it. It’s needless, and complicated, and frankly obstructing the view we would have had of the sunset yesterday.” Aaron’s complaints slipped into his explanation… it was caught easily.

“But isn’t it just Minotaur following his instincts as a Chained? That is a thing you know?” Empusa reminded Aaron as Aaron chuckled to himself, looking to the building that appeared in a certain section of the maze, while Typhon wouldn’t have the building there.

Aaron had studied a bit of Australian architecture… which wasn’t really an extensive thing in 2070… but he recognized an entry point into some sewers that were added into the Northern section of Tartarus they inhabited currently, added sometime just before the creation of Tartarus, and the newer creation of the Tri-Australian states, technically the same country despite being on Chinese, American and British soil.

That was going into world politics and not necessarily important for what Aaron was going to do now.

“Following his instincts would be him guarding a maze. Building the maze itself, or even asking for one to be built, is not following his instincts. I think the Minotaur is smart, despite what you might think.” Aaron easily picked up the derision in Empusa’s voice when she spoke about the massive man-beast that the Bio-Chained known as Minotaur was.

“But… well, it’s true… but still, making a maze to guard seems normal in that sense.” Empusa defended, and Aaron sighed…

“Empusa… tell me, why does he need to be in a labyrinth to fight? I mean, if you think about it, if he was really invulnerable he could have escaped Tartarus by now with his strength, or even conquered more than just his little maze. And yes, it is little, compared to the size of Tartarus itself.” Aaron defended his statement even as he broke down Empusa’s reasoning.

“That’s… a good question actually.” Empusa noted, and felt ashamed for having not noticed that little bit of information.

“Of course it’s a good question; there are no stupid questions, unless spoken with sarcasm and rhetorical nature in mind.” Aaron defended, even as they finally happened upon the building Aaron was looking for.

“So… what are we going to do here?” Empusa asked, hoping that no one would be inside, and also knowing that her hopes would be dashed very shortly because travelling with Aaron seemed to bring the worst luck to those around him, yet he seemed to walk through the luck smelling like roses.

“Why, I already mentioned it. We’re going to go change the field to give Typhon an advantage.” Aaron said with a smile, and Empusa wasn’t sure she approved of that look on the face of someone as sneaky as Aaron, considering he was one of the best lock-pickers in the world, if not the best.

He voted for best. Every selfie of him in a forbidden area, with some priceless gem, secret recipe, plans, accounting numbers, etc. also agreed with his vote. So it was kind of worrying that Aaron was smiling like that.

“…And how do you plan on doing that?” Empusa asked worriedly as Aaron gestured to the bag he had taken with them… Empusa wished they could have brought the GT-R, but it wasn’t meant to be. At least they hid it well; few people could find it and get it outside of a house… the fact that she changed into her most powerful form to move a car into a house was humiliating. Ignoring that bit, she wished they had the GT-R with to carry the stuff, but now she looked at the bag.

“Why, I plan on using high explosives. Keep me from bumping around too much by the way.” Empusa was worried because she was pretty sure he was being honest, and saying that sentence with such a smile was not acceptable.

“…When did we get explosives?” Empusa asked and Aaron smiled.

“I made them last night while you were guarding the perimeter. Despite needing sleep, I need less sleep than most due to my IQ and memory.” Aaron explained, though Empusa wasn’t sure how he making explosives tied into him being smart and having a good memory.

“So when were you going to tell me about that?” Empusa asked as Aaron shrugged, walking forward, causing Empusa to open the door and beat up anyone inside as he walked, knowing she couldn’t really stop him now due to said explosives… so she had to walk in front of him and play escort to this insane lock-picking adventurer…

Why did she feel as if she just got something in common with Typhon?

“Oh, it wasn’t important, I mean, if you just guard me, like we agreed, then it wouldn’t matter much.” Aaron added brightly as he opened another door and Empusa widened her eyes, hoping no one would be ready to attack them on the other side.

Both she and Aaron just stared with confusion at a man with a scar on his cheek, built muscles and a bald head, sewing what looked to be a massive pair of pants while grumbling…

“Inconsiderate man-bull, always fighting, tearing up his clothes, then I got to sew them, I mean, I’m a killer, why am I what amounts to a seamstress for that unfair mother… you, are not supposed to hear that.” The man finally noticed Empusa and Aaron… who slowly closed the door.

“We heard nothing, carry on.” Aaron said, and the man seemingly agreed, which surprised Empusa… guess the statement of taking refuge in audacity was true. If you look like you know what you doing, act like you know what you doing, and sound like you know what you doing then you must know what you doing.

‘You doing’ is a phrase stuck in Empusa’s mind now. She blames Aaron, much like she blames him for her new and even more insane things.

“…What did we just see, and why do I only see such strange things when you are involved?” Empusa asked, and Aaron turned and looked to her seriously.

“I don’t know why strange things happen, but I believe we just saw the person who sews the best in Tartarus, I mean, his needle-work was exquisite, I barely saw the thread at all.” Aaron noted appreciatively as Empusa just palmed her face and hoped that someday she would be able to understand his insanity.

That day would never come, just so we all understand.

“How did you even get into this prison, you could have pleaded insanity and they would have probably agreed.” Empusa added and Aaron shrugged his face strangely serious, a bit different from his previous faux serious face.

“Even if I wanted to accept that plead, I wanted to come here, I wanted to see Tartarus and what it holds, as no news of the prison is outside beyond ‘it exists’… and again… I didn’t have an option.” Aaron frowned, and they found the entrance to the sewer.

“What do you mean you didn’t have a choice?” Empusa asked, and Aaron pulled out a flashlight… again, why does this prison have some things, and lacks other things?

Anyway, he pulled out the flashlight before he looked up at the slightly damp sewers in thought.

“I was framed, and my trial was rigged. Someone wants me in this prison.” Aaron noted, and Empusa frowned…

Aaron had a rigged trial and had been framed? Now that Empusa thought about it, he had mentioned it before, in passing… but she hadn’t gotten the details as to why from him.

“It’s a bit of a sore-point for me, that they’d accuse me of murder… I mean, I’m no saint, but murder is something I won’t do.” Empusa looked worriedly at his back, even as she ignored her enhanced senses picking up his whisper of ‘not again’ floating in the wind.

“But… why would they do that to you?” Empusa asked as Aaron shrugged, aiming the light while thinking about which direction they were moving in.

“I have no idea… but I do know that someone called Doctor Lionel was the one who spoke to me when I got here. He seemed to want to do something to me, so I’m guessing it’s not what I can do or did to them, but rather what they can do to me that caused them to come after me.” Aaron admitted, and Empusa blinked in confusion, not quite understanding what Aaron meant as he blinked, looked at the ceiling…

Then he pulled out a container that made Empusa blink… then sweat nervously.

“Uh, is it safe to store an explosive in what looks to be a soft drink bottle?” Empusa asked, worriedly looking at the red covering and white writing on said bottle, despite it looking quite a bit different due to the modifications.

“Oh it’s fine, as long as I don’t store it long-term, homemade C4 is extremely dangerous since they mix explosively, at least, storing long term is impossible for that. Short term, it’s fine.” Aaron, unsuccessfully, calmed down Empusa who looked at him placing the bottle to the side near the wall, making her stare at the wall in confusion…

“Uh, why plant there?” Empusa asked, honestly not knowing much about explosives, but trusting that the ‘Muslim’ would know his explosives…

Racist thoughts aside, Aaron didn’t know explosives because of his ethnicity, but because some places can’t be simply broken into with a lock-pick and some miscellaneous tools, sometimes a small boom was required… so he learnt about bigger booms while he could.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Besides, he wasn’t even Muslim in the first place, he was Agnostic. For those who do not know, it meant that he was uncertain of the idea of a God, but if God did exist, Aaron was certain that he wouldn’t be as concerned over religion as other humans…

After all, each religion practically states that if you follow other religions, you go to hell… and since there’s more than one religion… sorry to say, but that would mean everyone’s going and Aaron couldn’t believe that.

“I planted an explosive there because it was a structural weak-point for the maze above us… and included in the circle that Typhon has to run to.” Aaron explained to Empusa.

“Wait, so you’re asking him to go stand above an explosive area!” Empusa shouted in anger as Aaron shook his head even as Empusa tried to hold back her want to hurt him for what he was planning, and he focused his mind on looking at his map.

“These explosives won’t go through the solid bit of concrete above us… but that doesn’t mean it won’t affect the concrete.” Aaron explained, and at this point, beyond the rush he was feeling for his plan, he was just hiding what he was doing because it was clearly pushing the boundary of Empusa’s patience.

“I ask too many questions…” Empusa grumbled to herself as they continued walking, glad that they woke up early, as they couldn’t run around the place due to the makeshift explosives Aaron was placing all around the place being volatile.

The fact that he, in one night, made about twenty ‘two litre’ explosives a bit weaker than military grade C4 was quite scary… we’re talking 2020 C4 by the way, 2070 C4 was quite a bit scarier, especially since they had gotten untraceable and with a much more selective boom.

“We have to hurry you know. These things actually have timers on them, and they are set to blow up in about twenty minutes.” Aaron noted, and Empusa widened her eyes as they moved. Luckily the Labyrinth wasn’t too massive; it was the time spent moving through it was that was annoying.

“Why would you do that?” Empusa asked as Aaron shrugged, thinking to what he knew of Typhon.

“Typhon is… prideful. It’s a problem. Knowing him, he’d actively look for the Minotaur instead of running around causing the Minotaur to search for him instead. So I know that, by now, they would have either found each other, or are about to find each other. And if Typhon follows the trail I lay out, he should be near the circle anyway.” Empusa noted Aaron’s blank stare at the ceiling as he spoke, once more placing a bottle down.

“So we’re expecting them to be fighting, or about to fight right about now? What about us, won’t we be stuck in here during this?” Empusa asked as Typhon waved her off.

“I made four smaller bombs for an exit, so you just have to jump you and me out of here.” He explained, and Empusa had to admit, despite her dislike for everything he was saying since yesterday afternoon, his plan seemed alright… though she still didn’t understand how setting these bombs off would help Typhon defeat Minotaur.

“Well, I’ll trust you, but only because Typhon trusted you in spite of your lack of telling him a concrete plan.” Empusa added, and they stepped forward, before Aaron heard some voices and made for Empusa to keep quiet for a second.

Behind a corner within the sewers, which Empusa hated for the smell by the way since she could literally create a dog nose for herself and that would be horrible for her, were three thugs.

“So, the boss is rampaging up there again due to some new Chained huh? How long has he been running?” One of the thugs asked, and Empusa widened her eyes at the knowledge of Minotaur chasing after Typhon.

“Barely a minute, I pointed him out to the boss and dove in here, it’s dangerous in the maze when the boss lets loose.” The second thug, wearing a bull printed jacket added, and the third, wearing a… Chicago Bulls hat spoke.

Aaron wasn’t sure that counted, seeing as Chicago wasn’t a city anymore, and that referenced Basketball, not the Minotaur.

“Well the boss is dangerous when he lets loose, so it’s a big problem. Do you think he’ll need the traps that we set?” The third thug asked, and the first shrugged, unsure of what he was supposed to reply to that question.

“I’m not sure, if it’s another Chained, especially a Bio-Chained, most traps wouldn’t work on them… I mean, my arrows were alright, but if the Chained has thick skin like Cerberus, well…” the first replied, and the second shrugged as well.

“Yeah, good point. Even Mechanical-Chained are stronger than normal, and they have freaky abilities compared to the other Chained, think about that Toy Maker creep… that’s scary shit man. I built spike traps, and while they are helpful, they obviously wouldn’t stop a Bio-Chained… maybe a Mechanical-Chained, but definitely not a Bio one.”

The second thug seemed confused at the thought as the third sighed, looking very disappointed while he looked up at the other two.

“At least you two have working traps that might work on the Chained. I designed the alligator pitfall trap… someone forgot to remind me that there’s a water-shortage and alligators can’t exactly survive in a small pitfall.” The guy complained as the other two looked at each other, trying to understand what the third had said before they looked back to him.

“So, if you designed an alligator pitfall trap, and there weren’t resources for it, what did you do?” The second questioned, and the third looked away as if embarrassed.

“…I made a knee-high pool containing rubber ducks. No alligators for the pool and not enough water to drown someone. It ended up just being a fake trap, looks scary until its evaded then you see how stupid it was.” The third noted and Aaron blinked, listening to his words… and thinking that yes, Empusa was right.

Strange things happened around Aaron. He liked to think that he might have that old Chinese blessing, may you live in interesting times… or was that a curse?

“That’s fine bro… all of our traps won’t really work, but at least you made a distraction.” The other two tried to comfort the third as Aaron looked to Empusa.

“They are so pitiful… knock them out, and drag them behind us. You can change your arm into multiple arms right, like a spider?” Empusa disliked the idea of being anything similar to an insect, despite knowing that she could do that… as a massive spider, but even she felt sorry for the three as she jumped out, her skin and hair coloration changing into a black shade after mimicking a panther slightly, then she attacked all three with attacks to the temple, knocking all three out, then her right arm changed into three arms, each thin but strong, and she dragged them behind her.

“Thanks, that was just sad. And I’m sorry for asking you to change, I know it’s painful.” Aaron added, knowing that Empusa had mentioned the pain involved with changing forms before, though it had lessened since Typhon had helped out with his Stabilization ability.

“I surprisingly agree. Now let’s move since those bombs could hurt us.” Empusa noted and Aaron agreed, and they moved once more. Once out of range of an explosion, the three stooges, as they now were within Aaron’s mind, were tossed out of the radius while they planted the remaining charges.

“Alright, help me set these up, one metre apart, in a square shape.” Aaron asked as Empusa nodded, having snapped her three arms back into one, with accompanying painful noises, and changing her skin colouration back to normal, then looking at the small five hundred millilitres bottles, and the two way duct tape attached to them.

“So these will get us our escape route? When do these go off?” Empusa asked while elongating her legs… and she would have stumbled like Bambi if it weren’t for having done something similar before, and then Empusa began placing the explosives on the ceiling.

“Oh, these explode about a minute before the others. So we have like one hundred seconds to move away.” Empusa widened her eyes and shrunk her legs back to normal proportions before grabbing Aaron and running, until they were quite a bit away.

“Can you get back in less than sixty seconds? Don’t go too far away.” Aaron reminded her as quickly as possible, and she realized he was right before she stayed a comfortable distance away…

Then a tiny boom went off and Empusa moved, changing the bone structure in her legs to be similar to an ostrich, though her feet stayed the same due to her sneakers, and she moved quickly to the square metre opening above them, and jumped.

Fun fact, flying three metres up to escape underground explosives was exhilarating, if dangerous.

After landing, Aaron looked at where he estimated the blast range of the other C4 was… and he was mentally counting since the first explosion.

Once he reached fifty nine, he began to laugh, even as a massive boom shook this section of Tartarus, and Empusa watched in awe as a section of the maze sunk in…

In the distance, likely fifty metres away from them, she heard Typhon shouting in surprise, along with the booming voice of the Minotaur.

Once the dust cleared, it showed… well, Empusa didn’t have a term for it beyond ‘arena’.

It was roughly one hundred metres in diameter, though some parts weren’t quite that long others were a bit longer, as Aaron complained to the side that due to the setup of the maze, both the above one and the sewer maze, getting this perfect was impossible.

The walls of the labyrinth had crumbled as well, making the floor full of rubble, and the Minotaur and Typhon stumbled to their feet after the fall, as Aaron took a deep breath, and shouted.

“Typhon, I set up an arena for you! Now beat the hell out of that guy!” Aaron shouted as Empusa looked at him… one wouldn’t think that the widely smiling biker looking guy could alter the terrain of Tartarus without the ability of a Chained.

“Aaron! When I get out of here, I’m going to maim you!” Typhon screamed back, even as Empusa noted, with her enhanced eyesight, that he was smiling widely, and Empusa realized her mistake.

Typhon might question Aaron… but he hadn’t doubted Aaron like she had. Typhon trusted that Aaron had a plan, and would help him get out of his situation. She wasn’t sure what happened between the two of them, only knowing that the ‘deal’ made was essentially, Aaron helped Typhon with something, and would help Typhon find his sister while they travelled.

Though how they acted, one would think they had been friends for a long time… Empusa shivered in realization as she remembered that Aaron had a good ‘understanding’ of those around him… she guessed, that when he used that understanding as much as he could, he’d end up with a friend like Typhon, under the right circumstances.

It was almost a Chained power into itself.

“Ah, so you had friends… no matter, I won’t be hurt.” Minotaur claimed as Aaron stared at the fight that was about to begin.

Typhon once more tried lashing out with his chains, it hit Minotaur, making him step back, surprising Empusa, but Aaron just kept staring, intent on figuring out why he would be hurt now.

“That attack tickled, little king.” The Minotaur’s voice boomed, even to Aaron and Empusa as he swung his axe at Typhon, and Typhon lashed out again with the chain after dodging under the hit, though no real damage was dealt…

Aaron had seen enough though, it was difficult for him who did not fight often, but he was capable of seeing what was wrong with the image in front of them.

“Typhon, he nullifies blunt force damage!” Aaron noted that when Minotaur was hit, the skin on his back, relative to where he got hit, would expand for a moment, meaning that, to Aaron and his miniscule knowledge of anatomy, that the Minotaur got hit, and the force was redirected to his back, dispersing the blow so that a hit weighing a ton ended up just a small flurry of punches over an area, if that explanation could be understood.

Typhon widened his eyes as the Minotaur glared at Aaron before looking back to Typhon.

“Right, I don’t take blunt force damage at all. And by staying in my Labyrinth, I had other places to redirect the damage to as well.” The Minotaur noted, as Aaron pieced together the idea…

Basically, any shock given to the Minotaur’s body would either be dispersed over a wide area, or sent into the ground or the walls around him within the Labyrinth. In an open area, he only had the ground below him, and that would be easily notable.

So he fought only in the Labyrinth due to trying to hide his weakness from everyone else. The Minotaur also couldn’t use the redirection into the floor now because the ground was covered in rubble, he wouldn’t be able to redirect it.

But there was still an issue to be noted, namely, Typhon didn’t use anything that wasn’t blunt force. His chains, his fists and kicks, those were all blunt force… so he had to improvise.

Typhon focused, thinking about what he wanted to be made, remembering that his nanotechnology wasn’t as limited as it seemed, he just had to focus, and a new form could be assumed… and so he focused, recalling the claws and talons of Empusa, and willing his nanotech to move.

The bracelets and anklets flowed, moving over his hands and feet, forming claws, falling forward a bit as his mind registered the swap from plantigrade, walking on metatarsals and toes, into digitigrade, walking on toes/claws.

Aaron had to say, with claws, Typhon seemed kind of scarier than usual.

“Typhon, what’s that! Give it a name, all cool things have names!” Aaron shouted and Typhon ignored the ramblings of the insane one who lead him. Aaron had tried to get Typhon to name his chains too, but he and Empusa both agreed that seemed kind of silly… Typhon argued that they didn’t understand good cartoons. Shouting your attack makes you stronger.

Typhon ignored the insanity spouted by Aaron and rushed forward, marvelling in the grip provided by the new variation of his nanotechnology based weapons, and jumping onto the axe used by Minotaur…

Then he reached out towards the Minotaur, causing Typhon’s claws to gouge out a chunk of Minotaur’s flesh across his chest, making Aaron widen his eyes before he realized what had happened, Typhon had, at the moment of contact, lengthened the claws, much like he lengthened his chains when they were in use.

Aaron grinned when he saw the attack though, in spite of the blood, it was a grin because he knew that Minotaur likely hadn’t been hurt in quite a while, meaning that he would be surprised at being hurt now.

“You little… that actually hurt… well, won’t stop me from killing you.” Minotaur calmly said and Aaron frowned… the Minotaur betrayed expectations involving his mentality, given how calm he was.

He was slower than Typhon though, and while Typhon could cut him now, the Minotaur was still bigger and stronger, one or two good hits, and Typhon would lose, even glancing hits could be deadly.

Typhon didn’t let himself get hit though, dodging the slashes of the axe while aiming his new claws at said axe, hitting it each time it passed, dodging where necessary, until finally the axe shattered, and Typhon took his chance, rushing forward and trying to attack Minotaur.

“I was waiting for this!” The Minotaur leaned forward, using his horns to try and stab through Typhon who was moving towards the Minotaur. It looked like Typhon would lose…

Then Typhon shocked everyone when he reached forward, instead of dodging, grabbing the horns approaching him as he growled, his new clawed feet digging into the rubble as he leaned back, a chain shooting out of his anklets and hitting Minotaur’s legs even as he tried to keep running…

The end result, was Minotaur stumbling in the middle of his charge… and Typhon lifting up the massive Chained by his horns, literally, and actually fell back to toss the massive Minotaur flying a short distance, landing on his back and causing the beast to cough blood from the unexpected slam.

“That was awesome!” Empusa thought perhaps Aaron was heard all over Tartarus with how excited he sounded at seeing some pro-wrestling moves done in a fight between a massive monster and a person with super strength (essentially) and he widened his eyes and jumped into the hole made in the labyrinth, Empusa following him with wide eyes.

“Whoa, whoa, Typhon, are you going to kill him?” Aaron asked, running towards the place where Typhon stood upon the Minotaur’s chest, holding his newly clawed fingers against the neck of the Chained.

“That depends… I want him to make a deal with us.” Typhon said surprised Aaron and Empusa alike as Aaron sighed with an easy smile on his face, thinking about the terms he could use with the Minotaur, considering he didn’t actually know the Minotaur or spoke with him.

“Well, I’m sure we can make an easy deal, isn’t that right, Minotaur? I mean, there must be something you want, and we have your life and a few other things as collateral. Let’s talk business.” Empusa shivered even as Minotaur began to laugh, causing Typhon to stumble a bit on the wounded chest of the almost four metres tall Chained.

“I don’t need your business deals. Typhon here is strong, and if he’s following you then you must be worth following.” Minotaur easily claimed, making Aaron almost stumble as he approached.

“Well… that was easy? That being said, do you wish to look humanoid again?” Aaron asked, and Minotaur blinked, looking at the woman following Aaron, namely, Empusa, and taking note of her collar which had the Ω symbol on it.

“Wait, humanoid?” he asked, as Empusa sighed, looking to the massive brute with annoyance in her eyes.

“It’s me, Empusa. Typhon can make us look human again. It also increases our abilities.” Minotaur frowned, looking at Typhon who still held a claw to his neck.

“…So we get stronger… will I still have my awesome horns though?” Once again Aaron was caught flat-footed… then began to laugh, confusing Empusa but Minotaur and Typhon smirked to each other…

Empusa was worried that she might be the only sane one… and Aaron thought that he might have found someone sillier.