The Madman sighed, he so enjoyed watching the fruits of his labour, his new disciple was on the floor mourning for the friend that he had just killed.

The Madman cared not, he had his disciple. A broken disciple as well! He just loved it when things came together!

He was still a bit disappointed in his avatars lack of the commitment at the beginning but there was no one else to go to, and that spot in the pit was the only place with thin enough walls between the two realms to make actual contact and it was out in the middle of nowhere! He supposed he was lucky he got anyone at all, even if he was a tad young, only fourteen or fifteen by the looks of it.

He plucked a piece of brain matter from the air and started to chew on it absent-mindedly noting to himself that the new freezing technique he had developed made them extra crunchy.

He continued to watch as his disciple finally looked up in search for him, The Madman had long since disappeared from view though and the disciple had far more pressing matters to attend too, namely that of an exploding mountain. The disciple would survive; even now the gifts of being an avatar helped him.

“Madman.” A voice came from behind him,

“Death, what do you want?” The Madman said cordially, “a piece of brain perhaps? An eye maybe?” Taking out the aforementioned pieces and presenting them to Death.

“Madman what I want is a favour, I want your disciple to meet with my dungeon.” Deaths hand clenched at the disrespect that was being shown, when he made the gods kneel no one would act that way towards him ever again!

The response was clear, vicious, and spoken with hate, “NO! You will be getting no favors from me today Death, after that stunt you pulled at my castle you’re lucky I don’t go over to your dungeon and destroy it completely!” The Madman’s face was locked in a snarl, pieces of frozen brain shooting all over the place, the arrogance! When I ascend Death will be the one kneeling at my feet! Already the wheels turn, his dungeon will become mine and Death will be no more.

“You and I both know there are greater problems at hand than our feud when the gods are dealt with we can resume our feud then, further our contracts forbid it lest we both die.” The Madman had to be dealt with delicately or else he would bite.

“Makes sense, but that changes matters not at all! There will be no meeting unless I say so! Further, the loophole you exploited by trapping me here must be fixed.” The Madman crossed his arms and sniffed dismissively.

“What would it take to accept the deal Madman?” SCUM! He should know his place, but remember to act as the Madman acts and there should be no problem.

The Madman smiled, “Triple my compensation and you have a deal.” I have him by the balls all I need to do now is drag him to the ground! A vicious gleam entered into the eyes of the Mad one.

“Double the compensation and you may take a monster of your choice.” He thinks he has me but he should know by now that he is no match for me.

“Five breedable monsters and double the compensation or there is no deal, after all, you have trapped me in the In-Between.” The Madman’s face contorted in hate, He will have a slow death.

“So be it, under one clause I will not release you from the In-Between.”

“Deal.”

Death turned and vanished into the air, while the Madman watched.

How he hated being stuck, there was still one item of business to attend to though, turning around and facing yet another god that had appeared before him.

“It seems I’m getting popular!” The Madman said doing a little jig.

“I want the boy, an elite unit and a god killed.” Vengeance spoke in a monotone, her voice betraying no emotion. She had come to him in her god-form, a beautiful woman; she had full lips red lips stained from the blood of her enemies, wherever she walked she left bloody footprints, she carried a stiletto dripping poison in her left-hand, and in the right she carried a tear colored broadsword, both weapons she was currently pointing at the Madman.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The Madman’s lip curled in contempt, to begin with, this was only his shadow, though it did look like his true form, after all the Madman specialized in tricks of the mind.

“No.” The Madman said churlishly and then proceeded to belch in the arrogant face of Vengeance.

Her eye twitched slightly the only sign of her displeasure, “I will owe you a favor.”

The Madman in an impressive feat of flexibility had turned his back on Vengeance had proceeded to bend over and stick his head through his legs, he then farted, belched and spat a piece of brain out of the side of his mouth. “No. A favour from you is hardly worth a thing!” He cackled head still between his legs gazing up at the rapidly reddening face of the goddess known as Vengeance.

She spluttered for a moment, dumbfounded before eventually spitting; “A favor, my support for your ascension into Alpha Deity, and the full support of my followers, and...” She smiled, “A pass out of the In-Between.”

The Madman rapidly straightened, “Milady, your wish has been granted! What god do you need me to vanquish?” He bowed low, it seemed his magic still worked even in his weakened state.

“The Three-Headed Beast.”

The Madman’s eyes widened, “You mean, the Hydra? The Lord of Monsters? The god of at least three different domains?”

“The very same.”

“We need to write out a contract, but otherwise, yes, deal accepted, come back tomorrow we can talk then.”

Vengeance disappeared and Varic came with her.

...

Vengeance appeared in front of Death, “The deal is done, The Madman’s charms were hard to resist and I had to fold but he should not be out of the In-Between for a while now, for the magic to work it will take at least a year possibly more depending on how powerful the target is.”

Teeth ground together, “Good.”

“That is our contract, I want Betrayal dead.”

“Of course,” This fit in perfectly with Deaths plans,

“I also want his domain.”

“Fine,” Betrayal had a secondary domain of deceit, and probably had a few more besides that.

...

Death stood on of the twin peaks of Obsidian mountain, wind whipping his cloak, storm clouds stretched out in all directions as far the eye could see, the only illumination was the constant flashes of lighting.

On the other peak stood Betrayal, holding daggers in both hands, eyeing the scythe that Death carried warily.

“Why have you come?” Betrayal was the first to speak, voice strained, hands shaking.

“To kill you,” Death responded simply.

“Why? What have I done to deserve your wrath?” Betrayal prepared to flee; he knew that he could not fight Death without dying.

“Nothing, I was asked to kill you and take your domain to give to another. I cannot break a contract any more than you can.” Death started to come toward Betrayal over the mountain peaks, lightning flashing behind him and illuminating his skeletal jaw the only part not covered by his cloak.

Betrayal fled, flying fast across the plains around the two peaks, but Death was faster and he was forced to engage.

Death came fast swinging high with his scythe and bringing it savagely down toward his victims head, hundreds of mini-scythes also popped into existence and came down upon Betrayals head, who didn’t move at all the scythes came down and went right through him but no blood came out and the shadow dissipated harmlessly.

Death growled, then turning around saw Betrayal running, but instead of just one there were hundreds of Betrayals running, and they were all constantly multiplying until there were a thousand, and then ten thousand, and then millions.

Death swept his scythe once and hundreds of shadows went up in smoke, and then again, and again, but it was not enough for the shadows kept multiplying.

He closed his eyes sending out his life-sense over the multitude of shadows, then grinned, “I have you now Betrayal.” His teeth ground together showing his amusement.

Death leaned back and threw his scythe, which went whirling through the billions of shadows destroying millions as it went straight for Betrayal going much faster than any god could. Betrayal looked back and saw the scythe heading for him moving faster than he could run and back-flipped over the spinning weapon and continued to run, only to find the scythe once again coming for him but from the front this time, he once again dodged, and then again as the scythe came back, and again, and again, still running forward the entire time Death closing in.

The scythe came rushing again and this time Betrayal was too slow, it hit his arm and sent him flying to the ground.

Death concentrated and with a thought teleported to where his scythe was, grinning within his cowl his teeth showing as he saw Betrayal lying prone on the ground, the scythe came to him and he brought it down on the victim.

Betrayal saw the scythe coming, rolled, took out his daggers and stabbed Death in the shin and then watched in his horror as the dagger he had used shattered.

“You think a measly weapon such as that can take me down?” He went to stomp on Betrayals face only to have him dodge and start running, Death sniffed contemptuously and threw his scythe which went spinning towards the cowardly god.

Betrayal jumped up letting the scythe go under his feet then defying the laws of physics came straight down stepping and holding the scythe under his heel.

He took out another pair daggers and threw them at Death, who swept them away with his hands, the scythe started to wiggle under his foot and then suddenly Death was there punching him in the face with all his might.

Betrayal went flying only to be caught by the leg and jerked abruptly back.

“Why?” Was all that Betrayal could say before his face exploded spraying brains, blood, and bones into Death's face.

Death wiped his hand, and then stuck into Betrayal's body looking for his heart, finding it than ripping it out with a wet slurping sound.

“He only has one domain?”

He looked closer, inscribed on the heart were the words;

Courtesy of The Madman.