My dastardly scheme and its execution were just the beginning. After all, what good was wealth if I couldn’t use it properly?

I needed answers. For that, I turned my gaze towards the human-ish demon who hadn’t killed me yet and whose name I still didn’t know.

He was happy enough to exchange grunts and some inane chatter while we were on the move. He would even share a tidbit of information occasionally. But most of the time, he was still as cold and standoffish as the rest of the demons. It’s not that they detested us or anything. They just tended to look at us the same way a human would look at a particularly bright animal. Cute? Sure. Something to spend some of your time on? Maybe. An equal? Hardly.

I couldn’t blame them. Frankly, I was starting to prefer demons to the company of my fellow mortals.

Over the last few raids, I had seen the human recruits torture the locals, desecrate their corpses, and far worse. Even if I didn’t witness it, the bragging and horrid stories afterwards were enough to turn my stomach. These weren’t people that I knew in my previous life. These were recruits with morals warped and twisted by their hellish upbringing until they were more demonic than the demons themselves.

The demons, by contrast, were ruthless and efficient killers. I saw one or two prolong their kills, of course. But compared to what the human recruits were doing? Yeah, the demons were clearly the better option, morally speaking.

Unfortunately, this shift in my thinking didn’t improve the demons’ low opinion of me as a mortal. I needed a conversational opening. To get it, I came up with a genius plan.

Gambling.

Even demons needed hobbies. Most of them spent their downtime with cards or dice, letting souls slip through their fingers. My pink demon ‘friend’ was no exception.

My plan had several issues to work through. First, the stakes. Every gambling session I managed to eavesdrop on started at a couple dozen souls, minimum. They usually wrapped up at a couple hundred souls per demon. I couldn’t afford it.

Access was another problem. The demons were likely to laugh me out of their circle, and might even murder me outright if I asked to play.

Finally, I needed to have a relatively private chat with my target. He might feel somewhat comfortable socializing with a mortal out of the public eye. In a group of other demons? I had a feeling he would shut me down.

After the final village, I spent the rest of the day working through these problems, fine-tuning my plan and deciding to take my chances on the more unstable elements. We would reach the city in three days, and I needed to be ready.

That night, I waited until the human-ish demon separated from his comrades and returned to his sleeping bag. Then I approached him, my soul pouch in my hands and a stiff smile stuck on my face.

“Would you like to play a game of dice, perhaps?”

I tried to make my voice confident and casual. Judging by the stink-eye he gave me, this effort was pathetic.

“With you?” the demon growled. “How much can you even afford to put up, mortal? Do you even have dice? Please, get moving before I eviscerate you for wasting my time.”

He turned away. Before I could overthink things or chicken out, I spoke again.

“Three hundred and twenty-five. That’s how many souls I’ve got. And, well, I was hoping you had dice?”

He did. I knew he did because I had seen him draw them out when playing another demon. He sighed loudly as he turned to look at me again, face entirely blank.

“What do you want from me? Help? Do you want me to protect you from the other big bad demons? It must be something big, if you’re so willing to part with the souls you killed for.”

He didn’t have to specify that I killed other recruits. His tone did all the work for him. I didn’t know how he knew, but he did. In fact, I strongly suspected all the demons did. I had no idea why no one was doing anything about it, but as long as things were working in my favor, I didn’t care.

Since I clearly couldn’t hide anything from him anyway, I decided honesty was my best policy. “No protection or help. I just have some questions.”

“Questions?” His disbelief was apparent. “You’re risking your life and all your wealth because you’re curious?”

“Yes.”

The demon scoffed and shook his head. Then, to my relief, he smiled.

“Fine, mortal. Fine. Put that purse away though. I’m not poor enough to prey on a recruit.”

That caught me off guard, but I quickly did as I was told. I wasn’t about to question the sudden altruism of a demon.

“Now then,” he said as I settled down tentatively on the ground in front of him. “What questions were worth taking the risk to approach a demon when you’re terrified of us?”

I couldn’t deny it. I was terrified of every infernal around me, and the things they could do so casually to me. Floating in the void and getting slowly devoured again wasn’t ideal, but getting turned into currency sounded much worse.

“I have…” I took a deep breath to center myself, focusing on the task ahead. Straightforward does it. “I’ve done my best to collect souls, but what should I actually use them on? What can I do to both survive and thrive in this army?”

The demon examined me again. I liked to think he might be starting to appreciate what he saw.

“Interesting question. Fine,” the demon said, his voice now reflecting a slightly positive note. “The first thing you need to do is make sure you’re skilled enough. You’ve fought dregs so far, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Even that fortress city was just a no-name place where second rate troops gathered. You wouldn’t believe what a skilled mortal can accomplish with a blade, even from a demon’s point of view.”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“So, look through my souls and absorb more fighting skills? To form some kind of foundation?” I asked.

“Yes and no. Listen, mortal, don’t make the mistake of absorbing too many souls that way. Demon minds are different than yours. We can absorb the knowledge of as many mortals as we like. But a mortal mind… take too many souls, and you won’t like what happens to you.”

I was silent for a beat, my thoughts drifting to topics I would rather avoid. Like how I was still reaching for things with my left hand, and how all the horrible food we were forcing down was almost palatable to me, or…

With great effort, I pulled my mind back to the conversation.

“Got it. But… what about ascension? Should I throw souls at it? How many souls would that take? And… my sword seems better than regular weapons, but it’s still ‘damaged.’ Should I purchase some equipment?”

The demon laughed in my face then. Others of his kind glanced in our direction, but he made no attempt to hide his derision.

“Oh, that’s just… Listen, kid, you are incredibly lucky that killing you doesn’t mean getting that sword. I honestly don’t know what you’re doing, just parading around with it like that. Someone might take offense at a mere human in possession of a demonic soul blade.”

To say I went pale would be an understatement. Still, I didn’t get it. The sword was great, sure, but… “Why would anyone be upset?”

“You have no clue, do you?” The demon looked at me with pity. “No, I suppose you wouldn’t. If you have that thing, you’re probably a legacy. You know, your parents really screwed you over. If they could’ve waited just a little longer, you would have been born a demon. Why anyone would sire a child before their full ascension is beyond me.”

“Before…? My parents were demons, then?”

“Most definitely. You can’t get one of those blades otherwise. Only demons can leave Legacies. So, even if only one of your parents eventually ascended, they would’ve been better off waiting to have you.”

“But…” I took a deep breath. This wasn’t the time to get off track. “What’s so special about the sword?”

The demon shot me a disgruntled look and grit his teeth, but he did answer. “Mortal, you’re holding a soul blade. That’s explanation enough. Do you think that equipment you can soul-bind to, that can deal incredible damage and grow alongside you, is common? Something you can purchase with a couple thousand souls?”

“No?”

“No is right. Those are practically priceless. You can technically buy them for enough souls, but they are typically auctioned. The kind of wealth you’d need… no, the only practical way to get them is through merit. If you do something impressive enough, a noble demon might bestow one upon you. I don’t have a clue how you ended up with one.”

Neither did I, but I wasn’t about to volunteer that information.

The demon went on, “Listen, all that said, you’re on the right track. You need armor if you want to survive. It will cost you, but as you are right now, any serious combatant can just cut you down in a second and move on. There are a ton of potions you could use too. Some that increase mana, some that toughen up the body, and even some that enhance the mind.”

“Can I afford those?” The bitterness in my words was clear enough that I winced, glancing at him to see if I was about to get murdered.

Thankfully, he just found me funny.

“The good stuff? The kind of potions we demons would use? No. Of course not. The dregs that get pawned off to desperate mortals? Yes. Then again, you’re not even a baby in the eyes of a demon, so trust me, even those would be useful to you. They’re also expensive.”

Of course they were. The demonic sword I had seen was priced at a couple thousand souls. The items my ‘friend’ was describing would cost far less, but considering how hard it was to get souls…

“And that’s better than just saving up for ascension?” I asked.

“Kid, you won’t survive long enough to get the souls you need for ascension without those.”

“How much is that anyway? I mean, how much does ascension cost?”

“A thousand basic souls, if you want to do it right,” the demon said.

There was something about the demon’s tone that I caught onto immediately.

“If I do it right?”

The demon grimaced in a human-like way and shook his head. He was getting more talkative as the conversation went on. “Technically, you can try to trigger ascension when you hit fifty percent, or five hundred souls. I say technically because as a baseline human, you would have leave yourself a fifty percent chance to end up as an imp instead of a lesser demon.”

I didn’t like the amount of venom he put into the word ‘imp.’

“Is there really such a big difference between the two?”

“Yes. Yes, there is. Imps are to demons what regular animals are to humans. They’re hellhounds. Mindless, vicious beasts of slaughter. Imps can theoretically ascend to become lesser demons, but it’s rare, and… difficult. You don’t want to end up an imp. If you do things right and fill up your ascension counter all the way, you’re guaranteed to evolve into at least a lesser demon. Unless you get ambushed during your ascension, that is. Or you’re already grievously wounded. Then you might become an imp anyway.”

I was ravenous to know more. The most important part of his explanation wasn’t how a person became an imp, but rather the words ‘at least’ which implied the possibility to start my demonic existence as something better than a lesser demon…

“How can I do better than that? Do I go over one hundred percent if I don’t want to be just a lesser demon?”

The demon shot me a pleased smile, then shook his head. “Afraid not. A thousand souls is just the price the Abyss demands for your transformation. To become powerful after you’ve ascended, you need to be powerful as a human. In practical terms? That means you need to have a much higher amount of mana than normal. Bind it to your body to refine it, or gather it into some kind of core like mages, or just store it within you somehow, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t have a method to do that already, look for one. The locals here are pitiful, but even one of their paths to power is better than nothing, and it’s not like their skills are guaranteed to be horrible.”

I could still remember the show the elite defenders put on with their final stand. Then again, they did get wiped out effortlessly by the general. The look on my face must have given away my thoughts as the demon continued.

“It’s not the locals’ fault. This is a weak, fledgling world. Do you really think they’d let recruits into an advanced one? No, you’re stuck in the kiddy invasion, and we were just unlucky enough to get the job of babysitting you and doing the actual work. I swear, the souls here are practically worthless.”

Judging by his anger, I didn’t think the demon was lying to me. Still, his emphasis over the ‘weakness’ of the locals was alarming. What about the worlds he took seriously? Would I be sent to one of them someday? As a mortal? I shuddered.

“You don’t get to choose which invasion you wanted to join?” I asked.

I regretted the words as soon as they were out, but I couldn’t take them back. Thankfully, the demon didn’t see the question as an insult.

“No. I’m… new, to the legion. I transferred in.” When the demon saw the blank look in my eyes, he chortled. “Honestly, I’m not sure whether you’re lucky or very much the opposite. I mean, you can earn a decent number of souls here, but compared to every other legion, the danger with this legion is highest. Really, you might want to transfer out the second your current contract expires, whether you’ve ascended by then or not.”

“My contract?” I echoed the words dumbly.

He gave me a confused look. “Yes?”

“What contract?”

“Seriously? What do you think that thing is for?” The demon motioned towards the brand on my hand. “Didn’t you know what you were signing? Seriously, mortals. Just touch it, and focus.”

I did as the demon commanded and gingerly placed my fingers on the brand. The second I focused on it, information popped up in my head, organizing itself neatly into something I could peruse at my leisure.

Hayden Hall: Recruit Second Class

Contract duration: 99 years, 11 months, 7 days, 17 minutes

Merits: N/A

Commendations: N/A

Achievements: First Wave Survivor

Traits: Shattered Legacy holder (Lethaniel Hall) – inactive due to insufficient qualifications, ascend to proceed with Legacy inheritance

I wasn’t sure what to say. A hundred years of my life, casually signed over, like someone could even guarantee I’d live that long.

I just sighed and dropped my head into my hands, the laughter of my demon ‘friend’ echoing in my ears.