Jonas and his companions camped out in the infirmary: telling tales, licking their wounds, and sharing ideas for their grand escape. By the time Brow had returned to them an hour later, Jonas had fully healed from his deadly wound, and there was nothing left besides some bruising, swelling, and blood stains.

“Ahmed, you and Jonas need to follow me,” Brow said as he hurried into the room. “The rest of you fuckers will go to the fighter’s barracks and start cleaning up Wolf's men. I want you to make sure they feel fear,” Simon, Johnson, Pete, and Ralph nodded their heads and prepared themselves; however, it was probable that without their leader, the wolves would lie down without a fight. Soon, Jonas' crew would run the barracks.

“That’s right,” Jonas looked happy as he clapped Simon on the shoulder. “With Wolf gone, you and Johnson can finally sleep in an actual bed."

"Very exciting, my poor back couldn't take another day in a cage," Simon grinned.

“We’ll have to sniff out any resurgence or thoughts of revenge from his guys,” said Johnson. “But yeah, I’ll finally get to live like a fighter and not like a dummy.”

“Stick together and watch each other’s backs,” said Jonas as he got up and began stretching his body. “As long as you show a united front, no one will fuck with you because you’re with Ahmed and me."

"We've also got Ralph," Johnson pointed at the giant of a man. "He's the best deterrent because neither of you sleeps with us. Anyway, we'll see you later. Good luck."

The two groups split up: Jonas and Ahmed followed Brow out of the infirmary and in the direction of the gang waiting room, while the rest of them headed to the fighter barracks. They reached the large entrance hallway, and there was a set of doors across from the gang exit that Jonas hadn't noticed before.

"Wait a moment," Brow stopped. "This is where we usually have gang meetings. Be on your best behavior, and don’t do anything that might put you on Howard’s shit list. I mean it."

“Sir, yes, sir,” Jonas said with a salute, “I’ll make sure to be on my best behavior,” and although Brow knew it was a hard thing to ask, he believed that Jonas was smart enough not to ruin all of his hard work by pissing off Howard Hurts, at least he hoped Jonas was smart enough.

Brow pushed open the metal doors and ushered Jonas into a large room with tables and chairs. At the end of the room was a gathering of people; they turned their heads to glance at the newcomers.

Garth was just as hulking and menacing as ever, and his black beard twitched as he smiled, and through soulless black eyes, he watched Jonas approach. On the opposite side of him was a beautiful Japanese woman who stared stone-faced at Jonas, but even from such a distance, he could tell she was smiling at him with her eyes.

There were also three people that Jonas didn’t recognize, but he assumed that Xiao Lin was the short Asian man wearing orange robes. There were two similar-looking Caucasian men; however, one of them had a ferocious glare on his face, and his killing intent made the hairs on Jonas’ neck stand on end while the other man smiled as if he was happy to be there.

Beside his evil glare, Thomas Vale was pale-faced, fit, of average height, with a thin face and slicked black hair like a CEO. Jonas could have sworn that his wardrobe was an unsuccessful copycat of Howard Hurts: tall, handsome, brown-bearded, lean, with slicked brown hair and a tailor-made gray suit.

Soon, the two groups conjoined. The aura around the room was heavy, and Jonas knew that the gathering consisted of the strongest people in Little Wrath City.

“Howard,” said Brow with a polite nod of his head. “Sorry, I'm late. I've brought my two fighters with me,” Jonas felt impressed that Brow had the nerve to claim Ahmed as his own, but seeing that Ahmed didn’t deny it, everyone at the meeting found it surprising. Brow had truly moved up in the world.

“Good,” Howard smiled, he looked to still be in his early thirties, and his voice was unique: very smooth and deep. “Now that we’re all here, we can begin. I founded the Hurts gang on the principles of value, particularly: the values of slavery, cage fighting, and gambling. We procure slaves and train them to be fighters, pit them against the fighters of other gangs, and we make a profit from the fight purse and the strategically placed bets. However, the top-five fighters shine the most, so the Hurts gang has always treated them well for their contributions: giving them access to private bedrooms, food, alcohol, clothing, and even prostitutes if they earned it.”

Jonas couldn’t help but wonder how many prostitutes had gone missing after being sent to Garth's room. After a moment's pause, Howard continued his speech. “With that said, only on rare occasions would a top-five fighter be killed by a lower ranking gladiator, only for that gladiator to take his place among the elite, and today that happened again. Brow, do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Howard,” said Brow. He was very nervous and chose his words carefully. “Wolf had problems with Jonas since the boy arrived. Wolf thought he was an easy target, but the old beast underestimated Jonas' talent and conviction. Within one year, my fighter pulled himself from the brink of death—twice—and trained himself to be strong enough to kill a top-five fighter. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Jonas Ariel is the most talented fighter the Hurts gang has ever owned. I’d also like to point out that he just turned nineteen,” Howard Hurts shot Jonas a meaningful look because everything Brow had said was so surprising.

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“Is this true, Jonas?” Howard asked. “How long have you been studying Sin, and how old are you?”

“I just turned nineteen,” said Jonas politely. “I've been practicing Sin for less than a year,” Howard whistled and nodded approvingly.

"I've watched your fights from afar," Howard gave the teen a warm smile. "You are tremendously talented. I'm sorry it took so long for us to meet, but I'm a very busy man. I think you can appreciate that."

"Understandable," Jonas nodded. "I wouldn't blame you for not bothering with an unproven slave, but I'm glad we get to meet now," Thomas Vale scoffed at these words, but everyone ignored him.

“You have a good eye, Brow,” said Howard. “It was a hard decision to demote you when Keal died, but now that you have two top-five fighter’s under your management: Thomas and I are proud to welcome you back with open arms. You’ll be given a new title as the second vice-president of the Hurts gang."

Jonas had never seen Brow look so happy before, and between his faintly watery eyes, red cheeks, and the twisted cracks of his mouth, he resembled a young bride on her wedding day.

“Thomas,” Howard said. “What do you think about all of this? After all, Jonas killed your fighter,” for a moment, it looked like Thomas Vale might explode from anger, but somehow he managed to swallow his pride. He spoke with an English accent.

“Nothing really to say, mate. Wolf picked a fight he couldn’t win, and he can only blame his incompetence,” but it seemed to take a lot of strength to not scream for Jonas’ head.

“Very good,” Howard nodded happily. “I know you're pissed, but you still have Yuki, and I’ll be giving you some money to buy a new slave to train up—how about that?”

“Thanks, Howard,” said Thomas with a forced smile, but everyone and their grandmother could still feel the killing intent directed towards Jonas, who was wearing torn prison scrubs and was covered head to foot in dried blood.

“You’re a mess,” Howard said. “Taking on a top-five fighter is no easy business. Undefeated and nineteen years old. Hell, you're more talented than Garth," Howard Hurts slapped Garth on the shoulder. "It won't be long before this big softy gets passed over for number one slave in the gang," and his laughter boomed across the room.

The rest gave forced smiles and chuckles, even Garth, but he looked murderous, and his face kept twitching like he was holding himself back from strangling everyone in the room. Howard smiled some more, then he looked at Jonas and continued. “The gang will be expecting big things from you. Wolf brought a lot of Sin Stones in his time with us, and I’m expecting his successor will do the same.”

“He won’t let you down,” Brow interrupted, not allowing Jonas to talk, just in case he fucked up the conversation. “Both my fighters will fight for the glory of the Hurts gang and the vaults.”

“Good man,” Howard smiled. “What do you think, Thomas?”

“Yuki,” began Thomas. “Will continue to bring in wealth. As will my next fighter.”

“You’ve come a long way, pretty,” Garth growled. “I shouldn’t have gone easy on you when you were my little dummy slave.”

“Easy on me?” Jonas looked at him stupidly. “You bashed my head until my brains were showing.”

“Is that true?” Howard interrupted as he looked at Brow.

“Err,” Brow blundered. He felt pissed at Garth for bringing up Jonas’ ability to heal, “I forgot to mention that Jonas is quite adept at healing.”

“Really?” Howard looked at Jonas with new interest. “Perhaps an Original Sin that has yet to bloom?” Jonas was surprised at how close he was to the truth. "When you say that he's adept at healing, how adept do you mean? Oh, and please don't lie to me." Howard Hurt's voice was casual, and his smile was broad; however, there was a threat contained in his words.

“Believe me or not, but he had been gutted like a fish just a few hours ago,” he looked at Jonas. “Show him your wounds,” Jonas stripped off his bloodied clothes revealing bare skin that was blood-stained like it had been through hell and back, and yet it didn’t have anything worse than some swelling and bruising.

“They stabbed me here with a six-inch shank,” Jonas said while pointing to his kidney. “Then I was stabbed in the heel, through my right foot, and had my face carved up with a serrated army blade,” Brow could have nearly killed him for going into so many unnecessary details; however, no one liked lying to Howard Hurts.

“Incredible,” said Howard, who went open-mouthed. “I’ve never seen someone heal that rapidly before. You're definitely on the cusp of unlocking your Original Sin. However, I doubt you've ever heard that term before, have you?"

"No, Sir, I'm quite ignorant when it comes to Sinning," Jonas pretended he didn't know anything because he had a bad feeling that Howard Hurts might do something terrible if he thought that Jonas was talented enough to threaten his gang.

"An Original Sin is the next step in a Sinner's journey. In this entire gang, you're looking at the only person who has fully unlocked it; however, it seems like we may have another soon. I say, Jonas, you might be too talented for slavery. Tell me, where did you come from?" It was clear that he thought Jonas might be a Hellite. It was a strange experience dealing with Howard Hurts, as it felt like none of Jonas' secrets could hide when facing him.

"Earth, I died alongside my brother in a car crash."

"Interesting," Howard narrowed his eyes. "It's rare for non-Hellites to awaken their Original Sin. If so, either Garth or Thomas would have awoken theirs. Lin, Yuki, and Ahmed don't have the talent for it. So, you can see why I'm so surprised that you've managed to access yours. You're looking at one of the few non-Hellites in Sun City to awaken their Original Sin. I managed to train mine a few decades ago, but it's been a hell of a time trying to progress further. Masters of Sin are like needles in a giant haystack, while getting one to train you is even harder."

"Oh, I'm sure your Original Sin is something powerful," Jonas tried flattery as a distraction. "I'm only good for healing a bit."

“Of course mine is,” said Howard. “However, now we need to talk about your punishment."