Chapter 113 - Deals

“Ya know,” Jack said, leveling his gaze at Rodeo, “it’s hard to be mad at you when I knew you would be planning some sort of bullshit to fuck us all over.”

“Oh yea? You miraculously grow a brain? You couldn’t fathom the depths of my plans,” Rodeo snorted.

“I could hazard a half accurate guess,” Jack grumbled. “I will admit, telling everyone ‘I told you so’ is going to be extremely satisfying, so I should thank you for that.”

“I wouldn’t thank me just yet,” Rodeo chuckled, staring up at the battle raging between the monsters above.

Jack glanced back at the battle between Xinnolath and Gideon. For the first time he saw Gideon losing. It wasn’t by much, but the dragon was on the back foot. It wasn’t a skill issue as far as Jack could tell. Gideon’s form and technique were devastatingly powerful and precise. The problem was that no damage Gideon did seemed to be of any consequence. Any hit landed was absorbed by Xinnolath, and immediately healed. Jack watched as a roar of white hot flames from Gideon’s mouth ripped the demon in two, only for him to melt away, reconnect, and deliver a black beam of energy from his own mouth in return. Xinnolath showed no signs of damage or weakness, if anything, the demon began picking up the pace of its attacks. Gideon, however, was looking stained with sweat, exhaustion prominent on his face.

Jack quickly refocused on Rodeo. The demons he had been fighting seconds ago had all halted at some unseen command from Rodeo. They stood staring at Jack, soulless eyes hungry for his death. He honestly wasn’t sure what the right play was in this situation. If Gideon had been winning his fight with the demon Jack’s confidence in attacking Rodeo would be much higher, consequences be damned.

The soul oath was holding him back though. Not physically, more so mentally. The Tower robbing him of two days and forcing him here to the dungeon was affecting him more than he liked to admit. He honestly couldn’t be sure what would happen if he attacked Rodeo here and now. He did know the Tower would do everything in its power to make sure it killed Jack.

The Tower was a dick.

So, he was forced to sit and watch as Rodeo’s plot played out.

“Xinnolath,” Rodeo started, his tone stern “I need them alive. Stop playing with my food.”

Jacks’ ears perked up at that. Why does he need us alive?

Rodeo was speaking in a normal, conversational tone as he spoke to Xinnolath. The demon seemed to hear him over the raging battlefield, as if the two had a special sort of connection.

Jack watched as Xinnolath absorbed another blow from Gideon, two black blades erupting from his arms and catching Gideon’s enormous scimitar head on. The two stayed in a deadlock, and then every demon in the massive cavern simply disappeared, crashing back into pools of blood on the ground.

There was an awkward silence that filled the room at the sudden disappearance. Confused calls started to ring throughout the army and the clattering of soldiers losing their balance and falling to the ground as their opponents disappeared. Only the grinding of clashed blades in the air above rang throughout the room.

That's when Xinnolath fully overpowered Gideon.

He broke the stalemate with an effortless push and sent the dragon flying back into the cavern wall, shaking the room and sending debris flying everywhere. The demonic blades jutting out of its arms retracted and Xinnolath gave a small flap of its wings, turning to face Rodeo, an aloof look on the demon’s face.

Jack watched as Xinnolath slowly descended. Attacks were levied towards it, spells, arrows, spears all slamming into the demons back. The demon paid them no mind as his cloven hooves touched the blood-filled ground.

“About damn time. I thought you were going to hide up there the entire time.” Jack said, flipping his dagger and staring down the demon.

Xinnolath gave him a confused look, and Jack lunged at the demon.

He let loose the three drops of mana and fell deep into storm stance. As the drops of mana crashed, sending shockwaves of lightning throughout his body he timed his strikes to a perfect precision. His dagger ripped through the air straight at the head of Xinnolath. He couldn’t have timed it better. A lifetime of killing and his recent mastery of his mana drops aligned into this perfect kill strike.

The demon, naturally, caught the blade.

Jack watched as Xinnolath held up a hand, intercepting Jack’s dagger. The blade pierced straight through his hand all the way up to the hilt, coming within an inch of Xinnolath’s eye.

The demon smirked at Jack, and then closed his pierced fist around Jacks, latching onto him.

“Well shit.” Jack complained.

Jack grit his teeth as pained cries threatened to burst out of his mouth while the demon rag dolled him, slamming him into the ground several times before hurtling him head over heel into the retreating U.F.E. soldiers.

Jack groaned atop a pile of knocked down soldiers, trying to figure out what wasn’t broken in his body.

Mercifully, he felt water crawling all over his body, wrapping around every inch, cradling him like a newborn. It was ice cold but refreshing. He let out a sigh of relief as his body began to absorb Sarah’s healing waters, mending his broken bones and healing his cuts and wounds.

The pile of tangled up soldiers sorted itself out and Jack eventually got up off the ground to find Sarah, Hannah and Sam staring at him with determined looks.

“You have to help Gideon,” Sarah pleaded, not giving him a second to think.

Jack looked past the soldiers to Rodeo and Xinnolath who seemed to be engaged in some sort of dialogue. Devin was charging them both, flanked by several soldiers while Gideon was nailed to the ground by several large black rods. His screams didn’t sound like the erudite elf he was used to dealing with. It was more like a dragon caught, roaring pain and indignance.

“Let’s go.” Jack rolled his shoulders and gripped his daggers, chasing after the charging group with Hannah, Sam, and Sarah in tow.

He brought his drops of mana resolutely back under control and gave his core a quick inspection. It was holding up, if not for a few cracks running through it. That didn’t surprise him. He would have to use his mana drops eventually, but his instincts hadn’t provided the right moment when he felt any of his abilities would make a difference. He would only have one chance to blow his load. And just like that night he infiltrated the Playboy Mansion, he needed to pick his moment.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Devin and his charging soldiers came to a dramatic stop as Rodeo stepped in front of Xinnolath, his arms spread wide, shielding the demon. Devin halted immediately, as did several other soldiers. One soldier opted to bravely continue his charge, spear leveled at Rodeo’s chest. To Jack’s surprise, Rodeo let the guy stab him.

The spear ran straight through Rodeo, and the world seemed to freeze as a familiar sight began to play out. Jack watched as white ethereal energy only known to the Tower climbed down from the ceiling like a tree root, finding purchase in Rodeo.

Rodeo raised his head, blood dripping out of his mouth, eyes manic and smile wide as he gripped the spear shaft and crushed it under his grip. He ripped the spearhead out of his body and threw it on the ground.

He pulled swords from his void sack, first one, then dozens, haphazardly throwing them in the air and binding to them with an unseen mental connection as his silver mana coated them. The blades swam through the air like sharks circling their prey. Rodeo brought them all down on the soldier who had stabbed him, shredding the man in a fountain of blood and pain, until there was nothing left to cut. After killing the soldier, several of the swords fell into the bloody waters with a splash, leaving three to swim in the air above Rodeo.

“Let’s not go forgetting the oaths we made,” Rodeo chuckled.

As Jack watched events play out, he quietly made it to Gideon, who was still pinned to the ground and roaring angrily.

“Normally,” Jack started, inspecting the angry dragon, “I’d take this moment to make a funny quip, maybe mock you a little—but even I can recognize how royally fucked we all are, and this isn’t the time to be messing around,” Jack finished, patting himself on the back in praise of his self restraint.

“Help me get rid of these damned spikes,” Gideon growled behind clenched teeth.

“Say please.”

“Jack!” Sarah punched him in the back.

“Fine, fine,” Jack grumbled, grabbing onto one of the spikes that pierced through Gideon’s thigh. “FUCK.” Jack ripped his hands away and stared at his palms.

“Don’t touch the spikes with your bare hands, it’s corrupted iron,” Gideon barked.

“Oh. Thanks for mentioning that after I scorched the hell out of my hands. Asshole.” Jack swore he saw Gideon smirking between pained gasps.

“I can fix this,” Sarah stepped up to Gideon and placed her hands on the dragon. Jack watched as mana poured out of her in crystal blue waters, enveloping the iron spikes that pierced Gideon. “Try it now.”

Jack, Hannah, and Sam all grabbed onto a different piece that had pinned Gideon and pulled, ripping them free from the dragon. He roared again in pain and then fell to the ground panting as Sarah poured healing waters directly into his wounds. Gideon reached into his own void sack and pulled out a pink, apple shaped fruit Jack had never seen before. Gideon bit several large chunks out of it, devouring the fruit in seconds. He slowly stood up, his wounds healing with a sizzle, closing in front of their eyes.

“This is bad,” was all Gideon had to say on the matter as he leveled his gaze at Gideon and Rodeo.

“What is it you want, Rodeo,” Devin growled, each word a sword thrust into Rodeo.

“We shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. I only make one deal at a time, and as you can see, I’m already in the middle of negotiations.” Rodeo gave a lazy smile as he threw a thumb back towards a nonchalant demon.

“Have you brought what I required?” Xinnolath’s voice was deep, and sounded as though multiple voices were speaking at once in disharmony with each other.

“Right here.” Rodeo turned back towards the demon, unconcerned with the fact he was slowly being surrounded by the U.F.E. He pulled out a gourd sized potion, it’s content a deep crimson red.

“What is that?” Sam asked, stepping forward and pushing past a group of soldiers to get a closer look.

“Doesn’t look like a health potion,” Hannah added.

“Gideon?” Sarah asked.

Jack glanced over at the dragon. His eyes had gone hard watching the exchange, his mind clearly racing as he searched for answers.

“Samuel,” he finally said after a quick moment, “do you have a path to retrieve that item?”

“What?” Sam was startled by the sudden attention, quickly looking downward as all eyes fell on him.

“Look, damn you!” Gideon urged, not a hint of his usual playfulness detected. Sam stared at Rodeo and Xinolath. Rodeo held out the large potion to Xinnolath, who stared at it with disdain.

“Open it,” Xinnolath commanded.

Rodeo did as the demon asked without skipping a beat, pulling out the cork and discarding it. The demon’s face scrunched up, disgust plain on his face as a red ethereal force began to float out of the vial. Then, Xinnolath began to chuckle.

“Excellent. With this we can complete our deal.”

“Samuel! Is there a golden thread? Do you see a path to the vial?” This time Gideon had grabbed Sam by the shoulders and was shaking him.

“I see it, yea…” His voice was shaking slightly as he glanced back over at Rodeo and Xinnolath.

“If you don’t use it, we die.”

“But…but you said not to use it unless I had too… I almost died once while using it. What happens if it doesn’t work this time?”

Jack stared at Gideon and Sam's argument, confusion on his face. It was moments before recollection hit him like a mac truck. Sam telling him about the new addition to his [Chrono-Warp] ability. He wasn’t clear on the specifics, but it allowed him to jump into the future or was it back to the future? Something along those lines. One thing he did remember is that Sam was sure that the ability would only present itself when the chances of him dying were extremely high. An ultimate sacrifice sort of ability.

Jumping into the middle of Rodeo and Xinnolath would be a death sentence if there ever was one.

Before Jack could form a plan on this new revelation a shockwave of black and red energy tore through the room, knocking back everyone in the room with a wave of pressure.

Everyone turned to face Xinnolath and Gideon.

The demon held his finger just above the red vial, laughing wildly as black blood fell from his fingertip and into the vial. With each drop that landed another powerful shockwave was sent through the room.

“Drink it and you will be a vessel worthy of my power,” Xinnolath commanded. “Drink it and our deal will be sealed.”

Rodeo didn’t hesitate as he put the potion to his lips and threw his head back. Blood ran down his cheeks as he downed the murky substance in one breath. He threw the bottle aside with a frantic gasp for air, red spittle flying from his mouth as he stumbled to the ground.

“Our deal is sanctioned.” Xinnolath let loose a final breath before turning into a cloud of blood red mist and disappearing completely.

Rodeo slowly stood up; his eyes glazed over as he read through notifications meant only for him.

His laughter was slow to come. His screams were not.

Jack watched as Rodeo succumbed to the physical manifestation of madness. His skin was the first to change. Turning gray, then black, then red. He clamped down on his forehead and doubled over onto the ground, letting out a pained scream that was gift wrapped in a laugh of pure, elated psychosis.

Two wicked horns erupted from his forehead, blasting his hands away as Rodeo let loose a demonic scream. The bloody waters began to thrash, bubbling, making waves that built in momentum and crashed all around the U.F.E. soldiers.

Then it all came to a stop.

Rodeo fell to his knees. His head hung down, chin pressed to his chest. The waters came to a stop and an eerie silence filled the room.

The blood red waters took on life again, swimming around Rodeo in a circle, picking him up and swaddling him, enveloping him until he floated lifelessly in the center of a large blood red orb that had a

chaotic black energy swimming throughout. The ball surrounding Rodeo solidified, its texture turning into a marbled matte finish of black and red. It hung there in the air, towering over the room.

“We’re all dead.” Gideon fell to the ground, his eyes locked on the orb that consumed Rodeo.