[Charles]

  I watched Ishmael fly off to try to sate his boredom. The black wings spread wide to deliver calamity on whatever poor soul happened to find themselves in his way.

  I wouldn’t miss him.

  With a snap of my fingers, this throne room started to change. A drain formed beneath the blood puddles. Water flooded from another dimension, rinsing away all of the filth and gore from the earlier carnage.

  Only when I was satisfied with the cleanliness of the place did I allow all of my niceties to appear. Lavish Afghan carpets sprawled across the floor. My satin chair rose to usurp the basic marble throne. Red wallpaper covered the walls and chandeliers dropped from the ceiling. A fireplace formed along one of the walls to dispense infernal heat into the room. A record player appeared out of thin air to play whatever hellish classics that managed to be recorded.

  It was mostly Wagner.

  My suit changed to a robe as I sat down upon my chair. I summoned a pipe into my hands and took several puffs.

  A long exhale brought several smoke rings out of my mouth. It was peaceful again. The pace had been so frenetic that I had yet to really set my roots in this new place, kindle my connections. I had barely had the time to dispatch my agents to the far corners of this dimension. I hadn’t even received a single report from them before Ishmael made a move.

  Now he was gone, giving me free reign to sway as many of his powerful commanders over to my side. I had already tried to make inroads to disappointing results. All of these people lacked charm and, more crucially, lacked exploitable vices; their pursuit for power went only so far as to be stronger in combat and nothing else. It was impossible to compete with the draw of the strongest demon in the organization to win the respect of those types nor did I really want them in my inner circle anyways.

  What use is an empire built of blood and smoke?

  I rose to the Third Rung quickly and planned to stay there for much longer than I got to. This new realm was as dreary as my powerful contacts made it seem. Using magic to maintain a beautiful terrace garden was pointless when fools dropped magical bombs on your house.

  Maybe I’d have that luxury as I wasn’t doing any of the fighting myself.

  “Sir Charles, you have a visitor,” one of the demon guards informed me as they poked their head into my sanctum. “They said they are asking for a loan.”

  “Let him in,” I replied with a smile. It had been some time since I had been graced by my greatest benefactor.

  The door opened wide and a hyena demon waltzed into my room. A more masculine frame with an effeminate air about them. A conundrum of a creature and a form that I had yet to be familiarized with.

  However, there was an energy about them that I found…distasteful. They reminded me of a used car salesman, predatory and slimy in a way that lacked the refinement of my own exploitations.

  “What beautiful music. What wonderful paintings,” the hyena said with a flourish. “You must be a kindred spirit in taste. I don’t meet many who are so in-touch with indulgence.”

  “Who are you?” I inquired. I tilted my head to the side, feigning intrigue in this farce.

  I had met too many of these types; jesters in one-thousand dollar suits trying to rub elbows with the upper class using their charms. I can see the way that they watch me with eyes that do not match their smile. This beast wants to praise me, let my guard down with appeals to my perceived vanity. I can imagine they have slipped into many beds and walked away with many riches as a result.

  But, I was curious as to how.

  “My name is Capitaine,” the demon said with a bow. “I am here to assist you.”

  That name sounded familiar. I pulled up my system to see several reports on a Hyena who had potential close ties with Ishmael. It was the one I believed had the least amount of leverage value.

  “Assist me?” I asked with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure that you are talking to the right person? I don’t rule this place.”

  “Don’t you?” Capitaine asked with a charming little bow. “The faction moves to your plans, does it not? Ishmael is but a figurehead who gets to take all the credit for your accomplishments. Don’t you feel that it’s unfair? I can help you.”

  “Are you proposing that you help me kill Ishmael and take the faction for myself?”

  “See? It’s your natural conclusion because that’s what you desire.”

  How brazen.

  What a little poison pill this hyena is. There were too many attempts on my former empire for me not to see what kind of creature this is. A boon, they were not. Well, perhaps I could turn them into a boon.

  My tentacles rose around the hyena, arresting their wrists and ankles and rendering them immobile. I pulled their limbs far apart; pulling my tentacles in all different directions like they were horses to a person condemned to being drawn and quartered. More importantly, Capitaine would be unable to use their gun.

  “Are you going to so mercilessly kill a friend of your boss?” Capitaine asked coolly.

  “That’s why I’m only going this far. Fifty thousand XP cane strike.”

  I smashed Capitaine across the snout with my cane. A few teeth were knocked loose and blood squirted out of their nostrils. They looked at me and smiled. Hmm. I thought them to be more cowardly. I decided to test them further.

  “Now, state your true intentions,” I ordered. “Before I show you what a real interrogation looks like.”

  “There’s no need to be so harsh on the poor thing.”

  A woman in an elegant, white wasp-waist dress appeared in the room. She fluttered a fan in front of her face and giggled.

  “Ah, Want,” I greeted with a nod. “You were the one that I expected, but it seems that this one knew what our little code was. You don’t suppose you know how that little bit of information slipped, do you?”

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “It must have been a code mentioned by their master,” Want answered with a shrug.

  “Who is that?”

  “The Eight-mouthed Liar,” Want replied. “I like her insomuch that she craves chaos to a tantalizing degree. But, sadly, she prefers Control.”

  “I can only assume what a demon following the Eight-mouthed Liar intended to do by getting in my ear,” I said, crouching down in front of the hyena. My tentacles had Capitaine in a death grip. “Was it your master’s wish to influence me into attacking Ishmael?”

  “Something like that,” Capitaine answered with a grin. “But, now that I’ve been found out, would you be so kind as to release me?”

  “I also assume that it was your intention to leave me to die if it didn’t seem like we’d win? I presume your master cares little for which one of us is victorious as long as the group is crippled.”

  “You live up to your reputation for being intelligent,” Capitaine complimented. “Your ambition was overstated.”

  “That’s right, Charles,” Want pouted. “What happened to that ambition?”

  “I was recently humbled,” I answered candidly. “It made me re-evaluate what it is that I truly want. Allow me to show you what I’ve been up to.”

  I waved my hand and a hatch formed in the floor. I snapped my finger and the hatch opened, revealing a staircase that descended deep into the darkness. As we walked down the stairs, lights would activate to our proximity, shining down on the next few steps.

  “You said that you’ve come to a new conclusion?” Want prodded.

  “I learned that I have no interest in fighting,” I replied to the Folly’s eager questioning. “I thought that I could simply outmaneuver every situation I was in and use proxies when I could not. I could build positive relationships to exploit them when they were at the perfect timing. But, I learned something upon my reunion with Ishmael. There are some people that are so insane and unreasonable that you must fight them.”

  “Could you not build a force of demons capable enough to defeat Ishmael?” Want asked curiously.

  “It would be a recreation of the problem,” I replied. “If I were to make someone stronger than Ishmael, it means they are stronger than me and have no further use of me. There are a lack of powerful demons that would allow themselves to be used in that way and I know for a fact that someone like Passion or Control would get into their ear eventually.”

  “You have me there,” Want said with a shrug.

  We finally reached the bottom. A superstructure of high-grade Sin-gots and mana pockets. The place where I keep all of my most important things.

  My laboratory of sorts.

  “That’s not to say that I’ve been idle,” I continued. “It just means that I’ve shifted my current goals from king to kingmaker. Now, let me show you my first exhibit.”

  I opened a cell door to reveal a slug demon attached to numerous sensors. A demon in a lab coat was currently analyzing results of a previous test. When they saw me enter, they rapidly went rigid and offered a deep bow.

  “Oh, I’ve been excited to see this,” Want said enthusiastically. “Nobody has been as meticulous in their research as you have.”

  I stood over the slug. It reeked of alcohol. It burped on my shoe and rolled around in its own filth. How pathetic, this worm of a man. How was it possible for such a creature to share a species with me? It must have been some sort of error, or it only proved the fact that some were designed to be subservient to others. Subservient to me.

  “Your son is causing me problems,” I said to the writhing slug. “Your wife must have been unfaithful. It’s a mystery to me how he could have come from your genetics.”

  “That’s Ishmael’s father?” Capitaine asked with twinkling eyes.

  “Ishmael generously donated him to my research,” I answered, chopping off the hope that this was a secret. “I kill him and kill him, but all of his stats remain at one. It is impossible to go lower than that. He has a single point of health. You can poke him and he will die. Go on, try it.”

  Capitaine reached forward and touched the slug with their claw. The demon screeched and ripped open like an overripe tomato, spilling his foul-smelling guts all over the floor.

  “It makes sense that it cannot reach zero,” Capitaine commented with great interest. “Having zero health would mean you would instantly die repeatedly. It’s almost the same as being nonexistent.”

  “It’s like escaping the punishment,” Want said with a smile. “You tried more than killing him at this point, didn’t you?”

  “Correct,” I confirmed with a nod. “I placed numerous curses and debuffs that would normally cause stat drops. They are completely ineffective. Well, they will work in killing him upon application and then they break. It cannot be maintained. There will be no permanent death, but there is a known limit to how much XP and stats you can extract from a demon. Come, I have something else to show you.”

  We walked down the hall. I showed them my prison dimension and my army of debtor slaves. I revealed my information network and just how much of this realm I was already aware of.

  But, what I really wished to show them resided beyond the next door. I pushed it open at the perfect time.

  The demon inside was actively transforming according to pictures that a shadowy figure was showing it. They went from a wolf-demon with gray fur to a snake well over thirty feet long to beautiful peacock all in the span of several seconds.

  “Wow,” Capitaine commented in rapture.

  “Mr. Charles,” the demon greeted immediately. They popped into their default form; a tiny coal colored creature. “I didn’t know you were coming.”

  “I wanted to check on you and I brought some friends,” I said gently, patting the demon on the head. “You seem to be doing very well indeed.”

  “Thank you. Hello, Mr. Charles’ friends.”

  “Very good,” I encouraged. “Everyone, this is Pooka. They are a shapeshifter. Pooka, could you mimic the lady with me?”

  “O-of course, Mr. Charles,” Pooka replied.

  With a slight strain, the tiny demon grew into a perfect copy of the form Want was currently inhabiting. I could see a look of awe stitched across the Folly’s face. I grinned at the confirmation that this demon was truly special.

  “Incredible,” Want murmured. "What a unique skill you've developed, little one. I wonder which one of us made it for you."

  “How much would it cost to duplicate that ability,” Capitaine asked with as much, if not more interest than Want.

  “Not for sale,” I snipped. “G?lge, how much longer?”

  “Progress is good,” the shadow demon answered. “Days, no more than a couple weeks.”

  “Very good,” I said with a nod. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, there is something else I’d like to show our guests.”

  “Mr. Charles, do you think my friends will be back soon?” Pooka asked with a hopeful look in their eyes.

  “If you continue to be good, I will do everything in my power to ensure you are reunited,” I replied with a warm smile. “Please continue listening to Mr. G?lge.”

  “O-okay. Thank you, Mr. Charles.”

  I led my guests out of the room and moved them further down the hallway until I reached another door. I opened it up to reveal an empty cell.

  “Go on in,” I said to Capitaine. “You’ll be surprised with what you find inside.”

  Still entranced by what I had just shown them, Capitaine compliantly entered with eyes filled with wonder. I could see them excited about what other magic I possessed down here.

  Until I slammed the door behind them.

  “Hey! What are you doing?” Capitaine called out as they pounded on the door.

  “Dealing with you,” I answered. “Isn’t this preferable to dying?”

  “You can leave me here!” Capitaine shouted. “What are you going to do when Ishmael finds out?”

  “You’re right, you are Ishmael’s friend,” I said with a nod. “So, I will leave you here until he gets back and you can ask him for forgiveness for what you’ve done. I hope that you’re more convincing to him than you are to me. We both know what happens to his enemies.”

  With a satisfied grin, I left the hyena to pound helplessly on the door. I walked to the stairs and back to my cozy room and beautiful music.

  “Now that our guest is dealt with, would you tell me your actual plan?” Want asked eagerly.

  “I plan to help Ishmael win and then trap him in the highest tier,” I answered. “As long as I prevent anyone else from crossing over, he will not be able to gain XP. He will stagnate while I continue to accumulate experience. I will join when my statistical advantage is so high that he will have no chance. And then, I will bring back hunger and thirst as you’d like. After that, I will give myself the only farm and the only fresh water in all of Hell. Only those who sign unbreakable vows of loyalty to me will be permitted to eat and drink.”

  A wolfish grin crossed Wants face. I knew it; I was crafted in their image. My ceaseless desire could be nothing else except for divine.

  “Aren’t you worried he will just destroy Hell?” Want asked. “I believe him fully capable of ending it all for everyone.”

  “He said he had greater aspirations. Call it a gamble.”