I quickly caught up with the other man. He looked around and then opened a cellar door. I followed him in. When he closed the door, he dropped his stealth. I walked right behind him as we traveled together down some stairs and reached another set of doors. He knocked three times, then twice, then four times. The door opened. I hurried right behind him before the door could close on me.

  I took in the room before me. There was a small table with two chairs to the side of the room. Someone occupied one chair, though he stood up to salute the person carrying the child. Another man, who had just let us in, was closing the door and saluting when he finished. The guy carrying the child didn’t acknowledge them and hurried off to some other room.

  I focused my attention on the two new guys. I would get to the other guy soon enough. These two new specimens had black souls as well. I watched as the guy at the table sat back down and turned his back to the door. The guy at the door let out a sigh, as if he was relieved, then walked back to his chair. I had other plans as I turned my arm counterclockwise.

  Extracting my Soul Forge, I walked up to the man who was now moving at a significantly slower pace. I touched his forehead and once again held my breath. After several agonizing moments, I let out a sigh. I pulled the update back and adjusted it. Once satisfied, I walked over to the table and touched the other guy on the forehead.

  This time I started getting nervous; it was taking way longer than normal. However, everything changed when I heard a chime. My system connected to the guy. Better to say my OS connected to his OS. I twisted my arm clockwise. The guy walking fell forward and stopped moving when he hit the ground. The guy in the chair fell out of his chair and started spasming on the floor. I used my administrative access to force the guy’s system to do diagnostics. I was both happy and sad. The chime went off again, and I transferred the data to my system.

  I addressed the man convulsing on the ground. “My apologies for your suffering.” Now that the system is installing completely, I should be extremely close to the finished product. “Just so you know, I got to sever the system from you. In your state, you're going to die.” The human body seemed unable to handle the shock of having an ability, or in this instance the Soul Forge quickly removed from them.

  When the man stopped breathing, I removed my hand from his forehead. I kept a tight grip on 4.0. I turned my arm counterclockwise first, as I wasn’t in the safest location. The data I retrieved would be vital in tuning the system for the next installation. When I felt satisfied, I grabbed my backpack and shoved everything in. I held the update in my left hand as I proceeded to the next room. There were three people in this room. I would like to thank you all for your sacrifices on my behalf.

  ***

  The man carrying the child passed into another room. He saw two guards, one on the inside of the makeshift prison and another outside the door he was approaching. The outside guard held it open for him and bowed. “Welcome home, my lord.”

  The man ignored both the guards and proceeded to the first jail cell and carefully set down the child. He untied the straps and took the bag hiding her body off. He looked towards the guard inside, who was still saluting him. “Bring me a chair.”

  The guard grabbed the chair he had been sitting on and set it down next to the man. He retreated to the entrance. The man grabbed it and set it in front of the child. Taking a seat and removing the strap preventing her from talking.

  The girl wasted no time. “Who are you and what do you want?”

  The man pulled down his hood and grinned. “You're telling me you don’t recognize your own uncle.”

  The girl blanched. “Father said you were dead.”

  “Your father would have liked that too. Sense he was the one who tried to kill me.”

  “Father would never; he is a good man. He loves me.”

  “A man can love his daughter and still be rotten to the core.”

  “Are you taking me hostage, hoping to get revenge?”

  “I am.”

  “I—” The girl looked lost for words.

  “I am only taking back what is rightfully mine. My father named me heir, and this kingdom should have belonged to me.”

  “But my father is king, he told me Grandfather named him king. It's in the documents, you can’t fake that.”

  “My brother knew he would not be king and made a deal with a dangerous group. They ousted me upon your grandfather’s death and set everything in motion. But I am not here to debate the truth. I know the truth. If your father can rely on outside interference, then so can I. I made a deal, and you’re an offering.”

  “An offering, what are you talking about? Why would Father need outside help, and who could help? Other kingdoms?”

  “Avernus.”

  Both the girl and the man turned to face the person who had just spoken. He was standing over the inner guard’s prone body. The head of the outer guard was on the ground, poking through the door. His lifeless face was staring at them. It wasn’t a man, but a boy. He extended his left hand away from his body as though he held something, but nothing was visible there.

  The uncle spoke. “Who are you? How did…” He looked at the dead bodies, then remembered the word the newcomer had just spoken. “Are you with Avernus?”

  The boy approached the two of them. He paused just outside the light of a torch. He held his right hand up to his chin. The lighting where the boy stood made it hard to make out what his face looked like, or even the proper color of his attire or hair. He seemed to have made a decision; he extended his right hand and held it towards the princess. He made a gripping motion with it, despite nothing being in his hand. As his hand slowly squeezed, the girl collapsed.

  The uncle rushed to feel her pulse. Then heaved a sigh of relief, knowing she was supposed to be unharmed when handed over to the demon he had made a deal with. He looked back towards the boy, whose right hand was now held out to the side. The uncle straightened himself up. “I made a deal with a powerful demon; she won’t tolerate you interfering.”

  The boy who was just about to twist his arm, paused. He tilted his head to the side. “A demon, you say?”

  So, even Avernus are afraid of demons. “Yes, she will get revenge if you kill me.” That’s a lie, but hopefully he—.

  “I doubt that.”

  “I made a pact with a demon; this girl was the requested offering. She will be angry if you interfere.

  The boy shrugged. “That’s fine by me. In fact, let's summon her here right now.” He grinned, which sent shivers down the man’s body. “I would absolutely love to meet a demon. I wonder what abilities they have.”

  The man hid his grin. “The summoning circle is just over here.” He pointed to the only other room in this makeshift prison. “I just need a lot of mana to activate it, but seeing that the two guards to the prison are dead, I should assume everyone else is as well?”

  “Yep.”

  The man unconsciously took a step back. He wanted to move back further but forced his feet to stay. He took a deep breath and steeled himself. “Then you don’t mind powering the circle yourself if you really want to meet a demon.”

  “That’s not a problem; just lead the way.”

  The man hurried over to the other door and started fussing with it. The door clicked, and he opened it. On the ground was an altar, and behind it was a summoning circle. The altar was only big enough for a small child to lie on. There were markings along the inner wall, floor, and ceiling. These were of a very different design from the circle itself.

  “If you place your hand on the altar and channel your mana into it, you will begin the summoning.” I will just activate the wards which we installed to prevent the church from discovering the demonic magic. When the demon kills you, or worse; I don’t want them to arrive and ruin everything.

  The boy walked past the man; he was fearless. He touched the altar, and within less than a second, the summoning started. In fact, the altar and circle appeared to be distorting the surrounding air, like what heat does. The man took a step back, knowing that isn’t supposed to happen. In fact, it should have taken a lot longer to power the circle. He started debating whether he should stop powering the wards, but put his faith in the demon.

  ***

  “Are you sure this is what you want to do, Mistress?”

  “I appreciate your concern, Yanda. But I am hijacking your connection. I must find out whose mana that was. It had an amazing flavor. I will just alter the original deal. They will give us the girl and the person powering the summoning.”

  Yanda bowed her head. “I shall await your successful return, Mistress.”

  Turning from her servant, she let the summoning magic pull her away. She closed her eyes for this part. When she felt she arrived, she opened her eyes to find two people in the room with her. An older man and a young boy. If she hadn’t seen the young boy’s hand on the altar, she would have assumed the man was her target. Still, she wasn’t completely convinced either, since humans can be tricksters.

  She grinned when she noticed the man collapse to his knees, hand still pressed to the wall. She looked around and noticed the man was powering some kind of barrier meant to hide her mana from the outside world. Still, the man knew exactly who she was, and the terrified emotions swirling around him were a delicacy. The boy, however, just tilted his head to the side. He unnerved her, which was ridiculous. Though she is alive today because she heeded those warnings.

  The boy spoke. “So, you’re a demon. The pink hair looks wonderful on you, not a super big fan of the horns, but meh.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I thought you wouldn’t have regular feet though; I always thought demons had cloven feet and hairy legs.”

  His casual demeanor was throwing her off. He sounded much too mature for his appearance. There was also no fear. She reached out with her ability, which can alter emotions. A sense of dread washed over her. It unnerved her. It only disappeared when she stopped. Not knowing what else to do, she straightened herself. “I would never degrade myself to look ugly like you describe.”

  “Do you have a tail, can’t see from here?”

  She moved her tail to the side so the boy could see, then froze. Why am I humoring him? What is wrong with me? I am always the one in control, but here I feel… She put her hand do her chin. Here I feel out of my depth. No, that’s not it, more like I am talking to someone superior to me. She wanted to get angry; her cowering to a human, yet she felt that foreboding feeling.

  The boy continued, “I am most curious about something.” She felt her true sight ability kick in and saw mana swirling in the boy’s eyes. He was seeing something. “Your soul is black, no question about that, but it seems different from others. Why though?”

  She didn’t answer; it sounded like his question was more rhetorical. However, after a long period of silence. “I don’t understand what you mean?”

  “What can you tell me about demons? I must admit, I am lacking in that area of knowledge.”

  “What would you like to know?” She hated having to answer his questions; she hated not being in control. Yet every time she thought to exert her power and take that control, the foreboding got worse. She felt as though she were walking on eggshells, yet didn’t understand why.

  “How do you make more demons? Do you breed like we do?”

  She glanced at the man in the back. She could feel his fear, his confusion. It fueled her. She also felt as if she could feel the man was asking her a question: 'Why are you not destroying this boy?' She turned back to the boy in question. “We simply convert others into demons. It’s the most effective method, but we can produce children. The ones converted into demons cannot bear children; only the originals can.”

  “Are you an original? Your soul has thirty-six connections.”

  I don’t understand what he means by connections. ”I am an original, the Archfiend Venatory.” She added her title, hoping to elicit some fear from the boy, hoping to take back some control of the situation.

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  He didn’t react. "Does a converted demon have as strong a soul as you?"

  “I don’t understand what you mean.”

  “Do their souls get bigger, become larger? Do they become the same size as your soul, you yourself possess?”

  “Their souls become demon souls.” Is the boy dumb? I said they become demons, at least I am pretty sure I did. “I am not sure how a soul can get larger or smaller. "Maybe I don’t quite understand what you’re asking?"

  “Can a converted demon become as powerful as you? Do they inherit any special abilities?”

  “No, they are lesser demons. Meant to be our servants. They receive no abilities other than what their masters provide them.”

  “Hmmm,” the boy rubbed his chin. “I guess I can interpret that as they most likely keep their twelve soul connections then. Bummer, you got me excited there for a moment. Still though, you have thirty-six connections. Before that, though, were you born a demon?”

  “I am an original, so yes.”

  “That’s probably why your black soul feels different. If I had to point at something, it’s almost like you were created with a black soul instead of a white soul. I would have to see a brand-new original demon to be sure. But what should I do with you? Those who choose to do terrible things, I don’t mind what happens to them, but it’s like you were never given a choice. Which doesn’t sit right with me.”

  The boy looked lost in thought. She ignored him and looked at the man. “Where is the girl that you promised me?”

  The boy replied. “You won’t be taking her. I only summoned you because I was curious about demons.”

  She felt her heartbeat quicken. She was trying to place the feeling that had been building up over the course of the conversation. When she realized it was fear, dread washed over her. Why am I afraid? This makes little sense. She was alive because she heeded those feelings, so she gripped her mana and prepared to dump it. Losing it all would eject her from the world, as she lacked a solid anchor. That was the purpose of the girl, but she abandoned those designs. If he makes the slightest movement to do something to me, I will leave. I don’t want to leave in this way, but it’s the quickest.

  The man in the back must have sensed something and bolted. At least he tried to. The boy gripped him with an invisible hand, or at least invisible to others. Her true sight kicked in, and she saw the mana reach out and grab the man. While gripping him, he pulled the man back to him, despite the man's best efforts to resist. He touched the man’s forehead with his left hand and then held the man on the ground.

  “I apologize for that, wasn’t expecting him to flee.”

  The wards vanished; she smiled and decided to stay as long as possible herself. She knew what would now come without those wards. Not that she believed the boy couldn’t deal with it, but she felt petty. “It’s fine.”

  “Now that we have taken care of that mess. I am curious about something. You seem to know about abilities. I wonder what—” The boy’s eyes seemed to shift, as if they were looking at something else now. “—abilities a demon is born with.”

  When the boy grinned, she heard the most dreaded sound any demon could hear. The Drums of Death. The sound that demons can hear when they are close to death, or in great peril. She wanted to hold the boy here a little longer. “We are born with a few abilities and can absorb others as needed.”

  “You have a twenty-four-point connection ability. Those are Uber-level abilities. I hope you don’t mind.” The boy put his foot on the man, and then magic circles and gears appeared on his right arm; he started to twist it.

  The drums were deafening to her; she didn’t hesitate any longer. She didn’t know what was happening to the boy’s arm, but she didn’t plan to stick around any longer. Because she had her mana gripped, she could quickly eject her mana. She closed her eyes as she felt this world reject her existence. Something was wrong though, like it was taking way longer than it should. Just when she felt like she couldn’t take the pounding of her heart and those drums any longer, she felt herself thrust towards the ground.

  She dreaded opening her eyes to see until she heard the most beautiful voice in the universe. “Mistress, what has happened?” She felt arms hugging her. “Mistress, please say something?”

  She started sobbing. She had never felt such relief, nor humiliation in her life. Her mind was awash with various emotions. She hugged her servant back, something she had never done before. “I am fine now.”

  “Did they somehow betray us? How Mistress?”

  “They are dead, the leader you—” She wiped her eyes. “—originally made a deal with is as good as dead.”

  “Who did this? It was the first world, so was it Avernus?”

  “Nobody in Avernus could do what that boy did.” She shuddered. “He is a monster.”

  “Is that why your mana is so low? You fought him off?”

  She held back her tears. She hated showing vulnerability to her servant, but she couldn't hold back. “I dumped my mana; it was faster. I don’t think I could have fought him.”

  “You dumped your mana!” The servant was aghast.

  “I heard the drums; they were drowning out all other sounds.”

  The servant bowed. “What would you like us to do?”

  “We say nothing. Hopefully, one of my rivals runs into him, and we can learn what happens. I want to know everything about the boy, but I will not risk anything direct.”

  “The other demons are going to see your depleted mana and might ask questions.”

  “Tell them I had a successful hunt and killed many humans and am weary. I will sequester myself in my room. Only the people I turned will have permission to enter."

  “Take some of my mana, Mistress.”

  “No, as much as I want to, I can’t. This is a crucial time; we don’t want any spies reporting anything suspicious back to the other Archfiends. It isn’t outside my normal behavior to spend time to myself after a summoning.”

  “Any other orders?”

  “Yes. I am barring us from entering the first world. No one is to go there. If they ask why, it's because I made a mess of things and want it to blow over for now. They all know the church and our relationship with it. That should be a very believable excuse.” Archfiend Venatory lay on the ground and took a deep breath. “The hard part is going to be keeping that order in effect for the next hundred years.”

  “Why a hundred years?”

  “Humans shouldn’t live longer than that, so that boy will hopefully be dead by then. Like I said, I don’t want any direct action against him. I don’t know who he is, but we need to stay away.”

  “And if one of the other Archfiends runs into him, what then?”

  “We do everything to learn what happens. I don’t think any Archfiend can stand up to him.”

  “I will see your orders fulfilled. I live to serve you, Mistress.”

  ***

  “What the hell.” I wanted to run over to the place where that demon was just standing. “Did she dump all this mana?” I looked around at the massive amounts of mana that were tearing their way out of the room. It answered a question I never thought to ask. “I guess mana behaves like air, flowing from areas of high pressure to low pressure.”

  I looked down at the man; this installation is taking a long time, but turned back to the ritual circle. “I guess I can assume that when a demon doesn’t have mana, they get pulled back to wherever they came from.” Damn, she had an Uber ability too. I wonder what it was. Time was slowing, but it wasn’t enough to stop her ejection from our world. It felt like that damn teleporting tiger.

  I knew the tiger pissed me off, so I focused my attention on the man. “I hope you give me better—” A chime interrupted me.

  The man spoke. “What is this thing in front of my eyes? What is a Soul Forge 4.0?”

  My heart skipped a beat. This man could talk; he wasn’t crippled. I immediately performed an administrative override and forced a full diagnostic.

  “What is a system diagnostic?”

  I ignored him, holding my breath. It felt like an eternity, despite only taking a few minutes. Then the greatest message I could ever read came back: 'Diagnostic finished. All clear.’ “Hell yes!” The man looked confused. Nobody will understand just what this means to me. It took almost a hundred subjects for this update.

  “Are you blessing me, my Lord?” The man looked hopeful. “Will you aid me in retaking my kingdom?”

  What? “I want nothing to do with that. I couldn’t care less who rules.” What we this guy thinking? Why would he suddenly shift from fearful to hopeful?

  “I think I hear something over here.” I froze when I heard that sound. Somebody else was here. I thought I killed everyone; well, I don’t mind. I turned my right arm, and time slowed for me. I had to bring the man with me, knowing it would cost me more, but that wasn’t a big concern to me.

  “We need to get out of here, my lord.” The man seemed to believe I was important to him.

  I touched his forehead and was about to give the command to uninstall, but smacked myself on the head. I used mana to grip the man’s body and hurried back into the prison. Reaching the last guard and grabbing my possessions, I could see several knights. With time slowed, they appeared to be standing there, but I knew better.

  The man was staring at the knights; he was flabbergasted. I suppose he wouldn’t understand what to make of everything, and I don't care to explain it. I hurried back but paused at the cell with the girl. “Who is the girl?”

  “She is my niece. Princess of the Kingdom of Welch.”

  I nodded my thanks to the man. It looked funny: a grown man with no fear; in fact, he made it look perfectly normal to be held horizontally in my grasp. “What to do with her?”

  “If you need money, we could ransom her.” He was already talking as if we were a team. That was not happening. I just needed my Soul Forge 4.0 uninstalled and I would be on my way. “With your power, my Lord, I don’t see you having any trouble with the knights. But if you want, I can use stealth and we can sneak ourselves out.”

  “I don’t need that kind of money.” Could I use her? I know she wouldn’t hesitate to use me, then discard me when she wrung every bit out of me. I should do the same to her, but I just couldn’t think of anything I wanted from her. If her soul were black, I would take her and experiment on her, but I don’t like touching people like her who haven’t remolded their soul to the latest color of black.

  “Well, we could take her with us and convincer her to join us. With her on our side, we would have a much easier time taking down the kingdom and returning it to me.”

  I looked at him. I can’t believe I am going to ask this. Why are his words impacting me in this way? Every time he says ‘we’ I want to team up with him. Perhaps I don’t want to be alone? I shook my head, trying to clear such rubbish from my mind. Like I want to trust anybody again. Still, it would be nice to have a friend to share things with. I guess I’ll just ask. “Have you ever murdered an innocent person?”

  The man looked at me as if I were dumb. “Yeah, of course, you don’t get to be where I am by playing nice.” The look on the man’s face was like he were genuinely worried for me.

  I knew that, but still. I sighed, “Don’t worry about it.” Maybe, and this is just a maybe, if I found some people, I might let them join me. But what would they join me for? I had no proper goal for this life, well, other than learning all things magical and living comfortably. I suppose I feel this way because in my last life I wanted to get married and have kids, but I am not pursuing that anymore.

  I turned back to the princess. I hardened my resolve. "Getting involved with women is something I want to avoid, and I'm positive she would be the worst to get involved with.” I returned to the summoning room and closed the door.

  I touched the man’s forehead and gave the uninstallation command. The man started spasming. “What is happening? What is uninstallation? Why are you taking back your gift, my Lord? Have I…” His eyes started closing. He opened them and put his will into his voice. “Have I upset you, my lord?”

  He waited, desperate for my words. It won’t be much longer before he goes comatose. He might live though, sense he was fairly healthy unlike everyone else up to this point. I sighed as he finally passed out. It took several more minutes for the uninstallation to finish. Once extracted, I carefully put it back inside the container and stored it back in my bag.

  I looked back down at the comatose man. Am I actually considering taking him with me? I normally don’t enjoy wasting people like this, especially since I need a solution to my time-aging problem. I’ve already aged at least an extra year because of how much I have abused my time manipulation ability. Ageing slower is a goal I have, and I've already learned the hard way not to experiment on myself.

  I exhaled slowly. You helped me with 4.0, so I will give you a painless death. I pushed my next spell into him and shut off his heart and brain. I waited a bit to make sure he was dead, then twisted my arm again. Time resumed, and I activated my stealth ability. I opened the door and started walking out. The knights had swords drawn as they entered the room. They were prepared for a fight. I froze when I saw my father among them.

  I didn't expect to see you here, Father. Good thing I have stealth. Hopefully, nobody here can see through stealth. I could take them all out, but most of the souls were grey, some were almost white, and a few were black. They dropped their cautious behavior when they saw the girl. They swarmed her and formed a circle around her. I was going to take that time to sneak out, but I felt magic entering the room.

  Duke Wellmont and several nobles I probably should recognize entered and made a beeline for the princess. The Duke knelt and pushed mana into the girl. Likely a healing spell, I didn’t hurt her, I just cut off the oxygen to her brain long enough for her to pass out. I decided I was overstaying my welcome, but when I was about to walk out the door, more people showed up. These were Templars, no doubt about it. Most of them had black souls. They didn’t bother with the princess. They went straight for the summoning room. Once they arrived, one of them took out a device and entered.

  I poked my head into the doorway. Seeing the coast was clear, I bolted. There were some books that I wanted to grab on my way out. I guessed they were demon-summoning books or something, and I definitely wanted to run into that demon again. However, I froze when I entered the small room that had those books. The Templars were burning them, along with other things.

  I couldn’t understand why. I mean, they are Templars of the church, so destroying things like this was to be expected, but why in the room? Don’t they realize that the smoke has nowhere to go? I wanted to slow time and try to retrieve the remains, but I could tell the books were ashes. I wanted to destroy those Templars, but it would look bad if several died.

  Knowledge is power, and they destroyed my acquisition of it. I took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. Those books were the only material things I wanted from this place. If they were going to take away something I valued, I would do the same. I remembered the treasure room I had found earlier. Not that I needed anymore, but I was feeling petty.

  I hurried to the room and saw a big man guarding the entrance. Guess it makes sense that they would station someone here. They had the time. Luckily for me, he wasn’t standing in the doorway, but to the left of it. I ran right past him and looked around. I had a little room for small treasures. There was a cool-looking dagger with a snake head for the pommel and the body etched into the blade itself. It looked cool, so I grabbed that. I grabbed a white-looking hexagon thingy and stuffed it in my pocket. Found a chest with gold coins, so I quietly filled my two fake wallets with coins. My main wallet was already full.

  I heard footsteps heading this way. “Has anyone tried sneaking in?”

  The guard outside answered. “I swear on my life, I have seen nobody try anything.”

  “Good. We rescued the princess, and we are withdrawing. The Royal Guard is right behind me. You’re in charge of making sure all the contents of this room get taken back to His Majesty. Everything here belongs to him. Are your orders clear?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I took that as my cue to get out, but just then I saw the most gorgeous chest. I realized it was marble. It was black marble with flecks of gold mixed in, with inlays of gold and silver. The artwork looked familiar. I am pretty sure this is Egyptian. Hmmm, does that mean another similar desert culture exists? This place just jumped up my to-visit list. The chest was heavy, and it sounded full. The contents inside weren't worth as much to me as the chest itself. I couldn’t waste any more time. I used a spell to strengthen myself and collected the box. It was most assuredly heavier than I. My hands barely got around it to pick it up.

  I got out of the room in the nick of time. A bunch of men entered right as I left and started grabbing everything. I wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but with how cramped the hallway was, someone might hear me. Wait a minute. You dummy, my stealth ability is superior to using a spell, as it blocks out my sounds too. Guess I forgot in the heat of the moment. I took my big breath and let it all out. It felt good.

  I didn’t see what I was doing as stealing, since these buggers wouldn’t have found the girl without my help, so I was just taking my payment. Still, I would rather have had the books. I looked down at the stone chest. I take that back. I really do like this chest, so that means I would have wanted both equally.

  It was time to go. As I made my way back through, the only people remaining were the Templars and a few knights. I didn’t see any nobles. When I reached the exit, I found my brother. He apparently remained behind with a bunch of other recruits to guard the exit. Thankfully, I was small. I moved carefully through them, even with my chest. It was dark outside, which meant I needed to get home. My original plan got derailed. What should I do next?

  It would take too long to upgrade my OS safely to the new 4.0, so that would be out until we got back home. I was deep in thought until I paused in the merchant district. My answer was right in front of me: the big guild hall where the top-secret, nobles-only auction was to occur. “I think I know what my next move is. I want to find out what is being sold at that auction.”