Chapter 2

The Deal

"And what reason can you give me that I should not lead you to the dark corridors and halls of the labyrinth with your tortured screams ringing?"

"Because the power I hold in my hands is greater than yours, and right now my proposition is in much greater favor than yours."

"What might that be?"

"I want the soul of the one who has governed hell since 2008."

"Why?"

"As you more than likely are unaware, there is someone trying to do what Yazuo Mikado had failed to do one year prior to now."

"This still does not explain your deal."

"Because this one has the power of the one that your leader and I had defeated one year ago."

"Tell me now, what prevents you from entering Hell to retrieve him from the Labyrinth yourself?"

"I can no longer enter Hell without first dying because of my becoming one with Orion."

The other three Cenobites had become agitated and had begun to grind their 'tools' together in anticipation of a new soul.

"I need your assistance to pull him back from Hell so that I may prevent Armiel and his host from achieving their goal of 'cleansing' the world of souls."

"And if he does succeed, I will have no souls to harvest. The stigma of my endless desire for the flesh and souls of human beings would never be satisfied. Silent echoes would fill the Labyrinth for all time until life would return to the Earth's surface."

"And so we face a dilemma. Neither of our sides can let that happen. I do not have the power without Orion to complete us to achieve that goal."

"What shall I receive in return for my allowing you to retrieve Orion and escape Hell again to 'take care' of this particular obstacle?"

"I will bring you the souls of all those that bar my path to prevent Armiel from returning in full force."

"Such a feast of suffering and flesh would be an offer to consider."

"So what answer do you give me, Cenobite?"