Chapter 151 - Strange Encounter PT1

The next morning, Nico could be seen walking down the streets of MICROSOFT, gloved hands in his pockets whilst his Trench Coat lightly fluttered. The redhead male looked up at the skies above whilst he walked, feeling winds rustling his hair not unlike a brother playfully ruffling the mane of his younger sibling. Today was a bit of a windy one, a rather uncommon occurrence in a Nation like Leanbox, though considering everything which was happening around this Nation, it wasn't something people would focus on. Still, the sun shone brightly in this particular morning, so it wasn't anything majorly worth noting. Plus, Nico could hardly detect any negativity in the weather today, likely due to a certain Goddess's mood being decent for the time being.

'It's a good thing Lucy can control her emotions and not let them impact her powers… otherwise she we would likely have FAR different weather than what the Citizens of Leanbox regularly experience…' he couldn't help but think to himself, all the while people passing him by seemed to not pay the wind much heed. Merely focused on whatever it was that they were doing.

With the day being like this, it wouldn't be unnatural for one to feel much more at ease than in the last few ones. With the lack of Demon attacks on the Capital, major cities and minor villages, the residents slowly but surely returned to their average routines. Politics would be a whole new can of worms, but that topic would be for a different time, when things were appropriate to talk about that stuff. The Military situation hadn't changed all that much, and the small numbers of Spec Ops Agents had so far managed to hold back the larger incursions into Leanbox's remaining territories.

A major change in comparison to the months of chaos prior to the Gala.

It was almost like everything had finally pounded itself into the minds of every Noble and Military official… pft, yeah like that would ever happen.

Whilst Nico didn't believe that things had gotten nearly as better as it seemed to be in the eyes of the average citizen, he HAD heard how the Nobles and Military families had decided to put their quarrelling aside for the time being in what could be considered an even shakier truce than the one which Noire had been attempting with Leanbox and Lastation. The Truce apparently consisted of them not bickering like a bunch of total idiots as much as they focus more on defending their own territories, recruiting new blood to replace that which they had lost and making Mercenares permanent members of their armies. These Mercenaries were either from the Guild themselves, or were former outlaws whose crimes would be pardoned in exchange for joining their ranks. Not ideal, but they needed every able-bodied soldier to protect their territories from the Demons and their followers. The skills on the battlefield they possessed far outranked the ones possessed by the human defenders, so each of the Dukes had to compensate in some way or form. Nico wasn't sure on the specifics there, but he didn't investigate further for the time being.

In Nico's eyes though, his biased mind believed this to just be a front at this point, with both sides aiming to one up one another in terms of reputation with the population. To him this would be done more on the Noble's side, since the Military Families would be more focused on the outside forces invading Leanbox, but hey that was just his opinion on those things. Still, even someone like him could tell that neither side truly enjoyed their current situation (he got this idea by quickly reading some of the minds of the Soldiers he'd heard were guarding such nobles as well as the former Banditry. Apparently, some of them became outlaws JUST to escape the dominion of the nobility, something the teen could understand on a spiritual level). He wouldn't be surprised if he were to sense mad bloodlust from either side whilst still passing by.

Speaking of Truces, the one between Planeptune and Lastation seemed to be progressing steadily, according to what Nico had looked up online and through the Spec Ops Database on the Guild Website. Apparently, it had been finished about 2 days ago, but wasn't official yet. Odds were, that they were going to wait for news of the possibility of Leanbox being added into the agreement. As for the specific details regarding the Truce itself, there had been talks of exchanging technologies, military forces and trade fluttering about between the various officials. It was similar to sharing items between inventories, but more on a national scale. Nothing concrete as of yet, but it was indeed a start. So far, Lastation's military seemed to be handling their Abnormal problem sufficiently with the help of the Spec Ops Agents over there, those Agents having been given additional funding by Noire's decree.

Avenir must be besides themselves with resentment towards her at this point.

As for the Spec Ops in Leanbox, things could be considered 'peculiar' with them, as well. It didn't matter the levels of strength that they possessed, each Spec Ops Agent was being put to use to the best of their abilities. The ones whom could be considered on the 'weaker' end of the Spectrum would be either sent to the lesser populated areas to maintain a vigilant guard, or used as Scouts to identify the next target of attack from these beings. Well, used would be considered a strong word since every Spec Ops Agent got an Urgent Quest with their name on it (thus taking advantage of their rule of mandatory appearance when issued such a quest), which was used to sort them into groups and thus, where they would go. It almost resembled how the military would operate, if anyone pondered about it.

The ones that had the greater strength, such as the ones whom had come to retrieve him when Nico had entered his half Kakuja state, had all been assigned throughout the various Duke Territories, the ones closer to the borders between them and the ones under enemy control, to try and hold the Demons and their followers back. This was so that their powers would be put to greater use in dealing the most damage to in the initial part of every battle which would allow the rest of the military forces a better playing field.

As a result of this action, about 50% of the territories now remained under enemy occupation, with the other 50 being back in Leanbox's hands. If any of the human forces expected these Demons to be furious with these events, they would have been sorely mistaken, with the reports of Demons actually whooping for joy, bloodlust and carnage whenever they were encountered on the thrill, rush and adrenaline that fuelled one in battle seemed to be the only thing that they cared about, the fight itself as it were. That… that only worried the Nobles, as well as the more experienced war veterans even more. To fight such an enemy would take one hell of a long time, since enemies like that would not retreat, only attack until they were all slain by the enemy's blade.

It almost felt like those Demons saw this as another day living…

They would not be wrong.

In the end, it had reached a stalemate between the two sides, with little conflict between the two. Instead, reports would come containing the fruits of minor skirmishes between small groups of Demons and defenders, sometimes a few would be between defenders and human cult followers, but it would mostly be either Demons or those beings in red. Hell, the redhead male himself got a few requests by his superiors to be part of some of these battles. Only a few though, then he had went missing for a small time period. That period being when Zelretch took him away… unbeknownst to them.

Honestly, if he were in his right mind right now, Nico would have been quite worried about this. However, he couldn't even muster up the strength to do even that. Right now, he felt more occupied by thoughts on what had happened last night between him and his mother. Those thoughts constantly nagged at him, refusing to abate even for a second. It would have frustrated the hell out of him, if he had the ability to be even that in the first place.

Thanks to what Helen had told him that night, Nico had cried. He had cried a whole damn hell lot. He had cried like a storm, unable to stop the onslaught of tears from escaping his eyeducts. It had been almost like he had never cried before now… come to think of it, when had the last time he had cried been? Nico honestly could not remember it, maybe this was ACTUALLY the first time he had cried at all? If he had never cried before now? No matter, the point was that he had cried a whole hell lot that night, and because of that Nico had practically drained 100% of his strength, promptly falling into the blissful land of sleep soon afterwards.

That night, Nico had one of the best sleeps he had ever gotten in years.

And thanks to that sleep, he had woken up completely refreshed, his mind prepared and ready to tackle his current problems. Problems which had mounted themselves quite a bit since he had vanished entirely.

The first order of business had been the matters with Yvoire, and to that end, Nico had spend a portion of time investigating the Nobility throughout the Landmass. He had to take a few trips out the Capital and back though, having enhanced his speed with Ouranos and his DPU form (mostly one or the other). He wanted to see if there were any merits to Yvoire and, indirectly, Castiel's words about there being lesser Corrupt Nobles and ones who actually tried to be GOOD leaders to their territories. This came with the strenuous task of looking at things objectively, putting his own bias against them aside since it would only hamper is judgement and stop him from finding what he truly needed to find. To that end though, Nico had to scour the Continent, searching for proof of these so-called 'good' Nobles...

And he found them.

Much to his shock, Nico had found quite a few Nobles whom, whilst looking outwardly corrupt in the eyes of the public outside their territories, they actually did quite well for themselves in terms of providing refuge, food, water, even some more... pleasurable company which in hindsight, were used more to stop people from grieving, towards those whom had lost their homes, families and livlihoods. There were also those who, likely inspired by Stefan Von Kessal and his family, tried to proclaim a better relationship needing to be established between the Nobles and Military families, that their current situation made these squabbles pathetic in comparison. He also found various areas which had been experiencing problems of multiple kinds which, whilst dire, apparently the Guild had sent Agents to clear up but in the end only made things worse for the people, showing a lack of priority to them, though even they managed to get SOME support from surrounding Nobles. More than what the Guild had been getting at least.

All this made him wonder, just what the heck he had been doing back when he was searching for information about Count Mott back before the Gala. How could he have missed all this? With his efforts back then, Nico SHOULD have come across these people back then, but he hadn't, he'd only seen truly terrible deeds from Count Mott and didn't seem to have paid much heed to anything else. He'd been so focused on THAT goal that he had ignored other evidence, a terrible case of tunnel vision. Yvoire and Castiel were dead on the mark, he really HADN'T been looking at the bigger picture, which only confounded his confusion over how to proceed even more.

From his search results, Nico had concluded that he needed more preparation before solving this issue. He would return to that old coot in time, but for now he had bigger fish to fry.

Case in point, the second problem:

Training.

When he had woken up this morning, Nico had found a note in Compa's own handwriting telling him that they had all gone on their own training methods for the day like they had the previous ones, and that they would be back when night arrived. Nico figured that none of them would have known about his meeting with Zelretch thanks to this, all of them assuming that he had simply returned and sneaked by their rooms. As a result, the redhead Spec Ops Agent hadn't been able to see the girls, to speak with them before they had set off on their own plans for the day. To be honest, Nico felt kind of lonely without them, and had felt more than a little sad that his reunion with them had been stalled more than it needed to be. Without the quirky antics Neptune brought into the group, without the adorable innocence Compa had, or the cool badassery that IF possessed in spades. Though, Nico also felt a bit relieved, since thanks to this it would be unlikely that they had noticed his disappearance. Not to mention that each of them would be getting stronger.

On the other hand though, the fact that they were taking their training as serious as they should (especially the normally lazy, pudding obsessed Neptune), made Nico smile to himself. He did approve of that, the majority of them NEEDED to get stronger if they wanted to survive in this cruel, chaotic world that is Gamindustri. He may have fallen to Mundus, but at least HE had managed to fight back against someone like him. Neptune and the others just got their asses HANDED to them on a silver platter, heck they couldn't even take out Okada Izou. Although to be fair, that guy had already been monstrously powerful, even if back then the strength he displayed couldn't even come close to what he could truly do (Nico would know, he sparred with the real thing back in Zelretch's dimension).

Still… Nico didn't know what to do about them, in terms of responding to their declarations regarding his Ghoul side. Pretty much everything regarding them felt like one big mess to him. A mess he had unknowingly made himself when he revealed his Ghoul Side to them. Far better this was though, compared to the alternative scenario, but that just made dealing with this all the more difficult. As he had mentioned previously, this made everything he knew get flipped upside down, pretty much pulling the rug from beneath him and sending him into a mass of confusion.

Just… how did he intend to go from here?

Remembering Castiel's words to him, Nico frowned in thought, slowing his stride a bit so he could contemplate more. To just go for it and not mind it all... those words could never have been said by anyone in this world save for a few, and even then Nico would note hesitance in those who would have told him such. He had no illusions over his eyes about being NEARLY as confident as that guy had been, and that mostly came from mostly having to worry only about his own self for so long. He wasn't used to situations like this, at all.

Of course, he had done what he had set out to do and provided his mother with the metals and blueprints to make those light weapons, as well as provided the books which Castiel had wrote for him (He'd made copies in his Inner World so he could use them how he wished), as well as a majority of the medical items he possessed. The older woman, stunned by how much he had found whilst out 'training', simply told him she wouldn't mention that he had gotten this stuff, just so they could delay the higher ups finding out about him and, by extension, his rapid increase in power. A whole SLEW of problems would arise if he did.

Taking a moment to calm himself, Nico paused his stride, mentally noting how he had apparently wandered off the main streets. He knew this due to his surroundings being more… primitive, more deserted, barren and like they hadn't had any maintenance in years. The moment he took note of this, Nico quickly figured out where he had ended up: the rather shady side of the Capital. Every city had something like this to them, a hidden skeleton in their closet so to speak. Even if one were strict as all hell with the laws here, someone would always find a way to set up something like this. Not to mention that the poor state this land was in had only been this way for so long due to the abundance of criminals here and the Nobles not giving much of a shit. One could say that he had arrived at a place full of people whim Nico would have personally slaughtered in any other circumstance.

'Now that i'm here though, it would be wise if I show that i'm armed to the teeth or something… ward off any pick-pocketing attempts as well as send a message to not mess with me.' Nico thought to himself, already summoning his gear for the job. He strapped Ebony and Ivory to his waist, pulling out Rebellion from his Void Storage while internally, he prepared his Kagune for activation through even the slightest hint at provocation. The Rinkaku would be the best option for him, since it would be imperceptible to the normal and even the trained eyes. In addition to that, Nico prepared his Rings for activation, as well as readied his demonic powers, which resulted in him beginning to emit an aura of 'do not mess with me or you'll die'. As for his Armour, well, since it's Module was always on his torso and he could mentally command it to deploy, Nico saw little need to actually use it right now. Especially with his Ghoul skin helping protect him from normal weaponry.

Interestingly enough, the moment he did Nico sensed several presences hurrying away from his location. He could practically SMELL the negativity from them, and instead of just anger and hatred, there was fear and creepiness mixed in somewhat, meaning that these retreating presences had been afraid of his new aura. With his weapons strapped to his Person. Nico heard several loud, animalistic chortles from deep within his soul, and at first he wondered what the hell they were until he came to the obvious conclusion.

His Devil Arms.

'Well, I guess they are somehow reacting to all the negative emotions in the atmosphere… strange though, that they were doing it now.' The male thought to himself, frowning in contemplation while rubbing his jaw with his thumb and index finger. Just then however, the male's eyes instantly shot wide open, a loud grunt escaping his lips as he bent forwards slightly, clutching his chest like it was about to burst. Sweat rolled down his forehead whilst his temples crunched up, hisbrows creasing tightly together. 'Ugh! Guh! This… This feeling…! What… What the hell, what's going on here…?!'

Deep within Nico's being, the redhead male felt all sorts of emotions suddenly rush through the links he had with his Devil and Archdevil Arms. All manner of feelings surged forth like a flood breaking through a damn, filling his soul with their presence. If he had been an ordinary person with an ordinary will, then this surge would have reduced his soul to nothing but a mindless mass of spiritual energy, completely decimating it and giving the Demonic Weapons much more leeway in controlling his body. It felt like these guys were trying to start a fight from deep within his soul, like thousands of screaming citizens scrambling for some sense of safety. Hell, Nico SWORE he could hear such screams echoing through his mind, though instead of focusing on that Nico chose to isolate and examine these feelings. 'Rebellion, the Devil Arms… even the Archdevil Arms Ouranos and Erebus… all of them are reacting heavily to something in the atmosphere…! That just HAS to be what this is, there's no other explanation! But… what could that even be?! I'll have to use my senses and find out what it is for myself!'

With those thoughts in mind, Nico clutched his chest tighter as he expanded his senses. Something which unintentionally held the consequences of exposing Nico to the rioting emotions of his Demonic Weaponry. Upon feeling out the surroundings though, Nico quickly found that, much to his surprise, the amount of negative emotions in the air felt much, MUCH greater than when he was in the more… civilized, part of the city. Like, if he were to compare, then it would be like comparing a small house to a large city.

So yeah, it felt quite large and vast here.

Nico honestly felt glad that he had finally learned how to tap into these negative emotions without losing his mind to them, otherwise he would have fallen to those emotions right then and there. In addition to that, Nico noticed a particularly… potent, surge of negative emotions in the distance, much deeper into this slum-like district. It was as if a large amount of people (way too large to go unnoticed) controlled by their negative emotions had gathered in one place, one place in order to vent these excess feelings out into the atmosphere. If it were a smelly gas, he would have had to cover his nose just to block it out, and even then it wouldn't have been guaranteed to work..

'What the…? This isn't good, why the hell is there so much negativity in one spot? I'll have to look into this in case these guys are planning something insidious for the rest of the Capital… Not to mention that this is driving my weapons crazy with bloodlust.' Nico thought to himself, eyes narrowing in seriousness as he made to track down the source of this surge in negative emotions. His hands dug into his pockets after he had taken out of his Void Storage, his Mask and put it on his face. From what he could tell, these emotions consisted of mostly greed, the kind of greed which only something like money or something like a priceless artefact was on sale could invoke from the human soul. In addition to that, there were a bunch of different emotions buried beneath it, lust, envy, malice and others. If Nico were to try and name it something, he'd call it one big pool of dark feelings… and those feelings were starting to influence his Demonic Weapons… though, he tried not to think about that too much for the time being when more important matters needed to be dealt with..

Thus, Nico continued on his way…


While he trailed the negative emotions to their source, jumping onto a rooftop and travelling that way, a thought struck the masked male. As it did, he proceeded to take out from his Void Storage one piece of equipment which he hadn't yet put back on. Nico honestly didn't want to have anything to do with that damned thing, because of what it represented to him and how he had obtained it. Well, obtained may be too good a word to describe the circumstances behind it...

The eye lens which would have fit over his left eye, the eye of the Ghoul that he possessed.

Once the object appeared in his hand, the redhead male felt deep, utter revulsion course through him as easily as he breathed air while he looked down at it. The lense stared right back up at him, the object not having much of a mind to return the glare though. Nico's teeth gritted together, as if they were struggling to hold back sounds only an animal would have made. All the while, he had to exercise no small amount of willpower to NOT just crush it within the palm of his gloved hand, something which his instincts SCREAMED at him to do.

This object…

'This damned thing…'

One could not even begin to imagine what it felt like to wear this thing, nor would they be able to grasp the underlying hatred Nico had for this thing. He had only worn it due to the surrounding circumstances around it, but through every second he detested it with every fibre of his being. Heck. a lot of this hatred he felt towards it stemmed from his Ghoul side as well, considering what this was though it shouldn't be that big of a surprise.

This Lens, it wasn't an ordinary lens. No, this one was made in a collaboration project between Lastation, Planeptune, Leanbox and Lowee. During the time when his mother had taken him under her wing and suffered the consequences. This Lens was special, in that it had been made with Planeptune metals, Lastation engineering, Leanbox oversight and Lowee's magic expertise specifically for someone like him. It was enchanted so that his Kakugan eye would never be shown to the world even when activated, not even the veins would appear when this mutation activated. However, if he were to use his Kagune at any point with it on, then the higher ups of the Nation he was on would be automatically informed via the enchantments. One could say that it could be considered a camera on his person, one which recorded the state of his being regarding his Ghoul side. Should Nico ever lose control over himself and be too far gone to return to sanity, then this Lens would activate its second ability, one which involved shutting down every major organ he had without his regeneration ever being able to restore them in time. It did this by sending an artificially induced command straight into his brain, one which would overpower his own will and forcibly end his life.

So, practically a death trap. It WAS made with his regeneration in mind, after all.

As long as he were to use his Ghoul Side without going too crazy however, then this Lense merely served the purpose of shielding his identity as a Hybrid from view, as it perfectly replicated Nico's normal eye color and movements. Heck, nobody suspected him when his Kakugan activated, as this Lens perfectly hid it from any kind of visual prowess. The higher ups in the governing powers of the Nations had been EXTREMELY zealous in guarding this secret, especially with what people's general opinion of monsters, normal and Abnormal alike, was. Nico normally would not have been able to take it off either, as if he were to do that then the Lens would send a warning to the relevant authorities and then he'd be beset by no small amount of powerful Spec Ops Agents. That, and if he were to, then his mother would be 'disposed of', something that the higher ups used as leverage over him. So, yeah… a bit of a complex situation surrounded this Lens.

He figured that those Spec Ops Agents who'd came to 'retrieve' him had been called as a submission team by the higher ups when he had taken the Lens off. Nico was the Basilicom's watchdog after all, he was just too precious of a 'resource' to give up so easily. If there had been any visitors to his mother's hotel, then Nico wouldn't be surprised. Odds were that Helen had measures of her own to 'deal' with them, she wouldn't let them get her without a fight. Even if Nico couldn't do anything on his end, Helen would be a different story since she had much more of a devious, twisted nature deep down than even Nico himself. One might consider Nico himself a demon, but compared to his mother? Well, if one dared to slight anyone close to her, then even a Demon Prince would quiver before her wrath.

If Helen had been his actual blood mother, then people would see it in their demeanor as clear as day.

Right now however, Nico faced a dilemma. Because he had taken the Lens off when outside of the Devildimension, none of its magics had been triggered. None of them, not the communication magics, none of the destructive ones, nothing. The last time he had put this on was shortly after the events at Halo Mountain, therefore to them, it would be like he had never taken the Lense off. The proof of this had been the Assassins, when he checked them over he had discovered that they had been from the Chaos side of things, NOT the Guild's like he had initially assumed, as if anything happened to the device people would be on his ass faster than he could blink. That meant that he well and truly had been separated from this damned device, and THAT alone caused him to sweat anxiously. He hadn't told his mother this, nor could he, since it was such a huge situation that he didn't want to bother her with, that and he didn't want to endanger her further than he likely already had. She had enough on her plate with being confined as a head of that department, he didn't want to add to her burden. Nico therefore, could do either one of two things:

One, never put on the Lens again and make it so that he would never unleash his Kakugan unless he was well and truly alone. Either that or he would have to be extra careful not to lose control over himself, as in that case there wouldn't be any Spec Ops suppression teams who could last against him in that kind of rampaging state. This could be a trump card for him since it would mean that if the higher ups tried to pull anything with him, or his comrades and expected him to back down under threat of them remotely activating the Lens, they'd be in for a rude awakening. Oh, the look on their faces would have been priceless in that case, something Nico honestly would have liked to see.

As for the second thing, he could put it on again right now and secure his own safety, as well as that of anyone around him in case he were to go berserk again. The Kakuja and his Ghoul Side had been a problem for many Spec Ops Agents in the past, with few who could actually stand against its might and versatility in battle. Even if they could handle one Fang like his speedy Rinkaku, either his Bikaku or Koukaku could finish them off instead. One of them WAS designed for widespread annihilation after all. He knew fine well just how dangerous his Ghoul side had been, and with the recent trip with Zelretch it would only grow in potency, heck he remembered back when he truly 'woke up', how many skilled Planeptune Agents lost their lives till it blew over, and even then he still sensed there were resentments from the families involved in it. But… that would also be the same as shackling himself once again, chaining himself down to their rules and allowing their oppressive control to once again dominate his life. If he were to put it back on, then Nico would go back to being what he was before: a mindless lapdog who answered the call of his masters no matter the cost. He would remain under their thumb for however long left Nico would have in this life. If one discovered his newfound immortality thanks to his DPU powers though, he could picture the white walls of the laboratory they'd throw him in and experiment on him for all of eternity. To see if they could make duplicates of his power.

Freedom to be himself or imprisonment for the sake of others, more specifically his comrades… That was the choice he had at the moment.

Not an easy choice to make, seriously.

'Mom… what would YOU do in a situation like this... ? Would you let yourself be their slave in order to protect your comrades? Or would you… reject it and risk this anyways just for the selfish desire to be yourself…?'

Clutching the Lens in his hand, Nico gritted his teeth and closed his eyes whilst those thoughts of confusion ran about, before he pocketed the Lens back into the Void Storage. For the time being, he would have to focus on his current task of tracking down this source of immense greed. That would be much more important than this choice, the male felt as he shook his head and reformed his features into a resolved glare. A glare he aimed towards the distance as he quickly made to accelerate his pace.


In the end, Nico managed to find the source of the mass of Greed he had sensed, landing atop a ruined building without destroying it, and kneeling before the ledge to get a better look at what he had found. The moment that he did though, Nico scowled as he formed a firm line with his mouth, instantly feeling a pang of caution filling his being. 'This is…'

The male found it to be what looked to be large, desolate looking building…though, despite this appearance the building itself looked to be dazzling. Filled to the brim with life and activity. There were lights on its walls, put up there as decoration and illuminating the entire thing like a beacon in the darkness. Even though according to his senses when he looked up at the skies, Nico figured it would be mid to late afternoon. One could hear a large amount of noise coming from within, even if they didn't have the Ghoulish senses that Nico did. 'This place… It wasn't here when I last visited this place for information on Count Mott…' Nico thought, a concerned frown slowly spreading across his features.

Then there were the guests themselves. They all were lined up in front of the main entrance where what looked like a muscle-bound man with a tux, dark shades, and an attendance board stood taing names. These guests each looked like they were well off in the money department, and Nico could recognize a few of them as Nobles. Nobles from various lower-ranked families, yet still somewhat financially stable. Though in comparison to someone like Count Mott or the Dukes, heck even Yvoire, one could say they would be on the lower end of the Spectrum.

'What the…? Well, one thing's for sure, I can sense a MASSIVE amount of Greed here. Helps that my weapons have been getting increasingly louder and wilder the more I got close to this location. Looks like I've found myself exactly what I've been looking for…'

'It does appear to be that way. Nico, I would suggest using your Armour's Reaper Mode to infiltrate the facility from a rear entrance, for the main one looks to be something too crowded for these people to recognize you. In addition, I would suggest you keep your Mask on when you infiltrate it, if any were to see your true face, it'll likely complicate things. The fact that these Nobles are also wearing Masks confirms this.'

'Nice to hear from you Biko, but yeah, I can get what you're saying. Wearing a Mask will help me blend in, good thing i'm VERY good with Masks, i've been practically wearing one my whole damn life. Still, something about this is bugging me… there shouldn't be something like this in the slums of MICROSOFT. I mean, where would they have gotten the funds? It seems way too fishy… Wait a minute… these Nobles, if I remember correctly their families… oh shit, don't tell me… But, I had been under the assumption THAT had been banned a while ago!'

'Likely it still is, which is why they have an Auction House in these parts of the Capital. To hide from the law and perhaps purchase illegal goods. It wouldn't surprise me if that was indeed the case, since not everyone is in agreement with the ban. I can also see some people from the Military families in line as well, others being used as guards either for the building itself or the guests. Guards, police and other authority members will not go looking for something like this here. You yourself should know this, given your experience with humanity's darker nature.'

With that conversation, Biko closed the link once more and Nico, now more determined than ever to unravel the mystery of what was going on, of that he swore. At least this would give him something to focus his mind on instead of those damned problems he'd been dealing with.

He'd get to the bottom of this himself…

If the authorities would turn a blind eye to this, then they wouldn't mind if the resident 'beast' took a sniff about, now would they?

"Ah, a visitor uncommon, how interesting…"


"?!"

Just as he made to jump from his ledge, land on top of the building as silent as the wind itself, Nico suddenly tensed when he noticed something. He felt someone's eyes on him, someone whom conveniently seemed to be down where the Guests were. That was what Nico felt as he looked about, his eyes glancing from side to side like an alert animal aware it was being watched. His instincts screamed at him to locate the source of this gaze immediately, like the longer he had no clue where this being was, the greater the chance that the person could get the drop on him. Obviously, Nico's Rinkaku Kagune would prevent that if he let it, but he'd rather not do that unless absolutely necessary.

Finally, his eyes landed upon the source of the voice, and it was located right at the very back of the que. 'Man, that's the most convenient place where it could have been…? I get the feeling Neptune would have made a comment about that…' Nico thought to himself he moment his eyes landed on the owner of this new presence. Though, the moment that he did so, Nico instantly became on guard, his instincts screaming at him to remain like so.

Standing by the back of the que of guests, was a lone man of a rather… short stature. If Nico were to guess, then he would have said that this man's maximum height would be at least below 5 feet. The man wore a hat over the top of his head although Nico noticed some curly locks with his enhanced eyesight. The hat had a flap that went all around his head, though it didn't cover the mask that went and covered his face, sporting two large circular orbs for eyes while a curved nose could be seen on the front. Across his form, the man wore a matching grey Trench Coat with a medium length collar, showcasing his while dress shirt, brown overcoat and black pants with matching dress shoes. The guy also sported a cane in his right hand, making him look like a typical polite gentleman… aside from the mask of course.

'Who the hell is this guy?' Nico wondered as he eyed the man below him warily. All the while, he just stepped away from the que as if they didn't even know he was there. Looking at him though, the redhead male identified right away that there was a DISTINCT difference between this guy and the other guests. It was in the way that he carried himself, the other guests moved all daintily and posh-like, as if they were used to going to large luxurious parties in big mansions where loads of security would make it safe for their presence. AKA, the typical Nobleman or woman who had been raised in high standards. However, this guy held himself differently, as in whilst there was still a similar level of refinement in his movements considering how he walked all posh-like out of the que, using his Cane as a walking stick, there was also an underlying amount of caution in his stride. A caution which could only come from being exposed to the horrors of war, the ways of the battlefield or places similar to this one which ended up in him always having his guard up. Nico didn't like the guy the moment he first laid eyes on him, and as seconds passed this caution increased all the more.

'It will not help, but I sense a surge of Demonic Power coming from him, Nico. It feels similar to a Demons, yet those Bloodthirsters would be nothing for him. No amount of them would be able to touch him, if anything nothing short of a Demon Prince or a Chaos God would be able to put a scratch on him. I'll do the sane thing and advise extreme caution when approaching this person, not to mention propose that you meet with him face to face. Now that he's seen you, we'll likely be unable to go along with our previous plan.'

When Nico heard those words from his Demon Persona, he could only show a complex expression behind his Mask, his lone uncovered left eye narrowing at the man. The man whom right now stood below him and craned his neck upwards so he could look at the redhead. The fact that his previous plan had become a no-go had dawned on him since the moment that he got called out, Biko had only confirmed it for him. Nico could also sense the surge of Demonic Power within this man too, and definitely agreed with Biko's assessment. As a result, the redhead male mentally nodded at his Demon Persona's suggestion before he hopped off the ledge, landing right before the man in a kneeling position, before he stood tall and pocketed his hands in his Trench Coat. That though, would merely hide the signs of him prepping to summon a Devil Arm in case things went awry.

"It is rare to see someone of your demeanor around these parts. I have been here for a long time, yet I do not recognize you…" the man remarked, looking him over while cupping the bottom of his Mask. The way that he analyzed Nico made him want to shudder and cringe at the same time, the male did NOT like that look at all. So, Nico summoned his Shingan and discreetly activated its powers, allowing him to peer into the man's thoughts to see what the hell his intentions were. Unfortunately, when he did this Nico saw nothing but a black void, much to his surprise and dismay. Fortunately, he concealed his shock so that the man didn't catch on, though Nico couldn't tell if he did or not thanks to the man's own mask. It was at this point, that the man made this sound similar to a gasp of realization, as he clicked his fingers in front of his Mask. "Oh, now I remember. I DO recognize you, you're that DEATHSTROKE character people were talking about months ago."

THAT just made things all the worse for the redhead male, nearly causing him to grit his teeth in frustration had he not held himself JUST barely. 'Shit, looks like this guy is aware of me. The fact that he does makes me feel like I have to tread carefully, normally i'm not as well known as the other Spec Ops Agents. Its been a while since the Lastation incident so people shouldn't be talking about me as much, heck the music video didn't show me in my Spec Ops Gear. Therefore, it shouldn't be the topic of discussion anymore, especially with the girls rescuing everyone at the Gala. Just how much does he know about me, and what is his goal here? That's what I want to know, but somehow he is able to stop my Shingan from reading his thoughts. Not a good sign…' The male thought to himself. Normally, Nico wouldn't be so on edge when he heard someone knew about him, surprised maybe since he again wasn't that well known in comparison to the other Agents but nothing like he was right now. The recent unveiling of his Ghoul side along with the following revelations however, had all but shot his nerves and made him… well, more than a little edgy regarding his reputation.

For a moment, Nico didn't reply, wondering what he should do with this new revelation that someone knew about him. However, he soon realized that A: he couldn't exactly do much at this point, and B: the damage had already been done. Therefore, eventually he did reply to the hat-wearing man with great reluctance. "... It is as you say." he replied, and he couldn't help but thank his past self's foresight of putting on his Mask, since it hid his gritting teeth from view. Still, Nico didn't let his frustration show, and instead used his default neutral stare through his lone uncovered eye. "And you are...?"

The man looked at him for a moment, as if he was deliberating on something, before another sound of realization escaped his lips. "Oh my, I must have forgotten my manners back at my mansion. You may call me Gelmudo. I am a Count, serving under Count Mott." The man known as Gelmudo spoke, doing a formal butler-like bow with the hand holding his Cane between its fingers being put on his chest, the other being thrown sideways whilst he leaned forwards. Even though he remained in this state, Nico got the impression that he'd not be able to strike him down even now.

However, that wasn't what caused him to gain red flags in his mind, setting off every freaking alarm inside.

No, that honor went to the fact that he was in league with the very same Count whom had been linked to a multitude of problems Nico had had to deal with.

'This guy's... with that bastard, huh? Well, honestly I can actually see something like that being the truth. These two... while I haven't met Count Mott in person yet, I DO believe that he and this guy would have a similar demeanor when meeting strangers for the first time... if they were meeting the same class of people though.' The redhead male thought as his shoulders tensed briefly, before he forced himself back to a calm state of being again. It wouldn't do to have one of that guy's underlings know that Nico was onto his master, otherwise things may get a little... problematic for him. Still, if this guy was working for that asshole, then maybe he could get some dirt on that Count, at least then maybe the Spec Ops will put him on a mission to rip out his innards and strangle him with them. Oh, how he would LOVE to be there to witness that man's final moments be of agony and despair, knowing that his plans (whatever they were) would crumble all around him. Once he had acutely calmed himself though, Nico glanced over to the long line of Guests, then at the building itself. "Say, this place seems to not have existed for long, what exactly is it?" Nico questioned. Hopefully he could bleed some information out of this guy about this place, then he could decide on what to do afterwards. Burning the whole place down with some Hellfire from his DPU Form sounded promising...

At this, the man gestured to the building with his cane, tilting his head sideways. "This?" he questioned, before using his Cane as a walking stick again. "My boy, this place is what you would call a... secret pleasure, of sorts." Nico did NOT like the creepy chuckle the guy did just then, not at all. If he went anywhere NEAR his comrades, he'd best expect his dick to be torn from his body. "Its an underground Auction house, just recently created by some... interested benefactors. Pretty much what happens, is that once a week a load of 'goods' are held here for a fee, and if one is able to outbid their opponents, then they will be able to buy some fairly exotic treasures." Gelmudo explained. "The process works like this: the announcer proclaims a starting price depending on the treasure, and people have to start setting up how much they would be willing to pay. The objective: outbid the rest of the audience and thus, win the prize. Pretty simple, yes?"

'Hmmm... I see... now that he mentions it, looking at this place I sense faint traces of Demonic Energy within it... not to mention my nose tells me there's a bunch of fresh items stored inside. Feels like they're well-maintained somehow, too...' Nico thought to himself as he took in this information. Nevertheless, part of him hoped that there wouldn't be anything like Slavery in there, as that had been banned long ago aside from being pathetic, wrong and idiotic. Slavery did NOT sit well with him, and he had seen his fair share of how female servants tended to be treated. Count Mott would actually be one of the nicer ones, which speaks VOLUMES about how they are usually treated.

Yeah, that bad.

"Say, you look like the sort who has some cash to spend, why not head in with me?"

Looking up in mild surprise, Nico thought that he heard the man wrongly. Did he just hear him ask if he would like to partake in an auction? An auction which COULD have a possibility of Slaves in it? Nico almost exploded with rage at that, but one thing kept him from doing so. That one thing, was the presence of exotic treasures inside the place, call him a greedy bastard but hearing that such things were inside there honestly intrigued him. It reminded him a lot of Zelretch's trials too, that guy had some VERY enticing goodies, some of which Nico had been allowed to take back to the Devildimension with him. Not to mention, that if he was sensing Demonic Energy inside this place, then there would be a good chance there could be Satanic Treasures hidden inside unbeknownst to these Nobles. They looked like the sort whom would just look at something nice and say 'oooh, that's shiny i'll take it for my own' without realizing it was actually something very dangerous.

Satanic Treasures may not be on the same level as Devil Arms in terms of effectiveness and lethality, but they would NOT be classified as weak by any means. This came from one who had multiple ones with him.

Plus, even with that small fortune he had spent on healing items before meeting Zelretch, Nico still had well enough Credits stashed away in his account, so he could afford to splurge a bit.

"Hmm... Very well then, lets see what this is about."


After that discussion, the two males waited till it was their turn, going down the que while standing side by side. Nico meanwhile made sure to keep an eye on his 'companion' in case he were to try something by idly glancing at him occasionally. Nothing really happened during that time, but one could never truly be very careful, that was his thought process. By the time that the two arrived at the Bouncer, this Gelmudo character gave the bouncer a series of Credits, with an almost meaningful phrase of words indirectly telling him to let Nico in as a companion of Gelmudo's. For some reason, the Bouncer agreed, although judging from what Nico could sense from his emotional state, it didn't seem like he was too happy about it. This guy might have been a frequent visitor, AKA a regular, something that only raised his suspicions about him.

Nevertheless, he said nothing to the guy, merely kept his thoughts between himself and Biko. He would have brought in his Ghoul Persona, however Nico didn't believe this type of thing was his style since he was more on the instinct side of things.

Anyways, the two soon found themselves in the main hall, where the Auction was apparently going to take place. If one wanted to imagine what this place looked like, think of a massive theater, with rows of seats split into large sections that rose upwards. There were several metallic railings going along the walls way above the seats, while at the front was a semicircular wooden stage, with two large curtains behind it hiding what would likely be backstage. There was little lighting in the room, likely to add suspense though there were a few at the four corners of the room itself. All of them pointing at the stage yet not active seat would be occupied by the Guests of this Auction, each of them looking like eager wolves ready to sink their fangs into play.

As for the males, the two stood on top of the left platform, close to the back left corner to overlook the proceedings from their vantage point. Apparently, this place wasn't used very often due to the guest preferring to 'sit on their seats of luxury' according to Gelmudo, and since Nico sensed zero deceit from those words he decided to somewhat believe it. Then again, these WERE Nobles that they were talking about, Nico truly detested their kind no matter what people said. If there were exceptions to the mold, then he'd make them like he had done for the Von Kessal family, but if not well, all of his hate.

'Still... This place seems quite packed...' Nico thought to himself as he looked at everyone assembled here. 'Their greed is just saturating the place, I can hardly breathe without some of this Greed entering me... Biko, how are the Devil Arms, Ouranos and Erebus fairing? What about Soul Edge?' he asked his Demon Persona.

'I have managed to restrain their destructive urges somewhat, enough so that they wouldn't lose themselves over so much negative emotion in the air. Due to their demonic nature, they are naturally drawn to these types of things, just by being in this vicinity their powers are growing at an accelerated rate. Its like when you were restoring your powers from your first Berserker Mode... but grander in scale. I'm currently controlling their absorption input, so you should focus on the Auction. It is apparently starting now.'

Just like that, Nico returned to reality as he looked towards the Stage, where he saw how several lights had come on whilst the previously bustling audience quietened down. Nico could feel the tension in the air as all eyes remained glued to the Stage where they seemed to expect something to happen. Now, Nico wasn't that familiar with how Auction Houses worked in general since he usually got his items from various treasuries that Abnormals collected. One would be surprised at what they would find in those places, it was how he had gotten some of his own stock like his Miniguns which he'd used with the girls back in Lastation.

Soon enough, a person stepped out onto the Stage from behind the person, drawing all eyes to them. This person looked to be a man, a man in his mid to late thirties if Nico were to guess. He couldn't say for sure since, aside from the white suit with green polka dots that covered his form (yeah, he wasn't going t question that one), his facial features were covered by a Mask too. One that resembled a smiling clown face now that he got a better look at it. The darkness in the room was hardly an issue for someone like him either, thanks to the Gene Seed Implants he got from Zelretch''s trials containing the ability to see well in the dark itself. Still, the moment that he showed up, Nico sensed how all attention was put on him, so he figured that this guy would be the announcer.

He soon got his guess answered correctly, when the man pulled a Microphone from within his suit, walked up to the Stage's centre, and began to speak in a showman-like manner. "Greetings to you all! I am No-Face, and I will be your host this fine evening. Now today, e have a bucket load of goods... appropriated from some sources into our possession. Goods I DO believe each of you will be QUITE interested in, given the situation here in this Nation."

Murmurings passed through the audience as they each shared their own opinions about the stuff at had been said. Apparently, they felt the same as each other, that they just wanted to get their money's worth. Some of them wondered what they would see this time, would it be weapons, trinkets, Armour, heck even special items? Well, that was what the ones connected to the military thought, the rest just looked like they wanted jewels and riches from this Auction. Those kinds of people... well, they would have ZERO idea on how to utilize this opportunity.

After a short while, No-Face clicked his fingers, and from that movement, from behind the curtains in walked a woman in a Bunny Girl outfit, pushing a wooden trolley along to the man's side. Some of the men eyed the woman with lust (much to the irritation of both genders) while everyone else just, well, stared at the item that was being displayed in a glass jaw the size of a basketball.

Most, if not all, exclaimed in shock and surprise at what they saw.

Meanwhile, Nico could only look on in horror and sheer anger.

In the container, there lay a Collar. A brown leather collar, but with a metal lock on its front. There was a key right beside it, which should be the only way to unlock that collar. However, if one were more attuned to the ways of the arcane, such as for sensing energies like Nico was, then they would notice the copious amounts of Demonic power oozing from this Collar's form. It just overflowed from the damn thing as if it were a hilltop, and the energy being a river. It more than identified itself as a Satanic Treasure, and NOT a nice one as far as Nico was concerned. Although, very few members of the audience down below could notice this energy, since most of them hadn't even touched a training regimen in their entire lives.

"Yes ladies and gentlemen, you are all seeing what you think you are seeing! Please note, that everything we present to you does exactly as we say it does. May I present you: the Binding Collar. Think of this as the ultimate enslavement tool, just put it on someone or something's neck, and this collar will forever bind them to your service. It'll go the extra mile and rewrite their entire personalities, reformatting them top be the perfect slaves for your every pleasure. Perfect for those who were... vexed, by that ban on slavery by the Basilicom." No-Face announced as he gestured to the collar. "Unfortunately, we only have one, so the price has to be quite steep to compensate. Lets start us with... 200, 000 Credits..."

Instantly, the bidding commenced, with a starting number being 200,000. Over 70% of the audience instantly got captivated by the Collar, as if years of sexual tension were about to be extinguished in the blink of an eye. Nico's eye could only take this all in with absolute disgust with a sickening feeling being born within his stomach. It became ALL too clear to him just what kind of guests these Nobles were, just from these actions alone. One of the few things that those shitty guys in power did right in his opinion, was ban the slave trading system which reminded people of their origins. Even so, it didn't blind him to the fact that many families profited from such a system back then, and as such they would try anything they could to find a loophole around that law. This thing looked to be one such loophole.

Up on their little perch atop the audience, Nico scowled down at the audience behind his Mask. "Wow, I can't believe it, but my already low opinion of these Nobles has gotten even lower. To want to fork over such high amounts of Credits for something so useless..." he remarked thoughtfully. Though, he didn't really expect to have anyone answer him.

Which was why he found himself surprised when he heard Gelmudo hum in agreement. "You'd be right there, these Nobles are blind by the thought of having Slaves again after the ban made by the Basilicom." Gelmudo remarked, shaking his head while a sigh escaped his Mask. This drew Nico's gaze to him, and when he noticed the man shrugged his shoulders before proceeding to explain. "What, why would I want just one human for my master? If anything, i'd rather enslave an Abnormal, one of the more powerful ones since the Collar binds only one being to your service. Why would I want to give my master a weak human servant when he has so many at his beck and call? The collar's true worth is so much more than what these foolish idiots are thinking. At least then, the Slave bound by the Collar could get more work done. Absolute enslavement may be an appealing concept for most, but if the slave is incapable of performing tasks, then what's the point? My master only deserves the highest quality goods."

... Well... Nico honestly didn't know what to feel about that. On one hand, being willing to go about enslaving an Abnormal drove it home for the male that this guy was NOT a good person by any standard. If he were to enslave someone the fact that he'd chose an Abnormal, a powerful one according to his words, for effectiveness reasons showed that the guy had an intellect to him, preferring quality over quantity. It wasn't always bad though, since the more options one had on the battlefield, the greater their chance of survival was. On the other hand, the fact that, him regarding this Collar as insignificant made Nico wonder just what he would find as valuable. Part of him wanted to go down there, stop the Auction and burn everything to the ground, the guests and the auctioneer to nothing, but he repressed it for now. After all, if he did that,who knows how many innocents like the Bunny Girl woman would get caught in the crossfire? That, and any damage may get traced back to him and give him no small amount of trouble. Him, and his comrades, something Nico held no desire to achieve thank you very much.

In the end, the item went to some low-class Noble (whom Nico mentally noted to keep an eye and ear on) who looked at the Bunny Girl with unending lust, invoking a polite, if not strained, smile from her as she lightly waved at him. Though, even a blind man could tell that smile wouldn't be genuine. As the man sat back down clutching his little trinket, which had been sold for up to 900,000 Credits, the Auction continued. As it did so, Nico got a better idea of both how these things worked, as well as what kind of items were being displayed here.

First off, the item displayed after the Collar being sold, appeared to be a sword of some kind. It looked to be similar to a straight sword, or perhaps one could say it looked like that divine weapon: the Kusanagi he recalled its name being. Unlike that weapon however, this one DEFINITELY had Demonic Power coursing through it, Nico could tell from the aura it possessed. Soon, No-Face began to explain about the sword, all the while Biko would inform him of the more... detailed version thanks to the Lexicanum having information about all sorts of Satanic Treasures, this being one of them. Apparently, this sword was called the 'Shadow Sword', also known as the 'Blade of Demonic Invocation', or the 'conjuring blade'. Its blade had the ability to turn anything it cuts, into a demonic entity which would serve the wielder of the sword for eternity. There was an antidote for it in the hilt, but other than that there would be no cure from such an item.

Biko did inform him that those like Nico himself, or beings who are already demonic to begin with, wouldn't be affected by the sword. In addition, he informed him that the sword's power would be on par with a Multi-Continent Class DPU if wielded properly, especially with its ability to create Demon servants.

THAT little trinket went to some guy with black hair with blue outlining and white streaks, who'd bought it for over 700,000 Credits. Nico didn't pay much attention to the specifics there, but he did hope that he never got to encounter that sword's power.

Nico also noted that Gelmudo's emotions flared when he saw that sword, a surge of greed and warped want like a drug addict finally getting to see the item which would satisfy his cravings. Better keep an eye on him in the future, part of him suggested.

The next thing on the agenda, was a hand-held mirror (something which got the Noblewomen's attention, to be sure). Biko informed him that the Mirror itself was a Satanic Treasure called 'Forlorn Hope' and it had the ability to grant the user any one wish upon a full moon. However, what Biko told him that No-Face didn't was that that there was a cost to be paid in the end: the user's life. In addition to that, the artifact also somewhat had a will of its own, similar to Ouranos in that it was intelligent and could choose not to take the user's life if it was impressed enough. Whenever one were to use this mirror, it will 'speak' to the user, kind of like a magic Djinn like the one Nico and Biko had met during the trials. According to his Demon Persona, the mirror had next to zero limits on what wishes could be granted, something that No-Face also presented to the crowd which got MANY of the Nobles shrieking already. He could swear that someone just shouted 'shut up and take my credits!' somewhere in that crowd.

It got sold for about 900,000 Credits by some guy with red hair, who then vanished into the winds. Nico also got the smell of fox fur when the man did that thanks to his Ghoul side and Gene Seed Implants, making his eyes narrow in suspicion.

Interestingly enough, Gelmudo's emotions didn't go any more negative from the sight. If anything, the male felt distaste coming from the man, and when he glanced towards him Nico noticed the man mumbling beneath his breath. Of course, Nico managed to hear what he had said thanks to his enhanced hearing, not to mention he was RIGHT there by his side too. Apparently, he didn't like the fact that the mirror took the lives of the users, something which made Nico wonder just how the hell he had such knowledge of the Satanic Treasure. Those thoughts soon vanished when he heard how the man commented how he'd have to find 'replacements' among the servants of Count Mott's mansion if he were to get his hands on the mirror.

Next item that came would be an... interesting one, lets say that. It got presented on a pedestal which rose from the stage beside No-Face, whilst the bunny girl just left the stage with the trolley in tow. The moment Nico saw the item on that pedestal, he quickly had to silence the sudden shrieked and outcries within the links to his Devil Arms. 'Whoa, dudes calm the fuck down!' the redhead male yelled in his mind, forcibly exerting his will to them in order to quell them. The Demonic Weapons persisted for a moment, before they finally calmed down when Nico gave them a surge of Demonic Power. 'Biko what the hell was that?! This item, it...!'

'Their self preservation instincts took them over, Nico. This item... i'll do some digging, for now listen to the announcer. Perhaps we can learn a thing or two about this item... nonetheless, this reaction... reminds me of that guy's evil powers Nico. Be wary.'

The thing that was there, looked to be a crimson seed the shape of a... living, beating heart. It had various Tendrils growing from it which searched around, as if they were looking for something, whilst the seed itself 'pulsed' every now and then. The seed looked to be contained within a glass box, with just enough soil for the seed to 'feed' from, but not much else.

No-Face, unperturbed by how disturbed the audience looked when they saw this item, simply continued the Auction as if nothing was wrong. "Ladies and Gentlemen, it has come to my attention that the slight 'Demon' infestation plaguing our beloved Leanbox has caused you some issues, yes?" he spoke, getting some confused murmurs from the audience. Confused, but confirming murmurs. "Well then, today is your lucky day, for right beside me, I present to you: a Satanic Tree seed! This little beauty, when implanted into your gardens, will grow into a fine plant-guardian which will lay burrowed into the earth. Within several hundred kilometers, any Demonic presence will not be able to get anywhere near your territory with this beast around, since its roots will seek out any Demonic presence to absorb into itself. Ground Demons will be stabbed by roots, seed missiles will shoot out the ground to knock down flying Demons, and any who seek to travel through the ground itself will die faster than a second! It is the ultimate defense against these Demonic Incursions!" He proclaimed, and as if it were a child hearing the name of its favorite snack, the Satanic Tree Seed suddenly jerked about, flailing its Tendrils in wild, erratic patterns.

Now THAT got the audience's attention. Dozens of them had come from families which were... admit-tingly much less financially secure than the Counts and Dukes. Therefore, they couldn't afford the same luxuries or defensive measures that those influential Nobles could, so something like THIS, which costed practically nothing in comparison, well... it would be more than a LITTLE enticing for them. The fact that the Seed itself had a grotesque looking appearance didn't seem to register on their minds anymore, as thoughts of finally being 'safe' entered their minds, hearts and very SOULS.

'Of course, what No-Face doesn't know, either that or he deliberately didn't say it, but this Satanic Tree Seed is a Satanic Treasure that comes from those beings we call 'Demon Princes'. In essence, they are Demons with THAT level of power. Their maximum distance would be 400 Kilometers in every direction, but if a Demon of similar power level or greater such as a Chaos God were to come by, then the Seed will 'hide' since they would be able to take it out. So really, it being an 'ultimate defense' is a misunderstanding. Though, I now understand why our Devil Arms reacted to it in such a way...'

'Yeah... something like this would definitely be enough to set them off. My Archdevil Arms remained quiet though, I guess that means their full strength would have been enough to make the Seed 'hide' then?'

'indeed. Also, remind em later to bring you up to speed on the Demons, I have some information about them.'

Oh? Well, wasn't THAT interesting? It looked like Nico would begetting some more insight onto these Demons, soon. Perhaps he could share this information with his mother and the girls when he got the chance. In any case, Nico could NOT help but notice just how frenzied the crowd suddenly became, with offers and bids being thrown by the seconds. Even Gelmudo seemed to be getting into it, which made Nico frown to himself behind his Mask. 'If Gelmudo wins the bid, then perhaps he'll use the Seed and plant it beneath the center of Count Mott's territory...' the redhead male thought to himself, wondering just what kind of events would be stirred within the territory itself should that happen. Part of him wanted to join in the bidding, since he hadn't done anything with his Credits yet, but Nico refrained. None of these items so far would benefit him in any way so far, ESPECIALLY not that FUCKING binding Collar. Whoever bought that item, Nico would make sure to keep an eye on , and if he got wind of that collar being used, then he'd be on that asshole faster than one could blink.

Luckily, it wasn't that masked gentlemanly guy who won, but a random Noble in the crowd. Said man simply leaned back on his seat, waving a fan in front of his face to cool himself down from the 'heated' bidding process. Hell, Nico faintly made out some sort of... scent, coming from his neither regions. Not to mention that there was something beneath the table that tried to hide itself... 'Ooooookaaaaay, lets NOT go any further there...' Nico thoughts suddenly to himself, body tensing up while his face quickly losing its color behind the Mask. Not to mention the bile that threatened to erupt from within his throat at the 'images' assaulting his mind. Seriously, do these Nobles not know any tact at all?

Beside him, the male caught the irritated snort even during his little freak-out.

Afterwards, the Auction continued, with numerous different items being sold left and right at varying prices to different people. So far, this Auction stuff really bugged the male, especially since it was so discreet which would allow for some 'unsavory individuals' to bend the laws to their favor by gaining items that they wouldn't have otherwise. Heck, one such case came int he form of a woman wearing rags and unconscious in the middle of a cage. Nico nearly lost it at the sight of such a thing, knowing the fate of that poor girl as soon as he saw the looks the audience gave. Slavery still seemed to be apparent, it seemed, just done beneath the law's nose so nobody would suspect anything. That woman had been a Noble's daughter, he had learned, but her father had disowned her since she had been born from an unwanted mistress. One could already imagine what kind of life awaited her, and as much as Nico wanted to intervene and save her, Gelmudo held him back. He'd insisted that saving her would be pointless in the long run, since this would happen all the time in other auctions. Saving one life would be pointless since it wouldn't change the grand scheme of things.

Aside from those instances, Nico could also see how versatile these Auctions were. Some of the items had been Satanic Treasures, of THAT he had been certain thanks to his Demonic Powers, whilst other items didn't seem to originate from Demonic origins. There were over dozens of different items, some of which could have been useful if Nico had intended to buy anything here. But he hadn't, instead he had simply came here to scope things out and see what was going to happen, so as such he refused to buy anything from here as of yet. Heck, Nico didn't know if he would even want to with some of the disgusting things here, even if some of the items tickled his fancy, his mental morals weighed heavily on his mind. Heck, that slave girl he had previously been unable to do anything about had been sold to that same Noble who had been doing something... questionable under his table, something which made his mood all the worse. Even to the point where his Demonic Power began to leak out, forcing him to lock his emotions tighter to prevent it from going wild.

All in all, Nico had mixed feelings about it.


As the Auction neared a close about 4 hours later, Gelmudo looked towards his newest companion and hummed. "Well then, the Auction nears its end now. There'll likely be another within the following week, so its worth checking these places out for any goodies of interest. So, what do you think of them Spec Ops Agent?" he questioned, eyes almost leering at him behind that gentlemanly demeanor he presented. The man leaned on his back against the railing, hands tucked into his coat pockets whilst asking Nico this question.

What did he think? Well, Nico had a LOT to say about something like this, but instead of going on a verbal rant like a wild beast would, lashing out against anything that he deemed wrong, the redhead male also pocketed his hands and released a sigh from his lips. "Well... this place certainly seems... something." he remarked, looking down at the audience. "The fact that something like this is held weekly without people knowing is impressive in of itself. One would have thought the law would have cracked down on shit like this already."

"Aye, its quite easy to get around that stuff... if you have the Credits and knowledge to do so." Gelmudo mused, shrugging his shoulders while stepping away from the Railing. "People will do anything for money, even look the other way when the 'big boys' want to have others do their dirty work. Though, in the end that's pretty much how the underworld of Gamindustri, same with the human heart, works huh?"

At this, Nico had to resist the urge to wince, personal experience causing him to agree with this sentiment. Nico had not been to an auction before, but he certainly had experience with the criminal underworld. He had to visit it frequently in order to track down his targets, to 'make them pay' in accordance with the rules the Basilicom set for him. He may be a Spec Ops Agent, but he was also nothing more than a dog on a leash thanks to his circumstances. He had more than enough experience with the scum of society to know that in many cases, humans could be even worse than the Abnormals that he hunted. He'd seen their greed, their corruption and how twisted they could be. It was why he had dealt with them in increasingly vicious manners, one of them having conducted a plan to make a 'human centipede' just because he could.

The Human Centipede: one of the worse things that Nico had the misfortune to encounter. It was created by a Surgeon in Planeptune whom had lost his sanity, or rather never had any to begin with since he'd uncovered evidence that he had done this several times in the past. This Surgeon almost had a boner for kidnapping people, men women or even children, and then stitching them together from the mouth to the anus, forming con-jointed sets, the human centipede. He had done it to women, men and even CHILDREN, taking them from their homes and families to force them into his sick experiments. Worse, it had started from a 'joke' he had made with some of his equally insane friends about 'punishing' his ex wife for leaving him by stitching her mouth to the back of a fat truck driver. Only ONE victim had managed to escape, and she had the fortune of winding up in Nico's path. The moment she told him what had happened, Nico quickly took her to the Spec Ops section of the Guild to have her testify to his superiors, who decided to give him the 'green light' to go all ape shit.

Thus, that was EXACTLY what he had done.

As such, Nico could understand what Gelmudo talked about so well that it practically sickened him. "Yeah..."

Just then, the two got drawn out of their musings (thankfully for Nico since he felt like unleashing his Ghoul side from the memories alone), and towards the stage, where No-Face stood. "Now then, ladies and gentlemen, since it is nearly time for this Auction to end, I must inform you all, that we have ONE last item to sell today. A particularly MOUTH-WATERING one for any of you who have 'fine taste buds', I assure you all." He proclaimed, getting everyone's attention. Some of them looked a little tired from these events, whilst others still looked like they could go all night, surprisingly enough. "May I present you a little something we like to call, our 'treasure'."

The moment that he said that, a huge 'PSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHH!' sound escaped the stage alongside the smokescreen, covering the entire stage. Nico's lone uncovered eye narrowed at this, suspicion and caution building within his chest. Since the 'nature' of these items varied from generous to downright horrific, he found himself developing a sense of tension whenever a new item would be presented. He dared not call anything to do with slavery items, since most of them tended to be young daughters of noble families or even normal girls like Neptune or Compa. That thought filled him with a sense of terror, terror at the thought of them being captured and sold like this. No way, no, NO THE FUCK WAY WOULD HE LET THAT HAPPEN!

Whilst he mentally raged, Nico looked to the Stage with a deadly gaze as a... cage, rose up from within the smoke. Nico gripped the railing tightly, so much so that it practically snapped in half, although everyone (including Gelmudo) had been too busy paying attention to the stage to notice. Finally, the cage had reached a height which would allow him to see what was inside... and what he saw made Nico grind his teeth so much that he wondered if sparks could have been ignited from the friction.

There... huddled in the fatal position in that cage, facing away from them all...

Was a young child... no older than 11 and no younger than 9.


Chapter End

Whelp, a cliffhanger's here, but I think that there is enough content for the average viewer to sink into.

Not only are there political situations unravelling around Leanbox as well as the ongoing war between the Leanbox forces and that of the demonic ones. I'll only let you all GUESS where Maghda might be hiding, but safe to say that nobody in Gamindustri will be able to fins her. That will lead to her being able to pretty much direct her troops with no fear of garnering attention to herself, whilst also fighting about to keep her lord satisfied. Khorne cares not where the blood comes from, only that it flows. Not only that, but Khorne's forces care more about the battle rather than achieving the end result, causing an unimaginable amount of slaughter and butchering strong opponents wherever they find them. So, if I were them, i'd be pretty trilled at the fact that my adversaries were starting to learn from the experiences given to them and are proving themselves more of a worthwhile opponent. That's my reasoning for making the situation between these two what it is as stated by this Chapter.

Also, the matter of the auction, and this whole arc actually, was inspired by a wuxia I read called 'Against The Gods', and if you've read my story and its side one so far, you might see some elements of it already being included. There are some I still want to include , cause in terms of scale, these wuxias seem to have much more going for them than the average shounen manga. I think one that could go up against these wuxias would be Dragon Ball, but then again that depends on the wuxia. But believe me, this arc is going to be... an interesting one to say the least, as its general theme serves one purpose, I'll explain that later on, though so good luck figuring out that theme.

In any case, hope you enjoy, and i'll see you in the next chapter.

Peace Out!