Though he insisted that it was an unusual occurrence, Tyrannus led Tetsuda down to the place he called the Smelt. It lay within the bowels of the palace, in an underground chamber that was equate to the size of the palace aboveground. The rounded walls were earthen, same with the floor. Metal grates dotted the ceiling, to which plumes of grey smoke traveled. The floor itself was a ring with two levels, connected by a few short stacks of stairs. Within the middle of the ring lay a massive hole, from which waves of heat rose. A gargantuan bucket made of brass suspended from the ceiling by a pulley, right above the hole. Relatively humanoid demons buzzed about the space, hauling buckets or shoveling coal, and others sat at stone tables.

"Your nature speaks against it, but I doubt you'll want to remain nude here," Tyrannus said. "You may slice off your dick." He strode to the left, and Tetsuda followed close behind. "Overseers!" he shouted.

The moment his voice abandoned his throat, every demon in the place ceased their work and knelt with lowered heads. Three of them, however, approached the duo from all sides of the space.

Each had a monstrous appearance, towering over both Tyrannus and Tetsuda. Leather and metal armor covered their forms, and beastly weapons hung from waists and backs. Their dark skins were scabbed and scarred, and not one part of their faces looked human.

"I have a new addition for you," Tyrannus said. "His name's Tetsuda."

"An incubus?" one of them asked.

"Yes. I need to harden him before anything useful can be had out of him. If any place will strengthen him, it's here."

"Indeed," spoke another. "Which branch would you like him in?"

"I'm keeping him for myself, too, so I don't want him dreadfully disfigured. Scrapping should do."

"You leave him in capable hands, Lord Tyrannus," spoke the third.

"I wouldn't have deemed you Overseers if you weren't. Send him back up to me at nightfall. In chains. I don't need him trying to escape from me yet."


Compared to the grueling work the rest of the demons suffered through, scrapping was by no means that difficult. Tedious, yes, and definitely uncomfortable, but by no means did Tetsuda's body ache. The only ache-worthy attribute was the smock covering him. The heavy canvas material protected from his chest to his knees, yet the rest of him remained bare. He was not the only one, however; in fact, most demons here at least lacked a shirt. Then again, this was no surprise—the heat in the air suffocated them. Had he the ability, all sweat would have abandoned his body.

He sat on the second level, surrounded by others like him, with a bin of daggers in front of him. Anything cracked, chipped, or shoddy would be placed in a second bin, which would then be placed into a larger bin, which would then be dumped back into the pit—labeled officially as the Smelt—where they'd be melted and reused.

In the past three hours, Tetsuda had discovered only twelve malformed daggers, and the same applied to the others around him.

As he mindlessly sorted, he thought of Tyrannus. He'd mentioned age solidifying his demonic nature—just how old was he, then? Demons were hundreds, if not thousands of years old, based on everything he knew from the human world, yet Tyrannus didn't look like he was elderly in the slightest. The Overseers definitely showed age, as well as wear, and the rest of the workers resembled Tetsuda in their youthfulness. For just how long had Tyrannus been a demon?

A cry rang out through the air, and all workers lifted their heads. On the lower level, one of the Overseers—the one who controlled sorting—held a green-skinned demon by his lavender hair.

"You dare make a fool of us?" he hissed. "You dare try to steal from Lord Tyrannus?!" Without awaiting a reply, he threw the demon to the floor and withdrew a flogger from his belt. One foot upon the demon's lower back, the Overseer slashed the weapon across the demon's upper torso. More screams flew from his mouth, just like the blood flying through the air.

This proceeded for a few more minutes, and by the time the Overseer had finished, the demon was marked from his head to his feet in cuts and welts.

"All Avaritia will face a fate worse than this if theft is found again!" shouted the Overseer. "Back to work! All of you!"

With a jolt, Tetsuda lowered his eyes. Avaritia...avarice. A greed demon, then. Why they even allowed greed demons here in the first place, Tetsuda didn't know. Somewhere like this, with so many weapons, something was bound to get stolen. Truly, it didn't even have to be greed—desperation was as good a motivator as any. His task was relatively easy, yet the demons who had to pour the molten metal into molds looked about ready to jump into the Smelt.

Then again, Tetsuda felt a similar way. Not out of pain nor discomfort—out of boredom. Hopefully Tyrannus's special interest in Tetsuda would save him from brain death…