May 3rd 2016 Murmur Markets, Murmur, Hell, 1:00 P.M EDT

"You're a high end slave trader in the literal infernal depths." I said to Lady Blaze (or just Blaxe, because lady was getting annoying to add even in my head). "How is it possible you couldn't afford a legit passage and had to use the sewers. This place smells like a demons asshole. I assume. My demon keeps her asshole clean for me, so it actually smells pretty nice."

I stepped sideways to avoid a small rock flung by my annoyed demoness. "Half breed then, sorry Rae. Regardless, my shoes are going to be ruined if we have to walk through much more of this."

"Poor you." Drawled Raven. "I'm sure your shoes will be just…actually, why is there an emotional wavelength from your footwear?"

I stopped, looking down at them in surprise. "Oh shit." I laughed. "I totally forgot these used to be a guy." At her unhappy expression, I shrugged. "What? He was an evil psychopath who was responsible for my dad's death. He deserved to be shoes."

"Not particularly nice ones." Sneered Blaze as she glanced down at my feet. "Why did you decide to use combat boots as a base design? The mechanics of turning a human being into sentient footwear aside, you have terrible taste in boots."

"How about we revisit the issue after I put one of them up your ass?" I said sweetly. "Because I'm betting I could cram either of them up there pretty far."

She put both hands up defensively. "No mocking the footwear, got it." Then she winked at me. "Though I can think of a few more entertaining things for you to cram up my ass, if you were so inclined." Before I could respond, she squawked and pitched forward, falling into the sewer muck. She glared up at Raven. "You did that on purpose!"

My demoness simply maintained her normal stoic expression. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Whore."

I snickered. "Honey, pro tip, adding the word whore makes any neutral statement automatically hostile. Professing your innocence that way makes it pretty clear it was intentional. I mean, you're not wrong either, but still."

She pouted at me, which was absolutely adorable. "I've made peace with your desire to collect morally dubious women, but please don't fuck the demonic slave trader? It would actually bother me." Her expression was pinched with embarrassment, as if having standards for me was some kind of big imposition.

I just shrugged. "Then I won't." I had no desire to Brand Blaze. Her soft red body was intriguing, but I had plenty of sexy girls. If fucking her would genuinely upset Raven I wouldn't bother, especially given what she was and all the nonsense her identity could entail.

Blaze, who was climbing to her feet, pouted at that, but since I wasn't going to fuck her I didn't really care. I think she was going to pick a fight, honestly, but we came to a wall dead ending the tunnel. She sulked, pointing at the wall. "The entrance is here."

"Your escape tunnel connects directly to the palace?" I said incredulously. "Because that seems weirdly convenient."

"No." She said impatiently. "My escape tunnel connects to the sewers, the sewers connect to the palace. Lord Mammon doesn't like anyone knowing his business, if people found out he was fucking me they might use me to get to him."

That got a raised eyebrow from Lilith. "He cares enough about you for you to be leverage?"

Blaze looked at her like she was an idiot. "No? But he puts his penis inside of me. There are poisons that can make a cunt venomous."

"Lovely." I grimaced. "Because there weren't enough terrible things in the world. Eat a dick demons."

Blaze licked her lips. "All you had to do was ask." She staggered, catching herself on the wall and turned to glare at Raven, who was innocently staring off down the tunnel and ignoring the red skinned infernal.

"As fun as this is." I said with an eye roll. "This place smells like a homeless garbage monster's sweaty nutsack. Can we go…like, literally anywhere else?" Remembering that my shoes were Lincoln March had made this mildly entertaining for a minute, but submerging someone I hated in a literal hell sewer was less amusing than it could have been when I was wearing them on my feet.

Blaze sneered at Raven, clearly wanting to engage but too worried we might gang up on her and kill her. Which was a fair concern, we were already at the entrance and a sewer was a great place to dump a body.

Stepping up to the wall, she ran her fingers over the bricks, as she did, she found a series of small grooves that were nearly invisible to the naked eye and started tracing out intricate symbols on them. As she ran her fingers over the rock, the symbols lit up with an eerie red glow.

One at a time, they came to life, and when she finally stopped the symbols began to move. Rather than the rocks melting or moving or anything like that, the symbols took up a rectangular shape and the wall itself became translucent. A brief poke revealed we could pass through it, and after a quick look at my girls we did just that.

We slipped through fast in case Blaze was trying something, and made her go first, held by Raven and Lilith both just in case. Once we made it through the spells faded, and I whistled as I saw exactly how thick the wall had been. That wasn't a secret door, it was a secret passage. We'd just passed through about a mile of infernal stonework.

Of course, at the level of power and speed we had, it had taken seconds moving quickly, but still, that was a pretty secure entrance. Without knowing the spells there was pretty much no way to get through that stone easily, not to mention the rock itself was part of the palace, and according to Blaze, was heavily warded.

We came out in a basement. Dark, cool, and full of barrels of what I was reasonably certain were some sort of liquor (I stole a barrel or two, slipping them into my pouch, couldn't hurt, and they were F ranked). There was also a brass tub with a series of oils, perfumes, and soaps next to it.

Blaze gestured to the tub. "Lord Mammon doesn't enjoy the smell of sewers. He leaves this here for me to cleanse myself before I attend him."

I snickered at that. Classy shit, Mammon. Make you side piece crawl through the sewers so no one would see her and then leave a bathtub for her to scrub up so you didn't have to smell it. I was pretty sure demon Mammon was more of a dick than I was, and I was honest enough with myself to admit that was a high bar.

After she showed us the cabinet where he kept her spare clothes (servant uniforms, and he didn't even have the grace to specially stow them there, he'd literally just put the cabinet with the spare uniforms next to the tub) we all slipped into them.

Except Blaze. "Look." I said as I got dressed. "We already got you sucked into this, and that means you're screwed. Even if you double cross us, chances are good Mammon will kill you anyway. So, we're going to let you go, and you can start running."

The decision to let her take off was based on a few things. First off, she was B-rank, and killing her would be annoying. Secondly, like I'd said demons didn't have a reputation for forgiveness and tolerance. Thirdly, no way was I sneaking into the personal palace of a demon prince with a shady backstabbing B-rank slave trader at my back.

So while it was plausible that sending her on her way might bite us in the ass, NOT doing that was likely to bite us on the dick, and that seemed worse. She seemed genuinely surprised for a second, before remembering we'd threatened and blackmailed her into putting a target on her back, at which point she whirled around, stalked back over to the wall, hitting the same spots and then speeding off into the tunnel.

I cocked my head, staring at her bouncing red asscheeks as she sprinted, and then chuckled. Raven gave me a confused look, and I just grinned. "I just realized." I explained with a laugh. "I love to watch her leave AND see her go. It's a win win."

Lilith clicked her tongue. "You should have just fed her to me. SHe wouldn't be as tasty as Raven, but whores taste pretty sweet."

"Too big a mess." I said with a shrug. "Sorry Lily. I promise we'll get you someone slutty to snack on soon enough." I paused. "Actually, remind me you to introduce you to the big titty goth prostitute who pretends to be Raven as her day job."

"The WHAT?" Squawked my demoness, clearly appalled. Right, guess I hadn't ever mentioned that to her.

I clicked my tongue at her. "Don't be shitty, Rae. Sex workers are just doing a job. If anything you should be flattered. Besides, you've got a cup size on her I think. I'd have to compare them in person to be sure."

Lilith licked her lips. "I recommend a taste test. Clearing Raven's name one nipple at a time."

Rae's face smoother back out into its normal mask. "I would ask that you both refrain from sexually objectifying me while we're on a mission."

"She's right." I told Lilith seriously. "She can be our sexual object later." Raven pouted, and Lilith (who hadn't objected to being called Lily so I was sticking with it) giggled. "Serious faces though, people. We need to find my dad and get out of here. We're close enough that I can see his thread, so finding him shouldn't be too hard, but stay on your toes."

I neglected to mention we might have a few wrong terms on the way, since the strand was a straight line and went through several walls, but it didn't seem super relevant.

We headed for the stairs, and I withdrew a map from my pouch. It wasn't actually a useful map, since where would I have gotten a map of this palace, but it acted as a decent base. It was a premade G rank tracking map that showed everyone inside a building. Snapping off a piece of the stairwells I merged them together, creating an F ranked map of the building.

The premade maps were designed for exactly this purpose, just some of the secondary supplies I'd prepared for this trip. Referring to the map, I checked on the nearest rooms in the direction my dad was in, and was able to confirm there was one just up the hall. Might not be the one we needed, but it would give us a goal we could aim for. With a preselected destination we only had to wait a few minutes for the guards and or servants closest to pass and then we stepped out and walked purposefully towards the room in question.

When we arrived, we slipped inside, making sure no one was around to see us enter, then closed the door behind us. Lucky for us, it looked like this was the right room, though it took me a minute to be able to see once we closed the door. The lighting was low and flickering.

A figure on the table groaned, turning his head to look at me, and I realized it wasn't a table, it was a rack, and my fathers bloodied form was slumped against the hate iron construct as he blinked at me in confusion. "Hey dad. Good to see you." I said cheerfully. "You wouldn't happen to be in the mood for a rescue would you?"

May 3rd 2016 Palace of Perfidy , Murmur, Hell, 3:00 P.M EDT

I felt an astonishing wave of relief as I spotted my dad on the table, belting over to him immediately. I hadn't realized how torn up I still was over him dying, it was something I'd grown used to with Raven's exercises and just over time, but as I felt the gnawing pain I'd become so accustomed to disappear, it was clear how much it still affected me.

"Dad." I said in relief. "Holy shit, are you ok?"

He gave me a flat look. "Oh, I'm fine. I just decided to let my lower intestines out for some air."

I winced. "Right, stupid question" Then I grinned at him. "You do look like shit. I suggest leaving this place a terrible review on Yelp."

"I'm holding off until the seaweed wrap." He said wryly. "Jokes aside, boy, how did you get down here? I might be a bit out of sorts, but I do remember my death. Based on the life I've lived and my experience so far, I have a pretty solid guess where exactly I am."

"I took a left turn at Albuquerque." I said with an eye roll. "Now let's get you out of here." I reached down for the chains affixing him to the table, but he batted my hands away.

"Don't." He snapped. "I don't know what you did to him, but the master of this place wants your head on a stick. He's mentioned you more than a few times. If you break me loose you'll alert him, and he isn't someone to be trifled with. Just go. Quickly, before you're discovered."

I snorted. "Fuck that noise. I'm here to rescue you. Now shut up and be grateful old man. The elderly should be seen and not heard."

He rolled his eyes. "Stubborn boy. Who taught you this kind of overconfidence?" His grin was grateful and affectionate though. He turned to look behind me. "Also I'm a bit thrown by your choice in companions. You let your libido do too much of your thinking."

Raven bristled a bit, but I held up a hand. "They're both absurdly powerful, I brought them because they're strong and useful team members. The sex was just a fun side benefit."

That got a thoughtful nod. He looked over Raven critically. "You breed this one yet? She's got the body for it."

"Forgive my old man." I said to my demoness. "He has no filter. You know old people are." My gaze got a little heated. "Though I wouldn't be against putting a baby in you, at least after Amy has her turn. You know how excited she is about that." Her cheeks flushed pretty ark and she ducked her head at that, almost seeming to hide in her hood.

My dad cleared his throat. "As amusing as this is, should you choose to follow through on your rescue attempt, I would perhaps release me sooner rather than later."

"Right." I said as I reached down to start tearing the chains apart. Luckily Mammon wasn't in the habit of using high ranked chains to bind random souls. I made short work of them, though I tried to be careful not to hurt my dad. "So, how did you end up here anyway? Our source said you ended up at the slave market, and got bought up because you had some admin chops."

He snorted. "I thought so as well. Sadly that turned out to be a mere pretext. The master of this place recognized my name. Apparently you've somehow managed to annoy him enough to invest a bit in buying and torturing me."

"I used his NAME." I complained loudly. "That was enough for him to swear a blood debt against me or whatever?"

"Yes, I'd pieced together your alternate identity." He frowned, furrowing his brows. "I'm not entirely certain why I didn't notice it earlier. In hindsight it feels quite obvious. Regardless, you seem to be overestimating how much effort it cost him to acquire me. It was more of a whim than anything."

I finished tearing the last chain. "Rae." I said, glancing at my goth. "You empathic healing schtick is soul based right? Do you think you can patch him up?"

I wasn't sure how he was even injured, given he was already dead, but apparently Mammon had the gear to genuinely harm souls. It made sense I supposed, given where we were. She nodded, reaching out and placing a hand on his shoulder. As her eyes glowed with darklight, I tried to distract my dad from thinking about the injuries.

"So, you know my other identity." I said with a smirk. "I'm a dragon, does this mean I'm off the family christmas card list?"

"I think." Said my father with a grunt as a bone set back into place. "That I can overlook your nature in light or recent events. Besides, it's not exactly the same as being a meta. You've simply evolved. Being able to reliably pass on your power to others in the family is an entirely different issue."

What was I supposed to say to that? I shrugged. "Hey, as long as you don't hate my guts I'm fine. Also speaking of your children and their guts, I met Emma." I winked at him. "I appreciate all the prep work there."

"Well, I was concerned your…deficiencies would make it difficult for you to operate." He shrugged. "Emma's mother was a distraction of mine for some time. I suspected she would be a useful tool to leave behind for you."

Raven seemed disgusted by that, which I honestly should have expected, given her upbringing. "So you just…used your own daughter? Tossed her to him like some kind of morality pet? Did you even care what happened to her?"

I expected dad to be upset, but he just gave her a thoughtful look. "Being a Lord is a dangerous thing. Emma was bound to run into issues, not to mention her own…unnatural abilities causing her to be mentally unbalanced. I planned to leave her in Nicholas's care as much as I was leaving him in hers. I wanted them to take care of each other. I have many flaws, young lady, but I DO care about my children."

She looked mollified by that, presumably because she could literally feel that he was telling the truth. For my part it made me feel odd. Kind of warm and happy, knowing my dad cared about me like that. I knew I loved my old man, it was the whole reason the seal had broken, but given his general demeanor, it was hard to tell if he cared sometimes.

"So, we should get going." I cut in. "Dad, you healed enough to walk on your own power?" I didn't want any of our hands tied up carrying him in enemy territory. Best case scenario we got out without any issues, but that wasn't how my luck usually went. Like the lion said, Be Prepared.

Of course, he wasn't the type to whine and make excuses, sometimes even to his own detriment. "I can. Though I confess I wish I had something to drink. Being tortured nearly to insanity is thirsty work."

Snickering, I reached into my pouch, pulling out a black cherry soda. "You throat in any shape to drink this? Or do you need water?"

My dad was a thoroughly focused and driven individual, and he never drank alcohol. It was a foible I never picked up from him. I'd been doing lines of coke off cheerleaders in my freshman year. Still, I figured he'd appreciate a taste of home. If he could even drink it, his voice sounded pretty rough.

He rolled his eyes as he snagged it from me, popping the twistable cap and taking a long, slow pull. "Refreshing." He said with satisfaction.

Raven just gaped at him. "That was agonizing for you." She said in bewilderment. "Your throat has been scoured raw from screaming. Why would you drink that if it caused you so much pain?"

"Don't bother." I said with a chuckle. "I've known him my whole life and I don't understand why he does half the things he does." I pulled out the map, looking it over. "Ok, we need to get out of here. Taking the same passage is a bad plan, considering we have zero idea how to navigate the sewers and the market is bound to be crawling with bounty hunters."

Searching through the parchment, I poked my finger at a specific spot. "Servants exit right there off the kitchens. Based on the direction its in, it'll also let us out closer to the stairs. We need to get back to the surface as soon as possible."

Raven nodded. "I'll attempt to detect anyone coming our way with my empathy. It won't work on anything too much stronger than I am, but it's better than nothing."

Helping my dad stand, I made sure he was steady on his feet before stepping out into the hall. I looked around, making sure no one was around. Once I was sure the coast was clear, I gestured for him to step up behind me, and had the girls take up positions on either side of him.

A human blockade wasn't exactly the most effective means of stealth, but it was better than nothing. With him in place, we set off down the hall. Since walking around with the map out would have been stupid and obvious I just counted the columns nearby. I'd memorized the route anyway.

The walls were a sort of unsettling red marble veined with black that gave me the impression of rotting flesh. It was deeply unsettling, and weirdly the gold trim didn't help so much as make the whole scene more decadent and gross.

I counted the columns as we walked, taking turns as needed, we passed the huge double doors to Mammon's grand hall, but obviously didn't go in there. We just kept following the route, making turns where we needed to.

Of course, after the fifteenth turn, I started to figure out there was something wrong. The map hadn't called for anywhere near that number of turns, in fact, the map hadn't shown anywhere near this number of HALLWAYS. I stopped, holding up a hand to signal the others to stop as I opened my karmic eye.

Annnnd saw a knot. "Shit." I cursed. "Should have noticed that five minutes ago." I turned around, and sure enough, the huge double doors were less than twenty feet away. We'd been walking through the same damned hallways, trapped in some kind of loop. I hadn't noticed because the walls all looked the same.

The knot I was seeing was the karmic representation of the magic holding us here. While not all magic was made using karmic ties, karma warped around magic. You could see spells in the threads and even mimic them with enough practice, because karma itself was both part of and alternative to magic.

Raven and Lilith turned, both cursing as my father sighed. "Ah." He said in annoyance. "A mobius trap. How…quaint."

"That's one word for it." I snarled. I examined the knot, hoping I could undo it or weave a counterspell. I couldn't, the person who made it was both stronger and much more experienced than I was. Fighting might be possible, but undoing his magic in his own fucking castle was a no go, assuming this was Mammon. I hoped so, because if someone who WASN'T Mammon was here outclassing me like this and Mammon was still waiting to jump in, I was fucked.

"Alright." I said, cracking my neck. "If he wants to say hello this badly, it would be rude not to oblige him. Watch your asses girls, and keep an eye on my dad. It's time we go say hello to our host." I stalked down the hall, raising a foot and kicking the double doors open with a bang. I was going to meet with Mammon after all. I hated when I was right about this kind of shit.

May 3rd 2016 Palace of Perfidy , Murmur, Hell, 4:00 P.M EDT

As the doors slammed open, I waited for an attack to come. It didn't. In fact, the place was unusually empty. We were standing in a massive open throne room, walls lined with crimson flamed torches that cast an eerie light across the ruby tiles and the disgusting marble walls.

The only person there was a figure sitting on a black iron throne swirling a glass of wine. He had blood red hair, and eyes that blazed with hellfire, just empty sockets full of wine colored flame. He wore a lord's clothes, red velvet and gold accents, and smiled placidly as I entered.

"Hey shitheel." I said bluntly. "You the asshole who tortured my dad?" We were going to have to fight this guy anyway, hell if I'd be polite to the bastard too. Three peak B rankers against an A ranker. That should be feasible. Especially since as only one of nine I was doubting Mammon was particularly strong in the A rank.

"Well." He said, in a pleasant, mellow voice. "If it isn't my namesake. I must admit, I wasn't expecting this venture to bear fruit. I only acquired your father to slake my thirst for vengeance until you made your way here. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined you would storm the depths of the pit itself to reclaim him. Perhaps you are as greedy as I."

I snorted. "Bitch, I'm way greedier than you. I'm curious though, how did you know we were here? My mantle should shield me from remote viewing as long as someone too strong isn't looking. Did Lady Blaze sell us out?"

If she hadn't I'd just basically thrown her under the bus, but hey, I'd been caught and she was an asshole. If Mammon killed her I wouldn't have to deal with her dad and brother, so that as pretty much a win win for me.

Mammon sneered, the first sign of unhappiness he'd shown. "Useless whore. I permit her the honor of serving me and she brings enemies to my door? No. Among the many things I gather, information is often the most valuable. My spy network is second only to Lucifer's himself."

I nodded sympathetically. "Hinges and doors man. I feel you." I paused. "Well, no, I don't. MY women never turn on me. But from an abstract sympathetic point of view held by someone who has never experienced that kind of thing, I get it. Maybe I should have let her take a ride. Clearly she's wasn't getting it good enough from the demon prince of Greed."

His eyes flashed with anger. Literally, the fire got brighter. "You seek to enrage me? What purpose would that serve? None can stand before a prince in his own hall."

"I mean." I said with a laugh. "Aside from just thinking you're an asshole for torturing my dad? I think it's pretty pathetic your lordly demon cock can't plug a piece of infernal ass well enough to keep her in line. I've been doing that shit since I was human. Maybe it's an age thing. Do they have viagra in hell?"

He snarled, gesturing toward me, and a massive wave of hellfire roared in my direction. I opened my mouth and blew out a torrent of golden karmic energy, punching through the large cloud of flame by making sure to keep my power condensed.

"SILENCE!" Roared Mammon. "You are not here to speak. You are here to understand your own inadequacy before I tear away your feeble life."

I snickered at that. "Seems more like I'm understanding your inadequacy man. And in front of my girls too." I gestured to them. "Look at them, two prime pieces of Goth demonic booty and they're hearing all about your performance issues. Mammon, demon prince of greed, that must be a bone deep influence, since it seems like you hold onto your stuff so tight you never managed to give Blaze an orgasm."

Despite my bravado, I was aware that this was dangerous. I should have been worried, or preparing for battle, but deep down I was just…satisfied. I wasn't just talking either, I had my hands all twisted up in his karmic strands, and that fucker was giving me a lot to grab onto.

Using his temper to distract him was letting me jerk the strands in such a way that I bound them up, inflicting karmic backlash on him without his notice. The more I talked the more of a curse I was able to levy against him.

He was shaking with rage, his eye flames spitting as he stood up. He snapped his fingers and a golden coin appeared in his hand. He flicked it toward me, and I felt a bone deep pulse of pure panic as I watched it.

The coin flipped end over end in the air, slowly, literally crawling, but I knew if it reached me I'd be screwed.

My hand slipped into my pouch, and I yanked out a tiny dragon figurine. The thing was a new trinket I'd been toying around with. I'd harvested one of my scales and carved it into a figure of me, then wound some of my karma around it. I tossed it toward the coin, which seemed to almost glitch in midair before turning to hit the dragon.

There was a colossal crash as the coin slammed the figurine to the ground, creating a crater in the red stone of the throne room floor.

Mammon's brow furrowed. "How did you do that?" I grinned. My substitution trick was new and untested, I'd just acted on instinct to avoid getting hit. It was fantastic to see that it worked and had staved off that attack. I only had two more of them, sadly. I could wind the karma strands easily, but the spell wasn't advanced. I needed a literal piece of myself to do it, and it had to be prepared.

"Your mom taught me." I said with a smirk. "I wanted to learn some of her skills, but other than that one trick she only knows how to suck dick and take a pounding, and neither were skills I was eager to get good at."

Raven snickered at that. She'd been standing back, looking like she wasn't sure if she should be offended by all the shit I was talking. Her empathy made her more than aware I was just trying to piss off Mammon though. Not that my demoness wasn't a sweltering piece of prime ass, but I wouldn't normally phrase it that way in front of her.

Lilith, meanwhile, couldn't care less. The vampiress was just enjoying the show. Mammon snarled, snapping and flinging out another dozen or so coins in a wide sweeping arc to crush me. Having seen how the first one crushed my simulacrum, I had been able to divine how the coins locked on.

Grabbing a few karmic threads, I was able to offset the connection to sever any tracking abilities the coins had as I dodged. Raven grabbed my dad, teleporting him to safety off to one side and leaving him there as she glared at Mammon.

Lilith dissolved into fucking BATS to avoid being hit, and as she resumed her normal shape, charged right at the prince. I'd honestly kind of hoped I could bully him into letting us leave, but deep down I knew I'd wanted a fight.

Grinning, I blurred forward to attack the demon prince as Raven's eyes blazed with darklight. His shadow leapt up, wrapping around his legs as Lilith and I came in at him from both sides, smashing attacks toward the immobilized ruler. He snapped and a pair of gold coins the size of dinner plates popped up where we were aiming.

I smashed into one, and it cracked, but as it did I felt the weight of a literal mountain fall on my head. Lilith avoided impacting the shield by dissolving into bats again and attacking from behind. Pulling out another figurine, I shifted the weight to it, watching the tiny scale carbing shatter as I backed off.

"Shit." I spat in annoyance. "Why won't you die?" Mammon wasn't what I'd expected. Most of his abilities were tied up in Greed and objects. Physically and personally I hadn't figured he'd be that strong, and he kind of wasn't, but he'd integrated this weird gold combat system in a way I'd never seen.

This was probably the 'Blood Gold' that people used as currency here. A quick appraisal showed me that it definitely was, actually.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Blood Gold- B rank infernal metal. The purified and condensed suffering of a million souls screams in every gram of this unholy material, feeding the power of the demon to whom it belongs.]

Right. And he definitely had a shit ton of the stuff. As I tried to figure out a move, he snapped again, and a new coin appeared in his hand. This one had a face one it, his face, and as I watched he started to flip it. Flip, catch, flip, catch. Every time it came down, the non face side changed. First a one. Then a two. Then a three.

I didn't know how high that number would go or how it was going to work when it did, but I doubted it was going to be pleasant. Still, it seemed like an opportunity for me. He was putting his all into that. I actually had an idea how to pull off a win here, if I could do this right.

I wasn't capable of merging anything that could kill this asshole. He was A rank, and a literal prince of hell. He was also tougher than I'd expected or hoped. I figured worst case, with three of us here we could at least escape if he caught us.

That had been a mistake. This place was locked down, and if I wanted to get away, I was going to need to survive this next hit and finish him off. Luckily, I had just the thing to do it with. I had access to two things that when used together would solve all my problems. A monster slaying sword that sought purity, and the karmic weight of a lifetime of terrible sins.

Reaching into my pouch, my hand found the sword of Beowulf and I snarled in pain. It didn't like me. I wasn't worthy, and the red electricity was trying to get me to release the blade, but I persevered. Fixating on the connection between me and Mammon, I started to twist the strands through the threads surrounding the blade.

This was a complicated and annoying thing to pull off, but I had the experience. I knew how to leverage karma into a curse, I was familiar with the sword after bringing back Greta, and the sword itself sought to purify the unclean. The combination would be enough, IF I could survive this next blow.

My other hand dove into the pouch as he launched the attack, and I was barely fast enough. He'd condensed the power of all his blood gold into one final shot. Too greedy for victory to play the long game, Mammon had gotten frustrated and decided to smash me with pure power.

His decision was the wrong one for a few reasons. First, I think he assumed that my simulacrum had a limit, and that they could only block attacks of a certain level. This was wrong, the simulacrum was me, for all intents and purposes. Any excess force would be wasted, but it WOULD block the attack.

The other reason he was wrong was that he used up all his power, assuming I didn't have any attacks that could finish him off. Lilith reformed behind him, snagging him in a full nelson as I blurred forward and drove the blade of the sword of Beowulf into his demonic heart.

The vampiress let go, backing off as I did. The sword began to glow, red electricity shifting to a coppery gold as it fed on the negative karma, supercharging the blade. My eyes widened as it started to shudder in his chest. "EVERYONE DOWN!" I howled as I dove for cover. I barely made it as the sword exploded, tearing the prince apart from the inside.

May 3rd 2016 Palace of Perfidy , Murmur, Hell, 5:00 P.M EDT

"Well…that just happened." I said through the smoke as I came back out into the main hall. "I'll be honest, I'm not sure that trade was worth it. I mean, sure, Mammon is dead, which is pretty cool, but I don't think I got anything worth…hold up."

I'd stepped up to the corpse, seeing if the sword could be reclaimed (it couldn't the thing was fucking toast) and spotted a small red gleam. Kneeling I reached into the head of the demon prince, fishing around for whatever the gleam had been. Maybe more blood gold?

What I came out with was…not that.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Soulstone of Greed (half)- B rank. The sundered center of power of a demon prince, diminished but still priceless.]

I fished in again and found the other half, which said the same thing. The stones were red crystal shot through with gold, and I could see the crack in the center where the sword had separated them. The karmic ties I'd exploited had guided my hand, it seemed.

Pocketing both, I felt my points reach five hundred million. I couldn't help but curse. This would have been an A rank gem if it was whole. Still, as a B rank piece it might be more useful. When I finally got enough points to reach A I'd have this excellent material to use.

In the meantime I was going to try to grab some more treasure to try to get my points up before going home. I couldn't stay too long, the other princes would hear about this and come to investigate, plus that whole 'rather rule in hell than serve heaven' thing, had never been much to my taste. At least not literally.

"I suspect it was a swap worth making." Came my father's voice through the smoke as he stepped up next to me. "This will be quite a coup to your reputation."

There was a note of inquiry in his voice. Another lesson, then. But I saw his point. "You always told me never to let people see more power than I could defend. Killing a prince of hell will tell people I'm ready for A rank combat. But I don't think it's too much for me to handle." I shrugged. "Oh, well, what's done is done. Help me look around, I want to strip this place of anything valuable before we leave."

I wished we had extra time, I'd have liked to bust into his treasury. It was on the map. But I hadn't brought Cherry, and there was no way that asshole didn't have monstrous security. That was part of greed. And I should know.

Still, I also knew enough about greed to know he would have had some things nearby. Trinkets or valuables he'd want close at hand. I checked him over for blood gold first, but he'd burned it all with his last attack. I did find a small reddish gold key around his neck. A quick appraisal showed me it wasn't anything special in and of itself, but it was just what I was looking for.

Walking over to the throne, I pulled up one of the red velvet pillows, revealing a compartment underneath. I slid the key into a small hole in the hatch and turned, watching it click open with ease. Decent place to hide your stuff.

Pulling open the compartment, I checked inside. A dozen items sat neatly organized in the base of the throne. My dad came over, standing next to me and looking inside with interest. A quick scan showed me no A rank items at all.

That made sense. A rank items were on the level of demon princes and kings of gods. Even having BEEN A rank, I doubted Mammon would have an easy time getting them. If nothing else the other princes wouldn't have stood for him getting his hands on them. It would be like letting him have a WMD.

Still, two of the things in the compartment were B rank, and the rest were high C, so it was a pretty big haul.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Judas Cup- B rank artifact. An ancient chalice, sipped from by the great betrayer. When drunk, the next lie spoken by the drinker will be believed without reservation.]

I could see how that would be useful, though honestly it didn't do much for me. I was a pretty excellent liar as it was, and I didn't need a magic cup to convince people shit was true. Still it went into the pouch obviously. But the second one was MUCH more important.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Fire of Cliodhna- B rank divine spark. The captured divinity of a celtic goddess. Cliodhna, goddess of beauty and love, Queen of the Banesidhe.]

It was perfect. I'd been going nuts trying to think of what to give Dinah after she had the baby. I needed to strengthen her, but I didn't know what to use. A goddess of love and banshees was pretty much the exact right fit. I'd have to prepare her before I made the merge, but this would enhance everything she prized about herself. It would be a fantastic baby gift.

Not to mention I'd be getting some love goddess pussy on the regular, which was a win win as far as I was concerned. And getting a hummer from a banshee queen would probably be a mindblowing experience.

The C ranked items were much less impressive, obviously. A few weapons, a couple weird artifacts, the usual shit. Still, all told this brought me up to seven hundred and fifty million points, three quarters of the way to what I'd need for A rank. Granted, I was going to use the fifty million on my girls to get them to C rank, but still I could almost taste that next bump.

Once I'd stashed everything away, I turned to check on the girls. They weren't hurt, of course, or I'd have been over there sooner, just keeping watch in case we had any unwanted guests. "Alright. So, we don't need to use the servants exit, killing Mammon is bound to scare off anyone who isn't another prince. So we should just book it out of here, right?"

Lilith shook her head. "You're thinking too rationally. Hell is a scrabbling pit of ambition and betrayal. There will be a dozen demons around our level who will exploit this opportunity. Quantity is a quality all its own, after all, that's how we beat Mammon, at least partly. One A ranker is one thing, but a dozen plus B rankers? That will be too much."

It was nice to see everyone picking up my ranking system, made things much more convenient. But I got her point. "I've got it. We sneak out. Same as before. Luckily, I have just the thing for such an occasion now."

Slipping a hand into my pouch, I pulled out one of the ten C ranked items I'd picked up from the compartment.

[Appraisal function activated. Treasure detected. Candle of Eternal Silence- C rank candle. A powerful stealth artifact, when burned, anything within its light will be isolated from the world, undetectable until the candle's wick burns down.]

It was an odd item. I was almost positive the wax was made of rendered human fat. For some reason I got the impression of a hand of glory, and I wished I could have kept the damned thing to possibly merge with Cherry, but needs must where the devil drives.

Flicking a finger, I sent a golden spark at the wick, the flame blazing up, fuelled by my karmic power. My breath was still a flame in the ways that mattered, that was what it meant to be a dragon. The golden blaze flashed, the light extending out around us, and as it wrapped around the group, the world nearby changed.

The previously colorful world around us faded into greyscale as the magic of the candle enclosed us. Then we headed for the exit. We didn't speak as we hurried, this was going to be a short effect, candles didn't last that long, and we needed to get clear of the palace at least before it faded.

As we hurried down the halls, grey people swarmed around us. Demons of all shapes and sizes prowled the palace, looting and murdering, doing their best to take advantage of the chaos we'd caused for their own benefit.

A massive horned behemoth ripped a smaller demon in half at the arms as a hulking berserker stabbed into one of the maids where he was stuck trying to climb through a hole in the wall into a room full of jewels. Despite his attacks, the demon continued grasping for the gemstones just out of reach.

I felt zero sympathy for any of them and kept moving. They were literal demons. We rushed out of the palace, heading in the direction of the Sacrilege Stair. When we reached the halfway point, the light from the candle finally guttered out, and the artifact turned to ash in my hands, drifting away on the breeze.

When the world bled back to full color, it wasn't long before the demons noticed us. There was lots of hissing and shouting as the palace demons passed along the information, yelling it to anyone who would listen.

The message got a bit garbled, but it was clear enough for some of the infernals to realize we were wanted and try to stop us.

They died. Like…instantly. Most of them were D or C rankers, and they couldn't take a single punch. "Rae!" I called to my demoness. "Can you teleport us to the stairs? We need to get there faster!"

She shook her head angrily. "Something is blocking my movement abilities. I'm not sure what, but I can't budge it."

The street in front of us was filling with demons. Red, blue, purple, every shade and shape and stature. A few of them were B ranked, but they mostly stayed back. They probably knew what had happened to Mammon. They were watching to see if we had any obvious weaknesses.

We bullrushed through them, killing the weakest, before arriving at the platform where the portal had been before. We should have been home free…except the damned portal wouldn't open. "Give me a minute." Shouted Lilith in a panic, as she fell to her knees on the platform. She cut herself and started scrawling bloody runes.

I turned and pushed my dad and Raven behind me, transforming into my full elder dragon form with a roar, spreading my wings as my thousand foot body glared down at the army of demons. There were…a LOT of them. Holy shit. Millions I think. I could see the army fading off into the distance. How many things LIVED in hell?

To scare them, I vomited forth a torrent of my golden breath, raking it over the crowd closeby. Literally tens of thousands of demons died under my assault, but the space filled in after. I was starting to panic. This wasn't a matter of power, this was scale. There were just too fucking many. Enough ants can eat an elephant.

"GOT IT!" Howled Lilith in triumph. There was a massive red flash and the portal opened again, but this time it tore itself open like a wound in flesh. I breathed out another attack, then spun and shifted back to human form and sprinted for the rent in reality. I grabbed my dad and Raven, then Lilith and dove through the rent.

Once we were through, I turned and grabbed the karmic strands surrounding the portal and just SHREDDED them. Even spells have karma, and I put my full strength into tearing it apart. My hands were shredded by the effort, my blood splattering everywhere, but the spell collapsed, the door closing behind us, unable to open again anytime soon. I groaned and slumped down on the steps and looked at my dad. "Worst. Family vacation. Ever."

May 3rd 2016 Hall of Nevers, Brightedge City, 10:00 P.M EDT

I was exhausted by the time we got home. Not just physically, but mentally, being on edge for so long was tiring as hell. When I arrived, I was greeted by the enthusiastic squeals of my wife, who threw herself into my arms, squeezing me as tight as she could while she cried her eyes out.

Honestly, I'd…kind of forgotten she was mad at me. But between her sobs I could make out apologies about how mad she'd gotten. It certainly explained why I hadn't seen her around as much lately, though I suspected she'd overestimated the effect the silent treatment might have.

I still felt bad about putting a bun in her evil Aunt's C ranked oven, so I pretended to be devastated and relieved that she was talking to me again. Honestly I was also a little guilty I hadn't noticed her cold shoulder, but better late than never I guessed.

"So." I said to Barbie."You pick up what I asked for?" Amy disengaged, deciding to help Lilith get settled while I handled things with my dad, but making me promise to spend some quality time with her. In the meantime I needed to know if Barbie had accomplished the task I set her.

"See." She said acidly. "I don't think you phrased that right. I think you meant, hey Barbara, did you go dig up my dead dad and cart his body back to the house for me to use in my necromantic ritual."

I cocked my head. "Nah, that doesn't sound like me. But sure, let's go with your way."

She rolled her eyes. "Yes, Nicky. I graverobbed your ancestral home for you. The body is downstairs."

"Oh good." I said with relief. "I thought I was gonna have to do it." Then I paused. "Wait, no I'd have just sent Jade." I winked at my assassin girl, who was sulking in the background of all the girls crowded around. She just rolled her eyes, but I swear her lips quirked up a bit.

My dad cleared his throat. "As lovely as it is to see you welcomed home so warmly, perhaps we might cease the discussion of my rotting corpse and begin the process of returning me to it?"

"Sorry." I said with a grin. "What can I say? Everybody wants a piece." I flexed and kissed my bicep, which got a boo from about half my girls and a giggle from the rest. I winked at Barbie. "Well, you heard the man. We need to go check out the meat suit. Wiggle your ass, baby girl. No time to waste."

She rolled her eyes, turning to storm off, and I took the opportunity to get a nice slap on her tight little ass. She squeaked and whirled around to glare at me, and I just grinned back, enjoying the blush that painted her cheeks.

As she stormed ahead and I fell in step behind her, Dinah drew even with me and chuckled. "You should be nicer to her in front of your dad. She was really nervous about this. Given her career and their past history, she was worried he wouldn't like her."

"And you aren't?" I said with an arched eyebrow.

Dinah just smirked. "Oh I know he likes me. Sadly for him he could never close the deal." She shot back over her shoulder. "How's it feel knowing your son put a baby in me Maxie? You tell him you made me a few offers?"

"I prefer not to think about the fact that my son's first or second child will be born to a cradle robbing cape whore." He said pleasantly. His expression had far too many teeth to be considered a smile. "I suppose his choice in holes is admirable at least, given my own previous interest in your use as a sex toy."

"Enough." I cut in. "No more sniping. You don't get along, that's fine. But keep it in your fucking heads, the both of you. I don't want my son or daughter coming to me at five years old and asking why Grandpa called Mommy a cumdumpster."

That got a snicker from Barbie, though she tried to hide it. When we reached the room we were headed to, I whistled as we entered. "Huh. I didn't know we had a…what would you call this? A mad science lab?"

The huge stone room was full of tables with beakers, odd looking machines, and a single slab table with a relatively intact corpse on it. Bloated and rotted, but at least dad's body was in one piece still, barring a few injuries.

"Possibly." Said Barbie absently. "But it could just as easily be a giant food dehydrator. This place didn't exactly come with an instruction manual, and these machines are more weird than science."

I nodded. "I feel you. Pretty sure that's a steampunk sybian back there." I said, pointing to a copper and bronze machine with a familiar cylindrical shape on top.

Dinah snickered as my redhead blushed. It was cute that I could still make her do that, given the deviant and depraved shit I'd to, with, and on her. Not to mention her mouth when we were mid fuck, which could probably inspire a whole dictionary of crude and vulgar language.

Walking over to check on the body, I winced at the smell. My dad hadn't been dead for too long, so his body still smelled like ass. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of our problems. We also needed to repair him, which meant we'd have to find a way to heal dead flesh without bringing him back first.

I also planned to use my karmic stitching magic to resurrect him. My dad wasn't the type to be ok with me having a brand on him, and I'd have to claim his corpse to merge it with the System. Using magic I could free hand it like I did with Greta, which was why I'd done it that way with her. Practice makes perfect.

Standing over the body, I decided to start with something easy. I popped a claw and used it to rip open my wrist, dripping my blood onto the corpse. The basis of my karmic energy was life. The primordial spark. I'd gone out of my way to keep the useful parts of my bloodline as I raised its level, and the healing and empowering aspects of my blood was definitely one of those.

Sadly, the corpse was…well, a corpse. The blood could heal people, but it didn't repair dead flesh. That was fine though, because I had an easy solution for that. I rubbed my hands together, generating some friction, and reached for the the thin thread of vital lightning still simmering within the golden power.

Once I'd sparked my hands with green lightning I slammed them down on my dad's chest. THe electricity started the heart for a second, the blood acting as a catalyst to heal the body. Life force surged as the body became technically alive again, just long enough to knit together a few wounds.

Growling in annoyance, I cut open my already healed wrist again, dripping more blood, than did it again. Each burst of lightning started the heart temporarily, and each time the body healed just a bit. With all the decomp and the damage, it took me about fifteen jumps and an entire hour to get the fucking corpse back in proper condition.

Once that was done, I decided to take a break, and informed Barbie to hose the body down on the slab. There was a drain (which I really didn't want to know the use of in a place like this) so she just rinsed him off clothed. My dad wanted to be bathed before being reanimated, but I told him to fuck off and that none of my women were going to be washing down his body, dead or not.

Dinah thought that was hilarious, and only stopped laughing when I threatened to put her ample ass over my knee. After the rinse down, it was officially time to start.

"Alright." I said, rubbing my hands together to get another lightning jump started. "Just lay down on the same slab as your body. Make sure to line yourself up EXACTLY. I need to thread the karmic lines through your acupoints, and if they're off and I tie it up, you're going to spend the rest of your life feeling like your shoes are on the wrong feet or some shit."

He snorted at that. "I can think of worse fates to suffer, but I suppose there's no reason to suffer at all if it isn't necessary. Try to help me adjust my alignment once I've taken my place?"" At my nod, he climbed onto the table and laid down.

It was a weird sight, seeing my dad's ghost lay down in his physical body. I opened my karmic eye to help him adjust. I was glad he was my dad, it offset any issues with using my blood to repair the body. It wasn't a trick I could have used too much on someone like Greta.

I told him to move a bit, then a bit more, and once he was aligned with the body properly, I began the process. Following the threads that connected me to both body and spirit I was able to sort out the karmic threads that were supposed to bind the two together. I began to slowly loop them through the acupoints, like threading a needle, slowly slipping the line through each of the connection points.

Despite my slowly growing acumen with karmic magic, I didn't actually know what acupoints did what. I'd considered looking them up, but I realized I didn't actually care, so I just went by feel. Each line was its own unique strand and connected to something different. Each one had a purpose and a reason for being.

While I didn't know what each acupoint did, I did know they did different things. The karmic threads binding me and Emma to him, for instance, had to be threaded through a specific point, one near the heart. The lines connecting him to his enemies went to a different point.

My dad wasn't young, like Greta had been. There were a LOT of threads to sort through, and I had to figure out the exact acupoint that each needed to be fed through in order to connect the body and soul together permanently.

No wonder no one used karma to resurrect people. If I didn't have my karmic eye I couldn't possibly have figured this mess out. It was like digging through a fucking duffel bag full of tangled up computer chords, only more annoying and way more magical.

When I fed the last one through though, after what felt like fucking hours, there was a bright flash of energy. The soul and body became one, anchored together as the latent life energy from the blood and lightning acted as a flashpoint and merged the two states into one, officially returning my dad to life.

I slumped to the side, exhausted, and I let my karmic eye fade as my headache threatened to blow up my skull. Still, I grinned at my dad as he sat up, looking around in amazement before spotting me. He reached out and, for probably the first time in my life, pulled me into a tight hug.

There was a warm feeling in my chest as I hugged him back, basking in the feeling of having my dad back again, everything in my life seeming just a little brighter. "It's good to have you back." I murmured as I gave him a gentle squeeze (so I didn't re kill him, being a dragon and all). Then I pushed him away, clearing my throat. "Now let's find you a shower. You smell like six week old tuna fish from a dumpster."

As per usual pat-reon has the advance chat at that site /malcolmtent hope everyone enjoys.