After Jessie went back to work, Plaze went to work finding the next most important thing on his list.

Formerly, it was looking for an Overlord who could help him take over, but after the revelation that Plaze could feel hunger still, he decided on a new most important goal.

Trying to find a temporary job so he can make some money to feed himself.

Plaze didn't want to overly rely on Mehira. After all, she was a hellborn demon, and he's read the bible before. There was most definitely an ulterior motive behind her help, and Plaze didn't want to willingly walk into that trap.

That being said, not being able to blink was really getting to him. And Mehira was a small-time Overlord with some souls to spare.

If Plaze could just convince her to give him a few…

Plaze growled as he felt his foot step in shit. Are there no street cleaners in Hell? Or does Hammer not give a damn that her tank treads are treading in human feces?

And who the hell is actually shitting in the middle of the street? Are they insane?

Finding some nearby water (It might've been something else. Plaze doesn't know any other liquid than water, though.) Plaze quickly scrapes his foot into the water to clean it.

"I hate Hell," Plaze blithely remarked as he finished cleaning his foot and moved onto a random direction.

So, right, Plaze needs a job. Then Plaze needs to borrow souls from Mehira. Or should he go the other way and borrow souls first, then go look for a job?

Either way, he needs to eat. He's experienced starving a few times in the past when he was first starting out. He won't go through that ever again.

Plaze sighed as he continued roaming through the streets of Hell, being careful of what he steps in.

He should go for the job first. It makes Plaze seem more capable, and it would let Mehira know that Plaze has a future.

So, job, job, job. Where the hell is he going to find a-

Something extends from his head, causing Plaze to yelp and stumble as the center of gravity in his head shifts.

Plaze hastily grips onto his head, finding some odd rods extending up from the center of his head.

Then, he starts seeing things. Waves in the air. The jumping of electricity. Words flying by. What the hell was he looking at? Is he going insane?

Then, he quickly finds the closest mirror.

Plaze finds… A weird tripod growing out of his head, and his head slightly lifted up into an oval.

The tripod was held up above his head with three legs attached to his head, the color scheme was all green except for the thing in the middle, which was blue and seemingly had a red eye attached.

"What?" Plaze confusedly echoed as he stared at his reflection, "What the hell is this supposed to be?"

Plaze tried to make it go back down, which actually worked.

Then, just experimentally, he tried to force it to appear again. Doing so successfully.

The junk in the air reappears, and Plaze realizes that he's somehow seeing out of what he now recognizes to be somewhat of a satellite dish.

It hurts to see everything, but Plaze looks carefully at everything and attempts to figure it all out.

First of all, sound waves. They don't seem to have any rhyme or reason to them. But they're everywhere. If only he can just ignore them…

Then, all of the sound waves disappear.

Plaze wanted to blink, but his unmoving eyes were the ever present reminder that he was no longer human.

Instead, Plaze realized that he could selectively choose what he wanted to see with his third eye.

Between the remaining garbage that he was suddenly gifted the ability to see, he decided that the one that grabbed his attention the most were the words. So he cut his sight to just the words, and he could finally see them.

Jobs.

That was what all of the words said.

They were all jumping about, and they were of various colors, sizes, and personality, but they all seemed to be hopping to various places.

Are they supposed to be a guide? Plaze wasn't sure.

Deciding that he had nothing left to lose, he picked one of the directions that one word was hopping in, and followed it.

After a few minutes of following words only he could see, he eventually came to a stop as the word he was following jumped into a sign and disappeared.

The sign it disappeared into?

"Weirdo Sinner Fiesta! Do you have a form that you absolutely despise and others find funny!? Just sign up to show yourself off! $15 an hour!"

Plaze growled. Was his new ability serious?

Plaze's body gave him an ability that let him find things, and it led him to a job that basically said, "Do you hate yourself? We want you if you do!"

Plaze was absolutely not doing this.

Taking out his antennae and focusing on finding an actually good job, more "Jobs" began to pop out of nowhere and all leading to various destinations.

This time, he's going to get something good.

"Bartending job: $7 an hour to make drinks."

"Drug smuggling: $3 per delivery."

"Valentino Studios: We pay you in exposure. You whores."

After almost a full day of looking, Plaze had come to an unfortunate realization.

The job market in Hell fucking sucks.

There was basically nothing that promised him anything higher than what the clown show offered, and he fucking hated that Plaze fit the job description perfectly.

Plaze wanted to just commit more crime and just steal food, but according to a few other sinners Plaze had a chat with, those store owners hold a long grudge. And other store owners usually ban thieves, forcing you to sell your soul just to have a chance to buy anything.

So, Plaze showed back up at the advertisement for the Weirdo Sinner Fiesta, his stomach empty.

The number at the bottom of the advertising sign was likely a phone number. It made sense that they had one, considering how technology comes down to hell, and phones were invented a while ago. But he didn't have a phone, how would he…

Plaze hummed, taking out his satellite out of his head again.

Satellites were for transmitting and taking in signals, right? And he did see various types of waves. And if this ability helped him find things, then surely it could help him make a phone call…

Plaze focuses, his vision looking for only phone signals.

However, a slight issue.

Plaze has no idea what a phone signal looks like.

The result is that all Plaze sees is a jumbled mess of various signals that look superficially the same, but very different on the inside. Even so, it was impressive for Plaze to be able to tell that there was a difference within the signals. Just not the skill to find the difference he wanted.

Still, it was nice to know that if he trained his own ability, he might be able to actually use it the way he wanted to in the future.

Plaze's stomach growled. A long time had passed since he ate Jessie's sandwich, far longer than a normal human could go without being hungry. Mehira said that sinners were immortal, so he was able to figure out that he could still survive even if he didn't eat anything for the rest of his life.

But the feeling of hunger fucking sucks.

Eventually, Plaze decides to abandon his current quest and crawl back to Mehira, the temptation of just selling his soul to her becoming more prevalent by the minute.

Plaze wouldn't bend, of course, he had such a bold declaration of becoming an Overlord. It would be ill-fitting to throw in the towel not even a week into his journey.

Still, Plaze sees how selling one's soul might be the only option for new souls who come down here without knowing what the hell to do.

Using his satellite once more, the word "Mehira" shows up a few times. However, the most noticeable one is the purple Mehira with the massive wings and tail next to the name.

So, there were other people named Mehira, and Plaze had to figure out which one he was looking for based on how the word itself looked in comparison to the Mehira he was looking for. How fun.

With that in mind, Plaze walked towards the Mehira he was looking for.

Mehira opened her apartment door, looking confusedly at Plaze, "How the hell did you find my apartment?"

Plaze decided to keep his satellite ability a secret from her for now, as he said, "You literally live across the street from me."

It was actually mildly humorous how close the two lived to each other. In fact, Plaze could probably see Mehira's apartment from his own window.

And Mehira tried to gaslight him and say that they lived far from each other. Hah.

To be fair, it would've worked if Plaze didn't suddenly get a radar on the top of his head.

Mehira frowned, "Ah…I see. That's… Hm, well, are you here just to visit, or did you want something?"

Plaze clasped his hands together, "I would like to borrow some souls from you."

Immediately, Mehira switched from "Confused lady friend who just wants to go back into her room" to "Dangerous predator that can and will eat you if given the opportunity."

Plaze knew that this was dangerous. Telling her that he needed souls was basically admitting to her that Plaze couldn't do anything without her right now. Something that Mehira can easily take advantage of.

Mehira's eyes became cold and calculating as she asked, "Hm… Very well, how much do you want, and how much are you willing to pay?"

"How many souls do you have?" Plaze first asked.

"Hundreds, don't ask for specifics," Mehira answered, crossing her arms.

"In that case, for the next 20 days, I would like to borrow 1 soul every day, accumulating to 20," Plaze said, "That way, I can properly gauge the strength of 1 soul and how it affects me."

Plaze then looked her in the eye, "As for what I'm willing to pay… I'm willing to hear you out first."

Normally, it would be better to state his own price, that way he can control where the conversation starts. It worked the same way when you knew you were going to have to haggle during a deal. The starting amount helped you lean it into a price in your favor.

However, Plaze willingly gave Mehira the ability to do so, just as a gesture of kindness. And the fact that Plaze does genuinely owe Mehira a few things.

Mehira seemed to have picked up on it too, "Is that so? Well, I'll have you know that if you somehow permanently die to an angelic weapon while holding my souls, they'll be free. I can't let that happen, you know? So, to insure you don't do anything stupid during that time… Let me own your soul for those 20 days."

Well, that's going to be tough to negotiate out of. But first, he's missing some information.

"How can I own souls if you own mine?" Plaze questioned.

Mehira sighed as she explained yet another basic concept, "Owned souls can still own souls. After all, you still have your soul, it's just subservient to someone. However, the souls that the subservient soul owns actually all funnel up to their master, essentially splitting part of that soul's power to other individuals. For our case, the souls I lend to you will have their power split in half because you own them, but I own you, and half of it goes to me. If there were another person in that chain, it would keep halving until it comes to me."

Then, Mehira put a hand on her hip as she finished her explanation, "By the way, when you own a soul, you can't force that soul to make more soul deals with you. So you don't have to worry about selling your soul to me, then me immediately telling you to make a deal with me where you'll be my slave for eternity."

Plaze hummed, "And I know you're telling the truth because?"

"Because I'm not a dick," Mehira flatly said.

Well, fair enough. He could probably take her word for it.

Now, to attempt to bend it into a more acceptable deal for him.

Mehira's goal is to lessen the risk of him losing the souls she's going to lend him. His goal, in contrast, is to experiment with the souls in order to improve his quality of life.

Additionally, he needed the souls to help boost his power so that when he attempted to go and acquire souls on his own, he wouldn't make the fight equal.

Weapons, power, and connections. All of these things that Mehira had, he needed. And there was nothing Plaze could give in return.

Owning his soul for 20 days seemed fair, but 20 days was a long time to be 'owned' by someone. But the deal was fair.

However, it was possible to shave off some of those days as long as he gave something in return.

So, Plaze negotiated, "I don't mind you owning my soul for a temporary amount of time to lessen the amount of risk you're taking by lending souls to me. But I do have a problem for being owned during the entire 20 days I'll have those souls. I do need to actually test souls at their full strength, you know? So, how about something a little further into the future. I'm planning on getting another Overlord to help me take down Sergeant Hammer and split the spoils between us. So, if you cut down those days to… Say, 10, not only will I ensure that our territories don't fight against each other, and you can even stay in my territory if you need it. But I'll also help introduce you to whichever bigger Overlord that I can manage to convince to help me overthrow Sergeant Hammer."

Mehira hummed, considering the offer, "Hm, you make a fair point. But this swings it into your favor too far for my liking. How about this? We go with your deal, but for the full 20 days, you let me access your eyes, so I can see anything that you do."

Plaze had absolutely no idea that that was an option that could be done.

It must've shown on his face too, because Mehira explained, "It's rare for that kind of deal to happen, considering the nature of soul deals. You don't need to see out of the eyes of someone you already have total control over. However, considering our deal, I still need to keep my souls safe. So I need to keep an eye on you."

Plaze put his hand on his chin as he deliberated the new deal.

Is it a good deal? Not really, it's a complete invasion of privacy. This also means that he either doesn't use any of his powers for the next 20 days to keep it in hiding, or he may as well just reveal everything he knows to Mehira right now.

Which brought up another good question. Was Mehira a reliable ally in the future? They may be allied right now, but this was hell, and betrayal might be the norm down here.

This deal needed to be made. Plaze sucks ass at fighting, and he needs every advantage he can get so he can get to a point where fighting becomes unnecessary. But will Mehira allow Plaze to get there?

Or, more likely, will Mehira use Plaze like a tool to solidify her own Overlord position?

If Plaze knew more, he might be comfortable with allowing Mehira to use him for her own gain. But as it stood right now, Plaze didn't even know what Mehira was the Overlord of.

Plaze crossed his arms as he spoke further, "See, I've been treating you with an extended arm because I'm not so sure what to make of you. I'm going to be making some discoveries about what I can do with more power, something you probably want to see. And use. However, I don't even know what you're the Overlord of. Succubi? Something sex related? Potions? I can't even make an accurate guess. Because of that, I'm reluctant to give you information."

Mehira sighed as she redid the calculus inside of her head, as she made her case, "See, I'm also not quite sure on how far you'll go either. I'm sure you know how risky investments have a lot of interest on them. It would be a much safer bet to beat you to near death and force your soul into my servitude. But I think I see the flames of ambition in your heart, and I decided it would be better to let you fly. But even so, I still fully intend on collecting the debt for my aid."

Alright, that made sense. Plaze couldn't even blame her for having her side of the deal be as it is.

And from Plaze's position, there was no viable way to have Mehira let him off easily.

Still, he needed to know more about Mehira. At the very least, what she's the "Overlord" of.

So, he offered, "Alright, I'm willing to do the eyes and the 10 days of signing my soul off to you. However, I want to know exactly what you're the Overlord of."

"Absolutely not," Mehira surprised him by utterly refusing his request, "Only permanent souls under my control can know that. It's far too dangerous for that nugget of knowledge to be anywhere out of my sphere of influence."

Plaze frowned. It must be some super secretive industry, then. And definitely something like a state secret. Didn't Mehira mention that sinners couldn't go into the other rings where Mehira was from? Maybe it had some relation to that.

Plaze was, ultimately, stuck with a deal that tilted far into Mehira's favor. He got temporary souls for 20 days, Mehira gets a connection to 1 future Overlord and 1 current powerful Overlord.

Plaze clicked his tongue in frustration. He needed this deal, but how badly does he want it? Should he push for more souls? Could he gain 20 souls of his own in 20 days? Is he more competent in fighting than he suspected, and is fully capable of getting souls on his own?

Plaze hasn't gotten into a fight yet. But all of the fights he got onto Earth, a gun quickly solved those issues. He wasn't sure how well guns worked on immortals, and the simple fact that he needed the other sinner alive to make the soul deal.

…Perhaps he could rope Mehira into personally helping him, instead of giving him things from the sidelines?

"How about this, then," Plaze went onto his next round of proposals, "I'd like you to shadow me while I test what I can do. And if I need help in a fight, I would like you to be there."

Mehira seemed a bit more interested as she gave her side, "Hm, 15 days of your soul being mine, then?"

"Again, I would like to have the power belong to me so I know the strength of souls," Plaze said.

"Hm," Mehira thought about it for a few seconds, "How about I own your soul after 5 days, instead of after our deal?"

That… Could work. The soul sounds fairly flexible in what it can be done with, considering the topic of literally being able to see out of your soul's eyes.

Is he ever going to get used to magic being basically a thing? He's not sure. He hasn't even fully processed being in hell with a new terrible body.

Still, the deal needed to stay at 10 days, "I would like to go back to 10 days. Maybe you'll shadow me for those 10 days, and then be absent for the next 10?"

Mehira shrugged, "See, the issue is, my schedule doesn't always align with yours. I have things to do. I can ignore some of that if the price is right, but keeping an eye on you is supposed to be the eyes I place on your soul's job."

Ah, so that was just a thing doomed from the start, then.

"Axe the shadow deal, then," Plaze said, "And we'll move it back down to 10 days of my soul being owned."

After that, a small silence occurred. It seems as though they had finished the deal.

"So, just to clarify," Mehira recounted, "You gain 1 soul from me every day for the next 20 days, to be returned to me on the 21st day. However, for the entire duration of the deal, I can see out of your eyes. And your soul will be owned by me after the 10th day and to be returned to you when my loaned souls do. And you will, upon your ascension as Overlord, will introduce me to the Overlord who aided you to that position, and I can freely operate in your territory without any issue."

Plaze nodded, "That is correct."

Mehira reached out with her hand, "Then it's a deal?"

Plaze reached out with his own hand, shaking hers, "It's a deal."

Mehira's symbols of purple cauldrons, skulls, hands, and other typical witchcraft symbols lit up the room, signifying that a deal has been made.

Plaze felt a great rush of power enter his body as the first soul from Mehira's collection.

Letting go of her hand, Plaze experimentally shifted his body to see if he could tell any difference.

With the power of another's soul in his hand, he felt more… Whole. As if his body felt more connected than it was before. He was fairly certain he felt stronger as well, and the range of his abilities increased. To what extent, he doesn't yet know.

But he also felt something solidify within him, as though his soul was preparing to be taken.

Plaze had a feeling that he was going to hate having his soul being taken, but he looked to Mehira anyways, "Looks like it worked just fine. I'll be talking to my associate-" Then, Plaze realized, "Ah, you'll see who it is anyways. Well, I found a worker from Sergeant Hammer who was willing to defect to my side, and I'm currently learning how machines work from her so I can create the products I'm looking to make."

Mehira smiled, "Is that so? Good for you. Now, if you don't have any business with me…"

As Plaze was about to leave, his stomach reminded him of his situation.

He may have just made a deal with her, but screw dignity, he needs to fucking eat.

"Got any food in your fridge?" Plaze shamelessly asked, "I need to eat, this hunger is killing me."

Mehira's face fell, as she sighed, "Is that really… Ugh, fine, I'll lend you some food just this once. But I better see you with a job soon."

Mehira quickly invited Plaze into her apartment as she made her way to her fridge, opening it to see what was inside.

Plaze didn't know Hell had fridges, but, well, Hell wasn't as hot as he thought it would be. So fridges weren't too absurd to see.

Mehira pulled out a sandwich, tossing it straight towards Plaze, which he caught.

"Thanks," Plaze said as he immediately swallowed the food whole.

Mehira looked unimpressed, "Now get out, and get back to work."

Plaze didn't want to step on Mehira's foot, so he quickly made himself scarce.

After Jessie had gotten off of work, Plaze immediately went to the agreed upon location, Jessie's apartment which is apparently separate from her mom's apartment, where Plaze would be taught how to create consoles by Jessie.

First of all, though, Plaze needed to tell Jessie about the arrangement he was in.

Jessie hummed as she listened to Plaze explain what happened to him.

Then, Jessie shrugged, "Well, good luck with that. I'm just here to explain to you how electronics work, okay? So follow along, or be left in the dust!"

Plaze nodded, "Right. I always had a slight interest in this stuff anyways, I just couldn't explore it because I wasn't able to take any classes."

Jessie smiled, "That slight interest is all I need! Now, let's start with the basics, starting with electricity!"

What followed after that was 4 hours of what Plaze could only call 'torture' as Jessie lectured him about the ins and outs of what being an engineer really meant.

Plaze was learning, of course. If he didn't have the capacity to learn how to make the things he was trying to sell, he wouldn't get anywhere as an Overlord. However, with his lack of background knowledge on the subject, they were starting from zero.

At the end of the day, though, Plaze was smarter than he was yesterday about the subject. Not quite sure how he's going to code everything, but he does vaguely know how to start.

As Jessie was about to leave to visit her mother, Jessie asked Plaze, "Oh! By the way, have you found an Overlord willing to help you yet?"

Plaze shook his head, "I need to get more power to be taken seriously by anyone. After this, I'm about to hit the streets and see if I can take other people's souls."

Jessie frowned, "Most people in the streets already have their souls sold, you know. They're the people you can always rely on being able to take advantage of."

"I fell onto the streets only a few days ago," Plaze reminded, "I'm sure I can find some other poor bastards who died just a few minutes ago and tell them that I have the solution for all their problems."

Jessie thought about it for a second before conceding the point, "I guess that works. But it is kind of hard to find fresh souls in Hell, you know."

Plaze shrugged, confident about his own skills, "I'll manage."

Jessie didn't seem too confident in him. But Plaze didn't really care about what she thought.

As Jessie was about to leave, she seemed to have remembered something, "Oh! By the way, the Overlord I recommend talking to first is Carmilla Carmine! She deals in the weapons industry, and she might be willing to take over the tanks too! Otherwise, I think there's an Overlord named Vauche that's in the car industry, and he might be willing to add treads to his collection."

Carmilla Carmine and Vauche, eh? Carmilla sounds more powerful and useful, so Plaze will probably go to her first.

Plaze nodded, "I see. Thank you for the suggestion, Jessie."

Jessie saluted, "No problem! See you later!"

As Plaze and Jessie left the building, Plaze steadied his breath as he walked down the streets, looking for poor souls to prey upon.

AN:

Chapter was a little longer than I expected, but that's because the job-hunting scene came out of nowhere because I wanted to have some fun. Then the soul deal scene extended way longer because my mind kept thinking of different directions to go in.

Some may protest the fact that Plaze got a pretty overpowered starting ability based on something that doesn't even exist yet (Objective markers, pointers, and things like that). However, consider this.

It's cool.

Besides, it's not as though he can manifest a map of Hell to help him pin stuff. That comes later.

I still don't think I can do this weekly, though. I'm writing this on 5/21/2024 before the third chapter releases. But Time Capsule and Manifest Destiny are devouring a lot of the word count.

[Also I just came up with the idea that whenever a soul deal is made, the nearby area lights up with the symbols of whoever is the primary beneficiary of the deal. Pretend it happened in the earlier chapters with Plaze because I'm not going back to rewrite it there.]