The first thing he did was turn off the alarm, much to everyone’s relief. 189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7cLagodZ3n
Theobold and Augustus stared up at him as Leo thrashed harder. Though he could tell from his spot that it wasn’t from rage now—it was from pain. Droplets of blood welled up on the man’s head where the Imps’ claws dug into it.
With a hiss, the creature dropped its invisibility, and Arthur could see a hooked claw near its prisoner’s eye. Once more, it was unique—a small red-scaled creature with long ears, spines, and brittle brown horns poking from its skull. A long red tail tipped with bloody bone whipped behind it, cracking like an old man’s knee. 189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8fZBXHNTmr
The demon sneered, its pointed teeth on display as it stared around, catching the eyes of as many people as it could. His customers drew back even as he gripped his cane tighter. The top of the cane dug into his palm, but he ignored it.
“Leo,” he said as casually as he could. “Is this it?”
“Go to hell, monster!” Leo screamed, his voice hoarse.
He thrashed, and the demon screeched with laughter as it dug its claws tighter, cutting deeper into the man’s flesh. Its back legs tore into the suit, and Theobold winced. Arthur sighed and shook his head before focusing on the demon.
“Can you talk?”
All he got in reply was gibberish and cackling laughter.
“Alright. Theobold. Augustus. Hold him down.”
They obeyed without question, and he swung the pipe at the imp, which didn’t move fast enough. The thump seemed overly loud amidst the whispers that filled the room as the creature flew from Leo and smacked against the window.
It screamed and tried to get out, but one of its arms was bent at the wrong angle. Arthur moved after it; however, Nyssa was quicker. She was snarling and had a piece of chair in her hand. He knew she must have gotten it from the box.
“Die demon!” She all but screamed as she smashed the chair leg into the beast until it stopped moving. It didn’t take long.
“Nyssa!” Arthur cried, as he grabbed her arm. “Enough.”
She was panting and trembling as she stared at the creature.
“I—”
“Downstairs.” His tone was soft, and he tried not to make it obvious as he glanced around at the terrified faces of his customers. Several of them were edging away from Nyssa. “Please?”
She didn’t answer, simply turning on her heel and moving behind the counter, where she vanished from sight. When she was gone, he reached out to touch the imp, its small body exploding into light.
Product Acquired
Kill: Demon Type 1
Killer: Nyssa, Rat Half-Breed
Product Held:
Name: Demonic Eye
Amount: Two
Item Description: Two eyes of a Type 1 Demon. They don’t do anything special, but I guess you could eat them if you're feeling gross? They are DNA as well.
Product Held:
Name: Demonic Core
Amount: One
Item Description: A pulsing stone that held the essence of this demon. Can be used in various applicable projects, or crushed to create a small amount of hallucinogenic mist. Has mysterious effects if consumed.
Would you like to send these items to your personal storage device?
Yes
No
He selected yes, and the cubes flew away to enter the box.
No one spoke, and he sighed.
“Do we have rope?”
“No,” Theobold said.
“Of course we don’t. Ok…” Arthur ran a hand through his hair. “New plan. Leo, can you hear me?”
The man was sobbing, head down, but he still nodded.
“If I put you in the back room with Theobold, are you going to cause a problem? I really don’t want to have him hurt you.”
That was true. The thought of ordering Theobold to break the man’s legs made his stomach churn. It was the type of thing Riccardo would have done, and he wasn’t him. He didn’t want to become him.
Relief filled him when Leo shook his head.
“Ok, Theobold. That work with you?”
“Yes, Boss. I’ve done guard duty before.” His tone was professional, the sort he used when talking to Rab or Alyssa.
“Excellent.” With that sorted, he clapped his hands and turned to the onlookers. “Sorry about all of that. Please wait a moment, and we’ll get it all started back up.”
People looked at each other, and they hesitantly lined up once more. Though Arthur went back to serving customers, he knew the atmosphere had changed. Everyone appeared on edge, and almost every hand held a weapon.
He sighed. They’d need to do something about this. To his delight, that answer came with the last customer.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVTkAMaQOKK
189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmJSsQ9Mktx
The burst of excitement that exploded from above him almost knocked him off his feet. With a wary glance, he looked up, and he swore he could see dust falling from the roof.
“I’m going to have to see Pydes after this, aren’t I?” He thought to himself even as he listened to the sobbing coming from the room behind him. “At least that’ll be something to look forward to.”
A simple wave dismissed the notification, and he slowly got up out of his chair.
As he stretched, he tried to decide which direction he should go. Leo was the obvious choice. No one could deny that finding out why this happened wouldn’t be beneficial for all of them. The last thing any of them needed was more people deciding to attack them.
Though he trusted Augustus to man the door with little difficulty if something happened.
However, he looked toward the trapdoor. Nyssa hadn’t come back up, and he wanted to check on her. She’d been with him since the start, and as his friend, he wanted to know she was okay.
The rage she displayed scared him, and he wanted to know what she could tell him. If nothing else, he might have to set Dr. Muriler to work figuring it out. This couldn’t go on. Once the cult realized they could disrupt his staff by suicide bombing him with Imps, things would get nasty.
“Nyssa first.” He nodded in agreement with his own statement. “Then Leo. This will be fine.”
His decision made, he turned and moved towards the basement door, knocking twice before opening it and climbing down.
It was time to check on his employee’s well-being.
***
The generator’s soft hum filled the basement, but Arthur almost immediately tuned it out.
He tried not to shiver as he entered the space, forcing his eyes away from the box.
“I’m not going to need to go in,” Arthur told himself.
Nyssa and Dr. Muriler were sitting in the center of the room. She had her head buried in her father’s shoulder, and he was gently patting her back. Neither was making a sound, not even appear to notice him enter.
After a moment, he gave a light cough to draw their attention.
Nyssa didn’t turn to look at him, but Dr. Muriler did. When their eyes met, the mutated doctor squeaked and stopped patting his daughter’s back to point at him. There was an accusation in the sound, and a promise of retribution in the action.
Anger burned in his eyes, and Arthur took a step back. It wasn’t the feral rage one expected from something so animal-shaped. This was human, calculated, and ready to be unleashed.
“Hello,” he said, giving a small wave. “How’s Nyssa?”
All he got in response was a small hiss; it was a clear warning—go away. With a shake of his head, he folded his arms. The locket around his throat seemed to burn, and he took a deep breath.
“What happened?”
From the look on Dr. Muriler’s face, he was as shocked as Arthur at the heated tone he spoke in. When the doctor continued to stare at him, he raised an eyebrow and added to the question.
“What happened? This is the second time she’s freaked out like this around them. Why?”
This time, his voice was back to normal, and he internally breathed a sigh of relief. Dr. Muriler slowly went back to patting his daughter’s back, and then he shrugged.
“You don’t know?”
Another shrug, and he looked towards the machine. There was a soft squeak, and a half-hearted gesture.
“So, there’s something about the process? How does that make sense?”
At that point, Dr. Muriler threw his hands up and glared at Arthur. From his shoulder, Nyssa shifted and turned. When he saw her face, he noticed how puffy her brown eyes were, and she sniffled.
“It’s like I can hear them in my head,” she whispered. “They’re so loud, and the things they say... I’m not a failure. I’m not! My art won awards!”
“Hey,” he said, stepping forward. “I know. You say you hear voices?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “They’re so loud.”
Arthur reached up and scratched the back of his head. “Yeah. I hear them too, but I have to be close. Really close, and it takes a while to set in. I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault.” She hugged her father tightly, who hugged her back. “What did you do with Leo?”
“He’s with Theobold. I need to go talk to him next. Good news! We leveled again. Fifteen. We have a new point to spend. Any ideas?”
“Security,” she said at the same time as Dr. Muriler nodded to the machine and squeaked.
“You want us to fix the machine? Really? Why now?”
It took a moment before he realized what Dr. Muriler was trying to tell him.
“Theobold. You want me to create more like him?”
That got him another nod.
“Why?”
With one hand, Dr. Muriler gestured to Nyssa and then towards where the door would be. It made Arthur smile and shake his head.
“So you both want security; you just want it in different ways?”
Both of them looked at each other, and Nyssa’s hand trembled before her father grabbed it the best he could. Neither looked away.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he promised. “Are you alright, though, Nyssa?”
“No.” She whispered. “No, but I will be, probably. Go talk to Leo; I want to know why this happened.”
“Yeah. Me too.” He said, while he turned and made his way back upstairs.
***
Arthur was still feeling the heat from the locket as he walked into the break room.
Leo was sitting on the ground, his hands wrapped around a mug as he sobbed and shook. Nearby, sword in hand, Theobold stood watching both him and the door. His back was straight, and his gaze was steady.
“Leo?” Arthur asked once he’d closed the door.
The end of the cane tapped against the floor as he walked in. It still showed signs of where he hit the demon. Red flakes spilling off it like strange snow. Leo glanced at it before he looked up at his face.
“Arthur?”
His voice was low and weak as he struggled to wipe away the tears with one hand. He was still bleeding, but didn’t seem aware.
“Yes. Why did you attack us?”
“I didn’t,” Leo said as he took a sip from the cup. “I was fighting those Knights. Then I woke up here. This one won’t talk to me.”
Theobold shrugged but stayed quiet.
“What knights? What happened?” Arthur asked.
He knew the answer to the first, of course, having experienced the hallucinogenic nature of the demons himself. Still, he wanted to hear it from Leo. The man looked like he needed to talk.
“The cultists, they... They came to collect us. They told me they already had the rest of the gangs under their thumb. Made us promises, showed they had food and supplies,” Leo started before he coughed and took another sip of his drink. “I said no. My boys, and I were doing fine; we didn’t need them. They even name-dropped you and said they had a plan to get back at you.”
He chuckled then, low and dark.
“I told them that Riccardo had a plan for you too, and I still don’t know where your armored friends buried his body. I told them I wanted nothing to do with you. That man, Greenwire? He didn’t like that.”
“Greenwine. Richard Greenwine.” Arthur corrected him without thinking.
With a shake of his head, he looked at Leo. “Then what?”
“He told me that made me an obstacle. In business, you deal with those quickly. Next thing I knew, something hit me from behind and blew this smoke into my face. Then the knights appeared, and I started running. When I woke up, I was here.”
“So they’ve taken the gangs fully now. Why?” Arthur thought. “What plan could they have? None of their attacks have worked so far. Is this going to be an all-out fight? I’m not sure if I can survive that.”
Suddenly, the idea of the mutagen tank being repaired became more interesting.
“Did they say what the plan was?” He asked, looking down at the man.
Leo shook his head. “No. All he would say is that he wouldn’t stoop to the same savagery as you did. This was a war between companies, and he would win it.”
“Companies? I don’t even know how they run anything. He claimed to be in advertising, right? What was the plan—word of mouth to get them to stop talking to me?”
With a loud clap of his hands, he turned away from Leo.
“Ok? Theobold!”
“Yes, boss?” Theobold said, as he snapped off a salute.
“You think he’s going to be a problem?”
“No, boss.”
“Me neither.”
Arthur looked at Leo; the man appeared somehow smaller. Beaten. He shook his head and sighed. This was a problem he needed to deal with now. All he wanted to do was talk to Pydes and see what his level fifteen bonus was.
“So, Leo, let me make you an offer.”
Leo didn’t look up; he simply nodded, his hands tightening around his cup.
“If you guarantee you won’t cause problems, you can stay here. Sleep, rest, and use the box to heal up once the basement is clear.”
“You’re not worried about what I’ll do?” Leo asked. There was an edge to his voice, but also tiredness and fear.
“No.” Arthur said with a shrug. “Between Augustus and Theobold, why should I be? You’re more than welcome to try your luck out on the streets, though.”
Leo chuckled. “Yeah, I see your point. Fine. I’ll be good. You got something to eat?”
“Sure. Stay here.”
To his surprise, he found Nyssa at the counter. She was rooting around in the box and jumped a little as he approached her from behind. With care, he held his hands up.
“Hey, sorry. I’m just getting Leo something to eat and heading up to see Pydes.” When he saw her sad gaze, he continued. “Do you want to come? Fresh air can’t hurt, and we’ll be in a bubble of stopped time.”
She smiled, though it was weak. “Sure. I’ll tell dad.”
“Excellent. Meet you at the door then.”
With the plate of meat in hand, he turned and moved into the back room, excited about his next conversation.
There were new upgrades to grab.189Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIqLEwej3wV
