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The Drakkaren strode slowly into Carmen's throne room, the Executioner's Saber he'd taken from Argalox on his back, wearing a plain black shirt and heavy black pants as his combat boots thudded quietly against the ground... and from one hip hung his revolver, and resting across his back was the Smiting Rod. Sin had taught him a spell to change the size of the specially-forged metal, so it had been shrunken down to almost a quarter of its original size, making it much easier to manage and carry, and the Drakkaren had decided to take this weapon with him as well.

From the belt he was wearing also hung a small bag marked with a runic circle woven into the fabric that greatly-enlarged the inside of the bag, meaning it carried far more than its small size seemed to be capable of holding, and he also had a satchel thrown over his shoulder with a few books in it, including the one Lily had bought for him so many years ago now... and Carmen grinned at him as he approached the throne and nodded to her, saying in an entertained voice: "Lord Zerrex! You look more like you're going to war than anything else!"

"I like weapons." Zerrex said with a slight smile and a shrug, and she laughed before standing up and motioning for everyone else to rise as well, her Amazon guards stepping forwards and the harem girls and standing on their cushions, everyone murmuring excitedly as the five Inquisitors that had tortured Zerrex over the last thousand years formed a line behind the Drakkaren. Queen Carmen motioned Zerrex aside politely, and the reptile stepped to the side of the room, permitting Bones, the Bloody King, Duke Terronius, Selena, and Lunata to all step forwards, all of them facing Carmen respectfully before kneeling in front of her.

It had been ten thousand and one hundred years to the day now: Zerrex had served his full sentence in the Hell of Lust, and he noted that even though Amiglion was half-hiding in the background with Bondage, waving at him stupidly from the other side of the room, he couldn't see the Princess anywhere... and he had to hide a smile of relief, but he somehow thought Carmen knew as the huge demoness winked at him. Feldspar had also been banned from attending, since she was back on duty in the Northern Front, fighting off a sudden vicious attack by Prince Az'Iriel's Gigataur Attack Teams... and Zerrex absently hoped she'd get squashed as Carmen looked over the Inquisitors before saying clearly: "Lord Zerrex has finished his sentence in the Hell of Lust, and now comes the time for Judgment. As the Princess is... absent... today, I will question in her stead only one thing: shall Lord Zerrex serve another ten thousand year sentence in the Hell of Lust, or is he to be set free and permitted to return to the Southern Provinces? What say you Inquisitors, yes or no to his return?"

"No." Bones said clearly, standing up and bowing respectfully, and Zerrex shot him a deathly look, but he felt a twinge in his body nonetheless. He needed more than Selena's vote to get him out of here... and I don't want to waste another ten thousand years in this Circle, despite as much fun as I had here... Sin told me the Princess already decided to throw me into some other Circle after I'm done getting punished here, but that she'll take care of my house, at least...

The Bloody King began to shake his head silently... then he suddenly paused, looked over at Zerrex, and nodded slowly but firmly before turning around and leaving, and Bones gaped in horror as Zerrex grinned widely. Next in line was Terronius, who looked after the Bloody King, then over at Bones before saying helplessly: "Yes, yes your majesty. He has done well and served his sentence."

"Yes, Queen Carmen." Selena said next in a clear, strong voice, bowing politely, and Lunata immediately nodded and squeaked the same thing, which gained a look of mild entertainment from the monarch. A pause, and then Carmen crossed her arms and pretended to look thoughtful.

"Lord Zerrex, approach!" she boomed finally, at the same time shrinking down so she could look at him eye-to-eye... and when he came close, she hugged him tightly and kissed him firmly and hungrily, Zerrex's eyes bulging as she reached one hand down to grab his crotch before pulling back and grinning, a small string of drool still hanging from muzzle-to-muzzle as she said warmly: "You motherfucker, get your ass out of here. But I tell you this: if I don't see you like, the day after you're done your punishments, I am going to drag you down into this Circle and make you my little bitch for a whole fuckin' eon." A pause, and then she leaned past him and shouted at Bones as he tried to slink away: "Hey, asshole! You know the rules, stay the hell put!"

Bones jumped and then sheepishly turned around, fumbling for a cigarette, and Carmen said mildly as she turned Zerrex around and patted him firmly on the shoulder: "Now, as the rules dictate, Inquisitor Bones... I'm sorry, that was rude of me, Inquisitor fuckhead needs to tell Zerrex here exactly why he feels he should remain in the Circle of Lust. If he provides decent evidence, we will check over Lord Zerrex's actions in the Circle and then we'll decide based on that. If he doesn't, Lord Zerrex... well, that's up to you, since his protection is officially considered lifted until otherwise noted."

"He... he's a whore." Bones muttered finally, which earned several glares from the various sexual demons around the room, including a disgusted look from Carmen that made him drop his cigarette with a curse. Immediately, he began to scrabble on the floor for it, before Zerrex stepped on the small paper cylinder and Bones stared up at him, the skeleton leaking waves of horror.

"Smoking's bad for you. Always remember, winners don't do drugs." Zerrex intoned ironically, then he kicked the skeleton's skull off with one foot, sending it flying across the room to shatter on the floor as Bones cursed in a terrified, disembodied voice, immediately scrabbling across the room on all fours as the Drakkaren crossed his arms with a slight smile. "Then again, I suppose smoking isn't technically doing drugs, but whatever. Or is it? I don't even care."

"Stop talking to yourself, you freak of nature." Selena said mildly, as Terronius quickly ran for the door and Lunata glared at the Drakkaren over her shoulder. She paused, then glanced back at the orange-and-black-striped, tiger-headed female, who otherwise had a hairless, slender body and no tail, but small claws at the ends of long fingers, most of this hidden by a pink sorceror's robe. "If you touch me one more time, I'm going to punch you right in the fucking nose. Go away, I'm trying to talk to Lord Zerrex."

Lunata mumbled something, glowering at Zerrex as if this was his fault somehow as she strode away, and the Drakkaren leaned over to Selena, muttering loudly: "But doesn't she have the most masculine walk you've ever seen?"

"Careful, I hear she's still one of your Inquisitors, along with the Bloody King and Selena here." Carmen said absently, approaching with a slight smile but also an uncomfortable expression, as the Drakkaren tilted his head curiously. "Unfortunately, the Princess is going to send you to the Circle of Wrath next... I think Selena can take you to the place you'll be staying at, although I can guarantee it'll be uncomfortable as balls since I hear they set you up at a halfway-house. You'll probably want to leave your money with her, too... as you probably expected, Wrath will not be a pleasant place."

"Alright. I'll have Sin ward my room, then..." Zerrex said slowly, frowning a bit at the same time. Halfway house? Like for addicts? "I should go then... although I'm not exactly liking the sound of this."

"I wouldn't either." Selena muttered, creating a portal beside them and then bowing courteously to Carmen. "Thank you for everything, Carmen."

"Yeah, I owe you a lot." Zerrex smiled, reaching up to stroke her cheek gently, then they traded a quick kiss before he winked and said softly: "I'll send Cherry your way sometime. I'm sure she'll adore you."

Carmen laughed and shook her head, grinning widely, and as he vanished through the portal she murmured softly: "Crazy fuck just never gives up his hopes... I admire that, Lord Zerrex, more than you'll ever know... and I hope to God they don't beat it out of you in the next Circle."

Then there was only darkness... and a moment later, Zerrex stepped out onto hard rock, looking back and forth at the ugly, misshapen terrain and frowning a bit at the chill in the air, before Selena pointed at a large, ramshackle home built out of wood and patches of everything from metal to plastic sheeting. "There. The place held together by magic, most likely... it's what we call a halfway house down here, a place for people transferred from one Circle to the next. It'll take you a long time to get used to the new Circle after Lust... especially since you had all that fun with that one club you joined, I hear."

Zerrex coughed, looking embarrassed as he followed Selena along a narrow dirt path up a stony embankment, and along a twisted slope towards the home, noting the fire burning outside and the twitching Initiates standing around it, muttering to each other. "I wouldn't talk... you like having your blood sucked."

"Fuck you, I think it's hot." Selena said defensively, and she crossed her arms with a grumble as they strode down the much-lighter tan sand of the path. It stood out in vivid contrast to the dark, black dead earth, and Zerrex wondered if he was going to end up being thrown into the mines again... it was what he had returned to doing after Lily had left, after all, since apparently he was only fit for menial labor in the eyes of the powers of Hell.

She paused at the short steps, then carefully walked up them the wood creaking loudly underfoot as Zerrex followed with a wince, standing on a small porch behind the Inquisitor as she knocked firmly at the door, and a small window slid open in the middle, a voice rasping: "What the fuck do you want, bitch?"

"Watch your tongue when you talk to an Inquisitor." Selena replied coldly, and then she nodded to Zerrex, saying mildly: "This is Lord Zerrex... I believe a room is reserved for him here."

"We have no Lord Zerrex, just a plain old Zerrex Narrius on the roster." said the voice sourly, but a moment later the door clanked open, revealing a large, shaggy-furred wolf with one eye in the center of his head and huge, hunched shoulders, the Cyclops growling at them as he looked back and forth from Selena to Zerrex. "We don't allow weapons-"

"You'll allow it." Selena snarled, and the wolf backed up a step, swallowing thickly and raising his hands and clipboard as she rose a fist threateningly. "Don't fuck with me, scumbag... I'm not scared of you or your kind, and nor am I afraid to tear you limb-from-limb before I gouge that ugly-ass eye of yours out. Now hurry the fuck up and show us to his room."

"Madam." The Cyclops bowed a bit, then it turned around, its hairless, rat-like tail sweeping back and forth as it walked towards a rickety pair of stairs at the back of the small room. Selena and Zerrex followed quickly, the Drakkaren kicking the door closed and making a face as a lizard-demon leaned out of the doorway and hissed at him before leaning back in.

Up the rickety stairs was a long, empty hallway, the Drakkaren noting the floor seemed to be mostly made of floor tiles and metal sheeting... and the reptile's eyes flicked back and forth before the Cyclops pointed at the door second from the back on the left, labeled: ‘214.' "This is your room. You are not permitted to bring in visitors, and you're expected to help out with chores. I'll be coming upstairs to talk more about that later, so keep your door open, asshole." The Cyclops shoved his way past Selena and Zerrex, then added roughly: "And no poking around the place, either."

"Well, this really reminds me of my childhood." Zerrex muttered, pushing open the door... and then he paused at the sight of the Wentaku standing inside the room patiently, Selena tensing up before the Drakkaren frowned and said slowly: "You... you're one of the Princess's guards or something, aren't you?"

"That is not important. You are to have an audience with the Princess immediately." The Wentaku said coldly, then it created a portal and stood silently beside it, Zerrex exchanging a look with Selena before it added in the same cool tone: "You are not to bring any weapons or additional objects to this meeting. I will place a temporary protective ward over the room to ensure their safety."

"Alright..." Zerrex paused, then looked pointedly at the Wentaku, and it grunted before walking over to the wall and pressing its hand against the rough surface. Slowly, fire scrawled out from its hand, forming a strange pattern and several runes over the surface of the wood, and Selena glanced at it before nodding a bit to Zerrex, who half-recognized the pattern. "Thank you."

The reptile shrugged off his stuff, trying to memorize the pattern at the same time as the Wentaku waited patiently by the portal, and then it said softly: "Inquisitor Selena. You are permitted to attend, if you wish it."

Selena and Zerrex both looked surprised, but nodded... and then they headed for the portal, stepping through it... and the Drakkaren blinked slowly as they stepped into a massive open field somewhere, some small grasses underfoot and Scribes lined up in a massive circle around what looked like a gigantic hourglass... and Selena grabbed Zerrex's shoulders tightly, hissing: "We have to go, now."

"No." said a soft, lethal voice, and the two turned to see the Princess standing nearby, and there was a terrible smile in her eyes, Sin looking dejected on one side of her and Feldspar grinning like a lunatic on the other as she added with deadly pleasantness: "Lord Zerrex, the time has come... today, we make you a demon."

Zerrex only stared, swallowing thickly and stammering: "W-What? I... I thought that was impossible... that..." He paused, looking over at the massive device, and then he tore his gaze away to look back at the Princess wordlessly.

"It's dangerous... it has quite a few risks... but this is likely the only way to ensure you become a demon. After all, it's been ten thousand years and you're still an Initiate without any signs of demonic transmformation other than your horns..." the Princess said in a silky voice, and then she walked over and grasped Zerrex's shoulder gently, gesturing with her other hand at the massive device and forcing the reptile to look at it again as they began to stride towards it slowly, her long, dark-lavender dress flowing out behind her as the others followed slowly in her wake. "Look at the artifact Zerrex, don't be afraid... we call it a Lucifer's Eye, in honor of the genius who first constructed Hell and all its glory..."

Zerrex swallowed, but now he couldn't tear his eyes away, taking in every detail of the machine. A huge, square pit filled with black liquid had been dug, and some glass-like, strange material had been twisted in a dome-shape with an open neck that faced the sky... and from the four corners of the square pit were long, golden strands that slowly sunk inwards over the dome and then bulged outwards at the middle of their length, forming that other invisible dome as they went up to hold a massive golden disc covered in runes in place, locked into it by means of four huge silver manacles. These manacles were chained tightly to the ground, and many more golden hooks had been locked into several places along the dome, feeding into rusty â€" I hope it's rust, anyway... â€" enormous metal chains with links the size of the Drakkaren's torso that were locked tightly down into the earth and held in place by huge spikes... and despite the fact that everything seemed anchored securely, the huge golden plate on top still seemed to be moving for some reason, pulling gently on the chains that locked it in place and causing the four twisted support bars of golden to curl and dance back and forth, as if in a strong wind. As they drew closer, Zerrex could see that the plate had a huge blue gemstone in the very center of it, forming some sort of magical core... and that the plate was divided into circular sections that were slowly spinning around the center, creating a quiet grinding sound.

The reptile couldn't help but also notice that they had stepped onto cement, and, glancing down, he saw they were walking over red runes that formed some sort of protective circle around the huge device... and then he paused as he looked slowly around and murmured quietly: "I've never seen Scribes outside of the Center Spire before, Princess... does it really require this much power to turn someone into a demon?"

"I just want to be sure." she said softly, and the reptile thought quietly: Of what? Of me becoming a demon, or that you'll be protected from whatever sort of power this thing is going to release or force into me? "Admittedly a bit of both... after all, you never know what you might become?"

The reptile cursed inwardly: he always forgot she was telepathic. He made a mental note of it, then looked back towards the device as Feldspar ran up to his other side, grabbing his arm and squeezing it firmly, and making the reptile very glad that he'd left the special bracelet Lily had given to him safe an secure in his satchel pack back in his new apartment. "I built most of this myself, you know! But the Princess in all her divine power is who did most of the enchantments... and we've prepared the most powerful transformation rites we could think of and-"

"Please, Queen Feldspar, I'm sure your husband is anxious to get this ceremony under way... he'll only appreciate all the artistic endeavor you put into this all the more if we let him experience it first before we explain it to him." the Princess said easily, and Feldspar nodded rapidly before running over to stand in a circle of clearly-marked yellow runes. Undoubtedly a safety area... "Yes... just a precaution, though, of course."

"Wonderful." Zerrex murmured, then he tore free from the Princess's grasp before staring as black liquid slowly poured down from above, filling up the bottom dome of the hourglass as something dark and twisted bubbled up from the pit below, the reptile leaning forwards and swearing he could see things in the ooze as he whispered: "So... how does this work?" A pause as he looked up and realized the flow of dark liquid was coming from the ‘core' of the disc, the gemstone now pulsing a sick red color that made him feel sick to his stomach. "Princess I... I can't do this. I can't. No matter how powerful a demon I'd become..."

Zerrex backed slowly off, snarling and shaking his head as he looked up at her... and then her green eyes locked with his, and he swallowed thickly, feeling his body go weak as she said softly: "You're a weak mortal fool if you'd still prefer to do all these things the ‘natural' way... but fine. Struggle. It will make this all the sweeter."

She flicked her wrist, and the Drakkaren's body went rigid before he turned and shakily walked over to a circle of green runes, his body moving of its own accord as he snarled and tried to stop himself... but he could barely budge his body an inch before he stopped in the small circle and turned to face the Lucifer's Eye, his body remaining motionless as he watched the flow of dark liquid halt and a cap slowly slide into place over the bottom dome, and he forced himself to look to the left, watching as Selena was half-dragged out of the red circle of runes by several minotaur guards as the Princess strolled over to join Feldspar in the yellow circle, Sin rubbing at her muzzle and eyes helplessly and looking more miserable than he had ever seen.

"Begin the ritual!" the Princess called, raising her hands... and the reptile heard chanting start up from all around him in one strong voice, the hive-minded Scribes speaking and gesturing all at the same time before the Drakkaren felt a sudden twist go through his body, like he just been thrown into midair... and suddenly he was engulfed in black ooze, and it was forcing its way into his body, choking him, smothering him as it clogged his nostrils and mouth, unable to see through it as his eyes bulged in terror and he felt himself being dragged down, down, down...

He floated in what felt like pure, concentrated darkness, looking back and forth as the sloshing of the ooze became terrible, demonic sounds, hisses, roars, and feral panting... and then he stared in horror as he saw a familiar face leaning towards him with a cruel grin. Drake?

"No. Close... I'm you." whispered the version of him made out of this terrible muck made solid, and it adjusted the lapels of the suit it wore before its face rotted away to a skull, horns twisting out of its skull as it said hungrily: "And I'm what should be. And I want in!"

"Let us in..." another version of him, this one female but gaunt and eyeless, grinned at him and grabbed his arm firmly, jerking on him as Zerrex stared in horror... and suddenly it was no longer ooze he was being drowned in, but bodies, demonic versions of him and those he knew, and he howled and shook back and forth, trying to shake free as they clawed at him and tore into his body, and he felt a terrible chanting in his mind as suddenly one of them loomed forwards, and he found himself face-to-face with Narrius, the black eyes turning a burning red as it whispered in his mind. You're weak.

Memories flashed back, of Narrius killing his mother, of his father striking him, of laying beaten and bloody on the floor while Narrius insulted him, of killing his father only to have him return years later to rape his youngest daughter and destroy the world... and the reptile roared and clawed at this vision, and it broke apart into ooze that clung to his form as the darkness twisted into a tornado around him, and the reptile's eyes glowed as he howled, feeling rage, a terrible, violent fury growing inside of him as he began to claw towards the surface through the darkness...

But something else caught him, and now he was staring down at Az'Iriel, the demon holding him by the ankle in this darkness, and when Zerrex looked back up, the Princess was looking down at him with her mask tilted just high enough to reveal a wide, cruel grin... and all around him were wrapped the ripped-apart carcasses of his family and friends, from Lily and Selena and Sin to Marina, Cindy, Mahihko and Cherry... and the reptile struggled to shake free as the Princess grasped his shoulders and Az'Iriel clung to his legs, the two demonic outlines in the dark ooze slowly pulling him apart as he let out a cry, snarling like an animal, feeling himself reduced to pure instinct as the chanting continued to rise in his head, faster and louder...

His body trembled, and his eyes opened slowly as he heard that sick, depraved voice in his head laughing... and suddenly Zerrex was standing in a metal room next to a whirring fan. The Drakkaren looked back and forth, frowning quietly at the sterile structure... and below him something was panting raggedly, snarling and shaking what sounded like chains... and the reptile looked down through the metal grating he was standing on to see a figure struggling beneath him in some kind of throne, trapped by what looked like a single manacle. He felt his heart suddenly beat faster, and the reptile turned, heading quickly down the hall to a staircase leading down to the creature, and he sprinted down them to the metal floor below, half-lit by a single halogen bulb and filled with shattered glass experimentation tanks down the long hall behind him... but in front of him was a snarling, evil version of him... and its red eyes flicked up to glare at the Drakkaren, knocking him staggering with the look alone.

It was just like Narrius had become in that last great battle... a monster, a vicious animal covered in darkness, much bigger than the Drakkaren was and with the remnants of angel wings that had long been torn off on its back... and although its body burned with darkness, its white hair floated around it, made of pure energy... and its eyes were a terrible, glowing crimson. A pause... and then it finally tore its arm free of the throne, and it stood up and laughed, exposing teeth made of white, burning energy just as its hair was, its body massive and muscular, but any tone hidden by the shifting darkness that covered its entire form as it hissed: "You... yes... it's too late now..."

"What the hell are you?" Zerrex snarled, steadying himself as the creature walked forwards, and he tried to duck away, but it seized him easily by the throat and hauled him into the air, and Zerrex gagged and cursed as he clawed at its arm, feeling his energy being sapped from his body and staring in horror as the room began to warp, black ivy twisting over the metal tiles as they cracked apart with screams and groans, the stairs collapsing behind him as spikes shot out of the walls and ceiling...

"I'm you." The creature said softly, and then Zerrex was staring once more at the dark ooze... and something pulsed deep inside his chest.

The Scribes halted, looking at each other as the nightmarish Unsacred Essence inside the Lucifer's Eye went flat... and then the shielding on the bottom dome cracked before a massive explosion of blue and black energy rose through the air, a shockwave of force splattering Unscared Essence in all directions as the Princess merely gave a curious grunt, the explosion and Essence blocked by the protective circle they stood inside, although most of the Scribes were blown off their feet from the blast. She continued to look unimpressed for a moment, even as the massive disc shattered into pieces and rained down in the opposite direction, massive chunks of metal squashing several of the Scribes as several of the chains snapped, metal links firing with the force of artillery cannons into several unlucky demons before a gigantic hand tore out of the pit, grabbed the nearest chain, and snapped it viciously towards them.

The Princess rose a hand, and the chain bounced harmlessly off a shield of psychic energy as the handmaidens and Selena ducked and winced, and then Selena fell over on her ass as Zerrex climbed out of the pit... except... no... that... that can't be... "This is beyond all my expectations..."

The Drakkaren's eyes were burning red, his long white hair flowing around a pair of enormous bull's horns that stretched high towards the sky and curled slightly at the ends, and a new pair of huge ram's horns just a bit beneath and behind these, curving forwards towards the front of his muzzle. His body was muscular and enormous, at least thirty-five feet tall and likely more, covered in bulky, rippling muscle and emanating terrible physical power, his fingers now enormous, flexible talons that tore deep trenches through the cement as he pulled himself up onto the ground. A row of long spikes jutted down his spike all the way to the end of his tail, which had become a deadly harpoon, and thick, conical spikes stood out on his knees, elbows and shoulders.

As he stepped up onto the cement, he grunted, and with a loud crack, his legs bent the wrong way and he was left standing on the edge of his massive, curved toeclaws in unguligrade stance, a large hook pushing out of either heel as he turned slowly towards the Princess and the others... and he grinned slowly, licking his muzzle as Selena stared in shock, watching as he grew a last few feet to stand at an enormous forty-two feet tall... but what drew her attention more were not only a pair of gargantuan, incredible testicles, hanging between his legs, but four thick, obsidian-fleshed tentacles all ending in a shaped cockhead... before they slowly twisted together into one enormous black-fleshed cock. He grunted, then this and his testicles slowly retracted into his body and he roared as a massive double set of angel wings tore out of his back, and Selena had a bare moment to wonder why he still bore these instead of demon wings... and then the giant charged towards them, and the Princess said quietly: "No, he's too powerful. Worst of all, his transformation doesn't even seem to be complete... seal him, seal his abilities now!"

"No!" Selena screamed, and the Princess turned and backhanded her hard, and Zerrex's eyes flashed crimson as he snarled and slammed a hand down to try and crush the Princess... but she immediately rose both her hands, semitransparent waves flowing over the new demon's body... and then let out a gasp of disbelief as Zerrex simply leaned into the attack and then slammed his claws down towards her, her Divine Protection shattering into purple shards as she staggered backwards.

"Not possible! This is not possible!" The Princess leapt backwards, pointing at him and yelling furiously, losing her usual cold composure: "I said I want him sealed, now! What are you idiots doing? Feldspar, get the restraints!"

Feldspar glanced away from a bare moment, and Zerrex stepped on her like she was a bug, crushing her to the ground and squishing her guts out of her stomach. She gargled violently, then immediately attempted to get up to her feet, one of her arms shattered and her legs barely holding her as she looked over her shoulder in terror, and then Zerrex raked her hard with his huge claws and sent her flying through the air, most of the contents of her body spilling out through her deflated, shredded stomach before she crashed to the ground even as Scribes and other demons surged forwards.

The no-longer Drakkaren snapped his tail through an Amazon as she tried to charge him with a sword, and he flicked her body into several oncoming minotaurs before running towards a Scribe and simply squishing him with his fist, the other Scribes all stuttering in their chants as the massive demon laughed cruelly, then snapped an arm out, and a long tentacle of flesh tore out of his arm and wrapped around another Scribe, squeezing him until the Wentaku simply exploded, the gigantic monstrosity at the same time turning around and holding out his other hand, unleashing a massive wave of pure darkness over a charging line of demons and annihilating them in a blast of dark fire, before his eyes settled on another Amazon, and she suddenly staggered and then screamed and turned on her compatriots, immediately beginning to hack the nearest Scribe to pieces.

Selena, meanwhile, had snagged Sin and pulled her quickly away from the battleground, Sin trembling violently in terror before Zerrex suddenly roared in fury, and a glowing purple-and-white chain of energy snapped around him, then sank into his scales, leaving a discolored burn... then another, and then another, and the reptile's body began to shrink down, his demonic characteristics fading slowly out of sight until he fell to his knees, even the ram's horns twisting into his skull as the seventh and last chain snapped around him, leaving his body smoldering lightly... but a moment later, he twitched, and the chain that had just wrapped into his body snapped, links of energy flying in all directions as the marks of the other chains glowed over his form before fading slowly from sight.

"Sin, heal Feldspar!" The Princess ordered furiously, then she stomped over to the Drakkaren's body, which was surrounded by uncertain soldiers, most of them covered in blood... but by the time she'd reached him, she'd regained her calm composure, and she gently placed one foot on his arm, feeling the heat radiating off his form as she murmured softly: "I should have prepared better... it looks like you've had a good time here, Lord Zerrex. But when you wake up... Selena, you'll instruct him on being a demon and the powers he possesses. Between that and his ten-thousand year sentence in the Wrath Circle, he'll either go insane or he'll become a truly-worthy member of our cause... and I do hope it's the latter."

"Princess... I... Lord Zerrex has been sealed!" was the first thing Selena managed to fumble out... and when the Monarch continued to look at her calmly-but-steadily, she whispered: "And... who knows how much of his powers and strength with it. There's six chains still on him, and I don't know the Bonding they used-"

"Control and Strength, of course..." The Princess replied irritably, glancing over Selena slowly. "When he masters so much control or gains so much raw power, the Spirit Chain will snap and unlock more of his demonic characteristics. But hopefully by the time the last one breaks, most of them will have been undone by Control instead of Strength... after all, I wouldn't want him to go insane again.

"As to your other point, I don't care that he's obviously a Hybrid Incarnation of Lust and Wrath, and I certainly don't need you to point that out to me." The Princess said softly, and Selena flushed and looked down, mumbling an apology she didn't really feel. "You will instruct him, and if you have to, you will break him. He is my prized possession... my ultimate weapon. Even Prince Az'Iriel would be no match for him, or any of the Terrors, should he regain that strength he just displayed... and furthermore, I don't think he's completely transformed yet. His power could become even greater, and I want him as powerful as he can be... and then I'll decide what to do with him."

Selena nodded, then turned away before the Princess said in a quiet, dangerous voice: "Remember, I always know what you're thinking, Selena... and I don't like those thoughts going around in your head right now. You're not as good at shielding yourself or your emotions as you think you are... and I could always have you replaced by someone more worthy of my ideas. Don't you go thinking he's some savior, either... he's only a mortal toy, and there have been stronger demons in Hell before, and I have crushed them out like the last embers of a long-dead fire. If you encourage his dissidence... you and he can spend the rest of eternity down in the Abyss together with the whore-demon Lilith."

"Yes, your majesty." Selena murmured, trembling a bit and keeping her mind clear and calm as she turned and strode away... but the moment she was at a safe distance, she let out a mental scream as she looked over her shoulder and watched the Princess ordering other demons to start cleaning up, Feldspar struggling over with what looked like a literally-empty stomach, all-but-drooling at the naked Drakkaren on the ground... Except he's not a Drakkaren anymore. He might look like one, but he's a demon... an Incarnation. God, if he wasn't my friend... if he hadn't seemed to want to defend me during that massacre... I'd demand he be destroyed...

She trembled... then turned around when Sin called her name... and she stared as Zerrex groggily sat up, rubbing the back of his head slowly, the Princess and half the troops long gone from her sight. At first, Selena was terrififed at even stepping near him... but the moment she saw the look of horror on the Drakkaren's face, she swallowed her fear and ran over to the reptile, trying to hide her concern and shakes as she asked: "What do you remember, Lord Zerrex?"

"Darkness. Shapes... and a terrible thing." Zerrex grasped his throbbing skull, closing his eyes before rubbing slowly at his horns and looking over himself, mumbling: "Gods, I feel dizzy and sick... like someone just came up to me with a sledgehammer and took a hard swing at my gut..."

"That's understandable... you've been sealed by the Scribes, using the Bonds of Strength and Control." Selena said softly, and when Zerrex looked up at her with that old stupid expression of his â€" he described it as his ‘WTF Face' which she didn't understand but found amusing nonetheless â€" she felt strangely comforted, sighing and giving him a flat look: "I'm going to have to give you another long and complicated explanation that you're gong to pretend to understand and then end up questioning me about later, aren't I?"

"I hate you. If you had testicles, I'd punch you in them." Zerrex said miserably, and Selena rolled her eyes before holding up her hands as Sin gave her a meek but disapproving look. "But let me take one wild guess. This is bad for me."

"Yeah, but... it lets you stay under control, too, until either your raw power becomes too great, or you gain the spiritual strength needed to control your body and not... go psycho." Selena said lamely, and Zerrex quieted as he looked up at her, vague memories of what he had just done flashing through his mind and making him feel both... powerful and ashamed of himself. He looked slowly around the ruins as soldiers glared at him and even the Scribes gave him a wide berth, listening quietly to Selena as she continued to speak in a gentle voice: "It's... you're probably a bit weaker now than you were before, and you've got a lot of chains on you... most things are sealed with two or three, sometimes four... but you were sealed with seven, although the moment you calmed down, the last one snapped, which is good news all around.

"Until we actually test your strength and all your other talents and abilities, however, we won't know just how much of you was sealed... and we'll want to try and draw out your demon form, too." Selena hesitated, then murmured softly: "Not here, though, but we'll find a quiet place in the Wrath Circle... there are a few strictly-kept communities in the Wrath Circle, and we have to present yourself to the Circle's Master, too... who's in charge now, King Alastor?"

"That's right." Sin said softly, and then she created a portal for them, but it flickered out of existence a moment later, and she smiled a bit. "Looks like your house is under a temporary ward... why don't you portal there and I'll put a permanent protection charm on your home? We should likely get out of this place, after all..."

She looked nervously back and forth, and Zerrex nodded, standing and stretching before pausing and flexing a bit, something seeming off... and then he shrugged and absently created a portal, missing Selena's stare as he stepped through it, and Sin shrugged a bit and went next, before Selena followed last, feeling faintly amused. He'll probably notice in a year or so there's another two feet on his height... fuckin' weirdo...

Zerrex winced and squeezed up against the wall, all three of them crowding into the room that was more like a cell than anything else as Sin mumbled and quickly pushed to one side, breathing hard as she looked back and forth at the ugly, ramshackle wood before glancing at the ward on the wall and causing it to dissolve with a wave of her hand, and then she created a glowing circle of white runes on the wall behind the door, similar to the one she had made in demon-Drakkaren's home. Selena gazed over Zerrex as he watched this, watching him move, noting the tighter scales, the different way he held himself, the lighter movements of the Drakkaren that concentrated more on his toeclaws... but at the same time, when she looked at him, all she saw was that same defiant Drakkaren that had actually had the balls to threaten her back after she'd picked on him like a pissant little girl... whether he was mortal, Initiate, or full-out demon didn't matter. And it shouldn't... what the fuck came over me back there? And I can't just leave him like this... "Zerrex... I... there's something we should talk about. Sin, maybe you should help me out a bit with this."

The Drakkaren tilted his head curiously towards her, and Sin smiled faintly before nodding, quietly sitting down in the corner as Selena sat down on the musty cot in the corner of the room â€" the only real furnishing, since the tiny, ugly box supported by four long metal bars was too slanted to serve as a table and too rickety to jerk open and work as a drawer for stuff. She patted the cot beside her, and Zerrex sat down, looking at her with a slight frown now before she said softly: "Lord Zerrex... you're an Incarnation, similar to Beatrice Blossom."

The Drakkaren gaped at her, then he looked down at himself and at his hands, trembling and staring at them, before he looked back at her and shook his head slowly, saying stupidly: "Can't... I could just be a really big Daius, right? I mean... an Incarnation... they're..."

"More than that, you're a Hybrid." Selena said quietly but firmly, rolling over his words and quieting the reptile as he stared at her, and she gently reached out and squeezed his shoulder, continuing quietly: "There have been... maybe two hundred total in all of Hell's years, maybe more, I'm not sure... and most of them have been destroyed. We told you about this many, many years ago when we first met Queen Carmen... but very few of them have remained as lucid as you, especially after being sealed, and even fewer have been Hybrids. I can say with confidence that there have been far less than thirty Hybrids ever to exist... and probably only two or three of Lust and Wrath."

"Five at the most." Sin added quietly, and they looked over to her as she shrugged slowly, hugging herself and laughing quietly. "But it's hard to say. An Incarnation of Lust could take on the form of violent sex or other such things as its expression... so Selena is likely right. A Hybrid is born in people who somehow combine their sins or stay in the border between those two sins... for example, a person who wants nothing but pretty beds to rest in, as a very bad example, could be consumed by Greed for objects in making himself comfortable... but also by Sloth for not wanting to move out of those objects. It's a bad example, like I said... but that would create an Incarnation that might be incredibly willful and selfish... but would also refuse to move anywhere unless it had to, always wanting to relax."

Selena nodded, offering Sin a smile before looking at Zerrex quietly, as he hugged himself and closed his eyes, lowering his head forwards. "I'm thinking it's because of your desire to dominate and control... of the way you behave sexually... and because of all you've seen and been through, not just what you've done." She murmured softly, then hugged him close, pulling him down into her lap and stroking through his hair as he gazed up at her quietly, trembling a bit as she took his other hand. "You've been given... a gift. The greatest power Hell can offer is in your hands, with two of the most powerful sins at your disposal... but now comes your real test and your greatest torment, Lord Zerrex, because if you give in to that power, if it consumes you..."

"I'll become like Beatrice." Zerrex said quietly, turning away and nodding as he saw the crazed mother of Cherry in his mind, remembering the madness and the hatred that had been so easy to see even through an illusion. "I won't let that happen to me... I can't. I need to see my family again... and I swore I wouldn't ever disappoint my daughters like I have before..."

The Drakkaren rolled more to the side, fortifying himself and nodding firmly, and Selena quietly stroked through his hair as the seal markings pulsed once over the Drakkaren's body before fading slowly again, and she said gently: "Control and Strength, Lord Zerrex... those are what breaks the chains down and unleashes more of your power. Be careful you don't mix them up and accidently force the chains open by will alone and let that power flood into you... because even if you have the will to open a door, it doesn't mean you have the strength to close it shut on whatever comes rushing out to greet you."

Zerrex nodded slowly, looking quietly at the wall opposite Selena as she continued to play slowly through his hair, and the three sat together for a little while in silence before he asked quietly: "So... so what am I supposed to do, then? How do I learn to control myself better, how do I learn... to be strong without just barging stupidly on ahead and breaking down barriers before I can properly control my own strength?"

"You are off to a good start already, Lord Zerrex." Selena reminded him gently, nudging him quietly and looking down at him with a strange tenderness. "But there are a few different ways... including that Self-Illusion trick Sin said she'd started teaching you, and learning about your own demonic abilities that have manifested. Besides, it's not to say that should all the chains snap, you'll automatically become a raging tyrant bent on enslaving Hell to do his bidding, or a psychopathic monster who only wants to kill and gorge his own desires..."

"But just in case." Sin added quietly, and then she blushed a bit as Selena shot her a look. "I mean... I'm sorry, Lord Zerrex. That came out wrong."

"It's alright... I understand." Zerrex nodded a bit, and then he sat up with a sigh as someone banged angrily on the door. "Sin, do you mind getting that?"

The female shook her head quietly, pulling it open and coming face-to-face with the Cyclops-wolf from earlier... and it immediately dropped its clipboard, staring with a single widened, horrified eye across at Sin before it murmured in a weak voice: "Just... just checking in on... on Zerrex, I mean, Lord Zerrex... I... I just wanted to go over the routine of the house with him and see if... whether or not he had any questions."

Sin nodded and motioned for him to come inside, and the wolf-demon swallowed before quickly picking up his clipboard and walking a wide path around Sin to stand across the room at the foot of the cot, looking down at Zerrex and asking in a mumble a question Zerrex didn't understand. The reptile frowned a bit, then asked quietly: "Can you clarify that? And you know, maybe not act like my friend there is going to eat you?"

"I... I'm sorry, milady Sin, Lord Zerrex, Inquisitor Selena." The wolf wiped at his forehead, looking back and forth in fear as Sin flushed and looked away. "I... I was just saying that we have cleaning duties, outdoor work duties, repair duties, and on special occasions, kitchen duties and... I was wondering if any of those suited you..."

"Outdoor work or repair duties would probably be best." Zerrex said slowly, glancing from the wolf to Sin and remembering how often the poor female had to go through this... and he felt a spark of anger inside him as something twisted around in his body, but he quickly clamped down on it as he added softly: "Sin, you don't have to hang around if you don't want to... but you're welcome to check-in any time you want. That'd be fine, wouldn't it?"

The Drakkaren looked pointedly at the wolf, who nodded quickly as he tossed a furtive glance at Sin, and she mumbled something quietly to Zerrex before stepping quickly through a portal. Immediately, the Cyclops let out a sigh of relief and rubbed the back of his head, muttering: "Fuck, how the hell can you two act so cool around a monster like her? I mean, fuck, Sin herself... I feel lucky to still have my skin on my body..."

Zerrex stood up, and the Cyclops frowned at him before the Drakkaren punched him hard in the face, and the wolf staggered backwards into the wall, clutching at a muzzle that was broken and bleeding as he slowly slid down the wood paneling, staring in horror at the reptile as Zerrex said calmly: "See, I think I owe you that. For being an asshole in general, for treating myself and Selena like crap, and now for not only acting like a scared child around Sin, but for talking behind her back the moment she was gone. Get out of here, or I'll pick you up like a stick and snap you over my knee."

The demon nodded, then scrambled quickly out of the room with a terrified expression, and Zerrex sat back down, looking moody as Selena looked at him mildly, saying dryly: "Zerrex, I realize you're having a bad day... but we really have to work on your people skills."

"Yeah, that's not the first time I've heard that." The Drakkaren said morbidly, and then he sighed and quickly began to gather up the papers off the ground, as Selena watched him with a bit of a smile. "I have a feeling I'm really going to hate this place, that's all... I mean, so far everyone in Wrath seems to be a bully... granted, I've met one of them and the other ones have just made faces at me, but you get what I'm saying."

"Wrath is the Circle of Hatred, Anger, and Undue Violence." Selena shrugged a bit as Zerrex sat down on the floor and sorted the papers back out onto the clipboard. "It's nothing like Lust, where everything is about sex... and moreover, I doubt you and King Alastor will get along in the same way you and Queen Carmen did." Selena paused, then looked up at the ceiling despondently. "Shit, we still have to go meet him... come on, leave that crap here for now, we'd better go and present ourselves before it gets any later in the day. Fuck, I wish we had you some pants or something."

Zerrex nodded with an apprehensive look over at the Inquisitor, then he tossed the clipboard out into the hall and shut his door as Selena created a portal. A moment later, they both stepped through and into a small, sterile cement room, and immediately two enormous minotaurs with inverted horsn and gleaming red eyes stepped forwards, both holding up their hands. One of them immediately patted down Zerrex despite his nudity â€" something he hadn't noticed much of, but now left him feeling horribly vulnerable â€" and the other simply looked over Selena as she crossed her arms and glowered.

A moment later, they both stepped out of the way, pushing open the double doors they were guarding and opening the way into a long, red-carpeted hall. On either side of the long carpet was a line of huge marble pillars, set in pairs with matching runes and gemstones embedded in the stone, and as the two stepped into the hall, Zerrex noted that there were hollow windows in walls that seemed to be made of thin black metal, and he could see skeletal mages peering through many of these windows. As they stepped onto the red carpet, the Drakkaren heard a distinct buzzing before different-colored fields of energy flickered into life between the paired pillars, and the reptile hesitated before Selena muttered: "Just keep walking."

Passing through the different energy fields was unpleasant, to say the least... some made him feel horribly cold, and others made him feel like he'd just stepped through a net of flames, but most of them just made him feel tingly and irritated. At the end of the hall, they were greeted by another two of the strange Minotaurs, who once more searched Zerrex and exchanged glares with Selena... and finally the doors were opened, and they were permitted to step into the throne room.

It was nothing like Carmen's: in fact, Zerrex thought he'd even prefer to be on the Princess's balcony than here. Everything was pitch-black metal that had all sorts of nicks and welts in it, and there were three Gigataurs on either side of the throne room with enormous battle axes, making the reptile feel claustrophobic as they approached the throne itself, then halted, Selena tossing out an arm and saying softly: "Look closely."

Zerrex did so, frowning first at the empty throne in the smaller area past a huge archway... and then he paused as something clicked in his mind and his eyes seemed to focus somehow, and he could faintly see crisscrossing red beams forming an impassable checkerboard pattern. None of that just-so-happens movie crap here... that's unbreachable. Since I doubt those are infrareds for some reason, it'd probably take some heavy-duty magic to avoid setting off those beams even with a big-ass mirror, too...

A moment later, the Drakkaren heard the pneumatic hiss of an airlock, and a Wentaku quickly ran out and stood to the right of the throne, breathing hard before announcing in a strangled voice: "His Excellency, King Alastor, bids you the warmest of welcomes Inquisitor Selena, and the same to you, Lord Zerrex. He has just heard that you have undergone the Lucifer's Eye under the orders of the Princess, however, and would prefer not to meet you at this time... please come back tomorrow by yourself. That is all."

The Wentaku immediately turned and ran back towards the airlock as Zerrex heard a loud beeping, staring as it almost tripped over its robes, and then Selena snarled and the Drakkaren winced at her expression. "Selena, look, you're the one always telling me not to do anything dumb, so-"

Selena pulled off one of her sandals, then threw it at the crisscrossing beams... and Zerrex made a face, covering his head and watching in horror as the footwear flipped lazily through the air before touching the beams... and it was immediately disintegrated as sirens began to blare and a massive steel shutter slammed over the opening of the archway, the light in the room turning a glaring red. The Gigataurs roared and stepped forwards, and Selena turned towards the first and shouted an incantation Zerrex didn't understand before a flash went off from her hand and the unlucky demon was sent staggering backwards, dropping his battle axe before simply collapsing in a heap, and the Drakkaren stared in shock. Selena grinned widely, her hand smoking slightly as she pulled her leather whip off her belt, and then she looked in surprise at the Drakkaren before shouting: "Zerrex! Get your ass down!"

The reptile looked over his shoulder, then winced as a Gigataur sliced down towards him with the axe before he clapped his hands together, catching the blade by the flats and wincing as it bore down, flexing his own muscles and shoving back. He watched in surprise as the creature let out a snort of fury and shock, its massive strength barely a match for the reptile's before Zerrex spun to the side and threw the axehead down into the ground. The Gigataur staggered forwards with a grunt, and the Drakkaren leapt up to land neatly on its muzzle before punching it hard in the forehead.

Its head bobbed stupidly with the force of the strike, and it slowly grabbed its skull with a groan as Zerrex fell off its maw before throwing himself forwards in a tackle that struck its midsection and knocked the goliath back into another of its fellows, the reptile cackling stupidly as the two giants and the tall reptile crashed in a heap together on the ground, before the last one swung its axe in a hard sideways cleave at him, and the Drakkaren threw himself flat against the chest of the Gigataur he'd just tackled, the swing thankfully going high and passing harmlessly over his head.

Selena snorted as a Gigataur rushed her with a hard stab of the spike on the end of its battle axe, and she easily slipped to the side before punching the flat of the huge blade, and it immediately became red-hot, the giant demon dropping it with a groan of pain before staring in shock as the blade simply melted away to magma... and a moment later Selena cracked her whip, and the hot slag shot into the air and splashed over the two Gigataurs she was facing, setting both of them on fire and causing them to scream and drop in agony, before she roared: "Alastor! I'm not going through this for the hundredth time! Come out, you son of a bitch!"

Zerrex glanced up curiously from where he was sitting on the back of a Gigataur's neck as the alarms clicked off, its muzzle bloody and its eyes dazed from having its skull repeatedly slammed into the floor by the powerful new-demon, and then a small panel slid away from the shutter and a voice said sourly: "Selena, this is not appreciated. My entire facility is now on alert because of you."

"You fucking pansy, you're an original demon, a former Judge of Death, and you lock yourself up behind twenty tons of steel?" Selena snarled, and Alastor grunted something on the other side before Selena snapped: "Zerrex, open that fucking shutter!"

"What, the new guy? Ha! If he can open the shutter, I'll give him five-thousand years off his sentence... seriously, go ahead and try it, new guy!" jeered a voice, and Zerrex made a face as he slid off the Gigataur and walked over to the massive shutter, glancing down at the bottom before noting an imperfection near the middle of the shutter where it touched the floor, and he settled his hands against this. "What's wrong, are you too... what the hell was that?"

Something groaned... and then the Drakkaren slowly lifted, snarling and clenching his eyes shut as every muscle on his body bulged, tilting his head back and clenching his eyes shut... and then something in the ceiling above snapped, and metal screamed in protest as the reptile lifted the shutter inch-by-inch off the ground, and a voice behind the shutter screamed in terror before the reptile heard fleeing footsteps even as he managed to get the shutter up to his shoulders, panting hard and holding it there for a moment. Selena came over to help, and he grunted at her like they were back in prehistoric times, earning a look of distaste before he stood up and shoved the shutter as high as he could with a mighty roar, and then a squeak as something cracked in his back. "Ouch."

"You moron." Selena said flatly, but there was a certain tenderness in her eyes as she reached up to ruffle his hair, Zerrex looking at her sourly before crossing his arms, and then he paused as he noted the shutter was stuck almost halfway up into the ceiling, feeling mildy proud of himself. He then glanced back down, and the Wentaku from earlier trudged miserably out of a side door to stand in front of them.

"Hi, Selena." he raised a hand to her politely, then he bowed to Zerrex. "Greetings. My name is Zulu, and it's an honor to meet you, Lord Zerrex. But Inqusitor, before we get into pleasantries, I uh... look, he's gone and sealed himself in the airlock again. I don't know if you and your young friend here can get through that... by the way, would you like a robe?"

"That would be hugely appreciated." Zerrex said in a relieved voice, hugging himself and looking embarrassed, but Zulu only smiled slightly before motioning for them to follow, and the reptile leaned over to Selena, asking mildly: "Why is he the only nice person we've met so far? And did you kill those Gigataurs?"

Selena grunted something noncommittal, then shook her head a bit, ignoring the second question. "Because Zulu isn't originally from around here... he's a knowledge demon, like most Wentaku. I believe it was Greed that got him down here in the first place, right?"

"Lust. Greed was a close second." Zulu replied mildly, as he touched a sensor next to the metal door he had just come through, and it slid open with a ding. He bowed them through, and Zerrex and Selena stepped into a large hallway with several rusted metal doors leading to different rooms on either wall, and a massive, circular shutter closed at the very end with a pair of red valves and two draconic demons with sledgehammers standing guard, both dressed in what Zerrex recognized as Duraflex armor. He frowned a bit at this, but they didn't pay much attention as Zulu continued: "Not sexual lust, but lust for knowledge... it all ends up being the same, though, a desire that needs to be fulfilled. Either way, I was thrown into one of the Eastern Section's seedier places for a few thousand years, but after my sentence was done I started work as an advisor. And here I am now... hey, you two can just go ahead and leave, we're going to try and force him out of there."

"Good luck." grunted one of the huge demons, and it shouldered its hammer before pausing and leaning down, peering at Zerrex's face. "I know you from somewhere."

"Were you one of the demons that ended up being part of the ambush that killed me?" Zerrex asked, frowning and peering back in return, and the draconic demon paused before carefully turning away and running down a hallway, but Zerrex only sighed and covered his face, muttering: "I hate this place."

"You get used to it." Zulu remarked, and the reptile turned to see him now holding out a plain green sorceror's robe. Zerrex smiled, then he slid it on before looking down at himself, and Zulu frowned a bit. "Just a bit small... there."

With a wave of his hand, the fabric lengthened, leaving Zerrex standing in a robe that fit him fairly well... although I would kill for a pair of pants. "Thanks, that's wonderful... so... Alastor. There's a few legends about him on the world, but nothing says he's anything like this."

Zulu smiled a bit, looking at the airlock almost sadly as Selena approached one of the valves and tried to turn it with a grunt. "It's sad, really. He gave up his position as a Judge ten million years ago, and ever since then... he's just degenerated until you see what's here now. Demons die too, you know... not from aging, usually, but instead from... losing touch with reality. After spending so many years in the Hell of Wrath, it seems to have gotten to him... and now here he is, sealing himself away in ‘safety' with every mortal and magical technology he has available to himself. I'll leave you two alone, though, to see if you can urge him out of there."

With that, Zulu bowed and created a portal, then he stepped through this and vanished as Zerrex turned and made a face, heading over to the other valve and glancing over at Selena. She looked at him with a frown, and he said mildly: "It might require two people to move them at the same time... stop leaning on your goddamn valve so hard and wait a second, and we'll try turning them together."

Selena grunted, then waited for a moment before the reptile nodded, and the two turned their valves in tandem several times before stepping back as steam hissed out from the handles and they began to spin rapidly on their own, the central shutter spinning open. Immediately, Zerrex stepped through and yanked Selena after him into a small decontamination chamber, then he winced as the airlock beeped and the shutter closed behind them. "What... what the hell is going on, Zerrex? I- what the fuck!"

Steam and chemicals hissed over their bodies as Selena covered her face, before yelling and punching in one of the vents, and Zerrex winced before grabbing her arm and leaning over to say loudly over the hiss of air: "We're going into a clean area... this gets rid of all the contaminants on your body, although we should probably be wearing biohazard suits for it to actually work!"

"I don't understand anything you're saying!" Selena shouted back, but she seemed to relax a bit as she pulled herself away, looking miserably back and forth before rubbing at her head as the spray ended and the white metal door in front of them slid to the side, revealing a small, square room beyond. Zerrex stepped carefully into this as he looked at the figure sitting alone on a cushion with a small handheld television in his hands, examining the way the floor sank into a large, rounded step, and then again into a circle.

Everything was bright white, from the lights placed around the room to the cushion Alastor sat on: only the demon and his little portable television looked different. He was wearing a black robe with golden trim that had large lapels in a V-neck, giving it the look of a suit, and beneath Zerrex could see a white silk shirt with black buttons, and a matching black bowtie... and then the miserable-looking demon glanced up and rubbed slowly at his strange, canid features. His muzzle was short and the fur covering that and his face gold, but it stuck back off his cheeks in large triangles, and he had a large set of whiskers... but although his features were handsome and youthful, his eyes were old, one of them bright topaz and the other an ivory marble. His ears were a bit too big and black on the inside, and he had a pair of twisting, lightning-bolt shaped horns coming out of his head, red in coloration and going into his skull just in front of his ears like a goat's.

Finally, he mumbled embarrassedly, as he turned off the portable television and put it aside: "You know, I can't actually give you five thousand years off your sentence... but... you know, to be fair, I'll give you stuff. Uh... hi, Selena."

"Hello, Alastor. You look like shit." Selena said dryly, sitting down on the lip of the oddly-shaped floor, and Zerrex awkwardly strode around the room, examining a large white shutter labeled: ‘EMERGENCY EXIT' and the handprint identifier nearby. "So, if you don't stop blowing me off, I'm going to kick you in the face. What happened was a long time ago and I already cut your eye out for it, so I think we're even."

"I really didn't think I had a choice other than to serve Az'Iriel..." Alastor mumbled, looking embarrassedly down as Zerrex glanced over the two with a slight frown. "But I'm sorry. It's just hard for me to see you... that and you seem to enjoy putting me in every awkward situation you can."

"I do it to everyone." Selena said mildly, and Zerrex recognized the tone as the same one she used with him before she pointed at the Drakkaren. "Anyway, this is Lord Zerrex. Don't treat him with kit gloves because he'll get pissed off, and he just beat three of your Gigataur guards to the ground with his fists."

Alastor smiled, glancing over at the reptile and standing up, rubbing absently at his leg, and the reptile smiled a bit in return, wondering whether or not he should be trusting this demon at all with his erratic behavior... and furthermore, what had gone on between him and Selena. "I've heard a lot more than that about you, Lord Zerrex... it's a pleasure to meet you." He extended a hand, and Zerrex shook it, surprised at the firm grip of the canid demon. "Look, I'm sorry we've all started off on the wrong foot... let's just get down to business and see if we can forget about all that."

Alastor paused, then he sat back down and put his portable television off to one side before he pulled a small pocketbook out of his robes and he paged quickly through it, before mumbling: "Let's see... ten thousand year punishment, and you have five different Inquisitors looking after you... Inquisitor Selena, of course, then Inquisitors Lunata, Laurence, Faulk, and Ose... well, I certainly don't envy you there." Alastor made a face, shaking his head slowly. "But let's see your schedule...

"Right... you're going to be working as a sort of squire for the Knights of Wrath at the Southern Barracks, called Nile. You'll probably have a lot of unpleasant duties, and you're expected to report in to find out your schedule as soon as possible. Otherwise, it seems the same as you had last time... four days of torture a week, two days of rest before work, and one of instruction." The canid demon paused, then he closed the book and put it away, adding mildly: "There's also a special note mentioning that they want you out of the halfway house as soon as possible... these days, there's a lot of demons coming down to Lust and Wrath."

The Drakkaren nodded, and Alastor picked up his small television, holding it quietly as he murmured softly: "This used to be an easier job, you know, back when people had something called a moral conscience. These days, everyone who comes down into this circle seems to be bent on becoming a demon... even Hell's gone corrupt now. I'd watch out for the Craven and the Plasmids, too, by the way... there's a lot of them recently, so you may want to be armed if you out on a walk." He paused, then laughed shortly. "Then again, you may want to stay armed anyway, just in case there's some unpleasant Wrath demons hanging around."

Zerrex nodded again, then said softly: "Thanks... is there anything else I need to know or do? I'd like to head out and see what I'm doing at the barracks, otherwise."

But Alastor only shook his head, turning his television back on... and Selena grunted and looked irritated before creating a portal and stepping through. Zerrex followed her, looking over his shoulder and catching the canid demon looking miserably after him... and the moment the portal closed, Selena grabbed him and threw him against the nearest wall, Zerrex squawking before she pushed against him and kissed him hungrily.

He kissed her back on instinct for a moment... and then she pulled away with a deep flush, and before he could stop himself, he blurted: "I'm not Alastor, you know."

She halted immediately, paused as she looked at him and he shrank backwards... and then she laughed loudly, shaking her head and grinning widely. "You shithead! Alastor and I were never like that, you moron... I just... needed that." She paused, looking embarrassed now herself, and then she straightened and said softly: "Alastor was another one of my teachers, particularly while I was going through the Wrath punishment. He taught me a lot... but... one day we ended up fighting on opposite sides of the fence."

She paused, then flexed her right arm, saying quietly: "He cut this off and almost gutted me... but I took his eye and one of his legs, and both of us ended up being trampled and forced to lay together, incapacitated and healing each other at intervals just to stay alive. By the time they found us, we had stopped fighting altogether and were just concentrating on staying in one piece... and so we were both dishonorably discharged from the military and I hear Alastor was never fully healed. I'm still called upon for emergency missions in service to the Princess, but never as a solider... only as an Inquisitor. And as for Alastor... it's pretty widely known that Az'Iriel plots to remove him from power and take over the Wrath Circle."

Selena shook her head slowly, then she smiled a bit at Zerrex and patted him on the shoulder, pulling him down the dirt path and towards an enormous gate, where several Nightmares were patrolling in full armor, all of them equipped with long lances. There was quiet, but Zerrex had already figured out the rest of the story. And that's why he is the way he is now... no matter how mighty a warrior he might have been in the past, now he's old, wounded and constantly being undermined by demons that are far more sympathetic to Az'Iriel than the Princess... and since Az'Iriel doesn't like him...

"Newbie!" hollered one of the Nightmares, and two of them started forwards with wide grins, patting their lances... before one of them paled and bolted away, and Zerrex made a face after him, sticking out his tongue. He had long given up on chasing down every demon that had been part of Az'Iriel's army that fateful day... mostly due to the fact that demons seemed to be traded back and forth between armies like they were baseball cards. "Are... are you a newbie?"

The reptile glanced up at the hesitant question, then he held up his arms and shouted: "Boo!" as loudly as he could, and another one of the Nightmares shot off in the other direction, leaving the last one shrinking slowly back against the fence, the black-haired stallion looking terrified on his own before the Drakkaren said mildly: "We'll just pretend you guys all heckled me to death. Can you please open the gate?"

"No problem!" squeaked the stallion, and he immediately grabbed the bars and shoved the right side open, Selena grinning and clapping slowly to the Drakkaren before leading him down the path and into the enormous yard in front of the military complex, where several platoons of soldiers were currently undergoing what looked like basic combat exercises. The Drakkaren watched these with curiosity, and a moment later Selena grabbed his arm and jerked him to the right.

He made a face as they walked towards a sentry post where several of those weird minotaurs were chatting amiably, polearms hefted against their shoulders, and Selena cleared her throat loudly after a moment of waiting. One of them shot her a glare, then they went back to chatting for a moment before she pulled out her whip and lashed the closest minotaur with it hard enough to send him to the ground, the other two immediately leaping to attention as she shouted: "Eyes front, assholes! I'm not some whore for you to fuck after you finish your tea party, I'm a goddamn Inquisitor and I demand respect!"

She stepped forwards and kicked the minotaur on the ground in the kidney, and he rolled onto his back with a groan of pain, looking terrified as a mage in the small guard booth beyond the minotaurs shrank down beind the protective walls. Selena looked back and forth, then she snapped: "Where the hell's your commanding officer? Or the registration office, whichever is closer... I don't want to dawdle about all fucking day."

"Sir! I mean, ma'am!" one of the minotaurs said briskly, but his voice trembled a bit, as did his finger when he pointed down the path. "Second door in the first building down the path, sir... ma'am!"

"Either is fine." Selena stepped forwards, grabbing the minotaur by the chin and jerking him down as she asked in a rough voice: "I bet you like discipline, don't you, soldier?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" the minotaur said shakily, and then his eyes bulged when Selena reached down under his loincloth, before he howled and Zerrex winced as she twisted something viciously, and he fell slowly to his knees before falling face-first into the ground, and the Drakkaren swallowed thickly as Selena glared around at the others.

"Like I said, I'm no whore for you fuckshits. Now get back to work!" Selena shouted, then she turned and stomped down the path, Zerrex toddling quickly along behind her as she muttered: "Wrath Minotaurs... no bigger idiots in the universe, I swear to God... next time I think I'll just rip his dick off..."

Zerrex made a face, rubbing the back of his head slowly as they turned down towards a metal door, knocking on it firmly before he mumbled: "I was almost getting an erection until you did that. Now I think I've curled up all the way into my stomach."

"Fuck you." Selena grunted, and then the door opened, and a Naganatine glanced out at them coldly, and she immediately went a bit pale, forcing a shaky smile. "What... a surprise. Lord Azazel."

Azazel? Oh come on! Like I haven't met enough demons badass about for even me to know lore about them today... "Inquisitor Selena, Lord Zerrex... a pleasure. Please, come inside... my sister and I were expecting you."

Zerrex nodded, glancing the Naganatine over as he followed him into the room and noting his thin, elegant body, black scales, and burning yellow eyes... and then the Drakkaren's eyes travelled over to another Naganatine sitting on a metal desk, this one female with a pair of large breasts and voluptuous curves. But when Azazel sat down behind the desk, absently adjusting the lightweight, thin metal armor he wore, the Drakkaren saw that they were definitely twins, from the similarity of their features... right down to the way their horns curve slightly backwards...

He bowed to them both, then blinked as Selena dropped to a kneel and started to do the same, but the female laughed and shook her head, sliding off the desk with a smile and walking over to grasp Zerrex's shoulders, looking into his eyes curiously. "No, no, the honor is all ours... why don't you sit down, Lord Zerrex? We're very glad to meet you, my brother and I. By the way, my name is Astaroth, and we recently took command of this base..."

"I took command of it... you're second in command." Azazel reminded his sister gently, but there was a certain playfulness in his tone as his sister glared at him over her shoulder, before she strode over to the desk and sat down, her long tail flicking backwards along the surface of the metal as Azazel motioned towards Zerrex to be seated, and the reptile glanced around before sitting down in an old wooden chair at the side of the room with a red cushion, while Selena continued to look anxious, her head bowed and in a low kneel. "I have plans for you, Lord Zerrex... some very big, very interesting plans at that, I think. But all things start small, although it will be interesting indeed to watch you work your way up through the power structure of this military base...

"First off, however, I have this for you. Inquisitor Selena, relax... here, be a sport and take this. You might want to look it over yourself, after all." Azazel said easily, his voice charismatic and cheerful... but his eyes filled with sharp intelligence that seemed to measure everything he set them on like a hungry predator. Selena looked up... and Azazel held out a folded piece of paper, smiling at her soothingly... and a moment later the Inquisitor shakily stood and took it.

She glanced it over, and her eyes darkened as Astaroth said pleasantly to Zerrex: "You'd think we were going to bite her head off or something... but Lord Zerrex, tell me, what do you think of the Wrath Circle so far, in your honest opinion?"

The Drakkaren shifted uncomfortably as Selena walked over to sit in a similar chair next to him, holding out the paper... and he took it before saying mildly: "It sucks, a lot." A pause as he opened the folded paper and looked over the schedule at the duty roster and the work he had been assigned, and he added in a mutter: "A whole real lot."

It basically described him as the base's bitch: he would do laundry, work in the cafeteria, clean weaponry, and do whatever else any soldier asked him to do... and for all of that, he would be paid one silver coin a month. There was also a small square with the word: ‘Experience' in it, and he frowned at this and the zero just below it before asking curiously: "If I can ask a question, um... your honors... what exactly does this experience thing mean?"

"Well, I thought it would be fun to make this into a little game." Azazel said easily, smiling and absently beginning to spin a pen back and forth between his fingers, and at Zerrex's frown, he and his sister shared a laugh. "Don't look so down, I'll keep it nice and fair and easy at first, don't worry about that... but if you can gain say... a million experience points, we'll call them, then we'll ‘level you up,' so to speak and give you a new fun job."

The Drakkaren made a face, wondering what to say, and then Azazel shared a look with his sister before leaning forwards and saying pleasantly: "Please, Lord Zerrex... Zerrex, if I can call you that... trust us. It'll make things more interesting around here and give you a chance at making some real progress, getting some real promotions... I mean, right now your rank is bitch, after all, and I know you want to be something better than that. Play the game well and who knows where you'll go? But play it badly... and you might find out there's even worse things than just being a base bitch."

Zerrex gritted his teeth, looking over at Selena, but she shrugged helplessly, blushing and looking away before Astaroth added teasingly: "Come on, Lord Zerrex... do it, go ahead and play the game with us... see how you stack up against the legendary demon twins and maybe show off a bit and outsmart us. Then you'll get some real prestige in Hell... and who knows? Maybe we'll teach you a thing or two if you can be properly impressive in the game and make it far enough through the rankings... and believe me, my brother and I know almost everything there is to know about Hell."

The reptile felt something stirring inside him at this, but at the same time he felt hesitant and unsure: Azazel and Astaroth, after all, might be a bit too much for him to handle, even with the help of Sin and Selena. But at the same time, with the Naganatine both grinning at him and the challenge in the air, he couldn't refuse... and he finally nodded, saying quietly: "I'll do it, then. Tell me how the game works."

"Wonderful." Azazel sat back, crossing his arms and smiling slightly. "For every task you successfully complete, you'll get ten points of experience... for every bonus task you complete â€" you know, going out of your way to do things for a solider in the base while still completing your other jobs â€" you'll get a hundred points. For every soldier that challenges you to a fight and you beat the crap out of, you'll get between one thousand and ten thousand points..." A pause as Azazel leaned forwards, adding softly: "But if you challenge a soldier to a fight, and by that I mean if you throw the first punch... you lose a hundred thousand points. And you lose fifty points for every task you fail to complete over the course of the day... and believe me, unless you've got some jets on your feet, you'll fail to complete one or two tasks every day."

He leaned back in the chair and nodded to Astaroth, who smiled teasingly and reached out to touch Zerrex's nose gently... and it sent a terrible chill through his body as she said easily: "But on the other hand... we'll also give you special experience awards for rising to meet certain challenges... for instance, because my brother and I are so generous, we're going to give you... five hundred thousand points right now."

"Two hundred and fifty thousand." Azazel corrected her gently, and she rolled her eyes with a smile before tilting her head towards him, and he sighed and nodded, scribbling something down on a piece of paper. "Five, three hundred and fifty thousand points it is."

"See? We're nice." Astaroth looked at him with a glint in her eye that was anything but, like he was a lab rat being tested in a brand new maze. "We'll also reward your stamina, strength, everything we can think of... but on the other hand, if you disappoint us, there will be penalties... and not just in the form of experience. But I won't ruin the surprises that might come later."

Azazel paused in his writing, then he glanced up at Zerrex evenly and added gently: "And remember... my sister and I can see everything. So don't think that just because you're alone and have some spare time you can masturbate in some solider's bed and we won't know about it. I'd keep myself running around and doing chores, if I were you, even when things seem to be quiet, calm and all clear."

Zerrex nodded a bit, and then Azazel glanced back down at his paper, saying easily: "I think that covers everything for now, so we're done here... why don't you go home, Lord Zerrex? You begin tomorrow at noon, right after your punishment session. Take care now."

"Yes, make sure you keep yourself looking so handsome and fit..." Astaroth added, winking at him as she slid off the desk and gently grasped his bicep... and he was surprised by the strength of the female as she gently led him to the door, Selena quickly striding out ahead of them before she looked down into Zerrex's eyes searchingly, her own flashing. "We're looking forwards to competing with you and seeing how the game plays out..."

Zerrex only nodded again mutely as he stepped outside, and then she closed the door with a last grin before Selena grabbed his arm and jerked him through a portal. He staggered, flailing and hitting a wall as he found himself suddenly back in his own apartment, and Selena snarled and punched the wall opposite him roughly, Zerrex glancing over at her in surprise as she cursed. "Shit, shit, shit! Lord Zerrex... I... I don't know what to do here... those two are bad news, they cause chaos everywhere they go and they're known to have connections to Az'Iriel... but the only way they could get into power at a military base like that is if they were appointed there, and since I know that Alastor wouldn't appoint them, it means the Princess must have..."

The Drakkaren blinked stupidly, then he glared at her and asked crossly: "And why didn't you mention this before I agreed to their psycho game?"

Selena opened her mouth, then closed it and rubbed the back of her head, muttering in an ashamed voice: "I... I was scared." A pause as she looked away, and Zerrex felt sympathy for her despite himself before she grumbled: "What's done is done, anyway. I just hope they don't fuck with you too much... we're already deep in shit with what's happened to you, and we have to find a solution for that problem first, above everything else..."

Zerrex nodded, and he smiled a bit despite himself, even though it earned a strange look from Selena with what they had just been talking about... yet the first thing he had clung to wasn't the fact that he had become a monster even among demons, or the fact that Azazel and Astaroth were likely under the banner of the Warlord... but the fact she had said we.