Aiwass suddenly decided to use her privileges as the Inquisitors' newest recruit, temporarily moving into the Guild's "elite" facilities.
Damon refused, but the "contract" kept him stuck to her even against his will.
"This is gonna be really fun!"
Damon only thought about how the demon girl had lived a long time eating cans of tuna and swallowing her own fur, pretending to be human was NOT in her skill set!
"Please don't eat anybody's pet, it's not something humans, well... commonly do."
Damon said it with his back hunched under the weight of a box as he climbed the polished steps of the Elite Building.
Aiwass with her horns retracted, next to him, floated with almost no effort, carrying a stack of suitcases that looked empty.
The buildings rose up like towers of glass, separated by ranks.
Theirs only housed veteran Inquisitors. The hallways shined, a mirror of the rich, spoiled world Damon had always hated.
A thick-built guy, broad shoulders, white-teeth smile, walked out of a nearby apartment.
His Inquisitor uniform gleamed under the artificial lights.
"Hey, Zero, what's up, bro?!"
The guy lifted his hand in a salute that was way too casual.
Jack, the system spat it out over his head.
BRO?! Damon's brain blew up with a BOOM! This guy... this S-Rank... had no idea who he was talking to.
Zero didn't have "bros." Zero was the unreachable god, the living legend, the killing machine.
How does a machine react to the word "bro"?
Damon tightened his fingers around the cardboard.
The box caved in. His gray eyes met Jack's.
His [Legislator's Eye] didn't show weaknesses, only the man's confident smile.
He loaded his gaze with all the cold he could gather, the same look he'd practiced in the mirror with Aiwass.
"Busy."
Damon didn't stop. He kept walking, feet barely dragging with the boxes.
Aiwass followed, her red eyes bright with curiosity as they slid over Jack.
The man stayed frozen, hand still raised, his smile gone.
"Oof! What an attitude!"
Damon didn't hear him. Or didn't want to.
His heart hammered, oof! He survived first contact! But the effort drained him.
***
The welcome dinner was a boiling pot of murmurs, fake smiles, and poisonous rumors.
Voices whispered about Zero being there. The "Fallen Hero," who now needed to "take shelter" in the Inquisitors' Guild.
'Please, somebody get me out of here!'
The captain, once again, didn't hide her disgust at the "foreigner" being so close to Zero, and not at her seat at the same table either.
"It's lucky you could find each other after a tragedy that big..."
"Huh? Are you talking to me?" Aiwass shot back while stuffing her face with a chunk of meat the size of a fist.
Damon was right next to her, and he couldn't even eat because he kept thinking Aiwass was gonna commit a crime, and his reflected panic was getting read by Iris as "trauma aftereffects."
'Tragedy? Humans have problems for one day and it's already a tragedy?' Aiwass frowned. 'It's not like a whole continent fell on their heads.'
Damon felt his soul leaking out through his pores.
She couldn't be more obvious!
Suddenly, his right eye burned.
[ACTIVATING: Legislator's Eye]
The world blinked. The restaurant's neon lights warped, showing greenish code veins over the Inquisitors' auras. Damon scanned the whisperers.
[INQUISITOR: Rank B]
[BOOST: 'Amplified Strength' (Artificial)]
[DETAIL: External Mana Injection – Type: 'Stimulant']
[INQUISITOR: Rank C]
[BOOST: 'Improved Agility' (Artificial)]
[DETAIL: Metabolic Modifier – Type: 'Synthetic']
It wasn't just their skills! A bunch of them had hacks, cheats implanted into their bodies.
This was dirtier than he thought. The Guild wasn't just elitist, it was a fucking pay-to-win at the body level!
"Uhm... yeah! We... did," Aiwass blurted out, feeling weird, like somebody knocked her down a boss level. For the first time, Iris had her cornered!
"But did your connection start before he lost his memory, or... was it after all that?"
AAAGHH!
A scream slipped out of Damon from the burning in his eye.
"Are you okay?" Iris stood up sharp, with a super worried face! It felt like her questions had frozen him in place. "I-I'm really sorry."
"Relax."
Iris got shy all of a sudden when she heard Damon's voice, even with him in pain.
***
Miller wore a fake smile, those rat eyes shining.
You could tell his brain was doing math, trying to see how to mess with Zero without making it too obvious.
"Since your... partner is an S-rank Pure Fire Elementalist, what better than a mission where fire is the key, right, Captain?" His look slid to Aiwass, then to Damon with that 'I've got you in my hands' face.
Iris frowned, the air dropping a degree.
"Propose a mission, Lieutenant."
"Easy!" Miller licked his lips. "The sewers of the Gray Zone. Infested with slippery TAR SPAWN. They're... especially sensitive to heat. A cleanup job nobody wants, but an S-rank like Miss Aiwass will solve it in a... BOOM!"
Aiwass puffed her chest out, practically vibrating. Of course she loved the BOOM of things!
"Those tailed worms are gonna feel my other-world fury!" Her mouth spread into a smile that showed a fang.
A nasty vision of mud, sticky bugs, and the stink of a rotten mega-city invaded Damon's mind like a PSYCHIC attack!
No way! He couldn't let the demon girl, with her excitement, grind half a neighborhood into dust just because of some mutant rats.
And him? With no real power? Why would he go? To hold Aiwass's towel or fire extinguisher? WHAT THE HELL!
"I'm going too," Damon blurted, almost by instinct, before his brain could process it, but with that stoic voice that sounded like an UNDENIABLE order!
'Double hell. What black hole did I throw myself into now? AGAIN!'