It's late, and Damon's in the kitchen, unable to sleep.
The silence in Zero's penthouse was usually a status symbol, but this time it felt different.
Damon stared at his phone in the dark kitchen and his eyes, red from insomnia, were stuck on one single thing.
[EVE SHOT COST: 60 DAYS OF LIFE]
[REMAINING BALANCE: NOT ENOUGH TO MESS AROUND]
"Sixty..."
The sound of bare feet snapped him out of it.
Aiwass walked in, scratching her belly, wearing a giant T-shirt that worked like a dress on her.
He ignored her like she was just another piece of furniture, and she opened the fridge.
"Empty," she snorted, pulling out a milk carton. "Hey, pet. Your logistics rat screwed up and there's no milk."
Damon didn't move.
Aiwass crushed the carton with one hand and threw it at the sink, but missed.
The trash ball smacked Damon on the shoulder.
"Are you deaf?" Aiwass yawned. "I said tomorrow I want milk and meat. That fight made me hungry even if that rat was pathetic. I didn't even sweat."
Aiwass stopped and tilted her head, curious.
"What is it? Did you get an owie on your little arm?" she mocked. "Iris healed you, so quit crying, we won. End."
"We won?" Damon's voice was shaking.
"Obviously," she said, digging for cookies. "Even if you were dead weight most of the way, I had to protect you while you charged your little toy."
"Shut up."
Aiwass turned, more confused than mad.
"What did you say?" she asked, letting her Fear Aura leak into the kitchen.
Damon stood up fast.
"I said shut your damn mouth, Aiwass."
"You're pushing it, Damon," she warned, her eyes glowing red. "Remember who you're talking to."
"So what?!" Damon slammed the table. "You gonna rip my tongue out?! Go ahead!"
Aiwass stepped back, surprised. This wasn't the usual calculating Damon.
"You're hysterical, I only asked for milk, stupid human."
"IT'S NOT ABOUT THE DAMN MILK!" Damon moved in, invading her personal space.
"You say the Chimera was pathetic, but you didn't win anything, you just played around while I had to use EVE."
"It was necessary! My magic was limited!"
"SIXTY DAYS, AIWASS!" he screamed, his voice cracking.
"THAT SHOT COST ME TWO MONTHS OF MY LIFE! While you're whining about the fridge, I just moved up my expiration date because you couldn't do your job!"
"I DID MY JOB!" she roared, and the air turned heavy. "I KEPT YOU ALIVE! THANK ME, ungrateful worm!"
"THANK YOU?!" Damon didn't flinch. "You're a Destruction Demon and you couldn't kill one big dog without me having to sacrifice my life!"
"THIS BODY IS A PRISON!" she yelled, smashing the granite counter with one hit. "IF I COULD USE MY FULL POWER, THIS PLANET WOULD BE ASHES!"
"BUT YOU CAN'T!" he yelled right in her face. "Here you're a tank with a ton of damage but zero aim! You're expensive dead weight!"
The word "dead weight" hit her.
"Take that back," she growled, showing fangs.
"Or what? You kill me?" Damon opened his arms, daring her.
"Do it. Break the contract and stay alone in a world you don't understand, with no money and nobody to teach you how to use a damn microwave."
They stared each other down.
Aiwass was breathing like she wanted to bite through steel, but she was the first to look away.
"You're insane," she muttered, turning her back.
"I have less days than I did yesterday, Aiwass," Damon said, the exhaustion hitting him all at once. "Next time, if you can't kill the enemy without me slowly killing myself… then you're useless to me."
He turned and walked to his room.
"And you buy the damn milk," he added without looking back. "Use the money in the safe if you even know how to count bills without ripping them."
****
That morning, Damon had no choice but to go back to his inquisitor act.
Even if Aiwass had him furious, that damn pact still had him tied up tight!
The glass elevator doors slid open on the ground floor.
DING!
Damon stepped into the massive lobby and the atmosphere changed instantly. It felt like a brutal pressure drop.
The noise of hundreds of employees and Hunters died on the spot.
Total silence.
Like a World Level Boss just spawned right in the safe zone.
Damon felt his stomach drop to his feet, but he forced his face to stay stiff like an iron mask.
'Stay calm! Poker face, damn it!'
On the outside, his steps echoed with authority.
CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.
"It's him..." a newbie whispered near reception.
"I heard he disintegrated a whole tar spawn just because it bothered his eyes."
"They say Lieutenant Miller pissed himself when Zero looked at him."
Damon almost tripped.
'What the hell? I didn't disintegrate anything! And Miller hates me!'
The sewer incident hadn't stayed secret.
If anything, Iris blocking Miller plus the incomprehensible horror of the EVE shot made the hallway gossip mutate into full-on mass hysteria.
To the guild, Damon wasn't a sick hero.
He was a monster who decided to switch sides just because the game got too easy for him.
Then a figure blocked his path to the security turnstiles.
A huge man in heavy armor, plated in chrome.
[NAME: LIONEL "THE WALL"]
[RANK: A+]
[AFFILIATION: ASSAULT SQUAD 4]
"So you're the famous Zero," Lionel growled, looking down with contempt. "You don't look like much without your mask."
The hallway held its breath.
'I don't have time for your trash, I lost 60 days of my life yesterday.'
But his mouth, trained by weeks of forced acting, moved on its own before his brain could stop it.
"And you're blocking my way," Damon said, while he unconsciously activated the leftover aura from the EVE that still clung to his right hand.
"Move, or I'll move you."