by Sarah Lin
At that moment the helicopter blades stilled and something wrapped around them. Rick staggered a step as the entire vessel lurched, pulled out of the sky and toward the ground. Outside one of the small windows, he saw a line of darkness, more like pitch black ink than a three-dimensional object. Yet H still seemed completely calm, so Rick did his best not to react.
They were pulled to the ground, then sideways. There was a final crunch of steel on concrete, then the inky tentacles pulled away, leaving them somewhere dark. Rick peered into the shadows... and saw a neon sign announcing they were on floor B3. A parking garage?
"We need to finish your evaluation, then take final steps." H walked past him as the ramp came down, though there wasn't enough space for it to fully lower itself. Rick followed him, glancing around the parking garage but finding nothing out of the ordinary.
"Just what was traditionally Chinese about that?" he demanded as they walked out. H cast him a scornful glance.
"Not human Chinese. Welcome to the city of Odiyu."
As they left the parking garage, Rick began to understand. There were a few cars, but even more lucrim vehicles that flew. Some of those looked much more Chinese to him, either traditional constructs of gilded paper or modern planes of all sleek white curves. When they departed the parking garage, an attendant handed them a chit.
An attendant permanently bonded to a demon. The markings around his eyes were different, including a tattoo on his forehead, but as Rick understood what he saw, he realized the truth about Odiyu.
Outside, they walked on an ordinary enough street, but many of the people he saw were permanently bonded to demons. He even saw a few of the greater demons physically manifested, though of course they took forms that were much less like Western demons. A few wore clothing he would have called traditionally Chinese... but many others wore clothes of shifting ink that he suspected was just as traditional for them.
H hailed a taxi, which arrived driven by a man Rick at first thought was permanently bonded. Then he realized that the man merely had a high number of demonic tattoos covering his body. They should have conferred great power... but judging from how his generation rate felt like 10,000 lucrim or less, Rick thought that most of the bonds must have been overdrawn.
Once they were in the back of the taxi, Rick finally looked over to his mentor for answers. "Odiyu is a demon-controlled city?"
"No. Odiyu is a demon city, and the human reflection came into being to feed from the real city."
"Will the crowd be demons, then? We can't actually fight in the demon realm, not in any meaningful way."
"I'd forgotten you had that incident while working with the GLA." H regarded him coolly, then nodded. "Yes, the audience will be primarily demons watching from their realm. As their realm is filled with aura, they will be much more interested in physical applications of lucrim. That's one of the reasons that your... rudimentary style has a chance during this Showdown."
"Yeah, I get it." Rick sat back, momentarily enjoying how comfortable the seat was, then he recoiled from it. "Does this happen a lot? I didn't think there were many human cities based on demonic cities."
"It depends on a nation's relationship with the demon realm. It's very rare in the USA, and not common here. Siberia and the Nokan Empire are... conducting their own affairs. But we often visit a German demon-based city, or at least a European one. You didn't think the Demonic Legionnaire was called that for show, did you?"
Truthfully, Rick had barely thought about her at all, beyond being Europe's Godweight. Steering clear of demons had always worked well for him, so he wasn't sure how he felt about the knowledge that they had far more control in other countries. Then again, he also thought back to Bftgage and Ythsil... he'd had no contact with the two demon siblings other than their increasing bond, given the difficulty of communicating between realms.
Having spent his budget of explanations, H refused to talk until they arrived at their hotel. It was much larger and nicer than would be expected for a town the size of Odiyu, but that made sense if it was mostly there to host human visitors to demonic Odiyu. He was surprised by how many people with combat Lucores he saw until he realized that this must be one of the hotels the Showdown contestants used.
Then, across the lobby, he saw James Travis. The man's suit was as impeccable as always, but he brushed imaginary dust off his lapel and smirked. Had they been close enough, presumably James would have mocked, but H checked them in and pulled him onward.
This time they were housed in rooms on opposite sides of a hallway, near a gym they had to share with other fighters. Yet Rick saw his room was ether-reinforced and it looked like they could schedule hours to claim the gym, so that would work fine. He'd barely set down his suitcase when H appeared at the door.
"I booked us the first hours. Let's go and see just how far short you fall."
Sighing, Rick accepted that he wasn't going to get to rest just yet. They headed out to the gym, which was appointed with a variety of machines, even a stationary exercise bike that had a serious lucrim engine attached. H ignored all of those and just walked out to the combat mat, then folded his arms.
"Show me what you learned that isn't measured by your portfolio."
Rick had had the presence of mind to grab his equipment, so he began. He could keep the rubber balls spinning with his aura while fighting H, even when the older man began to actually attack. It took him off guard, since for so long H had only defended, but Rick managed to adapt without dropping the rubber balls at all. After pursuing him for long enough, H grunted dissatisfaction.
Next Rick showed how easily he could control the resistance spheres, his aura almost entirely smooth despite their buzzing efforts to disrupt him. H seemed marginally more accepting of this. But when Rick tried to keep the resistance spheres juggling, he found himself falling back repeatedly. He could focus enough to resist the spheres, or enough to hold his own in combat, but not both at once.
"It will do." H finally unfolded his arms, leaned back against a no smoking sign, and lit up a cigarette. "You still need to master actually using the Triune Golden Spheres, but you're not terrible at that, so you have time. What we need to do is emergency preparation to get you up to snuff."
"All of this hasn't been emergency preparation?" Rick asked. "I've done days of training that pushed me to the limit before, and they helped, but I don't think they'd improve me enough to matter in the Showdown."
"Not training. You're training about as hard as you can handle. But you have other serious shortcomings that provide low hanging fruit. All we need to do is pluck those and you'll be far more prepared for the coming competition."
"What's that?"
"Come this way." H took another drag on his cigarette, then gestured for him to follow. "This won't take long. We'll get it taken care of tonight, then you can rest up for tomorrow."
Still a bit puzzled, Rick followed H as they went through a back corridor and took an elevator down. As far as he knew, there weren't very many ways to instantly increase your power. Getting implanted with a powerful Lucore, of course, but that was extraordinarily expensive and not a good idea for a competition with a high skill level. Maybe there were secret legendary techniques he didn't know about.
When the elevator reached the ground floor, it kept going. Rick wasn't too surprised to see the number go to basement levels, but he hadn't expected the small hotel to have six basement levels. The doors opened and he realized that he might be right: the other side was a bare stone corridor, not the plush carpeting of the hotel.
"The barrier between realms varies over the world, depending on many factors. But in a place like Odiyu, of course they need reliable methods to get across. They're providing this as a courtesy to Showdown contestants, but don't use it without permission."
"We're going into the demon realm?" His question sounded stupid when they reached the end of the corridor and entered a room with a tear through space in the center of it. The surreal blackness on the oth
er side was unquestionably the demon realm. "Why?"
"To get a demonic bond, of course. The fact that you're lacking a substantial one is a huge mark against you compared to all the other Showdown contestants."
Rick took a step back and raised his hands. "Wait a minute. That's not an accident, I chose not t-"
"Don't be a coward. Let's go." With that, H grabbed his shirt and threw him through the portal, into demonic Odiyu.
Chapter 17: Odiyu
The world twisted around him and Rick was briefly sick to his stomach, but his body remembered the strange transition. It was no longer as substantial as in the human realm, more like some kind of dense liquid. He immediately struggled to move his aura, pushing against the resistance until he had covered himself in the defensive barrier that Damian had taught him.
Beside him, H adopted a similar shield. But what surprised Rick was that his mentor took longer to gather his aura, and the result wasn't as efficient. Maybe he simply had no fear of any mindless demons and no need to hurry, but Rick wondered if his mentor was actually less experienced in the demon realm. Not many humans spent an entire month trapped there without relief, after all.
"See? You managed just fine." H turned away from him and began walking away from the portal. "Now come along so we can get this done quickly."
"No." Rick saw that they stood atop some sort of ziggurat and H was already moving down one of the staircases. Other humans were emerging from various doors in the structure and moving into the grand city, but Rick forced it out of mind and turned around.
The portal still glowed behind him, showing the stone corridor. But when he tried to step toward it, the air became thicker until he struggled to move. He didn't think it was a binding, more that the path between realms itself resisted him. Even with a free-standing portal, moving between the two might not be easy, but he thought he could figure it out.
"What are you doing?" H appeared behind him, face set in an amused glower. "You can't be afraid, not after what you've experienced. I thought you'd want to get rid of that miserable little bond and get a proper one."
"It has nothing to do with fear!" Rick realized that he sounded defensive and refocused, trying to explain himself in purely rational terms. "Demonic bonds are designed for humans so they overdraw lucrim and then pay the penalties. In the Showdown, I'll need to use absolutely everything available to me. That will mean debt, and probably increasing amounts of it."
H snorted. "Don't be a child. You need to spend money to make money, especially here. I guarantee that you could get a solid bond and instantly increase your generation rate by 10,000 lucrim, maybe 20,000. There is absolutely nothing else in the world that can gain you power so fast."
"Are you going to pay off every single lucrim I withdraw through the bond?"
"Of course not. That would destroy what little profit you earn me."
"I'm here to earn a profit too. I'm not going to take such a risk with no return."
"This is absurd." H folded his arms and stared at him, not in anger, but in simple bafflement. "Demonic bonds are a part of life, boy. This is nothing but paranoia."
"We were driven here by someone who was enslaved because they couldn't pay back their demonic bond. Unless you're going to tell me that the Chinese demons are all about freedom and happiness? Do they introduce fully bonded humans to worlds of socialist bliss?"
"They may not be capitalist on this side either, but demonic organizations do not exist to give out charity. Obviously they want to gain an advantage, but that doesn't mean you can't gain an advantage as well. Do you think I'm going to get you some cut rate back alley bond? It will be a respectable one from one of the major sects here."
"That doesn't matter." Rick had been willing to hear out H, but the other man didn't seem interested in engaging with his arguments. He closed his eyes and settled on his path. "Uncle Frank always said that they'll get you with the fine print, and from what I've seen, he was right. Getting a demonic bond would just be irresponsible."
"Then your 'Uncle Frank' is a fool. You think demonic bonds are a path to poverty, but that kind of thinking will keep you in poverty. Grow up and finish this or you won't have a chance."
The insult to his uncle stung, but Rick set it aside and just stared back at his mentor. "Are you going to force me?"
"Of course I wouldn't." H started to draw a cigarette, paused as he remembered where they stood, then muttered something under his breath. "I think this is childish and paranoid, but I'd never force you. But you should know that I think this is irresponsible and it vastly decreases your chances of succeeding in the Showdown. If you go on to fail me because of this, I won't hesitate to cut you loose."
"That's fair. It's all I can ask."
"It's too much to ask, but I can see you're going to be stubborn. Very well." Turning away, H began heading down the stairs again. "Since I took us through the portal before checking if you were an absolute imbecile, we shouldn't waste the opportunity. I'm going to conduct some business of my own. You can... come to your senses, I suppose."
With that, H pushed off the stairs, floating directly into the city. Rick was again left alone in the demon realm, though the circumstances were entirely different. Despite the fact that he stood in a developed city directly next to the portal back, this almost felt worse than being abandoned.
For a moment Rick thought he had absolutely no purpose there. He just stood on the stair, letting himself finally take in the environment. Just like the demonic side of Branton, the ground was pitch black and the sky a pallid white. The mists that floated from the ground were far thicker, but they floated through him in the same way.
The rest, however, was far from the same. Instead of a cluster of buildings mimicking human ones, the city appeared to be a giant cube. His eyes had first seen the buildings on the ground, but in the distance he could see great walls which had broad balcony-like buildings jutting from them. Overhead, skyscrapers stretched down from the blocks overhead... groundscrapers? Rick could see demons traveling between the sides of the cube on strange clouds, but otherwise couldn't understand why it would be built in such a way.
As he headed down the stairs, Rick realized that his presence wasn't pointless after all. Now that he was properly in the demon realm, he should take the chance to talk to Bftgage and Ythsil. They would be half-way across the world, but he was fairly confident that demons had the equivalent of phones.
Making the call might be the hardest part. Though Damian had never taken his needle back, Rick didn't carry it with him at all times, so he had no secure way to pay with his blood. Still, Odiyu was clearly a far more developed city than demonic Branton, so he might be able to find a way. After checking his aura was secure again, Rick pushed off the stairs and drifted like a spirit.
From above, the city was surprisingly beautiful. Many of the buildings were lit with soft green light that suffused the shadows with something more like life. Instead of conventional roads, it had long spiraling ramps traveled by lines of spherical vehicles. They reminded him of strings of pearls, but they undulated like serpents along the roads for reasons he couldn't determine.
Rick landed on one of the ramps, instinctively trying to pull himself back to avoid the next string of cars, even though they would pass through him. There seemed to be a lot of powerful demons here, so they could see him, and potentially be alarmed by a human appearing in their path without warning. If there were public nuisance laws, he didn't want to run afoul of them.
For a time Rick just sat on the edge of the pathway, sometimes staring at the city and sometimes managing to pick out individual buildings. The signs were mostly written in Chinese, or at least a language that looked like Chinese to him, so he had to guess about their purpose.
More importantly, he wanted the moment to make sure that his aura was stable. But to his surprise, remaining in the demon realm felt entirely effortless. It wouldn't be so easy in a month, of course, but it was nothing like it had been before. Either he'd
developed after surviving his first experience, or his growth since the last visit had made a difference.
As he watched the demons more closely, he saw that there were many other differences. No demons were homeless here, but he also didn't see very many buying and selling. Muscular slug-like demons seemed to distribute supplies to different cubes that he suspected housed more demons. He assumed this society had its own problems, but they weren't visible to his untrained eye.
Once he'd seen enough, Rick slowly got to his feet and stretched. If he was stuck there for the evening, he might as well get to work.
Rick stepped off the side and let himself drift down to what he thought of as street level, though none of the streets were as even as he'd expected. Still, he found a broader pathway that had demons walking along the edges, with plenty of space for the strings of cars to pass. There were a number of open buildings there that he thought were restaurants or stores, though as he passed them, he didn't find anything useful. The restaurants did not exactly look appetizing and the purpose of some of the other stores was inscrutable.
He noted that while humans were in the minority, they weren't a surprise like they had been in Branton. Rick wasn't sure if it was racist, but he decided that it would probably be easier to get help from another human. So he continued walking until he spotted an older Chinese man in traditional robes, and more importantly, without significant demonic tattoos.
"Excuse me." Rick didn't step into his path, but did approach. "Can you help me find something?"
The man promptly said "No English" so clearly that Rick suspected he did speak English and just didn't want to be bothered. Still, it would be rude to push. Rick moved on, keeping a lookout for anyone who might be helpful. Many of the humans he saw appeared to be fully bonded, which struck him as strange, since he thought the purpose of bonding was for demons to live in the human realm.
"You're in need of some help?" The purring feminine voice let Rick know what to expect, though the succubus floating down to him was wearing carefully draped robes instead of strips of cloth. He caught a glimpse of some sort of tail shifting behind her, but it swept out of his vision. "Mmm, we don't get too many foreigners here. Are you here for the Showdown?"
