“Arrrgh! N-NO!” An unexpected scream breaks through the alleyway and echoes off the bricks. Those passerby who have just noticed the scuffle begin to run away quickly outside as they realize something terrible is happening. Delphie reappears, her dagger clattering away as she abandons it to slap both palms on the ground. She holds herself in a plank position, the Fallen’s blade tearing into the bodice of her dress, just beneath her stomach. With just a simple thrust, he could stab her countless times. However…

*Clank*

He drops his dagger, his hands opening and closing into fists as he screams though she has not hit him.

“AHHHHHH! MAKE IT STOP! THE HELL IS THIS?! AHHHH!” His eyes stare blindly over Delphie’s shoulder, and he groans over and over. “WORMS! NOT THE WORMS! DON’T COME INSIDE!” The Nephilim girl seems shocked at his reaction. She rolls off of him, and raises her foot to kick him. However, seeing the state he’s in, she gradually retracts her boot. Slowly, as the man’s screams grow louder, she turns to stare at me.

“What…what did you do?” She asks with both awe and terror as the trained assassin slaps the air and ground and tries to avoid invisible enemies. “He’s…he’s gone insane! And you…you’re eye! It’s glowing again!” Her own kaleidoscope eyes swirl as she turns from me to him. “Who are you?”

“I don’t know.” I reply and I’m not sure which question I’m answering. Putting a hand over my face, I do my best to calm down. When I remove my palm, the stinging in my eye has faded. “Better?”

“Y-Yea!” Delphie continues to watch me as if I’m going to turn into a devil. However, at that moment, the man seems to recover his senses-

“FREAK! DEMON!” He howls and goes for his knife. I’m already rushing over and kick it out of the way before he can get up. “What the hell was that? What did you do to me!”

“Don’t know.” I reply again before kicking him in the skull. Stomping down, I hear a phantom voice in my skull.

Nightie night.

*Crunch*

[Congratulations!]

[You Have Exacted Vengeance Against A Sinner

Current Sin Points: +1]

The System informs me that I have leveled up while awarding me a Sin Point. Huh…I think I understand. So, it’s some sort of retribution-based power? So, when I gouged his eyes earlier, I got part of a point? But actually killing him gives me a full point. The Lonely’s Hell doesn’t seem to have a cap on the number of Sin Points I can use with it. Presumably, spending more points would mean a stronger effect, right? But my mana percentage went down to 20 percent with only one use. Damn, that explains why the Fruit of Yggdrasil gave me extra intelligence. I would have just straight run out of mana anyways!

“The Roses will send more Fallen soon. Killing one will only antagonize the family.” Delphie murmurs though it isn’t a rebuke. She’s simply informing me of an eventuality. Her face tilts as she considers the dead man on the ground. “Thank you…I miscalculated. The Fallen are not afraid to give their life in service to the family. I should have foreseen his ploy.”

“Don’t mention it.” Bending down, I wipe my mouth and grab the man’s short sword. Not quite my style, but it will have to do. Putting the rest of my new Stat Point in the Agility Stat, I get up and look around our surroundings. It’s then that footsteps come.

*Tap*

*Tap*

*Tap*

“Sophie?” Delphie looks up with surprise.

“Well, well, it seems you’re more reliable than you seem, Mr. Hei.” Sophie strides out of the shadows with a purposeful clack of her boots on the cobblestones. I note how close she is. It’s on purpose. She’s been here all along, observing us. This girl is in the same family as that assassin. And based on the previous conversation she’s no ordinary Nephilim. I need to keep an eye on her. “What did you do to the Fallen?”

“…” I ignore her, wiping the blood off the man’s blade on his own robe.

“Fine, fine! Okay, you two, come along. Now that your skill has been proven, I can introduce you to Eli.” The young lady of the Roses waves her hand and struts off, confident that we’ll follow.

“Eli’s really back?” Delphie hurries to catch up. Feeling a little out of the loop, I take one more glance around before making my own way into the shadows.

“Yup. But I’ll let him explain it. It seems the other families have been busy.”

#

The sultry Nephilim of the Roses leads us to her lair with a calm grace which belies her vast knowledge of the city. Delphie and I stick close as she threads through all manner of places and people to find refuge. Eventually, we find ourselves in an abandoned section of Meteos and Sophie takes a quick look around before reaching into her pocket and unlocking the door with a simple rusty key.

*Creak*

“Come in. Before half the city sees you!”

*Clank*

The door slides shut with a rattle and a clank and we’re plunged into half darkness. But as our eyes adjust, dozens of blue crystals gently release their light and turn the spooky place into something more pleasant to look out. Sophie’s lair is not really what you would expect for a woman’s place, it’s rather devoid of character and haunted looking. The atmosphere is closer to an abandoned factory or neglected shipyard than a chic apartment or cozy home. However, the sleek fuzzy velveteen rug underneath our feet and glowing corrupted roses planted in pots along the walls gives hints that this place is not completely derelict. Our feet gently press into the soft rug as we cross through twisted black-iron gates. The soft muffle of our footsteps is sucked up by the darkness and I realize that this is the purpose of Sophie’s rug. If she wasn’t purposely clicking her heels, I’m altogether certain she would be deadly silent. Can she disappear like Delphie? But the other Nephilim didn’t do that.

Leaning over her shoulder, I whisper in her ear quietly, not sure if I should talk about it with Sophie so near-

“How’d you do that trick, earlier? Can all Nephilim disappear?”

To this, Delphie shakes her head.

“No, it’s something my mother could do. The family hoped to gain its power by marrying her into the Violet bloodline, but unfortunately it only passed to me. Taer’s always hated me for that.” She sighs as Sophie leads us into a more spacious room. It’s long, stretching off into the distance, but much wider than a corridor with a few side branches that lead into dark hallways. The sides of the room are lines with long koi ponds, their waters reflecting beautiful lights in the glow of the blue crystals. However, instead of the usual colorful fish, these ones have glowing eyes, though their scales are bleached of color. It seems Sophie’s koi ponds are composed solely of ghostly white fish. Their eyes follow us with an uncanny intelligence that fish shouldn’t have. Creepy…but oddly beautiful.

“Alright. Let me start some tea…” Sophie absentmindedly goes to the corner and grabs an ornate black-porcelain kettle. It seems her family’s fortunes are doing much better than Delphie’s because everything here screams wealth as opposed to the Violet’s bare manor. And if I’m not mistaken this is just her private residence.

“Where’s Eli?” Delphie asks while Sophie goes to one of four fountains shooting water into the koi ponds and holds the kettle underneath.

*Plink*

As the kettle fills, Sophie hums a little lonely tune. The otherworldly melody seems oddly familiar, but I’m sure I’ve never heard it before. It’s human yet not quite human at the same time.

“He’s around. I’m sure he’ll come in a minute. Or maybe he ran out for an errand. It’s fine, you guys can’t exactly leave for a while anyways. My base is completely off the radar, even for my family, I made sure of that. But once you guys go out, the Fallen will definitely pick up your trail again. And they won’t make the mistake of sending so few guys the second time around. Thank the System for Yun’s incompetence or this could have been a lot messier.” The kettle finishes filling and Sophie brings it over to a strange burner which clicks on with a spark and the smell of something resembling kerosene. A merry flame hops into existence and begins to heat the water. “You guys hungry? Ah wait, no. You just ate.”

“You sure it’s okay for us to be here?” Delphie asks with a worried glance at the other Nephilim’s slim form. “I mean if your family finds out you could be…”

“Heh. They won’t. Besides, I spoke with Eli and things are going to be changing around here. I no longer care what my family thinks, least of all that grandpa at the top. Bunch of old idiots. How could they back Taer over you, can’t they see the Underworld needs strong clans to survive this generation?” Sophie says with a scornful laugh as she reaches into a hidden cupboard and takes out some nice jade teacups. “They really don’t have eyes. Though it seems they’ve really underestimated this time. Is Hei really an outsider? That power of his…it doesn’t seem ordinary.”

“Um, I know it’s a bit hard to believe, but it’s true!” The embarrassed Nephilim loses all the fire she had when she was speaking to her brother. I’ve begun to notice that in front of the other noble Nephilim, Delphie takes on a different attitude. She seems much more unsure of herself. When I see her eyes lingering on the fancy jade teacups, I suddenly recall the way her eyes bugged out at how many System Coins I handed Midas for the noodles. Ahh…money. A noble who can’t afford to be a noble. Makes sense.

“Hmph. Sure.” Sophie hands Delphie a cup and then stomps over to me. Sticking out the ornate cup on a saucer, she hands it to me without spilling a drop. “So, Mr. Hei. Can we trust you? What is your goal in clinging to my Delphie’s thigh?”

“C-Clinging?”

“No goal.” I take the tea and enjoy the scalding how liquid without grimacing. Flicking a glance at Delphie whose ears have turned violet again, I sigh. “She was kind enough to heal me when I needed it. You may not believe it, but I used to be well known for paying my debts. Since I cannot leave, and it seems Delphie’s brother has decided to cause trouble for her, I’m perfectly happy to help out here and there. Of course…I’m just a low-level so my help may not be of great use. But it seems like it was my coming which instigated this whole assassination plot so I feel somewhat responsible. Not to mention they tried to kill me too. I have no external interests.”

“That…I very much doubt.” Sophie eyes me as I put down the teacup back onto the saucer. “Is that true, Delphie? Do you believe Mr. Hei really has no interests but to pay back a debt in his heart?”

“Well…Hei is an outsider from the surface so I think his intentions are genuine. That being said…he probably does want to return but unfortunately, the human gates are problematic so…” Delphie rubs her ear tips and notices that some of her hair has slipped out of her elaborate coiffe. Quickly, she goes to work undoing the whole thing.

“Ahh, yes. I’ve heard of this. So, you DO have an interest. You want to return home. That makes me feel more at ease.” Sophie’s posture doesn’t change though she says she’s trusting me. For my part, I just give a shrug. As usual, other people will form their own opinions. Also, as far as I can tell, it seems like Sophie’s mostly giving me a hard time because of her attachment to Delphie…whatever that’s about. She said something about a cash transaction?

*Clank*

The sound of the front door opening and closing surprises us. However, after a moment, Sophie relaxes and puts her teacup down.

“Don’t worry, it’s just Eli.”

I’m not sure how she knows it’s him, but I don’t think the careful Nephilim would say that unless she’s sure, so I take my hand off the sheathe I pilfered from the dead Fallen. A few seconds later, someone walks into the room. At first, I think he’s a Nephilim, but then I realize that half his hair is black and the other half is ultraviolet.

“Eli, this is Hei.” Sophie points a finger at me. “Hei, meet Eli. What do you go by again these days? The Exiled Prince?”

Exiled Prince?

“That’s just for the publicity. My friends can just call me, Eli. And it seems we have something in common.” Eli walks up to me. He’s definitely handsome by human standards, with straight, elegant features, but when he turns his eyes to me, I see the kaleidoscopes are marred by black rings. “You must come from where the surface. I wonder, does the name, Lian Tasso mean anything to you?”

“No…I don’t think so. Should it?” I study him closely. So half human, half Nephilim, huh? That must mean the two species can interbreed. I’d heard that some people had experimented with the System races before, but I think from a genetic standpoint that’s a very strange result. It would imply…that we all have a common origin. Weird.

“Nah, I just like to ask that to anyone I find from the surface. My mother unfortunately didn’t have the constitution to survive down here in the Underworld Court. But I always wonder who she was up above.” He trails off thoughtfully. Wearing a black outfit embroidered with purple stripes, he definitely has the look of a prince. Seeing my reticence, he quickly comes forward and offers to shake my hand. “Sorry, where are my manners! You know, I believe the history books say that it was humans which brought the custom of shaking hands to the Underworld. The Nephilim prefer their kisses, but I find this to be a much less…intense way to greet people. Guess it’s the human in me! Hahaha!” The Exiled Prince has warm hands, with some callouses that come from holding a sword. His strength is also perfectly controlled as he takes and releases my palm. I can’t tell what level he is.

“E-Eli? You’re back.” Delphie says awkwardly and Eli swiftly changes targets and walks over. I notice for her, he engages in a kiss on either pale cheek, though he doesn’t go for the lips like Sophie. “But I thought you weren’t allowed to return to Meteos, anymore. Has the Court changed its mind?”

“Hah, you could say that!” Eli exclaims while taking Delphie’s hand and bringing it to his cheek. A hint of something which might be jealousy runs through me. Shaking it off, I try to pay attention. He draws the girl over to one of the koi ponds and sits at the edge. Over in the corner, I see Sophie’s hands twitch imperceptibly as if resisting the urge to become fists. Huh…interesting.

“So, what happened?” The daughter of assassins strides over as well and plops herself in-between the two of them. While Delphie makes a small noise of surprise, Eli doesn’t seem to take any offense. It appears he is used to Sophie’s behavior. “Your old man have a change of heart since he’s going to croak soon?”

“More or less. But to be honest, the message didn’t come from him. Tradition, you know. One of the Tarragon Family’s elders contacted me. This succession will be lively. They intend to back me. When Sophie informed me that your fool brother decided to contract the Roses against his own blood, I knew he wouldn’t be my choice to lead the Violets.” The confident Nephilim settles back and trails his fingers in the water as koi nibble at his hands. Though there is no food inside, they continue to bite at his nails until he clenches a fist. “They forced me out, but I always remembered how you stood up for me back then. I’ve waited a long time to come back, always sending messages in the shadows. But now that my father wants to play the game, and the Tarragons have decided to back me, I’m almost ready to step back into the light. What do you say, Delphie? Want to join my banner?”