It was One-Week later and Solomon and Hyde looked like an absolute mess.

Slumped over a table in the canteen, the pair were bruised and battered. Solomon's face was extremely pale with dark circles under his vibrant green eyes. Hyde's canine ears drooped over in exhaustion, the pair were a sorry sight to behold.

Passersby would steer clear of the sorry duo. They groaned like zombies as every part of their bodies ached.

After a week of overworking themselves to get stronger and earn money, they looked thoroughly miserable.

Thankfully, exhaustion and bruises weren't the only changes to their bodies. If you looked closely you would notice other, more positive changes.

Solomon, who was originally very slender and around 5 foot 8 had grown a few inches and filled out a bit. However, what was most attention-grabbing was his tail.

Originally 150cm long, it had grown to a length of 200cm and its colour had changed drastically. What had once been metallic silver when Solomon first arrived in Hell was now a dark grey with a hint of red.

This was because most of the metals found in Hell were of various shades of black, red and gold. Solomon had absorbed more than a few of such metals in the past week and had a new tail to show for it.

Hyde hadn't lagged behind him in growth either. He was originally rather tall when he first arrived, but he now stood at 6 feet 2 inches tall. His wickedly sharp claws had a bloody gleam as the light from a nearby lantern reflected off them.

The pair finally looked like they belonged in hell, as opposed to their wide-eyed innocence when they first arrived.

The only problem was their current state. After a week of frantic work where they were essentially running on fumes, they were exhausted.

Even the idea of lifting their heads from the table they were slumped over sounded hellish to them.

Fike looked at the sorry pair and sighed in exasperation. "Stop pretending to be asleep. Today was the final day of work anyway. Just go to bed and we can go look for information tomorrow."

The pair stopped groaning and, after a moments pause, they began snoring. Dead to the world the two slept slouched over the table in the canteen.

Embarrassed, Fike left them be. 'I'll just pretend I don't know them' He thought as he went to the market to stock up on supplies.

...

When Solomon finally woke up, it was due to a throbbing pain in his back. Raising his head from the cold steel table, he promised to never sleep like this again. His neck was killing him

He threw the still asleep Hyde a look before chucking an empty cup at his head. "Ouch!" Hyde grumbled as he woke up.

"Why'd you do that?" He groaned in a dry voice.

"It's midday and we need to get up. Didn't we agree to go information gathering for the 'Penance' this week?" Solomon explained.

With a vague grunt of acknowledgement, Hyde got up and they left the canteen. The pair walked to the docks to look for Fike who was long gone.

Fike was sitting in his favourite bar at the docks eating some weird roasted meat and drinking. When he saw the dishevelled pair approach he scarfed down the food and got up.

"Good morning," Hyde called out in greeting.

"Good afternoon," Fike corrected Hyde with a look of disappointment. His attitude was reminiscent of a mother who got home from work only to find their child was still in bed.

Pretending they couldn't see Fike's disappointment Solomon and Hyde launched into a discussion.

"How should we go about collecting information then?" Hyde asked the group of three.

"I've already checked the information centre when I first arrived. All the stuff in there is only relevant to the first circle." Fike explained taking a sip of his drink.

"Why don't we ask one of the barge drivers from the lower levels?" Solomon asked

"You're right that they would definitely know what the 'Penance' would be. The problem is that there's a sort of embargo on them giving us information about any 'Penance' we haven't completed yet. It's really bad karma for them." Fike replied with a sigh.

"Damn! so can we even find anything out then?" Hyde asked Fike.

"This is what I was trying to tell you last night before you fell asleep. It's impossible to know what the trial will be before you do it. Karma is always fair in these sorts of situations. It doesn't want anyone getting an unfair advantage." Fike complained.

"So what are we supposed to do then?" Hyde asked ruefully.

"I might have a plan," Solomon spoke up after thinking deeply.

"What is it?" The two asked him.

"Why don't we find out what demons are usually like after they complete the 'Penance'. Then maybe we'll know how to prepare." Solomon explained after some thought.

"So... if People usually come out of a 'Penance' soaking wet, we'll bring a raincoat," Hyde asked.

"Exactly," Solomon said.

"Sorry to burst your bubble guys but that won't work either. Like I said, you can't find out any information about any of the lower floors in the information centre and nobody can talk to you about anything after a 'Penance' you haven't completed yet." Fike said as he crushed Solomon's dreams of being prepared cruelly.

"Okay, well at the very least we do know that when demons leave their first 'Penance' they change a lot mentally." Solomon continued.

The other two nodded. They had heard that demons changed a lot after completing the first 'Penance'

"If that's the case we should expect some sort of mental trial, or perhaps its the impact of regaining some of our lost memories. The only problem is we don't know how to prepare for that," Elaborated Solomon.

"Doesn't that mean the only things we can do to prepare is buy some armour, get some food supplies and get into a good headspace?" Hyde posited.

"Pretty much," Solomon said in resignation.

"I packed supplies already while you were sleeping last night," Fike added helpfully.

After the pair had thanked Fike, they all arranged to go to the market and look for weapons and armour.

As the group walked through the winding and claustrophobic streets, Solomon turned to look at Hyde who kept jumping up and down as he walked.

"Why are you bouncing like a maniac?" He asked in annoyance.

"I'm just getting excited at the thought of moving onto the next 'Penance'," Hyde confessed. "Aren't you excited to find out what you were like before you died?"

Shaking his head Solomon replied. "Not really. Judging from how demons who've regained their memories change a lot it probably isn't a good experience."

"I agree, seeing as we are in Hell I doubt our past lives were anything good," Fike added.

Trying to ease their thoughts Hyde spoke up again. "No need to be so negative, since you are pretty nice guys now, I don't think your past lives matter too much."

This was certainly food for thought and Fike and Solomon mulled it over on their way to the market.

Walking a little further ahead than the two deep thinkers, Hyde was strolling along when he heard the sound of money hitting the ground.

Considering his extremely sharp senses it wasn't a surprise that he heard such a distinct sound. What was a surprise, however, was that when the demon whose pouch hit the ground saw his money spill onto the street he didn't look panicked.

Almost immediately demons from all directions pounced on the fallen money like piranhas. Hyde, who was about to speak up and stop them from stealing the money was shocked when all of the demons desperately tried to hand the money back to the owner of the pouch.

He heard laughter behind him and saw Fike grinning at his shocked expression. "What's a bit of money when they can gain some good karma by helping him out." He explained.

Solomon was worried. He had seen Hyde make a weird expression when he heard this explanation and he didn't think it would lead anywhere good. The look on his face was that of someone who had just discovered sliced bread and other such good ideas.

Just like he had feared, Hyde had a weird plan in mind. After they walked a couple of streets further, Hyde slowed down and fell behind them.

Right as Solomon turned around to see what he was doing, Hyde slipped comically and all the money in his pouch went flying out over the street.

The scene from earlier repeated itself as demons fought over who had the right to give Hyde's money back to him.

Confused at his weird actions Solomon and Fike called him over and after Solomon had elbowed Hyde in the ribs he started to explain himself.

"They gain good Karma from helping me get my money back, right?" Hyde said indignantly. "So, if I intentionally drop the money giving them a chance to gain good Karma aren't I helping them out."

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Solomon asked, baffled at his thought process.

"Wouldn't I be gaining good karma by helping them gain good karma then?" Hyde continued in annoyance as if what he was saying was obvious.

Looking unsure of his answer Fike spoke up, "I don't know, that sounds like fraud,"

"I don't think karma is that particular. Isn't it an ends justify the means kind of system?" Hyde explained.

Solomon looked like a whole new world had opened before his eyes, "I think he's right you know." He exclaimed. "By improving our karma we can even make our 'Penance' easier. It's perfect Hyde."

And thus the legendary 'Karma Fraudsters' were born.

When they finally arrived at the market Fike was walking very far away from the other two while muttering about how, if anyone asked 'He didn't know them'.

Behind Fike, walked the clumsiest two demons to ever enter Hell. At first, They had taken it in turns to drop their pouches on each new street, but now they had begun dropping anything they could get a hold of.

Solomon had elevated the game whenever he conveniently 'Forgot' to tie his shoelaces and his shoes kept coming off his feet.

By now, there was a small crowd of demons following behind them eagerly picking up everything they dropped.

The following demons couldn't believe their luck. They had come across the clumsiest pair of demons to ever exist. What a great day!

Fike put a stop to their fraud when he couldn't take it anymore. Now that they had gotten to the market he didn't want anyone he knew to see him with those two idiots.

The first thing they looked for was weapons. Fike didn't need one because he had a giant harpoon for a hand. Hyde didn't need one because his Razor-sharp claws were more effective than any weapon he could hold.

Solomon could let his tail do most of the fighting as it was a deadly weapon in its own right, but since his hands would be free anyway, he might as well get one.

Since he didn't have any fighting skills to speak of Solomon decided that something simple he could use at close range would be best.

He ended up buying a pair of extremely sharp bone daggers and a rough leather belt from a shady looking stall in the corner of the market.

The daggers were a brilliant white and curved into a wicked hook. And the belt was the perfect place to hang them with easy access. Just this purchase alone cost him almost a third of the money he had earned.

Next, they looked about for armour. This was harder to buy, the problem was that most demons had very unique body types and drastically different sizes. furthermore, many demons had their own exoskeleton of sorts making it difficult to find ready-made armour since there wasn't really a one size fits all.

Solomon, for example, couldn't wear plate mail as it would restrict his tail and he would need to cut a big hole in it.

They eventually had to settle for basic leather armours that didn't offer too much protection. However, what they lost protection, they gained in freedom of movement and comfort.

The three also decided to invest in grindstones to sharpen their respective weapons, be they tail, harpoon or claws.

After Hyde had spent the rest of his money on monster meat and Solomon had bought some rare metals they made their way to the mining camp where they were staying.

Sadly, the newly bought armour and weapons were dropped many times by the extremely 'Clumsy' Solomon and Hyde on the way back. Much to the gratefulness of the nearby demons who had the pleasure of picking up and returning them.