“You’re the devil. You must be.” Sphinx’s words had very little effect on their target, who just sat there looking at the sunrise in the distance.

“I’ve been told worse Sphinx, and let you and I be honest, between the devil and I, I give better deals.” Aaron stated as Medusa palmed her face, knowing that he wasn’t proving Sphinx wrong.

“Oh it wasn’t an insult, it’s a compliment. Only the devil could find such loopholes and ways to victory.” Sphinx was sincere in his praise actually, having considered his deal with Aaron to be extremely mutually beneficial.

“Then I’ll accept the praise… that being said, you’re sure the Families will hear us out?” Aaron asked, already using Sphinx’s resources to his advantage as Sphinx nodded.

“Sure they will. Before Vann attempted his hostile takeover, I was the leader of the Triad Families within Tartarus for almost fifty years, I can sway their opinions.” Sphinx explained, having explained the idea of Family Heads to Aaron the day before, which was when the Auction had taken place.

They had waited an hour before chasing down Vann to his stronghold, Area 11, where Organized Crime was the… uh, crime of choice.

Aaron liked the sector, just from the explanation, and when Sphinx asked why, it was because he liked their concept of honour and familial fairness.

It was then that Sphinx considered that Aaron would be an acceptable person to do business with, both as a Family Head, and as an auctioneer.

“Okay then! You all know what the plan is, or at least, what parts of the plan are relevant to you! Let’s move out, and commence operation NTR!” Medusa on the side palmed her face in disgust at the term he had used…

It was an abbreviation for No Trust Right, but in Japan that had quite the different and seriously weird meaning.

Worse, Medusa didn’t know the meaning of that until getting Aaron’s memories, so that meant he knew what it meant in Japan and that he likely named the operation that on purpose…

“No, we aren’t using that name. I’m not agreeing to work on an operation sharing a name with a term used for stealing romantic partners from other people.” Medusa stated, the rest of the group no longer wanting to follow the plans name either.

“…Fine, operation RTFW is a go.” Aaron said in a calmer manner, but it was still confusing as he sighed, needing to elaborate.

“Operation Read the First Word is a go.” He explained, and the rest of the group accepted the name, despite the stupid pun it was, it could translate to operation-operation.

“I feel the urge to be called the Surgeon of Death and have a talking polar bear for some reason…” Medusa tried to ignore Aaron’s insanity but found it very difficult… mostly because she knew exactly what thought processes resulted in that insanity.

Regardless of the stupidity of Aaron’s statements, the group moved out in their pre-assigned manners, with Sphinx’s and Cerberus’ knowledge on Area 11, they all moved into their positions to get their jobs done…

Sphinx and Empusa had asked Aaron how he could be so sure he’d win Lukas Vann in a game of wits on his own turf, and he’d simply smirked and reminded them.

“You forget that I am the person who always wins, irrespective of what happens. Khul Ja Shem-shamayim is more than just a saying… it’s my creed, and what I do.” He stated, fixing his leather jacket as they had prepared to leave.

“I am he who opens the doors to heaven, even when they are barred. I won’t be stopped.” And they had accepted, in slight awe of his statements as they followed.

They had split up into different groups, the Hydra triplets hanging out with Mino, who could tolerate them the best, while Chimera and Cyclops went another way.

The final group consisted of Aaron, Cerberus, Sphinx, Medusa and Empusa, and Aaron felt a bit of annoyance at the rhyming nature of the women’s names, as it was, if he didn’t have his excellent memory he might have gotten their names mixed up.

“Right… lead the way, Sphinx.” Aaron asked and Sphinx nodded, slightly annoyed at being reduced to a guide, but knowing that his agreement with Aaron only brought him benefits, and from what Medusa assured him, Aaron wouldn’t back out of a deal…

‘Not anymore’, was left unsaid and unheard by Sphinx, though Medusa continued thinking of Aaron’s past, having had more than a month to sort through the memories and distinguish between herself and Aaron, with some bleed-through still occurring occasionally.

They walked through Area 11, and Aaron was quite surprised by the architecture, noting the buildings to be old, but well-maintained…

Tartarus existed on old Australian ground, but Aaron wasn’t afraid to admit that he knew painfully little of old Australia beyond some landmarks and some rare animals found mainly in Australia. He didn’t even know the cities beyond Sydney and Melbourne before finding an Australian map…

On a side note, Aaron was heavily confused by the layout of things in Tartarus, noting that, in the old maps, many things hadn’t existed, like Leviathan’s swamp.

He was still uncertain about that, even as they arrived at a bar-like building, wondering why the land was different from what it should be, but shaking the thoughts from his mind as they entered the really quiet bar.

“Vince.” Sphinx spoke with the bartender’s name and caused the bartender to look up as he raised his eyebrows at Sphinx and Cerberus.

“Head Sphinx, it’s… it’s been a long time… why have you returned?” Vince seemed a bit irritated, but Aaron noted, using what he knew of body-language, that he wasn’t quite mad at Sphinx, more… annoyed, unsure?

Learning about many things was a prerequisite for being as excellent of a lock-picker Aaron was, and body-language reading was one, much like his knowledge of explosives.

Medusa, on the other hand, had just been surprised that he knew as much as he did when he had no formal schooling beyond just reading up on things where he could.

“I’ve returned to take back the Head Family’s thrones from that usurper.” Sphinx stated, making Vince, the bartender, look at him with narrowed eyes.

“Sorry if I don’t take your word for it, Head Sphinx. When Vann stepped up two years ago, you and Mister Cerberus fled because of him. What lets you think you can win now?” Vince asked, and Aaron stepped forward, Sphinx acknowledging Aaron as the more relevant party here.

“Hello, my name is Aaron Hassan. I’ve got a personal… what’s the word Italian’s use, ah, vendetta, with Lukas Vann… so I’ve brought some collateral to win.” Aaron stated, making Vince look at Aaron with some uncertainty.

In certain circles, Aaron was fast becoming a popular point of discussion due to his gathering of Chained, but beyond these groups, most people were unaware of who he was at this point.

“Right… a non-Chained partnering up with Chained; sorry if I’m inclined to dislike you, the last guy we got like you took over this place.” Vince seemed to note Aaron’s normality and that was a mistake, as Aaron stood by the bar, a hand on said bar as he looked at the bartender, despite being shorter, he had a notable feel of ‘listen or pay the consequences’.

“Well that’s fine; I don’t need people to like me. I just need people to let me work. And well, Sphinx was quite adamant that I gain the permission of the Family Heads before going on my crusade.” Aaron stated, ignoring the irony of someone of his descent waging a ‘crusade’.

“Right, so you’d attack Vann, with or without the approval of the Families?” Vince asked with a raised eyebrow at Aaron’s apparent bravado.

“Oh most certainly… see, he tried to have me killed yesterday, and that annoyed me. So I’m going to try and kill him within the next forty eight hours as payback… and unlike him, I’ll succeed.” Aaron stated calmly.

“Still doesn’t mean we should accept you here.” Vince was still a bit irritated at the sudden appearance of Aaron, not knowing who he was as Aaron smirked at him.

“I don’t want your Area… I don’t want the approval of your families… I just happen to dislike Vann and also need to go against him to achieve a goal of mine.” Aaron said as he stepped back from the bar, Vince now looking at their group of five… and noting that four of the five were Chained.

“Vince, listen… we’re just going to explain our actions to the Family Heads. Regardless of their decision, Vann will die within two days.” Sphinx added, making Vince look at him with a searching glance.

“What makes you so certain this guy will get things done, or leave us alone after?” Vince asked, as Sphinx looked to Aaron, then back to Vince.

“He’ll get it done because he doesn’t lose… and he’s practically the devil, but that last bit isn’t important.” Arthur rolled his eyes at Sphinx’s ‘compliment’ as Vince looked to Aaron once more.

“…Very well. Come on then, I’ll ring the Family Heads.” Vince reached under the bar to reach a few strings. These strings were all connected to a bell, which was likewise located within the homes of the Family Heads, the bell system having been the idea of Sphinx.

Phones could be traced, even with old technology; sometimes it worked to just use ‘old school’ tech or ingenuity.

“They will arrive shortly… would you like anything to drink?” Aaron smiled at Vince’s words, about to open his mouth when Medusa cut him off.

“A Whiskey, clean, hard ice. Basically, on-the-rocks.” Medusa noted, and Aaron looked impressed, before remembering that she knew what he liked…

Oh well, he was underage, but that had never stopped him before, and it was nice having someone know the smaller things around him… in a weird way…

Almost like having her around again… but Medusa and Aaron both knew that she’d never replace her.

And as Vince poured the Whiskey, handing it to Medusa, only for her to hand it to him, Aaron smiled as he came to terms with the fact that Medusa didn’t need to be her… she just had to be there.

“Thanks Medusa… thanks.” Aaron said the first thanks for the Whiskey, which he sipped at, enjoying the strong taste, the burning sensation as it went down his throat… and the second thanks was for just being there.

“You’re welcome Aaron…” she replied, the rest of the group watching the byplay with some confusion though Empusa watched with jealousy, thinking of white hair and green eyes.

It was a few minutes later when six men walked into the building, each a Family Head of one branch of organized crime, notably, the Chinese Triad, the Japanese Yakuza, the Italian Mafia, the Russian Mafia, the Irish, and the Mexican’s.

On a side note, Mexican organized crime was very cutthroat and dangerous, despite misconceptions of most people, thinking that they were just thugs… no, they actually liked being thought of like that.

It made it really easy to outsmart people when they had misconceptions on your intelligence.

All six entered, and looked to Aaron who was sitting at one of the six chairs at the bar, normally reserved for Family Heads when they met like this.

Aaron stood, knowing this as he gestured to the seats; the Head’s nodding at his apparent respect, as they moved to sit down, and showing as little reaction to Sphinx as possible.

“So… why have we been called here… or rather, why are you here, Sphinx?” The Triad Head asked, not that Aaron knew their names, but seeing the Yakuza Head wearing a kimono made it easy to tell who was who,

“I am here bringing someone who wishes to challenge Lukas Vann.” Sphinx gestured to Aaron who had one hand in his pocket, the other waving lazily at the group of six.

“You wish to kill that bastard-o?” Aaron smirked, coughing lightly as he covered his cough before speaking.

“I do not oft wish murder on mine enemies, but Vann is in my way, and will not step aside.” The Head’s, Empusa, Cerberus and Sphinx all seemed surprised as Aaron spoke fluent Italian as he continued.

“I believe I can succeed in killing him, within two days.” He now spoke a bit of Russian before waving his hand in a lazy circle to his side.

“Of course, I could likely get him killed earlier, but doing so would not further my plans.” This time Aaron spoke in Japanese before he smirked.

“So, I just wanted to warn you all to let me do this, and then I’ll leave you all alone.” The Cantonese was understandable by Sphinx who narrowed his eyes a bit at Aaron’s challenging tone.

“Of course, if you all wish to deal with me in the future, I’ll be willing to discuss things on a later date.” He finally finished in Spanish, as he gave a calm smile, placing both hands in his pockets as he grinned at the gathered Family Heads.

“I trust you all understand?” The Heads did not know every language, but they could get the gist from what he stated… then Medusa sighed, before translating for everyone.

“What makes you so sure you could kill Lukas Vann? He has three Chained who work for him, none of which are weak… Sphinx and Cerberus together could barely fight off one, let alone Vann’s guard-dog.” The Irish Head spoke up, and Aaron had to hold back his squeak of glee at hearing the accent… he liked the Irish accent, wished he had one.

“Not to mention we know little of your capabilities, Aaron Hassan…” Aaron blinked at the words of the Japanese Head, before another spoke.

“All we know about you is that, much like Vann, you found a Chained willing to work for you that could get other Chained to join you.” The Italian Head frowned, the eldest of the lot apparently, as Aaron raised his hand.

“Wait, wait, I get that you know who I am, a few had heard of me apparently, but I never got a Chained to work for me.” Aaron stated, making the Mexican Head raise an eyebrow.

“You mean to say that the nine Chained travelling with you don’t work for you?” The Mexican Head asked, as Aaron shook his head, frowning at his words.

“No. I’m not a good person, I’m in this place after all… but for all that I’m a manipulative person, I never force others to work for me… with me is the operating term.”

The Heads all blinked at his words, but the Russian Head’s eyes seemed to brighten a bit in understanding.

“Oh, so they are your equals, no one leads?” The Russian Head asked in a way that made it clear that, while he thought it nice, he thought it naïve just as much.

“Of course I can ask favours, but I have to help them out just as much. The first Chained I met, we made a deal that I’d help him find his sister and he’d travel with me and protect me. I don’t use force, I use deals.” And as Aaron said this, Sphinx began to chuckle, shaking his head.

“And you wonder why I call you the Devil… I think the term, Deal with the Devil refers to you… it seems too good to be true… the question they are wondering, what I am wondering, is what’s the catch to these deals?” Sphinx gave a loaded question, knowing the answer to this question would make or break this meeting.

“The catch is that I want to break out of this place, and I expect those I make deals with to help me with that goal.” Aaron’s statement caused a stiff atmosphere for a moment.

“…Escape… Tartarus? What kind of dreamer are you? We were practically born in this place, what makes you think you, a new person in this place, could break out where the over fifteen million people in this place failed?” The Chinese Head finally asked, wondering what Aaron would say… and his smirk was quite telling.

“I know I can escape. I have an advantage over every other prisoner in this place.” Aaron smirked, holding out his hand, as if to grasp something unseen… and Medusa widened her eyes, knowing what Aaron was about to reveal.

“My family was a part of the Founders of Tartarus.” He stated, and Medusa held her breath as he revealed a piece of his origins, making everyone else in the place stare at him.

“Founders of Tartarus… You mean those people who designed and built this place?” Sphinx cut in, his eyes wide as Aaron smirked at everyone, and Medusa looked worried at the slight look of madness on Aaron’s face as he smirked.

“Yes, my family, the Hassan’s, were the people tasked with testing the integrity of the prison, we found weak spots and informed the other Founders and they’d eventually erase the weak spots… but not all of them were shown.” Aaron smirked, making the group uncertain about how to proceed as Aaron grinned.

“Other residents of Tartarus live in here, thinking this place an impenetrable fortress, and they would be right… but I have the blueprints to the fortress, and with the correct skill set, we can escape. That’s why I gather Chained, I gather those who have skills that could be essential for escape.” It was hard to grasp for the Family Heads, but for the Chained in the room, they realized the insanity of his statement.

Tartarus was a giant bowl filled with goldfish and the occasional larger fish… dropping Aaron in here was the equivalent of dropping in a whale.

It was not a question of ‘could he break out’ it was just a matter of ‘when?’ to Aaron.

“So, you wish to break out of Tartarus… so unlike Vann, who wishes to rule this place, you wish to leave…” the Italian Head spoke as Aaron’s smile took on a more sinister appearance, and Medusa frowned at it… he…

Aaron was acting a bit like his old self… from before he met her. He hated that version of himself… the real him… but he also knew that he had the best chance of success if he acted in that manner… or rather, if he stopped acting.

Medusa just made sure to always accept him, mistakes and all… he needed that, or he’d really go insane.

“Break out of Tartarus? I believe I said that, but that isn’t quite the extent of my goal… no… I wish to break Tartarus itself.” And there it was. His excuse he’d be using while pursuing his true goal, the excuse he’d tell himself, that he’d tell everyone else… but Medusa wouldn’t be fooled.

“…I think we can support you.” The Spanish Head spoke, and they looked to each other, each of them nodding as Aaron clapped his hands in faux glee.

“Great, just go about your day as you’d normally do, while I kill Vann! Don’t worry about the difficulty; we have ten Chained on our side to their three.” Left unsaid was that it really only counted as eight, seeing as the triplets counted as one Chained.

They would speak a bit more, Aaron unwilling to divulge his plan while the other members of their group carried out the plan.

Meanwhile, in Area 9, Typhon finally managed to come to an understanding… an understanding that he really disliked Leviathan, and that Jaeger was an ass, helpful at times, but an ass.

“So what’s your plan to take down that monstrosity? He doesn’t have as much blood as he had before, but he’s still pretty dangerous.” Jaeger noted as Typhon frowned at him.

“I’ll be taking him down, and then you’ll go down after that.” Typhon replied as Jaeger shrugged, not really caring what Typhon wanted, knowing that he and Typhon were still enemies.

“Right, right, you’ve mentioned that, but how.” Jaeger complained, and Typhon looked from their rooftop view to see Leviathan sniffing the air, looking for their scents… which wouldn’t work, they no longer smelt like blood, after finding some spray and a few other scent hiders.

“…I have an ability that can make him human in shape… he’ll be weaker to your attacks, but he’ll gain greater control of blood. I plan on stunning him long enough for me to do that.” Typhon’s plan would sound idiotic normally, but in this case, it really was their best choice, as Leviathan was too huge for conventional attacks to work, so they’d just have to shrink him.

“Okay, great plan, how are you going to stun him?” Jaeger asked, looking to the massive beast that killed his father with annoyance and anger.

“I’m going to throw him.” Jaeger nodded along before the words registered, and he just stared at Typhon as if waiting for the punch-line to the joke…

When no punch-line appeared, Jaeger widened his eyes and his jaw dropped.

“You’re joking… you’re not that strong.” Typhon looked to Leviathan’s body, which was roughly the height of a three storey building and long enough to say it was three or so buildings next to each other.

“No, I’m not… but, I don’t need to be.” Typhon looked to Jaeger with a smirk on his face, as Jaeger realized the absurdity of his statement and held in a laugh at Typhon’s returning words… the echo was hilarious.

“Too right you are… so what’s my role in this?” Jaeger asked, and Typhon looked to him, then back to Leviathan.

“…Distraction?” Typhon shrugged as Jaeger looked at him with a bit of annoyance, before sighing and standing.

“That’s fine, I’m useless against Leviathan, as much as it pains me to admit it… no wonder he managed to kill my old man.” Jaeger said as Typhon looked to Jaeger, uncertain of how to breech the topic.

“Don’t worry Typhon… I’m angry with him, but not stupid. My old man wasn’t the best of parents, but he was all I had.” Jaeger noted, and Typhon nodded, able to understand a bit as Typhon stood, his shorter stature next to Jaeger actually appearing a bit comical.

“I know how you feel; my parents locked me away into an educational prison for fifteen years, a whole three quarters of my life.” Typhon noted as Jaeger looked to him with a raised brow.

“That’s the first time that proverb, ‘don’t judge a Chained by appearance’ has actually made sense to me.” He said as Jaeger very lightly swatted him into the wall he was standing next to, not enough to hurt him though.

“Shut up… hey Jaeger… before we do this… know that I don’t hate you. I actually think you’re an okay guy… but we’re not on the same side here.” Typhon noted as Jaeger nodded.

“Sure, it’s alright Typhon… Aaron was alright, and if he hangs out with you, I guess you’re alright too… of course, as the Hunter, I kind of have to fight you though.”

Jaeger gripped onto his hat after finishing his statement, tying it onto his jacket, letting it sit at the back of his neck as he dashed out.

“There you are! I was wondering where you brats ran!” At this point, Typhon was tired of listening to that annoyingly loud and animalistic voice Leviathan possessed, as he looked for a place he could position himself at…

Unfortunately for Area 9, a larger building with a piece of concrete jutting out of it, likely interrupted construction work, would have to do… the building, would be broken after this next few moments.

“Hey Leviathan, suck my-” Jaeger’s shout was cut off by the crack of his own rifle as the pellet of metal shot towards Leviathan’s eye… the distance made the bullet hit just next to it, but it did its job… namely, irritate Leviathan.

“I’m getting irritated at this point… just die already!” Leviathan screamed as a torrent of reddish water shot towards Jaeger, who could now dodge due to not needing to worry about the water being beneath him.

Of course, Leviathan didn’t have fine control over the water, due to never actually practicing with it, just overwhelming the enemy with his entire swamp of blood, which is why Jaeger just had to dodge to the side, and Leviathan couldn’t redirect the water in time to hit Jaeger.

With his dodge, Jaeger placed the rifle on his back, not daring to drop it like what happened the time he fought Typhon, and pulling out a pistol as he shot away with his grapple-gun.

Typhon was watching, focusing on the positions of both enemies, because Typhon was planning to take them both out, but Leviathan had to go first… and when Leviathan turned, giving Typhon a clear view of his side, Typhon moved.

Typhon hooked the chains generated from his ankles into the building, lacing them through the concrete in a web formation to increase his grip strength, his arms lashing forward as Typhon’s chains reached across the expanse, grabbing Leviathan’s side, before he began trying to tip over.

“So there’s the other one… what are you even trying?” Leviathan was confused, because it felt like Typhon was barely doing anything…

But he was doing something. See, logically, Typhon wouldn’t be capable of tossing something like Leviathan due to his size, irrespective of whether or not Typhon was actually strong enough to lift him, it’s the same reason why even if one could lift a mountain, it wouldn’t actually occur.

But, something in the air didn’t have the same ability of movement as something with stability and something to push off of.

Now, to throw Leviathan, Typhon needed him in the air, but Leviathan wouldn’t attempt to jump, would he? Well… the choice was going to be taken from him.

Nano-bots were what built up Typhon’s chains, tiny robots with extremely high damage resistance and tensile strength, capable of reading his brain-waves to transform into weaponry of his choice, or, as he was practicing, armour.

Typhon could only control Nano-bots that belonged to him and matched his brain-waves, and they didn’t just pop up anywhere, Typhon had the only Nano-bots in Tartarus not counting the Cyber Chained who occasionally had a few to accelerate their healing.

Now Typhon was attempting something he had practiced with Empusa, by her consent. Namely, could he control Nano-bots inside of another person if they were his own?

The answer was yes. He could control the Nano-bots in another person, and due to their size, the other person typically barely felt it until he did something with them other than ordering them to return.

Through discussions with Empusa, Aaron, and surprisingly the Hydra siblings, Typhon had learnt quite a bit about the human body, and now knew a lot about how it worked, as well as how other creatures worked with Empusa’s help.

Leviathan’s legs looked vaguely crocodile or alligator like, not that it mattered, those things didn’t so much as jump or lunge, but they could attempt take off.

With a snap of his wrist, Typhon’s Nano-bots attempted to burrow into Leviathan, alarming the massive Chained as he bled a bit…

For Leviathan, he had rarely been injured, so he had never attempted to control his own blood before, so he was unaware of the Nano-bots entering him, even as he tried to will his blood to stay close to his body instead of pouring out.

“I’m going to grind your bones away little man!” Leviathan roared, as Typhon smirked, flicking his wrists once more, the building beneath him straining as Leviathan attempted to move.

“Jump!” Typhon shouted, and strangely enough, Leviathan felt his legs twitch, as he looked at his own legs in worry… they didn’t jump, because Leviathan’s size made it difficult for the Nano-bots to move, but they were almost there.

“I said jump, you overweight waste of space!” Typhon screamed as the roof of the building he stood on began to crack, and his skull began to ache from controlling so many Nano-bots spread out from each other.

And at Typhon’s command, the massive Leviathan did a tiny crouch, eye’s widening in alarm as it lifted off the ground…

And then Leviathan’s mouth opened as an inhuman scream echoed when it suddenly felt the chains wrapped around its mid-section go taut, before it felt itself no longer approaching the ground, instead, the ground got further away, and the ground was now above Leviathan…

Then it got closer way too quickly as it crashed into a building, roaring in pain as it landed, a scream roaring out as Typhon shot toward it, Jaeger, having watched with wide eyes following behind with his grappling gun.

“Ouch… oh that hurts…” Leviathan felt disoriented, before feeling something on its belly.

“Stabilize, you schizophrenic DNA!” Typhon roared as he punched Leviathan’s stomach with knife fists, piercing the skin as his ability activated, making Leviathan roar and thrash in pain as his very genetic makeup was rearranged to operate more optimally.

Slowly, but surely, Leviathan began to shrink, all his legs were what vanished first, with the exception of his two hind legs, his tail vanishing as well, and his lobster claws reverted to hands, his crocodile like snout shortening into a human face.

Once it was done, Leviathan was lying amongst the rubble, bleeding from puncture wounds on his stomach, a red cut going all around his chest beneath his armpits… and he was human, with abnormal blue hair… and naked.

“Why! Why does this always happen!” Typhon screamed as he realized he was now straddling a naked enemy as he stood up, kicking the passed out Leviathan away, no longer wanting to get near him as Jaeger stood nearby.

“…You always end up sitting on naked guys? Is there something you want to admit there Typhon?” Jaeger, despite the seriousness of the situation, couldn’t help but irritate Typhon, especially after Typhon’s comment about the German language.

“Screw you! That’s it!” Typhon yelled, stomping over to Jaeger who widened his eyes upon realizing the fight wasn’t over, pulling out his sword and gun as he fired at Typhon…

Only for Typhon’s Nano-bots to crawl over his skin, gathering mostly at his chest where the bullet was fired, deflecting said bullet as Jaeger stared… instead of going back to his wrists, the Nano-bots began to even out, spreading over Typhon’s body, covering his feet and hands.

“What the…” Jaeger stared at the black armour began to appear over Typhon, his face finally becoming covered, as he now resembled a black knight, though with Typhon’s digitigrade feet, and clawed hands, it seemed more like a panther, as Typhon leaned forward, now going on all fours, a sharp tail appearing from the base of his spine.

“Not explaining anything.” Typhon’s voice was warped, as if made of many tinier sounds emulating the human voice, before Jaeger was forced to block a claw to his side.

“Come on, I’ll let you go!” Jaeger didn’t like this, when he had fought Typhon before, Typhon had fought well, but clumsily, using weapons against Jaeger who used many.

Now Typhon’s new tail whipped out, knocking Jaeger’s gun from his hand as Typhon clawed at the sword, instead of pushing the sword, grabbing it and pulling it, breaking Jaeger’s balance as Typhon grabbed at Jaeger’s face, though Jaeger dodged back.

As he fell back, he removed his shotgun and aimed at Typhon, shooting, only for the bullets to ricochet off the armour covering him making Jaeger stare in surprise.

Typhon capitalized on that surprise and rushed forward, Jaeger responded by ducking under the first strike, swinging with a low roundhouse kick which just slightly moved Typhon to the side.

“If you weren’t tired from the past day or so, I think this would have been different… see you next time, Jaeger.” Typhon’s new voice spoke as Jaeger attempted to dodge, only for Typhon to grab his throat.

All Jaeger could do in response as he was lifted from the ground was struggle, his breath leaving him as he passed out due to asphyxiation.

Typhon dropped him, standing still in his armour, which he had no name for yet, as he looked to the direction of Area 11.

“At max speed… about a day, maybe a day and a half… Oh this is going to hurt…” he spoke to himself, kicking off of the rubble, using the Nano-bots in his arms to send chains to buildings and pulling himself away in a manner similar to a certain Marvel hero based on spiders.

Typhon felt proud, even as he left… three dangerous individuals, and he was the last one standing…

Meanwhile, where Typhon had just left, rubble moved as someone began moving a naked body out of the rubble, a blue haired body.

“Leviathan… oh, Charon will surely give me a reward if I tell him I helped save Leviathan…” The person dragging Leviathan spoke with glee as mist moved about him.

Geist had been following Typhon for revenge for a month, after healing from his ribs cracking and then getting knocked over by a Jeep of all things.

But now, he thought, he might have a chance with Leviathan, the Mercenary Guild Leader, on his side.

“Kid, no one saves me.” Was all Geist heard before a hand gripped tightly around his neck, feeling his back slamming into the wall, not hard enough be forced through, but enough to cause cracks.

“W-w-wait! I’m with the Assassin’s, Charon’s disciple!” Geist tried to speak up as Leviathan growled with a smirk on his face.

“Think I give a crap? Charon is scared of me, and you should have known better than to get near me.” Leviathan said as something seemed to click into place, as he grinned, Geist suddenly feeling something compressing in his chest as he choked, his heart refusing to beat.

“Well, isn’t that a weird thing… could never control the blood inside people… seems I got to be touching them to do it though… thanks for being the experiment kid, I’ll tell Charon you died for a good cause.” Geist choked, shaking his head as finally his heart burst.

The blood flowing from his mouth, out his nose and eyes, it all flowed around Leviathan as he glared at the blood, forcing it to hover just around his waist to cover himself.

“Almost fifty years of being naked and I got to wear pants again… not my day man.” Leviathan looked back to the collapsed building, before deciding to walk away.

Leviathan would have liked to kill the Hunter, but he wouldn’t take someone else’s victory. For all that he was a spiteful person, he had his honour as a fighter.

“Typhon… that kid owes me a rematch…” Leviathan slammed his fist on the wall near him…

The whole side of the building fractured as he looked down to his hand, then to his feet, which sunk into the dirt a bit… then he smirked, knowing that, whether he wanted to or not, Typhon had come through with giving him a human-body.

“But first, some clothes, and getting used to my new abilities… we’ll fight another day.” Leviathan said to himself, walking away with his impromptu blood pants…

In an alleyway in Area 9, the area filled with the least amount of physical activity, the Heir to the Assassin’s, Geist, was killed, and no one but his murderer walked away…

When Aaron would learn of this, he’d be torn… was it worth it, losing one enemy only to gain a stronger one?

He’d say yes, considering both would have attacked them either way. But that’s a story for another time.