“Odysseus, if they are chasing you, I want you gone.” Charon decided immediately, following the declaration that two unique Chained sent by the owners of Tartarus were going after Aaron.

Charon wanted Aaron and his talents, but he wasn’t willing to attract a huge amount of enemies for one talented person. No matter how nice something is, you wouldn’t take it if you knew taking it would bring disaster upon you.

“Well, maybe that’s what you want, but it isn’t that simple Charon. They specialize in hunting down people, and yet no one knows about them? It’s probably because they leave little to no survivors.” Aaron stated with a soft smile, though Charon gritted his teeth upon seeing it, recognizing that Aaron was practically gloating about the situation.

“I don’t care Odysseus. I doubt they’d survive a hit from my Oar anyway.” Charon said, gesturing to the bladed staff, which was apparently the ‘oar’ of Charon which he used to move the boat across the river Styx.

“Negative on that front there Charon, Lu Bu is a weapon specialist and he has something really similar to your weapon.” Aaron warned, recalling Lu Bu’s weapon…

He couldn’t recall what it was called though… Aaron really wished he had access to the internet for this moment… he was so used to being mister exposition that it was weird not knowing something.

“In that case, I’m a perfect counter for him… but I don’t want to help you without compensation.” Charon said bluntly as Nemea growled at the man.

Nemea really lived up to her namesake huh?

“Oh I think you’ll find that even without your help we’d get through this just fine.” Aaron smirked as Charon scoffed.

“Is that overconfidence? I was so sure you were smarter than this Odysseus.” Charon said, gesturing to Aaron’s four crew members.

“By your own admission, these two enemies are different from the standard Chained in this place, they have weapons from outside Tartarus, and are specially brought in to kidnap people and kill witnesses.” Charon took a breath before dropping his arm.

“And you have two non-combatants in yourself and Cyclops, leaving Nemean Lion, Echidna, and Medusa to fight them. Of the three, only Echidna is worth any good in a fight against powerful Chained.” Aaron internally corrected the words to Top-ranked Chained, but knew that not everyone shared his naming sense.

It showed in how many people used Mechanical Chained as a term, while everyone in his group used Cybernetic Chained, or just Cyber for short.

“Hey!” Nemea complained, though Charon just ignored her, looking to Aaron to see what he’d say.

“I’d say you’re right Charon, but I’m never overconfident. I just have assurance.” Aaron turned to the three ‘combatants’, nodded, and then turned back to Charon.

“Charon, we have about two minutes at max before they get to the corridor outside this room… I have a plan to defeat them. But before that, let me tell you what I plan to do with Tartarus.” Charon raised an eyebrow, realizing that he had just made his own assumptions on Aaron’s plans.

“Go on.” Charon agreed to listen as Aaron began to talk.

Meanwhile, outside the building, two people were standing at the ready to walk in. One was a woman with long hair in a low ponytail wearing a circlet and a baggy pants common in Arabian culture, and a loose long sleeved top above it, oddly covered in grease. Despite her clothing, she was pale skinned with electric blue eyes.

The other was a man with short hair with Asian features, he had a staff on his shoulders though one end bulged out slightly as if a club… he was also wearing slacks and a tank-top.

These two were Solomon and Lu Bu, and they were standing in front of the building which had the control points for the central cell tower of Area nine.

“Finally, he took so long to get into a closed area that I was starting to get bored.” Lu Bu complained as he cracked his neck, leaning on his… his…

“Hey, Sol, what is this thing called again?” he asked as he pointed to his spear, which is what he’d normally call it… except the last time he called it a spear, Solomon had gotten pissed off at him.

“For the umpteenth time, it’s a Fangtian Huaji, or a Ji for short, why can’t you remember the name of your own weapon!” Solomon shouted as she raised her hands above her head in exasperation, looking at her partner as if he was a retard.

“I can’t remember it because you named it such a complicated thing, just tell me the name in English, it’s not like I know Mandarin or Cantonese!” Lu Bu shouted back as Solomon poked him in the chest.

“What kind of Chinese doesn’t know their languages? And why aren’t you wearing your armour? You know I worked on them before we left just for the occasion!” Solomon shouted as Lu Bu moved her arm away.

“I’m from the NAC you crazy bitch, I wasn’t born in China! And I’m not wearing the armour because I forgot it when we left because you were rushing me!” Lu Bu and Solomon devolved into more shouting by the time the door opened.

“Hey, no trespassing… oh… Chained… well shit.” The man at the entrance cursed upon realizing that the people he was supposed to chase off were Chained who as a general rule could kill any normal human easily.

“Shut up, we’re busy!” the two shouted at the man before ignoring him, giving him a chance to run into the building.

This was the right decision, as if he had tried to run away, Solomon and Lu Bu would have stopped their argument to kill him first, though it would be Lu Bu’s job to do so.

After another minute of arguing Lu Bu and Solomon just refused to look at each other, so they focused on their objective instead.

“Okay, inside the building… Sol, you got the layout of the building?” Lu Bu asked as Solomon nodded, tapping the circlet in her hair as she focused on something only she could see.

“Yeah, it’s simple in layout, and from what our intel says, there is only one Ascended who owns this building, and our target came with four others… meaning we either fight four or five enemies and our target added to that count.” Solomon stated as Lu Bu walked to the door, opening it and allowing Solomon to walk in behind him.

“Sol, why don’t we just put trackers in our Ascended? It’s kind of annoying having to look for them inside this pen… and why don’t we just keep them at hand all the time?” Lu Bu asked, having never had to capture someone and then re-capture them, so it was the first time he had to deal with this.

“We don’t put trackers in for fear of someone hacking into our systems and being able to tell where all of us are. It bites us in the ass for situations like this, but better safe than sorry… or so the boss says.” Solomon said while referencing their leader before she pointed out the stairs, not trusting the elevator as their enemy likely knew about their approach.

“As for why we don’t keep our Ascended in place to know where they are, the boss says she’s doing some poison jar thing. It’s a concept from old Japan I think, where they fill a jar full of poisonous insects and things, and then they kill each other.” Solomon said as they began walking up the stairs, Lu Bu taking point as he shivered at her description.

“Why the hell would someone do something as fucked up as that?” Lu Bu asked as he checked to make sure no one was coming…

Unfortunately, there was someone on the stair case, a grunt of the Ascended who used the building… the grunt had no time to shout for help before Lu Bu’s… uh… spear, stabbed the guy through his forehead.

He didn’t dare ask for what it was called again, lest Solomon start arguing with him again… they both ignored the corpse as it began to bleed out on the floor as they continued upward, from Solomon’s knowledge of the building layout, there was only the elevator and one central staircase, and they were on the staircase.

“Well this poison jar trick, regardless of whether it works or not, was used to refine poison. By having the insects kill each other, the one surviving insect would have the strongest poison of all the others.” Solomon stated as they finally came out on the correct floor.

“Wait, so if Ascended are the insects in this analogy, she’s basically hoping that they’ll kill each other and leave behind strong ones? Then if they die, she replaces them with another person with the same abilities, and the cycle continues?” Lu Bu asked with wide eyes as Solomon nodded.

“That’s the idea. In a controlled environment, the results wouldn’t be conclusive or something to that effect. Tartarus is huge, but they can’t escape so they are in ‘one place’ technically.” Solomon reminded, and Lu Bu understood the idea…

Even if he felt it was sick and twisted of their boss to do so.

“That’s fucked up.” That was all Lu Bu had to say on the matter after Solomon explained it. Given her nod, she agreed with him.

“It is, but the results can’t be denied. There are very few Ascended that have held onto their title of being the first of their name in Tartarus, and those who have are either extremely powerful or good at surviving somehow.” Solomon reminded, and Lu Bu agreed here.

He saw the reports of the ‘Original’ Ascended, such as Jormungand, Behemoth, Leviathan, and a few others. All of them had ‘something’ that let them survive longer than other Ascended, whether it was Jormungand and Behemoth being huge in comparison to normal Ascended, or Leviathan going into hiding despite his size.

“Alright, our target should be here… Odysseus…” Solomon said as Lu Bu opened the door to the second-to-last floor, walking out into the corridor, looking down both sides to see no one.

“Isn’t he the weakest of us Lords? Not counting you of course.” Lu Bu said, though with no heat behind his words as Solomon nodded without any complaints.

“Yes, I am the weakest Lord, then Odysseus. Be careful though, his ability is powerful the more information he has. We do not know how much he has on us, but it’s best to assume he knows our abilities.” Solomon warned, and Lu Bu bent his knees, lowering his stance as his staff ‘grew’ a spear head.

Much like Aaron and Typhon, his weapon was Nano-bots, the difference being that they worked around his staff instead of his body.

“So we’re working under the assumption he knows about our abilities… well that’s fine. Even knowing what we can do won’t stop us.” Lu Bu smirked as he stalked forward.

Solomon remained a certain distance behind due to not daring to come close enough to obstruct Lu Bu’s fighting. Their walk was not without incident, as a few moments after entering the floor they turned a corner to come face to face with their enemies.

“Well… this is unexpected.” Lu Bu said as he smirked, Solomon behind him frowned upon seeing who they were fighting.

“I believe you are trespassing on my property. I’m afraid you’ll need to pay the toll.” Charon stated while propping up his glasses, even as Nemea stood next to him, scoffing at his actions.

“You don’t even need those glasses, you wannabe intellectual.” Nemea joked even as Charon swung his Oar, the blade of light doing no damage to Nemea, but it did force her back a bit as Charon glared at her.

“I’m surprised you know words with more than four syllables. Clearly Odysseus was the cause of that.” Charon warned as he looked back to their opponents.

“Ascended codename Charon, why are you assisting Odysseus and his colleagues? From our information, you have no connection to them.” Solomon asked as Charon held his Oar in his right hand, the other biting his glove off of his left hand.

After the glove was removed, it was revealed that Charon had a hand that was blatantly robotic in origin as he swapped hands, removing his right hand glove to reveal a similar hand.

“It seems Odysseus was correct in your terms for Chained as we call ourselves… as for why I am supporting him...” Charon had a small smile come on his face as he put his gloves in his pockets.

“I’m an assassin. I kill people, I do not care for the dead and the only time I care for the living is when I am paid to do so.” Charon said as Solomon narrowed her eyes.

“Meaning Odysseus had to have promised you something… what did he promise, I’m sure we can provide greater benefits.” Solomon offered as Charon’s face went back to its previously neutral look.

“While I am sure you can, you can’t provide the greatest benefit I was offered…” Charon said with an off-look before Nemea finally had enough and stomped her foot, cracking the floor slightly.

“Shut up! I’m tired of talking! You there, with the spear, fight me!” Nemea rushed forward, ignoring Solomon’s complaint of it being called something else.

“Whoa, you’re a feisty little lady.” Lu Bu stepped back to kill some of the momentum of Nemea as he blocked her claws, his eyes widening as she instead grabbed the spear and used it as leverage to lift her off the floor and kick Lu Bu in the chest while letting go of the spear.

“Claws? Not a lot of robotic based Ascended with those… you aren’t Medusa, nor are you Harpy… hey Sol, who is this?” Lu Bu asked as he slashed at the tiny blonde while Solomon sighed.

“She is most likely Nemean Lion, given that they sent her after you while knowing about your weapon.” Lu Bu nodded at her words, swinging his spear at Nemea.

Nemea caught the spear, though was surprised when she felt a powerful shock causing her to let go of the spear and jump back.

“Hey, my weapon was specially made for me by Sol, only I can touch it without getting hurt.” Lu Bu warned, Solomon ignoring how possessive he sounded… mostly because Lu Bu was probably just being factual.

“Well, then I’ll just have to fight smart then…” Nemea growled, even as Charon sighed while walking towards Solomon.

“I have my reservations about her intelligence, but I’ll leave that fight to her… as for you, Solomon correct? Seeing as Aaron is now my employer, I’ll be facing you.” Charon said as Solomon frowned.

“I’m not a combatant… but given that I have no choice, I guess I will.” Solomon frowned, reaching into the pocket of her pants to pull out two bracelets.

“Right, well I don’t quite believe you, given that Odysseus has warned us that you are the more dangerous between you and your partner Lu Bu.” Solomon frowned at that, and Lu Bu, listening in while fighting bit his lip in an attempt to keep from complaining.

“I’ll leave you to that misconception.” Solomon said, strapping her bracelets on as Charon rushed her, surprisingly fast for someone in a three-piece suit, and he was quick to swing his Oar diagonally at her shoulder.

Charon was surprised to see her blocking with her left arm, a shield of light spouting from her bracelet as her right arm swung at Charon, who moved his Oar back to block with its light blade.

His action was correct, given that a blade of light hit his Oar, causing Charon to stumble back, Solomon not pressing the attack and instead waiting in defence.

“Light… coming from the bracelets I’d guess. And they form a sword and shield… given that you aren’t attacking me, I can guess that you’re a defensive fighter.” Charon stated, making Solomon frown.

“I told you. I’m not a combatant.” She seemed adamant about this as Charon nodded.

“Indeed, I have stated that I don’t quite believe you on that front… but I can see that you are not one to initiate fights. Nonetheless, you are the more dangerous between you and your partner.” Charon stated with surety as Solomon narrowed her eyes.

“And what makes you say that?” she asked as Charon pointed at the fight between Nemea and Lu Bu.

“He is clearly a much better fighter… but he takes his cues from you. In other words, your relationship has a dynamic similar to a general and knight, you command and he protects.” Solomon kept her face neutral, but even silence can be taken as an answer as Charon nodded.

“According to Odysseus, that’s because of your abilities as Chained. He possesses Evolving Combat, and you possess the trademark of your name, Wisdom.” Solomon and Lu Bu both widened their eyes as Charon smirked.

“Oh, he truly is a wonder to work for, Odysseus I mean… he was open with both of your abilities and how we could defeat the two of you.” Solomon frowned, having not wanted their abilities to be known.

Evolving Combat, Lu Bu’s ability, was basically combat prediction software.

The longer he fought one particular enemy, the more experience he would gain, thus augmenting Evolving Combat which would provide him guidance to fight better. It also allowed Lu Bu to copy any fighting style used against him, adjusted to his body type and abilities obviously.

As for Solomon, Wisdom was an ability that wasn’t as clear cut as Evolving Combat… the closest comparison was Aaron and his Odyssey of Victory.

Wisdom had numerous definitions depending on who you asked and where they learnt about it from, many had their own takes on wisdom. Solomon’s own ability followed one of the many tenants of wisdom.

Wisdom is the ability to use knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgements; this was what Solomon’s ability did, though Solomon more commonly used it as a sort of library.

By learning something, Solomon would always know it, and in addition it provided innovation to complex problems. For example, she knew the layout of this building due to having seen the blueprints within the Tartarus main-frame, which contained general information on the place previously known as Australia.

So if Odysseus knew about their abilities, and specifically sent Charon and Nemea out to fight Solomon and Lu Bu, it meant he was confident these two alone could defeat Lu Bu and Solomon…

“Odysseus has to be a fool then.” Solomon stated, making Charon raise an eyebrow in questioning as Solomon stood ready to fight.

“If he really did know our abilities then he would know there is nothing you or the Nemean Lion can do to stop the two of us.” Solomon said as Charon walked forward, once more attacking as he and Solomon traded blows…

Unfortunately, their fight was more of one for show, as Charon was indeed swinging fast, but not enough to catch Solomon off guard, while Solomon did not counter often.

“See, you’re actually wrong there… Now I’m sure that, given whom you work for, that you know what my ability is.” Charon offered as Solomon glanced to Charon’s exposed hands.

“You can eject liquid nitrogen from your hands, typically in gas form. Your skin has been replaced in the Ascension process to be resistant to it, which is why your hands can also store it.” Solomon stated easily as Charon nodded.

“Exactly, against a normal human I just need to grab their throat, chest or skull to kill them if I can hold it for about ten seconds. Against Chained, it’s usually a longer process, which is why I’d rather use my Oar against Chained.” Solomon failed to block a hit as the Oar slashed a cut on her arm, causing Solomon to wince.

“Ahem, we got side-tracked here. My ability is to freeze things I touch. You know this, and so it can’t work on you, but you also can’t defeat me, given that you are not a fighter.” Charon added and Solomon glared at the man as he adjusted his glasses.

No wonder the man was one of the ‘Original’ Ascended… Charon was one those select few who had survived since being placed in Tartarus, and the reasons he did were obvious looking at him.

Intelligent, a capable combatant, but most importantly, he would not look for enemies that he could not survive against. He was someone who knew himself and worked around his limitations.

His personality left much to be desired, but he seemed comfortable with it.

“So you can’t beat me but I can’t beat you. That means this encounter relies on the Nemean Lion. That’s even worse. I was informed that she lost a fight against Odysseus, and he’s much weaker than Lu Bu.” Solomon said, and that was when Lu Bu flew past her into a wall nearby, making Solomon widen her eyes.

“Hey, you talking shit about me?” the ‘Lion’ spoke as she walked closer, glaring at Solomon while Lu Bu winced and stood from where he had fallen to the floor.

“How, you lost to Odysseus?” Solomon asked Nemea as instead of the subject of her question, it was Lu Bu who answered.

“I don’t think that means much Sol… the Lion, she’s good… really good.” Lu Bu said as he stood, looking back at Nemea who was smirking as she bent her knees, bringing one hand to her hip while her other hand remained facing outwards.

“Of course I am! I’m the most accomplished martial artist in Tartarus for a reason!” she said as Charon chuckled from the side, fixing his glasses.

“As mentally challenged as I feel she is, she isn’t wrong… that was something you would know if you actually paid attention to what goes on in Tartarus.” Charon said with a smirk as he continued his attacks on Solomon.

“If you’re so skilled, how could you lose to Odysseus?” Lu Bu asked with a roar as he lunged forward, stabbing a few times in a rush as Nemea evaded each blow, only smacking aside the occasional on point stab.

“I lost because I’m proud.” Nemea admitted as Lu Bu and Solomon blinked, this gave Nemea enough time to scratch out, gouging some of the flesh on Lu Bu’s shoulder, making him gasp in pain.

“I am the greatest martial artist in Tartarus. I only fight at my best against those who deserve it… and I wrongly determined Odysseus to not be worth my time… at least, until he grabbed me.” Nemea said as she dodged a slower stab from Lu Bu as she attempted to attack his other shoulder, only to be forced back as he spun his spear.

It wasn’t immediately apparent, but Nemea would find herself struggling to ever harm Lu Bu in a similar manner ever again, that’s what Evolving Combat did for Lu Bu, though it was annoying having to get hit with an attack to counter it the next time… only sometimes he got away with just looking at it.

“By then, it was too late and Odysseus had won… when I fought him, I basically brawled, there was little to no technique in my movements. I paid the price with a loss, my first loss since I became the Nemean Lion.” She frowned as she finished speaking, Lu Bu managing to clip her side with the haft of his spear, sending her flying away as she flipped and landed on her feet.

“I’m still working on that bad habit, I still underestimate him in the rare spars we have due to his lack of skill, and at this point I win every time.” Nemea said as she winced from the blow.

“On the other hand, my bad habit of going easy on opponents doesn’t exist when I face the strong, and well, you are skilled… probably as skilled as that Sphinx guy.” That name caused Lu Bu to frown, taking one hand off of his spear to clench at his left side, recalling his broken ribs gained from fighting Sphinx.

Sphinx was likewise injured in that fight, but it was the first time Lu Bu had been so heavily injured in one blow, especially given that Sphinx was not aware of Evolving Combat and seemed to have guessed what it did without prior knowledge.

“You would be aware of this if you were a resident of Tartarus, but I fought Sphinx before, back when I was still starting out my coliseum.” Nemea smirked as Lu Bu glared at her based on her insinuations.

“Oh I got hurt a lot… but I’m the one who walked away the victor that day. And that was before I went through almost fifteen years of combat against martial artists and powerful Chained who thought they could take me out.” Nemea said as Solomon realized the issue.

“I’ve gotten better since then, even if I don’t always show it.” Nemea said as she was about to step forward to attack Lu Bu, Charon likewise about to continue the attack when they heard a clap sound.

“Alright, that’s enough everybody, this fight is over!” Solomon and Lu Bu turned to the voice, even as Nemea and Charon walked over, Nemea scowling even as they both ended up standing next to Aaron, aka Odysseus.

“Odysseus… I wouldn’t think that our target would so willingly appear.” Solomon said as she removed a tiny pistol and aiming it at him… his smirk worried her.

“Well, as much as it’s a stereotype, I think the villain should only appear when he’s convinced of his victory, isn’t that right?” Aaron asked with a smile as Solomon reaffirmed that she was aiming a gun at his head.

“Oh don’t be like that Solomon… we both know that gun probably only has a tranquilizer in it, I’m worthless to her if I’m dead.” Odysseus stated as Lu Bu squared his own stance.

“Maybe so, but as a Lord you are not meant to be inside this place.” Lu Bu added as Aaron shook his head with a sigh.

“That’s the problem here… I’ve certainly done enough in my life to deserve my place in this hellhole, but I’m not so quiet as to just accept being trapped here…” Aaron frowned, suddenly glaring at the two.

“I hate being confined. It’s damn near a phobia, probably is at this point given that I’ve been through ten months of torture at the hands of Tartarus and her. And while Tartarus is big… it’s still a prison.” Aaron said as his smile reappeared, looking to Lu Bu, then back to Solomon.

“So given my hatred of being confined, and that this prison is confining me… I think I’ll break it. But for that, I’m going to need help… why don’t you two join me?” Solomon scoffed at the offer, Lu Bu shuffling in an agitated manner while Solomon replied.

“I doubt you’re an idiot Odysseus, but it seems as if you’re a fool Odysseus. Tartarus is inescapable, with resources far beyond what you possess inside here.” Solomon said wearily.

Nemea was talking to Charon about how confusing Solomon just sounded, with the man explaining that there is a difference between fool and idiot, even if they could be used as synonyms.

Then she asked what a synonym was and Charon said that Nemea was an idiot but not a fool, making her angry as she was aware she was just insulted.

“That may be, but how about I tell you three things that might change your mind?” Aaron said, raising a hand and his pointer finger.

“One, Tartarus is not inescapable, as the last surviving member of the Hassan family I am aware of the designs of this place and there is a way to escape.” That threw Solomon and Lu Bu both for a loop, having been aware of his surname, but thinking that he just happened to share it with the architects of Tartarus.

“Two, you and Lu Bu are both mentally unwell, this is due to not having been given access to Typhon and Echidna, if you join us I’m sure they’d be willing to Synchronize and Stabilize you.” Aaron said, and Solomon at this point was weary of his statements while Lu Bu slightly lowered his spear.

“And the third thing you should know. I’ve planted bombs all over the base of this building and I’m kidnapping Solomon.” Aaron said with a smile promising that shit was about to hit the fan.

That’s when the explosions started as Solomon felt something hit the back of her head… She blacked out immediately.