“Sir, Lady Gilgamesh is calling you.” Jaeger looked up from his work bench and looked to the uniformed guard before turning back to his work with a sigh.

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Jaeger said, making the man nod and walk away quickly, not wanting to be in Jaeger’s presence…

Jaeger didn’t blame the man; Jaeger had heard the whispers about him amongst the other ‘guards’ of Tartarus…

They called him a criminal, a monster capable of killing ‘Ascended’ which was apparently the term for Chained used by Tartarus management…

He intimidated others, even with the fact that he was lanky and apparently dressed like he was in an old ‘western’ he still had something that convinced normal people that he was more dangerous than he appeared.

Looking to his work bench once more as Jaeger slipped on his duster, he found the dismantled form of an older gun known as a Desert Eagle apparently…

The mechanisms on it were amazing to Jaeger, who had been progressively trying to go from flint-locks to more modern guns…

He was working bigger, hoping to miniaturize later, and here he found his end goal essentially, a pistol capable of firing at a calibre higher than most and its only equal was found in sniper rifles.

Why would he want to miniaturize?

“Look, it’s the Hunter…” Jaeger heard the whispers as he walked forward, and he smirked to himself as he heard them while he walked to the ‘car’ waiting for him.

Indeed, he was the Hunter, and as such, he hunted… granted, right now it seems he was under the command of someone else, but his purpose had not changed.

His fighting style, especially against Chained, was always to dodge and retaliate with his weapons.

Larger weapons were more powerful, but they slowed down Jaeger, and that killed his fighting style. Sure, he could train to move fast even with the weight, but in truth he really fought best using smaller weaponry, such as his pistols.

Fortunately, Jaeger no longer had to struggle to find a way to make things smaller, as it had apparently been done long before he was born.

Granted, the Desert Eagle was impressive but it was not the most powerful pistol model around anymore, however it was the only one of its strength that Jaeger felt comfortable dismantling…

The others were all quite complicated in comparison to even that, and Jaeger had worked with early nineteenth century weapons for most of his youth and only later working out how a trench-gun would function.

And apparently modern versions of those were called shotguns, who knew?

“Hey, you sure took your time!” Jaeger’s smirk instantly vanished as he seated himself opposite the one of the few people that Jaeger could say he hated.

Unfortunately this placed him next to another person he hated, but the choice was an easy one given that he was now seated opposite Leviathan.

“I was busy studying.” Jaeger stated even as Leviathan rolled his eyes, raising his hands above his head in an exasperating gesture.

Yes, ‘hands’… though given one was clearly fake, Jaeger still felt satisfied… after all, he took that left hand Leviathan was currently missing.

“Don’t see why you want to study guns little Hunter… the boss here would provide any equipment, and it would probably be better than anything you could make.” Leviathan gestured to the person sitting at Jaeger’s side as the car began to drive itself to their destination.

Jaeger was still surprised at that by the way.

“Indeed, though Leviathan, you should not discourage his studies. Jaeger is a surprising addition to my tools, and if he wishes to sharpen himself without my discretion, of course I would only support such endeavours.” Jaeger kept himself from rolling his eyes at the flowery words of Gilgamesh.

He allowed himself a glance at the woman before turning his eyes back to Leviathan.

Gilgamesh was notably wearing different attire than when she had first met Jaeger, which made sense since her clothes back then were her combat uniform apparently.

When Jaeger and Leviathan had met her for the first time, Gilgamesh was wearing armour which reminded Jaeger of pictures he had seen of knights in the occasional book, though given the sleek lines and glow on sections of the armour, it was high tech obviously.

Now she wore a dress, a black one which contrasted with her white hair and blue eyes, giving her the look of an innocent woman wrapped in sin.

Jaeger actually compared Gilgamesh to that brand of cookies he had tried in the past few weeks, Oreo? Yeah, that’s what they were called.

She wore black, had white hair and near alabaster skin, and her heart was dark as ink.

Three layers just like an Oreo…

And like an Oreo, the tastiest part was the middle… though that could just be Jaeger.

Granted, he had heard a few people mention eating it with a glass of milk, and he had yet to try that… maybe next time. He got off tangent with that comparison.

“Though I must ask Jaeger, why are you not wearing the uniform I provided you?” Gilgamesh asked with a raised eyebrow, and Jaeger pulled on his jacket.

“Boss, there’s a reason I wear a coat, it can help me conceal my shot trajectory when I fire from behind it. Granted, it leaves holes in my coats, but I patch them up myself.” Jaeger was lying.

Viktor was the one who always patched them up, though Jaeger could do so.

“Oh, a tactical advantage… I guess I cannot begrudge your choice then, though I will ask that you wear the form fitting armour underneath it. That armour allows you to be able to fight just under the level of Ascended like Leviathan after all.” Gilgamesh stated, making Leviathan perk up at being mentioned like a love-sick puppy.

Or a brainwashed one, given that Jaeger had seen Gilgamesh convert him to her thinking way too easily.

“Although Ascended all have abilities unique to them, I’m afraid you don’t get one of those from armour… though if you were to want abilities, you could become an Ascended…” Gilgamesh hinted as Jaeger looked outside of the car window, seeing the surroundings blur as he scoffed.

“No thanks boss. I’m a human, and I will remain human. I do not need special abilities when I have the greatest weapon on the planet.” Jaeger said this while looking back at Gilgamesh and tapping his forehead, representing his brain.

“Oh I agree with you Jaeger, the human mind is a powerful thing… if you feel that way, I will accept it… but only because you are worth something even as a human.” Gilgamesh said as Jaeger nodded, and the car went into silence…

That didn’t stop Jaeger from looking at Leviathan’s new arm and wondering what the heck was up with it, given that it seemed so... real.

Like a living human arm, except if it were dipped in ink, his new arm was entirely seamless, as if covered in glove up to his bicep, where a steel clamp rested which was the only hint that it might be fake, otherwise one would think it was fashion.

And yes, one would think fashion because Leviathan kept his outfit Jaeger had seen him in when they fought, except he had removed the left sleeves of his shirt and jacket, showing off his fake arm almost like it was a trophy of some kind.

He did say he was a ‘merc’ so maybe they wore scars like badges of honour?

“Hey, why do you show off your arm like that?” Jaeger asked, and he kept his happiness inside when Leviathan looked at him with a deadpan stare.

“Harsh question from the guy that removed it… but I show it like this because sleeves would get in the way during a fight.” Leviathan said as he raised his left hand; where suddenly the fingers bent all the way back to touch the back of his hand.

“This hand is a weapon now; it’s like you keeping a gun in a bag while trying to use it. What, did you think I wanted to show off that I lost an arm? Don’t be stupid, who would be proud of that?” Leviathan rapid fired and Jaeger just ignored him after the first sentence.

Leviathan had a point, who would be proud of a sign that you got heavily injured somehow?

Maybe if he got injured protecting someone, but Leviathan wasn’t that altruistic.

“Boss, where are we going?” Leviathan asked as he placed his hands behind his head, looking out the window to see a whole lot of nothing going by.

Tartarus walls were huge, comparable to the Great Wall of China, and even larger height wise… of course it was, given that China helped supply the materials for it…

“We are going to go meet the people who fund Tartarus; they collectively refer to themselves as the Council.” Gilgamesh stated as Leviathan sat up straight.

“So we’re meeting the people who supply Tartarus? Isn’t that kind of a big deal?” Leviathan asked, and Jaeger questioned it for but a moment before he realized what Leviathan was doing.

Leviathan, by his own admission, was a mercenary who got thrown into Tartarus after joining the losing side of a war for a hefty sum, he was greedy for money, and since then had learnt to not work for the losing side…

But he still liked money or any form of ‘payment’ and had a keen sense for who could provide the most benefits if he were to work for them. In this sense, the suppliers of Tartarus are theoretically the richest people he’d have access to.

So of course he’d try and act nicer in their presence, if only to make them consider him for payment or something like that.

A simpler comparison would be an interviewer and a job applicant, but Jaeger wouldn’t know of that comparison.

“For normal guards and John, yes, it would be a an issue… but you two are unique in that you work directly under my command, and as such you can relax a bit easier than others. And besides, I’m one of the Council members despite being a Lord.” Jaeger raised a brow while Leviathan smirked, glad to have attracted the eye of a wealthy person for his employment.

Even if Leviathan didn’t get paid in money, he certainly seemed happy with his current lot, he got to drink, mess around with a lot of guns, and from what rumours Jaeger listened in to, Leviathan had been making momentary stops in Area four for a while.

Disgusting, but Leviathan was a disgusting being so it was to be expected, as sad as that sounds.

“How would one get a place on that Council, through money?” Jaeger asked, it sounded reasonable, given what he had learnt during the last month while working for Gilgamesh, including getting access to the internet.

He spent a large amount of time on that by the way, but Jaeger now knew about the concept of money and what it meant in the world.

He also discovered porn, but that was an awkward thing…

“Well, money was one way, but the Council only had six seats on it because Council members are the original founders of Tartarus, or their children.” Gilgamesh explained, and it made sense to Jaeger and Leviathan…

What they did in Tartarus was apparently bad in the outside world, bad enough that Tartarus walls could receive information from outside but not send any out.

“Over the years there are now only four people on the Council including me, as of the two people one betrayed us and the other had no successor.” Gilgamesh said as the car finally stopped, allowing the three to step out.

“Who are they, the council members I mean?” Leviathan asked as they walked to a nearby elevator.

The walls of Tartarus were hollow, but that was only allowed because their width was tremendous, the width of the wall was well over two hundred metres.

Getting in the elevator which apparently only had one place it could go, Gilgamesh answered the question.

“Well, Tartarus was funded and created by three countries co-operation, namely the North American Coalition, China and Australia.” Gilgamesh explained some backstory before getting to the rest.

“One of the seats was held by the president of the USA at the time of Tartarus creation… he was an idiot obsessed with a giant wall, but he had quite a lot of money to fund our project.” Gilgamesh thought back to the retarded man with distain.

“The seat is currently held by president of the NAC, but this is because the seats of those involved with countries goes to presidents instead of their children.” Gilgamesh added as she thought a bit more on the topic.

“Following this is the Chinese paramount leader, an imaginary position held in their country to be honest, but it has weight to being referred to as that. Those referred to as paramount leader are considered the head of all politics in their country.” That sounded complicated for everyone, even Gilgamesh.

“Then there’s the Australian Prime Minister, that’s kind of obvious given they supplied the land for Tartarus to be created, though they’ve recently become annoying with trying to get more people on the Council because their land is split up.” Gilgamesh seemed pissed, which was within reason.

The elevator opened at that moment, showing the Warden waiting for them as he saluted Gilgamesh…

Honestly, if it weren’t for seeing him away from Gilgamesh, Jaeger would consider the man an exemplary guard/soldier…

The issue was that away from his pay-check giver, John the Warden was quite a dull, depressing man who Jaeger wanted nothing to do with.

“Greetings lady Gilgamesh, I’m here to report that Solomon and Lu Bu are a day away from the target and intending to attack tomorrow.” The Warden said while making his voice more ‘powerful’ than normal given his usual mumblings.

“Excellent news John, remember to warn those two… little Aaron is no push over… if they aren’t careful, he’ll kill them.” Gilgamesh warned and the Warden nodded as he walked away…

Jaeger didn’t have enhanced senses, but Leviathan definitely heard the man complaining about wanting to be called by his title…

Gilgamesh didn’t hear because her physical ability, while excellent compared to a normal human, was only slightly above Aaron as he was now.

“You know Aaron Hassan? He’s been making waves in Tartarus for a while you know?” Jaeger asked, and Gilgamesh blinked before turning and looking at him… and then at Leviathan.

“Leviathan, I take it you knew him as well?” Gilgamesh asked as Leviathan nodded with a disgruntled look.

“Well, I didn’t talk to him much, barely a sentence or two back when I was big, scaled and ugly. But from what I understand, the guy was gathering Chained… oh wait, you call us Ascended, right boss?” Leviathan asked as Gilgamesh nodded.

“Yes, that sounds like little Aaron… such a dangerous boy.” Gilgamesh said as they walked forward to the meeting room, with Jaeger internally adding a bit of information to his mind, that Gilgamesh apparently knew Aaron more than she should.

“No offence boss, but you sound like a grandma.” Gilgamesh looked at Leviathan and that one look shut up the man before he could put his foot anymore into his mouth.

Never mention the possible age of a woman unless she was the one who acknowledged it, and even then, do so with disbelief stating that they look younger.

This was common sense even to Jaeger.

“I am not a grandmother. I am old compared to normal humans, a fact which I will acknowledge.” Gilgamesh said as the doors opened and Leviathan and Jaeger both kept quiet, not daring to speak now that they had entered the meeting room.

Given that no other people were there, Jaeger assumed this would be a video call, and he was not wrong.

“Council-member Gilgamesh, we’ve been expecting you.” Stated one of the voices, shrouded with a voice modifier as well as hiding his face… though Gilgamesh and those in the room knew who each of the others were apparently.

“And you as well, Council-member Eagle. I take it Wukong and Roo are in as well?” Gilgamesh asked, getting two more screens showing blurred faces on the wall across from the door.

“Indeed we are, lady Gilgamesh… I must say though, your voice is as beautiful as ever.” The Chinese man stated as Gilgamesh giggled.

“Thank you for your words Wukong, but unfortunately we cannot exchange pleasantries as much as I’d like to… no, I’m here to report on the Ascended Project.” Gilgamesh stated, making the three images pause.

“Well… this is surprising, we get reports, but rarely in our meetings do we actually mention your end of the work Gilgamesh.” The woman, Roo, stated as Gilgamesh rolled her eyes, no doubt the other members of the Council didn’t catch it.

“That is because there hasn’t been much progress unfortunately. To this day, only a few people are capable of becoming an Ascended, let alone a Lord. It really is a shame, given we four wish to become Lords or even an Ascended if possible.” Jaeger and Leviathan widened their eyes at this point.

“Yes, it is a shame, and your mother was worried about finding the solution for herself if I recall correctly… it’s a shame she passed away.” Eagle added as Gilgamesh nodded at the man’s words, even as Jaeger and Leviathan glanced at each other.

As much as they hated each other, they could agree that the woman in front of them was bullshitting everyone on the other end of that screen.

“Thank you for your condolences Eagle, but it had happened a few years ago. At this point, I’m accepting of it obviously, and this isn’t the first time we had this conversation.”

Gilgamesh’s statement was met with ‘Eagle’ scratching the back of his head nervously.

“But our issues are not why I called. As mentioned, we have successfully created four of the six Lord codes possible. That was true for the last meeting, because we couldn’t find anyone compatible with the last two.” Gilgamesh said as Wukong spoke out.

“Indeed, originally it was to be a Lord assigned to each of us, but then the other two… right, anyway, there is progress with obtaining another Lord? You wouldn’t bring them up if this wasn’t the case.” Wukong’s words had Gilgamesh nodding.

“Yes, the original four, Lu Bu, Solomon, Beowulf and Arthur are still around, though as mentioned Beowulf is still unstable.” Jaeger tightened his fists at the mention of his son…

He had actually seen Chase… or as he now was, Beowulf.

What Gilgamesh had done to his son was disturbing and horrifying, for Beowulf was… to put it in one word, unstable.

To explain it in depth, Beowulf did not have a set personality it seemed. He was bipolar at least, given that in the span of five minutes Jaeger had seen his son, still looking like an eight year old, crying, raging, laughing, embarrassed and… horny.

All within that five minute span, with no external factors in play given that he was in a room with reinforced steel plating all around him…

Jaeger only saw his son through cameras, as apparently Beowulf attacked anyone who entered the room viciously, with the exception of Gilgamesh which irritated Jaeger more than he thought possible…

Then she entered the room and still got attacked and Jaeger fixed his misconception.

Gilgamesh was attacked; she could just shrug it off apparently.

“Yes, the unstable one… he is why we needed to find a fifth Lord… so have you found one, and if so, what designation does he possess?” Roo asked as the three leaned forward as if doing so would get the answer faster.

“Odysseus… but there has been issues involving him as well.” Gilgamesh admitted as Eagle seemed to be holding a notebook as he flipped to a page.

“Odysseus… the Code involving planning… it’s a subpar Code, though to make up for that Odysseus was to have some of the most powerful Ascended, not counting Arthur correct?” Eagle asked as Wukong palmed his face.

“Paper notes, why didn’t I think of that? The chances of someone looking through your memories for evidence is higher than the chance of someone looking for a piece of paper given they aren’t used anymore.” Wukong actually admired Eagle’s choice of where he placed his notes.

“Yes, Odysseus was meant to be a weak Lord with powerful tools to make up for his shortcomings… however the issue here is who Odysseus was before becoming a Lord.” That piqued the interest of all three of the other Council members.

“Who is so interesting that becoming Odysseus was an issue?” Wukong asked, not thinking that just any random person could be dangerous as Odysseus.

“Aaron Hassan.” Jaeger and Leviathan widened their eyes at the reactions of the Council of Tartarus, with good reason given that the two had met Aaron and while the man was interesting…

“Did you just say Hassan? That family is still alive? How, I thought that our predecessors wiped them out to prevent any information leaks…” Eagle seemed genuinely worried as Roo added in.

“That’s not the biggest issue here Eagle, think about it, one of the Hassan has ended up as Odysseus. Think about their skill-sets and what this means for us.” Roo said, and had their faces been visible, no doubt Eagle would have paled.

“Lady Gilgamesh, I have to question your sanity at this point, yes we needed Lords to enact the Ascended Protocols, but allowing a Hassan to be a Lord…” Wukong had gone from trying to flirt to weary of Gilgamesh from that one name…

No, it wasn’t Aaron’s name that was scary, but his family name…

“There was a valid reason for making a Hassan a Lord, and that same valid reason is why I framed him almost two years ago. Hassan’s DNA was compatible with more than one Lord Code.” That was an even bigger bomb than the first apparently.

“Wait, compatible with more than one Lord Code, you mean he qualified for both of the two remaining possible Codes…” Roo began mumbling to herself after gaining this new information.

“Lady Roo, this changes things a bit… while giving a Hassan power is not good, getting his DNA was more important than safety at that point.” Eagle said as Wukong nodded in agreement.

“Between Odysseus and the remaining Lord Code, I determined that giving him the Odysseus Code was better than the alternative… granted, Hassan is not much of a fighter, but even a weakling would become strong with that Code.” Gilgamesh stated as Wukong scoffed.

“You have made the intelligent choice lady Gilgamesh, I apologize for my previous insinuation… granting a Hassan the ability to plan towards any possible goal with enough information is better than making them almost immortal.” Jaeger and Leviathan standing near the door felt as if they were hearing things far beyond their pay grade.

Granted, neither of them actually got paid, but this was a very… heavy, conversation.

“Not only that, recall that the last Lord Code was meant to be the greatest combatant of all the Ascended? Between giving someone a skill they could arguably already have, or giving them all those benefits, I took the lesser of two evils.” Jaeger didn’t quite get it though.

From his point of view, giving Aaron this ‘Code’ should not have been necessary, but for some reason it was deemed an acceptable thing to do by Gilgamesh…

“Still… it is ironic though… of the six Council seats, two were meant to be held by Hassan’s.” that got Leviathan and Jaeger both wide eyed, too many ‘revelations’ too quickly.

“Yes, the Hassan’s were a controversial family amongst the underworld, half of the family were exceptional bodyguards and locksmiths, and the other half was exceptional assassins and lock-pickers…” Roo added in which got a nod from Wukong.

“Yes, the family fought amongst themselves for decades, possibly longer… and yet they came together to work on Tartarus. Thus, two seats on the Council were made, one for the lock-picking side of the family, and one for the lock-smith side of the family.” Wukong’s words got a shake of the head from Eagle.

“Their family was strange, doing aptitude tests on a child of their family to determine their suitability for either side of the family, and then being raised by that side… Gilgamesh, wouldn’t you know more about them, given that you are a Hassan?” By this point Jaeger and Leviathan just kept their faces neutral.

Gilgamesh could be revealed to be an alien prostitute from Mars trying to convert humanity to a religion where God has three eyes, and Jaeger and Leviathan felt they would not be surprised at this point.

“Yes, my grandmother, the first Gilgamesh married into the family, but she was deemed acceptable for the lock-smithing side of the family.” Gilgamesh easily slipped into third-person acting as if her ‘grandmother’ was some separate person.

Leviathan had already pegged the other Council members as idiots compared to Gilgamesh, so he lucked out to work for her.

“Strange family aside, the Hassan’s were always meant to get two Lord’s under their control… normally we wouldn’t allow this, but the two sides compete with each other so often that the chances of them coming together were non-existent.” Eagle added and Gilgamesh nodded.

“I gave Aaron Hassan the Odysseus Code because it was his birth-right, and that is the only reason I gave him a Code when it was unnecessary.” Gilgamesh clarified as Wukong nodded.

“There was honour with what you did; as much as it is a bad thing that Hassan was meant to get a Lord… him becoming one is no big deal.” Wukong’s words got a snort from Roo.

“Yeah well it’s still an issue that we have a Lord on the other side… but we can deal with that, we have four on ours at least.” Roo said, with the belief that even if the enemy got one weapon, it couldn’t beat four better ones.

“Don’t underestimate the new Odysseus… he is intelligent and dangerous beyond simply being a Lord.” Gilgamesh warned as the three other Council members seemed to wave off her concerns.

“One against four usually has the four winning. Still, you obtained his DNA correct… are you planning on cultivating the final Lord?” Eagle asked as Gilgamesh looked uncertain for once.

Like, Jaeger and Leviathan never saw her look concerned.

“We are… we have begun the process of looking for another to add onto the DNA, and we have found a match, it’s just a matter of waiting now… by my count, it will take roughly eight or seven years for the new Lord to be born.” Gilgamesh stated.

“Excellent… we could have the last Lord working with you at Tartarus, given that you need the most support at that place.” Roo added with the other Council members agreeing.

“Okay… this meeting should be over with for now, Gilgamesh, we trust you to go hunt down the Hassan and end him. We’ve been betrayed by them once; no doubt their descendant would do the same even if we tried to invite him to our Council.” Leviathan held in his scoff.

There was a lot of new information given by this surprise meeting, but he knew Aaron from both rumours and occasionally talking to Jaeger, even if those conversations are more often arguments.

Aaron would never work for them.

“Before we end this though, Gilgamesh, who are the two in the room with you?” Wukong asked, staring at Leviathan and Jaeger, who from their views also had shaded faces.

“One of them is Arthur, and the other is a normal human named Jaeger.” Gilgamesh named the two, Leviathan already knowing what role he was to take as he waved at the mention of the name Arthur.

“Why is there a normal human? What is the significance of Jaeger Gilgamesh?” Eagle asked as Jaeger looked a bit uncomfortable being mentioned as if he wasn’t even there.

“Jaeger is the most dangerous human in Tartarus, as apparently he comes from a line of Ascended-hunters within the prison. His grandfather managed to crudely craft some flint-lock pistols and started hunting Ascended, then his son did so, and now Jaeger does it.” Gilgamesh explained, surprising the Council members.

“Really… our Ascended are being killed by a normal human? Granted, Ascended are meant to be strong enough to kill many of them, but still… why do we fund this if they can’t survive fighting a normal human with antique weaponry?” Wukong asked as Jaeger gave a look to Gilgamesh, allowing him to walk forward.

“With all due respect, they are indeed dangerous; I once got punched by one of the weaker Ascended and broke three ribs instantly. So I just taught myself to not get hit, and only go for common weak-points such as joints.” Jaeger explained as Eagle hummed in appreciation.

“You’re an interesting man Jaeger… Gilgamesh, have you considered making him an Ascended?” Eagle’s words had Jaeger clench his fist as he looked to Gilgamesh, who waved him off with a nod as he walked to the elevator, leaving Gilgamesh.

“I wouldn’t offer that again, Eagle… Jaeger is proud of being a normal human, and he takes offence to that question.” Gilgamesh said as they watched Jaeger leave.

“Be honest here Gilgamesh, how much of a faux pas was that question just now?” Roo asked as Gilgamesh considered it.

“That was enough of one that if Eagle was here in person Jaeger probably would have tried to kill him.” Gilgamesh’s words ended the meeting with fear of Jaeger, especially after they learnt he blew off the arm of ‘Arthur’.

That wasn’t the last meeting Jaeger went to…

But it was the last one where they offered to make him an Ascended.