The strongest. It was a title Baal could always remember pursuing… though not in the traditional sense, he supposed.

To Baal, it wasn’t truly strength, but the ‘pinnacle’ of something which he sought. He knew of his grandfather, Marko Krauss, was considered the greatest inventor in history, a modern, high-tech Da Vinci of sorts, the pinnacle of science.

As such, Baal always found himself wanting to be the ‘best’ at something, at almost anything, it’s why he was competitive and had an eclectic array of skills in a manner similar to Aaron, though Baal would never claim intellect to rival the young Odysseus.

In the end, Baal decided that if his grandfather would be the pinnacle of the mind, he would become the pinnacle of strength, after much, much frustration in the way of sciences.

During a method of proving his strength, fighting in underground death matches, there was eventually a police raid and Baal was caught, and sentenced to Tartarus… something he didn’t actually mind all that much.

As far as Baal was concerned, yes, he was strong, being able to consistently survive death fights without the use of weapons, yes, he was strong… but was he ready for Tartarus?

The question excited the much younger Baal, who had been shoved into the, at the time, heavily guarded walls.

Baal had a good laugh when Aaron mentioned the lack of guards, only two set on him and the Warden only showed up afterwards.

Baal, even in his youth, would have been able to easily get away in the same circumstances, but for him, he was heavily guarded and brought to the Ascension Chamber where he became Baal.

For a time, after being released into Tartarus, Baal practiced his newfound powers while dealing with those usual annoying migraines, taking those chances to go puke and pass out since he didn’t drink the problem away like Cyclops… things were alright, even if Baal didn’t agree with some things morally, he took the chance to get stronger, and prove his strength to all challengers.

“It was around that time Hunter tried to kill me… and well, it was the first time I killed someone unintentionally. It hits differently you know?” Baal said, taking a moment to lift his can of Coke to his lips, taking a long gulp before sighing from the taste.

“Is there a reason you are telling me this? Rather, why am I even humouring you?” Baal looked up from his bench, placing his now empty can to his side as he stared at Umu Dabrutu, the ‘Violent Storm’.

Despite being a Cybernetic Chained like Baal, Umu Dabrutu had the hallmarks of being a Biological Chained, with its disfigured form making its face appear similar to one of those disturbing eels, its eyes shining electric blue while its skin glowed slightly in a similar fashion…

But it was a Cybernetic Chained apparently.

“Eh, I believe backstory is important. It says a lot about a person, almost as much as small habits and reflexes. And well, Odysseus is terrifying, so I know quite a bit about you already.” Baal said, standing from his bench, taking the chance to glance at the nearby drain-cover, his guard point being far beneath them.

There were already more than a few corpses around the area, most still steaming with burnt skin, cracked and oozing boiled, steaming blood after Baal got to them.

“To be honest, the only thing Odysseus wasn’t sure about was your gender, sorry if I get that wrong, I mean… you have an eel head and it’s clearly affected you beyond that point.” Baal pointed out, the look of an eel rolling its eyes would be something Baal would treasure forever.

If Baal looked far to the left and squinted his eyes he could trick himself into thinking his sass was good enough to make even a sea creature roll its eyes.

Baal and Aaron had a bit of a rivalry going on when Baal wasn’t doing his buff warlord impression.

“I’m actually a male, don’t worry about that. Still… if you’re the one Odysseus has set to face me… I take it you have protection from electricity.” Umu Dabrutu wasn’t even asking, already assuming that such was the case given who had sent Baal.

“Of course, I’m Baal… and between you and me, well, only one storm associated person is walking away alive.” Baal smirked, reaching to the bench where Umu Dabrutu saw a duffle bag sitting…

Now normally, Umu Dabrutu would not even give Baal the opportunity before electrocuting him… but given who Baal was, the Violent Storm decided to wait a moment, see what Baal was doing.

From the duffle bag, Baal removed two metallic clubs which resembled baseball bats, if baseball bats were used to club animals to death instead of hitting tiny things far away.

Swinging them alternatively, Baal checked the heft of the weapons before nodding with satisfaction, the weapons humming slightly, a flash of electricity sparking between the two, the spark letting Umu Dabrutu see that one was actually coloured yellow, and the other a deep blue.

“Aren’t those a bit high-tech for a prisoner? Oh wait, Solomon went traitor thanks to Odysseus, didn’t she… That explains it.” Umu Dabrutu spoke with another sigh, clearly this guy was the type of person who was saddled with work they didn’t want to do often, or possibly lazy.

If Umu Dabrutu was humanoid and with a pony-tail, Baal would worry about copyright issues and their ‘troublesome’ nature.

“Yeah, about these weapons, apparently, other than being a demon for Solomon, Baal was originally a god… and these are named after the weapons of that god.” Aaron had also mentioned some nonsense about Beelzebub also being related to Baal in some manner, but most of the explanation flew over Baal’s head.

Aaron was pretty much the only person interested enough in mythology to even consider going that into depth on a fictional being as far as Baal was concerned.

Baal was an atheist in case that actually mattered.

“The yellow one is Yagrush and the other is Aymur, meaning chaser and driver respectively… now, don’t you have a weapon for yourself?” Baal asked, twirling them about, having already gotten used to the weapons, Baal twirled them to regain a bit of understanding to their weight.

The weapons were really heavy for their apparent size, they were practically lumps of metal with a trick or two.

“As a matter of fact…” the Violent Storm reached to his back, removing a poleaxe.

There was actually a reason why most Chained used ‘medieval’ weaponry, and that was because the majority had enhanced physical ability, a sword was a much more viable weapon when one could dodge or tank bullets after all.

The way the poleaxe lit up with sparks let Baal know that the weapon was similar to his own Driver and Chaser… in fact, considering that Solomon was capable of creating such good weaponry with substandard equipment, it was likely-

“This is a Solomon-made weapon, much like yours I believe… unlike you, I haven’t named it… it doesn’t need one.” Baal disliked the attitude towards his weapons, but he also knew that Umu Dabrutu didn’t need to cater to Baal’s whims.

They were fighting, if the Violent Storm actually listened to Baal it wouldn’t be much of a fight, would it?

“Well then… I know I should be the last to say this, but are we going to fight now?” Baal asked, once more twirling his clubs… though they really looked more like slightly bulkier baseball bats really.

“Of course we are. Kind of our job, isn’t it?” Umu Dabrutu said, his cold, dead eyes blinking slowly as he raised his pole-axe, hefting it with one hand, his arms at his side and his stance widened as if standing in a ‘quick-draw’ stance.

Baal on the other hand, raised his hands to about navel height, turning so that his left side was closer to Umu Dabrutu than his right. Were Baal to be without weapons and place his fists a bit higher, it might look similar to a boxing stance.

Baal wasn’t really a weapon user after all, but he did have instincts and good hand to hand ability. He would work from there.

There wasn’t even a moment to prepare before Baal dashed forward, Umu Dabrutu’s eyes slightly widening at the suddenness of the action before he moved as well, stepping back rather than forward.

It was the correct action, purely from a weaponry standpoint, Baal’s weapons were shorter in range than Umu Dabrutu’s, but Baal was oddly powerful physically for a Cybernetic Chained…

Umu Dabrutu was no slouch, but he soon found one of the clubs, the yellow one, flying towards his chest, Umu Dabrutu sharply twisting his wrist and placing his pole-axe in the way of the thrust, his other hand coming up to rest on the flat of the axe and add to his defence.

The impact of the blow forced Umu Dabrutu back in a stumbled step, Baal raising the other club and aiming at the shaft of the pole-axe in an attempt to pry open the defence of the Violent Storm.

Umu Dabrutu would not allow this to simply pass, instead pushing his weapon with his off hand, his wrist once more twisting as he slashed horizontally at Baal, the blow set to cut the strongest of the Ars Goetia in half.

Baal was surprised at the action, and unable to stop his swing, instead raised his knee, catching the axe head between his knee and elbow, a move that surprised both combatants.

Capitalizing on the break, Baal swung his off-hand upwards, aiming Yagrush at Umu Dabrutu’s hand holding the pole-axe, an obvious attempt at getting his opponent disarmed.

Umu Dabrutu actually let go before the blow could land, letting Baal wobble on one leg as the Violent Storm lunged forward, opening his mouth, filled with razor sharp teeth and aiming his mouth towards Baal’s throat.

Baal panicked, letting the pole-axe drop to the ground and rolling backwards, dropping his weapons as he did so, unused to them as he was, Baal had ended up knocking them against the ground and jarring them out of his grip during his roll.

“The fuck, did you just try and bite me?” Baal screamed, mortified by the idea that he almost got bitten to death, literally.

A certain leader of a certain fictional disciplinary committee might approve.

Baal wasn’t even that into anime until Odysseus found him… cartoons, series, movies, yes, anime, no.

“Hey, this is a fight, to the death. Whatever it takes to win.” Umu Dabrutu said with a hiss, reaching down and lifting his weapon with a bit of slowness.

One could be tricked into thinking that such slowness was a sign of weakness, but Baal caught the trap, instead strafing around Umu Dabrutu slowly, knowing that the eel-headed Chained was staring at Baal throughout the entire recovery.

No doubt, had Baal tried to attack, Umu Dabrutu would have massively sped up his movements in an attempt to ambush Baal.

“You know, you moved much faster just a few moments ago.” Baal pointed out, and Umu Dabrutu nodded, twitching his arm from side to side, the end of his pole-axe swaying with his movements.

“Point. If I had actually kept myself a bit slower, would I have caught you out?” The Violent Storm asked, and Baal shook his head in denial.

The Babylonian Chained just shrugged before stepping forward, the fight starting once more.

Baal dashed forward, swinging Yagrush down and watching as an arc of plasma shot out towards Umu Dabrutu, the eel-faced Chained scoffing as he swung his pole-axe horizontally with the same effect as Baal’s attack, the place where the plasma impacted each other creating a strange sizzling sound as both warriors felt their weapons get pulled in that direction.

Right, plasma created magnetic fields due to being able to conduct electricity, both of these Chained more accurately created electricity and, when it interacted with the air, created the plasma.

Attacking each other with plasma resulted in a dense magnetic pull for a moment until the plasma settled, meaning the two Chained had to reaffirm their grasps upon their weapons while watching the plasma melt through the concrete slightly.

The only thing keeping Baal from panicking at the sight was the knowledge that the Zeta Generator was heavily guarded, and even plasma would take a while to melt through to it.

Noting Baal’s stare at the puddle of plasma, Umu Dabrutu realized what was going on and winced, a strange thing to see an ‘eel’ do, but Baal got the idea.

Neither would be using those attacks against each other much more… Baal had to protect the Zeta Generator, and Umu Dabrutu had to secure it, not destroy it.

The breaking of a Zeta Generator was something no one wanted.

Seeing the result of trying ranged combat, Baal stepped forward, slower than before, getting a narrowed stare from his opponent.

The Violent Storm did not allow Baal to lazily approach him, quickly stretching his dominant arm behind him, letting his pole-axe rest in his hand by the end of the handle, then Umu Dabrutu twisted, his torso spinning as the head of his weapon went up before crashing back down.

The attack itself didn’t hit Baal, the Chained of the Ars Goetia moved to the side, seeing the absurd wind-up for what it was and easily side stepping when the axe was still at the peak of its arc.

What the attack did do, was dig into and shatter the concrete, shards flying around with quite a few peppering Baal.

“Mother…” Baal bit back his curse as he dropped to the ground, feeling the displaced air of Umu Dabrutu’s back-handed strike at him, Baal lifted Aymur and thrust it at Umu Dabrutu, the weapon hitting the Babylonian Chained in the chest and forcing him to stumble back, his pole-axe dragged from the ground along with his stumbling.

Instead of capitalizing on his attack, Baal breathed heavily, frowning as he felt a liquid flowing down the left side of his forehead… likely one of those shards of concrete had cut his forehead.

Baal raised Yagrush, putting the back of his hand against the cut and then frowning through the sudden bit of pain.

Right. That was probably going to bleed a lot… the shard was probably not lodged there, but still. And that would be a problem… the blood was likely to flow into Baal’s eye.

Umu Dabrutu placed his left on his chest, a wheezing breath echoing through his barred teeth, sharp slightly flecked with red from either an internal injury, or cannibalism, Baal hoped it was the former and not the latter.

Already Baal felt the blood flowing down, catching slightly on his eyebrow before bypassing it and running around his eye, forcing him to close his eye.

Umu Dabrutu was already moving once more, crouching forward, pole-axe stretched behind him before he burst into movement, Baal cursing when the eel-faced Chained suddenly stopped just outside of Baal’s range, and then side-stepped into Baal’s newfound blind-spot.

Baal cursed, jumping backwards while turning, raising both of his clubs to his side, and as expected Umu Dabrutu hit, both clubs being forced into Baal’s side as he was sent flying, rolling on his side, scrambling to stand.

Strong as he was, Baal was not physically stronger than the Violent Storm… that hit hurt.

Of course Umu Dabrutu didn’t let up, he had already heard of Urudimmu dying to one of the enemy, no doubt because of his arrogance.

Uridimmu was far from weak, Umu Dabrutu could admit that, but… Umu Dabrutu was definitely stronger than the Mad Hound.

Still. Urudimmu dying was a setback, a massive one.

The victor would be decided by who possessed the most Zeta Generators at the end of the twenty four hours, and with how the boss went to the servers, likely, whoever held the servers as well.

So that meant that they’d need to win seven out of thirteen fights, plus Gilgamesh would need to guard the servers from Odysseus.

It was a difficult battle, and knowing the outcome of one was already a loss for their side was a hit to the morale of the Tartarus Management.

Umu Dabrutu needed a victory, a decisive one, and so he violently lashed out at Baal, using his physique, sheer power, and the range of his weapon to both keep Baal from approaching while pressurizing the other lightning based Chained.

Baal was muttering curses under his breath even as he deflected blow after blow from Umu Dabrutu, his upper body twisting to dodge a lunge and then dropping into a backwards roll when Umu Dabrutu pulled his weapon back and then swung it in a horizontal manner, using his roll to launch a kick at Umu Dabrutu’s stomach, keeping the eel-faced Chained back…

Keeping Umu Dabrutu away was actually a bad thing, Umu Dabrutu had a longer range than Baal and Baal needed to be closer to attack properly.

Baal could have aimed his kick higher, he had the height to aim a kick at Umu Dabrutu’s chin after all…

That was very close to those scarily sharp teeth that Umu Dabrutu had though, and Baal kicked the Violent Storm in the stomach rather than take the chance that the enemy would bite his foot off.

“Scared, aren’t we?” Baal scowled, not liking the implications of Umu Dabrutu’s words, he was brave, he was the strongest of all the Ars Goetia, he was Baal!

But… Baal was certainly acting scared.

Compared to the Violent Storm, Baal was much more hesitant when it came to stepping into Umu Dabrutu’s space now, with the Violent Storm taking advantage of Baal’s sudden timidity to launch wide, sweeping attacks.

And Baal was recognizing this. He had to do something, but his range was… his range was…

…Baal had to take a moment and wonder… what was his range actually?

What had Solomon told Baal, when she had handed him Yagrush and Aymur?

“Here’s your munitions, go figure out how to use them. They were recommended and named by Odysseus, so knock yourself out. Literally for all I care.”

…Right, Solomon was becoming quite the nihilist when she wasn’t making scathing remarks about Odysseus or being a tsundere with Lu Bu.

But there was a specific phrase in there that Baal only seemed to recall now that he was stressing about range.

Munitions.

As in ammunition.

The realization of what Solomon had made, and what he had thought they were, had Baal loudly break into cursing after stepping back further out of Umu Dabrutu’s range.

“Mother fucker, what cunt-licking, donkey hump-” Umu Dabrutu was so thrown off that even the Violent Storm couldn’t really bring himself to suddenly attack Baal throughout his rant, shocked as he was by the sudden onslaught of cursing.

Really, even a sailor would blush from what Baal was saying.

“-Up your ass with a bee-hive, how the hell was I supposed to know what these were? What if I hadn’t realized it, wouldn’t I have died because Solomon, the crazy bitch, didn’t want to give the full explanation?” Baal seemed to have finally wound down, breathing heavily, partially because of his bruises and minor scratches, and partially because he used up quite a bit of oxygen during his rant.

The Violent Storm finally saw an opportunity to interject, raising his empty left hand awkwardly.

“Uh… are you done? Can we continue? I’m kind of weirded out here.” Umu Dabrutu admitted, Baal looked to his opponent with a bit of surprise, as if he had really forgotten that the Violent Storm was still fighting him.

“Oh, right… my bad. My bad, it’s just… well, you’ll die before this fight is over, and so I suppose I don’t need to explain this bit.” Baal knew how important withholding information from enemies was, even if he gave his opponent some bogus backstory it meant nothing because none of the information was actionable.

Oh yeah… his backstory he told Umu Dabrutu was definitely a lie, who actually sought to be the ‘strongest’ in this modern era?

It was a bit different in Tartarus for obvious reasons, but still, who would be gullible enough to believe such nonsense?

…Maybe the Hydra triplets. But moving on!

Letting Umu Dabrutu know that Baal’s range now vastly surpassed his was definitely information that should be kept silent.

Instead, Baal sighed, pumping himself up… he could see it, a method to win…

Umu Dabrutu noticed something was different now, and internally began to curse his own confusion, his confusion had led him to stop and give Baal a moment to consider the fight and probably calm himself down.

Baal suddenly burst forward, and the Violent Storm lashed out with his pole-axe, knowing instinctively that Baal couldn’t simply be forced back like he was after Umu Dabrutu almost bit his face off.

No, this time, when Umu Dabrutu swung his weapon, instead of dodging or parrying, Baal surprised the Violent Storm by throwing Aymur, his blue club, into the air, now using his suddenly free hand to hold Yagrush with both hands, swinging violently at the pole-axe…

No, Umu Dabrutu realized too late, that Baal hadn’t aimed at the axe, but the shaft itself, likely in an attempt to kill the momentum of the blow… and worse, Umu Dabrutu could see that it would work.

Already committed to the attack, Umu Dabrutu did not try and halt his attack, instead, letting it happen while his mouth opened, already knowing what he’d have to do.

Baal, seeing that, found a nervous smirk upon his face, really disturbed by the idea of getting eaten/bitten by Umu Dabrutu.

Eels were creepy, and Baal had experienced being bitten by a dog when he was younger. He figured this would be much, much more painful, but he didn’t worry… he had a plan after all.

The weapons collided, and Umu Dabrutu’s arm was knocked back, a jarring numbness going up his arm as Umu Dabrutu aimed to bite Baal’s face.

Baal, having come out the victor in the prior exchange, raised Yagrush and aimed for Umu Dabrutu’s head, wanting to crush his the skull of his enemy, and hoping that this would work.

It wasn’t to be, Umu Dabrutu’s neck twisted, his head slipping past the blow, Yagrush hitting his shoulder instead, and, to Baal’s surprise, shattering on impact.

Yagrush was just as surprised, having expected more from a Solomon weapon… granted, the blow probably fractured Umu Dabrutu’s collar bone, if not shattered it, but still, Yagrush should not have broken so easily if it was a Solomon made weapon.

“Well shit…” Baal cursed, and the Violent Storm smirked a toothy grin, aiming his jaws for Baal’s throat, moving forward, Umu Dabrutu dropping his pole-axe to increase his speed even slightly.

The Violent Storm only caught Baal’s look of victory just before Baal jumped back, practically ejecting himself from his previous location, Umu Dabrutu staring at Baal in confusion.

Baal was confident of his victory though, clapping his hands in front of him in a manner similar to sumo-wrestler, then slowly separating his hands, allowing Umu Dabrutu to see the sparks jumping between the palms of Baal…

And it was at this moment that Aymur fell between Baal’s palms, and Umu Dabrutu realized what was happening with widened eyes.

“You know, I heard Uridimmu got blown up by a tank. You can die like he did.” Baal said in a casual tone even as the sound barrier was broken, the ‘club’ being used as the ammunition of the living rail-gun that was Baal, windows shattering all around as the attack hit Umu Dabrutu’s skull, killing the Chained instantly and leaving a long line of destruction in the wake of the attack as Umu Dabrutu’s now headless body slumped to the floor.

Arms still stretched out and sparking, Baal released a long, drawn out sigh… then took a deep breath…

“Fuck I can’t hear shit!” Baal screamed, unable to hear his own voice with his eardrums bleeding as they were, he could feel the wetness flowing down the sides of his neck after all…

Bleeding by one of his eyes, bleeding from both ears, and numerous scratches and bruises all over.

“Fuck it, I’m done… someone else can deal with this… giving me breakable ammunition… going to go on strike or something...” Baal complained, still unable to hear himself, but he did at least remember to go look around for a phone or something, anything he could use to communicate with the rest of the Key.

Once Baal found a phone, he sent one text.

Area four secured, the Violent Storm is dead. Also, someone figure out how to fix my eardrums. I want to be able to hear when we win.

“Ha, Baal managed to kill Umu Dabrutu over in Area four… and given how his eardrums are busted, I bet he used the railgun.” Aaron smirked, looking at his phone while the royal siblings held onto whatever they could, in fear of Aaron’s driving.

Typhon and Echidna were used to Aaron’s driving, they could handle it, provided he was driving normally… right now, he was driving while looking at a phone, not in front of the car.

“Aaron, Aaron in front, in front!” Echidna shouted, and without even looking up from the phone Aaron turned the wheel, swerving around a building, then twisting past a parked car as well, swinging the two Chained in the back from side to side before calming down.

“Don’t worry, I can multitask. But I suppose I’ll stop to check it later.” Aaron still wanted to be kept up to date with the war going on, the sounds of fighting could be heard much more now that Aaron was approaching the other Areas.

From the reports Aaron was getting, the war was currently… well, favourable for their side. Technically.

In truth, the prisoners had about twelve thousand on their side and the opponent had sixty or one hundred thousand… in that range.

In terms of Chained, yes, the prisoners had the advantage, but still.

In terms of casualties, the prisoners had already lost over two thousand to either desertion or getting killed, and seven Chained from the Fourth Kingdom and Ars Goetia.

Aaron was glad that none of the casualties were from the Pantheon, even if he felt like an ass for having such feelings, he had his priorities… his friends were more important than the others in his opinion.

And if Aaron had to lose anyone to this war, he’d rather it be those he didn’t know than those he did… it was natural… he was still human, regardless of what Gilgamesh had done to him.

Aaron was sceptical though… two victories, out of thirteen fights for the Areas so far… things couldn’t go this well until the end of the twenty four hours. Aaron would love for that to be the case, but it probably was not to be.

“Hey. They have their part. They know the risks. Let’s do ours and hope for the best.” Odd as it was, the monotone voice of Typhon helped Aaron calm down quite a bit, as removed as it was from emotion, it reminded Aaron to focus.

“You’re right. I know you are, but I’ll still worry.” Echidna looked between the two with a slightly confused frown on her face, still uncertain as to why Typhon and Aaron got along so well…

It was good for Typhon though, so Echidna wouldn’t mind.

“Altitude-wise, can this hover-car go over the walls?” Echidna asked after a moment of thought, Aaron looking to her in the rear-view mirror and then looking down to the dashboard of the car.

“Not likely. Commercial hover-cars would never have reason to go that high, maybe five, seven storeys up at most, but considering the walls are just a bit shorter than some skyscrapers? Not happening.” Aaron had hoped that their current hover-car was a specialized one, high-altitude hover-cars were a thing, typically labelled as ‘International Travel Approved’ or something to that effect.

Instead their current one was a commercial one, meaning that Aaron would need the assistance of Harpy to overcome the walls.

“So we’re heading to Area nine then?” Typhon asked, his bracelets/cuffs made of Nano-bots squirming, showing how much he wanted to fight at the moment.

“Yeah. We kind of need the Area nine fight to succeed now, given that Harpy is there… If she is busy fighting Ugallu when we arrive, you’ll get you chance to cut loose.” Aaron said with an evil smirk, Typhon’s usually neutral face going into a very similar smirk.

Echidna had a moment to think that maybe it was their vindictiveness that kept these two as such close friends… friendly to their comrades, but monsters to their enemies.

Echidna looked at her phone, checking the time.

Three in the morning. Twenty one hours left for Breakout Day.