“Ishbula-na, sir, this is my friend, Jake”

The lone eye surrounded in darkness blinked once before a guttural sound surrounded everything in the vicinity. Both people could feel chills traveling through their spines, while Jake, in particular, stood tall as if a rod had been inserted in his-

“▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓”

Mike gulped once the non-existent saliva within his dry mouth, while at the same time he stuttered once to answer, while Jake felt his head spin at the strange sounds he’d just heard.

“Yes! he is staying overnight at my place; he’s got an exam early in the morning tomorrow, and well, his University is closer to my place, while he lives two hours away”

He looked content and proud of being such a great friend, while the eye blinked a second time, Jake thought for sure the room had trembled when this happened.

“▓▓▓▓”

Mike placed both index fingers against one another while muttering out almost inaudibly to answer, “Well, we were having a few drinks and he wanted to use the restroom so I told him to take a left, and well, it was my left”

“...”

Mike hunched over a bit, almost as if trying to put himself in a fetal position while standing, while Jake’s spine was about to snap in half because of how straight he stood. Mike tried his best to avoid eye contact, feeling truly embarrassed at that moment.

Jake looked back and forth between the two of them, before leaning over to whisper into his friend’s ear, “good news, I don’t need to use the restroom anymore”.

“▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓”

Mike looked up as fast as his body allowed him, then at Jake and back at Ishbula-na, before exclaiming an “are you sure about that?”, immediately followed by “of course you are sure, you are the overlord of the seventh ring, it's a given you wouldn’t be second guessing yourself”.

He looked at Jake, and Jake looked back with a questioning gaze that begged for an answer or explanation. Mike smiled and showed both rows of teeth to answer his lifelong friend, who gulped hard as that was a pair of rows he'd seen everytime they were about to do something incredibly stupid in the past.

“Congratulations Jake, from today onwards, you fight for sire Ishbula-na”

“What.”