I left the basement when the lamia gave me several bottles containing a black liquid.

I poured some of them into several barrels, mixing them carefully.

It was avatar goo.

I was trying to find the right dosage to infect someone.

When I was done I took a foul bottle and headed outside.

Copper City’s layout could be considered to be considered around the term ‘steampunk’-esk.

There were electricity and public transport, radios, and guns, but they were all made from copper and powered by steam. So much so that the sky was always covered in a grey cloud from pollution.

And I loved it.

An area of advancement and sorrow. A time of rich becoming richer and the poor becoming poorer. A perfect time for me to make deals. I already had several government officials and another businessman’s under my finger, natural they didn’t know my real identity or my true face.

While walking to my destination I changed my appearance.

“Demonic Armor.”

I was back to my large, fluffy black coat, with the monkey jaws to cover my face. I also made my hair a golden color and my shoulders a little bit wider.

In a split-second, Gustave F Bellman was gone and he was replaced by The Harvester, a loan shark, drugmaker, and deal maker.

You might be wondering, why didn’t I stick with the Dealmaker name. Well, it's simple. The GODS fucked it up.

Astera wasn’t kidding, she made sure that every sacred text, teaching, and even on sculptures, I was there as a deer-skulled monster.

There was even a song that was warning children to not make deals with me or their souls will be devoured by me.

It was so annoying and at the same time quite funny.

I literally looked myself up in a demon lexicon and I had to concentrate not to laugh.

“The Dealmaker. Second, only to the Devil Lord, this being is at the same rank as the seven Devils representing the sins of man. He is sometimes called the Devil of Despair; he feeds on the weak and desperate, offering them what their souls most desire. If the poor bastard accepts, he will receive what he wishes but his soul will be taken by this being and turned into a horrific monster that will act as a soldier in his infernal army that he prepares for the Great War, between heaven and hell. To defeat this abomination, one must pray to the gods and angels, use weapons forged from saint silver, and…”

Jocks on them, I tested myself and it turns out holy weapons and magic, those do not work on me anymore. Yes, they do hurt, but I don’t have that supper violent reaction to them.

Also, my appearance was all wrong. I didn’t have animal legs, nor wings nor tail ending by a snakehead. I could pull it off, but that was not the point.

And the summoning rituals…

I could hear them right now, at the very back of my head, because it contains my name three times. I had to change the way how I responded to prayers and created my own chant so that I know if it was one of my followers who were calling for me.

They called themselves parafroms based on their religion which was known as Parafromism. These guys were the followers that no god would want. They were disorganized and outright insane, mainly composing of murderers, psychopaths, and other delightful people.

What I could gather, they were worshiping the crooked version of me, praying so that I grant their wish and accept them into my army of monsters.

True, I sometimes gave them gifts to make their beliefs stronger, but it was purely business-related.

These idiots would sacrifice some living people to me, giving me access to fresh meat to work with and I would sometimes reward them with some avatar goo, to make them stronger and obedient. Some even managed to transform into demons like Bei, giving their faith more power, but it was a rare occurrence, and it only happened if they consumed the goo at least three times or been with the parasite for half a year, which was a miracle considering their favorite activities.

Even now I could hear them, doing an unnecessary ritual.

‘Oh, lord of darkness, eater of souls, master of darkness, take us to your dark kingdom. Submerges us in your powerful fluid and fill us with your power! We sacrifice this virgin on your alter and-‘

“Nope. I don’t care. I will walk away. Damn, they are close its almost like they are next to me or something.”

‘…We pray for your- Shit the Knights!’

Yes, silence. Damn these guys so annoying. They do offer up their souls and bodies for free, but still, the level of stupidity they have is out of the world. Ha, I wonder if I could bread some humans as extremist that would be-

Boom! The doors of a nearby house just got kicked out and a group of black-clocked people ran out, followed tightly by knights in silver armor.

No wonder I heard them; they were right in front of me!

“Capture them all! Don’t let them escape!

Oh, fuck me. Him?! Now?! Is this plot armor?! Or in my case anti-armor.

It was that stupid hero, Jacob and he seemed pissed, which I started to think was his default mode.

“Capture them all! Don’t let them escape!”

Riight~ I will go.

Stupid, stupid me, I was too slow.

“Hey, you! Don’t move!”

Damn it. Two guards came at me, their swords were visible in the nightlight.

“Can we not do this? I have a rendezvous with a cute girl in an hour and it would be- Oh, ok so we’re doing this.”

The two knights ran at me, their weapons high in the sky.

“Sigh. Binders. You know what to do.”

Under my feet, several ghostly hands extended grabbing the guards by the throat and limbs lifting them up in the air.

“…Telepath!”

“He must be the leader!”

Annnd I am now surrounded. Great.

“Before you attack, I just want to point out that I have hostages. Do anything to me and they are done for. Believe me, dying is a bitch.”

The knight said nothing they just waited for their superior to say something.

“…Let them go and we will not treat you badly.”

It was the hero, holding a sword glowing in a white light.

“Sigh, why do you do this?”

…Why do I am doing this? I could kill them in a snap of a finger? Heck, with the forces that I have, I could take over this city in a matter of hours, turning it into a dean of monsters. …No, I need to stick to the plan. If I succeed the reward will be better than if I brute force this.

“…We will see each other soon. “

The threw the two onto the ground, then using some of the liquid that made up my coat, I created a mirror, using it as a portal to home.

To Dis.

*****

Jason POV:

While I was looking for him one of my subordinates came to me.

“Sir, we captured the heretics and found a hidden room. Do you wish to see it?”

“…Yes. Yes, we should take a look at it.”

I need to do this then I can worry about that masked freak.

The knight showed me inside the house then he kicked a bookshelf aside revealing the door behind it.

“Stand back. I will handle it.”

With a song that I practiced many times, I cut the lock in two allowing us to enter.

The inside of the room was… horrible.

It was bloody, with gore everywhere. At the middle of this room was a stone altar, depicting a goat and a deer standing side by side, the first one looking up in the sky, while the other one looking at the ground.

On this horrible construction was a jar filled to the brim with a bluish-black liquid.

“Is this what I think it is?”

“Yes, we tried using the holy artifacts on it. It didn’t even faze it. It’s the Deer Blood.”

The Deer Blood or The Black Liquid was a very dangerous substance that can be found in some monsters and was discovered a year ago. When consumed by a human or by any other being it increases the power and capacity of the user. In exchange it slowly changes the body, turning them into skeletal monsters that only know how to kill. Some believe that it comes from the home of the monsters that attacks us and some think it’s the mark of the Dealmaker.

“Sir, what should we do with it?”

“…Take it to headquarters then troche this place. We cannot allow anyone to see this.”

“Yes sir.”

*****

I appeared before my throne, in my castle, looking at the city that I built.

Well to be entirely fair, the Cane of Beginning built, using some of the energy that was leaking from my body.

It solidified the sand, and with some adjustments I ordered it, to build different facilities.

Naturally, since my brand seemed to be deer skulls and madness, I made sure to be several wendigo decorations, like statues, paintings, and whatnots, with streets that went to nowhere or lead to the roofs of houses.

Well, the place was a gothic mess. Kind of like the maps in those Soul type games I used to play when I was still a human.

Ahh, the memories.

I walked to the huge body of mine, almost 5 meters tall, then I served the connection, waking up in my true body.

“UUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHhh! Sore neck! I will need some cushions on this thing.”

I stud up cracking my joints slowly shrinking and becoming something hum looking.

I was still very tall, around 2.5 meters, with long limbs. But I know wear a white coat with black outlines. My mask stayed pretty much the same, but I added a monocle to its left eye socket, functioning as an appraisal device for me.

When I was done stretching, I walked to the edge of the balcony.

“…It’s a great day, don’t you think?”

They tried to hide their presence, but I could tell that they were here.

From the shadows, two people emerged.

One was a young man with silver hair and red eyes. He had blond hair and a sharp face that had its jaw hidden by a mask made from the jaws of some carnivore.

The other one was a huge, green-skinned orc with bull horns sticking out of its head.

They both wore a white western-type uniform, with a similar design to my new coat.

“Did you made the preparations I requested?”

“My Lord,” the young man lowered his head,” everything that you requested has been completed. We only waiting for your orders to strike.”

“And the…Nuisances?”

Even with their best efforts, some peoples managed to swoop into my world, causing some troubles in the productions of troops.

“I-I am ashamed my lord, but they slipped out of our fingers while they destroyed another summoning circle. However, we did manage to capture one member of their group, who is under… interrogation.”

I like that pose in his speech.

“Really? Bring him here, I wish to talk to it myself.”

“…As you wish.”

The young man walked out of the room, returning moments later with two orcs carrying a greatly wounded person, bound in chains.

“So, you are part of the group who is causing all the fuss in my kingdom.”

I grabbed his head and lifted him up.

“Tell me what I want to know and I promise, you will return home safe and sound, not remembering anything that happened to you.”

Through his long hair, I could see something. Hatred and determination.

“…I see. You would rather die than to tell me. Then you give me no choice. “ With my free hand, I snapped my fingers, calling an avatar over.

“Possess him.”

The avatar nodded then liquified himself before jumping into the air, in the direction of the hostage’s mouth.

Before it could even touch his lips, the slime was repealed by an invisible barrier.

“A barrier? It didn’t seem to be there to protect you… It's for against mind control and mind reading isn’t it?”

I could force my way inside, but there was no telling if the information that he had will stay intact.

“Had he a bag with him or something?”

“He had a basic sword a strange magic device that we are unable to use.”

“…Give me the device.”

The knight nodded and handed over a black square object.

…Is this what I think it is?

Took the object and pressed one of the buttons on its side.

The front part lit up, showing time with nine dots under it.

This is a smartphone. This guy comes from a world with smartphones in them!

“... Give me your finger.”

He tried to protest with the little strengths he had, but I pressed his index finger to the smooth surface.

The phone immediately unlocked, showing the different applications on it.

“Tinder, Snapchat, YouTube, Google… You even have Tittok?”

He didn’t answer but his gave became a little bit harder.

“Anyway, let's see your photos.”

I opened her fille and browsed through them.

Some memes, some dick picks, some useful stuff.

Judging from the backgrounds of some photos, the world that this guy was from was the technological level of the 20th century, but it seemed like magic was a thing there, and was used in please of electricity.

While scrolling to the last photos I noticed something.

On it, he was with a group of peoples wearing the same clothing as him and behind them was something that looked like a tear in space.

This is quite strange. Usually, my troops come out of already set up mirrors or through summoning circles.

Did they make the portal with a different method? It could be very bad if they attacked me first without me preparing to counterattack.

I searched the contacts and pressed the one that had the face of the girl.

The phone ringed for a while before it was picked up.

“Dilan Are you alright?! Where are you? We have regrouped at the entrance of the dungeon, waiting for supplies and instructions.”

“Yeah, eeeh, Dilan is not available right now. he is a little bit beat up. Still alive though.”

“…Who is this?”

“Someone who is keeping him alive. Here’s the deal, I will give him back to you, in exchange for you to allow me to talk to your supervisor.”

“Talk?! After what your army did to our people?!”

“What army?”

Seriously what army? I only sent out small hunting groups.

“Don’t play dumb! Your wolves attacked our city, killing thousands and dragging hundreds into this hell hole!”

“…To my defense, their orders were to gather food and resources. How was I supposed to know that they considered humans as a food source?”

“…Y*You!”

“Anyway, just do as I say ad your friend will live to say another day as a human being.”

“…I do not have the clearance to decide such thing.”

“Fine by me. Then I will kill him and transform him into a monster to unleash into your world. You have 3 days to call me.”

I hang up then tossed the greatly wounded Dave to the guards.

“Take him back to the torture chamber and get as much information as you can but be sure not to kill him.”

“Yes, our Lord.”

The guards bowed then walked out of the throne room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

“… I have been under the radar for a very long time. It's time to do something fun.” I snapped my finger for no reason. “ People of Dis, the true war shall commence now. “

*****

The next day, I was back in my bar, cleaning the place up.

“Sigh, I should have picked a more interesting job than this. Maybe being a hunter like Bei would suit me more.”

While I was pondering on in my life mistakes, someone came in.

“Ah, good morning. May I help yo- You again ?”

It was the hero Jacob. And he seemed pissed. Again.

He barged into my bar and threw a sack on the counter.

“Look.”

I sigh, then opened it. There was only a small glass bottle containing a black liquid.

“I am looking. What am I seeing?”

“We found this in one of our raids. Don’t you find the bottle familiar?”

…What?

“Well, it those look like the sort I am selling here. But I assume there is no alcohol in it.”

“So you confess for selling illegal drugs here?”

…WHAT?

“Sir, you cannot be serious. I have been selling this type of bottle for months. Someone could just fill it up with this stuff.”

“I don’t care. You are under arrest.”

“…Sigh, can I put on my coat first?”

No, I could not.

He grabbed my arm and escorted me outside where a carriage made from iron was already waiting for me.

Tch, show of.

He tossed me inside then locked the door.

“Well, this is quite a pickle.”

I leaned at the carriage's wall and waited till we arrive at our destination.

How should I play this? The bootle was indeed mine, but he probably filled with some of the avatar goo that he stole from the monster corpses.

He is also a pain in my ass, I should just get rid of him now. But it would look super suspicious for him to die like this. Hmm, what should I do?

Then it came to me.

Smiling like a madman, I took one of the knives that I hid in my clothing and stabbed myself with it.

*****

Bamm!

“What the fuck did you do?!”

“it wasn’t me I swe-“

Bamm!

The commander of the knights punched Jason’s face again, breaking his nose and teeth.

“Nothing? NOTHING!? LOOK AT HIM!”

Behind them was an old man, covered in blood and dirt, his frail body covered in cuts and bruises. He was even missing all his fingers on his left hand and one of his eyes was gouged out.

“JUST LOOK AT HIM! Now how can we even hope to get the Demonic Lance to help us?!”

“But I did-“

Bamm, he was hit on the face again.

“Shut up! Just- Take him away before I kill him!”

The knights around them nodded and took the beaten hero away.

“Someone bring a healer here!”

The captain walked to the old man and started to tend to his wounds. While doing so she heard him muttering.

“Yes, I-I will go away… Yes, I will go away… Yes, I will go away…”

…She could feel the anger boiling in her and looked in the direction Jason was taken.

Damn it, You have crossed a line.