"Alright, enough messing around," Daniel said, seeing through Ryouko's feigned interest in the gold. Her demeanor might have fooled others into thinking she was overcome with greed, but he knew her well enough by now to recognize her playful side. Though proud and self-assured, she had a strong moral compass; the evidence was clear when she had destroyed all of the dangerous research on the Bianruo Water, the green monsters, and the mutated redwood from Ishido Ryūko's files.
The eerie atmosphere of the cargo hold was unsettling. Anyone else would likely have been swept up by the lure of the gold, but Ryouko and her maids had already sensed something was off. In the midst of a scene marked by desperate greed, Jack—the only person supposedly indifferent to the gold—seemed suspiciously out of place.
"This is just too interesting to pass up," she said with a mischievous glint, lowering her weapon but leaving her two maids still aiming at the man.
"I swear, I won't tell anyone about the gold. Just let me live!" Jack pleaded, shaking and wide-eyed with apparent fear.
"Enough with the act. No one here is fooled," Daniel interjected. "You should've stayed in hell where you belong. Got your visa?"
The pretense dropped. Jack's trembling stopped, and his face twisted into a smirk. "What are you?" he hissed, his voice edged with contempt.
"Who I am isn't your concern. Another demon without papers, it seems," Daniel retorted, his tone unimpressed. "Tell Mephisto that next time he tries something like this, it won't end well for him."
The use of enchanted gold to lure greedy souls into self-destruction was a classic trick. Demons found joy not only in claiming human souls but also in watching humans succumb to base desires and turn against each other.
Jack's expression twisted into a snarl, and he dissolved into a cloud of black mist, attempting to escape. With Daniel's heightened senses, his trail was painfully clear, no matter how he wove and twisted.
"Now where do you think you're going?" Daniel called, a gold-and-crimson chain appearing in his hand. The chain shot forward, piercing the black mist and pinning Jack's spirit, forcing his human form to materialize.
"Mercy!" Jack pleaded, but Daniel wasted no time, pressing his hand against Jack's forehead and activating the Dual Transfer Jutsu.
"So you're just another low-level soul trader..." Daniel muttered, discovering Jack's past through his memories. Just as he was about to probe deeper, he felt a foreign force resisting him, and Jack's body began to expand dangerously.
In an instant, Daniel released his grip and leapt back. Jack's body exploded, vanishing in a flash of demonic energy.
"A demonic contract... Wonder which lesser demon gave him his deal," Daniel mused, brushing dust off his hands. Despite the abrupt end, he'd learned much of Jack's background.
Jack was a centuries-old human who had signed a contract with a demon, granting him immortality in exchange for delivering souls. Jack had lured countless souls into killing each other in order to feed his demon master. He'd escaped death numerous times, resurrected each time by his pact. While Jack's specific patron demon remained unclear, he had gained enough infernal power to sustain himself as a twisted half-human spirit for centuries.
The memory fragment left no clues about Jack's patron, but it didn't seem like one of the higher-tier entities like Mephisto or Lucifer. Likely, it was one of the smaller demon lords using Jack to build influence over time. Powerful demons like Mephisto could manifest on Earth in limited forms, but most demons lacked the strength to cross over directly. They relied on contracts to extend their reach into the human world.
Rules governing Hell were complex; even the most potent demons were bound by them. Souls did naturally find their way to Hell, but demonic manipulation required intricate rules and sacrifices. Only the very strongest demons could bypass them, and even then, only with limited power.
"Thank you, sir," a soft voice spoke behind him, drawing his attention to a little girl's spirit dressed in a white gown, her form faintly translucent but elegant, her bearing hinting at noble heritage.
"No need for thanks. Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked gently.
"I'd like to see my mother one last time," the girl whispered, eyes full of longing.
"Of course." Daniel guided her to her old cabin, where a skeletal figure, likely her own, lay undisturbed with a locket around its neck. He opened the locket, revealing an image of her mother. Tears shimmered in her eyes as she gazed at it.
"Thank you, truly," she murmured, her spirit slowly fading into light.
"Your suffering is over," Daniel whispered as her light rose toward the sky, and he turned back to Ryouko and her maids, who were waiting near the cursed gold.
"The gold here is tainted," he said. "It's demonic gold, designed to amplify greed. But don't worry, it won't affect you."
After a moment's thought, he took out his wand and cast the Fiendfyre Curse, engulfing the gold in fierce, purifying flames. Though it was possible to neutralize the demonic energy within the gold, Daniel didn't want to keep something that had caused so much suffering. Gold was a potent magical material, and demonic gold was even more valuable, but working with demonic artifacts was rarely wise, as many "clever" mages had discovered to their detriment.
In Hell, a "clever" person was just a promising contract. The truly wise avoided demons altogether, knowing that any benefit gained from them was a hollow victory. One error, one lapse in judgment, and the cost could be unbearable.
As the flames consumed the ship, purging the malevolent energy within, hundreds of souls were released from the cursed vessel, rising like faint stars into the night sky. Jack's twisted game had finally come to an end.
"You really met Mephisto?" Ryouko asked, watching the spectacle with surprising calm.
"Once," Daniel replied. Mephisto was likely already back on Earth in some guise, but Daniel was unconcerned—so long as he remained hidden, Mephisto would be of little trouble.
"So, what's he like?" Ryouko pressed.
"Hard to say; he's not bound to any one form. Sometimes he's an old man, sometimes a young child. But it's best to avoid him if you can."
Daniel reminded her to stay vigilant, noting that with her affinity for strange encounters, it wasn't unthinkable that she might run into a demon someday.
"A demon hunter and a sorcerer, huh? Quite the combination." Ryouko chuckled, impressed.
Daniel shrugged, feigning a dramatic sigh. "It's hard work, but I'll do whatever it takes for peace."
---
With the ghost ship dealt with, Daniel and Ryouko went their separate ways in Japan. After summoning a Shadow Clone to take his place on a flight, Daniel used the Mystic Gate to teleport back to New York, skipping the lengthy journey entirely.
"Looks like my relationship with Ryouko just leveled up," he thought as he made his way through his home. But as he flipped on the news, his brows furrowed in mild disappointment. He'd missed a major story.
A news anchor reported that the Life Foundation's exploratory spaceship had crash-landed while returning from a mission. The accident was unusual but had generated immediate public attention due to the Life Foundation's prominent role in space exploration.
Since Stark Industries had published certain alien research findings, the space industry had surged, with governments and private companies alike pursuing interstellar exploration. This wasn't one of HYDRA's fake space missions, but a legitimate effort, with several prominent nations and corporations leading expeditions into space.
"Typical of Carlton Drake," Daniel muttered as he watched the CEO of Life Foundation, Dr. Carlton Drake, give a polished speech. The Life Foundation's founder was as full of grand promises as ever, emphasizing the importance of space expansion in a time of overpopulation, while dodging questions about the specific cargo brought back from space and the cause of the crash.
Life Foundation's real interest, Daniel knew, was in the alien parasites that could grant superhuman abilities. These symbiotes, which included a particularly dangerous one known as Venom, offered near-limitless potential and equally severe risks.
"Saving humanity is his line," Daniel noted, watching Drake expertly deflect questions. But beneath the surface, Life Foundation's projects were driven by the scientist's own ambition and lust for fame.
The key unanswered question was what exactly Life Foundation had retrieved from the stars and what consequences it might unleash.
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