"Is that the best you've got?" the demon girl asked.
And the weird part, her voice was soft, almost musical.
It didn't match the scary vibe at all, not with those horns and that whole "final boss" presence.
"D-D-D-De... demon!"
He stumbled back, cold sweat crawling over his skin, until his back smacked the wall.
Trapped. He tried to talk again. Nothing.
"Yeah... and?" she went on, teasing. "You gonna tell me I'm a demon? You really gonna say something I already know?"
Damon was a heartbeat away from losing it when a sharp pain speared his right eye.
ZAP. An electric-blue status window snapped open, showing what his skill was straight-up leaking out of reality:
[NAME: AIWASS]
[RANK: UNKNOWN]
[AGE: UNKNOWN]
Damon felt his stomach drop.
Unknown rank?!
How is that even a thing?! Even S-Rank Hunters have measurable stats!
He wasn't looking at a "strong enemy."
He was looking at something the system couldn't even label.
A straight-up power glitch.
Gulp.
Damon tightened his grip on the kitchen knife.
"Why are you in Zero's place?" he asked, praying she couldn't hear his knees knocking.
She let out a small laugh, still holding the towel wrapped around her like she owned the room.
"That's my line," she said, calm in a way. "Why are you in Zero's place, stranger? And how did you open the door?"
Damon swallowed. There was no way he could keep the act going with her.
Aiwass, with that Unknown Rank, could probably read a lie like it was printed in big letters.
"Fine... now I know you know I'm not Zero, Aiwass," Damon said, trying to sound solid. "So tell me, what are you to him?"
The air shifted.
Her smile vanished. Her eyes locked on Damon like blades.
"Whoa, hold up," she said, walking in slow. "How do you know my name?"
Shit. SHIT.
Damon's brain hard-froze. He'd seen it in the status window and said it out loud without thinking.
Idiot. Absolute noob mistake.
"I, uh... I..." Damon started stammering, backing up until his shoulders hit the cold wall again.
She was right there now, crowding him with her height, cutting off every escape route.
"Tell me why you know my name, right now, or..."
Her fingers closed around his throat.
One squeeze and she could've snapped his neck like a dry stick.
Then, BOOOOOOM!
A brutal explosion shook the penthouse. The "unbreakable" armored door got blown off like it was nothing.
Damon and Aiwass froze from the impact as smoke poured into the hall.
From outside, a voice packed with pure hate echoed in:
"Come out, you sewer rat!" Viper yelled, the loan sharks' leader. "We know you're not Zero! Stop hiding!"
Damon's heart tried to jump out of his chest. Viper actually did it.
They were here for the fifty million, or they were here to take his head.
He was stuck between a monster who wanted to kill him for knowing her name and a crew of thugs who wanted to kill him for money.
Surrounded. Completely.
Then something clicked in Damon's head.
It was a suicide play, a desperate all-in, but it was his only card.
He looked straight into Aiwass's eyes, ignoring the hand still crushing his throat, and forced the words out:
"If you kill me... you'll never get the truth," Damon rasped. "You'll never know how I know your name, or how I opened the door. The secret dies with me."
He swallowed, throat screaming under her grip.
"You have to help me!" he blurted, pointing at the blown-out doorway where Viper was about to storm in. "Wipe them out and I'll tell you everything!"
Aiwass didn't even get a chance to answer.
Time was up.
CRASH. The Black Viper Guild goons poured in like hungry wolves.
Viper strutted in front, staring at Damon in the middle of the room, shaking like he was about to snap.
"Look at him," Viper disgust was dripping off every word as he spat on the floor. "Pathetic. You really thought this worm was the Great Zero?"
Damon couldn't move. Terror had him hard-stunned. He had no chance against armed hunters.
His only hope was her.
He whipped around, searching for his six-foot-two "tank."
She wasn't there.
Aiwass was gone. The only thing left where she'd been standing was the white towel on the floor.
She bailed? She really left me?
Invisibility? Teleport?
He was gonna die alone and pathetic in a penthouse that wasn't even his.
Then the towel twitched.
A small black head with pointed ears peeked out.
A black cat crawled out and stared at Damon like he was the weird one.
"Meow."
Damon's mind went empty.
What the hell? Where's Aiwass? Why is there a cat?
None of it made sense. Did she vanish and some random stray just wandered in?
Viper and his guys kept moving, not even looking at the animal.
Then a voice hit Damon from the inside, like it was speaking straight into his skull.
The cat's golden eyes locked onto his, and Aiwass's voice dropped into his head, cold and final:
I'll take it from here. But you owe me your soul.
Pure survival took over. Damon threw up a shaking hand to cover his face, bracing for the end.
It didn't come.
From the shadows behind him, Aiwass, still in cat form, attacked.
BOOM!
A shockwave of pure Void blasted out, passing just over Damon's shoulder.
To everyone watching, it looked like Damon's casual hand motion had just nuked the room.
CRASH!
The force sent the loan sharks flying, smashing them through the reinforced penthouse wall like it was cheap drywall.
Viper clawed his way up from the rubble, bleeding, his face twisted with fear.
He looked at Damon, still holding his hand up, and panic flooded his eyes.
"It's a trap!" Viper screamed, spitting blood. "He played weak! He was baiting us! So it's true... HE'S THE REAL ZERO!"
The criminals panicked instantly.
"Run! Before he one-shots us!" Viper howled, bolting through the hole in the wall, his limping, terrified crew scrambling after him.
Silence crashed back down.
Damon dropped to his knees, pale as a ghost.
He felt like his soul was leaking out of him.
What... what just happened?
A soft laugh cut through it.
Aiwass shifted back into her semi-human form.
This time she was completely naked, biting into an apple from the kitchen fruit bowl like she was on break.
Heat rushed straight to Damon's face. He snapped toward the wall and stared at an abstract painting like it was the most interesting thing in human history.
His instincts were screaming that if he stared too long at the predator, she'd take his eyes for it.
"Crunch," she chewed, clearly entertained, ignoring his embarrassment.
"That was fun. I've never seen humans run that fast."
She swallowed and looked at Damon.
"Alright, playtime's over," Aiwass said, walking closer. "Now we talk contract. You owe me your soul, remember?"
[BINDING SOUL CONTRACT DETECTED]
[CREDITOR: Aiwass]
[DEBT: 1 Human Soul]
[TIME REMAINING: INDEFINITE]
[PENALTY FOR DEFAULT: ANNIHILATION]