From what I've learnt from the past 5 years... almost 6 years now is that there are two rules with dealing with demons.

  When they are being emotional: make yourself smaller but not too small, kids like stepping on ants because they don't cause much mess but wouldn't step on a rabbit because it might squeal and scream while getting blood everywhere, a hassle. So, you need them to know that killing you would be worse than letting you entertain them with your cowardice. Take an example from my past, around 2 years ago Lilith asked me to choose between two people I knew to kill instead of the usual elderly.

  I gave her a friend's name, Maria, who was my closest friend at that point. I said it up front, following her orders to a boring degree that made it seem wasteful to kill them now, I didn't even put up a fight, what's the point if I don't put up a fight? She expected me to at least hesitate but no I told her who she wanted me to say instantly.

  Naturally she turned this around and made fun of me for not having anyone close to me, probably waiting for the day I get attached to someone, so she could take them away from me.

  Maria died a few months later, but I had saved her for those months, it wasn't Lilith that killed her, it was disease. Although people think that I caused her disease somehow due to a cough I had a few days prior.

  When they are being logical: Puff out your chest, speak your mind, never back down. This is what I am best at, Lilith would constantly give me logical trolly problems to solve with real lives, and every time I chose the best answer, 1 instead of 2. Always.

  Currently, at this very moment, the original Null is staring at me, she assumes I will accept any terms just because she is stronger than me.

  But she has a set of rules.

  She wants me alive, and she can't lock me up because the more infamy I get the more her product will sell. I assume.

  “I want 50%.”

  Start off with an offer so incredibly stupid that they’ll think I've gone crazy. This'll give them whiplash because I was so submissive earlier.

  She wraps pink ribbons around an apricot scroll, cloning it into two of the same, “50%? Of what?”

  “Profits.”

  “Listen. There is upkeep and risk to this company, you can't take my profit margins without taking risk yourself. Thats how business goes.”

  “Not overall profits. Your profits.”

  She forces the apricot scroll into my mouth, I take a bite and then spit it onto the floor, ”50%.”

  “No. You said what you wanted. To be considered one of us. You cannot ask for more.”

  “I was under the impression that this was a business deal? What kind of businesswoman are you to put a dictatorship on this conversation?”

  I get up, she locks me in place with that same magic apparently everyone has, “this isn't done yet.” She moves each limb to force me to sit back down, okay.

  “Let me go.”

  “Or what?”

  I visualize the explosion spell, using the healing spells ‘body’ variable as the target, which will obviously target me. If I'm valuable she won't let me get hurt right? I repeat the 3 variables in my mind, body, carry, explosion. Body, carry, explosion.

  “STOP.” she slams her hand on the table before I can visualize activation, “don't cause a disturbance. We can be civilized.”

  She lets go of me with her spell, I lean back, so she does need my body to be intact.

  “I want 50%, you need me to gain more infamy, correct? Imagine a human being with a ring who also happens to also be rich. Wouldn't that make you get more sales?”

  “Not 50% worth of sales.”

  “Is this not a business deal? Bargain then.”

  She taps the table three times, then again, obviously thinking this all over, “I cannot give you profits as you don't have a bank account and you would want to be involved in taxes, trust me.”

  This place has taxes too? Id assume this was a lie, but the look on her face shows that she seems to be respecting the business deal, respecting me as a valid associate. For some reason I trust her when she says I should do anything involving tax.

  “Is capital taxed?”

  “It isn't after its bought, but most of my capital is within the inner circle, you cannot be here unless you are rank 5 and above.” She taps three more times, ”I'm beginning to understand Lilith’s affinity towards you, you are strangely similar to us.”

  I'm not. “I'm not.”

  “Agree to disagree, I have a few homes in the outskirts of the outer circle, I'm using them as storage spots for my clones. You'll need a home after you get kicked out of Lilith’s mansion.”

  “Kicked out?”

  “You don't seriously think you'll stay there, right?”

  I assumed it would have been abandoned, but I guess someone had to own it after Lilith’s ‘death.’

  “Who owns it now?”

  “The one who moved a star, a surprisingly shallow woman, only cares for new discoveries, I assume that’s what boredom and age does to you.”

  I smile, the boss did seem like she wanted to get rid of everything to do with me, ”hey. What if you buy that empty experiment site Lilith used to own? And give it to me.”

  “Due to Lilith’s unfortunate death, the site will be recycled very very soon, so if you’re asking for an empty plot of land. Sure.”

  She isn't hiding it anymore, she is secretly saying there are people alive there, why else would she bring up recycling?

  “Can you still visit?” I lean in, if she isn't bullshitting I might be able to save everyone sooner than later.

  “You are asking me to commit a crime and move people out? No. That would warrant more than a fine.”

  Right...I need to ask for more... books, “I want books. All of them on every type of magic in my home you'll give me.”

  “That benefits us both, I have too many nowadays, done.”

  “And I want you to take my friends to the modern world. Get them out.”

  “No.”

  Okay. I begin to activate the explosion spell on myself, body, carry, explosion, body, carry, explosion.

  “Okay I guess if you want to wail like a child we are done here.” She gets up, “kill yourself, I lose less from your death than ill lose giving into your silly demands.”

  I overplayed my hand, I stop reciting the spell, ”fine, I'll take a place in the outer circle with books and to be considered one of you.”

  I have to backtrack, she is stubborn and will definitely not give anything more due to pride. I can still work with this, if I have a place to stay and get stronger, eventually I should be able to... “when does that recycling happen?”

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “3 months, its December 15th currently, March 10th is when the empty experiment sites get recycled and resold.”

  I get up from the table, taking a bite of an apricot scroll, ”3 months... you think I can do it?”

  The unspoken meaning seems to make her mind run races around itself.

  “No.”

  What I need is a carriage to take people back and forth, I'll find out how much they cost, I need a way to get to the modern world, that clone mentioned authority to go back and forth places, so that is another hurdle... I'll need to find Null who probably has the authority to do so. Lilith was rank 8 so I need to reach at most that to go to the modern world.

  “Can I get my rank tested?”

  “let's shake hands, in return for you being cloned for an entire day every... let's say Thursday, I will supply you with a valid ID through a ranking, a home in the outer circle with books and my silence in your goals.”

  She holds her hand out, I'm doing a deal with a devil.

  “Sounds good.” I hold my hand out and shake hers, there's a few things I'm confused about, if the boss really didn't want me to be in Lilith’s place, then why take me there? I'm not going to turn down a free house though. Although if the boss's goal is to keep her eye on me before deciding what to do with me it would make sense.

  I feel safer being closer to the original Null rather than the boss because at least I can understand her motives are just money.

  “You can let go now.” She says with an annoyed look, I must've gotten lost in thought.

  “Right...” I let go of her hand, there's an awkward atmosphere now, both of us don't really know how to talk to each other now that we made compromises.

  I did overall lose in this exchange, I did prove myself as not completely hopeless, I see it as a win.

  “I'll take you to a ranking centre, but if you die, I'll be very very irritated.”

  Die?

  She takes me outside, holding my hand while walking through the now empty alleyway, the carriage is still parked on the side of the road, waiting. The clone whistling to herself.

  “What do you mean die?”

  She giggles as she takes me into the carriage, the first time I have heard this much emotion in her voice, “so you asked to be ranked without knowing what that entails? Beautiful.”

  I step in and sit down, leaning forward to look into her black eyes, “what does it entail?”

  “That would spoil the fun, although I must say, taking a risk like this is invigorating, putting it all on red.” She grabs a book out of thin air and begins to read, ignoring me.

  “Any advice?”

  “Be yourself, they’ll believe you to be one of us.” She flips the book, the cover is completely black, a diary maybe?

  “What's the book?”

  “I'm working on something... an equation to simplify my magic for healing... hopefully will be more optimised than the current spell which uses too much blood potency...”

  Cloning magic for healing?

  “Is your innate magic those pink threads?” Null had used her threads to repair herself.

  “You’re observant, they are, at first it seemed like a useless combat spell, but I realised they had multiple secret properties, like taking on the material they touch, so if I wrap something in the threads, I can use them to become the object it wrapped around.”

  She demonstrates with her book, “it's a tiring process.” she wraps the pink threads around it, focusing, “I have to take in the leather of the cover, the paper and the ink, all of it needs to be worked into my equation.”

  It splits into two, “And there it is.” She hands it to me, so I place it beside me on my seat.

  The fog fills up the outside view, we are traveling to wherever the ranking centre is.

  “How much have you learnt? Please tell me you've at least been through the first 3 books of ‘Magic by Alekos.’”

  I shake my head, “no...?”

  “What on earth has Lilith been teaching you then?” The fog turns clear, the once bright skies are now dark and red, leafless trees litter the sandy terrain, the sand being disgustingly red, it looks more hellish than the mud town.

  In the distance there is a huge tower, fully stone with red lights that go to the top as patterned rings. It has to be taller and wider than the majority of skyscrapers in the world.

  I get poked in the shoulder, “I guess if you don't know the basics... I could pull some strings for you and make you pass without stepping in.”

  “No...” I say without even thinking, I stare at the tower, this is where demons are, this is where they rank up, and if what she told me was true, this is where they die, where I can kill them. If I want to get stronger, I need to not be a coward.

  A smile creeps across my face, if I need to reach the requirements to get my friends out of that experiment site, this is where I do it.

  “Very well... show me your innate magic at the very least then to qualm my worries.”

  I continue to look at the tower, “okay...” almost on instinct my hand drips that same liquid, conjuring without organic material, it collects in the palm of my hand as a floating ball.

  There is a branchless tree at a distance that I choose as my target, I close my hand, squeezing the liquid as much as I can in my hand before shooting it as a hardened spike. I then Implode it in mid-air to make it gain more speed like a missile.

  A silent few seconds later the tree shreds itself into shrapnel, a bit of fire sparks and dims itself out in the cold sand. The terrain behind the tree turning into a small crater.

  It seems a little more powerful than when I used it against that rank 2 kid, I couldn't conjure up this much of the liquid on the fly either back then either... did being forced to use that growth magic all day for Noah increase my potency?

  “It's not bad... but don't get cocky, your innate magic seems less offensive than basic innate magic, like fire or ice, focus on defences... I’d say you are underprepared in raw power.”

  She doesn't seem at all convinced I can survive this, “How strong are the people here?”

  “Well, most kindergarten ranks are younger, you need to be 15 to make yourself rank 1 unless you have a sponsor... I'd say most people try to get to the strength of a rank 2 by the time they take the ranking test.”

  Rank 2... like that child at the dinner party... that child who didn't even use his innate magic... if he did use his innate magic, I would've died... “okay.”

  Despite the overwhelming odds against myself I can't stop smiling, am I suicidal? I could subconsciously be.

  Or maybe whatever spell Lilith put on me is making me do this, like how it made me go to Annes hut while making it seem like my idea.

  Either way my heart is racing, my eyes are focused, and I feel good. When was the last time I felt good?

  The carriage parks by others in a small stone parking lot, the original Null opens the door and steps out, “you’re incredibly lucky it's a Monday, otherwise you'd need to wait fortnight to attend the next one.”

  I step out, “can I get healed first?” My legs still ache and my wrists from the injuries have only gotten worse.

  “No?” She looks confused, “do you often get healed by other people?”

  “Yeah? Lilith did all the time...”

  “Hah...” she looks into empty air for a moment before a lightbulb activates in her head. “I think I cracked the code.” She steps back, “very well ill heal you, what's more demon blood in your system, right?” She walks to the carriage and writes out a spell with a pen that appeared in her hand from nowhere, “she used a normal healing spell, correct? Not anything fancy?”

  “Yeah... just body carry then the healing combination variable...”

  “That is intriguing... for how long? How often?” She steps over with the written spell and places it on my forehead, “Morva eris.”

  Her spell felt different from Lilith's, perhaps her level of blood potency and not drinking a blood vial beforehand changes the way the spell works.

  My head feels like it gets hit by a hammer, I fall to the floor in anguish.

  “That is the usual reaction to when you heal a human with that spell... unless... did she drink blood vials prior?”

  I hold my hand to my head, the banging of drums constantly hitting my skull, “yes...?”

  “Hah... so she only used a tiny bit of her potency throughout what... 4 years? Over that much time it would make sense you'd gain a tolerance to magic.”

  The hammering dies down, my wrists heal, and my legs feel brand new, “5 years... every week.”

  “So that's what it is, long term magic tolerance can make humans capable of wearing an eris ring. Boring... don't tell anyone about this, okay? You are special.”

  For years I assumed I was just special, I was singled out, I was treated better than the others, I was able to use magic, I was able to use an eris ring... “okay... I'm special.” Its irritating to think I'm just a product of specific circumstance, Lilith and her obsession with me is the only reason I was able to do what I can do...

  Although. Now that I have the information on how to make humans survive eris rings... if I go to the modern world and reveal how magic works, maybe humans can fight back.

  She made a mistake telling me her thought process.

  She really made a mistake taking me here, because after I kill every demon in this tower, get stronger, save my friends and go to the modern world to reveal everything, I'll get every demon eradicated from the face of the earth.

  I stand up, “thanks for the healing, do I just walk in?”

  She nods and walks in with me, there is a stone path that takes us around the huge tower, a 10-minute walk just to get to the other side, the faint whistling of wind going through the sand was distracting. After making it to the other side there was a huge gate guarded by two men in suits, they have blue hair and strange ears, one with green eyes and one with red. Other than that, they look identical.

  “Welcome, may I see your entrance pass?” They both say at the exact same time in a fancy French accent.

  The original Null steps in front of me, “I'm sponsoring him, move along.”

  They do exactly that, moving to a lever, “my my. Intriguing... that makes 4 sponsors in one ranking... very interesting indeed.”

  The gate opens after they pull the heavy lever, a golden light fills the dark red sand as the entrance chandeliers are shaken by the gates. Red carpet fills the floor of the tower, golden pillars and glossy tiles make everything seem holy, like this place is the gates of heaven.

  I get tapped on the neck, she looks a bit shaken, “focus on defences. This is as far as I can go... if you happen to die... don't.”