The sun finished its decent just as Dasan entered The King's Den, who in spite the name appeared anything but. It was a rather unsavory place, where the worse of the worse gathered. It was also the sorta of place that Dasan hoped to make a...profit. He did not come here for the same reason that many of the others did. They were human, and therefore had humanly desires. That wasn't always true, but the point was he wasn't interested in thieves or assassin unless, of course, they were willing to sell him their soul. Yes, that was why here was here. He was here to barter a soul from someone. Maybe, more than one, but he wasn't going to get his hopes up.
This was his first time trying to convince someone to give their soul away to someone, but he knew the rules one simply don't take a soul. A deal must be made. He moved across the room towards the bar and his eyes studied each person he passed as he walked. He was trying to determine which of these patrons would be interested in selling their soul. Actually, the answer was all of them. Maybe, the real question was, which one of them would be willing to trade their soul to someone who was new to the game. Again, he would have found that the answer was all of them. These were the sorta people that would sell their own soul along with the souls of everyone they could at a drop of a hat.
"Demon." A voice called to Dasan just a mere foot from the bar. He paused in his tracked, and begun to look around. He did not expect anyone to recognize what he was when he came to this place, and yet that is exactly what happened. Not only that, but the speaker had utter those words aloud. Though, a quick look around made Dasan reconsider any belief that the other patrons had over heard that proclamation. "Over here, brother."
"Brother?" Dasan said, jerking his head towards the male--yes, he was definitely a male. He stood several inches taller than Dasan with white blonde hair tied back into a ponytail at the nape of his neck, and piercing green eyes that seemed to glow in the dimly light room. He was lounging in one of the tavern's chairs, and only moved slightly when Dasan approached to motion for him to sit down. "You're a demon?" The too was left unsaid, but it was clear from his tone that was what he had meant.
A smile crept across the other demon's face. "I am Balthazar." He did not ask for Dasan's name, but it was clear that he was expecting Dasan to give it to him.
There was a part of Dasan that wanted to refuse his unspoken demands, but he decided against it. He saw no reason to get on the bad side of one of his kind so soon. It was bound to happen, he knew that. Rivalries would form, but this didn't mean he had to race his way towards them. "Michael." He said the name like this Mee kah el.
The expression that found its way upon Balthezar's face was a smug one. "You're rather new to being a demon, aren't you? I wonder who bartered your soul?" Dasan gave no response. He just stared at the other blankly. "Well?" That single word oozed with Balthezar's impatience. He managed to keep himself from exploding for a few moments, but when Dasan made no sign that he would give him the answer he sought the other demon leapt from his chair in a fury. "Do you have any idea who I am? It would be unwise to cross me."
"The guy with the stick up his ass?" Dasan asked.
This appeared to calm the other down. He settled down in his seat, regarding Dasan with that same smug expression he had wore just before he exploded in his rage. "You are new. Otherwise you wouldn't speak to me like that. It is no matter. I am willing to take you underneath my wings for a price."
"And what price might that be?" The other's words had perked Dasan's interest. This seemed like a prelude to a deal in the making, where the demon agreed to give their victims whatever they wanted in exchange for their soul. Expect that both Dasan and Balthazar were demons themselves.
"You will learn that deals like the one I am about to propose are made all the time among our kind. Lesser demons such as yourself find it necessary to align themselves with more powerful ones such as myself."
Balthazar burst into a roar of laughter at those words, tilting his head back until he was staring straight up at the ceiling. "Powerful enough to rival the king of hell."
"You must have acquired a large collection of souls."
"Indeed, but we aren't here to talk about my achievements. I will share those with you if you are willing to agree to my deal. It is rather simple. You give me your name---your real name---and I bring you under my protection."
"That would make me your slave." There was power in a name, and if one knew how they could bind others to them just with their name. This was especially true with demons. Humans had figured this out in their summoning spells, but these arrangements were short lived and often ended up with the human's death due to the fact they lacked the skills to negotiate with the demon for the term of their release. Some humans never made any attempts to make these deals. They foolishly believed that they could keep the demon underneath their control forever. Others, realizing that this would be impossible, lacked the skills needed to walk away from holding a demon captive unscathed.
"Aren't you a smart one?" Balthazar words laced with sarcasm awake Dasan from his thoughts, and returned him to the moment at hand. "Agreeing to these terms really is in your best interest. The demonic world is a dog eat dog one, and you lack the skills to stand against those that decide that you look like a tasty meal."
Looking around the tavern for a few moments, Dasan pretended to consider his words. He did not care how much of a dog eat dog world the demonic one was he wasn't going to enslave himself willing to another, but he knew outright refusing Balthazar was not a wise thing to do. The other claimed to be as powerful as the king of hell himself--a fact that Dasan couldn't dispute at this moment. "Do you keep the souls you have gathered near?" He watched as a group of humans at a nearby table played a game cards.
"What sort..." Balthazar cut himself off. "All demons keep the souls they have collected near them in one form or another." He motions to the ring that Dasan wore upon his finger. "Correct me if I am wrong, but that is the gateway to your realm." Dasan only gave the slightest nod of his head to indication that the demon spoke the truth. It had been a gift given to him by Anesidora when he had completed his training with her, and became a full fledged demon. "Well, my body is both my gateway and my realm." He smiled as he other these words. "Do you know what the benefit of this?"
"What?" Dasan believed he already knew the answer to this question, but based on the way the other beamed he had a feeling that not allowing him to utter this information aloud would be very upsetting for Balthazar.
"Power. I don't have to tell you that souls are a source of power. This is common knowledge. However, the souls we demons collect are not ours--they are not a part of us. This fact means that we cannot harness the full power of a soul. After some research I had found a way to achieve that. I took my original gateway, and merged it to my heart." He tapped his chest proudly in order to emphasized this point. It was clear that he wanted to say more on this subject. Perhaps go into great details on how he managed to pull this off, but he must had remembered what he was trying to get Dasan to agree with. "So? Do we have a deal?"
"Only if you are willing to partake in a little wager."
"And what might that be?"
"Nothing special. I just bet I cannot take your souls before..." He paused to look around the tavern at every patron that was currently within this place. "That guy finishes his drink." He pointed to a cloaked figure sitting on the last stool on the far right of the bar. He lifted his drink to his lips in a rhythmic manner that made it clear that his drink wasn't going to last an hour let alone ten minutes.
"Let's pick someone whose drinking rate will actually give you a fighting chase." The other demon said with a laugh. He was probably thinking that Dasan had no chance the way it was, and that it would only be sporting to allow him a chance to escape the inevitable before he claims what he desires."
"Afraid you'll lose?" Dasan goaded.
"Fine" Balthazar said, bowing in an over dramatic fashion. "But, don't whine at me when you lose. And you will lose. You're not the first one to challenge me in such a way."
Dasan had a brief curiosity on how many others had challenged him in such a way? How many had came up with the same conclusion as him, but found that they lacked the skills to pull it off. However, he didn't speak these thoughts aloud. He turned his attention to the fight that was taking place. They stalked each other, watching each other and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Dasan needed to convince Balthazar to strike. The defensive was much easier to hold than the offensive.
He changed his movement in an ever so slightly manner trying to create an opening that would be too irresistible to resist. It was possible, however, that Balthazar seeing this change in movement would recognize it for what it was and decide not to attack. That thought was quickly wiped from his mind as the other demon lunged at him, and reached to grab him by the neck. Dasan made no attempt to avoid this attack, and the other smiled at this, tightening his hand around his neck as soon as it found a grip. He held Dasan up for a few moments, smirking at him before flinging him across the room. "I told you that all those that challenged me in such a manner failed." His words entered Dasan's ear just before he hit the wall on the other side of the tavern.
Before Dasan could push himself from the ground he was there once again to pick him back up to toss once again if he pleased. But, he didn't. Instead Balthazar kicked him hard in the stomach. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Dasan counted each kick. "I told you that you lacked the ability to last long within the demonic world" Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. "And your rather pathetic performance here only proves this fact. At least, the others I fought put up a fight."
"Oh?" Dasan asked, watching as that leg made it way towards him for a twelfth kick. He did not have to look at the other's face to know the words he was going to utter. Probably some more words about how pathetic he was. Maybe, even brag about all the wonderful time they will have once he acquires Dasan's name, but he didn't give him time to speak these thoughts aloud or for that incoming kick to connect. Dasan lunged forward, quickly and before the other could react he had his hand inside his chest, gripping his heart. "I rather thought my performance was ingenious." Before the other could utter a word he jerked his hand out taking Balthazar's heart with him.
The look that Balthazar gave him as his heart came free of his chest was one of disbelief and anger. He fell upon his knee, blood pouring from the gaping hole within his chest. He just smirked at the other as he brought that heart to his lips, and took a bite. Another was taken. And another and so forth until he consumed the entire heart to get ring that he had fused to the organ. "What?" He asked the demon as he studied the ring. "You can grow another heart." Whether this was true or not was heard to tell. It was highly likely that he was talking to a lifeless corpse, but with the way he bragged about his superiority Dasan would have thought he would be capable of growing a new heart.
He leaned over, wiping his bloody hand on Balthazar's shirt. "Besides, you said that you merged the ring with your heart I would hate for that go to waste." The wager had also been that he couldn't take his soul before the cloaked figure finished his drink. He glanced at this being to see how far along with his drink he was and found him staring at him. Dasan couldn't make out the figure face, but there was no doubt in his mind that he was looking at Dasan because he lifted his glass into the air as if to congratulate Dasan on his victory before turning his attention away and resuming his poster of not paying attention to anything within the tavern.
Dasan smiled at this, sliding the ring he had found within Balthazar's heart upon one of his finger, and making his way towards the bar. Today was a very profitable day.
