The moment was passionate, it was intimate, it was...

"Mmmmhhhh"

...interrupted by Jack's muffled screams.

He had been bound and gagged and forced to bear witness to the duo's incredible deeds and yet their intimate moment was the one that bothered him the most.

To be fair though, he had made sure to be as quiet as he could be, to blend into the environment and not be involved in the monstrous two on twelve battle.

The two separated and turned to face him, Marla's cheeks were flushed but her eyes were very angry,

"Have you no respect for other people's privacy?" She snarled while stamping her feet to the ground.

Jack's eyes were widened and his expression made clear what his thoughts -which he could not voice out- were,

'You were making out right in front of me'

Marla could tell what his thoughts were and it only upset her more,

"You could have just closed your eyes and remain completely silent, you perverted virgin"

Jack turned to Hal who took away the dumbing and binding rune and allowed him to speak and defend himself,

"You were in front of me and I happened to see you. That does not make me a pervert"

Marla took one step towards him and Jack instantly took a step back and backpedaled as he released cold sweats,

"On second thoughts, I was totally in the wrong"

Hal smiled lightly while he told Marla telepathically,

"Since when did you become a bully"

She looked outraged as she replied with telepathy as well,

"Bully? I'm no bully, I just feel like punching him cause he's a..."

"Am I not also a pervert?"Hal interrupted with a mild chuckle,

"Of course you are, but you are the only man allowed to be a pervert" she said in atone that made it seem as though what she had said should have been common knowledge.

Hal went silent for a while, before,

"Well said" he nodded with a smile.

Sassy slithered away from where she had watched the proceedings and once again coiled the front half of her body around his arm.

Hal stroked the Viper's head as he considered the conundrum that involved walking around with her not to mention the danger she might be in.

'Any way to take her with me?" He asked Grimoire.

He was aware that he could not put a living being inside his inventory, or a spatial pouch.

But, he knew Grimoire would have a solution but would not tell it to him unless he asked.

And sure enough,

'Of course, there is' It said.

Hal sighed,

"Couldn't you have told me that once you realized how the situation was?"

'I don't get what you mean'

That was obviously a lie, or at least not the total truth but Hal decided to let it go,

'So what's the solution?'

'Simple. You just need to open a forest habitat for it to live in, just like the Inventory which, if you remember correctly, you got for free'

Hal narrowed his eyes, the fact that Grimoire mentioned that he had gotten access to the inventory for free, made him suspect it was not going to be the same for this Habitat.

He withdrew into his Mind space and checked out the price for himself and sure enough,

It was worth 10000 gold coins.

"Of course there's a discount" Grimoire said with a sly smile.

"Oh really? What's the discount?" Hal asked cautiously,

"It's a 0℅ discount" Grimoire said with the very same sly smile before it continued,

"So the original price is 10000 gold coins, factor in the discount and you can get it cheap for just 10000 gold coins"

"..."

"What the fuck's wrong with you, it's the same either way" Hal said with red-faced anger.

"Hahahaha" Grimoire cackled,

"That's what you get when you're so cheap. You've got millions of stolen wealth, the least you can do is splurge a little. Besides, to the current you, what do 10000 gold coins count as?" Grimoire said and paused as though expecting a reply but Hal"s face was impassive so it replied to its own question,

"Nothing. That's what"

A moment of silence passed as Hal glared at the slowly becoming uncomfortable, Grimoire.

Then he took a deep breath,

"I hope you never get a body cause the first thing I'll do is strangle you"

He said in a surprisingly level tone of voice that chilled Grimoire more than his screams ever could. But the Artifact shrugged off the feeling with a scoff,

"Are you so sure about that?" It asked.

Hal ignored it.

He exchanged the necessary gold coins and opened the Forest habitat within Grimoire.

He visited it the same way he visits his mind space and had to admit that it looked like a much better replica of Tretch forest, so one might say it looked like what Tretch forest would have looked like if it did not have Demon beasts making use of its resources.

It even imitated the sky on the outside, there was also a steady stream of Cosmic energy that would enable cultivation.

Of course, this space cannot house humans. Only beasts.

He returned to the outside and opened what looked like a portal for Sassy to slither into and the viper did so reluctantly but Hal could see its enjoyment as it began to explore the habitat before eventually coiling up and taking the nap it had been denied by intruders.

Meanwhile, Jack's jaw dropped as he saw Hal accomplish even more insane feats.

He began to feel a sense of fear.

Now that he thought about it, Hal had made the Krasts and Horsts leave before he and Marla 'went all out', it was obvious that he did not want any witnesses.

If that was the case, why was he (Jack) still alive. Surely, his end was near and the feeling of doom only intensified when he noticed Marla's glare.

It was time to go, but he needed to do so very gracefully,

"Ahn" he groaned and stretched his aching bones in an attempt to seem casual,

"This has been fun, but it seems I HAVE become the creepy third wheel, so I'll be taking my leave" he said and made to move when a chuckle caused him to turn,

The one who had chuckled was Marla,

"You think you can choose to stay and also choose to leave whenever you want. What do you take us for?"

Jack sighed in a resigned manner,

"Okay, get it over with. Kill me already"

Now it was time for Hal to chuckle whole Marla shook her head slowly as though out of pity for Jack's narrow-mindedness.

"What makes you think I want to kill you? There's no benefit in killing you and it seems more like a waste of resources. Instead, you can serve as my meat shield in the future"

Hal said and Jack looked up at him,

"Meat shield?" He said in an uncertain tone of voice.

"Exactly. After all, you owe me. You've moved with me and as such, you've survived. Your peers who attacked the Earthen badger with you are dead, so are many other commoners"

Hal told him and Jack's eyes widened in disbelief,

"What?" He exclaimed and Hal smiled lightly at his reactions,

"I thought you said they weren't your friends"

"They aren't. None of my true friends could participate in this competition, even I am close to not being allowed. However, it still leaves a bad taste to find out they are dead. What if it was my fault?" The last part was whispered mostly to himself.

Hal sighed,

"No, it wasn't. It's the fault of circumstances. It's the fault of this world and its partiality towards the strong. They make the rules and they do what they want"

"And... You're different?" Jack asked with a little hesitation and Hal laughed,

"No, I am the same and might one day become even worst. I like the rule of the Strong, just as long as I'm the strongest. This world will bend to your wishes, all you need is ultimate strength." Hal replied,

"You sound like a Preacher," Jack said with a half-hearted chuckle.

"Oh yeah?, then foin my Faith or else I will have to kill you. You've seen too much already"

"Can you give me ultimate power?" Jack asked.

Hal grinned,

"Well, ultimate power shall be mine, and you will have to settle for being below one and above billions. Think you can do that?"

"You have me convinced" Jack said.

"Then sign this..." Hal said and produced a contract "with your blood and give me control of your soul"

Jack looked from the contract to Hal,

"You sound like the Devil" he said.

Hal's grin became even wider as his skin turned scarlet with black lines, his eyes turned pitch black and occasionally released small bursts of fog,

"Well, that's because I am the Devil"

Jack stared at him in silence for a while before he shrugged,

"That makes sense"

He signed the contract and felt the loss of control over his soul just as he received an Ungraded cultivation technique.

Just a quick test of its capabilities and he could already feel an immense difference.

Hal turned away from him and smiled at Marla,

"Let's go, darling, there are so many Asses that still need kicking"

"Oh goody"

Jack watched the two interlock arms and speak so fondly of premeditated violence and sighed in his mind,

'Well, this is my life now'

....

Meanwhile a few distances away, the Edgar protective forces were locked in battle with the Plebeian forces tasked with killing their scions and it was far from being an easy battle.

Mayhem was abundant.