Once Fike was finished stripping the monster of its useful parts, he threw what was left at Hyde.

With a thump, the hollowed-out carcass landed at his feet and Hyde looked up confused. "What do you want me to do with this?"

"We'll leave it in the fields for fertilizer on the way back," Fike explained.

"What 'we'? Clearly, you want me to carry this massive fucking thing all the way back by myself. It's at least a couple miles to get to the field." Hyde swore.

"Oh grow up, will you. I didn't give you the heart for no reason did I?" Fike snapped back silencing Hyde.

"Yeah... whatever. Stupid heart didn't even taste that good." Hyde mumbled. That was a lie. It was disgusting to admit but he was already dying to taste it again.

Fike threw Hyde some rope and together they strung up the carcass to make it easier to drag on the way back.

As the pair made their way back along the sweeping coast, Hyde asked Fike a question out of boredom. "Where do you sell all the meat and teeth and stuff?"

"Hm, you really are a newbie. Well, there aren't any permanent shops down here because the absolute longest someone can stay on the first circle is a year. Although, there is a market of sorts, kind of like a bazaar."

"What do you mean the longest someone can stay on the first level is a year? Can you stay on lower ones for longer?" Hyde asked with interest.

"From my understanding of it, and this is just hear-say, every time you complete a 'Penance' Your soul gets stronger and you can survive under the weight of your sins for another year," Fike replied after scratching his chin with his harpoon in thought.

Hyde nodded in agreement. This lined up with what he had read in the guides and leaflets he got from the information centre.

"But, If you completed a 'Penance' in less than a year, Six months say. wouldn't you still have the remaining six months left when you went on to the next level?"

Shocked, Hyde mulled the thought over and found that it made perfect sense. "So if you completed the first eight quickly you could spend nine years on the last 'Penance'? But why would you need that much time for one 'Penance'?"

"I don't know myself, but I've heard from the ferrymen at the docks that some are harder than others," Fike added, although he looked unsure. This was to be expected, he hadn't attempted his 'Penance' yet either.

While this was indeed interesting food for thought, it wasn't exactly relevant to Hyde or Solomon at the moment so he pushed it to the back of his mind.

"What even is a 'Penance' anyways, I know it's a trial or test of sorts but what is actually tested?" Hyde asked a follow-up question.

"I can't say much for the deeper floors, as each 'Penance' is different, But I do know a bit about the first 'Penance'," Fike explained.

"What is it? and what do we have to do?" Hyde eagerly asked.

"Sorry, but I don't know the specifics. I just heard Its name [Self-Seeker] and you must take it alone."

With a dry laugh, Hyde responded "That sounds ominous."

Fike responded in kind with his own cynical laugh. "You're telling me."

Aside from Hyde's occasional grunts as he dragged the monster carcass behind him, they walked back in silence after this. This conversation had given him a lot to think about.

On their way back, they passed the same beach and saw the same scavengers aimlessly walking back and forth searching for anything that could make them a quick buck.

Hyde felt like he understood them a little better in some ways, They had nine years to exist at most, and then what? Why bother trying to be something special if it was meaningless?

However, just because he understood them doesn't mean he thought they had the right approach. What they were doing was the demonic equivalent of an ostrich sticking its head in the sand.

Now that he had this new life, he was going to try and find some semblance of meaning. In the end, he may not be he for a long time, but he would make sure it was a good time.

It's not like trying and failing was such a bad thing in the end. Because not trying is the same thing as counting yourself out before anything can even begin.

Leaving the carcass in the fields to be used as fertilizer, the pair sped up as they headed towards the market while idly chatting about this and that. After a dangerous fight like the one they had previously, it was natural that they would get along better.

The town itself had no clear boundaries. There was no actual societal structure here. There were no rulers, politicians, gangs or corporations. The longest anyone could exist here was a year so it would be a waste of time to set anything of the sort up. Who had the time to do something so meaningless?

This led to the whole city being an absolute mess of organised chaos. The closest thing to order you might find was that the city was somewhat centred around key areas like the market and the docks.

Walking through the endlessly winding rocky streets Lined with tents and or stalls Hyde was exhausted by the time they reached the entrance of the Market. Having to push your way through a throng of massive demons was a challenge by itself.

They were here to sell all of the bits of the monster they had kept and judging from the staggering size of the market it shouldn't be too hard to find a buyer.

The market itself wasn't inside a building. As the street passed through a giant stone archway covered in strange demonic carvings, it widened out into an enormous open space filled with temporary stalls and demons sitting on blankets surrounded by weird metals or pieces of monsters.

Fike strode into the market with purpose and quickly led Hyde to one of the more permanent looking stalls.

Sitting at the side of the stall was a demon with enormous bulbous eyes. The demon, who had quickly noticed the pair's approach greeted them with a sly smile and waved at Fike.

The demon at the stall greeted Fike with familiarity, "What have you brought me this time spiky?"

With a similarly sly smile, Fike introduced today's catch, "We grabbed a real monster this time. You wouldn't believe the size of the thing."

Hyde nodded vigorously when he heard the monster they had caught being discussed. It was without a doubt big.

"10 metres long at least, with enough strength to knock over a bus, A real brute it was," Fike exclaimed without a shred of guilt.

'10 metres? It was more like 5' Hyde thought disbelieving, the way Fike was describing it you would think they had caught Godzilla.

The shopkeeper nodded along feigning disbelief, "Oh my G.O.D that sort of creature shouldn't even be appearing on these levels of hell." He narrowed his saucer-like eyes. "Never mind the fact that something that big shouldn't appear here, how did you kill such a thing?"

With an embarrassed cough, Fike wiped non-existent sweat from his brow and proceeded to introduce Hyde. "This guy here is how we managed it, he's as strong as at least 3... no 4 normal demons put together, Just look at those claws."

Embarrassed by this shameless display, Hyde hid his claws behind his back and couldn't meet the shopkeeper's piercing gaze.

The shopkeeper rolled his eyes, which was particularly striking because of their enormous size. Clearly, this sort of bragging was commonplace at his stall. But he had a few tricks of his own up his sleeve.

"Just bring out the goods." He said, clearly unimpressed.

Getting interrupted from his bragging, Fike ended up pouring everything they had brought onto the table in front of the shopkeeper.

Eventually, the table was piled high in teeth, bones, eyeballs, other miscellaneous body parts and organs.

Looking at this gruesome sight Hyde felt like it was kind of weird that he wasn't as freaked out as he should have been. Honestly, he felt nothing looking at them. His demonic side was strongly influencing him in this regard.

When the shopkeeper saw all of the monster parts, he let out a disappointed sigh. "If you had brought anything else I would have been happy. But lately, crocodile teeth, eyes, bones and the rest are a dime a dozen around here. Just the other day I found a few crocodile teeth behind my sofa. What I'm saying is that their value has gone way down as of late."

Fike seemed unperturbed by this ridiculous statement and mocked the shopkeeper. "How can you possibly be such a coincidence that you have too many of all of the specific things that I brought. The monster we caught today is really rare. I've been here for ages and never even seen one before."

The way the two went back and forth almost sounded scripted. Clearly, this wasn't either of their first rodeos.

Exasperated, Fike flung his hands into the air and swore, "I'll just bring my goods to Stella then if you're going to be like that." He had used his secret technique. [Threaten to sell to a rival]

Hearing the name Stella, the shopkeeper's face blanched and his attitude did a 180 and a deal was quickly worked out.

Before the pair parted ways, Fike handed Hyde his cut and told him that if he wanted to go fishing with him again, he would leave at lunchtime every day from the same spot on the docks.

Hyde thanked Fike and left the market to head towards the miner's camp. He wasn't sure about becoming a fisher instead of a miner as he felt bad about abandoning Solomon again. By now it was getting darker and Solomon would probably be back soon.

Day and night underground were governed by the brightness of a strange glowing fungus that carpeted the roof of the cavern. During the day, it would shine brighter, releasing a gentle glow allowing the demons beneath to see and tell the time.

Hyde arrived back at the entrance to the camp and was hit with a wave of horrible smells. The smell of Sweat from the miners and whatever terrible vegetable he had been cutting earlier launched an attack on his overly sensitive nose.

He had made quite a bit of money today and swore he would save up to buy a tent outside the mining camp. The smell and loudness of it were too much for his enhanced senses.

His attention was grabbed by a group of miners near the entrance who were gambling. He asked a few of the miner's who were betting on a weird game involving cube shape pieces of rocks and bones whether they had seen Solomon return yet and they told him he hadn't.

Deciding that it would be easier to just wait here near the entrance for Solomon to get back, Hyde sat down and watched the miners play their game.

A few hours later, Solomon finally saw the entrance to the camp. Like an oasis in a desert, it was so inviting it seemed to glow. He ignored the horrendous smell and clouds of black dust rising from the camp. At this point, anywhere that would allow him to stop and rest was basically heaven.

By now, his clothes, which weren't very good to begin with, were ruined, clinging to his body with sweat and cached in black dust, he was a sorry sight to behold.

Long ago he had realised he wasn't strong enough to keep carrying the sack of metal on his back, so now it was being dragged behind him by his tail.

He cursed those damned mafia demons who told him he should carry his own pay, back to camp and then left him to go to the market.

Solomon, who didn't want to sell his metal and had other things in mind, obviously didn't want to go to the market and so they split up.

All along the streets, Demons of various shapes and sizes gave Solomon weird looks and a few kinder ones even offered to help him carry the metal back to the camp for him.

Honestly, he probably should have accepted their offer but he couldn't bring himself to. He had come all this way so he wanted to finish this himself.

Solomon dragged his sorry body through the entrance to camp getting another weird look, this time from the guard.

He made his way, one gruelling step at a time into the camp and towards his room.

On his way, he walked past a group of nearly 30 demons crowded around something and shouting at the top of their lungs.

'Lazy bastards, they're all the same as those stupid Mafia demons... wait...' Solomon's thoughts trailed off as he saw what they were surrounding.

In the centre of the throng of rowdy demons, Hyde threw out four rocks and a pair of teeth which all landed face up.

The crowd erupted in celebration as Hyde leapt to his feet, pumping his arms into the air in joy. However, his celebrations were cut short when he saw a thoroughly bedraggled Solomon staring at him with venomous eyes.

'Maybe I shouldn't become a miner after all.' Hyde thought.