Keira watched in amazement as Sebastian Stain submitted to Nimh. From what he had said, she knew that Nimh had expected something like this, but to see it actually happen left her speechless.

“Good,” Nimh said, a pleasant ring to his voice. “First things first though, tell me what you know about spirit invaders.”

Stain’s eyes became unfocused for a moment as if a memory pulled his attention away, and then he was back, his eyes sad.

“When I was a young man, my little brother was taken by one. I never learned the invader's true name, he just took my brother's name and started gathering followers and attaining power. For a while, he entertained the notion of bringing me along, but my talent was too low. I was tossed aside when he ascended to the higher ranks.”

“As for spirit invaders, he only mentioned it once, right before he did to me what you just did.”

Nimh reeled back as if Stain had slapped him. “You’ve been tainted before?” Nimh demanded, making both Keira and Stain jolt in surprise.

Stained nodded hurriedly. “Yes, the same day he took over my brother, he did something to me. Before it happened, my brother and I never got along, but afterwards, I could only follow his commands. I was like…”

“A dog on a leash,” Nimh finished for him, a hint of sorrow in his eyes. “I am sorry for what was done to you, Sebastian. Even more so for my actions to you, but we must carry on, yes? Now tell me, what name did he go by?”

“My brother's name was Rickard Stain, though I doubt he goes by that very often. He’s the Prime now so most people call him by title.”

Keira had a vague understanding of what the Prime was. The leader of the country, or the strongest of the S Ranks. Either way, he is dangerous.

“What was your function here?” Nimh asked. “Were you posted here by the Prime, or did you build a new life after you were put aside?”

Keira thought there was a more tactful way to ask that, but Stain did not seem to be offended.

“I was posted here. My function is to keep the F Ranks of this sector under control. If I find promising F Ranks, they get pressed into the army, trained and forced to fight for the Prime. Otherwise, the undercity is mine to do with as I please.”

“Do you still report to the Prime?” Nimh asked.

“No. He sends an intermediary now. It’s more of a punishment detail than anything so it is rarely the same person twice.”

Nimh was silent for a moment, digesting the information. Keira felt a sliver of sympathy for the man. Just how bad was his luck for meeting two spirit invaders?

“Sebastian, do you still feel compelled to obey the Prime’s wishes?” Nimh asked softly.

Stain paused, shaking his head. “I do not know. I know I do not want to disobey you, but I do not know what I may feel if the Prime commands me to act.”

Nimh looked at Stain for a long moment and Keira could see he was conflicted about something. Then the moment passed and she saw him brighten, a smile bright on his face.

“Sebastian, I would like your help. When we are done, I give you my word that your life will be better than overlooking this undercity. But it will not be easy.”

Stain bowed from his seated position. “I am yours to command.”

This whole situation was happening too quickly for Keira. She was still getting used to the idea that Nimh was a body-snatching invader from a different world. Dragging her fingers through her hair, she wondered how insane her life was going to end up following Nimh around.

Nimh stood up, walking over to Stain, offering a hand.

“Get up Sebastian,” Nimh said, pulling the man to his feet. “We have a lot of work to do. Starting with your operations here. I want to know everything.

Everything turned out to be quite a lot.

Stain’s operations were quite extensive, controlling nearly every aspect of the undercity. Much of that had been broken by Nimh killing the gang lords, but Stain was confident in fixing that.

As for Nimh, his head was buzzing with all the nuances of the undercity.

For one, there was slavery, which had thrown him for a loop. A family could sell one of their children so long as they were not thirteen years or older. After that, they were considered an adult and thus, not the parents to sell.

One could sell themselves into slavery too, though that required a level of rigmarole that Nimh had no interest in dabbling in.

As it turned out, Stain was the largest purchaser of slaves, with the women being put in brothels and used as baby factories, while the men were put into fighting pits.

The fighting pits were one of the few ways F Ranks could escape the undercity. Every month there was a small tournament for varying groups based on age. A victory in the finals meant they could be enlisted in the army. And for the generous conscription of twenty years of their life serving the Prime, they could earn citizenship.

So generous.

The other was to ascend to D Rank and cooperate with Stain to obtain citizenship and also pay a hefty price.

In short, Stain did a very good job of keeping F Ranks and E Ranks stuck in the undercity. Outside the undercity, E ranks were considered the lowest level of human, not even attaining citizenship unless they were from a prominent family. Otherwise, they survived as servants, slaves and other often ignored states of existence.

When Nimh asked how one escaped slavery, both Keira and Stain looked at him as if he were mad. Slavery was for life apparently, though Nimh could not see how anyone could enforce someone stronger than them into being a slave.

“It’s the contract.” Stain explained. “The contract does something to the slave's head, making it impossible for them to disobey. I don’t understand it myself, but it works.”

When Nimh asked to see the slave contract, he couldn’t decipher how such an effect could come to be. He was then surprised when Stain summoned an E rank worker, making them sign the contract.

Before his eyes, he saw the E Rank become bound to the contract. Nimh watched in horror as his spirit sense detected something around the E Ranks head shimmer for just a moment. Then, the E Rank's eyes dimmed, as if the will to live had fled them.

In that instant, Nimh wanted to kill Stain for so casually forcing someone into this state of dull servitude. Then he realised that hundreds, if not thousands of individuals in the undercity alone were in such a state.

It took a long time to wrestle his emotions back under control.

“That,” he said slowly to Stain. “is horrifying.”

Stain nodded. “Rickard felt the same when he learned of it. But that didn’t stop him from doing the same to everyone who opposed him.”

Nimh looked at the E Rank. She was a woman in her twenties, weak even by E Rank standards. Not very pretty but she had a body that would no doubt entice many men. He felt sick knowing how she would spend the rest of her life.

“Stain, how does one transfer a contract?”

“Once the contract is signed, they’re like animals. You come to an agreement with whoever owns the slave and you sign a right of ownership.”

Such casual disregard for humanity. This would be one of the first things to go when Nimh took over. The current Prime be damned.

Before sending the slave away, Nimh took her head in his hands. He had seen something when that contract was signed, and he was sure it was what had bound this woman.

But as he delved into her, he felt nothing from her body nor her spirit that would enforce the bond. Which meant…

“Kneel.” He commanded.

Without hesitation, the woman knelt, a slight flicker of something flashing through her as she did. It was instantaneous, but Nimh felt it. But it was not spiritual or physical.

“Stand up.” He commanded. Behind him, Keira and Stain stared at him as if he were a mad man playing with a new toy.

Again, he felt a fleeting sensation as she rose.

“You are no longer a slave, you are free,” Nimh commanded.

This time more than one sensation caught his attention but before he could learn anymore the woman screamed, hands clutching her head as she fell to the ground, twitching.

“Sebastian!” Nimh shouted. “What was that?”

Stain dropped to his knees. “I am sorry. I should have warned you. Nothing can break the contract. Any attempt to free a slave will result in their minds being harmed like that. It is not permanent, or at least no one has found it harms them permanently.”

Nimh turned to Keira. “Did you know about this?” he asked.

Keira nodded. “It is common practice, though the contract isn’t always used when the sale is done.” She stared at the girl in disgust. “Some men find a docile woman less entertaining when they take them. So, they will forcefully ‘buy’ girls off their parents and have their way with them. Then when they’ve had their fun make them agree to the slave contract.”

She turned her gaze to Stain. “Your son was one such man.”

Nimh frowned. “How long were you held by Wolfgang?” he asked the regretted it. He had just asked her how long the man had sexually abused her.

“I do not know. Less than a year at least. But since you are wondering, yes, I was eighteen when my father illegally sold me to Wolfgang. This is the undercity, laws only exist beyond the undercity’s walls.”

Nimh could feel the cold fury emanating from her and her vital energy surged. She was mad and Nimh did not want to be the one she directed her wrath at.

“That was tactless,” Marcus noted silently.

Ignoring the spirit looking through his eyes, Nimh turned back to Stain. “You say the Prime allows this? Then tell me this, have you ever heard of the spiritual arts?”

Stain shook his head and Nimh bit back a curse.

“Have you ever heard of any arts that directly affect the mind?”

Again, Stain shook his head.

For a long moment, Nimh chewed on this new development. This was a transgression even worse than what he had done to Stain. To steal someone’s free will was an act that deserved death a thousand times over. At least with tainting someone’s spirit they could still live a life and make choices.

But this was…

“Keira,” his words were a soft growl. “You asked me about joining up with other spirit invaders in this world. Well, the answer is no.” he pointed at the woman on the ground. “This is not something I can forgive and any of my people who would allow it to exist has departed from our ways.”

With that, he turned to Stain. “You and I will speak on this again. But for now, you will teach Keira everything you know. Teach her, train her and be a mentor to her. One day, she will be taking over the undercity. But for now, you are my agent. You will conduct yourself as you always have, do business as you always have, and treat people as you always have. But…”

Nimh’s tone turned icy, making both Stain and Keira shudder. “…if you ever enslave another human being, I will kill you.”

Turning on his heel, Nimh left the office, his anger and disgust guiding him as he walked away.