Jack could smell the odor of sulfur in the air while he moseyed his way down the street. He pretended not to notice the stench as he drank out of a bottle of beer, some fruity shit with the taste of apples and whatnot. Sulfur tended to parade in front of some demons who are too supercilious to think that it might be a problem for them to noticeably wreak of fermented shit. Demons who thought that it was okay to enslave humans in a soul pact until they’re dried up and useless, the kind of demon that wouldn’t be on Jack’s current level of power and skill and wouldn’t have a soul pact to empower it to overcome the hybrid fighter. Of course, it was also possible that none of these things were true and Jack was walking to his death and/or enslavement. [u] [/u] The dragon known as Agnostos sat alone on a street corner, back against cement as he watched people walk by. The lonely god quietly hid behind the robe of a beggar, a torn and ragged white cloth covering his face as he was intent on barely being noticed. He was people watching, a seemingly menial past-time of his that could prove rather entertaining at times. People had no clue how much information about their private lives they left out in the open for the unnoticed of society to soak up and retain. As a loner who knew his way around various factions and their schemes, soaking up this menial knowledge could prove to be more invaluable than one might think. He could hear shots a few blocks over and assumed there was another shuffle going on between two opposing factions. Such needless confrontation in Millennial City was a surefire way to make the citizens feel unsafe and volatile, but he guessed if you wanted to assassinate someone it was a great place to do it. Agnostos materialized his soulshard in his hand and willed the rod to lengthen into a cane for him to shamble about on as he rose to his feet and walked the opposite way of the shooting, not feeling like getting anywhere near conflict today. [u] [/u] Draconic wings flared to life as Jack shot up into the air off the sidewalk with his odd jumping capabilities. Not flapping but more gliding, he went down the street free of the bustling side walkers, expanding his sixth sense to be sure there was danger for a flyer in this part of the city. From the air he had a better view of those walking around as well as an easier time looking down the length of alleyways, searching for the source of that smell. Several yards further and he saw a white figure dart into an alleyway after a man in beggars clothes. Something seemed off about the scene though… it almost looked like an angel was following a man in some seed manner, something very uncharacteristic for the mana alignment. Jack withdrew his wings and dropped to a spot on the sidewalk half a block ahead of where the alley was, and started working his way toward it, finding that, oddly enough, the smell of sulfur was getting stronger. [u] [/u] Agnostos had turned down an alleyway that he had planned to nap in, away from prying eyes so he could feel detached. He wanted to mull over the possibilities of forging a soul pact with a human, feeling like the intimacy would do him good. However, he was still needlessly upset over Pan, even though it had been over 3,000 years since his disappearance. Though Agnostos was friendly and loving and always making new friends and acquaintances, he STILL didn’t like the idea of the kind of intimate friendship he had with Pan. Agnostos was a firm believer that you only got 4 or 5 chances in your life to meet someone you could share your life with, whether lover or friend. He was saddened by the idea that he could waste one of his chances making a soul pact with some random human, but at the same time he saw it as an opportunity to have a companion in his travels. It didn’t look like he was going to be given any privacy today, however. The stench of sulfur flooded the alleyway and he turned around to see what appeared to be a hooded angel with wings adorned in white gold. Sulfur was not something he was accustomed to smelling from those aligned with the light, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up as his sixth sense did not detect a hint of light alignment from this creature. It was dark and foreboding, the feelings he caught from the thing, and he could feel the melancholy emotions inside of himself flowing carelessly to his fingertips and into Metallaxi as his soulshard began to get a green tint and smell of acid. [u] [/u] Jack turned into the alleyway right as the white figure of an angel exploded in a cloud of darkness as the sickening shape of a demon of decay went forth from the cloud as it quickly dispersed. The creature had begun to advance on the beggar man in white, seemingly hungry and sadistic. Jack quickly recognized that the demon had no intent on making a soul pact with the beggar, and he immediately spat out a cigarette that had been sitting between his teeth. As the cigarette fell to the ground, Jack’s form quickly shuddered and contorted as he focused his dark alignment. Black fire burned at his skin as the traits of the demon he devoured intensified into his more satanic appearance. “I’m feeling lazy today Marlboro, how bout we give this guy a nice toastin’~” He said, the demon quickly turning around to see a smiling Jack with a medieval style canon at his feet, gently smoking. The cigarette Jack had dropped was his soulshard of choice for his demon mode, and he had willed it to materialize into a Canon of Sloth by the time it hit the ground. [u] [/u] Agnostos covered his face as a blast of black fire was shot from the other side of the alley by what appeared to be another demon. The fire seemed to stop without reason right before it would lick at Agnostos, instead it ate at the demon who had followed him into the alley. That demon seemed to be simply scathed by the flames and was ready to retaliate against the newcomer, but Agnostos quickly decided he wouldn’t let it. Pathos Metallaxi went from a green tint to a firey red as it burst into flames, engulfed by the anger of Agnostos. The demon stalker did not seem to currently have a pact as its mana signature was rather restrained, and this told Agnostos that he could fight rather than run. “I just wanted to nap dammit!” yelled the unknown god as he burst forward off his feet into a dead run, his soulshard sharpening into a large blade as it slashed into his assailant, rending his head from his shoulders. As it dropped to a ground with a thud. The body quickly fell after it, seeming to slowly disintegrate into a grey smoke. Rather than stick around to see if he had slowed down the demon significantly enough by decapitating it, not knowing whether that was enough to kill it or if it had some kind of regenerating ability. [u] [/u] Five minute later, both Agnostos and Jack were running frantically down the street. Jack was planning on staying to fight the demon but Agnostos jerked him from the alleyway with inhuman strength and growled at him to follow if he knew what was good for him. So, Jack went with the man in confusion and slight wonderment, Malboro having re-appeared between his lips like a cigarette. The two ran away from the demon in the opposite direction of the earlier gun shots until Agnostos jerked Jack by the arm into a bar, pausing for breath. “I owe you one, demon.” “I’m not exactly a demon bro, more of an impersonator, and a damned good one.” “Human?” “Yeah.” “I think I know how to repay you.”