“Not here.”

Realizing that we were still under watchful eyes, Anna nodded her head in agreement. “Okay, do you know where we can go?”

“We can talk in my dressing room.”

We were walking down the hallway toward the dressing room. Around us, drones, androids and humans rushed around preparing for the Awards Ceremony. The place smelled like blood, the floors splattered with blood here and there. But it was not surprising.

This hallway was the quickest route to the medical wards. So, those with the worst injuries were taken down this hallway.

“But won’t they…”

“No. But if they try, I’ll just soundproof the room. And I’ll deal with the eavesdropper afterwards.”

“Then why not do it now while we walk?”

“You think I’m all powerful don’t you. Just a wave of my hand and anything I want appears instantly.”

“Y-”

I turned to look at Anna. “It was a rhetorical question. Don’t you know how powers work?”

“I do.” She grumbled back. “I don’t need a teacher. Mrs. Mansfield is enough.”

“Then explain how powers to me.”

We had arrived at my dressing room. Opening the door, a wave of deliciousness hit my face. Hunger hit my system at the smell. It was food time. Walking inside, I saw Janeth was putting the last paper bag filled with goodness down next to a pyramid of paper bags.

“Woah! That’s a lot of food…”

“Who is this?”

Janeth walked up to Anna and stared at her. If Janeth had been human, I’d swear she was trying to size up Anna.

“This is Anna, one of the fighters from today’s match. Anna, this is Janeth, my personal android.”

“Nice to meet you.” Janeth nodded her head before turning back to me. “Should I let you know when the Ceremony is going to start?”

“Yes.”

“Alright, then.” Janeth walked to the door and opened it. “I’ll get going. Master Kan wanted to speak with me about something.”

I nodded my head and went to the dressing table, as Janeth closed the door behind her, leaving the room. Opening the top drawer, I found what I was looking for. Gloves.

Taking a seat near the food pyramid, I signaled for Anna to follow suit. She took the seat next to me. “Okay so tell me now.”

“Not until you explain how powers work.” I pulled off my bloodstained gloves and replaced them with the new ones.

“Really-”

“Yes, really. We’re now under contract so I need to see what you know and don’t. You’ve entered the real Underworld. You need to learn the rules fast because any mistake from you reflects on me and right now, I don’t need any mistakes.”

I looked at the girl sharply. As much as this decision was impulsive, I would not let it destroy years of hard work.

“Contract?! Since when? I never signed anything!”

“Remember the servant thing in the hall. The servant rule doesn’t require a written agreement. Verbal agreements count too.”

“So, you were being serious?!”

I sighed. “Yes. It was a little impulsive I’ll admit it but necessary. If you had gone with that man. Well, let’s say there’s a chance you wouldn’t have made it back alive. Of course, the servant rule is not to be taken lightly, it’s a serious thing. Now talk.”

“Fine…” Anna closed her eyes before opening them. “Powers all come from a person’s core which lies in the center of their chest. It’s what turns energy into a person’s power. The core is like a muscle and you can grow it but that requires years of hardcore training.”

“Not bad but that’s not all.”

“You’d make a great teacher…” She grumbled.

I just stared at her waiting for her to continue explaining.

“Argh…People can create energy using different ways. Two common methods are pleasure and food. Food is the most common and easiest as the body naturally does it for us. As for the second, a person needs to figure out what will give them the maximum amount of pleasure to create Dochine. The chemical that powers the core allowing a person to use their power.”

I nodded my head in agreement. 

Of course, pleasure depended on the person. Some enjoyed normal things like helping others, but the more common forms were murder and theft. They created huge amounts of Dochine in short amounts of time. It was one of the reasons the Underworld was able to so quickly take over and stay in power.

Energy could be stored in our cores until use too. It’s why many saw it as a muscle, but the real reason was because if you didn’t use your power well it would start disappearing, shrinking. And if it disappeared… I didn’t want to think about it.

“Lastly, the more powerful the power, the more energy a person uses at a fast rate. And since my power was quite powerful, I had to constantly keep my energy levels high. Thus the need to eat so much food.” Anna stated before falling silent, looking to see what I would say.

“That’s good. I see you at least have a good brain. That’ll be useful with everything you need to learn.”

“So, you’ll answer my questions now.”

“Yes, I will.” I took off my mask and hood as I said the words. “But first…”

Seeing my whole face for the first time as the Grim Reaper, Anna let a gasp out. She recognized the face behind the mask. “You’re…you…”

“You trust me now.”

“I trust you now, because you’ve helped me a couple of times before. At least without the mask. But I don’t trust you completely. You didn’t save me from the goodness of your heart this time. I know that much.”

“I see you’re quick too.” I grabbed two paper bags. I threw one to Anna before opening mine up. “I won’t delude you by saying that I’m a good person. I’m selfish and have my own goals.”

Taking a bite of the burger, which was inside the bag, I sighed. My energy was starting to replenish and the exhaustion I felt since the start of the fight lifted off my shoulders. I still had to keep the soundproof shield up, but the food in here would be enough to replenish my energy while I kept it up.

“I saved you because of those reasons. You’re no harm to me, but I’d like to keep you close. Thus the contract. We’ll both have to play along for now. After a year or two, if you want to leave, we can fake your death or something and the contract will end.”

Anna opened the bag and took out the burger inside. “Well, at least you’re honest from the start. I’ll play along for now too but I want to know exactly what I signed up for.”

“Fair enough. But you won’t know everything. Trust is a two-way street.”

Anna nodded as she ate her burger. I was on my third, the soundproof shield draining quite a bit more of my energy than I expected. I knew I didn’t know much about this girl, but for some reason I had a feeling she could be trusted. At least in keeping my secret. The rest would fall into place as we went on.

“Well to simply put it, I want to destroy the Underworld.”